Larry Bodine Law Marketing Blog : Law firm marketing, legal editor, legal marketing, attorney marketing, business development, marketing consultant, legal consultant, business development

From Justin Rebello of Lawyer's Weekly:

Some lawyers are even acting contrary to the old credo that the client shouldn’t pick the lawyer; the lawyer should pick the client, and taking clients that simply walk in the door.

Facebook has increasingly become a source of marketing efforts by law firms. For instance, see Facebook Generates More Website Visitors than Google and News Reporters Now Depend on Social Media Sources 

For a list of law firms with Facebook "fan pages" I turned to Dale Tincher, CEO, Consultwebs.com, Inc., 800-872-6590, dtincher@consultwebs.com.

"In addition to Linkedin and other social media and article Websites, we recently started developing Facebook pages for our clients.  We develop them for several reasons including additional exposure and to complement their SEO and overall marketing campaigns.  As you will see, we go far past the normal programming techniques that most Facebook sites utilize.  A few of the Facebook pages we have developed are listed below:

·         Schwartzapfel & Associates- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Schwartzapfel-Truhowsky-Marcus-PC/125133637386?  

·         Ullman & Associates- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Charles-R-Ullman-Associates/147781706904?

·         Belluck & Fox, Mesothelioma Help - http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-NY/Mesotheliomahelp/53026818989

·         Rush, Hannula, Harkins & Kyler - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Rush-Hannula-Harkins-Kyler-LLP/112383517805

·         Brian Moskowitz - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Boynton-Beach-FL/Law-Offices-of-Brian-Moskowitz/282800090474?

·         Abelson Law - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Washington-DC/The-Abelson-Law-Firm/123258383596

·         Terry Terry & Stapleton- http://www.facebook.com/pages/Morristown-TN/Terry-Terry-Stapleton/92188938485

·         Gemma Law - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Gemma-Law-Associates-Inc/133645823382

·         Scott Gottlieb - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Scott-C-Gottlieb-Associates-LLP/132967210799

·         David Resnick - http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-York-NY/David-Resnick-Associates-PC/67559988517

·         Tafelksi Law - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Bloomfield-Hills-MI/Paul-J-Tafelski-PC/86153619073

·         Wyly Law Firm - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Wyly-Law-Firm-PC/127085836673

·         Ted Greve & Associates - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Charlotte-NC/Ted-A-Greve-Associates-PA/99209593157

·         Barry & Loewy - http://www.facebook.com/pages/Austin-TX/Barry-Loewy-LLP/118297808977

·         Heselmeyer Zinda - http://www.facebook.com/hzfirm

Back when Twitter became a sensation in January 2009, the data had shown that Twitter was not yet an effective as a business development tool.  I said if the facts changed, I would change my mind and it's happened: lawyers are getting business via the popular micro-messaging platform.  You can indeed get new clients by using Twitter.

There have been random reports that a lawyer connected with a potential client with a Tweet. But it took blogger and online social networking expert Adrian Dayton to find Fort Lauderdale, FL, lawyer Robert C. White who methodically works Twitter.  White tweeted about an article on mobile advertising and got calls from two different mobile companies as a result.

You can listen to the 30-minute podcast conference call between the two at "Think Twitter’s for Kids? Think Again"

The social media guy

"I’m taken it upon myself to be the social media guy within the firm," said White, aka @soflatechlawyer on Twitter. "I spoke at a recent meeting of our lawyers on social media.  I try to be a leader by example and it doesn’t take a lot of time." White is a shareholder at Gunster, Yoakley & Stewart, P.A., where he practices business, corporate and technology law. Gunster is the oldest commercial law firm in Palm Beach County, with 140 attorneys and 200 staff in eight Florida locations.

"Everyone needs to determine who their clients and referral sources are.  I’m a technology and entrepreneurial attorney, so my  clients use Twitter. For other areas of law, Twitter might not be as efficient. Very few of my clients are active Twitter users, but from a branding standpoint Twitter can be useful for referral sources. They key is to touch people so they can touch other people with you and mind," he said.

For the rest of the story, visit the LawMarketing Portal at http://bit.ly/cqk3R1

In recent times bankruptcy and litigation have been growth areas within many firms, and a new survey shows this trend is apt to continue. In the Robert Half Legal poll, nearly one in three (32 percent) lawyers cited bankruptcy/foreclosure as the area that will experience the most growth in the next three months. Another 22 percent believed litigation would exhibit the strongest growth within this time frame.  

