Social Media Influence on TV Examined by New Study

social TV influenceConsumers’ interaction with social media in relation to their television viewing is relatively modest compared to other forms of communication and lags behind other online media, TV promotions and, especially, offline communication, according to a new study. Only 12% of respondents use social media  one or more times per day concerning TV.

However, the number jumps to 37% using social media one or more times per week – suggesting growth potential for social media as an influence on TV viewing. Half of these respondents report viewing TV concurrently with using social media. The research also identified several groups who are highly connected to social media and television, and who represent an important opportunity for marketers. These are among numerous findings from an extensive, multi-pronged study, entitled  “Talking Social TV,” to help determine how social media interaction impacts television viewing.

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Study: Facebook Helps First-Generation College Students

Facebook and college studentsFacebook connections can help first-generation college applicants believe in their abilities to both apply to school and excel once they’ve enrolled, according to a new study from the University of Michigan and Michigan State University.

“We are very excited by these findings, because they suggest that the kinds of interactions supported by Facebook and other social media can play a role in helping young people, especially those who are traditionally less likely to go to college, feel more confident about their ability to get into college and to succeed there,” said Nicole Ellison, associate professor at the U-M School of Information.

First-generation applicants might not come into contact on a daily basis with people who support their interest in college or who can answer questions about it, Ellison said.

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Study: Facebook may improve self esteem but negatively affect motivation

Facebook Study New research suggests that looking at your Facebook profile can be both psychologically good and bad for you.

A Facebook profile is an ideal version of self, full of photos and posts curated for the eyes of family, friends and acquaintances. A new study shows that this version of self can provide beneficial psychological effects and influence behavior.

Catalina Toma, a UW-Madison assistant professor of communication arts at UW-Madison, used the “Implicit Association Test” to measure Facebook users’ self-esteem after they spent time looking at their profiles, the first time the social psychology research tool has been used to examine the effects of Facebook. The test showed that after participants spent just five minutes examining their own Facebook profiles, they experienced a significant boost in self-esteem.

The test measures how quickly participants associate positive or negative adjectives with words such as me, my, I and myself.

“If you have high self-esteem, then you can very quickly associate words related to yourself with positive evaluations but have a difficult time associating words related to yourself with negative evaluations,” Toma says. “But if you have low self-esteem, the opposite is true.”

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Video Tribute to Class of 2013

My latest video producing – I used footage from the various commencement ceremonies we filmed this year and set it to a modern remixed version of ‘Pomp and Circumstance’ for this short piece to share via social media channels.

CBS Sunday Morning is #1 Sunday Morning News Program for 2012-13 season

CBS-Sunday-MorningPOSTS ITS BEST MAY SWEEPS DELIVERY IN VIEWERS SINCE THE ADVENT OF PEOPLE METERS IN 1987, AND ITS BEST DELIVERY FOR A MAY SWEEP IN ADULTS 25-54 SINCE 2007 – THE DEMOGRAPHIC THAT MATTERS MOST TO THOSE WHO ADVERTISE IN NEWS

‘CBS Sunday Morning With Charles Osgood’ was the #1 Sunday morning news program in adults 25-54, viewers and households for the 2012-2013 television season, most current, according to Nielsen. ‘CBS Sunday Morning’ posted its best season delivery in adults 25-54 since 2009-2010, in viewers since 1992-1993 and in households since 1993-1994. [Read more...]

My latest video blog: Brandman Commencement in Sacramento

Graduating in May? Tips on Using Social Media to Find a Job

 

Facebook is for drunk, stressed young adults

Russell Clayton, a doctoral student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, has found that anxiety and alcohol use significantly predict the emotional connectedness college students experience toward Facebook

Russell Clayton, a doctoral student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, has found that anxiety and alcohol use significantly predict the emotional connectedness college students experience toward Facebook

With nearly one billion users worldwide, Facebook has become a daily activity for hundreds of millions of people. Because so many people engage with the website daily, researchers are interested in how emotionally involved Facebook users become with the social networking site and the precursors that lead to Facebook connections with other people. Russell Clayton, now a doctoral student at the University of Missouri School of Journalism, found that anxiety and alcohol use significantly predict emotional connectedness to Facebook.

