Keys to social media success – iMedia Connection, Nov. 29, 2007 Annotated

Highlights from this practical column:

• “At the outset, you should be prepared to focus on giving rather than getting. Building goodwill should be a cornerstone of your engagement strategy.
• “What you say can be as important as how you say it. It also means that in order to communicate effectively, you have to leave marketing-speak at the door. On the other hand, you don’t want to try too hard to fit in and end up losing sight of the reason you’re there in the first place.
• “Make sure your legal team is not writing any posts or deciding what’s getting written and how. Yes, legal should be involved in crafting and signing off on the policy, but no, legal should not be taking a hands-on role.”

How Your Creepy Ex-Co-Workers Will Kill Facebook – InformationWeek, Nov. 26, 2007

The insightful and articulate Cory Doctorow writes about the social strains created by Facebook, friending and the awkward insights that social networks provide into our personal lives. Facebook is hot right now, but it could easily cross over the line and become another Web 2.0 has-been if it doesn’t address the risk of users’ lives being seriously disrupted by the openness that it enables.

10 blogging tips from 10 bloggers – iMedia Connection, Nov. 30, 2007

While many of the recommendations in this article are well-known, there are useful comments from top business bloggers as well as good examples of businesses that have applied these sound principles. One tip that surprised me: spend as much time commenting on other blogs as you do writing your own.