There’s lots of information out there about Social Media, but how much of it is reliable?

Live Mercury has had lots of clients ask if Facebook is on the decline because young people are abandoning it just because they don’t like the idea that their parents and grandparents are on Facebook. It sounds plausible, but if it is true then what are the implications for your Facebook strategy?

Tom Webster, a researcher and data skeptic, writes that “brand new research that suggests not only that teens are not abandoning the service in droves, but that their frequency of usage might, in fact, be increasing.”

The numbers speak for themselves:

“If 58% of Americans 12+ have current profiles, and 4% used to but no longer have profiles, that’s a total of 62% of Americans who have ever had a profile. 4% divided by 62% equals a little over 6%–In other words, 6% of Americans 12+ have “quit” on Facebook. For teens, that number is 5% (quitters) divided by 84% (the percentage who have ever had a profile), or a hair under 6%.

In other words, the ratio of quitters to members is actually just slightly lower for teens than it is for the general population.”

For all the details, click here.

Have you been noticing that fewer and fewer people are seeing what you are posting on your business Facebook Pages?

Facebook is indicating that “declining organic distribution in News Feed… is largely due to more competition driven by more sharing…”

“To some, the warning will sound as if Facebook is fessing up to holding Page updates hostage in exchange for ransom in the form of more paid advertisements. This has been an ongoing concern for marketers who’ve noticed that their Facebook updates are reaching a smaller percentage of the people who have opted in to receive them. The company, which is sticking with the provided statements, would presumably counter that any alterations to News Feed are meant to be in the best interest of the Facebook user.”

They say that, “if businesses want to make sure that people see their content, the best strategy is, and always has been, paid advertising.”

For the full article on CNET, click here.

Our clients frequently ask us how often they should blog and the answer is usually “As often as you can, as long as you provide content that is of value to someone in your audience.”

From the Social Media Examiner:

“Every day you have to be communicating; that’s the important thing,” said rock star video blogger Gary Vaynerchuk, when asked what today’s businesses are lacking online. “Long-form blogging was the big thing in years back. Microblogging is now the big thing. It’s changed the dynamics a bit.”

The great news is that technological advances have made it easier than ever to post on a regular basis, especial if it’s a Microblog.

These are the five great ways to microblog from a mobile device as presented by the Social Media Examiner:

1. Mobile Blogging Apps

2. Mobile Blogging by Email

3. Photo Blogging with Flickr

4. Video Blogging via Mobile

5. Event Blogging

For the full article, click here.

Mostly we talk about doing marketing, but sometimes we just like to talk about how anything gets started (because that is usually the hardest part – starting!).

The Social Media Examiner looks into why most people face the struggle between having a good idea and actually acting on it. One of the reasons people don’t start acting on their ideas is because of the doubts and fears associated with them. The author, Michael Stelzner, gives some great tips for overcoming that:

Tip #1: When doubt and fear creep in, creep forward.

Tip #2: Hang with people who’ve overcome their fears.

Tip #3: Celebrate the little wins.

Click here for more of this awesome article and short video about starting new adventures (at work and with your family).

File this under “irony”.  My local PBS station has this great article on how:

“In May, a significant threshold was crossed: In the U.S., 60 percent of global online activity now happens via mobile devices – up 10 percent from the previous year.”

They went on to point out that:

The Financial Times told the World Editors Forum earlier this year that it already had 62 percent of readers accessing news from phones or tablets and only 38 percent using desktop.

Check out this great pull quote:

“Desktop is the new print. It’s static, one-dimensional and it’s slowly becoming more and more marginal to our business,” FT’s head of operations, Lisa McLeod told a WEF board meeting in February. She identified the shift as sudden and dramatic. At the beginning of 2010, ‘It was zero access by mobile. It’s an absolutely phenomenal change.’”

So why is that ironic? I couldn’t read it till I got home because their blog isn’t mobile-friendly.

There’s lots more than mobile-friendly to make a great website with a great ROI, but that’s where you better start.

For the full article, click here.

I had a conversation with a very successful restaurateur from Scranton the other day about SEO. He feels OK about the look and feel of his current site, but wanted to know how to get to the top of search results.

We talked about building SEO organically by providing valuable content that real people want to see, but I also pointed out that he has several non-mobile friendly features on his site that might hurt him.  His site looks good on my desktop and iPad, but is off-brand on my iPhone and some of the “features” are pretty clunky.

Then today, our Chief Strategy Officer shared this “Webmaster alert” with me.

“A common annoyance for web users is when websites require browser technologies that are not supported by their device. When users access such pages, they may see nothing but a blank space or miss out a large portion of the page’s contents.

Starting today, we will indicate to searchers when our algorithms detect pages that may not work on their devices. For example, Adobe Flash is not supported on iOS devices or on Android versions 4.1 and higher, and a page whose contents are mostly Flash may be noted like this:”

Basically Google is saying that they will be warning searchers about non-mobile friendly sites before they even click. So even if you are at the top, if the searcher is using a mobile device (and 60% of web traffic is mobile) you are going to get passed over.

Action item: Since it’s getting more urgent every day that your website be mobile friendly, why not give me a call and lets get it fixed before you lose more visitors.

For the full article, click here.

Dr. Flint McGlaughlin, Managing Director and CEO of MECLAB often says:

“There are no expert marketers; there are only experienced marketers and expert testers.”

EdgeRank Checker claims to be “Using smart tagging to identify the essence of content” and provide insights into how to make Facebook posting more effective.

Click here for the full article.

Have you expertly tested the insights provided by EdgeRank Checker or another service and used them to improve your results?

Sometimes the smallest things can make a big difference.

From Influence At Work’s blog:

“Writing in the Journal of Consumer Research, researchers Maura Scott and Stephen Nowlis show that we’re much more likely to re-engage with a goal if, rather than setting a single, specific numbered goal (e.g. lose 3 pounds a week) we set a goal with a high-low range that averages the same (e.g. lose 2 – 4 pounds a week) instead.”

This relates directly to engaging more in Social Media to grow your business. Instead of defining your goal as posting every single day (too specific) try to make your goal more attainable, such as posting 3-4 times a week.

For the full article click here.

Effective websites have an update strategy. Blogging pros are always coming up with new ideas and ways to engage their readers.

“Keeping up with the latest social media changes is not always easy, and your blogging tactics may need to be refreshed.”

SocialMedia Examiner asked blogging professionals for the best blogging tips and tactics worth doing today.

Click Here for 39 ideas to get your creative juices flowing!