There is mounting evidence that social networking sites like Facebook tap into a need for connection that is embedded in our DNA. We may be actually chemically-predisposed to wasting time on social networks. “Many studies have emerged about the importance of human social interactions to our well-being. We know that social rewards light up the brain’s reward circuits more than non-social rewards, and that social threats, such as feeling lonely or ostracized, light up the threat center more than non-social threats. MORE >>

There is probably nothing more debated, despised, and dissected on the social web than Facebook’s ever-changing scheme to monetize its vast audience. My Facebook mobile stream is now dominated by banner ads. Facebook, you’re just p **g off people every day. can’t think of a reason why Facebook would not create this option … other than perhaps they have done a calculation showing the potential to constantly annoy people and stir controversy will be more profitable over time than being good to its customers. Trying to monetise a site. MORE >>

“This is just Facebook for the Enterprise” is the most common way most people describe enterprise social networking platforms. After all, the look and feel of those platforms borrow a lot from the Facebook interface: status updates, @mentioning, groups, walls, profile pictures, direct messages, and so on. However, when implementing a social networking platform at your workplace, you’ll soon find that the resemblance with Facebook pretty much stops there: even though the building blocks are very similar, the overall playbook is very different. MORE >>

It’s a hilarious moment, but a common example of “social proof” that has been used in the advertising world for decades. Social proof is not always true or accurate, it just has to provide an effective impression of authority. Brands capitalized on his social proof as a TV doctor and extended all of those powerful positive attributes to their products, even though the man wrapped in the white lab coat was suffering as a human being. The essence of social proof. Perhaps the most prestigious symbol of social proof today is the Facebook “Like.”  MORE >>

Facebook is like a box of chocolates.  While most social media advisers are bullish on Facebook as a marketing channel — and certainly there are some amazing success stories — in my classes I teach a more holistic view of the opportunities and the PERILS of what you might get into. use the screen shot above as a way to illustrate the dark side of exposing your brand on the social web. In any event, a casual observer would be thinking, why are these two little kids posting on Budweiser’s Facebook page? You never know what you’re going to get.  MORE >>