The web’s best stories on SEM, Social Media, and more, for the first week in March.

Build your integrated marketing team
Engaging a web partner- before the “I Do’s”
Microsoft and Yahoo deal cleared
Carnival, Travelocity say SEO and social media behind traffic surge
SEO recommendations don’t implement themselves!
5 ways to maximize social media marketing productivity in the workplace
Do’s and dont’s of social media marketing
Time for companies to embrace social media marketing

I recently got a few beta invitations to share to join Shelfster, a free online sharing and storage service. You can drag and drop  text, photos, and documents from your desktop to your Shelfster account online. Additionally, you can also store IM conversations, emails, images, and websites from your internet browser to your account. In addition, you can also create and share new content, like recipes, story ideas, and guest lists.

A cool feature I like about Shelfster is that you can keep your storage files and information private or you can share it by email and common social media sites, like digg and facebook.

This is a free service but is currently in beta. Shelfster was nice enough to send me 10 invites to give away to my readers!

If you’d like an invitation, please use the ‘contact’ tab to the left to send me your email address. I promise I won’t spam you or share your information. Good luck!

Internet Marketing Services Set For Growth as Global Search Grows: http://www.clickthrough-marketing.com/Internet-marketing-services-set-for-growth-as-global-search-grows-46/19577785/

Fan, Friends, Connected with Ochocinco: http://sports.espn.go.com/nfl/news/story?id=4868696

Netvibes, new aggregator: http://www.netvibes.com

20+ Reasons Why You Need to Start Guestblogging: http://myblogguest.com/blog/20-reasons-why-you-need-to-start-guest-blogging/

How to Identify New Trends & Generate Easy Traffic: http://www.acronym.com/keyworddriven/how-to-identify-new-trends-and-generate-easy-traffic.html

From TSR Archives:

Comparing the Usability of Google Chrome Vs. iPad: http://thesocialrobot.com/2010/01/comparing-the-usability-of-googles-chrome-os-versus-apples-ipad/

Creating a Niche for Mobile Internet and Social Networking: http://thesocialrobot.com/2009/12/creating-a-niche-for-mobile-internet-and-social-networking/

I don’t know about you, but after the apparent let-down at the introduction of the iPad yesterday, I’m more than ever eagerly awaiting the debut of the Google Chrome Operating System. Do I want an iPad? Sure I do. But do I need an iPad? Absolutely not. Am I saying I’ll never buy an iPad, ever? No. But will I be waiting in line to buy it. Nope.

Here are a few reasons why I believe that purchasing a netbook with the Chrome OS install may be a better bet for me instead of the iPad:

Google Apps

I store my life on Google Docs, Gmail, and Google Calendar. I even have Google Wave and Voice. In fact, I’m typing this blog post in Google Docs right now. With the easy mobility of Google Docs– sharing with others, working on the same document from work and home without having to use a USB drive or emailing it to myself– is definitely a perfect fit for my mobile lifestyle. I love to travel and using a mobile document and storage system just makes my life work better. With the ease of Google Docs, it makes sense that Google would want to graduate towards creating a mobile operating system. Our lives are becoming more and more independent on the internet everyday, and the Google Chrome OS simply builds on this dependency.

More Affordable

Sure, $500 for a 16gb iPad is affordable– for an Apple product. But with the Chrome OS coming to a netbook near you for around $300-$500– it seems that iPad customers are paying for the name Apple rather than its real usability.

More Options Style-Wise

For now, the iPad only comes in one color. Netbooks come in all different colors, sizes, models, and brands. And with the Chrome OS being open-source, I wouldn’t have to pay for OS updates like Apple and Microsoft force me to do.

Missing Features

Does iPad have bluetooth? Nope. How about a webcam? Nope. The ability to view Flash files? Nope. What about the ability to open and edit Microsoft Word files? Nope.

Here’s a video Google released about Chrome OS. Seems logical to me. This is probably the video that got me on the Chrome OS boat. What do you think? Comment below!

Google Continues to Take Search Budgets from Rivals
Kids Pack in Nearly 11 Hours of Media Use Daily
More Attacks Expected on Twitter, Facebook in 2010
iPhone App Helped Man Survive Haiti Earthquake
Will the New York Times Meter Kill Traffic From Social Media?

If you like getting a regular ‘link round-up’ on here and want it in your email inbox, sign up for Google Alerts. Choose keywords you’re interested in and receive digests of news stories daily, as-it-happens, or weekly.

This is a note from Kelsey Childress, creator of The Social Robot.

Hey Everyone,

First, I’d like to thank you for the success of The Social Robot. This has been a great side project for me that has helped a lot of people, which is all I can ask for. In order to give back (and because I love giving at Christmas), I’m going to participate in the 2009 ‘Cans for Comments‘ drive from December 8-22, 2009.

However, instead of cans, I will be donating something a little different. The idea is, for every comment this blog receives starting today, December 8, I will donate 1 lb. of dog food or $1 towards the purchase of items on Wayside Waifs Wish List. Wayside Waifs is the largest no-kill animal shelter in the Kansas City Metro and helps out thousands of animals every year.

One more thing- if you’d rather your comment be used towards a can of food rather than Wayside Waifs, let me know at the end of your comment.

Comments can either be on this post or any other post on The Social Robot. Each person can only comment once and it must be a substantial comment that makes sense and if relevant to the discussion.

Additionally- I will also donate another 50 cents for every person that tweets or shares this post (or any other TSR post) on Facebook. Please either email me a link to your tweet/fb post (via the contact tab on the left), add it at the end of your blog comment, or include @thesocialrobot in your tweet.

