Social Media Daily Chirp for the busy professional

• Problem Solved: What's the Right Social-Media Fit?
  You know your company needs to jump in to social media to compete in today's Internet-based marketing world. But which channel is right for you? How can you find the right social-media fit? more
• FTC Requires Bloggers to Come Clean
  New FTC guidelines will affect marketers who use blogs, Facebook, Twitter, and the like for word-of-mouth and viral campaigns, starting Dec. 1. more
• Google Wave: A Sea Change for Marketers?
  Starting today, Google will invite 100,000 users to beta-test its much-buzzed Wave. What will the hugely ambitious communication and collaboration platform mean for marketers? more
• Facebook, Nielsen Partner to Measure Ads' Impact
  Facebook has entered into a multiyear partnership with Nielsen to allow better measurement of the effectiveness of advertising on the widely popular social networking site. The alliance is yet another move by Facebook to heighten its attractiveness as a marketing platform. more
• Problem Solved: You've Built a Social Media Fan Base, Now What Do You Do to Keep Them Engaged?
  There's nothing we love more than solutions—top-notch insights from top-of-the-line experts that help solve common marketing problems. Once a week, this column will pose a problem, and invite a MarketingProfs speaker—past, present, or future—to help solve it for you. more
• Firm Sells Facebook Friends to Advertisers
  Need a friend? Brisbane-based uSocial will find thousands of them on Facebook for you—at a price. more
• Facebook Hits 300 Million User Mark
  Facebook users now number 300 million—nearly the size of the US population—CEO Mark Zuckerberg recently announced. His even bigger news: Facebook is now in the black, much earlier than anticipated. more
• Facebook Connect Lifts Facebook Past MySpace
  The launch of Facebook Connect fueled Facebook's surge to the front of the social networking pack, leaving MySpace in the dust. more
• Woofer, the Anti-Twitter, Launched
  This dog can't hunt, but it sure can woof: Woofer, which calls itself an "homage to Twitter," is a new "macroblogging" site that requires each post be a minimum of 1,400 characters, reports Jon Brodkin on Network World, in contrast to Twitter's maximum of 140 characters. more
• Twitter Lessons from the Lunch Cart
  "Twitter is still a scary, untamed frontier for many businesses," Fortune wrote recently. We hear a similar refrain from the marketers who are part of the MarketingProfs community: They know that they should be engaging online, but they don't have the foggiest notion of how to do it. more
• Twitter and Trolls and Squatters... Oh My!
  Recently, St. Louis Cardinals manager Tony La Russa sued Twitter for the misappropriation of his name by an anonymous account holder (the now vacant @TonyLaRussa) who had a whopping four followers. One issue that the incident brings to mind is Web anonymity and the plethora of online trolls, squatters, and the like that reside on social sites such as Twitter and Digg. more
• Marketing Addictionary: 'Bird-of-mouth'
  Bird-of-mouth (noun): The spreading of news or information via Twitter. more
• Streaming Music 2.0
  Top 40. Jazz. Alternative. To stream music online, you have several choices. Whether you want radio or individual songs, some of the more popular sites are radio paradise Pandora, Last.fm, iLike and imeem—and a relatively new site. more
• Website URLs Are so 2005
  Social network popularity is growing. So much that even TV is noticing. Major brands now list URLs not to their websites but to the social networks that they're on. "Look for us on Facebook" or "Follow us on Twitter" is becoming more widespread. more
• We Love Eric
  We've seen the power of Twitter's community used for good: spreading vital information during natural disasters, distributing Amber Alerts, and raising money for charities. Now imagine using not only Twitter's power but also the celebrity of the Nine Inch Nails. more
• Marketing Addictionary: 'Headfake'
  Headfake (noun): A situation in which you are familiar with a person's online avatar picture, which gives you an inaccurate idea of how that person appears in real life. more
• Twitter in Real Life
  Twitter has swept the world as an Internet phenomenon. What would it be like if we lived out our offline lives speaking in 140 characters or less? The results would be hilarious, if this video is any evidence. more
• Roll Your Own: 'Mother of the Year' Video
  If you're a mother, or perhaps you have one, check out this fun promotion by MomsRising.org to celebrate someone you consider "Mother of the Year." more
• Twitter + Wine = Dream Job
  With all that negativity about today's job market, a bit of lightheartedness doesn't hurt, right? Well, looks like Murphy-Goode Winery in Sonoma City, has done so by creating THE dream job for a Twitter and Facebook power user who's a wino (no joke). more
• Connecting Twitter with the Real World
  Twitter has seen massive growth as an online communications tool, especially with the recent influx of celebrity personas (Ashton, Oprah) using it. But perhaps no celebrity has found more success with Twitter than Tony Hawk, who is using it to bridge both his real and his virtual communities. What are the lessons for marketers? more
• Marketing Addictionary: 'Mobsmacked'
  Mobsmacked: (adjective) That stunned feeling you get when your marketing efforts worked TOO well, and you can't keep up with customer demand. more
• Do You Have Good Facebook Manners?
  The social-media world can be a landmine. Luckily, it's fairly easy to be schooled in good Facebook manners. Check out this video on proper etiquette on Facebook, the "electric friendship generator." more
• This Is Your Brain on Twitter
  Earlier this month, a doctoral student developed a way to post messages on Twitter using only the mind. The discovery could be a lifeline for people with paralysis, offering them a way to communicate when they cannot otherwise speak or move. more
• Hold the Plastic
  Susan Boyle wowed the world when she recently debuted on "Britain's Got Talent." What are the lessons in her success for marketers? more
• Marketing Addictionary: 'Social Notworking'
  Social Notworking: (noun) The pursuits of those who spend their workday on Twitter. more