Media Search:



Social Media Experimentation to Shift to ROI Justification

SAN FRANCISCOSalesforce.com's debut of enterprise file-sharing solution Chatterbox this week at Dreamforce hints at the cloud software company's further foray into powering the social enterprise.

Employees who store files and documents in the cloud using Chatterbox can simultaneously update the status of a project or file right within the enterprise collaboration tool Chatter. Employees can then collaborate on work assignments in real time. Chatter has also been extended to the Service Cloud for direct customer interaction.

Discussing Chatter as the backbone of Salesforce.com's new Chatter Communities for Service solution, Leslie Ament, vice president of customer intelligence research and client advisory services at Hypatia Research Group, remarked that "I would assume [Salesforce.com] is repurposing applications for business processes.

"If Salesforce comes up with a Chatter 'platform'that can be interesting for enterprise play," Ament told CRM. But, she added that "budget is usually owned by line of business function, and it depends on who owns the budget and who is in the driver's seat [for example, sales, marketing, or customer service]. The fact that they [are tapping into Chatter] for each of the modules is interesting. It gives customers choices."

Commenting on Salesforce.com's launch of Marketing Cloud, which combines the social marketing capabilities afforded by the Radian6 and Buddy Media acquisitions, allowing companies to listen and respond to customers, measure performance, and tap into social advertising, Ament noted Salesforce.com's integrations with companies like Marketo and Silverpop. Eventually, her estimation is that "the roadmap may well include other marketing partners that are part of the Salesforce.com ecosystem."

In an interview with CRM, Heidi Melin, senior vice president and chief marketing officer for Eloqua, discussed the company's latest product release, Chatter Inside Eloqua, and also noted that the company has already plugged in to Marketing Cloud. Marketing Cloud allows Eloqua to "take the information and data from social listening, connect it to demand, and [then get it] out to the lead management process," she said.

A recurring theme at Dreamforce was that chief marketing officers will increasingly make technology-purchasing decisions; the very nature of customer service solutions has been turned upside-down because the customer's voice has been amplified by social media. Unilever, for instance, uses Buddy Media and lets customers customize their own social ads on Facebook.

"If I could predict [what will occur next] in the industry, 2012 and 2013 will be when companies move away from social experimentation and into ROI justification," commented Rob Tarkoff, CEO of Lithium Technologies, a developer of social communities and social marketing software. "There is behavior change and transformation. It's 'How can I do this in a way that makes money?' I think there will be a lot more scrutiny."

Go here to read the rest:
Social Media Experimentation to Shift to ROI Justification

Police: Hostage-Taker Surrenders in Pittsburgh – Video

21-09-2012 14:46 A suicidal man who held a businessman hostage inside a downtown Pittsburgh office building for more than five hours Friday, posting Facebook updates during the standoff, surrendered to authorities without incident, police said. (Sept. 12)

More here:
Police: Hostage-Taker Surrenders in Pittsburgh - Video

How social media is reshaping job searches

The days of resumes and door-to-door job hunting are becoming a thing of the past. With a computer and a few clicks of a mouse, job seekers and even employers can now find just what they're looking for thanks to social networking.

Newly married mother Sierra Smith calls herself a social media success story. Last month, she wasn't happy with her old job, so she began looking for a higher paying one.

"Since I have a family to support and I have a little baby, [I have] to pay bills and get stuff done," Smith said.

She wanted to focus her job hunt. To do that, she explored several social sites, which led her to Walmart's hiring page.

"I applied for the job and got the call," Smith said. "If you want to look for a job, don't be scared. Go on the internet. You don't have to go to stores anymore; social networking is the best."

Social networking seems to be reshaping job searches across the country.

A JobVille survey shows that one out of six people used social media to get hired. Three of the most popular search engines are Facebook (18,400,000), LinkedIn (10,200,00), and Twitter (8,000,000).

Public and Employee Specialist Robin Wood said sites like Facebook help get the word out faster to more people, saving both time and money.

"That is all we have to do is sit at our computer, type a message, and it is out there and it is free. As soon as we post the jobs online, we get calls, we get emails. The waiting period is nothing now," Wood said.

But not everyone is a fan of using social media to look for jobs. One unemployed, single mom said she prefers the personal connection.

Read more:
How social media is reshaping job searches

Clifton is latest district to rein in social networking by staff

CLIFTON - The school district has adopted a new social networking policy to guide teachers and other staff on proper use of online communication, email and text messages.

The same policy has been adopted by a number of districts across North Jersey, as officials try and to prevent online posts and texts that might be deemed inappropriate or offensive. The policy warns staff to use caution when communicating with students or publishing online and to set appropriate boundaries between personal and public online behaviors.

According to the policy, school staff shouldn't:

xMake statements that defame district employees, students or their families, or that violate policies on discrimination or harassment.

xPost materials that are sexually graphic or promote violence.

xUse their school title unless the communication is official.

xUpdate their status on social networking sites during the school day unless it involves a school project.

Clifton school board member Mary Kowal said the new policy was needed because of the prevalence of social media use.

_"Everyone is tightening up their policies and leaving no stone unturned, so to speak," she said. "It's a preventive measure to separate your personal life from your school life."

Teachers have been disciplined and even fired for comments or photos posted online. A Paterson teacher was suspended last year after referring to her first-grade students as "future criminals" on Facebook; another New Jersey teacher was suspended after posting anti-gay remarks.

Read more from the original source:
Clifton is latest district to rein in social networking by staff

Winklevoss Twins Return to Their Social Networking Roots

Follow The Daily Ticker on Facebook!

Cameron and Tyler Winklevoss will never forget their first brush with social networking.

The twins hired fellow Harvard classmate Mark Zuckerberg in 2003 to code and program their fledgling social network website "ConnectU." But Zuckerberg had other ideas and soon formed his own online social networking site "Facebook."

The twins sued, Facebook's popularity exploded, "The Social Network" movie won three Oscars and Facebook (FB) went public in May at a valuation of $104 billion -- one of the biggest tech IPOs in history. The rest, shall we say, is history.

[Related: Facebook Effect: How The Social Network Changed the World]

These days the Winklevoss brothers are returning to their social networking roots.

The reportedly $65 million in cash and Facebook stock the twins agreed to late last year as part of their settlement with Zuckerberg has allowed them to launch Winklevoss Capital. The retired Olympic rowers are backing a few hand-picked tech start-ups like SumZero, a 4-year-old social network for professional investors that was founded by their good friend and former partner Divya Narendra (Divya was the third brain behind the "ConnectU" concept).

The twins invested $1 million in SumZero and Cameron Winklevoss says it was just a coincidence that their first venture was a social networking site.

"We didn't really look at SumZero as an investment in a social network," Cameron says in an interview with The Daily Ticker. "It's really more of a financial technology play. It happens to be a social network."

SumZero caters to buy-side analysts in the hedge fund, mutual fund and private equity worlds and its services are open to both U.S. and international investors. The site's 7,500 members post content and recommendations. The "cost" of a membership, says Narendra, "is the time it takes to post research."

Go here to read the rest:
Winklevoss Twins Return to Their Social Networking Roots