Since that time, the “Social Media is a Fad” debate has faded to the background. It’s become clear that we’re experiencing a shift in the way we communicate. And it’s essential that individuals and organizations don’t get left behind in the social media revolution.

It’s amazing how fast social media changes. Every day. It’s one thing to have a Facebook account or search for YouTube videos, but it’s another thing entirely to understand how to use social media to communicate effectively.

Why is it so important? To give you an idea of the size and scope of social media’s impact on communication, we’ve compiled a list of important social media stats. At Verve’s Social Media Bootcamp, we’ll do more than wow you with statistics, we’ll show you how to use social media effectively to meet the goals of your organization.

10 Surprising Social Media Stats

1. Social media accounts for one out of every six minutes spent online in US. (Journalism.co.uk)
2. Facebook tops Google for weekly traffic in the U.S.
3. 95% of companies are using LinkedIN to search for job applicants
4. There are 200,000,000 blogs in existence today
5. AOL’s newsroom is now bigger than The New York Times’ (Business Insider)
6. Users say they’re more likely to buy if a business answers their questions on Twitter (NYTimes.com)
7. Twitter reported that the network saw more than 4,000 tweets per second at the beginning and end of Obama’s speech [re: death of Osama Bin Laden] (AllTwitter)
8. The fastest growing segment on Facebook is 55-65 year-old females
9. 78% of consumers trust peer recommendations
10. Social media advertising spending will increase from $2.1 billion in 2010 to $8.3 billion by 2015.” (BIA/Kelsey via Direct Marketing News)

Sources: AdAge, Kyle Lacy, Socialnomics

But Facebook has several useful implications for your business and your personal life. Yesterday, Facebook introduced its new Groups feature, which allows you to share pictures, posts and chats with pre-specified groups of people: family, friends, co-workers, etc. Have pictures you only want to share with family? No problem. Want to keep a conversation among a select team at work? Groups allows you do that. To learn more about Groups and explore its features, check out this post on the Facebook blog.

Facebook has also been in the news this week because clothing company Gap is using it to ask customers what it should do about its logo. Earlier this week, Gap unveiled a new logo that was met with much criticism from people online. On its Facebook page, Gap asked fans to submit other designs and said that, while the new logo will be used in its holiday campaign, they are open to considering user-submitted designs. Read more about Gap’s dilemma and its Facebook crowdsourcing in this Mashable post.

The Social Media Examiner blog offers some tips for companies that feel they’re getting lost in the “abyss” of Facebook – being upstaged by bigger companies that have more money and manpower and whose Facebook pages have thousands, if not millions, of fans. They explain that it’s all about creating a Facebook experience for fans. This post offers examples of companies that have successfully created experiences and a step-by-step guide to doing it yourself.

Alltop’s Social Media section shows you all the most recent posts from the top social media blogs. This is a great way to search for blogs that might be of special interest to your business.

Mashable is one of the most comprehensive sources of social media information on the web. If you’re not sure who to follow on Twitter, but want to follow influencers in your profession, looking at Mashable’s Twitter lists is a must.

Believe it or not, our website is a great resource. Check out our blogrolls and follow who we follow on our Resources page.

One last fantastic resource is also from Mashable. They often post “Essential Social Media Resources You May Have Missed.” These posts are filled with interesting social media stories and different online resources you never would have found otherwise. Here’s a sample post.

If You Post It, Will They Come?

Do you know where your company’s blog traffic comes from? It’s important to understand how your readers are finding your blog if you’re trying to expand your readership. Jeremy Porter, who writes the blog Journalistics, examined his blog traffic. He looked at where his readership came from (clicking a link from Twitter, subscribing in a feed reader, search engine, Facebook) and then thought about new avenues for increasing readership. If you want more readers, or feel like your current blog promotion efforts could use a boost, this post will give you some great, usable ideas.

HOW TO: Find the Best Fall Travel Deals on the Social Web

If you worked so hard this summer that you didn’t get a chance to squeeze in a vacation, fall still offers some great getaway opportunities. Scour the social web before you go and find some great travel tools and tips to maximize your trip and help you save. This post from Mashable offers some tips (to find flight deals, follow Twitter accounts that tweet aifare comparisons, rather than following a single airline) and shares other travel resources, like travel apps and sites that help you save by checking in with location-based social sites.

What’s #NewTwitter?

Last week, Twitter announced a redesign of its web homepage, which has been dubbed “New Twitter” by the tweeting faithful. It’s currently being rolled out to users in waves, so some Twitter users are still tweeting with the old interface. But, with a new look and new features, New Twitter definitely has some new implications for individuals and business who use the site frequently. This post from Scott Monty’s Social Media Marketing Blog features Twitter’s video highlighting the new features and talks about how the new interface is different.

The Oxford University Press recently announced its new additions to the dictionary. If there needed to be more evidence that social media is on the rise, the OUP just gave it to us; several new social media-related words and phrases were part of the new addition.

