In the future, value will come from generating demand that never existed, as the iPhone has done. The disconnect between CIOs and the emerging world of social business became clear to me at a conference I attended about two years ago. entered the room late, but figured I could quickly catch up on the proceedings by checking the Twitter stream of attendees. With an estimated 300 senior IT executives in the room, I expected there would be plenty of chatter going on. To my surprise, not a single tweet had been logged during the past hour. Same Old Song and Dance. Playing pays off. MORE >>

This makes LinkedIn a compelling new tool for professional networking and lead generation. I prepared summaries for my upcoming Search & Social Double Whammy seminar on May 2 in Burlington, MA describing the “big three” social networks: Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter. My goal was to describe in plain English the way these networks provide value to their users and the metaphors they use for interaction. Perhaps you’ll find these basic explanations useful in some context. And if I’ve missed or misstated anything, I’d appreciate your corrections. MORE >>

The social network is so essential to the company’s business that user generated content overflows onto the corporate homepage. It has also learned about the “1:9:90″ rule: the vast majority of its content is generated by about 1% of its members, with another 9% kicking in occasional additions. They are flexible gathering halls that can fill a wide variety of purposes ranging from product development to lead generation. Lead Generator,&# indicating that generosity is part of his business strategy. Is it appropriate to a B2B setting? MORE >>

With Facebook presenting a tempting target of 800 million potential customers, small businesses are flocking to social network as a fast and easy way to generate business. But many SMB’s don’t take full advantage of the Facebook platform because they’re intimidated by the learning curve and the technical knowledge that Facebook applications demand. Against the Grain This is one in a series of posts that explore people and technologies that are enabling small companies to innovate. The series is underwritten by IBM Midsize Business , but the content is entirely my own. MORE >>

For example, an automotive dealer should be able to generate sales by tracking public comments from nearby consumers who are looking to buy a car. If you’re a marketer in a medium-to large-sized B2B company, you’re almost certainly using customer relationship management (CRM) software to track your customers and prospects. And if you’re a CRM user, you’re almost certainly hearing about Social CRM, the hottest new craze in that 20-year-old field. encourage you to restrain your enthusiasm. It seems only natural that online social interactions should be part of this profile. right. MORE >>