Many of our “100th Tweet thoughts” are still true today, and we’ve added some tools to make our Tweeting even better:

• Our main focus with Twitter remains keeping up with the Search Marketing community and their blogs, re-tweeting information and linking to posts that will help keep our clients updated on digital (and traditional) marketing trends.
• Each day, we highlight our five most recent Tweets on our website home page, ensuring constantly updated content for visitors to the site.
• We track our favorite blogs in Google Reader as the primary source of our Tweet material.
• Each time we update our blog, a Tweet goes out to notify our followers.
• Our tweets are used to update our status on our Facebook page.
• We use TweetDeck for desktop as a personal real-time browser to update our status and to follow the Twitter stream of lists, hash tags and friends.
• We registered g-3.me to use as our Custom Short Domain, then mapped that URL to bit.ly pro. This allows all of our Group 3 Solutions Tweets to be branded with the g-3.me shortened URL.
• Each week or so, we compile our messages into a Tweet roundup blog post.

Has our Tweeting been a game changer for us? Not really. But it has allowed us to improve our knowledge of the real-time information network as we assist our healthcare vertical clients in their social efforts and introduce business-to-business clients to how they can enhance their marketing program with social networking.

Where is real-time information networking heading? Let’s take a look at what is happening in the ever-changing field, and what others are saying.

• Real-Time Search. We think Twitter, and other services like it, will continue to have an impact on search engine marketing, with real-time search results becoming increasingly important in the future. Danny Sullivan, the authority on SEO industry reporting, took an early look at Google’s real-time efforts. Here’s Google’s page on the topic, and Bing has information here.
• Social Media Marketing. As marketers seek to tap into the 120 million or so Twitter users (as of July 2010), new advertising companies are being formed, small agencies are expanding their offerings, and larger ones are buying these smaller firms or establishing their own social marketing divisions. “Ad spending on social networks worldwide is expected to rise 14% this year (2010) to $2.5 billion,” according to research firm eMarketer. “Although social media represents only a fraction of the $55 billion online-ad market, it is one of the fastest-growing segments,” reports the Wall Street Journal.
• Multimedia. ReadWriteWeb reports that Twitter may soon be displaying images and video inline, perhaps “betting that 140 characters just isn’t enough anymore.”
• Real-Time Advertising. Is Twitter best for public relations, or will the new advertising platform be better for ROI? Mashable suggests keeping in mind the affinity already built with Twitter as you consider going to Sponsored Tweets or other advertising opportunities on the service.
• Competition. Location-Based Social Networks (LBSN) such as Foursquare may vie for marketers dollars with Twitter. “The time for marketers to get involved with LBSNs is coming,” Forrester says.

So … a lot has changed while other aspects have stayed the same between our 100th and 1000th Tweets. What will change as we work toward 2000 Tweets? Follow us on Twitter to find out!

Despite having more than 400 million active users, Facebook still has its skeptics. Some common complaints include:

• “It’s a waste of time!”
• “Who needs an update on what I’m eating for lunch?”
• “Why do I need to be a Fan of anything?”

Okay, sure. Status updates aren’t always riveting or note-worthy (see: “Dear Coffee, Marry me. Xoxo, Kelly”) and I’m not ashamed to say I “like” a Fan Page called “I Don’t Feel Like Folding My Laundry So I Just Restart The Dryer.”

But while I’m not alone in using the Status Update and Fan Page for innocuous fun, some people are using these basic Facebook features to help improve their health … and even save their own lives.

Like this guy, who decided to quit smoking and inadvertently created a support group among his Facebook friends simply by updating his status with the number of days he’d been smoke free.  As his friends followed his progress, they “liked” his status as the number of days increased and left comments of encouragement when his updates expressed wavering resolve.   Having a virtual audience to not only hold him accountable but also to offer him support no doubt helped contribute to his continued success.

Then there’s this woman, who is using Facebook to help her find a kidney donor.  Living in a state that ranks among the nation’s lowest in percentage of licensed drivers who are registered organ donors, she got creative and set up a Page called “Mel Needs a Kidney.” As of the end of May, she had heard from about 100 people who offered to get tested to see if they were a match.  In addition to increasing her chances of finding a donor, her efforts are also helping raise awareness of organ donation and registration in Michigan.

So while it’s true many Facebook users limit their activities to tending virtual farms or tagging friends in party photos, there are some who are using the platform to improve their lives.  And that’s something I’ll “like” any day.

