Top 5 Social Networks For June 2010

The continuing and expanding influence of social networks is undeniable. EbizMba continues to track social network statistics and they are very impressive. Click here for their most recent report on 20 top social networking sites. Here for About Business we're going to focus on the top 5.

The top 5 sites for June 2010 are:

1) Facebook (www.facebook.com). Facebook claims more than 400 million members. That's more than the entire population of the United States. According to EbizMba, Facebook receives 250 million unique visitors a month. That's alot of friends and family keeping in touch with each other. Tracking site Alexa places Facebook as the #2 most visited site in the world. Google is #1. People are probably using google to get to Facebook. At 250 milion visitors per month Facebook provides a very large opportunity for any business enterprise.

2) MySpace (www,myspace.com). While not given the media attention that Facebook and Twitter receive, MySpace is holding its own with 122 million unique visitors per month and ranks #17 on Alexa's most visited sites per month. So it seems Rupert Murdock's investment in MySpace is paying off at least in terms of popularity.

3) Twitter (www.twitter.com). Twitter can claim 80.5 million unique visitors per month. That's more tweets than Tweety Bird could imagine. In June 2010 it's the 11th most visited site on the Internet. Twitter is a micro blog (limited to 140 characters) and would seem to go hand in hand with Facebook or MySpace for that matter.

4) LinkedIn (www.linkedin.com). LinkedIn, as the 4th most popular social networking site, will be a surprise to many. However, LinkedIn is receiving 50 million unique visitors per month. This site is for networking professionals or anyone looking for or offering a job or contract. Major and minor, large and small businesses are all represented on LinkedIn, including every Fortune 500 company. According to Alexa it is the 29th most visited site on the internet.

5) Ning (www.ning.com). Ning is new to me. It characterizes itself as a network for organizers and "influencers" and is quick and easy to use in the same way as Facebook and Twitter. While new to me, it is attracting 42 million unique visitors per month. That's a lot of people interested in social change. More on Ning in a future post. It is the 128th most visited site on the Internet.

The continuing expansion and popularity of social networking sites means that your business neighborhood is now global and that it would be in your business interest to be represented on these sites to get the word out about your enterprises. There is enormous opportunity in this marketplace.

In my next post I'll show how Business Magazines are using these social networking sites.

As an aside, I'll add that Libraries, such as the Berkshire Athenaeum. now have blogs, Facebook and Twitter accounts and feature workshops enabling others to become active participants!

Your Favorite 20 Most Popular eBusiness Websites - Part 2

This is Part 2 of our posts on Top Business Websites as tracked by ebizmba, the self-described Knowledge Database. What ebizmba does is combine tracking statistics provided by Google (inbound links), Compete, Quantcast and Alexa and comes up with a monthly list or rankings of Most Popular Business Websites and in today's case the 20 Most Popular and Influential eBusiness Websites. If Part 1 was Your Favorite Business websites, most of these cites were known to you and that's why they are so popular. They have your attention.

The most popular and therefore influential "eBusiness websites" are more oriented to the backbone of the internet and what makes it tick, the technology industry, search engine marketers, venture capital investors and those who need to know what's the next big thing in order to survive the fast paced changes in this ever dynamic environment. Google and Microsoft are betting on cloud computing, social networks, developing new business plans for media and industry overall, indeed the very survival of media companies. These eBusiness websites are on the cutting edge and are both suppliers of industry intelligence to mass media and are creators of new benchmarks in technology, producing new models, white papers, in depth research, product reviews, downloads, webcasts, podcasts and are constantly developing, charting, and marketing strategies. These websites carry great authority in that industry insiders and investors are the chief audience.

While Part 1 focused on websites with hundreds of millions of visitors on a monthly basis, here zdnet had the most @ 48 million inbound links and techcrunch had 10 million inbound links. In terms of individual visitors each of the top 20 ebusiness sites has between 450,000 and 2,000,000 visitors. That these sites' audiences are hardcore technology and trendsetters, they have become must reads for industry, media, government policy-makers and developers. Another way of putting it is that first discussions of significant trends happen on these sites. If you want to know what's going on in the internet, these sites are the most important starting points.

What each of these sites has in common is the commitment to the future, critical reviews, product analysis, downloads, having a strong sense of the significance of statistics, business models, new marketing models, and commitment to advancing the internet in all its various forms. Further there is commitment to competing models whether open source or proprietary, Microsoft versus Google versus Apple, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn. These sites are the advance guard.

