Whistle Stops are conversations, eye-openers, or tools representing the brain train discovered while traveling along the Conversphere.  From business to education, life hacks to giving back, these are the posts and links that have in some way grabbed my attention this week! Elsewhere. Content Lessons Learned from 25 Popular Posts by Jay Baer - Great numbers and data (and 25 links to great articles). But Jay also shares 7 important lessons that you can benefit from starting now. hall-of-fame post! Be touched. Be invigorated. Why Chris Brogan & 29 Other Hot Shots Work for Us. gotta try this! MORE >>

I remember when the “social media manager&# role first cropping up years ago but boy has the role changed and evolved overtime. In fact I think it has changed so much that the title no longer describes the actual function that the “social media manager&# performs. A few years ago the social media manager was the person that monitored various social sites and responded to relevant conversations. Then the social media manager was the person who did all of that plus figure out how to run marketing promotions and service customers. developing loyalty programs. create content. MORE >>

Readers of my blog get a chance to read my white paper on Tracking Social Media ROI using Spectrum Analytics a day ahead of Tuesday afternoon’s webinar on the subject. I’ll also publish the PowerPoint deck shortly after the webinar. Tracking Social Media ROI using Spectrum Analytics. This paper is the most ambitious piece of writing I’ve done to date and I put a lot of thought and energy into it. MORE >>

What can you accomplish in 5 years? Between the ages of 0-5 , I learned how to walk, learned how to talk, to go potty, how to wear a mask (Casper the Ghost - my 1st Halloween), rode my first roller coaster (and lost my pancakes), that I preferred French Toast over pancakes (I wonder why), and many, many other things. Between now and 5 years from now , I am smarter because of my experiences (successes and mistakes), faster beause of the age we live in, better connected (so the next time I move it will be easier to make new friends) and. don't eat pancakes any more, so.it Go get 'em. MORE >>

Pretty impressed with a Pharmaceutical Social Media eBook I just read by Chris Iafolla of Shift Communications.  As I did some work with Pharmaceuticals while working at Porter Novelli (and doing more of it now) it peaked my interest that there was such an ebook for Pharma when there seems to be little easily digestible information for this segment because it is so highly regulated and risk aversive. I was going to attempt to summarize the Pharmaceutical Social Media e book but Chris Iafolla has already done a good job of that in his blog post.   In a legal sense, a public apology admits fault. MORE >>