Kelly Hemmingsen, a Dobies Healthcare Group account coordinator, specializes in copywriting and editing, market research, project coordination and public relations services. She also runs support for their interactive team, specializing in social media, search engine marketing, e-PR, and Web content and development.

Earlier this year, we showed how online engagement after the earthquake in Haiti helped prove that people are using social media to connect with others in meaningful ways.  Today, we bring you yet another example, this time in relation to healthcare.

A study by direct marketing agency Epsilon reports that 40% of online consumers are turning to social media for health information.  And they’re not just talking about medical conditions, diagnoses, treatments and news.  The study found the primary reason for using social media was emotional:

“…many healthcare social media users want reassurance, support, and a sense of intimacy from people who are going through a similar experience.”

But according to a recent New York Times article and Pew Research report, this won’t come as a surprise to the many Americans affected by chronic illnesses.  Over the last few years, social networking has become a lifeline for many who are living with a chronic disease or life-changing condition.  By blogging, chatting and engaging with others on social networking sites like PatientsLikeMe, Diabetic Connect and CureTogether, they are able to share advice, war stories and empathy with others in similar situations.  Best of all, this can all happen from the comfort of home, a great advantage for those whose illness has left them homebound.

As social media continues to grow, look for more hospitals and physician practices to better connect with patients (and ultimately improve the patient experience) by complementing their informational Web content with virtual support groups and online forums.

About the Author

Kelly Hemmingsen specializes in copywriting and editing, market research, project coordination and public relations services for Dobies Healthcare Group. She also supports the Group 3 Solutions interactive team, specializing in social media, search engine marketing, ePR, and Web content and development.

With the number of users and visits on Facebook growing everyday, it’s safe to say that it has become a powerful marketing tool and medium for companies to generate buzz and excitement for their products and services and to get the attention of loyal customers and even gain new ones.

Here’s a sample of how other companies have used Facebook in their promotional efforts.

• Pepsi’s Refresh Project Uses Facebook to Award Millions to Charity
• Universal Handing Out Free Blu-Ray Movies To Facebook Fans
• 2010 Census Turns to Facebook to Maximize Impact, Reach Young Adults
• IKEA’s Genius Use of Photo Tagging in Facebook
• Mexican Government Uses Facebook to Combat Tourism Declines

With its site offering a platform where companies are reinventing the standards of marketing, Facebook clearly has become more than just a “social” network. Is your company harnessing that power?

Oh, we know, what’s hard about blogging? Just pick a topic that you know a lot about, sit down at the computer, add a few links, and you have a post. Lather, rinse and repeat a few times, and you have a blog. How hard can it be?

But then you start thinking that someone might actually read it. So you go back and edit your post a little. Then a little more. Then you try to keep your blog fresh by writing a lot of posts. But you start running out of topics. And time. And energy. And you realize good blogging is hard.

We know. Our background is in writing. We did it in high school. And college. As an advertising professional. Even free-lanced for a now-defunct local newspaper. So we like to write. But to do it often, and hold the reader’s interest, is not easy. That’s why we have a lot of respect for folks who do it well. Consistently. With passion.

We thought we’d recognize a few local Kansas City blogs that we think do a good job of giving their readers a reason to come back for more.

• When it comes to writing, Joe Posnanski is some kind of freak. No other way to describe it. The former Kansas City Star sports columnist and current senior writer for Sports Illustrated calls his blog, “Curiously Long Posts” because, well, he writes really, really long posts. And apparently just for the fun of it. As we mentioned, he writes (very well, we might add) for a living at SI, and even still contributes to the Star now and then. But then he writes some more on his blog, which has no ads, so he’s not making money on his posts. The man just appears to love to write, and his blog lets him go in-depth, and off topic, and in all different directions. But he always gets there (wherever there is) and he’s a pleasure to follow. Oh yeah, and when he’s not writing for the magazine or the newspaper or his blog, he’s Tweeting. Great stuff.
• Sam Meers is in our industry, so we suppose he’s a competitor or something, and we shouldn’t plug his blog, Smoke & Meers. But it’s good. And we think you will like it if you’re involved in the advertising world. Sam’s premise is often to take an everyday experience – good or bad – ponder it, ask a question about it. He then relates the answer to that question, or the outcome of the experience, or the extension of the metaphor, to how you or he or – most often – an advertiser client could use that experience to get better results. Sam’s consistent, he’s conversational and he’s creative. A nice combination.
• Hearne Christopher’s blog is the future of journalism. Not in and of itself. But his concept is where journalism is headed. The Internet changed things for newspapers. Google exacerbated it. And we’re not going back, no matter how hard Rupert Murdoch tries. The future of journalism is hyperlocal. Talented people getting together in their neighborhoods, their towns, their cities and writing about local events like nobody but ingrained locals can. Like KC Confidential does. Hearne and his band of bloggers, former KC Star staffers, and other talented writers follow the local news with the bite and the sarcasm and the salty language and the passion that no conglomerate can. He’s on to something here, and word has it that he’s hiring and growing and getting bigger and better. It’ll be fun to watch.

