Hey folks! How was your week? Mine was busy but I am really glad today is Friday. Any of you have plans for Sunday? I hear something big is going down but have no clue what it is <sarcasm>. Hopefully you have a good one and I’ll catch you next week.

Changes to the Way Customers Buy – raise your hand if you use recommendations to make a purchase. I know I do and am sure 80% of you reading this blog do as well. In this post from Valeria Maltoni, she sheds some light on Google’s new privacy policy and how it will make trusted recommendations out of the data we share with Google.

In Facebook IPO, color this graffiti artist richly rewarded – say someone were to offer you cash for your work or an equivalent in stock in a start-up? Chances are you would say that cash is king, but if you would choose to gamble on the stock you, well you could have wound up like this graffiti artist who did just that. The start-up that the artist took the stock in? Facebook and now he looks to make roughly 200 million in the IPO on those shares from a few years earlier.

Personal Data’s Value? Facebook Is Set to Find Out – how much is the data that Facebook holds worth? Some say 75-100 billion dollars and we will all find out soon as the social network has its IPO on the horizon.

Social Love: Take THAT Writer’s Block! – writer’s block blows. We all get it from time to time and we all deal with it in our own ways. This post offers some crowd-sourced advice that really can help you out too should you find yourself in a rut.

PUMA Adds Instagram and Tumblr To The Blogger Outreach Mix – a behind the scenes look at PUMA’s approach to social PR. Not sure that this would be worth it for all brands but comes across as interesting to me. What say you?

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Who is ready for some football this weekend? I know I am and am hoping that at least one of my social media NFL predictions is wrong and that the Ravens earn a berth in the Super Bowl. Who are you pulling for this weekend? If you aren’t into football, what are your plans for the weekend? Hope you have something awesome lined up and I will catch you next week at some point. If for some reason you are in Vegas next week and want to see me talk about social media and show things that you can be measuring, check out Social Commerce Strategies at the Red Rock Resort. Now here’s this week’s edition of Five for Friday.

5 tips for social media success in other languages – working for a global organization is tough when it comes to social media. There are only so many resources and only so much knowledge of languages. When looking to expand, social media managers need to keep their local markets in mind and what their audience wants.

Mom bloggers control $2 trillion worth of America’s purchasing power – to be honest I am not really sure I buy this overall number. While it is not hard to fathom given the purchasing power of women in the family setting, I just am not fully buying it. How about you?

PR Dummies: Smack My Betch Up – being in PR, I have seen and heard of all kinds of bad pitches. This one may take the cake. Really calling dogs Betches? Really? Hang your head low Mr./Mrs. PR person.

Facebook App Lets Sam Adams Fans Crowdsource a Tap – this was a pretty awesome day for my buddy Nick Gosselin over at the Boston Beer Company. Not only did he launch their Twitter account, but the company also announced a pretty cool campaign for this year’s SXSW involving wait for it… wait for it… Beer!

Reading Fiction Helps Your Career – I am a geek who likes to read books. I was an English major in college and am more comfortable around words than numbers. So it comes to a surprise to me that Science, yes science! has shown that reading fiction can help your career.

During the NFL season and the last two weeks of the playoffs, we’ve picked the winners of each week’s match-ups using social media buzz. The data is pulled

using Lithium Social Media Monitoring and plugged into a series of formula (more here) with assigned points. While it may seem odd, the season saw these formulas produce a 132-123 mark and a 4-4 showing in the playoffs. The Wild Card round was 3-1, while the Divisional round ended up 1-3. Below are this week’s predictions (click on any team to see their full week’s data):

Baltimore, 6, New England 10

New York Giants 10, San Francisco 6

Do you think that the social Web’s prediction of the G-Men and Patriots will happen? Or do you think that another team will head to Indianapolis for a shot at the Lombardi Trophy?

I for one am hoping for a Thanksgiving Day rematch of the Ravens and the ‘Niners.

I can honestly say that I can’t wait to veg out on the couch and watch football this weekend. On one hand I hope to see America’s favorite athlete Tim Tebow (no its true click the link) lose in Foxboro and then the Ravens take on the Texans, on the NFC side of the coin I am looking forward to defense vs. offense in the Saints/49ers tilt and a good ole ass-whipping in Green Bay (sorry Giants fans not feeling the love here). How was your week? Hope it was less stressful and more fruitful than mine was. Have a great weekend and enjoy this week’s edition of Five for Friday.

Papa John’s Employee Calls Woman ‘Lady Chinky Eyes’ on Receipt – this week’s edition of social media bites brand stars Papa Johns. Now while I used to dig their pizza and dipping sauce, I can honestly say that this can serve as an eye opener for businesses who hire part-time staff. Sure the labor is cheap, but the negative impact caused can be brutal for a brand on today’s social Web.

