Art Bloggers @, an organization founded by Sharon Butler and Joanne Mattera in 2007, is hosting a panel discussion at Art Miami on Saturday, December 5th from 11:00 am to 2:00 pm. Entitled, “Beyond Basic Blogging: Carving Our Niche in the Blogosphere,” the panel will discuss developments in art blogging from the past year. Participating panelists include: Sharon Butler, Thomas Hollingworth, Paddy Johnson, Carolina A. Miranda, and Hrag Vartanian. Joanne Mattera will be the moderator. The event will be held in the Art Miami Pavilion on Midtown Boulevard ( NE 1st Avenue ) between NE 31st and NE 32nd Streets.

With conventional print media in decline, art blogging has filled an unexpected niche. Armed with free or low-cost web hosting and a raft of photographs and videos from tiny cameras (sometimes even cell phones), art bloggers are posting reviews, reports, interviews, opinions, advice, links, and Tweets. Bloggers are not The New York Times. And that’s precisely their power. In an art world chronically short on coverage, they are covering events – often from an artist’s perspective – with a democratic and regional take on who, what and where. The best of the art bloggers have carved out identities with defined points of view, good writing, and you-are-there pictures.

About the Panelists:
Sharon Butler, an artist and writer, maintains the art blog Two Coats of Paint, and writes for The Brooklyn Rail. In July 2009, she started @ Bushwick & Main , an online photographic sketchbook that features iPhone notations from her wandering art practice.

Thomas Hollingworth is a graduate of London Guildhall University who now lives and works in Miami . In addition to teaching and coordinating exhibitions on behalf of Miami Dade College he is the editor of Artlurker, a Miami based contemporary art blog that he founded in 2008. By documenting local, national and international cultural subjects and involving the local community for the local community Artlurker functions as both resource and a platform representative of the relative accessibility of Miami ’s art scene.

Paddy Johnson is Art Fag City.

Joanne Mattera is a studio painter and occasional curator who maintains the Joanne Mattera Art Blog to record and share what she’s seeing in the New York galleries, at the art fairs, and in galleries and studios around the country. Though the blog’s description is “Guaranteed Biased, Myopic, Incomplete and Journalistically Suspect,” she is in fact journalistically responsible (though, OK, she’s biased toward painting and sculpture). She recently instituted Marketing Mondays, a weekly feature that helps emerging and midcareer artists navigate the art world.

Carolina A. Miranda is a freelance writer and editor based in New York City, where she contributes articles on travel and culture to a variety of national and regional media, including ArtNews, nytimes.com, Fast Company, Travel + Leisure and Time magazine. She is also a contributor to Lonely Planet guidebooks, having covered destinations such as Costa Rica , Mexico and Peru for the company. Last fall, she was named one of eight fellows in the USC Annenberg/Getty Arts Journalism Program for her cultural blog C-Monster.net, which, among other media, has received mentions in the Wall Street Journal and the New York Times. She lives in New York City .

Hrag Vartanian is a New York-based writer and critic. His work has appeared in the Art21 blog, the Brooklyn Rail, the New York Foundation for the Arts Current, Huffington Post and Modern Painters. He writes a street art column named Re:Public, which will soon be part of his latest project, hyperallergic (subtitled “sensitive to art and its discontents”).

Intelestream, Inc., the leader in open source CRM consulting, today announced the company is reaching out to its partners and contacts through twitter. The company, which has specialized in SugarCRM consulting since 2006, is widely regarded as an authority on the subject of Open Source CRM.

Intelestream believes Twitter can help people better understand applications like SugarCRM. User adoption, one of the most challenging aspects of implementing a new CRM system, is the main reason the company is encouraging CRM users to subscribe to relevant Twitter channels.

“A lot of people don’t fully understand CRM. Office workers don’t always know that their company’s new CRM system is really there to help them do their job. The reality too is that no one wants to read a giant user’s manual. Our goal is to educate people one tweet at a time, by providing CRM users with useful tips every day,” states CEO Jason Green. “By staying informed without being overwhelmed by information, users should feel more comfortable with CRM and use it more.”

