The world has gone social. In 2010, the industry truly reached a tipping point. 2011 seems to be more of the same, but with new innovations that will  likely shift how we spend our Facebook and Twitter time into new directions.

This graphic by Online Schools puts it all into perspective for us. Enjoy!

Click to enlarge.

Via: Online Schools

Many have been predicting since 2007 that Twitter was a fad that would soon die. They suggested that people enjoyed the simplicity but in the end they would shift back towards long-form and abandon microblogging altogether. It’s 2011… where are the experts now?

Do YOU use Twitter? If you’re reading this blog, you either are using twitter or you’re considering it.

This breakdown by our friends at Flowtown puts it all into perspective for us in stunning digital fashion. Are you doing it right? If you’re considering using it, into which demographic will you fit?

Click to enlarge.

Flowtown – Social Media Marketing Application

What is your government tweeting now?

That’s the question that GovLive tweets asks on their new website. With over 500 hand-picked agencies so far, it makes for an interesting way to see what “The Man” is saying in social media.

Chris Bennett says the site offers the “official tweets from over 500 government agencies that can be sorted by county and state. We hand-compiled this list and are still adding new agencies. It’s not as sexy as a service of confirmed celebrity tweets, but we hope a tad more useful.”

I would say so. Sorry, Ashton.

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Read more Twitter News on Social News Watch.

Bots on twitter are getting more clever. Accounts can be automated to seem as real as you or me.

Believe it or not, there’s actually a place for bots on Twitter.  For many, they can be effective for certain things such as RSS feeds for blogs, tag retweeting, etc.  The problem is with the automated accounts that are nothing other than ways to accumulate followers to spread whatever spammy message the botmaster wants spread either now or in the future.

We will be tracking the hashtag #notabot going forward and listing accounts that claim to be, well, not a bot. Accounts that tweet it will be verified for authenticity and listed here weekly.

If you’re not a bot, tweet it. Tweet it loud. Tweet it proud.

Pass it on. First “verification period will be 8-15 so get your tweets in before then to be on the initial list.

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Read more on this social news blog.

Image courtesy of Dave Tong.

UPDATE: As predicted, they did not revert. They are going forward with their plan. Two nice “concessions” – a blog post explaining it (I didn’t expect that) and a reverse on older URLs already in use prior to today (good move – don’t change what we’ve already tweeted).

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I hope I’m wrong, but…

Patience. It’s a virtue.  It’s also one that is hard to channel when issues concern social media. The “real-time web” is not real when it comes to decisions and changes (or lack of changes) on large websites, especially when something goes wrong on social news websites. Such is the situation with Digg and their recent Diggbar fiasco.

Kevin Rose, founder and CTO at Digg, was apparently not happy with the rollout of the recent change to the Digg URL shortener. It received quite a bit of negative buzz once the story broke, but the fervor of complaints have dwindled to whispers.  Rose was just returning from a 2 week trip when the changes were made to push clicks from Twitter and other sources to the Digg story page rather than a framed source as other URL shorteners do.

The tweet you see above was a reference to “catching up” from this trip with the negative buzz as one of the top points of discussion. While many (including me) are hoping that the new code will be pulled, a lack of response at this stage is not a good sign.  Here are the possibilities:

1. The old version will be implemented soon and a “we listen to our users” post will appear on the Digg blog.
2. The current version will stay in place and a properly-worded explanation will appear on the Digg blog.
3. The current version will stay in place and nothing further will be said about it.

Our hope is for #1. If more negative buzz comes out, #2 has an outside chance of happening.  As Digg has made the decision, plugged in the code, and emerged from the initial storm unscathed (for the most part), chances are strong that #3 was the winner in today’s meeting. They will most likely monitor the situation and assess the traffic numbers. The negative press will blow over and since the vast majority of those using Twitter to Tweet their stories through the shortened Digg URL aren’t even aware of the change, the positives will outweigh the negatives.

Traffic to Digg will increase, though not by as much as they initially hoped. Users “in the know” will revert to using bit.ly and hope that their submissions have a Digg button on them.  The majority of users will Tweet away with their shortened Digg URLs, completely unaware that most of their followers are going to the Digg.com story page rather than the source.

