Two things that I enjoy are Twitter and an occasional boxing match.

These two items are coming together next Tuesday in the form of a Twitter Party.

Check it out.

“It has become appallingly obvious that our technology has exceeded our humanity.”

-Albert Einstein

And then I said “Louis, you know better than that.”  I could have worked this quote in to fit into this post, but truth be known – Einstein made this comment in regards to the Atomic bomb This is a great example of media literacy.

Social Media has not reached any obvious compromise to our humanity, or will have an immediate and destructive impact  that such pithy statements need be said.

So, just what Albert Einstein say about Social Media?  Maybe, “Eureka! eureka!”

The Google Suggested User List reads like the typical San Francisco Bay Area tech firm’s view of the World: most of the “interesting and famous people” are white, and if they’re black, they’re male rappers or athletes. Hello, Snoop Dog, Chamillionaire, 50 Cent, Dwight Howard, and Floyd Mayweather!

I guess black women just don’t exist. Or maybe Google has issues with the presentation of black women on the list? It’s certainly not because there are no notable black women using Google+ – the problem is Google doesn’t think they’re notable.

Something’s wrong, and it’s not with them, it’s with Google.

What can you do about it? Participate.
Social media provides so many channels of participation, that you can literally tell Google how you feel and the people involved in the decision making process.

Bradley Horowitz, is the man in charge of steering how this list takes shape, and it sounds like he is all ears.

Go over, tell him who you are and how you feel.

In politics, there’s a term – even an organization - built around this.  In business, there may not be an organizational body to fact check, but there is usually a way to determine what you are reading or hearing is true or slightly skewed.

Recently, I came across a few social media studies that had similar topics, but different conclusions – and with the data to back them up!  I could not help but wonder if there were vested interests involved.  Following below, is what I came across.

1. Is social media use increasing or decreasing?
Last week, Pew Internet headlined that “65% of online adults use social networking sites” (.pdf). Interestingly, earlier in the same week Gartner released a study that consumers are “Fatigued with Social Media.”

2. On Twitter, do consumers talk more negatively or more positively about brands?
I compared these two studies about how consumers interact with brands on Twitter.  One report stated that most consumers react negatively, while the other claimed the opposite.  Both reports were published within weeks of one another.

3. Who drives more social media traffic – StumbleUpon or Twitter?
Game changing news came out about how Twitter revamped how their referral traffic can be analyzed on Wednesday the 19th (more reader friendly version here).  This move has the potential to significantly increase their referral traffic numbers, yet on the same day news lands about StumbleUpon being the number one social media traffic generator.

Coincidence?

In the first example, we see that Gartner is very specific with their inquiry: “…with the aim of examining usage trends and how enthusiastic users were about social media in general across a range of countries,”  and zeros in on very specific segments: some users in certain segments are showing “social media fatigue.”  Pew, however seemed to use open-ended questions and asked users to respond with one word answers.   In the second example, clearly it is how the information was gathered that may account for the disparity in conclusions.  And the third, is just a  matter of timing (the StumbleUpon report came out just when Twitter was just getting started with the “t.co” wrap, so there has not been much data to quantitatively support any conclusions).

What is interesting is that in each account the information represented is actually true.  But, because there may have been a desired outcome, the methods designed around those made for a self fulfilling prophecy.  In the end you only get a snapshot of the full picture.

A course in media literacy can help in identifying propaganda, rumors, and bias.  By training yourself to ask questions about what you hear, read and watch you will develop critical analyzation skills that will help you to form better conclusions.

What do you think?  Have you ever felt that something that you’ve read or heard was not the entire picture?  Let me know.

She recently produced the documentary called “The Harvest,” which “exposes the blatant exploitation of children who work in U.S. agriculture and feed America…It’s a sad fact that those who feed the most well-fed nation in the world often go to bed hungry. Many of the children are stuck in a cycle of poverty because of their obligations in the field [and] to their families, and many of these children are not able to break that cycle because they don’t have the chance or opportunity.”

Review of The Harvest.

The Harvest/La Cosecha – Theatrical Trailer from Shine Global on Vimeo.

Link to iTunes trailor.
Link to Vimeo trailor.

