That being said, I find it surprising that more brands aren’t providing simple ways to allow their customers to share information offline.

One company that has it figured out is high-end audio manufacturer Bose. I’ve been a happy owner/early adopter of their QuietComfort noise-canceling headphones for a number of years (on my second pair, in fact, after leaving my last pair in a hotel room safe – Marriott, hope your cleaning staff who “didn’t find them” is enjoying them!). When these headphones first came onto the scene, chances are if you were wearing them while on a crowded business flight or vacationing, someone would come up to you and ask about them. Now, seems like everyone is wearing these $300 headphones everywhere I go!

So, what’s the ingenious thing that Bose has done? They have simply included informational pass-along cards right in the headphone case. That’s right – for probably less than $0.10 in packaging, they’ve incorporated a offline referral tool right with the product.

When someone asks, regardless of whether or not I feel like talking about the headphones, how they work, etc., I can simply hand them a card which directs them to a website where they can get all of the information they need. (Note to Bose – why not direct these referrals to a special landing page that acknowledges they were referred by a friend, with reviews/testimonials, etc. as well as provide a way to better track the referrals? Drop me a line and we can talk more…)

Bose has made it easy to spread the word. How is your company making it easier for your happy customers to pass you along?

(Oh, and JetBlue and Enterprise, hope each of your cleaning crews are enjoying the two 32GB iPod Touches I also managed to leave behind over the past year… but that’s a story for another day!)

In what will certainly become a smashing viral success, P Diddy, a relatively newcomer to Twitter (@iamdiddy), educates Ellen DeGeneres (now on Twitter – @theellenshow-  although at Press Time has yet to “tweet”).

In typical Diddy fashion he pronounces himself the most popular man on Twitter [112,820 followers - all #s as of 3/11 @ 5 p.m.] although Shaq: @The_Real_Shaq, [280, 948 followers], Ashton Kutcher @aplusk [290,534 followers], and non-celebrities (although arguably Social Media celebs) such as Pete Cashmore: @mashable [221,189 followers] and Kevin Rose: @kevinrose [263,953 followers - and the guy who got Ashton & Demi to tweet] have more “followers” than he does.

Whether he’s the king of Twitter or not, the trend of celebrities using Twitter as a platform to speak directly to their fans is certainly a viable (and smart) usage of the “tweeting” capabilities. In the same way that brands like Comcast: @comcastcares and Jet Blue @jetblue have communicated effective and important information and solutions to their consumers, strengthening their brand image.  Celebrities can utilize Twitter to clear up rumors, make big announcements, seem more accessible to fans, and ultimately strengthen their brand – which is what is also compelling to us as marketers and branders – the tweeter can now be the driver of their own brand message.

In the clip above Diddy butchers the explanation of Twitter calling it a “mass e-mail” which it certainly resembles, but isn’t. But the fact that he is on Ellen, explaining Twitter, and going out of his way to disclose the ways he utilizes it is what is important.  His excitement about it as a communication tool is the excitement I hope to instill in all of my clients.

I believe that we can officially say that Twitter has gone mainstream.

Note: Although I jab at Diddy’s explanation of Twitter, I find it tough myself to explain it in less than a paragraph. Does anyone have a succinct explanation they use? Do share!

The keyfindings are as follows:

• Most people would recommend businesses use Twitter over any other social media site: 40% to just 15% for Facebook.
• But – they’d pay for Facebook over any other site for their own personal use. I’d pick tumblr, but tumblr is still a bit under the radar. Maybe by this time next year.
• LinkedIn came in second in both categories, beating Facebook for business use and Twitter for personal use. That surprised me a LOT. Is this skewed because of who was surveyed? Clearly. But still surprising.
• MySpace = DEAD. Only 1.5% of those surveyed said they would pay for MySpace. Does this surprise you at all? Not me. I guess MySpace is still good for music, does anyone use it for anything else?
• Company using social media the best? Zappos came first, followed by Obama (not really a company, but one heck of a brand) and then CNN, also NY Times, NPR, Dell, Jetblue, Comcast — all who have active presences on Twitter. My favorite usage of Twitter from the aforementioned crew of brands is Comcast. That guy is on top if it. He answers consumer questions left and right and takes customer service to a whole new level. If only Comcast was available in NYC   In all fairness, it should be noted that these brands were given to survey recipients in a list and they were asked to rank them. They weren’t brands called out by the recipients.
• Social Media site most likely to die? ImInLikeWithYou.com Again, not surprising, although I am doubtful that if it wouldn’t have been on a list for them to choose from if many of them would have even known what it is. What started as some kind of quirky dating site where you challenged suitors to some type of lame game with the best answer having the opportunity to ask the challenger on a date has now become a haven for online Tetris-like game play that involves blocks, drawing, and hamsters. Note: I know Charles personally, love him, and wish his site all the best.

None of these findings are major breakthroughs – but the trends and shifts within the space from the perspective of the social media marketer are interesting. Most notable to me is the shift towards Twitter having legitimacy as a target audience representative of more than one “type” of consumer/marketer. A year ago, Twitter was thought to be a land dominated by the social media elite – a space where there was no room for brands to speak to consumers more representative of their actual audience. The fact that the social media elite are now saying they see it as a viable home for brands and tactic for brands to reach consumers is a big shift.

The other item of note for me is how popular the concept of “Freemium” is and how this is universally (45.5% of those surveyed) believed to be the best monetization for social media. Freemium is the idea of the free basic model followed by a fee for advanced options, a la Flickr (and coming soon for Tumblr).  Social media players have been quick to slap banner ads, sponsored gifts, and targeted advertisements within the confines of their site, but few have gone the “freemium” route as a monetization strategy.

It will be interesting to see if the tide shifts in that direction and how brands can be incorporated into the fold of premium features. It doesn’t seem like it would be enough for a premium feature to be “brought to you” by a brand, the brand would have to be further ingrained in the feature’s functionality and viability within the space for that to work.

Some great survey participant anectdotal comments:

“While Twitter is very hot right now for brands, Facebook has a much wider audience.”

“People on Twitter are thought-leaders who often spread the information around their personal spheres. Best investment.”

“Twitter: Instantaneous feedback from and interaction with customers.”

“Digg is great but can’t competewith other aggregators that are more nimble?”

“MySpace strikes me as the public restroom of social meda. Just…ew”

“ComastCares. Still hated universally, but they have the right attitude to using Twitter [sic] and haven’t given up yet.”

What do YOU think? Read the entire survey here and share your thoughts below. [Or tweet me your thoughts: @sarahashley]