The SXSW PanelPicker 2012 public voting is now open. We’re excited to announce that our own Melani Gordon (@melgordon or @taphunter) was asked to be on an interactive panel. Here’s a small excerpt:
Since the end of prohibition, the craft beer industry has been impacted by a limiting distribution system. This system has made it challenging [...]

Apple, the most valuable technology company since it overtook Microsoft 15 months ago,  surpassed Exxon Mobil last week making the tech giant the world’s most valuable company at $341 billion .
At lunchtime August 9, 2011, Apple was trading at  $367 per share, giving the company a valuation of more than $341 billion, briefly surpassing what Exxon Mobil was worth [...]

According to eMarketer data compiled in January 2011, the U.S. virtual goods market is expected to generate $653 million in revenue this year, up 28% from 2010.  Virtual goods, in case you’re not a shut-in, are digital representations of goods for which one pays actual, real money. An example would be a digital sweater for your avatars girlfriend [...]

In late June Google rolled out their version of Facebook, Twitter and Skype combined, which they claim to be neither, both, and all three.  Google+ is the latest effort by one of the ‘Big Five’ (Google, Facebook, Twitter, MySpace, Linkdin)  to protect their revenue share in the online advertising market. At the very least Google [...]

Professional Social Media site LinkedIn leapfrogged MySpace last week to take the number two slot in the industry under the number one behemoth Facebook (160 million users). After a splashy public offerings debut in March the site hit 100 million users, the holy grail number for emerging social media sites. According to LinkedIn CEO Jeff [...]

These statistics and facts from the Facebook Press Office demonstrate the incredible growth in Social Media marketing and the importance of such sites in marketing to consumers:

The average Facebook user has 130 friends.
More than 25 billion pieces of content (web links, news stories, blog posts, notes, photo albums, etc.) are shared each month.
Over 300,000 users helped [...]

The next step has been taken in the voluntary immobilization of our species:  voice-activated Google-searches, yeah baby! Too tired to type? Holding the baby?  Double-fisting? Google’s got your back.
Google announced last week that voice-activated searches and quicker search time technology will increase ease and efficiency for PC users on their search engine.   Google’s big announcement [...]

A new study shows that Facebook fans and Twitter followers of a brand are more inclined to buy or recommend products from that brand.
This study, done by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies, found that 60% of fans on Facebook and 79% of Twitter followers (out of 1,500 consumers) are more inclined to recommend [...]

Facebook has never been better for businesses. Make your brand stand out above the rest by following these simple tips.

Use the new “Use Facebook as a Page” function -
Facebook didn’t make a big deal about this, but you now have the ability to use Facebook as a page. It makes a big difference when you can go [...]

The Internet if full of stories of success: Amazon, eBay, Google…the list could go on forever. But the most recent trend is the dominance and success of Web 2.0 sites, that is, sites that are built around a concept but primarily driven and filled with content by individual users. The prime example of this model [...]