listening

In my 2 years on Twitter, I've found it to be an incredible networking tool, resource and place to vent. And in the past months, it's become even better - brands are proactively reaching out to answer questions I have. How? A variety of ways, but many are using a tool called Twitter Search.

We're all busy. We have work, family, hobbies, exercise, cooking, networking and, of course, sleep! During that time, social media and technology are constantly evolving. You could stay up from dawn 'til dusk just reading blogs about Internet marketing. What's a busy marketer to do?

Luckily, there are resources, articles and insights almost everywhere you look:

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.

Twitter Lists. They were introduced (slowly) a few weeks back, and, largely, confusion still reigns. Do I make a list? Whose lists am I on? What exactly are these darned things for? I can't answer all the questions, but I have found out a few things about Twitter Lists that I'd like to share:

I recently spoke with some awesome students at Ithaca College’s Park School of Communications who are looking to get jobs or internships in the near future. We discussed the role of social media in their searches, and also covered a topic that’s very prevalent: personal online reputation management.

CNN's iReport, New York Times using Twitter to build commentary, it seems like major news outlets are turning more and more to citizen journalists for photos, videos and context for current events. Anyone with an iPhone or a Flip camera can now be the source for the next front page story.