Comments Welcome … I Think.

Social media truly is an odd duck. We all know of its power. And no one who has an ounce of sanity would contend there is no place for it or little or no value to its use.

Some people write blogs to share information…some write blogs to elevate their egos…some combine both purposes to type away their thoughts…and others simply love the fact that they can share everything about anything to anyone at anytime. So we’ve all progressed into this future by knocking down the white picket fence we all stood securely behind to openly share our minds to the world.

Active or passive we forge ahead with brilliant or mindless words to fill the eyes of any ‘wantoknower’ in the world. Here’s the best part … we can accept …delete and elevate any comment or opinion thrown our way. We are the judge and jury controlling the publishing of anything we deem appropriate. No other medium has this power…no other…period. Anyone can do it…anyone can succeed at it…whatever that truly means. And anyone can enjoy their 15 minutes of fame in nearly an instant globally by the words they write or the comments they make. Remarkable…yes we all already know this.

Image if we could do that in face-to-face conversations. Edit out a word or two that someone just rammed down our ears…tweet or tweak a noun or a verb here or there…punctuate a positive or a negative to serve our cause. Now what a wonderful world that would be.

So comment away my friends or foes…for blogs are an opportunity to fight back with vigor or support with love…but never a place where in comments true freedom of thought or speech will always sustain itself. Not as long as we all have the ability to be Czar’s … editors of others.

With that said…I’d like to think most of us would allow any comment of logic…or point of view whether in agreement or not to ones position to be posted. All in good taste of course. For the only way you can build trust with your followers is to allow them to blast you …prove you wrong…add a disagreement or if you are lucky support your words. Like a brand is a promise…blogs are Trustmark’s for the writer. So with that said … all comments welcome … I think.

What Women Want

What Women Want
What do Woman Want? Mel Gibson tried to figure it out. As have milions of men on a daily basis. Some of us…better then the other. So from a man who’s perspective is often predicated by guessing…I’ll be happy to say enjoying insights from others certainly is appreciated. Now I’m not talking about the toilet seat problem or answering questions such as ‘how does this outfit make me look?’ I prefer to stay clear of all of that and focus your attention to how applying key learning’s to web experiences benefit what women really want.

Social Gathering
Your primary audience is women…you’ve taken the pain staking steps to produce personas for your website…and as you already suspected your discovery validates that women play are a major audience segment for your brand. So what do we know about the power of women? I just completed reading an excellent research study performed by Shes Connected titled The Power of Social Networking For Women- – July 2009.

Shes Connected
There’s not a week that goes by that you don’t read a study on social networks or on women and the web. Often I wonder whether or not they are credible or if the sampling methods are accurate. From what I gather this study is on target. So let me start by thanking Mark Grindeland and Cathy Harrison for their insight and thorough findings…and for allowing others a view at the ShesConnected research.

Key Findings

• 53%of online women use Social Networks weekly
• Women over 50 years old is especially strong. They are the largest user group of social networks.
• They are highly educated with 23% having a Masters, PHD or advanced degree (vs. 8% nationally)
• Over a third report they are in business for themselves.
• 48% spend at least 1-2 hrs online for personal use, and spend 5 or more online for business use.
• 48% belong to five or more social networks.
• 59% visit social networks multiple times per day.
• 83% have more then 50 connections or friends thru social networks
• They start a large number of groups. 28% say the avegare number joined is 10
• Safeguarding personal privacy is they number one concern

No Surprise at All
Not surprisingly women are highly engaged and comfortable with technology. Viewing videos, reading blogs, posting photos, writing blogs, and posting comments are common practices.

Top Five Reasons
The top five reasons they belong to Social Networks: Network professionally, stay up-to-date with friends, stay up-to-date with groups they belong to, promote their business, and research products and services.

Keys to Success (always remember to keep the seat down)
The key to any research is how we apply it…and how then we use it to our advantage. What implication the results have for advertisers and marketers is nicely spelled out in the study. Leveraging and providing value to your organization is up to you. I encourage you to read between the lines and expand your opportunities.