The survey was developed by Robert Half Legal, a leading staffing service specializing in attorneys, paralegals and other highly skilled legal professionals. It was conducted by an independent research firm and includes responses from 300 attorneys from among the largest law firms and corporations in the United States and Canada. All respondents have at least three years of experience in the legal field.

Lawyers were asked, "In your opinion, which one of the following areas of law will experience the most growth in the next three months?" Their responses:

Volkert added that the need for legal professionals is especially strong within small-to-midsize firms. "The uptick in litigation for insurance defense, personal injury, labor and employment, medical malpractice, and foreclosure is driving the need for experienced professionals in these areas," he said.  

More information on hiring trends in the legal field, including an interactive Salary Calculator, can be found at www.roberthalflegal.com/SalaryCenter.

A national survey conducted by Cision and Don Bates of George Washington University found that an overwhelming majority of reporters and editors now depend on social media sources when researching their stories. Among the journalists surveyed:

• 89% said they turn to blogs for story research
• 65% to social media sites such as Facebook and LinkedIn
• 52% to microblogging services such as Twitter
• 61% use Wikipedia, the popular online encyclopedia.

While the results demonstrate the fast growth of social media as a well-used source of information for mainstream journalists, the survey also made it clear that reporters and editors are acutely aware of the need to verify information they get from social media. Eighty-four percent said social media sources were “slightly less” or “much less” reliable than traditional media, with 49% saying social media suffers from “lack of fact checking, verification and reporting standards.

“Mainstream media have clearly hit a tipping point in their reliance on social media for their research and reporting,” said Heidi Sullivan, Vice President of Research for Cision “However, it’s also clear that while social media is supplementing the research done by journalists, it is not replacing editors’ and reporters’ reliance on primary sources, fact-checking and other traditional best practices in journalism.”

The groups placing the highest levels of importance on social media for reporting and producing stories were journalists who spend most of their professional time writing for Websites. Those at newspapers  and magazines  reported this less often. The differences between magazine journalists and website journalists is statistically significant.

• Journalists who spend most of their professional time writing for Websites (69%) reported this the most often, and significantly more so than those at Magazines (48%)
• 89% of journalists reported using Blogs for their online research. Only Corporate websites (96%) is used by more journalists when doing online research for a story
• Approximately two-thirds reported using Social Networking sites and just over half make use of Twitter for online research. Newspaper journalists (72%) and those writing for Websites (75%) use Social Networking sites such as LinkedIn and Facebook for online research significantly more often than those at Magazines (58%)

For more information visit http://us.cision.com/news_room/press_releases/2010/2010-1-20_gwu_survey.asp

According to Web measurement firm Compete Inc., Facebook has passed search-engine giant Google to become the top source for traffic to major portals like Yahoo and MSN, and is among the leaders for other types of sites.

Being a member of Facebook involves having friends and family share Web links to interesting news stories, photos, videos and Internet sites. This "friend-casting" of information has helped propel Facebook into a major force in directing traffic around the Web.This trend is shifting the way Web site operators approach online marketing, even as Google takes steps to move into the social-media world.

Some experts say social media could become the Internet's next search engine, according to SFGate.

"People are spending less time navigating the Internet on their own and are now navigating the Internet based on their friends' recommendations or their friends' activities," said Dave Yovanno, chief executive of Gigya Inc., a Palo Alto firm that offers social-media services. "That's one of the big trends we started picking up on probably four or five months ago."

For years, Web content creators had to worry whether they had the proper level of search-engine optimization to make sure search engines listed them among the top results. Now, they have to consider social-media optimization.

"Marketers must focus on social marketing in addition to traditional search, as customers have a multi-pronged way of finding information," said Jeremiah Owyang, a Web strategist for the Altimeter Group, a San Mateo consulting firm. "The clear-cut channels of yesteryear are now an intricate set of connections."

Using a snapshot of Web traffic from December, Compete's director of online media and search, Jessica Ong, found that 15 percent of traffic to major Web portals like Yahoo, MSN and AOL came from Facebook and MySpace. The lion's share of that traffic, 13 percent came from Facebook.

Google, which has profited handsomely from directing Web surfers to their destinations during the past decade, was third with 7 percent, just behind e-commerce site eBay, which had 7.61 percent. MySpace was fourth with just under 2 percent.

The numbers are eye-opening because Google used to dominate most Web-referral categories. "I was surprised to see Facebook has become No. 1," Ong said.

