Social Media Evangelists

The amount of time consumers spend on social networking sites is limited when compared with overall time spent on content-related Web sites, according to a new survey from Burst Media.

Research found that while 40 percent of 18-to-34-year-olds spent 11 hours or more every week online, only 3.5 of those hours are spent on social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn, according to Burlington, Mass.-based Burst Media, an online media agency.

Mary is awesome!! She is always smiling, has a great attitude, has a kind word to say and makes you feel special. I am a big Mary fan.

- posted by Dora Yee Kwok on the “I Love Mary @ McDonalds/Chandler” Facebook group

social media mcdonaldsMary Moss may be the most successful headset-wearing brand ambassador in the country. She’s manned the drive-thru at a McDonald’s in Chandler, Arizona for four years, and during that time has developed quite a following.

In the last few weeks I’ve explored why more law enforcement officers and agencies are not jumping on board the social media bandwagon; the dangers of official or unofficial officer use; and the importance of a good social media policy, whether or not your agency is officially using social media.

Clearly, thanks to services like Twitter and Facebook, there is now a global conversation. What’s not clear is how businesses can meaningfully embrace it. How can social media augment, fill out, and improve the customer experience?

I’ve categorized and compared 7 social media channels that are currently being used by both B2B and B2C brands. I’ve suggested which type of brand works best in each channel.

Over at VentureBeat, Matt Marshall is reporting that Twitter will introduce its first revenue-generating series of premium services.

Last night, Facebook launched an application that allows users to simultaneously update both a Facebook Page and a Twitter account. This is intriguing for a few reasons beyond the simple utility of it, as it could be a sign of things to come in terms of integration between the two social sites.

Tired of delivering the typical stream of status updates on Twitter (Twitter)? Why not try some of the following ideas for other things you can do with the service?

Thanks to an open API and a philosophy of interconnectivity, Twitter’s vast array of third-party services has you covered on a number of alternative uses for the famed microblogging tool.

Let’s take a look at a few of them.

For non-profit organizations and other charities, social media is potentially an incredibly powerful tool to get the word out, connect with constituents, rally support, and even raise money.

But, like for any business, social media will only pay dividends for charities if they utilize it properly. You can’t just sign up for a Twitter account, create a Facebook Fan Page and then watch the donations roll in. It unfortunately just doesn’t happen that way.

Getting the most out of social media is hard work and requires patient diligence. But the eventual rewards are potentially enormous. Here are five essential tips for charities to get the most out of social media when promoting their cause.

Is Social Media a Fad or the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution?  Welcome to the Social Media Revolution:

Stats from Video (sources listed below by corresponding #)

By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers….96% of them have joined a social network
Social Media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the Web
1 out of 8 [...]