1.
Social
Media:
The
Revolution
Will
Be
Socialized
by
Andrew
Pearson
Overview
Although
it
is
one
of
today’s
buzzwords,
“Social
Media”
is
a
generic
term
that
refers
to
websites
that
allow
one
or
more
of
the
following
services:
social
networking,
content
management,
social
bookmarking,
blogging
and
micro-­‐blogging,
live
video-­‐casting
and
access
into
virtual
worlds.
Social
Media—the
technology
as
we
know
it
today—has
its
roots
in
Usenet,
a
worldwide
discussion
system
that
allowed
users
to
post
public
messages
to
it
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
60,
2010).
Usenet
was
created
by
Tom
Truscott
and
Jim
Ellis
at
Duke
University
in
1979
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
60,
2010)
and
it
is
still
in
use
today.
According
to
its
website,
Usenet
is
“a
world-­‐wide
distributed
discussion
system.
It
consists
of
a
set
of
‘newsgroups’
with
names
that
are
classified
hierarchically
by
subject.
‘Articles’
or
‘messages’
are
‘posted’
to
these
newsgroups
by
people
on
computers
with
the
appropriate
software—these
articles
are
then
broadcast
to
other
interconnected
computer
systems
via
a
wide
variety
of
networks.”[1]
Obviously,
1979
was
a
long
time
ago,
it
was
long
before
what
most
people
would
consider
the
true
era
of
social
media,
which
began
with
the
creation
of
“Open
Diary”,
an
early
social
networking
site
that
brought
online
diary
writers
together
into
one
community”
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
60,
2010).
In
their
influential
article
Users
of
the
world,
unite!
The
challenges
and
opportunities
of
Social
Media,
Kaplan
and
Haenlein
(pg.
60,
2010)
explain
that
a
formal
definition
of
social
media
first
requires
an
understanding
of
two
related
concepts
that
are
often
referred
to
when
describing
it:
Web
2.0
and
User
Generated
Content.
As
Kaplan
and
Haenlein
(pg.
60,
2010)
see
it:
Web
2.0
is
a
term
that
was
first
used
in
2004
to
describe
a
new
way
in
which
software
developers
and
end-­‐users
started
to
utilize
the
World
Wide
Web;
that
is,
as
a
platform
whereby
content
and
applications
are
no
longer
created
and
published
by
individuals,
but
instead
are
continuously
modified
by
all
users
in
a
participatory
and
collaborative
fashion.
While
applications
such
as
personal
web
pages,
Encyclopedia
Britannica
Online,
and
the
idea
of
content
publishing
belong
to
the
era
of
Web
1.0,
they
are
replaced
by
blogs,
wikis,
and
collaborative
projects
in
Web
2.0.
Although
Web
2.0
does
not
refer
to
any
specific
technical
update
of
the
World
Wide
Web,
there
is
a
set
of
basic
functionalities
that
are
necessary
for
its
functioning.
The
“basic
functionalities”
that
Kaplan
and
Haenlein
(pg.
61,
2010)
refer
to
are;
Adobe
Flash,
the
popular
animation
tool,
interactivity,
and
web
streaming
audio/video
program,
Really
Simple
Syndication
(RSS),
a
family
of
web
feed
formats
used
to
publish
frequently
updated
works—such
as
blog
entries
or
news
headlines,
as
well
as
audio
and
video—in
a
standardized
format;
and
Asynchronous
Java
Scrip
(AJAX),
a
group
of
web
development
methods
that
can
retrieve
data
from
web
servers
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1
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51

2. asynchronously,
allowing
the
update
of
one
source
of
web
content
without
interfering
with
the
display
and
behavior
an
entire
page.
For
Kaplan
and
Haenlein
(pg.
61,
2010),
Web
2.0
represents
the
ideological
and
technological
foundation,
while
“User
Generated
Content
(UGC)
can
be
seen
as
the
sum
of
all
the
ways
in
which
people
make
use
of
social
media.
The
term,
which
achieved
broad
popularity
in
2005,
is
usually
applied
to
describe
the
various
forms
of
media
content
that
are
publicly
available
and
created
by
end-­‐users.”
The
Four
Steps
of
Social
Media
When
a
company
is
first
delving
into
social
media,
Eley
&
Tiley's
(pg.
85,
2009)
state
that
there
are
four
steps
of
social
media
that
should
be
followed—listen,
join,
participate
and
create—and
these
steps
must
be
strictly
followed
in
that
order.
Listening
is
the
most
important
step.
People
online
are
frequently
mentioning
and
commenting
on
a
company
and
its
products,
so
all
you
have
to
do
is
listen.
Even
if
you
do
not
choose
to
participate
in
the
discussion
yourself,
you
will
discover
valuable
information
about
your
company
or
even
about
yourself
if
you
are
an
artist
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
86,
2009).
Instead
of
doing
expensive
surveys,
focus
groups
or
other
experiments,
the
best
information
is
often
found
right
there
in
front
of
you
for
free
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
86,
2009).
You
will
find
out
what
your
customers
think
of
you
and
what
they
are
looking
for
as
well
as
the
problems
and
frustrations
they
have
about
dealing
with
you
and/or
your
business.
Most
importantly,
you
will
get
the
inside
scoop
of
what
is
actually
important
to
your
target
audience
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
86,
2009),
whether
that
audience
is
a
retailer’s
customer
base,
a
band’s
rabid
fans,
an
airline’s
frequent
flyer
members
or
one
of
a
million
other
business
users.
Listening
can
be
useful
in
the
following
ways:
•
•
•
•
•
Monitor
for
buying
indication
terms
and
reply
with
helpful
links
(Nelson,
2013).
Listen
for
recommendation
requests
and
share
helpful
links
(Nelson,
2013).
Listen
for
discussions
of
your
product
or
category
and
provide
web
links
(Nelson,
2013).
Share
relevant
web
content
with
prospects
(Nelson,
2013).
Discover
relevant
blogs
and
ask
for
backlinks
(Nelson,
2013).
Once
you
understand
the
community
and
what
it
is
all
about,
it
is
time
to
join
a
social
network.
Many
networks
require
that
you
have
an
account
on
their
site
to
participate
in
the
discussions
and
you
should
sign
up
as
it
is
always
better
to
have
an
account
even
if
you
are
not
required
to
have
one
because
you
always
want
to
claim
your
brand
and/or
company
name
to
gain
credibility.
You
should
always
join
communities
where
you
are
most
likely
to
find
your
customers
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
86,
2009).
If
you
start
out
by
listening,
you
will
know
where
your
customers
tend
to
congregate
online.
Facebook,
MySpace,
LinkedIn,
YouTube,
Flickr,
Delicious,
Digg
and
Twitter
are
big
networks
which
should
be
on
your
radar
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
87,
2009).
I
mention
many,
many
other
Social
Media
sites
throughout
this
chapter
and
the
companion
website
to
this
article–www.social-­‐media-­‐
encyclopedia.com—also
includes
a
searchable
database
of
over
600
social
media
websites
that
I
constantly
update.
Many
of
these
sites
can
be
used
to
listen
to
your
audience
or
to
start
a
discussion.
Many
are
niche
websites
where
business
can
discover
very
selective
audiences.
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2
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51

3. Businesses
should
set
up
accounts
at
all
the
major
social
networking
sites
and
link
back
to
their
website(s)
(Nelson,
2013)
as
well
as
link
content
and
similar
keywords
throughout
their
social
channels
(Nelson,
2013).
Once
the
discussion
has
been
initiated,
then
it
is
time
to
participate
in
the
community.
Participating
includes
replying
and
posting
to
online
forums
and
blogs,
reviewing
products
and
services
and
bookmarking
sites
that
you
like
or
find
interesting
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
88,
2009).
By
participating,
you
will
build
your
online
brand
and
people
will
start
to
respect
you
as
a
valuable
contributor
to
the
community
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
88,
2009).
When
respected,
others
will
help
to
promote
you
and,
possibly,
your
company
without
even
being
asked
to
do
so,
which,
as
most
marketers
will
tell
you,
is
one
of
the
best
forms
of
marketing
around.
Not
only
is
word-­‐of-­‐mouth
marketing
one
of
the
most
trusted
forms
of
marketing
around,
but
it
can
help
spread
the
word
about
a
brand
virally.
Two
words
of
warning,
however;
your
role
models
should
always
be
very
experienced
and
remain
very
active
users
in
the
community;
and,
most
of
all,
remember
that
it
is
never
okay
to
spam
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
88,
2009).
Participation
can
be
fostered
in
the
following
ways:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Ask
readers
to
sign
up
for
an
RSS
feed
(Nelson,
2013).
Answer
all
questions
and
share
peer
referrals
(Nelson,
2013).
Feature
community
members
on
your
site
(Nelson,
2013).
Share
customer
stories
(Nelson,
2013).
Ask
influencers
to
share
your
web
links
(Nelson,
2013).
Interview
an
influencer
for
web
content
(Nelson,
2013).
Have
an
influencer
guest
blog
(Nelson,
2013).
Help
an
influencer
write
content
about
your
brand
(Nelson,
2013).
Share
products
with
influencers
for
feedback
and
web
content
(Nelson,
2013).
Finally,
it
is
time
to
create.
Once
you
have
built
yourself
an
online
brand
by
listening,
joining
and
participating,
it
is
time
to
create
your
own
content
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
89,
2009).
You
will
now
have
an
audience
to
share
your
content
with
and
this
audience
will
help
you
spread
your
content
far
and
wide.
It
should
be
noted
that
you
have
to
create
value;
ads
are
not
generally
seen
as
valuable
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
89,
2009).
Posting
“buy
my
stuff”
on
twitter
will
fail
to
achieve
the
results
you
want,
and
this
practice
may
even
get
you
banned
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
89,
2009).
By
making
beneficial
contributions
to
the
community,
people
will
notice
you
and
want
to
know
more
about
your
company
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
89,
2009).
If
you
have
listened
properly,
you
should
have
a
solid
idea
of
the
type
of
content
people
would
like
to
see
(Eley
&
Tilley,
pg.
89,
2009).
Then,
simply,
give
it
to
them.
You
can
be
creative
in
the
following
ways:
•
•
•
•
•
Divide
a
piece
of
content
into
multiple
Slideshare
presentations
that
link
to
your
site
(Nelson,
2013).
Start
a
LinkedIn
group
(Nelson,
2013).
Tie
content
together
so
an
ebook
links
to
a
relevant
blog
post,
which,
in
turn,
links
to
a
topical
webinar
(Nelson,
2013).
Build
a
forum
or
community
section
on
your
website
(Nelson,
2013).
Create
referral
programs
(Nelson,
2013).
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3
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51

4. Six
Types
of
Social
Media
According
to
their
influential
article
Users
of
the
world,
unite!
The
challenges
and
opportunities
of
Social
Media,
Kaplan
and
Haenlein
(2010)
break
Social
Media
down
into
the
following
six
different
types:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Collaborative
projects
Blogs
and
micro-­‐blogs
Content
communities
Social
networking
sites
Virtual
game
worlds
Virtual
social
worlds
Throughout
the
rest
of
this
chapter,
I
will
break
down
each
of
these
types
of
social
media
individually
as
well
as
explain
how
a
business
and/or
an
individual
can
use
them
on
their
own
or,
preferably,
combined
together.
Collaborative
Projects
Probably
the
most
democratic
form
of
all
UGC,
collaborative
projects
enable
the
joint
and
simultaneous
creation
of
content
by
many
end-­‐users
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
62,
2010).
Kaplan
and
Haenlein
(pg.
62,
2010)
believe
collaborative
projects
can
be
split
into
two
different
categories:
•
•
Wikis–these
are
websites
that
allow
users
to
add,
remove,
and
change
text-­‐based
content;
and
Social
bookmarking
applications—these
enable
the
group-­‐based
collection
and
rating
of
Internet
links
or
media
content.
The
main
idea
behind
collaborative
projects
is
that
joint
efforts
can
lead
to
a
better
outcome
than
individual
action
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
62,
2010).
Examples
of
collaborative
projects
include
the
web-­‐based
encyclopedia
Wikipedia
and
social
bookmarking
sites
such
as
Delicious
and
Stumbleupon.
Social
bookmarking
is
both
the
method
of
storing
and
managing
Web
page
bookmarks
with
individually
chosen
keywords
as
well
as
the
sharing
of
this
information
with
others.
At
social
bookmarking
sites,
users
can
tag,
save,
manage
and
share
Websites
with
their
friends
and
their
connections.
Users
can
add
descriptions
in
the
form
of
metadata
and
these
descriptions
can
be
anything
from
free
text
comments,
favorable
or
unfavorable
votes,
or
tags
that
collectively
form
a
social
thread
of
information.
This
kind
of
thread
is
also
known
as
a
folksonomy—“the
process
by
which
many
users
add
metadata
in
the
form
of
keywords
to
shared
content”
(Golder
and
Huberman,
2006).
In
his
article
How
to
Use
Social
Bookmarking
for
Business,
Lou
Dubois
(2010)
explains
that
“Social
bookmarking,
at
its
most
basic
form,
is
a
simple
way
to
organize
all
of
the
best
content
from
around
the
web
based
off
your
interests,
all
in
one
place.”
It
is
a
handy
way
to
“sort
the
relevant
from
the
irrelevant,
according
to
their
interests
and
the
value
of
the
information
provided.
And
perhaps
most
importantly,
the
bookmarks
are
transferable
between
computers
and
locations”
(Dubois,
2010).
Founded
in
2003,
Delicious
(then
known
as
del.icio.us)
coined
the
term
social
bookmarking
and
pioneered
the
concept
of
tagging
(Mathes,
2004).
The
following
year,
similar
sites
such
as
Furl,
Simpy,
Page
4
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51

5. Citeulike
and
Connotea
came
online.
Stumbleupon
also
appeared
around
the
same
time.
There
are
now
countless
other
sites
and
I
have
included
a
list
of
over
40
of
the
most
popular
ones
later
in
this
chapter.
Why
are
these
sites
so
important
and
powerful?
Well,
in
his
book
The
Wisdom
of
Crowds
(2004),
James
Surowiecki
argues
that
the
collective
opinion
of
a
large,
diverse
and
independent
group
of
people
produces
more
accurate
information
than
the
judgment
of
a
single
expert.
According
to
Surowiecki
(2004),
groups
can
excel
even
when
individuals
fail.
“Under
the
right
circumstances,
groups
are
remarkably
intelligent,
and
are
often
smarter
than
the
smartest
people
in
them.”
Using
the
highly
successful
search
engine
Google
as
an
example,
Surowiecki
(2004)
shows
that
Google's
underlying
technology
is
based
on
the
wisdom
of
the
crowd
and
that
the
system
works
so
well
because
it
uses
the
collective
voice—or
votes—of
millions
of
people
to
deliver
its
search
results
(Surowiecki,
2004).
Few
would
argue
that
they
are
incredibly
accurate
and
have
made
Google
the
go-­‐to
search
Internet
destination.
To
augment
his
somewhat
counter-­‐intuitive
argument,
Surowiecki
states
that
for
a
crowd
opinion
to
be
considered
wiser
than
the
judgment
of
an
expert,
three
requirements
must
be
in
place;
the
crowd
must
be
diverse;
the
crowd
members
must
be
independent;
and
the
crowd
must
be
decentralized
(Surowiecki,
2004).
Because
of
the
vast,
decentralized
and
independent
nature
of
the
Internet,
Kaplan
and
Haenlein's
(2010)
“collaborative
projects”
easily
fulfill
all
three
of
Surowiecki's
requirements
(Surowiecki,
2004).
Compared
to
search
engines
and
traditional
automated
resource
location
and
classification
software,
social
bookmarking
systems
are
advantageous
because
the
tag-­‐based
classification
is
done
by
a
human
being,
who
usually
understands
the
content
and
context
of
a
resource
better
than
any
algorithm-­‐based
computer
program.
Human
beings
are
also
adept
at
finding
and
bookmarking
Web
pages
that
often
go
unnoticed
by
web
spiders
(Heymann,
Koutrika,
Garcia-­‐Molina,
2008).
In
addition,
a
user
will
probably
find
a
system
that
ranks
a
resource
based
on
how
many
times
it
has
been
bookmarked
by
other
users
more
valuable
than
a
system
that
simply
ranks
resources
based
on
the
number
of
external
links
pointing
to
it.
For
the
promotion
of
a
business,
social
bookmarking
is
important
because
it
helps
a
compnay
Website
get
quality
backlinks.
When
a
Website
is
submitted
for
ranking
by
a
search
engine,
the
search
engine
considers
the
quality
of
the
backlinks,
i.e.,
the
quality
of
the
sites
linking
back
to
it.
This
means
that
if
you
bookmark
popular
sites,
the
search
engine
spiders
will
automatically
follow
the
links
back
to
your
site.
Kaplan
and
Haenlein
(pg.
62,
2010)
argue
that,
“From
a
corporate
perspective,
firms
must
be
aware
that
collaborative
projects
are
trending
toward
becoming
the
main
source
of
information
for
many
consumers.
As
such,
although
not
everything
written
on
Wikipedia
may
actually
be
true,
it
is
believed
to
be
true
by
more
and
more
Internet
users.”
This
can
have
particularly
damaging
repercussions
during
a
corporate
crisis
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
62,
2010).
Collaborative
projects
can
also
be
used
to
increase
productivity,
for
example,
the
Finnish
mobile
manufacturer
Nokia
“uses
internal
wikis
to
update
employees
on
project
status
and
to
trade
ideas,
which
are
used
by
about
20%
of
its
68,000
staff
members”
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
63,
2010).
Also,
the
Page
5
of
51