How to subscribe

To subscribe to Intelestream’s Twitter channel, visit http://twitter.com/intelestream

evocos, a leading provider of event and delegate management applications, today launched their new Facebook Fan Page. Aimed as an additional medium in which the company can keep in touch with its customers and partners, the Facebook page will act as a platform to communicate with fans and operate as a resource point for those in the event management industry.
The evocos Facebook page is open for everyone, and can be viewed here: http://www.facebook.com/pages/evocos-Event-Managem…. The Fan Page will feature images, videos and latest news about evocos and the event management sector. Fans of the page can also browse and register for any evocos hosted events as well as participate in any of the online discussions.
Kate Oxton, Marketing Manager for evocos, explained the reason behind this latest marketing move: “The introduction of the official evocos Facebook Fan Page was made in an effort to further develop ties to the industry and to stay connected with current and future customers. Facebook has a worldwide reach and joining means that we can further extend our relationship and position within the online community.”
Oxton continues: “The site will help develop stronger online relationships with individuals who want to learn more about evocos, the event management industry, and the use of event and delegate management software within the sector. The number of businesses utilising Facebook as a platform has largely increased in the last 12 months. evocos sees this as an opportunity to create awareness of the brand and as a medium through which we can communicate to potential or existing customers.”
The evocos Facebook page will be supported by the evocos Twitter profile @evocosEvents, together they will provide a source of ongoing information to the event management community.
About evocos
evocos event & delegate management software is part of the portfolio of solutions from Silverbear Ltd. In the past year alone evocos event & delegate management software solution has created over 7000 events, managed approximately 75,000 delegates and has taken over 50,000 online bookings. evocos event management software ensures customers are able to seamlessly manage their events; gaining huge cost and efficiency benefits.

Residents of NYC, Atlanta, Miami and San Francisco already have lifestyle website Social Diva™ (www.socialdiva.com) to keep them in the know and enhance their social lives. Now women in Los Angeles (http://los-angeles.socialdiva.com/) and Everywhere (http://everywhere.socialdiva.com/) can join the ranks of Divadom with Social Diva’s new website.

Redesigned by award winning agency Digital Surgeons, Social Diva has been enhanced both on front end usability for its customers and in the back end info structure for rapid growth.

“Social Diva Media is a classic email business that has so many interesting extra facets which makes it exciting for us to work with, as it is a true lifestyle business”, says David Salinas, CEO of Digital Surgeons. “Not only does Social Diva mainly utilize email marketing, they are hosting offline events, selling books and a digital music CD.”

“Besides finally being able to serve the Los Angeles area, we are delighted with the new site. It not only looks fantastic but the functionality and the back end tools will allow us to scale our growing business quickly,” says Peg Samuel, CEO and Founder of Social Diva Media. “This is exactly the direction we needed to go in this competitive market and we are happy to be working with Digital Surgeons on execution and strategy.”

The description of a Social Diva Member is independent and social; accelerated lifestyle; internet active; marketing, media, high-tech, corporate, fashion & industry professionals; 21-40 years old; upscale income group 100k+ median HHI; 90% Women, 10% Men; 75% single, 25% married; high entertainment and self-care spending; attentive to on site promotions and grass-roots marketing messages; fun-seeking and adventurous; fashionable and trendsetting; reads music industry or lifestyle magazines; listens to current music; goes to art galleries, restaurants and special events – influencers.

About Social Diva™ Media

Social Diva Media www.socialdiva.com is an email newsletter and lifestyle company. Social Diva has been featured on E! News, MSNBC, Fox Live News, ABC World News, Good Day New York, Entrepreneur, Redbook, Star, WWD, Lucky Magazine, AM New York, and TBS’ Sex and the City as a NYC and Atlanta Trendsetter.

