Social Media Top 5: Twitter TIME, Giving Back, and #blamedrewscancer for This tpyo

How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live:
For one thing, it changes the way we read TIME Magazine, I guess. Actually, for an ultra-mainstream publication, TIME delves deeply but still in plain English about such things as Hashtags and live-Tweeting of events. This is a much better article than I bet a lot of people suspected

Giving Back to Your Professional Network:
In social media, we often hear give (give multiple times) before you ask, but this article from MarketingProfs by William Arruda takes it a step further. Arruda gives 10 tips (if you subtract two for “blatant self-promotion” penalties, then it’s eight) for actually “giving” back beyond answering questions or sharing a link on Facebook or Twitter. He goes so far as to suggest buying people domain names or gift certificates for books (a real expression of commitment beyond the casual howareyas of social media, but it’s all about whether or not you would feel comfortable doing it). Can you think of some other tips? comment on Arruda’s article– not on the list, but still a standard good way to give.

Should “Sponsored Conversations” Be Accepted in the WOMMA Code of Ethics?

Yes. No. Maybe. Do people read the code? (Yes) Are there penalties for going against it? (Not really, though public scorn can work if applied properly). Pay-for-play blog posts are out there, and condoned by organizations such as Forrester Research as effective marketing tools. If people are going to do it, someone should outline some ethical points for discussion.

The question of whether people pay attention to WOMMA ethics guidelines (not a bad idea), if they have any teeth (not so sure there) is for another time.

Cardinals Manager Tony LaRussa Sues Twitter Over Fake Account
There have been fake Twitter accounts for baseball managers before (*cough* Terry Francona *cough*), but this lawsuit is a first. Is it over the misrepresentation of the fake Twitter account, or questionable, possibly defamatory (and plain not funny) comments that are the focus of the suit? Twitter has been good about shutting down accounts that are not clearly labeled as parodies, so I’m guessing the latter, but I don’t really know.

Blame Drew’s Cancer:
I only wish that i have the same sense of humor if I ever have to face such a thing as cancer. When social network community member Drew Olanoff discovered he had Hodgkin’s Lymphona, he reacted with a great sense of humor. He encourage people to post messages on Twitter with the tag “#blamedrewscancer,” prompting a torrent of fun messages in support of Drew. He even set up a Web site to capture these messages. Now that’s a way to make a community feel good after some rotten news.