Social Networking, Social Engagement News & Guidance

The mobile and social media industry is a fast-growing market in the U.S.,with a 30% annual growth in 2011. Forecast to grow into a US$ 100 billion industry by 2015, how does each specific business segment -- including mobile content, advertising and social media -- stack up?

Chinese authorities have recently decided to expand its "online accountability" regulations, with users of microblogging services now required to verify and use their real names. With today's increasing concerns on online censorship and freedom of information around the globe, how will this new regulation affect the growth of social networks and services that thrive on user-generated content?

Yammer, the rapidly growing enterprise social network, exceeds 4 million corporate users and is rumored to be working on a US$ 40 million funding round.

If your website has the Facebook Comments Box plugin, the plugin will now appear automatically on mobile devices, too.

It's all about social today. It's a part of everything we do, both personally and in business. IBM recognizes this and has introduced a number of new initiatives today that will help its clients and partners transform their businesses by taking advantage of social capabilities. Here's what they are doing.

Every year I get asked “What’s next for collaboration?” I did 10 predictions for 2011 and followed up last month in CMSWire on how well I did with those predictions. I was about 80% right (by my reckoning): let’s see if I can be more accurate this year. Some of my predictions for 2011 did not come true. Oracle did not acquire OpenText, but maybe that will happen this year, since there is a good relationship already.

This year, keeping some of my 2011 predictions in mind, I have 10 new predictions that cover a wide range of collaboration topics from community management to reinventing the supply chain. Don’t get your elves all in a twist, there will be plenty about technology. In this article I offer my first two predictions.

2011 was the year of the Social Business. We saw employees across all types of organizations using both desktop-bound and mobile social tools to interact with the entire business ecosystem. But, while there's no question about organizations increasingly using these tools to collaborate and communicate, were enterprises truly able to capture their full potential? Let's take a look back at a few highlights from the past year.

Web Content Management has seen some major changes this year, but while many are looking to the future of content management, just as many are working hard to stay the course and get the basics under control.

Twitter has just received a fresh infusion of funds from Saudi Prince Alwaleed bin Talal, one of the world's top private investors. With the microblogging service gearing up for a new advertising-based business model, and forecast to earn upwards of US$ 130 million per year, does the company really need this "strategic stake" from the Saudi Prince?

Social business is all about getting connected within one's organization, as well as connecting with the right people. Facebook plans to launch a new feature that lets page owners not only post messages in public, but also reach out to other social network users in private.

Facebook is offering website owners and authors more ways to help their readers discover, curate and share content. With Facebook's latest Subscribe button for websites, users can subscribe to their favorite authors straight from within their respective websites.

Organizations, whether for profit or not, invest in infrastructure and people. Infrastructure requires a one-time investment and occasional refresh. People, on the other hand, continuously cycle through an organization. The experience they gain as they master their jobs represents assets of enormous value. When they leave, the assets vanish unless the organization implements a harvesting program. That’s when a mentorship program within a company proves its worth. Once mentored, new employees prove to be durable, long-term assets, unlikely to leave. We call this type of mentorship B2E (business-to-employee).

An interesting question crops up time and again: Will today's major social networks turn to the enterprise market in the future? Business-oriented social networks are already popular among organizations and companies. But as Facebook and Google+ run out of markets to grow into, they will need to find more growth areas from within, and the enterprise is one big market ripe for the picking.

Getting customer feedback into new products has always been a good idea.  Now Pleasanton, CA based Spigit, a self-described crowd innovation company, is making a game of that process with its new FaceOff application. By turning voting on brand directions into a game, the company looks to engage their customers while generating new ideas.

HootSuite is a popular professional Twitter client that is aimed at users who Tweet, use Facebook or Linkedin on behalf of organizations. HootSuite has become very popular those who manage communities or for Twitter power-users who maintain more than one account. In an effort to become even more pervasive and developer friendly, HootSuite has launched an App directory that lists tools and web services that extend the capabilities of HootSuite.