SocialVibe (www.socialvibe.com), the leading social media utility that empowers people to benefit their causes by engaging with brands, announced the program “Click 4 Good” today. Expanding real world trick-or-treating online, Click 4 Good is a virtual neighborhood on SocialVibe (www.socialvibe.com/click4good) comprised of houses representing charities, each of which aim to bring relief to those in need.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20091026/LA98369)
Partnerships with charity: water, Stand Up 2 Cancer, Keep A Child Alive and The Surfrider Foundation give millions of users the opportunity to provide relief around the globe without donating their own money. By visiting a house within this virtual cul-de-sac, contributions will be made to fund efforts by the following organizations:
charity: water: Provides clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations.
Stand Up 2 Cancer: Aims to urgently move cancer research forward by advancing technology available to scientists and clinicians.
Keep a Child Alive: Provides life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care and support to children and families whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India.
The Surfrider Foundation: Dedicated to protecting and preserving our world’s oceans, waves and beaches.
Each time a visitor clicks on a virtual house, a donation is made on their behalf to the corresponding charity. SocialVibe users can share their impact with friends on MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, bebo, myYearbook and other social properties. For every visitor who earns a treat, a real social impact will be made.
“Social Networks are a powerful platform for social change by empowering millions of users to encourage their friends to get involved,” said SocialVibe CEO Jay Samit. “Through Click 4 Good, the focus of Halloween shifts from sharing candy to virally being able to share with those in need.”
“I am very excited about Click 4 Good shifting the focus of Halloween from candy to relief for those in need,” says 17 year-old SocialViber user Haley Proehl of Reno, Nevada. “I have trick-or-treated for UNICEF in the past, but I am excited about SocialVibe making it easy for me to help out multiple charities!”
Click 4 Good will be live through November 1. To find out more and start trick-or-treating for good, please visit www.socialvibe.com/click4good.
About SocialVibe
SocialVibe (www.socialvibe.com) is the leading social media utility that empowers people to benefit their causes and communities by engaging with brand sponsors and sharing branded content with their social graph. SocialVibe recognizes that in social media individuals hold the key to generating attention and influence that brands need. Through SocialVibe’s advertising model, brands have a unique way of interacting with individuals and accessing the content they create. Ranked by Quantcast among the top 200 US web sites, SocialVibe raises money for charities through the extensions of the SocialVibe utility onto sites like Facebook, MySpace, bebo, myYearbook, Twitter, WordPress.com and Blogger.com. SocialVibe is backed by venture capital firms Redpoint Ventures and JAFCO Ventures.
Learn more: www.socialvibe.com
About charity: water
charity: water is a non-profit bringing clean and safe drinking water to people in developing nations. 1 in 6 people on the planet don’t have clean water to drink. Dirty water and a lack of basic sanitation kills 4,500 children every day. charity: water is trying to change that.
Learn more: www.charitywater.org
About Stand Up 2 Cancer
Stand Up 2 Cancer is launching a new movement to attack cancer once and for all by pushing promising scientific breakthroughs to the finish. Cancer takes one person every minute. One life in a moment. SU2C is calling on the public to help take matters into our own hands, investing in a revolution that will change the way scientists and clinicians work to understand and treat these diseases. Stand Up 2 Cancer is more than a rallying cry. It is a galvanizing force created to urgently move cancer research forward.
Learn more: www.standup2cancer.org/
About Keep a Child Alive
Keep a Child Alive is dedicated to providing life-saving anti-retroviral treatment, care and support services to children and families whose lives have been affected by HIV/AIDS in Africa and India by directly engaging the global public in the fight against aids. Keep a Child Alive is committed to direct action, and remains small and bureaucracy-free so that their speed of response is never hampered. KCA offers a very real solution to the problem, all on a personal scale. Since its inception in 2003, Keep a Child Alive has saved more than 50,000 lives. They currently provide funding to 8 clinical and orphan care sites in 5 countries: India, Kenya, Rwanda, South Africa and Uganda.
Learn more: www.keepachildalive.org
About The Surfrider Foundation
The Surfrider Foundation is a non-profit, grassroots environmental organization dedicated to protection and enjoyment of our world’s oceans, waves and beaches. Founded in 1984 by a handful of surfers in Malibu, California, the organization has grown to over 50,000 activists and 80 chapters across the world.
Learn more: www.surfrider.org

