Building Rivers of Information
Increasing Your Individual, Company, and Career IQ through Self Education
● Overview of Rivers of Information ● Step-by-step Process for Building your River of Information ● Tool-Based Checklist for Developing your River of Information
Overview
We’ve never been able to gather as much information and get it into our brains as quickly as we can right now. The internet provides an awesome quantity of information, observations, and opinions on a daily basis. The Rivers of Information process is essentially streamlining information into one’s accumulation of knowledge. This can be through any informational
source, and those sources are increasingly found online. Social technologies are a huge collection of important tools that are providing greater access to information all of the time.
You can choose to become more informed by taking it upon yourself to study information everyday. Now, multiply this info-gathering method times all the people in your workforce. Developing an ability to digest and redistribute valuable pieces from this massive flow creates an advantage in the traditional marketplace. Think about the collective intelligence building it could add to your organization and the distinct advantage it could bring on the competition.
This process costs virtually nothing beyond the time invested in consuming the content, yet very few people make the effort to refine it into an effective art. More than that, most organizations do nothing to provide employees with help in either identifying valuable sources of information or the tools that can be used to aggregate and filter it. In this document we’ve provided six steps to follow that will help you institutionalize the process of building Rivers of
Information into your organization. We’ve also provided a tool-based checklist of details that will help you (and your staff) develop high-quality rivers.
In a knowledge economy, the smartest teams win. Somewhere along the line, many people skip the step it takes to build their unique system for finding valuable information sources and filtering this information into their brains. This is about making the most of the time you have to improve. All it takes is 30 to 45 minutes everyday. Just think, if you spend 30 minutes a day, that is 210 minutes of information gathering a week, 840 minutes in a month, and 10,920 minutes in a year. That equals 182 hours of active learning that you’ve added into your year.
How much can you learn in 182 hours? If that information is targeted, you can learn a lot on any topic that you decide you want to become knowledgeable about. Multiply that amount by the size of your staff – that equates to a mountain of information that your organization can be pulling in at all times. If you aren’t currently doing this (or your employees aren’t), what else are you doing with that time?
Goals
1. Identify the most useful sources of information in your industry for the areas
your people specialize in – It would be staggering to have the ability to measure
the sheer volume of useful information created each and every day on the web.
Likely, we only become aware of a tiny fraction of this information on a daily basis.
The difference between what we actually capture and the amount that is freely
available is vast, and even closing that gap by a small percentage could reap huge
rewards. That is the first goal of this process. If you now see only 5% of the
information created with your industry, we want to move that needle to at least
20%. At the same time, we want to assure the quality of this information is high.
Volume of consumption is not useful if the information is not useful to some
degree.
2. Implement technology tools that will aid in finding, aggregating, consuming,
and storing information – Almost every day, a company or creative programmer
develops a new web-based tool to aid in the consumption, storage, or ability to
distribute information. As with many skill sets, the right tools make all the
difference. However, most people invest very little energy into using the best tools
to raise their career IQ. The goal here is to correct this situation by assembling a
package of tools for yourself and team members as well as providing the direction
required to use them.
3. Develop processes for harnessing the information in the most efficient and
timely manner – Once information-gathering tools are in place, your team needs
to know how to use them in the most efficient manner for their unique styles of
learning. In addition, most will have very different schedules. There is no right or
wrong answer in deciding the most effective method for any one person. The
critical goal is to help people flexibly configure the process that works best for
them
4. Replicate this process across the organization so constant learning is a team
strength – This process must be embedded across the corporate culture for it to
be sustainable. For this reason, the goal of developing practices that inspire and
help team members gain the value is critical. It is common to work hard at driving
concepts like safety, ethics, and innovation into organizational culture, but now you
need to add the pursuit of continuous individual learning.
5. Outlearn your competition on a daily basis with access to real time
information – A clear goal is to be better educated than your competition on what
is happening in your marketplace. Knowledge is power, and with the growing
ability to gain information in real time there is no excuse for not being better
informed than your industry competitors. At times, value is derived not just from
access to volumes of information, but from the speed at which you receive it.
Process Step One – Identify a robust list of valuable information sources – Regardless of the industry you operate in, there are hundreds of sources of information that can be valuable.
