Dublin, Ireland – (The Hosting News) – January 21, 2009 – Research and Markets, in its new report, evaluates the influence of Social Media Best Practices: Profiles and Recommendations is the Essential Resource for Publishers and Content Technology Companies, as the new report is added to its offerings.

The report details what are believed to be the key best practices for social media publishing, as developed through an analysis of nine leading Web sites that incorporate social media offerings.

Buyers, sellers and facilitators of content and the technologies that enable its value in individual and institutional environments. Executives in the community of vendors creating publications and content technology services will be especially interested to understand what features and management methods succeed in social media publishing properties.

Key best practices recommendations, social media product analysis and a review checklist. The paper provides sixteen key best practices recommendations for social media site development, further summarized into a two-page checklist for reviewing your own product plans, as well as recommendations as to how publishers should staff for social media and manage social media properties. Features and capabilities defined and analyzed for each site include business model, concept analysis, distinguishing features, implementation advantages, key best practices, key takeaways, growth contributors, traffic growth, community features, editorial guidance, look and feel, indexing and tagging, voting and rating, linking, syndication, registration, moderation, writing style, search engine content placement, ad integration, channel partners and portal integration strategies. Social media features and services were evaluated as demonstrated in nine leading destination Web sites, some with B2B orientation and others with a consumer orientation: ALM Legal Weblogs, Amazon.com, Flickr, ITtoolbox, LinkedIn, Newsvine, VerdictSearch, Wikipedia and Zagat. These were chosen to reflect key attributes and platforms used to deliver social media services: bulletin boards and forums, integrated portal services, ratings ands reviews, social bookmarks, social networking, weblogs, Wikis and collaborative databases.

A guide for publishers and content technology companies considering how to develop social media services. The report provides both in-depth insights into how Web sites equipped with social media features succeed – or not – and high-level recommendations as to what key best practices can help to make a social media play successful.

What makes social media work in today’s online publishing? What are the best practices for social media? To answer these questions we conducted an analysis of leading and emerging Web sites that use social media as a key attribute in their offerings. We looked at not just the trendy online consumer portals but as well key offerings in business media and older services that have made good use of social media to establish the value of their publications. This report outlines key best practices for social media publishing, as developed through an analysis of nine leading Web sites that incorporate social media offerings. The report provides detailed profiles of social media features found in ALM Legal Weblogs, Amazon.com, Flickr, ITtoolbox, LinkedIn, Newsvine, VerdictSearch, Wikipedia and Zagat, as well as sixteen key best practices recommendations for social media site development, further summarized into a two-page checklist for reviewing your own product plans.

Social media encompasses any self-published content created by individuals that contributes significantly to the editorial value of a publishing product through enhanced peer interactions. This means everything from comments on weblogs to ratings and reviews to full-blown Wikis and social networking sites.

The research shows that it’s not the tools of social media that make it a powerful communication form as much as how those tools have been deployed. More established Web sites equipped with appropriate social media features can gain benefit from them in much the same way that an all-user site can generate value. The key is to treat your audience contributors as serious publishers and to help them to be successful publishers as much as you would any professional contributor. Social media treated as a serious editorial asset can become the cornerstone of a publishing strategy that has the potential to supplement and eventually to replace print as a key driver for revenues from highly focused audiences.

Key Topics Covered include:

• Report Profile
• Executive Summary
• Overview
• Social Media Defined
• Summary and Key Findings
• Best Practices Checklist
• Recommendations
• ALM Legal Weblogs
• Amazon.com
• Flickr
• ITtoolbox
• LinkedIn
• Newsvine
• VerdictSearch
• Wikipedia
• Zagat

Research and Markets is an international market research and market data resource, with major research publications from most of the leading publishers, consultants and analysts, concerning key industries, top companies, new products and the latest trends. The market research reports and industry newsletters from specialist research firms and niche market analysts, are listed at the same price as the specialist research firms.

To learn more about the report, please visit: www.researchandmarkets.com/research/c1a8af/social_media_best.

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