What Job Does Social Media Do For You? – the Harvard Business Journal is one of my favorite sites to peep out. The main reason for this is that it really makes me think. This article on what social media does for you really had me think about the things that I have received and accomplished since getting started in the space four years ago.

15% Of Customers Aged 16-24 Choose Twitter, Facebook First For Support, Says Study [REPORT] – this study does not surprise me whatsoever. As social media continues to grow its implications spiral from a broadcast or conversational channel to a core business function. Over the next year or so we’re going to see companies take a good hard look at themselves and making their social use cross functional to enhance customer experience and build better relationships.

Tebow sets Twitter record with OT win – what does the assassination of Bin Laden, the Royal Wedding and Steve Jobs death have in common? If you guessed they all had less Tweets than Tebow beating the Steelers in OT, you were correct. Now while I don’t get Tebowmania, as a Ravens fan I did love seeing the Steelers lose, but am still not sure it was enough to set a world record for Tweets.

Less is more? Sometimes less is just less – have we reached a saturation point in social media? Some say yes, I somewhat agree but at the same time don’t. What do you think?

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If you have tuned into this blog over the past 18 weeks, you probably know that for this NFL season, I decided to use social media metrics to predict the winners of each week’s NFL games. The formulas use data pulled using Lithium’s Social Media Monitoring tool and are weighted on a number of points that can be scored in an NFL game (click here for a full description). While it might sound foolish, I figure it as just as good as those folks who pick winners by flipping a coin or on what mascot is more bad ass.

The method had its highs and lows during the regular season and I finished with a mark of 132-123. In last weekend’s Wild Card round, these formulas went 3-1 and predicted the outcome of Denver’s wild win over Pittsburgh. Here are this week’s picks (click on any team name for their weekly data):

AFC

• Denver 15, New England 1 (predicted @Houston)
• Houston 10, Baltimore 6

NFC

• NY Giants 15, Green Bay 1 (predicted @New Orleans)
• New Orleans 16, San Francisco 0

One thing that played a factor into these picks was the bye weeks of the top two seeds in each conference and their lack of buzz in the Wild Card round. But hey, I can’t be biased as the formulas and numbers are what I am picking by. Who are you picking this weekend?

During the 2011 NFL season, I picked the weekly winners utilizing social media metrics gathered using Lithium Social Media Monitoring and a series of formulas (click here for full formulas). While it might sound like bunk, figured it would be an interesting experiment to see how those fan-generated buzz could be used in predicting games. Over the 17 weeks there were ups and downs, but I wound up finishing the year at 132-123 so while not awesome, still above .500.

Instead of calling it a picking season, I decided to continue following this method until a Super Bowl champion is crowned. Aside from the usual formulas, I’ve also attached a PDF breaking down the mentions of each team (click team to see their report) that also shows how they compare to their opponent along with common mentions over the past week. So without further adieu, here are social media’s picks for Wild Card weekend.

AFC

• Cincinnati 6, Houston 10 (Projected @Baltimore)
• Pittsburgh 1, Denver 15 (Projected @New England)
• Bye: BAL, NE

NFC

• Detroit 16, New Orleans 0 (Projected @Green Bay)
• Atlanta 0, NY Giants 16 (Projected @San Francisco)
• Bye: GB, SF

Be sure to check back next week to see how these picks panned out as well as the Divisional Series matchups. What do you think of this method for picking teams? I would love to hear your opinion or methods for picking in the comments below.

So this is it, Week 17 of the NFL season. Most fans know whether or not their team will be headed to the post season, there are still two spots up for grabs in the AFC and one in the NFC (Full NFL playoff scenarios) – so fans will have something to watch for. While many folks watch the games to route on their teams, many enter weekly pick ‘em pools to see who can correctly pick the most wins over the 17 week season. So far on the year, I am sitting with a 123-116 mark. While the number might not seem like a world-beater, it impresses me because I use social media buzz to determine the winners. Sure using a bunch of formulas (click here for full description) based on chatter from everyone and their mother spouting off on the Web, I figured it couldn’t be any worse than that person who wins each week tossing a dart at each matchup or picking by hotness of cheerleaders. Don’t lie we know you are one of them. So here’s to wishing for a repeat of my 10-6 Week 16 – and a Baltimore win coupled with a New England loss – with this week’s social media predictions:

• Detroit 15, Green Bay 1
• Tennessee 6, Houston 10
• Indianapolis 10, Jacksonville 6
• NY Jets 16, Miami 0
• Chicago 10, Minnesota 6
• Buffalo 3, New England 13
• Carolina 0, New Orleans 22
• Washington 0, Philadelphia 22
• San Francisco 10, St. Louis 6
• Seattle 10, Arizona 6
• Tampa Bay 0, Atlanta 16
• Baltimore 10, Cincinnati 6
• Pittsburgh 15, Cleveland 1
• Kansas City -6, Denver 22
• San Diego -6, Oakland 22
• Dallas 3, NY Giants 13

How are you picking the season’s winners? If you’d like to try your luck against the social picks, I invite you to join the ESPN Pick ‘em league where Mike Schaffer is currently leading the pack with a 168-72 mark. Winner takes home a $25 Amazon gift card.

Image - Keith Allison

With 15 weeks in the books for the 2011 NFL season, Christmas will offer some franchises the gifts of the playoffs, while others will be given the gift of a high draft pick and an extended offseason. Like many fans, I participate in picking games, albeit to mixed results. On most years, I pick games using football stats, but this year I decided to let social media pick the winners for me. My picks are a combination of data pulled from Lithium’s Social Media Monitoring and a series of formulas assigned specific point totals (click here to learn more). Heading into last weekend I was looking pretty good, but after an abysmal 4-12 showing, I am sitting at 113-110 for the season. In the black, but not as comfortable as I would like, hopefully Santa can steer the social buzz picks in the positive direction. Below are this week’s picks:

• Houston 10, Indianapolis 6
• Cleveland 3, Baltimore 13
• Denver 10, Buffalo 6
• Tampa Bay 1, Carolina 15
• Arizona 10, Cincinnati 6
• Oakland 15, Kansas City 1
• Miami 0, New England 16
• NY Giants 1,  NY Jets 15
• St. Louis 6,Pittsburgh 10
• Jacksonville 13, Tennessee 3
• Minnesota 15, Washington 1
• San Diego 0, Detroit 16
• Philadelphia 6, Dallas 10
• San Francisco 16, Seattle 0
• Chicago -6, Green Bay 22
• Atlanta 6, New Orleans 10

How are you picking the season’s winners? If you’d like to try your luck against the social picks, I invite you to join the ESPN Pick ‘em league where Mike Schaffer is currently leading the pack with a 155-69 mark. Winner takes home a $25 Amazon gift card.

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With just two weeks remaining in 2011, I figured that instead of reflecting on the past year, like I did with the Tweets of the year, I would look ahead to 2012. While it was truly exciting to be a part of the social media sphere in 2011, I think that 2012 will be even more interesting and filled with new twists and turns. So with that in mind, here are what I think will be the biggest trends or buzz words of 2012:

Measurement is King – we have all been beat to death with the phrase, Content is King. While content might be a strong driver, it has never been looked at in a measureable way within the social media space and is kind of like the underwear gnomes in South Park. If you are unclear as to the reference, click on the video below before continuing reading.

In 2012, I see companies really focusing on the fruits of their labor in the space. Social mediums have become part of business and top decision makers will not be satisfied with folks who can’t show results. While I anticipate companies really jumping on the measurement train, it doesn’t mean we are going to see industry-wide standards. The main reason for this is that companies have different goals for participating in the plethora of content and conversations and there is no one-size fits all cap.

Institutionalization – many companies have scraped by in social media, building success from a small team. Oftentimes these teams are early adopters or communications teams. In the New Year, these teams are going to have to partner with other sections or silos within companies. As mentioned in the previous prediction, decision makers are looking for measurable success in social media. This will present both an opportunity and challenge for companies. Since social media has more touch points than a Kardashian sex tape, teams focused on social media will have to learn to partner with other areas of the business to make it part of business DNA. If you are interested in learning more on ways to get started in this area, check out my series on institutionalizing social media.

Consolidation, acquisition and mega networks, oh my – The social networking space is going to get a heck of a lot smaller in 2012 and could wind up being a two-horse race between Facebook and Google. Much like Microsoft v. Google in the search arena, social will be dominated by the big G and Facebook. The niche and smaller networks are going to start to be gobbled up by these behemoths (like Facebook buying Gowalla) in an effort to offer a network that we’ll all be addicted to and share our data with them.  I also don’t think my favorite social network; Twitter is immune to this and think that Google will buy them in the new year.

I plan on revisiting this post in December of next year and will see if these predictions turn into trends or if I was just full of hot air. What do you think will be the biggest trends for the New Year?