Clayton’s master’s thesis, conducted under the supervision of Randall Osborne, Brian Miller, and Crystal Oberle of Texas State University, surveyed more than 225 college freshmen students concerning their perceived levels of loneliness, anxiousness, alcohol use, and marijuana use in the prediction of emotional connectedness to Facebook and Facebook connections. They found that students who reported higher levels of anxiousness and alcohol use appeared to be more emotionally connected with the social networking site. Clayton and his colleagues also found that students who reported higher levels of loneliness and anxiousness use Facebook as a platform to connect with others. [Read more...]

State of the News Media 2013

State of the News Media 2013As News Media Cut Back on Reporting, Nearly 1-in-3 Americans Say They Have Abandoned an Outlet Due to Diminished Information

This week the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism released its annual Report on American Journalism. The report concludes that the news media, a continued erosion of reporting resources has converged with growing opportunities for newsmakers, such as political figures, government agencies, companies and others, to take their messages directly to the public. The public, for its part, is not very aware of the financial struggles that have led to the news industry’s cutbacks in reporting, but nearly one-in-three (31%) say they have stopped turning to a particular news outlet because it no longer provides the news they were accustomed to getting. These are among the major findings in the Pew Research Center’s 2013 State of the News Media report, its 10th annual report on the health and status of American journalism. The report pinpoints multiple signs of shrinking reporting power. For newspapers, estimates for newsroom cutbacks in 2012 put industry employment down 30% since its peak in 2000 and below 40,000 employees for the first time since 1978. On local television, where audiences were down across every key time slot in 2012, news stories have shrunk in length, and, compared with 2005, coverage of government has been cut in half and sports, weather and traffic [Read more...]

You are what you ‘like’ on Facebook, study shows

Research shows that intimate personal attributes can be predicted with high levels of accuracy from ‘traces’ left by seemingly innocuous digital behavior, in this case Facebook Likes. Study raises important questions about personalized marketing and online privacy.

facebookNew research from Cambridge University shows that surprisingly accurate estimates of Facebook users’ race, age, IQ, sexuality, personality, substance use and political views can be inferred from automated analysis of only their Facebook Likes – information currently publicly available by default.

In the study, researchers describe Facebook Likes as a “generic class” of digital record – similar to web search queries and browsing histories – and suggest that such techniques could be used to extract sensitive information for almost anyone regularly online.

Researchers at Cambridge’s Psychometrics Centre, in collaboration with Microsoft Research Cambridge, analyzed a dataset of over 58,000 US Facebook users, who volunteered their Likes, demographic profiles and psychometric testing results through the myPersonality application.

Users opted in to provide data and gave consent to have profile information recorded for analysis. Facebook Likes were fed into algorithms and corroborated with information from profiles and personality tests. [Read more...]

How to do a live interview on a morning TV show

Have you ever wondered what it’s like to be a guest on a morning news show? Experts are often asked to come on-air to share advice with viewers, and doing live interviews is a great way for your organization to get exposure, or to promote a public event. Live interviews are the most challenging for novice spokespeople because there is no editing – it is live television. I was recently on Good Day Sacramento in my role as Spokesperson for Brandman University (a private, nonprofit you should check out). My friend Gus shot this behind-the-scenes video.

As you can see, there is a lot happening in the studio. To give a good live interview, you must prepare ahead of time, practice what you’re going to say and focus on the anchor during the interview so the things happening around you are not a distraction. Some tips on giving live interviews include:

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A digital autopsy of the failed Friendster social network

Friendster is deadDo you remember Friendster? I do – it was the first social media site that I was active on, before MySpace and Facebook. Friendster was widely embraced and grew quickly – but, what happened? Was the competition from MySpace and then Facebook just too much? Some researchers have conducted what they call a digital autopsy, and reveal their findings in this new paper.

David Garcia and fellow researchers at the Swiss Federal Institute of Technology in Zurich conducted the research. They say that when the costs (in this case time and energy spent on the site) outweigh the benefits, then the conditions are ripe for a mass exodus. If a user inactivates their profile, it is far more likely that one of his or friends will as well, which in turn could impact the second friend’s network, and so on. The researchers further explain that the topology of the network provides some resilience against this. This resilience is determined by the number of friends that individual users have, and the average number of connections for each user. [Read more...]

Using Social Media in Your Job Search

I had the pleasure of working with KMIR (NBC 6) reporter Jessica Fores on this story about using social media for job seekers.

New Year’s Resolutions to go back to school? Here’s some advice

Happy New Year! I have launched a new blog on Brandman Hub and was thrilled to be live in-studio on Good Day Sacramento to talk about it.

