The company encourages us to post and share everything about our lives, which will lead to more advertising opportunities. Within the next 60 days, an event will occur that may be the most devastating development in the young history of social media and for the businesses and individuals who love it so much. Facebook is going to become a publicly-traded company. If you have ever worked for a public company you can relate to what I am about to say. If you haven’t you’ll have to trust me. ” Now, what is the source of Facebook’s growing revenues? You and me. MORE >>

However there are many meaningful leading indicators and non-financial measures that can be tied to stakeholder value. Last week I was involved in what one tweeter characterized as an “ROI smackdown.” ” I was speaking on a panel for Social Media Week New York when one of my fellow panelists said “This ROI stuff is just a bunch of crap. I’m so tired of it. You can’t measure what you’re doing and people should not even try.” ” I began to twitch. “I agree,” said the second panelist. ” My head began to throb. MEASURE. MORE >>

Steve Goldner is the Senior Director at MediaWhiz where he leads the social media practice. For years I’ve admired the real-world insights and experienced perspectives of Steve Goldner, perhaps better know as @Social Steve.  I’m pleased that Steve has agreed to be the newest Contributing Columonist to {grow} and I know you’ll enjoy his work! By Steve Goldner, Contributing {grow} Columnist. head up social media at a performance marketing agency in New York City and I will tell you, everyone is interested in social media! So how do you even go about this?  MORE >>

But as I look to the future, I’m not sure marketing, sales, advertising, or even PR are going to be the leading career paths for somebody I would hire to lead a social organization transformation. I’m a marketing guy. And boy I love it. There’s nothing I enjoy more than a great case study! Well, almost nothing. Of course these areas are important — and will continue to be — but if I’m growing a corporate social media competency, here is who I would be hiring in my company: 1) Journalism. Where are these people getting jobs? Alternative media. MORE >>

have a theory that would conclude “no,” but before I explain my rational, let’s look at a few more interesting trends from this study: Facebook and LinkedIn lead the way. 88% see these tools as important for generating web traffic and 81% find them important for lead generation. When asked how they measured the effectiveness of their social media efforts, executives reported using fans, followers and supporters (26%), web traffic (25%), lead generation (16%), reduced cost of customer support (10%), the value of sales generated through social media programs (7%). MORE >>