These include sources such as industry newsletters, bloggers, Twitterers, research firms, news aggregation services, and discussion groups. In most cases, access to this information is free and takes only moments to subscribe to. Everyone has at least a few of these sources already in their river, so the task here is to identify the top 20 quality sources you do not currently have and add them. Create a larger river than you have today and start testing the value of each new source. Only through actively and continuously working to improve your river will you grow your career IQ at a high rate. Here are some additional thoughts to consider when gathering key sources of information:
➢ The fastest way to find new sources is to gather the tools already used by others in
the organization. Though many others will have accrued their own valuable sources
of information, these resources are often not shared with others.
➢ There is a tension between quantity and quality here, so be sure to recognize this
balance. If you continue adding to the quantity without siphoning through to the
most valuable sources, you will overwhelm your capability to digest what you have
access to, thus defeating the purpose. The goal is to find the highest quality 20
sources of information. This means whenever you add a new source, you should
unsubscribe from a relative subpar source.
➢ Try to create a good mix of information types – opinions, news aggregation,
competitive analysis, statistics, and alerts. Also mix information channels, blogs,
Twitter feeds, newsletters, etc. Don’t get overly extended in one area or the result
will be a hole in your information flow.
➢ Be sure to document this list where everyone can share it, and provide a method for people to add to the list as they find new viable sources of information that should
be followed.
Step Two – Implement technology tools to help you consume the information – The best defense to combat overwhelming information flow is the application of software tools. Tools such as NetVibes are designed to aggregate many different sources of information onto one screen. There are listening/alert tools that will continuously hunt down any mention of a keyword and bring the information to you. Storage tools like
OneNote, Evernote, and Pocket help you clip and store important pieces of data. When these tools are used in conjunction, you can improve the quality of information you obtain from relatively minimal time invested in reading. You can also save time searching for information by hand and disseminating information back out. Do not attempt to build a larger river without first installing the technology infrastructure to manage it. On a side note, most of these tools are free so there is little to no cost barrier concern. Additional thoughts to consider:
➢ Although personal preferences can be allowed, the more an organization can
standardize a tool set for this process, the easier it will be to train and bring new
employees up to speed.
➢ When thinking about how to orchestrate technologies to help with rivers of
information, consider routing different types of information to various devices. For
example, send all video blogs to your mobile device so you always have something
valuable to do no matter where you are. Send critical sources of information to
your email so you are sure to see them every day. Organize information delivery in a way that is most beneficial to each person involved. This will maximize
efficiencies in digesting the information.
Once all necessary tools are in place, it is important to teach the team the art of unsubscribing from sources that have stagnated. Those who forget to do this end up wasting time sorting through too much clutter.
Step Three – Institutionalize the process across the organization – The end goal is to raise the career IQ of the organization and for this to happen the concept and practice of building rivers of information has to be driven into the corporate culture. Although some might choose to configure their rivers uniquely, it is desired that everyone on the team have a productive and expansive system for gaining ample knowledge. This means the organization must have action steps to inspire and assist people. It means the leaders must lead by example. The human resources department needs to be involved in order to train new team members on the concept and to provide the initial lists of information providers. Managers must hold their teams accountable to work these processes and to share high-quality information they discover with others. When the culture of an organization values continuous learning, and leadership willingly embraces the discovery of new streams of information, exciting things can happen with the corporate IQ. Here are some additional thought to institutionalizing this process:
➢ A great place to start is to survey employees and gather their top ten lists
of information sources. This is a quick way to create an initial list of 30 to
40 streams which can be shared with the team as a quick win to reveal how easy it is to improve their sources of information.
➢ This is a perfect task for the human resource department if you have one.
They stand at the intersection of training and employee development in
most cases.
➢ Have the CEO of the organization share their list with the team from time
to time. This provides confirmation that maintaining information sources
is a priority, and also shows what information flows are important to the
leadership.
➢ Experiment with providing an online collaboration tool where people can
post the most interesting things they have seen that day, as well as where
they found the information. This can serve as a virtual information
marketplace that will be valuable.
Step Four – Implement accountability measures to assure the team is executing and adding to the collective ability to grow their rivers – As with any process change, progress will come faster when there is a method of accountability. There are a few methods that can be put in place to give incentives to employees for trying to build their own personal rivers. The first is to ask around the room at a meeting and have team members share the most interesting thing they have learned or discovered in their river that week. This gives them a subtle push to develop a river, and motivates them to find something others would find interesting (it provides healthy peer pressure). Another approach is to have team members mentor new employees in this area by sharing their list of river sources. Another professional approach to accountability is to add an item in employee reviews that specifically addresses how sophisticated the rivers of team members have become. Consider the following when putting together your river process:
➢ There are some positions in an organization that have traditionally not been under
pressure to gain industry knowledge. As the economy gets more competitive, every
employee should either be gaining more industry knowledge or expanding the
knowledge base of their current position. There is no excuse for anyone to forego
learning.
