Social What Now?

Social Web has hit prime time. Every company and their mother is trying to decide whether they need a blog, vlog, flickr, twitter, plurk, Friendster, or that thing where you upload a picture of yourself and it tells you what loser celebrity you look like. And every design firm is publishing their own Social Web bible, with featuring the gospel according to Facebook and the psalms of Myspace. The World Wide Web has evolved into a massive transit system of communication with no route map, leaving the average marketing manager bewildered.

Relax and take a step back. We’re not trying to write the Social Networking bible according to Aardvark. In fact, it’s already been written by thousands of other organizations that have “unlocked the mystery of Social Web”, trust us, we’ve read them. We’d rather hear what you have to say.

Do you have a question about that “thing” everyone is talking about?  Have you stumbled through whitepapers and PDF downloads and come out of the mess with 6 Facebook accounts, 27 blogs and a Flickr account full of photos from your last trip to Wally World? Don’t worry we’re willing to help and it’s also not as daunting as it may seem. If you’re reading this, you have already walked face first into Social Web.

Take the next step.  Post your biggest social web conundrum  (click on the word below this article called “comments” with that little hand) and we’ll make your marketing headache disappear.

If you are an agoraphobic and the idea of receiving a response has you reaching for you keyboard disinfectant. Here are some links to our favorite PDF downloads that may already be making a mess of your desktop.

Glossary of Social Web Terms
What is Social Media courtesy of iCrossing

Bleak Headlines. Upbeat Crowd.

The economy was front and center at this year’s Providence Business Expo. Or at least it was foremost on everyone’s mind. And the headlines didn’t offer much hope either. Even speakers mentioned it by name — yes, recession.

Yet there was a certain buzz about the crowd. Not a bad-buzz per say (for the most part anyway). Actually, quite the opposite. It seemed that fellow businesses weren’t too interested in sitting on the sidelines. For some, it was business-as-usual. For others, even a bit of defiant.

Either way, it was a boost. Especially given the fact that we spent two days talking to seemingly hundreds of different companies about the advantages of marketing in a down economy. And we pressed that despite the bleak economic outlook, there are still tremendous opportunities to be had— with the right design and marketing solutions of course.

So how did it go? Guess only time — and you — may tell.

Share your take with us. How’s it affecting your business? Please join the conversation.