As I was scrolling one of my lists I came across @guidogaona (B-M Colombia Market Leader) rewteeting @laura (Laura I. Gómez, twitter bio: políglota mexicana trabajando en Twitter. las efes: familia, friends, fútbol, films, food, felicidad.) and she tweeted the following: “Acuerdense: Ciento Cuarenta tweetup mañana at BBC Cedritos: http://ow.ly/1ee23 #140bogota” (translation: Don’t forget: one hundred and forty tweetup tomorrow…”  As I looked at the twtvite it said the first official Twitter tweetup in Spanish (see invite: http://ow.ly/1ee23).  Pretty cool!

Update – Esteban Osorio, our digital in Bogota, went to the event http://twitpic.com/171wtw and can expect a recap shortly.

Various countries in Latin America have seen a huge growth in Twitter users, some countries only had a couple of thousand users last year now have hundreds of thousands – Colombia already has over 150,000 users…may seem low, but give it a little more time and let’s not forget that Colombia is the 11^th country with the most Facebook users.

Chile is estimated to have well over 200,000 users – it became an integral communication tool during the recent catastrophe that the country was faced with and is still coping with (I encourage you to please donate if you haven’t already: http://www.google.com/relief/chileearthquake/) – even the Chilean military is using twitter: www.twitter.com/ejercito_chile.  For ongoing updates, follow some of my friends there: @emiliosanfuente, @juanpablotapia, @colonnello.

No need to mention Brazil – they are the country with the second most Twitter users after the US.

So while it may just be a “small” tweet-up – it represents a lot more when you look at the big picture and the rapid adoption rates in Latin America especially in the social space.

What a missed opportunity! Latino’s are a very social community – both online and off. The opportunity to connect in a meaningful way via social media is immense and given some of our own social media research, I was very surprised that big brands are not taking this opportunity to extend their reach. I’m sure part of this has to do with the fact that organizations are still trying to determine where social media lives from an enterprise-wide perspective – I can only imagine the complexity when you start trying to conduct more targeted programs.

Social media can’t be segmented into any one group within a company. Social media impacts every area of a business from sales to marketing to human resources to corporate communications to investor relations to (I could go on but you get it.) More importantly, social media provides the opportunity to engage every potential audience in a way that is targeted and relevant. Companies must evolve to having a socially conversant workforce that is given the resources and flexibility (withing a framework) to participate in social media so that do their jobs effectively.

I’m curious about what my colleagues from our U.S. Hispanic practice have to say.

Q. What did you find most surprising?

A. Personally, I was surprised by the disparity across social media platforms. A full 79% are using one of the four platforms but only 20% of the companies included are using all four of the platforms considered in the study – Facebook, YouTube, Twitter and corporate blogs. However, only 33% are using corporate blogs versus 65% that are using Twitter. The fact that Twitter has become the platform of choice didn’t surprise me, but the margin certainly did.

Q. How did the rest of the F500 do in the study?

A. Our study only considered the Fortune Global 100 so I can’t answer that.

Q. How did you pick the platforms to include?

A. Social media is a diverse ecosystem made up of all different sorts of community websites and consumer generated media. In some ways, picking the most popular social media platforms rails against our believe that quality trumps quantity in social media. However, we had to start somewhere. I believe it is safe to assume that companies will start with the broadest platforms – those included in our study – before moving on to more niche communities.

Q. Why did you call it social media? Isn’t that term outdated?

A. Well, there are a lot of terms floating around. Some people call it “new media” but I’ve been doing this for more than 15 years now so it is clearly not new. Others call it “emerging media” but I’d argue that it has emerged. If anything it could be considered “evolving media” but as a very smart person told me today, all media is evolving. The reality is that I don’t believe it is the agency’s job to define or name the channel – we should follow our clients’ lead. The industry and clients at large still talk about and ask for social media strategy and tactics – and therefore I’ll continue to use language that they are comfortable with.

Q. How did you handle multiple accounts?

A. The study showed that those that are active in social media have multiple accounts. For example, those who are active on Twitter average 4.2 accounts, although their are outliers with many more. If a company was present and active they were included. We didn’t weight companies based on the number of accounts.

Q. Is there really a dialogue taking place or are companies only pushing their information?

A. We were pleasantly surprised by the fact that there is truly a dialogue taking place. Companies have a significant number of followers or fans and are responding to consumer comments. They are also actively following people who follow them, paving the way for a relationship to develop.

