SFGate shows it’s readers How Social Media Can Help Consumers Save Money in this informative post by Lewis Humphires

Duke Chung, co-founder of Parature,  provides Mashable with 5 Ways to Turn Social Customers Into Brand Ambassadors

WebProNews interviews actor/producer Joel Bryant at the BlogWorld Expo in L.A. in this video that asks Is Social Media the Future of Entertainment? [VIDEO]

CBS Money Watch‘s Kimberly Weisul reports that’s big employers’ reactions to social media can be downright schizophrenic in Companies flip-flop on social media.

The “you can do it” partner – encouraging and supportive, yet from a distance – not getting involved but cheerleading all the way.

The “blame” partner - when anything goes wrong, despite knowing that you played a roll in the outcome, you blame the other party.

The “all for one” partner – truly working with your team members to share information, provide  positive feedback and encouragement, and sharing in both the accomplishments and the challenges.

Herbert Lang and Nathaniel Lofton - Harlem Globetrotters - came in first Monday night through supportive team work and cooperation. Definitely "all for one" partners!

The leader/other half to a “yes man” partner – i.e., you provide all of the guidance and direction and your teammate just follows along.

The “naysayer partner” - any suggestion provided by your team members is met with instant doubt or a flat out “no.”

Each of these types of partnerships are on display on this show – and we’ll find out in the end which method ultimately equals winners. It may seem obvious why one works better over another – but if you don’t stop and think about what kind of partner you are, and what kind of partner your agency vendors are, you could be wasting valuable time and money. Partnerships work best when they consist of mutual respect, trust and a sense of camaraderie – i.e., we’re all here working towards a mutual goal. After all, you’ve put the work into researching and choosing the best agency partner (you did put that work in, right?!), so trust them, involve them and respect them. If you don’t, you might want to consider a new teammate.

Best Social Media Advice From This Site
Chris Brogan compiles some of the best and most informative posts on his site and breaks them up into categories for mass consumption. Enjoy filling your brain with this Social Media feast!

Answers to all of your Groundswell questions
From one information packed pick to another! Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li provide answers to the many Groundswell related questions that came to them from the 700+ people who joined their recent webinar.

SEO Quick Tips
SEO (Search Engine Optimization) is generally an area of expertise that can take a good portion of mental bandwidth to master. However, most readers will find value in getting some exposure to the basics. Steve Spalding from the “How to Spilt an Atom” blog posted these SEO Quick Tips that were shared with him by Mark Hager of Knoxville, TN Web Design.

CBS to Acquire CNET for $1.8 Billion
Definitely the most highly “tweeted” acquisition story this week. It should be interesting to see how CNET’s content changes and what plans CBS really has in-store post merger.

Top Time-wasters for Web Workers (And How to Cure Them)
Valuable advice for those (like you) who utilize the web on a daily basis. Just be sure to practice the cures AFTER you finish being distracted by this week’s Persuasive Picks!!