You can take a look at the full list of new words and phrases here (bromance is also making its dictionary debut), but a look at social media’s influence on the dictionary follows:

hashtag n. (on social networking websites such as Twitter) a hash or pound sign (#) used to identify a particular keyword or phrase in a posting.

social media n. [treated as sing. or pl.] websites and applications used for social networking.

social networking n. the use of dedicated websites and applications to communicate informally with other users, or to find people with similar interests to oneself.

unfriend v. [with obj.] informal remove (someone) from a list of friends or contacts on a social networking site: she broke up with her boyfriend, but she hasn’t unfriended him.

friend noun – a contact associated with a social networking website.?verb – add (someone) to a list of contacts associated with a social networking website.

poke (on the social networking site Facebook) – attract the attention of (another member of the site) by using the ‘poke’ facility.

tweet

- a posting made on the social networking site Twitter: he started posting ‘tweets’ via his cell phone to let his parents know he was safe.

- make a posting on the social networking site Twitter.

That’s right – “friend” is now a verb and the word “tweet” is no longer just inside lingo for die-hard Twitter users.

Beyond being a fun story for social media enthusiasts (who now have the dictionary to back them up when friends make fun of them for using “tweet” in a conversation, the addition of these phrases and terms to the OUP dictionary is indicative of social media’s dominant presence in our lives. People everywhere are using social media for everything imaginable: sharing photos, commenting on interesting stories, catching up with friends from high school and more.

If social media is big and effective enough to get a spot in the dictionary, it’s also important enough to be a part of your business. If you and your business have yet to dive into social media, take a look at some of our past blog posts to find interesting articles and links to the most useful social media resources. Also, if you’re in the Eugene-Springfield area, register for the Social Media Bootcamp on October 22 – you can find out more here.

One

Imagine not having access to any social media sites for a whole week: no Twitter, no Facebook, no instant messaging. Could you do it? How would it affect your life?

These are the questions that Eric Darr, provost at Harrisburg University in Pennsylvania wanted to answer when he instituted a weeklong social media ban on campus. The sites would be blocked on campus computers to prevent students from updating their statuses or sending tweets.

To hear more about the experiment and hear students’ reactions, read and listen to NPR’s coverage of the story here.

Two

If you’re part of a non-profit and you’re not convinced social media can make a difference for your organization, this Mashable article for you. (RED), a brand designed to help eliminate AIDS in Africa, has effectively used social media in a number of ways in order to share its message with the world. For those of you who have been on Twitter since last winter, you may remember World AIDS Day, when all tweets that included the #red hashtag turned red.

(RED)’s story is a perfect example of how social media is changing the way non-profits spread their message; it is a huge “game-changer” for such organizations.

Three

Lastly, have you ever thought about the “value” of each Facebook like and Twitter follower your brand has? According to Emarketer, a report from ExactTarget finds that Twitter followers are more likely to induce future sales for your company than email subscribers or Facebook fans. Twitter followers are also more likely to recommend your brand to their friends.

There are a number of theories as to why this is true, but one is that Twitter is a platform that makes it much easier for people to interact with their favorite brands; it’s easier to build a connection with a brand on Twitter than it is on Facebook, where a brand’s message may get lost amidst a sea of status updates from other friends and fan pages.

You can read more about the report and an analysis of the findings in this Social Media Today article.

What other social media news did you find this week? We’d love to hear about your new discoveries. Feel free to leave a comment with your favorite piece of news!

(Image credit: Mashable)

Apparently, staffers at Twitter headquarters are stirring with excitement and ready to unveil some big news today at 7 pm EST. You know it’s big news when Twitter’s employees are tweeting about it! TechCrunch compiled a post with staffers’ tweets about the big announcement, and Mashable revealed at least one announcement Twitter will make. (The photo above is Twitter chief executive and co-founder Evan Williams’ tweet about tonight’s announcement.)

Are You a Social Media Rock Star?

This Huffington Post column about how to be a social media “rock star” is geared toward college students, but it makes some good points for any social media user: be smart, be creative, develop clear and solution-oriented strategies, be the authentic voice of your company online and don’t neglect your personal social profiles for the sake of your company.

Combing Your Friends’ Tastes, Not the Whole Web’s

When you’re looking for the answer to any question, where do you turn first? More and more, people are turning to their friends on social networks. Yesterday, article in the New York Times examined this new trend. Rather than doing a general search when looking for the answer to some query (such as recommendations), people ask the question over their social networks to get their friends’ perspectives. What’s more important to you: the opinion of the entire web, or the opinions of your friends?

Five Winning Social Media Campaigns to Learn From

Thinking about using social media for your business, but unsure whether or not it will work? About to launch your campaign but want to make sure you’ve covered all the bases? Take a look at these winning case studies. See how Gap, Toy Story 3, AOL, Starbucks and Mountain Dew successfully used social media campaign to build awareness about their brand, hold a contest or give customers a huge discount.

If you’ve searched from the Google homepage in the past few days, you’ve seen Instant Search in action. Rather than list all of your search results after you’ve finished typing and hit the “search” button, Google Instant shows you results as you type, fluidly changing the results as you change what you type.