6. U.S.
application
software
company
Adobe
Systems
“maintains
a
list
of
bookmarks
to
company-­‐related
websites
and
conversations
on
Delicious”
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
63,
2010).
Dubois
(2010)
explains
that
“From
an
individual
consumption
perspective
for
Internet
readers,
social
bookmarking
can
make
great
sense
to
filter
your
news
and
information
all
into
one
place.”
But
it
also
makes
great
sense
for
businesses
to
utilize
these
tools
as
they
can
increase
Website
traffic
and
grow
brand
recognition
by
curating
information
and
disseminating
client
testimonials
(Dubois,
2010).
Throughout
the
business
world,
content
curators
are
“considered
the
gatekeepers
to
information
for
businesses
and
individuals.
As
a
company,
curating,
or
aggregating
the
best
content
from
around
the
web,
can
make
you
an
industry
leader”
(Dubois,
2010).
For
companies
you
already
work
with,
showing
that
you
are
on
top
of
industry
news
gives
you
a
vaunted
level
of
credibility
(Dubois,
2010).
“Similarly,
if
you
think
of
it
from
the
perspective
of
businesses
who
you
don't
already
do
business
with,
you're
going
to
be
seen
as
a
resource
for
information”
(Dubois,
2010),
which
should
give
you
an
immediate
leg
up
on
your
competition.
Another
way
to
utilize
these
tools
is
by
pulling
together
all
of
your
company’s
best
customer
testimonials
in
a
social
bookmark.
Just
about
every
business
gets
questions
about
its
client
list
and
testimonials
from
its
potential
business
partners.
When
asked
the
question:
"What
have
others
said
about
your
work?",
wouldn’t
it
be
better
to
direct
potential
clients
to
a
site
that
has
all
of
the
company’s
testimonials
in
one
place,
in
a
simple
format
rather
than
sending
them
to
a
Yelp
page,
argues
Dubois
(2010).
Dubois
(2010)
explains
that,
"For
individual
projects
and
campaigns,
the
creation
of
folders
and
tags
within
social
bookmarking
sites
can
make
it
very
easy
to
track
success.
If
you've
recently
launched
a
campaign
and
want
to
see
what
stories,
blog
posts,
Twitter
notes
and
more
have
been
written
about
it,
you
can
very
easily
refer
to
your
social
bookmarks,
where
again
all
of
the
information
is
gathered
in
one
place".
Dubois
(2010)
recommends
the
following
steps:
•
•
•
•
•
Create
accounts
on
the
sites
you
want
to
be
on.
Fill
out
a
complete
profile
about
you
and
your
company
and
add
a
link
back
to
your
webpage.
Add
the
social
bookmarking
tools
and
buttons
to
your
website
and/or
blog
so
users
can
utilize
them
within
your
community.
Create
lists
and
categories
to
arrange
specific
information
in
neat,
searchable
silos.
Submit
URL
links
to
the
bookmarking
site
and
write
reviews,
rate
other
stories,
etc.,
etc.
Network
with
other
community
members
who
share
similar
interests.
Social
bookmarking
isn’t
as
intuitive
a
process
as
blogging
or
social
networking
on
sites
like
Facebook
or
Twitter,
but
it
is
a
very
valuable
tool
in
its
own
right
and
it
should
be
one
part
of
a
social
media
marketing
plan.
List
of
Collaborative
Projects
Websites
As
the
Collaborative
Projects
landscape
changes
on
a
daily
basis,
it
is
impossible
to
list
all
of
the
available
Websites,
but
these
are
some
of
the
most
common
and
popular
platforms
I
have
found:
NAME
A1
Webmarks
ABOUT
A1-­‐Webmarks
is
a
free
service
that
combines
the
convenience
of
a
personal
webmark
server
with
the
power
of
social
Page
6
of
51
WEBSITE
a1-­‐webmarks.com

7. Blinklist
Blurpalicious
Bookmarky
Delicious
Digg
Diigo
Folkd
Google
Bookmarks
Gravee
ikeepbookmarks
Jeteye
Jumptags
webmarking.
BlinkList
is
a
powerful
productivity
tool
that
makes
is
much
blinklist.com
easier
for
anyone
to
share
and
save
their
links
for
later.
With
BlinkList
you
can
save
a
local
copy
of
any
web
page
on
your
computer.
We
give
you
a
website
so
that
you
can
easily
access
all
of
the
links
that
you
saved
from
any
computer.
Social
bookmarking
made
simple.
blurpalicious.com
The
hottest
tags
and
bookmarks
in
one
easy
serving.
bookmarky.com
Keep,
share,
and
discover
the
best
of
the
Web
using
Delicious,
delicious.com
the
world's
leading
social
bookmarking
service.
Digg
delivers
the
most
interesting
and
talked
about
stories
on
digg.com
the
Internet
right
now.
The
Internet
is
full
of
great
stories,
and
Digg
helps
you
find,
read,
and
share
the
very
best
ones.
It’s
simple
and
it’s
everywhere:
visit
Digg
on
the
web,
find
it
on
your
iPhone,
or
get
the
best
of
Digg
delivered
to
your
inbox
with
The
Daily
Digg.
If
you
browse
or
read
a
lot
on
the
web,
we
believe
you
will
find
diigo.com
Diigo
indispensable.
Diigo
is
two
services
in
one
-­‐-­‐
it
is
a
research
and
collaborative
research
tool
on
the
one
hand,
and
a
knowledge-­‐sharing
community
and
social
content
site
on
the
other.
Using
social
bookmarks
with
folkd.com
will
enrich
your
web-­‐
folkd.com
surfing
experience.
We
provide
a
simple
website
and
easy
to
use
browser
buttons
which
allow
you
to:
Save
your
favourite
links
and
bookmarks
online
and
access
them
from
anywhere
at
any
time.
Save
time
with
quick
links
to
your
favorite
websites.
Use
google.com/bookmarks
Google’s
Web
History
to
find
the
sites
you
visit
frequently
and
bookmark
your
favorites.
Use
the
Google
Toolbar
for
quick
access
to
your
bookmarks
and
to
easily
create
more.
Get
your
bookmarks
on
any
computer.
No
matter
where
you
may
be
surfing
the
web,
your
bookmarks
can
stay
with
you
just
by
signing
in.
Keep
your
bookmarks
organized.
Add
searchable
labels
and
notes
to
your
bookmarks
to
find
them
easily
and
keep
them
organized.
Gravee
takes
three
of
the
most
useful
applications
on
the
Web
gravee.com
and
combines
them
together
in
one
experience
–
search,
recommendations,
and
social
networking
&
sharing.
This
creates
a
rich
social
search
and
recommendation
engine
that
personalizes
results
based
on
your
interests,
as
well
as
those
of
your
friends
(and
other
people
like
you
whom
you
don't
even
know).
iKeepBookmarks.com
allows
you
to
upload,
and
keep,
your
ikeepbookmarks.com
bookmarks
on
the
web
for
free.
You
can
access
them
at
any
time,
from
any
computer...
anywhere!
Jeteye
was
created
to
address
the
difficulty
of
keeping
track
of
jeteye.com
good
information
and
resources
that
you
find
online.
The
Jeteye
community
is
a
public
library
where
people
can
freely
use
Jeteye
tools
to
create
and
share
Jetpaks™.
Jumptags.com
is
a
revolutionary
Web
2.0
social
bookmarking
jumptags.com
web
service
for
collecting,
storing,
sharing
and
distributing
web
bookmarks,
notes,
rss
feeds,
contacts,
and
much
more.
Based
Page
7
of
51

