Group items tagged

Most social media posts are inherently local. Friends post a photo of themselves on Facebook at a new local restaurant, another social connection checks-in to a nearby retail store via Foursquare and so on. All of these online social interactions present tremendous market potential for businesses trying to engage with consumers online.

Do@ blends social and mobile search, helping you find mobile sites with the information you want. For example, if you search "iPhone," Do@ will suggest searching with the tag "iPhone @ technews." This helps the app find more relevant results.

This quote sums up one of the hidden values of social integration on the web: "Twitter's value to consumers is due to the relevance of the tweet stream - we rely on our friends and contacts to curate interesting and relevant content to us, in real-time. Media and entertainment sites can replicate this experience by incorporating social content. For example, The Huffington Post curates relevant site content based upon the articles that a user's friends read or comment on, and Yelp streams business reviews, profile updates and other user-generated content to members from their friends on Facebook."

Some great points on social media from the New Zealand State Services Commission wiki. Make it findable. Search is good, but tangible evidence that the discussion is happening is better. 'Most viewed' or 'latest discussions' are simple ways of showing that evidence, and are based on how people click their way through your site. Make it navigable. Create linkages between related contributions, so that one contribution leads to another, which leads to another, and so on. This breaks down isolation between participants, gives them a sense of discovery and encourages them to respond to new things they've found. Tagging and tag clouds are one great way of making user-generated content navigable, by helping people see connections between their ideas and the ideas of others. Make it portable. Prompt people to bring the discussion into their own context -- at home, at work, or on other sites. This will draw in more people to the discussion and help everyone feel connected to what's happening on their own terms. APIs, widgets and gadgets are key tools for doing this. Make it personable. It's important to know that there is a someone -- not a something -- behind the ideas. Social media, like blogs, are compelling because they have personality and a sense of authenticity behind them. Seek ways for people to add personality to their contributions.

Marketers understand that user-generated content such as ratings and reviews are required elements of a comprehensive location-based search program.

Group text messaging for a purpose. "textPlus, the pioneering mobile app that debuted group messaging back in June 2009, is the only app that allows people to text in topic-driven Community chat groups, as well as in one-to-one and group conversations. With its photo-sharing, people search and personalization features, textPlus has increasingly layered in social elements to traditional texting to remarkable public response and is now ready to enlist its loyal following to mobilize for good. The app is available for download on the iPhone, iPod touch, iPad and Android, and works across all carriers on any mobile device that sends and receives SMS messages. "

Social media sites increasingly factoring into SEO -search engines are paying attention to Likes and Tweets.

Valuable article on traffic analysis and visitor segmentation.

DSN right here...