Recent results from Hitwise (see ReadWrite Web’s March 1 story) confirm that Facebook drives traffic to broadcast news sites, while Google News angles users toward traditional print outlets.  While that may not be shocking, some of the sites that made the top 10 on both sides are surprising.  News aggregators like Yahoo! News and Google News made the top 10 in Facebook traffic, as did disruptors topix and Drudge Report.  On the Google News side, venerable institutions of journalism like The New York Times, The Wall Street Journal and the Washington Post topped the list, while BBC News and The Huffington Post also placed in the mainstream.  Reuters made the Google News list instead of wire-service competitor The Associated Press likely because of Google’s seven-week suspension of AP content due to a legal dispute that was resolved at the beginning of February.

Does that mean broadcast is still king and Mad Ave can rejoice?  Not quite.  Last week, ABC News cut half its domestic correspondents and closed all its physical bureaus nationwide, except in Washington.  The Los Angeles Times reported this of ABC News’ LA bureau: “The 40-plus staffers were told this week that only a few producers would remain and only two correspondents would be assigned to cover the West, down from a total of six who work out of Dallas, Seattle, San Francisco and Los Angeles. Many functions that had been done out of the bureau will be handled by a ‘logistics desk’ in New York.”

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With Richard Edelman and Barbera Bates of Eastwick http://twitpic.com/164vwk 6:43 PM Mar 1st via Twitterrific.

It’s tempting to think about user-generated content, peer influence and viral communications as new concepts.  But the reality is that these social concepts have been around for a long time.  When we were sharing the Architecture of Influence concept with Chris Shipley, she pointed out that housewives in the 50’s were coming up with jingles and entering contests — a form of user-generated content.  The product company — whether cereal or dish soap — got creative ideas and very engaged customers, for little cost.  Tupperware and Amway are two other classic examples of the power of word of mouth and peer influence at work.

And don’t forget the classic chain letter.  I remember painstakingly copying letters and sending them on to my friends, for fear of breaking the chain and incurring the wrath of the broken chain letter gods.  “Do not break the chain!”, the letters admonished, always citing examples of the poor sap who got hit by a truck or some other calamity.  Turns out the concept of the chain letter goes back to the Middle Ages, when a letter, purported to be from an Emperor of Rome, made the rounds in various forms.

As anyone with email knows, the chain letter is alive and well.  There are entire web sites devoted to chain letters.  http://chainletters.net/chainletters/ The web has breathed new life into many classic forms of communication.  It’s easier than ever to come up with your own content and share it with friends and colleagues.  Some might argue it’s too easy.  But either way, the sharing culture is firmly entrenched and here to stay.

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Over the last six months, we’ve been focusing on influence - blogging about it, talking to client and colleagues, researching the impact of online influence.  What started as a basic premise - the idea that amidst all the new dynamics in the market, influence still matters - has grown into a full-blown methodology that is shaping the way Eastwick does business.

We call it the Architecture of Influence.

We’ve all experienced how much marketing and communications has changed over the last several years with the advent of social media.  That’s old news.  Eastwick’s new framework is based on a data-driven approach that uncovers the real influencers in a market, not based on gut feel or old assumptions but what the data tells us about who really matters.  On top of that, we layer our smarts about the market and how those influencers work in order to drive awareness and influence sales.

We’re talking evolution not revolution, but the change is an important one and makes it possible for us to measure the results of communications in terms that matter most to our clients - market awareness, influencer engagement and customer preference, to name a few.

