By Robert Lockard

Twitter has come a long way since 2007. It exploded in popularity in 2009, though it still has yet to reach the heights of either Facebook or MySpace in terms of monthly visitors. You can read more about this in my Submit Solution blog entry, “MySpace is 3 times as popular as Twitter.”

Not only has Twitter gone from having less than 1 million visitors a month to nearly 20 million, it has also improved its downtime. Alas, just like its number of visitors, Twitter is far worse than every other major social-media site in its total amount of downtime per year. It’s getting better, but Twitter still suffers from frequent crashes. Remember the big one earlier this year?

I read some fascinating analyses of Twitter’s downtime in two Royal Pingdom articles: “Twitter growing pains cause lots of downtime in 2007” and “Social network downtime in 2008.” Check out this chart of the major social-media sites’ downtime, in hours:

The good news for Twitter, as these Royal Pingdom articles point out, is that the vast majority (84 percent) of its downtime took place in the first half of 2008. That means the second half of 2008 was a vast improvement and it could mean Twitter is well on its way to getting up to Facebook’s and MySpace’s level.

Even if you combine the total downtime of Facebook and MySpace, Twitter was seven times longer than them. That’s quite amazing. Maybe it’s like I said in my last blog entry on Twitter – the company could be on the verge of proving itself as a real contender in the fight for dominance of social media.

Twitter has never really been known for its reliability, but it could soon change that image. I look forward to seeing 2009’s numbers to see how Twitter is improving.

This blog entry is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post, “Twitter downtime worse than other social media.” The Social Network Downtime graph is the copyright of Royal Pingdom.

By Robert Lockard

Twitter is insignificant compared to MySpace. That’s what I learned from comScore’s data on social media. Facebook is clearly the reigning champion of social media. That wasn’t much of a surprise, but the thing that really grabbed my attention is the fact that MySpace is a strong second while Twitter is barely in the running. Take a look at the graph below to see what I mean.

Isn’t that amazing? All we seem to hear about is Twitter this and Twitter that in the blogosphere, but I think the real story is Facebook and MySpace. From all the talk, or lack thereof, about MySpace, I thought the service was practically defunct. But it has three times as many visitors as Twitter and two-thirds the number of Facebook’s visitors.

MySpace doesn’t look weak in my eyes. In fact, it looks dominant compared to Twitter.

I found the above graph in the Chicago Tribune’s Business section on a page simply entitled, “Twitter vs. Facebook vs. MySpace.” The paper offered no commentary on the graph’s startling revelations, so I’m taking the liberty of doing so here in the Submit Solution Social Media Blog.

I would like to focus on three aspects of this graph: 1. Twitter’s and MySpace’s recent stagnation, 2. Facebook’s astonishing rise to the top spot, and 3. Social media’s revenue sources.

1. Both Twitter and MySpace are faltering

Both Twitter and MySpace have stagnated recently. However, MySpace was still above 60 million visitors in August, a barrier it crossed at the end of 2006 when Twitter was just starting out. Twitter, however, barely crossed over the 20-million mark after a meteoric rise in 2009, and then it started plateauing a little bit.

During the same time period in which MySpace has started dropping and Twitter has grown, Facebook has exploded in popularity, reaching 92.2 million visitors.

Facebook and MySpace seem to be performing well and have reached a much broader audience than Twitter. Perhaps over time Twitter will make up the difference, but I don’t see how that explains its disproportionate amount of attention in the media and blogosphere.

2. Facebook’s leap to the top

Over the past 18 or so months, Facebook has added more than 50 million visitors. That’s more than twice what Twitter has ever reached. Twitter added almost 20 million visitors in the course of eight or so months to reach its current level, but that still pales in comparison to Facebook’s rise. I think the real success story here is Facebook, while Twitter still needs to prove itself. That leads to my third point.

3. Twitter has no revenue source

Both MySpace and Facebook have pretty well-defined revenue sources. They depend on online advertising, as well as some clever services available to their visitors. Twitter hasn’t quite figured out how to generate revenue and strive for profitability, yet. It’s working on premium corporate accounts, but it’s still fairly untested and uncertain if that will work.

My point in all of this? Simply that Twitter seems like a new kid on the block that is getting lots of attention, even though it hasn’t really shown itself to have staying power.

What do you think? Is my line of thinking way off? Even though the numbers show Twitter to be small and insignificant compared to the other giants of social media, does it deserve all of the attention it’s getting?

This blog entry is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post, “Twitter: Social media’s underdog.” The graph is the copyright of Tribune Newspapers. Keep coming back to the Submit Solution Social Media Blog for more interesting discussions like this.