 

Coming soon: Twitter Nielsen TV Ratings

Nielsen and Twitter today announced an exclusive multi-year agreement to create the “Nielsen Twitter TV Rating” for the US market. Under this agreement, Nielsen and Twitter will deliver a syndicated-standard metric around the reach of the TV conversation on Twitter, slated for commercial availability at the start of the fall 2013 TV season.

“The Nielsen Twitter TV Rating is a significant step forward for the industry, particularly as programmers develop increasingly captivating live TV and new second-screen experiences, and advertisers create integrated ad campaigns that combine paid and earned media,” said Steve Hasker, President, Global Media Products and Advertiser Solutions at Nielsen. “As a media measurement leader we recognize that Twitter is the preeminent source of real-time television engagement data.”

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Survey Shows Small Businesses Investing More in Social Media, But Juggling Resources

VerticalResponse announced the results of an exclusive survey on how much time and money small businesses spend on social media. The company surveyed 462 small businesses on how much time they spend on social media activities, including finding and sharing content on popular social networks and blogging, and what tasks take the most time. VerticalResponse also inquired about marketing budgets.

The data are compiled in a social media infographic (with social sharing enabled and embed code) and reported below.

“Our survey confirms that small businesses are understanding the value of social media,” said Janine Popick, VerticalResponse CEO/founder. “They’re spending more time doing it, and investing more money into it at a faster rate. But the extra work will likely lead to time management issues, especially for the small business owner who’s handling social media on top of all the other responsibilities of running a company. This implies that small businesses are in need of tactics and tools now to help them save time.”

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Study: nearly half of U.S. consumers today actively seek customer service through social media

According to a new study from NM Incite, the leading social media consumer insights provider and joint venture between Nielsen and McKinsey, nearly half (47%) of U.S. social media users today actively seek customer service through social media (a.k.a., social care). Revealing new data about how customers perceive and engage in social care, NM Incite’s study uncovers that nearly one in three social media users (30%) prefer to reach out to a brand for customer service through a social channel compared to the phone, marking a dramatic shift in how people expect customer service from the brands they engage with.

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Social Sentiment Differs From Media Regarding Debate, Pew Finds

Social media came to a much different initial verdict about the first presidential debate than did the early polls and the conventional press, according to an analysis of the conversation on Twitter, Facebook and blogs by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism.

On both Twitter and Facebook, the conversation was much more critical of Mitt Romney than it was of Barack Obama. And when the criticism of one candidate and praise of another are combined, the conversation on Twitter leaned Obama’s way. On Facebook it was something of a draw.

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Facebook, CNN Unveil ‘Election Insights’

CNN and Facebook today unveiled the Facebook-CNN Election Insights. This tool displays the real-time number of people talking about President Barack Obama, Vice President Joe Biden, presumptive Republican presidential nominee Mitt Romney and his vice presidential pick Rep. Paul Ryan.

Facebook-CNN Election Insights – found at CNN.com/FBinsights– displays dynamic, real-time charts and visualizations using Facebook Insights to gauge the volume of Facebook activity surrounding the election and candidates. CNN will use the tool, which also allows people to view data by geography and demography, during their coverage of the presidential election.

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CNN & Facebook Partner to Create ‘Social Experience’ During Election Coverage

CNN, America’s “most trusted source of news and information for the 2012 presidential campaign” and Facebook have partnered to offer America’s Choice 2012, an interactive and uniquely social experience for CNN’s on-air, mobile and online audiences and Facebook’s more than 160 million U.S. users.

In this partnership, Facebook and CNN are teaming up to take the pulse of the American electorate and amplify the voices of the social site’s users as they share their thoughts and feelings on candidates and critical issues facing the country ahead of Election Day. This innovative multi-platform partnership will include:

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Moms Lead Consumers In Following Their Favorite Brands On Social Media, Survey Says

2-in-3 Readers Get the Low-Down on Brands to “Like” From Blog Content, With Moms and 18-34 Year Olds Especially Influenced by Brand Mentions

Burst Media released the results of a survey covering the social media preferences, habits and actions of independent web audiences. Conducted in May, the study of 1,453 U.S. online adults aged 18 or older found that three-quarters (76.3%) of respondents visit social media sites such as Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn and foursquare–though it’s clear that women are more active social media users than men. One-half (49.0%) of female respondents visit social media sites at least a few times per day, versus just one-third (34.0%) of men.