8. Linkroll
Linksgutter
Mister
Wong
Mylinkvault
Netvouz
Oyax
Plime
Reddit
Squidoo
Startaid
Stumbleupon
Trendhunter
Vi.sualize.us
on
AJAX
and
other
next
generation
web
development
techniques,
Jumptags.com
offers
the
easiest,
fastest,
most
intuitive
and
productive
way
of
maintaining
and
collaborating
bookmarks
and
other
internet
resources
online.
Linkroll
is
a
free
link
blogging
service.
At
a
personal
level
you
can
bookmark,
categorize
and
comment
on
all
the
great
web
pages/links
you
find.
A
complete
free
social
bookmarking
site.
Mister
Wong
is
a
leading
social
bookmarking
service
with
over
1
million
users
globally.
online
links
made
easy
-­‐
store
your
links
online.
Netvouz
is
a
social
bookmarking
service
that
allows
you
to
save
your
favorite
links
online
and
access
them
from
any
computer,
wherever
you
are.
Organize
your
bookmarks
in
folders
and
tag
each
bookmark
with
keywords.
Oyax
is
a
social
bookmark
manager.
It
allows
you
to
add
web
sites
to
your
personal
collection
of
links,
categorize
those
sites
with
tags
and
share
your
collection
not
only
with
your
own
browsers
and
machine,
but
also
with
other
people.
Plime
is
an
editable
wiki
community
where
users
can
add
and
edit
weird
and
interesting
links.
Reddit
is
a
social
news
and
entertainment
website
where
registered
users
submit
content
in
the
form
of
either
a
link
or
a
text.
Other
users
then
vote
the
submission
“up”
or
“down”,
which
is
used
to
rank
the
post
and
determine
its
position
on
the
site’s
pages
and
front
page.
Content
entries
are
organized
by
areas
of
interest
called
“subreddits”.
Squidoo
is
the
popular
publishing
platform
and
community
that
makes
it
easy
for
you
to
create
"lenses"
online.
Lenses
are
pages,
kind
of
like
flyers
or
signposts
or
overview
articles
that
gather
everything
you
know
about
your
topic
of
interest-­‐-­‐and
snap
it
all
into
focus.
Like
the
lens
of
a
camera,
your
perspective
on
something.
(You're
looking
at
a
lens
right
now).
StartAid
is
a
Social
Bookmarking
site.
Startaid
give
you
the
ability
to
make
a
custom
homepage
where
you
can
have
all
your
Bookmarks
at
your
fingertips.
With
Startaid
you
can
you
Category
and/or
Tag
filing
systems.
StumbleUpon
helps
you
discover
and
share
great
websites.
As
you
click
Stumble!,
we
deliver
high-­‐quality
pages
matched
to
your
personal
preferences.
These
pages
have
been
explicitly
recommended
by
your
friends
or
one
of
over
15
million
other
websurfers
with
interests
similar
to
you.
Rating
these
sites
you
like
automatically
shares
them
with
like-­‐minded
people
–
and
helps
you
discover
great
sites
your
friends
recommend.
With
35,000,000
monthly
views,
TrendHunter.com
is
the
world's
largest,
most
popular
trend
community.
Trend
Hunter,
Trend
Hunter
TV
and
Trend
Hunter
PRO
feature
112,000
micro-­‐
trends
and
cutting
edge
ideas.
Routinely
sourced
by
the
media,
Trend
Hunter
is
a
source
of
inspiration
for
industry
professionals,
aspiring
entrepreneurs
and
the
insatiably
curious.
VisualizeUs
is
a
social
bookmarking
website
for
visual
contents
Page
8
of
51
linkroll.com
linksgutter.com
mister-­‐wong.com
mylinkvault.com
netvouz.com
oyax.com
plime.worth1000.com
reddit.com
squidoo.com
startaid.com
stumbleupon.com
trendhunter.com
vi.sualize.us

9. Xmarks
Zootool
—
VisualizeUs
(read
visualize
us)
allows
you
to
remember
your
favorite
images
from
all
over
the
web,
and
share
them
with
everyone.
Xmarks
was
founded
in
2006
under
our
original
name
Foxmarks.
Our
bookmark
sync
browser
add-­‐on
is
one
of
the
most
popular
in
the
world
with
over
twenty
million
downloads
and
counting.
Our
products
are
actively
used
in
over
four
million
browsers
and
we
manage
over
a
billion
bookmarks
for
our
users.
Zootool
is
about
collecting,
organizing
and
sharing
your
favorite
images,
videos,
documents
and
links
from
all
over
the
internet.
Driven
by
a
passion
for
design,
web,
code
and
all
kind
of
nerdery,
we
are
working
hard
to
build
the
most
awesome
bookmark
tool
for
geeks
like
us
and
people
who
love
the
web.
xmarks.com
zootool.com
Chinese
collaborative
projects
include
Baidu
bookmarks,
QQ
Bookmarks,
Sina
viv,
Hudong,
Soso
baike,
Baidu
baiki
and
MBAlib.
Blogs
In
2005,
Merriam-­‐Webster
added
the
word
“blog”
to
its
dictionary,
calling
it,
“a
web
site
that
contains
an
online
personal
journal
with
reflections,
comments,
and
often
hyperlinks
provided
by
the
writer.”
The
Website
Webopedia
defines
a
blog
as,
“a
web
page
that
serves
as
a
publicly
accessible
personal
journal
for
an
individual.”
The
term
originated
from
the
word
“weblog”,
which
was
coined
by
Jorn
Barger
on
17
December
1997
when
he
used
it
to
describe
the
list
of
links
on
his
Robot
Wisdom
website
that
“logged”
his
internet
wanderings
(Wortham,
2007).
In
April
or
May
of
1999,
Peter
Merholz
broke
the
word
weblog
into
the
two
words
“we
blog”
in
the
sidebar
of
his
blog
Peterme.com
(The
Economist,
2006).
The
term
“blog”
was
picked
up
by
Evan
Williams
at
Pyra
Labs
who
used
“blog”
as
a
noun
and
a
verb
to
mean
“to
edit
one's
weblog
or
to
post
to
one's
weblog”
and
created
the
term
“blogger”
for
Pyra
Labs'
Blogger
product,
which
led
to
the
term's
worldwide
popularity
(Baker,
2008).
Representing
the
earliest
form
of
Social
Media,
blogs
are
the
“Equivalent
of
personal
web
pages
and
can
come
in
a
multitude
of
different
variations,
from
personal
diaries
describing
the
author’s
life
to
summaries
of
all
relevant
information
in
one
specific
content
area”
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
63,
2010).
In
its
article
“It's
the
links,
Stupid”,
The
Economist
(2006)
claims
that
a
blog
is:
A
web
page
to
which
its
owner
regularly
adds
new
entries,
or
“posts”,
which
tend
to
be
(but
need
not
be)
short
and
often
contain
hyperlinks
to
other
blogs
or
websites.
Besides
text
and
hypertext,
posts
can
also
contain
pictures
(“photoblogs”)
and
video
(“vlogs”).
Each
post
is
stored
on
its
own
distinct
archive
page,
the
so-­‐called
“permalink”,
where
it
can
always
be
found.
The
Economist
(2006)
explains
that
blogging
is
a
quintessentially
social
activity,
highlighted
by
two
features:
Page
9
of
51

