A Good Influence?
What constitutes “influence” in social media—and who has it, and how is it measured? The latest hot topic on the Web is a complex issue

A recent study made headlines, when one respondent posited that “Lady Gaga is popular; Bono is influential,” but the researchers behind the newly launched Pulse of the Tweeters claim that celebs, as many followers as they might have, aren’t trusted sources in areas outside of their expertise. So, in other words, if Ashton [...]

E-Reading Rainbow
The e-reader wars continue to rage, with so many companies battling for a piece of the pie that it’s still hard to say who’ll win consumers’ hearts—and eyes

Since Amazon unleashed its Kindle against Barnes & Noble’s Nook, it’s been game on in the battle for market share of a growing e-readership. Borders soon entered the fray, too. Though not an incredibly strong entry, the bookseller hasn’t given up; it has announced a new Wi-Fi version of its Kobo, [...]

Can We Call Them Job Twistings?
Tweeting job listings is a growing practice, among cutting-edge and traditional companies alike, for national and hyperlocal openings—even scammers are getting into the game

MTV scored tons of media ink earlier this year when it hosted a contest to find its first Twitter jockey (TJ), offering the lofty salary of $100,000 to the lucky winner (Gabi Gregg, or @MTVTJ). But it’s certainly not the only company tweeting about jobs—even Sears and Kmart started sending out [...]

Because Hillevi Lausten did a fantastic job this summer, she will keep on writing “The Week in Social Media,” while I’ll develop a social media–related topic every week. So let me introduce you to the spinoff of “The Week in Social Media,” called “Social Media Focus.” Have a good read!
“The next wave of communication and brand creation and building is all about location. This is what will make the ‘virtual’ and ‘real’ worlds come together and it will be lots [...]

Where You Shop
Retailers are leveraging ever-popular location-sharing apps, and some are even turning them inside out

Stores are jumping on the location-sharing bandwagon—no surprise there. Why would retailers not want to take advantage of mobile and social apps that make their stores a desired destination? Electronics and appliance chain Best Buy (already a social media early adopter) is experimenting by teaming up with the Shopkick iPhone app to send offers to consumers as they walk in the door. Macy’s has [...]

One Child, Left Behind?
China’s one-child policy will soon celebrate its 30th birthday—but the controversial social program may not be around to celebrate a 31st

As recently as 18 months ago, Chinese officials assured the world that there would be no changes to the country’s one-child-per-couple policy for at least another decade. Whoops! With the 30th anniversary of mandated family planning fast approaching (the policy officially launched Sept. 25, 1980), the government is testing the waters of relaxing its stringent single-child [...]

For seven months now, we’ve been discussing, in “The Week in Social Media,” several concepts about what “social” means. Since it’s back-to-school time, let’s review them with a potpourri of the best links I gathered this summer.
Social is…
…conversation and contribution:

Consumers Want Brands to Interact with Facebook and Twitter, on WebProNews
Conversations Key to Establishing Brand on Twitter, on Read Write Start
40 Useful Things You Can Share [...]

Going to Extremes
There’s a new health woe in India: Though the country is still plagued by widespread malnutrition among its poor, obesity is becoming a serious issue as well

Not only is India’s recent economic boom changing the way many of its inhabitants live, but it’s also changing the way they die. Obesity and its related ills—heart disease, high blood pressure, diabetes—are becoming more prevalent as the country’s middle class continues to grow (pardon the pun). Poverty-related causes of death [...]

Chinese Character for Rich?
A growing group of newly wealthy in China is suffering some bumps on the freshly gold-paved path to fiscal success

There’s an emerging class of citizen in China: the new rich. “New” is no exaggeration, since the country has only recently loosened restrictions about personal wealth. So it might just be growing pains that are causing these affluent business titans to be charged with everything from reckless spending (in both the U.S. and U.K.) on expensive houses, [...]

Access Denied
Though India’s social networking use is on the rise, the country’s corporations are not inclined to allow workers to access SoMe on the job

India—with one of the globe’s fastest-growing economies, and still a leading outsourcing spot for corporations looking for cheap but skilled labor—has just in the last few years found the on-ramp to the social media superhighway. Until recently, the top social networking site there was the home-grown Orkut, but the U.S. juggernaut Facebook has finally overtaken [...]