From Mashable - How PR Pros Are Using Social Media for Real Results

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PR professionals use social media every single day to get the word out about clients, to communicate with customers and to respond to questions or problems. Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and other social sites have quickly become important tools in a PR professional's overall toolkit.

As one PR professional, Jeremy Pepper, told us,

'There are so many uses - conversational marketing, reaching influencers - that PR is able to participate in conversations and answer questions, be a support system for clients and companies, as well as empowering customers and power users to be a de facto resource for your company, a champion for your products.'

We're going to take a look at how PR professionals are using social media to achieve real results when dealing with business-to-business relationships, when representing companies that already have a well-known brand, and in politics. We'll also look into some of the tools of the trade that PR pros are using to measure the success of their endeavors.

The Role of Social Media in Business-to-Business PR

Pepper considers social media an important part of the public relations toolkit. When I asked him what social media has to offer PR professionals, he said, 'Social media is a great tool for public relations people, especially if you align it to both PR goals and figure out what the ROI is for the client or the company.'

As we've pointed out when discussing measuring social media ROI, having a goal in mind or a main focus can be very important when using social media for any reason.

Pepper offered some insight into how he uses social media with Palisade Systems, a business-to-business data loss prevention company. For Palisade, the main goal is to increase the company's name recognition. Because data loss prevention deals with sensitive data and often regulatory compliance (for things like HIPPA/HITECH, FERPA and others), having strong name recognition is important, as a known name can often be equated with trust.

Pepper explained how he goes about reaching his client's core audience, in this case small and medium-sized enterprises.

'At Palisade, we've done a three-pronged approach: traditional PR, traditional analyst relations and social media. We have a Palisade Blog where we write and talk about Data Loss Prevention and various issues for corporations, we are on Twitter, shooting out information, retweeting interesting articles in the space, and participating in conversations [@PalisadeDLP], and, we reach out to security bloggers.'

While I expected Twitter to have limited use in a B2B PR strategy, it turns out it can actually be pretty powerful. By following security experts and industry analysts, Palisade can take part in the conversations happening in the space. Pepper can also track keywords on Twitter and then communicate with CIOs and IT people who are asking questions about DLP and he can then send them case studies or reach out to start a new kind of relationship.

As Pepper said, 'It lets the people know that there is another solution besides the large corporations, and lets us have conversations with the analysts beyond the calls.'

Blogging, for instance, is one way the company can share stories beyond just what goes into a press release.

'One recent example is that EPISD (El Paso Independent School District) is a legacy customer of Palisade Systems, and recently signed up for the DLP solution. I interviewed the IT staff for the press release, and got great anecdotes that weren't really appropriate for the press release. But I was able to tell them in the blog post, and expand on why they continue to use Palisade - because of our support, and our product.'

Social Media Drives Authenticity

Political figures have really embraced social media - the White House has an official presence on Twitter, Facebook and YouTube, plus its own blog-powered website, for example - and more and more local and national representatives from all over the world are taking to the web to connect with their constituents.

Claire McCaskill, the junior U.S. Senator from Missouri, is one politician that has embraced social media in a big way. On Twitter, @clairecmc has nearly 37,000 followers - making her the second-most popular person in Congress, according to Tweetcongress.org. The Senator also has a YouTube channel and a Tumblr blog that she uses to share information with her constituents and to respond to questions.

Anamarie Rebori, a spokesperson for Senator McCaskill, told us that the senator actively uses social media. 'While it definitely has changed the way she gets the word out, McCaskill has said that if anything, she is glad she has the opportunity to bring a more personal touch to her communications and get outside the Washington bubble,' Rebori said.

Especially for politicians, authenticity is an important part of PR. According to Rebori, McCaskill has been able to utilize social media to communicate authentically. 'People seem to respond best to an authentic touch over Twitter, and that's something that Senator McCaskill has been able to convey in her use of social media,' Rebori said. 'It's really her typing each of those tweets, and people can tell.'

Senator McCaskill makes a point of reading every tweet that is addressed her way - and she also makes a point to respond to others on Twitter, either via @replies or direct messages. However, as the Senator explained in her Tumblr blog, she doesn't follow anyone.

That's not because of lack of engagement, it's because it's the best way the senator can allocate her resources. Furthermore, the senator has developed a hashtag for Missourians to use so that she can connect with as many of them as possible. If you're a Missouri resident and you use #MO in a tweet, chances are it will get the senator's attention.

There are huge possibilities from a PR perspective for politicians who use social media, as Senator McCaskill's success shows.

Building Brand Loyalty

Pepper also works with computer bag and accessory provider Targus. Because the company is already well-known in its space, the goals for public relations are different than with other brands. 'Working with a very well-liked brand, it's both hard and easy to get conversations going,' Pepper said, who explained that responding to negative feedback is rarely an issue because Targus gets very little.

Instead, the approach for Pepper has been figuring out ways to develop brand loyalty and turn customers into fans. One method that has yielded results for Targus is utilizing its Twitter account for giveaways and promotions and monitoring Twitter conversations to target bag-buying consumers.

In one situation, Pepper followed a conversation between a user who had a bag from a rival company. Pepper tweeted the user a coupon code for 25% off, which ended up being more than what the company that made his old bag had offered him and resulted in the user writing about his experience. That's the type of thing that can create long-time customers and also get users observing or reading about the situation to consider Targus for their next product.

Using social media has provided Pepper with a simple way to build brand loyalty without having to invest significant time and resources.

Tools of the Trade

Josh Jones-Dilworth, the founder and CEO of the PR and marketing consulting firm Jones-Dilworth, Inc. (and a Mashable guest author) has a lot of expertise in blogging and social media. As such, Jones-Dilworth has developed his own system for measuring the effectiveness of different social media approaches as they relate to PR.

Jones-Dilworth explained that while it's fairly easy to measure conversations and engagement on an empirical level, putting that analytical data into context so that it can be evaluated as cause and effect is considerably more difficult.

'Right now we are doing a lot of work to mash up social data with business data to get cause and effect. Some products are starting to support this action - but only a few. I think this is the next big wave. You've got to be able to tie causes to effects, and that is the big challenge right now, what all our clients want, and what is frankly the hardest to accomplish.'

We absolutely agree that this is both a big challenge when evaluating the successfulness of social media in any context - PR or otherwise - and that it is going to be a large area of growth in the future.

For the future, Jones-Dilworth sees visualizations and modeling as two key components to watch for.

'Visualization [is important] because we really need to be able to make these streams come alive and make them navigable, otherwise you've got death by data, pure and simple. More is more is more until it isn't.

Modeling is all about predicting out futures: Who will be the Farecast of social media? Who will help with intelligent decision support?'