10. A
“blogroll”,
along
the
side
of
the
blog
page,
which
is
a
list
of
links
to
other
blogs
that
the
author
recommends
(not
to
be
confused
with
the
hyperlinks
inside
the
posts).
In
practice,
the
blogroll
is
an
attempt
by
the
author
to
place
his
blog
in
a
specific
genre
or
group,
and
a
reciprocal
effort
by
a
posse
of
bloggers
to
raise
each
other's
visibility
on
the
internet
(because
the
number
of
incoming
links
pushes
a
blog
higher
in
search-­‐engine
results).
The
other
feature
is
“trackback”,
which
notifies
(“pings”)
a
blog
about
each
new
incoming
link
from
the
outside—a
sort
of
gossip-­‐
meter,
in
short.
According
to
Dave
Winer,
the
influential
software
engineer
who
pioneered
several
blogging
techniques
and
has,
by
his
own
estimate,
the
longest
running
blog
of
all
time
(The
Economist,
2006),
weblogs
should
be:
•
•
•
•
Personalized:
Weblogs
are
designed
for
individual
use
(a
multi-­‐person
weblog
is
also
possible
through
collaboration,
such
as
the
‘‘team
blog’’
offered
by
www.blogger.com).
A
Weblog
style
is
personal
and
informal.
Web-­‐based:
Weblogs
can
be
updated
frequently.
They
are
easy
to
maintain
and
accessible
via
a
Web
browser.
Community-­‐supported:
Weblogs
can
link
to
other
weblogs
and
Websites,
enabling
the
linkage
of
ideas,
and
hence
stimulating
knowledge
generation
and
sharing
between
bloggers.
Automated:
Blogging
tools
help
bloggers
to
present
their
words
without
the
hassle
of
writing
HTML
code
or
any
other
programming
language;
instead,
bloggers
can
just
concentrate
on
the
content.
Winer
argues
that
blogging
should
have
a
raw,
unpolished
authenticity
to
it
(The
Economist,
2006).
“Blogging
is
all
about
style”
and
the
essence
of
blogginess
is
“the
unedited
voice
of
a
single
person,”
preferably
an
amateur
(The
Economist,
2006).
For
Winer,
editors
do
not
belong
in
the
Blogosphere,
even
though,
today,
they
very
much
do
(The
Economist,
2006).
Blogs
are
incredibly
popular
because
they
are
cheap,
easy
to
set
up
and
they
provide
maximum
exposure
with
limited
effort.
As
Jeff
Jarvis,
Director
of
the
Interactive
Journalism
at
City
University
of
New
York's
Graduate
School
of
Journalism
points
out,
they
are
the
“easiest,
cheapest,
fastest
publishing
tool
ever
invented”
(Wortham,
2007).
Blogs
are
everywhere,
affecting
every
sector
of
society
and,
because
of
their
ease
of
use
and
low
barrier
to
entry,
they
will
continue
to
be
a
big
part
of
the
national
and
worldwide
discourse
(Wortham,
2007).
Technorati
lists
over
1,274,415
blogs,
broken
down
into
categories
such
as
“Entertainment”,
“Business”,
“Sports”,
“Politics”,
“Autos”,
“Technology”,
“Living”,
“Green”
and
“Science”,
and
yet
this
list
only
barely
scratches
the
surface
of
the
blogosphere.
Blogs
can
take
many
forms,
including
a
diary,
a
news
service,
a
collection
of
links
to
Internet
resources,
a
series
of
book
reviews,
reports
of
activity
on
a
project,
the
journal
of
an
expedition,
a
photographic
record
of
a
building
project,
or
any
one
of
a
number
of
other
forms.
One
amusing
story
from
Germany
might
explain
the
popularity
of
blogs:
when
Jung
von
Matt,
a
German
advertising
firm,
came
up
with
their
“Du
bist
Deutschland”
(“You
are
Germany”)
advertising
campaign
to,
as
Jean-­‐Remy
von
Matt,
the
firm's
Belgian
boss,
put
it,
“fight
grumpiness”
about
the
country's
sluggish
economy,
he,
unwittingly,
stepped
into
Germany's
first
blogging
controversy
(The
Economist,
2006).
Not
only
did
German
bloggers
find
the
idea
kitschy,
but
one
industrious
researcher
Page
10
of
51

11. dug
up
an
obscure
photograph
from
a
Nazi
convention
in
1935
that
showed
Hitler's
face
on
a
poster
above
a
sign
containing
the
awkwardly
similar
slogan
“Denn
Du
bist
Deutschland”
(“Because
you
are
Germany”)
(The
Economist,
2006).
The
German
blogosphere
erupted
and
the
advertising
campaign,
to
put
it
mildly,
went
down
in
flames
(The
Economist,
2006).
An
outraged
Jean-­‐Remy
von
Matt
fired
off
a
terse
email
to
his
colleagues
claiming
blogs
were
“the
toilet
walls
of
the
Internet”
and
he
demanded
to
know:
“What
on
earth
gives
every
computer-­‐owner
the
right
to
express
his
opinion,
unasked
for?”
(The
Economist,
2006).
Once
von
Matt's
email
found
its
way
into
the
hands
of
those
very
same
bloggers,
the
reply
was
fast,
furious
and
so
ferocious
that
Mr.
von
Matt
quickly
turned
tail
in
retreat,
very
publicly
apologizing
for
his
misdirected
rant
(The
Economist,
2006).
As
The
Economist's
(2006)
article
so
succinctly
points
out,
“Inadvertently,
Mr.
von
Matt
had
put
his
finger
on
something
big:
that,
at
least
in
democratic
societies,
everybody
does
have
the
right
to
hold
opinions,
and
that
the
urge
to
connect
and
converse
with
others
is
so
basic
that
it
might
as
well
be
added
to
life,
liberty
and
the
pursuit
of
happiness.”
By
2004,
blogs
had
gone
mainstream;
Robert
Scoble
blogged
for
Microsoft,
giving
the
oftentimes
hegemonic
company
a
human
face
as
he
conversed
with
customers;
Matt
Drudge
went
from
convenience
store
clerk
to
one
to
Time
Magazine's
2006
100
most
influential
people
in
the
world
when
he
blogged
about
the
Clinton-­‐Lewinsky
scandal
(Time
Magazine,
2006).
In
its
piece
about
the
fedora
wearing
blogger,
Time
Magazine
(2006)
claimed:
“With
10
million
readers
daily,
Drudge,
39,
has
paved
a
generous
path
for
the
blogs;
without
his
example,
semipro
scribes
might
not
have
unearthed
‘Rathergate’.
Of
course,
the
price
for
such
cyberscoops
has
been
the
coarsening
of
the
evening
news;
Drudge
has
goaded
traditional
media
into
playing
catch-­‐up
on
sordid
stories
they
once
safely
ignored”
(Time
Magazine,
2006).
To
be
successful,
a
blog
should
include
the
following
key
elements:
•
•
•
•
•
Great
content:
as
the
old
adage
goes,
“Content
is
king”
and
that
old
axiom
should
be
kept
very
much
in
mind
when
it
comes
to
blogging.
Competition
is
fierce
so
one’s
content
better
be
relevant,
valuable
and
captivating.
Posts
frequently:
along
with
having
great
content,
bloggers
should
constantly
post
new
material.
A
constant
stream
of
new
material
will
garner
more
views,
which
should
result
in
many
more
followers.
User
friendly
navigation:
readers
prefer
navigation
that
is
simple
and
straightforward
so
have
links
that
make
logical
sense.
Eye
pleasing
content:
as
with
any
other
type
of
marketing,
the
prettier
something
looks,
the
more
likely
it
is
to
be
viewed,
so
keep
the
design
element
in
mind
when
creating
a
blog.
Connect
to
other
content:
linking
and
back-­‐linking
is
exceptionally
important
so
feel
free
to
add
links
to
other
content
that
expands
upon
or
references
your
content.
Legal
Issues
Anyone
who
chooses
to
blog
should
be
aware
that
anything
posted
in
a
chat
room,
at
an
online
forum
or
on
a
blog
can
make
the
blogger
liable
to
a
lawsuit.
According
to
the
US
Copyright
Office,
Copyright
“protects
original
works
of
authorship
including
literary,
dramatic,
musical,
and
artistic
works,
such
as
poetry,
novels,
movies,
songs,
computer
software,
and
architecture.
Copyright
does
not
protect
facts,
ideas,
systems,
or
methods
of
operation,
although
it
may
protect
the
way
these
things
are
expressed.”
Page
11
of
51

