Farewell, Social Business

When “Social Business” first launched in 2008 (as “Feeds”), Twitter was still something of a mystery to most of the world, Facebook pages weren’t yet being used so aggressively by brands as engagement platforms, and celebrities were still only existing on MySpace. As it has been said, the only constant is change.

And, with that, I announce another change. After three years of writing about social media and business for ZDNet, it’s time for me to hang up my hat and move on. I’ve spent a good amount of time exploring trends in both B2B and B2C social media, the pitfalls of social network privacy policies, security issues, and have even conducted interviews with some of the most influential movers and shakers in the space. I’ve loved every minute of it and as I take a look back, I must call out some of my favorite posts:

1. Q&A with Twitter’s Biz Stone
2. ‘Branded Community’ leads to trademark morass
3. Pandora opens up: Q&A with Tim Westergren
4. Should big brands fear or revere the mommybloggers?
5. Twitter popularity does not equal business acumen
6. Threatpost launches as best practice for enterprise IT and social media
7. Nine worst social media fails of 2009…thus far
8. The psychology of social media: Can a visible brand ruin your life?
9. Does God read Facebook? Religion and business on social networks may not mix
10. Public relations: Should your company bring it in-house?
11. Fact or fiction: Verifying claims of social media ‘experience’
12. From the front line: Communications lessons from the Deepwater Horizon spill
13. Quora content quelled by its own constituents

I must take this time to send a big thank you to my friends and colleagues in the social media, marketing, security and public relations industries who have given me much fodder for some fun stories. I also want to say thank you to the readers who supported this blog, and even say thanks to the readers who liked to remind me over and over again how much they dislike social media. Your comments only fueled me to try to educate the masses even more.

I'm happy to report that I will remain a part of the ZDNet family, as my wonderful editors Larry Dignan and David Grober have invited me to contribute to Between the Lines, the site's main tech news blog. Here I will write about a bevy of topics spanning the high tech industry -- and I'm sure I'll even touch on social media here and there. I leave this blog in very capable hands. Rich Harris, who joined us last fall, will continue on the front lines of social media and business. In addition to occasionally writing for Between the Lines I’m also going to contribute to Femme Postale, a new blog collaboration that combines commentary with fundraising for women’s causes, and I’ll also be freelancing my way around the tech blogosphere. If you want to know the silly things inside my head, you can read about them on my very own blog.

Farewell, Social Business. See you on the Internet.