There is a lot of buzz around social media. Unfortunately, there is not a lot of understanding of the many social media platforms. This presentation seeks to answer the following questions. Which platforms are the ones that matter, have active users, and are likely to still exist in five years? What is the difference between these platforms? How are people are using them to connect with friends, colleagues and companies? How are companies are using them and how are their brands being represented?

1. Friends, Connections and Tweeps
An Overview of Social Media’s “Big 3”
Michael Ryan
Interaction Designer
@ryaninteractive on Twitter

2. Presentation Overview
• Overview of Social Media
• The Big 3
• Communication and Privacy Strategies
• Social Media and Brands
Ask questions at any time!
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3. What Are People Doing Online?
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4. Social Media Benefits
• Breaks news
• Provides information
dissemination
• Filters information for users
• Builds community around
people, brands and events
• Supplies conduit for
consumer input and
commentary
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(Cohen, 2009)
(Elliance, 2008)

5. The Most Popular Social Media Websites
“The Big Three”
300 million users
50 million users
50 million users
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(Hitwise, 2009)

6. Facebook
The largest social media site
• Facebook is the most used social network by
worldwide monthly active users
• On Facebook, users can create profile pages, post
status updates, share photos, videos and
communicate with “friends”
• Features include groups, event scheduling and
games
• Active developer community for applications
• Less professional, more personal friendships
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(Gualtieri, 2009) (Kazeniac , 2009)

7. News Feed (Home)
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8. Profile Pages (Wall)
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9. Fans (Super Friends)
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10. Groups
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11. Facebook Stats
• 150 million users log on to Facebook at least once
a day
• Average user has 130 friends on the site
• 55% Female, 45% Male
• 2/3 outside college
• Mobile Facebook users are almost 50% more
active on Facebook than non-mobile users
• Facebook has 15 billion photos, 10 million videos
• 1 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog
posts, notes, photos, etc.) are shared each week
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(Facebook, 2009) (Wroblewski, 2009b)

12. The world's largest professional social network
• Search for colleagues, former colleagues,
classmates, and network
• Recommendations, groups, private messaging and
other features
• Find guest speakers, co-authors, consultants, etc.
• More professional contacts
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(Gualtieri, 2009)

13. Profile
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14. Connections
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15. Companies
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16. Groups
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17. “It’s Who You Know”
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18. Many Have Heard of Twitter, but…
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“Which of the following best describes your familiarity with Twitter?”
I've tried Twitter, but
don't use it regularly,
8%
I've heard of Twitter,
but I've never used it,
76%
I've never heard of
Twitter, 9%
I follow Twitter updates
from others, but I've
never written any
myself, 4%
I use Twitter regularly; I
write and follow others'
updates, 3%
Source: Forrester Research North American Technographics® Interactive Marketing Online Survey, Q2 2009 (US)
(Gualtieri, 2009)

19. “What are you doing” (in 140 characters or less)
• Easy to use messaging service built on texting model; open
to many uses
• “It’s like a cocktail party where you can talk to anyone but
they might not talk back… except everything you say is
saved and searchable” (Gualtieri, 2009)
• Ask questions and get “quick, specific, helpful answers”
(Ledwell & Kaniasty, 2009)
• “I like Twitter because it offers a broader conversation than
Facebook. It's a great vehicle for connecting with a large
number of people.” (McCord, 2009)
• Many add-ons. Link to photos (TwitPic). Send status to
Facebook/LinkedIn. Create polls, etc.
• Can be professional or personal contacts
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20. Profile
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@username
ReTweet
Who I am
Following

21. Feed
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Hash Tags
Reply to Tweets
Can also Direct
Message (DM)

22. #HashTags
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Trending Topics
(Chong 2009)

23. Brands on Twitter
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24. Brands on Twitter
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25. Twitter Stats
• 26 million Tweets per day (6 million contain URLs)
• 5% of Twitter users account for 75% of all activity
• Average Twitter user has 42 followers
• Content within Twitter posts can be classified as
• 40.5% Pointless babble
• 37.5% Conversational
• 8.7% Pass-along value
• 5.85% Self promotion
• 3.75% Spam
• Only one quarter of US Internet users are under 25
• 53% Female 47% Male
• More than 50% of all updates are published using tools,
mobile and web-based
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(Moore, 2009) (Owyang, 2009) (Signorini, 2009) (Wroblewski, 2009a)

26. My Contact Types by Platform
0%
10%
20%
30%
40%
50%
60%
70%
80%
90%
100%
Friends
Colleagues
Companies
Strangers
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(following)

