My list of the Top 10 Social Media Guides covering the state of the art for business. Included with each is my own personal Take away: which is the one thing that I learned or re-learned from that posting.

1. Blogging 101 by Susan Getgood- download the 56 page PowerPoint of the presentation she recently gave at SOCAP (Society of Consumer Affairs Professionals in Business) International Symposium in Boston.
   Take away: Social media sites that aggregate ratings, like Yelp or TripAdvisor, have the most impact. I’m more likely to listen to the combined opinion of 25 people over the rantings of 1 angry customer.
2. Tweeting for Companies 101by Tara Hunt - includes sections on; Good Examples of Corporate Tweeters, Stuff to Tweet About, and How to Tweet Without Losing Your Soul.
   Take away: Balancing, Promotional tweets, with Personal Tweets, with Conversational Tweets.
3. A Comprehensive Guide to StumbleUpon by Dosh Dosh – Simply one of the best blogs out there, IMHO. Dosh Dosh lists some great ideas you can use here for much more than just StumbleUpon.
   Take away: Try using tags that are more general and less specific; with examples.
4. 48 Social News Websites again by Dosh Dosh – This post includes screen shots of all 48 websites! That kind of attention to detail explains why it’s such a great blog.
   Take away: this webpage has a list of over 380 social news sites. Most of them are a waste of your time: they are riddled with spam…
5. How Do I Get Placement On Blogs by Jason Falls – This example story/ almost pitch is a perfect example of the state of the art in approaching Blogs and Bloggers today.
   Take away: I’m NOT ASKING HER TO BLOG ABOUT IT! I’m merely asking if she’ll try it.
6. The State of Blog Relations by APCO & the Council on Public Relations – A fascinating study of the perceptions of Bloggers vs. the perceptions of PR Professionals.
   Take away: Transparency is non-negotiable, both by PR people and bloggers.
7. 17 Social Shopping Sites by Social Media Trader – A useful chart that gives demographics on the 17 top sites covering age, sex and traffic of these increasingly important social comparison sites.
   Take away: No one my age shops for anything- lol.
8. Evaluating New Social Media Networks by CIO Insight – A wonderful primer for your evaluation of social networking technologies and new vertical nets in your neighborhood.
   Take away: Does it shift power from institutions to people?
9. AllTop Social Media - This Guy who’s kinda interested in Social Media, from what I can gather is involved in this site that lists the best of each genre in most popular online subject areas. What’s his name? He’s named after a motorcycle I think, but I can’t think of it right now…
   Take away: You ain’t noth’n till you’re listed on AllTop. And you’ll notice this blog isn’t there…YET!
10. 75 Suggestions Best Practices & Resources for Digg by Derek Edmond [Late Addition]- An awesome resource with fantastic tips and links to great tools and other ideas for digging your way to gold.
    Take away: Don’t keyword stuff your titles or descriptions (traditional, old-school SEO tactics are not advised)

This list is entirely subjective and there are certainly those who will think the list is missing some important posts- let me know in the comments. You see, this is the web and I can “Do it Wrong Quickly” and then fix it.

Tanks for Reading,

Chris