Architecture of Influence

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Increasingly, marketing executives are being asked to show how social media strategies drive sales leads. There is ongoing debate as to whether social media has the potential to serve as a lead-gen tool. On the one hand, some experts don’t think social media channels are scalable enough to drive sales: how much bang can you get for your buck, and can you invest the necessary amount of time to make the channels worthwhile? These points need to be taken into consideration when determining how, and to what extent, companies want to leverage social media channels to share information and receive feedback.   On the other hand, as more and more companies track success of their social media strategies, the indication is that business goals – including lead gen – can be supported. According to a recent BtoB article, a Business.com study did find that “purely” social media channels such as microblogs function strongly as lead gen channels, even to the point of helping build databases of prospects. Entrepreneur also covered this debate recently, citing Charlene Li, co-author of Groundswell, who points to evidence of national brands using social media to drive sales. For example, Southwest posted Twitter specials resulting in $3 M in sales. The potential shouldn’t be ignored, and best practices are cropping up everywhere to help track success of social media programs. This list of 20 metrics is a great place to start, and this list of metrics focuses specifically on lead gen.    Bottom line: an integrated communications campaign helps increase mindshare, site traffic, and can also have a hand in generating trackable sales leads. And while there still may be many questions about social media lead gen, we may as well have some fun trying to find the answers.

Over the weekend, a molehill has started to become a mountain. Or, in the view of some, a mountain became an even bigger mountain.

SageCircle posted a claim that Forrester Research will restrict its analysts from having personally-branded research blogs, implying that the policy will reduce the risk of analysts building their personal brands before bolting from the firm, taking their audiences with them.

Use of social media has become second nature to many, but one look at the range of comments on the SageCircle post reflects how strongly people still feel about the dichotomy of personal/professional social media usage and the tension around a company’s ownership of a worker’s intellectual property. Cries of Big Brother, paranoia and censorship abound, tempered by other statements that it’s good business practice or simply a matter of whose servers hold the data.

Source: speedy2

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As 2010 begins, Gartner bolsters its position in the IT analysis market.

Gartner and Burton Group both announced that Gartner, Inc. has agreed to purchase Burton Group for $56 million in cash. This marks Gartner’s second acquisition since Dec. 1, 2009 when it acquired AMR Research.

Gene Hall, Gartner’s chief executive officer, stated, “…Burton Group is a great strategic fit for Gartner and should enable us to offer a more complete solution to every level and functional expert within an IT organization.  By leveraging our scale and worldwide distribution capabilities, we expect to significantly grow Burton Group’s business over time.”

It will be interesting to see how this affects companies’ perceptions of independent firms and individuals. Will companies be comforted by the massive size and resources of the Gartner conglomerate, or could there be backlash and a fear of receiving cookie-cutter consulting, particularly among smaller organizations with limited research budgets?

My two cents: More than ever is it important to pay attention and engage with independents via blogs and other channels such as social media. For example, former Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang’s Web Strategy blog is an excellent resource for technology insight.

The Gartners of the world may continue to dominate the business of research. The independent analysts and firms, however, are on the rise, and they’ll stand a fighting chance if they have the connections and ability to deliver more focused insight for companies in important niche markets.

Anyone who’s written for an audience can attest to the humbling experience of having one’s work edited. A Ragan.com feature titled “Black and white and red all over” is an assortment of communicators’ recollections about the first time they experienced the wrath of the red pen.

The advice ranges from the stylistic, like avoiding Gonzo journalism and questionable metaphors, to the emotional - not falling in love with your own words.

That may be the toughest advice to take, as that love can be as enduring as your very first crush. (In my case, “baseball Brad.”) Painful as it may be, though, it is still vital instruction to follow in order to communicate effectively with your audience by using language that is meaningful to them rather than your ego.

This leads us to another item of interest: Americans are consuming more information overall.

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The wave of acquisition and consolidation continues, this time in the world of research.

Gartner and AMR both announced today that Gartner, Inc. has agreed to purchase AMR Research for $64 million in cash, Lord willing and the creek don’t rise.

Bruce Richardson, Chief Research Officer for AMR, offered an explanation of what it might mean for its clients and analysts.

He also noted some key assets Gartner has to offer, including a bigger audience, global reach, presence in more vertical markets, access to many more research resources, and a focus on quality writing.

I’m curious to see what this will mean not only for these firms but for the competitive landscape as well.

We found this recent post by Justin Siefert especially interesting and valuable.  Not a day goes by where we aren’t having to defend our use and support of Twitter as a communications channel for our clients and for us, as a matter of fact.  Despite skepticism from late Twitter bloomers…end users are using this medium as a way to get info…and so are influencers.  Thanks for the insight, Justin…hope your eyes are better.