I’ve seen the differing statistics and listened to the idle chatter about how under 10% of the users on twitter create over 80% of the content on the service. We all know that the 90/10 rules seems to be deeply embedded in all things online, 10% lead and 90% follow. Some sources site a slightly different rule of 80/20, but not matter which one you subscribe to there are always many more followers then leaders.

A new survey shows that just 7% of the U.S. population use Twitter. I would have thought it would have been a larger number but twitter does demand a rethinking of how you communicate and many might not want to wrap their brain around that new way. MarketingProfs has the whole analysis of the new survey in today’s blog post. Twitter Catches Up With Facebook in Awareness It is a wealth of great info, check it out.

When I talk with clients about Video most freak out telling me maybe some other time. The fear they express comes from the unknown so I show them examples to ease that fear. Today I ran across a video that does everything right. Remember this is video on the web I’m talking about not a cinematic masterpiece.

Video on your website needs to be short, I’d say around 2 minutes is a good benchmark and the video needs to have a purpose that engages the viewer.

Jim Lahey Reviews The New Domino’s Pizza from Ozersky.TV on Vimeo.

A while back ( Jan 2010) I shared a video from Domino’s introducing their new pizza and talked about how they nailed the presentation. I liked the new pizza and I like the above interview. Go figure….

Over my first cup of coffee this morning I read a couple of articles about Google rolling out its new search feature that adds almost instant results from Twitter, Facebook, Google News and other resources to your search results.

My first thought was oh no now people will see a bunch of crap but I soon realized the results are not part of normal search and that the user must choose to view Real-Time results. I have not seen any figures on how many people click on the specialized search options within Google or any other search engine and for that reason I can’t say how this may or may not disrupt the carefully crafted optimization of websites using SEO to place their sites higher up on search engine result pages (SERP). I do however think at this moment business users and nonprofits need not panic, for companies actively involved in SEO/SEM this may be something to add to your tool box and viewed as an additional opportunity to be seen.

Some people see Twitter and social media as a Siren Call actively seducing your business  into the cliffs and causing certain destruction, I don’t share this view. Twitter and other media properties are more like a huge crowd on the beach waving to you as you sail by, there really is no seduction going on just a huge roar with lots of flailing arms trying to get your attention. If you or your SEO firm use their handy spy glass you can find the gems amongst the teaming crowd, you can part the din to find what offers you the most value and helps bring success to your business or nonprofit.

Try tweeting during business and dinner hours for both the East and West Coast in the US and similar times in other regions of the globe. If search engines are really tuning into Real-Time tweets and its ilk then this is where you stand to get your best return for effort. Try blogging  in the US. between 9:00 and 10:00 AM East Coast time and then tweet and tweet again at 12:15 PM to catch the East Coast lunch crowd, follow upon that will tweets at 4:00 and 6:00 PM Eastern and then monitor traffic and mentions for a week remembering to monitor Latest Results in Google

UPDATE:  Ok I jumped the fence on some of my remarks above. today I see a real time window for Latest Results in the middle of the SERP’s, and it appears that the more popular the event or news the faster the small window scrolls. People not interested in these type of results will quickly learn to skip them and keep their attention on the search task at hand. The new results will distract people who want to be distracted.

Sidewiki is Google’s new addition to their browser toolbar and it has so far caused a firestorm of Fear and Loathing within the blogging community. Some are up in arms over how this tool might hi-jack company or personal brands and others (myself included) see a huge potential for abuse by individuals and groups but also a huge opportunity to increase transparency within the web. Where Sidewiki will end up is anyone’s guess. Copyright and privacy issues will no doubt be slammed about in the coming months. check out Google’s Sidewiki home page and also Sean Carton’s take on the whole thing.

Frimtropolis is the word that comes to mind as I read results from the Helsinki Institute’s recent release mobile microbloggers struggle to make their postings interesting I would in reviewing the new study from the group of the Helsinki Institute for Information Technology HIIT, Google and Elisa caution readers that they looked only at one microblog and one that seems out of everyday reach for most people “Jaiku.”

Micro Blogging encompasses dozens and dozens of online services such at Twitter, Posterous, Tumblr and the many online groups making up Ning and Mixx. Micro Blogging is huge for all those people who wish to express social and commercial views but don’t have the time to spend hours each day researching and writing about a niche.

As I write the full version has yet to be released to the public, still questions already arise about the study and the conclusions they have made public so far. 1. Why study a micro blog not available to the general public?  2. do people really use micro blogging in hopes of getting comments or are there other reasons, like driving people to websites and connecting with people through direct messaging. 3. do people really need to invest a significant amount of time to have a successful presence?

Digital cameras and blogs are meant for each other and when you put the camera into something like an iPhone you have created the possibility of a roving band of branders. You read correctly a “roving band of branders”

Ask yourself, how can I capture attractive or funny views my products being presented on the street?  The obvious answer is empower your employees to take pictures from the street. Add incentives to the activity of gathering photos being displayed in stores, vendors carts or even a photo of a photo from a magazine stand.

