AdvertisingAge’s @AdAgeStat turns one, editor shares what’s next and favorite moments

@AdAgeStat, one of my favorite Twitter accounts <insert bias>, celebrated its one year anniversary on June 15 (the coordinating blog turns one on July 6). The account is AdvertisingAge’s social marketing and stat (and I mean A LOT of stats) focused content run by Matt Carmichael (@mcarmichael), director of information projects. To celebrate the milestone I interviewed the founder on his take over the past year and what’s to come.

What was the inspiration for AdAgeStat?
Carmichael: I (re)joined AdAge a little more than a year ago in the newly created role of Dir. of Information Projects. A big part of the gig is doing more with data, especially in the area of demographics and consumer trends, but I tend to paint that with a broad brush. It’s also partially an evolution of a now-defunct publication Ad Age acquired a few years ago called “American Demographics.” Basically, I felt that if we wanted to demonstrate that these areas of coverage were important to us, we needed to step up and write about it.

Out of all the stats you’ve shared this past year via Twitter, what was your favorite?
Carmichael: Fave stat? That’s like asking me to pick my favorite kid, right? I’ll give you five:

1. More people follow @justinbieber than live in VT, AK, ND, SD, DE, MT, RI  and Wash. DC combined.
2. You’d have to buy 33.6 million six-packs of bud light to equal the $235m A-B spent on #superbowl ads from 2001-2010.
3. The biggest brands on @foursquare, still not so big. 18K check-ins enough to lead our new exclusive ranking. (We were the first to have actual Check-in data from Foursquare)
4. Ouch: In 2009, the U.S. lost 1.2m households from the $100K+ demo (Part of our “Wow, we’re hosed” look at today’s economy)
5. 5.8m Americans have listed themselves as newlyweds on Facebook. The gender balance: not nearly 50/50http://bit.ly/j9yWU4 (Delving into the demos of social media sites to create a fun infographic.)

How/where does AdAgeStat fit in the AdvertisingAge family?
Carmichael: AdAgeStat is one of many Ad Age blogs covering different facets of the Advertising/Brand world. We work closely with the AdAge DataCenter, which produces our massive data products like the Agency Report, and Leading National Advertisers. So we leverage their data as well as generating our own, and curating from as many other sources as we can. Ad Age has, I must say, been hugely supportive of this venture.

Does AdAgeStat, the blog, accept pitches for story ideas?
Carmichael: Yes, we take pitches. E-mail them to mcarmichael@adage.com. We love data. We love graphics. We love to break new research, but that’s not always a necessity. Demographics and trends are important. We don’t care too much for case-studies, but prefer original research with as broad a reach as possible. Global (ex U.S.) stats are especially welcome. As with all things, don’t pitch something as “exclusive” if you have already posted it on your corporate blog.

Does AdAgeStat, the blog, accept pitches for “guest post” opportunities?
Carmichael: Yes, we take guest posts. First off, see the above. In terms of guest posts, sometimes people pitch me something and I’ll ask them to do a post if it seems that it will be more interesting in their voice instead of mine, or honestly if I’ve got a number of other pieces to write that week. It’s important to note that guest posts are therefore invited. Don’t just send over a pre-written post. For recurring posts, if you have ongoing research you want to share (like our Ipsos/Affluency piece each month) let’s talk.

There’s a lot of content coming through the blog and Twitter account. Who is doing it all? Do you have a team?
Carmichael:”We” = me, mcarmichael@adage.com and @mcarmichael. Obviously I’m also @adagestat which is the best place to follow. And I’ve got supportive editors and great graphics and development folks helping grow the visual side of our data. Also, I’m really lucky to get support from Peter Francese, the founder of American Demographics who knows more about how demographics and marketing intertwine than anyone.

How have social networks, like Twitter, aided in the success of AdAgeStat?
Carmichael: This is such a great question. When I started the blog/feed it wasn’t about traffic. That’s been a nice side-product, certainly but it was really about using data as a platform. I don’t think the blog would be where it is without the Twitter feed or vice versa. It needs that channel to really engage its audience. I has been great for source development — both people and data and really opened a lot of relationships for us. Like this one, @prsarahevans . Also, there’s a lot of content that goes through the Twitter feed that doesn’t get blogged about, so its an important adjunct to get the whole picture. And we try to have fun with it in ways that we can’t with just the blog.

What’s next for AdAgeStat? Anything juicy you can share with us?
Carmichael: We’re about to launch a e-mail newsletter for Stat of the Day so we’ll be on the Web, Twitter, and e-mail. Note that Stat of the Day does not equal Daily Stat. We’re adding some new recurring features to join our monthly “Affluency” column. You’ll also see more graphics and interactivity. We’ll keep the rest of the plans under wrap for now.

What would you like to see happen by AdAgeStat’s second anniversary?
Carmichael: If it were a child at a year old, it would be just starting to walk, and that feels about right. So in a year, it should be running and doing flips. What would y’all like to see from us?