readings in social media and pr for february 28 2011

My friend and fellow collaborator Monica Colon-Aguirre ( she was first author) on the poster presentation at Tennessee that tied for top poster! Congratulations!

Here is what I am reading today:

• Facebook and Social Journalism

“A Facebook-only news organization? It was only a matter of time. The Rockville Central, a community news site in the Washington, D.C., area, will move all its operations and news coverage to its Facebook Page starting on March 1. This risky move by the site’s editor, Cindy Cotte Griffiths, highlights Facebook’s growing role as a platform for journalists to use for social storytelling and reporting.”

• M & M’s internet invasion game!

“M&M’s are doing something a little different over in Denmark, utilising Bookmarklets (little Javascript apps that are launched from a bookmark) to help turn every website in the world, into part of the M&M’s “Space Heroes” internet invasion game. This style of creative strategy has been hotting up of late, with brands delivering interactive experiences accessible on any website.”

• social influencers and their capital??   (or there’s a new voice in town!)
  

“Since the ancient, early days of social media, people have been obsessed with certain numbers as expressed in almost existential questions: How many people should I follow on Twitter? Are enough people following me? Should I accept friend requests from strangers — not to mention high-school classmates I haven’t thought of in ages — to pad out my Facebook social circle? Lately, everybody’s been obsessing about yet another number — a sort of meta number that is meant to tally your “social influence,” particularly on Twitter. Among the players in the influence-rating space: Klout (known for its notorious Klout Score), PeerIndex and Twitalyzer, while companies like PeopleBrowsr offer integrated solutions: ways to identify influencers (“Find Your Brand Champions”) and means to further engage them.”

• question and answer sites commercially viable?

“n December, it seemed that Quora, a 6-month-old website that allows its users to ask and answer questions of each other, had begun to grow at a rapid pace. How quickly, no one outside the company knows exactly. Quora is mum on the size of its audience, leaving the void to be filled by estimates from services that monitor websites’ traffic indirectly, the speculation of tech bloggers giddy with the prospects of a new sensation, and random cultural indicators, none more so than a Valentine’s Day message from uber-pastor Rick Warren telling his Twitter sheep to direct questions that require longer answers to Quora.”

• culinary note for today: health benefits of spices!

“While plenty of signs show spring is around the corner, we are not out of the woods yet! As the cold, dark days of winter give way to the cold, dry winds of early spring, keep your health and longevity fired up with spices and herbs.”