Open up your mind and say, ahh...

The question we ask ourselves when examining the state of the blogosphere is whether or not the cup is half full or half empty? Personally, I believe the answer lies in the nature of circumstances. If drinking from the glass, it is then half empty. If pouring, it is half full.

With the rise of Twitter, Posterous, Tumblr and other forms of micromedia, many believed that the glass was half empty. Blogging appeared passé as many individuals opted for microblogging, investing in the art of the short form. After all, the blogosphere at one point seemed to succumb to the allure of the statusphere and the effortlessness and trendiness of rapid-fire, micro publishing. But, something was lost in translation over the last few years…context.

Today, 100 million Tweets flew across Twitter.

On Facebook this month, the average user created 90 pieces of content and contributed to the more than 30 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) collectively shared each month.

But blogging perseveres – as it should. It is a place where context, thoughtfulness and continuity are rewarded with inbound links, ReTweets, bookmarks, comments and Likes. Blogs are the digital library of our intellect, experience, and vision. Their longevity far outlasts the short-term memory of Twitter or any other micro network. In fact, with Twitter, we are simply competing for the moment. With blogs, we are investing in our digital legacy.

The State of the Blogosphere 2010

Since 2004, Technorati has published its annual State of the Blogosphere report. As it indexes over 1 million blogs, Technorati is the authority. This year, the team dove deeper into the blogs with a focus on female bloggers and mobile blogging. No matter which network you call home, blogs are the pillars of the democratized web. Blogging sets the foundation for influence providing an intellectual epicenter for vision and knowledge.

To begin, let’s take a look at the residence of bloggers worldwide.

Almost one-half of all bloggers reside in the United States with 29% blogging in Europe.

Respondents for the survey, which was administered in English, represented 24 countries. 38% of respondents resided in North America – 33% in the United States specifically. Participants from Europe account for 19%.

Gender

Two-thirds of bloggers according to Technorati are male. Naturally, we see that a majority of bloggers post as a hobby or as a part-time occupation. However, now we see that a notable percentage, equal to that of part-timers, are corporate as well as self-employed bloggers.

Age

According to Technorati, 65% of bloggers around the world fall between the ages of 18-44.  Hobbyists and part-timers tend to range between 25-34. Self-employed bloggers account for the majority of 35-44 year olds.

Blogging’s Incumbents vs. Newcomers

Blogging, over the years, continues to move toward the mainstream.. Half of all bloggers who responded are currently working on their second blog. 81% have blogged for over two years. And for those who doubted the future of blogging, 96% have blogged for at least one year. This graph shows us that a majority of bloggers are indeed veterans. As we can see, corporate bloggers represent a significant percentage of those who have been blogging for more than 6 years. The second largest contingent of bloggers have done so for 2-4 years, followed by a group of dedicated writers who have been at it between 4-6 years.

Born to Blog

What might have started as a form of self-expression has officially graduated into fully fledged self-actualization. 30% of corporate bloggers admit to blogging as a way to get published or featured in traditional media. 57% of self-employed bloggers share their expertise and thought-leadership as a way of attracting new clients.  Across the board however, the preponderance of bloggers speak their mind to meet and connect with like-minded people. Blogs form the basis for the formation of interest graphs, which, for all intents and purposes, represent the next stage of social networking. Close behind, a significant faction of bloggers use the platform to speak their mind as tied to areas of interest, specifically hobbyists, part-timers and the self-employed.

Why we blog today and why we blog tomorrow may in fact, represent maturation. When asked about the future, most replied with the intention of blogging more frequently. Additionally, many planned on expanding the topics they currently cover. Surprising and also not surprising, many bloggers hope to publish a book and also expand their reach through the contribution to other blogs. Also worthy of mention, bloggers are looking to increasingly create content through their mobile devices.

The Building Blocks of the Blogosphere

When it comes to technology, blogging is an interesting discussion to host. Traditional blogs require hosting on a “traditional” blogging platform. Accordingly, we see that an overwhelming slice of bloggers host their blog on WordPress, followed by Blogger. It’s safe to assume that next year, we’ll see the rise of a new form of blogging platforms, those dedicated to simplicity with an emphasis on mobility, curation, instant presentation, and community.

The Media in Social Media

To tell a more complete story, bloggers must balance text with other forms of media. The weapon of choice? Photos…

Indeed, after the focus on the rise of video in social media, photos remain as the preferred visual to help tell a story. Video is however, second across the board. Audio, music or spoken, follows in a distant third.