However, just because he doesn't have all the tools at his disposal now doesn't mean that Jones-Dilworth is operating in the dark. Here is Jones-Dilworth's list of the tools that he uses for tracking social media results in his work as a PR pro:

• Viralheat
• Infoharmoni
• Buzzstream
• Twitalyzer
• Omniture
• Eloqua
• Klout
• Yahoo Pipes
• Bime (for visualization)
• Google Analytics
• WolframAlpha [Disclosure: WolframAlpha is a client of Jones-Dilworth's]
• Compete
• Bit.ly

He also points to these tools that he enjoys playing with:

• Lugiron
• Hubspot
• Mixpanel
• ManyEyes (for visualization)
• OneRiot
• Wildfire

Until we reach the stage where drawing contextual correlations between social media actions and results can be more easily measured (or at least, more easily distilled), it is vital to have concrete goals before starting a social media strategy in PR and to also have some sort of baseline.

Common Threads

PR professionals are using social media in a lot of ways to either supplement or add on to existing PR strategies. The most successful PR pros focus on creating active relationships and truly engaging with their customers (or constituents) to have a real conversation.

It isn't about just putting a PR pitch on Twitter or Facebook, it's about using the platforms in ways that help clients to connect.

Are you a PR professional? How do you use social media to get real results in your job? Let us know in the comments!

From Mashable - Google vs. Yahoo: Who Has the Right Social Strategy?

The Social Analyst is a weekly column by Mashable Co-Editor Ben Parr, where he digs into social media trends and how they are affecting companies in the space.

Facebook; Twitter; LinkedIn; YouTube; Wordpress: these companies, built from the ground-up, are mainstays in social media. None of them were created by a large tech company, and all but one remains independent.

It's an interesting phenomenon, when you think about it. Large tech companies have had limited to no success creating their own social media home runs. In an era where communication is increasingly taking place on these channels, the inability of these digital giants to build social networks is rather striking.

Two titans in particular are making social media headlines for different reasons: Yahoo has decided not to create it own social network, but is instead striking partnership deals with Facebook and Twitter. Google on the other hand, not only bought YouTube, but it is attempting to carve out its own piece of the social media pie with Google Buzz.

Partnership vs. in-house development; content vs. technology; Yahoo vs. Google: which company has the right social media strategy? What are the goals of both companies in the social realm? Do either have a chance against new and nimble startups like Facebook and Twitter?

Let's take a look, shall we?

The Yahoo Strategy: Partner in Order to Drive Traffic

In 2006, Yahoo made a $1+ billion bid for Facebook. As we all know, Yahoo failed to close that deal and the story ever since has been the rise of Facebook and the slow decline of Yahoo, who was nearly acquired by Microsoft for over $40 billion in 2008.

Now with new leadership (led by CEO Carol Bartz), Yahoo is trying to make a turnaround and bring back some of the authority it once commanded. The Internet portal is turning to social media as a cornerstone of its growth strategy, but it isn't focused on acquiring a Twitter or building its own social network, but on creating partnerships that integrate every facet of Yahoo into social networks, primarily Facebook and Twitter.

In September 2009, Yahoo announced that it would integrate Facebook Connect in its most popular web properties. The goal was to truly make Yahoo your portal to the web by not only delivering news, email, and finances, but also your social graph and the status updates of your friends. On the flip side, Yahoo would also benefit from the traffic bump that comes with sharing articles and content on Facebook's news feed.

Yahoo has continued to push this partnership strategy in recent months. Two weeks ago, Yahoo partnered with Twitter to give users access to their Twitter feed from within Yahoo, update their status, and integrate Twitter content into the company's search and media properties. A few days ago, Yahoo Mail hooked up with Facebook, the first integration between Facebook Connect and Yahoo.

Yahoo seems content in partnering with the major social services, rather than compete with them. Social media efforts like Yahoo Buzz, the tech giant's answer to Digg, which hasn't made a dent in the social voting powerhouse, have likely left a bitter taste in the mouths of its executives. Yahoo is now focused on using social media to generate traffic, eyeballs, and engagement times.

The Google Strategy: Dominate

Google's strategy goes in a completely different direction to Yahoo's approach; its strategy is also all over the map.

Like Yahoo, Google doesn't have a good record in social media. Google Friend Connect isn't even close to Facebook Connect in terms of adoption, Orkut never made inroads in the U.S., Blogger has nowhere near the traction of WordPress, and other acquisitions such as Jaiku and Dodgeball haven't panned out.

You'd have a very good argument if you said that Google's only social media hit has been YouTube, and that 'only' cost the company $1.65 billion. Google has a lot more social properties than many people realize, but it's a hodgepodge of acquisitions (Blogger, YouTube, Picasa) and internally-created services (Orkut, Google Knol, Friend Connect). The company's batting average, though, has been pretty poor, especially by Google's standards.

That was before Google Buzz, though. With the launch of its most advanced social product yet, Google's strategy has finally begun to emerge, and it is a good one. If Google can stir up adoption for Buzz (which it has via Gmail), keep that engagement (this remains to be seen), and launch a standalone version of its social media tool, it can carve out a piece of the (very large) social media pie. Linking or integrating it to YouTube, Picasa, Orkut, Friend Connect, and its other social tools could provide a boost to those services as well.

There's no reason to believe Google will succeed with Buzz, given Google's social media track record. However, Buzz is the most complete product Google has put out yet and has some strong engagement numbers. It's riskier than Yahoo's strategy, but the payoff could be be titanic.

Google and Yahoo Are Very Different Companies

Yahoo's strategy is focused around integrations with already-popular social services, while Google is focused around building and acquiring its own social media powerhouses. While Yahoo does acquire social media companies (e.g. Flickr) and Google has some strong partnerships (e.g. Twitter in Google Real-time search), that's not the focus of their respective social strategies.

The reason their approaches to social media are so different has little to do with their leadership teams or the quality of their decision-making. No, it boils down to one simple truth: Google and Yahoo are very different companies.

I argue that Yahoo is, for the most part, a content company, while Google is focused on technology. There was a point where Yahoo was known for its tech innovations, but that mantle has long since passed to Google, Facebook, Twitter, and others.

I explored this phenomenon in my first Social Analyst column, Content vs. Technology: What MySpace and AOL Have in Common. MySpace and AOL were also tech giants, but at some point lost their technology edge (MySpace lost to Facebook, AOL lost to DSL and Cable Internet) and thus began to focus on ramping up content creation and driving traffic to their web properties. Yahoo falls into the same camp.

Because of this key difference between Yahoo and Google, it's no surprise that they are implementing different approaches. Google's is focused on building technology that will drive adoption, revenue, and information through its doors. Yahoo's focus is on bringing more eyeballs to this content and keeping them on Yahoo for longer periods of time.

Who Has the Right Social Media Strategy?

Now for the big question: is Google or Yahoo doing better at social media? Which one has the right social media strategy?

If you've read this column carefully, you can probably guess that I'm not going to outright declare that one company is 'right' or that one is 'wrong.' What I want you to take away from this week's column is simple: your long-term plan and company composition should determine your social strategy.

