10 Blogs to Boost Your Social Network Savvy

Here's a roster of experts who regularly offer tips and observations about networking to greatest effect.

Kristin Burnham

Sunday, July 04, 2010 09:09 AM PDT

Keeping tabs on the evolving world of social media isn't easy. Facebook, as we've seen, has endured several privacy fiascos and consequent criticisms. LinkedIn has made impressive progress in making the site more social by rolling out important updates to its site. Meanwhile, Twitter continues to struggle with simply handling its increasing traffic.

To better understand the changing landscape -- and to discover how it can help you and your business -- you need expert help. I've compiled a list of my 10 favorite blogs (in no particular order) from practitioners, experts and thinkers. Follow these blogs for the latest news, tips, insights and case studies that will keep you at the top of your social media game.

Chris Brogan
What you'll find: Chris Brogan, president of New Marketing Labs shares video book reviews, thoughts on and tips for maximizing the value of social media, and puts into greater context what the news means for you.
Sample posts: "LinkedIn Recommendation Tips;" "Beyond Project Management;" "Automate the Easy Stuff."

All Facebook
What you'll find: coverage of new Facebook applications, general news and analysis about the future of Facebook. The blog also features statistics on the top Facebook Apps and Pages.
Sample posts: "Facebook Driving More Users to Make Facebook.com Their Homepage;" "Facebook's New Permissions Dialogue Goes Live on All Applications;" "Facebook Clarifies Policy on Site Scrapers as Robots.Txt Gets Updated."

Carol Rozwell
What you'll find: Carol Rozwell, Gartner VP and a member of Gartner's Social Software and Collaboration team, writes on the dynamics of collaborating in social networks and communities, and innovation. Expect advice and practical use-cases.
Sample posts: "Social Networking Redo: Fixing a Broken Implementation Program;" "Social Media Stumbles-E-Business Redux;" "Social Media Panelists Share Experiences at PCC."

SmartBlog on Social Media
What you'll find: SmartBlog picks the most relevant social media news on the Web, summarizes it and links to the original source if you want to read the article in full. Check in here for poll analysis, news, tips and case studies.
Sample posts: "How LEGO Supports Their Growing Network of Fans;" "Getting a Handle on Twitter Followers;" "Gov 2.0: How to Engage Your Hispanic Fans."

Stowe Boyd
What you'll find: Stowe Boyd, director at 301works.org and president at Microsyntax.org focuses on social tools and their impact on media, business and society. Boyd recently moved his blog; for all old entries, go here.
Sample posts: "ACLU Fact Checks Facebook's Response to Open Letter;" "Twitter Taps Into Facebook and LinkedIn Networks;" "Sliderocket: The Last Stage of Jettisoning Desktop Office Apps."

Social Media B2B
What you'll find: News and discussions on social media's impact on B2B companies and social media adoption within B2B companies.
Sample posts: "Unclutter You B2B Social Media Sources;" "B2B Case Study: Supply Chain Firm Drives Traffic With Online Community;" "Social Media Monitoring and Developing B2B Thought Leadership."

Socialnomics-Social Media Blog
What you'll find: Socialnomics covers the latest trends in social media, focusing on news and what it means for users and businesses. It's known for its irreverent viewpoints of a popular topic. This blog complement's Erik Qualman's book of the same title.
Sample posts: "Steve Jobs=Social Media King;" "What BP Should Be Doing With Social Media;" "Facebook Statistics & History in Picture Form."

Andrew McAfee's Blog
What you'll find: McAfee, a principal research scientist at MIT's Center for Digital Business, coined the phrase "Enterprise 2.0." He writes on the ways that IT affects businesses.
Sample posts: "Why Some Geeks Hate the iPad So Much;" "In the Age of the Smart Machine, What Are WE Good For?;" "Memes to Watch Out For."

SocialMedia.Biz
What you'll find: advice on social media strategy, news, trends, tools and resources.
Sample posts: "Everything You Need to Know About SEO;" "Mark Zuckerberg Makes the Big Time;" "Successful Techniques for Building Your Industry Voice With Social Media."

Scobleizer
What you'll find: Robert Scoble, managing director at Rackspace, is best known for his views on the social media landscape. You'll find video interviews with upstarts, product reviews and analysis on the latest and greatest in the Web 2.0 world.
Sample posts: "Meet the team that knows who is REALLY influential on Twitter (Klout);" " First look video: Toshiba "touch" netbook prototype shows how Japanese might fight back against iPad (oh, and a cool 3D laptop, too);" " Two location companies that are more important than Foursquare, MyTown, Loopt, Gowalla, or Whrrl."

Staff Writer Kristin Burnham covers consumer Web and social technologies for CIO.com. She writes frequently on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and Google. You can follow her on Twitter: @kmburnham.

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
www.DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

P.S. Are you 'Advertising' or 'Marketing' ?

Ask me the Difference?

Happy 4 of July. : .......GOTTA LOVE THEM! THEY'RE OURS!!

