I think Twitter can make a huge difference to a small business - my brother is using it to promote his song-writing and has generated a nice following in Sydney, many of whom came along to his first gig.

Anyone else have any great stories?

What do we think about Google sidewiki? (see article here).

Do you think this is a step too far - taking control out of the hands of companies completely?

I would like to get some feedback on how important ROI is in evaluating the success of social media initiatives.

It has always puzzled me that the difficulties in measuring ROI, in financial terms, is so often cited as a reason for not embracing SM. I worked for a long time in promotions and advertising, and as far as I'm aware no firm numbers could ever be put next to a particular activity - everything worked synergistically, and uplift in profi...

This post from web strategist Jeremiah Owyang shows that 53% of marketeers are planning to increase their budgets for Web 2.0, even in a recession, with only 5% decreasing. However, it appears that most marketeers are only dipping their toe in the water on a tactical level - few companies have a dedicated budget or personnel specifically assigned. Those that do react will almost certainly gain a competitive advantage over the laggers.

He stresses...

Having delved a little deeper into this, I have discovered that P&G are taking social media very seriously - and where they lead, others will follow. I worked on Pampers advertising ten years ago, and I can report that they were not the most forward thinking. Things definitely seem to have changed.

Here is a video clip of a brand manager in the US talking about their approach. I am impressed that the have set up a "Social Media' Lab, made up of e...