Yahoo is simply better at content than Google. Yahoo Finance is, in my opinion, simply a better product than Google's version. Its array of hosted news content is bigger, and it owns properties such as OMG, which is doing well as a celebrity news hub.

Google doesn't write its own news or acquire a newspaper for a simple reason: it's just not their focus, and they wouldn't be very good at it. Would it make any sense for Google to focus on using social media to drive traffic to its content? The answer is no.

On the flip side, Google's technology prowess trumps Yahoo by large margins. Google can build better technical products (e.g., Search, Gmail, Buzz, Android, Chrome) in a shorter amount of time than Yahoo can, and it can iterate faster than almost any large-scale public Internet company (its rapid privacy changes to Buzz is one good example).

These things are no longer Yahoo's strength. So does it make sense for Yahoo to try to build a social network to rival Buzz, Facebook, or Twitter? Could it really keep up with any of them over the long haul? I severely doubt it.

So here is my conclusion: neither company's direction is 'wrong' because each one requires a different social strategy to succeed. Based on their strengths, Yahoo and Google are implementing the right strategies.

Now it's just about executing them.

From Mashable - How Companies Are Using Your Social Media Data

Companies are mining the social web to build dossiers on you. Information posted publicly on blogs, Facebook, Twitter, forums and other sites is fair game. It is yet another reminder that people need to be aware of what they are posting on social networking sites and to whom they're connected.

Jules Polonetsky, director and co-chair of the Future of Privacy Forum, said online users have no clue that a comment they made on a blog is being added to a database for some unknown use.

'I don't think users expect that,' he said, and if consumers think idle chatter and casual conversation can be used against them by institutions, it's almost certain to create a backlash, according to Polonetsky. He said the Federal Trade Commission is right now re-examining the current privacy structure in the U.S.

But at the same time, he said consumers are always very comfortable with Amazon using data to recommend books they might like. 'When users are in control of it, it's a win-win - if they feel empowered.'

How Data is Being Used

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Polonetsky said aggregators like Rapleaf Inc. will collate information about individuals and sell it to companies that want to learn about those customers and what they do online.

Personal finance reporter Erica Sandberg, who covered the issue of social media datamining in a story for CreditCards.com, said that if a data mining company turns your chatter and network into a behavioral pattern, and if they can prove it has some worth, then it's valuable to companies. Sandberg said this is just more information anyone can use to help them make a decision.

'I don't think there's anything scary about it,' she said. 'Why wouldn't they look at it? It's public.' She said she is not aware of any specific examples of those who have been negatively impacted because of it.

Entities such as airlines, politicians, and even non-profits can use this data for finding new customers or targeting products to existing ones. Financial services companies such as banks and lenders are also using the same datamining services for marketing purposes and to make lending decisions. For instance, certain types of credit products, which fit your personality, could be marketed specifically to you.

'It's a helpful tool to identify the right customers, the best customers,' Sandberg said.

She said the immediate fear is the misconception that it affects your credit report. She stressed that companies that do social media datamining do not have access to your credit report, and the act of collecting the publicly available data has no effect on your credit score.

However, she said, 'it can affect the credit you're offered, and the credit you receive.'

Social media contacts play a role in behavioral profiles as well. 'I think what's most interesting is how those in your network have an impact,' she said.

Do you know if your Facebook friends have good credit histories? Likely not, but if you associate with people who are a good credit risk, than you'll probably be a good credit risk, according to Sandberg. 'The whole idea [is] like follows like,' she said.

Learning About Customers to Tailor Experience

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According to a counter on their website, Rapleaf Inc. has mined social data about more than 389 million customers. They do that by crawling the Internet just like Google or Bing does, said CEO Auren Hoffman, but that they only crawl sites such as forums, social networks, review sites, newsgroups, and blogs - where information is publicly available.

He said clients they work with include car companies, airlines, hotels, banks, retailers, non-profits and politicians. If they can learn more about their customer, then they can personalize an experience for that customer, according to Hoffman. He said consumers are already expecting this high level of service, and that it's all about the product, service, and experience that you would prefer.

'The power to personalize things is much greater,' he said.

Rapleaf's blog links to a SmartMoney story about how banks and financial services firms limit their use of social media data to marketing departments, and not those 'charged with making credit and lending decisions,' according to the post.

Sandberg said it's up to businesses to use the information from datamining companies as they please. 'This is public information. They can use it any way they want.'

Social Data Helps to Prevent Fraud

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Lending Club, a peer-to-peer lending service that matches borrowers with investors, has been using a variety of tools and software to help them gather social media information for six months, according to Rob Garcia, the company's senior director.

He said Lending Club uses social media data for marketing and operational purposes and stressed that Lending Club does not use any social media data for credit decisions and that it does not affect whether an applicant can get a loan. 'We use this information to benefit our customers - to prevent fraud,' he said.

For operational purposes, Lending Club makes sure the user's information checks out to try to protect his or her identity, according to Garcia. So they will compare application information from a credit file against information that's publicly available. He said that if there's a mismatch, it gives them more reason to go to more strict identification procedures.

'We have found a way to use this information in a positive way,' he said.

Credit Card Companies Turn to Social Media

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Consumers might soon be seeing more credit card offers in their mailboxes. In the last quarter of 2009, the number of credit card offers mailed were up 46% from the third quarter of 2009, according to a news release on the direct mail tracking service Synovate Mail Monitor.

Anuj Shahani, director of competitive tracking services for Synovate's Financial Services Group, told me that the number of credit card mailings is still down 40% from the fourth quarter of 2008. He said the CARD Act, which is a new federal law aimed at better disclosure and banning unfair rate hikes, and the economy were reasons for the decrease in mailings of credit card offers.

He said that because of the CARD Act, there are restrictions on spending for credit card companies. Credit card companies will have to come up with targeting models, and data companies can help them figure out those models, according to Shahani.

'Issuers will have to come up with smarter ways to target the right audience because it is so much more expensive to extend credit,' he said. 'I think one of them will be social media.'

Credit card companies are already using social media to launch new products. Shahani pointed out that the CitiForward credit card launched in March 2009 on MySpace. He said that in December 2009, American Express launched its new Zync card on social media sites.

Shahani said the credit card issuer's goal is to find the right audience and go to the right people and that's where he expects social media would come in.

Social Media Usage Tips

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Here are some tips from Erica Sandberg on the types of content to avoid posting on the social web and handling network connections.

1. Determine whether you want to go public or private with your social media profiles. If the profiles are set to be public, then be consistent with information you are posting. 'The caution lies in what you say. Be truthful,' she said. For example, don't post a status update joking that you're filing for bankruptcy when you're not. 'It's the off-the-cuff remarks you're going to want to be aware of,' she warned.

2. Eliminate people and sites from your social networks that you don't need. 'Make sure people who are around you are reflective of you as a wonderful person,' Sandberg said.

