MAKE YOUR BUSINESS MORE EFFECTIVE WITH THE SOCIAL WEB

Reputation aggregators are search engines such as Google, Yahoo!, and Ask. They aggregate websites and rank them according to different algorithms. People use these search engines to decide what they want or need when they’re getting ready to buy. People can’t buy your products or digest your ideas if they can’t find you. Being at or near the top of the search results list is what search engine optimization is all about.

Until recently, Muzak had a skeleton website and no search strategy. Then the company hired Oneupweb, an agency specializing in search engine optimization and marketing. With their guidance, Muzak initiated a 100-word paid search program. Within months, Muzak tripled the number of sales coming from organic and paid search.

Ask.com finds websites that are the most authoritative on a given subject. While some search engines rank results based on the volume of links pointing to a specific page, Ask.com identifies topics, the experts on those topics, and then the popularity of those websites according to the identified experts.

EveryZing is an audio and video search engine and online advertising network. Using speech recognition technology, EveryZing searches words within both audio and video to classify content based on topic and usage. EveryZing helps consumers find audio and video content based on keyword searches and then allows them to browse the results for relevance, just as text results can be browsed.

Blogs are online journals where people can post ideas, images, and links to other web pages or sites. Blog posts can make or break personal, product, or corporate reputations. In May 2007, popular technology blog Engadget posted an entry stating that the iPhone launch would be delayed. The post was based on an email from Apple which turned out to be a hoax. However, it caused a plummet in Apple's stock resulting in roughly a $4 billion loss for Apple's market cap – proof that blogs wield a powerful influence.

Doc Searles writes one of the most important blogs for software. He's been in the business for three decades, so this is not just somebody who stepped off the bus and says, "I'm going to write a blog about open-source software." This is a man who has studied the subject and can write authoritatively about it.

The Huffington Post is a liberal news website and aggregated weblog founded by columnist Arianna Huffington. It features various news sources and covers a wide range of topics such as politics, media, and business. The site is best known for its political commentary.

BoingBoing, described as a "directory of wonderful things," is one of the top ten most favorited and most linked to blogs in the blogosphere according to Technorati, a leading blog search engine. The four contributing writers, Mark Frauenfelder, Cory Doctorow, David Pescovitz, and Xeni Jardin, blog about topics ranging from technology and gadgets to bizarre news and entertainment.

E-communities are sites where people aggregate around content focused on a common interest area. Whether the common interest is business or personal, people join these communities and return to them regularly because they offer news, information, entertainment, or all three.

At the end of 2006, Nerve Media introduced what it called "the first parenting magazine designed from the ground up for a new generation of parents – mothers and fathers who increasingly share the work of raising children, live in cities, and use the Internet to access information."

WebMD provides quality health information, tools and support as well as multiple opportunities for users to share their experiences with each other. WebMD is a great example of an e-community that pharmaceutical/life industries should be tapping and participating in.

More than 1.4 million professionals use ITtoolbox, a network of online communities that enables users to share knowledge about information technology. The platform is made up of a professional network, dozens of knowledge bases, hundreds of blogs and discussion groups, and a wiki to facilitate targeted community interaction.

Social networks are places where people with a common interest or concern come together to meet people with similar interests, express themselves, and vent. Marketers can use social networks to start a dialogue.

MerlynDHZ, an employee for Heeling Sports Limited, posted a bunch of homemade videos of young men doing really cool tricks in their Heelys – sneakers with retractable wheels in the soles – on YouTube. MerlynDHZ not only posts the videos, but also answers questions from viewers. The videos enable Heeling Sports to build and reinforce brand recognition, connect with their target audience and leverage their marketing messages.

As of early 2009, Facebook boasted over 150 million active users worldwide. The free-access social network gives people the power to connect with their friends, post photos and videos, share links, plan events and learn more about the people they meet.

LinkedIn is a social network for professionals. Users create a profile summarizing their professional achievements. They can then connect with former coworkers and professional contacts, adding them to their LinkedIn network. Through LinkedIn users can search for jobs, find new business opportunities, and network to further their careers.