Jeff Guin

As marketers include social media as part of their overall strategy, 97% agree that it provides benefits and value to their business. In a survey of more than 700 marketers worldwide, 88% of respondents told Wildfire Interactive, a social media marketing software company, that social media helps grow brand awareness. Social media also benefited marketers by allowing them to engage in dialogue (85%) and increase sales and partnerships (58%). An additional 41% of marketers said it helped reduce costs. - Jeff Guin

"Social command centers" are all the rage today and it's not without some merit. Many organizations now find themselves in a real-time business environment where news travels faster than sound, and information is set free. As a result, some forward thinking companies have put "monitoring" in place either in-house or in combination with partners. This isn't enough. And to make matters worse, I've seen companies make the classic mistake of buying a tool BEFORE putting any thought into the design that goes into effective monitoring and response, forgetting the 3P's (People, Process, Platforms). Tech platforms are only one third of the problem. - Jeff Guin

Pinterest, the website which lets people collect and share photos online with a “virtual pinboard,” has steadily amassed a very dedicated following of users that spreads far beyond the app-obsessed early adopter crowd. On Tuesday, a new study out of content sharing company Shareaholic showed just how powerful the Palo Alto, California-based startup has become. - Jeff Guin

As most companies have now embraced the benefits of utilising social media sites in order to engage with consumers and clients, the challenge for many may be how to maintain and manage a constant interactive online presence. Smaller businesses have much to gain from an online presence, but the practicalities of regularly updating Twitter, LinkedIn and Facebook accounts may pose an issue, simply because of the time consuming nature of visiting each site individually and posting individual updates. - Jeff Guin

Consider the ingredients of a basic post: an image, an acronym or two, a few hyperlinks, maybe a couple of headings and even a list. I challenge you to make those ingredients accessible in 75 seconds or less. Are you up for the challenge? - Jeff Guin

The rage in social networks right now is Pinterest, partly because it’s probably the first social network that has a much higher adoption rate by females than males, and partly because it’s an interesting concept: somewhere between visual social bookmarking and scrapbooking. What also might not be immediately obvious is that it’s just “easier” to interact there. In that way, Pinterest has something in common with Instagram, which is community around photos. - Jeff Guin

Audience habits in reading digital publications. Men are more likely to read magazines. Most people still use the magazine's website to connect to content. - Jeff Guin

Presentation by Sean Blanda @ Philly Tech meet-up. - Jeff Guin

While nifty, QR codes are often not the easiest and most convenient method of information retrieval, and when utilized to convey data that could be more seamlessly delivered in another format, they become downright head-scratching. This is the case with the increasingly popular use of QR codes in place of Web URLs. - Jeff Guin

Viewshare is a free platform for generating and customizing views, (interactive maps, timelines, facets, tag clouds) that allow users to experience your digital collections. - Jeff Guin