Most Facebook users receive more from their Facebook friends than they give, according to a new study by the Pew Research Center that for the first time combines server logs of Facebook activity with survey data to explore the structure of Facebook friendship networks and measures of social well-being.

These data were then matched with survey responses. And the new findings show that over a one-month period:

• 40% of Facebook users in our sample made a friend request, but 63% received at least one request
• Users in our sample pressed the like button next to friends’ content an average of 14 times, but had their content “liked” an average of 20 times
• Users sent 9 personal messages, but received 12
• 12% of users tagged a friend in a photo, but 35% were themselves tagged in a photo

“The explanation for this pattern is fascinating for a couple of reasons,” noted Prof. Keith Hampton, the lead author of the Pew Internet report, Why most Facebook users get more than they give. “First, it turns out there are segments of Facebook power users who contribute much more content than the typical user.

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Eighty-three percent of these companies are active with Facebook, Twitter, Blogging or other social media platforms.

The adoption of blogs by the Inc. 500 has increased by 5% over last year. Meanwhile, there has been explosive growth in the use of Twitter and Facebook by these companies. These were among the key findings of the latest benchmarking study conducted by Nora Ganim Barnes, Ph.D., Director of the Center for Marketing Research at the University of Massachusetts Dartmouth and Research Chair of the Society for New Communications Research.

The new report is the outcome of a statistically valid study of the 2010 Inc. 500 list. The study examined these institutions to quantify their adoption of social media tools. This is the fourth year that Barnes has tracked social media usage by this sector, and it is the only methodologically sound longitudinal study of its kind with every company in the Inc. 500 included.

The research shows that:
Social networking continues to lead the way:

• 71% have corporate Facebook pages
• 59% have corporate accounts on the relatively new Twitter
• 50% have a public facing corporate blog
• 44% say Facebook is the single most effective social networking platform they use

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Members of American Express’ New LinkedIn User Group, Business Knowledge Share, Can Get Free Tips, Strategies Directly From Insiders at the Top Social Media Platforms

Courtesy of American Express, small businesses now have a brand new resource available to help them grow and succeed through social media. Officially launching today, “Social Media Show + Tell” resides within American Express’ newly created Business Knowledge Share enhanced LinkedIn user group. Through a series of “show and tell” videos available to members, representatives from the most popular digital and social platforms — starting with Facebook — explain how their tools can have a formidable impact on small businesses and empower business owners to maximize the potential of the growing digital landscape.

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A study released today by the Pew Research Center shows the share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers, which also jumped from 10% to 19% over the same time period.

The number of Americans owning at least one of these digital reading devices jumped from 18% in December to 29% in January.

These findings are striking because they come after a period from mid-2011 into the autumn in which there was not much change in the ownership of tablets and e-book readers. However, as the holiday gift-giving season approached, the marketplace for both devices dramatically shifted. In the tablet world, Amazon’s Kindle Fire and Barnes and Noble’s Nook Tablet were introduced at considerably cheaper prices than other tablets. In the e-book reader world, some versions of the Kindle and Nook and other readers fell well below $100.

About the Survey
These results come from ongoing surveys by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project aimed at tracking growth in the ownership of both devices. A pre-holiday survey was conducted among 2,986 people age 16 and older between November 16 and December 21, 2011,  and has a margin of error of +/- two percentage points. Telephone interviews for the pre-holiday survey were conducted in English and Spanish, by landline and cell phone. The post-holiday data come from the combined results of two surveys – one conducted January 5-8 among 1,000 adults age 18 and older and another conducted January 12-15 of 1,008 adults. The January surveys were conducted on landline and cell phones. They were conducted only in English. The combined surveys have a margin of error of +/- 2.4 percentage points.

For more information visit http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2012/E-readers-and-tablets.aspx

KEY FINDINGS: Tablet and e-book reader ownership surge in the holiday gift-giving period

The share of adults in the United States who own tablet computers nearly doubled from 10% to 19% between mid-December and early January and the same surge in growth also applied to e-book readers, which also jumped from 10% to 19% over the same time period.

