Tweet We recently highlighted the surge in ‘ Chinese Pinterest clones ’ on this blog and when asked by the BBC to comment on an article on the same topic , I mentioned “I am looking to these Chinese clones to provide the next key paradigms in social commerce.” Two days later, we excitedly read the McKinsey China report on  ‘ China’s Social Media Boom ’; the results were impressive. Chinese netizens. China’s internet audience is huge – over 500 million – and growing rapidly. More importantly, this audience is active with over 50% spending more than 12 hours a week online. Social Commerce. MORE >>

It’s no secret that the factors that motivate salespeople to change the way they work have to be pretty simple: Help them spend more time selling and less time scrounging for information and telling managers what they’re doing. So when IBM began to introduce the concept of “social selling,” it chose a test base of a few hundred salespeople and their managers to build a set of integrated systems that improved productivity and reduced administrative overhead. It was about returning value and time to our sales teams for their time invested.”. Familiarity Breeds Intent. MORE >>

Just another quick roundup of MUST READ posts you may have missed: 1. What Does a Washington Post Blogger Resigning Say About the State of Digital Publishing? Maggie McGary) – Maggie has that knack of pushing through to the harder questions when everyone else (including me) just buys what we’re told. All I can think when I read stories like this or hear of similar experiences from my professional peers is “I don’t get it.” ” Everyone knows that the traditional publications model is dying. And for many, hashtags are still a fairly new concept. socialbiz. MORE >>

As we discuss the ways that social media can be used instead of press releases as a superior method of putting out a brand message, one of the most enjoyable components of the technique is being able to add a flash of creativity and personality to the campaign in ways that press releases simply cannot. It’s the hippo in the room. It’s the fun stuff. Unlike press releases, blog posts and social media posts can use riskier techniques to get the point across. These types of personalize, true-to-life styles of posts are the ones that have the opportunity to get shared on social media. MORE >>

Today’s prevailing attitude about the free exchange information across multiple platforms and applications, known to many as Web 2.0 design, is causing users to take a hard look at what constitutes personal privacy. There are many pieces of information people use to conduct daily business on the Internet that shouldn’t be publicly shared, such as credit card information or Social Security numbers. Many are also concerned with the unintended consequences of content shared on social media channels like Facebook and Twitter. March 2012 story published by ABC News reported that Facebook earned $3.7 MORE >>