Do You Know Who’s on Twitter?

AUGUST 28, 2009

Demographics and usage habits of the microblogging crowd

Twitter has experienced explosive growth in 2009. According to “An In-Depth Look Inside the Twitter World,” from Sysomos, 72.5% of all Twitter users joined the service in the first five months of this year. Who are they?

More than one-half of all Twitter users (53%) are women, and the majority are young. Among users who disclose their age, 66% are under 25, and another 15% are ages 25 to 29.

Most Twitter users are quiet: 85.37% tweet less than once per day. Only about 1.1% of users update their timeline an average of more than 10 times daily. This means a small group of users dominate the Twitter timeline—75% of all Twitter activity comes from just 5% of users.

Not surprisingly, the more followers a user has, the more that person tweets. Sysomos reported that the average number of daily updates rises from three to six among users with more than 1,000 followers. But relatively few users are that popular. In fact, almost 94% of Twitter users have fewer than 100 followers. Just 0.68% reach the thousand-follower mark.

The situation is very similar in the other direction. The vast majority of users (92.4%) follow fewer than 100 other microbloggers. Less than 1% subscribe to the feeds of at least 1,000 others. Among users who identified themselves as marketers, the numbers were significantly higher: 15% follow more than 2,000 people.

Marketers are also more likely to update than the average Twitter user. More than 65% post less than once daily—significantly better than the 85.4% overall figure. Another 6.3% of social media marketers post twice per day (compared with 2.8% overall), and 4.3% post at least nine updates per day (versus 1.31% overall).

Be a power user—follow eMarketer on Twitter.

Making Real-Time Connections: Moms Are Wired Differently

Stephanie Piche, Aug 26, 2009 10:46 AM

As evidenced throughout history, women have been very influential in shaping civilization. In 10,000 BC, they were the first food gathers and initiated agriculture, a/k/a grocery shopping. They've used their empathizing and mentalistic skills to anticipate and understand the needs of others, while using their socializing skills to integrate with neighboring clans for marriage, and making friends and allies by connecting through story telling, a/k/a word-of-mouth. Harvard professor and historian Laurel Thatcher Ulrich chronicled the role of women in the household and how it affected the local market economy back in the 1700s in her book, A Midwife's Tale: The life of Martha Ballard based on her diary, 1785 - 1812, for which she received the Pulitzer Prize. It's no surprise that moms control over 85% of the household income, which, according to some research, is valued at $3.1 trillion in annual spending. Compared to our current national debt of $11.7 trillion, that's a staggering amount of power. Women as a whole are a powerful entity in our society. Sometimes, people forget this, including women themselves. Throughout history, women have been taking on more tasks at home, school and work while looking for ways to multi-task more efficiently and stay connected. One growing trend for moms is socializing online. Through the use of social media sites, blogging, and text messaging (mobile and Twitter), women are making more connections. With that said, more moms are going beyond Twitter connections for real-time socializing to using media such as streaming video. Earlier this year, for the first National Moms Nite Out event, created by Maria Bailey of BlueSuitMom.com and attended by thousands of women across the country off- and online, MomTV.com launched with several "live" streaming video parties from Los Angeles to New York, including a mom makeover with Audrey McClelland of MomGenerations.com and the first "live" streaming video show on saving money with Shynea from the PennyPinchingDiva.com blog. Since May, the demand for more "live" mom-themed streaming shows on the site has grown to over 50 weekly hour-long shows where the host can connect with viewers in real-time via text and video chat. Last November, comScore found that over 75% of Internet users watch video online, and Brian Pickens of Ipsos Media recently said, "The digital video revolution is no longer centered on short clips via YouTube." His firm also attributes the uptick to the growth of video streaming web sites. Looking towards the future, conferences like Digital Hollywood, which covers broadband, TV, movies, gaming, advertising, and social media, offer tracks on streaming video and tying in brands that are looking to create that next great user experience for today's consumer. Are we already there? It will be interesting to watch as this trend starts to build more momentum in the coming months; a Pew Internet survey earlier this year showed 62% watched video while 46% used a social networking site. Have moms pushed the envelope in tackling live video chat while using other streaming tools like TinyChat, Snazl, Skype and Logitech Vid? Which brands will join this revolution and engage in real-time video chat with moms as they continue to grow in numbers using these tools to make connections?

Marketers Court Female Bloggers

AUGUST 13, 2009

Know your audience

Many marketers now comfortable with social media and the power of online product reviews have also started to lose their timidity about approaching bloggers.

In fact, some women bloggers report marketers may be becoming overeager.

Ketchum, conducting a survey of registrants for July’s annual BlogHer conference—billed as the largest gathering of female bloggers in North America—found that nearly one-half of respondents were contacted by PR professionals weekly. A further 30% got such messages on a daily basis.

