Social Media Presentations

Behold: the mighty infographic.

From flowcharts to certain installments of webcomics like Randall Munroe’s xkcd.com, infographics distill data and facts and present them in a way that we can all understand. 1,000,000,000 (1 billion) is impossible to conceptualize, but infographics can show 1,000,000,000 in context and scale, using images and captions, in a way that helps us grasp that knowledge.

We’ve compiled 11 great infographics from 2011, plus two fun bonus graphics, and arranged them by topic. What are your favorites?

Economics

The Science of Salary – Shaun Saunders and salarytutor.com showed us in September the comparison between job satisfaction and salary in various professions, from fast food cooks to surgeons. The most satisfied employees, as it turns out, are firefighters. Where do you fit on that scale?

Money – Randall Munroe’s webcomic XKCD is required reading for any self-respecting geek/nerd. His chart of “money (almost) all of it, where it is, and what it can do” takes an entirely incomprehensible concept and makes it accessible and understandable.

Social Media

The Growth of Social Media – If Facebook were a child, it would be in first grade this year. If it were a country, it would be third largest in the world, behind China and India. This infographic from Search Engine Journal puts the most popular social networking sites, and how they’ve grown over time, into perspective. Which sites do you use regularly?

Major World Events of 2011 and their Impact on Social Media – Flowtown takes us through 2011, from the Arab Spring to Charlie Sheen’s breakdown, and ranks whether or not they mattered, as measured by their impact on networks such as Twitter.

Social Media’s Best Bacon Dishes – Using data from social media ratings, infographicsarchive gives us the low-down on everyone’s favorite dessert of meats: bacon. Have you eaten any of these dishes? Are some of them too out-there for you?

Science and Technology

Radiation – After the 9.0 earthquake hit Japan this spring, people all over the world started worrying about radiation exposure from the Fukushima nuclear power plant. Randall Munroe took data about exposure from every day events and compared them to the risk from Fukushima.

The Insanely Great History of Apple – Steve Jobs left an unparalleled legacy in the world of computers. The folks at PopChart labs bring us a complete family tree of Apple’s products, from the Lisa to the iPhone 4S.

Politics

This is Not My Beautiful House – What would Congress look like if it were, proportionately, comprised of the same demographic as the United States? The results might surprise you.

School Cafeteria Food vs. Prison Food – GOOD collaborated with Column Five Media to show us the similarities and differences in cost, content and nutrition of the food fed to prisoners and American public school kids.

Entertainment

The Illustrious Omnibus of Superpowers – Another great piece from the folks at Pop Chart Labs. 300 superheroes and their powers, from Superman and Spider-man to lesser-known heroes like Ant-Man and Matter-Eater Lad. Who’s your favorite superhero? What power would you want to have?

NPR’s Book Flowchart – 60,000 NPR listeners submitted their favorite sci-fi and fantasy book titles, NPR compiled them into a list of 100 must-read books, and SF Signal turned it into a flow chart. An interactive flow chart. It’s endorsed by Neil Gaiman and contains everything from World War Z to The Princess Bride. Are your favorites on that list?

Bonus

Inside a Toddler’s Brain – If you’ve been on Facebook, Pinterest or Tumblr lately, you’ve likely seen this diagram. Not scientific, but so close to the truth as to cause giggles that will make your co-workers wonder what you’re looking at.

The Visible Tom Waits – Again, not scientific, but Jim Lockey brings us a good visual explanation for the cause of Tom’s trademark sound. Do you have a favorite Tom Waits album?

TechCrunch is one of my all-time favorite blogs. TechCrunch has attracted some very insightful industry leaders from diverse backgrounds including: Venture Capital, Entrepreneurs, CEOs, Engineers and market insiders. Last weekend they invited Adam Rifkin to post his views about Facebook.

I think Facebook may have the perfect combination of user critical mass, smart engineers and a culture of empowering good ideas. They also have several revenue streams to fund it all. Below I have embedded Mr. Rifkin’s TechCrunch post below because I couldn’t do a better  analysis myself. I’d love to hear your feedback and hope you enjoy the read.

How Facebook Can Become Bigger in Five Years Than Google is Now

We have compiled the latest statistics reflecting current online marketing trends. Online social media platforms are continuing to grow rapidly and are becoming even more a part of our everyday life. Advertisers are taking advantage of this by moving marketing dollars away from traditional media and moving into the digital and interactive space.

Thank you so much for submitting our Social Media Survey. If you were among the first 30 to complete and submit all the questions, your name will be entered into a drawing for a $100 Amazon gift card.

We will also be sending out a report with survey results and our key findings to all who submit a valid email address.

Sincerely,
Lisa Peyton, Vice President
Bonfire Social Media

I did a quick rendition of my earlier presentation last week and did not touch on the how-to as much. Thank you everyone that attended and hope you all got some good information from it.

ENGAGEMENTdb: Most Engaged Brands On Social Media –

The Holy Triad Revisited. This is a much more visual presentation of the 2 hour class Bonfire Social Media puts on.

If you have anything to add, please comment. Feedback is always appreciated!

JPMorgan Nothing But Net Internet Investment Guide 2009