Speaking for myself, in the past I spent most of my time on Twitter, then blogging, then Facebook, just about in that order.  My guess-tamite is as follows: 50% Twitter, 20% blogging, 10% Facebook, 10 % mobile apps, and 5% all others (Gowalla, Meetup, LinkedIn, etc…).  Now, it’s more like 30% Twitter, 20% Facebook, 20% blogging, 30 % mobile apps, 0% Gowalla/Foursquare.

Twitter took the biggest hit being eclipsed by mobile apps.  Blogging and Facebook remain about the same, with increased FB usage.  I spend a lot more time with mobile apps these days.  Gowalla/Foursquare I haven’t used for months.

Also of interest is that I spend much less time “socializing” on social media now and more time producing content, researching and pursing interests, which may have everyone weirded out a bit especially on new networks where I don’t follow the usual suspects.

In summary, to say that I’m bored with social media may not be accurate…I’d say it has matured and evolved, and has become more specific.

I suspect that I’m not alone, so here’s what others had to say:

—-

Eduardo Gonzalez Loumiet

Patricio Quezada

Do you spend more time on social media today than a year ago or less?
More

What did you use in the past?  What do you use now?
A year ago, just Facebook and LinkedIn. Now I use Twitter, Fb, Yelp, Foursquare, LI, YouTube and Posterous, a blogging website.

Ok…so have those other networks taken time away from FB and Linkedin?
Yes, it has taken time away from it but instead of having the browser page open on the site with no input/output, I use Facebook and LinkedIn a little more critical now. I go in, do what I have to do and get off.

What’s a rough estimate of the time you spend on social networks?
Before: 75/25 for Facebook and LinkedIn.  Now: 40% Facebook, 10% LinkedIn, 5% Foursquare, 20% Twitter, 5% Yelp, 10% YouTube, 10% Posterous

Are you “bored” w/ social media?
No I’m not bored but I’m stagnant.

Lori Gama
Do you spend more time on social media today than a year ago or less?
Compared to a year ago, I spend more time now on social networking than I did before.

What did you use in the past? What do you use now?
I concentrate my time more in two Facebook groups I’m a member of and in Google+. These FB groups fulfill two important things in my life: they provide encouragement and support; and because we trust each other (because of the encouragement/support) we’re more likely to do business with each other.

I still check in on by my beloved Twitter community but because of Google+, I am currently spending less time in Twitter than I used to…

Google+ fulfills my personal intellectual needs. Lots of other nerds, geeks, techy types, bloggers and artists there, which is my kind of crowd.
Apps on my Droid make it more convenient to check in on Twitter, Google+ and Facebook while I’m on the go and I do use these apps more now than a year ago, though I’ve had a smartphone for five years now.

Are you “bored” w/ social media?
I’m never ever bored with social networking. I could do it for hours every day because I love people and love learning and love helping others. I think social networking was invented just for me!

Raquel Tomasino

Do you spend more time on social media today than a year ago or less?
Less Time.

What did you use in the past?  What do you use now?
Twitter and I have over 8,000 followers, Ning, Digg, FB, Linkedin, Fluther, Friendfeed, iHispanio, Hi5, Hispanicity, Home Based Business, Linkedin, Bebo, MySpace, QuePasa, Qoobole, Yelp.

Today, I follow and only connect to FB and Linkedin

Ok…so have those other networks taken time away from FB and Linkedin?
No, I think the opposite is true, FB & Linkedin are taking over as the preferred social sites for most people.

What’s a rough estimate of the time you spend on social networks?
Now: 60% Linkedin, 30% Facebook, 5% Twitter, 5% others

Are you “bored” w/ social media?
Nope, not bored, I just can’t keep up with it and hold a job at the same time, its overwhelming.

Facebook for example will see a 13.4% increase in US users according to eMarketer. Previous yearly growth was at 38.6% in 2010, and 90.3% in 2009. Twitter has dropped from 293% in 2009 to 26.3% this year and is expected to remain bearish.

This is all very normal as social media evolves and becomes more mature.

In another study conducted by Gartner asked over 6,000 people between the ages 0f 13 and 74 about their current social media habits and 24% of the respondents stated that they used their favorite social sites less, while 37% stated that they were using favorite social sites more.

