This post features a couple of recommended readings in plain English that should clarify (read as simplify) the use of social media by businesses.

What tools are being used the most?

Where Your Customers Are: How Facebook, Twitter and Others Break Down by Age

Facebook, the largest social media network, recently reached 300 million users worldwide — roughly the population of the United States. So do your homework before you approach your customers online. Here’s how users on the top social media sites broke down by age in August 2009.
View the graphs and original post at BNET.com

What should you keep in mind when promoting social media in your company?

Eight Ways to Ruin Your Social-Media Strategy

So you’ve set up a company fan page on Facebook and you’re letting your employees fire off messages to the world via Twitter — or you’re at least thinking about it. Well, congratulations! You’re part of the social-media revolution, which can offer unparalleled access to word-of-mouth buzz among those you most want to reach: your customers, current and future.

• Mistake 1: Pretend you can do without it
• Mistake 2: Play down the costs
• Mistake 3: Act like you own the conversation
• Mistake 4: Fear empowering your employees
• Mistake 5: Assume you have little to learn
• Mistake 6: Take negative feedback personally
• Mistake 7: Fret about return on investment
• Mistake 8: Underestimate the power of seemingly small efforts

Read details on each mistake and the entire article at BNET.com

Stop Looking for the Next Twitter

… if you’re in the trenches of an organization, my advice is to stop acting like or listening to pundits. Stop looking for the next Twitter. Why? It’s simple—because the odds are you already have plenty of projects and ideas with proven potential that you need to improve on without worrying about the next thing you’ll start. Here are a few thought-starters based on observations I’ve made about all of “yesterday’s Twitters” that need some care and feeding before you start looking for the next Twitter. Perhaps some may hit close to home for you…

• Your Website
• Your Blog
• Your Intranet
• Your Facebook, Twitter, Community Initiatives etc.

Read the entire article by David Armano at Harward Business Publishing

Speaking from a business standpoint, Twitter is a new tool that is saturating our minds. We have to have an account, we have to follow people and get followers, etc. All of these are pressing on our time allocated for work.

The question becomes: do you fit your routine into Twitter or incorporate Twitter into your existing daily routine? The answer I support is that you should not change the way you live just because there’s a new tool. Instead find a way to introduce Twitter to your common practices.

Here’s a list of ways you can introduce twitter into your life the smoothest way possible:

• When reading your morning news online, have Twitter open to share interesting news items.
• When researching for work-related projects, have your twitter account open to mention interesting articles.
• When reading Twitter feeds, feel free to RT (Re-Tweet) interesting links you come across.

And remember, twitter is a way to share bits of valuable information with people who want to listen. One of the tools that will help you to stay in touch with Twitter community is TweetDeck.

In August 2009 two companies, Sysomos and Pear Analytics, partnered to lead a study of Twitter audiences. Below is a great visualization of this study done by InformationIsBeautiful.net

We are not suggesting that this is THE solution to all “Twitter for Business” problems but it’s a step in the right direction of understanding the role Twitter plays.

Edelman urges companies that now is the time act, “otherwise the impression will be frozen in time.” He goes on to state that the use of social media is critical for companies to reach younger audiences. A culture of transparency is building, so it’s up to the companies themselves to start participating in the conversations.

Here’s hoping that some of these oil and gas companies start contacting us so we can help them get started.

Global Village / Global Neighborhoods

Much like Marshal McLuhan with “global village” in the 1960s, Shel talks about the concept of “global neighborhoods” today. Twitter, he says, is a tool that allows us to have small conversations with people of common interest. It’s like talking to your neighbor over the fence. Twitter is simply a tool to create and maintain those short conversations online. As Shel mentions, Twitter is the closest to face-to-face communication.

The importance of telling stories

Much like Seth Godin in “All marketers are liars”, Shel is emphasizing the art of story telling. His book, Twitterville, is in essence a collection of stories about people talking on Twitter and telling stories; something others can relate to. The entertainment component is part of any successful story we read, hear and share with our friends and colleagues. As Dean mentioned in his You don’t know how to blog post last week, telling stories is super important, if it’s not a story, he won’t read it.

Broadcasting Era / Conversational Era

As we are moving from the broadcasting era into the era of conversations and small talks, the value of relationships and value transfer becomes the primary concern. We are no longer pushing the message as it was done for decades by advertising and traditional media. We are engaging in conversations, trying to help people solve their problems. As Shel mentions, the media as a social institution isn’t going anywhere. It’s valuable and will continue to evolve. There will, however, be a transition, and it’s happening already. The key for media outlets is to get through this transition and emerge into a new format of media; a combination of traditional and social journalism.

As a side note, I purchased the last copy of the book at this event. 12 hours later still excited to have it and plan to read it within next couple of weeks before Shel writes his next book