It has been reported that Twitter is in the beginning phases of launching new commercial accounts. Supposedly, the twitter commercial accounts will offer advanced functionality, analytics and a commercial API. It appears that Twitter is starting to appeal to the demand for more features from power users – it is our understanding that the basic service will always remain free.

Social Media Visualized!

Take a look at this four minute video created by Eric Qualman from Socialnomics. He presents some great social media statistics.

Summary of stats from the video (courtesy of Digital Buzz Blog):

• By 2010 Gen Y will outnumber Baby Boomers
• 96% of them have joined a social network
• 1 out of 8 couples married in the US last year have met via social media
• Facebook added 100 million users in 9 months
• If Facebook would be a country, it would be the world’s 4th largest
• 80% of companies are using LinkedIn as their primary tool to find employees
• 80% of Twitter usage is on mobile devices. People update anywhere, anytime. Imagine what that means for bad customer experiences?
• In 2009 Boston College stopped distributing e-mail addresses to incoming freshmen
• YouTube is the 2nd largest search engine in the world
• There are over 200.000.000 Blogs. 54% of bloggers post content or tweet daily.

We have been scouring the web to uncover the best social media information out there.  Luckily we came across the folks at Social Scoop who have put together what I think are the Top 7 Social Media Resources on the web. Each one of these social media reports provides useful information to help the social media newbie to the seasoned new media executive. Let us know what you think and be sure to visit our friend at Social Scoop.

1. Social Media Marketing Trends
2. Trendspotting: Influencers on Social Media 2009
3. Marketing to the Social Web
4. Social Media Primer
5. Social Media Marketing for the Rest of Us
6. Building Personal Brand with Social Media
7. You: The Online Brand

Take six minutes today and watch Stephen Pierce explain why he thinks social media is the new “center of gravity” on the internet. I wholeheartedly agree with his summary that you need to add value and contribute to one or all of the three major components of social media:

• Communities
• Conversations
• Content

Watch Stephen’s Video Now

I Gotta Tell You’s Author, Jim Edward’s summarizes his thoughts on Social Media Marketing and the Seth Godin video.