Is Social Networking Really that Important?

A recent report by eMarketer revealed that social networking is one of the most important online activities, trailing close behind email.

Respondents were asked to rank the importance of Email, Online Social Networking, Online Chat/IM, Web Browsing, Online Forums, Texting, Online Discussions, Online News Feeds, and Blogging...with “1” being the most important.

As you can see, Email is ranked #1 at an importance level of 2.6; Online Social Networking is 3.1.

81% of respondents taking part in social networking claimed posting photos was the top social networking activity.

“This is a particularly important finding,” according to the report, “in that it suggests that these younger users have integrated social networks into their lives to such an extent that it has become a trusted resource for their decision making.”

A March 2009 study by Knowledge Networks found that “between 10% and 24% of US social media users turned to social networks when making purchase decisions about various categories of products and services. Less than 5% said they ‘always’ did so.”

Will Bing become the Next Google?

Bing is having some success these past few months (maybe from the push of television commercials?).

According to the comScore report on September 22, 2009, between July 2009 and August 2009 Bing added 7% to its total number of searches. This is a huge jump for one month, considering the competition from Google and Yahoo. Google grew only 2% and Yahoo 1%.

Voice your opinions with Google’s new tool, Sidewiki

Problem: You are looking to buy a new digital camera online, but don’t want to spend an arm and a leg. You search around for websites that advertise the lowest price on the camera you want. However, you don’t really trust the website you found with the cheapest price, but don’t want to spend full-price at a national retailer... what do you do?!

Solution: Use Sidewiki, a new feature on Google Toolbar that allows you to see posted comments about any site.

Google’s new toolbar feature called Google Sidewiki allows users to read and comment on any website they want...all within the Google Toolbar. If you want to find out if there are any problems with the website, or if you want to warn other visitors of abuse, Sidewiki can be very helpful.

Comments are not automatically posted, though. In order to get your comments posted, you must frequently comment on a variety of sites (this shows Google that you are a heavy user, and will be more likely to approve your comments). Google does this to prevent spam and abuse by angry users who have nothing better to do with their time than to make up lies about a website.

If you want to help increase the chances that your comments get posted start browsing sites in your niche and take time to read throughout the sites and post any interesting information about them that you think will be helpful to future visitors.

You can also see how many people found a specific comment helpful or unhelpful.

Remember that this tool is new, so there may not be as many comments as you’d wish.