Social Media On The Rise

Thanks to Google reader, one of my favorite social media tools; I was just informed of a new post by social media connoisseur, Marta Kagan, on her blog (The Secret Diary of a Bonafide Marketing Genius). In one of her latest blog entries, she discusses some interesting stats:

• 3/4 of US online adults now use social tools to connect with each other (compared with just 56% in 2007). On average, they spend one hour per week using these tools; however, 19% [and growing] are averaging 7 HOURS PER WEEK. [source: Forrester Research, October 2008]
• 75% of Fortune 1000 companies with Web sites will have undertaken some kind of online social-networking initiative for marketing or customer relations purposes in the next year. [source: Gartner, October 2008]

- Marta Kagan

Social media usage is going up and it doesn't look like it will be stopping anytime soon. It is pretty clear that social media is the future. 7 hours per week may not seem like much to you and I but the increase of usage from 56% in 2007 to where it is now (just in the span of a year) is pretty darn impressive. People of all demographics are beginning to understand social media tools and how helpful they can be.

What are your thoughts on this increase in numbers?

The Best Corporate Blogs

During our last class, we talked about a number of corporations that blog. Amongst these, were SouthWest Airlines, Whole Foods, and Wal-Mart. Majority of our discussion on these companies and their blogs was negative so I was just curious as to who is really doing a good job at blogging for their company and receiving the most hits.

Thanks to the world's best creation ever, Google, I was able to find a great list compiled by Mario Sundar for his wordpress blog, Marketing Nirvana. He used Technorati Authority to come up with his findings.

Here's the list of the 15 Most Popular Blogs as of May 2008.

#15. Boeing - Authority: 67

#14. Monster - Authority: 73

#13. Kodak - Authority: 105

#12. Delta - Authority: 252

#11. Yahoo! - Authority: 297

#10. General Motors - Authority: 364

#9. Ask - Authority: 364

#8. LinkedIn - Authority: 591

#7. Digg - Authority: 641

#6. Dell - Authority: 799

#5. Yahoo! Search - Authority: 1130

#4. Facebook - Authority: 1478

#3. Flickr - Authority: 1744

#2. Adobe - Authority: 1797

#1. Google - Authority: 8492

Not a shocker to see Google at #1!

Are you surprised by any of the placements on this list?