Posted by: Carlee Vellinga

Young Internet users may believe that their parents do not have a place on Facebook or Twitter, but studies show that older adults have a different view. A new article shows that the number of social media users over the age of 55 has increased rapidly in the past year. Read this article by Samuel Axon at mashable.com to see the statistics.

Older Adults Nearly Double Social Media Presence

A new study from Pew Internet found that between April 2009 and May 2010, social networking site usage grew 88% among Internet users aged 55-64, and the 65 and older group’s social networking presence grew 100% in the same time frame.

Young people still dominate social networks like Facebook, but their usage only grew 13% during the year covered by Pew’s report. Older adults are catching up at an incredibly quick pace, though it remains to be seen whether they will pass the youth or hit a ceiling at or below the usage levels reported by young adults and teens.

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Posted by: Carlee Vellinga

As culture changes, the English language evolves as well. A list of words that will be added to the Oxford Dictionary of English was recently released. One of these words is social media. The recognition of social media as an official word shows the influence that social media has. Read this article from buzz.yahoo.com about the new additions to the dictionary.

New Words for the Dictionary

by Mike Krumboltz
Aug 20, 2010

The English language is always evolving. There was a time when words like email, x-ray, and d’oh were nowhere to be found in the dictionary. Today, we add a few more new words to the tome.

The bookworms behind the Oxford Dictionary of English recently released a list of 2,000 or so new words that will be added to their next edition. Some of the new words include staycation, social media, and the groan-inducing chillax.

Perhaps the most high-profile word to be added to the dictionary this year is vuvuzela. For those who slept through the World Cup, a vuvuzela is the one-note plastic horn that creates a horrendously annoying sound. That’s our definition. The official one, via the Oxford Dictionary of English, is a bit more balanced: “A long plastic instrument, in the shape of a trumpet, which makes a very loud noise when you blow it and is popular with football fans in South Africa.”

Some other popular additions include frenemy (“a person with whom one is friendly despite a fundamental dislike or rivalry”), cheeseball (“lacking taste, style or originality”), and wardrobe malfunction (“an instance of a person accidentally exposing an intimate part of their body as result of an article of clothing slipping out of position.”)

Frankly, we’re amazed it took so long for that last term to make it into the dictionary. Thanks to Janet Jackson, Paris Hilton, and other Hollywood stars, it’s been part of the public discourse for years.

Watch this video regarding the humanitarian effort the social media industry has put into the world and the history of Jennings Social Media Marketing.

Social media has changed the world dramatically. We are seeing more and more charitable actions carried out by social media channels. For example, Twestival is the largest global grassroots social media fundraising initiative to date, raising over $1.2 million within 14 months for 137 nonprofits. Under disastrous circumstances, like the BP oil spill, Tumblr promoted awareness and raised funds by offering a new background color. When earthquakes devastated Haiti and Chile, Google Earth launched special search engines to help families find their loved ones.

Valerie Jennings, the founder and CEO of Jennings Social Media Marketing started the company in 2003. Coinciding with the US social and economic conditions, Jennings has been through the unstable post-9/11 period, inflation, recession as well as natural disasters. As a small business, Jennings not only survived, but thrived during the past 7 years. All of these made us reconsider our values and beliefs. Why are we here, what do our families mean to us and what are our life purposes?

Jennings Social Media Marketing is a full service company that utilizes the art of online storytelling with the science of measuring quantifiable results. Jennings creates comprehensive social media marketing and web advertising strategies from website design and development to viral videos. The company represents publicly traded to medium-sized businesses across the U.S. and overseas including technology, sports, sustainability, entertainment, travel, financial, health care and real estate.

Follow Valerie Jennings on Twitter @ValerieJennings

Like Jennings Social Media Marketing on Facebook here

Posted by: Micah Pratt

What do you use your smart phone for most? Is it to find the nearest bakery, or get directions to the airport, or is it to check the latest scores of the Royals vs. Angeles game while at work? Whatever it is you use your phone for the fact is life is made a lot easier with it. Here is an article from mashable.com about the top five mobile commerce trends in 2010.

Top 5 Mobile Commerce Trends for 2010

The mobile trends series is supported by Samsung. Read more about the Samsung Galaxy here.

Considering that most people would rather lose their wallet than misplace their cell phone, it’s fitting that the mobile world is quickly becoming a new hub for business. For many of us, our cell phone never leaves our side. It holds a place at the dinner table, is easily accessible in your bag’s front pocket, and often, somehow it even manages to end up sharing your pillow at night. Busy schedules mean people are often on the move and when marketers and companies can’t reach consumers at their computers, on TV, before the previews at the movies, with billboards, or magazine and newspaper ads, they must feel assured that they can still reach them on their cell phones.

Mobile commerce, or m-commerce, is simply the ability to conduct business transactions through a mobile device. With smartphone sales rising 49% in the first quarter of 2010, never before has it been so easy to shop, anywhere, anytime from the palm of your hand. There is an enormous amount of ongoing market research, and though there has been a variety of numbers estimated and reported, they all conclude that mobile commerce is a profitable and rapidly growing market.

By 2015, it’s estimated that shoppers from around the world will spend about $119 billion on goods and services bought via their mobile phones, according to a study by ABI Research released this past February. In the United States alone, mobile shopping rose from $396 million in 2008 to $1.2 billion in 2009, and mobile campaign spending also increased by 25 to 30% over the past year, with companies shelling out just under $313 million according to the same study. Senior Analyst Mark Beccue, said that he’s forecasting U.S. sales to reach about $2.2 billion in 2010.

Here are five mobile commerce trends to keep an eye on for the remainder of 2010.

1. Bargain Hunting

It would seem that mobile purchasing often lends itself to an impulse buy. Maybe you just have to suddenly download that song from the iTunes Store or really want to make sure you have tickets to that hot concert. In this case, it’s the savvy shopper that has taken note of mobile commerce. Beccue said that in the fourth quarter of 2009, he started to notice something unexpected and a bit “weird.”

Bargain hunting has become extremely popular with apps like RedLaser that allow users to scan product bar codes and discover it’s various prices at different retailers. Shoppers are melding the two worlds of online/mobile shopping with actual physical shopping to make sure they get the best prices.

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