1 - You think monetization first - This is the quickest way to doom your community-building efforts (and really the fastest way to screw up any social media initiative). Communities do not form around the idea of being monetized. Want to make money off your community? Fine, but you can’t monetize something that doesn’t exist. And the community won’t come together until you have created something of value for them.

2 - Value creation? What’s that? - Stop right now and ask yourself this question; ‘What value am I creating for the people I am trying to attract?’ If you can’t answer this question immediately, then you might not be trying to reach Houston, but you definitely do have a problem. Successful community-building efforts start by creating value for the people you are trying to reach. Read more at moblogsmoproblems.blogspot.com

You’ve been rolling on Twitter for a little while — maybe thanks to our recent posts, even — but now you’re starting to get into it a bit more. It’s time to boost your visibility. But to do that, you’ll need to follow some more people to follow. I like checking out these sites to gain more followers: Read more at www.oldmedianewtricks.com

The reality is twofold:  1) The PR industry has to rexamine itself, but it never does.  2) Reporters and top bloggers will forever often need PR folks to clue them in on a great story.

Reporters and bloggers say they want PR types to get to know them first.  Establish a relationship first.  How do you establish a relationship with them without contacting them?  How does a young PR person (which I no longer am) do this when they’re often chained to their desk so their hours can be billed?  And clients want results.  Sometimes unreasonable results.  That’s because they either 1) are egotistical dunderheads  who overvalue their product/service (its’ a no-brainer, it sells itself) or 2) haven’t been fully briefed by the PR firm to set reasonable expectations. Read more at digitalstreetjournal.com

Clients of Ning are outraged over a  decision that Ning made public last week. The software maker sent out an email to all of its clients, those who have created a social network on Ning, stating that they would email all members of all websites who use the Ning software to promote the newly designed Ning.com.

There’s a theory that Ning’s actions are part of a carefully planned scam to make the company the next MySpace or Facebook. Instead of spending millions of dollars advertising and gathering enough members to compete with MySpace or Facebook, why not create a social network platform and rely on the ambition of thousands of other network creators to up  build membership. When the time is right,  simply take all of those members and combine them into one super-site, Ning.com. The structure that Ning has set up is somewhat like a pyramid scam. The thousands of network creators do all of the work, spend all of the money to benefit those at the very top. Read more at www.chartingstocks.net

As businesses struggle to consider the uses of microblogging platforms such as Twitter in the workplace, Gartner, Inc. has highlighted the four ways in which organizations are using Twitter.

Direct — The company uses Twitter as a marketing or public relations channel

Indirect — The company’s employees use Twitter to enhance and extend their personal reputations, thereby enhancing the company’s reputation

Internal — Employees use the platform to communicate about what they are doing, projects they are working on and ideas that occur to them

Inbound Signaling Read more at www.gartner.com

70% of respondents say they use social media.

Facebook is the most popular social networking site with 70% of people surveyed currently having an account.

47% of respondents use Twitter and the majority of users are 19 - 25 years of age.

42% of respondents do not blog, while 58% do blog.

74% of people who blog, do so for personal purposes, 57% blog for work and 35% blog for both.

61% of businesses said they track what people are saying about their brand online.

“The face of communications has shifted dramatically. It is our belief that social media provides businesses and people the ability to connect with communities and networks as they increasingly live and work online. Our survey results indicate enormous potential for our clients to participate in the social media realm,” comments Breikss. Read more at www.prweb.com

92% of those surveyed think blogs and social media influence news coverage in the traditional media (newspapers, magazines, radio and television)

76 percent say the reverse also is true.

88% say that blogs and social media have made communications more instantaneous because they force organizations to respond more quickly to criticism.

Most new media strategists and practitioners have been saying that the future of PR is participation

however PR agencies are still struggling with defining the day-to day tactics of integrating emerging media technologies into their business strategy.Read more at areteanalytics.blogspot.com

Gartner analyst Brian Burke, who describes Kundra as “very bright, innovative, and driven,” says Obama's new CIO will nonetheless need to come to terms with the lack of real authority given to his office:

I've met quite a few national government CIOs and they all have the same problem. They are given the responsibility to optimize whole of government architectures without the authority to get it done. In most cases they have influence over government departments but no real control. In many cases they play the role of advisor and cajoler but lack the backing to make real change. Clearly there have been some successes, but in most cases those successes occur after several failed attempts.

The problem is that the departments and agencies of the US Government are fiefdoms that are reluctant to give up control over investments.Read more at www.cio.com

President Obama will kick off an all-out grass-roots effort today urging Congress to pass his $3.55 trillion budget, activating the extensive campaign apparatus he built during his successful 2008 candidacy for the first time since taking office.

A new online tool, to be unveiled this week on the DNC/OFA Web site, will help constituents find their congressional representatives' contact information so they can call the lawmakers' offices to voice approval of the proposal. A midweek follow-up message to the mailing list will ask volunteers to call the Hill — the first time the OFA e-mail database has been used to urge direct contact with Congress in support of legislation.

Several people closely involved in this campaign's planning made it clear that they believe this is the moment Democrats have been waiting for since Obama's election — the deployment of the volunteer army that helped catapult a freshman senator to the presidency. Read more at www.washingtonpost.com

The digital industry is warning music companies not to pin their hopes on advertising revenues to plug the shortfall from declining physical sales.

The calls follow a breakdown in negotiations between YouTube and music collection agency PRS for Music, which saw the video-sharing site start to pull down its entire catalogue of music.

Google has attracted anger from the music industry after demanding being given the chance to build up sustainable advertising income before being hobbled by what it deems unrealistic fees.

Read more at www.nma.co.uk