A few weeks ago, Heather Whaling shared the story of Nationwide and how they responded to what could have been a very difficult situation.

While there was still come criticism about the response possibly being less “human” than it could have been from the various Nationwide accounts, it was still a great example of reacting quickly to douse potential flames.

It was also a great reminder that social media needn’t be scary for businesses worried about negative statements posted about them online (one of the biggest stumbling blocks for any business owner when it comes to social media).

This is especially true, given the...

…You had as meaningful a conversation offline as you do online?

Or spent the time networking your local community as well as just your online connections?

We’re fed so much information from so many sources.

We’re told that social media is the new connector, that we have opportunities like never before. And it’s true – to a degree.

We do have an immense amount of connections and information at our fingertips to make our lives easier, personally and from a business point of view too.

Yet the virtual shouldn’t be at the expense of the physical.

For every Twitter connection – actual, valued Twitter connection – you probably have a family member, friend, colleague, peer or business connection right in front of you.

For every Ning community, there...

Numbers are important, because they give us an idea of how successful something is.

Even small numbers can mean a big success. While two might seem a relatively little number in the grand scheme of things, you probably won’t complain too much if your sales team doubles your profits for you.

Big numbers are easier. Ten million products sold is a big success in any language.

In social media, though, the waters are a little less clear. 100,000 Twitter followers might mean something substantial, or it might mean a lot of autobots and gaming the system. 30,000 blog subscribers doesn’t necessarily mean 30,000 active RSS readers.

But a lot of social media experts will tell you numbers are key to succeed in social media – the more your social reach, the more your clout.

To business owners, though, there’s only one real number that’s important – the bottom line.

So, Social Media Expert X, how are your numbers going to increase my bottom line? The...

Back in July 2010, I wrote a post called “52 Cool Facts About Social Media”. I wanted to have a look at some of the mind-boggling and truly impressive numbers from this space we play in.

I also wanted to offer a fun fact for every week of the year, for anyone playing social media trivia games.

At the time, the Big 5 were (arguably) Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, YouTube and Blogging. My, what a difference two years make!

So, to bring some of these figures up to date, as well as include some of the newer names on the scene, here’s 52 cool facts about social media, the 2012 edition. Enjoy!

Facebook

1. 85% of women are annoyed by their friends (note – I don’t think this is just limited to Facebook!!).
2. Links about sex are shared 90% more than any other link.
3. More than 350 million users suffer from Facebook Addiction Syndrome.
4. 25%...