➢ You may find that the top ten percent of your people who become highly skilled at
building and managing their river become central hubs. Once you know who these
people are, encourage them to replicate information internally through blogs,
twitter feeds, collaboration applications, or any other method you feel would help
them pass along their findings.
➢ One company tasked their best river of information person with the job of creating
a daily email of the top ten things found that day and sharing it with the whole
team. This person now produces this list as his full time job because the
organization understands the importance of the most up-to-the-minute industry
news.
Step Five – Provide training on information sources and technology tools for implementing – Because this is a new field, it is naïve to think team members will assimilate the knowledge without help. Training should be provided on how to use the web-based tools that support this process. A simple one hour training session for new employees could dramatically shorten the time it takes for them to get up to speed on the latest in your marketplace. A one-hour lunch and learn every quarter would be enough to help employees get up to speed on the latest tools and how to apply them. A small investment in training can reap huge rewards.
Step Six – Develop processes for advertising new sources of information when discovered – Information sources are going to ebb and flow in value. The hottest trends today may cool off over the next few years. New sources will crop up and must be added to the river. Many people will make the effort to build their rivers initially, but will then become indolent when it comes to revamping their source list. The best thing the organization can do to combat this is to create a central hub where new sources of information can be posted and from which any new posting will automatically be emailed to everyone. This prompts many to think about upgrading. Consider the following ideas:
➢ When people post a new source of information, allow them to attach their name to
it so there is some pride of ownership. This also deters people from posting weak
sources.
➢ If you are using some type of wiki or collaboration center to post the list of new
sources, be sure to turn on the capability of e-mailing everyone on the list when a
new source gets added so people do not miss it.
➢ Choose a person who will have the authority to remove items from the list if the
information source grows stale or becomes non-effective.
➢ Make a point to show your staff sources team members have found that are more
valuable than others. When someone finds something good, let them, and
everyone else, know that you’re watching and proud of that person’s effort.
Expected Outcomes
Obviously, the first desired outcome is to raise the overall knowledge level of the person building a river and an organization that is taking on the process company-wide. Secondly, we want to actively push the pace at which we intake and distribute valuable information. There are many facets of information that degrade quickly once an event has happened. For instance, it is useless to learn that a prospective customer will be bidding out a contract in your market if this information arrives even one day late. Finally, information needs to get to the right people at the right time, so a habit of passing critical information on to the right people needs to be ingrained. These outcomes underline three solid objectives – accessing and digesting markedly larger quantities of information, getting information gathering accomplished faster, and developing the skills to route valuable pieces of information to the parties who can and will use it best. This is how you actively increase your personal, career, and organizational IQs.
Supporting Documents
A Tool-Based Checklist for Building Rivers of Information
1. Appoint a cross-functional team or department to take the lead in defining and
communicating the importance and usage of the Rivers of Information process
(leadership must fully support this effort). This team will be responsible for educating
others about the process as well as any specific policy guidelines for implementing.
2. Select or build a platform for aggregating and providing access to gathered streams
of information on your industry, product categories, and your competitors. Start with a tool to connect to RSS feeds (Feedly, NetVibes, Fever, Newsblur, Pulse) or
aggregated social content lists and boards such as (AllTop, Inbound, SmartBrief,
Scoop.It!, Twylah, PopURLS, OldReader, Pinterest, Managing News, Twitter lists,
etc.).
3. Setup up a separate social channel management (SMMS) dashboard or platform that
focuses specifically on listening/monitoring AND sharing content (with related
analytics) across multiple owned social channels at once (Tweetdeck, Hootsuite,
Tweetcaster, Oracle Involver, Sprout Social, Spredfast, GroupTweet, etc.).
Note: Tools like Netvibes listed in Step 2 have monitoring/listening and PR response
functionality with dashboard widget add-ons, etc. but do not focus on content sharing
along with ease of use for monitoring sentiment and keyword mentions about your
name.
4. Identify any key metrics or insights you want to track around internal content
curating, archiving, filtering, or sharing. These can be especially helpful in refining
your list of the most important sources of content, the amount of usage generated
from it, etc. You can use URL shortening and tracking tools like bitly.com or “virality
measuring” tools like Facebook Insights for ideas on what to track.
