What is More Important to Teen Buying, Twitter or Facebook?

We have been seeing more and more data indicating that Facebook's popularity among teens is fading. What was once the coolest social media platform has been losing ground to others, like Instagram, Snapchat, Twitter, etc. An October 10th survey of 8,650 teens by Piper Jaffray, looked at the popularity of the two mega-platforms in relation to purchasing influence.

Unlike most studies we see, this one focused solely on how each platform influences teens on what hey buy. Although friends still take the top spot as most influential, the internet is gaining ground as number two. More than half of the teens studied admitted that social media plays a part in their purchases. The social media platform that proved most influential was Twitter, followed by Facebook, with Instagram coming in third. With their looming IPO, this seems to be some promising information for Twitter.

Of course, Facebook still takes top honors as most dominate platform. Facebook boasts 94% of teens having an account, however, that number seems to have plateaued. Although the user base is smaller, Twitter is on the rise with teen users doubling since 2011 at 26%.

We are very interested to see what happens with the fast approaching Twitter IPO. Will it get over-hyped like Facebook and crash right out of the gate?  Or has Twitter learned from Facebook's mistake and planned a more conservative launch. Let us know what you think.

-Mike & Samantha

DO's & DON'Ts for Community Managers

Community managers have created a true strategy for word-of-mouth marketing, but there are certainly rules to this type of work. Those that follow them can successfully grow their brand. Those that don't, can wind up in a boatload of customer service trouble -- and much faster than you think thanks to socially savvy consumers. Originally, community management was done by young interns, who did not have the full ability to run a brand online. A study completed by Social Fresh in 2013 stated that the average age of community managers has increased to those in their 30s. Additionally, the pay has increased to an average of $60k which competes with many mid-level jobs within the marketing industry. (See below for a infographic from Social Fresh for more details!)

Having said this, the last few years of experience have evolved community managers into a true voice behind a company. With every post and tweet, they represent the business and should embody its exact personality and tone. When one has this much power and those on the outskirts are watching, it's imperative that a CM's actions 100% reflect the brand's messaging and beliefs to create a seamless extension of the business throughout the online space.

Community managers must be creative, flexible and willing to go above and beyond. Most importantly, CMs must be consistent. And because they're "virtually visible," they automatically gain more responsibility. Everyone (customers, competitors, etc.) online can see their responses 24/7.

Here are some general DOs & DON'Ts for community managers:

DOs:

• Be an expert of your company (or product).
• Monitor, consistently.
• Encourage engagement by genuinely interacting with fans.
• Respond in a timely manner.
• Be a friendly, approachable personality!
• Listen to your fans and build relationships.
• Don't be afraid to take some conversations offline to better help a fan.
• Truly resolve issues with the greater team to build a loyal community.
• Thank your fans and show appreciation!

DON'Ts:

• Be rude, sarcastic or defensive.
• Delete comments, posts, tweets, etc.
• Ignore people who are asking for help or answers!
• Be ambiguous with your responses to fans.
• Respond too quickly to those who may detract from your brand.
• Use your social presence to blatantly 'push' products or services.

Comment below to add any DO's & DON'Ts that I may have missed!

-- Samantha

Facebook to Add Shared Photo Albums

In the latest & greatest updates on social media, Facebook has announced that they will be adding a brand new feature to their site. Shared photo albums will be in incorporated into the already photo-friendly social platform on Monday, which will let multiple Facebook users to add photos to the same album. Unlike before when fans could only add pics to albums they created, the new shared photo albums will be able to ask others (up to 50 fans) to add images to a single shared album.

With new privacy and editing settings, Facebook hopes that creating sharable albums will be easier for the user. Now, fans will be able to create albums for events like birthday parties, weddings and vacations, where photos from multiple sources can be added together to form more compelling collections of stories.

Although this new feature will continue to evolve over the next few months including increasing the photo limits and extended mobile abilities, we can't wait to experience this highly collaborative way to share experiences with friends and family. In addition, we're excited to see how this roll-out will impact businesses to better showcase events, product launches and more!

How do you plan on using a shared photo album on Facebook?

-- Samantha & Mike

Why People Overshare Online

We all have the friends on Facebook or Twitter who overshare the details of their lives with the rest of the internet. They're the type of people who consistently update statuses and feel the need to share every detail of their lives -- from what they last ate for lunch to their opinion of their favorite TV show. Although it's certainly their right, what makes it so easy to overshare on social media platforms?

Author and social scientist, Sherry Turkle, believes after one shares feelings or thoughts in a public space, the brain's neurochemical reward system is automatically triggered. This action, in addition to the idea that our private lives are constantly being infiltrated by reality TV and social media, adds to an innate urge to share.

