The internet is changing the way we get our information. The evening news is simply a recap of what we already know because there are so many other sources of information. The Whitehouse streams music concerts and speeches. You can watch cable news channels on live TV. You can program your DVR with your iPhone. But all of these sources point from the internet, but as of a few days ago the circle has begun to complete it’s cycle FROM your television TO the internet. This is a pretty big deal towards the integration of your television and the internet.

Verizon FiOS TV has added social networking connections to it’s service. It allows to update your status using the television interface. You could let people know what TV show you are watching and you can even watch user generated content from social video sites Blip, Daily Motion, and Veoh.

Check out this demo of the Verizon FiOS service:

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Each morning I drive past a middle school a few minutes before the first period bell rings. A lot of things have changed since I’ve been in grade school, but one major difference is the introduction of portable music and cell phones.

There is always a crowd of preteens standing at the corner of the street waiting for the crossing guard to help them cross. That part of school hasn’t changed much, except that the preteens aren’t saying a word to each other! No one is talking, laughing, or joking around. They all have ipods plugged into their ears and their eyes are locked on their cell phones screens.

So here’s the question, how is your company preparing to engage and market to this new generation? Blogs, search engines, podcasts, social networks… It’s not going away. It’s not a fad. Is your company ready to participate in this new interactive market?

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Social media is difficult to understand if you don’t know what the words mean. Let’s take a look at some common social media buzz words and define them.

Blogosphere: Similar to the word “cyberspace”, the blogosphere is not a physical place. It’s a collection of all the chatter from blogs and microblogs that form buzz points about different topics.

RSS Feed: RSS stands for Really Simple Syndication, which sheds little light on how it is actually used. It is how your RSS feedreader knows when something new gets posted on a blog, podcast, or website to which the user is subscribed. It is often represented with an icon that looks like this

RSS Feedreader: Much like your email inbox, this application will serve as your social media inbox. It reads RSS feeds from the websites and blogs that you subscribe to and tells you when they have published new content since your last visit.

Aggregators: An aggregator is a site that brings together information from many other sites. For example, alltop.com links to many different sites all over the web to provide content for their own site.

Blog: A website of any topic with content in reverse chronological order. Common features of a blog include an RSS feed, ability for readers to comment, and categorized posts according to subject matter.

Microblogging: A stream of entries in reverse chronological order. Much like a blog except that a microblog is limited to a certain number of characters, filesize, or a time limit. One of the most popular microblogs is Twitter.

Twitter: A microblog platform where the user is limited to 140 characters of text. Each entry is referred to as a tweet. The basis of a tweet is to simply talk about what you are currently doing or share a short thought. Read our tweets here.

Avatar: A customized digital representation of a person. It can be a picture, an icon, a logo, or a 3D character.

Podcasting: Similar to a blog in that it is in reverse chronological order, but a podcast is a digital media file that is not read but played through a portable media player or a computer. A common misconception about podcasts is that one must use an iPod to listen to a podcast. Any digital media player will accept podcasts.

Read Social Media Terms, Defining the Buzz Words Part Two

Have a word you want us to define? Leave a comment and we’ll add it to the list.

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A good business blog is like the best kind of salesperson; someone who waits to be approached, listens, offers advice and solutions, leaves you to close the sale yourself, is someone you would return to again and again, and best of all, someone you would want to tell all your friends about.

Blog checklist for success

Here are some tips for establishing a better business blog:

1. Put your readers first. Don’t focus on what you want or need, remember this is an attraction, not an interruption.
2. It’s about quality and value. Everyone’s an expert on something. You may not be a great writer, but writing gets better with practice and people will forgive small writing issues if you provide informative content.
3. Set aside a certain amount of time in your week to write your blog. It’s common to start out at a sprint and lose momentum quickly. Pace yourself. All it takes is a few posts a week.
4. A subscriber gained is one step closer to a client. Think of your blog feed as a newsletter and every subscriber receives your informative blog post in his RSS reader or inbox.

A blog is a very powerful hype engine, but it requires your creative input. People forget that it takes consistent effort and sustained creativity to keep a blog going. This is why businesses often hire freelance bloggers or marketing agencies to keep the momentum going and share some of the load. A successful blog doesn’t happen overnight, but then neither does a successful business.

Need some help getting your business blog started? We can help.

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