Tony Blair Says Social Media Doesn't Represent The Public

Social Media Insights is a daily newsletter from Business Insider that collects and delivers the top social media news first thing every morning. You can sign up to receive Social Media Insights here or at the bottom of this post.

---

Tony Blair Says Social Media Is 'Revolutionary' (USA TODAY)
In an interview with USA TODAY, former British prime minister Tony Blair spoke about his social media initiatives (amongst other things). Blair and several of his initiatives are on Twitter – his main handle is @TonyBlairOffice – but he acknowledged that aides were the ones posting tweets. "I'm technologically challenged, is the absolute truth," he said. "I believe social media is a revolutionary phenomenon," he said, "but I'm also a little bit of a skeptic on social media ... I think it's very important for politicians today to pay attention to social media but not be driven by it, because you can end up believing that what is on social media is the public. It's a section of a section of the public." Read >>

Industry-Specific Networks May Be Next For Social Media (The Wall)
Most of the discussions around the big social networks — the Facebooks and LinkedIns of the world — mention their scale. You can’t sneeze at 1 billion Facebook users. Theoretically, scale represents a larger potential audience to promote to and the certainty that your brand will find its audience, eventually. In reality though, users have created separation in how they use social networks. For instance, Facebook is used to connect with friends and family while LinkedIn is for connecting with colleagues, sharing content or finding a new job. Scale doesn't answer all marketers' problems if they're messages fall on deaf ears. That's why the next trend may be toward more targeted platform, perhaps geared to specific industries. Read >>

Ways To Integrate Social Media Into Your Company’s DNA (Jeff Bullas)
One company that is integrating social media into its corporate DNA with great results is Dell which is weaving social media into its business in the following areas:

1. Customer service
2. Customer engagement
3. Marketing
4. Public relations
5. Product development

Companies may be missing out on opportunities to connect with their customers, increase sales, provide superior customer service and educate their customers with blogs, forums and online video. Read >>

Teens Still Love Facebook, But Social Media Dwindling (TechCrunch)
Teens still love Facebook. No news there. According to a recent study by Piper Jaffray, 33 percent of the 5,200 teens surveyed choose Facebook as their most important social network. Following behind, Twitter has 30 percent of the vote, while 17 percent of teens say that Instagram is the most important social network. What’s notable, however, is that interest in Facebook seems to be declining heavily among teens. Though teens still dub Facebook their most important social network, Piper Jaffray reports that the numbers are down regarding how many teens see Facebook as the most important social media website. Read >>

Social Media Hurts Friendships (The Huffington Post)
Rudeness and throwing insults are cutting online friendships short with a survey showing people are getting ruder on social media, and two in five users have ended contact after a virtual altercation. As social media usage surges, so has incivility with 78 percent reporting an increase in rudeness online with people having no qualms about being less polite virtually than in person. One in five people have reduced their face-to-face contact with someone they know in real life after an online run-in. Read >>

Why People Don't Think Social Media Is A Real Job (Ragan Communications)
A lot of people can't wrap their heads around the idea that your social media job is a real job. Here are five reasons why this happens:

1. Your job is something most people do for fun
2. Your job is hard to explain without sounding like a boring wizard
3. People confuse social networking and social media
4. Social media marketing happens under most people's radars
5. You must show the connection between social media and sales

The irony is everybody thinks it would be a cool job to have, but they look at you with the skepticism of someone evaluating a waiter who says he's an actor. Read >>