27. Intimate Offline Conversation
More Private IM, Email
Friendly, Playful
Professional
None, General
How Should You Communicate?
Communication Style Audience Platform
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Spouse
Partner
Family
Close Friends
Friends
Colleagues
Strangers
Private Messages
INTIMACY

28. Privacy
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29. Brands are Active on Social Media
Businesses turning customers into “fans”
• 46% of social media users have recommended or
talked about a product or brand on Facebook
• 44% have done the same on Twitter
• 20% of all Tweets mention specific brands or
products
• 40% of customers have “friended” a brand
• 26% followed a brand on Twitter
• 44% of Twitter followers are looking for deals
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(Palmer, 2009) (Schmitt, 2009)

30. Fortune 100 Twitter Use
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(Lavrusik, 2009)
Low number of followers

31. Social Media Identity Theft
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Search for “Serion” on

32. Unauthorized Groups
500+ “Coke” groups on Facebook
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33. Unauthorized Groups
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157K members

34. Unauthorized Groups
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35. Twitter Personas
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36. What’s next?
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Appendix A: References
• Chong, S. (2009) 20 Hilarious Twitter Comic Strips. Penn Olson. Retrieved November
18, 2009, from http://www.penn-olson.com/2009/10/18/20-hilarious-twitter-comic-strips/
• Cohen, H. (2009) Social Media Is Changing the Content Marketplace. ClickZ. Retrieved
November 11, 2009, from http://www.clickz.com/3634076
• Elliance. (2008) Search Benefits of the Blogosphere. Retrieved November 11, 2009,
from http://searchengineoptimization.elliance.com/search-marketing-resources/seo-
infographics.aspx?title=Search-Benefits-of-the-Blogosphere&Category
• Facebook. (2009) Statistics. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from
http://www.facebook.com/press/info.php?statistics
• Gualtieri, L. (2009) Social Media Strategies. From Boston CHI meeting on 10/13/09.
• Hitwise. (2009). Top 20 Sites & Engines. Retrieved November 16, 2009, from
http://www.hitwise.com/us/datacenter/main/
• Kazeniac A. (2009). Social Networks: Facebook Takes Over Top Spot, Twitter Climbs.
Compete Retrieved November 18, 2009, from
http://blog.compete.com/2009/02/09/facebook-myspace-twitter-social-network/
• Lavrusik, V. (2009) STUDY: Most Fortune 100 Companies Don’t Get Twitter. Mashable.
Retrieved November 18 2009, from http://mashable.com/2009/11/17/fortune-100-
companies-twitter/
• Ledwell, J., Kaniasty, E. (2009). Tips from Two Tweeps: How User Experience Pros Find
Value on Twitter. From UPA Boston: Usability and User Experience Conference on
5/26/09.
• McCord, M. (2009) New social media class at UNH: UNH offers business class on how
to use Facebook, Twitter. Seacoastonline.com. Retrieved November 18 2009, from
http://www.seacoastonline.com/articles/20091115-BIZ-911150333

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Appendix A: References
• Moore, R. (2009) Twitter Data Analysis: An Investor’s Perspective. TechCrunch.
Retrieved November 11, 2009, from http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/10/05/twitter-data-
analysis-an-investors-perspective/
• Owyang, J. (2009). A Collection of Social Network Stats for 2009. Web Strategy.
Retrieved November 11, 2009, from http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2009/01/11/a-
collection-of-soical-network-stats-for-2009/
• Palmer, A. (2009). Social Media Users Tout Brands: Almost half of Facebookers,
Tweeters use networks to talk about products and brands. Adweek.
Retrieved November 11, 2009, from
http://www.adweek.com/aw/content_display/news/client/e3i8875589fada415ac24453382
c553f4da
• Schmitt, G. (2009). FEED: The Razorfish Digital Brand Experience Report. Retrieved
November 11, 2009, from http://feed.razorfish.com/downloads/Razorfish_FEED09.pdf
• Signorini, A. (2009). Twitter receives 26M tweets per day, 22% are URLs. Tech
Research and Life. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from
http://deepintech.wordpress.com/2009/10/21/twitter-receives-26m-tweets-per-day-6m-
are-urls/
• Wroblewski, L. (2009a, August, 17). Data Monday: Twitter Stats. Functioning Form.
Retrieved November 11, 2009, from http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?871
• Wroblewski, L. (2009b, September, 7). Data Monday: Facebook Stats. Functioning
Form. Retrieved November 11, 2009, from http://www.lukew.com/ff/entry.asp?882