Compulsive Behavior
Our relatively new but extraordinarily rampant Internet addition may warrant an official diagnosis

Ever experienced a peculiar surge of elation when you watch the “likes” pile up on one of your Facebook statuses? This particular joy—triggered by, say, a small video-game victory, clever tweet or kind text message—is probably derived from the neurotransmitter dopamine, which sets our brains’ pleasure circuits ablaze. More scientists today are comparing this biological response with the gratification felt by addicts who bring the first [...]

We all know the age-old “If a tree falls in the woods…” question, but in the age of social media an equally important question is now being asked by the masses: If you’re in a relationship and it’s not documented on Facebook, does it even count?
We all have friends who record their entire relationship through social media channels—whether through constant tweets proclaiming their love for their romantic partner, frequent wall post declarations of love, or pictures posted of flowers or [...]

Hello, and welcome to another “Week in Social Media.”
Although 2011 has just started, 2010 is still fresh in our minds, so I will use the chance to concentrate on the past, the present and the future. As reported in my last post, much happened during the past year, especially on the Web and in social media.
Let’s take a look at the Internet itself first. Have you any idea how many websites were added in 2010? Or how many people used [...]

#INSERTARTISTNAME played a secret show at #INSERTVENUENAME and you didn’t know until you saw it on Twitter/Facebook/Tumblr/Foursquare
A few weeks ago, my favorite band made a surprise cameo onstage at a concert at Madison Square Garden—a short distance from the Euro RSCG WW PR office.
I first came across the news through a culture blog that focuses on my Brooklyn neighborhood, Free Williamsburg. Its quick post included a shaky YouTube video of the impromptu set. Reading the news of the appearance filled [...]

“I would rather entertain and hope that people learned something than educate people and hope they were entertained.” —Walt Disney (1901-1966)
With advertising, people learn what a person, a brand, a service or a product is and has to offer. I don’t think there is any better way to teach, raise awareness and sales than entertaining. Beyond direct marketing, print and online ads, commercials or product placements, one of the best ways to reach your audience and engage it on the [...]

As the dust settles over the debate about whether social media is indeed worth all the hype, the medical fraternity has been slowly pointing the needle (pun intended) towards a yes.
The lure of social media notwithstanding, the medical community has been apprehensive about using it. Lack of clear knowledge of usage and value, skeptical response and industry regulations have combined to turn social media into a Pandora’s Box in the minds of many who have taken the Hippocratic Oath.
Times have [...]

Hello again from Hamburg! Much has happened during the week—Facebook is again one of the social networks that has released new features. From now on it’ll be easier for admins to filter spam from their Facebook pages. This should be a really helpful tool to provide high quality content.
This week you could hear rumors about another new feature on Facebook: “Social check-in deals.” The Next Web released a blog post that contains an e-mail [...]

Walking into the Time Warner Center for Adweek’s Social Media Strategies Conference recently (the conference was held Oct. 13-14) was a lot like entering a professional sporting event. I put my bag through a metal detector, got my ticket and then entered a room with several large projection screens—though instead of jumbotrons displaying fans in the stadium, we were seeing live streams of tweets.
And, really, it was fitting, considering that this was the Olympics of social media, with key [...]

When Facebook was opened to the public, I had read a lot about it. Being the geek that I am, I had read numerous pieces of news and had even tried faking a Harvard e-mail to try and register for it. But when it finally opened to everyone, I resisted for a few months before going in.
I knew it wasn’t anything new. We had tried a similar model at Loquesea.com, one of the many Internet companies from pre–bubble times that [...]

Hello from Chicago! It is time again for “The Week in Social Media,” by Baptiste Limb and me—this time from Chicago because I’m on vacation in this amazing city. So let’s face the latest social media news and trends.
Social media is becoming even more popular than e-mail—at least on mobile devices. A recent study by research company TNS shows that mobile users spend 1.4 times as many hours using social networking sites than reading and responding to e-mail. Read more [...]