3. Pay attention to your friend, invite, and connection requests. 'You don't want random associations,' she said. Sandberg recommends first checking out that person's profile before accepting it. 'I get flooded with friend requests of people I don't know,' she said. 'You have no idea who these people are. It's a risky thing to do.'

What if opting out of being on social media is not an option? Sandberg said she's on there for business purposes and can't really go private. In that case, be careful what you write. 'It underscores the importance of being honest and projecting yourself in a positive way,' she said.

From Mashable - 5 Ways to Use Google Wave for Business

Sharlyn Lauby is the president of Internal Talent Management (ITM) which specializes in employee training and human resources consulting. She authors a blog at hrbartender.com.

Remember Google Wave? Clearly, Google Buzz has recently overshadowed Google's other hotly anticipated social communication platform, but before you ditch your Wave account, give it a second try. There are many useful business applications for Wave, especially in situations that call for collaboration with a group or managing a project. Wave can easily allow users to dispense with the formalities (and expenses) of meetings, phone calls, travel, etc. and instead make it easy to collaborate across time and space.

Here are five examples of common workplace activities that Google Wave can support.

1. Conferences and Professional Development

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This one probably seems obvious. Departments can set up Google Waves to discuss what's happening at a particular event. A company with limited funds could send one person to a conference and use Google Wave as a reporting mechanism. Or if several people attend, they can divide/conquer the event and post their ideas and comments in one place.

For example Chris Hoyt, author of the blog The Recruiter Guy, set up a Wave for the human resources and recruiting community during last year's Social Recruiting Summit. Both attendees and those of us who were interested but couldn't make it in person were able to join the Wave. It was an opportunity to gain exposure to the content and learn more about the event so people could budget to attend the following year.

One thing I could see emerging from conference Waves are 'back channel' discussions. Conference organizers in particular will want to pay particular attention to this and not necessarily view it as a bad thing. If managed properly, it could bring some opportunities for improvement to light during the event.

2. Decision Making and Problem Solving

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Using Google Wave to discuss a company challenge could be very beneficial - especially when all of the players aren't located in the same place. That's exactly why Troy Peterson, CEO of Nibi Software, used Wave to get the company's development plan finalized. He brought everyone together in a Wave and let the conversation flow. 'The real-time document functionality allowed us to have 'arguments' and solve problems together that might otherwise have resulted in 'back and forth' threads that went on forever.'

Peterson did mention that adoption was an initial challenge. 'Although several of my contacts immediately had Wave accounts, they weren't necessarily the people I was collaborating with on projects. It required some arm wrestling to get people on board.' But the results were worth it. 'In the end, we have a succinct document that we have all agreed on and that we can compare short-term objectives against.'

3. Project Management

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The same decision making philosophy applies when you have a project and need to collaborate not only with internal stakeholders, but an external supplier. Google Wave provides an opportunity for collaboration. Hopefully, consultants and/or contractors are able to tap into that dialogue by sharing their Wave account info with client companies.

Rachel Levy, Founder/CEO of the startup website WebinarListings, is using Google Wave with her developer. 'We have the list of open items in the Wave, so we can discuss each one. I add an open item, and he can ask me a question about it, or mark it as done.' The main advantage to using this application was being able to track conversations.

This could also be a valuable way to manage the dreaded 'scope creep.' You can lay out the entire project in a single Wave once the parameters are agreed upon. Then, you can work through each facet with each side tracking progress and those pesky project deviations. And everything gets documented along the way. New project requirements can even be moved to a new Wave for later consideration.

4. Brainstorming and Idea Cultivation

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Brendan Gill, with the firm Staircase3, said he and his partners use Google Wave as a medium to organize and facilitate conversations and feedback. 'We are a team of entrepreneurs who like to have an idea and make it happen quickly. We use Google Wave to brainstorm our ideas for new business projects. It's a great tool for collecting a series of conversations, and we use a different Wave for each different idea.'

Gill explained they would have traditionally used group e-mails for this purpose, but found Wave has numerous advantages, including serving as a centralized repository, and the ability to use add-on features for enhanced productivity. This was especially useful since their management team is located around the globe. 'The Ribbit conferencing feature is great for staging an ad hoc conference call. Furthermore, the simple voting widget is a useful way to end each of our Waves where we can stage a vote for a given idea - whether or not we want to put the idea in motion, or just cut it loose.'

5. Virtual Meetings and Reduced Travel

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Let's face it. Bringing groups of people together can be expensive. Depending on the project, Google Wave could help foster dialogue without a lot of travel, phone calls, etc. Gill mentioned using Wave to make edits and adjustments on business proposals without having people travel to a central location. 'Using Wave definitely reduces the need for thousand-dollar transatlantic flights and many tons of carbon emissions. Obviously without Wave, we would still use e-mails and teleconferencing, but using a better communications platform has definitely cut a number of flights out of our schedule,' he said.

Gill added that, 'Collaboration can be done in real-time, if required, which is useful if you're trying to rush out a project that has to happen quickly or not at all. Or for longer-term projects, you can take your time to think about an idea and come back to the plan at any time you like.'

Conclusion

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If you're looking for a way to streamline communications on your next project, Peterson suggests that you 'Sign up and use the tool. It may not revolutionize your company's communications, but it is useful and worth the effort involved in figuring out how it works for your organization.'

Remember the success of a Wave is contingent upon the active participation of the individuals involved. Waves need engagement, attention and clarity. You can't just ask a question and walk away for a couple days. According to Levy, 'The bigger the Wave gets, the slower it gets.' Managing activity and open items becomes essential for productivity.

How are you using Google Wave to improve your work life? Share your stories in the comments.

From Mashable - 3 Crisis Survival Lessons for the Social Media Age

Dallas Lawrence is Chair of the Social and Digital Media Practice at Levick Strategic Communications, the nation's top crisis communications firm. He blogs on emerging digital media trends and best practices for social media engagement on Bulletproof Blog. Connect with him on Twitter @dallaslawrence.

If there was any doubt before last year as to social media's ability to exacerbate reputation crises, 2009 settled the debate. In just that one year, Domino's, United Airlines, and Tiger Woods were but a few of the headlining examples that were variously infected by the viral bug. These global brands made their problems even worse with sloppy responses to online news reports, blog posts, Facebook updates, YouTube videos, and Twitter entries.

With big names such as Toyota and Johnson & Johnson suffering similar ills in just the first two months of 2010, it seems that the second decade of the 21st Century will be as unrelenting as the first on brands that fail to effectively prepare for and respond to crises in the online marketplace.

The good news is that by understanding how online crises can be transformed into trust-building opportunities, companies and high-profile individuals can avoid repeating the grave mistakes of 2009. There continue to be teachable moments in abundance. It's time to seize on their lessons.

Size Doesn't Matter

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In the age of digital crises, big does not mean savvy. Indeed, the bigger the brand, the harder it often falls. Having worked with dozens of Fortune 1000 companies under digital duress, several salient problems seem glaringly apparent to me. Far too often, for example, corporate marketers have no contact with those entrusted with crisis response. In many cases, the company's social media wunderkinds are completely walled off -- intentionally -- from those empowered to ensure the survival of the brand itself.

