How Businesses can Harness the Power of Online Communities

Today, everything is social -– social commerce, social business, social CRM. The list goes on and on. But are consumer technologies like Twitter() and Facebook() strategic for implementing a social media business strategy? Can you measure the investment? What are the best options for getting tangible value? Once you remove the shiny wrapper, there is an incredible amount of depth and value in using social technologies as a way to reach your customers. However, I personally find the word “social” to be a poor descriptor. Terms like community or collaboration tend to be more meaningful. Here are some ways that businesses and tap into the power of online community…

Top 10 Twitter Trends This Week [CHART]

It’s finally come to pass — the Boy King of Twitter, Justin Bieber, has been dethroned by everyone’s favorite egg-themed holiday, Easter, in this week’s trending topics.

We’ve got another insightful glance at the goings-on of the Twitterverse, thanks to our pals at What The Trend. Because this is a topical list, hashtag memes and games have been omitted from the chart below.

As expected, Easter trended heavily, taking the top spot as people celebrated and sent well wishes out to Twitter friends and family. The tradition of Follow Friday also remained high in the ranks, coming in at number three, and Twitter itself took the number four spot, likely due in part to a 20 minute outage on April 5th.

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