So what’s the verdict? Well, if you like Experian’s Hitwise, Bing has hit the magic number with a combined 30.1% market share for April 2012 while Google gave up ground.

But stop the presses! comScore says “just wait a hot minute!”. They are recording that Yahoo has slipped in share for the eighth consecutive month while Google is holding steady. Ouch!

hese numbers show a combined share number of 28.9%. In the end, it’s all of a 1 percentage point difference but perception is reality, right? I have always felt that when Bing hits 40% of the market then we really have something to talk about. In the meantime, we are left with these monthly search non-events.

What is your take here? At what point does Google really need to be concerned? Is it now or at some point in the future or not at all?

Today we’re looking at the results of a survey by two companies, thinkJar and Sword Ciboodle. First off, we must stop to appreciate how totally cool those names are. Doesn’t everyone want to work for a company named Sword Ciboodle? Amazing.

Okay, now that I’m done fawning, let’s get to the facts. The study is called We Are Social: The State of Social Customer Service and the main takeaway is that companies are diving into social customer service before they know how deep the pool is or if they even know how to swim.

Look at the question results on the right. An overwhelming number of companies decided to go social because customers asked for it and because their competitors do it. The second part I believe, the first part boggles my mind.

I do business with a lot of online companies and never once have I thought, wow, if only I could get my customer service question answered by Twitter! Quite the opposite in fact. I’ve dealt with several companies who only seem to respond to Twitter or Facebook comments and they respond back in kind. Sorry. No. I don’t want an answer squeezed into 140 characters.

Apparently, I’m alone in this. The survey shows that 59% of organizations having adopted Twitter and 60% are using Facebook. Nearly almost 85% of those using one, have both. Peachy. But how’s that working out for ya?

When we looked into proper use of social channels for customers (that is, programs with well-defined processes to support the channels), we found that only one-third of them had better or equally defined processes and the rest had not yet defined their social processes.

So, two-thirds are jumping in without their water wings and hoping for the best. Nice.

Now how about this quote from the report:

Knowing throughout customer service history that organizations must justify projects within a year or less of their deployment and that the ROI must be “proven” to exist before the project is approved, we were expecting to find an overwhelming majority saying they had achieved the expected results; near 80% would’ve been a tad high, 70% is more in line with expectations. The majority of the organizations (54%) however are not yet sure if they have reached their objectives (compared to 40% that did).

“Not sure if they have reached their objectives,” is code for “we have no idea what we’re doing.” Sword Ciboodle calls it “messy” and I like them even more for that.

What I get from all of this is that companies still think that social media is the magic key to the customer kingdom. It’s not. Facebook appears to be personal, but it’s actually quite cold and very public. Why should I have to voice my product concerns in a public forum before I get your attention? Why can’t I e-mail you and you e-mail me back with a proper answer?

I do believe that social media channels can be good for large-scale customer service issues such as explaining an outage, emphasizing a change in policy, or apologizing for a botched job. If the problem is affecting a large number of customers, then by all means, post a note on Facebook to get the word out. But please don’t use Twitter DM’s to solve an individual customer problem. I am not my Twitter feed or Facebook page. I am a human being who is trying to put money in your pocket. I think I deserve a more personal means of connecting.

What do you think about using social media for customer service? Good idea that needs some work or doomed to failure?

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Of the companies they surveyed, only 37% were blogging in 2011. That’s down from 50% in 2010. If you look only at Fortune 500 companies, the percentage drops to 23%.

Why are corporate blogs falling out of favor? USA Today says, mostly because Facebook and Twitter are so much easier to manage.

Keeping up a blog is a lot harder than people think. I’ve dealt with dozens of clients who jump in with grand plans of updating every day! They soon learn that updating even once a week is a chore. It’s amazing how quickly seven days pass when you need to come up with a fresh blog post.

Facebook and Twitter, on the other hand, are perfect for “drive-by” posting. A single line of text, a photo, a question and that’s all you need to keep the lights on. Just remember that if you want your social media outlets to benefit you, you have to do more than just keep the lights on. You have to provide meaningful content that engages your audience. In that respect, it’s just as hard as blogging, but most people don’t see it that way.

What blogs give you that you don’t get with social media, is a chance to communicate without all the noise. On Facebook, you’re one of a dozen posts competing for instant attention. An hour later, you’re off the front page and forgotten.

A blog post is evergreen. There’s no rush here. If you’re doing it right, your posts will show up when someone searches the proper terms on Google. They’ll find your information when they need your information and that’s more powerful than a drive-by.

Common wisdom states at a company blog shouldn’t be all about the company but if you look at the blogs dedicated to Google, Twitter, and Dell, you’ll see that’s not true. People visit your blog to learn about your new products, how to use them and what’s on the horizon. Don’t disappoint.

Blogging can be an important piece in the marketing puzzle. It does take time and thought but then again, so should everything you put out there on behalf of your company.

Does your company have a blog or have you given it up in favor of social media?