Check Out

Wal-Mart, whose history of deception has made it a poster child for what not to do with social media, has launched a branded blog. This time it’s chosen a non-controversial topics – consumer electronics – and followed a recent trend by letting employees do the talking. We’ll watch this one closely. Thanks to Alex Howard for tipping us off to this.

35 Ways to Stream Your Life – ReadWriteWeb, Feb. 29, 2008

tags: social_media_useful

• Still trying to figure out how to get your arms around Twitter? ReadWriteWeb lists 35 different services that offer variations on the concept of “lifestreaming,” which is the word for the new uber-category that Twitter inspired. Many are still pre-launch and most appear to build on the Twitter concept to include content from other sources. The comments list a bunch of other options, too.
   – post by pgillin

How Lego Caught the Cluetrain – There’s a New Conversation, Feb. 26, 2008

tags: social_media_useful

• In this video, former Lego executive Jake McKee, who now heads social media consultancy
  Ant’s Eye View, talks about his experiences building community at Lego.  McKee was designated to serve the tiny adult market for Lego toys. At the time he was appointed, Lego had a policy of refusing to even look at suggestions from customers. The insights the company gained from its adult customers changed its culture and made Lego a case study in customer innovation. (44 minutes)
   – post by pgillin

ReGeneration – Dell’s green blog

tags: social_media_useful

• In case you missed this one (I certainly did), Dell’s got a blog devoted to its conservation efforts. Public policy issues are great topics for corporations to blog about. The topics inspire passion and cast the company in a positive light. There’s a very neat graffiti idea at the top of this blog.
   – post by pgillin

Shel Israel Interviews Michael Dell about social media – Society for New Communications Research, Feb. 12, 2008

tags: social_media_useful

• You’ve got to hand it to Dell. It’s been the victim of a couple of notable blog swarms, but rather than getting defensive and resentful it has embraced criticism as a challenge to do better. I was surprised to learn that Dell made 35 changes/improvements to its products last year as a result of IdeaStorm.
   – post by pgillin

Universal Wrecking Corporation Announces New Corporate Blog – Newswire, Feb. 17, 2008

tags: social_media_useful

50 Social Sites That Every Business Needs a Presence on – Inside CRM, Jan. 28, 2008

tags: social_media_useful

• Inside CRM has a list of the top 50 social media sites you should be aware of. The list includes big traffic drivers like Reddit.com, but also a number of niche communities, wikis and career-related networks that can be used for personal advancement.
   – post by pgillin

15 Fundamental Truths About Social Media Marketing

tags: social_media_marketing, social_media_useful

• These are solid tips for managing social media expectations from a practitioner.
   – post by pgillin

Social Media Could Thrive In a Recession Says Forrester Research – Feb. 6, 2008

tags: social_media_useful

Years ago, when I was an editor at Computerworld, I got to know Lynn Jimenez at KGO radio in San Francisco. She would often call me when there was breaking tech news and she needed some quick perspective. Over dozens of interviews, she proved to be a more valuable media trainer than any high-priced consultant I’ve ever worked with.

Lynn works at warp speed. She’s the morning business reporter on the top AM station in the Bay Area and she usually broadcasts from the frantic floor of the Pacific Stock Exchange. You can be having a perfectly normal conversation with Lynn and she will suddenly excuse herself, turn away and deliver a perfectly timed one-minute market update to 100,000 drive-time listeners as casually as if she were answering the phone. Then she’ll turn back and pick up the conversation in mid-stream. I don’t know how she does it.

Somehow, she’s found time to write a book about personal finance, and it’s got an interesting twist. ¿Se Habla Dinero? is written in Spanish and English. The Spanish pages are on the left and the English pages are on the right. So the book is both a guide to personal finance and a translation guide. This is important to Spanish-speaking immigrants, who are easily intimidated by the jargon and pressure involved in high-stakes financial decisions. They can take this book with them and easily find the English words they need.

As a practical guide, ¿Se Habla Dinero? is a plain-talk tutorial that’s accessible and understandable. Lynn Jimenez isn’t a specialist in personal finance, but she knows plenty of people who are. She’s taken a journalist’s approach by interviewing the experts in all areas and boiling down their advice into plain English – and Spanish. The book is comprehensive and easy to read, and the bilingual format is a bonus for readers who are still climbing the language curve.

Marriott – Marriott in the Kitchen – Brad Nelson’s Blog

tags: corporate_blog_examples, social_media_useful

• Building on the apparent success of the blog by Bill Marriott, Chairman & CEO of the big hotel chain, Marriott has launched a culinary blog written by its corporate chef. This is a low-impact, non-controversial way to extend the blogging metaphor to an area in which Marriott evidently wants to highlight its capabilities. The company has not historically been known for its food, and this is an effort to build awareness around that competency. It’s nicely done.
   – post by pgillin