You either hate them or hate them, right? Maybe you like them, but I don’t know why. We’ve already seen them on as iPhone apps, but now YouTube has added a Vuvuzela to its videos. They’re having a laugh aren’t they? Read More »

Twitter is trying to make it easier to find people you already know on Facebook and LinkedIn by improving its Find Friends section, which now looks to have been blocked by Facebook. Read More »

Business network LinkedIn has taken some more inspiration from its social networking brethren and sexed up its groups feature, improving its design and adding more personalisation. Read More »

MTV on YouTube: it's not their fault

So Viacom’s promised that it will appeal against yesterday’s copyright ruling, in which a judge threw out its $1bn lawsuit and said that YouTube was not liable for people uploading content that they did not own. Read More »

Dead print titles are starting to breathe again. Conde Nast has just relaunched its glossy food magazine Gourmet, which it closed last Autumn, as app called Gourmet Live and says that other titles that have recently been axed could follow. Read More »

How handy is this? Online marketing firm Eloqua has produced a 42 page “Social Media Playbook”. It was originally created as a how-to guide for its own staff to follow on the social web and now they are handing it out for free.  You don’t even need to give them your email address. Read More »

With Glastonbury kicking off tomorrow Google has come out with a nice little ad that could turn festival goers the world over into Casanova’s. Read More »

I’m really excited to release eModeration’s new white paper today. 
The paper, Communities
of Purpose, focuses on interactive online communities with a
clear goal, otherwise known as ‘communities of purpose’.

Brands and not-for-profit organisations can establish these communities
to act as a focal point for  members to meet, contribute content and
provide mutual support as they try to reach their shared goal – whether
that be to lose weight or elect an official to office.  Think of Weight
Watchers,  Walk the Walk
(raising money to comabt breast cancer) or Liberal Democrat Voice for
example.

This paper (co-authored by eModeration’s CEO, Tamara Littleton,
and Head of Community Ashley Cooksley) 
gathers the thinking from some of the highly respected voices in
community management today to provide clear, practical advice to those
thinking about establishing a community of purpose.  It details best
practice for the management of Communities of Purpose in order to
maximise the engagement and support that these communities can offer
their members.

For example, here is our list of things a brand should consider when
creating a community of purpose:

• Create the ‘burning imperative’. The community has to
  have a strong goal for people to join and continue to be active members.
• Add value. What does your community offer that members can’t
  get elsewhere?
• Stay relevant. The community will lack credibility if there’s
  a clear disconnect between the community purpose and the brand.
• Agree timeframes. Goal focused communities are mainly
  transitional. A member – or the whole community – meets their personal
  goals and so they move on, or the community as a whole comes to an end.
  It’s essential to have a clear exit strategy before launch.
• Keep members motivated by setting goalposts. It’s not unusual
  for community members to wax and wane in their interest and involvement
  in the community. Motivate members by setting smaller goals and
  promoting feelings of achievement.
• Set clear guidelines. These should be the mission statement
  of the community, and provide the structure for your community
  management decisions.

To read more, download a free copy of Communities of
Purpose, which includes detailed information on issues that brands
may face and how they can be addressed.

Our huge thanks go to the community
managers that we spoke to and who took the time to share their
experiences with us: Leah Williams, Community & Social Media
Manager at Breast Cancer Care;
Patrick O’Keefe, owner of iFroggy Network and
author of “Managing Online Forums“;
Alison
Michalk, Director of Quiip and ex-community manager for Essential
Baby at Fairfax Digital Australia; Blaise Grimes-Viort, Head of Communities & Social Media at National
Magazine Company and Hearst Digital and Vanessa
DiMauro, CEO of LeaderNetworks.

Great post on All Facebook about how supermarket tabloid Weekly World News went from 3,244 fans to 40,310 fans in four days — and aliens had nothing to do with it. Read More »

The ebook price war has begun in the US. Amazon  has cut the price if its Kindle from $259 to $189 (£128) and Barnes & Noble’s wi-fi-only version of the Nook will sell for just $149 (just £100). Read More »