Integrated with Facebook (follow your friends), similar to Twitter (follow Artists), based on the now popular asymetric friendship model (you don”t have to be a follower to get followed and vice-versa) and backed-up by personnalized recommendations (charts/artists/people to follow), Ping is available for desktop iTunes  and will soon be for IPod and IPhone as well.

It seems to be a bit slow for the moment, to lack datas for recommendations as well as artists profiles, but the integration of a sophisticated social network with a digital music service that already has 160 millions customers is definitely something to keep an eye on. Especially if you are MySpace…

But do people really have room for another Social Network ? Let’s wait and see….

The customised URL shortener we created for National Tourist Office VisitBritain is really beginning to take off. Why should you do the same for your brand ?

It looks cool, right ? But there is of course more than a geeky guilty pleasure behind this idea. Here’s how Coke describes its URL shortener, http://cokeurl.com/: “As social media continues to evolve we have increasingly smaller spaces to get our messages across. Coke URL is just one way we’re making happiness easier to share.”

The most obvious advantage is the ability to access useful analytics about each tweet’s performance. Then, from a marketing perspective, a branded URL shortener  makes your links memorable and reusable. Branded URL shorteners act as verified transparent and trustable links for users and readers. Last but not least, your brand name gets promoted with every use!

So, Share the Love ! Branded!

http://LoveUK.us/2D

Chris

News today that the popular TweetDeck will soon be released on Android. For further info read:

http://mashable.com/2010/08/12/tweetdeck-for-android/

Let’s say you just sent a DVD to one of your friends and would like to be informed about how this is going.
In addition to a classic phonecall or customer service website visit, you can now follow your mail journey on Twitter with La Poste.
The process is as innovative as it is simple. You simply send your reference number mentionning @suivi_avec_lisa and you will then be sent a Direct Message every time your mail’s status is updated.

Brilliant, right?

This is an enlightening presentation for anyone who is involved in social networking by Paul Adams, a UX researcher from Google.

Probably most relevant for someone who’s daily actions can be fairly consistently tracked on Facebook, Foursquare and Twitter and particularly those who want to keep their personal and professional lives separate online.

And while we are on the topic of social profiles, another great post you might like to check out is about knowing and maintaining your own social footprint effectively from Michelle Prak here.

A great and simple way to view some intriguing social media information: http://ht.ly/275gM

Another indiciation of how important social media is becoming for your business: http://ht.ly/27JOM and http://bit.ly/9eqzXo

Fascinating stats about how facebook received more traffic than google over christmas

http://ht.ly/27Z1J

Yet another stat to indicate how important social media is for companies to manage their online reputation.

http://ht.ly/25Nvh

How you can get into contact with the US senators through twitter and actually see the effects: http://carlanderson.blogspot.com/2010/06/social-media-political-engagement.html