2012's best social media stats and insights (so far)

2012 has already seen a number of big changes to the social media scene.

The Pinterest explosion has been well documented and Google+ continues to add to its user base.

I'm not sure about you, but keeping up with the all the updates to usage stats is hard work so I've tried to compile some of 2012's best resources.

Here are some of he better ones I've located this year...

5 new ways to monetize your content in 2012

This week's Pinterest content monetization 'scandal' has taught us a lot about the naivety the modern-day web user.

Yes, platforms like Pinterest (and Pocket-Lint and WIWT) use a tool called Skimlinks to generate revenue from subtle referral links.

As Skimlinks CEO Alicia Navarro so aptly explained: "It's not a secret. We do monetize social discovery, and it's great".

For those of you about to fall off your high horse, how else can these sites exist without such revenue streams?

Banner ads are ugly, un-engaging and hated by users, so solutions like Skimlinks are a win/win/win/win (publisher, service provider, advertiser, user).

Yes, publishers have an obligation to disclose such arrangements (and you'll see an example in a minute), but providing that box is ticked, we should encourage this approach to content monetization, not scoff at it, because the user receives the biggest portion of the benefit.

10 new ways to discover, share and listen to music online

"Just because everything is different doesn't mean anything has changed." - Irene Peter

I'm not going to argue with Irene here, music is still music.

But, the ways in which we discover, consume and share music online has changed. Big time.

In fact, some of the new online music services, tools and apps I'm about to mention may seem to good to be true.

But, thanks to a combination of timing, technology and people-powered media, they are all at our disposal. Now.

10 tips for brands who want to generate more online mentions

Last week, I wrote a post entitled 'How easy / hard are you making it for bloggers to talk about you?'

My argument was simple: Some brands and organisations get carried away with wanting to activate high impact digitally-led campaigns often at the expense of establishing solid foundations e.g. arranging your digital assets in a way the encourages re-purposing / re-publishing.

I shared a few of my own thoughts as to the practical steps brands can take to make things easier for people to mention them online in that original post, but I wanted to get the opinions of some industry peers as a follow up.

So, I asked them this question:

What is the one thing brands should / could do to make it easier for bloggers to talk about them online? 

Here's what came back...

How easy / hard are you making it for bloggers to talk about you?

I have been asking myself and my clients this question a lot lately: How easy (or hard) are you making it for bloggers (and general social media participants) to talk about you?

It's a really important question, and one that I think is often ignored (and perhaps not even on the radar enough to be ignored / noticed).

What EXACTLY do I mean? Let me show you...

Access issues: Bringing the challenge to life

The simplest way for me to put this issue in context is as follows: