Hey everyone. I’m in DC at the moment learning about all things “social” with the team at Edelman PR. This is the third academic conference I’ve attended and they never disappoint. See http://newmediaacademicsummit.com/ for more on the Summit or follow the event on Twitter at #nmasday1

Today session included a basic discussion of social media as well exposure to the technology behind social media. This was the first time this type of ”hands-on” opportunity has been offered at these events. The sessions were organized in two tracks. I attended the session facilitated by Kate Marshall, an Edelman Account Supervisor and Allie Osmar, Social Media Analyst.

Loads of information in this one. The topic of “conversation search” is amazingly deep. Lot’s of players and plenty of great services. Edelman sees conversation search as having three parts:

1) Insights. Using online tools, it’s possible to analyze the social media trends and see how clients fit into the discussion.  

2) Benchmarks. Conversation research tools can be used to understand how the company stands presently. Initial benchmarks are essential to implementing a social media plan.  Share of voice, blog traffic, quality of comments or sentiment can be monitored.

3) Brand monitoring. Brand monitoring allows companies to maintain an eye on their brand. This clearly has use for planning purposes.

I’ll share more from this session later along with updates all this week from DC.