Two interesting posts came across my Twitter stream today.

The first: How To Monetize A Social Network: MySpace And Facebook Should Follow TenCent looks at how Chinese social networking company TenCent totally gets the “because effect” and raises more $$ through non-advertising revenue than Facebook or MySpace.

This was followed by the news that Social networking is bigger than email – with 10% of “internet time” devoted to social media. (I’m still digging to find what the other 90% is used for…)

According to that blog report (I haven’t had a chance to read the full report yet): “The search for a workable ad model is even more urgent now that social media has broken out of the youth demographic, Nielsen found.”

Perhaps, then, Nielsen are looking in the wrong place?

• Stockvault.net – Another free stock photo site and community. A potentially useful addition to iStockphoto and Stockexchange.
• Sprout Builder – “Sprouts” are widgets that you can add to your site and share with others, created from your own media. Although I’ve not looked deeply into them, they seem a handy and quick way to build promotional widgets for your organisation or cause.
• Is the Tipping Point Toast? – This article has been spreading like wildfire through blogland. A rebuttal, of sorts, to “The Tipping Point” concept where a few “influentials” take trends viral. Thought provoking, and I would say essential reading for anyone in the marketing biz.

(These links were posted to my del.icio.us feed between 28-Jan-2008 and 04-Feb-2008.)

• Zookoda – An interesting looking (free) service – from what I can tell it takes an RSS feed and sends HTML email updates on that basis. Great for promoting your blog or creating quick email newsletters for your organisation. Will need to look into it some more…
• NussbaumOnDesign Obama Vs. Clinton: What Their Web Sites Say About How They View You. – BusinessWeek – Nussbaum on Obama vs. Hillary on the web: “.. Hillary sees her supporters as a series of constituents with individual interests that she needs to meet and Barack sees his backers as members belonging to a mass movement. …”
• The more people you reach the more likely it is that you’re reaching the wrong people – “Who vs. how many.” I truly admire how Seth can distill an important idea into single sentence. Or two…

(These links were posted to my del.icio.us feed between 15-Jan-2008 and 17-Jan-2008.)