So we hope these Kansas City bloggers give you some inspiration. To start a blog. To resurrect an old one. To write more on your current one. But remember … as Will Forte/George Bush would say, “It’s hard… it’s hard work. Frankly, we don’t know why- why anyone even wants this job, you know… cause it’s hard. You know, a lot of people… working at meetings and… you know, it’s hard work and…”

Know other Kansas City bloggers who we should know about? Drop a link so others can check ‘em out.

“I’m … sitting … on … the … patio,” tweets the dad to tweak his son.

“I know you’re sitting on the patio …”

This exchange in the Verizon Wireless commercial at right personifies our own early skepticism about Twitter. From a business standpoint, we thought, does anyone care if we’re sitting on the patio, or eating soup at the deli, or completing any of life’s other simple tasks?

But 500 tweets or so later, are we starting to see the value in Twitter? We’ve blogged before about our journey … here and here. To be sure, we still don’t know (like most marketers) exactly how the microblogger is going to monetize its platform and thus ensure long-term stability (though recent agreements with Google and Bing highlight the possibilities). Likewise, we don’t know for sure how we or our clients will capitalize on the audience.

We are, however, starting to see the light. So what changed our minds? Here are a few thoughts from others, and a few of the ways we are finding value in Twitter.

• The More the Merrier. As more people are turned on to Twitter, innovators will find ways to bring buyers and sellers together. “Like the telephone, fax or e-mail, I believe the value of Twitter grows with its user-base,” writes Frank Strong. If the buyers are there, the sellers will be as well.
• “All the Kids are Doing It.” Marketers are having great success conversing with their customers via Facebook, which started out on college campuses a few years ago. Of course, simply launching a Facebook page is no guarantee of social media success for any company. But Facebook is proving that what works on campus can have potential for business. Today, college professors are seeing the value in Twitter. For example, at Purdue, they’re using Twitter to “backchannel during class,” says Mashable, “allowing students to comment on the class as it proceeds.” It seems that Twitter could likely continue to follow Facebook from campus to the mainstream.
• Twitter Is Easy. Though it is a little worrisome to him in that he likes to blog, Jeff Jarvis says he is “twittering more and blogging less. Twitter satisfies my desire to share.” As people get used to condensing their thoughts into 140 characters, more of them are likely to take up tweeting.
• News Aggregation. We share the son’s view from the Verizon ad: We don’t care that you’re on the patio. But professionals we follow are great sources of interesting information about the various industries we track. And we ourselves serve as aggregators, posting daily tweets about Search Engine Marketing, offline advertising and Kansas City happenings. Those tweets are then shared on our blog (we use Twitter Widget Pro) and on the news section of our home page, keeping our followers informed and our website supplied with fresh daily headlines. Then, on a weekly basis, we compile those tweets into a Tweet Roundup and post it on our blog.

So go ahead, get off the patio. Create a Twitter account, post some tweets … and please feel free to follow Group 3 Solutions while you’re at it!

We’re all familiar with the current leading players in the social networking realm such as Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace and LinkedIn, who have all earned their rightful place in the social network rankings. But what about the other hundreds of social networking sites that have the potential to be the next “it” site to the new generation of network-hungry, blog-obsessed, tweet-crazed online users? Here’s a run-down of some other popular social networking websites out there.