By Britnee Nguyen

According to a recent study, it was found that women use social media networks more than men. The study used Google Ad Planner numbers to find this interesting conclusion. The majority of social media users are women, but not all the networks are dominated by females. The one exception is Digg which has 64 percent of its users as men. LinkedIn, YouTube, deviantART and del.icio.us have about equal numbers when it comes to genders using their networks.

But in general, the social media world is dominated by women. Facebook and Twitter both account 57 percent of female users and Flickr has 55 percent. What does this information mean? Well, for one thing, if you are a business using social media and internet marketing to get more information out about your company, you’ll want to consider which outlet to use if you’re specifically targeting women or men.

This also shows that women’s stereotypical habits resonate through social media. When I think of social media, think of people who are regularly submitting their opinions and interesting things they found on the web and getting the latest gossip and news. Women tend to do the exact same things in person; they like to get the latest gossip and give their opinions and talk about interesting things they’ve found. It’s a huge generalization I’m making, but it does account to why maybe social media attracts more women than men.

Women being the more dominant force in social media should be a positive for most businesses. This is because 80 percent of women are the decision-making one in their household when it comes to buying power. The more that a business can convince women that they need their product, the more profits they’ll make. If they choose to use social media to reach women, then it is very easy to do so.

When it comes to reaching men it might be slightly more difficult, but still doable since a lot of men still use social media as well. Do your research before setting out on a social media marketing plan. Know who you are trying to target and which networks are the best to reach that target market, whether it’s women or men.

By Alyssa Udall (@udallyss)

Twitter, Facebook and other social networking sites have become a major tool for bloggers around the world.  These sites help bloggers increase awareness, loyalty and traffic to their blogs.  How do they do this?  By posting tweets that describe a certain blog post and include a shortened link in the update.  Here is an example of a tweet that was in my home stream this morning:

This type of update is called a teaser.  It entices your followers to click on your link to read more about whatever it is you’re talking about.  Your teasers should be carefully crafted in order to create the most effective tweets.

Here are some qualities of succesful twitter teasers:

They ask a question (i.e. “What’s the deal with Twitter Lists anyway?”)

They use strong words that catch the eye (i.e. vampire, CNN, H1N1, bacon… use your imagination!)

They talk directly to individuals (i.e. “Do you have a custom logo to brand your business?”

They’re weird, original, personal and quirky (i.e. anything that @s***mydadsays tweets about–[insert profanity warning here])

Once you start crafting some teasers and trying them out, you should keep track of which links receive the most clicks.  This will tell you how you’re doing and what type of teasers are most enticing to your followers. You can do this by using a third-party Twitter application like CoTweet or HootSuite, which use URL shorteners like bit.ly and ow.ly.

As a final tip, make sure you leave some space leftover in your teasers (including the link) so that your followers can retweet you.  When someone retweets you, your entire username (plus @ and “RT”) will need to fit in the tweet, so make sure your teasers are short enough to allow this!

By Robert Lockard

In the Wall Street Journal article, “Why Email No Longer Rules,” I found a fascinating argument against email and for social-media sites, like Twitter and Facebook. Email is on its way out as the primary means of sending online messages.

For a dozen years or so email was the freshest, easiest way to keep in touch with people over long distances without having to pay big phone bills. Now it’s old hat. Basically, the paradigm of online communication has changed and we’re all going to have to change with the times.

What do you think? Is it a good thing that email is being replaced by instant communications? I think it’s great for ecommerce. With the aid of instant messaging, tweets and wall posts, online marketers can serve their customers much better and faster than ever before.

Response times for online communication have shrunk from hours to minutes, to now just seconds. By responding to our customers’ needs at a rapid pace, we can increase our customer-retention rates and make sure the people we do business with feel valued and respected. We can also quickly identify and assist potential customers and other leads who visit our ecommerce websites.

I don’t think email will go away anytime soon, though. It’s still a great tool for holding somewhat private conversations away from the peering eyes of other Internet users. There is definitely something to be said for privacy and discretion online. We don’t want to reveal confidential information in public forums, but we want to have a positive presence on Twitter and Facebook. It’s a fine line we have to walk.

As search engines keep working harder to add social-media sites to their search results, the value of tweets and Facebook updates could increase. Just make sure your social-media communication points people to your website where people can actually make purchases and build your online rankings.

If you would like help getting a great website design, I recommend you contact Submit Solution’s professionals. They are extremely effective at delivering captivating website designs that help increase your conversion rate of visitors into customers.

This blog entry is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post, “Is email finished?” Keep coming back to the Submit Solution Social Media Blog for more exciting updates like this.

By Alyssa Udall (@udallyss)

Peer pressure, bullies, nicknames, cafeteria food… these are some of the things I recall when thinking of the American high school experience.  Is it possible that this dynamic we experienced in adolescence has permeated our new online socializing method, social media?!

