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A new comScore (@comScore) survey says mobile social networking is on the rise, with Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn seeing their mobile audiences grow by at least 50% each in the past year.

More than 72 million Americans accessed social networking sites or blogs on their mobile device in August 2011, an increase of 37% in the past year. The study also finds that more than half of mobile users read a post from an organization, brand, or event while on their mobile device.

Over the last year, Facebook’s mobile audience doubled to 57 million users. Twitter saw its mobile audience grow 75% to 13.4 million people. LinkedIn has the smallest mobile audience of the three, but still experienced a boom in the past 12 months, expanding by 69% to 5.4 million users.

Read the news release in full.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you identify blue ocean strategy for your brand, especially in the mobile environment. And be sure to bookmark and use daily the SomersaultNOW online dashboard.

On Search Engine Watch (@sewatch), Ryan Woolley (@RyanWoolley) explains the above SEO Tactics chart (available in print) in a 4-part series, covering

·         Keyword Selection

·         On-site Optimization

·         External Influences (Off-site Optimization)

·         Reporting & Analytics

For example, Woolley writes about applying direct response methodology, granular keyword-level data analysis, and focusing on quality over quantity as being 3 keys that drive SEO success. He describes how to determine which keywords to focus on, what relevance means, attention to user intent, and business impact.

Read each essay by clicking the above bullets.

The Blog Herald (@blogherald) offers bloggers “a brief overview of some of the facts that you need to know in order to stay safe online. For example

1. The Web is world-wide. As such, your content will reach virtually every country and every jurisdiction in the world. As mentioned above, the facts below are based on US law but you always have to remember that what is legal in one area may not be legal in another. That can, in some situations, bite you.

2. As a blogger, you’re posting works to a public forum. Even if only a few people read your site, the law treats it largely the same as if you had screamed everything in a crowded square or printed it on the cover of your local newspaper.

3. As a blogger, you’re responsible legally for what you post and, posting anonymous or pseudonymously is not a guarantee against legal consequences. Such steps can help avoid other consequences, such as professional ones, but generally not legal ones.

Read this in full.

Stay informed with SomersaultNOW, our (@smrsault) dashboard of more than 400 links and RSS newsfeeds specifically for publishing and marketing executives.

Mary Meeker, partner at Kleiner Perkins Caufield & Byers (@kpcb), explores in the slides below the significant trends shaping the Internet today. She says the mobile revolution is still in its infancy and poised for tremendous growth.

Her presentation zeroes in on the newest breakout trends driving e-commerce, including local commerce, the global race to adopt mobile devices and apps, and the latest innovations in online payments; the evolving social space comes under Mary’s scrutiny as well. She says the mega-trend of the 21st century is empowerment of people via connected mobile devices.

KPCB Internet Trends (2011)

See the report in full.

Springwise (@springwise) reports that German start-up Readmill (@readmill) has combined its “passion for reading, innovation, and technology to create a social ebook reader for the iPad, pitched as the ‘Last.fm for reading.’”

Readmill, currently in closed Beta, offers users a selection of mainly public domain titles. While reading, users can highlight their favorite passages and share them with others for commenting, either by posting them to their Readmill profile, or via Facebook, Twitter, or Tumblr. As well as being able to recommend titles and view recommended titles from other readers, there is also a comment thread where users can post their thoughts on individual ebooks. Other features include a night mode, which switches page color to black and text color to white, while built in tracking enables the reader to see how long they have spent reading each ebook.

Read the story in full.

In addition to Readmill, TNW (@TheNextWeb) reports "Kobo launches Vox, the first social ebook reader with Facebook integration." 

How will this new concept influence your publishing strategy? Let Somersault (@smrsault) help you navigate publishing’s white water rapids.

On Mashable (@mashable), Ryan Matzner (@rdm) of Fueled (@Fueled) explains how marketers need to think differently when it comes to the mobile space.

Users on the Web are notoriously distracted and hop around from page to page. Mobile users are distracted even further. Their devices are buzzing with push notifications from their apps, text messages and emails are constantly popping up on the screen. They might be standing in line at a grocery store, waiting for a movie to start, in a taxi, in an elevator or walking down the street. These scenarios — and mobile use in general — are defined by 3 key factors:

1. Pockets of Use. Picking up their mobile device is a secondary task. They’re just trying to fill up a pocket of time while doing something else. Users have just a few moments to check their phone or look up a piece of information while they’re completing a primary task (waiting in line, elevator, etc.).

