By now, I think there are very few people who still question the value of social media, though there are no universal methods of measurement in place to determine the exact value added by a social media activation.

In the digital space, measurement is essentially (stay with me on this one…) the “golden ticket” everyone is searching for.  However, there are a few analytic tools that can give one an overview of his/her social media influence; my favorites hasve recently been released by Edelman’s Digital team – Tweetlevel and Bloglevel. Such tools give us – the users and consumers of social media – a way to calculate our influence.

Although I’m not, say, Justin Beiber, I am still interested in my clout in the social media space. I have no need to measure my digital activity as if I were a brand investing in a social media campaign, but I do enjoy that there are metrics for even the lowliest of users (like myself).

As these tools keep being developed, I think we will be much closer to establishing a universal way to measure social value. And this will encourage brands to expand their social presence into a more engaging, meaningful way to connect with their core consumers.

I’m a deal hunter. Groupon is the sh*t, of which I’ve purchased restaurant discounts, movie rentals, tickets, and a $45 Body Shop credit (for $20!) for my Mom for Mother’s Day to name a few.

For clothes, swag, shoes, etc (dudes only, sorry) JackThreads is full of stealz too, offering up short term liquidation sales of good brand name gear, usually all 50% off. They spread the brand by offering members (membership is free) a $10 credit when friends they invite to the site make their first purchase-

My favorite of all is Slickdeals (not Slickdealz unfortunately), which sort of combines all deal sites into one, and then some— people constantly submit promo codes and deals they find or receive via email, making deals usually only given to past or valued customers to stores, available to everyone. A lot of them are just really good deals on amazon.com, of which they usually show prices of the product at other reputable online stores to show the discount. It also puts up the best Groupon’s that are not location specific and can be used anywhere. Plus they remind you of free slurpees on July 11th, which I always remember every year about a week before, then forget on the big day, possibly due to July 4th celebrations…

All of these sites are active on Twitter and f-book, making it easy to follow or check for deals, as they are randomly update throughout the day

Foursquare is a peculiar app- it got super popular with a large group of friends up at school this past Spring, as we checked in constantly wherever we went for a few weeks, trying to rack up more points than the others, become mayors of locations, and collect virtual “badges”…after those few weeks, I got a little tired of people sending me alerts that they checked in at their couch, or bedroom, as you are able to manually add locations- kind of a flaw in the system in my opinion. In the end, I did not see much point in the app as it provided me with no benefits- until I checked in at the campus coffee shop, and it offered me a free extra espresso shot with a purchase of a regular espresso…so then that became the only place I would check in at, aside from cool places that I would alert people with to make them jealous (for example sweeeet midfield seats at the LA Galaxy game the other day)

American Express is taking dealz to the next level- linking American Express Cards to f-book and 4square to let people pick their deals-

“To sign up, simply head to the “Link, Like, Love” app on the American Express Facebook page and link your AmEx card to your Facebook account (just a few quick steps in a separate and secure window). See a deal you like? Just tap a button, and the special will be loaded directly to your AmEx card—no coupons or printouts necessary.

For example, cardholders can get $20 back for spending $50 at Sports Authority, or $5 back for spending $20 or more at Whole Foods—there will be more than 100 merchants at launch, including 20th Century Fox, Dunkin’ Donuts, and Virgin America. When you swipe your card at a particular merchant, the value of the offer will be reflected on your next AmEx statement.”

something to look out for… vaminoss VISA catch upppp

just found this on Slickdeals… chachinggg

http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B003ZHR6RK/?t=slicinc-20&tag=slicinc-20

Social Media has become a staple in everyday life for kids these days. I have used Facebook since my junior year of high school and now I am going into my senior of college and I can’t really remember a time when I didn’t use some sort of social media within the last five years. Social media has become an everyday use for people in Generation Y, and has turned into the primary way for us to communicate. 

The driving forces behind social media use are pretty straight forward. It is easy, fast, and fun. Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google + make it so easy to communicate what you want to the world or to just one or two of your friends. You no longer need to express your opinions through the newspaper, T.V. or radio. As long as you have a computer, you can use Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, LinkedIn, and Google + and they are free. In the past you needed money and power to express your voice through media outlets such as the television and the newspaper. But since the existence of social media, people like Mark Zuckerberg, Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass and Chad Hurley have made it possible for almost anybody to express what they want to say. Through YouTube you can express your message in a video format and YouTube tracks how many hits each video gets. Lots of videos have reached millions upon millions of viewers.

Social media isn’t just used by the general public. Athletes, actors, politicians, companies, and brands use social media 24/7.  Many media outlets have used social media to get information about current events. ESPN uses Twitter as a way to acquire information that players are expressing through their Twitter accounts. ESPN analysts will follow athletes and sometimes break news because of what the athletes are saying on Twitter. Social media has changed the way people acquire information as well as how people express their views.