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Brandman University’s online Master’s in Business Administration (MBA) program was one of fourteen named to the Honor Roll in the first-ever edition of Top Online Education Program rankings by U.S.News & World Report. Brandman University is the only institution in California to receive this distinction. In addition, Brandman’s School of Education earned the number ten spot among Faculty Credentials and Training for online graduate programs in Education.

Online bachelor’s degree programs as well as graduate online degree programs in business, engineering, nursing, education, and computer information technology were ranked. These rankings were created in response to today’s high demand for education provided in a flexible manner. With many distractions to detract from one’s schooling, online education has become increasingly popular due to its flexibility.

“U.S.News & World Report’s decision to include online programs in their rankings finally allows students the opportunity for an objective way to measure the quality of a program. These results represent the diligent efforts by the School of Business and Professional Studies and the School of Education and all of our Advising and One Stop staff who are dedicated to giving online students the same level of support as we provide to our on-campus students,” said Gary Brahm, Chancellor, Brandman University.

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The majority of teen social media users find online social networks to be “mostly kind” spaces, yet 88% have witnessed mean or cruel behavior there.

15% of social media-using teens say they have been the target of mean or cruel behavior on the sites.

Parents and peers serve as the most important influences and sources of advice on online safety issues.

As social media use has become pervasive in the lives of American teens, a new study by Pew finds that 69% of the teenagers who use social networking sites say their peers are mostly kind to one another on such sites. Still, 88% of these teens say they have witnessed people being mean and cruel to another person on the sites, and 15% report that they have been the target of mean or cruel behavior on social network sites.

Adult social network users are less likely to say they witness or experience this type of behavior, but they still report that it is prevalent: 69% of the adults who use social networking sites say they have seen people be mean and cruel to others on those sites.

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The Iowa Board of Regents has named Steven Leath the 15th president of Iowa State University today.

Leath’s appointment is effective Feb. 1, 2012.

“Dr. Leath has demonstrated extensive expertise in all areas that are critical to leading Iowa State University,” said Craig Lang, president of the Iowa Board of Regents. “His specific experience with university research and technology transfer, and their application to economic development, will be an invaluable resource in leading Iowa State and its many contributions to the state of Iowa, particularly for Iowa’s bioeconomy industry.”

Leath has been vice president for research and sponsored programs for the University of North Carolina system since 2007. He’s also interim vice president for academic planning. At North Carolina State, he held several positions, including associate dean of the College of Agriculture and Life Sciences and director of the NC Agricultural Research Service. He also was a research leader and plant pathologist with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Agricultural Research Service; and an extension plant pathologist at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

Leath helped develop the North Carolina Research Campus, a private-public venture that fosters advancements in biotechnology, nutrition and health.

He received three plant sciences degrees — a bachelor’s (1979) from The Pennsylvania State University, University Park; a master’s (1981) from the University of Delaware, Newark; and a doctorate in plant pathology (1984) from the University of Illinois.

Today the Nielsen Company released the Q3 – 2011 State of Social Media Report, a snapshot of the current social media landscape and audiences in the U.S. and other major markets. The report offers insights and provides some answers on exactly how powerful the influence of social media is on consumer behavior, both online and off.

The value of the time consumers spend online and on social networks and blogs continues to grow, the report shows, most visible through the influence on purchase decisions. For instance, 60 percent of people who use three or more digital means of research for product purchases learned about a specific brand or retailer from a social networking site.

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More than a quarter (28%) of all American adults use mobile or social location-based services of some kind. This includes anyone who takes part in one or more of the following activities:

28% of cell owners use phones to get directions or recommendations based on their current location—that works out to 23% of all adults.

A much smaller number (5% of cell owners, equaling 4% of all adults) use their phones to check in to locations using geosocial services such as Foursquare or Gowalla. Smartphone owners are especially likely to use these services on their phones, the study shows.

9% of internet users set up social media services such as Facebook, Twitter, or LinkedIn so that their location is automatically included in their posts on those services. That works out to 7% of all adults.