Think about it: every social network has a method for gauging popularity or success (Friends, Followers, Karma, etc).  It is plausible that those who have few friends or followers would feel less important than those who have these lackeys in abundance.  Another example of this is peer pressure.  How many people have “persuaded” their friends or family members to join Facebook or Twitter because “everyone is doing it”?

Here are a couple prominent examples of classic bullying and peer pressure in the media:

PEER PRESSURE:  Facebook’s Reconnect Strategy

Facebook is looking to get less active users to “reconnect” and become more active.  Seems like a pretty good idea for a site won’t be growing utah social media marketing like crazy forever, and will soon need to focus on keeping their existing accounts.  How are they trying to reconnect people?  By posting a picture of one of your less active Facebook friends under the “suggestions” box with a caption that says: “Help make Facebook better for ____.  Write on his/her wall!”

Hmm… so Facebook’s strategy is to get people’s friends to pressure them back into Facebook activity?  From a business view, this is great.  From a personal view, I don’t like this very much.

BULLYING:  Apple vs. Microsoft Ads and Controversy

Sure, we’ve all had a laugh at Apple’s smooth commercials with the bumbling, outdated PC guy.  However, does Apple know where the line is and how close they are to crossing it?

One of the “Laptop Hunter” ads that Microsoft ran to combat Apple’s commercials features a girl saying, “maybe I’m just not cool enough,” when looking at the selection of Mac computers.  This suggests that Apple’s exclusivity and smooth advertising have created a persona of arrogance around its product image.  Apple’s ads directly targeting the incompetence of Microsoft’s new Windows 7, therefore, can be seen as merciless bullying.  Especially since Windows 7 is being received very well.

In discovering these connections in utah social media, it appears that wherever people are, there will be bullying, peer pressure and other behaviors typical in high school students.  Are these social issues inescapable?  Will they infiltrate every aspect of our existence?  Probably not.  It’s just interesting to notice these similarities.

By Robert Lockard

Have you heard? Google and Bing are adding new social-media search capabilities to their search engines in an attempt to keep up with these innovative websites. Bing already has a beta version of its new search engine designed specifically for Twitter results while Google is holding back at the moment.

Google and Microsoft are caught in an escalating fight over who will dominate the search-engine market for social-media sites like Twitter and Facebook. I read about this in the PC World article, “Real-Time Search: Google and Bing Rivalry Intensifies on Facebook and Twitter.” This article refers to the Google-Bing rivalry as a chess match. Quite an apt metaphor, in my opinion, because I love all of the strategy that goes into a seemingly simple chess game.

Social media has been a thorn in the side of major search engines for a few years now. Facebook and Twitter are simply updated too often and too fast for search engines to keep up with them. It looks like that might be changing, though.

Microsoft has already made deals with both Twitter and Facebook to give Bing access to the sites’ tweets and wall posts, respectively. Bing’s solution for Twitter is to have a tag cloud of the most-discussed topics on tech news, Twitter, followed by some of the newest tweets and links to sites being referred to frequently. For Facebook, Bing will include status updates in its search-engine results pages.

Google is taking it a bit more slowly. It could be several months before it starts earnestly including tweets in its search results. Its new Social Search service, which is also not yet launched, will provide an interesting twist on tech news indexing Facebook updates. With this service, Google users will only be able to search for updates related to topics that their friends and fans have added on Facebook. That’s pretty cool!

Facebook users can choose whether or not to allow their updates to be included in search engines like Google or Bing. That should help protect people’s privacy. What do you think of these search engines’ attempts to dive into social media? Keep coming back to the Submit Solution SEO Blog for the latest updates on Google and Bing, as well as other major search-engine trends.

This is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog entry, “Bing and Google launch social-media solutions.” The photo of the chess match is from Flickr, and it is the copyright of marcusrg.

By Britnee Nguyen

Google and Bing have both announced that they are going to start including Facebook and Twitter posts into their search results. They also claim these will be real-time searches. Social media has so many internet users that Bing and Google want part of that action in their search engines.

They have said that they will start letting users search for Twitter tweets and Facebook statuses on the general search engine sites. In addition, Google is going to include a social search tool that shows a user’s friend’s posted information on various social sites. Google is also partnering with La La music to start offering music downloads on their site as well.

Lately, there have been many on-line social media sites where more people are going towards to get their information from instead of through the traditional on-line searches. It sounds like Google and Bing are trying to steer that group back to their own websites with this new strategy.

According to reports, web traffic to search engines increased by 15 percent in the past year with Twitter increasing tenfold and Facebook tripling its numbers. So they are all growing immensely, but Google and Bing still want to remain the main place to go for information.

This is great and all that the search engines are still working hard to keep business thriving, but I haven’t found out yet how those who don’t want to be included in the search results to opt out.

