SURVEY: How Did You Hear about Bin Laden’s Death?

Facebook has been toying with the “Facebook Questions” function for quite some time. I didn’t realize it wasn’t available to everyone until I recommended that a client use it to better define their target audience – come to find out it was nowhere to be found on their Facebook account. I’m pretty sure that the Questions function is now available to everyone, and my recommendation is USE IT – especially for business interaction. As most of you probably already know, social media marketing is taking over the world of modern media. It’s not very often that I don’t see or hear mention of Facebook, Twitter, and Youtube on the Channel 5 News. From sports stars talking about how Jimmer is the best scorer in the world, to President Obama sealing his election largely in part to his social media presence. There’s a great question going on right now on Facebook about bin Laden’s death that we’d like you to respond to: how did you hear about bin ladens death

RESULTS: The Osama Bin Laden Death Exposed via Social Networks First

So far, here are the results from 22,089 votes:
  1. Facebook: 6,860
  2. TV: 6476
  3. Phone (which could have been cell phone = social media): 2,832
  4. Twitter: 1,784
  5. Website: 1,071
  6. In Person: 998 (maybe these people were actually IN Pakistan…?)
  7. Other: 863
  8. Radio: 841
  9. Newspaper: 189
  10. Email: 175
My question then to all of you,
Where do you think the media will be in 6 months, 1 year, 5 years from now in regard to how they get the word out?
Facebook and Twitter have far surpassed the old-school methods of Newspaper and Radio. Even EMAIL is becoming a thing of the past to places like Twitter and Facebook and Texting. Special thanks to the “…Tweeter, awake at the time of the crash [in Abbottabad, Pakistan]” who unknowingly tweeted the entire attack as he heard helicopters cruising by his place at 1:00 a.m. If you’re not tapped into the social media mania, it’s time to hop on the band wagon because it’s only going to become a more eminent part of our day to day lives. UPDATE: Since I started this post, votes have gone up to 22,449…

6 thoughts on “SURVEY: How Did You Hear about Bin Laden’s Death?

  1. Donna J. Nicholas says:

    I guess social media is the next wave of the future. Marketing and extending audiences for products and services have evolved throughout the years and more and more companies are engaging on this kind of field because of targeted potential clients. However, in this light, bad publicity and false claims also come into play. I just hope with the surging influence of social media, guides can also be implemented to remove bogus news. Also, hmmm, I just hope Bin Ladens death will be peace to all and start a flame of new terrorism 🙂 Nice article!

  2. Nate Moller says:

    @Donna J. Nicholas
    Thanks for the comment Donna and I agree about guides to prevent false claims. The best guide can be effective “online reputation management” (ORM) where you’re able to monitor what people are saying about you, your company, etc. and take appropriate action. In most cases, the good press can outlast false claims.

    I also hope that this “defeat” doesn’t spark new terrorists who think they can one-up bin Laden.

    Talk soon!

  3. David Stevens says:

    I recently became a Reddit convert, and learned of Osama Bin Laden’s death on the site. 6 months ago, I was interested in promoting a client’s “young people” content on Reddit, and thought how hard can that be? It turns out Reddit has a sophisticated audience that saw through our trolling almost instantly. Within 3 minutes of posting a “semi-disguised” promotional piece for a new website, I was outed as a troll.

    Of course I stuck around and became a fan to learn more. For the marketeer, Reddit is a little like nitrous oxide. The spikes of activity are insane (2k visits in 12 minutes!) but extremely flammable. Anything that’s not 100% transparent is pretty much guaranteed to get flamed.

    This was my first major news event experienced on Reddit. The commentary and supplemental links were profound.

  4. Nate Moller says:

    @David Stevens
    Awesome insight to a social media tool I admittedly don’t use as much as I probably should.

    I, too, like the social networks that are run by real people who will put you to shame if you try to “black hat” the system.

    Being 100% transparent has and will continue to be the way to really gain a following in the world of online marketing and media. For this reason, I question how some businesses are even still around…

    Thanks for the comment David!

  5. Shivam Garg says:

    Hi Nate,
    Nice stats there.I feel social media will soon become a dominant force in every field and thats because of its versatility.I mean there is nothing in this world which can’t be accomplished by using social media.Marketing,consultancy,social interaction and many more.You just have to think about that feature.

  6. BingoBabe says:

    Since I’m from the UK. The news broke whilst i was sleeping. When i wake up each morning i go to my Facebook usually. There was no way is was going to miss this news, about 30 people commenting on it.

    Same thing happened with Michael Jackson’s death.

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