“With tweets buzzing onto our phones by the minute and every daily occurrence becoming fodder for Facebook, our survey has confirmed just how deeply engaged we are with social media,” said Mark Kaefer, marketing director, Burst Media. “And for some audience segments, such as moms, social media is a constant presence in daily life. Given this close relationship between consumers and their online communities, our study also found many opportunities for both online advertisers and web publishers to inject social vehicles into their efforts to drive user engagement.”

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Teens on Social Media: Many Benefits to Digital Life, But Downsides, Too

National survey finds teens’ widespread use of social networks is mostly positive, though many claim “addiction” to technology and express a desire to unplug

Nine out of 10 teenagers in America have used social media, and the majority of them perceive it to be a more positive than negative influence in their lives. But in spite of their widespread use of today’s technology, teens prefer talking in person over texting, tweeting, or connecting on Facebook, and many describe themselves as “addicted” to their digital devices.

Social Media, Social Life: How Teens View Their Digital Lives, a new report from Common Sense Media’s Program for the Study of Children and Media, provides the latest insights on teens’ use of media and technology and how they think it affects their relationships and feelings about themselves. This large-scale, nationally representative quantitative survey of more than 1,000 13- to 17-year-olds reveals that most teens think that social media has had a more positive than negative effect on their social and emotional well-being. Key findings include:

90% of teens have used some form of social media; 75% have a social networking site, and more than half (51%) of all teens check their social networking site at least once a day.

52% of all teens who use social media say that it has mainly helped their friendships, while only 4% say it has mainly hurt their friendships.

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Facebook Names Sheryl Sandberg to Board of Directors

Facebook announced today that Sheryl Sandberg, chief operating officer at Facebook, has joined the company’s board of directors.

Sandberg oversees Facebook’s business operations including sales, marketing, business development, legal, human resources, public policy and communications.

“Sheryl has been my partner in running Facebook and has been central to our growth and success over the years,” said Mark Zuckerberg, founder and CEO of Facebook in a company press release. “Her understanding of our mission and long-term opportunity, and her experience both at Facebook and on public company boards makes her a natural fit for our board.”

“Facebook is working every day to make the world more open and connected,” Sandberg said. “It’s a mission that I’m deeply passionate about, and I feel fortunate to be part of a company that is having such a profound impact in the world.”

Prior to Facebook, Sandberg was vice president of Global Online Sales and Operations at Google, where she built and managed the online sales channels for advertising and publishing and operations for consumer products worldwide. She previously served as Chief of Staff for the United States Treasury Department under President Bill Clinton and began her career as an economist with the World Bank. She received B.A. and M.B.A degrees from Harvard University.

Sandberg also serves on the boards of The Walt Disney Company, Women for Women International, the Center for Global Development and V-Day.

Along with Sandberg, Facebook’s current board members are: Mark Zuckerberg; Marc L. Andreessen, Andreessen Horowitz; Erskine B. Bowles, president emeritus, University of North Carolina system; James W. Breyer, Accel Partners; Donald E. Graham, chairman and CEO, The Washington Post Company; Reed Hastings, chairman and CEO, Netflix; and Peter A. Thiel, Founders Fund.

comScore and Facebook Release Research Paper “The Power of Like 2: How Social Marketing Works”

Report Presents Framework for Optimizing Earned and Paid Media Reach to Fans and Friends and New Research on Sales Lift Analysis

comScore and Facebook today released the second white paper in The Power of Like series, The Power of Like 2: How Social Marketing Works, including original analysis demonstrating ways in which exposure to earned and paid media on Facebook drives behavioral lifts in purchase behavior. The analysis leverages data and insights from the comScore Social Essentials™ and comScore AdEffx™ products. To download a complimentary copy of the report, please visit: www.comscore.com/like2.

“Social media continues to emerge as an important marketing channel and major brand marketers are devoting more time and attention to understanding its impact on consumers,” said Andrew Lipsman, comScore VP of Industry Analysis. “While marketers understand the importance of a channel that now accounts for 1 in every 7 minutes spent online, many are challenged to quantify its effectiveness. The Power of Like research sheds new light on how brands are able to deliver earned and paid media at scale, amplify its effects from Fans to Friends of Fans, and understand how exposure to these media can drive the desired consumer behaviors, including online and in-store purchase.”

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Study: In Spite of its popularity, Americans skeptical of social media

13th Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll Shows Opportunities for Businesses and Political Leaders, But Authenticity and Openness Are Key

Americans believe participation in social media makes them more informed and influential as both consumers and citizens, even as they express clear skepticism about the trustworthiness of the information they find there, according to poll results announced today by The Allstate Corporation (NYSE: ALL) and National Journal.

