Making a profit from social media

Most of us don't have the ability to buy Twitter; however, we can responsibly invest in social media and see returns. Hilary Kramer of InvestorPlace.com writes that there are investing opportunities that can yield big investment gains from the social media networking world. Persons can invest in public companies that have bought some of these fast-growing social media pure plays and are building and investing themselves in related businesses and public companies that stand to benefit from the explosive rise in social media-driven traffic, ever increasing time spent online and changing online behaviors. Hilary offers 12 Social Media Stocks to ride this changing wave of consumer adoption of social media.

As more and more people not only invest their time but invest their money in social media, will we see a shift in the way social media is used? From sharing personal photos to targeted ads based on social media behavior - what's next?

Let us know what you think of investing in social media. What stocks or companies are particularly fascinating to you?

Twitter's new design provides users with a simplified experience

Rolling out over the next few weeks, Twitter users will have a much more dynamic and streamlined experience on the site. Much of the new features have some start-ups, who've built applications that work alongside with Twitter a little nervous. The New York Times reports that even though 78 percent of Twitter’s unique users gain access to the service through its Web site, the site has had some major flaws. Twitter has not been able to funnel resources into redesigning the site until now, Evan Williams, Co-Founder of Twitter said, because the company has had trouble keeping up with its growth, even struggling to keep its Web site from crashing. The New York Times report goes on to say that on the new Twitter Web site, people see two panes instead of a single timeline of posts. The timeline stays in the left pane. In the right pane, they can see more information about posts — like biographies of authors, photos and videos to which posts link — and conversations that spring from a particular post. This eliminates the need to click back and forth.

If you've had the opportunity to explore the new features that Twitter offers, do you think you'll abandon TweetDeck, Hootsuite or other services?

Learn more: At Twitter, a Web Site Is Revamped and Simplified

Harrisburg University's week without social media

Harrisburg University of Science and Technology provost Eric Darr is asking his students to do the unthinkable - go one week without social media. According to NPR, access to these popular social media tools will be blocked from campus computers through the week. This is not a disciplinary exercise, Darr says, but an academic one. At the end of the week, students will write reflective essays about their time in social media exile.

What do think think of Darr's seemingly extreme experiment? Is it simply a publicity stunt or a constructive way for students to think about the amount of time that they spend on social media?

Learn more: University Declares A Week Without Social Media

Apple to introduce guidelines for the apps

After two years of little guidance, Apple has announced that it will introduce guidelines for Applications in its App store, as reported by the Associated Press. There are are currently over 250,000 apps available. For the past two years, the developers of these programs would submit their applications with no structure during development, leaving some with Apps that were not approved. Also, they've lifted the ban on using third-party development tools that ''translate'' code written for another platform.

This blog is co-posted with the ePharma Summit.

Official Call for Presenters Now Open - Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies 2011

INDUSTRY ALERT: OFFICIAL CALL FOR PRESENTERS

The Institute for International Research (IIR) presents:
The 4th Annual Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies Conference
April 4-6, 2011

Due to the high volume of submissions, we suggest you submit your proposal early and no later than Wednesday, September 22, 2010 to Stacy Levyn Conference Producer at slevyn@iirusa.com or 646.895.7335.

About the Event
Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies is a unique event that focuses on the business value of social media for established brands, as well as entrepreneurial companies. It brings together community experts with lines of business leaders who are using social media strategically to drive their business.

The 2011 event will focus on the strategic, operational, organizational and measurement features of social media and the community space. It will showcase extraordinary case studies as well as introduce "what's next" and "the future of" sessions delivered conversationally through participatory formats and will focus on identifying next steps.

Event Focus & Key Themes:
• Building a Business Case for your Community
• Internal Struggles for a Community & Social Media Manager
• Creating a Brand Strategy
• Technical Execution: User Interactive Design for Core Community
• Finding & Embracing your Advocates: Loyalty Programs & Retention
• ROI & Measurement
• Operationalization of Social Media & Community
• Missed Potential
• Using Community as a Research Tool
• Legalities of Running an Online Social Network
• Building a Successful Online Strategy Overseas
• The Next Wave: Gaming, Mobile & Location

Past Speakers Include:
• Brandie Feuer, Director, Marketing & Innovation, Tropicana Las Vegas
• Christi Day, Social Media Specialist, Southwest Air
• Kellie Parker, Community Manager, SEGA of America
• Pete Dorogoff, Vice President, Digital Marketing, Travel Channel
• Winnie Hsia, Integrated Media Team, Social Media Specialist, Whole Foods
• Bonin Bough, Global Director, Digital & Social Media, PepsiCo
• David Witt, Brand Public Relations Manager, General Mills
• Heather Oldani, Director, US Communications, McDonald's
• Larry Blumenthal, Director, Social Media Strategy, Robert Wood Johnson Foundation
• Rhonda Lowry, Vice President, Social Media Technologies, Turner Broadcasting
• Martha Hayward, Director, Online Strategy, Fidelity Investments

The Audience:
Community Managers and Social Media folks, as well as those who use social media as a strategy such as innovation, market research and consumer insights, CRM, marketing and product management/R&D.

