Seth Goldstein.Net — Thoughts on Social Media, Social Media Marketing and thought who call themselves experts from Seth Goldstein on Vimeo.

So in January, Ms. Herrscher began thinking about ways to apply the principles of Twitter to her site. She wanted something where her readers “wouldn’t have to dig through the millions of people on Twitter to find moms, or moms in their area or moms with their common interests,” she said. “It’s a smaller, manageable community.”

via A Twitter Spinoff Launches for Moms – Digits – WSJ.

So here’s the thing, all of these Twitter spin offs, Laconi.ca installations etc., are great. Yet they are missing two things, in my opinion, the community and the interconnectivity. The majority of people are on Twitter. Yes there is a following for spin off sites like Identi.ca and the TWIT Army (both of which I belong to), but the fact that Twitter has almost everyone on it and the developmental chops via the API makes it seem so much more powerful than it’s clones.

Though Rachael Herrscher might be on to something, I just feel that we’re dealing with an overload of social media sites. On a daily basis many of us are checking at least three if not more programs to follow people and get our news.

Personally these are the services that I use on a regular basis:

• Twitter (always open in Tweetdeck)
• Facebook (always open in a tap in Firefox)
• Linkedin (I jump back and forth when I get a notice or an email about something on the service)
• FriendFeed (when I’m not already overloaded)
• Google Reader (for Twitter search term feeds and blog updates)
• GMail (for my email)
• Delicious (to share sites that I find on a daily basis with the world)

Now that’s just on a daily basis and thankfully I’m still able to get my work done. Granted my business is closely tied to social media and the Internet so I’m able to suppliment my life with these services. But when is adding services causing more harm than good or even not contributing anything.

I’m also on theses sites (and I’m missing tons):

• Identi.ca ( a twitter clone network. Find me as GoldsteinMedia)
• Army.Twit.Tv (another Laconi.ca opensource Twitter clone run by Tech guru Leo Laporte of This Week In Tech and TechTV fame)

The solution, in my opinion, is not to stop innovating or making new services. The solution is to make all these clones and networks talk to each other (easily). That way people can interact on a broader scale without major time-consuming social media burnout.

I’m interested in what you think. Post your comments below.

Blellow is very neat. Is it a Twitter Killer? No. But a neat concept.

The idea of Twitter was to share what you are doing with your friends and fans, but it’s evolved into so much more. Twitter is like Blellow just without the amount of functionality that Blellow provides. I’d be interested to see if there will eventually be integration between the two.

What are your thoughts on Blellow? Post them below.

Check this viral video out. It’s unbelievable.

Google’s Analytics team has put together a great video to help people fully understand the power of their analytics program. It’s worth checking out. I’d like to hear what you think and how you use analytics for your Website. Post them below.

Okay this is a bit off topic for this blog but very neat. The narrator is a little bit creepy but worth a watch. It put on YouTube by a usernamed Crazy Ass Videos. Pretty crazy if you ask me:

<object width=”445″ height=”364″><param name=”movie” value=”http://www.youtube.com/v/UNTw7GH325U&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0×3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&border=1″></param><param name=”allowFullScreen” value=”true”></param><param name=”allowscriptaccess” value=”always”></param><embed src=”http://www.youtube.com/v/UNTw7GH325U&hl=en&fs=1&color1=0×3a3a3a&color2=0×999999&border=1″ type=”application/x-shockwave-flash” allowscriptaccess=”always” allowfullscreen=”true” width=”445″ height=”364″></embed></object>

This was Dugg on Digg and is an example of a video that’s gone viral. (There I related it to the overall theme of this blog)

In the ongoing effort to monetize, YouTube is now testing letting partners offer downloadable videos. Partners can allow downloads for free or for pay via Google Checkout, which requires a fee.

Partners testing the free downloads are educational, including Stanford, Duke, UC Berkeley and UCTV. Partners testing the paid downloads include users khanacademy, householdhacker and pogobat.

via YouTube Tests Downloading; Offers Creative Commons – Search Marketing News Blog – Search Engine Watch (SEW).

Image: Search Engine Watch

This is a great way for not only YouTube to make money off the talents of the masses, but also for the masses to be able to finally monetize the viral videos that often take lots of effort to produce.

This downloading capability will also probably spur the growth of more innovation an creativity through re-mashing of downloaded videos.

Another positive point to the video downloading is that it will give Apple’s iTunes a run for its money. Competition is always good.

I know I look forward to seeing where this development takes us. What are your thoughts. Post them below.

Very good quick video from GaryVee on how to get into the trenches and get your content found. Worth a watch. I’d like to hear your comments. Post them below.

Social media guru Perry Belcher has a great new video out on how to organize your thoughts coming out of your brain. Check out the video below. It’s really neat how Perry is using YouTube to share his messages with his fans and build his social media chops. I’d like to hear your comments on it. Post them below as well. Thanks!

Enjoy! Post your comments below!

Social Media’s uses for Business and Personal Gain from Seth Goldstein on Vimeo.