Social Networking - What Do We Really Know About "Our Friends"?

Do you FB?  Do you Tweet?  YouTube Junkie?  Cyber Date at all?  DVR much?  Or do you just hang out with your APPS?

December 2009 - Fortune Small Business Magazine  Pg. 88 -

13.9 BILIION  = minutes Facebook users spent on the site in April - a 700% increase from April 2008.
     WWCS? - I am a very active FB user and have probably contributed to this amazing increase.  Last April I could barely use my toaster correctly. This year I judge my coolness factor based on the number of FB friends I interact with daily (not really but maybe...).  Facebook lead me to Twitter- Twitter to YouTube- and I have APPS for all 3.  As I finish up an article on Facebook Is What Cheers Used To Be (coming soon) I pose the question:  How many of those 13.9 billion minutes were productive versus neutral entertainment?

According to Fortune, out of 2,000 random Tweets analyzed- 38% were conversational and 43% were deemed babble!
     WWCS? - If Tweets are 140 character babbles, is Facebook a more extensive, audio/video populated version of babble/chit chat?  Why are we spending so much time on Facebook doing something that is as effective/ineffective as chatting in the local bar with strangers?  Especially, when you consider that 87% of adults say they prefer dealing with others in person instead of via computers or smartphones.  Is non-memorable chit-chat better accepted in bytes then over a bite?

There must be something to all this YouTube exchange and Tweeting because 95% of business decision makers worldwide use social networks to some extent.

I get asked all the time, "How do I make money using a social network or blog or Facebook?"  When looking at the above polling numbers it might seem as though no real money can be made in this fickle medium which offers little more focus than an hour at Chili's on a Friday night. However, there is money to be made when harnessing these emerging, and warp-speed growing, mediums correctly. 

So, the next time you are using your APP to log on to Twitter and post a '140 word quip' ask yourself this question: "Is what I am about to say pop-culture relevent,  antagonistically interesting, freakishly Cultish, or funny to the masses under 25?"  If the answer is yes then you are closer than ever to making some moula in cyber-space.

I'll be posting more on this topic in the next few weeks as I prepare to Moderate this Hot Topic in New Orleans at ERA in February.  http://www.eragreatideas.org/

By the way, what's the appropriate sign of in the Internet world?

TTYL?
Charlie