Speakers receive FREE admission to the conference as well as any pre-conference activity such as workshops or symposium.

Sponsorship & Exhibition Opportunities:
If you are interested in sponsorship or exhibit opportunities please contact Stacy Levyn.

Interested in Becoming a Media Partner or Featured Event Blogger?
Contact Roger Jarman, Senior Marketing Manager.

Call for Presenters:
For consideration, please email slevyn@iirusa.com with the following information by Wednesday, September 22, 2010.
• Proposed speaker name(s), job title(s), and company name(s)
• Contact information including address, telephone and fax numbers and e-mail
• Talk title
• The main theme you plan to address
• Summary of the presentation (3-5 sentences)
• Please indicate what is NEW about the presentation
• What the audience will gain from your presentation (please list 3-5 key “take-aways”)
• Previous conference experience
• Short bio

Due to the high volume of responses, we are unable to respond to each submission. All those selected to participate as speakers will be notified shortly after the deadline.

Thank you for your interest in the Social Media & Community 2.0 Strategies Conference. Check for updates and discussion related to the event at www.iirusa.com/socialmedia. We look forward to receiving your proposal!

Stacy Levyn
Conference Producer
Marketing & Business Strategy Division
The Institute for International Research

Google's music service said to launch by Christmas

This Christmas you may be able to hear your favorite Holiday tunes by downloading them from Google. Mashable reports that the giant is said to be unveiling their music download service, which may be an iTunes challenger. The service would be deeply connected to the Android mobile operating system. According to Mashable's Jolie O'Dell, "Right now, the ever-more-popular swarm of Android phones have an integration with Amazon’s MP3 store, but it’s not the best-integrated solution. If Google can perfect a music downloading system and include some of the mobile-desktop syncing features we saw at Google I/O, they just might have a killer app on their hands — one that would continue to allow Android to successfully challenge Apple’s iPhone in the mobile market, too."

What do you think of Google's supposed service? Would you leave iTunes for Google?

Facebook rolls out "Subscribe" feature

You'll soon be able to follow, wait, subscribe to your friends on Facebook. The new feature will enable Facebook users to follow the friends that they already have on the network but receive separate alerts when the friends they subscribe to have updates. According to TechCrunch, Facebook had a secret project last year that involved testing how best to implement a Twitter-like follow feature on Facebook, multiple sources have confirmed to TechCrunch. The name of the project? Project Dance Party. The project, er "party," was scrapped and now Facebook has a subscribe feature. According to MG Siegler, Facebook already has a follow feature in place right now — it’s just that most people have no idea it exists, because Facebook doesn’t talk about it. Currently, if you request to be someone’s friend, and they keep you in their queue (meaning they never accept or reject you), you will see all of their public updates in your News Feed.

What do you think of the subscribe feature? Let us know @community20

Apple gets social with Ping launch

iTunes users who download the latest version of the software, released on Wednesday, will notice that their experience has become more social. Debuting Ping at the Apple press conference, Steve Jobs announced that users will be able to follow friends and see what music they have bought or enjoyed, what concerts they plan to attend and what music they have reviewed. They will also be able to follow bands and get updates on their new releases, concert tours and other events, reports The New York Times. Jobs said Ping would have simple privacy controls. Anyone will be able to follow bands and receive their updates, and users will be able to say whether they want to be followed by anyone or only by people they approve.

This news, some analysts say, is not an assault on Facebook but one on MySpace which has pushed to the forefront of its social network. It becomes another move by Apple to compete with Google who is quickly acquiring start-ups for its speculated social network launch.

If you have used Ping, we'd love to hear from you! DM us @community20 with your thoughts.

Learn more: From Apple, a Step Into Social Media for Music

On to the next one - Google acquires SocialDeck

The giant has acquired yet another social media start-up, SocialDeck. FierceMobileContent.com writes, Founded in 2008 by COO Anish Acharya and CTO Jeson Patel, SocialDeck creates Facebook, iPhone and BlackBerry titles enabling simultaneous play across multiple devices and social networks--the firm's platform technology also facilitates viral content discovery, distribution and monetization. Just this week Google acquired Angströ, a start-up dedicated to building applications that integrate with social networks like Facebook and Twitter.

Wide speculation abounds that Google is set to roll out its own social network in the near future. PCWorld.com writes, Perhaps the acquisition of SocialDeck shows the direction in which Google wants to go with its rumored new gaming service--games that work seamlessly across multiple platforms and devices, that is. The WSJ reports that the companies in talks include Playdom Inc., EA's Playfish, and Zynga.

What do you think is next for Google? Will we see a social network soon?