Socialnomics

A YouTube video was recently passed around our office. This is not an uncommon occurrence; we all enjoy a good giggle now and then. But this one had a much different effect. It was actually rather scary. Not scary in the “Boo!” kind of way, but more scary in a professional, “this is unbelievable!” kind of way. Maybe even more so for those of us in the over 40 category that tend to nervously tremble and perspire as we try and navigate our way through the unfamiliar terrain that is Social Media.

To a generation that grew up thinking the only way to reach a market audience was through a comprehensive mix of radio, TV, and newspaper, this new information on social media is mind blowing. This video speaks of the time it took those dinosaur mediums to reach 50 million users: radio…38 years. TV…13 years. The internet took 4years. IPOD took just 3 years to reach 50 million users. In comparison, Facebook recently added 100 million users in less than 9 months!

Is this possible? Really? How can this be?

Well, the video goes on to say that if Facebook was a country, it would be the world’s 4th largest! Number 1 would be China, number 2 would be India, number 3 the United States and number 4 would be Facebook!

Oh, and it’s not just Facebook that people are paying attention to; Twitter has also taken the world by storm. There are two celebrities (Ashton Kutcher and Ellen DeGeneres) that have more followers on Twitter than the entire population of Ireland, Norway and Panema! In China, QZone has over 300 million users. Wikipedia has become more accurate than Encyclopedia Britannica, posting more than 13 million articles.

The title of the video is “Socialnomics”. I watched it the first time and was intrigued. I watched it a second time and was amazed… OK, and slightly terrified. I watched it a third time and felt compelled to share it with all of you. Take a peek for yourself….

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fVXKI506w-E


So, is social media just a fad? I’m thinking it’s not only here to stay, but it’s redefining the way we think about the world as we know it.