Smartphones, smartphones, smartphones. That's what's hot!!!

Smartphone users are using their mobile browsers to network on Facebook and Twitter. ComScore, a web metric reporting firm reported that there was an 8 percent jump in the usage of social networks using Smartphones in January 2010.

Facebook access through a mobile browser jumped to 112% and Twitter saw a 347% increase in mobile browser based access when compared to previous year's usage.

Now although Mark Donovan, senior VP of mobile at ComScore, thinks that this jump is attributed to the fact that since mobile users are constantly in touch with their network via phone, text, and email, networking on social networks is a natural next step.
 
See, now that's where I think differently. It's not just that people communicate with their circle of friends using mobile phones more and more. I think it's happening because smartphones are a great time-filler. I mean have you of late found yourself getting annoyed when someone's late? Instead, don't you just breathe a sigh of relief and think "oh, thank god, now I can go tweet"?

I know what I do when someone's late; I whip out my smartphone and first I check email, then I log on to my yahoo chat, then I go visit Twitter to read and tweet. The next thing I know, my late appointment shows up and all the fun ends. LOL
 

I still would advise my kids to not gripe on a public forum about any of their teachers. Nor I would be let them join any "I hate Joe Schmoe" group, you know the Facebook groups that kids set up when they decide to pick on a peer?

But kids who do engage in such activities online are perhaps rejoicing after hearing that a federal magistrate ruled that a student who created a Facebook page to complain about her teacher was protected under the 1st amendment. Apparently in 2007, a senior named Katie Evans said this about her teacher "the worst teacher I've ever met". She took down the page a few days, got suspended by the school's principal, and got moved from her advanced placement classes to regular classes. The principal got sued and the magistrate ruled that the suspension was unconstitutional AND asked the principal to compensate the student who was "wrongly" suspended.

Huh!!!
 
I think there's something wrong with this whole thought process. Let's see how it plays out in future cases.

Since Google Buzz's launch a few days ago, most people opined that Google's newest plan to engage in the social networking arena was to give Facebook and Twitter a run for their money. But Google VP of product management, Bradley Horowitz, assured critics & others that that was not their plan. Hmmmm…..

He said that Google's Buzz is focusing on creating "conversation" which is missing in most other social networks.

Double hmmm!
 
Horowitz emphasized that for Google's  Buzz conversation and engagement was the focus and it wasn't just about checking or updating status like people do on Facebook or Twitter. Google also plans to create services around that engagement and interaction.
 
OKAY! So the Buzz is different according to Google. But I just don't see the difference yet; at least not from the standpoint of engagement. I engage with people on Twitter. I do a lot more engagement with people on Facebook than I do on Twitter. I've checked out Google's Buzz and I see the same kind of opportunity to engage. Except now I can stay on the Buzz and also email people.

Anyone want to enlighten me as to what I'm missing that's so special about the Buzz that it fills a "market need"?

So Facebook was a bit unaccessible yesterday. I read people complaining on Twitter and other sites about how frustrated they were that Facebook wasn't loading or had a lot of errors.

Hello!!! People! What's wrong with this picture?

Social networks are there to help us have fun and connect and interact so that we have fun in our lives. But our life should not become so dependent on social networks that their unavailability makes us frustrated and angry. I personally find it quite funny that people were complaining about their time being wasted because they couldn't get on Facebook and someone actually threatened to cancel their account if Facebook didn't get their act together.

If Facebook's down, pick up the phone and call your friends and family. spend some time with a family member. Aren't we missing the point here if our life is going to get stressed out over online networking?

Pleaserobme.com is a social media website "listing all those empty homes out there". The website aggregates all Twitter tweets which have location based information or information telling others that the user is not home. The website explains its purpose with this little explanation in their "Why" section:

"The danger is publicly telling people where you are. This is because it leaves one place you're definitely not… home. So here we are; on one end we're leaving lights on when we're going on a holiday, and on the other we're telling everybody on the internet we're not home."
 
Here are some recent feeds from the site; although I've protected them by leaving out the tweeter's information:

• @xxx I'm at http://4sq.com/9i…..

NetWitness, a Northern Virginia security firm found that between 2008 to January 2010, over 75,000 computers in 2,500 or so firms across the US and the world were attacked by cyber criminals. NetWitness states that these attacks targeted corporate data, credit card information, and other sensitive information at health and technology companies in 196 countries including the US, Mexico, and the Middle East.