As bad of a move as it appears to avid Digg users and tech blogs, the reality of the situation is that this makes good business sense (in the short term).  One of the main reasons for dropping shouts and engaging through Twitter and Facebook was to pull from their massive and growing user-base.  Since the curiosity factor hasn’t kicked in as expected on these sites, Digg is forced to pull in non-users any way they can.  This change was not planned when the shortener service was first initiated, but desperate economic times call for desperate measures.

It was a calculated risk. Leaving the crowded URL shortening market ends 3 potential revenue streams that they haven’t even tried, but it’s not their core product.  They have made the decision to focus on improving on-site revenue.

Still, I can’t say that it’s a good business move because they are sacrificing potentially large future revenue streams for a constant bump of non-user visitors and a slight increase in registrations.  The click-thru totals on links through social networks are not increasing as quickly as the number of links flooding these sites.  Returns are going to diminish and the visitor burst will plateau.

Digg is passing on a handful of future revenue streams that would likely surpass on-site advertising revenues (even with the innovations they are testing currently) because of the way the Internet is evolving.  They have the tools, presence, and potential to grow beyond themselves. It seems they just can’t get away from business as usual.

Patience. It’s a virtue.

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Read more about how social media sites can become profitable on Social News Watch.

UPDATE: This image speaks for itself:

UPDATE: Leo Laporte had Digg co-founder Kevin Rose on his show and asked him about this. You can see it on Twit Live – the Diggbar discussion starts at the 11:26 mark.  Here is an excerpt:

• (Laporte gives Rose the background from an article on Techcrunch)
• Laporte: Is that true?
• Rose: That’s a good question.
• Laporte: You don’t know?
• Rose: I’ve been gone for 2 weeks so I don’t know what got pushed, what code got pushed and how it functions but my last understanding is that what we wanted to do is have it so that if you click on a Digg URL it takes you to the Digg stories so you can Digg it. Rather than providing a short URL service that just forwards and does redirection we would just do a URL service just for Digg articles. Just like the same way that Techcrunch does “techcrunch slash 85374″ – if you go to that you’re not going to go to some other site you’re going to go to techcrunch. That’s the story.
• Laporte: So you’re backing off on the original idea which is a general URL shortening service…
• Rose: Correct.

UPDATE: Digg has confirmed via email that this is not a mistake and the shortener is working as intended.

UPDATE: Let Digg know how you feel through Twitter. Send an @digg via @socialnews reply and your tweets will be posted here as well.

Either there’s an error happening with Diggbar or Digg just made a big mistake.  Before, those who clicked on the links when not logged into Digg would be taken to the source image, article, or video.

Recently, the links have been switched to point to a Digg landing page if you aren’t logged in – the pages where the story is posted on Digg, not the original source.

No word from Digg regarding this. No blog post. No onsite message. No reply to a recent email. They dropped it in and now it appears that they’re seeing if it sticks.

I’m still holding onto hope that it’s a mistake and not a conscious choice.

Joel Mackey, a top user on Twitter, editor of Open Press Wire, and former Digg user, first noticed the change on Wednesday.

“I supported Digg and my buddies and willingly retweeted their stuff when Digg forwarded to the content because I knew it benefited BOTH parties,” he said. “Digg users got Diggs from my Digg followers and Twitter users and zombies got content.”

Here is the thread as he tested the change through his 75k+ followers. It’s in reverse chronological order.

Andrew Sorcini, the most prolific Digg user as MrBabyMan, said, “Sending someone who visits a site via a Digg URL automatically to the submission page on Digg will seriously hamper the functionality of Diggbar as a URL shortening service.”

When Digg removed the internal “Shout” feature and integrated with Twitter and Facebook, users flocked to these sites as a way to spread their content. The Diggbar URL shortener attached to the these new share options allowed users to Tweet content they found on or submitted to Digg. Sending unauthenticated clicks to the landing page has forced many to abandon using Diggbar altogether.

“I won’t be tweeting Digg links anymore. The majority of my followers on twitter are not diggers,” said Matthew Rogers, a Digg user with a 55% front page percentage.  “When they click a link to read something I’ve tweeted, they expect to be taken to the page I’ve described, not Digg.”

Private chat rooms have been buzzing about this since Mackey’s find.  Dozens of top users have been looking for an alternative URL shortener.