Toyota has particularly suffered the consequences of such balkanization. Toyota boasts more than 81,000 fans on Facebook, yet the company simply failed to utilize that immense resource during the first days of its recalls. To put Toyota's silence in perspective, Google registered more than 22,000 recall-related blog posts in the first week after the announcement. Rather than engage their tens of thousands of self-identified brand ambassadors who were waiting for information, it seems Toyota simply forgot they existed.

This failure to engage a captive and influential audience represents an utter misunderstanding of the power that online communities wield in crisis. Individuals who align themselves with brands online do so for a reason. If kept informed, these individuals are a willing and enthusiastic first line of defense both online and off. Yet with each passing day of the Toyota recalls, these audiences quickly grew more concerned for themselves and their families than the brand they trusted and treasured. The messages they needed weren't there for them in the places they look to first.

The internal walls that separate crisis response efforts must come down or more brands will suffer the wrath of real-time communications and the public's demand for instant access to vital information when it matters most.

What Got You Here, Won't Get You There

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Johnson & Johnson's response to the Tylenol tampering incident of 1982 is the stuff of legend. After numerous deaths were attributed to cyanide contamination of its marquee pain reliever -- which then represented a large portion of the analgesic market -- J&J initiated a costly nationwide recall, ultimately revolutionizing the industry with tamper-proof packaging that's now an industry standard.

Yet three decades later, when J&J found itself embroiled in new recalls, the rules of the game had changed dramatically. Audiences today want information and solutions in real time. At the decisive moment, J&J did not respond fast enough to reaffirm its brand as a champion of consumer safety.

Of course it isn't always possible to offer a solution in the first hours of a crisis, but it is essential to at least assuage consumer fears by acknowledging the problem and affirming that all that can be done is being done. Silence only raises more vexatious questions from consumers, the media, regulators, and increasingly, online communities. The lesson here is all the more underscored by contrast to the past: If you are still reading from the pre-social media revolution crisis playbook, you will fail in the digital age, period.

You Can Not Advertise Out of Crisis

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There's no debating the historical success of big brand advertising and marketing programs. As a result of such programs, Toyota's Camry has long been America's best-selling car. As recently as January 6, 2010, Bloomberg reported that the company's market share was greater than Ford's. But by the end of January, reports showed that the trend had reversed - Ford was outselling Toyota and the Japanese auto maker's share of the market had fallen to its lowest point since 2006.

Oddly, Tiger Woods' ordeal was similarly patterned. His agents and public relations specialists had built a seemingly bulletproof brand, yet, at the first blush of controversy, those same advisors utterly faltered by leaving key questions unanswered and allowing the online outrage to transform uncertain rumor into outright truth. As we saw on February 19th, months into the controversy, Team Tiger still failed to learn even the most basic lessons of his crisis ordeal. In today's world, every brand has a plug. When it's pulled, the balloon can instantaneously deflate.

Traditional advertising and brand/reputation management cannot work in such a galaxy where crisis moves at the speed of light. Today's consumers do not make decisions based solely (or in many cases even largely) on what they read in print or see on TV. Rather, they are increasingly turning to the experiences of their friends on Facebook and the bloggers they follow. In its 2009 State of the Blogosphere report, Technorati found that 70% of these bloggers actively discuss products and companies.

Meanwhile, no platform has shown more rapid ability to drive the lifecycle of a story than Twitter. Penn State's College of Information Science and Technology found that 20% of the 27 million tweets posted each day mention brands in one way or another. Yet only 20% of Global Fortune 100 companies have a comprehensive social media plan that includes a presence on each of the major social media hubs, and just over a third still don't even have Twitter accounts.

Conclusion

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In a crisis, consumers need honest answers and they need them fast -- and no messaging vehicle is better suited to meet this demand than those fueling the crisis in the first place. Transparent engagements in the online communities, where your customers already live, provide a credible and direct channel for the answers they need.

As we round the corner of the first quarter of 2010, successful companies will need to embrace the reality that effective crisis management has undergone a fundamental evolution in the Digital Age. Companies that still focus primarily on traditional journalists and broadcasters or messages through paid marketing campaigns do so at their own peril. At bet-the-company moments, open and rapid engagement via blog posts, tweets, viral videos, Facebook updates, and other online venues make the difference between victory and defeat in the Court of Public Opinion.

By Mark Kitanga

Take a moment to compare the two main phone technologies - cellular vs. landline. How have mobile phones in the 2000s alone advanced? When the decade started they finally became mainstream, led by those popular candy bar phones and basic monophonic ringtones. In just one decade, they became full-fledged, all-in-one multimedia devices capable of complex computing and communication. Along the way they acquired the capabilities of text messaging, chirping, color screens, polyphonic ringtones, e-mail, office productivity programs, MP3 music playback, web browsing, photography, video, editing, multi-purpose gaming, touch screens, and sophisticated applications. All that in just 10 years!

Now consider how many years traditional phones have remained the same. Granted, they may have changed outfits (rotary to touch-tone to cordless), but functionally they haven't progressed very much. Oh by the way, how many people still use them?

Phones are just one example of the breakneck speed at which technology is developing. Consumers get to reap the benefits of these advancements, but they are largely driven by corporate competition in advertising and marketing. Companies and entrepreneurs who choose to embrace the pace survive and thrive by cultivating these tools in order to help their business grow. The questions is, are you willing to roll the dice and jump in the pool before everyone else? Sure there may be some risk involved, but nobody ever wins big by playing it safe.

This brings us to a breakthrough technology that has been around for well over a decade in Japan but is starting to pick up steam here in America - QR codes. Below is an example:

No, that's not one of those Rorschach inkblot tests or magic eye hidden 3D images. This is actually what a QR (quick reference) code looks like. It is a special offer for a 10% discount on a new website from Digital Solutions if purchased before March 31.

You may have already seen one of these symbols and not even realized it. Shipping companies like UPS and FedEx place them on their packages for commercial tracking. Nowadays though, this 2D pixelated square is a powerful communication tool that is revolutionizing the way goods and services are marketed. Huh? Stay with me and let me explain.

What are they?
We all know what bar codes are - vertical lines with numbers underneath that reveal basic product information after being scanned. But since they're one dimensional, data can only be contained within those lines. With QR codes, information is stored in the entire square in both directions, allowing much more data in the form of plain text, URLs, images, even video. Although there are similar technologies out there, such as Data Matrix, Ezcode, and MaxiCode, QR codes seem to be gaining the most steam.

How do they work?
As mentioned above, mobile phone technology has exploded, and it's largely due to the advent smartphones such as the iPhone, Blackberry, Android, and Pre. According to a 2009 year-end tech trend report by CNN, smartphone sales, in spite of the recession, increased by a whopping 24% from the previous year.

