Olive Riley loved the Internet and had hundreds of friends all over the world, but she didn’t have a Facebook account. She didn’t have a MySpace either. In fact, it was impossible for Olive Riley to have a Facebook account because she was born in 1899 and Facebook’s sign-up process only accepts people born after the year 1900, MySpace won’t let anyone over 100 join. Olive did, however, have a blog, and a YouTube account. Her tragic death over the weekend will probably lower the average age of social media users, but not by as much as you think.

A recent survey by Deloitte & Touche found that 43% of Internet users over 61 spent time sharing photographs with people. 36% watched and read personal content created by others. The average blogger is a white, 37-year-old male. 38% of Facebook users are over 35. More than 67% of MySpace users are 26 or over.

Don’t let anyone tell you social media is a youth phenomenon. Everyone is paying attention.

NineMSN are giving away prizes if you use their search instead of Google’s. The concept is simple: for a few weeks you can go to their secret search page, (which is different from their normal search page) enter some words into the search field, hit the search button and as your results are displayed, some little poker machine-style spinny things show you if you’ve won a prize. This happens every time you search. You get more chances at winning if you make it your homepage and more still if change your default browser search to theirs. It’s a great campaign and very nicely done, I like what they’re trying to achieve (ie. after using their search for a few weeks you’ll realise it’s pretty good, so you won’t bother going back to Google). It’s well-executed, clever and ticks lots of boxes. It won’t work for me because I realise my chances of winning a prize I actually want are dismal, I love the search results I get from Google and I hate the advertising on NineMSN, but that’s not the point.

The point is how I heard about this campaign.

It was here.

Not from NineMSN, not from a media release, not from a banner ad, not from a promo in Internet Explorer, not from a news article, not from a popup window. It was from a cool blog by an 18-year-old university marketing student. That’s the real power of social media. This is the core. This is the buzz. If your brand is interesting, people like Zac Martin will start talking about it, and people like me will start listening. Not because the message is forced upon me, not because anyone got paid to do anything, just because it was interesting.

Be interesting.

• Seth Godin — He often gets referred to as a marketing guru, and it could just be the haircut, but Seth comes up with a nuggety bit of original marketing gold pretty much every single day. It’s worth reading because it’s always fresh and it is guaranteed to shift your perspective.
• Creative is not a Department — Marketing and branding observations with a freshly Australian perspective.
• Marketing Vox — News, news and more online marketing news. If you like to digest a digest, Marketing Vox is the place.
• Shoe String Branding — A useful, insightful blog on marketing for independent professionals
• Google Webmaster Blog - If you’re not getting found in Google you’ve got a serious problem. This is their dialogue with the world and I’d consider it essential reading for any webmaster or mistress.
• Duct Tape Marketing — John Jantsch has been called the world’s most practical small business expert for consistently delivering real-world, proven small business marketing ideas and strategies. And he’s not afraid to tell you so either.
• Ypulse — Research and articles about reaching the Y Generation.
• Adspace Pioneers — Julian Cole’s perspective on social media; a refreshing blog from someone who ‘gets’ it.

What have I missed?