Blogs

We'll start this post with a little quiz (and if you follow media controversies closely, it's an easy one.) What is the mission of the organization "Focus on the Family"?

Today, museums, organizations, visitors and enthusiasts around the world celebrated the first #followamuseum day. Organized by Jim Richardson of the blog Museum Marketing (UK), the campaign asked Twitter users to share their favorite museums to follow and discover new ones as well.

Social media is about conversation, relationships and transparency. Where traditional media broadcasts, new media interacts. Yet, there are several foundational elements these two forms of marketing have in common. One of those is design.

I've been taking part in the Social Media Challenge for just over a week. During that time, other participants have shared interesting blogs and intriguing posts, and my Google Reader reading list has doubled.

CNN is one of the most-watched and most-visited news providers in the country. On TV, they provide round-the-clock coverage of news, entertainment and fluff. Online, they have access to video and articles on news, entertainment and, of course, fluff.

"Have the intern do it" - it's a phrase often uttered in nonprofits, and is perfectly fine in most cases. However, those 5 words should never be associated with your organization's social media campaign, and here's why:

Everyone's talking about The New York Times' new plan for metered charging. In 2011, the newspaper will begin charging users for content beyond a certain (and, as of yet, unspecified) amount of articles.

You've got to wonder who, if anyone, is approving applications for distribution on Facebook. A far cry from Apple's "deny first, ask later" policy, Facebook seems to have allowed yet another spam application through.

In one of my earlier posts, I discussed social media strategy. Nonprofits, corporations, professionals, students - no matter who you are, you need to have a goal for your interactions on social media and a path to reach them. As a nonprofit, your goal could be to increase awareness, grow local event attendance or create issue advocates.

I'm not one to shy away from a challenge. So, when Colin Alsheimer threw down the gauntlet, I knew I had to answer the call. From his blog:

I chal­lenge you to find 10–15 blogs that are not ranked in the top 150 on AdAge’s Power 150 List, or within Technorati’s top 100. The Rules: