Those of us in the social media industry spend the majority of our time on the Internets, trying out new tools, making e-friends, and playing (the recently departed) Scrabulous.

Five years ago, this might have gotten us labeled as “dorks” or “nerds”. But somewhere in the progression of things, being an Internet geek became kinda cool (but only kinda). We’re the first ones to learn about breaking news. We’ve got the “in” on what the mainstream media doesn’t talk about during election time.

But what really makes us stand out is our vast knowledge of Internet memes. Sure, knowing all the words to “Chocolate Rain” really isn’t anything all that special, but we do find out about these e-sensations months (and sometimes years) before your mom gets wind of them. And you know that once mom finds out about them, the coolness factor quickly drops to zero.

So to help you keep up with what’s going on in the meme world, some kind soul put together this really cool interactive meme timeline. Learn it. Love it. Embrace the geek within you.

Maintaining your reputation is an important endeavor, especially online. The viral nature of the Internet can lead to a whirlwind of discussion about your company in a very short time. Unfortunately, the discussions aren’t always in your favor.

With so much of the content published daily on the web, keeping tabs on your company, industry, and your competitors can seem like an exhausting task. But never fear; there are more resources available to help you stalk your scene than you count on a full set of fingers and toes.

Here’s a list of just some of the tools you need to stay on top of things and enter the conversation early on, before things get out of hand:

Google Alerts are email updates of the latest relevant Google results (web, news, etc.) based on your choice of query or topic. You can choose to receive daily, weekly, or “as it happens” updates whenever your topic is mentioned.

Yahoo! Pipes is a big, fat, wide-reaching net of social media searches to alert you every time your brand or product is mentioned by anybody on a slew of social media sites, including flickr, twitter, friendfeed, digg etc.

Tweet Scan is a real-time search engine for Twitter. Tweet Scan indexes all public messages so you can find the conversations, people, and tweets you want. You can search by keyword or author with results available via email, RSS, and Twhirl.

One of our favorite tools here at MGH WOM is deli.cio.us - a social bookmarking service that lets you store all of your favorite links in an online account, as opposed to locking them into your browser.  Once a url is saved, you can access it from any internet-ready computer, and share it with friends.

The site just went through a long awaited redesign, and picked up a simplified url in the process (one without the annoying dots).  Check out the video to see the new delicious.com:

Personally, I think the site redesign looks great.  It’s much cleaner than its predecessor and finally looks like it belongs in the 21^st century.

Functionality-wise, not much has changed.  It does seem a bit faster, and the search functionality has definitely been improved.  But it’s still the same good ol’ reliable service that it’s always been.

You can let delicious know what you think about their redesign and improved functionality here.

WOM is about standing out… Well, really it’s about fitting in. Ok, ok… so ultimately, it’s all about standing out while fitting in.

Take, for example, the newspaper boxes in the photo above. Which one stands out to you the most? The “Worldwide Short Film Festival” is unique among its peers. That’s why it stands out and that’s why it works.

So… what does this have to do with WOM? Well, if word of mouth is about sending a message by verbal or written means, then it’s got everything to do with WOM. The short newspaper box is sending the same message as all the other boxes- “read me”, but it is doing it in a unique way that speaks perfectly to its target.

With increasingly widespread competition in the global marketplace, in order for your business to succeed, you need to stand out. This doesn’t mean a bigger, brighter logo that sings and dances; it means finding that one unique quality that makes consumers form “friendships” with your brand. It’s a lot like positioning a product, but for your business.

Here are some ways to create that friendship:

• Find out what your competitors lack and offer it.
• Keep open lines of communication with consumers and respond to feedback immediately.
• Maintain a positive employee environment. They are the first line of communication between a consumer and your brand.
• Exceed the expectation of consumers in regards to customer service.
• Look for new and unique ways to talk to consumers.

Last night, I attended a midnight screening of The Dark Knight. Hands down it’s the best movie I’ve seen all year, and might be my new favorite film of all time.

Slightly delirious after getting only 2 hours of sleep, I felt compelled to recap a couple of the incredibly unique viral marketing efforts that went into making this the (presumptive) biggest movie of the summer.

I believe in Harvey Dent

In May of 2007, Warner Bros. kicked off its Dark Knight promotion with a series of unbranded, guerrilla tactics built around the fake election campaign of Harvey Dent for District Attorney of Gotham City.

friendsofharveydent.org gave visitors a first glimpse at one of the film’s main characters (Dent) through numerous videos, fake endorsements, a blog, and even a “loyalty” toolbar that could be added to one’s web browser for regular election campaign updates.

A van featuring politically charged messaging, called the Dentmobile, helped to support the online campaign by visiting cities across the U.S. Those lucky enough to meet up with the van were given “I believe in Harvey Dent” buttons, bumper stickers, and t-shirts.

Why so serious?

Late last year, eager fans embarked on a multi-month adventure that sent them searching for movie clues related to the Joker. Whysoserious.com served as the starting point for these hardcore movie buffs.

In one of their many scavenger hunts, fans hunted for clues in major cities across the U.S. and were instructed to take pictures of their findings. Once put together, the clues revealed the first-look at the Joker’s face, and a secret mp3 from the Joker himself.

In December, a new page was added to whysoserious.com, letting users complete a simple carnival-like game in exchange for a cryptic message and random street address.

Participants who followed the directions were given a free cake with a phone number spelled out in icing. Inside the cake was a new cell phone, charger, and a Joker playing card with instructions written on it.

The note read:

“Wow. You really took the cake! Now put the icing on it. Call [number] immediately from this phone and this phone only. Do not give this phone number to anyone else.

Let’s hope your fellow goons come through as well as you. Once all the layers are in place, you’ll all get your just desserts. I’m a man of my word.”

Participants who followed the Joker’s orders were rewarded with exclusive gifts, including IMAX passes to see the first 7 minutes of the film.

Countless blogs and forums followed gamers as they made their way through the clues, and shared the exclusive content with readers almost a year before the film even hit theaters.

Image courtesy of firstshowing.net

I’ve never had many good things to say about Comcast.  In fact, I don’t know if I’ve ever said anything nice said about them.

But all that changes today - this is the day that I’m going to “WOM up” Comcast.

Long story short, last week I received a bill and was charged for a service that I hadn’t ordered.  This had been an ongoing issue related to a DVR box that I never requested, but was installed anyway.  I thought the problem had been resolved, but I was dead wrong.

Frustrated with the progress I’d been making with both customer service reps and supervisors, I tried my luck by sending the following message (or Tweet) to the Comcast Twitter account (@comcastcares):  “I need help You guys are killing me and the woman that I’m speaking to is being somewhat rude and definitely unhelpful”

Almost immediately, I received this message:

So I did exactly that.  I sent Frank (Comcast’s customer service manager) a (painfully) lengthy email, detailing my ongoing struggle with my DVR box and the billing issues.

Within hours, I received another message from Frank, who put me in touch with someone from my local office.

The local representative called and was extraordinarily apologetic for everything that had happened, making sure I knew that I had done nothing wrong.  He promised to correct all of my billing errors, and even offered me a year’s worth of DVR service for free because of my hardships.  That’s right - a full YEAR.  That’s around $250 of free service.

In my countless dealings with Comcast, these two employees were the most friendly and helpful people I’ve ever spoken with.  The “above and beyond” solutions that they offered blew me away, and I’ve now taken on a (slightly) different opinion about the company.

So, thank you Comcast, @comcastcares, and the gentleman who called!  You deserve a “WOM up!”.

MGH’s take on it: We tend to talk Twitter up a lot (especially for how unstable of a system it really is), but do believe in its customer service applications.  As a social media tool, it’s perfect for putting brands and consumers directly in touch with one another.

As one who hates waiting on hold and talking to person after person, the Twitter model presents an ideal solution.  It offered a quick and painless answer to a problem I had been dealing with for almost half a year.

Additionally, the positive buzz that can build out of story like mine can have quite an impact on a brand’s perception and in restoring a struggling customer relations division.  Just read some of the nice things that have been written about Comcast and its Twitter account thus far:  Here.  And here.  And here, too. 

MGH WOM’s suggestion: Follow @comcastcares on Twitter and learn the right way to use social media tools for your customer service communications.

In case you hadn’t noticed, it’s a pretty big day for those of us in the tech community.  Today, we get  the long-awaited 3G iPhone, brand new operating software, and an applications store.

Over the past 6 hours, fanboys around the world have been patiently awaiting their turns in line and/or furiously refreshing their computers to get their hands on these new products.

