I've recently fallen in love with Skift, a "travel intelligence media company that offers news, information, data, tools and services to professionals in the travel industry and professional travelers to help them make smart decisions about travel."

After MPIWeb.org (of course), it's my go-to source for travel news. And while if focuses more on hospitality and consumer travel, I do think meeting professionals can find valuable information on the site. 

One valuable section is SkiftSocial, a data dashboard for travel industry brands. 

"Virtually every brand—from airline giants to small city tourism bureaus—is now living in a social media-driven world and has built up strategies for it," wrote Jason Clampet, SkiftSocial co-founder and head of content. "But how effective are they? SkiftSocial is a window that allows the travel industry to discover the latest patterns and trends, and gain insight into how companies project themselves in the new social-driven world.

"With SkiftSocial, readers can compare the Twitter and Facebook efforts made by airports, destinations, media brands, lodging brands, airlines, digital brands, cruise lines, and railways," he continued. "You can see who’s tweeting the most, which airlines are engaging customers the best, or which media brand knows a thing or two about Facebook."

For example, when you select Wynn Las Vegas, you see that the hotel has sent 70 tweets in the last 14 days, 20 Facebook posts in the last two weeks, and that it takes about eight hours for Wynn Las Vegas to reply to a post on Facebook (at the time of this blog entry). You can also view recent Twitter and Facebook conversations and highly liked tweets and posts.  

Compare Wynn's social media data to another Las Vegas property, Mandalay Bay (home of WEC 2013!). It has 51 tweets in the last 14 days, 17 Facebook posts in the last two weeks, and it takes about one hour to reply to a post on Facebook.   

This type of information is exciting, because it lets people know which companies have their stuff together when it comes to social media and can help you identify industry trends. Also, if I was planning a meeting or event, I'd want to work with the companies that understand and implement social media well. 

Let's hear from you. How would you use this data? What's important about it to you? Please let us know in the comments. 

I've been a huge fan and user of Instagram ever since it became available on Android phones. Today, though, my fanboy status comes to a halt. 

In an effort to monetize the product, Facebook—which owns Instagram—said today it "claims the perpetual right to license all public Instagram photos to companies or any other organization, including for advertising purposes, which would effectively transform the Web site into the world's largest stock photo agency," as reported by Declan McCullagh for CNET.

What does that mean for you as a meeting professional? McCullagh offers a great example.

"That means that a hotel in Hawaii, for instance, could write a check to Facebook to license photos taken at its resort and use them on its Web site, in TV ads, in glossy brochures, and so on—without paying any money to the Instagram user who took the photo," he reported.

That may be great economically for a property, but what about the individual? If I found out a hotel was using my photos without my permission and making money off of them—even after I paid for room and board!—I'd boycott that place till my dying day. I suspect I wouldn't be the only one. 

The backlash today is growing by the hour, so I suspect Instagram/Facebook to reel the policy in a bit. But if they—and any business that plans on making money behind the backs of their customers—want to remain viable, they should do away with the policy completely. I understand some services can't remain free forever. But these same services shouldn't bait and switch their customers without facing the consequences. 

Do you use Instagram? Do you plan to stop using it? What are your thoughts?   

I bet it makes you feel good when people like your posts on Facebook. I know it makes me feel good when my status updates are liked. (And it makes us editors feel good when you *cough* become a fan of our magazine's Facebook page *cough*.)

It's no surprise then that according to the research published online this month by the journal Computers in Human Behavior, the 526 million people who log on to Facebook every day may be boosting their self-esteem in the process.

"Despite the name ‘social networks,' much user activity on networking sites is self-focused," said Brittany Gentile, a University of Georgia doctoral candidate who looked at the effects of social networks on self-esteem and narcissism.

Gentile, along with University of Georgia psychology professor Keith Campbell and San Diego State University professor Jean Twenge, asked college students to either edit their social networking page on MySpace or Facebook or to use Google Maps. Those who edited their MySpace page later scored higher on a measure of narcissism, while those who spent time on their Facebook page scored higher on self-esteem.

"Editing yourself and constructing yourself on these social networking sites, even for a short period of time, seems to have an effect on how you see yourself," said Campbell, who heads the department of psychology in the University of Georgia Franklin College of Arts and Sciences and co-authored the book The Narcissism Epidemic: Living in the Age of Entitlement. "They are feeling better about themselves in both cases. But in one they are tapping into narcissism and in the other into self-esteem."

MySpace reported 25 million users as of June 2012. MySpace users participated in the experiment in 2008, when the site had 115 million active users. Facebook users participated in 2011. On both MySpace and Facebook, students scoring higher in narcissism reported having more friends on the site.

A total of 151 students, ages 18-22, completed the Narcissistic Personality Inventory (NPI) as a part of the study.

"The NPI measures trait narcissism, which is a stable personality trait," Gentile said. "But spending 15 minutes editing a MySpace page and writing about its meaning was enough to alter self-reports of this trait, suggesting that social networking sites may be a significant influence on the development of personality and identity."