That said I believe it's important to be aware of these websites, which are eBusinesses, media networks, and blogs. Some are supported by the Wall Street Journal, and CBS, and supply technology and business feeds to Business Week, New York Times, Reuters and the financial media. Here, then, are the 20 Most Popular and Influential eBusiness Websites as of February 2010 according to ebizmba:

1) Zdnet.com - This is a major technology news provider. Its coverage is wider in scope than some of the other sites. It includes white papers, blogs, up to date news coverage, product reviews, downloads of software and utilities, user ratings of software, webcasts, videos and podcasts. A CBS company.
2) Techcrunch.com keeps up with technology trends and has emphasis on impact of technology on business enterprise. Views itself as on the cutting edge.
3) ArsTechnica.com - also provides indepth articles on Windows 7, Facebook, video gaming business, and technology trends.
4) Cnetnews.com - Like ZDnet, covers whole scope of internet with articles, blogs, industry forecasts, videos, product downloads and reviews. Keeps its finger on the pulse.
5) Mashable.com - One of the most significant technology blogs, currently rumored to be in talks with AOL, which wants to buy it. Mashable is the major site keeping up on all aspects of web 2.o and social networks. It is the starting place to find out what's going on at Facebook, Linked In, MySpace, Blogger and others. It's also the place to obtain numerous templates, widgets, and gadgets, and the many ways web 2.0 is business oriented and profitable. Mashable is definitely worth following.
6) DigitalPoint.com - Tools for the techie and the technically inclined. Forums and discussions.
7) Webmasterworld.com - Keeping up on the technical infrastructure, business marketing, adsense, forums, and web news and developer tools.
8) Allthingsd.com - Covers all things digital but is not the company allthingsdigital. News and blogs. Up to the minute coverage. Owned by the Wall Street Journal.
9) Internet.com - Covers the internet industry, ecommerce, small business. Is the industry newsroom for the Internet. Network for technology professionals. Owner of Webopedia.
10) InformationWeek.com - First place for industry announcements. A newsweekly publication and online presence. Emphasis on business value of technology.
11) ReadWriteWeb.com - A blog and critical first stop known for insightful articles. You will find important web 2.0 articles as well following the development in Google and Microsoft.
12) VentureBeat.com - Another blog focusing on business start-ups and development deals. Respected.
13) PaidContent.org - A major tracker of the media industry as it attempts new business model to survive in the online universe, otherwise known as cloud computing now. Major media outlets follow paidcontent.org. New York Times, Financial Times new business models to gain pay for content.
14) GigaOm.com - a major blog, named after its founder Om Malik. Leading technology news provider to New York Times, Business Week and Reuters.
15) SearchEngineLand.com - tracks developments of search engine industry, business and advertising.
16) WebProNews.com - development on the web, search engines, business and marketing.
17) ClickZ.com - The business of the internet, tracking strategies, marketing techniques, major revenue sources affording much competition between Microsoft, Yahoo, and Google as well as Amazon and Ebay. Development of applications and tools.
18) Techmeme.com - Keeps up with technology trends. often cited.
19) TechDirt.com - Often insider views on development of government and business policy. A blog of long standing.
20) EMarketer.com - Known for its indepth critiques and "objective" analysis. Worth looking at.

There you have it -- the Top 20 most inluential eBusiness websites. Those reading it are those involved in creating the new internet, cloud computing, the new gadget, the next big thing for investors and businesses. No single one of these websites is the only authority. One must examine many according to your needs. However these sites, though not having the 400 million Facebook audience, are in fact the ones creating opportunity for the Facebooks of the world. They are also the information providers counted upon by those making critical policy and investment decisions.

Top 20 Most Popular Websites

Alexa -- The Web Information Company tracks globally web surfer activity and comes up with daily statistics on most popular websites. As you can imagine this means dollars and cents in the global marketplace. And this puts into perspective the competition between Google, Yahoo. and Microsoft for dominance. Also it allows us to see where social media sites such as MySpace, Facebook, Craigslist are going.

Alexa is an Amazon.com owned company and, yes, it tracks companies like Amazon, Ebay and their reach across the globe. Besides what sites are being surfed, Alexa also breaks down average number minutes on each site, and who is using the site by age group, education, gender, income and location. These demographic breakdowns are essential in the competitive marketplace.

So what are the top 20 sites for United States websurfers? They are Google, followed by Yahoo, Facebook, YouTube(a Google company), MySpace, Windows Live, Wikipedia, Craigslist, Ebay, Microsoft Network, Blogger (a Google company), AOL, Amazon, Twitter, GO, Bing (Microsoft's new search engine), CNN, Flickr (a Yahoo company), WordPress (like Blogger, a free Blog service), and ESPN Sportzone. LinkedIn appears as number 24, Weather.com 25, and New York Times 28.

Google gets 34% of marketshre globally, Yahoo 26 %, Facebook 25%, and YouTube 24% and MySpace 4.5% and Twitter gets nearly 4%. Individuals spend more time on Facebook, an average of 27.5 minutes compared to Google's 7 minutes and YouTube's 22.5 minutes. Twitter users spend average of 8 minutes a day twittering. Bing, the new Microsoft search engine, is already in the top 20 at number 16 but amount of time spent is only 2.1 minutes. Nevertheless Bing can be seen as up and coming and Microsoft and Yahoo will be using Bing as their search engines, thus providing real competition for Google.

