A study presented at the American Public Health Association’s annual meeting, found that 11 percent of Florida high school students and 4 percent of middle school students had smoked hookah at least once.

For those of you who don’t know, a hookah is a big water pipe that is smoked socially like the one pictured in this post. The practice is rapidly growing in popularity among teens and college students.

With so much talk about social networking and herd thinking, it’s not surprising that social smoking is in vogue.

Every time one door is closed on tobacco use, another opens. Socially, smoking a cigarette is becoming taboo, but the hookah on the other hand becoming accepted. The problem is that it’s worse for you than smoking a cig. The urban myth is that because the smoke passes through water, it’s less harmful.

Tobacco has always had a social element to its use. Smoking was considered cool. Cigar clubs abounded in the 1990’s. Now hookahs are entering into the most social of generations. Is it any wonder?

When we talk to teens, and we talk to them a lot, they tell us their biggest motivation for doing anything is fun.

They go to shopping malls for fun.  Football games for fun.  Facebook for fun.  MySpace for fun.  YouTube for fun.  They watch fun television programs.  Like fun movies.  Come to think of it, it’s not much different for adults.

Nothing supports the need for a fun factor more than social networks and YouTube is a prime example.  Marketers lust after the views that amateurs get by accident.  The “Charlie Bit Me…Again” video above had 118 million views.  But not all amateurs are any more successful than the pros who think they can make their YouTube channel the next NBC.

Without fun, your video will be limited by those searching expressly for you.

Facebook is much the same.  Take the State of Nebraska’s Facebook page.  It has 1,587 friends and fans.  Not bad.  But when you look at the page it is a never ending list of governmental announcements.  Should Nebraskans be interested?  Probably, but it’s not fun.  Contrast that with the fan page for Nebraska Football.  It has over 52,000 users who access the page at least once a month.  Fun, as well as life and death.

The fun factor influences our job satisfaction, life, marriages and leisure.  It’s why we spend mone on vacations, dining, dancing, concerts and sporting events.  It’s why we celebrate when we win and cry when we lose.

If we can harness fun in our communications, they become far more effective. Hopefully, Charlie helped this post be a little more fun.

Post by Nick Grant

Facebook and Myspace dominate social networking, but the emergence of African-American social networking sites proves the importance of appealing to different cultural views and values in creating communities.

There are 22 million African-American Internet users. Sites like BlackPlanet.com, MinoritySpace.com, and AfricanAmericanOpinion.com, which market directly to African-Americans, though they are not exclusive to them, have become extremely popular among African-Americans. For instance, BlackPlanet, has over 20 million users, 10 million monthly visits, and ranks highest amongst minority-driven social networking sites according to Compete Stats.

There are many commonalities and differences the African-American community.  It is, in fact, highly segmented. Social networking sites are attempting to get deep in the African-American culture by creating online subdivisions and communities within the community. Sites generally target things African-Americans are most passionate about. The urban lifestyle is a big, as is hip-hop/rap music, clothing, and cars.  Another large target is African-American owned businesses. In essence, the virtual African-American community mirrors the actual.

Niche-specific social networking sites are great ways to establish your product. They provide opportunities to target a very specific groups, something that is difficult to do with traditional advertising.  African-American social networks give you the chance to become a staple in the African-American community.

Post by Nick Grant, Street Marketing Coordinator

New friend request? Awesome! Mom! Friend request denied. Log out. This was my immediate reaction, as I’m sure has been many others, to my beloved mother’s joining of Facebook. My pictures from Friday after class, wall comments from friends, and privacy have all been compromised. Is it spying or does she just want keep in touch with her “shnook-ems”?

What was once considered the new online student hangout has become a virtual hub for any mother or father to connect interactively with wayward children.  According to a Pew Research Center analysis, 35% of adult internet users now have a profile on at least one social networking site.  Comscore reported the number of users over age 25 increased 279% on Facebook.  Depending on your point of view, MySpace and Facebook are slowly deteriorating from places where the youth of America connected and into a public forum of parental monitoring.  They are the new remote baby monitors and now Mom and Dad can find out what really happened on the Jamaican Spring Break.

The same social networking website where I received “pokes” from the girl I met at the coffee house has been invaded by my mother.  Parents are in the trenches of online capabilities with us.  Each one word answer to Mom’s question increases her “need to know” instinct and her social networking literacy.  She’s even uploaded her own photo.  As long as I have the deny button, I can keep Facebook a Mom-free zone.

In cataclysmic economic conditions, the mouse beats the dinosaur most times.  It’s the classic big machine, small brain versus the big brain, small machine battle.  The larger the company, the more difficult it is for that company to be nimble enough to adapt to challenging economic times.  It’s the plight of the dinosaur.  Too big, too slow to adapt.  Too much invested in the status quo to change.  After the asteroid hit the earth, it was a mouse-like creature that survived.  It had a higher brain to body weight ratio.  It adapted, survived and evolved.  In times of plenty, a big machine can look attractive, but when you face big challenges, look to the big brain, small machine to help you thrive.