"Imperative" for companies to monitor social media"

Consumers are now sharing their online transaction experiences on social media websites, so businesses should participate in these conversations, says an expert.
Businesses must keep tabs on what social media users are saying about their products and brand image, a sector commentator has suggested.
Jason Falls, a blogger on socialmediaexplorer.com, made his remarks following research by Harris Interactive, which showed that 13 per cent of adults will share their experiences of online transactions on a social media service or a blog.
He claimed that this is because people trust the views and advice of people they normally interact with and these relationships are becoming more significant in terms of retail.
"It's not just important but imperative to know what people are saying about your brand online and interject into those conversations if possible," explained Mr Falls.
In his view, firms must try and talk to users about their views otherwise it is likely that their brand image could land in trouble.
However, Mr Falls informed marketers that they will not be able to control the conversations with consumers.

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Individual 'can make a difference in social media'

People are being urged to promote charities and not-for-profit organisations using social media or make a donation if they can.
Everyone can make an impact and do something good for charity using social media, an insider has suggested.
Writing on the official Facebook blog, Joe Green, co-founder of an application named Causes, encouraged users to get involved with charitable organsiations using social networks.
He pointed out that people do not need to donate to make a difference, as promoting awareness on social media sites helps share vital information about causes that need help.
Mr Green wrote: "Now, the internet - and social media specifically - is rebuilding the social infrastructure that has been crumbling underneath non-profits for decades."
The Causes application was set up to help people feel empowered to take social and political actions.
Last week it launched the second America Giving Challenge with the Case Foundation and Parade Magazine.
The first Giving Challenge in 2007/08 raised more than $1.8 million [£1.1 million] for hundreds of charities and not-for-profit organisations.

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Social media 'can combine with SEO'

A new application for the iPhone is able to aggregate comments made in blogs and social networking services into one place using SEO principles, says an industry insider.
Social media can be combined with the principles of search engine optimisation (SEO) to provide consumers with an aggregated list of opinions regarding a topic, according to an industry insider.
Director of mobile strategy at iCrossing Rachel Pasqua made these comments after the company released a free product called Say What?, which allows users to monitor what is being said on social networking sites and blogs.
She remarked that the goal was to provide a "one-click" service for customers to search keywords and phrases.
The application is available to download from the iPhone App Store
Ms Pasqua explained: "iCrossing developed Say What? to demonstrate how SEO, social media and mobile can work together to provide users with information that is real-time and relevant."
This week, new media age writer Will Cooper reviewed a beta version of new social media service Google Wave and noted that it had plenty of exciting features, such as the ability to share maps and documents while chatting online.

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Companies 'aiming to respond to social media reputation'

A new product released by Marchex will let businesses keep an eye on what is being said about them on social media websites and respond to concerns, says an expert.
Businesses will check what people are saying about their brand and their products so that they can understand their reputation in the consumer's eyes, says an industry commentator.
Writing on Media Post's Online Media Daily blog, Laurie Sullivan pointed out that the success of a company can often be measured by what sort of Tweet or comments consumers are leaving on social networking sites.
She claimed that this is because businesses want the ability to respond to what people are saying.
Now, Marchex has released a program called Reputation Management, which picks out keywords from a large variety of different sources to gauge a brand's reputation across social media.
Matthew Berk, executive vice-president of product engineering at the organisation, told Ms Sullivan: "It has about a quarter of a billion pieces of metadata for 19 million local businesses and aggregated 10 million ratings and reviews."
Recent comments by Web User editor Ben Camm-Jones indicated that a consumer's social media usage can be influenced by which occupation they are in.

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