In other categories, Compete's data showed Mountain View's Google still on top, but Palo Alto's

Facebook was not far behind. For example, Google accounted for 21.3 percent of referrals to sites catering to movie fans, but Facebook was second with 12.4 percent. And in a video category, Google - which owns YouTube - was first with 22.9 percent, but Facebook was next at 12.7 percent.

According to the Dutch analytics company Distimo, there are now more than 150,000 apps available for the super-popular iPhone.  Of those, some 75% are paid applications while only 25% are free. This is in stark contrast to the second largest app store, Android Market, where recent data suggests that over 60% of the app there are free.

A slick law firm marketing technique is creating a free app for your own firm.  See Arnold & Porter Creates an iPhone App for Law Firm Marketing for more details. It  is the first AmLaw 100 law firm to publish an app, which takes the content from the Consumer Advertising Law Blog, and makes it more easily accessible with an iPhone.  Other law firms and legal sites like JD Supra and the ABA Journal are using the novel approach to reach clients and recruits.

I created an iPhone app for the LawMarketing Portal as well. Something else that’s very interesting is that the highest percentage of apps in the App Store are now paid book applications. In total, there are over 27,000 book apps in the store, and of those 92% are paid apps, according to Distimo’s data.

In terms of overall app numbers, games still rule, with over 28,000 of them in the store. But a much higher percentage of those are free versus the percentage of free book apps. All told, both games and books are far and away the two most popular categories in the App Store, with entertainment in third with just over 20,000 apps. And the numbers drop quickly from there. Education is the fourth most popular category, but that means only 10,000+ apps.

Now is the time for law firms to get in early, before iphone apps become commonplace.

From Hubspot: We all know our website is a key part of our marketing and lead generation strategy. But when prospects visit your site, what are they looking for? What do they want to see, and what do they consider most important? To find out, RainToday surveyed more than 200 buyers of B2B services -- in companies of all sizes -- to rate the importance of various elements of a service provider's website.

The top 4 elements should come as no surprise:

•  Service descriptions (87%)
•  Description of industries served (78%)
•  Success stories / case studies (73%)
•  Professional website design and presentation (69%)

These elements are the core of most firms' websites. If something is amiss here, it will raise major questions with buyers from the get-go. Getting these elements in place is just the price of entering the game.

However, if you want to win clients, don't overlook the remaining six elements. Even podcasts and audio content, at the bottom of the list, were rated by 40% of decision makers as being "extremely" or "very important" when deciding to make initial contact with a service provider. 

Whatever marketing you are doing, the first stop for most buyers is a visit to your website. It can either draw them in further with online resources and content, podcasts, videos, and news, or it can say the same thing as your competitors' sites, providing a laundry list of services and a nice look, but neither helping nor hurting your chances to start or enhance a relationship.

Web Elements Working Together - An Example

Say you are going to run a webinar. You may send an invitation by email (a top way to generate attendance at webinars), directing buyers to register for the event on your website. During the registration process, you can ask them to sign up for your newsletter, allowing you to add them to ongoing marketing communications. And, on the confirmation page, you can direct them to blog posts, case studies, or podcasts on related topics to the event, further engaging them with your brand and thought-leading content.

Pull People to You

You can go a step further and share information about the webinar and the related content items via social media such as Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn. Doing this allows you to reach your followers and fans, some of whom may not be on your email list, as well as enhancing your Web presence. As more people use the Web to find services, you want to make sure you have compelling content that is findable in search engines and draws people to you.

Buyers may not indicate elements such as blog posts, podcasts, and video as being the most important features of a website, but leveraging content can really help your product or service stand out in a crowded market space.

What type of content do you have available on your website?

• Considering that social media is at a very early stage in its life cycle, a 7% confidence rating that it is producing measurable ROI and should be funded liberally is outstanding.

• Conservative budget increases by almost half of all marketers surveyed -- based on the promise that social media will eventually produce ROI -- is another vote of confidence for this marketing channel in the longer term.

• The 17% of organizations who still believe social media marketing is basically free and should stay that way, are destined to get what they pay for.

Not surprisingly, those who have reached the strategic phase of social marketing maturity are far more likely to be producing measurable ROI or at least seeing signs of a return on their investment on the horizon.

On the other hand, marketers in the trial phase of social marketing maturity are more than four times as likely to not recognize the value this tactic has for organizations willing to invest appropriate time and resources.
 