There seems to be three possible explanations for this move:

1. It’s an error. I emailed Digg to bring it to their attention, just in case.
2. It’s a test. Digg is known to make potential features live for a period of time to collect data. This would explain the lack of a blog post regarding the change.
3. It’s a “bait and switch”. They see the popularity of the Diggbar shortener as an opportunity to get non-users to visit the site, most notably from Twitter.

If it turns out to be #3 and this is made permanent, it will be the end of Diggbar’s usefulness on Twitter. Self-respecting users will not spam their followers with links to a landing page.

Diggbar as a shortener has been successful up until now. It has nice features including traffic counts and an ability to shorten a URL from the navigation bar by simply typing “digg.com/” before the target URL.  The convenience of a Twitter button on the story page has helped it to grow.

If this sticks, the growth is over. Digg’s URL shortener will no longer be a player in the crowded field.

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Read more news about Digg at Social News Watch.

Don’t get me wrong. I absolutely appreciate every recommendation I get and I try to sincerely recommend those I believe bring value to Twitter.

With that said, #FollowFriday has become cumbersome and at times annoying.  What started off as an incredible idea has turned into a race for many.  There are those who recommend hundreds, even thousands of users every week. While I will not presume the intentions of those who do this, it can be assumed that at least some are doing it in hopes of receiving #FollowFriday recommendations back from those they recommend.

This week, I’m skipping it.

I’ll be back next week, I’m sure, but this week I will not recommend anyone. There are so many worthy of recommendations, but I would love to see it return to what it once was.

When Micah Baldwin started the phenomenon, the intention was to help users spread the word about other great users.  For many, it has become a mass-list-spamming technique. Rather than recommend one or two people per tweet with reasons to follow them, it’s just a matter of fitting as many names into 140 characters with the hashtag as possible.

Friends, I would love to say “this has got to stop” but we all know it won’t.

Still, I enjoy it too much to let it go, so I will take a break this week. Throughout next week I will start watching. I follow a lot of people and I spend a lot of time reading tweets every day. Oddly, I’m not a heavy user myself in that I don’t tweet more than a few times a day, but I read constantly.

When I find people who truly seem interesting, I will make a note that includes why I think they are worth recommending. It could be 5. It could be 50. Regardless, I will make this list and next Friday I will tweet meaningful #followfridays with reasons. If I’m going to recommend them, I intend to make sure they are worthy.

Luckily, there are so many worthy people on Twitter now that it shouldn’t be hard to come up with a strong list every week.

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Read more about Twitter Social Media on this blog.

As Twitter hits its stride and emerges as a juggernaut in social media, the top users on the site are distancing themselves from the pack.  The race to 1,000,000 followers will be achieved in a few months by some accounts.  With such strong followings, many new or inactive Twitter users may not think that there are top accounts that will follow them back.

On the contrary, there are many. In fact, many users with tens of thousands of followers will follow just about everyone back.  Some use tools to automatically follow anyone who follows them. Others actually go through and manually add their new followers. Regardless of the method, these 237 accounts will most likely follow you back, even if you’re a Twitter newbie.

(image source: ProBlogger’s excellent article about growing your Twitter presence)

100,000+ Followers

1. BarackObama
2. DowningStreet
3. TheOnion

50,000-100,000 Followers

1. GuyKawasaki
2. Starbucks
3. Scobleizer
4. BigRichB
5. Astronautics
6. CaseyWright
7. PerryBelcher
8. AlohaArleen
9. Nansen
10. TheBusyBrain
11. RobMcNealy
12. MichaeMillman
13. Zaibatsu
14. WBAustin

40,000-50,000 Followers

1. Jonathan360
2. HashTags
3. TheDigitalLife
4. Andrew303
5. ESPN
6. MrSocial
7. ChrisPirillo
8. Stejules
9. DaveMalby
10. Eleesha

30,000-40,000 Followers

1. CraigTeich
2. StephenKruiser
3. Jerell
4. BradHoward
5. Foodimentary
6. ScotMcKay
7. EdStivala
8. RockingJude
9. ShannonSeek
10. RadioBlogger
11. MikeKlingler
12. RonnieWilson
13. DanTanner
14. MikePFS
15. TechXav
16. SocialMediaClub
17. FLWBooks
18. Kamper
19. AndrewWindham

