What are Facebook and Twitter Talking About?

Do you know what Facebook and Twitter are talking about? Do you care?

If you don’t, you may want to rethink that position. With millions of people updating statuses and tweeting, it’s not surprising that the leading topics there can give us a keen insight into what the world is interested in.

Just today, The Facebook Blog posted its 2010 Memology: Top Status Trends of the Year. In it, it uncovered a new anachronism, HMU, which is shorthand for “Hit Me Up”. Barely a blip on last years radar, HMU now gets mentioned 80,000 times per day on the social media platform.

Keeping up with the latest lexicon though is just one trend. Facebook also identifies the top talked about technology, (iPad and iPhone 4), top world events (Haiti, Chilean miners), musicians, movies and sports.

Yesterday, on the Twitter Blog, Twitter released its 2010 Trends on Twitter list, a recap of the biggest tweeted trends of the year. It too lists the top news events (Gulf Oil Spill, Haiti Earthquate), technology (iPad, Android), sports (World Cup, Lebron James), people and movies.

It’s an interesting recap of what the (online) world thought was important in 2010.  If you didn’t recognize all the items, events, people or things that trended though, don’t feel bad, I had to Google a few names on the list myself.  I had no idea that Twitter talked more about Brazilian president-elect Dilma Rouseff than Mel Gibson. My faith in humanity is restored.

Is Your Company a “C” Student When It Comes to Social Media?

Remember when you were in high school?  Being average was, well, average. It was the typical “C” student. Teacher notations on report cards said things like “could try harder” or “room for improvement”.  Being a “C” student didn’t really earn accolades or open doors. It didn’t win scholarships or help position a student for later success.

So why then are you acting like a “C” student in marketing your business with Social Media? Read more »

5 Useful Twitter Search Tools

Finding what you’re looking for on Twitter can sometimes be a challenge. With millions of tweets out there, how do you uncover what you’re looking for? How do you discover interesting people to follow? How do you track certain topics? How do you locate other Twitterers in your local area?

That’s where Twitter search tools come in. Search tools let you extract the interesting bits of information from the tweet stream without having to drown in a torrent of tweets.

Here’s a few of my favorites that help me find, track and monitor the key players and conversations on Twitter.

Read more »