Economist: A Special Report on Social Networking

Online social networks are changing the way people communicate, work and play, and mostly for the better - download full report - click here.

Social Media and Baby Boomers

A summary of Media Post's take on social media and baby boomers --

Include social media in plans to reach Boomers: it is clear that social networks are not a passing phase for Boomers. Like others, they are finding that online social networks enhance their existing relationships.

Tea Party Trying to Organize Offline

Tea Partiers held their first national convention this weekend in Nashville, TN.  The convention is part of the movement’s attempt to organize offline and become a legitimate political party.  The convention’s organizer, Judson Phillips, said ,”If 2010 is another year of rallies, we’ve lost.”  Tea Partiers have organized and communicated almost entirely through social networking sites.  Having a convention is a step in the right direction for the Tea Party but they have a long way to go if they hope to become an established political party.

What's Next for Geolocation? Apps, Apps, Apps

Geolocation social networks are set to be in 2010 what microblogging was in 2008 - the next big thing. Currently the space is being dominated by Foursquare, with others like Gowalla, MyTown and Loopt  trailing in its wake.

Google Creating Twitter Clone for Gmail

As soon as this week, Google might be rolling out a "Twitter-killer" feature for Gmail users, according to a report from the Wall Street Journal.

Gmail users can currently broadcast status messages via the Google Talk feature. The main difference between the current offering and the new feature is that status messages aren't available in a timeline format. With the new "Twitter clone," they will be. 

Reaching Millions with Twitter: The Whole Foods Story

Have you ever wondered how a business handles more than a million Twitter fans? Want the inside scoop from the largest retailer on Twitter?

Even if you’re a small business, there’s some great insight to be gained from Marla Erwin, Interactive Art Director for Whole Foods Market. Marla was instrumental in creating Whole Foods’ acclaimed social media program and the results have been phenomenal! For example, in the first year, Twitter.com/Wholefoods gained a million Twitter followers. It has now surpassed 1.75 million people.

How to Market your Business with Twitter Lists

Twitter is a networking haven for businesses. But is there an easy way to draw the right people to you with Twitter?

The answer is yes and there’s a great Twitter feature that can help you: Twitter lists.  Twitter lists can grab the interest of people you most want to meet, help you make a great first impression and can help you with marketing segmentation.

And finally, check out this video from TechPresident, From the Bloomberg Campaign, Social Media Stats.

Bloomberg Campaign: Social Media Case Study

We’re enjoying a rare break in between sessions at a Starbucks on the corner of 36th/Madison. So far we’ve attended some great sessions and have used livestream to catch up on the one’s we couldn’t make due to conflicts. Lots to soak in.

By far, the highlight of the week (so far) has been Jonah Seiger’s review of Michael Bloomberg’s successful social media campaign of 2009. Jonah, founder of Connections Media, was generous in his presentation, sharing loads of insights most folks in his shoes would keep close to their chest.

Want to know what makes a Facebook Widget rock? Read on.

The Who Rocks Facebook with Name that Riff

I’m not a big fan of the majority of available widgets, apps, and games that bombard Facebook.  Most are garbage in my opinion, and do nothing other than clutter your profile or page.

The problem is many of these widgets were built with the old school marketing mentality of “if we build it, they will come.’”

The truth is, Facebook widgets fail for the following reasons...

This is probably the worst video of the 2010 election cycle and we're only 1 month into the year. What's next?

Carly Fiorina Releases Trippy 'Demon Sheep' Ad [Video]

California senatorial candidate Carly Fiorina (R) has released a highly unusual attack ad featuring a red-eyed man in a mixed sheep-wolf outfit crawling on all fours in a meadow. There's also lightning. Somewhere in there is a message about opponent Tom Cambpell and fiscal conservatism. Skip to 2:25 if you just want to see the glowy eyes.

Grab insight on the video and a synopsis of the aftermath from TechPresident.

Social Media & Young Adults

Two Pew Internet Project surveys of teens and adults reveal a decline in blogging among teens and young adults and a modest rise among adults 30 and older. Even as blogging declines among those under 30, wireless connectivity continues to rise in this age group, as does social network use. Teens ages 12-17 do not use Twitter in large numbers, though high school-aged girls show the greatest enthusiasm for the application.

(H/T @MelissaTweets)

FL-SEN: The Hug that Triggered a Bomb

You know what they say these days: it's not enough to just hold a money bomb. You gotta have a theme. Scott Brown used "Red Invades Blue." Florida Republican Marco Rubio, running against Gov. Charlie Crist in their party's primary for the open Senate seat, is getting a bit more creative -- and timely -- with it.

The Importance of Being Everywhere: VAs McDonnell and NYC's Bloomberg Go Full Google

Oh,
those time-honored traditions of democracy. Spreading leaflets
door-to-door. Holding up signs at busy intersections. And, at least in
recent elections, the Google network blast. Two candidates whose
chances for victory tomorrow range from pretty likely to
go-ahead-and-bet-the-rent-money-on-it are taking no chances, employing
the somewhat cutting-edge Google network blast technique to blanket the
Internet experience of potential voters in their regions with
advertisements touting their bona fides.

Twitter Reveals More Lists Power With a Widget

Since it was turned on for all users late last week, everyone is talking about Twitter’s new Lists feature. Most people seem to like it, but some have no idea what it’s good for. Perhaps those people will understand a bit more about Lists potential with a new widget that Twitter has launched today.

The List Widget is exactly what you’d expect: A widget that you can place on your blog that displays a list of your choosing. One nice thing is that this can be a list you made or one any user has made (that is public). If you simply type in a user’s name, it will show their lists in a drop down menu. You then give the list a title, a caption, customize its look and feel, and you’re good to go.

10 Twitter List Widgets You Can Grab & Embed Right Now

The good folks at Twitter recently rolled out list-making capabilities for all users, finally catching up to functions that many desktop and web apps have featured for a while.

In addition to allowing users to create their own curations, Twitter has also added a basic widget-maker for adding tweets from any user's list to any given website. And since re-embedding the code for Twitter's widget is still kind of a pain, we've hand-picked ten great lists and created widgets from them for your expedited enjoyment and copy-pasteable hijacking. You're welcome!