Over the past 1-2 years, I’ve been having a conversations with savvy folks lately who run in the social media / startup world about a sticky point that seems to have some complexity. That issue is privacy, ownership and portability of social graphs and communications by the “social employee” who does any outreach or relationship building on behalf of the company / brand that he / she represents. It’s a hairy issue.

Evangelists and social media, community and PR professionals are often hired for their connections. Social media, if used right, really accelerates the speed with which relationships can be built

Article source: RSS http://socialmediatoday.com/themaria/273732/who-owns-your-contacts-and-communications

There are good reasons and bad reasons to write a blog, but I don’t know what they are.  All I know, is I’m in it for the fame, chicks and dollars.  I don’t know why everyone isn’t cashing in on this racket, but it’s just as well – I don’t like to share.

I won’t give away all my secrets, but here are a couple of tips you might study to decide if you, like me, really want to be a big-time blogger.  My motivations are simple and pure:

I Wanna Be A Rock Star

Of course, I don’t want to literally be

Article source: RSS http://socialmediatoday.com/john-morrow/273706/blogging-fame-and-profit

Doing too much good can actually be bad. Trying too hard to get a lady will only make you fail, trying too hard to close a deal will definately make you fail and over-the-top-delivery of expectations will make you fail. Don’t try too hard.

Driving conversations is very much about managing expectations. The time you were pleasantly surprised by a company’s remarkable culture, great customer service, the time a company left you a personal note or a personal business card. Or the

Article source: RSS http://socialmediatoday.com/stevenvanbelleghem/273984/theory-managing-expectations-and-conversations

On Feb. 25, 2011 Google announced that it had made major changes to its search algorithm.  While most of Google’s updates are fairly minor (not really noticable to the average user or site owner), this update is expected to affect almost 12% of sites.  Before I go any further, it should be noted that for now these changes only affect U.S. search results – but Google is expected to role out the changes globally in the near future.

Why Did Google Make This Change?

Google has received numerous public complaints over the past few months about the low quality of

Article source: RSS http://socialmediatoday.com/rossmalaga/273501/google-cuts-content-farms-what-does-it-mean-you

Just before the Grammys last month, the Meltwater Group sent us an infographic showing Grammy nominees in three categories and the amount of online social buzz each nominee was getting in the weeks leading up to the awards. 

My headline on that post was Tracking Social Interaction Informs Grammy Projections.

It was stretching it a bit to call them ”projections” though it was hard to keep from hypothesizing that the most talked-about nominees would be the winners.

Meltwater’s accompanying description of their information gathering process went as follows:

Meltwater used its social media monitoring tool Meltwater Buzz to track social

Article source: RSS http://socialmediatoday.com/clifffigallo/273570/web-chatter-and-oscar-are-they-related

There have been oh so many times in my life when I have come to a point where big change were breathing down my neck, stalking me, wanting me to decide, wanting me to take action, and I was ducking around corners, stalling, hiding out, turning my back, putting my fingers in my ears. . .lalala, I don’t hear you. . .

But I did hear.  I did know.  I was scared to death.  I don’t know how!  What if I am making the wrong decision?  What

Article source: RSS http://socialmediatoday.com/judi-knight/273563/what-s-stopping-you