Soft metrics still the most popularNearly nine in 10 companies in the US will market on social media this year, according to eMarketer, indicating that the channel has become almost a requirement for most brands. But measuring success beyond soft metrics like “engagement” is still far away for many, according to research.Econsultancy and Adobe found in August that 57% of companies around the world said the deepest level at which they could track the effectiveness of social media marketing was in terms of engagement, such as the number of followers, comments and time spent on social pages. Even more agencies said this was the deepest metric their clients could track.

via Marketers Still Can’t Tie Social to Bottom Line – eMarketer.

People don’t want perfect; they want real.

Eastwood shot from the hip and sounded like any interesting person you might run across at the bus stop or corner bar during your day. That’s why his speech is the one people will remember more than any other this political season. People tune out anything they think is “crafted” or “scripted.” Eastwood was real, and real is what people crave.

via Why Clint Eastwood’s RNC Speech Is a Model For Brand Journalism | Brand Journalists.

We’ve seen a significant increase in contingent workers since the Great Recession; technology is one of the reasons this growth is possible. Employees no longer have to be in the same location to feel connected. Technology can help us feel a part of a team even if we’re thousands of miles away.There’s a specific technology that’s helping to pave the way — social collaboration software. This software market was a $600 million industry in 2010, but it’s estimated to reach $6.4 billion in 2016. If you’re looking for a way to stay connected, feel engaged and get stuff done, exploring social collaboration could be worthwhile.

via Social Collaboration Tools Can Make Your Business More Efficient.

Welcome – The Data Journalism Handbook.

New research out from Google, working with market analysts Ipsos and Sterling Brands, puts some hard numbers behind the often-noticed trend of how people in the U.S. are using a combination of phones, tablets, computer and TVs to consume digital content.

While each of these has a significant place in our consumption today, their real power lies in how they are used together — in combination, 90% of all of our media consumption, or 4.4 hours per day, is happening across all four (which doesn’t leave much room for paper-based books and publications; or for radio). This not only has implications for how content is designed, but also for how companies like Google will continue to hedge their bets across all four screens.

via If Content Is King, Multiscreen Is The Queen, Says New Google Study | TechCrunch.

Users turn to Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter itself to post pictures

As the number of Twitter users grows, consumers are using the site to share photos, videos and other links with their followers.

eMarketer forecasts that US adult Twitter users will reach 31.8 million in 2013, up 14.9% from the 27.7 million users in 2012. As the base grows, the way consumers use the site and what they share is also changing.

via Photo- and Video-Sharing Popular on Twitter – eMarketer.

Social network users overall skew young, but when looking at specific sites, differences emerge between age groups.

In June 2012, Pingdom analyzed DoubleClick data and found that 26% of US social network users were between the ages of 25 and 34, with another 25% between the ages of 35 and 44. Users ages 18 to 24 made up 16% of all US social network users. This study looked at users of a variety of sites, including Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Tumblr, Reddit, StumbleUpon, deviantART and Goodreads.

via Age, Interests Dictate Social Networks Used – eMarketer.

One of the world’s finest athletes achieved a historic feat on Sunday, in a first for his country in his chosen sport. Hashim Amla became the first South African to score a triple century in Test cricket. At the end of the day’s play, he was interviewed by Channel 5’s Mark Nicholas. It was one of the most tedious sequences any camera has ever captured.Asked how it felt to enter the pantheon of greats, Amla produced a series of platitudes. Except he did so in short, cliché-ridden answers, reminding me of the Fast Show sketch in which footballers, interviewed post-victory, finish every answer with: “Yeah, the boys are thrilled with the three points and we’re just looking forward to the next game.”

via Amol Rajan: Being media-trained can turn winners into losers – Commentators – Voices – The Independent.

73% of companies with annual revenues of less than $150 million agree that social media is integral to their marketing mix, while two-thirds of companies with revenues of more than $150 million agree, according to [download page] an September 2012 report from Econsultancy, produced in partnership with Adobe. Social media’s importance extends beyond just marketing, though: three-quarter of company respondents from the smaller businesses agree that a social media strategy is integral to their business strategy, while 66% of larger businesses agree.

via 7 in 10 Cos. See Social Media as Integral to Marketing, Biz Strategies.

The popular social news site announced today via Twitter that it had over 3.4 billion pageviews for the month of August. That’s roughly an 8.8% increase over the previous month, when the site topped 3.1 billion.

Reddit also saw an increase in unique visitors. In July, the company reported that it had 39.5 million uniques. For August, that number climbed up to 42.9 million, about 8.6% gain on the previous month.

The surge in traffic can likely be attributed to President Obama’s Ask Me Anything session on Aug. 29, which single-handedly brought in 1.6 million uniques that Wednesday and 1.2 million the following Thursday. Obama’s live interview on Reddit garnered so much traffic that the site’s servers were “under heavy load” during his AMA.

via Reddit Reached 3.4 Billion Pageviews in August.