Social Media:

What The Heck is

Happening Online?
Tom Guarriello, Ph.D.
TrueTalk, Inc.
TED Conference
February 27, 2008
Why is this man smiling?
 66 million users
65 billion page views/mo.
250k new users/day
$15 billion
Why?
15,000 BCE:
Local Analog
 Movable Type
1041 CE:
Long Distance Analog
 Local
“Digital”:
~ 0-1880 CE
 Early
1800s:
Mid-Range
Digital
 1861:
Long
Distance
Digital
 Bell’s
Telephone
1877:
Voice
1959
 Images

1965
 Voice + Images

1982

2007
 1946:
ENIAC
Arpanet:
1969

(First virus:
1980)
 The Well:
1985
(Whole Earth ‘Lectronic Link)
TEDsters
Stewart Brand & Larry Brilliant
 Netscape:
The Big Bang
1995
Blogs: 1998
Broadband
Blogs: 2008
112 M
9 M 60 days
27% read ’em
Why?
 Maslow:
Hierarchy of Needs Self-
Actualization

Self-Esteem

Belonging

Safety

Physiological
 Develop new skills, explore
Self- relationships and
Actualization opportunities;
learn and grow
Contribute to the

Purpose Self-Esteem
community;
appreciate others and be
recognized for contributions
Be part of community
and chosen subgroups;
Belonging
meet trustworthy people,
communicate, have fun
Protection from hacking
Social Media: Safety
and personal attacks;
mutually respectful
Need Fulfillment coexistence

System functionality;
Physiological everything works
as promised

Adapted from, Community Building On The Web, Amy Jo Kim, 2000

 Video:
Social Media’s Killer App

69 million
29 million
over 45
 September ’07 Launch

60,000 video uploads first week

#2 Show on Nickelodeon

“The kids are kinda runnin’ iCarly.”

Pamela Kaufman
CMO
Nickelodeon Networks
BRITE Conference
February 7, 2008
 Social Media:
All Fun and Games?
“Customer Engagement”:
The New Black
“This is the best
customer-relationship
metric I’ve seen. I can’t
understand why any of you
wouldn’t want to try it.”
Jeff Immelt, CEO, GE
 Net Promoter Score:
“Would you recommend us to
a friend or family member?”
Unlikely 0-10 Very Likely
 Social Media:
Where we go to find,
and talk about,
people and things
we care about.