Take a look at this video to see how the process works:

Introducing Google Instant Search

What do you think of Google Instant? If you’ve tried it, do you think the results are significantly faster or more relevant than they would have been with a regular search?

Much of the social media buzz about the search has been around the supposed end of search engine optimization (SEO) that Google Instant Search would bring. Countless companies depend on good SEO to keep their business rolling; they optimize their website so it will be among the top results for a Google search related to their company, industry, product or service.

If you’re interested in improving SEO for your business in an instant search world, take a look at these perspectives:

This post from MarketingProfs lists five ways Google Instant “changes the game” of SEO and how optimizers should react to those changes so their site stays at the top of the results (or get there, if it’s not already).

A Daily Telegraph article argues that this new technology really changes very little in the SEO world, because Google’s algorithm for determining results remains the same. They also bring up another good point: Google Instant is only going to affect users who search from the Google homepage, and not the millions who just search from a Google toolbar on their browser.

We’d welcome your thoughts on Google Instant. It may be too early to see real results, but what are your predictions for how it will affect the future of search?

(And not to get ahead of ourselves, but don’t forget: Google’s already planning to unveil Instant Search on mobile devices this fall, according to Mashable.)

On Friday, we blogged about the launch of iTunes 10 and its new social network, Ping. If you’ve downloaded the new version of iTunes, you’ve probably noticed that the icon has changed, from the classic CD-and-eighth note:

To a music note on a blue background:

There was a general outcry against the new logo, so the popular social media blog Mashable put out the call for new designs. While iTunes is sticking with the new design, it’s fun to look at some designers’ ideas for a new iTunes logo. What do you think? Should Apple have stayed with the classic look, or are you a fan of the new icon?

What and How To Share in Social Media

It’s important to find a balance with social media. On one hand, it’s tempting to share lots of “automated” content: re-tweeting others’ posts or saving time by scheduling posts to update at a later time. On the other hand, it’s also tempting to post solely personal information, like posting about what you’re up to, where you’re hanging out or what you’re doing that day.

Too much automated content, and you’ll be viewed as a robot who can’t create anything original. Too much personal content, and you’ll leave followers searching for the substance. This post on Social Media Explorer gives some helpful hints for those who are wondering what to share on social media channels.

How to Write Effective Blog Posts

Blogging is all the rage for small businesses and nonprofits, but a blog will get you nowhere if you can’t write effective posts.

Here, new media marketer and popular blogger Chris Brogan guides you through the steps of writing effective posts. Some of his tips might be contrary to what you believe about writing, but if you’re looking to get a blog off the ground, be sure to check out his tips.

Nike Unveils New iPhone App Just for Runners

Runners, rejoice! Nike has unveiled a new app just for you, the Nike+ GPS App for iPhone and this article, also from Mashable, gives you the scoop. Along with GPS navigation to let you visually track your run, the app will show a breakdown of your pace at various points in the run and will track the number of calories burned, distance and time.

The app has several other features, like “Challenge Me,” which encourages runners to go faster or further than they have in previous runs, and the app’s ability to sync with social media outlets like Twitter and Facebook. The app is available for $1.99. Runners, does this interest you? Would you pay to run along with Nike when there are an abundance of free workout apps available? Let us know!

On Wednesday, Steve Jobs donned his signature black turtleneck and presented Apple’s new product lineup. This included Ping, Apple’s first foray into the social media world. Ping allows iTunes users to follow their friends, see what they listen to, what concerts they plant on attending and see when their favorite bands will release new albums.

Push Notifications Coming for Twitter for iPhone/iPad

Twitter has begun testing a feature on its iPad and iPhone apps that would allow “push” notifications, or real-time updates that would alert you in the same way as a text message. It’s not yet known what these push notifications are alerting, but it’s presumed that they’ll be available for @replies and/or DMs.

Nailed It (Not): Excerpts from TechCrunch’s First Post About Twitter in 2006

Bloggers call it like they see it, as Michael Arrington of TechCrunch says. That’s certainly what he did in 2006, when he first blogged about Twitter, on the day Twitter launched. This is an entertaining look at the early days of social media, when even the most tech-savvy bloggers weren’t sure if you pronounced it “Twitter” or “Twatter.” Also, check out Twitter’s original logo:

How Many Twitter Personas Do You Need?

This post from “Thinkers & Doers,” the blog of public relations agency Waggener Edstrom’s digital practice, gives you the pros and cons of running multiple Twitter accounts. Many people are operating two separate accounts: one for personal use, one for professional. What do you think: is it best to keep one account, or cater to your different audiences through different accounts?

Social Media Are Easier Than You Think

We tweeted a link to this article yesterday, but since it covers so many topics related to jumping into social media that it’s worth reposting. If you’re a small business owner, you’ll find it especially valuable. It’s easy to get lost amidst thousands of emerging technologies, but this post will help you understand the basics of social media: telling a good story, being transparent with your audience, posting consistently and more.