• Bebo.com – Bought by AOL, this site has been gaining ground in the U.S. Bebo allows users to personalize their profile, add applications, set privacy settings and join groups. Their personalization choices are numerous and their security measures are good.
• Flickr.com – Owned by Yahoo, this site allows users to share and comment on photos and images. It allows paid members to store short videos. It also serves as a popular image repository among bloggers.
• Friendster.com – Friendster has an assortment of features to customize a profile with more than 250 different applications that a user can add. Privacy settings allow users to see the last 100 people who have viewed their profile and set limits or blocks.
• Hi5.com – Hi5 is created and headquartered in the United States, but it is more popular in other countries, particularly in Latin America. It offers a variety of features such as chat rooms, groups and profile customization and is … wait for it … completely advertisement free.
• Ning.com – Ning is an online platform for people who want to create their own social networks around specific interests with their own visual design, choice of features and member data.
• Orkut.com – This site is Google’s attempt at social networking. In order to open an Orkut account you must have a Gmail account where all your updates, message and requests are forwarded. Orkut follows a similar path as FaceBook and does not have any profile customization options, but you can upload photos, create albums and add apps like other sites.

But then we remember we have children who are part of “today’s youth.” And furthermore, we hear about the not-so-young who email, post, photograph, video or Tweet something they’ll come to regret.

As a result, we try to stop to think (before it’s too late), “What if this (post, email, Tweet, photo, etc.) were seen by everyone on the Internet?” It sometimes keeps us from doing something we may regret, such as:

• A Miami Heat basketball player posted a TwitPic that displayed his “Supercool” new tattoo … and a table in the background holding a remote control, a bottle of 7-Up … and a baggie of something.
• So many mistakes were made here, we don’t know where to start. A Kansas City journalist, citing uncertainty in the newspaper biz, responds to an opening at a PR firm with a conversational yet ill-advised email inquiry. Inexplicably, the brand manager who received the email fired it off to a blog about “bad pitches,” which inexplicably posted the journalist’s missive with his name as a “reverse bad pitch” entry. Why any of these folks did what he or she did is beyond us. And our posting it may be almost as bad. But we think the potential for lessons learned outweighs the drawbacks of shedding more light on the kerfuffle.
• The author of this article may not think he made a mistake at all, though many of his customers do. Did he think through it thoroughly before agreeing to write a health care reform piece for the Wall Street Journal? If so … if he knew what may befall him but felt so strongly as to continue … then we salute his conviction. But it may cost him some business. As the CEO of a natural foods grocer, he knows his customers lean toward the left side of the political aisle. The CEO offered a reasonable solution to health care reform that didn’t include any provisions of President Obama’s plan. In fact, it denounced them (starting with a Margaret Thatcher quote: “The problem with socialism is that eventually you run out of other people’s money.”) The blogosphere, at least amongst many progressives, was not impressed. Protests were staged. Facebook pages cropped up. Was it worth it to the CEO and his company? Would he do it again if given the chance … and would you?

Note: We hope the summaries above aren’t too vague. We purposefully didn’t list names or companies, as our goal isn’t to drive cheap search traffic to our site based on trending topics. Rather, we wanted to offer readers some food-for-thought as you go forth in this ever-changing landscape. And we’ve linked to the articles in question so you can get all the facts yourself.

Be careful out there folks. You never know who might be watching in the jungle that’s out there!

So, one hundred tweets later, we thought we’d share what we’ve learned. (Note: For our 100th tweet, we’re pointing our 140-character post to this blog entry about our 100th tweet. Hope we don’t get caught in an infinite loop somewhere!)

By the way, we’re not the only ones just catching on to Twitter. Though it has been around since 2006, Twitter’s recent growth has been phenomenal. In June 2009, Sysomos reported that 72.5% of Twitter users had joined the service in the past five months. That’s a pretty big wave.

Here’s a few of the ways we’re using Twitter:

• We’re joining the discussion on Twitter by following about 25 blogs and commenting, re-tweeting and linking to posts that will help our clients in their traditional and digital marketing efforts.
• We’re highlighting our tweets on the home page of our newly launched site, Group 3 Solutions. This is an efficient way to update our home page on a daily basis.
• Each time we update our blog, a tweet goes out to notify our followers.
• Our tweets are used to update our status on our Facebook page.
• We’re using tools like the ones listed in this Wall Street Journal article to help enhance our Twitter experience.
• We’re using the URL shortener bit.ly to include links in our posts and to track how often the links are followed.

Hey, why not follow us on Twitter?

• 21% (One Fifth) of Twitter accounts are empty placeholders.
• Nearly 94% of all Twitter accounts have less than 100 followers.
• Half of all Twitter users are not “active.”
• A small minority creates most of the activity.
• The cities with the biggest Twitter populations are New York, Los Angeles, Toronto, San Francisco, and Boston.

Check out Rohit’s great breakdown here.