Measuring Social Media Effectively

Measuring Social Media Effectively

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In Feb this year The Economist ran a fascinating article that discussed that even online the cognitive power of the brain limits the size of the social network. So while we may have a myriad of friends online we can only keep track of a certain number - mirroring real life.

Robin Dunbar, an anthropologist ago said that the size of the human brain allows stable networks of about 150 – what is referred to as the famous “Dunbar Number”. Over the years however this number has been revised and disputed by a range of anthropologists.

The Economist asked Cameron Marlow, the “in-house sociologist”Dr Marlow at Facebook, to crunch some numbers to see what the reality was online. These were the findings:

• The average number of “friends” in a Facebook network is 120, consistent —women tend to have somewhat more than men.
• The range is large, and some people have networks numbering more than 500, so the hypothesis cannot yet be regarded as proven.
• The number of people on an individual’s friend list with whom he (or she) frequently interacts is remarkably small and stable. The more “active” or intimate the interaction, the smaller and more stable the group.
• An average man—one with 120 friends—generally responds to the postings of only seven of those friends by leaving comments on the posting individual’s photos, status messages or “wall”.
• An average woman is slightly more sociable, responding to ten.
• When it comes to two-way communication such as e-mails or chats, the average man interacts with only four people and the average woman with six.
• Among those Facebook users with 500 friends, these numbers are somewhat higher, but not hugely so. Men leave comments for 17 friends, women for 26.
• Men communicate with ten, women with 16.

Lee Rainie, the director of the Pew Internet & American Life Project:Put differently, people who are members of online social networks are not so much “networking” as they are “broadcasting their lives to an outer tier of acquaintances who aren’t necessarily inside the Dunbar circle, Humans may be advertising themselves more efficiently. But they still have the same small circles of intimacy as ever.”

Looking at my own online connections I can see that I have about 7,000 people on Twitter @rainbowusa and Facebook 600 http://facebook.com/rainbowusa that I regularly dm and chat with - the others are semi regular contacts.

While the findings above are not new it reinforces that unless we are adding value to the online relationship and making an impact we are simply broadcasting messages - which may be as relevant and useful in the long run as a 30 sec TVC.

Do you think the Dunbar number still holds true? are we seeing any differences in this as Twitter develops and new applications make it easier for us to contact friends more efficiently?

Listen to my news Podcast http://RonMills.us/news
Visit My Social Media Blog http://ronmills.us/
Visit me on twitter http://Twitter.com/RainbowUSA
Visit Me On Face Book http://RonMills.us/facebook
My Biz on Twitter http://Twitter.com/theRbuzz

Five tips to help your social media strategy work better

If you are like most people with a computer these days, you have developed a strong love-hate relationship with social media.

Even if you aren’t sure on the details, you are convinced social media plays a valuable role in making your brand and business relevant to your target market. You have a Twitter account, and a Facebook profile, and maybe you’ve started your very own blog. You are exploring social bookmarking sites such as Digg, Stumbleupon and De.Li.cio.us. Now what?

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