Blog Watchdog March 2008 is doggone good!

I've outdone myself. The March 2008 Blog Watchdog sniffs out two resources to better understand internet marketing, one quasi-organization to help association professionals learn how to do word of mouth marketing better, and a new book that is sure to cause a stir in the association community.

Has your association decided that social media is going to be a part of its member engagement or marketing strategy? If so, I highly recommend Lee Aase's Social Media University, Global blog (SMUG, for short). At SMUG, you can learn the basics about Twitter, get an Intro to Social Networking, or get advanced class on Facebook concepts like applications and security features. Lee is not only a social media guru, but a nonprofit professional to boot.

ASAE's latest research project, The Decision to Join, offered up a number significant findings. One of the most compelling revelations was the finding that word of mouth is by far the number one means by which association members first hear about their membership organization. The Society for Word of Mouth (SWOM) is a social networking site for students of word of mouth marketing created by Jackie Huba and Ben McConnell, ringleaders of the influential Church of the Customer blog. This is a great place to sharpen your WOM marketing acumen.

The technology-heavy South by Southwest Interactive Conference (SXSW) took place earlier this month in Austin. I have been watching SXSW coverage with a keen eye for at least the last two years, because for some associations, what happens at SXSW might be considered an harbinger of things to come to association conferences in five to 10 (or perhaps more) years. One of the biggest stories to come out of SXSW was an interview with Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg that turned just a tad uncomfortable (or downright riotous, depending on whose blog you read or which video you watch). The moderator was overpowered by an audience that became increasingly rowdy throughout the presentation, and eventually demanded that she open the floor to Q&A time. The scuttle is that Twitter, the micro-blogging text-messaging web application, facilitated the crowd's frenzy. Here is a collection of association-industry reactions to the incident from Face2Face, GetMeJamieNotter, and Certified Association Executive.

There's a new book out called "Here Comes Everybody: The Power of Organizing Without Organizations" by Clay Shirky, one of the most respected thinkers and writers about the social web. This book is sure to set the association industry ablaze, including some dire warnings from the Chicken Littles predicting the inevitable demise of associations. Shirky has a new blog to promote the book, and has been making the public speaking rounds. Here you can watch a video of a presentation about the book he made at Harvard Law earlier this month.