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Social media plays an important role in problem solving and strategy development in the workplace according to a new survey of 900 human resources executives conducted by Toolbox.com and PJA.

Among HR executives and professionals, social media usage outpaced editorial and vendor content consumption. Respondents used social media at a rate of 3.77 hours per week, compared to 2.77 hours of online editorial content and 2.13 hours of online vendor content.

The survey indicated active participation in social media is an important part of the HR job role and acts as a resource for experience-based knowledge in the workplace. Respondents said staying current (78%) and networking with peers (71%) as the most popular uses of social media.

Additionally, more than half have responded to a question asked by a peer in an online community, while nearly 50 percent have built their personal knowledge network by making connections with peers.

"This survey proves HR professionals have been fast adopters of social media, not just for networking but for improving their value as professionals," said Mike O’Toole, president at PJA  Advertising + Marketing.

"They clearly identify social media channels as a way to increase their expertise and build their professional reputation."

Key highlights from the survey include:

*Social media represents 43% of total media consumption among HR respondents (compared to 32% for editorial and 25% for vendor content).

*Deep experience is seen as the most important attribute in a social media expert, followed by thoughtful and detailed responses.

*Nearly half of respondents say that a social media presence greatly increases or increases their value as a job candidate, while more than 50% claim that social media is important or very important in building their personal brand.
 

A recent survey from E-Consultancy, in association with the Online Marketing Summit, found that most businesses are still only experimenting with social media. With this in mind, it seems worth paying attention to how some big and successful brands use social media in their own strategies.

Are you still in the experimentation phase with social media? Tell us about it.

One company that is finding social media incredibly useful is Intuit, makers of popular financial software like TurboTax, QuickBooks, and Quicken. Seth Greenberg, Director of National Media Buying and Digital Marketing for Intuit’s consumer group answered some of our questions about how effective the company’s efforts are in social media.

Intuit actively participates on Twitter and Facebook daily, as well as YouTube, and some advertising with MySpace and LinkedIn. When asked if they focus on any network more than others, Greenberg says, "Currently, Twitter and Facebook are the focus because more than 50% of customers use it. Twitter offers a transparent, real-time engagement with customers and prospects on questions, issues or general comments they may have.  Through both networks we are able to provide relevant, timely and valuable information to consumers."

We asked what ways the company participates. Intuit has employees all across the company that have a hand in the social media strategy, as it relates to their own roles. This covers everything from communications to marketing, and product people.

"TurboTax is very involved in social, as are other business units in the company," he says. "We recently launched @TeamTurboTax where taxpayers on Twitter can tweet questions to @TeamTurboTax and get fast, free answers from a team of tax, tech and product experts providing help and advice to make tax time easier. The account is managed by a cross-functional team of employees including those from PR, product management, marketing and support."

"In addition, there is a TurboTax Twitter account to also engage with consumers, but also provide tax tips, information, contests, etc," he adds. "We do have a Facebook page as you know and an interactive TurboTax Tax Break Blog, that includes the latest tax information, surveys and tips. Also, three years ago, TurboTax launched its Live Community, now used by more than 11 million people, to provide free instant answers from TurboTax users and tax experts online."

We asked how Intuit is integrating its on-site (proprietary domains and products) and off-site social marketing activities. "The in-product experience with Facebook Share gives customers the option to share to their Facebook news feed, creating a network effect when they share a comment or post a review. We know that fifty percent of TurboTax customers are on Facebook," says Greenberg. "The Friends Like You campaign (which Gigya is a partner with) allows customers not only to post a review, but for anyone looking for 3rd party recommendations about what product to use and their experience, to see and sort through reviews from friends (in their network) or from people like them (based on similar tax situations). Also, our national advertising with NBC highlights the Friends Like You campaign and drives people online for a total integration from offline to online to product."

When asked what technologies the company has implemented to help it maximize word of mouth traffic, he says, "The work we do with Gigya, is an example of applying technology to connect to Facebook and Bazaarvoice with our customer reviews. Live Community is an in-house technology that leverages community, where TurboTax users and experts ask and answer questions.  It is free in all products, but also to anyone that has tax questions through our website.  These are some of the ways that also lead to great SEO results."

Intuit uses metrics like click-throughs, network effect of "pass alongs" (consider that average Facebook user has 150 friends), engagement and conversion (both of new versus existing customers). When asked how Intuit’s social media efforts have contributed to the company’s sales, brand loyalty, and web traffic, Greenberg says they’re learning that social can be a "very potent avenue to driving revenue, and even be more influential than other channels when applied the right way."

"We have very active and passionate customers. We see that with the Live Community, with our Inner Circle (an opt-in community where customers provide feedback, beta testing, etc) and the incredible amount of customer reviews we receive with an average of 4.5star rating," he says. "Social is a tactic to help drive traffic and is built in to many of the initiatives we employ (drive traffic to a specific link, like the blog or to TurboTax.com)."

Of course mobile factors into the strategy, even for a software company like Intuit. "Mobile is a key strategy for Intuit and figuring out where/when it is relevant for consumers.  We do have social tax apps, like TaxCaster (an app to help estimate your tax refund) and SnapTax (an app that allows CA taxpayers with simple returns to file a federal/state tax return from their iPhone)."

"We’re fortunate to have the passionate customers that want to express themselves and give us their feedback…Given the right tools/technology, our customers can be our best sales force (help to spread WOM).  Overall, we look at engaging with people in a way that adds value to them, providing them with the information they need to make the right decisions."

What do you think of Intuit’s social media strategy based on Greenberg’s description? Do you see ways that the company is using  social media that you could apply to your own business? Share your thoughts here.

Update: After some delay, Microsoft is reportedly now rolling out the new MSN home page design over the next couple weeks.

Original Article: MSN.com gets about 85 million unique monthly visitors in the US alone, according to Compete. That’s significantly more than AOL.com. So now that Microsoft has unveiled a redesign to it, it stands to reason that a lot of people are going to be affected by it. Microsoft calls the new design MSN’s most significant home page redesign in over a decade.

"Now is the time to clean up the mess on the Web — people need less clutter and less hassle to find what matters most to them," said Erik Jorgensen, corporate vice president, Microsoft. "Microsoft is uniquely invested in search, media experiences and technical innovation. Combining these assets to deliver our new MSN home page is a tremendous win for customers and advertisers."

What do you think of the new design? Share your opinions here.

The new design pays significant focus to local, Bing, social networks, and news. Coinciding with the announcement of the redesign was the unveiling of MSN Local Edition. This is a section of MSN that gives you local news, weather, sports, movies and events, restaurants, gas, traffic, a directory, lottery numbers, etc.

The Bing integration with the new MSN is deeper. It’s now used as the core search technology throughout the home page in areas like shopping, travel, and local. It is also used as a way to highlight hot topics, trends, and people.

There is a clean integration of social networks like Facebook and Twitter, as well as Microsoft’s own Windows Live "What’s New," which aggregates up to 50 web activities from various places like Yelp, Flickr, Pandora, etc.

"Customers told us they want the latest information from their favorite sources, their friends and the breadth of the Web — and the new MSN home page delivers via a fresh new look and new features," Jorgensen said. "Today is an important transformation for MSN, and it’s just the beginning."

There is also an emphasis on de-cluttering the home page. Microsoft says there are 50% fewer links than on the previous version. Here’s what the whole thing looks like:

The design is not live on a wide scale yet. It will be rolling out gradually over the coming weeks. It is, however available as a preview here.

On a related note, Microsoft is finally launching MSN Music this week. The launch has been postponed since July.

Related Articles:

> MySpace, MSN Now Said To Be In Talks

> Microsoft Partners With Advance Internet On Local Ad Deal

> Bing Gets More Mobile Features in The US

MySpace announced today that it has the most popular social app in the Android Market, and the third most popular app on Android altogether.

"Our deep integration with the Android platform is one of the reasons why we’ve seen a surge in usage," says MySpace’s Scott Goldberg. "Unique to this app, we have three home screen widgets. One of them allows voice-enabled status updates. We also allow users to set MySpace photos as background wallpaper on their phone’s home screen. Close integration with the native Android camera contributes to the customized experience and makes it easy for MySpace users to take, upload and share pictures of their friends out having fun."

"Even beyond Android, MySpace Mobile has also proven to be a very engaging experience across all platforms with 70% of MySpace Mobile users checking in three or more times per day," adds Goldberg. "As a nod to our popularity on the mobile web, MySpace was the fourth most popular mobile web destination according to Morgan Stanley’s report on The Mobile Internet in Dec. 2009. We have also found that the average MySpace Mobile user translates into a more engaged online user, dedicating more than an hour of additional time on the site per month."

Currently, looking at the Android Market’s social category, MySpace Mobile is followed by Facebook for Android, Tweetcaster, AIM, and Truth or Dare. The top two most popular apps overall are Pandora and the Weather Channel.

One of the best parts about having the most popular slot in any category in the market is the visibility that comes along with that. Any user who gets a new Android device, and goes to look for apps, will see MySpace Mobile right at the top of the list, and that could could drive continued growth.

Mobile should play a key role in the continued success of MySpace. Meanwhile, Facebook and Twitter are seeing big mobile gains themselves.

Are you surprised that MySpace has the most popular social app on Android? Share your thoughts.

