As Web 2.0 and Social Media became globally pervasive, the landscape proved expansive, overwhelming, and bewildering. It required a social cartographer in order to visualize its grandeur. Thus, in August 2008, the original Conversation Prism was born with the help of Jesse Thomas of JESS3. The Conversation Prism continues to rapidly evolve as social networks emerge, merge, and vanish. In fact, Jesse Thomas and I are already hard at work mapping version 3.0. One thing that we cannot overlook is…
The Dichotomy Between Social Networks and Education
Einstein Chalkboard: Source Recently, I discussed the validity of whether or not social networking (the verb) and social networks (as a noun) were impairing our ability to learn. A Stanford study suggested that this might be the case. It seems that the initial research and its supporting data is now emerging to help us further analyze whether or not this is indeed true or merely hypotheses based on the various samplings of individuals who may or may not serve as…
Updates: Putting the Public Back in Public Relations
Deirdre Breakenridge and I are both proud and humbled by two recent landmarks for our book, “Putting the Public Back in Public Relations” and we owe the thanks to you. 1. The rights to translate and publish the book in Japan were solidified last week. 2. The book is currently in its second printing. We’re looking forward to the book reaching as many as countries as possible as its message and benefits are indeed global. Thank you and we hope…
Is This the First Credentialed Example of Live Tweeting Earning a Spot on Press Row in Sports?
The St. John’s men’s basketball organization seems to believe so… Today, St. John’s credentialed Peter Robert Casey as their official “Live Tweeter” for the 2009-10 season. Believed to be the first primarily Twitter-based blogger to earn a spot on press row anywhere, Casey will have a courtside seat to bring his brand of analysis and social media expertise to Red Storm basketball contests and the online community this next season. With more than 50,000 users, Casey is currently among the…
Gauntlet Toss or Clarion Call: Women, it’s time to step up
Guest post by Cathy Brooks: Follow her on Twitter | Read her blog Source Imagine this scenario. It’s election time and you find yourself engaged in a heated debate with someone about a particular candidate. Fairly foaming at the mouth, this individual rails on about lousy legislators. Then you find out this person is eligible to be but is not registered to vote. Now I don’t know about you, but I’m of a mind that if you don’t register to…
Size Matters: Job Seekers Measure the Size of Your Social Graph
Source Employers are seeking candidates with established relationships in social networks, complete with a portfolio of individual and career defining social content – in the form of blog posts, videos, comments, and thoughtful updates. In some cases, size matters. Electronics retailer Best Buy recently posted a job opening for Senior Manager-Emerging Media Marketing. The role was described as, “the primary lead for the Best Buy’s mobile, social, and video marketing & media efforts to drive in-store and online sales, create…
Who Owns Social Media?
I had a fantastic conversation with Frank Eliason (@comcastcares), Duncan Riley, and Chris Brogan last night during the Microsoft Windows Mobile Developer event (@WMDev) at Chapel in Seattle. We explored the drivers that propel companies into social labyrinths and how they participate, react and in turn, strategically plan (or should) once they’ve arrived. The common motives are spurred through innovation (rare) and urgency (more common). It’s Aha vs. Uh-oh… However, the debate from within will eventually arise, questioning who owns…
Building Bridges Between Knowledge and Aspiration
Image Credit: Jeremy Ginsberg There’s no shortage of businesses, and more specifically, the individuals who represent them, seeking insight, answers and direction to simplify, organize, and elucidate the intimidating and confusing social media landscape. Likewise, social media experts, gurus, and ninjas are seemingly ubiquitous. Far too many of us expect others to build bridges that connect disparate communities rife with individuals starving for logical and defensible insight and direction directly to us. In the end however, it’s our sole responsibility…
Are Facebook and Twitter on a Collision Course?
Image credit For years, Facebook and Twitter have maintained a friendly coopetition of sorts, with neither one taking a firm stance against the other. However, if you believe that Mark Zuckerberg does not actively contemplate strategies for either acquiring Twitter or rendering it obsolete, please think about the landscape and monetization drivers that aren’t yet readily apparent to us as everyday consumers. This may seem like the “Social Media Summer of Love,” but in the end, there are billions of…
Everything You Never Knew About Facebook
Shot at SXSW While I’m currently in the midst of writing my next book, I stumbled across some very interesting and useful statistics that offer a glimpse into Facebook behavior and activity as well as the state of the Facebook platform. I believe that they reinforce many of our hunches and assumptions and also introduce facts that may alter the ingredients of your next Social Media initiative. General: Facebook has more than 250 million users 120 million users log on…
