This Week in Social Local Media

We had a big week at ILM East. The conference got under way with David Weinberger focusing on the use of social media by local businesses. In the post, Rick follows the keynote by Weinberger, the author and the senior researcher at Berkman Center for Internet & Society, Harvard University. Gail Goodman CEO at Constant Contact kicked off the second day with a call for the industry to collaborate.

I did some live blogging at ILM East when Eventbrite CEO Kevin Hartz spoke about the ticket-selling service riding social media to about $500 million in sales this year.

We also gave details on ILM East panels from hyperlocal to Hotpot to mobile group-buying from Monster Offers.

Here’s what we uncovered this week out there in the socialsphere:

What We Know That You Should Know Too
Lisa Barone gets with Gregg Stewart, Dilip Venkatachari, Ryan Fritzky and Andrew Lovasz to discuss local and social. She packs the post full of stats and useful tidbits. The group shares numbers and insights such as nearly half of people searching on social networks select a local business based on consumer ratings and reviews.

Social Media Is Not a Fad
Former Yellow Pages exec Rich Hargrave points us to a dramatic video to get you all hyped up about social media.

Twitter Tests Geo-targeting
Geotargeting has been a critical piece missing from Twitter’s Promoted Tweets ad feature, but as expected it appears the social site has finally begun testing the service with a few advertisers. Earlier this year the company said it would start offering geotargeted ads by midyear.

Facebook Gives Answers
Facebook relaunched Questions that lets members pose questions and suggest several answers to friends, as well as friends of friends. Friends check a box to pick their favorite answer, and answers with the most votes move to the top of the list. Multiple choice options end up working like a poll more than a Q&A service.

Former Apple Exec Launches Color
The serial entrepreneur Bill Nguyen, who sold his last company to Apple in 2009, is launching a cellphone-based social local network, Color, to challenge Facebook. Yinka Adegoke tell us the service available as an iPhone and an Android app lets people share photos and videos. The free service will generate revenues through location-based services and advertising.

Boosting Business on Foursquare
Small-business owners are finding ways to tap social networks. Diana Ransom serves up a guide for small businesses wanting to build mobile marketing campaigns on Foursquare. She also throws in some examples of companies that had success, and ways to keep the conversation going once it gets started.

Groupon Moves Into Mobile
“I’m hungry” or “I’m bored” are the two buttons users will see when they open a Groupon mobile app, according to Priti Ambani. Groupon plans to launch a mobile tool in April it hopes will change the way people eat, shop and play. I bet it will have location-based services built into the application as an opt-in feature.

Local Social Media Strategies
Anne Hill reveals five effective social media tactics not widely adopted. She believes it will “outshine” strategies from competitors focusing on campaigns in Facebook or LinkedIn. Marketers can find the secret to accomplishing this task in Google Places, Quora and Meetup.

Homeland Security Taps Social Media
Here’s a new twist on the use of local, social communities. The Department of Homeland Security has launched a virtual social media working group to connect with first responders. The First Responder Communities of Practice launched the Virtual Social Media Working Group (VSMWG) to provide recommendations on the safe use of the medium during and after emergencies.

How to Butcher a Group Buying Promotion
I discovered some customer review blowback when a group buying promotion turned into a negative experience for The Butchers on Yonge Street.

Update On Charlie Sheen’s Summer Intern
And because the demand for #Tigerblood never stops … Agencies want to create social media divisions. Or at least hire a social media expert. Charlie Sheen is no different. Mike Castro, 23, social media director for KFNS is one of 250 finalists applying for Sheen’s summer social media intern. There were 75,000 applicants for the eight-week paid gig in L.A. Deb Peterson tells us why Castro’s latest interview round just got serious.