Content Decoded

This amazing data visualisation has been doing the Internet rounds recently and it’s definitely worth including as an opening 2010 post to highlight just how much content gets created online everday, (that and the fact that I’m a sucker for data visualisation?!).

Fact:

45 million Facebook status updates a day

5 million tweets per day

3 million Flickr photo uploads per day

For more thrilling and mesmerising educational insights I suggest you check out Online Education – the stuff they don’t teach you in college.

We try to stay away from “social media-y” conversations on this blog. But once in a while we come across true gems that actually elevate the conversation on social media.  I came across this fantastic presentation that Tara Hunt recently presented at a Social Media Breakfast. I think with brands focusing more on how to make themselves more “social,” they are paying less attention to the basics of what makes a company worth caring about. Hunt’s premise is based on the differentiation between two insights:

1. Discovery vs. Decision and what drives each of these. (As she sums it up, One may discover a cool new gadget via Tim O’Reilly, but will buy the gadget that is ultimately recommend by our BFF!)

2. Influencers and Enthusiasts. This is a very smart point. Social media strategies have relied far too much on engaging a brand influence who may or may not use the product, and may not even be a fan of the product. Tara offers an alternative – instead of chasing the influencers, build stronger, deeper relationships with your enthusiasts – with fans that are already in love with your brand, using it and talking about.

I highly recommend reading the presentation to gain a fresh perspective on social media.