A NetWitness engineer discovered the intrusion last month and learned that the hackers lured employees to download infected emails or software which when downloaded allowed the hackers to take over the computers, scrape the passwords, and use that data to login other systems.

What this report highlights is the need for more robust security software for companies and individuals. The hackers are getting more and more sophisticated and its time for all of us to really get focused on online security.

Is your birth date on your Facebook or another social network profile? How about your school or hometown information? And are you one of those individuals who also uses private/personal information as an answer to security questions for online banking and online accounts? Are you getting where I'm going with this?
 
Cyber criminals can harvest all this information from your profiles if you are not hiding these private details from strangers. Also note that you face risk even if you are sharing this information only with friend if the friend's account gets compromised.

So how can you protect yourself?
 
Check your privacy settings. Determine who is allowed to view what information. Hide details from everyone who doesn't need to know personalized information. Be careful about adding people whom you don't know as friends. Think before you share any private information online including vacation plans, dinner out plans, and anything that compromise your security.

When was the last time you checked your Facebook privacy settings? I checked mine settings again today. Make this a recurring task on your calendar to make sure that any new additions to your friends or followers are thoroughly checked and your information remains as private as possible.

Identity threat is real. Cyber criminals are combing online websites to find their next victim. Don't become one.

If you have a Facebook account, you know how fun it is to get connected to friends and family, how easy it is to share information and photos, and essentially stay connected to others, right?

Well, all this "sharing" is making Facebook a huge traffic source for information. Compete Inc, which is a web measurement firm reports that Facebook has bypassed Google to become the top source for traffic. I don't know about Facebook bypassing Google but it certainly appears to be a site from which I personally click on a lot of links to go find information. When a friend posts something on Facebook that is interesting, and it contains a link, how often do you click on that link? I know that I do and I also share it with my friends when it is especially interesting.

So is Facebook now the new "search engine"? Well if others do what I do and if people are indeed going from Facebook to other sites, the I can see how Facebook can become the new version of an informational search engine. So instead of just being a portal to connect friends and businesses, Facebook is perhaps a great information source too.

On a closing note, did you know that recently Facebook reported that it has 400 million active members!  If you are a business NOT yet on Facebook, can you calculate the lost opportunity cost?
 

Talk to a business owner about online marketing and immediately the questions come in the form of:

"How will I know it works?"

"How many fans and followers will I have on Facebook and Twitter?"

"Will you promise traffic?"

"What is my ROI on this?"

"It all appears too fuzzy"
 
Hmmm! That's what I say, hmmmm!

Ok so measurement is important. I mean it makes sense to count followers and to count fans and to diligently review traffic reports if only to justify that the money being spent is showing results. I'm all for results.

But really is the end-game all about "counting" fans and followers?
 
What does matter then?

I say quality balanced with quantity counts. Quality of content!

Engage with people. Participate in what they are interested in. Publish interesting content in the form of comments that actually make sense. Ask questions. Ask for feedback. Also recommend others to your followers. And follow people back.  So I say, measure traffic, measure followers, measure fans on Facebook but at the end of the day look at how you are influencing rather than just "being there".

Quantity is important but quality is more important.
 

Let's do the math:

• Approximately 400 million users on Facebook – most are active users
• Approximately 75 million Twitter users of which about 15 million are active Twitter users
• Approximately 60 million LinkedIn users

(Note: I didn't do the research to come up with the statistics. These came from smarter people who love digging into data)

So why are you NOT on social networks?
 
Are these your reasons?

"Ah, our industry doesn't have too many computer savvy people"

"Advertising provides us really good ROI, no point in changing what works"

"No one searches on Facebook, isn't that just for family stuff?"

"We spend about $60K in trade shows and industry publication and it works".

"No time."

"Can't afford it"
 
Let me summarize the lost opportunity cost as follows:

• If your competition is on Facebook and you aren't, guess who'll get the inquiry when a need arises?
   
• If you aren't found on the first page of Google, Yahoo or Bing but your competition is, no question about who'll snag that client.
   
• If you aren't engaging with your constituents, guess who'll get the edge? Yep, your competitor who is engaging.
   
• If you aren't listening to conversations about your company's products, calculate how much you will be spending on damage control.

Get online. Get engaged. Listen to conversations about your brand.