Social Network Search Terms are at the Top of the List

Hitwise® has announced its top search terms for 2009 and and it comes as no surprise to most that Social Network terms lead the way with Facebook on top and another 3 variations of the term in the top 25. According to Hitwise® this is the first time that a social networking term has taken the top honor accounting for 0.67 percent of all searches. 

Is your Brand on YouTube? Why Not?

Many of the companies that I talk to about social media aren't sold on being a part of YouTube. I understand their concerns about finding their content next to Obama Girl or Nora the piano playing kitty cat. But in the end YouTube has become a powerful channel to almost any audience. 

The Nielsen Company this week announced numbers that just can't be ignored. With 138 Million unique viewers watching 11.1 Billion streams in November alone your need to be part of this community. And it clear that other outlets are finding room and audience in the space as well. With the 17% growth 08 -2009 it seems clear that video really needs to be part of your social networking and social media strategy.

 

A couple of corporate Brands that are doing a solid job utilizing the YouTube platform include. MicroStrategy and its Business Intelligence Channel, SaS and SASNewMedia's Channel or you can check out some of my favorite videos at Shawn Rogers YouTube Channel.  

Real-Time Search and the Wide Open Fire Hose

I'm not surprised that search engines like Google and Bing are now including the content of My Space , Facebook and Twitter in search results. The output is a near real-time fire hose of data combined with the historical data already available in the index. Facebook this week made radical changes to its privacy policy and it now exposing all of our status updates to the outside world (unless we restrict it). The walled garden days of Facebook are over as Mark Zuckerberg is chasing the real-time web pioneered by his competition for audience at Twitter. The question is....will this add to the value of search or detract?  More data isn't always the answer.

However there seems to be immediate value to leverage this new data flow in the social media and social networking landscape. For the first time since conventional search sites were launched we don't have to wait weeks or days for our content to find its way into the 30th page of the index results all we have to do is use our favorite social networking portals and we become an instant part of the conversation around these results.

Here is a example using the search query IBM in real-time mode at Google. The first 5 results are from social networking site Twitter. The last two are from .com style websites.

I think there is a role for both types of data in the search world, the new aggregated access to content flow from Twitter and Facebook etc adds a new dimension to what we can leverage on these services. While giving us the depth of content we need for more conventional research.

Major Health Insurance Companies Caught Being Stupid Online

What does it say of your cause or political position if you have to bribe people into taking your side? A group called "Get Health Reform Right" is using virtual currency to pay gamers for their support against President Obama's health care reform bill. Here's how it works. Gamers in online communities like Facebook use virtual currency to purchase item that help them compete in games such as Mafia Wars and Farmville. While a gamer can earn the currency or purchase it for cash they can also follow third party advertising offers to earn the currency. Thats where "Get Health Reform Right" was lurking. The deal is you take a survey on their site and the output of the survey is sent to your local your congressman then they give you currency so you can by a bigger gun in Mafia Wars. Yuck...does anyone else feel the need for a quick shower. What a slimy way to push a political agenda.

Some of the insurance companies behind the site are:

•  Association of Health Insurance Advisors
•  America’s Health Insurance Plans
•  American Benefits Council
•  BlueCross BlueShield Association
•  Council of Insurance Agents & Brokers
•  Healthcare Leadership Council
•  Independent Insurance Agents & Brokers
•  National Association of Health Underwriters
•  National Association of Insurance and Financial Advisors
•  National Retail Association

You guys really need to get a clue!! Advertising within a community like Facebook requires transparency and while you guys may be getting random 20 year olds to fill in the survey it's a terrible approach. Fire the company who suggested it and get real help formulating a strategy to push your political agenda.

12 Microblogging Tools for Your Enterprise

A nice list of 12 tools that are available as alternatives to Twitter, many of them offer a more integrated platform and tools for companies to have a little more control.

Originally posted in CIO.com 12/1/09

12 Blogging Tools to Consider