Jump into the role as Hip Maven or Street Crier and get your business noticed by a whole new set of customers. If your wondering how this would help your business if you only offer services and not physical products, well I have the answer for that.

Tokyo Fashion is a simple site that holds a huge example of what is possible with a cheap camera or iPhone in the pocket of employees.  They go out and snap pictures of people on the street, ask a few questions and put it together on their website. The Street Fashion section pulls in people interested in the subject and gives cred to their blog and editorial endeavours.

You too can create a photo section on your website that is relevant to your business even if that business is service oriented. Cobbling together something that is immediate will draw attention. Mashing a few ideas into a regular presentation can push your business into the stratosphere.

Adobe announced yesterday that they are acquiring Omniture for 1.8 billion US. dollars. Their announcement “”Adobe customers are looking to us for solutions to deliver engaging experiences and more effectively monetize their content and applications online,” left me scratching my head and wondering where I could find more information. stifling

At first blush it would seem Adobe is going to integrate monetization into the creative, here is what they said “merge the “art” of developing and delivering content with the “science” of measuring the impact of that content.” Now we all know content is product consisting of pictures, video, websites, code and digital creations. If you merge analytic concideration into the creative process do you end up creating nothing more then “mass art?” I wonder.

Digging even deeper into what this could mean I see a row of employees sitting in cubicals plying their very expensive and formaly prized Masters in Fine Arts in the service of corporate oversite, everything they create for advertisers and media buyers, everything product designers and artists rangle from their creative interior is fed into a series of Analytic Funnels to make sure it is loved by the largest number of people, then and only then will it be seen by the public.

Could this mean all Creativity will be judged by public opinion before it sees the light of day? Will some little man walk between each cubical stopping just long enough to say yea or nay, basing his total decision on monetary value, shoving aside insight, vision and genus for a few extra shillings?

Is this the herald of the dark many artists have dreamed about in their lean moments? Maybe our only defense is tapping the creative spirit and just say no to Analytic Funnels. I can hear the cogs grinding in Corporate America right now…Can you?

Source:  http://bit.ly/1AEbHM

It was no surprise over the last couple of weeks to see stories from the news media about how adults are using Twitter more then young people. Articles like the one in the NYT today Adults Have Fueled Twitter lay out the details to the new surveys and will go further into it on Wednesday.

In the coming days and weeks the statistics will continue to dribble out, and a picture will be painted of the why. Why adults have adopted Twitter seems like a no-brainier  to me. Twitter offers an opportunity to share ideas and news about your  business and life without having to pay the high maintenance costs that other Social Media sites charge. It is a safe assumption to make that adults have significantly less time to spend in the online world and would love to be part of it, love to tap in to its potential without having to spend hours and hours every week pruning and fertilizing their online presence.

Nielsen has the definitive charts and graphs showing how 84% of Twitter’s users are over 25, check it out when you get a second. And if you are not integrating your business or personal web presence with Twitter by now, why not? Search engine optimization and marketing are much more then just making sure your title tag and keywords get you noticed, SEO/SEM are an ongoing active endeavor and Twitter should be part of your daily tactics.

This all reminds me, I haven’t Twittered yet today…… Have you?

@RT is popping up everywhere on Twitter but some people are confused as to its possible commerical or social value. Question like “what do I Re-Tweet” or “what time should I Re-Tweet” abound in emails and forums around the web. Well to the rescue is Dan Zarrella, he has put together an information packed slide show on just this subject. The slide show is titled How To Get Re Tweeted? You can watch it below, I do suggest watching it full screen. Enjoy!

• added some thoughts about blogging for money and radical transparency to my blog http://www.organichatseo.com #
• posted a new flash story on my blog, Wash The Bowl titled Notes From Purgatory, http://ping.fm/O5SzI #

Finding followers on Twitter is not a hard thing to do, however it can be daunting to find followers who are motivated and interested in what you are Tweeting about. I came across a new advertising site that puts a banner with your twitter profile on web sites that develops apps or are some how connected with the twitter community.

At Featured Users you can get started for just 10.00, this will get you 1000 impressions. I just signed up and will pass on my results in the near future. To the left is an example of how the ad might look on a web site.  It also might show up in a long banner depending on how each site is set up to receive the ads.

The advertising company gives you access to statistics of impressions and of click through numbers. You will notice that at the bottom of the ad it has a location. Featured Users tries to serve up most of your ads using the GEO location of your Twitter Profile, this could be a real benefit for many bloggers and businesses.

UPDATE:   Seems the results are in the -2% for click through, now this may not be a bad number but you do want to make sure that the people clicking at that rate are motivated or interested in your product or service. Make sure what your offer coincides with the the blog you are advertising on. Hint:  people on a tech blog may not have a huge interest in reading your fiction pieces.