5. On compatible tablets, install the Flipboard app (or similar: Feedly, OldReader,
Instapaper, Newsblur, Hivemined, Taptu, Zite, etc.) and attach it to your streams of
information, or find an app that does the same thing on whatever device you run.
6. Learn to use quick alert systems to track any piece of information that will be
valuable (Socialmention, Alerts, Mention, Google Alerts, Traackr, etc.).
7. Make a list of keywords to run alerts on so you always see any mention of that
subject and then set up the alerts. Consider using Google AdWords’ Keyword Tool for this.
8. Identify the top 10 Twitterers and influencers in your industry using tools like
Twellow, WeFollow, Topsy, and Twitter Search.
9. Identify the top 10 bloggers in your industry using tools like Technorati, IceRocket,
StumbleUpon, etc. (Note: You can also set up keyword alerts in your social
management dashboard to uncover blogs you should subscribe to).
10. Identify the top newsletter sources in your industry.
11. Identify the top news sources with relevant information (NY Times, Washington Post,
USA Today, Wall Street Journal, etc.).
12. Identify preferred sources for other popular trending information (LinkedIn Today,
Digg, Scoop.It!, Twitter Search, etc.).
13. Identify all the analytic and statistical information sources for your industry.
Naturally, much of this will come from subscribing to industry quarterly and annual
reports, surveys, etc. Some tools like Netvibes have ways to integrate internal data
and run social analytic and reports on competitor mentions, sentiment, trends, etc.,
but you may also want to subscribe to or compile information from industry trend
and stat databases such as Factiva, Mergent Online, BizMiner, S&Ps Industry Surveys,
Statista, IbisWorld, First Research, etc. You can also try using sites like Quora to
crowdsource answers to key data inquiries from experts or sites like Quantcast to
receive reports on key demographic and psychographic information for your target
market.
14. Identify any consultants or analysts who follow and write about your industry.
15. Identify what competitors you want to follow via social channels and keyword alerts
(you can also use tools like Similarsites to research similar web properties and blogs that are out there).
16. Tap into board and forum posts using tools like BoardReader, Yahoo Answers, Quora,
WikiAnswers, etc.
17. Have team members check with co-workers to ask what the most valuable sources of
information they follow are so everyone is on the same page.
18. Divide the information streams above into A and B categories using the 20/80
principle: send the most valuable 20% to your email every day so you always read it
for sure, and send the other 80% to a secondary river management system using the
tools above.
19. Every team member should make a conscious effort to digest this information flow
for at least 30 minutes each day.
20. Once the flow of information is refined, you should build a social curating or
bookmarking system to archive, store, and quick reference the bits of information
that you might want to publish or schedule for use in the future. You can use tools
like Evernote, Delicious, Scoop.it, StumbleUpon, Pinterest, Storify, PearlTrees, List.ly,
OneNote, Inbound, or XMarks. Or you can just store them in files on your hard drive
in an organized manner.
21. Constantly refine each organizational and/or departmental River of Information
source list so it is always improving and yielding the kinds of information that will be
valuable. Regularly review and drop sources that prove to be weak, and add new
sources your find that have potential. Having up-to-date lists on hand will also prove
invaluable for sharing with new hires, partners and other 3rd parties, etc. so that they
are able to quickly get up to speed on what is going into the collective mind.
FPOV Source List
Online Magazines and Blog Newsletters/Feeds (by Category)
Sales/Marketing, Branding, Advertising
http://www.businessweek.com/companies-and-industries/media-and-marketing
BusinessWeek Magazine on business-impacting media and marketing trends, news, and information.
http://www.contentmarketinginstitute.com/blog/
This site is for help covering the how-tos and best practices of content marketing.
http://webbiquity.com/
A blog about webbiquity – maximizing your organization’s online presence and success.
http://mashable.com/
A top source for news in social and digital media, technology, and web culture.
http://www.brandingbusiness.com/about/
Timely, topical takes on the role of branding in the B2B world.
http://www.emarketer.com/Articles
Provides insights and intelligence for navigating the changing, competitive, and complex digital environment.
http://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com/
Creative Guerrilla Marketing is a leading online news resource dedicated to guerrilla marketing, mobile marketing, unconventional marketing, and alternative advertising.