It’s caused such a stir, in fact, that Apple’s servers haven’t been able to keep up with the demand, causing people’s iPhones to go nutso during download.  And many of those who’ve been waiting in line all day still haven’t been able to get the things to work.  It’s what Gizmodo is calling the iPocalypse.

Lucky for me, I decided to “bend the rules” a little bit and downloaded the software package a day early.  True, it completely deleted all of the data on my phone (contacts, a year’s worth of pictures, music, notes, videos…everything), but it was totally worth it.

I spent the majority of last night, #1: reprogramming all of my numbers and #2 downloading and playing with every application that I could get my hands on.

So for those of you who still haven’t been able to upgrade, here are my three favorite (FREE) applications thus far:

Whrrl

Created by Pelago, Inc., Whrrl is a location-based application that combines social networking with customer reviews.   By using the Google mapping system, Whrrl will find where you’re located at any given time and allow you to write reviews for the places (restaurants, shops) around you.  It will also allow you to see other Whrrl’ers who are currently, or who have been in that spot, and read what they had to say about it.

Shazam

Ever heard a song on the radio that you absolutely loved, but couldn’t figure out who performed it?  With Shazam, you can hold your iPhone up to the speakers for a few seconds and the application will give you complete details on the song - artist, genre, album, label.  It will also allow you to purchase the song directly through the iTunes service.  Good news for a struggling record industry.

Light

Probably the simplest application that will ever grace the iPhone, the Light application is simply just that: a light.  Each night, I use my iPhone’s light to guide the way up my dark staircase.  The problem is that the screen isn’t very bright and always shuts off about halfway up.    Now, with the Light application, my screen turns a bright white and won’t shut off until I tell it to.  So simple, yet so resourceful.

The moral of this story is that if you don’t have an iPhone yet, get one.  But just wait until they fix them.

Images courtesy of Gizmodo

In the summer of 2008, it will be said that the web went through a strange, yet exciting transitional period.

If you’re feeling left behind, here’s a little something we found to help you catch up:  The State of the Web - Summer 2008.

To answer that, you first need to know what Cellblock is. In their own words, Cellblock writes, “Cellblocks are ubiquitous content albums that can be viewed and contributed to from just about anywhere at the Cellblock owner’s discretion.”

In English:

Cellblock.com is a website that allows you to immediately add photos and videos to an album called a “Cellblock” by sending the multimedia right from your phone or through email.

Why not just use Flickr?

With Cellblock, your pictures and videos play in a viewer that can be embedded into your social network profiles, blogs, or personal and commercial websites, just like you can with YouTube videos. But probably the coolest feature about Cellblock is this:

You send all your pictures and videos to a unique email address, for example mghwom@cellblock.com. And, because you’re simply sending your pictures/videos to an email address, you can give that address out to friends, family, co-workers, heck, even enemies. Point is, now you have a photo album with potentially hundreds, or thousands of contributors.

You can set your Cellblock to post those pictures immediately or you can select to preview them before adding them to your photostream. So there’s no need to worry about those pictures from last night appearing on your company’s homepage.

Here’s a Cellblock we made for MGH WOM:

So, Cellblock is the coolest thing you’ve ever seen. Now what?

Use it. Everywhere and for everything. Start a Cellblock for your family, your hobby, or better yet, your business!

Over the past few years there’s been debate over the best way for companies to deliver content to their audiences. In one corner, there’s e-newsletters and in the other, blogs. It’s not a simple choice; each has their strengths that make them great word of mouth vehicles. Your final decision should depend on your audience and the type of message you wish to convey.

We, at MGH, are here to help make your decision a little easier by uncovering the strengths and weaknesses of each contender. Here’s the low-down:

So what’s your best bet?

Utilize both. Here’s why:

1. Your audience will have more options. Readers who are short on time can quickly read through the highlights in the newsletter. If their interest is spiked, they can click through to the blog to receive more detailed information on a topic and participate in the conversation. This is also a great way to expose your blog to late bloomers. Not everyone knows how to use an RSS feed to get regular blog updates, but everyone can read the highlights in the newsletter and click-through to your blog.

2. You’ll get the best of both worlds. You’ll still be able to deliver tid-bits of info, updates, and customized or exclusive subscriber information through the newsletters. You’ll also be able to be able to discuss a topic in detail, create regular updates, and engage your audience in a two-way dialogue through your blog.Talk about win-win.