Taken together, 28% of U.S. adults do at least one of these activities either on a computer or using their mobile phones—and many users do several of them. These figures come from a new national survey by the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project

“Americans are not currently all that eager to share explicitly their location on social media sites, but they are taking advantage of their phones’ geolocation capabilities in other ways,” said Kathryn Zickuhr, Pew Internet Project research specialist and co-author of the report. “Smartphone owners are using their phones to get fast access to location-relevant information on-the-go.”

The report can be found online at http://www.pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Location/Overview.aspx

Fully 65% of adult internet users now say they use a social networking site like MySpace, Facebook or LinkedIn, up from 61% one year ago, according to new data released by the Pew Research Center. This marks the first time in Pew Internet surveys that 50% of all adults use social networking sites. The frequency of social networking site usage among young adult internet users under age 30 was stable over the last year – 61% of online Americans in that age cohort now use social networking sites on a typical day, compared with 60% one year ago. However, among the Boomer-aged segment of internet users ages 50-64, social networking site usage on a typical day grew a significant 60% (from 20% to 32%).

“The graying of social networking sites continues, but the oldest users are still far less likely to be making regular use of these tools,” said Mary Madden, Senior Research Specialist and co-author of the report. “While seniors are testing the waters, many Baby Boomers are beginning to make a trip to the social media pool part of their daily routine.”

In a separate question, when social networking users were asked for one word to describe their experiences using social networking sites, “good” was the most common response (as seen in this word cloud). Overall, positive responses far outweighed the negative and neutral words that were associated with social networking sites (more than half of the respondents used positive terms). Users repeatedly described their experiences as “fun,” “great,” “interesting” and “convenient.” Less common were superlatives such as “astounding,” “necessity,” and “empowering.”

To read the report visit http://pewinternet.org/Reports/2011/Social-Networking-Sites/Overview.aspx

Based on a recent Ipsos poll of over 2,000 U.S. adults, Betty White stands out as America’s favorite and most trusted personality, and the one whose endorsement of a company would be most likely to drive business.

Denzel Washington and Sandra Bullock Next in Popularity
Betty White gets the highest favorability rating among 100 well-known personalities with 86% of those surveyed expressing a favorable opinion of her (vs. only 3% an unfavorable one). The next most popular celebrities include Denzel Washington (rated favorably by 85%) and Sandra Bullock (84%). Also in the top 10 are: Clint Eastwood (83%), Tom Hanks (81%), Harrison Ford (80%), Kate Middleton – now the Duchess of Cambridge – (79%), Morgan Freeman (also 79%), Will Smith (77%), and Johnny Depp (76%).

Most of the 100 personalities rated in the survey come from the world of entertainment, news and sports. Elected officials were deliberately excluded from the list.

Paris Hilton and Charlie Sheen Most Unpopular Celebrities.
At the other end of the spectrum, only two of the 100 celebrities asked about were viewed unfavorably by an outright majority of respondents: Paris Hilton (with 60% expressing an unfavorable opinion of her vs. only 12% a favorable one) and Charlie Sheen (52% vs. 22%). The next most unpopular personalities among those rated are: Britney Spears and Kanye West (each of whom is viewed unfavorably by 45%), Arnold Schwarzenegger (44%), Tiger Woods (42%), Kim Kardashian (38%), Mel Gibson (33%), Donald Trump (31%), and LeBron James (29%). (more…)

Gartner Survey Highlights Consumer Fatigue with Social Media

There are signs of maturity in the social media market, as some users in certain segments are showing “social media fatigue”, according to a survey by Gartner, Inc. The survey reveals continued localization of usage, whereby certain country-specific social characteristics dictate preferences. However, large global brands such as Facebook are making headway in countries where they have not historically been strong. Gartner surveyed 6,295 respondents, between the ages of 13 and 74, in 11 developed and developing markets in December 2010 and January 2011. Consumers were asked about their use of and opinions about social media sites with the aim of examining usage trends and how enthusiastic users were about social media in general across a range of countries.

