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social media (13)

Why I Don't Like The Term "Troll"

Posted by Crystal on February 26, 2014 at 9:57am in social media
I'm finding more and more that I'm uncomfortable with the way that the term "troll" is becoming a catch-all term for "person who's doing something I don't like." It's an easy word to use: say "troll" and everyone says "Ahh," and nods their head in empathy. I've used this shorthand myself. And I'm resolving to stop using it and find out what's really behind the "troll."
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5 Common PPC Mistakes Made by Marketers with Tight Budgets

Posted by Guest Contributor on October 2, 2013 at 7:00am in social media
In an ideal world you’d have so much money to throw at online advertising that you could just wait to see what works and then fix it. But here in the real world we need to start with best practices and expand with success. If you're trying to expand your ad scope and cast a larger keyword net, you may be harvesting more weeds with your wheat, but if you can avoid these five common pay per click mistakes, your returns will be greater than ever.
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Are Comments Bad for Science?

Posted by Allison Leahy on September 26, 2013 at 11:40am in social media
Popular Science declared that it is shutting off comments because "comments can be bad for science." The logic driving this decision is that less informed, quick-to-react readers may dominate the discussion and lead others astray. We argue that there are better ways to approach the problem at hand and offer alternative solutions to keep the community in tact.
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Why Ambiverts Make Great Community Managers

Posted by Crystal on August 30, 2013 at 11:19am in social media
Myers-Briggs personality testing has been popular in academia and human resources as a way of discovering how different students and employees learn, work, and rest. In regards to attitude, the test sorts people into two categories: extraverts, who derive energy from outward actions, and introverts, who gather energy from inward pursuits. An ambivert is someone who falls in between those two extremes.
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Facebook vs. a Custom Community: Quantity vs. Quality

Posted by John McDonald on July 12, 2013 at 7:00am in social media
“Why should I invest in a custom community on Ning – why not just focus on my Facebook Page?” It’s a question I’ve heard frequently since I joined the Ning team in 2009. While there isn’t just one answer, custom communities do offer several unique benefits including complete ownership of the relationships and membership data, the ability to communicate with fans when and how you want, the chance to create a branded destination, and the freedom to monetize fan activity. However, the most important reason for investing in a custom community is the outcome – higher quality engagement with fans, peers, or customers.
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How to Make Social Work for Your Community: Ted Rheingold at ForumCon 2013

Posted by Allison Leahy on June 13, 2013 at 9:26pm in social media
A breakdown of Ted Rheingold's ForumCon 2013 presentation "How to Make Social Work For Your Forums" including a definition of sociality, a look at the three levels of sharing, how to avoid platform fatigue, and engagement hacks for optimizing your community's presence across popular social platforms.
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How To Use A Community Platform With Social Media Platforms

Posted by Richard Millington on April 17, 2013 at 8:50am in social media
Your community platform is your home. It’s the destination you want your target audience to reach so you can cultivate a community. Social media platforms like Facebook, Twitter, Google+, LinkedIn are not good platforms for building community, because they don't offer you the control you need and you can only reach a tiny percentage of your audience.
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Why Businesses are Embracing Branded Community Sites

Posted by Amita Paul on April 8, 2013 at 11:32am in social media
Moving beyond Facebook. What's next? Many of us following Facebook’s ongoing updates to News Feeds are convinced that the new rules, filters and algorithms are making it harder for businesses to reach their audience without spending big money on sponsored posts. Given the rising costs and unpredictability of reaching their fan base with organic content, brands and business owners are considering to limit their reliance on Facebook as their core social media platform, and are more likely to continue using Facebook for it’s 1 billion+ users, primarily as one of their many distribution channels.
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