The world is changing. And, it’s not easy to keep up with emerging technology. There are some who can’t even figure out how to pay the new parking meters just installed on our street. For those people, and many others, social media can be intimidating and confusing. In fact, according to Twitter founder, CEO Ev Williams, “People are pretty much clueless when they first try Twitter.” But at Thirsty Boy, it’s what we do. On a daily basis, actually. We’ve taken it upon ourselves to be experts in all things social. In short, we help make sense of it all.

So you’ve heard of Twitter, and tweets, and Facebook, and followers, and LinkedIn, and YouTube, etc. But, what does it all mean, what does it do and what’s the best way to use it? Again, that’s where Thirsty Boy can help. We aren’t like other advertising agencies that focus only on one-way communication aimed at large groups of people. We can do that, but we also understand the true value in two-way communication, which just happens to be the definition of social media. Social media is about listening, speaking and building relationship. And, this particular method of communication runs counter to everything advertising agencies stood for…a few years ago.

Businesses, ranging from the largest multinationals to home-office practitioners, often begin using social media for one reason and are surprised to find greater value in some other aspect they hadn’t even considered. It can help in marketing, sales, recruiting, feedback, support, sales or just getting closer to geographically scattered networks.

Twitter works well with other social media platforms, such as blogs, video, and audio podcasts, creating a whole new kind of interactive, integrated communications solution. It’s not just faster and cheaper—but more credible. Surveys consistently report that people tend to trust their Twitter friends more than formulated company messages. Users increasingly rely on one another for tips on what to buy, watch, read, or listen to. This translates into the following critical message⎯YOU NEED TO BE THERE.

It takes time to establish your credibility within social media and you need to understand how it works and how it can work best for you before that credibility gets tested by your customers. It also takes time to understand how these deceptively simple-looking tools work.

We’ve gathered a list of interesting facts for you to consider regarding social media. If you don’t feel like reading these, take this one thing away with you⎯social media is here and here to stay (although it will continue to evolve), it’s critical to your marketing mix and provides a link (like never before) between you, your brand and your customers.

Interesting Social Media Facts (as of 12.3.09)

• There are 31 billion Google searches every month
• Facebook reached an audience of 50 million in 2 years (it took radio 38 years to reach this) – today there are over 300 million active Facebook users and the average user has 130 friends on the site
• More than 8 billion minutes are spent on Facebook every day (worldwide)
• There are more than 65 million active users currently accessing Facebook through their mobile devices
• The median age of a Facebook user is now 33, despite the social-networking site’s roots as a college hangout, according to the Pew Internet & American Life Project
• The median age for Twitter is 31
• Facebook’s audience is aging and Twitterers are getting younger, which is broadening both of their reach among all consumers
• Twitter asks one question, “What are you doing?” Answers must be under 140 characters in length and can be sent via mobile texting, instant message, or the web
• Twitter is the third most used social network based on their count of 6 million unique monthly visitors and 55 million monthly visits
• In March 2009, a Nielsen.com blog ranked Twitter as the fastest-growing site in the Member Communities category for February 2009 – at that time, Twitter had a monthly growth of 1,382 percent followed by Facebook with an increase of 228 percent
• People are watching hundreds of millions of videos a day on YouTube and uploading hundreds of thousands of videos daily
• Every minute, 20 hours of video is uploaded to YouTube
• YouTube’s user base is 18-55, evenly divided between males and females, and spanning all geographies
• Fifty-one percent of YouTube users go to the site weekly or more often, and 52 percent of 18-34 year-olds share videos with friends and colleagues
• The average age of the LinkedIn user is 41
• 53 percent of LinkedIn users have a household income of $100K+