Day: May 21, 2011

Is Twitter for everybody?

This is the question that eventually gets asked by every person and every company trying Twitter for the first time.  In the height of your initial frustrations, you may be wondering … is Twitter really for me?

Most social media hype-masters will tell you “yes.”   Indeed, there is probably some business use or benefit you could discover for everyone and every organization.

But after working with hundreds of students and professionals across diverse businesses, I’ve come to realize the answer is no — it’s not for everyone.

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A Conversation about 2011 – 2012 Trends in Social Media

While attending LeWeb in Paris, I caught up with the 99Faces crew to discuss trends in social media for 2011 and 2012.

Among the many topics we touch, we spent a fair amount of time exploring the evolving influence of social media on…

  • Mainstream lifestyle and culture
  • The rise of curation
  • Elevating the importance of transparency and engagement between businesses and customers
  • Businesses dynamics and the need to open the doors between silos
  • Politics and organizing the “brilliance” of the crowds

I hope you enjoy the discussion!


Brian Solis at LeWeb about Trends in Social Media 2011 from 99FACES.

Brian Solis



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The New Normal of Work Includes Social Media

Read enough about productivity on the internet – especially in social media circles – and you’ll undoubtedly find counsel to cut down on “distractions” like Facebook and Twitter, or to stem content creation in favor of doing the “real work”.

The Real Work Thing

Ostensibly, this Real Work of which we speak (and I’m sure I’ve probably said something like that myself) is about doing the things that are concrete, tangible, and most likely relative to a day job or whatever work pays the bills. For me, it would be work that’s pertinent to my day job as VP of social strategy for Radian6. For you, it might be dealing with clients as a PR exec, or managing your team, designing websites, or any number of things.

In short, it’s the stuff that you’re supposed to be able to point to and see some kind of “real” result that moves your business or other goals forward. By whose standards we’re judging “real” I’m not quite sure. But there’s something very important to remember.

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Recommendations Are the New Advertising

Visa gets it – that the marketing world has changed significantly, and even the big players need to change along with it.  In fact, Visa’s head of marketing, Antonio Lucia, reported that Visa has increased their digital media investment from about 11% to at least 36%.

But Visa not just putting their money into digital media, they are also changing their approach to marketing.  Lucia said last month in his keynote at ad:tech San Francisco that Visa is now guided by three principles of social media, with one of them being “recommendations are the new advertising.”

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