In view of this morning’s Twitter following/followers count reset and the subsequent fall out, I thought it would be nice to step back and examine, once again, how social media has so permeated our everyday lives.

A decade ago, I wouldn’t have woken up and remained in bed while scanning all my accounts for new messages on my phone, only to then get out of bed and do it again on my computer as if the prior were an appetizer before actual computing. But when I find myself reflecting on the days of rotary phones and the simplicity of life with fewer connections, I realize that this reflection isn’t unique to my peers and me. It’s a feeling that cycles in for every generation of adult.

Consider your parents and the childhood they had. Wasn’t there a time when the television (or even radio, depending on how old you are) was a novelty? I wonder if parents in those times worried about raising their kids in the television age the way I worry about raising kids in the smartphone age.

And as this technology becomes more integrated into our lives (and it can), we should expect life to change even more, where our communicative connections revolutionize themselves the way electricity transformed the use of power, or the way indoor plumbing improved the smell of our city streets.

Anyway, this is just a grasp at perspective as we all go from surprise to half-joking panic at our decimated Twitter metrics. On the plus side, at least we’re now all about as popular as Ashton Kutcher…

One could argue that finding moderate success for a musician in this age is relatively easier than in the past. While the basic tenants of promotion still hold true – creating good music and playing exciting shows – the low-cost options made available by online platforms give today’s artists huge marketing advantages over methods from decades ago.

Here are a list of great tools for promoting your music online. If you’re a musician, get to know them well and you can save your time and money on more important things… like your fourth delay pedal.

ArtistData
Upload a show to ArtistData and they’ll automatically send it out to huge number of sites and calendars.

Bandcamp
A powerful distribution and sharing site that gives you ultimate control.

Band Metrics
Measure your engagements and the spread of your music.

Facebook
Obviously. Also, since Facebook holds so much personal user info, site ads can be specifically targeted to specific demographics for maximum cost-effectiveness.

Fanbridge
A feature-rich mailing list system that works incredibly well.

MySpace
During the Musician & Promoter Workshop in San Francisco. an attendee commented that MySpace was dead and thus not worthy of attention. However, as someone who reviews music for an established publication, I can safely say that it is worth the small amount of effort it takes to set up a page. People still expect you to have one, so it’s important to have.

ReverbNation
Quite possibly the most robust social media platform for musicians. Tools include mailing lists, widgets and influence metrics across multiple online sites. Integration with Facebook makes the utilization of their services seamless.

The Sixty One
A slick site that allows listeners to randomly stumble onto new music, rate songs and recommend similar artists. As a songwriter, it’s an amazing way to share your material while seeing which of your tracks stimulate listeners the most.

Twitter
Obviously.

Sure beats the old MP3.com days, no?

The Conversation Prism (Brian Solis and JESS3)

Age Distribution of Social Sites (Pingdom)

The World Map of Social Networks (Vincos.it)

Social Web Involvement (Global Web Index)

Social Media Demographics (Ethan Bloch)

The Web Trend (Information Architects, Inc.)

The Social Media Effect (Social Reflexion)

Sharing on Social Networks (AddToAny)

Twitter Territory (HubSpot)

And of course, any collection of tech pics wouldn’t be complete without the Nerd Venn Diagram (Matthew Mason)

Like many of you the past few days, I touched an iPad. In browsing the many apps, one struck me as particularly remarkable: the Marvel iPad App. While it may not be any more unique than any of the other many print publication apps out there, its implications in the comic industry make it potentially more revolutionary – the short length and highly illustrated nature of the weekly comic make it most ideal for the iPad medium.

Consider the traditional comic subscription model: the subscriber pays an arguably high periodic fee to receive a weekly short story crammed in the mail. With the iPad, an issue is received immediately to be viewed on a clear, bright display. Simply eliminating the need to print and distribute material could dramatically lower costs. And since the distribution format can be regulated by an app, the risk of piracy is reduced.

On the other end of the battlefield, Marvel revolutionary Stan Lee’s son, Jim Lee, offered an opposing opinion as head publisher of DC Comics on the industry trend towards digital distribution, as reported in geek culture blog Geeks of Doom:

“I think at the end of the day, I have not seen anything on the digital side that is more compelling to me than a printed comic,” said Lee in response to a fan question at the panel. “I’ll use Blackest Night as an example. You open that up and — I don’t want to spoil anything — but there’s a spread inside that’s just amazing. You cannot replicate it on a device with a smaller screen.”

