Mel Carson, Microsoft Advertising, interviews Mary Luangrath, Head Cupcakeologist / Owner, Foiled Cupcakes, on the subject of social media business value at SES New York 2009. Foiled Cupcakes launched its business in June of 2009, and has since only used social media applications to drive sales of its cupcakes. The company was able to surpass its projected sales by more than 600%. Mary said her company collaborated with its fans, reaching out to consumers, and building support behind the brand and not necessarily having to do with the topic of cupcakes. In November of 2009, Marie decided to forgo sending out holiday greeting cards and instead tweeted about her donating cupcakes to various charities, which led to a flood effect, whereby 12 other Chicago-based restaurateurs donated to charities. To learn more about Foiled Cupcakes, please visit: www.foiledcupcakes.com To learn more about speaking at SES, please visit: www.searchenginestrategies.com

With so many positive aspects of social media, its hard to think that there could be a downside. But unfortunately, there are current trends that reveal both a bad and ugly side to social media. At BlogWorld, Patrick OKeefe, the Founder of the iFroggy Network, spoke with WebProNews and explained how a couple of these trends could lead to serious problems. For starters, the growing use of sock puppets is one area of concern. In this trend, people post promotions or positive comments about a particular company or brand but do not disclose that they are directly affiliated with it. As a result, the company or brand loses its credibility and trust. A second trend is the act of forcing people to use all tools and communities in the same way. When this occurs, the tools or the social platforms cannot grow or further develop. Tune into this video to learn more about what Patrick OKeefe had to say about these problems as well as tips he gives from his book, Managing Online Forums.