• 7 Harsh Truths about running online communities « Boagworld – A nice summary piece by Paul Boag highlights some of the considerations to effectively running an online community.
• 60% of Twitter Users Quit Within the First Month – Twitter is growing at a fantastic clip (thanks, Oprah!), but to what end? It will be interesting to see just what percentage of the population has the time or inclination to broadcast their brilliance on a regular basis.

The always insightful Clay Shirky in a great interview with Joshua-Michéle Ross:

• Mobile Learning – mLearnopedia – From the site: "The mLearnopedia content community collects and organizes the best information from around the web that will help you learn and stay current on mobile learning."
• Sclipo: the social learning revolution – From the site: "Sclipo offers a revolutionary way to teach and learn online by integrating rich educational applications – such as video and webcam – into a true social network platform."

• Social Media Marketing – Who, What, When, Where, Why and How? – Mike Fruchter puts together a great list of things you should be asking yourself as you begin your trek into social media marketing.
• Will YourEnterprise 2.0 even make sense in 2009? – Venkatesh Rao has some spot-on predictions of how changing consumer behavior, 2.0 technologies, and the recession will create a "perfect storm" that forces the hand of traditional businesses in 2009.
• The Secrets of Marketing in a Web 2.0 World – WSJ.com – WSJ article provides a sound basic understanding of social marketing strategies. Business is slowly learning to join the conversation that the Cluetrain Manifesto told them about eight years ago.

• Why Traditional Recession Tactics Are Doomed To Fail This Time – Umair Haque – Umair Haque presents a three faceted proposal for how businesses must act differently to weather this recession and succeed in the 21st century. Summary: It's time for business to move from mercenary capitalism to sustainable socialism.
• How to Survive and Thrive in Business Today with Web 2.0 – Part 1 [Dion Hinchcliffe's Web 2.0 Blog] – Dion provides another robust graphic on Web 2.0 business implications. Good food for thought and discussion.

• 130 Social Media Marketing Examples From Major Brands – Peter Kim from SocialComputingMagazine.compulls together a really nice list of "Examples of companies using and being used by social media marketing…" Using social tools to build your brand is becoming increasingly important for every company. The Web is the "world's largest water cooler conversation" – ignore it at your brand's peril.
• Ten leading platforms for creating online communities – Dion puts together a list of top platforms for building online communities. From the article: "It’s beginning to be understood that communities aren’t just for socializing but for getting things done."

• Web 2.0 Corporate Access : eLearning Technology – Steve Karrer and the eLearningGuild compile some statistics about corporate worker access to Web 2.0 applications. Not sure the scope validity of the study but it is in line with what we are seeing at Web 2.0 University
• Six Degrees of Separation Is Now Three – More interesting data as we move from the "information age" to the "connected age". From the post:

  "According to the study, the average person is now connected by just three degrees within a shared “interest” or social group instead of six. In fact, it found that people are usually a part of three main networks: family, friendship, and work."

• Sakai – Collaboration and Learning Environment for Education – Sakai is a free and open source online Collaboration and Learning Environment. Many users of Sakai deploy it to support teaching and learning, ad hoc group collaboration, support for portfolios and research collaboration.
• Researchers mull gaming’s impact on learning – The power of game playing in learning is well established. New research shows how it continues to hold true for those "horrible" video games. From the article: "Studies suggest the benefits of playing video games go well beyond thrills. One study even looked at whether playing "World of Warcraft," the world's biggest multiplayer online game, can improve scientific thinking. The conclusion? Certain types of video games can have benefits beyond the virtual thrills of blowing up demons or shooting aliens.

• From The Information Age To The Connected Age – GigaOM – An insightful post from Anne Zelenka on "how the web enables us to move from one era into another, from the Information Age to the Connected Age."
• Understanding productivity in the Information Age – MIT Sloan Newsroom – In today's knowledge-based economy, it pays to be an “information hub”

These are my links for April 23rd through April 28th:

• Gin, Television, and Social Surplus – Here Comes Everybody – Transcript of Clay Shirky's great presentation at Web 2.0 Conference. As always, his insight into the social impact of technology is sharp as he walks us through all of us finding better things to do with our time (sorry TV).
• InSTEDD – Web 2.0 is not just about the money. The power of the Web and social networks is being harnessed to addressed some of the most importnt issues we face. InSTEDD is just one example. The Web is the global brain to help us learn and perform better.
• On Managing A Community | chrisbrogan.com – Chris Brogan weighs in on the emerging role of community manager. While his focus is on a media and events company, it is food for thought on what the tasks and measures should be for a learning community manager – a central role in Learning 2.0.
• Morgan Stanley’s March Internet Trends Report: Social Applications Dominating – Oh what a difference a year makes! A report chock full of data on the amazing and continuing growth of social networks. As this becomes a communications standard, it will have huge impact on how we work and learn.
• More Thoughts on Why Workplace Learning Is Largely Learning 1.0 –