How to Get Social...Again

Presented to the National Newspaper Publisher's Association, this overview of some of the mechanics of social media was intended to provide community newspaper publishers with ideas about the means by which they could begin to implement social media capabilities into their newspaper operations. There is also a part 1 which talks about what social media is and a part 3 that provides several key examples of how to monetize social media initiatives.

NNPA Mid Winter Conf. - Social Media from Kevin McFall

Comcast's vision...social networking from your set top box?

We love to network online, and we love cable TV, but what the hell does the nation's largest cable company want with a social networking tool? The acquisition of Plaxo by Comcast, could quite possibly revolutionize the effort to converge the digital living room with the PC.

This could also be a play to bolster the value proposition of Comcast.net, the company's destination for it's cable modem service subscribers. My question is how many subscribers ever take advantage of anything other than an email address from their ISPs? This was the whole premise for bringing down the walled garden of access model that once buoyed AOL to 24 million subscribers. People want the Internet in no uncertain terms. The don't want to be inhibited on their to it either. It is a broad universe of content and utilities that have already been set free by millions of publishers. Why then would a cable company want to acquire a networking tool like Plaxo? It has to be a bigger more grand plan than the obvious addition of uniting comcast.net subscribers.

"They had to be thinking of a master plan - dance with the record, dance with the record-

Thinking of a master plan...this ain't nothing but sweat inside my hands"; sorry I had a "Paid in Full" moment there. Comcast has a plan that will enable cable box subscribers to perform social networking functions across cable boxes, which while novel is already in play with TiVo, tv tuner enabled laptops and more. Maybe I'm wrong, and maybe their motive is more innocent than that. Maybe they are more or even less visionary, but whichever the case, it is Comcast, a media behemoth in the making. Keep your eyes on this savvy and resource rich firm. What do you think of Comcast's acquisition of Plaxo? What does this acquisition mean to you, the Black Web early adopter?

Bebo...Are You On the #1 Social Network?

According to UK computing magazine Computer Which? Bebo was ranked the number one social networking destination on the web over Facebook and MySpace.

http://www.reuters.com/news/video/videoStory?videoId=73908

Do we really care about another place we have to create or make a new list of friends? Or another destination for online self-expression and weak lines for hooking up? Or maybe we can find solstice in knowing that 2008 will provide us with a new wave of "SocialNextworking".

Tell us what you think or find your Facebook profile updated to a new image of pushing daisies or wearing a new pair of Ferragamo cement shoes ;-)

\*/ The Media Mafia Think Tankers