According to a study by Sage North America and AMI-Partners, more than half of small businesses consider digital social media to be a significant factor in acquiring and retaining existing customers. The study revealed that the age of a company has an impact on the triggers and drivers of digital social media. Whereas younger companies (less than 5 years) are [...]

Transportation specialists in Southeastern Massachusetts studying a troublesome 19-mile stretch of Interstate 495 that connects Route 24 in Raynham to Interstate 195 and Route 25 in Wareham say congestion problems will worsen unless some costly solutions are implemented. The focus area of the I-495 study, recently completed with a grant from the state Highway Department, borders Raynham, Taunton, Lakeville, Rochester, Middleborough, [...]

Great graphical representation of the value and impact of Twitter…

Eighty-five organizations across Massachusetts will receive grants ranging from $400,000 to $4,000 from the state’s Cultural Facilities Fund (CFF). The grants, totaling $12,467,900 were announced today by MassDevelopment and the Massachusetts Cultural Council (MCC), which administer the program jointly. Of the amount awarded, $12,009,900 will support 61 capital projects, $379,000 will be used by 17 groups for feasibility and planning [...]

The Social Networking Compendium 7 May 2009 ARN (Australian Reseller News) Part 1 (Twitter): Barrack Obama, Britney Spears, William Shatner – do you need more names to convince you social networking is popular? Part 2 (Facebook): Facebook is arguably the king of social networking sites after dethroning MySpace. But will it be challenged by Twitter?  Part 3 (LinkedIn): For those [...]

Local businesses have donated $1,900 toward the planting of flower gardens throughout the town to help beautify Middleboro. Anne M. Nalevanko, director of the Office of Economic & Community Development who solicited the donations, said the money will be used toward the purchase of hanging plants for four corners in downtown Middleboro, maintenance of Kramer Park and development of other [...]

A review of the state’s official papers that tell communities how much local aid they will get might leave one wondering where all the Middleboro veterans have gone.  Next year’s line item on Middleboro’s cherry sheets for the veterans services budget has been slashed to zero. The town usually gets about $225,000 annually in reimbursements. Veterans Service Officer Paul J. [...]

Greater Boston store vacancies have soared to record levels as hard times drive everything from big chains to mom-and-pop shops out of business, new research shows. Burlington-based KeyPoint Partners estimates Eastern Massachusetts had a record 5,400 vacant storefronts and 15.6 million square feet of unused retail space as of March. That’s up 24 percent over 12 months – an increase [...]

The Social Organization View more presentations from Susan Scrupski. This is one of the better decks I’ve seen on the ‘why’ for organizations. As an enterprise social software manager for our company, I have been looking for exactly this ‘story’ to tell our execs. Fortunately the ones I need to help move a project forward understand this intuitively. I will [...]

New technology and a new digital experience are changing expectations for how, why and when people receive information. You might argue that they are changing how we think. The top media trends today go way beyond influencing what is new or hip; they are fundamentally changing the way we experience the world. The way you communicate with your employees must [...]