Back at the end of 2008, I had an idea for doing something through social media to help charities. Thanks to some amazing friends and people like you that supported with your time and donations, that idea turned into a great example of how we can all make change if we really want to. The 12for12k project has raised over $100,000 for various charities to date – an amazing figure, given the “buy-in” was deliberately low, and the project took…

Last week, Jay Baer wrote a post about how brands are responding on social media. Jay’s premise was that companies that can respond within minutes on the social sphere are sending out a far more positive message than those that dilly-dally. It’s a really interesting read, and the comments after the post sparked a great debate about Jay’s premise, and if we weren’t setting companies up to fail by jumping to action as soon as their name is mentioned. One of…

Fact – too many businesses still need to wake up and realize that social media is not “one of these Internet fads” that will disappear. Fact – because of this mindset, too many businesses are potentially missing out on extra business that could mean the difference between staying afloat and going under. So why the problem? One of the main reasons is that businesses – whether it’s the CEO, top-tier management or otherwise – are looking at social media as…

So, if you ever read my bio (whether here on the blog’s sidebar, or on any of my social networks), you may have noticed that I recently updated my professional description. Whereas before it was for Bonsai Interactive, as of last week it became Jugnoo, Inc. So, what was the change? Simple – I’ve stepped down from my role at Bonsai to become Director of Retention and Social Media at Jugnoo, Inc. While my time at Bonsai was fun, and…

This is a guest post by Stacey Acevero. The rise of social media has created all sorts of new opportunities for small business marketers to get the word out, but it has presented challenges too. The days of sending press releases to media outlets with the hopes of being lucky enough to get some coverage are long gone, morphing into constant opportunities to catch the next social media sharing phenomenon. Today, it’s not enough to hit just those traditional media…

This is a guest post by Stuart Mills. “You are what you tweet.” – Alex Tew. I’ve found myself wondering whether social media is all it’s cracked up to be. Sure it makes it easier to connect with people from all over the world, from Nigeria to Nicaragua and from Pakistan to Poland, but how much satisfaction and contentment are we really getting from this online craze? Social Media And Value It’s common these days to see the youth of…

This is a guest post by Bruce Aristeo. It was late, and after a long day I stretched out my arms, took a deep breath, and let out a huge sigh. My hands reached out and I began clicking, swiping, and typing as my shoulders curled inward around my chest as if humped over in pain. My eyes were focusing and scanning the screen, my receptors acting as the light on a copy machine, pin-pointing each pixel and assigning the…

Over on Facebook yesterday, technology blogger Robert Scoble opened a discussion about Twitter versus Facebook versus Google+, based on an observation by Digg founder Kevin Rose and how these platforms offered different engagement. One of the commenters, Aimee Giese, left her take, and offered a counter to Robert’s view that Twitter was basically a dead zone now, and all the social media interaction is happening on Google+ and Facebook. To which Robert offered the reply as seen in the image…

According to the LinkedIn press centre, 1-in-20 of all LinkedIn profiles are held by recruiters. Additionally, Oracle’s Chief Finance Officer Jeff Epstein was headhunted for the position via his LinkedIn profile. And with 80% of companies using LinkedIn as a recruitment tool, it’s clear to see that social media (at least from LinkedIn’s side) is a great tool for any recruiter or human resources department to find their next employee (or for employees to find their next position). But what…

There’s a lot of hand-wringing and woe is me in social media. At times, it’s like watching a therapy group from the sidelines, except the therapy group shouldn’t really be called that – it’s more like a “woe is me, how unfair this social media thing is to me” group. Thing is, it’s not. When something’s unfair, or annoying, or any other emotion that doesn’t fill you with unicorn-flavoured Kool Aid, much of it can be attributed back to the…