Although social media has many positive attributes, nothing is perfect. Numerous scandals have arisen since the emergence of social media. Countless people have had their Facebook accounts hacked, and many major companies even have special departments devoted to social media monitoring. These departments are used to promote the company via social media, but also to be on the lookout to see what is being said about the company and what its employees are saying. Coming from the perspective of Generation Y, social media has transformed a lot over the past couple of years and has really become a driving force in society today, for everybody. 

Usually, dinner table conversation consists of days at work, weekend plans, perhaps some family chatter about a cousin’s marriage, or just simply about the weather. However, this summer, my two roommates, Mom and Dad, have been bringing up social media more often at the dinner table.  Whether it’s my mom asking what my friend’s facebook status is about, or my dad asking what a #hashtag means, the adults in my life are becoming more aware of how social media is shaping Gen Y, they just have a different perspective on social media as a whole.

Facebook:

My perspective: It’s a means of constant connection to many friends and acquaintances. Like much of Gen Y, I use Facebook to share thoughts, opinions, pictures, videos, etc. It’s a pretty accurate portrayal of my “real” self, as I express myself several times per day on the site. I also use it to stay connected to a few of my favorite brands and businesses. I personally don’t feel that Facebook is the best way for brands to communicate to their consumers, as Facebook becomes an oversaturated market of “likes” and “pages”.  Overall, Facebook is how I tell others what I’m doing, where I’m at, and what I’ve done in the past.

Their perspective: Neither of them are on Facebook, yet know plenty about it. They’ve seen The Social Network and have watched interviews with Mark Zuckerburg.  They think it’s great that Facebook is a place for people to connect with others, but are skeptical of how public people are on the site about their everyday lives. However, they haven’t really caught onto how business can use Facebook to interact and engage with their consumers. As far as connecting with their high school friends, they rely on email, or as of recently, maybe a few texts to catch up with one another.

Twitter:

My perspective: Twitter is getting better by the day as more of my friends are joining, industry folks are everywhere, celebs tweet right to their followers, and it’s a never ending feed. I use Twitter for everything from entertainment to the news. It’s my favorite source for news and current events, more so than a news site or Facebook.

Their perspective: They’ve heard of Twitter, asked if I have one, and that’s about it. They don’t understand its purpose. I tried to tell them the other night about how I knew something in the news from Twitter and they both said they’d rather come home from work and turn on the television or read the newspaper to get their news. Needless to say, I know the news before they do.

LinkedIn:

My perspective: It’s the responsible social network. This is a virtual résumé to share with peers, colleagues, classmates, etc.  It’s an easy way to get connected to those in your industry for potential opportunities. It’s not exactly as fun as Facebook or Twitter, but it serves its purpose.

Their perspective: My parents generally feel the same way about the site, they are both connected, but as they both have stable careers and still keep their rolodexes on their desks, they find other ways to stay connected as well.

Google+:

My perspective: It’s the new kid in town in terms of social media. Snagging an invite and spreading the word to friends will make it better and more enticing of a social media sphere. It has 10 million users in 2 weeks; it’s going to get big. I’ve “+1” plenty of posts and even had a late night hangout with a few friends across the state. It’s a mix of existing social networks and more with plenty of potential to grow.

Their perspective: “Google+, what is that?”

My parents are not computer illiterate by any means, but their view of social media is completely different than my own. However, as with many aspects in life, I think that this could be with resistance to change.  Gen Y seems more welcome to change; change in scenery, change in lifestyle, change in technology. We grew up with walkmans but now run with iPods, we started with Tom on Myspace but are representing ourselves on Google+. Gen Y has malleable minds, and while older generations are beginning to share our interest in social media, I feel there will always be some divide between Gen Y and the others.
 

As one of the members of the Social Media Generation, I want to offer my own personal opinion on the subject — most specifically in terms of how use of social media differs amongst age groups. Although social media is a platform that can be used productively (for brands, businesses, celebrities etc.), as a youthful member of the proletariat, I use social media solely for fun.

I don’t like to admit it, but I don’t put much effort into the organization or appearance of my Twitter account. Although I definitely partake in the passage of interesting information on the site from time to time, my profile is primarily used to tweet about silly things; Ryan Gosling, nonsensical inside jokes, and uploading random pictures to yfrog.

It seems that older generations, who didn’t grow up during this explosion of social media, use it for – WAIT FOR IT – its intended purpose! My mother, for example, spends a lot of time composing well-worded, thoughtful tweets linking her followers to articles about the environment, the upcoming presidential campaign etc. Serious things! My most recent tweet, on the other hand reads, “@LeoDiCaprio leooooooooo”.

Whenever I try to poke fun at my mother for culminating such a serious atmosphere on her Twitter, she doesn’t understand my angle, asking why I would use this incredible social media tool for nonsense.  My response? It’s more fun this way.

Although  I can’t speak for my entire age group, nor my mother’s, I do believe that this is a common trend. Adults just learning how to navigate these types of sites take the instructions literally, as they are “trying to learn,” while kids skip the instructions and do it their own way.