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
www.DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

P.S. Are you 'Advertising' or 'Marketing' ?

Ask me the Difference?

TROOPS.......GOTTA LOVE THEM! THEY'RE OURS!! Military  Humor THANK  GOD THEY CAN STILL MAINTAIN THEIR SENSE OF HUMOR  OVER THERE!!! ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~  ~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~ ~~~~~~~~~~                              Don't  cha          Just LOVE  'EM!!!!!

How To Be Charismatic

A communications coach offers a quick lesson in the brain science behind charisma.

Posted by: Meridith Levinson in Best Practices Topic: Personal Management Blog: Career Connection Current Rating: Comments: 5

Can a stuffy manager learn to be charismatic? You bet. While many people believe charisma is an innate quality (you either have it or you don't), communications expert and coach Dr. Nick Morgan maintains that anyone can learn to be charismatic.

Charisma, Morgan explained during a recent Reach Branding Club teleseminar, is the focused expression of emotion. So long as managers can learn to focus their emotions, they can learn to be charismatic. (Check out Morgan's thoughts on leadership, communication and authenticity.)

"When we find a speaker charismatic, it's because the speaker has a powerful emotion connected with the material he or she is talking about," Morgan said during the teleseminar. "That's what we respond to."

Morgan noted that the human brain is wired to respond to emotion. It's what makes us social beings. He explained that the sole purpose of certain neurons in our brains (called mirror neurons) is to mimic the emotions of others in our own minds so that when we see someone experiencing sadness, for example, we feel blue, too. 

"When a speaker is charismatic, they express an emotion in their unconscious brain, and our mirror neurons respond to it," said Morgan. "That's where charisma comes from."

We're not always able to be charismatic in a meeting or at a conference, for example, because we're distracted by other things on our mind, whether they be work, personal problems, chores we need to do, or what we're having for dinner, said Morgan.

"Our unconscious brains express these [conflicting emotions] through our bodies, and everyone picks up on them through their mirror neurons," he said. "They see a distracted person. A charismatic person has figured out how to focus his or her emotions [so he or she doesn't get distracted]."

One trick to appearing-and being-more charismatic lies in the way you carry yourself. When you're walking into a meeting or onto a stage to give a speech, Morgan recommends standing up straight with your shoulders relaxed and slightly back and leading with your heart. He says most people lead with either their head, because they have a lot on their mind, or with their legs. Standing up straight with your heart "open" makes a person look heartfelt, said Morgan, and thus more trustworthy.

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
www.DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

P.S. Are you 'Advertising' or 'Marketing' ?

Ask me the Difference?

How To Be Charismatic

A communications coach offers a quick lesson in the brain science behind charisma.

Posted by: Meridith Levinson in Best Practices Topic: Personal Management Blog: Career Connection Current Rating: Comments: 5

Can a stuffy manager learn to be charismatic? You bet. While many people believe charisma is an innate quality (you either have it or you don't), communications expert and coach Dr. Nick Morgan maintains that anyone can learn to be charismatic.

Charisma, Morgan explained during a recent Reach Branding Club teleseminar, is the focused expression of emotion. So long as managers can learn to focus their emotions, they can learn to be charismatic. (Check out Morgan's thoughts on leadership, communication and authenticity.)

"When we find a speaker charismatic, it's because the speaker has a powerful emotion connected with the material he or she is talking about," Morgan said during the teleseminar. "That's what we respond to."

Morgan noted that the human brain is wired to respond to emotion. It's what makes us social beings. He explained that the sole purpose of certain neurons in our brains (called mirror neurons) is to mimic the emotions of others in our own minds so that when we see someone experiencing sadness, for example, we feel blue, too. 

"When a speaker is charismatic, they express an emotion in their unconscious brain, and our mirror neurons respond to it," said Morgan. "That's where charisma comes from."

We're not always able to be charismatic in a meeting or at a conference, for example, because we're distracted by other things on our mind, whether they be work, personal problems, chores we need to do, or what we're having for dinner, said Morgan.

"Our unconscious brains express these [conflicting emotions] through our bodies, and everyone picks up on them through their mirror neurons," he said. "They see a distracted person. A charismatic person has figured out how to focus his or her emotions [so he or she doesn't get distracted]."

One trick to appearing-and being-more charismatic lies in the way you carry yourself. When you're walking into a meeting or onto a stage to give a speech, Morgan recommends standing up straight with your shoulders relaxed and slightly back and leading with your heart. He says most people lead with either their head, because they have a lot on their mind, or with their legs. Standing up straight with your heart "open" makes a person look heartfelt, said Morgan, and thus more trustworthy.

Thank you,
Thomas Ieracitano
Thomas@Ieracitano.com
www.DigitalCarGuy.com
(229) 251-2462

P.S. Are you 'Advertising' or 'Marketing' ?

Ask me the Difference?

quote of the day

You create your opportunities by asking for them.
Shakti Gawain