In recent months, a lot has been written about how Social Media channels are different from “traditional” media channels like Print, Radio, TV and about the importance of Social Media in marketing.

I think the biggest argument in favor of Social Media is that it provides great tools for “engaging” the customer. Unlike traditional media channels where the information flow is one way, one to many – where consumer or target audience group is “passive”, Social media communication is not only two-way, one-to-one, but consumer is active participant and “owns” the conversation.

Moreover, conversations over Social Media channels are public – visible to all. And customers and potential customers are discussing about products and brands on Social Media channels whether the marketer is participating in the discussion or not.This is why it is utmost important for marketer to have a Social CRM strategy and invest in Social Media tools for effectively engaging customers and prospects. Gone are the days of one way “passive” advertising, thanks to Social Media (for definition of Social CRM, see my earlier post titled What is Social CRM?)

Foursquare, the hottest Social Network on the web turned one yesterday. Hard to believe that its been around for just 365 days and still boasts of half a million users, 1.4 million venues, 15.5 million check-ins and is growing exponentially by the day if not by the hour! (see this excellent Hitwise Intelligence report for stats on Foursquare)

There are three important reasons for the phenomenal growth and popularity of Foursquare as compared to rivals such as Gowalla or Yelp.

Ford Motor Company is among a handful of large corporations with many successful Social Media initiatives. One of Ford’s most successful Social Media initiative is a called The Ford Story. This is a website that aggregates Ford’s social web participation along with what others are saying about Ford’s brands.

Few other examples of successful Social Media initiatives by Ford include Summer of Taurus, the2010Mustang.com,  WeddingRoadTrip.com and FiestaMovement.com (See this excellent blog post by Lee Odden for more).

James Cameron has written and directed many blockbuster movies including The Terminator, Aliens, The Abyss, Terminator 2: Judgment Day, Titanic, and most recently Avatar.

In this excellent TED Talk, James Cameron describes his childhood fascination with the fantastic — from reading Sci-Fi to deep-sea diving, and how it contributed to success of his blockbuster hits “Aliens,” “The Terminator,” “Titanic” and “Avatar.” Also listen to him on why he made Titanic.

I like what he says about Curiosity, Imagination, Respect for team, Risk taking, Leap of faith and fear not being an option – rather than failure!

In recent months, several publications, analysts and bloggers have highlighted the importance of Social Media and the need for allocating resources for Social CRM initiatives. I have published several blog posts on the subject and some of them are listed below:

The next step in evolution of mobile phone from “simple” telephones to mobile multi-media communication hub is social networking access via mobile browser and apps. This is going to be one of the big stories over the next couple of years that will fuel exponential increase in Social Networking Sites and their user base. It is estimated that currently more than 650 million people worldwide, or 13.4% of mobile subscribers, use the Web via a mobile device at least once a month (see this link). This number is all set to skyrocket as inexpensive smart phones continue to flood the market.

Charlie Rose recently interviewed Mark Pincus – Founder and CEO,  Zynga. For some one who is new to the field of Social Games, this interview offers a quick introduction to the subject and games like Mafia Wars and Cafe World.

I like what Mark said about Social Networks – “If you are on Social Network, you are in the game of building Social Capital” – very true!

(See this video and for complete transcript of this interview, pls see this link).

Social Games are all the rage these days. In a recent survey of consumers in the US and UK who play games on social networking platforms such as Facebook, it was found that more than 24% of respondents play social games regularly, indicating a total social gamer population of approximately 100 million in US and UK alone.

And contrary to prevailing stereotypes, the average social gamer is a 43-year old woman – yes, you read that right 43-year old woman! (for more on survey results, see this link)

So with a fast growing affluent user base, what does it take to succeed in Social Games? Here is an excellent Panel Discussion on what issues leaders in this space grapple with on a daily basis?

Panelists are:

Excellent talk by Prof. Jesse Schell of Carnegie Mellon University on Psychology of Social Gaming and what drives player behavior in this area. Thanks to Social Networking, online Gaming (or Social Gaming as many call it) will grow exponentially in the next 3-5 years. Facebook games are a great example of things to come. Please listen to this enlightening talk by Prof. Jesse Schell:

Excellent interview of Chris Brogan by David Thomas of SAS Institute on biggest change Social Media will bring to the way we do business.

According to Chris Brogan, Social Media:

• Lot of light as compared to heat
• Put human face back on Business
• Big companies have a chance to feel small and human again
• Individuals have an opportunity to compete with bigger organizations like never before