12. Bloggers
should
be
careful
not
to
infringe
upon
the
rights
of
others
or
unjustly
demean
corporations
or
people.
New
software
analytic
tools—some
of
which
I
detail
later—allow
companies
to
troll
the
Internet
for
copyrighted
material
and
negative
remarks
about
their
companies.
In
the
Wall
Street
Journal
article
“Bloggers,
Beware:
What
You
Write
Can
Get
You
Sued”
(McQueen,
2009),
journalist
M.P.
McQueen
warns
that,
“Web
sites
that
purport
to
rate
everything
from
college
professors
to
doctors
and
contractors
are
being
sued
by
recipients
of
disparaging
reviews”
(McQueen,
2009).
Bloggers
are
increasingly
getting
sued
for
everything
from
defamation
to
invasion
of
privacy
to
copyright
infringement,
so
caution
must
be
taken
(McQueen,
2009).
The
Media
Law
Resource
center
keeps
track
of
legal
actions
against
bloggers
and,
as
of
March
24,
2009,
such
high
profile
cases
as
Banks
v.
Milum,
Cornwell
v.
Sachs
(II),
Kaplan
v.
Salahi,
Kono
v.
Meeker;
Laughman
v.
Selmeier;
Omega
World
Travel
v.
Mummagraphics,
Inc.,
Scheff
v.
Bock,
Staten
v
Steele
and
Wagner
v.
Miskin
have
each
resulted
in
verdicts
against
the
bloggers
and
a
total
of
$16,128,280
has
been
awarded
to
the
plaintiffs.[2]
First
Amendment
protection
only
goes
so
far,
so
anyone
considering
blogging
what
could
be
construed
as
a
negative
comment
about
a
particular
person
or
a
company
should
take
out
insurance
policies
that
include
liability
insurance
for
defamation,
libel
and
slander.
Policy
language
differs
by
state
and
country
so
bloggers
should
check
with
their
insurers.
According
to
the
Insurance
Information
Institute,
a
$1
million
umbrella
policy
costs
an
average
of
$200
to
$350
per
year
on
top
of
regular
homeowner
and
auto
premiums
(McQueen,
2009).
In
this
writer's
estimation,
it
is
money
very
well
spent.
Also,
when
commenting
negatively
about
something,
discuss
your
own
personal
subjective
opinion
and
"if
you’re
going
to
assert
negative
facts,
provide
hyperlinks
to
your
sources
as
a
form
of
citation"
(Goldman,
2013).
In
a
2013
defamation
lawsuit
involving
Sheldon
Adelson
and
a
former
Las
Vegas
Sands
employee,
the
court
agreed
that
the
plaintiff
wasn't
guilty
of
slander
because
he
had
used
hyperlinks
to
quote
sources
(Goldman,
2013).
"The
hyperlink
is
the
twenty-­‐first
century
equivalent
of
the
footnote
for
purposes
of
attribution
in
defamation
law,
because
it
has
become
a
well-­‐recognized
means
for
an
author
or
the
Internet
to
attribute
a
source….[Hyperlinking
to
sources]
fosters
the
facile
dissemination
of
knowledge
on
the
Internet"
(Goldman,
2013),
the
court
ruled.
The
court
concluded
that
hyperlinks
were
superior
to
footnotes
because
readers
didn’t
have
to
make
a
“sojourn
to
the
library”
to
check
the
citation
(Goldman,
2013).
In
a
footnote,
the
court
acknowledged
the
risk
of
link
rot,
but
saw
"it
as
a
minor
concern
because
defamation
claims
must
be
brought
quickly,
which
reduces
the
odds
link
rot
will
occur
during
the
relevant
legal
period."
(Goldman,
2013).
The
court
even
concluded
that
the
defendants
qualified
for
anti-­‐SLAPP
protection,
meaning
the
case
was
over
and
Adelson
was
responsible
for
the
defendants
legal
fees
(Goldman,
2013).
List
of
Blogging
Websites
As
the
Blogging
landscape
changes
on
a
daily
basis,
it
is
impossible
to
list
all
of
the
available
blogging
Websites
out
there,
but
these
are
some
of
the
most
common
and
popular
platforms
I
have
found:
NAME
AlterNet
ABOUT
AlterNet
is
an
award-­‐winning
news
magazine
and
online
community
that
creates
original
journalism
and
amplifies
the
best
of
hundreds
of
other
independent
media
sources.
AlterNet’s
aim
is
to
inspire
action
Page
12
of
51
WEBSITE
alternet.org

13. Blog
Catalog
Blog
Drive
Blogger
Blogigo
Blurty
Carbonmade
Disqus
Gabbr
Instablogs
IntenseDebate
Issuu
Jigsy
LiveJournal
Momentile
Pen.io
Plinky
Soup.io
Tumblr
and
advocacy
on
the
environment,
human
rights
and
civil
liberties,
social
justice,
media,
health
care
issues,
and
more.
Blog
Catalog
is
the
premiere
social
blog
directory
on
the
internet.
blogcatalog.com
Search,
Browse,
Rate
and
Review
thousands
of
blog
sites.
A
weblog
publishing
service
that
is
easy
enough
for
a
beginner
and
blogdrive.com
advanced
enough
for
an
expert.
Free
Blog
sites
that
have
never
been
better.
Blogger
is
a
free
blog
publishing
tool
from
Google
for
easily
sharing
blogger.com
your
thoughts
with
the
world.
A
free
blog,
quick
and
easy.
blogigo.com
Community
site
desgined
for
adults,
based
on
livejournal
source
blurty.com
code.
With
Carbonmade,
you
can
manage
your
online
portfolio
with
a
carbonmade.com
variety
of
tools
that
allow
you
to
change
how
you
display
your
work.
The
core
idea
behind
the
design
of
Carbonmade
is
to
keep
your
images
or
videos
at
the
forefront.
Disqus
(dis·∙cuss
•
dĭ-­‐skŭs')
is
all
about
changing
the
way
people
think
disqus.com
about
discussion
on
the
web.
We're
big
believers
in
the
conversations
and
communities
that
form
on
blogs
and
other
sites.
Gabbr
allows
you
to
view
and
comment
on
the
news
in
a
large
social
gabbr.com
news
community
as
well
as
promote
content
for
web
publshers,
authors
and
bloggers.
Instablogs
is
a
news
ecosystem
bringing
bloggers,
citizen
journalists
instablogs.com
and
traditional
media
together.
It's
a
place
to
discover,
share,
contribute
and
connect
with
the
world
and
the
people
who
are
changing
it.
IntenseDebate's
comment
system
enhances
and
encourages
intensedebate.com
conversation
on
your
blog
or
website.
Issuu
is
the
leading
digital
publishing
platform
delivering
exceptional
issuu.com
reading
experiences
of
magazines,
catalogs,
and
newspapers.
Millions
of
people
have
uploaded
their
best
publications
to
create
beautiful
digital
editions.
Jigsy
serves
personal
blogs,
small
business
websites,
news
portals,
jigsy.com
bands,
churches,
pet
groomers,
artists,
musicians,
and...
well,
you
name
it.
People
are
flocking
to
Jigsy
by
the
thousands
and
we're
pleased
to
keep
on
doing
what
we
do
-­‐
enabling
people
to
create
and
maintain
great
looking
dynamic
websites.
Rooted
in
a
tradition
of
global
participation,
LiveJournal
is
on
the
livejournal.com
forefront
of
personal
publishing,
community
involvement,
and
individual
expression.
Momentile
is
a
“picture
a
day”
photo
diary
that
makes
it
dead
simple
momentile.com
to
chronicle
your
days
and
observe
the
interesting
moments
of
others.
Trust
us,
it’s
for
the
greater
good.
Pen.io
is
the
fastest
way
to
publish
online.
pen.io
Every
day
we
provide
a
new
prompt
(like
a
question,
or
a
challenge),
plinky.com
and
everyone
gets
a
chance
to
answer.
It's
simple
to
add
photos,
maps,
playlists
and
more.
You
can
easily
share
your
Plinky
answers
on
Facebook,
Twitter,
WordPress,
Tumblr,
and
most
major
blogging
services.
Soup
is
a
tumblelog;
a
super-­‐easy
blog
that
can
do
more
than
just
soup.io
text:
post
links;
quotes;
videos;
audio;
files;
reviews
and
events
Tumblr
lets
you
effortlessly
share
anything.
Post
text,
photos,
quotes,
tumblr.com
Page
13
of
51

