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Amid the endless pronouncements about social media -- often shortened to "social" these days by consultants trying to sound like they know what they are talking about -- is the reality that social media is not a solution, or a sure bet. - alex de carvalho

Facebook fan pages have become immensely popular for companies and organizations. They love using pages to communicate with their stakeholders. The following eight suggestions will optimize your fan page to create the most vibrant community possible - alex de carvalho

Google Wave is a new web-based collaboration tool that's notoriously difficult to understand. This guide will help. Here you'll learn how to use Google Wave to get things done with your group. Because Wave is such a new product that's evolving quickly, this guidebook is a work in progress that will update in concert with Wave as it grows and changes. - alex de carvalho

I am sure United Airlines wishes they had just paid for the passenger’s guitar they broke now that the music video he recorded chronicling the ordeal spread virally and has been viewed more than five million times! - alex de carvalho

The future of news is entrepreneurial. - alex de carvalho

Network Theory has fundamentally changed our understanding about how the world works since its inception a decade ago. Most of all, by understanding how networks form and grow, we can build better ones. - alex de carvalho

Communication designers have always played a role in advancing socially relevant issues. Since one of the special attributes that a designer brings to problem solving is empathy, it is not surprising that there is a strong affinity with causes that affect the human condition. As society looks with ever-increasing consciousness at significant social issues afflicting people everywhere, we see in our membership an intense interest in finding ways to use their talents to play a positive, socially significant role. - alex de carvalho

On Wednesday, November 11, some of the most notable leaders in Social Media are flying to Miami from places like Boston, New York, Austin, Chicago, and Charlotte, in preparation for a four-day Social Fresh cruise. Let's welcome them to South Florida and wish them bon voyage, with a special Silicon Beach tweetup in their honor. Join us in downtown Miami to wish bon voyage to Chris Brogan, Amber Naslund, Jason Keath, and 25 other of our favorite social-media innovators. They can't wait to meet you! - alex de carvalho

The army of Twitterers is growing quickly, per the Pew Internet Project report released today. The report found that 19 percent of all U.S. Internet users now use either Twitter or smaller services, such as Yammer, to share social updates. This was up 8 percent from the 11 percent who used such services in April 2009. - alex de carvalho

"Most organizations and agency structures organize around their own business model rather than what will allow the marketers to be the most successful in social media," said Bryan Wiener, CEO of New York digital shop 360i. - alex de carvalho

Technorati's killer finding is that among the professional bloggers they surveyed who fall into the "full time" worker category, the average salary works out at $122,222--an enormous figure. Those full-timers equate to 46% of the respondees, which means that the majority of bloggers are part-timers--but these guys still take home some $14,777 per year, which isn't to be sniffed at. That means the average blogger salary is about $42,548. - alex de carvalho

Starwood Hotels and Resorts recently released a comprehensive new social media campaign across Facebook, Twitter and the iPhone to help out its guests and other travelers. The applications rely heavily on user-populated content, but the hotel chain has also put its army of concierges to work to help jump start the flow of information. - alex de carvalho

I've seen client after client duped into charging a digital or PR agency with-arguably-the most transformational opportunity we've been given in our professional lifetimes and the result is almost always a shambolic disappointment. - alex de carvalho

no-one owns social media - Thomas Power

PR firms and Interactive / Ad Agencies everywhere are fighting over social media budgets ... - alex de carvalho

Perhaps amazingly, some 20% of Tweets were requests for product info or responses to these. The Tweets were flowing between users and friends, or particular companies, and the comments were both positive and negative. - alex de carvalho

You're careful about what you post online. You know Facebook and Twitter posts can harm your dating and job prospects. And thieves can use the sites to target you. But there's much more to maintaining your security and privacy. Criminals and marketers have found new ways to use Twitter and Facebook. If you're not paying attention, it's easy to get taken. - alex de carvalho

while consumers may be spending significant time with Community sites, it’s coming at the expense of their time with Communication sites whose core capabilities are email and Instant Messaging (IM). - alex de carvalho

Companies now face a clear choice: wall themselves in and become increasingly controlled and hidden, or use social media and other means to reveal their human side, welcome transparency, and forge new relationships with their customers. The old game is undoubtedly over, and the question now is, “what can businesses do to transition and succeed in this new era?” - alex de carvalho

The most important thing to understand about being successful in social media is the importance of attitude and intention. It’s starting from the right point of origin and with the right mindset that will ultimately guide your choices as you ENGAGE with the market. But if your intention is to take the most money possible from customers, you end up in a different place then if your point of origin is serving that market. - alex de carvalho

Email has had a good run as king of communications. But its reign is over. In its place, a new generation of services is starting to take hold—services like Twitter and Facebook and countless others vying for a piece of the new world. And just as email did more than a decade ago, this shift promises to profoundly rewrite the way we communicate—in ways we can only begin to imagine. - alex de carvalho

Many of the levers you pull on Facebook require time, attention and consideration. You can think of these as the manual levers. - alex de carvalho

Listening to social media buzz is not and should NOT be limited to mere tracking of blogs and Google searches. Other social media sites, such as those for micro-blogging, social networking and pictures and video sharing should be monitored too. - alex de carvalho

What strategies do users employ in evaluating the credibility of online sources? - alex de carvalho

Viewing social media as just another channel to “push” out messages is indicative of not comprehending the impact of two way communications and the related influence on markets. Corporations do not comprehend that use of social media as more systemic in nature than just thinking in terms of marketing. Failure to understand this means the market will easily and quickly reveal that which you don’t comprehend or have failed to recognize. - alex de carvalho

Managing a brand has always been a slightly odd concept, given that consumers are the real arbiters of brand meaning, and it's become increasingly outmoded in today's two-way world. That's why a new report is going to recommend changing the name "brand manager" to "brand advocate," and fundamentally changing marketer organizations in response to the onset of the digital age. - alex de carvalho

After a few years of working here, though, I've learned that you don't have to change your name just because it brings up some embarrassing search results. Below are some tips for "reputation management": influencing how you're perceived online, and what information is available relating to you. - alex de carvalho

Marketers should continue to be responsive to the real-time web, but quickly develop processes that involve other customer touchpoints such as support, service, and product development into the mix - alex de carvalho

Pharmaceutical eMarketing Using Social Media: How to Use It ... Reuters 8 /PRNewswire/ -- Eularis is announcing the release of its report "How To Harness The Power Of Social Media In Pharmaceutical eMarketing. ... and more » - Walter Adamson

Thanks for the head's up, Walter, that's useful info. - alex de carvalho

Alex, ewww! - Yvette Ferry

I know! LOL :) - alex de carvalho

You can’t eat whuffie, but it’s getting harder to eat without it, as Tara Hunt says in The Whuffie Factor. For the uninitiated, think of whuffie as an alternative to money – a reputation-based currency that started as a concept in a science fiction novel, now being applied to online business. Hunt’s interesting central thesis is that in order to successfully change social capital into market capital, company employees need to be authentic community members engaging in meaningful participation where their contributions often outweigh personal gains. - alex de carvalho

“People confuse good classical marketing skills with reliance on traditional media. I’m always looking for classical marketing excellence in assessing customer needs, developing the right customer segments and serving those segments from messaging, products, pricing and customer support. This drives the media decisions. Classical marketing expertise with the knowledge of leveraging digital marketing in the mix is the holy grail for us.” - alex de carvalho