If you're in marketing, there's something that I think you should know: the next generation doesn't like you very much. They're sick of your TV ads, billboards, and full page newspaper ads. They can't stand your pop-ups and pop-under ads, CPM, CPA, and CPC ads. They're sick of ads showing up in bathrooms, on their phones, and especially the internet. Oh, and one more thing - they won't be asked to ignore them. In fact,

When you're creating content for social media campaigns, the distance it spreads and the number of users who share it is likely to be a big measuring stick for its success or failure. There's a number of factors that go into why a particular piece spreads farther than others and that usually starts with the quality of the content. But even if you've created something truly remarkable, the job isn't finished.

This past week, NY State Democrats held their first ever Interactive Ethics Forum. In it, they took questions from twitter users, Facebook fans, as well as questions via email in order to get the every day citizen's concerns on the topic of Ethics Reform in NY State. While I'm not normally a political person, I found the idea of this kind of forum as a welcome step forward in the Democratic process as well as government transparency as a whole.

Social media marketing is difficult. It is. Every campaign I've ever been a part of has had a unique set of challenges to overcome. Occasionally, there's a general lesson that can be learned from one campaign that can be applied to others, but there is rarely any one-size-fits-all piece of advice that will make or break social media success. So when I'm writing a social media advice column,

When it was finally confirmed that Twitter & Facebook links pass SEO value for search engine rankings, I must admit: I cringed a little. It's not that I didn't see it coming. It's just: now that they have confirmed for everyone what many have been predicting for years, even the doubters are rushing to incorporate social media into their link building strategy. And that worries me. Eric Ward wrote about this a couple years ago,

Last year, my wife finished law school in New York's capital . As a member of the American Bar Association, she receives their monthly ABA Journal, and every month )without fail( she leaves it on my desk with a sticky note bookmarking an article on "Social Media" as it relates to the law. [I love her!] Now, I'm no lawyer; but as an entrepreneur the law is something I need to keep an eye on for my business. From a lawyer's standpoint, however,

With the recent news that Stumble Upon sends the most traffic of any social media platform, marketers become wide-eyed to the prospect of getting their piece of the pie. The truth is, this isn't really anything new . In the past year, StumbleUpon )SU( had quietly grown to over 10 million users, but has )for a while now( sent either the most, or close to the most traffic. But just because it boasts this claim, doesn't mean it's the best tool reach your marketing goals.

There's a lot of reasons people and organizations are afraid to engage in social media. And while some of these reasons may be justified, none of them are impossible to overcome. Coming to terms with these fears and setting realistic goals that minimize potential risks isn't a bad place to start. But the truth is: there's actually more to lose by NOT participating in social media. So what are you waiting for? Let's get started: Fear: I have no idea where/how to start!

Monitoring brand mentions on twitter is as easy as choosing one of the few dozen )or so( free tools currently out there. And for the rest of the social web, it's almost that simple. That is, except for Facebook. The major hurdle of Facebook monitoring is its users' preference for privacy )not to mention the limited historical data(. In fact, none of the tools I listed below are able to overcome this hurdle. Instead,

In the wake of Digg's v.4 switch )and subsequent user revolt(, there's a new player in the social bookmarking space. Old Dogg , and creator Phil Mitchell , look to take over where Digg left off. With a Digg v.3 feel, the less than 2 month old site hopes to cash in on the mass exodus of Digg users. But what would it take for Old Dogg to truly compete with the big players? Good start so far' In the online world, timing is everything.

People are resistant to change. We find solace in our daily routines. And because social media sites have become a part of that routine )for better or worse( even small changes to those services can effect us. So while not every change is bad, and most )if not all( will have their naysayers, some changes are just harder to swallow than others. Here are 4 recent )and very public( examples of changes that caused the respective communities to lash out.

Big brands have dominated advertising and traditional branding spaces for as long as advertising has existed.  Their unthinkable marketing budgets have the ability to reach millions of potential customers in a single ad.  But the tide is turning in the marketing world.  While these large brands have embraced social media, they still have a distinct disadvantage at the local level.