Weekly Reads: Facebook, Marketing Trends and Social Media’s Effect on Stereotypes
Alongside my ongoing book reading challenge, I start off every day by reading the latest goings-on in the public relations, social media and tech blogosphere. As part of my new approach to creating content, I’m going to begin curating the best for you.
Each Monday, I’ll kick-start your week’s reading by sharing some of the most interesting pieces I’ve read over the previous week. Facebook is at the centre this week – four of the seven articles incorporate the dominant social network – from conflict over Egypt, to UFC broadcasting fights, to creating an engagement guide for your organization. Also: interactive marketing trends and how social media may break down gender stereotypes.
Let me know about your favourite pieces from the last week in the comments below.
1. Betting on News, AOL Is Buying The Huffington Post
AOL’s spate of content-focused acquisitions continues – first TechCrunch, now the Huffington Post as the New York Times reports on its latest move.
2. Brian Solis: Malcolm Gladwell, Your Slip Is Showing
Nowadays, you can almost guarantee that every time there’s a significant world event, Malcolm Gladwell will stick his head up and beat down a non-existent argument that social media is driving everything. In this piece, Brian Solis offers a counterpoint to Gladwell’s incessant focus on tools, and looks at the bigger picture.
3. Wired: Trolls Pounce on Facebook’s Tahrir Square
In a bit of a counterpoint to Gladwell’s perspective, Wired looks at how Egyptian President Hosni Mubarak’s supporters are spreading propaganda and disinformation through social media.
4. Fast Company: UFC and Its Gang of 4.6 Million Facebook Friends Body Slam Sports Broadcasting
UFC – the hot sport of the moment – bypasses the mainstream media and takes to Facebook to broadcast some of its fights. Fast Company notes that “Experimenting with new web integration is a natural fit for the UFC, a business built on the strapping backs of its early, Internet-savvy fans.”
5. Forrester: Actual Interactive Marketer Predictions For 2011
Following-up on my presentation on 20 social media trends for business in 2011, here are a few diverse predictions from an equally diverse group of interactive marketers:
- Ad prices increase
- Marketing will blend promotion and content
- Targeting gets even bigger
- Netflix pulls out of mail
- Mobile commerce will bloom
- 2012 will be a year of even more aggressive innovation
Interactive marketing predictions
6. Mashable: HOW TO: Create A Facebook Engagement Policy
Mashable isn’t usually a source to rely on for in-depth walk-throughs, but this piece on creating an engagement guide for Facebook does a decent job of outlining some key areas:
- Categorize posts
- Establish acceptable response times
- Develop guidelines for resolving issues
- Create a process for handling inquiries
- Set clear ground rules for fan posts
- Set the appropriate tone
7. TEDTalks: Johanna Blakley: Social media and the end of gender
Johanna Blakley talks about the demographic profiling used by traditional media and the advertising industry, and how online communities and social media may bring an end not only to false demographic targeting but also to gender stereotypes in mainstream media.