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CBS News debuted a new promo on the “Early Show” this morning.The 30-second spot poses the question: “What is original reporting?” and features short clips of the CBS news team — including “Evening News” anchor Scott Pelley and chief White House correspondent Norah O’Donnell — before flashing to archival clips of “60 Minutes,” as the voiceover says “It’s not like we invented original reporting on television. Oh, wait: yes, we did.”

Findings show college students feel helpless without technology—checking their devices at least every 10 minutes and foregoing face time for Facebook®

CourseSmart™ and Wakefield Research recently completed a survey of more than 500 currently enrolled college students, providing insight on how mobile devices and technology have changed the traditional college experience and the role technology plays in students’ academic abilities and success. Today’s students are truly carrying a digital backpack with nearly a quarter (27%) of students surveyed listing their laptop as the most important item in their bag—almost three times the number of students who chose textbooks (10%).

The findings further reveal that students are completely dependent on technologies—eReaders, Smartphones, laptops and more—to get through their daily college routine. Nearly all of the students surveyed (98%) own a digital device. And 38% of students surveyed said that they could not go more than 10 minutes without checking in with their tech device—about the same amount of time it takes to walk to class. Largely based on the fact that technology helps students learn more efficiently, 85% of students reported that technology saves them time when studying—an average of two hours per day.

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Earlier this year I conducted a study of Phoenix-area journalists regarding social media; among the findings was the heavy use of Facebook for information-gatering, searching for images and identifying potential sources for interviews. Facebook Journalist Program Managers Vadim Lavrusik and Betsy Cameron recently conducted a study looking at how people were engaging with Journalist Pages on Facebook, revealing more detailed insight into how journalists use Facebook to communicate.

“We hope that the findings, which focus on post dynamics, engagement and activity, will provide journalists with some best practices and insights on optimizing their engagement and distribution on Facebook to better reach their audiences,” they wrote in the blog sharing the results of that study. “We’ve also conducted research on how users are engaging with news organizations on Facebook and will be releasing the findings in the coming weeks. We hope that this serves as guide, but also a spark, for conversations about best practices in using Facebook as a journalist.”

Facebook Study Highlights:

• Starting the conversation: Posts that include a question or call to action from the journalist received the highest amount of feedback.
• Personal analysis is effective: Posts that included the journalist’s analysis and personal reflections had 20% more referral clicks than that of an average post.
• Images work: Photos received 50% more likes than non-photo posts, and journalists who shared links that included a thumbnail image in the link preview received 65% more likes and 50% more comments than posts that did not include images.

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84% of brands encourage user involvement with social advertising campaigns

The Pivot Conference today released findings from its industry survey of 230 brand managers, executives, and marketing professionals. The research, mainly conducted to reveal the interest in and utilization of Social Advertising, provided high-level insights into the state and future of the industry.

Presented by Editorial Director and Conference Producer Brian Solis, the research revealed that the future of advertising will be largely influenced by consumer behavior in social networks. “Those brands that listen, measure and evolve programs as a result, will push advertising forward—to the benefit of consumers and ultimately the brand,” according to Solis. “Those brands that are ready to move the industry ahead will be at Pivot.”

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NBC’s David Gregory to moderate a first-of-its-kind presidential debate in the first-in-the-nation primary state.

On the Sunday immediately before the New Hampshire Republican primary, NBC News’ “Meet the Press” and Facebook will present an innovative, multi-platform forum for the GOP presidential debate. In this unique venue, candidates will make their case to voters and viewers will be able to react and discuss within their online communities. The event will take place at 9 a.m. ET in the historic Chubb Theatre at the Capitol Center for the Arts in Concord,New Hampshire.

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Educational Value is Prime Consideration in Students’ College Enrollment Choice, Though Economy Still Weighs on Decisions, Study Finds

Even two years after the height of the recession, economic concerns continue to influence where students choose to enroll for college, forcing many into a school that was not their first choice, according to the latest research from Maguire Associates and Fastweb.com. Ultimately, though, the primary factor in students’ decisions is a combination of perceived educational quality and costs.