Gartner Research predicts marketing with technology for 2010 in a new research report. Here's our future according to Gartner:

• By 2012, Facebook will lead the pack in developing the distributed, interoperable social Web through Facebook Connect and similar mechanisms. The interoperability will be critical to survival of other social networks.
• Other social networks (including Twitter) will continue to develop with focus on greater adoption and specialization. However, they will all revolve around Facebook.
• Online marketing by 2015 will control more than $250 billion in Internet marketing spending worldwide.
• By 2013, mobile phones will replace PCs as the most common device for Web access.
• By 2014, mobile and Internet technology will help over 3 billion of the world's adults to electronically transact. Emerging economies will see increase in mobile and Internet adoption through 2014. Worldwide mobile penetration rate will get to 90%..
• By 2012, 20% percent of businesses will have no ownership of IT assets. Fueled by technological developments in 2009, such as virtualization and cloud computing, there's a movement toward decreased IT hardware assets and more ownership of hardware by third parties.
• By 2012, India-based IT companies will represent 20% of cloud service providers in the market. Gartner attributes this to companies leveraging their market positions and R&D efforts in cloud computing, resulting in cloud-enabled outsourcing options.
• In 2012, 60% of a new PCs total life greenhouse gas emissions will have occurred before the user first turns it on. In its lifetime, a typical PC consumes 10 times its own weight in fossil fuels, but around 80% of a PC's total energy usage occurs during production and transportation. Buyers will be paying more attention to Eco labels .

You can listen to a free podcast about the report with Gartner Chief of Research Daryl Plummer, including the key findings within the Gartner Predicts 2010 special report. Download: MP3 11:49 minutes, 5.4MB.  Skip over the BS to the 9:00-minute mark to hear the action items he recommends.

You may view summaries of  "Gartner's Top Predictions for IT Organizations and Users, 2010 and Beyond: A New Balance" here.  Purchase cost is $995.

Baby Boomers are spending more time on the Internet than ever, according to new CPH Research on behalf of Continuum Crew. This is one of several insights on the emergence of the new 'social media maven' among Baby Boomers, and indicates that social media has significantly carved out time generally reserved for traditional media.

Baby Boomers are defined as the generation born between 1946 and 1964, according to the U.S. Census Bureau. Generation Jones, coined by television director Jonathan Pontell, is commonly considered to be those born between 1954 and 1964, representing the younger segment of Boomers. Generation Ike (Ikes) are those born between 1934 and 1945.

Top findings on media consumption are:

• Among all media services listed, Boomers were least willing to give up the Internet, versus the top response of the 2008 survey, their cell phone. The survey shows they now spend more time than ever online (a rapid increase in one year from 38% to 62% stating they now spend more time online.
• The majority of Ikes and Boomers have joined the popular social networking site Facebook© within the last 6 months.
• Boomers are becoming more aware that national and local news, magazines, and to some extent television and movies, are available to them via the Internet, indicating an increasing preference to access content this way. These responses illustrate a seismic shift among older adults, says the report, experimenting in the social media arena.

In the course of the study, says the report, a significant segment emerged within the Boomer group, dubbed the new "Social Media Maven." The profile of this group is one that is heavily connected, exploring and expanding their networks.

"With more time being spent online, and the emergence of the new Social Media Mavens among Boomers, this is further confirmation for companies targeting the mature consumer that online media should be at the core of an integrated marketing campaign," said Lori Bitter, President, Continuum Crew.

These Social Media Mavens have more frequent contact with individuals across all types of groups within their social network, not just family or neighbors, but issue-oriented groups and co-workers as well:

• 73% responded ‘People often come to me for advice.'
• Not merely amassing ‘friends' or ‘connections' they are communicating regularly.
• They also have more face-to-face contact and use smart phones more than other Boomers or Generation Jones respondents (78% responded ‘New technology plays an important role in my life')
• They are equally likely to be male as female, which defies the stereotypical female! profile of the voracious social media consumer
• Of this Social Media Maven group the majority are still working, more likely than the other segments to own their own business, most likely to engage in volunteer activity and to have the highest household income
• Social Media Mavens are more likely to try new products, technologies and seek new experiences. They are recommenders who embrace the role of technology in their connected lives.

Catch John Remsen and me presenting "PR Strategies on a Shoe String Budget" on BlogTalk Radio.