The 13th quarterly Allstate-National Journal Heartland Monitor Poll explored how Americans incorporate social media into their consumer and community behaviors. Its findings reveal important themes about trust and influence, even as leaders in the public and private sectors increasingly use social media to engage consumers and voters.

Nearly two out of three American adults surveyed used social media in the last month. Although social media users are somewhat younger, more educated and more affluent than non-users on average, they closely align with the overall American public in their opinions about politics and the economy, as well as their perceptions of major institutions.

However, social media users report significantly higher levels of political and community activity, including volunteering for a community organization (69% of social media users versus 49% of non-users), signing campaign or community petitions (68% of users versus 50% of non-users), or attending a campaign rally (32% of users versus 22% of non-users). Social media users also are more likely to consult with others about buying a product or service (79% of users versus 60% of non-users) or change their minds about a product or service because of others’ opinions (64% of users versus 47% of non-users).

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How to spot propaganda on Twitter: Study identifies patterns of ‘hyperadvocacy’

As Election Day 2012 draws nearer, the “Twitterverse” promises to light up again and again with explosions of political opinion. But which tweets are the genuinely expressed feelings of individual users and which are systematic disseminations of information meant to support or discredit an idea—the textbook definition of propaganda?

A new study out of the Georgia Tech School of Computer Science calls such patterns of communication “hyperadvocacy.” The study identifies four characteristic behaviors of Twitter hyperadvocates, whose actions clearly separate them from the tweeting behavior of typical users. Associate Professor Nick Feamster directed the study, working with former postdoctoral researcher Cristian Lumezanu and Associate Professor Hans Klein of Georgia Tech’s School of Public Policy.

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Who’s Using Twitter? New Pew Research Shows 15% of Online Adults Tweet

The Pew Internet & American Life Project released its annual study of Twitter today. The report, written by Aaron Smith and Joanna Brenner, shows that overall adoption remains steady, but “typical day” usage continues to grow—8% of online adults now use Twitter on a typical day. African-Americans, young adults, and mobile users stand out for their high rates of Twitter usage.

According to the researchers, some 15% of online adults use Twitter as of February 2012, and 8% do so on a typical day. Although overall Twitter usage has nearly doubled since the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project  first asked a stand-alone Twitter question in November 2010, the 15% of online adults who use Twitter as of early 2012 is similar to the 13% of such adults who did so in May 2011. At the same time, the proportion of online adults who use Twitter on a typical day has doubled since May 2011 and has quadrupled since late 2010—at that point just 2% of online adults used Twitter on a typical day.1 The rise of smartphones might account for some of the uptick in usage because smartphone users are particularly likely to be using Twitter.

Several demographic groups stand out as having high rates of Twitter usage relative to their peers:

African-Americans — Black internet users continue to use Twitter at high rates. More than one quarter of online African-Americans (28%) use Twitter, with 13% doing so on a typical day.

Young adults — One quarter (26%) of internet users ages 18-29 use Twitter, nearly double the rate for those ages 30-49. Among the youngest internet users (those ages 18-24), fully 31% are Twitter users.

Urban and suburban residents — Residents of urban and suburban areas are significantly more likely to use Twitter than their rural counterparts.

Twitter use among 18-24 year olds increased dramatically between May 2011 and February 2012, both overall and on a “typical day” basis

Twitter use within the overall population remained steady over the last year, and usage rates within most major demographic groups changed little over the same time period. The youngest adults (those between the ages of 18 and 24) are the primary exception to this trend—nearly one third of internet users in this age group now use Twitter, up from 18% in May of 2011 and 16% in late 2010.3 Twitter use by those in their mid-20s to mid-40s largely leveled off in the last year after roughly doubling between late 2010 and mid 2011.

In addition to increasing on an overall basis, the proportion of young internet users who use Twitter on a typical day also doubled over the last year. Fully one in five internet users ages 18-24 (20%) now use Twitter on a typical day, up from 9% in May 2011.

Notably, “typical day” usage among slightly older adults (those ages 25-34) also doubled—from 5% of such internet users in May 2011 to 11% in February 2012—even as overall usage levels within this group remained stable over that time period.