20,000-30,000 Followers

1. Oliver_Turner
2. _SamJones
3. KMesiab
4. Mark33
5. StanleyTang
6. Barefoot_Exec
7. JackBastide
8. NicheTitans
9. MarketingZap
10. PragueBob
11. Twitter_Tips
12. TwitPic
13. 00Joe
14. JeanetteJoy
15. OHHDLInfo
16. MariaAndros
17. JeanLucR
18. TMaduri
19. TwitLive
20. ImogenHeap
21. NewMediaJim
22. MarkDavidson
23. OpenZine
24. BryantSmith
25. TYSONtheQUICK
26. DrJeffersnBoggs
27. JayOatway
28. Upicks
29. Gemstars
30. MichDdot
31. SethSimonds
32. JesseNewhart
33. Zefrank
34. RichCurrie
35. KarlRove
36. SitePointdotcom
37. iPodiums
38. AlexKaris
39. HoleInHisEye
40. Pistachio
41. OudiAntebi
42. DSMPublishing
43. PeterSantilli
44. Orrin_Woodward
45. QueenoftheClick
46. StockTwits
47. MarketingProfs
48. MariSmith

10,000-20,000 Followers

1. MarcWarnke
2. Debbas
3. SteveWeber
4. TUAW
5. KikiValdes
6. WayneMansfield
7. USBargains
8. Rex7
9. CoffeeTweet
10. LarryLanier
11. JulieRoy
12. JamesRivers
13. MikeFilsaime
14. Montaignejns
15. SeanMalarkey
16. WebAddict
17. LarryBrauner
18. Leplan
19. AaronMartirano
20. JeffPulver
21. Teedubya
22. DCRBlogs
23. ShawnRobinson
24. KonaEndurance
25. TradingGoddess
26. JohnReese
27. InfadelsAreCool
28. Techhie
29. Nabbit
30. DiyanaAlcheva
31. Unmarketing
32. Meteorit
33. TrafficGen
34. StaffInSeconds
35. PeterDrew
36. LittleQuiz
37. TeddyShabba
38. DawudMiracle
39. RightWingNews
40. OutsideMyBrain
41. Dollars5
42. MediaBistro
43. Adnagam
44. COasis
45. NicholasPatten
46. AlexisNeely
47. EverywhereTrip
48. E_Stampede
49. ChristianFea
50. MojoJuju
51. eMom
52. RizzoTees
53. Anexemines
54. AmericanElement
55. TravisGreenlee
56. RickySantos
57. PawLuxury
58. KrisColvin
59. PinkElephantPun
60. JasonFinch
61. LonnieHodge
62. JanSimpson
63. Stickham
64. DaveLawrence
65. CaliDeals
66. JamesByers
67. JeffHerring
68. Linc4Justice
69. GSpowart
70. HowardBienstock
71. Peter_R_Casey
72. BettyDraper
73. MichaelEmlong
74. Dexin
75. The_Gman
76. BobCallahan
77. TrendTracker
78. TylerTorment
79. GarinKilpatrick
80. Jim_Turner
81. Ann_Sieg
82. Ken_Cosgrove
83. Frostfire
84. Pat_Lorna
85. WineTwits
86. BradFallon
87. TimJensen
88. PhotoCanvas
89. JasonMitchener
90. Bill_Romanos
91. MikeMayhew
92. HawaiiRealty
93. 9Miles
94. Sotero_Garcia
95. Loyalty360
96. WeirdChina
97. MarkRMatthews
98. SteveOuch
99. Socrates_Soc
100. Comcastcares
101. ChrisMoreschi
102. CoffeeCupNews
103. WillieCrawford
104. LouieBaur
105. Coolsi
106. Nicolane
107. NixTheNews
108. EzineArticles
109. Hubpages
110. ChrisSpagnuolo
111. FredaMooncotch
112. SheriTingle
113. JustingLover
114. ShortAwards
115. Flap
116. SuggestionBox
117. JimDeMint
118. TweetStats
119. theBilly
120. ThaPaparazza
121. WritingHannah
122. 0Boy
123. ThinkGeek
124. LanceScoular
125. MayhemStudios
126. TraderAdvice
127. Dana_Willhoit
128. JimmySmithTrain
129. JoelDrapper
130. Kidscash
131. KellyShibari
132. SteveGarfield
133. JasonTryfon
134. DanSchawbel
135. LookCook
136. JudyRey
137. MJBerry
138. EdwardMoore
139. BlackBottoms
140. DougH
141. CrumCake
142. ProsperityGal
143. Lotay
144. JudyRey

