Here are some of the best posts that were dis­cov­ered through the Social Media Chal­lenge on Jan. 29-31, 2010.

• 6 Tips on Brainstorming Viral Content – Rebecca Kelley, 10e20
• Google, sex, Utah and chocolate. We’re not making this up. – Thought Gadgets
• Why Good Design Still Matters – Alyssa Gardina
• My Top 25 Before 25 – Rebecca Denison

Reflections On My 14 days

Two weeks ago, I started the Social Media Challenge in the hopes of finding, recognizing, and promoting some of the web’s best undiscovered content. I think this was mostly successful.  I’m really thankful to everyone who participated in the challenge.  It would not have been nearly as successful without you.

Here are a few quick things I learned from the experience:

• Next time, (yes, there will be a next time) I’m making the challenge 7 days instead of 14.  14 days ended up being too long and a lot of the momentum was lost on the weekends.
• It was difficult to not tweet content from blogs that weren’t on my original list
• Blogs on my list didn’t update frequently enough (there were some days when I had nothing to tweet from my list)
• I enjoyed reading posts from blogs I would not have otherwise read (great picks everyone!)

Big thanks to some of the challenge’s biggest participants: Eddy Badrina, Alyssa Gardina, Joe Flowers, Erica Martinez, Simon Salt, Cynthia Smoot, and many more!

About the Social Media Challenge

The Social Media Chal­lenge is a 14 day quest to find the hid­den gems of the blo­gos­phere.  Par­tic­i­pants start at any time and select 10–15 blogs not found in the top 150 of AdAge’s Power 150 list or within the top 100 on Tech­no­rati.  The goal is to diver­sify the con­tent that is shared through Twit­ter and give some deserv­ing blogs a leg up.

Fol­low #smchal­lenge on Twit­ter, or check out the Twit­ter list for more participants.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Challenge Digest v.1
2. Social Media Challenge Digest V.5
3. Social Media Challenge Digest V.6

Here are some of the best posts that were dis­cov­ered through the Social Media Chal­lenge on Jan. 29, 2010.

• Reviewing Sass, a Dynamic CSS Language – Victor Murygin, 10e20
• Barack Obama gave us a shoutout! – In This Economy
• My version of inbox zero: Draft Posts Posted – Jeremy Myers
• Busted: Ten Conference Adult Learning Myths – Jeff Hurt
• AT&T, Twitter, And Not Making Social Media A Quick Fix. – Smile Like You Mean It

About the Social Media Challenge

The Social Media Chal­lenge is a 14 day quest to find the hid­den gems of the blo­gos­phere.  Par­tic­i­pants start at any time and select 10–15 blogs not found in the top 150 of AdAge’s Power 150 list or within the top 100 on Tech­no­rati.  The goal is to diver­sify the con­tent that is shared through Twit­ter and give some deserv­ing blogs a leg up.

Fol­low #smchal­lenge on Twit­ter, or check out the Twit­ter list for more participants.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Challenge Digest V.9 & Lessons Learned
2. Social Media Challenge Digest V.5
3. Social Media Challenge Digest V.6

Here are some of the best posts that were dis­cov­ered through the Social Media Chal­lenge on Jan. 26-27, 2010.

• Are you keeping your standard in view? – Tim Walker
• Why is Third Tribe Marketing So Effective? – Derek Halpern, Social Trig
• Spilling the Beans: How Three Dallas Coffee Shops Are Marketing For Success – Eddy Badrina
• Social Media Challange: What I’ve Discovered – Alyssa Gardina
• And So It Begins – Erica M. Martinez (welcoming her to the #smchallenge)
• Case Study: Managing Risk in Regulated Industries – Peter Kim
• Show Me Da Monies: Live from OMMA Social – Aaron Strout
• Does being “social” online make you less “social” offline? An observation in blog form – Cynthia Smoot

About the Social Media Challenge

The Social Media Chal­lenge is a 14 day quest to find the hid­den gems of the blo­gos­phere.  Par­tic­i­pants start at any time and select 10–15 blogs not found in the top 150 of AdAge’s Power 150 list or within the top 100 on Tech­no­rati.  The goal is to diver­sify the con­tent that is shared through Twit­ter and give some deserv­ing blogs a leg up.

Fol­low #smchal­lenge on Twit­ter, or check out the Twit­ter list for more participants.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Challenge Digest V.9 & Lessons Learned
2. Social Media Challenge Digest V.6
3. Social Media Challenge Digest V.8

Here are some of the best posts that were dis­cov­ered through the Social Media Chal­lenge on Jan. 25, 2010.

