In Applied Tech’s “Cool Sites to help expand one’s mental horizons“ series for February, we examine the subject of “social networking”, including a description of the popular sites LinkedIn, Facebook, and Twitter. You’ll discover some amazing tid-bits of knowledge and other information to help start making sense of it all, as well as “20+ mind-blowing social media statistics” that may convince you of the importance of this fast-growing phenomenon.

SOCIAL NETWORKING EXPLAINED:

• Social Networking in Plain English (1:48)
• Social Media in Plain English (3:44)
• Definition of Social Network, from Wikipedia (the free encyclopedia)
• Another Social Networking Definition (posted 4-22-2009, by Micheal Tedder, retrieved 1/31/2010.  We would be remiss in our literary obligations if we failed to cite this as the source of the introductory paragraph on the preceding page.)

POPULAR SOCIAL MEDIA SITES:

LinkedIn Explained –

• What is LinkedIn? (2:29)
• LinkedIn for Dummies (7:76)

Facebook Explained

• How to register and join Facebook (2:25)
• Learn more about Facebook through its Site tour (2:22)
• How to create and build a Facebook profile (2:50)
• How to use “The Wall” on your Facebook page (3:04)
• FACTOID: The 2009 Facebook Demographics and Statistics Report (published 1/5/2009) claimed a 276% growth in 25 – 54 year old users in the six-month period ending 12/31/2008.  (Yes, that’s two hundred seventy six percent growth in this age group!

Twitter Explained

• What is Twitter? (1:59)
• Twitter in Plain English (2:25)
• Twitter Search in Plain English (3:37)

Check out these ”Twitternitions” — do they sound like anyone you know?  

• Twitphilia is a psychological obsession with twitter and a compulsion to tweet.  “I don’t sleep anymore since I can’t update that way.”
• Twitanoia is an intense psychological aversion to all things twitter.  “You tweet?!  OMG!  Get away from me.  I’ll pray for you.”
  (Source:  From Twitter Fan Wiki.)

SOCIAL NETWORKING IS HUGE!

Still don’t believe us?  Check out the Top 5 Online Marketing trends for 2010! (4:09)

… and finally, as promised: 20+ mind-blowing social media statistics revisited (posted January 29. 2010 by Jake Hird).

Mr. Hird concludes, “Impressive stuff, but as always, take these stats with a pinch of salt. As before, no single piece of information can be used to base an online strategy upon, or be used as a forecast as the direct a specific social media channel make take in the future – you need to fully understand your marketing and business objectives before launching off into this apparently vast space.”

We hope you find this information to be useful and informative.  Thanks for reading … cheers from the entire Applied Tech team!