StrongMail Systems, Inc., a leading provider of online marketing solutions for email and social media, and Equifax Inc. (NYSE: EFX), a global information solutions leader, today announced Equifax Social Influencer, a social media-powered customer acquisition solution, the first initiative of a newly formed strategic partnership between the two companies.
Unique to the industry, Equifax Social Influencer combines StrongMail’s Influencer viral marketing solution and strategic services with Equifax’s data services and analytics expertise to enable email marketers to expand their reach with highly targeted referral programs based on the recipient’s social influence, demographic profile, economic status and other relevant factors.
“We know how businesses can use data to identify and motivate their best customers to become brand advocates. StrongMail’s Influencer tool offers the best direct social marketing tool we have seen,” said Michael Hall, Senior Vice President and GM of Equifax Direct Marketing Services. “By combining StrongMail’s social media marketing technology with Equifax’s extensive customer information solutions, we are able to offer Equifax and Strong mail clients a truly unique and compelling marketing application for helping leverage a marketer’s retention efforts and expand them to highly valuable acquisition programs.
Leverage Strategy, Data and the Social Web to Expand Reach with the Right Audience
With Equifax Social Influencer, email marketers now have a comprehensive solution for leveraging their most influential and qualified customers to build their list exponentially with like-minded consumers. Each engagement is designed to address a company’s unique objectives with a customized referral program that motivates a targeted audience to share their network through direct integration via email, blogs and popular social networks like Twitter, Facebook and MySpace.
Equifax Social Influencer is a multi-stage engagement consisting of the following components:
Strategy session to define program objectives and identify social motivators
Multiple creative treatments for testing and optimization
Target-creation based on social activity and Equifax demographic, financial, lifestyle and purchase behavior data
Advanced testing program to define the most effective creative treatment
Program deployment with real-time tracking and optimization
Analysis of program performance to determine key influencers for re-marketing purposes
Monthly summaries of campaign performance with optimization recommendations
“Equifax’s leadership in data and analytics made them a natural fit for the targeting components of Equifax Social Influencer,” said Sam Cece, CEO of StrongMail. “By using Equifax’s consumer data suites, we are able to not only identify potential influencers but to determine which of those influencers represent networks that are financially capable to convert based on a specific offer. No one else provides this level of insight.”
Proven Technology, Proven Results
StrongMail’s Influencer technology has already been proven as a highly effective customer acquisition tool, and the added targeting available with Equifax Social Influencer will only serve to make these referral programs more effective. Mint.com recently used StrongMail Influencer to socially enable an existing referral program, resulting in a 20 percent increase in program reach and 8,000 new members. Zecco, an online brokerage firm, has also reported that its Social Influencer referral program is performing 267 percent better than any other new customer acquisition channel.
Availability
The Equifax Social Influencer customer acquisition program can be purchased directly from Equifax or StrongMail.
About Equifax Inc.(www.equifax.com)
Equifax empowers businesses and consumers with information they can trust. A global leader in information solutions, we leverage one of the largest sources of consumer and commercial data, along with advanced analytics and proprietary technology, to create customized insights that enrich both the performance of businesses and the lives of consumers.
With a strong heritage of innovation and leadership, Equifax continuously delivers innovative solutions with the highest integrity and reliability. Businesses – large and small – rely on us for consumer and business credit intelligence, portfolio management, fraud detection, decisioning technology, marketing tools, and much more. We empower individual consumers to manage their personal credit information, protect their identity, and maximize their financial well-being.
Headquartered in Atlanta, Georgia, Equifax Inc. operates in the U.S. and 14 other countries throughout North America, Latin America and Europe. Equifax is a member of Standard & Poor’s (S&P) 500® Index. Our common stock is traded on the New York Stock Exchange under the symbol EFX.
About StrongMail Systems, Inc.
StrongMail’s online marketing solutions for email and social media enable businesses to reach, engage and influence their target audience using the most powerful channels available to marketers today. StrongMail gives email marketers the control and support they need to improve campaign performance, boost deliverability and lower costs, while also leveraging the power of social media to extend the reach of their campaigns and brand to new audiences. Combining an easy-to-use email marketing application, high-performance delivery system, viral-marketing tool, social media integration, and a wide range of deliverability, strategic and supporting services, StrongMail makes it possible for companies with all levels of resources and expertise to take advantage of its proven solutions. Headquartered in Redwood City, CA, StrongMail’s clients include global leaders across virtually every industry. To learn more about StrongMail, please visitwww.strongmail.comor follow us online atwww.twitter.com/StrongMailorwww.facebook.com/StrongMail.