Ultimately, he said it’s why DC hasn’t jumped head first onto the digital bandwagon the way other companies have, such as competitor Marvel Entertainment, which released their own iPhone/iPad application to coincide with Saturday’s debut of Apple’s iPad tablet device.

“There’s no real business model for it, in that, it’s not a big part of anyone’s business right now, regardless of if you’re on the iPad tomorrow or not,” Lee said, adding that even when digital does start to carve out a portion of the industry it won’t cannibalize the printed comics because of all the differences it will end up having.

These differences include advantages like having an entire comic collection in your pocket, Instant access to purchase comics and being about to seek out new comics and new tools that will allow creators to tell stories.

“We have to come up with some really compelling content that plays to the advantage of digital distribution. Once we have something like that, that’s when you’ll really see things start to shift,” Lee said.

If you’re starting your own business or are in charge of marketing efforts for an established organization, you’re probably more than aware of the importance and cost-effectiveness of “social media marketing.” I place quotes around that phrase because marketing in social media really isn’t marketing in the traditional sense. It’s about building relationships, creating value and being a contributing member of the industry you’re in.

Blah, blah, blah. If you read tech blogs or follow any of the “SM specialists” who Tweet about this stuff 24/7, you’ve heard these statements ad nauseam.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not the truth. And until companies start to embrace these values, it will continue to be repeated if only to be hammered into heads. For the new company, there are certain checklist points that I feel are not only expected but required:

1.) Establish an active presence on Twitter and Facebook

Create a Twitter profile and a Facebook Page for your organization. If possible, try and keep the profile names as simple and consistent to your brand as possible. For example, for RedCandle Research, we have the following:

Main: www.redcandleresearch.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/redcandleresearch
Twitter: www.twitter.com/redcandlelight (@redcandle – taken; @redcandleresearch – too long)

For my band, Festizio, we had to accommodate for unavailable usernames as well:

Main: www.festizio.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/festizio
Twitter: www.twitter.com/festizioband (@festizio – taken)
MySpace: www.myspace.com/festizioband
YouTube: www.youtube.com/festizioband

Once you’ve got that covered, you can explore the more industry specific platforms that may appeal to your sharing your message (YouTube for videos, Flickr for photos, ReverbNation for music, etc.). But get Twitter and Facebook covered first. It’s where everyone is and, thus, it’s where you need to be.

2.) Realize that different platforms are different mediums and have different audiences

Online communities are not all the same, and each require a different voice and posting style than another. Twitter is more friendly for periodic posts of short ideas throughout the day, and the platform makes it easier for these posts to be shared via Retweets or organized by hashtags. Facebook enables embedded multimedia posting, making it easier for the reader to see what you’re sharing (video, image, etc.) without having to visit an external link. But for both platforms, it’s important to resist over sharing, as you would risk annoying the customers that follow you.

3.) Start a blog and share your ideas in depth

When thoughts must jump from 140 character posts into more detailed analysis, it’s time to write a blog post. This is your opportunity to show that you have insightful ideas to contribute. It’s your opportunity to prove your expertise to those within your industry. Where a company website might be cold with product info, a blog allows you to humanize your business. You show that there is a thinking human with (hopefully) a warm beating heart in your chest.

4.) Connect with others in your industry

When your presence is set and you’re ready to explore, look for other voices in your industry. Using free tools like Technorati or TweepSearch, you can find blogs and Twitter users by readership levels. For a more detailed analysis on who’s talking and what they’re saying, you could also work with an online analytics reporting firm like us. Wink, wink.

5.) Be interesting or, at the very least, be useful

No one likes to be bored to death.

…

(Image via Toothpaste For Dinner)

Twestival is a shining example of tapping into a vibrant community for the purposes of making a difference. Occurring last night in multiple cities around the world, the collective event donates 100% of the money they make to a notable cause. This year, Twestival supports Concern, a humanitarian organization that helps those living in extreme poverty.

San Francisco Twestival featured great music from Stroke 9 and Sioux City Kid. Notable Twitterati, that you may or may not care about, were out in full force. Overall, it was a great event held for a fantastic cause.

Great job, Krystyl!

Great job, Twestival Team!

Eduard Khil, a Russian baritone that found relative success in the 60s and 70s, became an Internet pop culture sensation last year when a video entitled “I am very glad, because I’m finally going home” was uploaded onto YouTube. Featuring a 1976 performance by Khil, it quickly became a popular meme and was nicknamed “Trololololololololololo,” while Khil, himself, was dubbed the “Trololo Man.”

Variations of the film exist, most notably the one included above featuring a revealing scene from LOST.

