What Will Be the Big Trend in 2011?

Most social media minds like to wait until the end of the year to start predicting what the big trends will be the following year.

However, a bit of a pattern is starting to emerge and I'm going to throw out an early prediction for what will dominate social news headlines in 2011: music and music-based networking.

We're starting to see a huge social-musical push already, starting with hugely popular music-based apps like Shazam and Grooveshark. There's also a growing trend of music streaming sites expanding to other venues like Pandora's Facebook integration or MOG adding a music-related news hub.

Add in last week's launch of Apple's social media music service Ping, which drew 1 million subscribers in the first 48 hours, and it's safe to say that this musical integration is a legitimate evolution in the social media space.

But it doesn't stop there. The latest news from Google is that the search giant is hoping to get a music streaming service up and running late this year in an effort to compete with iTunes and hopefully knock the music download king off its throne.

I can't (or won't) say whether or not Google will be able to overtake iTunes, but I would not be surprised if we see a lot more music-based services, apps and networks next year. Of course with how fast the social media space changes, I could be singing a different tune come December.

Axiom's Calendar Heats Up As Temperatures Cool

We have officially entered conference season. Not that our Axiom-ers don’t get excited about our Twins making it to the playoffs or the Vike’s 50th season, but what gets circled three times and highlighted twice on our calendars are the great conferences we get to be a part of in the coming months.

Minnesota Blogger Conference
Coordinated by Minnesota’s own Arik Hanson and Melissa Berggren, September 11 marks the first-ever Minnesota Blogger Conference. Heidi Bobier and Steve Retka will be making an appearance, so make sure to say 'hi' to these Daily Axioms bloggers if you were lucky enough to grab tickets before they sold out.

Type A Mom Conference
Now less than a month away, the Type A Mom Conference in North Carolina will host hundreds of the nation’s top mom bloggers to meet and mingle. Axiom’s Social Media Manager Heidi Bobier will be speaking on the panel, “Bloggers and Companies: How to Work Together for Everyone’s Benefit” alongside superstars Amy Lupold Bair, Angela LoSasso and David Griner. With a few clients there as well, it’s going to be a busy September!

I Blog
Iowa-based I Blog welcomes bloggers of all levels from the Midwest to join in a regional conference this November. Axiom Productions Videographer Dave Sniadak will be leading the discussion, “Video Bloggling: The Basics and Why You Should.” Held in Perry, IA, I Blog shows you don’t have to go far for a great blog conference.

With many more conferences on the horizon, these are just a few that we’re looking forward to most. Which ones will we be seeing you at?

3 Great Points From Today's Java Meetup 612

This morning I got to attend the Java MeetUp 612 social media discussion, with Nicole Harrison (@SocialNicole) and Kate-Madonna Hindes (@GirlMeetsGeek) talking about maximizing your LinkedIn use. It was a great morning of mingling and discussion, and today's post will highlight the 3 points that I found the most helpful.

LinkedIn isn't just a bobber in the water: you need to do something with it.

This was something that Kate said, but was an overarching point that both her and Nicole touched on and alluded to. LinkedIn seems to the social network that people tend to create and then ignore, but like any social media channel requires engagement and involvement to really be effective. If I had to sum up today's Java Meetup 612 in one sentence, that's what it would be.

Don't just name links: let people know why they need to click it.

This was a very interesting point that Nicole made, and she was talking about editing the website links on your profile to say what someone will see when they click it, rather than just what the link is. For instance, if I list Daily Axioms as one of my websites on my LinkedIn profile (which I do), I can change the title of the website link to "Social media news and analysis" (which I did). That way, someone knows what the link is about before they click, and because of that will be more inclined to visit the site. This was one tip I took to heart right away and acted on as soon as I sat down at my computer afterwards.


80% of employers look for recommendations, so yes recommendations do matter.

Both Kate and Nicole discussed LinkedIn recommendations and the best practices behind them. Kate let us know why they're important when she said that 80% of potential employers look for and read recommendations. She also brought up the fact that it's okay to "coach" whoever is writing your recommendation and guide them towards certain topics/projects to write about. That way the recommendations will be more genuine and offer different (yet still relevant) points for potential employers.

Nicole also brought up a great point that the best starting point for someone looking to get a recommendation is to write one themselves. Just like with Twitter, if you want to build your network you need to take the first step yourself and make the effort to reach out.

So there you have it, these were the 3 points that I personally found the most interesting. Obviously there was a lot of other topics we discussed, so I definitely recommend attending these Java Meetups. Check out the Java Meetup 612 Twitter page to get the latest updates about when the next one will be.

Plant Necessities: Water, Sunlight and...Facebook Interactions?

Back in college I got a plant for my dorm room, but unfortunately it died because I spent all my time on Facebook instead of taking care of it.

But there's a new garden/artwork/social experiment in Brisbane, Australia that would've solved my social media-related plant negligence: a real garden that relies entirely on Facebook interactions.

The garden, called Meet Eater, has two pots containing herbs, that require water and sunlight like all plants do. However, those plant essentials are rigged to a system that distributes them based on the interactions Meet Eater recieves on its Facebook page. Meet Eater even replies to Facebook posts with messages of its own. The mind behind Meet Eater, Bashkim Isai, created the project with the hope of re-establishing the connection between humans and plants.

I like this idea because it is a new take on combining the online world of social media with the traditionally-offline world of gardening.

More importantly, the success Meet Eater has enjoyed so far can be largely attributed to the fact that it responds to posts and interacts with those who post on its page. This illustrates how important personality has become in the social media space. Because with so many different voices on so many different networks, you need authentic and genuine interaction if you want to truly engage with your audience.

This is a lesson Meet Eater has thrived on, and is why I give this project two (green) thumbs up.

How to Digg Your Own Grave

Whether you want to call it Digg-Gate or the Digg-pocalypse, it doesn't change the fact that Digg is still under heavy fire as more and more users continue their furious backlash against the social news site's overhaul late last week.

But before we start declaring this the end of Digg, keep in mind it's not the first site to deal with angry users. Facebook faces backlash with every change they make, yet their user base continues to grow. Think about it, have any of your Facebook-hating friends followed through on their threats and actually quit Facebook?

And while I'm definitely happy that I'm not the one who has to fix this Digg dilemma, there is a lesson to be learned here. Any website that goes under a visual redesign is bound to have a few dissenters. People can be fickle, and may not like a site that they've been using to go under any changes.

But Digg's changes went deeper than that, with a complete change in focus and strategy. Digg re-purposed itself to appeal to a more mainstream demographic. In doing so, they've alienated a large portion of their existing audience.

However, Digg may have to accept the fact that at this stage in the online game, the mainstream public may not want to participate in the type of active social news curating that Digg is based on. Simply put, Digg tried to branch out to a mainstream demographic that probably won't adopt it and lost a lot of existing users in the process.

So the message is clear. If you want to redesign a site, just make sure it looks good. But if you want to branch off in a whole new direction, be prepared to take some heat because it's basically a roll of the dice. And regardless of what happens to Digg, they have undoubtedly provided a great case study in how to "digg" your own grave.