Clearly, we are in the midst of a mobile revolution in which these devices will soon be the primary source for accessing information. Several websites saw this coming and developed companion sites specifically for mobile devices, such as Yahoo!, Amazon, eBay, Facebook, and, more locally, Allen Theaters.

This trend directly enhances the value of QR codes since a camera-enabled smartphone is required to access them. All that's needed is a QR reader, a free downloadable application that comes pre-installed on many of these devices that scans the image. The reader decodes the symbol and generates the content. Want to create your own QR code? No problem. Hop online to one of the many free QR code generator sites, enter your content, and in moments you have your very own QR code that can be read in print or on screen.

Essentially, they act as brilliant "tell me more" tools. The benefits are huge for all involved. For product and service providers, it's a simple, space-saving alternative to get people curious about what you offer by displaying contact information, offering promotions or discounts, encouraging instant feedback, showing images and videos, and countless other creative ways.

For consumers, it makes acquiring information incredibly easy. No more jotting stuff down with pen and paper to access on some computer later. No more slow page-by-page searches for what you're looking for. And no more tedious typing of long links on your small handheld device. QR codes do the legwork for you.

How are they being used?
Since QR codes were developed in Japan, they can be found everywhere there, including McDonald's burger boxes to display nutritional information, movie posters to view of trailers, and doctor's offices and beauty salons to schedule appointments.

Here in America, there are some very innovative ways people are using QR codes:

• Illinois State University's 2009 official football magazine has them throughout its pages, allowing readers to book a tee time at the university golf course, make a donation to an endowment fund, give access to detailed player statistics, and order tickets to upcoming games.
• Disney World's PhotoPass card, which Disney Photographers scan to store your images you have taken throughout your trip, has a QR code on it that will allow you to view all your images from your smartphone.
• A student from the Parsons New School of Design in New York had QR codes that contains entries from her diary printed on T-shirts and made them available for purchase to the public. It was such a success that her website now offers to make custom shirts for visitors to submit their own entries for purchase.
• The Detroit Red Wings have included a QR code in their in-arena programs that lead directly to a humorous video that fans love. More important, it's encouraging advertisers to hop on the QR code bandwagon, according to the team Social Networking Coordinator, Nicole Yelland.
  
  "In tracking this effort, the Wings have found mobile devices to be the #1 viewing medium fans are using to see videos accounting for an overwhelming 22% of fans viewing linked videos nearly 2,000 times all the way through," she said. "We're very excited at the possibilities this technology provides our team in giving more access and we've only just begun to tap into the capabilities it provides us in both marketing to our fans and giving them exactly what they are asking for in terms of access to their team."

As you can see, all you need is a little imagination. The point is to find more ways you can get people to your website and keep them coming back so that you can achieve a higher search ranking and attract more advertisers, which in turn leads to greater profits. QR codes are an excellent method to achieve that goal.

How can you tell if they are effective?
There are direct ways to determine QR code effectiveness, such as offering exclusive specials by going to pages at your website that are otherwise inaccessible. Once someone takes advantage of that special, mission accomplished. In addition, a very powerful aspect of QR codes is that their usage can be measured by using analytic tools, similar to tracking website traffic. The number of scans, date and time of scans, locations of the people scanning them, devices being used to make the scans, and number of website hits per scan are a few examples. Several services are available online to provide a wealth of reports and data, which can be used to adjust your marketing on the fly for optimal success.

Will they actually take off?
Like any new technology, there is initially a great deal of interest and support at the grassroots level from tech savvy consumers and niche organizations. In order to acquire mass appeal though, it needs backing from some big guns that have an established, wide-reaching presence.

The future for QR codes looks bright because they are finally getting that from Google, who is pushing hard to get the ball rolling with their recent campaign, Favorite Places on Google. Basically, they are rewarding local businesses that garner the most Google searches by sending them a decal to be placed on their windows, similar to a Chamber of Commerce seal. Once the QR code from the decal is scanned, the smartphone will be redirected to the business's Google Maps Place Page - a hub of information about it gathered from all over the web.

"You can easily go up to a storefront and immediately find reviews, get a coupon if the business is offering one or star a business as a place you want to remember for the future," said Ryan Hayward and David Kim, Google product marketing managers. "Soon, you'll be able to leave a review on the mobile page as well, just like on your desktop."

Locally in Las Cruces, you can see this in action at Asian restaurant Aqua Reef and pub High Desert Brewing Company. See how it works below:

The Bottom Line
Cleary, QR codes are here to stay. Here in Las Cruces, they are still relatively unknown, which means there's a great chance to capitalize on this untapped market, especially in real estate. But you have to be willing to get out in front before everyone else. Digital Solutions is on the forefront of this and is available to help you plan how to incorporate them into your marketing plan.

From Mashable - 10 Tips for Successful Twitter Fundraising

Twitter fundraising has steadily been on the rise in the last two years. Twitter has been used to raise hundreds of thousands of dollars for charities and charitable causes, and has been used to spread awareness about social issues.

But it takes more than posting multiple tweets a day to get the job done. We talked to a few Twitter fundraising pros about what they've found to be the best practices.

Have you organized or taking part in any Twitter fundraising efforts? If you have any other fundraising tips for Twitter or other social media tools, please share them in the comments.

1. Cultivate a Strong Community First

First and foremost, always keep in mind that the power of Twitter is merely a reflection of the power of community. Twitter is not a fundraising machine; people are.

We all know that asking people for money can be daunting. For this reason, it's important to build a community of people interested in your content and cause before asking for anything.

The 12for12k challenge, founded by business consultant Danny Brown, leverages social media to connect charities with larger audiences. Brown says keeping communities as up beat as possible is key. 'When someone's tweeting about your charity or one you support, you need to involve them completely, make people laugh and want to take part. It's important to offer updates and pushes for that next milestone, and show public thanks for people's donations.'

2. State Your Purpose and Your Request Clearly

When disseminating information, be sure to state your purpose clearly and concisely. Let people know why they should care about your cause, and be specific about how their contributions will benefit others. It seems like common sense, but there are times when we forget to highlight the 'why' and 'how' when making a statement or releasing a call to action.

The fundraising initiative Twestival is a primary example of an ecosystem effectively harnessing the power of Twitter to raise money at both global and local levels. In 2009, over 1,000 volunteers and 10,000 donors raised $753,000. Two hundred sixty-four thousand of that sum went to Charity Water, while the remaining funds were split among 135 local charities.

Twestival creator Amanda Rose attributes the movement's success to the practice of putting an open call out to people to use their unique skills and talents. Rose says, 'Twestival does well because it gives people a way to get involved in something they normally wouldn't do. No contribution is too small, it's just a matter of how you use it.'

When launching the Twitter fundraiser Tweetsgiving, Epic Change CEO Stacey Monk and her team asked people to express their gratitude for anything and everything and donate money during a 48-hour time frame. In November 2009, Tweetsiving raised over $11,000.