Personally, Facebook is my private space and I don’t want everybody to be reading my statuses. Which is why on Facebook, no one is allowed to look at your profile unless you make them your friend. Allowing access to this through search engines interferes with this privacy.

Twitter on the other hand is okay to do so. Most everyone’s T

witter accounts are open to the public that anyone can view. When I write something on Twitter, I write knowingly that anyone could see it. With Facebook, it’s more private. This is from a personal opinion, from a business opinion this is great news. It means more coverage and chances to get your name out there through search results.

It’s great that search engines are being innovative and offering new services, but I do hope they provide a way for personal social media users to block the search results if they want that option.

By Alyssa Udall (@udallyss)

Google, Bing and Yahoo search engines are usually what comes to mind when one thinks of Pay-Per-Click ads.  However, there is another huge market for PPC ads that is often overlooked by online businesses: Facebook.  That’s right, Facebook ads are offered in the PPC format, allowing online businesses to take their targeted marketing to the next level.

Facebook paid-ads work much the same way that PPC ads in Google and Bing work.  However, the subtle differences between the two methods of paid search may make all the difference to some industries.

Here are some of the specs on Facebook PPC ads:

->  BIG Market Share: Facebook is big.  Okay, Facebook is huge.  It’s probably the biggest time-waster known to mankind.  And it’s still growing!  The point here is, Facebook hosts a monstrous aggregate of young and old, educated and uneducated people alike.   Most target markets would be greatly available on Facebook.  However, there are some that would more profitable than others.  For example, an ad for handmade jewelry like you see above would be fairly successful on Facebook, because it is targeted towards mostly educated, middle to upper-class women.  If the ad were to be targeted to mostly uneducated or lower class women, research shows that Myspace would be the more appropriate place to advertise.

->  Not as Powerful: Let’s face it — no matter how big Facebook gets, it can never trump that search engine giant, Google.  While you’re reading this, you may be thinking, “Wait a sec! Didn’t she just tell us that Facebook ads can give us access to a big market share?”  It is important to realize that while Facebook is indeed growing, it is still a social networking site that not accessible to anyone (because it requires login credentials), while Google is the most popular search engine in the land.  Another thing to consider is that your Facebook ads will not be visible in search engine results!

After reading this article, you should have a pretty good idea about whether or not Facebook ads will work for your business.  If you’re not ready to make the leap into Facebook paid ads, you can always just focus on your free Facebook pages or even add Facebook Connect to your website or blog.  Once you see how those campaigns work out, you can have a better idea about where to take your next step.

By Robert Lockard

Is Facebook dying? That’s the topic of an astonishing New York Times article, entitled “Facebook Exodus.” Author Virginia Heffernan starts by pointing out:

The exodus is not evident from the site’s overall numbers. According to comScore, Facebook attracted 87.7 million unique visitors in the United States in July. But while people are still joining Facebook and compulsively visiting the site, a small but noticeable group are fleeing – some of them ostentatiously.

I’ve written about Facebook several times in the eHarbor Blog, usually noting its strength and rapid growth. Along with Twitter, it is leading the social-media revolution – or fad – that could change search engines and other aspects of the Internet or just peter out. This article grabbed my attention and demanded I discuss it.

You should definitely check out the New York Times article because it tells five stories about individuals who left Facebook for a variety of reasons. They are all quite compelling. One felt his privacy was violated by Facebook, and another felt she was wasting too much time on the website.

The feelings of privacy violation are completely understandable, and perhaps even unavoidable. Facebook is a social network so its information is not meant to be completely private. Perhaps people’s concerns are just the result of their own carelessness in posting too much information or not studying the rules to keep it hidden. Or maybe it’s a combination of shifting, hidden or hard-to-understand rules, as well as people’s decisions not to read the fine print.

Heffernan notes, “As Facebook endeavors to be the Web’s headquarters – to compete with Google, in other words, and to make money from the information it gathers – it’s inevitable that some people would come to view it as Big Brother.”

The part of the article that really took my breath away was when a prolific Facebook poster said the site felt dead to her a few months ago, even though it was still experiencing explosive growth. That struck me as incredibly odd. She noted the novelty of finding people on Facebook is wearing off, and I suddenly started looking at Facebook in a whole new light. Maybe Facebook’s services never really had a future, but they were just a fun diversion – a flash in the pan.

The last paragraph in the New York Times article sums it all up nicely:

Is Facebook doomed to someday become an online ghost town, run by zombie users who never update their pages and packs of marketers picking at the corpses of social circles they once hoped to exploit? Sad, if so. Though maybe fated, like the demise of a college clique.

This blog entry is a complete version of the eHarbor Blog post, “Is Facebook Dying?” The photo of the ghost town near Telluride, Colo. is from Flickr, and it is courtesy of Rob Lee.