• Here’s Brian Clark’s 3-Step Method to Building a Profitable Blog Enterprise – Derek Halpern, Social Trig
• Is Mashable the CNN of social media? – Alyssa Gardina
• Assess Yourself: The Balancing Act of Time Management – Lauren Fernandez
• 10 Easy Steps to Great Blog Images – Tim Walker
• 2010: The Year of the “Reset” Economy – Jeff De Cagna, Principled Innovation

About the Social Media Challenge

The Social Media Chal­lenge is a 14 day quest to find the hid­den gems of the blo­gos­phere.  Par­tic­i­pants start at any time and select 10–15 blogs not found in the top 150 of AdAge’s Power 150 list or within the top 100 on Tech­no­rati.  The goal is to diver­sify the con­tent that is shared through Twit­ter and give some deserv­ing blogs a leg up.

Fol­low #smchal­lenge on Twit­ter, or check out the Twit­ter list for more participants.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Challenge Digest V.9 & Lessons Learned
2. Social Media Challenge Digest V.5
3. Social Media Challenge Digest v.1

Here are some of the best posts that were dis­cov­ered through the Social Media Chal­lenge on Jan. 22-24, 2010.

• “Have the Intern Do It” – Worst Case Scenarios – Alyssa Gardina
• Top 5 untapped money-making ideas: January ‘10 edition – In This Economy
• 10 Organizational Uses for Twitter Lists – Maddie Grant, Social Fish
• 5 Options for Your Site or Blog’s Sidebar – Patrick Winfield, 10e20
• The Best Facebook Ad I’ve Ever Seen – Cynthia Smoot, Gangway Advertising
• Social Media:Let’s Cut The BS – Simon Salt, IncSlingers

About the Social Media Challenge

The Social Media Chal­lenge is a 14 day quest to find the hid­den gems of the blo­gos­phere.  Par­tic­i­pants start at any time and select 10–15 blogs not found in the top 150 of AdAge’s Power 150 list or within the top 100 on Tech­no­rati.  The goal is to diver­sify the con­tent that is shared through Twit­ter and give some deserv­ing blogs a leg up.

Fol­low #smchal­lenge on Twit­ter, or check out the Twit­ter list for more participants.



Related posts:

1. Social Media Challenge Digest V.9 & Lessons Learned
2. Social Media Challenge Digest V.6
3. Social Media Challenge Digest V.8

Here are some of the best posts that were discovered through the Social Media Challenge on Jan. 19, 2010.

• How Wufoo Turned A Profit In 9 Months By Selling Slick, Simple Forms – with Kevin Hale – Andrew Warner, Mixergy
• The One Question Your Annual Report Must Answer – Kivi Leroux Miller, Non Profit Marketing Blog
• 5 New Ways to Compete for Book PR – Barbara Henricks, Church of Customer Blog
• 7 Mistakes I’ve Made Managing People – Seth Simonds
• How Twitter, Posterous & Friends Make the World Safe for Pedestrians (or: “Still Think Twitter is Silly?”) – Doug Haslam
• TAT augmented ID – Tina Roth Eisenberg, Swiss-Miss

About the Social Media Challenge

The Social Media Challenge is a 14 day quest to find the hidden gems of the blogosphere.  Participants start at any time and select 10-15 blogs not found in the top 150 of AdAge’s Power 150 list or within the top 100 on Technorati.  The goal is to diversify the content that is shared through Twitter and give some deserving blogs a leg up.

Follow #smchallenge on Twitter, or check out the Twitter list for more participants.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Challenge Digest V.6
2. Social Media Challenge Digest V.9 & Lessons Learned
3. Social Media Challenge Digest V.5

Here are some of the best posts that were discovered through the Social Media Challenge on Jan. 18, 2010.

• The Marketer’s New Clothes – BeingPeterKim.com
• The Ultimate Location Based Service – A Thousand Cuts (Adam Cohen)
• Building An Event Blog – Social Fish
• The Four C’s of Conferences and Social Media -  Jeff Hurt
• 13 Ways Businesses Can Leverage Foursquare and Gowalla – Mike Merrill
• Return on Engagement for your Community – Amy Sample Ward

About the Social Media Challenge

The Social Media Challenge is a 14 day quest to find the hidden gems of the blogosphere.  Participants start at any time and select 10-15 blogs not found in the top 150 of AdAge’s Power 150 list or within the top 100 on Technorati.  The goal is to diversify the content that is shared through Twitter and give some deserving blogs a leg up.

Follow #smchallenge on Twitter, or check out the Twitter list for more participants.

Related posts:

1. Social Media Challenge Digest V.9 & Lessons Learned
2. Social Media Challenge Digest V.5
3. Social Media Challenge Digest V.6