Finding News About Social Media
Invention Development Advice - Marketing
Even if some companies are being dragged kicking and screaming into the social networking world, they are busily gathering news about social media from wherever they can get it. Their customers are usually far ahead of them in knowing how to work with social networks, so they need to catch up, fast. Developing a social media strategy for staying relevant to users of their products and services might end up, one day, being a matter of survival itself. So whether they get their education from buttoned-down instructors or less traditional teachers is not all that important.
by BryceSmith


Corporations are quickly trying to catch up on their social media education, so they can learn to develop their own social networks and use them to start profitable conversations with their customers. Fortunately for them and other newcomers to the social network scene, there are countless avenues they can pursue to find news about social media and learn how to use the new methods. And all of this education is bringing together some occasionally odd bedfellows.

Among the ways these businesses are discovering more about the recent social networks is by participating in the Social Media Breakfast series. These meetings were established by a man named Bryan Person, who describes himself as a "social media evangelist" for LiveWorld, an organization that helps places of business publicize their brands via social networking.

The meetings generally occur once a month, and bring together media networking specialists and enthusiasts with business people, to find out about the most recent news and policies concerning social media, and study how to utilize the new media for the maximum benefit of their places of business. There are a lot of other clubs and meetings similar to this that serve commercial clients.

The Mashable (www.mashable.com) website, though, is probably the best online resource available, and any corporation hunting for news about social media would do well to keep the site permanently bookmarked. It provides the most up to date news on social media in general, which is valuable in itself. But it also categorizes and highlights articles about the most important media sites or current trends, so people can find those easily. And it's one of the sponsors of the Open Web Awards, with categories like Best Social Media Agency, Best Brand Use of Facebook, Best Online Video Web Series, and countless others.

Whether business and tech people read websites full of information and tips, or gather together from afar in one of the new social media conferences, there's a whole new industry being created to provide news about social media. This brings corporate bigwigs into the same rooms as serious computer geeks they might not have given the time of day to in the past. In an entertaining turnaround, it's the geeks who are telling the corporations how to run their business. And in a hitherto unheard of way, the companies are being dutiful pupils, and learning quickly.

More information: