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…

• http://technorati.com/blogging/feature/state-of-the-blogosphere-2009/

Technorati says

Technorati says

Technorati says

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 18-34 (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?– Email 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

Statcounter

• Understanding Statcounter

• Adding Statcounter (or Analytics)

• Email 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 characters• @names• 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