Ken Webb initially joined LinkedIn for the same reason anyone would want to join a social networking site -- to keep in touch with friends and former work colleagues.

I just wanted to wish everyone a Happy Holiday season. I hope you enjoy the time with your family and friends and hopefully Santa brought you everything you wanted this year. :)

Facebook and MySpace may reign supreme in North America, but we can't forget that they don't control every country in the world. Simply put, people from around the globe have different tastes and the major U.S. networks barely capture relevant market share in some countries. It's a big world out there and believe it or not, Facebook and MySpace don't own it.

Market research firm eMarketer has cut yet another ad spending estimate for 2009, and this time it's social networks. The social-network advertising industry is now pegged at $1.3 billion next year, down from $1.8 billion. For 2008, it's been lowered to $1.2 billion from $1.4 billion.

The 26-year-old, a former Microsoft employee who helped put together the Windows Home Server product, founded a company called Esgut within months of the debut of Facebook's developer platform in May 2007. Esgut is a portfolio of Facebook applications, and a few of them, like Superlatives and Entourage, became genuine viral hits. In April, Ali sold the 12-employee Esgut to the Social Gaming Network, a Silicon Valley company backed by the likes of Bezos Expeditions, the Founders Fund, and Greylock Partners. He said the price was in the seven figures.

So far AOL's having a hard time proving doubters wrong. While Bebo is popular abroad, its 5.9 million US uniques in October were just a fraction of MySpace's 76 million and Facebook's 46 million. Worse, experimental social network advertising remains largely untrusted by Madision Avenue's clients, who we hear cut it first when budgets get tight as they have recently.

Social networking sites such as Facebook and MySpace have become the party lines of this young century. They are inviting and intriguing and a powerful communication tool. Learning how to use them wisely for marketing can increase your business profile.
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BoatBrevard.com announces its official launch and plans to be the best online boater resource and connection site for Central Florida boaters. BoatBrevard.com is Brevard County's newest free online community for Brevard boaters. Find out all the hot spots, islands, and upcoming events. Get involved to connect with other boaters, share your photos, plan get-togethers, share knowledge and experiences. There are over 40,000 registered boaters in Brevard County.

The CSC-hosted social network is a personalized 24x7 Internet site for product announcements, information exchange and collaboration between CSC and members of its P&C client community. WikonnecT runs on a Sun Microsystems infrastructure and includes blogs, polls and a feature to keep clients informed on new software products and developments. Users also may rate and provide feedback on CSC solutions, prioritize improvements and interact directly with CSC developers to reduce the cycle time for enhancements or responses to requests.

As the world continues to get connected to the Internet and the number of people participating online using social media accelerates, the role of community manager is becoming one that more companies and organizations realize is a critical hire and one they need to consider now.

White Horse, one of the nation's fastest-growing digital agencies with an expanding emerging media portfolio, invites marketers to attend Social Media Killed the Branding Rock Star, a complimentary Webinar. The December 10th event will share five practical ways to utilize social media to drive brand goals in 2009.
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Ok, let me first start off by saying, Power.com is awesome! What is it? Power.com is a one stop shop for social networking and instant messaging. Think about it this way: with Power.com you have the ability to navigate and use Myspace, Facebook, Hi5, Orkut, MSN is live. Yahoo Messenger, AIM, and soon Gtalk, all at the same time.

By the time Abagail Kanter was 2 ½ months old, she had friends her age from around the country. She has never met these infants, but she has received messages from them on TotSpot, a social networking site for babies.

LinkedIn and Facebook have become the "go-to" places on the web where corporate decision-makers go looking for experts, including experienced talent to hire. In the next session of Experts Connection ( www.experts-connection.com), "LinkedIn and Facebook Essentials for Executives: Using Both Platforms as Professional Networking Tools," Jason Alba, well-known career author and founder of JibberJobber.com, will explain how to make the most of LinkedIn and Facebook for professional networking and show executives how they can be found by hiring managers.

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LinkedIn has recently adopted a policy of allowing market researchers to survey its members.  This should make it easier to find out who they are and to target them for both research and marketing.  An article in Advertising Age, November 10, 2008 is being made available by Tom H.C. continue reading