The Internet grows in terms of users everyday. By the hundreds, thousands and even billions platforms such as Facebook, Twitter and Foursquare are being seen by more people as useful ways to consume and share media. However, this social media craze isn’t just for the kids anymore.

A new study from Pew Internet found that between April 2009 and May 2010, social networking site usage grew 88 per cent among participants aged 55-64, and that the 65 and older group’s social networking presence grew 100 per cent in the same time frame. (more…)

Generally when we think of Mattel’s iconic doll Barbie we don’t immediately connect to a somewhat older crowd of social media users - however what the company discovered through its latest promotion is that some toys transcend the age range on the box.

“We really embraced social media as a marketing platform a year ago as part of a major campaign in support of Barbie’s 50th anniversary,” said Lauren Dougherty, director of Barbie marketing at Mattel. “In the process, we did a deep dive into our brand’s DNA and realized that frankly, we are a brand for girls of all ages.” (more…)

We all love our social media tools; Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn. They allow us to communicate, network, listen and learn from a diverse and far-reaching, global community. However, we all have our pet peeves when it comes to manners and that includes the social media sphere.

Here are a list of the top five social media pet peeves and how to avoid being seen as a chaotic annoyance in the face of your peers. (more…)

As companies move more into the social realm, and promote their Twitter handles, Facebook fan pages and YouTube accounts many marketers are asking themselves where does that leave the company website.

For years we worried about ownership and collecting all the domain names associated with our businesses. Today, more campaigns are centered around social networks leaving websites with an entirely new role.

Brand websites are not going anywhere, their purpose has just changed. Marketers need to start thinking of this hub as the brain. (more…)

If there was any question about Twitter’s move toward advertising, the micro-blogging service has now started to build out a sales team starting with two new hires: Facebook veteran Dan Coughlin and Yelp’s first salesperson, Amanda Levy. (more…)

Google’s year-long project Wave has come to an end this week, as the massive technology company decided to pull the plug on the social collaboration tool as a result of limited interest and lack of traction with consumers.

Wave was intended as a messaging program which would be a near-replacement for email. It’s real-time communicates platform combined elements of instant messaging, email and collaboration software, however with so many bells and whistles consumers find the product confusing. (more…)

We’re all looking to be more influential on Twitter - however are we getting too wrapped up in the wrong numbers? According to a new study from HP Labs we might be concentrating too hard on how many people are following us rather than how many people like what we have to say.

Director of Hewlett-Packard Labs’ Social Computing Labs, Dr. Bernardo A. Huberman, and his team analyzed 22 million tweets over 300 hours in September of 2009 in order to develop what is referred to as an IP algorithm to highlight influential Twitter users by assigning them a score for influence and passivity. (more…)

Twitter has become a beloved tool for online marketing. It’s quick and easy, you can link to sites, add images, schedule updates and spread your message to a huge community of online users. So why isn’t it working for more people? Well there is that small thing called style that holds many marketers back.

According to a white paper by 360i called Twitter and the Consumer-Marketer Dynamic, more than 90 per cent of tweets come from non-marketing, everyday people, while just eight per cent come from marketers. As well, marketers are only spending 16 per cent of their 140-character messages actually conversing with consumers. (more…)

In the wake of a public relations crisis a well known and well staffed Twitter handle can save your butt. As more brands are realizing, ignoring your consumers preferred platform for communication is the equivalent of asking people with complaints to leave your store. (more…)

Backed by some big names in social media, Flipboard has just launched as the iPad’s social media magazine. Personalized pages aggregated from networks such as Facebook and Twitter are changing the way we browse.

The platform launched this past Wednesday and is now available at Apple’s iPad app store, the start-up pulls information from your news feeds and creates an interface that will read like a personalized magazine.

Along with the launch, Flipboard made two large announcements. First the company raised $10.5 million in a Series A round including KPCB, Index Ventures, The Cherin Group, Jack Dorsey (Twitter’s creator), Dustin Moskovitz (Facebook’s co-founder) and Ashton Kutcher. And second that they acquired Ellerdale, a real-time web intelligence start-up which will help Flipboard choose and organize the most relevant stories for the reader. (more…)