The State of Social Media 2008

By Brian Solis, blogger at

and principal of

PR, Co-author

SourceI’ve been on a recent whirlwind speaking tour recently, sharing and learning allthings related to the socialization of marketing and service as well as how tomeasure these new strategies and tactics. From San Diego to New York to SFback to New York and then Vegas and SF again, I was reminded that no matter how grand an expert one purports to be, the truth is that we’re all still trying tofigure this out as it continually changes – together. I’m not talking about what todo or how, but what must be done in order to ensure that this global renaissancepaves the way for permanent residence in every media property and businessthrough value, education, and reform.The world of Socialized Media is maturing and along with it, our knowledge,expertise, reach, and personal and represented brands are only flourishing. It willcontinue as long as we realize that these new social tools and networks requirean entirely new commitment and embodiment of what we personify and how wecan be a genuine resource to the people who define the communities that areimportant to us.InTechnorati’s 2008 State of the Blogospherereport, the company observed thatblogging is becoming mainstream, leading the way for an Active Blogosphere -defined as the ecosystem of interconnected communities of bloggers andreaders at the convergence of journalism and conversation. I’d also add that asthe Active Blogosphere further permeates our daily information consumption anddistribution processes, that the Social Web equally becomes pervasive. But, it’sso much more than an Active SocialMediaSphere. As networks become denselypopulated and new communities arise and thrive, we're experiencing afundamental shift in content creation, distribution, and consumption, thus creatingan Active and Participatory Media society that is inspiring and seeding a more

literate and enlightened generation.Blogs and social networks are now part of our daily lives.* comScore MediaMetrix (August 2008)- Blogs: 77.7 million unique visitors in the US- Facebook: 41.0 million | MySpace 75.1 million- Total internet audience 188.9 million* eMarketer (May 2008)- 94.1 million US blog readers in 2007 (50% of Internet users)- 22.6 million US bloggers in 2007 (12%)* Universal McCann (March 2008)- 184 million WW have started a blog | 26.4 US- 346 million WW read blogs | 60.3 US- 77% of active Internet users read blogs

YouTube = 10 percent of all internet traffic (source: Ellacoya Networks)YouTube & Wikipedia among top brands (source: brandchannel.com)Five of the top 10 websites are social (source: Alexa)Over 100 million blogs exist (source: Technorati)120,000 new blogs launched every day (source: Technorati)1.5 million posts per day (17 per second) (source: Technorati)

Everyone is a Social Media Expert

You’re a purveyor of new media, but then again, so is everyone else it seems. Sowhat are you going to do to rise above the fray while also delivering true,incontestable value to those you’re helping?Are you an evangelist or a consultant?Are you an extension of your company brand or are you an employee?Are you a leader, follower, or are you meandering through your profession?Are you confined to the role of a social marketer or do you represent somethingwith longer-term value?At the end of the day, everything that’s transpiring around us is actually improvingthe existing foundation for our business, from service to marketing to product