121 Billion and Counting

A new study has found that Americans have spent 121 billion minutes on social media this year. That’s up more than 37% from last year alone. How much time is that really? Imagine watching Honey Boo Boo for over 460,000 years nonstop. That’s crazy!

At 121 billion minutes, that means the average American, including all newborns and the most senior of senior citizens, spends 6 hours on social media each year. Needless to say, that’s a lot of time.

If your constituents spend an average of 6 hours on social media each year what are they seeing? Are they seeing anything from your organization? Are they being engaged by your posts, comments and replies?

Tell us what you think in the comments.

Voting, Elections and Real Time Social Media

First, I hope you vote today!

Did you know that Facebook is doing real time tracking of voting today? John Haydon, who is a social media specialist that I have referenced numerous times, has a great brief video showing you what Facebook is up to. After viewing it, think how you can use the demographic information provided by Facebook to better target your audience and to better engage with them.

Google+

Google+ (Google Plus) is Google’s newest foray into social media. The service is about a month old and is still being rolled out on an invitation only basis. It took me a few weeks before I received an invitation for it. It’s now over 20 million users. I, like most others, are kicking the tires to see what it really does. Some think it might be a Facebook killer. Others think it will be the new form du jour of blogging.

I like how you can place people into Circles. Google+ Circles are similar to categorizing your Facebook friends with labels. Hangouts are where you can do group video chats. Google+ integrates your Google tools, like Picasa, into its service.

Marc Pitman has a nice write up why your nonprofit should consider Google+. Here is a cheat sheet with Google+ tips. Mashable has a Complete Google+ guide that is helpful, too.

Here’s a video from Google about the service.

Is Google Plus a Facebook killer? I don’t know yet. Are you using it? Let us know your reaction.

Update (3 p.m. 7/25/11): I came across an additional Google+ best practices resource for nonprofits that I needed to share with you.

Statistics About.Me

What happens when you want to give someone your social media contact information for multiple social media accounts? What happens if you want to see stats on your social media accounts all in one place? Then About.me is a tool for you. Think of it as your social media business card.

It’s a free tool that allows you to post your social media account links and url and rss feeds all on one page. It than provides you with statistics on those who see your page(s), where they come from and what they do on the pages.

They have some fun pre-made templates you may use, or you can upload your own. You may see the one I made by clicking here: about.me/davethecfre.

Here’s a video on how to use it.

If you have an about.me page, please share a link to it in the comments section for others to see and connect with you.

Instant Gratification on Your Phone

According to a new report by TNS Digital Media, using social media is the thing people spend the most time on when they’re using their smartphones. The report found that 4.6 hours are spent on social media per week while 4.4 hours are spent on email.

If you are the 1 in 3 Americans using a smart phone, how are you spending your time on the phone?

If you’re an information geek like me, I recommend that you watch the demo on TNS Digital Media. You’ll really enjoy it.

93 or 7?

Did you know that 93% of charities have a Facebook page? A new study by the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth Center for Marketing Research also found that 97% of large charities have a Facebook page as of 2009. The study found that charities adopted social media faster and the adoption was more widespread than for-profit use.

Other facts uncovered in the study:

1. 90% of charities had Twitter accounts
2. 65% had blogs
3. 36% had LinkedIn pages
4. 30% had MySpace pages

So are you part of the 93% with a page or 7% without?

Time

A new report from Nielsen finds that social networking is now the #1 thing people do online. Almost one quarter of time spent on the computer is for social networking. That’s a 43% jump in time spent on social networking in just one year.

How much time have you spent on social media yourself? How much time do you spend managing your agency’s social media presence? This should be a wake-up call to make sure you’re connecting with your current and potential constituents who go online for information.

Embracing Social Media Presentation from the 2009 Arc of the US Convention

I am happy to say the Embracing Social Media presentation was well attended (standing room only!) and we had some great questions and insights from audience members.

The slides and video from the presentation can be found below. If you are a regular reader of this blog you have seen this video before.

The Arc of the US Convention – 2009 Edition

Did you know that The Arc’s convention will have a session on Social Media from 1:30 PM to 3:00 PM on Friday, November 13?

Embracing Social Media (C)
Presenters: Ms. Stacy Monaghan, Online Advocacy Manager, The Arc of the United States; Mr. Jon Erickson, Ms. Kristin Erickson, Parlerai, Inc., Scituate, MA

This presentation will cover an overview of the top social media sites (i.e. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube) and answer the question “Why bother?” The session will also address how chapters can make these sites work for them, as well as see how The Arc of the United States is making use of social networking to further our mission. An example of how one family is using social networking and technology to support their daughter’s service coordination will also be highlighted.

If you haven’t done so, please sign up at the convention website.

I’ll be there and hope you will be, too!

Megaphones

Seth Godin, a marketing guru, wrote a post recently titled “The Problem With Non”. It details the noticeable lack of nonprofit organizations that are in the top 100 list of Twitter users. As nonprofit organizations, we should be at the absolute top of the list. Social media tools, such as Twitter are free resources that allows you to post information, news, comments and links in real time. It’s a free megaphone that has been handed to you! So why are you broadcasting?

Are you using your megaphone?

Here are some key questions to consider when looking at how you use social media -

Why are you using social media like Twitter, Facebook, etc.?
What is the goal of each of your social media tools?
What information is being posted?
How often do you update your posts?
Who is your targeted audience?
Have you engaged the people who are commentators, followers or fans on your social media sites?
Have you seen any outcomes or changes as a result of your social media efforts?

If you have additional questions that should be on this list, please let us know in the comments section.