WebMD has launched WebMD Health Exchange, a new health social networking platform.

WebMD Health exchange allows people to connect with health experts and other WebMD members to share experiences, discuss personal challenges, and receive answers and support.

"WebMD Health Exchange is a powerful new way to connect our 60 million monthly users to share their own experiences and personal wisdom across any area of health and wellness," said Wayne Gattinella, President and Chief Executive Officer, WebMD.

"We expect Health Exchange will quickly become a trusted source of information for our users and an important new communications platform for our sponsors."

WebMD Health Exchange is being integrated throughout WebMD.com, giving people the ability to connect with others on relevant topics. Along with expert led communities, members can create their own communities and exchange information with other users. Communities can be created for public access which are searchable on WebMD and online, or members can create their own private communities to share information with others.

Doctors from Duke Medicine will provide expertise for communities ranging from asthma to rheumatoid arthritis. Experts from the National Health Council, National Osteoporosis Foundation, American Gastroenterological Association, North American Menopause Society, and the American Veterinary Medical Association will lead related community discussions.

The WebMD Health Exchange will also allow third party sponsors to create branded exchanges and to host consumer discussions on specific health and wellness topics.
 

There’s a lot of confusion around the issue of social media and getting a return on one’s time and social investment, to the point that some people think social media for business is ineffective.
If you’ve been thinking that lately, think about how happy you’d be if social media helped you get into your target market’s [...]

Post from: SiteProNews: Webmaster News & Resources

Your Business, Google and Social Media ROI

People who lie on online dating services are likely people-pleasers who want to present themselves favorably, just as they would in person, according to new research from the University of Kansas.

Jeffery Hall, assistant professor of communications studies, surveyed more than 5,000 participants who used Internet dating services to find out what kinds of people are most likely to lie.

He asked them how likely they were to lie about topics such as assets, relationship goals, personal interests, personal attributes, past relationships, age and weight.

"What people lie about depends on what kind of people they are," Hall said.

"For example, if you’re an extrovert, you might downplay the number of past relationships you’ve had because chances are you’ve had more relationships than an introvert."

Those most likely to lie during the online dating process are people who have a strong awareness of what people like and control their behavior to achieve social ends. Their actions are not necessarily manipulative, but instead reflect a desire to be liked and to fit in.

In the study, men admitted to lying more overall, but women were most likely to lie about their weight. Because online daters hope to meet face-to-face eventually, the amount of lying is quite small.

"Online daters shouldn’t be concerned that most people are presenting a false impression of themselves," Hall said. "What influences face-to-face dating influences the online world, too."

Hall’s research was published in the February issue of the Journal of Social and Personal Relationships.

I hate spammers, and I’m 100% certain other people do too. Everyone at some point in time has had some type of experience with spammers. But you almost have to admire these individuals, almost. The techniques used are as varied as the outlets in which they are unleashed. During my thirteen years of internet exposure,…

Check out the SEO Tools guide at Search Engine Journal.

Six Types of Social Spammers

Every now and then, there is a discussion about where email stands as social network use becomes the "it" thing. We’ve all heard mutterings like, "email is dead" and "social media is killing email," but it’s just not the case, and there are plenty of reasons why (even if Google thinks it’s time to start over).

Do you think email is on the way out? Share your thoughts.

Last year, we ran a piece titled 10 Reasons Social Media isnt’ Replacing Email that got a pretty good response from readers. In a nutshell (read the article for elaboration), these ten reasons were:

1. People still send hand-written letters
2. Nearly all sites on the web that require registration require an email address
3. Email notifies you of updates from all social networks
4. We haven’t seen any evidence yet that Google Wave really is the next big thing
5. Email is universal, and social networks are not
6. There are plenty of people who have no interest in joining social networks, but already use email
7. Email is still improving
8. Even social networks themselves recognize the importance of email
9. More social media use means more email use
10. As far as marketing is concerned, email is doing pretty well

At the Online Marketing Summit last week, there was an interesting session about email marketing, led by Joel Book, Director of eMarketing Education for email marketing firm ExactTarget. In that session among other points of discussion, he provided the following concept equations:

Email + CRM = lead nurturing
Email + CRM = Reseller education
Email + CRM = trade show follow up
Email + CRM = sales support for dealers
Email + analytics = Personalized recommendations
Email + analytics = live offers
Email + retail = product education
Email + retail = scannable coupons
Email + retail = subscriber acquisition
Email + social = driving demand
Email + social = using social forward to expand customer database
Email + sms = mobile immediacy
Email + SMS = lead generation
Email + sms = subscriber acquisition

Some things to think about.

Also at the Online Marketing Summit, WebProNews discussed the integration of social media with email, with Kara Trivunovic, Sr. Director of Strategic Services at StrongMail, who makes some great points.

