As the importance of the monolithic corporate website wanes, blogs and social networks have emerged as critical tools allowing businesses of all sizes to connect with consumers in a more direct and meaningful way.

The best companies will use these tools as an opportunity to engage consumers in a dialog while respecting the social media ecosystem.

However, simply setting up a blog and sending your employees to dive into the deep end of the social media pool isn’t enough. Without a firm understanding of how social media works, the results can be lukewarm, at best, and disastrous, at worst.

Just how bad can a corporate social media campaign be? The following case study analyzes the unfortunate social media campaign of the DuroSport corporation. If you’re involved in planning social media strategy for your company, I hope you’ll take this opportunity to learn from DuroSport’s many mistakes.
(Read more of Worst Practices in Social Media Marketing)

The media hype surrounding Second Life has mostly focused on a 3D world full of flying avatars, and the virtual economy that has made at least one person a very real millionaire. What’s been lost in all of the hype is that, above all else, Second Life is a classic social network.

All of the elements that make social networking an engaging and effective way to connect with your customers on the 2D web are present in abundance in Second Life. In addition to providing the basic functionality that most social web applications offer, Second Life adds an immersive environment and tools for real-time collaboration — the result is a compelling combination of features that clearly represents the next phase in evolution of the social web.

(Read more of Second Life Is a Social Network: Please Act Accordingly)