Content Marketing

Blogging without an audience is merely a public journal. Bloggers are sharing their soul for a greater cause…your attention, your actions, and ultimately, the prospect of circulation. As such, writing is not enough to build desired audiences and desired outcomes. 55% of bloggers, including me, list their blog on Technorati in the attempts to attract a greater array of visitors. As such, a significant number of bloggers use Technorati tags to help boost their posts and blog when visitors search keywords.In general, Social Media Optimization (SMO) remains underestimated. While it’s an extension of SEO, it is none the less as important as SEO…it’s traditional search vs. social search.

It’s also worth noting that no blog is an island. Even with RSS, bloggers take to Twitter and Facebook to help create bridges between social and interest graphs to related content. And, we can’t overlook the act of commenting on other blogs in the hopes for reciprocal traffic.

It’s important to note here that the majority of bloggers do not directly link their blog to Twitter. But, as you can see, the appeal of automation sways many. Please, disconnect auto syndication.

Perhaps we should follow the trend of those bloggers who DO NOT link their blogs to Facebook.

The Benefits of Blogging

Let it be said that there’s money in insight and opinion.

Technorati reports that most bloggers classify themselves as hobbyists. However, those who make money at blogging, directly or indirectly (speaking, books, etc.) tend to do so on their own. For those who are considering the investment in a blog or those weighing the advantages of continuing to do so, let’s keep in mind an important maxim, you get out of it, what you put into it. For many, blogging has helped provide greater visibility into their industry. Research and writing usually equate to insight and comprehension. When you add a dash of perspective to it, we realize the value of a blogging platform. A strong contingent of bloggers also state the sharing views and observations results in the attraction of new business and clientele. Perhaps most important, but third in this study, blogging positions its financiers and the company they represent as thought leaders.

Blogging is rich with indirect opportunities, in which their presentation is commensurate with your dedication, perspective, and uniqueness.

Visibility is the minimum honor for thoughtfulness and dependability. An enviable array of bloggers are tapped to speak at industry events. Additionally, an overwhelming majority are tasked with contributing to industry press.

The Mobile Lifestyle

With the rise of iPads and mini-iPads (iPhones…it’s a joke about how the lack of AT&T service relegates the iPhone to the functionality of a smaller iPad), mobile blogging is enticing bloggers toward brevity…not because of the lack of insight or things to say, but simply because to dive deeper into thoughts, analysis or vision on a mobile device would prove daunting. So, in order to remain visible, some bloggers are writing shorter posts as a bet against presence in favor for substance.

2011 and the Future of the Blogosphere

Blogging will continue to evolve, gaining importance as time goes on. In 2009 and 2010, we saw microblogs and tumblelogs such as Posterous and Tumblr gain in prominence and universality. Tumblr alone boasts over 6 million users and 1.5 billion monthly pageviews and its only continuing to flourish. Unlike traditional platforms such as WordPress and Blogger, microblogs simplify and expedite the process of sharing ideas, experiences via text as well as other forms of rich media. But unlike Twitter and other micromedia, microblogs have memory. They still serve as a repository for the brand “you” and all that you represent…when strategically cultivated of course.

The evolution of social graphs into interest graphs sets the stage for a more efficient and connected network that combines context and attention, linking one another to the people and information they seek. In 2011 the social media landscape will undergo an interesting transformation as it ushers in a genre of information commerce and the 3C’s of social content, creation, curation, and consumption. While blogging typically resides in the upper echelons of the social media hierarchy, new services further democratize the ability to publish and propagate information. The digerati and everyday people alike will unite in the creation and dissemination of social objects.

Blogs will remain as the hallmark of expertise and opinion. Microblogs will empower those with a voice to easily share their perspective without the emotional and time commitment required of blogging. Micromedia will serve as the bridges between the events, observations, and social objects that bind us.

2011 is the year of information curation and the dawn of the curator. Curators introduce a new role into the pyramid of Information Commerce. The traditional definition of curator is someone who is the keeper of a museum or other collection. In social media, a curator is the keeper of the interest graphs that are important to them. By discovering, organizing, and sharing relevant and interesting content from around the Web through their social streams of choice, curators invest in the integrity of their network as well as their relationships. Information becomes currency and the ability to recognize something of interest as well as package it in a compelling, consumable and also sharable format is an art. Curators earn greater social capital for their role in qualifying, filtering, and refining the content introduced to the streams that connect their interest graphs.

