del.icio.us tags 07.01.07

Members Only - Todd Defren has some pointers about how to effectively use a Social Media Press Release -- but some of those who commented on the post think Todd could have more patience for those who seek his sage advice. I understand the temptation to get frustrated with colleagues who don't "get it" (and, yes, I am guilty of it myself) but unless we're actually just trying to start a club for arrogant smarty-pants, we all need to get over ourselves. Keep the tips coming, Todd. You're a great resource and eventually this stuff will all seem strikingly obvious to everyone.

No Single Factor - Mashable tallied up the "6 Key Ways to Measure Your Blog's Success" this past Tuesday, looking at how Spotplex, Sphere, Feedburner, Alexa, Compete and Technorati. While these sites are competing with each other (with Mashable crowning Technorati as "the king"), our team uses a combination of criteria that none of these sites deliver on their own to assess influence (versus "popularity"): links in, # and substance of comments, RSS subscriptions, frequency of posts, affiliation of blogger, search visibility, industry-specific mentions and inclusion in online directories.

Loud and Happy - Greg Howlett at Marketing Pilgrim shares what he learned from a presentation by Patti Evans at JupiterResearch. I was always under the impression that people were more likely to write a consumer review when they were NOT happy. But, maybe it's just me that's more likely to be vocal when I'm annoyed than when I'm happy.

Don't Google Me - Also from Marketing Pilgrim, the 2008 presidential candidates could use some work on their search engine results. Barack Obama is the only candidate among the crowd of 18 (ten Republicans and eight Democrats) with nothing negative in the top 20 results on Google and Yahoo. But the bounty of positive results aren't likely to save Dennis Kucinich (D) and Ron Paul (R), are they?