The Smart Growth Manifesto - Umair Haque - HarvardBusiness.org
http://blogs.harvardbusiness.org/haque/2009/01/davos_discussing_a_depression.html

1. Outcomes, not income. Dumb growth is about incomes - are we richer today than we were yesterday? Smart growth is about people, and how much better or worse off they are - not merely how much junk an economy can churn out. Smart growth measures people's outcomes - not just their incomes. Are people healthier, fitter, smarter, happier?

Outcomes, not income. Connections, not transactions. People, not product. Creativity, not productivity.

There’s little doubt that Twitter was one of the most talked about startups over the past year. But just how much did it grow in 2008? The final numbers are

The latest numbers from Nielsen Online indicate that Twitter grew 1,382% year-over-year in February, registering a total of just more than 7 million unique visitors in the US for the month. Not only is that huge growth in one year, but in one month as well, as in January, Twitter.com clocked in with 4.5 million unique visitors in the US, meaning the service grew by more than 50 percent month-over-month

Maybe it’s Jimmy Fallon’s integration of it into his new TV show, Shaq’s use of it to interact in real-life with fans, or blog’s ability to write about it non-stop, but one way or another, Twitter’s growth just continues to explode.

Twitter is an odd thing.

Twitter isn't the fashion statement it was ...last week. Facebook and YouTube both show continual growth, but Twitter's has leveled off. Evidently, it's utility is limited, ultimately by the platform itself. Designers can only expand on the concept of microblogging so far, and Twitter suffers from some pernicious faults--the number of people one follows is inversely proportional to the amount of time one must spend browsing their tweets. People get tired of spending their lives on Twitter, whereas other popular sites are more conducive to leisurely browsing.

Twitter, Facebook growth statistics

Seems unlikely.

Twitter is the most active Web presence and generates most conversational volume on the Web, making it the number one social brand for July 2009, according to Social Radar. It was at number one in June too. Social Radar analyzes the Web to see what brands are mentioned most by unique sources. This includes blogs, other social networks, forums, etc. The analysis includes brands, not just social networks. FacebookFacebook is at number 4, with the iPhone and GoogleGoogle at number 3 and 4, respectively. Check out the full list for July here. The point is there is a lot of buzz out there about Twitter and people are continuing to talk about it, and it’s even becoming part of everyday language.

eeing it here at Buddy Media. Our brand clients pushed us to expand to include our newly launched Twitter Platform so they can leverage the power of Twitter for their business in conjunction with our Facebook Page Management Platform. Brands are realizing that Twitter isn't going anywhere, and consumers are leveraging Twitter to share stories, gain knowledge, get feedback, and vent. My gut? They're going to generate revenue via Search.

5 Reasons Why Twitter’s Growth Cannot Be Stopped

Throughout the entire 2008 and the better part of 2009, we’ve reported on Facebook and Twitter’s explosive growth. Month after month, we’ve seen tremendous numbers from both these services, while some giants of old, such as MySpace, dropped lower and lower. Somewhere in June, however, Twitter stopped growing, at least according to Compete. The same thing happened to Facebook (Facebook) at the exact same time; at first we’ve attributed the traffic numbers to the summer slumber, but now that Compete’s numbers for September are out, there’s no doubt that both Facebook and Twitter are no longer growing, at least in the eyes of the (admittedly US-centric) Compete.

Interesting stats from Mashable, including growth of Linked In

I always thought that expanding my business at a steady pace was a smart move. Now I worry that it could potentially kill us

By Joel Spolsky

Interessante discussies in comments... But we do have to work closer to the limits of our abilities, we have to invest more of our profits in hiring more salespeople and software developers, and we have to focus relentlessly on winning more enterprise sales. We have to do that, because otherwise, we're going to end up being the company you've never heard of.

Every startup needs to pick a major among three drivers of growth. It's simply too hard to focus on more ...

Whether you're a student, teacher, or parent, I think you'll appreciate this story of how one teacher can completely and permanently change someone's life in only a few lessons.