Some of that contact, however, appears to be unwanted. Respondents to the Ketchum study indicated that marketers were not doing the necessary research when looking to stir up online word-of-mouth about their products.

One tip: Women would like marketers to read and understand their blogs before making contact, to make sure they are a good fit with the product or service being marketed. Some bloggers reported hearing about offers that were not even available in their location.

Also, despite the “mommy blogger” buzz, not all female bloggers fit that category.

ShesConnected found that more than one-half of US female social network users polled in spring 2009 had started their own blog.

“The incidence of starting a blog was exceedingly high, likely a reflection of the education level and social media involvement of these core users,” according to the report.

March 2009 data from BlogHer, iVillage and Compass Partners indicated that 8 million women in the US publish a blog.

The same study also found that 31% of women who read or posted to blogs did so to “provide advice and recommendations.”

Women bloggers are more than willing to help marketers out—when it makes sense to do so. About 40% of Ketchum respondents said they had provided marketers with information collected on their blogs, and 53% said they would consider doing so if asked.

“Our research at Ketchum shows that women want marketers to understand them, and the female blogger audience is saying the same thing, loud and clear,” said Kelley Skoloda of Ketchum in a statement. As with all social media, it is crucial for marketers’ blog outreach efforts to be a good fit for everyone involved: the brand, the blogger and the audience.

Word-of-Mouth Posts Big Gains

AUGUST 11, 2009

Tell your friends.

Marketers are slashing many ad budgets in the downturn, with eMarketer predicting an 8.2% decline in US total media ad spending in 2009, after a 3.6% decrease last year.

Some channels continue to grow, however, including word-of-mouth. According to PQ Media, much this growth is due to the rise of new media channels, such as blogs, social networks and other online communities.

The research firm found that US word-of-mouth spending on online communities increased 26.6% in 2008 to $119 million.

Further, after 37.6% compound annual growth from 2003 to 2008, PQ Media predicts total US word-of-mouth marketing spending will keep climbing, albeit at a slower pace. They estimate word-of-mouth dollars will rise 14.5% compounded annually between 2008 and 2013.

Total word-of-mouth spending for 2009 is estimated at more than $1.7 billion, a 10.2% year-over-year increase.

“Despite impressive growth in the industry, word-of-mouth remains just a fraction of the overall advertising and marketing landscape,” said Patrick Quinn, president and CEO of PQ Media, in a statement. “But double-digit growth in this economic environment is a strong sign of an increasingly prevalent role in the future.”

Consumer goods firms were the biggest spenders on word-of-mouth in 2008, with a 17.4% share of the total. The food and beverage industry contributed 12.2% of spending. Other shares were below 10%.

“The most influential marketer in a consumer’s life is someone they know and trust, such as a family member, friend or colleague,” said Mr. Quinn.

Data from Mintel supports that assertion. Among US Internet users who bought a product based on a recommendation, 34% said that recommendation came from a friend or relative. One-quarter followed the advice of a spouse or partner. (For more information, see “Whose Word-of-Mouth Matters?”)

MomTV is excited to have Mrs. P. on the Consumer Queen LIVE Thursday, August 6th @ 8 PM EST

We are excited about Mrs. P being on the Consumer Queen's show this coming Thursday, August 6th.

Mrs. P’s ‘Be-A-Famous-Writer’ Contest Starts September 1st: Did you ever read a story and think, “I could do that!” Well, now’s your chance to prove it. Enter Mrs. P’s “Be-A-Famous-Writer” Contest. Write a story, submit it to MrsP.com – and Mrs. P herself might read your story on her website! (Judges include Dave Barry, Craig Ferguson, Diana Leszczynski, and Andre Bormanis) Learn more by watching Melissa from the ConsumerQueen.com interview Mrs. P. this Thursday on MomTV.

About Mrs. P.:
Actress Kathy Kinney (Mimi on the Drew Carey show) is now the star of a new kids entertainment website called www.MrsP.com. The site is all about reading and is unique in that it contains no advertising and is FREE. Kathy's story is fun because while she still does TV stints, like being seen in recurring roles on “My Name is Earl” and “The Secret Life of the American Teenager,” she also started this Internet production company with several partners and created the first live action character for kids on the Internet. She is akin to being the Mr. Rogers for the broadband generation. Mrs. P also goes around the county reading to kids as schools, bookstores, book fairs, hospitals etc, just to get kids excited about reading. The website is free so all schools, libraries and children everywhere can have a great book read to them. The site also has FREE coloring sheets, activity guides, and games.

Mrs. P just won The National Parenting Center’s 2009 Seal of Approval
http://www.tnpc.com/search/tnpcarticle2.asp?rec=6263

as well as the American Library Associations recognition of MrsP.com as a Great Web Site for Kids. http://www.ala.org/gwstemplate.cfm?section=greatwebsites&template=/cfapps/gws/default.cfm