Q. Why does this study matter?

A. This study is important because companies are still grappling with many issues around participating in social media. They are trying to determine which internal department owns it (we’d argue it is a shared responsibility), how to create guidelines, which sites to participate in, and what type of content to share (we’d recommend content that contributes to communities of interest). A study of this magnitude that shows companies how peers are participating is valuable in helping to convenience skeptical executives to consider the possibilities. And plus it was fun to do.

And, my favorite question…

Q. When did you have time to do the research?

I didn’t. Ashley Welde of our Evidence-Based team and Paul Cordasco led the research effort with contributions from colleagues all around the world. Ashley and Paul are quite the dynamic duo and are passionate about evidence-based communications and social media – a perfect combination as far as I’m concerned. Great job guys.

Lastly, some of the best questions I received came from Phil Dobbie of BNET. We recorded a podcast last week that he published today. Enjoy, and thanks.

The internet is now the third most-popular news platform, behind local and national television news and ahead of national print newspapers, local print newspapers and radio. Getting news online fits into a broad pattern of news consumption by Americans; six in ten (59%) get news from a combination of online and offline sources on a typical day.

Quite honestly I would have expected the Internet to be the top source for news. When I watch television news at this point, whether it be national or local, it is almost for entertainment purposes. Any time I want to dig deep and truly understand the news or an issue I always go to the Internet and usually go to multiple sources. Regardless, the study does support that 92% of Americans use multiple platforms to get their news and that 33% are now getting their news on their mobile phones as well.

Other interesting points from the study include:

• 46% of Americans say they get their news from four to six media platforms on a typical day.
• Only 7% get their news from a single media platform.
• TV is still the top source for news with 78% saying they get news from a local TV station, followed by 73% who say they get news from a national network such as CNN
• The most popular online news subjects are the weather (followed by 81% of internet news users), national events (73%), health and medicine (66%), business and the economy (64%), international events (62%), and science and technology (60%). This is interesting to me because outside of a major storm like the one that just slammed upstate NY, I don’t generally consider weather to be news.
• 75% of online news consumers say they get news forwarded through email or posts on social networking sites and 52% say they share links to news with others via those means.
• 51% of social networking site (e.g. Facebook) users who are also online news consumers say that on a typical day they get news items from people they follow. Another 23% of this cohort follow news organizations or individual journalists on social networking sites.

So, what does this all mean? To start, it means that integration is key. I must sound like a broken record by now, but news, information and conversations move online and offline and online again. Therefore, creating content and reaching audiences traditionally and via online and social media is critical to effectively disseminating messages. For marketers, this study reinforces the need for compelling and creative content. People are multitasking in everything they do, even in something as simple as getting their daily dose of news, so only the most interesting content will cut through the clutter. Given that 75% of those who consume news online say they get it from email links or via social networking sites, cutting through the clutter and creating advocates to spread your message continues to become even more important.

When I was a child I was the remote control for my dad in watching the 6:00 news. We didn’t talk, or eat, or do anything as he recapped the day with the anchor du jour. Times have changed (duh) but I wonder what my daughter will say about my news consumption when she is an adult.

Ramiro responded to me that they were trying to check in on staff in Chile and make sure everyone was safe. At that point I ran to my laptop and saw the news. My first thought was for my colleagues and their friends and family in Chile – some of my favorite people in our company are in that office and I really wanted to know how they were faring. And then I realized that Twitter was coming to the rescue. My colleagues throughout LatAm wanted to check in on their colleagues but couldn’t get through via traditional communications mechanisms. But Twitter provided a way to send messages and spread them quickly and also let those of us who were concerned stay connected – and reminded all of us that we weren’t alone in praying for our friends and colleagues. And, as people from that office were reached and accounted for, Burson persons around the world were able to share in the good news. Mashable has some additional information on how Twitter was used to get people in touch today – it is worth the read.

I’ve been up and down on Twitter lately – as an early adopter of the tool I’ve gotten bored – but as a communications professional I see the value. Today however, my appreciation for Twitter grew as I stayed connected to colleagues and also got news throughout the day that would not have otherwise been available. And for that I’m grateful. Meanwhile, I join you in continuing to pray for the best possible outcomes in the region.

• Infrastructure – assessment of staff readiness to embrace social media and company infrastructure including adoption of guidelines and monitoring programs
• Profile Pages – what is the quantity, tone and influence of conversations happening on the most popular social networks and does the organization have an appropriate engagement plan in place
• Opportunistic – are organizations contributing to communities of interest, how is the social position impacting search results, are you linking your various profiles
• Competitive Set - how does the company rate against competitors and what is the white space that is available for an organization to take a leadership role

We happen to like our product a whole lot but the reality is that anyone with a little common sense and a willingness to invest some elbow grease can do an online scan to help a company determine if and how to proceed. It is important that the data be used beyond analysis and actually be used to inform a strategy that is integrated across departments, objectives, and social media properties. Only then can companies truly begin to tap the potential of social media and enjoy creating relationships with stakeholders.