Mobile and Outboard Brain
http://www.socialmediainformer.com/mobile/
Key topics include Mobile and Social Marketing.
http://techcrunch.com/mobile/
TechCrunch is a leading technology media property dedicated to profiling startups, reviewing new internet products, and breaking tech news. Founded in 2005, TechCrunch and its network of websites now reach over 10 million unique visitors and draw more than 33 million page views per month.
http://thenextweb.com/mobile/
Founded in 2008, The Next Web is one of the world’s largest online publications that delivers an international perspective on the latest news about internet technology, business and culture.
http://www.mobilemarketingwatch.com/
The main purpose is to serve the mobile ecosystem — whether it’s consumers, businesses, marketers, or the industry at large — by not only collecting and reporting relevant news, but by also providing insight and commentary to help you navigate the mobile channel and make better decisions.
http://www.intomobile.com/
IntoMobile delivers breaking news, information, and analysis on the latest mobile phones and mobile technology. IntoMobile is the leading and most read daily mobile technology news site that caters to early adopters, mobile professionals, technology enthusiasts, and technology consumers alike.
http://www.m-trends.org/
A personal blog where Rudy de Waele writes about mobile media lifestyle, trends, ideas, and opinion on anything about mobile.
Web Strategy, Design, and Content Development
http://www.w3-edge.com/
We solve problems related but not limited to: developing traffic, user experience design and usability, web site/ hosting performance, competitive analysis/business development, and web app development. From business cards and logos to Twitter and Facebook applications, we commit ourselves to helping clients attach an ROI to their online ventures.
http://intridea.com/blog
Based in Washington, D.C., Intridea is a web products & services company specializing in agile application development, user interface design, and custom mobile app solutions.
http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/
My Creative Team is a diverse group of seasoned marketing professionals representing disciplines that range from advertising and marketing to public relations and web design.
http://www.smashingmagazine.com/
Founded in September 2006, Smashing Magazine delivers useful and innovative information to web designers and developers. The aim is to inform readers about the latest trends and techniques in web development.
http://www.456bereastreet.com/
This site is a place for articles, tutorials, and comments on subjects that are interesting and useful to web professionals. Most posts on this site are related to web standards, accessibility, or usability in one way or another, with the occasional post on other subjects.
http://simplebits.com/
SimpleBits is the tiny creative studio of designer, author, and speaker Dan Cederholm.
http://alistapart.com/
For People Who Make Websites - A List Apart explores the design, development, and meaning of web content, with a special focus on web standards and best practices.
http://www.janrain.com/blogs
Janrain has evolved into the most experienced provider of turnkey solutions giving organizations the ability to build deeper, more valuable relationships with their users as they integrate with the social web.
http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/
The blog of Jeremiah Owyang. Thought-leading perspectives and industry insight specifically on web strategy, social integration, and building stronger online relationships.
http://bestdesignoptions.com/?cat=372
Loads of web design and content creation ideas, tools, add-ons, freebies, and tutorials.
Digital Marketing Concepts/Trends and Social Technologies
(Social Media/Networking, Social Relevance, and Converging Social Dynamics)
http://www.business2community.com/
An open community where business professionals can establish their thought leadership, increase exposure for their business/organization, and network with others. Covers content on
Social, Business, Tech, Lifestyle, and General News with an excellent daily newsletter.
http://www.socialmediainformer.com/
Key topics include social media, social networking, mobile, and marketing.
http://www.socialfish.org/blog
This blog covers the intersection between social media and association management.
http://www.socialmedia.org/biglist/blog/
A blog that brings together brands from a number of top Fortune 500 companies. They pride themselves on being able to answer tough social media questions. This is a great blog for tapping into case studies and in-the-trenches, been-there-done-that expertise.
http://www.clickz.com/
Interactive marketing news and information, commentary, advice, opinion, research, and references. From search to social, technology to trends, the coverage is expert, exclusive, and in-depth.
http://adage.com/channel/digital/20
All things digital marketing, social technology, and viral from AdAge Magazine.
http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/
The world’s largest online social media magazine, Social Media Examiner, helps businesses discover how to best use social, blogs, and podcasts to connect with customers, drive traffic, generate more brand awareness and increase sales.
http://www.crowdsourcing.org/
Crowdsourcing.org is the leading industry resource offering the largest online repository of news, articles, videos, and site information on the topic of crowdsourcing and crowdfunding.