Twitter Eats World: Global Visitors Shoot Up To 19 Million http://ow.ly/3NQb [from http://twitter.com/barbhd34/statuses/1603606539]

Twitter’s march towards world domination continues apace. This morning comScore released its global numbers for March, 2009. Worldwide visitors to Twitter.com increased 95 percent in the month of March from 9.8 million to 19.1 million, according to its estimates. This compares to 9.3 million visitors in the U.S. alone.

Some optimistic news today in a study dug up by eMarketer: lots of small businesses plan to increase their spending on social network marketing in 2009. In

Some optimistic news today in a study dug up by eMarketer: lots of small businesses plan to increase their spending on social network marketing in 2009. In fact, 25% of the small businesses surveyed by Ad-ology Research indicated that they would increase spending on the medium this year, a higher percentage than any other marketing format.

social marketing forcast for 2009

Results of eMarketer's study: Change in Online Marketing Usage/Spending in 2009 According to US Small Businesses by Tactic (% of respondents)

Article used as research towards a paper on social networking and business.

New numbers about 'community destination' sites in the U.S. reveal that Twitter grew well over a thousand percent between February 2008 and February 2009. Read this blog post by Caroline McCarthy on The Social.

Visualising the Internet and animation on how the Internet works

Facebook demographics as of December 2008.

See also: http://radar.oreilly.com/2008/05/facebook-demographics-age-and.html , http://www.insidefacebook.com/2008/09/18/latest-data-on-us-facebook-age-and-gender-demographics/

stats on facebook

Since we began tracking Facebook demographics in late May, weekly growth has held steady, usually in the low single-digits on a percentage basis. More importantly, it's fair to say that the company has successfully expanded overseas. With close to 128M users, the share of U.S. users is down to around 30% from 35% in late May: - via Judy Decicco

Since we began tracking Facebook demographics in late May, weekly growth has held steady, usually in the low single-digits on a percentage basis. More importantly, it's fair to say that the company has successfully expanded overseas. With close to 128M users, the share of U.S. users is down to around 30% from 35% in late May:

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f you move into a new space, the market normally takes as long as you do to mature enough to become really profitable. Keep your team focused, be patient, create value, test, test, test, and you'll get there. If your instincts are as good as you think they are, then it will come... if you can stick around long enough. Invest today.

"There is a fallacy that startups need to be super-secretive and then, when they launch, move very fast to capture the market. This is rarely true. Most startups would do well to study compound interest rather than market share."

Compound interest is about gains that are reinvested back into the asset base so that the next gain will be higher. The interest earns interest. The table below shows a new Web business at the very beginning, with only 100 wisdom points (a made-up term). The business is learning at a reasonable rate, with 10% growth in its useful knowledge each month. And, as you can see, its monthly growth in real units is growing; this is the compound interest. You get the idea.

First-Mover Advantage Is About Compound Interest, Not Market Share

Sounds so simple (and it is) but Seth is great at giving simple truths

Marketing Strategy

"If you want to grow the size of your customer base, you need to confront the buffet dilemma" Great post by Seth Godin http://bit.ly/Q9Don [from http://twitter.com/r1tz/statuses/2003329906]

This is a great analogy featuring buffets that really simplify two different business approaches that could significantly impact your business and attract more customers.

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Facebook se vendendo para marketing viral

@wchingya

How to build your Facebook community by getting people to like your business page.

#1: Be Prepared With Quality Wall Posts and Consistent Engagement #2: Reward Your Loyal Supporters #3: Leverage Your Existing Social Networks #4: Integrate Facebook Social Plugins to Your Website #5: Remind Your Fans to Like and Share #6: Utilize Forum Signatures and Membership Sites #7: Take the Initiative: Request Help From Friends #8: Use Tagging and Acknowledgments #9: Participate Outside Your Page #10: Collaborate With Other Page Admins for a Social Event