Every week I compile a list of the noteworthy social media news (Buzz), balanced with valuable commentary (Brilliance) and some good advice about Blogging as well. The links that follow are to sites and blogs that I read on a regular basis - consider them recommended reading for you too. Or you can just come back here each week for a taste of what stuck out to me.

~Karen

Buzz

You can now indicate on Facebook whether you wish to donate your organs or not. Whether people actually post it as a status or not, there’s been an 800% rise in registrations in California! I’m still waiting for the option to show up on my profile.

The other big news from Facebook this week was the launch of Facebook Offers. This functionality is being rolled out slowly, but Lara and I already see it on one of the pages we admin. If you have a small business, you will want to use this feature! Here’s how you can request it for your page if you don’t already have it.

Twitter is making some tweaks to its user interface (UI) to make it better. The Twitter.com experience has always been one that many (including myself) have refused to partake in. Fortunately, the updates since January have worked really well and I use Twitter.com more than I ever did before. Regardless of where you tweet, it’s good to know if your tweets are worth reading or not.

Brilliance

Do you read TOS and privacy policies? Neither do I, but we really should. Here’s just a few things you’ll want to know from the privacy policy of any web service. Of course, if you don’t like or trust the privacy,there are ways to stop these sites from tracking you.

“Shun social media for business at your own peril.” Says Mitch Joel in this post about social media and business to business (B2B) use. It oversimplifies it a bit, but B2B companies need to use social media like B2C does. You’re creating relationships with individuals, not corporations.

Jason Falls went on a bit of a rant about Klout this week and it’s an interesting read. Love it or hate it, Klout isn’t going away. Though if you hate it, perhaps you should delete your automatically generated account.

Blogging

This post really resonated with me, because I don’t always answer a question or solve a problem with my posts. But if you do, you will not fail to provide value and everyone is short on time these days - we need content that serves a purpose.

Many people have questions about how to do this or that even months or years after they’ve launched a blog. Here’s a few of those questions answered.

This is one I’m working on. Ergo, this weekly roundup keeps getting shorter. Have you noticed?