around the Twitterverse last week with the news that Twitter is in talks with TweetDeck to purchase the ridiculously popular third-party service for the low, low price of just $50 million. Considering UberMedia was rumored to be in the mix to buy TweetDeck for $30 million just a few weeks ago, that’s very interesting news. “Twitter loses control not only of the conversation, but the ability to monetize millions and millions of eyeballs and social activity.&#. TweetDeck is just too popular among those who champion Twitter on a daily basis to shut it down. MORE >>

Tweet Tuesday this week, the deal between Twitter and Tweetdeck was sealed. There have been rumours of the acquisition for several months now, but finally it was made official: Tweetdeck will be joining Twitter. Tweetdeck has so far existed as one of the leading third-party Twitter desktop applications. According to Tweetdeck CEO Iain Dodsworth, the Tweetdeck development team will continue to work largely independent and stay in London with the same focus and products. It provides a dashboard for monitoring and organizing your Twitter profile and feeds. MORE >>

The number one question I get about social media is: “How can I do all this social media stuff and still get my work done?&#. mean, OK, I confess I spend all day attached to social media like an IV but that’s my job. People hire me to watch out for them and find new opportunities to engage and new tools and it’s all candy to me, but it shouldn’t be for anybody who wants to run a business that isn’t around social media now is it? You need a social media efficiency strategy. Email. RSS Feeds. MORE >>

One of the primary selling points of social media is the concept of engaging a potential customer or partner in your product or service. 25 Ways to Engage a Potential Customer Using Social Media. This should be one of the first things you think about doing when contemplating using social media as a marketing tool. If you do not have a strategy in place to lead the charge into social media you will be at a lost when it becomes overwhelming. strategy allows you to measure success points in your social media journey. What is it? MORE >>

As a frequent speaker at events of all sizes, I’ve had a chance to observe some of the best practices conference organizers used to promote their events through social media. In most cases, these efforts cost little or nothing more than your time.Here are some suggestions for leveraging social channels for event promotion. You need a single Web address that people can refer to in their social channels. It costs nothing and gives you access to the extended social networks of registrants and potential registrants. Events of all sizes. AcmeForums). AcmeForum ). MORE >>