Now statistics such as these are not great for reading, but they do provide the nuts and bolts backdrop to news about Google, Yahoo and Microsoft and web trends. Notably, social media sites are heavily represented in these statistics. People are spending much of their time on these social sites, making friends, sharing photos and information, and exchanging and sharing files. News sites are not represented among the top twenty but they are represented in the top 50 and include the New York Times, Washington Post, Los Angeles Times and the Wall Street Journal. Amazon and Ebay make strong showings in the top 20 at 13 and 9 respectively. Internationally Google China is number 4 in China and Google Japan is dominant there. So these companies have taken an international position and are heavily represented there. Baidu, a Chinese search engine is number 1 there and because of this carries 6% world share of surfers.

Are these fleeting trends? Hard to believe but the World Wide Web is only 15 years old. Skeptics then said that money could not be made on the Internet. Today the World Wide Web is a vast economic engine. Amazon is turning profits. Microsoft and Yahoo and have been around for more than 10 years; Google celebrated its 10 anniversary this year. Colleges, Universities, the United States Postal Service and all government agencies are on the web. Any business will need, if it does not already have one, a presence on the web. In a short 15 years the World Wide Web has become a part of our daily discourse and activity. Today there is still skepticism about profitabilty but no question that the world wide web is here to stay. Ignoring its possibilities would be ignoring vast opportunity.

Alexa is a useful marketing and analytical tool in gauging the reach and progress of these critical websites and their positions in the global marketplace.

Email: Benefit or Curse ( Book Review )

Has your Email got you down?

A few days ago a patron asked me to take a look at her computer. Her Email wasn't working. She opened her email and showed me the "inbox". There were over 600 messages there. Also there were over 600 messages in the "trash" file. Other factors were involved in "the crash" she was experiencing. We had to "reboot" the computer and got things going again. I suggested she might want to "empty the trash" file and to try to delete as many of the 600 messages in her "inbox" as possible.

The above story is common for anyone with email accounts. Think how Michael Brown, then director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency ( FEMA ) felt when the following email exchanges between him and his staff were revealed. These exchanges were at the height of the Hurricane Katrina disaster.

"To FEMA Staff
August 29, 2005
Are you proud of me? Can I quit now? Can I go home?"
"To FEMA Staff
August 29, 2005
If you'll look at my lovely FEMA attire, you'll really vomit. I am a fashion god."
"To FEMA Staff
August 30, 2005
I'm not answering that question, but do have a question. Do you know of anyone who dogsits?"

These embarassing exchanges are revealed in David Shipley and Will Schwalbe's cautionary tale and critique and guide to everything email, SEND: The Essential Guide to Email for Office and Home. Shipley is OpEd page editor for the New York Times; Schwalbe, editor in chief for Hyperion Books.

Essential is, for once, not hollow hyperbole. The authors estimate 25 % of the business day is taken up by email. Trillions of email messages go back and forth every day. Email is part of Business and Government Records Retention programs. President Bush and his administration will be delivering 100 million electronic messages to the National Archives; President Clinton's was 32 million messages. There are many existing legal cases where Company Email is part of the discovery process. Email was notable in Enron and Arthur Andersen cases. Current and past Presidents have sought to prevent access by claiming "executive privilege".

Here's what's covered in SEND: "Why do we email so Badly. When Should We email. Anatomy of an email. How to write ( the perfect ) email. Six essential types of email. Email that can land you in jail. S.E.N.D ( Simple, Effective, Necessary, Done ). The last word. How to read your header (Appendix). Email in all its manifestations is covered -- from the silly to the very serious. This book is a comprehensive account of do's and don'ts; a true manual and guide. It is not a "preachy" ettiquete book. It is highly enligtening and often humorous in its presentation of its subject. The authors do not exempt themselves from falling into the trap of misguided communications. They put their discussion into context behind the emergence of this important tool and differentiate between other forms such as instant messaging ( IM ), chat and the evolution of mobile emails ( Blackberries ) dominating business life 24/7. In fact email seems to have taken over many lives and made once private communication open and public.

The need to prioritize, to discuss access, the fact that one receives email from total strangers, who in the Facebook and MySpace and LinkedIn generation become your "friends". Every manager must decide how to handle email. Anything in email transactions must thought of as "public". Effective time management requires an email policy. In fact email may give one the illusion of getting things done, but production is elsewhere.

So, if you find yourself in the email mire or are trying to work out effective policies, SEND will be an essential guide for you. In fact anyone entering the email world will beneft from this book. Probably one of the most useful Business books of 2008 or anytime. Along the way you learn the history of email ( much older than the world wide web ), how email in fact works in the internet, and many true life illustrations of what is right and what is wrong about email In fact you may want to make this book required reading for your business, employees and managers. Besides its obvious utility, there is a bonus: it is a most enjoyable read!