OK Go, a rock band widely known for its music video for their hit song, “Here It Goes Again,” recently released a follow-up video that many are hailing as greater than the original. Their YouTube video for “This Too Shall Pass” received 4,168 Diggs to date and is already an internet sensation.

It’s the dream of any marketer for its video to go viral. But this is the entertainment of the every-person, and thus demands a certain level of authenticity. Being quirky for quirkiness’ sake may inspire a few laughs, but it’s the true moments of weird that really inspire the views.

So what are some traits of a successful viral vid? Here are five common characteristics:

1.) They’re more than just stories, they’re experiences – Whether it’s cute kittens or a peaceful aquarium, the video offers something captivating to watch from beginning to end.

2.) They’re easy to digest – Simple concepts that don’t require too much thought. Seriously, what could be less complicated than “Numa Numa” or “Star Wars Kid“?

3.) They’re uplifting in some way – Point: Christian the Lion.

4.) They offer an innovative or unique view of life that’s different from our own – We find escape through entertainment, so it’s no wonder that fun videos from other cultures and viewpoints become so popular. Check out “Little Superstar” or “Tunak Tunak Tun” to see what I mean.

5.) They’re easily shared – Perhaps the most obvious trait is that sharing isn’t restricted (at least not until after the virility has taken effect.)

We apply Trendistic, the web analytics trending tool used in our previous post, to the topic of earthquakes. Covering the past 30 days, we can link spikes in the usage of the keyword “earthquake” on Twitter while associating blog coverage of what was going on during that particular moment. Additionally, the chart allows us to track the frequency of the term as a percentage of total Tweets (how often the topic is discussed in every 100 posts).

February 1
Frequency: 0.08%
Magnitude 6.2 earthquake off the coast of Papua New Guinea but most posts offer continued coverage on Haiti.

“It was a moderate quake, no damage, no tsunami,” said Lawrence Anton, seismologist at the Geological Institute of Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea, located on the “Ring of Fire” Pacific junction of several tectonic plates, is regularly the scene of an earthquake.

February 4
Frequency: 0.08%
Magnitude 5.9 earthquake hits Northern California.

Today’s quake adds to the North Coast’s reputation as being one of the most seismically active regions in the western hemisphere. The Jan. 9 quake caused $40 million in damage, says sfgate.com. Jim Goltz of the California Emergency Management Agency told the Eureka Times-Standard that today’s event might have been an aftershock to the Jan. 9 quake.

February 7
Frequency: 0.05%
Magnitude 5.4 earthquake hits Japan.

The Meteorological Agency said the earthquake hit at 3:10 p.m. (0610 GMT) and registered magnitude 6.6. The U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 6.4. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

February 8
Frequency: 0.06%
Magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits Oaxaca, Mexico.

Some Twitter users in Mexico City reported feeling the quake, though others said they did not. One witness in Mexico City said his building shook for approximately 30 seconds. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

February 10
Frequency: 0.38%
Magnitude 3.8 earthquake hits Chicago.

So, when I woke up and saw that the top story on the news was the earthquake outside of Chicago, of course I called Mom and Dad to make sure they were all right.

“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, we didn’t really get any of the ‘blizzard’.”
“What are you talking about? You had a blizzard.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The earthquake.”
“What earthquake?”
“The earthquake y’all had last night.”
“Betsy, I just turned the news off after the top stories and they didn’t mention an earthquake. I’ll go look for some damage if you want, but it doesn’t even look like the cat’s rattled.”
(Though I have met their cat and I think it always seems a little rattled.)

So, there you go.

February 27
Frequency: 1.01%
Magnitude 8.8 earthquake hits Chile (and where you can donate…).

Poising queries to our online social networks is nothing new. When we need a restaurant recommendation or an opinion about a drainage pipe, we turn to those we know and deem more trustworthy than a soulless machine for their opinions.

Questions like:

“Attention Winos… Need recommendation on Light Wine?”

“Can I use this brow gel as clear mascara, too?“

A new survey conducted by MIT and Microsoft Research asked a sample set of social media users on the kinds of questions they tend to post online. Here were the results:

The core of social media, and it’s true power, lies in its ability to bring us all together. Our voices are amplified to those who want to hear us speak. We’re more connected, more collaborative and more useful as citizens in an ever-shrinking world.

Search companies like Google are advancing the way their technologies approach the semantic web. While the concept isn’t new, innovations in the way we compile this information will allow the user to one day more quickly find useful and trusted answers to their stupid questions.