Nearly 2,400 high school seniors were surveyed in follow-up to the annual College Decision Impact Survey that was conducted in January for insights into the factors that were most important in determining where these students enrolled. Key factors included use of social media and reliance on schools’ individual net price calculators (NPCs), which all US colleges and universities will be required to provide on their websites by late October 2011.

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A new study from Pew Research Center, by Lee Rainie, Director, Pew Internet Project, Kristen Purcell, Associate Director, Research Pew Internet Project, Lauren Sessions Goulet, University of Pennsylvania, and Keith N. Hampton, University of Pennsylvania.

Questions have been raised about the social impact of widespread use of social networking sites (SNS) like Facebook, LinkedIn, MySpace, and Twitter. Do these technologies isolate people and truncate their relationships? Or are there benefits associated with being connected to others in this way? The Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project decided to examine SNS in a survey that explored people’s overall social networks and how use of these technologies is related to trust, tolerance, social support, and community and political engagement.

The findings presented here paint a rich and complex picture of the role that digital technology plays in people’s social worlds. Wherever possible, we seek to disentangle whether people’s varying social behaviors and attitudes are related to the different ways they use social networking sites, or to other relevant demographic characteristics, such as age, gender and social class. (more…)

The CBS Evening News With Scott Pelley debut week showed strong gains in households and viewers, according to Nielsen data.  Against the same week last year, the CBS broadcast increased in households (up +3%) and viewers (up +6%), according to Nielsen live plus same day ratings for the week ending June 10, 2011. Pelley replaces anchor Katie Couric.

“We are extremely pleased with the quality of the broadcast and delighted with the increase in viewers who tuned in to see the ‘CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley,’” said Patricia Shevlin, Executive Producer of the broadcast.

The CBS Evening News with Scott Pelley was also up a significant +9% year-to-year in Nielsen’s top ten American markets.

National Ratings, June 6-10, 2011 (Ages 25-54)
3.8 (HH)       8          5,743               1.3

Same Week Last Year (June 7-11, 2010)
3.7 (HH)       8          5,440               1.3

Have you been watching? What do you think of Pelley and the new tone he brings to CBS News?

Nearly every day I see organizations violating Facebook’s rules for promotion and it’s not just small businesses; major brands are executing Facebook schemes that could result in the company being banned from the site, which has started to crack down on violations.

Before you engage any promotion on Facebook you need to review the official promotion guidelines, but here are the basic rules you need to know about promotions on Facebook:

You must use a third-party application to manage any contest on Facebook, no matter how big or small the prize. What is a third-party application? Check out any of the following providers: Wildfire, Fanappz, Vitrue, BuddyMedia, Votigo, ContextOptional, BulbStorm, NorthSocial, Momentus Media, Friend2Friend or Strutta.

You can not use Facebook features or functionality as a promotion’s registration or entry mechanism. For example, liking a Page or checking in to a Place cannot automatically register or enter users into a promotion.

You can not require users to take any action using any Facebook features or functionality other than liking a Page, checking in to a Place, or connecting to your app. For example, you can not hold a contest that requires users to like a post, comment on a post, or upload a photo.

Facebook promotions are a very effective way to build up your fan base and generate buzz – just make sure you are following all guidelines or you risk your organization being banned from the site. Have questions about social media promotion? Contact me.

3TV (KTVK) and the station website, azfamily.com, are putting the power of giving in the hands of their Facebook fans. On May 30th 3TV launched a community service campaign utilizing social media to gather 20,000 bottles of water for The Salvation Army’s Extreme Heat and Hydration relief efforts. With every Facebook ‘like’ a bottle of water will be donated to the Salvation Army’s program, which is designed  to provide the valley’s homeless and elderly populations with bottled water during Arizona’s warm summer months.

