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toolbox-300x279.jpgBlogging is a staple of building an online brand. Whether you're an individual trying to build your own brand or a communications executive managing the brand of a Fortune 500 company, selecting the tools used to create and organize content is just as important as the content itself.

Here are some of the more popular tools that bloggers are using these days and ones that will make the content process seamless.

Mashable is reporting that Vocus, a developer of software for the public relations industry, will acquire Help a Reporter Out (HARO), the wildly popular service that connects journalists with sources.

HARO, which started out as a Facebook group, quickly surged to be a fantastic resource for both PR professionals and journalists. The service caught on quickly because it is free for both journalists and PR types, whereas the leader in the space, Profnet, is subscription based.

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.

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. 

Twitter GermanIn a blog post today, Twitter announced that more than 60% of users reside outside of the U.S., mostly due in part to the service being launched in other languages last year.

That expansion took place in October of 2009 and in November, the site became available in Spanish and shortly thereafter, French. December was when the site was available in Italian and German. However, Japan has been online for just about two years.

Twitter’s lead engineer for the international team, Matt Sanford, wrote today:

Ari Fleischer laughing all the way to Tiger's bankThe interwebs were blazing with rumors that Tiger Woods has hired Ari Fleischer.

Of course, this isn't the Ari that the Entourage crew rolls with, but it's pretty close.

After all, as ESPN writer Gene Wojciechowski pointed out, this is the same Ari that botched Mark McGuire's re-entry into baseball; pimps the BCS (colleges weak attempt at a championship series); and, the guy who hand-held the Green Bay Packers through their very public and nasty divorce with fan-favorite and hall-of-famer, Brett Farve.

Feds pushing hard for census participationThe federal government has been doing a pretty decent job in promoting the 2010 census. They have used a variety of on and offline marketing channels.

One of the more effective channels has been social media and specifically YouTube.

Check out this video that targets the Taiwanese population. According to the video, only 800 Taiwanese residents filled out the form — that's missing about 80 percent.

Bogus Ad for Bogus Bridal Show

I wrote the piece below for Technorati earlier today, but wanted to add a little more to the upfront -- really just a simple warning to you brides out there: do your homework. Research every vendor you work with. Get references. Be smart. Trust your gut. Ask for documentation, receipts and customer references. The day is too important to simply trust the internet.

Post originally appeared on Technorati.com

Later this week, thousands of people could descend upon the Hynes Convention Center in Boston, MA for a bridal show that doesn't exist.

Boston Police tell the Boston media that someone set up a bogus website and created accounts on Twitter and Facebook, all to promote "The Boston 411 Bridal & Home Show 2010." The promotions claimed it would be held at the convention center March 5-7.

Do you believe in two miracles?Article originally posted on Technorati.com

Today the USA will face off against Canada for the gold medal for hockey in the 2010 Olympic games. There hasn't been a hockey game of this magnitude since 1980, better known as the "Miracle on Ice."

When Team USA beat the ever-mysterious Russian team — who up to that point, set the gold standard of hockey around the world — patriotic pandemonium ensued at Lake Placid, NY.