Variety : all this data comes in many forms, including social data – i.e. information generated and held in social networks, such as Facebook and Twitter. Social business Social data Big Data Harvard Business Review report social media social media dataTweet waves (Photo credit: EVO.). Perhaps one of the best overviews of Big Data was published last year by Harvard Business Review: Big Data: The Management Revolution , by authors Andrew McAfee and Erik Brynjolfsson. What makes Big Data different? Are data-driven decisions better decisions? What are the management challenges? MORE >>

Personal, anticipated information need. The Information School, University of Washington, Seattle, WA 98195, USA. The role of personal information collections is a well known feature of personal information management. It is suggested that personal information collections are created in anticipation of some future need for that information- personal, anticipated information need , which also underlies the design of formal information systems. Personal information collections. Anticipated information need. Information need. MORE >>

The report, commissioned by Dell-commissioned is available to read here.). Some of the most interesting findings include: Information sourced by social media is now being used by more than 70% of B2B decision-makers. The report makes the following recommendations: Programs which receive executive sponsorship are the most likely to succeed and deliver results. Combining the information gathered from listening with existing customer data, systems and processes will allow companies to see the “big picture&# of the effects on their business. Tweet This! MORE >>

The Community Roundtable’s essential 2012 State of Community Management Report is out. This report is a must read every year. organizations are not sure how to integrate community management into existing workflows (because it has to create information sharing in different ways than it was set up to happen, if information sharing happens at all between departments). The rest of the report goes deep into the three maturity models: Stage 1 – Hierarchy, Stage 2- Emergent Community, Stage 3 – Community, and Stage 4 – Network. MORE >>

There’s been quite a bit of discussion about the reliability of online information that is compiled by individual users (think Wikipedia ). It has been creating buzz because, if passed, the Act “…makes the streaming of unauthorized content a felony,” reported MSNBC.com. Others rely on shared information from internet users on a daily basis. How about if you’re a student writing a research paper – can you cite Wikipedia as a credible resource for your information? Or does it help regulate false information on the infinite Internet? MORE >>