According to a study by Sage Software and AMI-Partners, more than 260,000 small businesses in the US and Canada employ social networking tactics, too.

Most of them used professional social networking sites such as LinkedIn. General social networking sites such as MySpace and Facebook were also widely used, followed by niche communities and job sites.

Less popular were microblogging services (such as Twitter and Yammer), forums, wikis and social bookmarking applications.

The reasons for adopting social networking tactics varied, but the most widespread uses of social media were for responding to customer questions, networking, and reference and educational purposes.

Many of the small business’ I speak to are not using social media but they are “looking at it”. The recession however is fueling interest in social media as business budgets are tightened.

via eMarketer

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• Fast companies use social media

Barcamp Malaysia is now Barcamp KL. Get registered registered. Facebook event page here.

I’m not planning on giving a talk this time around but who knows. It’s barcamp, things happen spontaneously. See you there!

• 7 Facebook apps for Enterprise 2.0
• Barcamp Malaysia, Social Media meets Real World.

• Social Media 2009 – eMarketer predicts transactions for social networks
• Social media for finding a job

Talking about Social Media to increase SEO for Vote From Abroad, photo by Democrats Abroad Cambodia

I’m just back from the Democrats Abroad Asia Pacific Regional Meeting in Phnom Penh, Cambodia. I was representing Democrats Abroad Malaysia and gave a short talk on using Social Media to increase site traffic to our online voter registration tool, VoteFromAbroad.org

One of the main points made in my presentation was that regardless of how people found you, they’re here now. Many organizations are warming up to the idea of embracing conversations about their ‘brand/product/company’ off site. We can’t assume that because we built a great website with community tools that people will always come to our site to talk. Conversations happen where people happen to be that’s increasingly on communities like facebook, youtube, forums, etc.

This is incredibly valuable because the authority (popularity/traffic/page ranking) of these sites and their links back to you provides a boost to your own search result rankings. When Youtube, Wikipedia, Facebook and blogs are all linking to you – google notices.

For a site like Vote From Abroad, the main goal is to be discovered by Americans living overseas and helping them with the process of registering to vote.

This requires a sustained social media campaign using social media optimization and SEO techniques.

Some of the recommendations I’ve made include:

• Link to votefromabroad.org in relevant profiles, media descriptions, web posts, forums & wikis.
• Use of micro-blogging tools (Twitter).
• Cross posting (TubeMogul, Ping.FM)
• Join or create Democrats Abroad groups on social networking sites (and link to votefromabroad.org).
• Community promotion of sites through social bookmarking (Digg, Reddit, etc.)

I also encouraged people attending to start a blog and touched on WordPress. WordPress can deliver great SEO results when configured correctly and provides all kinds of plugins and widgets for mixing in data from your social sites. Folks living abroad have some natural topics to blog about; living overseas, travel, exotic foods, culture.. The easiest way to start is by reading blogs. Should you find yourself following many blogs, look into an RSS reader to have all your blogs delivered in one shot for offline or easy reading later.

Note to Americans living overseas. Register to vote, your vote matters. Join Democrats Abroad to connect with some of the most dynamic, progressive and thoughtful Americans you’ll ever encounter. This is a great way to meet and socialize with other American expats while living abroad.

• Americans in Malaysia – Americans Abroad for Obama
• 50 ways to use social media for marketing

Here’s an informative post over at ReadWriteWeb on how to use Friend Lists feature on facebook.

• Top 10 lists about blogging lists
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eMarketer predictions for 2009 are out. According to David Hallerman, online video will steam ahead rising by 45% in 2009 to reach $850 million. Traditional media (TV, Newspapers) are in for some hurt. Retail e-commerce growth rates will decline however Debra Aho Williamson predicts b2b marketing is coming to social networks.

Expect both MySpace and Facebook to enhance their self-serve advertising systems to allow consumers and businesses to buy and sell real-world goods and services.

With US ad revenue growth slowing, smaller and niche social networks will have a tough time gaining traction and several may close up shop or be acquired by larger players. In addition, marketers that have built standalone social networks tied to their brands will either close them or migrate them to existing social network platforms where they can reach a broader audience.

I’d like to see some eBay alternatives out there and facebook would be very interesting in this regard. Who are you more likely to buy an unlocked iPhone from – an anonymous seller on eBay or a friend of a friend on facebook?

• Facebook weak in Asia, Malaysia still on Friendster
• eBay dark humor and the undertakers iphone 3g

Go to your YouTube My Account / Playback Setup page and choose “I have a fast connection. Always play higher-quality video when it’s available.”

Enjoy high quality video by default now on any youtube video and embedded video. I notice that the HQ videos also play faster here.

• Tivo does YouTube
• Huawei modem and OSX without Mobile Connect

Tweetatag looks like an interesting way to search twitter.

• Troutbot mystery solved: Project Upstream
• Social media for finding a job

photo by

According to a recent survey that Dynamic Markets did for AT&T in Europe, employees say that social networking increased their productivity, extended their abilities and enhanced creativity.

A pan-European survey of more than 2,500 people in five countries shows that the use of social networking tools as part of everyday working life has led to an increase in efficiency. The study shows that 65% of employees surveyed in Great Britain, France, Germany, Belgium and the Netherlands say their company has adopted social networking as part of their working culture. The research also reveals that the rate of adoption is most popular in Germany, leading the way at 72% while Great Britain lags behind with 59%. The study also reveals:

• 65% of employees surveyed say that social networking sites have made them and/or their colleagues more efficient
• 63% say they have enabled them and their colleagues to achieve things that would not otherwise have been possible
• 46% say they have sparked ideas and creativity for them personally

Read more at the Gilbane Group Blog.

Social networking is helpful in the workplace in the same way that other forms of communication are, the telephone for instance. That said, spending the whole day on facebook is about as appropriate as spending the whole work day on the phone with friends. If you are lucky enough to have an employer that allows of even encourages use of social networking, show some appreciation by limiting the amount of ‘personal time’ on social networks and explore business sites like LinkedIn.

An easy way to leverage social nets at work is to talk (or twitter) about what kind of projects you’re working on in your facebook status or join in discussions with others in your field. Experts or those looking for valuable insights should go on LinkedIn Answers and build up your reputation or learn from others in your field.

Employers and managers need to have a social networking policy. Your employees are using already social networking at work. If you don’t see it then they’re doing a good job of hiding it from you. Trying to block access to social networking may seem like an easy fix but would you block telephone access at work? Chances are employees will figure out a way to get around your attempts – probably by using their mobile phone while privately thinking how much you suck for limiting their communication with friends, family, coworkers and peers. Don’t suck, embrace.

• Small business social media use increasing
• Social media for finding a job

Lookout Skype!

Video chatting from Gmail is as easy as sending an instant message. With our team spread out across Google offices in Sweden and the U.S., it’s been really handy in helping us work together. Just click on the new “Video & more” menu in a Gmail chat window and select “Start video chat” or “Start voice chat.” You can switch to a full screen view or pop out the chat window and change the size and positioning as you wish.

via Google Blog – SFGate.com – TechCrunch

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