14. TypePad
Wordpress
WPScoop
Zimbio
links,
music,
and
videos,
from
your
browser,
phone,
desktop,
email,
or
wherever
you
happen
to
be.
You
can
customize
everything,
from
colors,
to
your
theme's
HTML.
TypePad
blogs
make
it
simple
for
you
to
share
your
interests
and
get
noticed.
Easily
design
and
customize
your
own
blog,
and
use
our
SEO
(Search
Engine
Optimization)
and
SMO
(Social
Media
Optimization)
tools
to
promote
your
blog
and
attract
an
audience
and
following.
A
semantic
personal
publishing
platform
with
a
focus
on
aesthetics,
web
standards,
and
usability.
WP-­‐Scoop
(WordPress
Scoop)
is
website
dedicated
to
bringing
you
WordPress
related
News,
Reviews
and
Stories.
All
the
latest
and
greatest
information
on
the
WordPress
blogging
platform
can
be
found
on
the
pages
of
WPscoop.
We
are
a
Social
Bookmarking
Site
for
you
to
use
and
a
place
for
you
to
discover
what
is
hot
in
the
Wordpress
world.
Zimbio
is
an
interactive
magazine
publisher
focused
on
entertainment,
style,
current
events,
and
other
pop
culture
topics.
Zimbio.com,
one
of
the
fastest
growing
web
publications
and
one
of
the
10
most
popular
magazines
on
the
web,
is
now
read
by
over
20
million
people
each
month.
typepad.com
wordpress.com
wpscoop.com
zimbio.com
Chinese
blogging
sites
include
Weibo,
Hexum,
Sina
blog,
Blogus
and
Bolaa.
Microblogs
Although
similar
to
a
blogging
website,
a
microblog
site
differs
from
a
traditional
blog
in
that
its
content
is
typically
smaller
in
both
actual
and
aggregate
size.
“Social
networking
and
microblogging
services
such
as
Twitter,
Facebook,
or
Google+
allow
people
to
broadcast
short
messages,
so-­‐called
microposts,
in
continuous
streams.
These
posts
usually
consist
of
a
text
message
enriched
with
contextual
metadata,
such
as
the
author,
date
and
time,
and
sometimes
also
the
location
of
origin”
(Lohmann,
Burch,
Schauder,
Weiskopf,
2012).
While
individual
posts
can
be
no
longer
than
140
characters,
“aggregated
posts
of
multiple
users
can
provide
a
rich
source
of
time-­‐critical
information
that
can
point
to
events
and
trends
needing
attention”
(Lohmann,
Burch,
Schauder,
Weiskopf,
2012).
The
140
character
limitation
is
much
less
restrictive
in
character-­‐based
languages
such
as
Chinese
and
Japanese.
Twitter
Twitter
is
a
real-­‐time
short
messaging
service
that
works
over
multiple
networks
and
devices.[3]
A
free
social
networking
and
micro-­‐blogging
service,
Twitter
allows
users
to
send
and
receive
Tweets—
messages
that
can
be
up
to
140
characters
in
length.
“Connected
to
each
Tweet
is
a
rich
details
pane
that
provides
additional
information,
deeper
context
and
embedded
media”
(Twitter.com
2011).
Because
it
is
happening
in
near
real-­‐time,
“Twitter
is
a
‘what’s-­‐happening-­‐right-­‐now’
tool
that
enables
interested
parties
to
follow
individual
users’
thoughts
and
commentary
on
events
in
their
lives”
(Bifet
and
Frank,
2010).
Some
interesting
facts
about
Twitter
from
Twitter.com
(2011)
include:
•
•
•
•
•
•
Twitter
gets
more
than
300,000
new
users
every
day.
There
are
currently
110
million
users
of
Twitter’s
services.
Twitter
receives
180
million
unique
visits
each
month.
There
are
more
than
600
million
searches
on
Twitter
every
day.
Twitter
started
as
a
simple
SMS-­‐text
service.
Over
60%
of
Twitter
use
is
outside
the
U.S.
Page
14
of
51

15. •
•
•
There
are
more
than
50,000
third-­‐party
apps
for
Twitter.
Twitter’s
web
platform
only
accounts
for
a
quarter
of
its
users—75%
use
third-­‐party
apps.
Twitter
has
donated
access
to
all
of
its
tweets
to
the
Library
of
Congress
for
research
and
preservation.
In
his
article
“100
fascinating
social
media
statistics
and
figures
from
2012”,
Brian
Honigman
(2012)
includes
some
additional
interesting
facts
about
Twitter:
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
There
were
175
million
tweets
sent
from
Twitter
every
day
in
2012.
The
average
Twitter
user
has
tweeted
307
times.
Since
the
dawn
of
Twitter,
there
have
been
a
total
of
163
billion
tweets.
56
percent
of
customer
tweets
to
companies
are
being
ignore.
Barack
Obama's
victory
tweet
was
the
most
retweeted
tweet
ever,
with
over
800K
retweets.
Top
three
countries
on
Twitter
are
the
US
at
107
million,
Brazil
33
million
and
Japan
at
nearly
30
million.
The
average
user
follows
(or
is
followed
by)
51
people.
The
2012
election
broke
records
with
31.7
million
political
tweets.
32
percent
of
all
Internet
users
are
using
Twitter.
Twitter
is
projected
to
make
a
total
of
$540
million
in
advertising
revenue
by
2014.
69
percent
of
follows
on
Twitter
are
suggested
by
friends.
In
2012,
one
million
accounts
were
added
to
Twitter
every
day.
The
most
followed
brand
on
Twitter
is
YouTube
with
19
million
followers.
The
USA's
141.8
million
accounts
represent
27.4
percent
of
all
Twitter
users.
50
percent
of
Twitter
users
are
using
the
social
network
via
a
mobile
device.
34
percent
of
marketers
have
generated
leads
using
Twitter.
On
its
Website,
Twitter
recommends
building
a
following,
increasing
a
businesses'
reputation,
and
raising
a
customer's
trust
by
following
these
best
practices
(Twitter.com,
2011):
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
Share:
disseminate
photos
and
behind
the
scenes
info
about
your
business.
Even
better,
give
a
glimpse
of
developing
projects
and
events.
Users
come
to
Twitter
to
get
and
share
the
latest,
so
give
it
to
them!
Listen:
regularly
monitor
the
comments
about
your
company,
brand,
and
products.
Ask:
question
your
followers
to
glean
valuable
insights
and
show
them
that
you
are
listening.
Respond:
reply
to
compliments
and
feedback
in
real
time.
Reward:
Tweet
updates
about
special
offers,
discounts
and
time-­‐sensitive
deals.
Demonstrate
wider
leadership
and
know-­‐how:
Reference
articles
and
links
about
the
bigger
picture
as
it
relates
to
your
business.
Champion
your
stakeholders:
Retweet
and
publicly
reply
to
great
tweets
posted
by
your
followers
and
customers.
Establish
the
right
voice:
Twitter
users
tend
to
prefer
a
direct,
genuine,
and,
of
course,
likable
tone
from
your
business,
but
think
about
your
voice
as
you
Tweet.
How
do
you
want
your
business
to
appear
to
the
Twitter
community?
Page
15
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51

16. Twitter
also
offers
three
ways
to
advertise
on
its
service;
promoted
tweets;
promoted
trends;
and
promoted
accounts.
Promoted
tweets
are
regular
Tweets
that
are
amplified
to
a
broader
audience
and
they
are
offered
on
a
Cost-­‐per-­‐Engagement
(CPE)
basis.
A
business
is
charged
when
a
user
Retweets,
replies
to,
clicks
on
or
favorites
the
Promoted
Tweet
(Twitter.com,
2011).
Retweeted
impressions
by
engaged
users
are
free,
and
can
exponentially
amplify
the
reach
and
cost-­‐effectiveness
of
a
marketing
campaign
(Twitter.com,
2011).
Twitter
is
a
very
useful
tool
that
connects
businesses
to
customers
in
real-­‐time.
It
can
help
a
business
quickly
share
information
with
people
who
are
interested
in
their
products
and/or
services,
as
well
as
gather
real-­‐time
market
intelligence
and
customer
feedback
(Twitter.com,
2011).
Using
Twitter,
a
business
can
build
strong
relationships
with
its
customers
and
partners
as
well
as
raise
the
profile
of
its
brands,
direct
sales
and
engage
a
primed
audience
(Twitter.com,
2011).
Twitter
can
also
help
a
business
build
a
following,
increase
its
reputation
as
well
as
raise
a
customer’s
trust
by
sharing,
listening,
asking
questions,
responding
to
replies,
rewarding
customers
with
special
offers
and
discounts,
demonstrating
wider
leadership
and
championing
the
right
stakeholders.
“Promoted
Trends”
give
a
business
the
exclusive
opportunity
to
feature
a
Trend
related
to
its
business
at
the
top
of
the
“Twitter
Trends”
list
(Twitter,
2011).
When
a
user
clicks
on
the
“Trend”,
he
is
taken
to
the
conversation
for
that
trend
and
a
“Promoted
Tweets”
tag
is
attached
to
the
tweet
at
the
top
of
the
timeline.
Because
of
its
placement,
the
ad
receives
substantial
exposure,
thereby
initiating
or
amplifying
a
conversation
on
Twitter
and
beyond
(Twitter,
2011).
“Promoted
Accounts”
can
help
companies
quickly
increase
their
Twitter
followers
(Twitter,
2011).
Part
of
“Who
to
follow”
(Twitter's
account
recommendation
engine),
“Promoted
Accounts”
will
highlight
a
business
account
to
users
who
will
most
likely
find
it
interesting
(Twitter,
2011).
According
to
Twitter's
Website,
“Users
find
Promoted
Accounts
a
useful
part
of
discovering
new
businesses,
content,
and
people
on
Twitter.”
List
of
Microblogging
Websites
As
the
Microblogging
landscape
changes
on
a
daily
basis,
it
is
impossible
to
list
all
of
the
available
Websites
online,
but
these
are
some
of
the
most
common
and
popular
platforms
I
have
found:
NAME
Audioboo.fm
Cuzo
Friendfeed
Mobango
"ABOUT
US"
DESCRIPTION
We’re
a
small
team
based
in
London
UK
who
launched
Audioboo
in
March
2009
as
a
simple
way
of
recording
audio
while
on
the
move
and
adding
as
much
useful
data
to
it
as
possible,
such
as
photos,
tags
and
location.
We’ve
seen
audioboo
grow
from
a
small
side
project
in
2009
to
a
fully-­‐fledged
business
in
2010
and
we’re
committed
to
making
it
the
platform
of
choice
for
anyone
who
wants
to
record,
listen
or
share
audio.
At
Cuzo
you
create
your
own
micro
blog
where
you
are
in
real
time
to
tell
your
friends,
relatives
or
colleagues
what
you
do
with
the
help
of
max
140
characters!
FriendFeed
is
a
service
that
makes
it
easy
to
share
with
friends
online.
It
offers
a
fun
and
interactive
way
to
discover
and
discuss
information
among
friends.
MOBANGO
is
the
first
Universal
Mobile
Community
that
allows
cell
phone
users
to
publish,
convert,
and
share
with
friends
all
kinds
of
user
generated
content
-­‐via
the
web
and
mobile
devices-­‐
for
Page
16
of
51
WEBSITE
audioboo.fm
cuzo.com
friendfeed.com
mobango.com

