50 social media & Internet stats compiled by Ad Age. Some examples: Twenty percent of searches on Google each day have never been searched for before; Nearly every large charity and university in America is on Facebook. Less than 60% of the Fortune 500 are. Facebook, Twitter and YouTube are now considered cornerstones of most social-media strategies in larger companies.
-FB is top social networking site in 119 out of 134 countries
*ubiquity of FB cannot be denied
-FB, Youtube and Wikipedia are the 3 top online brands online
*all three are user-generated content driven!
-Over half of all Twitter users post each day
-How people utilize social networks: FB users want community and news; Twitter users want news; Myspace users want games and entertainment; Digg users have mixed interests
-The most dominant age group using social media is 35-44 years old (avg age of FB user is 38, Twitter: 39, Myspace: 31, Youtube: 20-35)
-daily use of social media networks vary according to networks and needs
Eye tracker study of where people tend to look on a Facebook profile (results highlight importance of profile pictures, job title, and thumbnails of friends)
-Profile pics matter
*for libraries its about establishing and maintaining a brand
*recognition is key, from the profile pic to the thumbnail
-LinkedIn is all about the job title
*makes sense given the professional emphasis of LinkedIn
-friends matter
*be careful about who libraries friend, as it goes a long way to establishing social media bona fides
(businesses vs gov't orgs, other libraries, brands, etc)
-content on top is most important
*libraries need to continually update, refresh and monitor their social media pages
*spam, obscene or offensive posts need to be removed quickly
-SNSs condition people to peruse and evaluate in different methods per each SNS
-even though pics are bigger on some SNSs than others, eye movement remains the same
-shows that each SNS has its own way of conveying info to users, even when users might not be aware of it
-Youtube thumbnails garnered as much attention as the larger pic
-Klout scores to the side, with more info got more attention than the larger Klout score number
**what all of these means is even unconsciously, people negotiate SNSs differently
-"information technology may enhance place-based community and facilitate the generation of social capital" (Facebook a place to enhance relationships, not connect with total strangers)
*libraries need to take this into account when setting up pages and connecting with people/places
-"We use Facebook as a research context in order to determine whether offline social capital can be generated by online tools. The results of our study show that Facebook use among college-age respondents was significantly associated with measures of social capital."
*libraries want to accumulate social capital, but have to be aware that it does not always translate in a linear fashion (i.e. I like you online, I will visit in person offline.)
-" Bourdieu and Wacquant (1992) define social capital as "the sum of the resources, actual or virtual, that accrue to an individual or a group by virtue of possessing a durable network of more or less institutionalized relationships of mutual acquaintance and recognition" (p. 14). The resources from these relationships can differ in form and function based on the relationships themselves."
*social capital= social presence = libraries maintain a sense of space online and offline
-"Greater social capital increases commitment to a community and the ability to mobilize collective actions, among other benefits. "
*libraries can advocate for the common good, and can be a bridge over the increasing digital divide
-"bridging and bonding social capital. The former is linked to what network researchers refer to as "weak ties," which are loose connections between individuals who may provide useful information or new perspectives for one another but typically not emotional support...(also) "maintained social capital," permits us to explore whether online network tools enable individuals to keep in touch with a social network after physically disconnecting from it.
*libraries want bridging social capital, but especially maintained social capital.. but how to achieve this??
-"Because online relationships may be supported by technologies like distribution lists, photo directories, and search capabilities, it is possible that new forms of social capital and relationship building will occur in online social network sites. Bridging social capital might be augmented by such sites, which support loose social ties, allowing users to create and maintain larger, diffuse networks of relationships from which they could potentially draw resources"
*Flickr, YouTube channels, Storify, FB, blogs, location-based apps
-"friendsickness: refers to the distress caused by the loss of connection to old friends when a young person moves away to college"
*how can libraries engender the same feelings/retain the relationship when people relocate?
*"maintained" social capital will keep online relationships intact even when physical geography separates people
*how can libraries "maintain" social capital?
*ettiquette of posting/page behavior affects social capital, particularly maintained social capital (users don't have to disconnect, they can just "hide")
*how can libraries generate that neighborhood feel online, how can they evoke the friendsickness response in people who relocate or otherwise lose physical contact with the library? The library as an online presence must work to bridge social capital and then maintain social capital
-"Facebook might make it easier to convert latent ties into weak ties, in that the site provides personal information about others, makes visible one's connections to a wide range of individuals, and enables students to identify those who might be useful in some capacity (such as the math major in a required calculus class), thus providing the motivation to activate a latent tie. These weak ties may provide additional information and opportunities, which are expressed as dimensions of bridging social capital that speak to interaction with a wide range of people and the more tolerant perspective this might encourage. Facebook seems well-suited to facilitate these experiences, in that detailed profiles highlight both commonalities and differences among participants."
*the library can use GIS info and the info gained from the revamped "insights" page to target latent ties, or friends of friends, in order to change those ties into weak ties
libraries need to aim for low/weak ties, not strong or close ties, with the community. Weak ties are still acceptable in social media, and are more powerful than latent ties, which in turn are better than none at all.
-"The strong linkage between Facebook use and high school connections suggests how SNSs help maintain relations as people move from one offline community to another. It may facilitate the same when students graduate from college, with alumni keeping their school email address and using Facebook to stay in touch with the college community. Such connections could have strong payoffs in terms of jobs, internships, and other opportunities. Colleges may want to explore ways to encourage this sort of usage."
*also, libraries!!
same as infographic posted above, basically
-56% of Americans think its irresponsible to friend your boss
83% of women are ignored by their FB friends
-avg user spends 7 hrs 46 min/month on FB
-FB links about sex are shared 90% more than average
-Top liked pages: FB, Eminem, Texas Hold-em Poker, Rihanna, YouTube
-Top non-Internet liked brands: Coke, Oreos, Disney, MTV, Starbucks
-is FB skewed more Dem? Obama has 23 million likes, nearest Repub (Sarah Palin) has 3.1 m likes