"The rise of blogs and social networks has fueled a bull market in personal opinion: reviews, ratings, recommendations and other forms of online expression," writes Alex Wright in a recent New York Times article. "For computer scientists, this fast-growing mountain of data is opening a tantalizing window onto the collective ... more

The best kind of personal branding combines real-world communications with virtual visibility and community-building via social media. Online brand-building enables you to reach beyond the people you can connect with in person and allows you to measure the impact of your actions. Since online personal-branding efforts are easier to track and measure, ... more

Is the social-media explosion a "big bang" that's creating a whole new brand-communications paradigm, or is it part of an ongoing evolution whereby focused brand-building principles are not only still relevant but more important than ever? more

Comedian Sarah Haskins is back with another Target Women video at Current TV that skewers gender-based advertising clichés—this time it's the Doofy Husband. "Being a woman isn't easy," she says in a mock serious tone. "We work, we take care of the house, we raise children, and we do it ... more

More than half (55%) of gay and lesbian Americans read blogs, compared with only 38% of heterosexuals. They also use social networking sites more than their heterosexual peers. more

Need a friend? Brisbane-based uSocial will find thousands of them on Facebook for you—at a price. more

Total measured advertising expenditures in the first six months of 2009 fell 14.3% from a year earlier, to $60.87 billion, according to TNS Media Intelligence. Q2 spending was down 13.9% from last year—the fifth consecutive quarter of year-over-year decline. more

Social networking sites delivered 21% of all US online display ad impressions in June 2009, according to a recent comScore study, with MySpace and Facebook together accounting for more than 80% of impressions in the social networking category. more

The sun is setting on the tyranny of business cards—that stack of stiffs that seems important as you add to it again and again, but which you never really get the chance to sort through later. Well, hail and farewell!  One application precipitating the demise of these paper dinosaurs is Bump, which pretty much turns ... more

"When you first start playing in the social media sandbox, you feel compelled to collect," says Mark Goren in a post at the Daily Fix blog. "Subscribers. Followers. Friends. The more the merrier—at least that's what it feels like at first." But consider this: Just because someone ... more

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 use among the 55+ set increased 25% from July 4 to August 4, after growing an astounding 532% in the previous six months. more

You've almost certainly seen, or heard about, the YouTube video of a Minnesota wedding in which the bride, groom and their attendants dance and tumble down the aisle to Chris Brown's Forever. According to Rick Burnes, this is the viral ideal. "15 million people reached with no money spent on ... more

Marketers face a bit of a quandary in deciding how social to be. There is a seemingly endless number of social networks, all with conversations that might be relevant to the business. When it comes to email, the issue becomes trickier still: If supporting every social network out there is too ... more

What are so-called Trust Agents? Trust Agents have established themselves as non-sales-oriented, non-high-pressure marketers. They are digital natives using the Web to be genuine and to humanize their business. They're interested in people (like prospective customers, employees, and colleagues), and they have realized that the tools that enable more unique, ... more

What do you do when potentially devastating information about your company goes hyper-viral online, reaching millions of people essentially overnight? more

"While Dave Carroll was flying from Nova Scotia to Nebraska he had his Taylor guitar ruined," says the Huffington Post. "After a protracted attempt to get United to pay for the damage, Carroll struck back." And how! The Sons of Maxwell frontman wrote a song called "United Breaks Guitars," in ... more

The launch of Facebook Connect fueled Facebook's surge to the front of the social networking pack, leaving MySpace in the dust. more

Here's a juicy tidbit to chew on: One of the reasons Facebook is such a force in the social scene is that it makes it easy to catch up with friends without actually having to talk to them. Yep, you got it: Your Newsfeed outfits you with their latest photos, blog ... more

How do you know whether your social media efforts are bearing fruit? The answer, according to Katie Paine, is to create benchmarks against which to measure your efforts. more

For new-media darling Twitter, marketers are finding more tools to help them understand how their efforts are performing. This article will explore different ways to measure success (and mistakes) on Twitter by examining several real-world campaigns and the tools marketers can use to measure campaign success. more

How can you confront today's economic headwinds? See how IBM avoided a looming disaster and reached safe harbor with the help of customers and partners. more

While vigorous debate continues over Twitter's real business value—and its long-term viability—high-tech executives and marketers are experimenting with Twitter today, using it to nurture relationships and improve their visibility by sharing information about their business and industry. Not surprisingly, when Twitter and email campaigns are integrated, the effectiveness of both ... more

Would you dicker with a waiter about the price of a steak entrée? Or ask a hairdresser to give you highlights for free? Or expect a cashier to sell you a DVD at less than half its marked price? Probably not. A viral video making the rounds this summer uses ... more

About six out of seven (86%) US companies surveyed have used social technologies in support of one or more areas of their business, and marketing is their primary use for social media, the study found. more