Teachnology blues

Got this as a forward from FFO. Very apt. Ain't it?

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The time factor

Like most of the fads, blogging is losing popularity especially by teenagers and young adults who have dropped by half over the past three years as texting and social networking are picking up. A study released by the Pew Internet and American Life project also found that fewer than one in 10 teens were using Twitter, a surprising finding given overall popularity of the micro-blogging site.

According to the report, only 14 percent of teenagers who use the Internet say they kept an online journal or blog, compared with a peak of 28 percent in 2006 -- and only 8 percent were using Twitter.

According to the study, 73 percent of teens who were online used social networking sites. Much of the communication between young people now takes place on mobile devices, which don't lend themselves to long-form writing.

Teens may be shying away from Twitter because they see it as designed for celebrities, and because of reluctance to put their thoughts on such a public forum when they can post them to their Facebook page instead. Blogging among adults has held steady since 2005, Pew found, but it has dropped among Internet users between the age of 18 and 29 -- while rising in those over 30. "Older people are becoming more comfortable with the online environment and young people in the meantime have moved on to social networking and text messaging," Smith said.

Adopt Twitter to stay in sync

Gartner analysts have predicted that by 2012, over 50 percent of enterprises will use Twitter, and by 2014, social networking services will replace e-mail as the primary vehicle for interpersonal communications for 20 percent of business users.

Greater availability of social networking services both inside and outside the firewall, coupled with changing demographics and work styles will lead 20 percent of users to make a social network the hub of their business communications. During the next several years, most companies will be building out internal social networks and/or allowing business use of personal social network accounts. According to Gartner, social networking will prove to be more effective than e-mail for certain business activities such as status updates and expertise location.

By 2012, more than half of the enterprises will use activity streams that include microblogging, but stand-alone enterprise microblogging will have less than five percent penetration. The huge popularity of the consumer-microblogging service Twitter, has led many organizations to look for an "enterprise Twitter," that provides microblogging functionality with more control and security features to support internal use between employees. Enterprise users want to use microblogging for many of the same reasons that consumers do to share quick insights, to keep up with what colleagues are doing, to get quick answers to questions and so on.

'Bing'ing ahead

Microsoft want to spread Bing to beat Google and they are working deeply and in correct way to make this real. Starting today Bing is going to throw up results of Twitter messages for search queries. Let me explain how. If you search for 'A R Rahman', you would find @arrahman tweet messages as well! Brings out more realistic and live information online. This is very exciting because there are numerous companies who are trying to build and design widgets which would broadcast Tweets to personal mail boxes, blogs and websites. Now Bing wins it all and throws them into oblivion.

This is really one step ahead of Google but there might be few problems. Consumers expect more intrusion and the privacy factor is at stake and most celebrities would opt out and the search results might be more cluttered and irrelevant. Google is waiting and watching. For now Microsoft has 1 point more then Google. The game has begun.

You can follow me on Twitter at @Vamshiavk. Search for Vamshiavk and you get all my tweets!

Why firms should take twitter seriously

It is simple, easy and so natural to do. This is one of the reasons why Twitter is better than many traditional marketing tools like direct marketing or mailer techniques. On an average 2% of direct mailers respond and about 1% close the sale in the time expected. The scenario is changed with Twitter. On any given tweet about an offer more people respond and this is a voluntary subscription or permission based interaction.

There are people who know what you are and cling to your 140 character thoughts. May be people don't care what you are doing but they DO care about what you can do for them. The possibilities are immeasurable and open. Firms should take this as a cue and spend more time and effort on Twitter or any other online communicating device that sends relevant need based short information that a consumer can use. Surely it would pay back much more than a bill board or leaflet campaign can do. Do I hear superbowl ads being replaced?

Iran & Twitter

What can 140 characters do againist a Nation and world peace? If what is goig on Twitter can be believed and taken as a trend, it can stop a world war! Twitter has the younger generations of Iranians that are protesting in the streets, letting the USA know whats going on. Now this is good, as the older generations in charge of Iran, are being forced to deal with digital cyber warfare and updates. Twitter will bring the world closer.

Twitter on the other hand, is helping the USA and the rest of the world keep up, with updates of the protests in the streets of Iran. People do not understand how serious this is. Its like a game of cat and mouse with North Korea and Iran launching their missiles here and there. Public opinion is being voiced more easily and frequently across Twitter .

EMINEM & Twitter

In the world of hip-hop, a five-year absence is an eternity. So for Eminem's new album, "The Relapse," the marketing team at Aftermath/Interscope Records has mounted an audacious campaign that playfully smears the lines between the rapper's troubled past and the nightmarish, fictionalized world of his latest work. By using Twitter to dispense short, often disturbing thoughts and links to multimedia components revolving around a mental institution, they've helped make the album the most highly anticipated hip-hop release of the year -- and set it up for a sequel in the second half of 2009.

While Eminem hasn't relied exclusively on Twitter to get the word out, the effort has produced some impressive results. According to Compete, Eminem.com reached 113,868 unique visitors during April, while the most popular of his tweets -- which linked to Therelapse.com on May 7 -- reached at least 41,704 people within just one week, according to an analysis of data provided to Ad Age by Tweetreach. And data provided by Native Digital, the start-up behind music-buzz tracker We Are Hunted, suggest that Eminem was the most-talked-about artist on Twitter last week, the week before the album's release.

Elliott Wilson, founder and CEO of RapRadar.com, said the micro-blogging tool is perfectly suited to the rapper, because it attracts voyeuristic fans the same way his autobiographical songs do. Mr. Wilson pointed out that one of Eminem's fictional characters, Stan -- a dangerously obsessive fan -- has, in the web lexicon, morphed into lowercase slang for a diehard yet non-violent admirer.

"Twitter is, in a way, the world of 'stans' who now have access to artists," Mr. Wilson said. Although Eminem is using the service in a "real typical promotion way, the fact that he's willing to be part of that, to be in that world, has helped him build up mystery around the record."

What is Twitter?

This video sums it, almost. Where is the communication on social networking going to?

Twitter stats you can use

Few stats from the PEW study regarding the demographic of twitter users:

• 19% of online adults age 18-24 have used twitter or something like it
• 20% of online adults age 25-34 have used twitter or something like it
• 10% of online adults age 35-44
• 5% of online adults age 45-54
• 4% of online adults age 55-64
• 2% of online adults 65+
  

Other interesting twitter stats:

• 35% of twitter users live in urban areas
• 9% live in rural areas
• Online American who live in lower income housing are more likely to use twitter
• 17% of internet users in households earning less than $30,000 tweet
• 10% of internet users in households earning more than $75,000 tweet
• 76% of twitter users use the Internet wirelessly

Are you using it? Your business? If yes, good. If no, better start.