Discussion from Last Week
Profiling the Blogosphere
more than 1.5 million blogs were updated in the last 7 days 346 million read blogs worldwide 184 million blogs started worldwide
Technorati says… re/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009/
Technorati says
Four out of five bloggers are personal bloggers who blog about topics of personal interest. About half of bloggers are professional bloggers — blogging is not necessarily their full-time job, but they blog about their industry or profession in an unofficial capacity. 12% of bloggers blog in an official capacity for their company.
Technorati says Corporate bloggers: –69% are also personal bloggers –65% are professional bloggers Professional bloggers: –59% are also personal bloggers –17% are corporate bloggers
Technorati says
Women More likely to be personal bloggers, or blog about personal topics like family and thoughts Blog to stay connected with others, or to make connections –To update family –To meet like-minded people Conversation blogging style
Women More sophisticated about advertising: –Twice as likely to sell through an ad network –More likely to have affiliate links Smarter about driving traffic using blogrolls, links, directories, content sharing 36% have converted blog contacts into business leads
Asian Bloggers 73% male, aged (much younger in general than in the U.S. or Europe) Mostly single One in five are students More concerned about identity
Technorati says – Time spent blogging
Technorati says
Setting Goals
There’s the big picture... Inform or educate the public and your current customers/constituents Provide customer service or help using a product or service Convey a sense of company personality and culture Entertain readers and customers Drive users to take action Encourage dialogue with current and potential customers
...and then there’s reality. Get specific with your goals. –Increase donations to your non-profit? –Get people to attend an event? – newsletter signups? –Generate traditional press write-ups? –Get four comments for each post? –Build a community of 500 people? –Sell ads?
Measuring success Google Analytics is the most common tracking tool (used by 2/3 of bloggers) Sitemeter and Statcounter used by one in five bloggers 42% use more than one service/provider for their analytics Over 100 different tracking tools used
Stats
Statcounter
Understanding Statcounter Adding Statcounter (or Analytics) Updates
Google Analytics
Microblogging
What is Microblogging? (VERY) short posts Can be text, an image, a quote, etc. Quoting, and linking, are popular but slightly nuanced Many displays, many devices
Services Tumblr Twitter 115 others… Facebook (in part), LinkedIn (in part)
Tumblr Started in 2007 Based on ease of posting / sharing Photos Video Audio Quotes Links
Twitter Launched in 2006 Followers, not friends 140 News, Spam, Self-promotion, Pointless babble, Conversational, Pass-along value RT, OH, hashtags, #FF, Failwhale
Twitter #wins US Airways Flight 1549 Iranian elections Balloonboy (?) Vancouver Ultimate League
Twitter Services Hootsuite (Vancouver) WhatTheTrend.com Tweetdeck (desktop) Twibes Tweetie (iPhone) MrTweet.com
Facebook Status updates –Like Twitter’s tweets Wall –Two ends of a cell phone call Pages and Fans Apps Facebook Connect