In the most recent paper by Russell W. Belk titled "Extended Self in a Digital World," he argues that people's relationships with social media sites are ultimately allowing us to create a more complicated concept of who we believe we are as individuals. With the addition of various platforms that let us be creative through status updates, highly-edited pictures and funny videos, Belk says that humans are able to create a unique, desired identity in a space that makes us feel 'invisible.' Consequently, when individuals believe no one is listening or watching behind a screen, they gain more confidence to divulge personal details about their lives that wouldn't typically be shared in normal day to day life.

Overall, it's clear that the line between private and public is quickly disappearing with each status, tweet and Instagrammed photo. People want to be interesting, popular and cool. They want to be heard and respected -- and will often give up such self-respect to feel valued by their peers. But how far is too far? And how much worse will it get as our world continues to highlight reality stardom and materialistic values?

Tell us: How much do you share via social media? 

-- Samantha

The US Open Goes Social

The US Open is one of the oldest tennis tournaments in the world. Every late August & early September, it draws the league's top players and thousands upon thousands of fans. This year, the US Open (hosted in New York) will be accompanied by a brand new attraction: a 50-feet-by-8-feet social media wall that will aggregate all social content made by fans and players in real-time. Although the content will be monitored, fans will be able to send tweets, Instagrammed pics and more to better connect themselves to this world-famous event, using the official hashtag #usopen. It will also serve as a meeting spot for the over 700,000 attendees expected to be at the tournament.

We think this is an amazing idea as it encourages tennis fans to engage with the US Open and with the sport of tennis in general. In fact, we love this social media wall so much that perhaps it should be rolled out to more sporting events in the future to help increase awareness for a particular team or brand partnership. Just think: Tens of thousands of fans at a baseball or football event would be able to watch a screen displaying not only the score, but a ticker or 'wall' of the latest social conversations taking place around the game. Fans would be able to view and engage with the current dialogue between team members, fans and even brands, therefore adding a truly personal experience to the event.

And although we've seen this at some basketball and hockey games by way of a social 'ticker' or half-time entertainment on the big screen, such a staple at every game would result in an automatic uptick in engagement numbers throughout a season. With more engagement comes better brand or team awareness, ultimately resulting in a higher interest in the game, more stadium tickets sold and better customers for those sponsored brands involved.

As huge sports and social media fans, we're big supporters of a roll-out of this nature. Are you?

-- Samantha & Mike

LinkedIn Lowers Age Minimum

When Facebook first started in 2004, it felt like it was exclusive to college kids. Since then a lot has changed, including new rules allowing people as young as 13 to young the top social media platform. It comes as no surprise that more and more social networking sites are increasing their user bases, including LinkedIn who is officially allowing users as young as 14 years old, starting on September 12.

It seems that many young people automatically gravitate to social media, both for social and now for career-based reasoning. Specifically speaking of LinkedIn, the increasingly popular platform has always had strong ties to businesses, which allow companies to scout new talent or for new recruits to network and research future employers. It's been noted that many in higher education establishments are even using LinkedIn to demonstrate the effectiveness of education by highlighting where many alumni work after they're done with schooling.

Personally, Mike & I believe that opening younger users to a more "academic" side of social media could be extremely beneficial -- both to the user/student and to the business. Although networking with 14 year olds will certainly be something to get used to, we think this means bigger, smarter and more connected communities for upcoming generations.

Here's to linking up with your babysitter or little cousin, and hopefully more career-minded individuals!

-- Samantha & Mike

Top Social Platforms Among Teens

We recently brought you an article on a 13-year-old claiming that none of the kids her age used Facebook. It got us wondering: If teens don't use Facebook, what are they using? According to this chart by Statista, Facebook is still the top dog when it comes to teens, despite what our friendly 13-year-old said. People say that Facebook is losing its younger audience, but looking at numbers like this, that doesn't seem to be the case. The drop from #1 Facebook to #2 Twitter, is huge. Sure, this data is looking at 2011 to 2012, and the numbers from 2012 to 2013 may be slightly different, but Facebook has a long way to fall before we start talking about any other platforms taking over.

We do agree that many teens are converting to the latest and greatest platforms, like Instagram and Snapchat, but Facebook has such a lead over other competitors that something drastic will have to happen before we ever see a new #1. The ability for one platform to cater to teens and adults alike is no easy task. Teens will always try and distance themselves from their parents and social media is no different. We agree that teens seem to be trending away from Facebook, but we also believe Facebook is here to stay. Even though teen usage numbers may decrease, we don't think it will be by much or for very long. Ultimately, we would not be surprised to see them figure out a way to bring those teen users back, stronger than ever.

-Mike & Samantha