Social media: just a fad or are they here to stay? Watch the presentation and you will soon discover how deep is Facebook, YouTube, LinkedIn, Twitter, and other social networks, attached to our personal and professional lives. They are here to stay, for good!

1. Social media: a simple fad or are they here to stay? Created by the Forecasting Net www.forecastingnet.com Follow us on LinkedIn: Forecasting Net Group Like us on Facebook: Forecasting Net page

2. Some common observations! However, everyone seems to talk about them … The Social media frenzy that started just before a few years, is still growing rapidly today 1 Some like them or even adore them, where others hate them 2

3. So, we ask our selves the simple question: … is the Social media frenzy a simple fad or are we already in too deep to escape?

4. Let’s do the following: Let’s start “counting”… * Per month searches (12 month average), retrieved by the Google Keyword Tool, included in Google AdWords, Data retrieved on May 11 th 2011 First, we will count the number of worldwide Google searches per month , for certain keywords, by using Google Adwords* 1 Then, we will compare Social Media related searches with other popular searches 2

5. First, let’s see how a movie star scores * Photo retrieved from Wikipedia commons (http://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/User:Tabercil), licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution-Share Alike 2.0 Generic license. 2.2 million searches per month Keyword: “Natalie Portman” Natalie Portman Oscar winning actress

6. then, how a President scores * Photo retrieved from http://www.edupics.com, licensed under the Creative Commons Attribution ShareAlike 2.0 License 11.1 million searches per month Keyword: “Obama” Barack Obama President of U.S.A.

7. now, let’s see an IT “giant”, Microsoft 68 million searches per month Keyword: “Microsoft”

8. … and, a dream gadget! 124 million searches per month Keyword: “iPhone”

9. How about Google itself? 506 million searches per month! Keyword: “Google”

10. So, far so good ! 699 million searches per month for all the keywords we tested, combined (Natalie Portman, Obama, Microsoft, iPhone, Google) Let’s find out… … can Social media outperform such a great performance?

11. Well, let’s see how YouTube performs Oops!!! It seems that the World’s largest video sharing network takes down “single handed” movie stars, politicians, and IT giants, combined 923 million searches per month! Keyword: “YouTube”

12. … and what about the World’s largest social media network, Facebook? Incredible! Facebook, has more searches per month than everything we tested so far … 2.5 billion searches per month! Keyword: “Facebook”

13. What about all the most popular Social media networks combined? That’s the true power of Social Media! 3.6 billion searches per month! Keywords: Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, MySpace, LinkedIn

14. Still have any doubts about Social Media?

15. Think no more

16. They are already in too deep in our personal & professional lives

17. … and they are here to stay!

18. Social media are here to stay! Created by the Forecasting Net www.forecastingnet.com Follow us on LinkedIn: Forecasting Net Group Like us on Facebook: Forecasting Net page