http://mashable.com/social-media/
Founded in 2005, Mashable is a top source for news in social and digital media, technology and web culture.
http://www.my-creativeteam.com/blog/
My Creative Team is a diverse group of seasoned marketing communications professionals representing disciplines that range from advertising and marketing to public relations and web design.
http://www.simplyzesty.com/
From digital marketing and mobile strategy to winning marketing video examples, Simply
Zesty delivers a newsletter and a blog with great content including top third party blogs, case studies, thought-leading articles and more.
http://www.relationship-economy.com/
As co-founder and CEO of Social Flights, LLC, Jay Deragon has blended his more than 25 years of experience in global strategic management consulting and his renowned expertise in social technology to launch a revolution in air travel for the flying public. Rated one of the top 100 blogs for The Daily Reviewer.
http://www.socialfish.org/blog
SocialFishing, a blog by the SocialFish, covers the intersection between social media and association management.
http://impact.webershandwick.com/
Weber Shandwick Social Impact is a global agency team that partners with corporations, nonprofits, and foundations to drive engagement on pressing social issues.
http://www.socialmedia.org/biglist/blog/
A blog that brings together brands from a number of top Fortune 500 companies. They pride themselves on being able to answer tough social media questions others don’t have the experience to answer. This is a great blog for tapping into case studies and in-the-trenches, been-there-done-that expertise.
http://blog.socialcast.com/
Topics related to the “future of work” - enhancing human collaboration and engagement.
http://technorati.com/social-media/
Founded as the first blog search engine, Technorati has expanded to a full service media company providing services to the blogs and social media sites and connecting them with advertisers who want to join the conversation, and whose online properties introduce blog content to millions of consumers.
http://www.adweek.com/technology/social
Social technology news and happenings from AdWeek magazine.
Tech Innovations, Future Trends and Concepts, Gadgets
http://technorati.com/technology/
Founded as the first blog search engine, Technorati has expanded to a full service media company providing services to the blogs and social media sites and connecting them with advertisers who want to join the conversation, and whose online properties introduce blog content to millions of consumers.
http://www.forbes.com/technology/
Forbes Magazine coverage of Technology.
http://www.businessweek.com/technology
BusinessWeek Magazine on business-impacting technology trends, news, and information.
http://techcrunch.com/
TechCrunch is a leading technology media property, dedicated to profiling startups, reviewing new internet products, and breaking tech news. Founded in 2005, TechCrunch and its network of websites now reach over 10 million unique visitors and draw more than 33 million page views per month.
http://www.technologyreview.com/
From MIT, this award-winning content stream consistently identifies important new technologies — deciphering their practical impact and revealing how they will change our lives.
http://gizmodo.com/
Edgy commentary, opinions, and practical insight around tech news, trends, and, of course, gadgetry, devices, and all the other cool tech toys on your Christmas list this year.
http://techpaparazzi.com/
Daily tech happenings in this geekie world. They track the latest candids from this techie world. TechPaparazzi follows different areas of technology.
http://www.wired.com/blogs/
WIRED is the first word on how ideas and innovation are changing the world. Each month in the magazine and every day online, the editors deliver a glimpse into the future of business, culture, innovation and science
http://socialnerdia.com/
Created by Esteban Contreras as a creative outlet. Esteban also hosts The Social Nerdia Show!
(blogtalkradio live podcast) and has interviewed influential industry leaders from companies like Adobe, Seesmic, GM, Kodak, TechCrunch, Google, Relevant Magazine, Current TV,
BusinessWeek, CP+B, Radian6, and more.
http://io9.com/ io9 is a daily publication that covers science, science fiction, and the future.
http://www.fastcompany.com/
A treasure trove of content and information around progressive creative design and content development as well as edgy technology, gadget news and more.
http://www.techmedianetwork.com/for-readers/ expert product reviewers and award-winning journalists produce hundreds of original videos, news, fact-based reviews, and product testing articles daily.
Social Media Governance and Policy Creation
http://socialmediagovernance.com/policies.php
Chris Boudreaux created SocialMediaGovernance.com to provide tools and resources for leaders and managers who want to get the most from their efforts in social media.
http://davefleet.com/2010/07/57-social-media-policy-examples-resources/
DaveFleet.com is about communications, public relations, marketing and social media, and the areas where those topics intersect.
