OPEN

"For me, presently the most impressive network in the world is not the network of email traffic, Facebook friends or cell phone calls. Both for sheer size and complexity, the personal network must surely take the cake. In many ways, it is not merely a superset of most communication networks. It is something different. It exists in minds. The rest is a proxy."

"The survey results showed that 80 percent of companies use or are planning to use social networking to find and attract candidates this year. Among those using or planning to use social network sites for recruiting, LinkedIn use grew from 80 percent in 2008 to 95 percent of respondents in 2009 and Facebook use grew from 36 percent in 2008 to 59 percent in 2009. A new addition, Twitter, ranked third with 42 percent of recruiters using the tool to source candidates. 77 percent of respondents said they use social networks to reach passive candidates who are not actively seeking employment."

A lovely collection of photos and interviews with writers about where they work.

"A Nielsen report on Social Netowrking's New Global Footprint"

"Many artists feel that publishers have stymied legal alternatives that may reward reward them. Only this month, Morrisey took the unusual step of urging his fans not to buy a boxed set of re-released songs because EMI were not paying him royalties. Music legend Billy Bragg formed the Featured Artists Coalition to campaign for a greater control of content and royalties for artists and musicians. Billy recently said “[The] record industry in Britain is still going down the road of criminalising our audience for downloading illegal MP3s. If we follow the music industry down that road, we will be doing nothing more than being part of a protectionist effort. It’s like trying to put toothpaste back in the tube.”"

"Graham Linehan, the man behind the #welovetheNHS campaign, tells Channel 4 News about his desire to counter the "lies" being told about the NHS in America"

More on marketing is lying…

"Before the drug companies were the mommy bloggers — parents writing about their children, and their children's favorite products, online. That scandal exposed an ethically tenuous relationship in which bloggers received corporate swag, and in some instances vacation junkets, in exchange for favorable, seemingly honest reviews and "content" mentions. And the brands are not shy about it. Jill Beraud, a marketing officer at PepsiCo, is on record saying that courting the mommy bloggers is a long-term effort."

A great TED presentation from Seth Godin on Tribes…

"And it becomes more complex too when we think about ‘personal brands’. Just as twitter – and all that – mark the rise of the citizen journalist, citizen marketer etc, they also seem to mark the rise of the citizen SPAMer. Where does the line lie?"

Ford in the UsA looking very good in social media marketing – again.