Again, the commenting and sharing period is from December 8, 2009 to to December 22, 2009. Thanks to everyone who will participate and I’ll post an update once the commenting period is over.

Happy Holidays! Spend it doing good and being happy!

-Kelsey

I found a great article from Business Week warning businesses about the hype of social media. Because internet marketing and social media have boomed this year, there is definitely a fine line between utilizing social media successfully and just jumping on the bandwagon because everyone else has.

To read the full article, please visit Beware Social Media Snake Oil.

With the majority of Twitter updates and interactions done on other applications besides the actual Twitter website, along with updates to other social media sites via text, mobile social networking is becoming more and more popular as more people get internet-ready phones that allow them to check their accounts on the go.

Mobile Websites
Mobile websites were the first attempt at adapting the internet for cell phones. Now they have become more and more regular and many websites can now detect if a user is accessing their website from a mobile device and can display the mobile version of their website instead of the ‘regular’ internet browser version.

Mobile websites usually are text-only versions of sites and contain easier navigation and sometimes less content. However, some websites give you the option to switch to the ‘regular’ version if desired.

Mobile Applications
Companies have recognized this trend and have attempted to adapt accordingly. Many social networking sites like LinkedIn and Yelp have created mobile applications for smart phones like the iPhone and the Palm Pre that make it easy for users to use their website without having to be at a computer.

The growing popularity of mobile communication has helped Twitter grow more than 300% percent in the last year due to the instantaneous nature of tweets. It’s not uncommon for Twitter uses to tweet messages like, “On my way to the airport. Excited to be back in New York” or “Standing in line for the new Twilight movie.” These types of updates are allowing people share snippets of their everyday activities, instantly and from their cell phone.

In addition, phone manufacturers have welcomed the trend of growing ‘mobile dependence’ and are making it as easy as possible to use your cell phone for almost every digital transaction. Besides the ability to open and even edit some documents and spreadsheets, many phones can load regular webpages and some phones come pre-loaded with mobile versions of YouTube.

Services Built for Mobile
Besides websites and major brands building mobile applications for users to access on the go, a few web services have popped up that were created solely for mobile social networking. Two of the most popular are Loopt and FourSquare. With the use of GPS, these services allow you to ‘check-in’ on where your friends are and what they’re doing, see the latest reviews of restaurants and other establishments near you, and interact with friends who may be nearby.

As the idea of instant and constant open communication becomes more accepted, it wouldn’t be surprising for mobile social networking services to grow in popularity. Connecting with friends and family no longer has to rely on a phone call or random encounter. Loopt and FourSquare allow you to find out where your friends are, invite them to where you are, and even learn who else is using these services in the business you are in.

Be sure to check out my latest guest post on Search Engine Land, where I discuss what it will take for sponsored social media message campaigns to be successful.

Because social media is so personalized, it takes a lot a committment to honesty and integrity when deciding to post or buy sponsored social media.

To read the full article, please visit How to Monetize Social Media: The Right Way.

By Caitlin Burns

Social Media and New Media go hand in hand in the entertainment industry, but for years what people have seen presented is the same material, be it a commercial, TV program, film or short simply repurposed again and again from big screen to cell phone to YouTube to Facebook. While that repurposed content may be brilliant and entertaining, it has a fairly short shelf life, easily displaced by the next viral fad.

So what is the next step? How does content, branded or not, create enough of a following to sustain a fanbase in the new media climate where people go from format to format with an ease never before seen, and click away quickly when they’ve seen the same things before? One concept that is essential to the creation of evergreen content and extending social media presence to really capture a fanbase is Transmedia Storytelling.

Transmedia Storytelling is a hot concept these days, and even if you haven’t heard the word, you’ve seen it in action. Everyone from the Coca-Cola Company to Showtime to the Obama Campaign use it to cement their messages and branding in social networks and to increase the longevity of those messages.

But what is it?

Transmedia Storytelling is a process where the full story of an intellectual property is told in parallel narratives across multiple platforms; so that each part of that story is tailored to the medium it is presented in. In short, you have a driving platform (like a commercial, TV show or movie) and you tell stories that are related to that core story on your social network portals, or your cell phone rollout, or your video games.

The audience is validated in that when they log in to a social network not only do they get a new piece of a story that interests them, they have a reason to return to that space for new, original content, hooking them much longer to the intellectual property and allowing fan communities to form that can spread the message the intellectual property, creating a lasting, and often evergreen brand.

The most recognizable Transmedia Franchises are some of the media Juggernauts of the 20th and 21st Century: Star Wars, The Matrix, Halo by Microsoft, Heroes, Lost, … and many more that follow these basic principles:

The 8 defining characteristics of a transmedia production (by Jeff Gomez):

1. Content is originated by one or a very few visionaries

2. Cross-media rollout is planned early in the life of the franchise

3. Content is distributed to three or more media platforms

4. Content is unique, adheres to platform-specific strengths, and is not repurposed from one platform to the next

5. Content is based on a single vision for the story world

6. Concerted effort is made to avoid fractures and schisms

7. Effort is vertical across company, third parties and licensees

8. Rollout features audience participatory elements, including:

- Web portal
- Social networking
- Story-guided user-generated content

Guest Blogger Caitlin Burns is a Transmedia Producer and Editorial Lead at Starlight Runner Entertainment. To hear more of her thoughts on media, follow her and catch up on her other blogs through Twitter: Caitlin_Burns