Tools, networks and services that cater to the role of the curator will emerge, with several already leading the way. Storify, Curated.by, Pearltrees, Scoop.it, and Paper.li are becoming the coveted services of choice amongst curators as they not only enable the repackaging and dissemination of information, they do so in captivating and engaging formats. Like blog posts, curated content also represent social objects and curation services will spark conversations and reactions, while also breathing new life and extending the reach of existing content – wherever it may reside.

Curators play an important role in the evolution of new media, the reach of information, and the social nicheworks that unite as a result. Curators promote interaction, collaboration, as well as enlightenment. More importantly, services that empower curators will also expand the topography for content creation. Forrester estimates that 70% of social media users are simply consumers, those who search and consume the content available today…but never say anything in public about it. However, the ease of curation combined with the pervasiveness of microblogging starts to entice consumers to share information, converting the static consumer into a productive curator or creator.

Regardless of platform, blogging is a gift and an exercise in the democratization of information and the equalization of influence. With creation and curation increasing the exchange of information commerce, we are moving new media toward the mainstream. As such, what you consume and also what you share factor into the development of interest graphs and social nicheworks as well as the overall direction of new media. How will this change how and what you share?

Image Credit: Shutterstock (Edited)

About 100 miles of oil-drenched boom material used to contain the BP spill in the Gulf of Mexico is being used to make plastic parts for the Chevrolet Volt.

General Motors said it is recycling enough material used off the coast of Alabama and Louisiana to produce more than 100,000 pounds of plastic resin. GM will use the material to manufacture the deflectors that direct air around the Chevrolet Volt’s radiator, and company brass say they’ve got enough to supply the first year’s run of 10,000 cars.

“This was purely a matter of helping out,” John Bradburn, head of GM’s waste-reduction efforts, said in a statement. “If sent to a landfill, these materials would have taken hundreds of years to begin to break down, and we didn’t want to see the spill further impact the environment. We knew we could identify a beneficial reuse of this material given our experience.”

The parts in question are made from a mix of recycled material. One-quarter of the material comes from recycled booms. Another 25 percent is made from recycled tires pulled from vehicles at GM’s Milford Proving Ground. The remainder is a mix of post-consumer recycled plastics and other polymers.

Heritage Environmental collected the boom material from the coast. Mobile Fluid Recovery used a huge high-speed drum to extract the oil and waste water. Lucent Polymers prepped the material for plastic die-mold production. GDC Inc. combined all the recycled materials to produce the components.

GM said it will continue using recycled booms until the supply runs out; it expects to use the material for components in other Chevrolet vehicles.

Photo: BP America / Flickr. Workers remove damaged boom from the waters near Bayou La Batre, Alabama on July 4, 2010.

Videos: General Motors

With every day that passes, brand managers are learning the value of presence in social networks. The extent to which new media permeates a company’s fabric depends on where in the world the company is based, as well as the prevailing culture of its organization. What’s clear however, is that brands are paying attention.

Social media and our understanding of its promise are raw. I’ve always believed that media and ensuing behavior are evolving faster than our ability to master it. As such, it relegates us to an important, not menial role of student versus expert.

It starts with how we visualize the opportunity that lies before us in new media. Here we are, years after some of the earliest, successful experimentation with brands in networks such as Facebook, Twitter, and blogs. And yet, many of us still can’t see beyond the idea of trying to reach “an audience” of existing and potential consumers. While in general, there’s nothing wrong with earning an audience. The principle of my statement though, is rooted in the idea that an audience is comprised of people, people who in their own way, are each coming to the relationship with their own personal agenda. As such, we tend to view connections made in social networks quite literally as the 3F’s: friends, fans and followers. With such a narrow view of who we’re trying to reach and why, we limit our effect and value.

There is no one audience. It’s an audience of audiences with audiences and within each are varying roles of the social consumer.

At any one moment, social consumers are

- Influencers

- Decision Makers

- Peers

- Advisers

- Idea Generators

- Adversaries

- Advocates

- Customers

If we are designing our engagement strategies and social presences around the varying, yet important roles of the social consumer, we are missing our true opportunities to cultivate more meaningful communities online and in the real world.

The future of business is tied to how the 3F’s convert into the 4A’s, action, advisor, affinity, and advocacy, regardless of network.