Businesses are plugging in social aspects into email programs to not only expand the reach of their existing offers, but to turn customers into evangelists, and ultimately grow their databases, as she says. Keep in mind that about half of all content is shared through email, and social media can make for a great way to gain subscribers. According to Trivunovic, there are 3 major ways that people integrate social into their email programs:

1. Share with your network

2. Leverage as a medium to incentivize current customer base to evangelize on their behalf, and drive additional subscribers or awareness

3. Business model: acquiring customers through referrals

This article could go on for a long time, but let me just conclude with a few more points. Mobile apps will continue to keep email relevant in the mobile world (Google just acquired a popular one). Google recently released its own social media product, Buzz, which the company decided would fit best right in Gmail. Microsoft Outlook only recently started integrating social networks into the inbox (Mozilla has Raindrop to serve a similar purpose). The social networks themselves are creating email services (it didn’t take MySpace long to get a lot of users for theirs, and Facebook is said to be working on its own…and we know how popular Facebook is [it recently surpassed Yahoo as the number 2 site on the web]).

Tell us why you think email is here to stay or why you think it’s not.

Google Buzz has captured a lot of the buzz around services with "Buzz" in the title (of which there are a few), but before Google Buzz was even announced, AT&T Interactive had already launched a beta version of its latest take on local business search at Buzz.com. Buzz.com has only been available on an invitation basis so far, and will remain that way until some bugs are ironed out, but you may find AT&T’s Buzz becoming a bigger part of your life than Google’s simply, because it will be coming at you from your Facebook friends.

We spent close to an hour talking to AT&T about the product, checking out a demo of the service, and getting a feel for just what AT&T plans to do with Buzz.com. Right off the bat, Charlie Hornberger, director of product development told WebProNews it’s not as much about getting in front of people on Buzz.com, but getting in front of them on Facebook. That’s just for now anyway, it’s already integrated with Facebook, and Twitter is next on the list, he says. Then they’ll figure out what other networks to integrate, whether that be Gmail contacts, instant messenger lists, or anything else.

Buzz.com is focused on only positive reactions to businesses. Users can "favorite" businesses and recommend them to their friends. So as far as reputation management goes, there shouldn’t be too many issues here from the standpoint of monitoring negative commentary. Although if your competitors are getting a lot of "buzz" and you’re not, that may be worth looking into.

Hornberger doesn’t appear too worried about any branding issues around the name Buzz. Jokingly, he said it seems like "if you don’t have Buzz then you have a problem." The very nature of Buzz.com shouldn’t make it much of an issue anyway, because it’s essentially coming at you right in your Facebook news feed. You don’t necessarily have to go to Buzz.com to feel its presence, although he views having buzz.com as a URL as a "great asset," because it "makes sense for this product."

Before you get all riled up with visions of Farmville-style Facebook updates, relax, because Buzz’s Facebook integration is set up to prevent feed-spamming. If a user shares a lot of businesses at a time, it will consolidate these into a single update on Facebook. Some Facebook users may still wish not to see such things, but they can adjust their settings in Facebook the same as with anything else. Frankly, this is adding more value to the user than learning about friends’ pseudo-farming practices, because if a friend recommends a dentist, for example, that might be useful to you at some point.

Businesses will want to make sure they’re listed in Buzz.com, because not only will they be listed in Buzz.com, they’ll be listed right in Facebook users’ news feeds anytime a Buzz.com user "favorites" their business, and shares that with their friends. Hornberger calls it a way to get on Facebook "in the best possible way."

Currently there is not a place on Buzz.com that businesses can go and get listed, but he says there will be soon. However, listings come from the same database that powers AT&T’s YellowPages.com. I’d advise making sure you have a listing there, complete with a link to your site. They are looking at other potential ways to expand listings as well, including potentially, a way for users to submit things besides businesses (like a public tennis court for example).

They will have a mobile web app available in a couple weeks for Buzz.com. Hornberger says they haven’t started on one for the App Store, but even if they do, it will be more for visibility purposes, and the web app will likely provide the better user experience (no mention of an Android app).

For now, you can use Buzz.com if you get an invite. Everyone that gets an invite can send out more invitations. There is a chance you are already seeing people post Buzz.com activity to Facebook. Until the kinks are worked out, it will continue to be on an invitation-only basis, but that will likely change in the not-too-distant future.

Buzz.com could play a significant role in the local search space as it grows, and is probably not something businesses want to ignore. On a side note, Buzz.com utilizes AT&T’s existing partnership with Microsoft by providing Bing Maps imagery, so this could be considered another factor in Bing usage.

Have you used Buzz.com? Share your thoughts.