“The trend shows some social media fatigue among early adopters, and the fact that 31% of Aspirers [younger, more mobile, brand-conscious consumers] indicated that they were getting bored with their social network is a situation that social media providers should monitor, as they will need to innovate and diversify to keep consumer attention,” said Brian Blau, research director at Gartner.

While some are casually summing up this trend as mere boredom there may be more to it than that.

“One of the biggest pushbacks I hear from people when I talk about how wonderful I think Google+ will be for business professionals is that they’re tired. They’re tired of joining a new social network. They’re tired of going through the dance of re-adding their friends and connections on yet another platform. They’re tired of having to think up even more content for yet another platform, after having finally committed to Facebook or Twitter or wherever else.” –Chris Brogan

If people are bored using social media, or are begrudged to sign up on new networks they may have found a home on sites like Instagram and Wattpad.

Following conventional wisdom of “social media boredom” when Instagram hit the mobile app scene you may have chalked them up as road kill.  But you would be dead wrong.  Instagram has signed up 5 Million users, or “625,000 users for every month they’ve been in existence.”  Wattpad, which is an eReading community and network has seen record growth of up to 300% and more still their android app had four times the growth this January than December last year.

Users lost to the big social media sites have shifted over to mobile applications and other social sites that have successfully zeroed in on specific interests.  Where these users specific passions were only stroked on traditional social media sites, they are now totally engorged on niche sites and apps.

If you are a brand or a business this is not terribly bad news, but a call for the creation of compelling content and unique approaches.  Social media users are getting more savvy and technical, and if your business is to stay in stride with its consumers then this should be a call to where social media is going.

Update 8/23/11 14:57: To better clarify the slow down of registrants on Twitter and Facebook, vs the Gartner poll of user habits the sentence “This is all very normal as social media evolves and becomes more mature” has been moved up to better distinguish the two ideas.  The statistics are a testament to the sheer size of these networks which has engulfed a very large amount of users and cannot sustain that kind of growth any longer because the pool of new users has run dry.  This is expected.  The Garnter poll however, shows us that a quarter of social media users have become bored and use these sites less.  My thoughts are that they have hopped over to new sites and apps as explained in the rest of this post.

Good news has dawned on us -  Twitter frickin’ ROCKS!!!

But, we all knew that.  Yet, we insisted to skinny dip in tall glasses of Facebook euphoria.  Even while on Twitter, we may have hindered our experiences by remaining reminiscent of Facebook.

They are different monsters through and through and Facebook is a great platform, but Twitter is going to have a new day w/ Brands. Maybe because FB is so much more tame that business that have warmed up to it first; Twitter may now demand a more serious look.

Enough.  And to the numbers:

In a recent report from Exact Target it’s been found that daily active Twitter users — AKA, the consumers who actually reach out to or follow brands via Twitter — are 3x more likely to amplify the influence of that brand than, say, a Facebook user would.

• 72% publish blog posts at least once a month
• 70% comment on others’ blog posts
• 61% write at least one product review a month
• 61% comment on news sites
• 56% write articles for third-party sites
• 53% post videos online
• 50% make contributions to wiki sites
• 48% share deals found through coupon forums

In essence: What happens on Twitter doesn’t stay on Twitter.

If that isn’t enough for you then hear this:  Twitter is the KING of referral traffic.  That’s right.

Here’s how that goes down…Twitter got fed up of 3rd party Twitter clients having their cake and eating it too, and pulled the rug from everyone’s feet by enforcing all referring traffic to have the t.co URL – that’s a Twitter URL vs a some 3rd party app like UberMedia.

Where as before, because it was only possible to track traffic coming from Twitters web interface, it was impossible to truly measure the impact Twitter brought through referrals. Going forward, you’ll begin to see the influence the entire Twitter ecosystem (and specific tweets) have on the traffic to your site.

I get it and support it, but that’s throwing wood in a blazing fireplace.

It’s a new day.  Twitter finally will get the respect that it deserves.

I didn’t win anything, but I feel somewhat like these folks in this video:

(Updated: 08/21/2011 10:52)

I’m often asked for permission to share content from my blog on other sites. And while I appreciate that very much I remind everyone that the site is quite open to the public domain.

So, I hereby resign any previous conversations and refer you to creative commons.  Extraneous situations can be resolved w/ an email.