Listen in as your host Kevin Chern of TotalAttorneys presents a follow-up to our presentation at the 2009 Get a Life Conference, "Powerful PR Strategies on a Shoe String Budget: Tips from the Trenches for Solos and Smaller Law Firms." Listen in for answers to your questions on how to work with the media to build and enhance your reputation as a leading attorney and how to attract desirable clients.

We cover in detail:

• Do you need to retain a professional PR firm?
• How to pitch a story to a news reporter.
• Putting a local spin on your legal news story.
• Becoming an indispensable resource for the reporter.
• When to get in touch with bloggers to spread your story online.
• Pitching the right audience.
• Questions to ask reporters when you meet them in person.
• Where to get the most bang for your buck with the media.
• Using blogs, online social networks and Twitter.
• Join a group on LinkedIn, listing yourself in Google Local.
• Getting active speaking to community groups.
• When publishing an article, find the publication that wants it before you write it.
• Start distributing an e-newsletter with a $15/month distribution service.
• How to develop content for your electronic newsletter.
• Writing for the short-attention-span generation.
• Benefits of a web seminar for $0 to $200 -- presenting your slides on the Web. How to get potential clients to attend.
• Setting up a BlogTalk radio program and broadcasting on the web.
• Finding consumer clients with a Facebook account.
• Joining a group that will help build your practice.

And way more.  Visit http://bit.ly/amPfHn 

Anita Campbell, the Founder of Small Business Trends, an online community of small business owners, polled some of her business owner contacts to see how they would answer the following question: 

“What is the number one thing you can do to be more profitable in 2010?” Ten business owners gave their answers:

Meet the Client’s Pain Points – says Jonathan Fields, Author of “Career Renegade”

“The pain points for a lot of markets have moved in a substantial way in 2009. Problems have changed, needs have evolved. Look back, ask how the points of maximum pain have moved for the market you serve. Then adapt your solutions to better serve those new points in 2010.”

Hire a Cost Containment Firm – says Gene Marks, Author of the “Streetwise Small Business Book of Lists”

“Consider hiring a cost containment firm. My clients have used Alliance Cost before but just use Google to search "cost containment solutions" and you'll find plenty of others. These firms will analyze what your spending and suggest ways to reduce your overhead. They'll renegotiate supplier contracts or (with your permission) replace your suppliers with their lower cost suppliers. Most of these firms take a cut, sometimes up to 50%, of the first year's savings and then leave the rest of the future savings to you. I've seen companies cut their overhead by as much as 10-20% using these companies. Be careful though - they'll turn your place upside down looking at invoices and talking (with your permission) to your suppliers."

There are six "judicial hellholes," five jurisdictions on the "watch list," four "dishonorable mentions" and 16 lawyers in the "rogue's gallery" in the list of plaintiff-friendly jurisdictions named by the American Tort Reform Foundation (ATRA). "Judicial Hellholes are places where judges systematically apply laws and court procedures in an unfair and unbalanced manner, generally against defendants in civil lawsuits," the organization's new 64-page report says.

Viewed another way, the jurisdictions are marketing opportunities for plaintiff lawyers battling big corporations. “West Virginia was a ‘field of dreams’ for plaintiffs’ lawyers. We built it and they came,” the report quotes West Virginia Judge Arthur Recht as saying. It also quotes Mississippi trial lawyer Richard “Dickie” Scruggs describing them as "magic jurisdictions." 

ATRA is a pro-business organization that is supported by major industries and Fortune 500 companies. It is a "business-led effort to take away consumers' legal rights," which attacks judges and juries, according to the Center for Justice and Democracy (CJD). "ATRA’s unscientific report attacks a number of poor communities in the United States" using "no actual or scientific data" a CJD statement says.

Conversely, defense lawyers can make it a marketing distinction that they've kept clients out of these jurisdictions.  Making the argument that justice can be controlled by location, the report also lists defense-oriented "points of light." Corporate defendants are favored in these jurisdictions by getting additional appeals (Maryland and West Virginia, which is hellhole #2), reduced verdicts (New Jersey, which is hellhole #4), rejecting emotional harm damages (Vermont and California), adding burdens to cases for asbestosis victims (U.S. Supreme Court), and raising hurdles for the admission of expert testimony (Arizona).

The "ATRA Gold Medal" went to Oklahoma, for enacting tort reform by reducing appeals bonds for defendants, requiring experts to file a "certificate of merit for professional negligence," limiting class actions, limiting joint and several liability, limiting noneconomic damages, exempting fast-food outlets from obesity cases, and lowering and delaying prejudgment interest. 