The differences in site format may be one reason why MySpace led to higher narcissism whereas Facebook merely produced higher self-esteem.

"The two sites operate differently," Gentile said. "On MySpace, you don't really interact with other people. The pages resemble personal Web pages, and a lot of people have become famous on MySpace, whereas Facebook has a standard profile and a company message that sharing will improve the world."

Several previous studies found increases over the generations in both self-esteem and narcissism. These new experiments suggest the increasing popularity of social networking sites may play a role in those trends.

"Social networking sites are a product and a cause of a society that is self-absorbed," Campbell said. "Narcissism and self-esteem began to rise in the 1980s. Because Facebook came on the scene only seven years ago, it wasn't the original cause of the increases. It may be just another enforcer."

Social networking should not be seen as an answer to building self-esteem, he says, but the fact that people may get a jolt when logging on doesn't mean they should stop either.

"Ideally, you get self-esteem from having strong relationships and achieving goals that are reasonable and age-appropriate," Campbell said. "Ideally, self-esteem is not something you should take a short cut to find. It is a consequence of a good life, not something you chase."

(Story materials provided by the University of Georgia/April Reese Sorrow.)

Well...not really.

But a company is now working with the social media giant so that business cards can be created easily from content directly from user profiles.

I'm still waiting on the promise of this post's title: touchscreen mini/micro tablet business cards. It's novel to keep business cards in a future where everyone has digital mobile devices more powerful than spaceships of yore. But if the cards enabled immediate voice/video/web contact with a single user...I think that would interest and be of use for all generations.

Until that awesome future, consider these "Facebook business cards" from Moo.com/Printfinity.

Following up on my post last week about an event marketing experience that I found to violate the integrity of the social media experience...I discovered this interesting article, "Why Facebook's Seamless Sharing is Wrong." Apparently "seamless sharing" is the culprit of the components for which I was perturbed. And I'm not the only voice to speak out about the negative direction this function is taking social media interaction. From ReadWriteWeb:

Facebook recently instituted a new program that makes it easy for 3rd party websites and services to automatically post links about your activity elsewhere back into Facebook and the newsfeeds of your friends. It's called Seamless Sharing (a.k.a. frictionless sharing) and there's a big backlash growing about it, reminiscent of the best-known time Facebook tried to do something like this with a program called Beacon. The company has done things like this time and time again.

It appears that a Facebook page breeds confidence in a company's brand. According to a Polaris Marketing Research Inc. study of U.S. consumer usage of company Facebook pages, 25 percent of Internet users agree “strongly” with the statement, “If a company has a Facebook page, it means they are interested in what customers have to say.” Another 51 percent agreed “somewhat” with this statement.

When asked how much they agreed with the statement “If a company has a Facebook page, I tend to think more highly of their products or services,” 9 percent of online Americans agreed “strongly” and another 33 percent agree “somewhat.”

“Not only is Facebook a valuable tool for gaining feedback, it appears that simply having a Facebook page can enhance consumers’ perceptions of a company’s brand.” said Polaris President Jan Carlson.

This finding, though, did not vary strongly across demographics. Only males and older respondents (50 years plus) were less likely to agree with the statement “If a company has a Facebook page, it means they are more interested in what customers have to say.” The statement “If a company has a Facebook page, I tend to think more highly of their products and services” showed no variation by respondent demographics.

Fully 53 percent of online Americans claim to have “liked” a company’s Facebook page in the past 60 days. Conversely, only 15 percent of online Americans indicate that they have “unliked” a company’s Facebook page in the past 60 days.

“Facebook is an important marketing tool for businesses," Carlson said. "In our survey, in addition to liking companies’ Facebook pages, 25 percent of online Americans had posted a comment to a company’s Facebook page, indicating that Facebook is a valuable source of consumer feedback as well."

Company Facebook page activity also varied by demographics: 

• Female respondents were significantly more likely to “like,” “unlike” and comment on a company Facebook page than their male respondent counterparts.
• Respondents under the age of 35 were significantly more likely to give feedback to companies via their Facebook pages.
• Income and ethnicity are not related to a respondents likelihood to “like,” “unlike” or comment on a company’s Facebook page.
• Respondents in the Western U.S. were least likely to “like,” “unlike” or comment on a company’s Facebook page.

Polaris conducted online surveys with a representative sample of 1,000 U.S. consumers during the week of July 18, 2011.

According to a Regus survey, 43 percent of firms are successfully using social networking to win new customers, up eight percentage points from last year’s survey.

The research also reveals more firms are using social media to engage with existing customers than a year ago, with the following highlights:

• 50 percent of businesses in the U.S. use websites such as Twitter to engage, connect with and inform existing customers.
• In the U.S., 55 percent of firms encourage their employees to join social networks such as Linkedin and Xing.
• 38 percent of U.S. companies dedicate up to 20 percent of their marketing budget to business social networking activity.
• Globally, the survey reported a seven percent increase in the proportion of businesses successfully recruiting new customers through social networks such as Facebook.

