I use Twitter as my news updater as you can now get the world happenings in real time. Remember when the plane landed in the Hudson in NYC? People were tweeting while standing on the wing to be rescued. The protests in Iran were another of those major global events – where you could learn in real time via social media- exactly what was going on. Both by the news media as well as those in the midst of the news stories.

One of my most favorite news publications is the Huffington Post started by Arianna Huffington – has been a long standing proponent of social media and they are doing a spectacular job leveraging Facebook connect and Twitter. They created a real time engagement forum for the TED conference series which I thought was brilliant. What sparked this post was an email I just received from the Washington Post - showing how they are now linking to Facebook connect, encouraging readers to SHARE articles and participate in the stories they read – by commenting on things you find interesting or things your friends are following.

It is now such an easy way to connect with like minded people for so many reasons. Friendship, business, information, opinions ideas and ratings and reviews to name a few. Best of all it works! The world becomes much smaller and the human approach that can be created for business is not to be questioned. Your customers are eager to get to know you. Just watch your nightly news which on many stations both in Canada and the US, cable and major network – that end their broadcast with “please find us on Facebook and Twitter and connect create.cultivate comments, stories etc.”

This week alone I met a Facebook friend in real time that helped me sort out my cell phone debacle. It was like we had known each other for years. Another Facebook friend in the same industry as myself have build up an admirable relationship and passion for the power of digital and the expansion of its tools – that we get to use – to support the success of our clients marketing and communications. We are now doing a small project together. Me here in Toronto – he in California.  How can we SHARE all of our resources for a mutually successful relationship? For growth of sales, growth of mind share, growth of ideas, solving problems, events, promotions, product launches – production knowledge and so much more.

Had a great social media week like me? We would love to hear about it. Drop us a line and let us know how the power of the digital world enhanced your life!

Best Nicole

Best Nicole

Interactive media will represent nearly one of every five dollars spent by marketers on media in the U.S. next year, according to estimates released Wednesday by WPP’s GroupM unit, the largest buyer of media in the world. The agency holding company’s new global ad spending forecast predicts interactive media, primarily online, will represent 17% of the U.S. advertising marketplace in 2010, up from 15.4% in 2009, and making.

 That makes interactive the third largest medium in the U.S., behind television’s 44.2% share, and magazine’s 18.4% share of 2010 advertising budgets. According to GroupM’s estimates, interactive media will overtake newspaper’s U.S. advertising share this year. Newspapers, which had a 14.8% share of U.S. ad spending in 2008, will fall to a 13.6% share this year, and a 12.4% share next year. Interactive media had a 13.9% share in 2008.

Radio’s U.S. advertising share also continues to erode, dropping to 5.6% this year, from 6.0% in 2008. GroupM predicts radio’s share of U.S. ad spending will drop to 5.2% in 2010.

Out-of-home media spending remains steady at 2.7%.

While the U.S. isn’t the largest interactive media marketplace in the world in terms of penetration, it is the biggest in terms of advertising volume. While the GroupM report does not break out the components of interactive media, it estimates that marketers will spend $23.9 billion on interactive media in the U.S. in 2010, representing 39.9% of the world’s $59.9 billion interactive advertising marketplace.

The largest market in terms of interactive media penetration is the U.K., where British marketers will spend 30.9% of their advertising budgets on interactive media, followed by Denmark, where interactive media will have a 28.4% share next year. Ireland has the smallest interactive advertising penetration of any major Western industrialized nation, with a 3.0% share in 2010, up from just 1.8% in 2009.

Globally, marketers will invest 14.6% of their worldwide advertising budgets on interactive media, up from 13.2% in 2009.

GroupM Futures Director Adam Smith, the author of the new forecast, said the only other major media to increase share during the global advertising recession are TV and outdoor media.

“TV and out-of-home have both added share of global ad investment, while newspapers continue to shed a point of share a year,” he noted in the report. “It may also be the case that TV and out-of-home’s relative cheapness compared to newspapers has encouraged this, and perhaps newspapers have been less willing to flex pricing too.”