For the complete law firm marketing angle, visit the LawMarketing Portal at http://bit.ly/bQA6L2.

You can't get it yet, but when Lexis for Microsoft Office (LMO) comes out by June 2010, there will be no extra charge for the additional functionality.  You have to have a LexisNexis subscription that lets you access the information LMO can get, but otherwise the company will waive the cost on the first iteration, according to Clemens Ceipek, Vice President and Managing Director of "New Lexis."

"We don’t think the market right now tolerates a lot of price action, customers want more value," he said, noting that clients are demanding more value and no price increases from lawyers. 

Simply having LMO will give law firms a marketing point of distinction, because they will be able to say that they can be more efficient and work more quickly.  "Corporate clients are saying 'how can I get my law firm to use this?'" Ceipek said.

Key features of the new software allows lawyers to work in Word or Outlook and:

• Search - get one-click access to LexisNexis, and separately, the Web and a lawyer's own internal document-sharing system. "We've integrated Bing, Google search and Lexis Web search. We’re trying to make it as easy to find the relevant stuff."
• Get Background Information - by clicking on hyperlinks the software creates for people, companies, organizations and cases.  Clicking on a case citation will Shepardize it. "When you get a document from opposing counsel, you can instantly see if there is any bad law cited in the case.  If you click on link. a window opens on the right - but you’re still within Word - and you'll get a whole Shepard’s report. You don’t have to switch programs, don’t have to cut and paste," Ceipek said.
• Get a Suggestion -- "Let's say you're writing a brief.  You just type out in Word what it’s about and click 'suggest,' and a window on the right and analyze the text you typed in and give you relevant example documents that accomplish what you’re trying to do."

Lexis began surveying lawyers about the difficulties they had in creating documents -- such as cutting and pasting, running searches and switching between programs.  Microsoft's formidable program writers did the development work in 18 months.

"The reaction has been phenomenal," he said.  "I've been in development sessions myself, and we ask the lawyers "on a scale of zero to 10 how likely are you to recommend this to your firm or client?"  We get 8 to 10s. Hundreds of lawyers have tried it. It’s so easy, so intuitive. What impresses people is how simple it is," he said.

Click Continue Reading below to see screen shots of the new software.
 

"I find it’s always interesting to go back and review the old against the new. So, I’ve collected as much as I can from my previous insane snippets of data and benchmarked it against the here and now, alongside rooting out some new stuff for you to mull over," said Jake Hird, a Senior Research Analyst for Econsultancy, which recently published following mind-boggling statistics on their blog.

• Facebook claims that 50% of active users log into the site each day. This would mean at least 175m users every 24 hours.
• Twitter now has 75m user accounts, but only around 15m are active users on a regular basis.
• LinkedIn has over 50m members worldwide..
• Facebook currently has in excess of 350 million active users on global basis. Six months ago, this was 250m…This means over 40% growth in less than 6 months.
• Flickr now hosts more than 4 billion images.
• More than 35m Facebook users update their status each day. 
• Wikipedia currently has in excess of 14m articles, meaning that its 85,000 contributors have written nearly a million new posts in six months.
• Photo uploads to Facebook have increased by more than 100%. Currently, there are around 2.5bn uploads to the site each month.
• Back in 2009, the average user had 120 friends within Facebook. This is now around 130.
• Mobile is even bigger than before for Facebook, with more than 65m users accessing the site through mobile-based devices. In six months, this is over 100% increase.
• There are more than 3.5bn pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, etc.) shared each week on Facebook.
• There are now 11m LinkedIn users across Europe.
• Towards the end of last year, the average number of tweets per day was over 27.3 million.
• The average number of tweets per hour was around 1.3m.
• 15% of bloggers spend 10 or more hours each week blogging, according to Technorati’s new State of the Blogosphere.
• At the current rate, Twitter will process almost 10 billion tweets in a single year.
• About 70% of Facebook users are outside the USA.
• India is currently the fastest-growing country to use LinkedIn, with around 3m total users.
• More than 250 Facebook applications have over a million combined users each month.
• 70% of bloggers are organically talking about brands on their blog.
• 38% of bloggers post brand or product reviews.
• More than 80,000 websites have implemented Facebook Connect since December 2008 and more than 60m Facebook users engage with it across these external sites each month.

Think how the statistics will change in next 2-3 years! We will literally be living our lives online rather than offline (just as teenagers do today).