Late last year we compiled data based on the Global Fortune 100 companies. The study was released today and shows that 79% of the Global Fortune 100 are using at least 1 of the social media elements considered – Facebook, Twitter, YouTube and corporate blogs. The survey identified that 65% are using Twitter, 54% have a Facebook fan page, 50% are on YouTube and only 33% have a corporate blog that we could easily find.

Interestingly, only 20% of the companies studied are using all four platforms to engage stakeholders. This surprised me because the opportunity in social media is to spend time where your stakeholders are and share messages in a way that they are most comfortable. Ideally companies will review different platforms against their business objectives and choose the ones that are best for their needs. However, very rarely will only one platform meet all the needs of a multi-national corporation. The key to social media success is using the various platforms to their best advantage and creating relationships across social media that build credibility for companies and brands.

Another interesting finding of the study is around potential renegade employees. Very often employees create social media pages on behalf of companies, sometimes outside of their professional role and definitely without company guidance. These pages can create messaging confusion and can also send a message about the company if they are abandoned. It is an interesting challenge for companies today about how to allow employees to have a voice, but to do so within a reasonable company framework.

More information along with slides and a PDF are available at the Burson-Marsteller blog.

This study was released along with an exciting new product, our Social Media Check-up. More on that to come!

I’m glad they posted that as I have been meaning to write one for a while. The two worst examples I’ve seen of contextual advertising that has gone way out of context have been tied to tragic situations. The first was when Delta Airlines last suffered a plane crash and ads were being served up for discount tickets on the airline. Most definitely not what folks reading those news stories were looking for. And this image was the AP story on MSNBC when Steve McNair was shot – with the prominent display ad for Nair hair waxing.

I’ll have to make a better effort to watch for these, and hopefully find some outside of tragedies to post again soon.

• 47% of online adults use social networking sites, up from 37% in November 2008
• By 2009, just 15% of internet users ages 18‐29 maintain a blog—a nine percentage point drop in two years. However, 11% of internet users ages thirty and older now maintain a personal blog
• This decline is also reflected in the lower incidence of teen commenting on blogs within social networking websites; 52% of teen social network users report commenting on friends’ blogs, down from the 76% who did so in 2006

You can read the complete report here

Interestingly enough – almost at the same time that this report was published, my father (70 years old and somewhat digitally savvy – has been blogging for three years and is on Facebook – no Twitter) wrote a post about how blogging and the internet has had a profound change on him – the post is titled “Blogs, friends, and the Internet”

“I would like to show you that Mark Harding  is not only an excellent videographer, a dedicated shark friend and manta conservationist, a professional still photographer, but also, as you will see, a talented blogger.

How did I meet my good pal Mark? Simple – over the internet.

That leads me to think that some of my very best new friends were internet acquanintances that evolved into solidly established cyber-friendships before I met them in person. Just to name a few: Jean-Francois Avenier (”Jifa”), Marcelo Mammana, Mike Neumann.

Beyond that, what and where would I, and countless others all over the globe, be without the blessings of the internet?

That story which has yet to be written, has changed, and is still changing, our civilization in such a profound way that it could only be compared, perhaps inadequately, to man’s ‘discovery’, and use, of fire.

I am still unable to grasp the internet’s astounding dimension and importance….

Anyway, as a retiree I am glad that it exists otherwise I would have to collect stamps or, worse, get even more on my wife’s nerves. ”

Original post here

Anyway, as a retiree I am glad that it exists otherwise I would have to collect stamps or, worse, get even more on my wife’s nerves.

Concerns about Google and privacy aren’t new. They have a tremendous amount of consumer data based on their share of the search market alone. Combine that with gmail, calendar apps, their other programs, acquisitions and now tools like Buzz, they really do have the power to know everything about us. The marketplace has raised concerns about Google’s handling of consumer data for years. Remember, it was just this past December when Eric Schmidt said, “if you have something you don’t want anyone to know, maybe you shouldn’t be doing it at all.” Good point, but not exactly what I’d call a privacy policy.

Still, what concerns me is not the data so much as the blatant disregard for public sentiment before launching the Buzz product. It was almost as though they figured they’d give it a shot (say with auto-follow) and see if they could get away with it (they didn’t, so they switched it to auto-suggest). Which from my perspective is too bad as Buzz may have great user applications which are being overshadowed by the privacy outcry. It will be interesting to see if Google learns from this lesson as they bring additional apps to market.