17. Plurk
Twitter
Wadja
personalizing
and
empowering
the
new
cell
phone's
generation.
You
can
publish,
convert,
and
share
Personal
Content
of
all
types
for
your
cell
phone
-­‐
Videos,
Photos,
Ringtones,
Applications,
Games.
Noun.
plurk
(plüer-­‐kh)
-­‐
A
really
snazzy
site
that
allows
you
to
showcase
the
events
that
make
up
your
life
in
deliciously
digestible
chunks.
Low
in
fat,
5
calories
per
serving,
yet
chock
full
of
goodness.
Verb.
plurk
(plüer-­‐kh)
-­‐
To
chronicle
the
events
of
your
always
on,
action-­‐packed,
storybook,
semi-­‐charmed
kinda
life.
Twitter
is
a
real-­‐time
information
network
that
connects
you
to
the
latest
information
about
what
you
find
interesting.
Simply
find
the
public
streams
you
find
most
compelling
and
follow
the
conversations..
A
simple
and
social
way
to
publish
web
content,
and
connect
with
people
who
share
your
interests.
plurk.com
twitter.com
wadja.com
Chinese
Microblogging
sites
include
Sina
Weibo,
Tencent
weibo,
Netease
weibo
and
Souhu
weibo.
Content
Communities
Content
communities
exist
for
a
wide
range
of
media
types,
including
text,
photos,
videos,
and
PowerPoint
presentations
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
63,
2010).
In
general,
users
are
not
required
to
create
a
personal
profile
page
or,
if
one
is
required,
only
basic
information
need
be
uploaded
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
63,
2010).
Kaplan
and
Haenlein
(pg.
63,
2010)
state
that,
“The
main
objective
of
content
communities
is
the
sharing
of
media
content
between
users”
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
63,
2010).
Although
businesses
run
the
risk
of
these
platforms
being
used
for
the
purpose
of
sharing
copyright-­‐protected
materials,
the
advantages
of
getting
one’s
content
into
the
social
media
community
seriously
outweighs
the
disadvantages
of
potential
copyright
infringement
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
63,
2010).
The
popularity
of
these
content
communities
make
them
a
very
attractive
contact
channel
for
many
businesses.
This
fact
isn’t
surprising
when
one
considers
that
a
site
such
as
YouTube
has
over
2
billion
views
per
day
(Kaplan
and
Haenlein,
pg.
63,
2010).
Personally,
I
have
found
Slideshare
to
be
a
particularly
good
site
to
generate
business
leads
as
well.
YouTube
According
to
its
website,
YouTube
was
founded
in
February
2005
and
it
“allows
billions
of
people
to
discover,
watch
and
share
originally-­‐created
videos.
YouTube
provides
a
forum
for
people
to
connect,
inform,
and
inspire
others
across
the
globe
and
acts
as
a
distribution
platform
for
original
content
creators
and
advertisers
large
and
small.”[4]
On
23rd
April,
2005,
the
very
first
video-­‐-­‐“Me
at
the
Zoo”-­‐-­‐uploaded
to
YouTube
was
a
video.
Today,
YouTube
receives
more
than
2
billion
views
per
day.
YouTube
allows
users
to
create
accounts,
upload
videos,
“Like”
or
“Dislike”
videos,
leave
comments
on
a
video
and
create
channels,
among
other
things.
Some
other
facts
from
the
YouTube.com
press
center
include:[5]
•
•
•
Over
800
million
unique
users
visit
YouTube
each
month.
Over
4
billion
hours
of
video
are
watched
each
month
on
YouTube.
72
hours
of
video
are
uploaded
to
YouTube
every
minute.
Page
17
of
51

18. •
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
•
70%
of
YouTube
traffic
comes
from
outside
the
US.
YouTube
is
localized
in
43
countries
and
across
60
different
languages.
In
2011,
YouTube
had
more
than
1
trillion
views
or
around
140
views
for
every
person
on
earth.
Created
in
2007,
the
YouTube
Partner
Program
has
more
than
a
million
partners
from
27
countries
around
the
world.
Thousands
of
advertisers
are
using
TrueView
in-­‐stream
and
60%
of
those
in-­‐stream
ads
are
now
skipable.
YouTube
has
more
than
a
million
advertisers
using
Google
ad
platforms,
the
majority
of
which
are
small
businesses.
Three
hours
of
video
are
uploaded
per
minute
to
YouTube
from
mobile
devices.
YouTube’s
Content
ID
scans
over
100
years
of
video
every
day
for
any
sign
of
copyright
infringement.
More
than
3,000
partners
use
Content
ID,
including
every
major
US
network
broadcaster,
movie
studio
and
record
label.
YouTube
has
more
than
eight
million
reference
files
(over
500,000
hours
of
material)
in
its
Content
ID
database;
it's
among
the
most
comprehensive
in
the
world.
Over
a
third
of
YouTube's
total
monetized
views
come
from
Content
ID.
More
than
120
million
videos
have
been
claimed
by
Content
ID.
500
years’
worth
of
YouTube
videos
are
watched
every
day
on
Facebook,
and
over
700
YouTube
videos
are
shared
on
Twitter
each
minute.
100
million
people
take
a
social
action
on
YouTube
(such
as
likes,
shares,
comments,
etc.)
every
week.
More
than
50%
of
videos
on
YouTube
have
been
rated
or
include
comments
from
the
community.
Music
videos
account
for
20%
of
uploads.
The
video
for
K-­‐Pop
star
Psy’s
“Gangnam
Style”
was
the
first
video
to
clock
up
more
than
one
billion
YouTube
views
(Jones,
2012).
YouTube's
owner,
Google,
claims
the
video
was
watched,
on
average,
between
seven-­‐to-­‐10
million
times
a
day
(Jones,
2012)
and
it
has
netted
the
Korean
rapper
over
US
$8
million.
"Psy's
success
is
a
great
testament
to
the
universal
appeal
of
catchy
music
-­‐
and
‘er,
great
equine
dance
moves,"
wrote
Kevin
Allocca,
YouTube
trends
manager,
on
the
service's
blog
(Jones,
2012).
YouTube
even
got
into
the
act,
adding
a
dancing
Psy
animation
above
the
hit
counter
once
the
video
eclipsed
the
one
billion
views
milestone
(Jones,
2012).
List
of
Content
Community
Sites
As
the
Content
Community
landscape
changes
on
a
daily
basis,
it
is
impossible
to
list
all
of
the
available
Websites,
but
these
are
some
of
the
most
common
and
popular
platforms
I
have
found:
NAME
23hq
8tracks
ABOUT
Keep
all
your
photos
in
one
safe
place.
With
23
you
can
organise
the
photos,
share
them
with
anyone
you
want,
and
you
can
even
order
real
prints
of
your
digital
photos.
8tracks
is
handcrafted
internet
radio.
It
offers
a
simple
way
for
people
to
share
and
discover
music
through
an
online
mix,
a
short
playlist
containing
at
least
8
tracks.
Listeners
can
search
for
a
mix
by
artist
or
genre,
stream
it
in
a
legal,
radio-­‐style
manner,
and
Page
18
of
51
WEBSITE
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