With three weeks left in the NFL season, teams are gearing up for the postseason while fans across America are looking at their fantasy team and weekly office pools to see if their diligence throughout the season is going to land them a payday. Unlike many folks who pick their weekly winners in a variety of conventional and unconventional ways, I decided to stick to the numbers. While you might be thinking rush defense, QB rating or pass defense, I turned to my other passion to help me pick the winners – social media. If you are shaking your head, let me explain.

Every time someone Tweets, blogs or posts to a team’s Facebook page it gets tracked by tools like Lithium’s social media marketing tool. These posts also carry a positive negative or neutral connotation. So using some formulas that I utilize for work, I applied it to the NFL teams and each metric had an assigned point value (click here for full description). Each week I pick the winners using these scores and through the season’s first 14 weeks, my record is 109-98 following an 11 win weekend last week. So how will this week’s games turn out? Tune back in on Tuesday to see.

Week 15 Games

• Jacksonville 0, Atlanta 16
• Dallas 10, Tampa Bay 6
• Miami 10, Buffalo 6
• Seattle 6, Chicago 10
• Carolina 0, Houston 16
• Tennessee 3, Indianapolis 13
• Green Bay 10, Kansas City 6
• Detroit 6, Oakland 10
• New Orleans 1, Minnesota 15
• Washington 6, NY Giants 10
• Cincinnati 1, St. Louis 15
• Cleveland 10, Arizona 6
• New England 0, Tebow Denver 16
• NY Jets 10, Philadelphia 6
• Baltimore 16, San Diego 0
• Pittsburgh 10, San Francisco 6

How are you picking the season’s winners? If you’d like to try your luck against the social picks, I invite you to join the ESPN Pick ‘em league where Mike Schaffer is currently leading the pack with a 145-63 mark. Winner takes home a $25 Amazon gift card.

So this week was interesting and quick to say the least. Lots of things going on and when I got a chance to pick my head up it was time for the company holiday party. How was your week? Hopefully less hectic and if you are like me, just counting down the days until the holidays. Hope you have a great weekend and enjoy this week’s edition of Five for Friday.

‘Mythbusters’ cannonball hits Dublin home, minivan – if you like watching the explosions on Mythbusters, you probably know that they do them on a bomb range in California. Over the years they have blown up some pretty awesome thing, despite that history, the team had an interesting mishap with a cannonball that is worth the read.

Facebook Flaw Means Anyone Can See Private Photos – have you ever complained about the privacy on Facebook? It is OK, we all have. Well if you want some payback on the network, check out this link for some candid photos of Mark Zuckerberg that were supposed to be kept private on his own network.

What Not To Do On Twitter: Durex Tweets Hugely Offensive Joke, Blames Local PR Agency – so for this week’s edition of social media gone wrong we turn to the South African arm of Durex. This one is worth a read and is a decent case study on insensitivity.

Apple’s internal employee social media policies leaked – this is an interesting look behind the sleek curtain of Apple with a look at their overbearing social media policy.

Twitter Chats, Leadership, and Fantastic Ideologies: A Rant – One of the most repulsive things in the social space is people who think their shit don’t stink and those who think they are better than anyone because of their ideology. While rants are not usually my thing, this one from Dan Perez is spot on and worth a read and is a great reality check.

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With just four weeks in the NFL season, it is pretty safe to say that fans across the country have a good feeling about how their team’s chances of making the NFL Playoffs or landing Andrew Luck  are looking. How is your team doing? More importantly how are you doing picking the weekly winners of the gridiron tilts? As many of you may know, instead of traditional picking methods, I decided to pick each week’s winners using a number of social media metrics (formulas here) to pick each week’s winners. Sound crazy? Well to me it’s just as likely to pick a winner as playing darts with the season schedule. Through 13 weeks, I am sitting with a 98-93 record following a .500 weekend. Hopefully this week will get me further into the black, below are my picks:

• Cleveland 1, Pittsburgh 15
• Indianapolis 13, Baltimore 3
• Atlanta 9, Carolina 7
• Houston 10, Cincinnati 6
• Minnesota 6, Detroit 10
• Tampa Bay 6, Jacksonville 10
• Philadelphia 3, Miami 13
• Kansas City 6, NY Jets 10
• New Orleans 10, Tennessee 6
• New England 7, Washington 9
• San Francisco 13, Arizona 3
• Chicago 1, Denver 15
• Oakland 6, Green Bay 10
• Buffalo 16, San Diego 0
• NY Giants 15, Dallas 1
• St. Louis 6, Seattle 10

How are you picking the season’s winners? If you’d like to try your luck against the social picks, I invite you to join the ESPN Pick ‘em league where Mike Schaffer is currently leading the pack with a 132-59 mark. Winner takes home a $25 Amazon gift card.