Business Intelligence (BI) and Big Data
http://blog.trendrr.com/
A business intelligence web service for digital and social media. Trendrr allows you to listen, measure, and respond to the conversation about a product, service, or brand in real-time and over-time.
http://www.businessinsider.com/
A business site with deep financial, entertainment, green tech, and digital industry verticals.
http://www.sitetrail.com/
Website analysis platform and a comprehensive source for breaking social media and technology news on the web. Helps web enthusiasts keep track of their favorite websites.
http://blog.pntmarketingservices.com/tag/customer-intelligence/
Thoughts on leveraging customer data to build profitable relationships
http://blogs.sas.com/content/customeranalytics/
A blog for anyone who is looking for ways to improve the business of marketing and communicating with customers.
http://planetbigdata.com/
An aggregator of blogs about big data, Hadoop, and related topics. We include posts by bloggers worldwide.
Global Region Technology Information Sources
http://www.techinasia.com/
Tech in Asia is an online technology news startup based in Asia, with team members all across the region. As a crew of journalists and bloggers with a passion for new ways of delivering the news, they’ve bonded together under one goal – to create a great Asia-focused tech news site to tell the world about the wonderful things that are happening there in technology.
Miscellaneous
http://fluency21.com/blog/
The 21st Century Fluency Project is a collaborative initiative that was created to develop exceptional technology-based educational resources to assist in transforming learning so that it is relevant to life in the 21st century. http://sethgodin.typepad.com/
Seth Godin is author of ten books that have been bestsellers around the world. His most recent titles include The Dip and Meatball Sundae. Free Prize Inside was published in early May
2004, and All Marketers Are Liars was published in 2005. His books that have been bestsellers around the world and changed the way people think about marketing, change, and work.
http://alltop.com/
A Practical guide to all the important topics (most) people care about.
http://blogs.hbr.org/
Harvard Business Review’s blog network of daily posts on business-impacting trends, technology, and concepts.
http://impact.webershandwick.com/
Weber Shandwick Social Impact is a global agency team that partners with corporations, nonprofits, and foundations to drive engagement on pressing social issues and promote social sustainability.
Social Channel Feeds (Social industry sources we follow, like, and subscribe to)
@Mashable
Breaking social media, tech and digital news analysis from Mashable.com, the top resource and guide for all things web. Updates from @Mashable staff. Here is a list of category-specific
Mashable sub accounts: @mashabletech; @mashablesocialmedia; @mashablemobile;
@mashablevideo; @mashbusiness; @watercooler; @mashablehq; @socialgood;
@@mashableapple; @mashableevents; @mashusworld; @mashstartups; @mashablejobs;
@mashdevdesign; @mashlifestyle
@Techinasia
The Asian tech catalog.
@RWW
The latest news, analysis and conversation in all things web, tech and social media from the
ReadWriteWeb.com team.
@PixelEffects
Brand Development, Website Design, Web Application Development, SEO, SEM, Online
Reputation Management, and startup consulting.
@SocialRadar
The ultimate social media monitoring and market research tool powered by the largest content collection in this industry.
@Marketwired
Leading provider of social media analytics. Enabling business intelligence for social media.
@PostRank
PostRank is a real-time engagement monitoring and analytics platform for web content.
@TEDchris
TED stands for Technology, Entertainment, and Design. TED works to spread ideas in these areas, and this is a Twitter account associated with the organization.
@Technorati
A Twitter account for the blog search engine and directory, Technorati.
@crowdsourcing
Jeff Howe is a writer at Wired Magazine and a Nieman Fellow at Harvard University. He coined the term crowdsourcing.
