Today, The Atlantic posted some beautiful visualizations of Twitter and Flickr usage around the world.  The images were originally created by Eric Fischer and posted to his Flickr page. The blue dots in the images below represent Twitter and the red are Flickr.  In addition to the pure beauty of these images, there are also some interesting conclusions that can be drawn from them.

Here's the image of the US, followed by some thoughts:

First, I think they serve as a great reminder that the growth that is still available in these channels.  There are vast dark spaces in the US and especially in the world where no one is connected to either service.  I don't think everyone in the world should be tweeting, but it is pretty eye opening that there are pretty wide chasms in usage around the country.

Next, it's a great demonstration of how networks have natural fits.  Flickr is more widely used in places in the west where there are beautiful mountains and scenic trails to hike than it is in my home state of Ohio.  On the world scale, you see Japan brightly lit up in blue due to that nation's deep connection to technology and also likely due to the importance of Twitter being validated to the Japanese during the terrible earthquake and tsunami in March.

Finally, the images really show the connecting between use of new technology and infrastructure.  The networks are the most widely used in areas where there is robust technical infrastructure, typically places like cities.  Just reaffirms the importance infrastructure and cities will play in connecting the whole world.  

Enough talk, enjoy the images.

It has been awhile since I last posted and I hate for the first post of the new year to be short and self-serving, but I wanted to quickly point out an article that features my company, New Media Campaigns, and quotes from me.  The article appeared a couple weeks ago in Nebraska’s Lincoln Journal Star and is about local candidates embracing online campaigning and social media.

The article used my perspective in comparison with the actions and thoughts of actual candidates.  The gist of what I told the reporter,  JoAnne Young, is that essentially every campaign now understands that they need to use social networks, but the real difference is how they are using them.  The line isn’t whether or not your Tweeting or on Facebook, it’s whether or not you’re using those tools to engage, energize, and educate voters.

It was an honor to be used as an “expert” in the article.  I spend a lot of time thinking and writing about these issues, so I was more than happy to speak with JoAnne.  Perhaps the coolest thing about getting featured is the fact that NMC doesn’t employ a PR Agency and we didn’t contact the Star.  They found us through content we’d created on our blog, called us up for our perspective, and then featured us.

It was nice to know that we didn’t need to pay a big agency to get some exposure and that the reporter was really scouring the Web for the best content out there.  Todd Defren actually supported this theory today by sharing the GWU social media and journalism study that 89% of journalists now turn to blogs for research for stories!  Just reinforces the idea of inbound marketing and creating quality content — both to get found by leads and by influencers, such as media.

Anyway, hope you enjoy the article and thanks again to the Lincoln Journal and JoAnne Young for shedding light on such an interesting topic and for featuring NMC!