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The ability to stay “top of mind” with our customers and clients has taken a huge leap with the various social media resources available today (Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc). There are so many ways to “get your point across” that it is easy wonder where to begin. Those of us in the technology industry have a bit of a head start as these tools were created in our own backyard, but even with this jump on the rest of the world, our traditional means of communications processes can slow down with what, and how, we adopt and implement these technologies.

Process is key to any winning strategy, and is true here as well. Simply jumping “online” with the latest application widget does not necessarily mean we will be front and center. For these tools to be both informative and productive, each business needs to understand how their core customer base communicates, and develop a combination strategy that best fits those needs. I would submit that in order to bridge the gap between business collaboration and social media, each business (and even business units within a company) needs to identify exactly what that gap is (it will be largely different depending on your line of work).

Many application companies have put forth attempts to consolidate the media… making it more collaborative and user friendly. Avaya has developed a very unique tool in the Flare Experience. This software solution is purpose built around the way businesses work, with intuitive touch screen interface, document and data sharing, HD video and voice, and “pooling” contacts from various media (including the usual suspects in social media) into a “contextual” experience. More software and application companies are developing integration tools continually, so it will be interesting to look back to see what solutions actually become the match-makers between social media and true business collaboration.

We have heard this a lot, but we must work “smarter”, and to do this we need to apply technologies that are in sync with our core competencies. If all we do is setup a company Facebook page or Tweet about our last trip to Starbucks, we aren’t fully utilizing the tools that are available. Knowing where our prospects go to find out about or research something they need is the first step toward building a collaboration process that benefits both parties.

- Cary Bush

Or maybe you would just like to follow along with him on Twitter.

poken |pōkən|
verb [trans.]
to touch two poken devices together, exchange data and make, keep and cultivate human connections.

noun (plural same) trademark
1. any poken product: pokenSPARK ™, pokenPULSE™, pokenHUB™; the poken website: www.poken.com
2. the actual company behind the whole thing. when Poken is written with a capital “P”, we’re talking about Poken S.A., all official and whatnot.

Today, it seems like there are new social media tools coming out by the second. The Poken, “your social media business card,” is making business connections even easier. Much like the iPhone’s Bump Application, you can gather your new friend’s contact information with a simple touch.  This information is then stored on a USB drive, and you can view all of your “social business cards” in one place.

The Poken also records the date and time, which you gathered your contact information.  So, if you know you met someone two weeks ago, and want to check out their LinkedIn profile, you can simply scroll back in time to the date you met them.   Your Poken can store up to fifty contacts before transferring the data onto your computer.

Check out the Poken demonstration video below, and get to poken.

Poken Explained from Poken on Vimeo.

Twitter published its top ten list of trending topics for 2009, and some might come as a surprise. Whether individuals are frustrated and confused by Google Wave or simply loving it, they are definitely writing about it.  In fact, so many individuals have been confused, there are multiple user guides being created.  My favorite guide is by Mashable, which really gets down to the basics of using this application.  This guide fully explains the terminology, the robots, and how to embed files. Needless to say, with its release in July, Google Wave certainly has caused a lot of chatter in the social media world, only taking half a year to become the top topic for Technology on Twitter for 2009.

Take a look at other trending topics in technology below:

Technology

1. Google Wave
2. Snow Leopard
3. Tweetdeck
4. Windows 7
5. CES
6. Palm Pre
7. Google Latitude
8. #E3
9. #amazonfail
10. Macworld

See a full list of trending topics here:  http://3.bp.blogspot.com/_14cEenKeR04/SygI8Gp0F9I/AAAAAAAAADY/hELPQB1mQKo/s1600-h/2009trends_large.png

[meta]marketer’s Kate O’Neill led the audience through key points to a strategic social media plan last week, as she introduced the group to a number of tools including Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube.  As the workshop began, the audience emphasized their need for understanding Social Media as a business promoter, the safety and privacy of these tools, and the proper etiquette for the use of these tools.

Kate began the workshop by emphasizing the importance of adapting to this form of marketing, and embracing these tools as the “new normal.”  An interesting statistic she pointed out is that Facebook is beginning to encroach Google in quantity of web traffic, and very soon might surpass it completely.  Another interesting point, thanks to @Bazaarvoice, is that 64% of consumers connected to brands on social media made their first purchase from that brand due to a digital experience.  This really laid down the ground rules of the importance of getting to know and understand this type of marketing.

Although it is extremely tempting just to dive in and start using these tools, Kate illustrated the importance of creating a strategy for your marketing efforts.  You should ask yourself:
-Who are you trying to reach?
-Who are the audiences you are trying to connect?
-What channel is appropriate to communicate with your audience?  
-What are the key concepts that you want to get across?
-What are the key terms you would use to describe that concept?  
-Who are your content contributors?