Monk says being concise is imperative in the digital age. 'People are used to parsing 140 characters in a millisecond,' she surmised. 'Your campaign has to give them the opportunity to digest your message and get involved quickly and easily.'

Disclosure: Mashable is a past media partner of Twestival Global.

3. Create Buzz and Excitement

Generating hype around your cause and event is imperative, which means it's important to be singular and set your charity apart from the rest. Catchy taglines or hashtags and unique avatar ribbons are simple features that can be incorporated to brand your initiative.

Brown says branding his campaign early on was one of the best things he could have done. 'Registering our #12for12k hashtag early on, and coming up with a dedicated and easily recognizable 12for12k avatar really helped us,' said Brown.

Holding contests is another resourceful method to invoke interest in people. Brown held a Twitter trash-talk contest that led to a large amount of donations being made during the Super Bowl playoffs when the Vikings and the Cowboys played in support of Haiti relief efforts.

Reaching out to small businesses and artists in local communities is another way to create excitement. And more often than not, when asked, people who want to make a difference will think of innovative ways to draw attention to your charity.

'We had local musicians, who didn't have money to give themselves, play concerts and receive donations,' said Rose. 'That got the word out to people in town who weren't active on Twitter.'

4. Have a Strong Set Up Behind the Scenes

Twitter is a great a many things. It's a tool for communication. It's a platform for spreading your message. It's an information source, and it's a community builder. However, using Twitter and creating hype around your cause doesn't guarantee any cold hard cash.

Rose says she's run into some misconceptions about the best way to use Twitter for fundraising. 'Raising money takes a lot more than getting Ashton Kutcher or someone with a lot of followers to tweet about your charity,' said Rose. 'That's not Twitter fundraising; that's creating buzz and awareness. Twitter fundraising is getting people involved with your mission on a real grass-roots level.'

Rose uses Twitter primarily for crowdsourcing and linking relevant content. She asserts, 'Ultimately, you need to have something strong set up behind the scenes of your Twitter stream.'

5. Have a Powerful Offline Component

While we can enjoy and value the exchanges we have via Twitter, at the end of the day, we're humans and we feed the most off of human interaction. Whether it's a tweetup, a festival, a rally, or a concert, having an offline component tied into your fundraising practice is vital.

Brown says combining offline and online gives a fuller experience. 'I'd like to see charities start to use apps like Foursquare to tie in geo-tagged fundraising initiatives, or Social Scavenger for charity challenges,' shared Brown. 'A user online could be following instructions on a web feed, and directing the user on the ground to where a challenge is for donation dollars or items.'

Twestival exemplifies an initiative rooted in offline events. In addition to the festival itself being a physical place where volunteers and donors can celebrate, Twestival encourages people to initiate their own offline meetups so they can get to know their communities in real life. While online interest is used to instigate offline interaction, offline meetings can drive online appeal to an even greater audience.

Rose says that having a strong offline component is what makes people want to donate their time and energy to Twestival. 'Twitter is all about communities,' said Rose. 'Twestival brings communities offline and creates a whole new level of engagement. In Nashville, North Carolina, some supporters made a video and rallied people together a week before the event. They set out bottles on a table in the center of the city to accept donations.'

6. Plan, Prepare, Execute, then Get Out of the Way

Like with any entity branded by social media, it's important to remember that because Twitter is an integral part of your fundraising campaign, you do not have control over how your message is going to be spread. In many ways, social media fundraising is unpredictable and must develop on its own. After cultivating communities, stating your purpose, and building buzz, a great deal of what occurs next must happen on its own.

When asked what her biggest mistake was when producing Tweetsgiving, Monk replied, 'over-asking and over-planning.'

To plan to the last detail removes any chance for an unanticipated miracle to happen. This doesn't mean you should leave everything to fate. It does however mean that the spirit of giving, synergy, creativity, and community cannot be forced. In other words, you can expect the unexpected, but you can't manifest it.

'To be honest, there's more than a bit of magic required for any meme or trend to really take hold,' Monk surmised. 'Your plan has to be just incomplete enough to leave room for serendipity to sneak in.'

7. Recognize Volunteers and Donors

Recognizing individuals for their contributions goes far, especially in the Twitterverse. Whether it's a mention on a blog, a photo on a website, a thank you tweet, or a goody bag, your contributors should be acknowledged for their time and energy. Honors can be issued at offline events and make the entire fundraising experience that much more celebratory.

You can get creative with what you're rewarding people for too. Fundraising isn't just about who raised or donated the most money. It's about vision, teamwork and follow-through. And all parties involved with any of those details deserve to hear about the impact they had.

8. Keep Contributors Up-to-Date on Progress and Needs

The relationships among supporters and those in need that come about as a result of Twitter fundraising can and should continue to grow after a charity event. People like to see where their money is going and whom it's affecting. This gives them incentive to come back next year and continue to give.

Monk likes to connect the Tweetsgiving community directly to the people the campaign is impacting. 'I think it's critical for them to have direct communication,' she said. 'With online tools, there's no reason they all can't be kept abreast. The Twitterkids of Tanzania and their participation with their parents and teachers in TweetsGiving are just one example of how that's possible.'

Through the power of Twitter, supporters can talk directly to the children being educated through philanthropy and the work of Epic Change.

9. Keep Track of Developing Relationships

Seeing money come in is merely one of the many rewards bestowed upon non-profits, volunteers and donors. In addition to raising funds for important causes, a certain alchemy transpires when people come together to create social good, and from there more change-making can occur. Once again, the cornerstone is community.

Rose say she consistently takes note of different groups that form as a result of Twestival. She says, 'what's happened with Twestival is it's created these communities where people continue to work with local charities that they're supporting.'

And that's the whole point, isn't it?

10. Look for Ways to Improve for Next Time

Whether you meet your fundraising goals or you come up short, there is always room for improvement. Communicate with your supporters about what tactics worked with blazing colors and what actions bombed miserably. Be open to criticism and suggestions about ways the process could run more smoothly and effectively. Keep your humor and your wits about you.

Have brainstorming sessions. Research what other groups are doing to raise money using Twitter, but don't try to replicate their campaigns. If you do so, your audience will see right through you.

Keep dreaming. Keep believing. Keep tweeting. And give yourself a pat on the back for doing your part for social good.

From Mashable - Google Buzz: 5 Opportunities for Small Businesses

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

Just when you thought you had social media figured out, Google has shaken things up with a new entrant into the market: Google Buzz. It's integrated into Gmail, which means right out of the gate it potentially has an audience of tens of millions of people. As such, it could eventually prove as important to your business as the other services we've seen prosper in the past few years.

If you've spent much time on social media sites, many of the features will look familiar, as Buzz combines elements of Twitter, Facebook, and the quickly rising Foursquare. But there are some subtleties that make Buzz unique, and in turn create opportunities that you should familiarize yourself with -- if not start to take advantage of -- as soon as possible.

