It’s so easy to get overwhelmed by numbers. It almost feels like the new binary; we used to speak to computers in 1s and 0s, and now we have thousands of numbers with which to communicate our social media successes or failures. So how do you know which measures to pay attention to, and which ones are more vanity stats?[read more]

The phenomenon of big data certainly comes with big promise. After all, having terabytes of data on customer history and behavior is certainly better than trying to extrapolate from just a few data points. The good news is, there are technologies and tools that make it much easier to find the gold hidden in the data—and use it to refine your online marketing with laser precision.[read more]

Did you know that visuals are processed 60,000 times faster than text? Content with images attracts 94% more total views on average than content without images, and videos are clicked on 12 times more often than links and text posts combined. So here are five ways to help you incorporate visuals into your social media.[read more]

Marcy Kaptur (D-OH9) tweeted a joke from the White House Correspondents Dinner. But then she erased it 8 minutes later. What if more members of Congress could embrace the boldness of a funny tweet, without running away from it as if scared of their own shadow? We might see more real discussions among our elected officials as they work to solve our very real problems.[read more]

As of today, Twitter sees 200 million plus monthly active users globally, and 120 million plus active mobile users monthly. Together they’re tweeting a billion tweets every two and a half days, but Guy Yalif, Head of Global Product Marketing at Twitter, said it’s the kinds of tweets that matter, not the volume.[read more]

I've always liked that Marissa Mayer. After Monday's news about the Tumblr acquisition and promising not to "screw it up," she posts on the new Yahoo! owned Tumblr to release the news of a major Flickr revamp, stating that they've made strides to make Flickr awesome again. So, what can you expect from the new Flickr?[read more]

All those emails, petitions, fansites, and even banana baskets played a role in bringing back the show by helping Netflix quantify the size of Arrested Development fandom. Netflix has wowed with its marketing campaign, a flurry of tricks (sorry, Gob: illusions) that blur the line between reality and the show.[read more]

IBM plans to launch the Watson Engagement Advisor, aimed at helping organizations provide better customer service and product recommendations in real time at scale. The same technology that once outsmarted humans to win Jeopardy and has recently been used to diagnose cancer will now be used to help organizations sense and respond in real time.[read more]

Tumblr users are passionate and are worried about what will happen to their platform. Is that passion enough to keep their pages safe from being “Yahoo’ed?” If the deal goes down, Tumblr as you and I once knew it, may be done. Though the spin is that Yahoo will not screw it up.[read more]

Baxter is a humanoid robot that is designed to work safely alongside people on factory production lines. It can be trained in less than 30 minutes by applying common sense and by adapting to the environment.[read more]

For most small B2C establishments, particularly brick-and-mortar retail and dining, social media presents a challenge in terms of authenticity, timeliness and scale. Casey at the pizza place is able to capture pure moments as they happen and deliver them to his online audience, such as a toddler enjoying a slice while wearing a Superman cape.[read more]

As more sites have now added share buttons and integrated social media it has become easier to share content socially than ever before. In February 2010, people preferred to share content via email but now sharing content via email has decreased from 93.3% in 2010 to 53.3% in February 2013.[read more]

Many businesses face problems that require them to optimize their processes given constraints faced. Prescriptive analytics help you allocate scares resources, optimize market outcomes or limit risks.[read more]

Consumers, aided by social, mobile and internet technologies, are expecting more from the brands with whom they choose to do business. They are beginning to define a brand mostly, if not solely, by its online presence. To offer value and increase website conversion, make sure you fix these any or all of these five elements if they are broken.[read more]

Linkedin can be used to search for and find almost every professional business person in the Western World. But Linkedin hides those people who are not closely connected to you and uses this fact as way to get you to upgrade to paid-for accounts. But there is a way around this.[read more]

In the end, CDNs are all about load time and reaching a larger audience. It’s less expensive than any other option if you’re hoping to become a company with a global audience, and getting started will only take you about ten minutes.[read more]

Adam Naide, Social Media & Digital Marketing Lead at Cox Communications

I had a chance to sit down with Adam Naide, Social Media & Digital Marketing Lead at Cox Communications to discuss some of the topics that you will see at the Social Shake-Up Conference where Adam will be speaking. The following is a transcript of that conversation.[read more]

Now, when looking at a product pin, pinners will see pricing and availability, and where to buy that product. Pinterest is calling these "rich pins" and has already worked with a number of retailers to provide these useful ones.[read more]

ereader/shutterstock

Even though the highest growth is happening with young adults, the Baby Boomer generation is also consuming news on social media in growing numbers. Mary Madden reports that “While seniors are testing the waters, many Baby Boomers are beginning to make a trip to the social media pool part of their daily routine.”[read more]

While digital gives you the opportunity to reach out to millions with a single click, it also poses a problem: if not monitored properly, it will not be as effective as face-to-face communication. Since your customers are interacting with you through electronic media, they need to be able to see the human side of the interaction to trust you and do business with you.[read more]