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Welcome to this week’s edition of Espo’s NFL Picks for the 2011 season. Instead of picking games on who has hotter cheerleaders, my gut or by throwing a dart at the list of games I am picking this season’s winners by using a series of social media metrics with the buzz generated by fans using Lithium’s Social Media Monitoring. The full list of metrics and formulas can be found in this post. Thirteen weeks into the season and these formulas have me in the black with a 90-85 record after an abysmal 7-9 showing last season. Hopefully this week will be better with these picks:

• Philadelphia 10, Seattle 6
• Atlanta 6, Houston 10
• Tennessee 6, Buffalo 10
• Kansas City 6, Chicago 10
• Cincinnati 6, Pittsburgh 10
• Denver 16, Minnesota 0
• Indianapolis 0, New England 16
• Oakland 15, Miami 1
• New York Jets 10, Washington 6
• Carolina 22, Tampa Bay -6
• Baltimore 1, Cleveland 15
• Dallas 10, Arizona 6
• Green Bay 3, New York Giants 13
• St. Louis 6, San Francisco 10
• Detroit 10, New Orleans 6
• San Diego 15, Jacksonville 1

How are you picking the season’s winners? If you’d like to try your luck against the social picks, I invite you to join the ESPN Pick ‘em league where Mike Schaffer is currently leading the pack with a 123-52 mark. Winner takes home a $25 Amazon gift card.

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Starting tomorrow, the NFL kicks off the 12^th week of the 2011 season. The bye weeks are gone and the stretch run is n full swing. While the NFC has a two-horse race for the top two seeds, the AFC is wide open with four teams owning a 7-3 mark. So it is still anyone’s game. With that said, my weekly picks using social media buzz metrics via Lithium’s Social media monitoring tool have not fared as well. Through 11 weeks, I am sitting at 83-76 on the season following an 11-3 showing last weekend.  Hopefully I can continue that streak into the Thanksgiving Day weekend with social media’s Week 12 picks:

• Green Bay 1, Detroit 15
• Miami 0,  Dallas 16
• San Francisco 15, Baltimore 7
• Minnesota 16, Atlanta 0
• Buffalo 0, New York Jets 16
• Cleveland 3, Cincinnati 13
• Tampa Bay 22, Tennessee -6
• Carolina 16, Indianapolis 0
• Arizona 10, St. Louis 6
• Houston 1, Jacksonville 15
• Chicago 10, Oakland 6
• Washington 22,  Seattle -6
• Denver 16, San Diego 0
• New England 1, Philadelphia 15
• Pittsburgh 6, Kansas City 10
• New York Giants 16, New Orleans 0

How are you picking the season’s winners? If you’d like to try your luck against the social picks, I invite you to join the ESPN Pick ‘em league where Mike Schaffer is currently leading the pack with a 110-49 mark. Winner takes home a $25 Amazon gift card.

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I am happy for it to be Friday. Aside from heading into a short week for Thanksgiving next week, I just need time to kick back and relax and am sure you feel the same. Aside from a hectic workweek I had to do work most nights when I got home as my family was dealing with a pest problem and we have been trying to resituate Casa La Espo, to mild success. How was your week? Hopefully it was a good one and hope you have an even better weekend. Due to the Thanksgiving holiday, Five for Friday will take an one-week hiatus.  Have a good one and enjoy this collection of articles from the past week. Would also love to know what links I may have missed this week in the comments below.

When Sites Drag the Unwitting Across the Web – Last week there was a buzz on the social Web about Klout and assigning accounts to users’ profiles even if they didn’t sign up for the service. This article in the New York Times does some good reporting on the issue while bringing the voice of a subsect of bloggers to the public.

We need to protect kids – not touch them – As a new father, seeing the news out of Penn State on child molestation makes me sick. After a week of seeing non-stop coverage and wondering how it could have happened and noting it would never happen to Baby Espo, I wanted to see what other dads were pondering. This post from CC Chapman offers his insight and some good comments from some fellow papas. I’d suggest reading if you have a small fry.

IBM’s 2012 Social Business Predictions – with Christmas music playing on the radio and Santa getting ready to have children tell them they want a pony in the local department store, it is also time for folks to start making predictions for the new year. Here are three from IBM.

Social networking in its oldest form – I dare you to click on this link and not smile. This is an interesting story of connecting via messages in bottles.

Microsoft Socl: inside the company’s secret social network (exclusive) – not sure if you have heard, but Microsoft is working on their own social network that also makes search smarter. Some interesting screenshots of this project that is still in the works.

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