1. Gathering Customer Feedback

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Like Twitter, Buzz lets you post a message to a group of 'followers' that subscribe to your updates. However, there are a few differences, namely that messages can be longer than 140 characters (and include supporting images and links) and that replies are all grouped under the original message. This makes conversations easier to track and follow up on. There are also built-in features to reply in a one-on-one way, via either e-mail or Google Talk.

2. Engaging With Others

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If you use Gmail, there's a good chance you already have a built-in network on Google Buzz. The service helps you get started by letting you connect with those you e-mail or chat with frequently. Once you're following some people, clicking the 'Buzz' link from Gmail's main navigation will let you see their most recent updates. You can comment on them, 'like' them, or follow up personally with an e-mail or chat message.

3. Collaboration

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Buzz can be used both for broadcasting a message to all of your followers and to select groups of them. If you've already set up Groups in Gmail, they're already available in Buzz. If not, you can create new ones on-the-fly. Posting a private message on Buzz works exactly the same as posting a public one - you just select the Group you want to be able to see it, and then only those people will be able to view and comment on it. It's instant, private collaboration.

4. Marketing

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It's too soon to tell whether Buzz will have the type of impact for brick-and-mortar businesses that services like Yelp and increasingly Foursquare have had, but it has a very similar feature set. Users can 'check in' at business locations, in turn notifying their followers of their whereabouts. Thus, encouraging your customers to check in on Buzz (and other location-based services) can be a way to drive free word-of-mouth marketing for your business.

5. Sharing Content

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Just like Twitter and Facebook, Buzz has the potential to be a powerful medium for sharing content. You can use it to share blog posts, special deals, or interesting links related to your niche. Just like other social media services, you shouldn't overdo it though - you want to mix promotional messages with a balance of other useful information and conversation for your followers.

So is it time to jump head first into Buzz? At this point, the right answer is probably 'not so fast.' While Buzz clearly has some promising use cases, it's also not yet ideally designed for businesses. There are no business accounts, no multi-user support, and a host of privacy issues that nearly derailed the service in its first couple weeks (though Google has been quick to address them).

Buzz will likely become more viable for businesses when a Google Apps version is offered, as well as a standalone service that can be accessed by anyone outside of Gmail - both of which are reportedly in the works. Nonetheless, familiarizing yourself with Buzz's features and opportunities now could be immensely valuable in the future, while at the present, it can provide some useful additional functionality for Gmail users and their contacts.

From Mashable - Web Faceoff: Adobe Flash vs. HTML5

Every week, we pit two web apps or companies against each other in our web faceoff series. In the past, we've put Android vs. iPhone, Digg vs. Reddit, and Windows 7 vs. Snow Leopard order to see which one was truly the people's choice.

This week, we're tweaking the competitors a bit. Over the last few weeks, you may have heard about a battle brewing between Adobe and Apple. It all started when Apple slyly revealed that the iPad would not support Flash.

This quickly broke out into a heated debate: Should we be abandoning Flash for HTML5, the new version of the web's mark-up language that can support video, audio and more? Steve Jobs certainly thinks so.

Now with more people chiming in, we think it's time to take the pulse of the people.

Which will eventually win out in the end: Adobe Flash or HTML5? Which is better for the future of the web? Do you think Apple has the muscle to take down Adobe's widely used plug-in?

From Mashable - HOW TO: Deal With Negative Feedback in Social Media

This post originally appeared on the American Express OPEN Forum, where Mashable regularly contributes articles about leveraging social media and technology in small business.

We often say that social media is a conversation, and what we mean by that is unlike traditional broadcast and print mediums, which are often one-directional, social media is very much a two-way channel. Not only can businesses communicate with their customers, but their customers can communicate with them and with each other, as well. By and large, this type of communication is a good thing - businesses can form more personal relationships with customers and customers can become part of a community around the brands and businesses they want to support.

However, when you open the conversation up to anyone, you can also potentially invite negative criticism that you need to be prepared to deal with. Here's a quick guide to dealing with negative feedback on social media.

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Identify the Type of Feedback

The first step to dealing with negative feedback is determining what type of feedback you've received. Negative feedback comes in a few different flavors, each of which is best dealt with by a different type of response. Determining which type of feedback you're dealing with is an essential first step toward figuring out what is the appropriate response.

Straight Problems - Someone has an issue with your product or service and has laid out exactly what went wrong. This type of feedback is negative in the sense that it paints your business in a poor light, but it can be helpful in exposing real problems that need to be dealt with.

Constructive Criticism - Even more helpful is when the comment comes with a suggestion attached. Many customers - including some of your most loyal - will use social media to suggest ways in which you can improve your product or service. While this type of feedback may point out your flaws, and is thus negative, it can be extremely helpful to receive.

Merited Attack - While the attack itself may not be merited, the issue that catalyzed it does have merit in this type of negative feedback. Essentially, you or your company did something wrong, and someone is angry.

Trolling/Spam - The difference between trolling and a merited attack are that trolls have no valid reason for being angry at you. Also in this category are spammers, who will use a negative comment about your product or service (whether true or not) to promote a competing service.

Decide How to React

Once you've figured out which type of feedback you've received, your next step is to determine the type of response necessary. The number one rule when responding to all criticism, even the negative type, is to stay positive. Adding more negativity to the conversation by letting yourself be drawn into a fight with a customer or user will only reflect poorly on your business.

When dealing with Straight Problems, a response is almost certainly necessary. Whether that response is personal or a broad public-facing message depends on how widespread the problem is and how many people reported it. Regardless, if a real problem exists, steps should be taken to fix it and customers should be notified that those steps are being taken. Remember that there will be times when such criticism is the result of a perceived problem rather than an actual problem (e.g., someone who just doesn't like the method by which you do something). Even this type of complaint should be given a response, if only to say, 'Thanks for bringing it to our attention, but here's why we do it that way.'

Similarly, Constructive Criticism also requires a response. Certainly there will be times when you won't want to implement the suggestion given - probably most times you won't - but you'll build loyalty and trust by responding to criticism with a positive message. It is well worth the effort to thank those consumers who took the time to provide you with a suggestion or point out your product's flaws.

Merited Attacks are a bit tougher to deal with, because they're more likely to feel personal. You should always try to keep in mind that this type of feedback, as harsh as it may be, has a basis in a real problem. It is best to respond promptly and with a positive vibe (e.g., thank the commenter for the feedback and assure them that steps are being taken to correct the issue or mitigate their problem, such as offering a partial refund).

The final category is the only category of negative feedback that does not require a response. In fact, it is almost always best not to respond to Trolling or Spam. This type of feedback isn't really feedback at all. It is designed either to bait you into an unnecessary and image-damaging fight, or to siphon off your customers using underhanded tactics. You should always ignore this variety of feedback, and when appropriate, remove it as soon as you spot it.