In a post on MediaBistro’s PRNewser (Nov. 30, 2009), Joe Ciarallo cites a study by Sysomos that asserts that only 23% of Facebook pages have more than 1,000 fans.

On Facebook, brands and bands and other organizations can create a page account that draws fans rather than friends. Fans of a page subscribe to its news items and can post on the page.

The Wordsupply page has just joined the 95% of sites that have more than 10 fans. (Become a Wordsupply fan on Facebook—update your status and help us break 100! :o)

But even for B2C brands—which may seem more likely to draw numerous fans—it’s tough to lure Facebookers away from the comfort of their Home page news streams.

The pages with the most fans feature celebrities and universal ideas like “Flipping the Pillow Over to Get to the Cold Side,” which boasts 2.9 million fans.

But rather than be discouraged by these stats, we are intrigued. Millions of people are using Facebook, fanning pages, joining groups, reading news, and spreading the word. Whether you work as an individual or organization, offering a service or a product, you must create a page and offer your stream.

You can create a page yourself—and claim your brand name: Just go to Facebook and follow the instructions to create a page.

(And if you need help, Wordsupply is ready to start the news stream and keep it flowing!)

Professor Michael Wesch created the following video – it’s “Web 2.0 in five minutes” – using “CamStudio for the screen captures and Sony Vegas for the panning/cropping/zooming animations.”

Beyond the content itself—remarkably current for a March 2007 release—we should study this use of media.  It represents an emerging (if not “new”) way for businesses and thinkers to present information.

The Machine is Us/ing Us (Final Version)

From my perspective, Gary Vaynerchuk—the boy from Belarus who grew his family’s liquor store in New Jersey into a multimillion-dollar business, and who is now teaching others to use customer service (especially via social media) to grow their businesses—has set a new standard for all authors supporting their books.

I’m piecing together a write-up of his efforts—and maybe a college course—but check out GaryVaynerchuk.com and his Twitter account to see how he spent several months engaging his audience and building anticipation for the October 2009 release of his book, Crush It!, which as Gary announced should hit #2 this Sunday in The New York Times.

For an example of Gary’s promotional efforts, consider his “experience” bundles, offered through his site: http://crushitbook.com/crush-it-the-experience/. If you buy 35, you get a personalized video; if you buy 150, you get an hour on Skype; and so on. This sets an expectation for bulk sales—which I think motivates single-copy sales—and demonstrates the way premium/ancillary offerings will help authors sell books in a world in which content is expected to be (nearly) free. [Authors: What experiences or ancillary offerings can you share?]

In line with his belief in contact and word-of-mouth promotions, Gary hosted a launch party last night at The Bell House in Brooklyn—very cool bar and performance space—exposed brick and rafters, cement floor, set in a warehouse. Gary went through the crowd, thanking everyone.

On stage, Gary said he sees himself benefiting from the “thank-you economy,” in which the people who have received his free videos and advice are purchasing his book out of gratitude. He said that his success comes from actually caring about his audience—by giving, he is getting. [Authors: How can you give to, care for, and support your audience?]

He showed a video preview of the “vook” edition of his book. The vook combines text, animation, music, voiceovers, and still photos. Then, with help from the crowd and verification from the yellow-blazered judges from the Universal Record Database—Gary set the universal record for most glasses clinked in one minute! Closing out the night, Clabo performed the “Crush It!” rap for charity—each $.99 download will feed six in Haiti. See below.

Let me round out this post—a sort of long thank-you to Gary, actually—by embedding two other videos: His powerful presentation at MediaBistro’s Circus in August 2009, and his adventurous Wine Library tasting of the best pairings for breakfast cereal.

See the full-sized version here: http://tv.winelibrary.com/2009/09/08/what-wine-pairs-with-cereal-episode-734/

I found myself wanting to share a video (below), but then realized that the pathway I took in discovering the video demonstrates the value of having a Twitter presence that’s coordinated with a Website presence.

In calling it a “relay,” I’m inspired by my daughter’s recent field day activities – slapping hands or handing off a baton as runners trade-off each leg of the race.

The first half of the Twitter-Site-Blog-Twitter Relay was run by the publisher; the latter half is in my court. Right now, I’m running the Blog leg.

Here’s the full case history …

I’m starting to Tweet on writing topics @Wordsupply, and @girlgetstrong4 followed me. So, I visited http://www.girlgetstrong.com.

Once there, I found this College Humor short showing an “unplugged” version of Twitter – walking around the city and shouting Tweets instead of texting:

So, I decided to return-follow @girlgetstrong4 and write this post. A Tweet will be the next leg of the relay …

And don’t forget the baton: Dan Gurewitch (@dangurewitch) and College Humor (@collegehumor). Dan has at least one new fan, and the relay race is free.

My goal with Wordsupply is to help folks move the baton. Let me know how you’re running.

Skittles.com splash/home page

Skittles stirred up quite a bit of chatter this week by outsourcing most of its Website to major social networking sites.

In a move that is presumably acceptable to Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Flickr, and Facebook (even though it reminds me of framing external sites within one’s own site, a technique long frowned upon since it traps visitors), Skittles sends visitors to its discussion pages on major sites. The “Chatter” link brings a Twitter search for all entries with “Skittles” mentioned in them; the “Friends” link brings Skittles’ fan page on Facebook.

A small red Skittles dashboard hovers over the external pages, unmovable in Firefox.

I’m impressed with this campaign because with the openness of its trademark rainbow (okay, maybe that’s too generous), Skittles is encompassing (okay, maybe coopting) communities where its consumers live – rather than trying to compete with them.

True, Skittles could build an island where people would discuss Skittles – but do you think people would go there? I assume that earlier versions of the site had some community experiments … assuming those grew slowly, if at all, can we blame Skittles for embracing communities where they’ve grown organically?

The same risk of heckling is there, but it’s housed within external sites. The challenge will be for Skittles to Tweet and engage within the communities it’s embracing. It may find that islands are easier to control, but in the long run, engaging with consumers where they live is bound to increase Skittles’ share of mind.

Whether your site links to an external social network or encompasses it within a Skittles-style dashboard, your firm has to engage these communities on their own turf.

P.S.: Note that Skittles asks for your age before giving access to its dashboard – and you must accept “terms and conditions” that aren’t disclosed through a link or pop-up – just outlined in the window’s text (see the orange box in the screenshot above). Perhaps one term is to allow tracking of one’s Tweets, Facebook activity, and YouTube commenting … only Skittles knows … UPDATE: Once signed in, there’s a link to a privacy policy.

Kudos to Andrew Savikas of O’Reilly Media’s TOC Conference for sharing inspiring videos from Rutgers English Department Chair Richard E. Miller.

Take a moment to view one or all of these videos. View them with thoughts of how your business ideas and research can also spread virally through the convergence of text, audio, video, and the Internet.

What ideas are you promoting as a consultant or author or service provider? How can your customers be better educated and better served through this media rather than a text-based FAQ or paper manual? Wordsupply’s presentation scripts and presentation text can knit your rich media together.

Here is Professor Miller’s two-part presentation:

Learn more about Professor Miller here:
http://english.rutgers.edu/faculty/profiles/millerr.html.