How to Use this List

Regardless of what stage you are in Twitter, if your goal is to accumulate active followers, the people on this list are good for that.  Most on the list are active and interact with their followers on a daily basis. They retweet to their followers when they find something interesting on or off Twitter and many of them post high-quality tweets.

Some do not, and you’ll be able to identify the spammers and self-serving users from what appears in your stream. This list has not been validated for quality (maybe a future blog post) but rather to help new and experienced users grow their followers.

Unfortunately, I did the list backwards. Anyone who wants to grow their Twitter account should start from the bottom and work their way up, adding all 237 either all at once or spread out over time. The advantage of adding from this list is two-fold:

Obviously, as these users have demonstrated a willingness to follow those who follow them, it gives you a likely additional follower.

The side-benefit of adding from this list is that once you follow them, your account will, for a short period of time, be at the top of their followers list. Many users build their Twitter followers by adding the followers of users such as these, so being at the top increases your account’s exposure and the number of opportunities for other users to follow you.

This blog does not condone “Twitter Follower Spam” or whatever you would like to call the practice of adding a ton of followers, unfollowing them later, and adding more in a vicious cycle of growth, but hey, it works, and many people do it. This is just a resource to help users at every level build their accounts as quickly as they would like.

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Read more on this Social Media Blog.

In so many ways, 2008 was a predictable year.  When the year began, the economy was heading in the wrong direction, while Twitter was being born into “wow, this is way cool.”  The Republican Party was one political faux pas after another, while smart phones were going from luxury to necessity with each new glorious app and feature.

Google was at its peak with no place to go but down.  The automotive industry was already feeling like a step-child before they became an orphan.  The Dark Knight was phenomenal while Speed Racer was phenomenally bad.

None of these things were surprises, but there were a few unexpected happenings.  Gas peaked (for now) and bottomed out just in time for holiday travel.  The Detroit Lions were worse than anyone thought a team in 2008 could be.  John McCain fought back from obscurity within his own party to win the nomination, then threw us a VP curveball that flew over the catcher, over the ump, and on towards the talkshow circuit.

2009 seems to be starting with quite a bit more uncertainty.  How will it end up?  Nobody knows, of course, but at least we can speculate.  I would like comments, please, with your predictions of what 2009 will be.  Here are a few to get it started:

• 2009 will be the year of the social hybrid because people are tired of going to Twitter, then Digg, then Facebook, then Yahoo, then everywhere else they go.  Put it all together into one nice website, please.
• 2009 will be the year of online television because the networks are starting to figure out that people spend a lot of time in front of the new boob tube.
• 2009 will be the year of organic diets because organic food prices will drop as distribution becomes easier.
• 2009 will be the year of Twitter journalists because you can say enough in 140 characters or less and get it out to the masses instantly.
• 2009 will be the year of family gaming because parents won’t be able to interact with their children any other way, giving them an excuse to join clans and build monsters.
• 2009 will be the year of computer-talk because text-speak and internet-speak will become so commonplace that you’ll have to learn it to truly be part of web communities.
• 2009 will be the year of solitude because America will be the only true remaining ally to Israel and the balance of power will shift.
• 2009 will be the year of 100,000,000 YouTube views because the magic number that has only been achieved twice (technically 3 times, but one cheated) will be hit by at least 50 videos, many of which will be brand new in 2009.

Wow, it’s fun to speculate.  Help out.  Who cares if you’re right or wrong?  If you’re right, you can point back to this post next year.  If you’re wrong, you can forget you ever participated.

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Read more about social media websites on this blog.

If there was ever a doubt before, all doubt has been erased by this screenshot:

OK, it’s cheesy, but hey, so am I.  That magic number is already passed, but you can see where I sit right now.

Read more about Twitter on Social News Watch.