THE COMMUNITY ROUNDTABLE — As someone who works with social media managers and community managers, it seems the line between the two types of positions is not terribly clear – and maybe doesn’t need to be – but I think it would be helpful to distinguish between the two.  Why? Jim will often say that everyone is a community manager and he is right – everyone has a group of constituents which could be cultivated to drive better performance. However, not all companies want, need to, or can cultivate a community. I may see this differently than many and here is my take...

FORRESTER RESEARCH — For my current research on social media and market research, I’m interested in listening platforms (and the text analysis that’s usually packaged with them) for the purposes of mining the social Web – be it on blogs, open community sites, social networks or the like. There’s a lively debate around the value of social media listening for market research, and there are many people willing to share their opinion. Last week, I attended a Webinar on this very subject, hosted by Peanut Labs, with multiple guest speakers from the industry. Here are some of the key points that market researchers should consider when assessing the need for – and effort in -- social media research...

WALL STREET JOURNAL — The vessel was one of about just 600 sold in 2009 by Folbot Inc., a small retailer in Charleston, S.C. " You can't buy that exposure," says the firm's co-owner, David AvRutick, who claims the incident speaks to the value of using social media for marketing. But Mr. AvRutick's experience may be the exception, rather than the norm. In its short lifetime, social media -- services like Facebook and Twitter -- have become popular marketing tools for small firms due to the low cost and easy-to-use format. Some entrepreneurs say they're highly effective, but new evidence suggests otherwise...

MASHABLE — PR professionals use social media every single day to get the word out about clients, to communicate with customers and to respond to questions or problems. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social sites have quickly become important tools in a PR professional’s overall toolkit. As one PR professional, Jeremy Pepper, told us: "There are so many uses -- conversational marketing, reaching influencers -- that PR is able to participate in conversations and answer questions, be a support system for clients and companies, as well as empowering customers and power users to be a de facto resource for your company, a champion for your products." We’re going to take a look at how PR professionals are using social media to achieve real results when dealing with business-to-business relationships, when representing companies that already have a well-known brand, and in politics. We’ll also look into some of the tools of the trade that PR pros are using to measure the success of their endeavors...

RADIAN6 BLOG — The social phone. It seems like a fairly simple concept, right? That’s essentially what a phone is, a tool or channel that allows people to connect to one another. We look at social media as the social phone – it’s the place where people can "call up" the brands and companies they want to talk to, to chat customer service and much, much more. And right now, it’s the responsibility of brands and companies to answer the social phone and talk with their customers over the channels they choose to use to communicate. The good folks at The Social Customer put together a comprehensive ebook that hones in on the essence of customer service and the idea of answering the social phone, and we’re glad we could be a part of its creation...