The Pew Internet and American Life Project recently published The Demographics of Social Media Users, detailing the demographics of social media users by age, ethnicity, household income, gender, urbanity, and education and platform. It's no longer enough to broadly assume that "everyone is on Facebook, professionals are on Linkedin, and women are on Pinterest." Our thinking about our online audiences, and potential fans, must be more sophisticated. If an organization works with urban youth, then look to Instagram, Tumblr and Twitter. If you want to engage young adults, think beyond Facebook to Twitter, Pinterest and Instragram. If you want to specifically attract African-American stakeholders, do not leave Twitter and Instagram out of the mix.

A new study by the Pew Internet and American Life Project looks at habits of curators and creators of of photos and videos online. The project conducted a phone survey of 1,005 adults ages 18 and older between August 2-5, 2012 and asked them questions about their photo and video habits on social media, and the social media activities in which they participate. While this is not so surprising, given the rise of smartphones with cameras built into them and the rise of social media services such as Pinterest, Instagarm and Tumblr (as the study authors note), it is the largest finding of online creators to date. The study finds that 46% of internet users post original photos and videos online they have created themselves (the creators), and 41% curate photos and videos they find elsewhere on the internet and post on image-sharing sites (the curators). The only conclusion that I can come to: what a difference a year of Pinterest, Tumblr, and Instagram growth can make!

This Spring, the Multnomah County Library Levy Campaign Committee and consulting firm Winning Mark created and ran a successful place-based advocacy campaign to pass a library-preservation ballot measure. Emphasizing check-ins, recommendations, and making personal connections online, the campaign strategy paid off in a 4:1 win. This blog post walks through the strategy, complete with screenshots, lessons learned, and approach.

I've often been struck by the idea that geosocial (geolocation) applications are an incredible opportunity for organizational engagement...waiting to happen. The sharp smartphone adoption curve, the increasing cultural acceptance of online location sharing, and abundance of geosocial apps creates a ripe environment for community-building.According to geolocal mobile research, people check in primarily to receive coupons or discounts, and secondarily to meet friends, it's the third reason that is the missed opportunity. The third most-popular reason people use a geosocial app to check in is to promote a location. Close to 30% of the people who check in do so because they love the business. This seems pretty like huge opportunity to deepen engagement, but I see two huge missed opportunities.

It's hard to know where to spend most of our limited time with social media. It's worthwhile to dive deep enough to consider the gateway questions that will help you make the decision to dive deeper or not.

The Universal McCann Wave 5 study is out, identifying trends and key data points on internet use by active internet users worldwide. The key takeaways are the socialization of brands, the rise of branded communities, the continued rise of microblogging, and the results of joining a branded online community.

Now that your Place is claimed, what are the capabilities of Places and its potential uses? Most importantly, how does that functionality open up possibilities? This post explores six ways that Places offers opportunities for you to interact on Places with your fans - and brainstorms a few possibilities.

Estrella Rosenberg, founder of Big Love Little Hearts, came up with the idea for the #100x100 Foursquare campaign nine days before the launch. This is the story of how she promoted awareness of CHD through Foursquare, leveraged $25,000 in the meantime, and laid the groundwork for lasting legislative change.

In an international survey of social network users, InSites Consulting found that social network users trust brands' social sites for information about the brand itself, second to peer information. Is this astonishing? In the article, I also think about how nonprofits can utilize this information for their brands.

Two data sets, two different user groups, same results: Small businesses and nonprofit find social media effective for reaching new customers and strengthening existing relationships. Irrefutable evidence of the power of engagement.