In an effort to better understand the social media phenomenon, it often helps to turn to experts in the field. But I’m not talking about social media gurus or mavens, or people with 20,000 followers on Twitter. m referring to smart, articulate people from other fields who have something profound to say that might help us put social media into perspective. The merger of our personal and business lives in a single social networking “presence” has its problems, too. The median age of the social networker is rising slowly, however. Socrates. MORE >>

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Here are my five social media predictions for 2010. Location-Based Applications Will Dissolve Into General Social Networks. Location-based applications like Foursquare and Brightkite will not be the darlings of social media as some predict, but will instead turn into features and dissolve into general social networks like Facebook and Twitter. Services that are specifically location based will not experience the kinds of growth achieved by general purpose social networks. Enterprise Social Software Applications Will Become Commonplace. MORE >>

What are the legal and ethical considerations to consider when launching a social media initiative? Where does a company draw the line between risk and reward when trying to get the most out of its social media marketing or PR? ve had dozens of great conversations about this in the past few weeks, and I have been thinking about a framework for ethical and compliant social media marketing. Tags: Business Communications Ethics Social Media compliance Public Relations ethics Social media Good for Business & Bad for Business. MORE >>

was so impressed with how effectively the company used social media to promote 31-Cent Scoop Night, I got in touch with them and did an e-mail interview with one of their PR managers. It’s a brilliant promotion that fills BR stores around the country, but more brilliant still when built on a social media platform. asked Andrew Mastrangelo, Manager, Public Relations, for Baskin Robbins, a few questions about 31-Cent Scoop Night and social media at the company: Joel : Who is responsible for Baskin-Robbins’ social media strategy, and what is it? MORE >>