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The Nielsen Company reports that the Oprah Winfrey Show drew a 13.3 household (HH) rating in the metered market overnight ratings. That was the show’s biggest overnight rating in 17 years. That compares to Monday’s 10.2 HH rating, and Tuesday’s 10.7 HH rating. For the week ending May 15, Oprah averaged a 5.4 HH rating and 7.345 million viewers. No official word from Nielsen on average viewership yet but it should be somewhere around 17-18 million viewers.

Here are some other numbers:
$2.7 billion: Her current net worth according to Forbes.

9 million: Number of people who watched each of her shows on average between September 2004 and September 2005 according to The Nielsen Company.

6.5 million: The average number of viewers who watched each show during her most recent season, a 27% drop.

294,000: The average number of people watching OWN during prime time, according to Nielsen.

$1 million: Cost of a 30-second ad on Oprah’s final show on May 25th. That’s half what advertisers paid for the Friends finale in 2004.

6.1 million: Number of followers Oprah has on Twitter (as of May 26).

826: Number of times Oprah has tweeted.

UberMedia announced today that they have teamed up with actor Aston Kutcher to create his very own Twitter client, named A.Plus (based on Kutcher’s Twitter handle). The free application is available now at APlus-app.com.

CEO Bill Gross said in his blog “we’re very excited to help Ashton create his very own Twitter client. It’s a Windows and Mac Desktop client that we think you will love. It has 8 channels curated personally by Ashton, and a killer live-preview functionality (with a built-in browser) so you can see the links contained inside of Tweets live as you browse.”

Ashton says, “What we’ve built is a social media surfing device with curated channels to enhance the discovery process of the real-time web. I hope people enjoy it as much as I do.”

Kutcher posted this video on YouTube, talking about A.Plus. Are you going to try it?

New “Toyota Friend” to Be Powered by Salesforce Chatter

Salesforce.com and Toyota Motor Corporation announced today that they have formed a strategic alliance to build “Toyota Friend”, a private social network for Toyota customers and their cars. Toyota Friend will be powered by Salesforce Chatter, a private social network used by businesses, and will be offered, first in Japan, initially with Toyota’s electric vehicles (EV) and plug-in hybrid vehicles (PHV) due in 2012.

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Even in today’s digital era, television news remains the most prevalent source of daily news for Americans, according to the Pew Research Center. A recent Pew study shows that television remains the dominant source of news; 58% of Americans say they watched the news or a news program on television yesterday, a percentage that has changed little over the past decade. Even so, local television stations must be innovative to remain competitive and there are some interesting adaptations happening in the Phoenix market.

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 May 17. On this day in 2006, the world lost a vibrant, beautiful woman named Lauren Hanavan. Her unexpected death from complications with diabetes was devastating. Like the rest of her family and friends, I miss her dearly. It’s hard to believe that it was five years ago. Lauren, who was a 23-year-old senior at UNLV in Las Vegas, was set to graduate and was applying to law school. She was also engaged to be married to Bryce Taylor, a UNLV graduate (and wonderful human being). UNLV graciously granted Lauren a posthumous degree and is working to establish a scholarship at UNLV in her name- if you would like to contribute please contact me. (more…)

Four new comedies, three new dramas and one new unscripted series join schedule

Today FOX unveiled the primetime schedule for the 2011-2012 television season to the national advertising community during its annual Programming Presentation at The New Beacon Theatre.

“Nothing impacts culture the way a television show does,” said Rice. “And here at FOX, we have the most talked about, most followed, most creative shows that build connections between viewers and brands.”

“Going into next year, we’ve rejuvenated American Idol, built a core strength across the week and developed a really fresh, creative new lineup for next season,” said Reilly. “From razor-sharp comedies to epic dramas to a massive talent competition series, I think we have the goods to continue to be pop culture’s most vibrant platform, as well as the top network.” (more…)

Search is becoming social with the addition of new social features announced by Bing today. The “decision engine” from Microsoft says bringing together the power of search and Facebook, people can now receive personalized search results based on the opinions of their friends simply by signing in to Facebook. New features, available today, make it easy to see what people’s Facebook friends like across the Web, incorporate the collective IQ of the Web into their decision-making and conduct conversational searches.

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