del.icio.us tags 03.24.07

Social Media Measurement — Grandma Jesse sent this post from Apples to Oranges from back in September about social media monitoring tools. With so many tools out there — this list is barely exhaustive — why can't anyone seem to get it right? Yesterday, in my last workshop of the day at BlogHer, we covered the topic of measurement and monitoring, but no light was shed. Should I feel good to know that my team back at the agency know all that there is to know or should I feel like I do — that I would feel better thinking that there's something better out there that we have yet to discover?

Defining Engagement — Speaking of old posts . . . I was on a mission the other day to find a good way to define — and perhaps measure — engagement, a term that rings true from the good old days of youth political participation but which remains disputed among social media wankers. My path took me to Scoble, who not only makes the case for engagement, but also makes the case for getting a link from his blog versus striving for the attention of hotel guests everywhere by getting cited in a story in USA Today.

Murder by Google — We talk to our clients and colleagues about the importance of search, but I've yet to use this anecdote shared by Stephen Dubner at Freakonomics of woman who decided to Google "how to commit murder" to prepare herself to kill her husband.

Blog Comments — Dubner had another great post recently, asking folks to tell him why they comment — or do not — on Freakonomics. I don't get nearly the volume of comments that they do, but I think it's pretty important to respond to comments — if not within the comments themselves than in a new blog post. It doesn't need to "take over" your life.

JetBlue on Letterman — John caught Jet Blue's David Neeleman on David Letterman back in February, but I just saw it myself this past week on YouTube. Despite the fact that he said that he wasn't making excuses, he sure does sound like he is. Quite a score to get six minutes on television to explain yourself.

Twitter Time — The allure of Twitter is dwindling, in part because it takes too damn long to access the site these days. (I can't get on right now.) But I am not giving up hope on it just yet. Sharon Sarmiento at 901am has put some thought into the "Top 5 Ways that Smart People Use Twitter," which starts to shed some light for me. Despite the lack of clarity, I'll admit that I got a little giddy when I received the email that John Edwards was my friend. Edwards' use of the tool is smart stuff: bringing his supporters along with him on the road. Now, Twitter Vision . . . no ideas beyond a great background for a social media preso.