An Internet usage researcher recently concluded that traffic at online adult entertainment sites had declined over 10% in the past year. The Internet tracking study connected that dot with a trend of major growth, during the same period, in use of Social Media – MySpace and Facebook among many community sites and blogs – to not only connect with like-minded others and get dates, but to get trusted product recommendations, network for jobs, and organize for social-political causes.The researcher reviewed profiles of MySpace and Facebook registered users; found the vast majority are in the 18-to-25 age group; then hypothesized that maybe Teh Youth have neither the time nor interest in the most highly trafficked web sites of the Internet’s short life: The Skin Trade.

We’re not touching that one! But we do have examples that show why – and how – successful companies use Social Media and Communications Devices (3G cell phones, PDAs, BlackBerries, Text Messaging) for more than simply pushing ads. In fact, we found Web 2.0 Prophets who think social networking is

(1) Critical to company success;

(2) Key to Customer Communications; and

(3) a “saving grace for organizations during a recession.”

Big claims. But if focusing on social media reduces employee hits on “inappropriate web sites” during work hours, well, that’s just productivity icing on the cake-jumper’s cake.

Not About Selling More or Schmoozing Customers. Using the immediacy of social media channels is about listening to customers, being more responsive and offering more value than competitors. That’s the conclusion of Louis Columbus in Twitter: A Customer Communication Lifeline in CRM Buyer.

Twitter – immediate person-to-person messaging – is now used by some best-performing brands to communicate with their customers. It’s all about immediate, personal responses to customers who are “changing how they want to interact with you; time to start listening to them.” 

As Columbus noted in his Twitter-As-Customer-Lifeline article:To what extent are [your customers] delighted or disgusted with your products or services? What did they think of the last product? Did they care about the new Web site, or was it your personal attention to their e-mails and the fact someone returned their call the same day that mattered? Isn’t getting a response to these questions what good marketing is all about?

Social Media Use By The INC 500.  University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research study, “Social Media in the Inc. 500: The First Longitudinal Study,” discovered that growing companies are the most aggressive about using social networking tools, Twitter among them. The INC 500 see it as critical to their growth. Blogger Andrew McAfee (who coined/defined the term Enterprise 2.0) has tracked Twitter’s growth and adoption in enterprises whose customers are defining how they want to talk to companies. 

Take a Wrecking Ball to Bureaucratic Customer Service Walls. Louis Columbus advises companies who claim they are customer-focused to “talk their walk” — Get a company account on Twitter; Staff it with people who have the authority to make things happen fast; Fulfill the commitment of being customer-driven.

Recession Remedy and Keeping It Real. On the Wikinomics blog, Brendan Peat argued that all social networking and social media tools collectively called Web 2.0 increase the knowledge and learning curve of companies that use them … making them stronger during economic downturns. Peat ticked off: Better Customer Listening Skills; Better Collaboration Skills; Learning How to Better Serve Needs. Funny how all that sounds like classic marketing or, as Peat put it,

Any customer-facing strategy – most of all marketing – needs to be much more concerned with learning how to serve unmet needs and less about pushing products at customers.

That “less about pushing products at customers” part – plus the “keeping it real” part — are the reasons a senior analyst with Forrester Research, Jeremiah Owyang, apparently committed Brand Harikari – Owyang titled his blog post at Wikinomics: Why Brands Are Unsuccessful in Twitter. (Forrester Research knows recession survivors when it sees them, even sans branding.)

 Social Media More Trusted By The Clan … Hold the Filters. 

The 500-lb gorilla at all social meeting places is User-Generated Content. Those are Reader/Viewer Reviews, Ratings, Rants and Raves. As e-Bay Power Sellers know — and as failed online auctioneers have learned — Customer Feedback Ratings are The Bomb. Or, your site bombs. User / Customer Ratings at social sites are more trusted because they bypass traditional media and commercial channels.

 People Are Products, Too.  Some of the longest-running research into Americans’ online habits comes from the Pew Internet and American Life Project. In Summer 2008, Pew research concluded that the Internet – specifically social media and communication tools – has boosted citizenship and voter participation … especially among The Usual Suspects: Under 30s.

Some Conclusions on Users:

·  Nearly half of ALL Americans have used the Internet, email or cell-phone text messaging to get news about the 2008 presidential campaign, to share views, and to mobilize others.

·  35% of Americans said they watched online political videos, which is almost three times what Pew researchers found in the 2004 race.

·  10% have used social networking sites – such as cited Facebook or MySpace – to get information and to get involved. Though 10% doesn’t sound like much, Pew research also found that 63% of Internet users under age 30 have a profile on a social networking site; and half of them used social media sites to share info about politics or work on campaigns.

·  Where’s The Money? Though 6% — the percentage of Americans making political contributions online this cycle – may look small, Pew researchers look at trend lines: That 6% is three times the number of online contributors during the entire presidential campaign of 2004.

 Hold the Gatekeepers.  The main reason Pew Internet and American Life Project cited for this increase in online citizenship is the same reason companies and entrepreneurs can not avoid social media: Social spaces are trusted as No-Spin Zones, unfiltered through ad budgets or an agenda. Noted Pew Internet project research specialist Aaron Smith:

The number of people who are bypassing the traditional media and, in a lot of cases, bypassing the campaigns themselves has increased. The number who go online and get documents that are unspinned and unfiltered is noteworthy. People are watching or reading those at their own leisure and absent any kind of analysis from traditional news sources.

See Voters Take Advantage of Internet to Get Unfiltered Data .

Sorry, Canada, for Hottest Email Sig File Right Now.  One handheld device used for emailing, instant messaging, advertising messages, customer account alerts, smart phoning and Anywhere / Any Time mobile networking is the BlackBerry smart phone and personal data assistant. As announced by Rachel Maddow and Keith Olbermann on their MSNBC shows – and approximately 50 other cable news channels and online community sites – one of Republican candidate John McCain’s chief economic advisors held up his BlackBerry and told the world that John McCain “invented it.”

The econ advisor’s timing could have been better. That homage to “the inventor” of the BlackBerry occurred the same day the Dow lost 500 points and two big Wall Street players – Lehman Brokerage and AIG Insurance – claimed they are bankrupt and need government bailouts.  It was also a strange claim of invention on behalf of a man who says he knows nothing about how to use “…the emails.” (McCain)

Most of all, we owe an apology to our Neighbors to the North – It is Research In Motion, a Canadian company, that invented and developed the BlackBerry.

Social media and social networking fanatics on “the internets” are propagating the false inventor story through a technique called “viral marketing.” Today’s hottest signature file appearing on emails sent via BlackBerry are not only the sender’s name, title, company, cell phone, email address, fax number and Instant Messaging ID. Oh, no. The hottest email sig file right now is:

This BlackBerry email was sent to you thanks to its purported inventor, John McCain.

That’s one thing to keep in mind about using social networking sites:  Negative news travels as far and wide and fast as positive recommendations about your products. Maybe faster.