Summary Analysis for search on "Jay Cutler" using Social Mention

I like to think of myself as someone who is always up to speed with the latest and greatest technologies. If it’s new, I’m interested. If it’s cool, I have to have it. I’m an early adopter so to speak. With this in mind, it may come as a surprise that I was among the few to resist the call to Web 2.0. As communication became more casual, less formal, I understood each step along the way: bulletin boards (BBS for you old timers), chat rooms, forums, email, instant messaging and text messaging. I even understood blogging. Try as I might, I just couldn’t understand Web 2.0.

Limitations

Twitter posts are limited to 140 characters. Even text messages have a 160 character limit. I was being told I couldn’t do more with a QWERTY keyboard than I could with a standard phone dial pad! It was maddening!

Facebook was a completely different animal. Suddenly everyone had an account. 300+ million of them now. Friend requests were being made and it was a race to see who had more friends. What was the social etiquette for turning down unwanted friend requests? Is it OK to de-friend someone? Why am I getting all of these pointless comments?

Reality

I was looking at it all wrong. 300+ million. Think about that number for a minute. What I wasn’t seeing was right in front of me. Facebook, Twitter, and their counterparts had become a virtual water cooler. Friends were keeping up with each other from across the world in quick, easily digestible tidbits. And all of it is publicly available.

Should I have a social media presence?

Many organizations face the challenge of wanting to be involved in Web 2.0, but not wanting to lose control of their message either. As I mentioned above, Web 2.0 can be likened to a virtual water cooler. It’s a discussion. I always start my answer the same way. The discussion will be had whether you participate or not. Actively choosing to not participate still sends a message; only this message you can’t control. Before jumping in feet first, it’s always good to test the water. Besides being a tad cliché, that basic piece of survival knowledge also applies to Social Media.

How do I test the water?

Is there a topic your organization is intimately involved in? Wouldn’t it be nice to know what those 300+ million people are saying around their water cooler? A new search technology has begun to emerge to allow you to do just that. These search engines are beginning to scour discussions and rank their sentiment. Contextual analysis is done on words surrounding your search to determine if the posting is positive, neutral, or negative in nature. Throw in some statistical analysis and you can get the basic idea for what people really think, and how loud they think it. While there are several new start-ups mixed along with several big names like Nielsen getting into this mix, there are a few free tools you can use. Amongst those, I find Social Mention the most complete. Social Mention provides real time updates on what people are saying form the most significant Social Media sites, including Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, and Digg.

To learn more on testing the water, refer to Tom Whittaker’s post “Do You Know What Your Customers Are Saying About You?”

Why Web 2.0 matters

Now that you know what’s being discussed, you can more appropriately decide to participate, or not. To quote the 1980’s public service announcements: “Now you know, and knowing is half the battle.” Simply put, knowing is why web 2.0 matters.