"Facebooking" for a living

Maybe all those hours of procrastination spent in Facebooking might pay off after all for some of us business, marketing and communication majors. I was surfing Mashable.com and came across an infographic article with statistics and information on the increasing prevalence and need for social strategists by companies of all kinds.

Social Strategist profile statistics

It seems just sending anyone from the marketing department to manage the company's FB page or Twitter, is not the approach being taken among many in their industries. We are now seeing a new demand for corporate social strategists that can "wear many hats" and have social media experience among other characteristics (see infographic above).

Social Strategist typical duties

So what do you think? How interested would you be in this role and what's the most attractive part of it?

Do you think companies actually need a separate job role for social strategists to manage social media?

'You can see the future, if you know where to look'

Browsing through Youtube, I came across a video for Zapaday.com. This is an introductory video for the website, which aims to scan the internet for any information about events coming up or scheduled in the future and then create "the world's most comprehensive source of information about the future" with calendars for all these events (like a Wikipedia for the future?) See the video for details!

Zapaday's goal: "Whether you're a journalist, blogger, traveler, political analyst, event organizer or art lover, our goal is to help you get insights, plan ahead and save time."


If you watch the video, it mentions Zapaday could be useful for marketers also by helping in planning product launches and monitoring what competitors are planning. The idea sounds promising and if it takes off like they plan, a lot of people internationally might start using it, but I also wonder if it could turn into another kind of "platform" for electronic marketing, even though online tools to substitute what Zapaday could do for marketers, may exist.


Brands could perhaps make their own calendar and distribute it through social networking sites, so consumers could see just what the brand will be up to in the next year, and this could be a way to stay in the minds of consumers between product launches or perhaps help in spreading brand awareness.


What do you think? Could this service really be useful for marketers?