Newly Released Statistics: How Big Is Social Media Now?

It is no doubt that social media will be here to stay, but do you know how big social media has become? This MSNBC news video shares some updated statistics with us.

Twitter 

Sixty-seven percent (67%) NBA players are on Twitter. Lady Gaga and Justin Bieber, for example, have 26+ million and 23+ million followers respectively as of June 24, 2012, more than the population of Australia (22 million).

I (@LinchiKwok) have to admit that I like Twitter even more after I use it as a teaching tool in my social media class. Twitter makes it easier for me to communicate with students and other industry professionals. As a matter of fact, Twitter is also very helpful for travelers. When my flight was delayed due to a storm in May, I tweeted to @AmericanAir and got prompt responses and assistance. What a great testimonial for the power of Twitter complaints!

YouTube 

There are over three billion hours of YouTube videos being watched every month, 500 years of YouTube videos being watched on Facebook every day, and 700 YouTube videos being shared on Twitter every minute.

Facebook

About 80% of its monthly active users live outside of the U.S.A. Americans spend more time on Facebook than another other websites. Every day, there are over 300 million photos uploaded on Facebook.

LinkedIn 

There are 161 million active users. Every second, there are two new members signing up on this site.

Flickr

Users upload 2,500 images to Flickr every minute. Every day, there are more than 3 million images posted on the site.

We should all embrace new technologies and learn how to use social media for our advantages. Would you agree?

Visit msnbc.com for breaking news, world news, and news about the economy

References:

The picture was downloaded from blog.mcf.org.

Mobile Etiquette on Vacation

This morning, I heard from my sister in China that a guy threw a bundle of ¥100 notes to the air in Canton Baiyun International Airport (¥100 RMB ≈ $15 USD). Surprisingly, nobody seemed to care about the money. People pulled out their phones and cameras and started taking pictures. I assume that quite a few of them would have immediately shared the “moment” on the internet.

That is interesting. I wonder if we have become too obsessed with social media. If so, now it is time to remind ourselves the mobile etiquette. Let’s see if you agree to the following “mobile etiquette on vacation” that is discussed in a Fox News video.

• Pay attention to the tour guy. What are some examples of “not paying attention” when the tour guy is talking? In my opinions, these behaviors should be avoided: talking with others or on the phone, having the plugs on the ears, searching information or checking in with the phone, and not following instructions. What else do you think?
• Post pictures of a real person rather than those of a well-known tourist spot. There are many high-quality and professional pictures about those famous spots on the internet already. There is no need to add more unless s/he is also professional photographer. From time to time, I think it is acceptable if one shares a limited number of pictures taken in small places that are not searchable on the internet.
• Ask for permissions before tagging others in a picture. I agree. Most pictures I posted on the internet are about myself (so that I don’t need permissions). Occasionally, I tagged my friends if they were in the pictures with me. Normally, I selected the pictures in which my friends looked good. More importantly, I usually asked for their permissions in advance and always allow others to untag themselves. Likewise, if somebody tags me in a picture that I do not like, I will untag myself. If necessary, I will politely ask my friend to remove the picture on the internet.
• Publish pictures after a vacation is completed because others may feel jealous about the updates, according to this video. Honestly, I have never felt jealous about my friends’ vacations before. Now that I know this etiquette, I will keep in mind that somebody else might feel jealous about my vacation. Personally, I think it would be fine if one uploads the pictures at the end of a day (during or after a vacation) --- if somebody would feel jealous about others’ vacation, s/he would do that anyway, no matter when the pictures are uploaded. Would you agree?
• Do not use tablets or phones in the dark unless one is there by himself/herself. The light from the screen could bother others.
• Use headphones thoughtfully. Headphones need to be taken off when we are talking or listening to others. If traveling in a bus or a plane, we should lower the volume of the headphones because others may feel annoyed by the small noise coming out from a headset.   

I believe that etiquette is about being nice and thoughtful to others. I would like to hear your thoughts on “mobile etiquette on vacation.” What do you think? Is mobile etiquette necessary? Is there anything else you would like to add to this list?

Relevant discussions:

Mobile Etiquette

Etiquette for the New Age 

Social Media Etiquette for Business

Smartphone Etiquette
 

Teaching Social Media in Business Schools: What Needs to Be Covered?

Earlier this month, I attended the International Entrepreneurship Faculty Development Program at University of Colorado Denver. Rahim Fazal (@rahimthedream), a three-time company co-founder, spoke to us on how Facebook is transforming entrepreneurship. In Rahim’s words, social media has made significant impact on 5Cs --- conversations, collaboration, connectedness, content, and customization.

