Joe Paterno’s is alive and well, but a viral message — a lie, in fact — spread like wildfire from a seemingly innocuous report from a student-run blog. Poynter Institute’s Jeff Sonderman reports on the blunder here, “How false reports of Joe Paterno’s death were spread and debunked.” ” This is a perfect demonstration of the [.]. Media Relations MORE >>

"People are more likely to share information from their strong ties, but because of their abundance, weak ties are primarily responsible for the majority of information spread on Facebook. The figure above illustrates how a majority of influence (orange) can be generated by weak ties, even if strong ties are individually more influential." " Just came across this fascinating article about a study Facebook released this week. My bold below). If an algorithm like EdgeRank favors information that you’d have seen anyway, it would make Facebook an echo chamber of your own beliefs. MORE >>

Tweet Image via Wikipedia. January has seen a spate of people tweeting things they shouldn’t – from Diane Abbott to Ed Miliband in the UK to countless people working for brands across the world. We’ve also seen a renewed debate in the UK about how the professions should use social media – notably about teachers befriending their pupils on Facebook. Surveys in the UK last year consistently showed that between 35% and 40% of UK firms have no social media guidelines in place. And even for those firms that did, many employees claim that they do not know what they are. MORE >>

In the many public engagements that I’ve been invited to present at as a social media speaker , people often ask me to recommend which social media conferences and events they should go to, both for networking and educational purposes. I’ve observed that lately, more and more companies are staging and/or sponsoring social media events, and I attribute this phenomenal growth to the maturity of social media and it’s acceptance by major businesses as well as adoption by industry after industry. Make sure you check back here for updates. Thanks! Social Media Marketing MORE >>

Anna Caraveli, our newest columnist , has a thought-provoking post over at the Demand Perspective called Engaging New Generations: Is it a Numbers and Data Game? An excerpt (my bold): Do we develop future members with formulas about how they behave with the only determinant being age? As a baby boomer I am supposed to feel all kinds of things that I do not actually feel.  This couldn’t be further from who I am. I thrive on fluidity and change; I have been and always will be driven to transform and reinvent and I am a passionate advocate and user of social media. Read the full post here. MORE >>