Social Media Is What I Want - Yeah, Yeah

Ok ok do I sound like a broken record? It's everywhere-every brand, advertiser, marketer is screaming it - SOCIAL MEDIA! If you are asking yourself right now, what is it? Then you better step out of 1990 and into 2009.

A friend of mine passed me along the video below detailing some interesting facts about social media and is it a fad? Is it going to die and newspapers, TV and traditional media will be back in the spotlight? I'm sure this has been the topic at many agencies and companie, but in my opinion, no, it's only just begun.

The video below goes through some of the interesting facts on social media and how quickly it is spreading. Actually, since I first saw this video a week ago I went to the blog where it was originally posted, socialnomics.com, only to discover a newer version is available. That's just the thing about social media, it's happening fast and at a rate we can barely keep up with. At some point it will max out- right?

Probably not. It will just get deeper and deeper with more options, more ways to connect, and even scarier ways for advertisers to get to the right target. Of all the facts in the video, I thought the following were interesting or somewhat funny.

• Social media has overtaken porn as the #1 activity on the web. WHAT? I find this shocking for 1 reason: I've never watched porn on the Internet (unless you count checking out "One Night in Paris" - come on, I'm a celebrity junkie you think I wouldn't check it out?)

• If you haven't heard, Facebook is sweeping the nation. It's mentioned on CNN, MSNBC, my favorite TV show HIMYM, The Hills, 60 Minutes, etc. It's EVERYWHERE!!! Even more interesting that QZONE (only click if you read Chinese) in China is larger than Facebook!

• Most interesting fact 200,000,000 blogs and you found mine :) Don't you feel extra special?
  

So with all this buzz about social media it's got to be doing something right? Well of course or else their wouldn't be any buzz. According to the video, 78% of users accept a peers recommendation. I happen to work for a company where I know word of mouth (WOM) goes far, with more than 50% of our members coming from WOM.

For example, are you not from Cincinnati? Do you know who Chad "OchoCinco" Johnson is? Have you heard about his Twitter account? Well unless you live in a cave you have. He's the most talked about sports celebrity and he's letting the world get to know him via Twitter. It's gone so far to get the attention of the NFL Commissioner. Come on folks, I couldn't name a wide receiver on every football team but I bet people could name a Bengals wide receiver if forced to. And I bet some baby boomers and older folks found out about Twitter thanks to him.

I like social media. I like Facebook, I like blogging, I like reading blogs, I like having everything I want at my fingertips with my iPhone. Social media is what I want and with over 96% of generation Y using it you better hop to it folks!