readings in social media and pr for september 29th 2010

Just left a conference in Minneapolis , Minnesota... CLICK on the picture for a visit to the twin cities

Here are a few things I found interesting reading on my trip:

• the value of a liker

“Who are “likers”?People who click the Facebook Like button are more engaged, active and connected than the average Facebook user. The average “liker” has 2.4x the amount of friends than that of a typical Facebook user. They are also more interested in exploring content they discover on Facebook — they click on 5.3x more links to external sites than the typical Facebook user.”

• the need for social media in schools

“A year after seventh grade teacher Elizabeth Delmatoff started a pilot social media program in her Portland, Oregon classroom, 20% of students school-wide were completing extra assignments for no credit, grades had gone up more than 50%, and chronic absenteeism was reduced by more than a third. For the first time in its history, the school met its adequate yearly progress goal for absenteeism.”

• on-line marketing technology company finds investors

“Netsertive, a North Carolina-based online marketing technology company, today announced it has raised $4 million in Series A financing. New York-based venture capital firms RRE Ventures and Greycroft Partners co-invested in the startup.Netsertive essentially aims to help small and medium sized businesses – as well as their related product manufacturers – reach customers in their respective local markets throughout North America with a strongly data-driven approach to online search & display advertising.”