After defining your strategy, it is important to participate, but in the proper way.  So, what is the etiquette for Social Media use?  Kate referred to this as, “Think of it like a cocktail party…. light and interesting.”  She also emphasized the importance of not only talking about what you think is interesting, but make sure it will be interesting to your target audience as well.  In addition, she stated that it is essential to think about everything and make sure it is always back on a strategic level.

If you missed Kate’ presentation, and want to find out more, take a look at her slideshow below:

Now you can spam your LinkedIn profile with a cryptic 140 character messages.  Thanks to a new partnership between Twitter and LinkedIn, you can now sync your updates on both platforms.  For the business users of LinkedIn, get ready for more updates about the kids, day-dreaming, and other stream of conscience thoughts.  It should be interesting.  Before you go ranting and raving too much, you might want to think about everyone who has linked to you in your professional persona!

Click Here to read more.

The Pew Internet Foundation released new data today on the generational differences of social media.  “The median age of a Twitter user is 31, which has remained stable over the past year. The median age for MySpace is now 26, down from 27 in May 2008, and the median age for LinkedIn is now 39, down from 40. Facebook, however, is graying a bit: the median age for this social network site is now 33, up from 26 in May 2008.”

Three groups of internet users are mainly responsible for driving the growth of this activity: social network website users, those who connect to the internet via mobile devices, and younger internet users – those under age 44.

Some 19% of internet users now say they use Twitter or another service to share updates about themselves, or to see updates about others. This represents a significant increase over previous surveys in December 2008 and April 2009, when 11% of internet users said they use a status-update service.

In addition, the more devices someone owns, the more likely they are to use Twitter or another service to update their status. Fully 39% of internet users with four or more internet-connected devices (such as a laptop, cell phone, game console, or Kindle) use Twitter, compared to 28% of internet users with three devices, 19% of internet users with two devices, and 10% of internet users with one device.

It will probably become more difficult to track status updating as an independent activity as social network updates feed into Twitter and vice versa. For now, it is clear that a “social segment” of internet users is flocking to both social network sites and status update services. This segment is likely to grow as ever more internet users adopt mobile devices as a primary means of going online.

With the advancements that are taking place online and the constant growth of social media sites such as Twitter and Facebook, it is becoming more and more difficult to keep personal information secure.  Even if you do not own a Twitter or Facebook account, or if you have never used the Internet, your classified information is still at risk.

Ever wonder how much your sensitive personal information costs?

Symantec is planning to launch an Online Risk Calculator to help users determine how much their online information is worth on the black market.  A risk rating scale is included, which calculates the value based on demographics, online activity, and estimated value of online information.

The program begins by surveying the user about his/her gender, age and online assets and then asks for an estimated value of that information.  It will then question whether security software is used and how cautious you are when you work online.  This program is about gaining awareness to help users stop the loss of data before it takes place.

On the black market today, a criminal could gain access to your sensitive data for as little as $11.  Once the data has been compromised, it can cost large amounts of money and time to not only report the crime, but to fix your credit rating.

Helpful hint:

Use a security program with antivirus, firewall, and intrusion detection/prevention software and make sure to keep your OS and browsers up-to-date.

Want to learn more about Symantec and Data Loss Prevention practices?  Be sure to visit our InfoSec Conference on September 17th to hear Jennifer Ellard, Senior Product Marketing Manager of Symantec’s DLP Division speak.  More information can be found on the conference by clicking here.

Believe it or not, social media is so popular, that it is even a hit in space.  A new application called Twisst, allows you to track the positioning of the International Space Station (ISS) through Twitter.  Twisst can pull your global position and time zone from the location listed in your Twitter feed.  It can send you a personalized message when the ISS is in route toward your location.

Twisst is basically a combination of several data sources.  Twisst first taps into Twitter.com and determines who is following the @twisst account, as well as the location entered by the user in their profile.  The locations are then “geocoded” using Google Maps or Yahoo to find out the geographic coordinates for each location.  Once the coordinates are found, Twisst visits www.heavens-above.com to determine when the ISS will fly over those coordinates. 

Finally, Twisst taps the geographic database Geonames to find the time zone the location is in.  An alert is then sent to the Twitter user indicating the ISS is nearing.  It also includes information on how bright and how high the space station will be on the pass.

Is there ever a time when someone can have too much power?   Well the developers at Power.com are working hard to provide a powerful social media tool that allows the user to track all of his/her social media accounts in one place. 

There are other applications out there that are slicker and allow you to track your social media presence, but require the opening of multiple tabs in your browser.  The marketing on this says that it will help consolidate all communications, calendars, and social networks.  It fell short of expectations, but if you are a power user on social networks, you might find some value in logging in once to access all of your sites.  It was a pleasant surprise to find Hi5 included in the social nets as well.

Interested in learning more?  Visit www.power.com