2. Perpetual and Inherent Distraction. Traditional web users may face distraction from email, chat and the infinite number of other webpages they could be on, but when those users land on a page, they typically stick around until they become bored or want to check out some other piece of information on the web. Mobile users, on the other hand, face perpetual off-device distractions — use of their mobile device is secondary. Byrne Hobart, founder of investment research firm Digital Due Diligence, observes that mobile marketers are “writing for an audience that’s in the middle of something else.” They might be waiting for their subway stop, their floor on an elevator, their line to be called at Whole Foods, a friend to show up at a restaurant. Point is, the number of off-device distractions for mobile users is limitless.

3. The (Very) Small Screen. Mobile devices have tiny screens — they simply do not fit a lot of content. It’s critical that marketers keep this in mind as they write copy. What will fit onto a user’s screen without scrolling?

Read this in full.

Also see this excellent article by John Jantsch (@ducttape), “There’s Really No Such Thing As Mobile Marketing.”

The following chart is from the paidContent (@paidContent) article “Chart: Mobile Business Booms, Data Use Surges to 48%” by Ingrid Lunden (@ingridlunden). It shows that marketers need to be thinking about the mobile environment at all times.

According to a report by Warc (@WarcEditors), over 90% of major brand owners are now using social media; and believe social media has yet to yield tangible revenues.

The report is based on research by Booz & Co (@BoozCompany) and Buddy Media (@BuddyMedia) of executives from 100 companies. The study focuses on social capability priorities, key areas for investment, the evolving role of partners, and major issues related to organization, talent, and metrics that companies are confronting through social media.

·         Marketing departments are primarily responsible for social media efforts.

·         94% of firms list Facebook among their top three social priorities, followed by Twitter (77%), YouTube (42%), blogs and branded platforms (25% each), LinkedIn (13%), and location-based tools like Foursquare (8%).

·         94% think adapting and reacting quickly is essential to social media success.

·         93% think having an internal “owner” and “champion” for social media is vital.

·         Advertising and promotions are the main use for sites like Facebook and Twitter (96%), ahead of the 88% using them for PR, 75% for customer service and 56% for market research.

·         40% of companies employ social media for sales purposes; 46% think they deliver purchases and meaningful leads.

·         90% tie social media benefits to brand building, 88% stimulating buzz, 81% securing consumer insights, and 78% to enhanced marketing effectiveness.

·         Only 38% say their CEOs have this issue on his or her personal agenda.

Read the research report.

Let Somersault (@smrsault) guide your brand’s social media strategy. And use the SomersaultNOW dashboard to stay current on news and resources related to social media marketing.

Infographic by MDG Advertising (@MDGadvertising)

In Business 2 Community (@B2Community), Cheryl Burgess (@ckburgess) writes, “In the future, a brand’s success may depend on whether it’s perceived as having a social purpose.”

Customers are no longer satisfied with just lodging complaints or casting opinions. Instead, they’re voting with their social capital and turning away from companies that fail to listen and respond.

In this rapidly changing landscape, marketers are challenged to humanize their brands and seize opportunities to engage customers across a multiplicity of touch-points and social media channels. With the rise of social media, the consumer is able to drive the conversation with or without the brand’s input. Only brands that are authentic and transparent will succeed.

Here are some of the accelerants she lists and explains how they’ll transform brands into the future:

1. Engaging

2. Relevant

3. Accountable

4. Collaborative

5. Voice

6. Creative and innovative

7. Purpose driven

8. Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR)

9. Simplicity

10. Reflective

11. Your Culture is Your Brand

12. Listen

13. Brand Advocates

14. Millennial bonding

15. Crowdsourcing 2.0

16. Mobile

Read this in full.

Chart of the Day (@ChartOfTheDay) reports that Facebook hosts 140 billion photos, and will add 70 billion this year, according to 1000memories (@1000memories).

Putting this in context, 1000memories made the above visualization which shows how big Facebook’s library of photos are in comparison to other photo sharing sites, as well as the Library of Congress.

Incredibly, Facebook is hosting 4% of all photos ever taken, according to 1000memories. It estimates 3.5 trillion photos have been taken through history.