Google Buzz has created some buzz in the past couple of days. A Twitter killer it is not, but it is definitely the most exciting social web service I’ve seen since FriendFeed. Tim O’Reilly has said that Google has “taken the social media lessons of Twitter,” and Jason Calacanis thinks “Google Buzz 1.0 is better than Facebook after six or seven years.”

Not only does Buzz combine some of the best aspects of Google Wave, FriendFeed, and Twitter, but it’s also built into GMail. By adding the mobile component (so we can take it anywhere), and integrating feeds from Twitter, Flickr, Picasa, and Blogger (so we can pull outside content), Google Buzz starts to sound like a very promising service of its own, and not just another GMail feature.

But the question that everyone is wondering about is:  Can Google really create a new social network that people will want to use?

It is true that Google has failed at many, if not all things social in the past, but this time it seems different. From day one, Buzz already makes great use of multimedia, is open to anyone, makes use of @ replies (ie. @socialnerdia@gmail.com), and allows us to have conversations in real-time.

So, with early adopters rushing to test, criticize, and/or embrace Google Buzz, should companies be creating accounts just as they have done on Twitter and Facebook?

Traditionally, companies have been slow to join social networks. The idea of unproven and confusing new social services creates unwillingness to jump in until other companies have. But with a rapidly changing and increasingly social online landscape, it is essential to understand the things that people are doing. In order to really “get it” companies could spend months researching, brainstorming, and strategizing. Or they could just do what regular people do: Jump in and experiment.

(more…)

Samsung is one of the most admired companies in the world. With a roster of high-quality HDTVs, smartphones, and cameras, it is not surprising that the company’s products speak for themselves, but there is also very talented people making sure the world knows about the latest and greatest from Samsung. Last night, on The Social Nerdia Show! live podcast’s 28th episode, I had a conversation with Matt Moller and Keith Swiderski, Samsung’s Social Media Strategists. They told me all about their customer-centric approach to engaging with people on the social web and provided some advice for making an impact in social media.

You can listen to the entire conversation with Matt and Keith on the Flash player below. You can also subscribe to all our shows on iTunes, stream it from a mobile phone on Stitcher, and listen to it LIVE on Thursday nights on blogtalkradio.

Samsung has been doing several things all over the social web, including campaigns like Tap & Take, Twitter accounts, and even incredibly popular Extreme Sheep LED Art. However, Samsung is not new to social media. From message boards and forums like the ones found on CNET to early social networks, Samsung has always paid close attention to what people say online.

“In addition to listening and gathering, we want to go out and actually engage customers and help them get the most out of their products,” Keith explained. “When Windows 7 beta came out a lot of people were using our netbooks. We found out that people really liked it and it enabled us to know how people were using our products.” He continued by saying that “moving on to Twitter and Facebook was a natural extension to let consumers know that we’re about more than just our products.”

Social Media at a Large Multinational

Because Samsung is such a large company, “a lot of these (social media efforts) evolved from the bottom-up. Samsung empowers its people with getting involved in new things and being on the cutting edge,” Matt explained. Samsung doesn’t have a social media policy with specific details about what employees can and cannot do online. “Samsung feels strongly in its employees right to freedom of speech and being able to express themselves.”

Matt also said that the different territories and regions worldwide are able to take control of how they reach customers with social media. While there is a consistent and unified message for the Samsung brand, Matt also said that he doesn’t think there will ever be a “central entity that will control all social media” because that would not really align with what social media is about. (more…)

People-powered. Those two words joined by a dash immediately remind me of Wikipedia. And Wikipedia might be the biggest inspiration for GiffGaff, a new MVNO in the UK running on the O2 network, that promises to change things in the mobile world. MVNOs have come and gone for many years, usually with little more than clever branding and low prices.

However, we already established that GiffGaff was inspired by Wikipedia, remember? And Wikipedia is a very social site… that’s, well, powered by people. So maybe this MVNO has something new that’s worth looking into.

GiffGaff, whose name comes from a Scottish expression  that means “You give something, I give you something back,” claims to also be powered by people. They haven’t launched  (the plan is to become available before Christmas of this year) and no customer phone calls have been made, but the company is already leveraging the wisdom of the crowds. GiffGaff’s in-the-making community has already provided ideas such as “copy to Twitter” functionality for text messages. So GiffGaff is not crowdsourcing ideas, but that’s only the beginning. They are also going to crowdsource their marketing (again, not a huge deal). But more importantly, they are going to crowdsource customer service.