@YourCustomers
Content on sales, marketing, and customer service from thecustomercollective.com and thesocialcustomer.com
@smexaminer
Updates from Social Media Examiner.com
Others:
· @UsefulSocial
· @futureworkplace
· @Steveology
· @techreview
· @BreakingNews
· @FastCompany
· @socialmedia2day
· @EricGreenspan
· @Trendrr
· @netvibes
· @MITnews
· @tedvideos
· @neiltyson
· @mental_floss
· @HubSpotTech
· @Alltop
· @BigDataBlogs
· @planetbigdata · @wssocialimpact
Newsletters
· http://www.socialmediainformer.com
· http://socialmediatoday.com/user/register?reference=smt_side
· http://www.btobonline.com/section/newsletters
· http://wiredprworks.com/social-media-pr-newsletter/
· http://www.businessinsider.com/newsletter?source=footer
· http://www.wired.com/services/newsletters
· http://www.janrain.com/blogs
· http://www.clickz.com/newsletters
· http://www.simplyzesty.com/
· http://www.fastcompany.com/newsletters
· https://email.hbr.org/preference-center
· http://www.cnet.com/newsletters/
Curated Content Sources
· http://www.scoop.it/t/infographics-data-visualization
· http://www.scoop.it/t/crowdfundingrocks
· http://www.scoop.it/t/neat-new-technology · http://www.scoop.it/t/extreme-social
· http://www.scoop.it/t/envisioning-future-technology
· http://www.scoop.it/t/change-and-the-future-of-life-and-work
· http://presentationtools.masternewmedia.org/
Data Feeds, Stats, and Business/Customer Intelligence
· http://www.emarketer.com/Products/Products.aspx
· http://www.crunchbase.com/
· http://therealtimereport.com/
· http://socialmention.com/
· http://addictomatic.com/
River of Information Content Filtering/Screening Tools
http://flipboard.com/
An iPad application for searching, aggregating, filtering, and sharing content in a convenient daily “digital magazine” format.
http://www.zite.com/ A personalized iPad magazine that gets smarter as you use it. Similar to Flipboard (above) but more intuitive.
http://www.news.me/
Offers a new way to find out what the people who interest you are reading right now. By allowing you to read a full, clean, continuous and ad-free stream of articles right inside the iPad app, News.me offers a fresh, uncluttered, and compelling way to get your news via the luminaries you already follow on Twitter.
http://www.feedreader.com/
Offers advanced, cutting-edge capabilities, including the most comprehensive podcasting support available today, as well as unique smart feed technology that puts the information you need right at your fingertips.
http://www.netvibes.com/en
Award-winning dashboard reader. Available for free for basic use with enterprise-level, VIP, and premium options.
https://socialreader.com
Follow topics for a fast way to get the latest on things that you care about. See what people are reading and discover new things to read from your friends, and share the stuff you like. Be in control and turn instant sharing on to lead the conversation. Or turn instant sharing off to read privately.
Social Search Tools
Tools for easily identifying major trends, buzz topics, buzzworthiness, blog topics, blog influencer searches, and social “share pattern” / virality analysis.
http://www.google.com/blogsearch
More specific search results than Google Alerts with many tools to monitor keywords.
http://blekko.com/
Select the sites you want to search with Blekko. You can create “slashtags” for groups of URLs, friends, experts and communities and you can “slash in” what you want and “slash out” what you don’t want to search.
http://www.sitetrail.com/
A website analysis platform and a comprehensive source for breaking social media and technology news on the web. Helps web enthusiasts keep track of their favorite websites/
http://technorati.com/blogs/directory/
Has a top 100 list of bloggers/newsletters that features changing authority rankings, latest headlines, and degree of score change (+ or -) so you know who and what is being trended.
http://www.viralviralvideos.com/
The best in marketing videos, commercials, and homegrown masterpieces that are going viral right now.
http://www.socialnetworkingwatch.com
Good site for staying up with the latest trend developments and news related to the social networking space.
http://www.icerocket.com
Free tool that searches across blogs, Facebook, and Twitter results to view mentions of your name or keywords and topics in real time.
http://www.topsy.com
Search and analyze the social web. Instantly access real-time and multi-year social web data and detect and follow breaking news. Analyze your own or your competitors’ campaigns and web-sites. Correlate social web activity with real-world data to accurately predict outcomes.
http://www.alltop.com
As the name implies, this basic trending topic tool enables you to do social searches and drilldowns on any keyword or phrase you can think of. Filters results to showcase trending results in real time.
http://www.social-searcher.com/social-buzz
A real-time search engine for Facebook, Twitter and Google+. It is designed to provide a different kind of user experience and deep analytics for marketing professionals. Some of these include: posts types, top links/domains, keywords, sentiment, top users and posts.
http://www.Booshaka.com
Identify the most engaged fans and followers, recognize and reward appropriate brand evangelists and influencers, and target and connect with other relevant social communities.
http://www.AddictOMatic.com
Addictomatic searches live sites on the web for the latest news, blog posts, videos and images.
It's the perfect tool to monitor mentions and sentiment on your name in real time, keep up with the hottest topics, perform ego searches and feed your addiction for what's up, what's now, or what other people are feeding on. This tool is also viable as a social trend research tool.
This document protected by a Creative Commons license
Rivers of Information Process by Future Point of View is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution 3.0
Unported License.