Despite the explosion of innovation, expect a Social Business Suite to appear that consolidate many of these features for enterprise buyers] Categorization is crucial in managing this rapidly evolving space It’s very difficult to completely segment this space as many of the vendors cross into multiple categories so I’ve separated it into major function groups. Yet don’t discount other systems, as when you look closely, Google, Yahoo, MSN, AOL are also social networks, and will continue to innovate as well as aggregate. Social Media Management Systems. MORE >>

Collectual these folks own social media budgets: LIST [link] in reply to spicedawg56 1 week ago « Community Platform Pricing for New Clients Scorecard: Should Startups Have Community Managers? Couple your email newsletter content with additional website content on a blog for improved commenting. Try out a short series of audio podcasts or video podcasts as content marketing and see how they draw. Practice delivering quality content on your blogs, such that customers feel educated / equipped / informed. Consider the value of hiring a community manager. MORE >>

The issue of lack of scale is resonating with social strategists –as a result, the market is developing new tools that will help them manage them. Solution: As a Result, Social Media Management Systems are Emerging Like CMS and WMS for centralized website management, Social Media Management Systems (SMMS) empower social media teams to manage multiple distributed social channels from one location –enabling the opportunity to build deeper relationships by being in more places at once. Can Social Media really be managed in this way??? MORE >>

awareness, much was said about the new —now old—Web being all about participation: in the age of User-Generated Content , everybody and their mother became a publisher, leveling the playing field. An independent blogger could potentially be more influential than a New York Times columnist, and the role of editors in identifying and promoting relevant content would be seeing their last days. Online content curators are playing an increasingly crucial role preserving that diversity beyond mainstream. Online content creators are well-served today. MORE >>

Prior to starting gShift, Chris was a co-founder of Hot Banana Software, a search engine-friendly web content management system that was acquired by Lyris Inc. An award-winning inventor of social technologies and customer services operations, Afshar is considered a pioneer in cloud computing, social collaboration, business intelligence and customer relationship management (CRM). He is an active participant in social media, author of the popular blog Managing By Walking Around , a frequent speaker at industry events, and a published author on multiple subjects. MORE >>