Christine Keyworth

When Social Networking Is Not Working
Some clear-eyed perspective on Web 2.0 tools, care of 28 small-business owners.

Are social networking “tools” good for business or just a giant time suck?

Ian Boyd, creative director of Cosmic Planet, a digital creative studio in San Francisco’s Presidio, said his office calls it “Social Notworking,” because while he believes he needs to use Twitter and Facebook to stay in the mix, he’s never gotten a single customer out of it. Just as important, Boyd says, while he’s spending all that time networking, he’s “not working.” Where Web 2.0 does come in handy, Boyd concedes, is in helping existing clients stay up on his company’s activities. Read more here

http://www.forbes.com/2009/05/26/social-network-linkedin-entrepreneurs-technology-bmighty.html

Smart Social Networking For Your Small Business
Some techniques work and some don’t. Here’s a cheat sheet.

Next to mobility and cloud computing, social networking was the talk of Interop this year–especially at a conference session devoted to social software tools and a portion of the Unconference, where real SMB users talked about how to make the most of it.

But perhaps the best thing I learned about social media came in a meeting with security vendor ESET.

Get the rest of the story here
http://www.forbes.com/2009/06/05/social-networking-interop-entrepreneurs-technology-bmighty.html