I agree with Rahim that social media has changed and is still changing the way people are doing business. It becomes obvious that social media must be included in business education. There are forward-thinking business schools offering courses on social media. To my knowledge, however, many of these classes are taught as a marketing course. That may make sense because social media can be very effective in relationship marketing, but I argue that social media is more than just sales or marketing. Human resources, for example, is another area that uses social media to a large extent. Accordingly, as much as I believe that companies must include every functional and operational department into consideration when developing their corporate social media strategy, I suggest that business schools also need to cover social media content in every related subject. Or, they should offer a social media course through a multidisciplinary lens. I myself teach social media as a personal and business communication tool in my social media class, in which B2C and marketing communication is discussed along with the C2C, B2B, C2B, B2G, G2B, G2C, and C2G communication.    

What important social media competences do you expect from college graduates? In which class(es) should business schools cover the social media content? If you believe that social media should be a standalone course, what should be taught in that class?  

Relevant discussions:

The Challenges of Using Social Media in Teaching 

Hiring Creative Minds as the Chief Innovation Officer 

Do You See the Big Picture? 

References:

The picture was downloaded from Customerrock.Wordpress.com

The Challenges of Using Social Media in Teaching

Last week, I was invited to speak in a panel discussion session about using social media in teaching for the Summer Institute for Technology-Enhanced Teaching and Learning (SITETL) at SU. I was asked: what challenges do I face when using social media in teaching? I think that is a great question.

Since 2009, I have developed and taught four different courses at SU. One is on social media and the other three are hospitality management courses. Students use many more social media tools in my social media class than in others. Also, depending on the subject matter, my expectations on how students use social media tools in class are different, but in general, I think there are two big challenges.  

First and for most, professors can no longer stop acquiring new knowledge if they begin using social media in teaching (nobody should stop learning anyway, right?). I believe that in the age of information explosion, new technology and school of thoughts can emerge every day. Professors need to be on top of things --- they need to know how to use different social media tools effectively, and they must know what is going on in the real world by teaching beyond the textbook knowledge. For example, Google+ was new last year; Pinterest was up-and-coming in the spring. Before I discussed these tools in my social media class, I had to study these topics and learn how to use these tools myself. For my other hospitality management courses, I must read news articles and online forums every day so that I can discuss with my students about the upcoming trends both in class and online (i.e. in this blog). My point is if I expect my students to research the industry updates and speak intelligently about the trends under a particular domain, I must set a good example by doing that very well myself.  

Second, professors need to be cognizant of their new role in classroom. In my opinions, professors are no longer the only “voice of authority” in class because there are students who adopt new technology and learn new information faster than professors. Accordingly, professors must open their minds, welcome/encourage inputs from students, and learn new knowledge with students. In today’s settings, professors should become the thought leader of the classes they teach. A thought leader is there to lead the learning process, provoke new thoughts, and facilitate discussion.  

At the end of this session, I was asked what impact I would see in my teaching if one day all the popular social media tools like Twitter and Facebook went away. I believe that social media is here to stay even though what is popular today can be replaced by newer ones. And yes, the content I teach about how to use blogs, Twitter, and Facebook Page may become outdated soon, but I argue that the transferable skills that students have learned in my class will not fade. I hope that students can learn more than just the content I teach in class. My goals are: my students will understand how to research information, think independently, be capable of serving an online community as a thought leader, know how to effectively engage with audience online, be able to measure the effectiveness of their social media presence, and hopefully more.

Do you agree (or disagree)? Do you use any social media tools in teaching? What challenges do you face? What do you do to cope with those challenges?

References:

The picture was downloaded from SmartBlogs.com.

Mobile Etiquette

The 2012 Intel Mobile Etiquette Survey is out. It seems that people are doing worse over time, however. According to this Wall Street Journal video, 81% of adults think manners are bad, comparing to 75% of last year. Here are some bad examples on the top pet peeves list:

• 77% - texting or typing while driving
• 64% - talking too loud in public
• 55% - having the volume too loud in public
• 59% - sharing too much negative information
• 55% - sharing inappropriate or explicit photos
• 53% - sharing the information that is deemed to be private

Texting while driving is prohibited by law in most places. Recently, there are also communities that began issuing fines to those who are texting while walking. It is possible that more communities will ban texting for pedestrians soon.

This survey also reminds companies and people not to share too much personal or negative updates in social media. Too much “irrelevant” information will irritate the audience and friends. When somebody “unfriends” a person, there must be a reason, right?

Social media is not about the person (or the company) who owns the accounts; it is more about the audience. When sharing information, we need to ask ourselves: “What’s in it for the audience?”

Even when people share useful information with their friends, it is also very important to respect others’ privacy. For example, several of my friends are looking for a house now. When I found some useful information (e.g. a highly recommended mobile app for house hunt), I did not post that information in my friends’ timeline or mention their name on Twitter. Who knows if my friends are ready to let the whole world know that they are looking for a house now? Instead, I sent them an e-mail about the app.

What are the most annoying mobile manners you have seen? Please share with us and let everyone avoid those bad manners.

Some relevant discussions:

Etiquette for the New Age 

Social Media Etiquette for Business

Smartphone Etiquette