People were talking about your company last month on Facebook, Twitter, Linked In, Digg, Technorati, and the list goes on. Social media is here to stay. Make a plan, or better yet âEUR” work with someone who can help you with this plan, and put it into action. DonâEUR t be a laggard -your customers are expecting a social media presence from you.

1) Use It! Top companies such as Starbucks, Dell and Ford use social media to connect, communicate and market to their customers. Creating stellar content for your marketing materials is great. But great content doesnâEUR t distribute itself. It needs vehicles for people to pass it along, discuss it, blog it and tweet it, which is where social media comes in.
2) Locate the exact people you want to talk to: Companies can select specifics âEUR” moms of teenage children, young professionals, people looking to buy a new car. Learn how to search for people based on their age, location and preferences. For example, a wedding planner could look up everyone in the area that is recently engaged!
3) Foster the Trust: You know your customers have choices when it comes to where they do business. You also know customers buy from people they like and trust. Social media marketing is the way to connect and build relationships.
4) People are taking about your brand and your company. Be a part of the conversation. You can keep a close eye on the ongoing online conversations about your dealership âEUR” blogs, posts, tweets and more. ItâEUR s important to then enter the conversation to listen and participate. You make your customers feel connected to you and your dealership.
5) Blog Like Crazy: Blog about your new employee. Blog about next monthâEUR s special. Even blog about the companyâEUR s history. Lots of business owners think that they cannot blog, but they are wrong. Existing blogger sites âEUR” Blogger.com, GoingOn.com or WordPress.com âEUR” offer customized templates, to get you started.
6) Make it Easier: Use programs like Tweet Deck to set up Twitter messages in advance, just one time a month. Use PingFM to distribute a message that you only have to type in once. Use WordPress to create a customized blog with the same design as your website.
7) Let Them See You: Photos, videos and podcasts. They are free to create and upload; they only cost you time. What is better for a future customer to see than a current customersâEUR happy, smiling testimonial on your website? Set yourself apart from the competition by making your pages active and engaging; include MP3s of your top employees talking about their favorite parts of the company.
8 Know When ItâEUR s Happening: Set a Google Alert for a search engine. It will send you an email every time something gets indexed with your name. You need to know what people are saying about you so that you can participate. Listen first. Then, add thoughtful comments.
9) Do It Often: The social media pages and profiles that come up highest on the search engines are the ones who are most active. Spend time 3 times a week sending updates, making creative posts and sharing news. DonâEUR t have the time? Hire a social media firm!
10) Know the benefits: Social media is cost-effective marketing! You can use LinkedIn to send the message that you are hiring new employees and use Twitter to send out quick messages about short specials. By staying involved in social media, you show your customers that you are transparent, authentic, up-to-date and most of all, you are a real person!
Social media and social networking arenâEUR t going away any time soon. The major players and the types of social sites may change, but this is a new medium that professional marketers are trained how to adjust to. DonâEUR t be left behind.

About Virtual Assist USA

Virtual Assist USA is the fastest growing virtual assistant firm in the country. Busy business owners outsource tasks to us such as marketing, phone/email management, social media, search engine optimization, bookkeeping and web design. We add value to companies by saving them up to 30% on the cost of an employee and bringing our technical and creative expertise. http://www.pittsburghvirtualassistant.com