It is our responsibility to assume the role of digital anthropologist and sociologist to understand the needs and wants of people within each network and to design programs around these discoveries. Everything begins with research and understanding. Instead however, brands are quick to race to networks with a “ready, fire, aim” approach without having the answers to why. And then we wonder why it’s so difficult to measure ROI. We need to have a mission and purpose that reaches the right people in the right way with desired outcomes.

ExactTarget recently published a study that showed us, at the top level, the differences between the 3F’s. In its report, “Subscribers, Fans and Followers,” ExactTarget studied the unique attributes of consumers using email, Facebook, and Twitter as well as their influence on customer loyalty.

The first question is one that many companies often ask, but is rarely answered. Are internet users more likely to purchase from a brand after becoming a subscriber, fan or follower?

In the U.S., the results are as follows…

On Twitter, 37% said yes, 31% were indifferent and 32% said that it was unlikely.

Facebook

On Facebook, at least as of the study date, which is April 2010, the numbers aren’t as promising as Twitter. Here, only 17% agreed, 34% were on the fence, and a staggering 49% disagreed.

Email

In opt-in email campaigns, the numbers were better than Facebook. 27% of email subscribers said that they would make a purchase, 41% stated a neutral position, and 32% would not.

Earlier in the year, I wrote about why consumers connect with brands on social networks. Many stated that they desired access to exclusive content as well as special offers and discounts. That tells us that we have to, in part, address those wants. According to this research, we can see that promotional activity on Twitter may be a good place to start. Here Followers may prove of greater value than Fans or Likes, as those who would make a purchase because of the brand connection are twice as likely to do so through Twitter than Facebook.

ExactTarget then asked an equally important question. Would you recommend a brand or product after connecting with the company on Twitter, Facebook, or through opt-in email?

The Twitter lines were divided in thirds. 33% said yes, they would act as an advocate on behalf of the brand. 35% were unsure. And, 31% said that they were unlikely to do so.

This time, the numbers were a bit better for Facebook. 21% would recommend a company after “Liking” them. 32% stated that they did not lean either way. 47% however, said that they don’t “like” the idea of making the referral.

Email, which, by the way, is far from dead, outperforms Facebook. 24% would make a referral. 40% were unmoved. 36% claimed that email did not inspire them to make the referral.

The numbers are telling and whether we agree or not, they inspire analysis and more importantly, creativity. The population in Twitter compared to Facebook and also email is small.  According to ExactTarget, only 3% of US internet users follow brands on Twitter. Imagine what happens when that number increases and brands also meet this growth with much more sophisticated programming and engagement strategies. ExactTarget also noted something very important. Users on Twitter are more likely to be influencers…thus ideal targets for advocacy.

To help, Twitter just revamped business.twitter.com, a site that provides the basics on how businesses can use Twitter effectively. The new site provides businesses with information about Twitter features and tools as well as about the company’s new Promoted Products – Promoted Trends, Promoted Accounts, and Promoted Tweets.

The lesson in all of this is that assumptions are made about how well businesses are using social presences to activate social consumers. Once we realize that social consumers require information, direction, and incentives uniquely, connecting with them will have the purpose necessary to steer experiences and outcomes.  Everything starts with getting to know your social consumers.

This is click to action…converts the 3F’s to the 4A’s!

Get The Conversation Prism:

Image Credit: Shutterstock

The makers of a new all-electric trash truck soon to be plying the streets of a Paris suburb promise that the only fumes coming from the truck will involve rotten fruit and expired cheese, not clouds of diesel exhaust.

Despite what gets loaded into the hopper, the 26-ton truck’s emissions are clean, with each truck saving an estimated 130 tons of CO2 emissions each year over a diesel-powered model. The trash truck, built by PVI Electric Powertrain, features liquid cooled lithium-ion battery packs from Dow Kokam that tout a 10-year usable life and stability in extreme climates. Each truck will have five strings of seven battery packs, which provide the equivalent of 250 kilowatt hours of energy.

“This achievement demonstrates that real advanced battery solutions exist for the commercial and fleet industry today,” said Dow Kokam Vice President Jean-Francois Herchin. The company claims that it’s the first fully-electric trash truck with the performance of a diesel-powered truck, and perhaps one of the largest electric utility trucks on the road.