Social networking has fully evolved from a nice-to-have to a necessity as the majority of businesses in the U.S. (69 percent) and internationally (74 percent) agree that social media activity is playing a bigger role in their marketing strategy. U.S. (64 percent) and global firms (61 percent) are also emphasizing the need for a balance of marketing media, confirming their belief that without a combination of traditional and digital techniques, marketing campaigns will not work.

The global Regus survey findings are based on the responses of more than 17,000 managers and business owners across 80 countries.

“As businesses emerge from the downturn, they are increasingly reconsidering pre-recession working practices and opting for more flexible, competitive strategies," said Sande Golgart, regional vice president for Regus. "From supply chain management to leaner working practices to cloud computing to increased use of video communications and mobile working—no area of business is being overlooked. Particularly in the U.S. where MerchantCircle reports that more than 70 percent of small businesses are promoting their business on Facebook, more and more companies are leveraging this channel to increase the loyalty of existing customers, and as a successful acquisition tool.”

New survey findings show that use of social networking sites is growing and that those who use these sites, especially Facebook users, have higher measures of social well-being.

In a national phone survey of 2,255 U.S.adults last fall, the Pew Research Center’s Internet & American Life Project found that:

• Facebook users are more trusting than others. Controlling for other factors, the research found that a Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day is 43 percent more likely than other Internet users and more than three times as likely as non-Internet users to feel that most people can be trusted.
• Facebook users have more close relationships. Controlling for other factors, the research found that someone who uses Facebook several times per day averages 9 percent more close, core ties in their overall social network compared with other Internet users.
• Facebook users are much more politically engaged. The survey was conducted over the November 2010 election season. Compared with other Internet users, and users of other social networking platforms, a Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day was an additional two and half times more likely to attend a political rally or meeting, 57 percent more likely to persuade someone on their vote and 43 percent more likely to have said they would vote. 
• Facebook users get more social support. The survey explored how much total social support, emotional support, companionship and instrumental aid (such as having someone help you when you are sick in bed) adults receive. Controlling for other factors, a Facebook user who uses the site multiple times per day receives more emotional support and companionship. For Facebook users, the additional boost is equivalent to about half the total support that the average American receives as a result of being married or co-habitating with a partner.

“There has been a great deal of speculation about the impact of social networking site use on people’s social lives, and much of it has centered on the possibility that these sites are hurting users’ relationships and pushing them away from participating in the world,” said Keith Hampton, lead author of the Pew Internet report. “We’ve found the exact opposite–people who use sites like Facebook actually have more close relationships and are more likely to be involved in civic and political activities.”

This survey also showed that more people are using social networking sites–the figure is now 47 percent of the entire adult population, compared with 26 percent that was measured in our similar 2008 survey. Among other things, this means the average age of adult social networking site users has shifted from 33 in 2008 to 38 in 2010. Over half of all adult social networking site users are now over the age of 35.

Surely, you've been waiting for this moment for, well, a year. June 6-12 is the fifth annual National Business Etiquette Week in the U.S. and in honor of these tremendous days, I present this bounty of netiquette specifically related to actions in social media. Deep down, you know all of these tips already, but perhaps you haven't been paying enough attention to them. So here's an intriguing and humorous refresher.

New Business Etiquette in the Digital & Social Age - You're Fired or You're Not Fired?

More than two-thirds of Canadians use social networking sites to keep up with the news, according to a recent survey of 1,682 adults by the Canadian Media Research Consortium. Furthermore, survey participates say they expect news to come to them filtered by friends than only by trained professionals. 

I'm not surprised by this discovery, and I suspect the same results would happen in other countries around the world. I personally get most of my news from Facebook, Twitter and specialized blogs. On occasion, when I've exhausted my Facebook wall or Twitter feed, I'll visit CNN's website. Even then, though, I'm seeing a lot of the same news I saw via my social circle. 

"The figures signal that it is more important for a newsroom to get others to share and recommend content than to do it through an official account," wrote Alfred Hermida, lead author of the study, on MediaShift. "The study suggests that the more than 18 million Canadians on Facebook and almost 5 million on Twitter are becoming the news editors for their social circles, deciding whether a story, video or other piece of content is interesting enough to recommend."

We've been sharing blog entries on our Facebook fan page for the last couple of weeks, and reader engagement has been roof shattering. We never knew it was possible to have 1,200 percent increase in participation. It makes us feel like Sally Field at an Oscar acceptance speech. 

For brands, however, this shift in news consumption and engagement could portent trouble.

"The CMRC study found that 64 percent of news consumers value being able to easily share content, rising to 83 percent for those under the age of 34," Hermida wrote. "But those 'share' and 'like' buttons tend to point users towards Facebook or Twitter, undermining existing mass media business models based on delivering large audiences to advertisers.

"While social media creates new opportunities for the news industry to reach and engage audiences, particularly younger Canadians, it also represents competition for consumer attention and revenue," he continued. "It further fragments the audience and potentially could signal a shift in reader loyalty from a news brand to their social circle."

With all that being said, how do you get your news?