An article in PC World caught my attention this week, and since my full name is Jason, I'd love to say that it printed an article about what a great year this was for me. Alas, that's not the case. The year 2009 became the year of the social network (or Just Another SOcial Network, as the disbelievers like to refer to social media). As PC World points out, social networks became more than just a way to keep your friends up to date on what store you shopped at or the crochet set you bought grandma for her birthday. Social networks, like Facebook and Twitter, became a popular and credible way to deliver news and market products. Think back over the year, if you will. How did you find out about Michael Jackson dying? Where did you hear about the plane crash in the Hudson River? How did you keep up with the election in Iran? Chances are, Facebook and Twitter are the answers to those questions and more when it came to the big events of 2009.
I know they are for me. I heard about the passing of Michael Jackson and the Miracle on the Hudson from Facebook. Twitter kept me updated on the broiling situation in Iran over the summer. Never before had I considered these sites to be sources of breaking news and ongoing situations. I'm sure a lot of us felt that way. But it seems fitting, doesn't it? It seems like people are finally figuring out the huge potential social networks hold for content distribution, serious discussion and keeping people informed. As the article in PC World points out:
Earlier this fall, for instance, Facebook logged its 350 millionth user. And this summer, Nielsen Co. reported that In April, Facebook users spent 13.9 billion minutes on the site, 700% more than the year-earlier total of 1.7 billion minutes.
And Twitter hasn't been a shrinking violet in the social networking scene in 2009. In March, for example, the number of U.S. visitors to the site increased by 131% just from February, according to online researcher comScore Inc. And Experian Hitwise, an Internet monitoring firm reported this fall that Twitter's September traffic increased by 1170% compared to year-earlier month.
Those number seem staggering? They should. Imagine, 350 million people. That's more than seven times the population of some countries. Eat that, Luxembourg. The increase in traffic is pretty shocking, as well. It should be no wonder, then, why companies are adopting social media as a new, effective way to reach people. Think about a mass message you're likely to see during a commercial break. How many people does it reach in this age of TiVo and DVR technology? I'll be so bold as to estimate that it does not have the potential to reach 350 million people. Social media sites, Facebook specifically, do have that potential. And while it's not likely that companies are going to reach all 350 million users by adopting a social media strategy, what's important here is that the potential for reaching as many of those people as possible exists, and it exists through more targeted means than mass commercial messages.
The adoption of social media sites by regular people as a way to share news has validated the very real opportunities that lie in social networking for businesses. After all, if people feel the need to share news, why not share products, too? While, as PC World points out, a small number of companies have implemented social media strategies, that number is starting to grow. We have the breakthrough year of 2009 to thank for that.
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