All in Social Media

Google, Stick to Productivity and Not Social Networking

Don Martelli
Google, , Technorati

Google is the search giant. We know this. They also have a slew of productivity tools that help with email, writing, calculating, translations, analytics, RSS feeds, etc. Their productivity offerings are just as good as their search offering. Simply put, they're good.

However, Google as had two attempts at social media -- Google Buzz and Google Wave. Now, it could be argued that Google Wave is a productivity tool, but in my opinion, it's a social application for groups, business teams, friends and family. It makes communicating happen in real-time and social. Thus, why I categorized it as "social media."

Whrrl Ups the Ante with Society Rewards

Don Martelli

Location-based services are all the rage and as a result, companies are pushing each other to innovate and be different.

Recently, Whrrl announced some pretty decent news that flew under the radar, but could nudge their competitors to step up their game.

The company launched Society Rewards – a social loyalty program designed to close the gap between a brand’s online social media presence and real-world physical presence.

LeBron James Tweets and It's News. Really?

Don Martelli
,

LeBron and his PR flackStop the presses. Hold the trucks. Put in for overtime for the union workers.

The King tweeted.

Yes, you read that right, LeBron James, the media-dubbed King of the NBA, has joined Twitter and sent out his first tweet:

Hello World, the Real King James is in the Building "Finally". My Brother @oneandonlycp3 gas'd me up to jump on board so I'm here. Haaaa

The confirmation that the tweet was from THE LeBron James comes way of his PR flack, Keith Estabrook.

20 Million Thoughts on Foursquare

Don Martelli
Mobile,

The king of location based services, Foursquare, raised $20 million in financing, according to a blog post by the company and various media reports.

The once small start-up that was an acquisition rumor of Facebook and Yahoo, is now valued at $95 million, according to reports.

The fusion of cash proves that Foursquare is leading the location-based services pack by a big margin. However, now that it appears that an acquisition is out of the question, where does Foursquare go from here?

Here are 20 million thoughts (well, maybe just a few) as to the current state of the service and its future.

Venn-ting about the Communications Business

Don Martelli
There's a lot of chatter amongst bloggers in the marketing, public relations and advertising industries about about Venn diagrams and a movement away from silos.

Venn diagrams, for those of you who don't know, are diagrams that show all hypothetically possible logical relations between a finite collection of sets (aggregation of things), per Wikipedia.

The concept was created by a guy by the name of John Venn and they are primarily used to teach elementary set theory, as well as illustrate simple set relationships in probability, logic, statistics, linguistics and computer science.

Facebook Making International Farming Moves

Don Martelli
, , Technorati

Facebook has been getting hammered on their privacy issues as of late, but two news items put the most popular social network back on the front burner. This time, however, it's from a business growth perspective.

The first bit of news comes from the farm — FarmVille that is.

FarmVille is arguably the most popular and successful social game on the web due to it's piggybacking on the most popular social network in the world, i.e. Facebook.

Facebook Ups The Ante

Don Martelli

Advertising age is reporting that Facebook is on the verge of rolling out location-based features for users and brands as soon as soon as this month.

If the rumors are true, this could mean the end of Foursquare, Gowalla, Brightkite, Loopt, etc. With 400+ million users, Facebook is the king of the social media kingdom and slowly but sure, it appears that they are taking over, fiefdom by fiefdom.

LinkedIn Follows the Crowd with Company Follow

Don Martelli
, Technorati

It is no secret that Facebook is leading the social revolution with their Open Graph push. As you buzz around the web, you'll see more and more social marketing in the form of Facebook's "Like" button. And it's only a matter of time before other social networks follow suit.

Maybe not in the same ilk, but LinkedIn is jumping on the social feature bandwagon with the roll out of a follow feature.

Unlike Twitter's follow, LinkedIn's "Company Follow" enables users to keep tabs on job openings, promotions and other activities specific to companies. 

Facebook Proves Online Needs Offline

Don Martelli
,

It was reported today that Facebook is sending out window decals with text-to-Like SMS instructions to select local businesses.

Mashable got the tip from B.J. Drums, who works for the Museum of Making Music in Carlsbad, California. Drums apparently sent Mashable proof that Facebook is taking their "like" feature seriously via a letter and some of the sticker samples.

This move by Facebook is proof positive that online engagement strategies need offline counterparts. 

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