Strategically Communicating

Some girls in class have probably already heard about this but I wanted to share with the rest of you how cool this was. Last Wednesday my friend’s Chihuahua went missing. Within minutes, her and her roommates sent out text messages to all of their friends informing them of the situation and to keep an eye out for Moses. They formed a Facebook group that had a picture of Moses with the words MISSING and invited all of their friends. They also set their Facebook profile pictures to that same photo and updated their Twitter statuses. All of this happened in two hour time frame when Moses was returned to the girls by someone who saw them walking on the street and only recognized Moses from Facebook. It’s pretty amazing how effective social media can be when it is used right because it is a way to reach a large number of people in a quick amount of time.

http://mashable.com/2010/11/04/twitter-student-engagement/

I accidently found this article on BBC News, saying that the queen of Britain, Queen Elizabeth II, has launched that the British monarchy will join Facebook. I took me by surprise as I thought social media would not be appeal to the Queen’s generation – or the monachy at all! However, I was wrong! Actually, the British monarchy are very up-dated in terms of social media – read it for yourself:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11704599 

I cannot stop wondering if this is slightly odd? Is the monarchy or any other monarchy (as the Danish) just a “business” that needs to promote itself in order to stay popular? And why promote itself through social media when it is not allowed to have a voice politics?

What do you think?

As I was doing some research for another class I came across this really interesting analysis of how Americans are spending their time online. Surprisingly (or not) most consumers are devoting the majority of their internet time to their social networks and blogs. Guess this is a great incentive for us to keep up our hard work…there is an audience to capture, we just have to find the best way to reach them!

See it for yourself here…http://blog.nielsen.com/nielsenwire/online_mobile/what-americans-do-online-social-media-and-games-dominate-activity/

On Mashable I came across a very interesting article where a Facebook study was able to study trends in dating and break ups. While I think it is very interesting they were able to find a trend in the days, seasons and times of the year that people are breaking up, I find it also intriguing how Facebook status’ have played a role in many relationships.

What I have realized among my peers is that the “break up” Facebook status has become a way for many people to attract attention and sympathy from others. Facebook “friends,” whether they are true and strong friends out in the real world, respond with consoling words, inspiration for living the single life and advice to just keep your head up. What I find really interesting is that this social network has allowed for these comments to be public and available for others to see; whereas, if you were to call up a friend or meet a friend in person and tell them about your break up, only you and your friend will know what is said between the two of you.

Is this break up Facebook status posted just to update about your life, or is it a way to make your ex feel bad and jealous, or is it even designed as an announcement that you’re back on the market? Interesting…

http://mashable.com/2010/11/02/facebook-status-updates-breakups/

How to Use Blog Lists for Your Social Media Strategy

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It’s nice to read an article that supports the link between social networking and face-to-face social interaction. The article presents the results of a study by ExactTarget and CoTweet that counters many critic’s claims that time spent on twitter, Facebook, and other social networking sites take away from the social abilities of young adults. Check out the article and see what you think!

http://mashable.com/2010/10/28/social-media-report/