Digg | 5 Years in 5 Minutes

Here's the story behind Digg.com, which celebrated it's fifth year anniversary in 2009. Five minutes of your time worth spending. Enjoy!

From SlideShare: 5 Social Media Secrets for 2010

I got these tips from an email I got from SlideShare. They're pretty common-sensical but great reminders of the basics.

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Social media took a wild ride in 2009. The mainstream press fell in love with Twitter, Facebook grew aggressively and a new wave of companies starting taking social media seriously as a business tool. Below are 5 secrets to staying on top of it all in 2010

1. Pay Attention to the Metrics
You can't manage what you can't measure. Chief Marketing Officers are going to pay more attention to metrics and tie in social media more directly to overall business goals, not just web-related goals. When starting up new project agree on what the metrics should be and what goals are appropriate.

2. Scale Good Habits
As you grow, make sure you match your structure, policy and guidelines to your organization size. What works with 2 people won't work with 20 people. All in all your structure should encourage good habits. Your entire team should be motivated to respond quickly, post consistently and talk like a human. Speaking of policies and rules...

3. Have Rules, But Trust People
As your social media strategy matures, you'll add in more rules and guidelines. However, you can't have a rule for every situation. You need to trust your team. Lead by example, don't manage with rulebook.

4. Creativity & Personality Trump Big Budget
Social media is definitely one of those areas in life where more money doesn't always win. Two of the most powerful ingredients in social media are creativity and personality. They are the key to having a viral message and to being a trusted resource. They are also essential to discovering useful strategies and tactics. You can't be afraid to try something new or go against the grain.

5. Listen Listen Listen
Don't focus so much on you and your message. Put that farther down on your To Do List. Focus first on your customers. Hear what they are saying, see what they're up to. Once you've been able to connect, and figure them out, then see how you can help.

Marketer Mistakes on Dealing with Bloggers (From AdAge Digital)

This is very insightful for marketers who want to tap the blogsphere for their brands. Watch the video here. (I couldn't embed the video so you'll have to view it on a separate window.)

In an About Digital report, AdAge interviews Elisa Camahort Page, COO and co-founder of BlogHer.com. Blogher.com is an online community and content hub that runs an ad-supported network of more than 2,500 female blogger, and has become the de facto standard bearer for women bloggers in the US.

The video focuses on mommy bloggers but the tips are easy to extend to any kind of blogger initiative or online PR effort. Some of them include:

1. Set clear goals

2. Allocate resources: both staff & financial resources

3. Know the blogger

4. Develop a relationship

5. Set up brand ego alerts: be aware when a blogger mentions your brand or product

6. No spam campaigns: don't ask bloggers to spam for you

7. Be transparent: don't fool the reader

8. Maintain content integrity standards

9. Learn to engage: don't make the brand the conversation; make the brand part of the conversation the community is interested in

It's worth the effort to watch the video. Please do watch it.