LinkedIn is in, MySpace is out
SmartPulse — our weekly reader poll in Smartbrief on Social Media — tracks feedback from leading marketers about social media practices and issues. Paul Chaney, Internet marketing director for Bizzuka and member of the SmartBrief on Social Media Advisory Board, creates the questions and analyzes the results. We run the poll question each Wednesday in our e-newsletter and feature Paul’s analysis on this blog.
Last week’s SmartPulse question: Which social network provides the greatest business opportunity?
- LinkedIn, 50%
- Facebook, 26%
- Twitter, 21%
- Other, 3%
- Myspace, 0%
“Not surprisingly, LinkedIn, the strictly business social network, won the day. The fact that MySpace got no votes is worth remarking. Has the network become so marginalized that it appeals only to those in the entertainment industry? Perhaps so.
Facebook and Twitter are not to be denied. I’m guessing if we were to present this same poll six months from now, we’d see both of those networks ranking even higher. You will see more and more companies creating Facebook Public Profiles (fan pages) and, without a doubt, Twitter will continue to gain ascendancy as a customer service and marketing tool. A presence there will be expected, if it’s not already.” –Paul Chaney
Image credit, iStock
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Tags: customer service, Paul Chaney, Social Networks
Categories: Ideas in Action, Polls
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Posted by Norris Boothe on May 21st, 2009 at 8:52 pm
I did have one problem with the question, “Which social network provides the greatest business opportunity”, in that it could be interpreted three ways:
1) Which social network is best for personal work-related opportunities for the individuals using it?
2) Which social network is best for business opportunities for the businesses using it?
3) Which social network has the best long-term business outlook?
My problem is that I’d answer all three of these differently. LinkedIn is by far the best for #1 – the others aren’t even close in my book. MySpace is actually very good for #2, although mostly for the the entertainment industry, and I think Facebook is probably best overall for businesses. As a business model, I think Twitter has the greatest potential, possibly competing with Google as a portal site someday – the latest poll question “What do you use Twitter for?” points to this possibility.
So looking at the answer percentages, I wonder what question people thought they were answering?
Posted by Paul Chaney on May 22nd, 2009 at 6:41 am
Norris, good points each and everyone. I think what I had in mind when composing that question was more along the lines of number 2. Given that I work as marketing director for a small company, it’s something that’s always on my mind.
Posted by Andrew Ballenthin on September 3rd, 2009 at 5:59 am
Any chance of connecting Mary Ellen? I’m writing a book on social media monetization from a marketing perspective for Pearson. I’m covering this topic in the chapter I’m presently writing. Your statistics mirror my own research. I’m not seeing other business networks rising to the top with the same dominance as LinkedIn, Facebook and Twitter. There appear to be a number of third tier players like Ecademy Xing, Orkut, Plaxo. Thoughts?