Twitter and the “Mobile Difference”
We can also see this relationship between youth, mobility and Twitter use when looking specifically at Twitter use on mobile phones. Twitter usage is highly correlated with the use of mobile technologies, especially smartphones. One in five smartphone owners (20%) are Twitter users, with 13% using the service on a typical day. By contrast, internet users who own more basic mobile phones are roughly half as likely to use Twitter overall (9% do so), and just 3% of these more basic phone owners are “typical day” users.

Indeed, this correlation between Twitter adoption and smartphone ownership may help to explain the recent growth in Twitter usage among young adults. Those ages 18-24 are not just the fastest growing group when it comes to Twitter adoption over the last year—they also experienced the largest increase in smartphone ownership of any demographic group over the same time period.

In addition to asking internet users whether they ever use Twitter (regardless of the platform or device used) in our February 2012 tracking survey, we included a question in our April 2012 tracking survey in which we asked adult cell phone owners if they use Twitter specifically on their mobile phones. Overall we found that 9% of cell owners use Twitter on their phones, with 5% doing so on a typical day.4

As with general Twitter usage, smartphone owners are much more likely than average to use Twitter on their phones (overall 16% of smartphone owners use Twitter on their phones, and 10% do so on a typical day).

As with our general Twitter usage findings, cell owners ages 18-24 are more likely than older cell owners to use Twitter within the context of their mobile devices—fully one in five 18-24 year old cell owners (22%) use Twitter on their phones, and 15% do so on a typical day. African Americans and Latinos (both of whom have high rates of smartphone ownership) also stand out as heavy mobile Twitter users.

 

Fizziology Announces New Social Media Analytics for Television

Fizziology’s SocialDensity analytics quantify the value of a show beyond ratings.

Social media research company Fizziology is introducing SocialDensity, new analytics for buyers and sellers of television advertising to quantify the social impact of a show. A leader in theatrical film tracking of social media conversation since late 2009, Fizziology is now providing analysis and insights to television studios, networks, media agencies and brands.

Announced during television upfronts week, SocialDensity is designed to measure the social impact of programs and quantify the value of that impact. Because ratings are only one of the dimensions of value for advertisers and networks to consider, SocialDensity measures the influence, sharing and anticipation that can’t be assessed by ratings alone. Just as ratings services provide a numerical representation of viewership, SocialDensity provides ratings on a show’s volume and sentiment. This score can be used as a point of comparison with traditional ratings or combined to create a more holistic view of a program’s value.

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Thirty-Seven Percent of Companies Use Social Networks to Research Potential Job Candidates, Study Shows

Hiring managers share why they screen with social media, and explain what they’re looking for in candidates’ profiles

With the pervasive, worldwide adoption of social media, job seekers know that the all-important first impression is potentially made well before the first interview. But just how many hiring managers browse social media profiles, and what type of information are they hunting?

Nearly two in five companies (37 percent) use social networking sites to research job candidates, according to a new survey from CareerBuilder. Of the employers who do not research candidates on social media, 15 percent said their company prohibits the practice. Eleven percent report they do not currently use social media to screen, but plan to start.

The nationwide survey, which was conducted by Harris Interactive from February 9 to March 2, 2012, included more than 2,000 hiring managers and human resource professionals across industries and company sizes.

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How do TV and social media mix? New study shows social media penetrating airwaves

Social media is showing signs of connecting with TV viewers as nearly two-thirds (64 percent) of U.S. consumers surveyed recall seeing social media symbols such as Facebook “Likes” while watching television, according to an Accenture study. Moreover, one in three viewers (33 percent) have interacted with social media after seeing a social media symbol on their TV screen.

Accenture conducted this survey of U.S. television viewers to better understand the public’s perception of social media symbols that appear during programming and how effective they are. The survey found that among the 1,000 viewers surveyed, the majority said they had noticed and were also familiar with how to interact with social media symbols while watching TV, including the Facebook “Like” symbol (42 percent), QR codes (28 percent), Twitter Hashtags (18 percent) and Shazam symbols (9 percent).

One-third (33 percent) of those surveyed said they had actually interacted with the symbols while watching TV by “liking” the TV program on Facebook (20 percent), scanning a QR code (11 percent), searching for the Hashtag on Twitter (7 percent) or scanning the Shazam symbol (5 percent).

“Social media and social networking are exploding across television screens as networks use social media to enable audiences to interact directly with related content for a richer viewing experience,” said Robin Murdoch, Accenture’s global Internet segment managing director. “This has huge revenue growth potential as social media applications build program viewer loyalty and drive online advertising opportunities.”

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