For those of you who have not yet boarded the tweeter train, I hope that these leaders can help clarify why you need to get your Twitter account up and running NOW.

Look forward to following you! Tweet Tweet.

Best Nicole

If you haven’t at least heard of the social networking tool Twitter by now, you might want to crawl out from under the rock where you’ve been living and check it out. The site — which allows users to update other people (”followers” in Twitter speak) on their whereabouts, share links to articles and pictures, and pass along any other information they can squeeze into 140 characters or less — has been growing at a feverish pace (since it launched in 2006) and, although the site does not yet have a viable business plan itself, Twitter has become a prime way to monitor breaking news, keep up with friends and promote brands.

As an avid Twitterer (Twit? Tweeter?) myself, I thought it would be interesting to look at leading CEOs and thought leaders who use Twitter to make their everyday life more accessible and transparent. For those leaders out there who haven’t been bitten by the Twitter bug yet, take a hint from the following five Twittering CEOs and set up your own Twitter account you update yourself (and yes, we can tell when you have someone else update it for you).

1) Tony Hsieh, Zappos.com CEO, @zappos

Zappos is a unique company (one of their core values is “create fun and a little weirdness“), and their CEO isn’t afraid to put himself out there on Twitter. Tony Hsieh, who joined the company in 1999, shares personal stories from his life, from meeting Ivanka Trump, to his misadventures while traveling. What’s great about his Twitter account? He’s personable, outgoing, and exemplifies Zappos core values and business model. At a time when CEOs are getting a bad rap, having someone willing to share so much of himself with others is refreshing.

2) Jack Dorsey, Twitter founder and chairman, @jack

Twitter founder Jack Dorsey shows how elastic Twitter’s platform is: He updates his account via the website, text messages, and third-party Twitter applications, and keeps his followers constantly up to date on his travel, insights and interesting conversations. When he does travel, he takes the time to meet up with “Twitter folk” wherever he happens to be — and of course the Twitter platform makes these meetings simple to organize. By using Twitter himself so much, Dorsey exemplifies the value of the product he helped create.

3) Rep. John Culberson, R-Texas, @johnculberson

No, he’s not a CEO, but Texas Rep. John Culberson calls himself a Twitter “Rock Star.” If you’ve ever asked yourself, “What exactly do congresspeople do all day?”, you can find the answer on Culberson’s Twitter account, because he isn’t afraid to voice his opinion and let you know what’s going on in Congress. In late March, for example, he twittered:”Back in DC House ready to vote on naming 2 post offices again – what a waste – Rome is burning & Pelosi has us naming post offices.” Culberson also engages in back-and-forth discussions with his followers, answering their questions and offering information. He Tweets himself and doesn’t rely on a legislative assistant to do it for him. Follow his lead and you may get some followers who don’t agree with you, but you’ll also gain some who value and respect your opinion. You may not agree with his politics, but he shows how a public leader is using Twitter effectively.

4) Gerould Kern, Editor, Chicago Tribune, @gerrykern

Is your industry receiving a lot of criticism? Face your critics and put your top leaders on Twitter. That’s what the Chicago Tribune did when it debuted its new masthead March 19. While it seems like the newspaper’s publisher and top editors are still adjusting to the Twitter phenomenon, their actions show a willingness to put themselves out in the public eye. Clients, users, and readers all have questions — and ideas — to help your business. What better way to listen and to interact with them then by addressing them directly in a medium they’re already actively using? Edward Liddy, take note.

5) Michael Hyatt, CEO of Thomas Nelson Publishers, @michaelhyatt

Thomas Nelson Publisher CEO Michael Hyatt is a great example of someone outside of the tech world who has jumped on the Twitter bandwagon and used it successfully to get his company’s story told online. His Tweets range from the personal (enjoying his church’s Lenten service) to the business-related (getting readers excited about new products and strategy). According to the company’s site, Thomas Nelson’s goal is to “Honor God and Serve People.” When your company’s goal is so ambitious and wide-ranging, Twitter offers a way for CEOs to show how those values play out in their lives everyday.