93octane’s posterous

Social media purists have laid down the law and, so, to participate in social media as a business, you must do things like, “participate in the conversation,” “engage your customers,” and “talk with us not to us.” I’ve got news for you. In the world of business, all that talk will get you exactly nowhere. Conversations do not ring the cash register. Engagement does not sell more product. Talking with people just means you have to take time to listen which prevents you from spending valuable time selling more product. (full article...)

Social Media Explorer | Why Social Media Purists Won't Last (by Jason Falls)

When members of the Miami Social Media Community heard that we were bring 50 Social Media Leaders from across the U.S. down to Miami to cruise across the Caribbean for 4 days, they contacted me immediately. They wanted to take the opportunity to meet as many of us in person and send us off properly with a big tweetup. As written in the Miami New Times by Maria De Los Angeles, I worked with the Miami Social Media Community and the Greater Miami Conventions and Visitors Bureau to throw the largest tweetup in Miami history! (full article...)

CruiseSource | 2009 Social Fresh Cruise Bon Voyage Party Recap (by @RichTucker)

Just like any type of new feature their are good ways and bad ways to leverage it. Here are a few do’s and don’ts that I would recommend considering as you connect your Twitter and LinkedIn accounts.

1. Don’t post all of your Twitter updates to LinkedIn
2. Don’t post only your tweets about products and your own blog posts to your LinkedIn status
3. Do share some personal information on Linkedin to give your connections a better idea of your personality
4. (full article...)

Social Media B2B | Twitter and LinkedIn Status Integration by @kbodnar32

In a post on its blog, Twitter notes that the “noisiness of the conversation” has led Trends to be less interesting. So beginning today they’re going to be experimenting with ways to surface more relevant tweets in this area. While they don’t come out and say it, the implication here seems pretty clear: They’ll be in some way curating the topics and the tweets. It’s not clear if this will be algorithmic or manual yet. (full article...)

TechCrunch.com | Twitter Starts Curating Trending Topic Tweets (by MG Siegler)

Popular photo sharing service Flickr added a new feature Wednesday that lets users tag each other in photos. In addition, Flickr has updated its privacy controls so users can opt out of being personally identified in individual photos. Once a person is tagged, it makes finding them in searches much easier. Instead of searching for somebody’s name and only seeing photos blindly tagged with your search term, Flickr now shows you where that person is located inside the photo — especially helpful if you’re looking at a group shot. (full article...)

Webmonkey | Flickr Adds People Tagging for Finding Friends in Photos (by Michael Calore)

Creating a lively, responsive Facebook fan base is much easier when you give them a Facebook Page that triggers interaction. Content will always be the best way to inspire engagement, but if your Facebook Page is clunky, visitors won’t find that content – and they’ll leave. Clunky defined... (full article...)

Powered by John Haydon | How to add an interactive sidebar to your Facebook Page

Fast growing startup Twitter will soon be joining a select group of startups with private venture round valuations of $1 billion. (full article...)

TechCrunch | Twitter Closing New Venture Round At $1 Billion Valuation (by Michael Arrington)

In our haste to build the smartest, most fault-redundant network, and the best hardware, what many forget is the somber fact that the human "fallibility quotient" remains unchanged. By that, I mean the ability for the best of us to make mistakes, or for crucial oversights to happen. Ironically, while human errors committed under the old paradigm are limited at most to a single corporation or department, errors in the cloud are amplified many times over. (full article...)

FierceCIO:TechWatch | Why your cloud service will eventually fail (by Paul Mah)

The discussion of the value of Facebook for many B2B companies is a valid one. The truth is that it is not the best engagement platform for all B2B companies. However, it is a great fit for some. The problem is that most B2B companies are only using Facebook for a small fraction of what it can really do. Today I wanted to share three lead generation tips for Facebook that many companies seem to be ignoring. (full article...)

Social Media B2B | 3 Ways B2B Companies Should Be Using Facebook For Lead Generation (by Kipp Bodnar, @kbodnar32)

With more than 250 million users and great tools for brands, Facebook is an obvious place for brands to start engaging with their audiences. Facebook Pages were created specifically for the needs of businesses interested in reaching their audiences on Facebook. Creating a fan page is free and easy, but there are some common sense practices, as well as tricks, to ensuring your fan page is successful.

1. Don't lose new visitors
2. Provide fresh content
3. Give your audience a reason to become a fan
4. (full article...)

iMediaConnection.com | 10 practical tips for Facebook fan pages by Carnet Williams (via @hdueitt)