There are a lot of intelligent and passionate people helping each other out on forums and blogs all over the web, from cell phone geeks to home improvement DIYers, so it makes sense to think that people could help each other out in such a way that a company no longer needs a call center. I can imagine that PowerPoint presentation going something like this: 1) Customer service is difficult. 2) Customer Service is expensive. 3) Let’s make customers serve each other. (more…)

Have you ever wanted to see who is on your web site at any given time? I’m not talking about the number of page views that your web site got this month. I’m talking about now, right now. Well, Woopra might be able to help.

Last night, on The Social Nerdia Show! live podcast’s 27th episode, I had a conversation with John Pozadzides, the CEO of iFusion Labs, the parent company of Woopra, an innovative web analytics application that lets you see who your visitors are and what they are doing, in real-time.

You can listen to the entire conversation with John about blogging, analytics, marketing, social media, and much more, on the Flash player below. You can also subscribe to all our shows on iTunes, stream it from a mobile phone on Stitcher, and listen to it LIVE on Thursday nights on blogtalkradio.

Enter Woopra

Woopra makes me very excited about the future of real-time because real-time is how the web should be. It’s what the web needs to be. I’ve done my share of waiting, refreshing, and reloading, and if 2010 is not the year for the real-time web to explode and break out of the tech bubble and into the mainstream, then I’m going to hang out in real-time in real-life with actual friends under the real-time sky drinking some real-time water. So take note Google. And take note everybody else. Anyone creating online products and services has a bit to learn from the accomplishments of the FriendFeeds, FourSquares, Radian6s, and Woopras of the world.

I first heard about John P. and Woopra at WordCamp Dallas. I must admit that I did not realize what Woopra was at first. The words “live” and “real-time” simply did not sink in. But once installed, I was able to see who was visting socialnerdia.com at that point. I was used to getting some of this info from Google, but Google Analytics always provided it a day too late. Woopra is about the now, and that adds a whole new layer of meaning to how we measure the web. (more…)

Ryan Paugh is the co-founder and community manager of Brazen Careerist, a career management tool for next-generation professionals. Ryan and I had a great conversation on the 26th episode of The Social Nerdia Show! live podcast.

We talked about his transition from the corporate world to entrepreneurship, Generation Y, the job market, and the social way to manage your career. Ryan also gave some great tips for those interested in becoming online community managers.

You can listen to the interview in its entirety on the Flash player below, by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes, and by streaming it live every Thursday night on blogtalkradio.

The current state of the job market is not exactly exciting. With the stock market slowly recovering to 1999 levels and a high unemployment that is truly worthy of a ‘Great Recession,’ there are still some good news. I’m serious. First of all, companies are starting to hire again and everyone is a bit more optimistic about the future. Second,  people are becoming much more willing to connect online and recommend others for positions.

And that’s why Brazen Careerist is a site you need to check out, especially if you’re young. While Monster and CareerBuilder are good to browse for countless of too-good-to-be-true and questionable positions, and LinkedIn is the place to share your resume with an established network, Brazen Careerist “helps you build your network,” as Ryan told me. He also pointed out that “young professionals don’t have a lot of experience and connections, and they need a place to build those connections online.”

Getting a job has a lot to do with who you know. Social networks can definitely help. From connecting with old high school friends to getting to know your current friends even better, social networks are becoming an extension of who we are and a map of who we know. As we learn to collaborate better with others online, a collaborative approach to career management makes sense. Ryan said it quite well: ”Collaboration for your career management is something new. Traditionally, it was something very competitive, but it’s not the best way to do it. At Brazen Careerist we encourage people to have that idea sharing mentality, it’s a Web 2.0 mentality. We’re sharing instead of hoarding information for ourselves.” (more…)

Louis Pagan is a content producer and co-founder of Latinos in Social Media. As one of the first latino voices in the blogosphere with his blog Latino Pundit, Louis has now rebranded himself as an entrepreneur.

While he still blogs, Louis also owns a company called Lat3G Media and he has helped launched projects like the LATISM Heritage Tour. Being a Latin American guy myself, it was very fun to talk with Louis about the bond that unites all latinos and hispanics, as well as topics such as old and new media, and the “social” part of social media in the 25th episode of “The Social Nerdia Show!”

You can listen to the interview in its entirety on the Flash player below, and we would highly appreciate it if you check out our other shows by subscribing to the podcast on iTunes, and streaming it live every Thursday night on blogtalkradio!

Louis and I started the show talking about the fact that October 15th is the last day of Hispanic Heritage month, a tradition that has been around for many decades. Not many know this but Hispanic Heritage month starts on Septemeber 15th because it is the day of independence of many Central American countries, like my very own Guatemala. “It’s like a virtual month, right between the calendars,” Louis said as we spoke about the 4 weeks that have been designated to celebrate our heritage. “I don’t know if it’s the food, the culture, the way we look, the music, the way we dress, speak, we have a common bond and we connect on all different levels, it’s a celebration,” Louis expressed. (more…)