Utility vehicles like trash trucks — and the hybrid street sweeper we told you about last week — are ideal for electrification, as they travel fixed routes at predetermined times and often replace noisy, smelly vehicles in dense urban cores. The PVI electric trash truck is no exception. Drivers can pick up 16 tons of trash in two rounds of service with a recharge or battery swap during the driver’s lunch break or a shift change.

Anyone who has ever been stuck behind a slowly accelerating trash truck will be glad to hear that PVI designed a gearbox that allows the truck to climb hills without impeding traffic, and the electric drivetrain means that 100 percent of torque is available at acceleration.

The first truck will debut in the Paris suburb of Courbevoie as part of the fleet of SITA Ile de France, a division of Suez. By the end of 2011, another eleven electric trash trucks will hit the road.

Photo: Dow Kokam

Does a ski trip to Aspen make you a successful bond trader, or do successful bond traders go skiing in Aspen?

It’s college acceptance season, and worth considering an often overlooked question:

Do people who are on track to become successful go to elite colleges, buy elite cars, engage in other elite behaviors… (Defining elite as something both scarce and thus expensive).

or

Do attending these colleges or engaging in these behaviors make you successful?

It matters, because if you’re buying the elite label as a shortcut to success, you might be surprised at what you get.

There are certainly exceptions (for professions that are very focused on a credential, and for the economically disadvantaged), but generally, most elite products like college are overrated as life changers.

It turns out that merely getting into Harvard is as good an indicator of future success as actually going. It turns out that being the sort of person that can invest the effort, conquer fear and/or raise the money to capture some of the elite trappings of visible success is what drives success, not the other way around.

The learning matters a great deal, and especially the focused effort behind it. The brand name of the institution, not so much.

Don’t worry so much if some overworked admissions officer or grizzled journalist fails to pick you. It might mean more that you could go, not that you do.

Does advertising on the Super Bowl make your brand successful? I think it’s more likely that successful brands advertise on the Super Bowl.

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark. If you would like to have your startup considered for inclusion, please see the details here.

Name: Dwolla

Quick Pitch: Dwolla is a peer-to-peer payment platform that allows social network users to exchange money quickly and at a low cost.

Genius Idea: Hey, remember that fellow who spotted you a drink at last night’s social media drinkup? If you want to pay him back but you’re more likely to know his Twitter handle than his e-mail address, Dwolla might be a good service for you to check out.

Dwolla is a simple service that lets you connect to Facebook and Twitter to send and receive funds. Once your checking or savings account is linked to Dwolla and your social network contacts are imported (an automatic process that occurs programmatically behind the scenes), you can send money to any of your Facebook friends or Twitter followers.

Peer-to-peer payments are hardly a new concept, and startup Dwolla isn’t the first company to devise a way to send sums through social networks. Still, this iteration has its merits.

Pay Me, a peer-to-peer payments Facebook app, rolled out back in 2007 with Paypal integration. And TwitPay has been around since 2009. Paypal itself launched a Facebook app called Send Money in 2009. But all of these apps are currently out of commission, as far as their intended purposes are concerned.

Here’s the thing: The second you show people a way to send money online, scammers will find a way to take money online using your app. It’s a principle analogous to Newton’s third law of motion, and nearly as inviolable.

So, many of these social money-sending apps have been repurposed as charitable fundraising apps. But other parties are working on the social money-sending problem, including Buxter (a Facebook app from online payment system ClickandBuy) and Paypal, which announced micropayments and Facebook integration a couple months ago.

While Dwolla bills itself as “Paypal without the fees,” it actually does charge per transaction; however, in this case, it’s the recipient who pays a small fee of $0.25 per transaction regardless of the amount sent.

The startup allows for “hub” pages, microsites any user can create for requesting or sending money.

We’re not at all sure that Dwolla is scam-proof; in the end, users still have to know and trust the people and organizations they’re sending money to — something that should be carefully scrutinized when social networks come into play.

In the end, only time will tell if Dwolla has the sticking power its predecessors have all lacked.

Here’s a demo video of the Dwolla founder sending money to Sean Parker:

The Spark of Genius Series highlights a unique feature of startups and is made possible by Microsoft BizSpark, a startup program that gives you three-year access to the latest Microsoft development tools, as well as connecting you to a nationwide network of investors and incubators. There are no upfront costs, so if your business is privately owned, less than three years old, and generates less than U.S.$1 million in annual revenue, you can sign up today.

Image courtesy of Flickr, mikemcilveen.