We recently expanded the Share functionality on the top of our abstract pages by adding Facebook and Twitter to the Digg, Delicious, and CiteULike options.  Our community asked for the ability to easily post or tweet about research that was important to them and has already created thousands of SSRN links on Facebook and Twitter.

This ease of linking and accessing content is beginning to create interesting opportunities.  Google* and Bing are continually adding features to enhance their results but it has become a cat and mouse game trying to provide the best, non-manipulated results.  We are starting to see a lot of interesting research regarding the use of social networks to provide recommendations using a “wisdom of friends” approach.  It makes a lot of sense to us.  When you think about it, don’t you value the recommendation of a trusted friend more than a search engine algorithm?

* I love the 40th Anniversary Sesame Street doodles this week, especially today’s Cookie Monster!

From Octane magazine: “Keeping Up With the Cyber Current”:

In the June 2009 issue of Octane, Entrepreneurial Organization’s quarterly magazine, I outlined SSRN’s “three-step approach” to expanding our online presence through social media.  The approach is an ongoing process that allows us to evolve and accommodate the needs of our users as technology evolves.  As part of this expansion, SSRN added sharing technology for popular sites, such as Digg and Del.icio.us, and joined Facebook, LinkedIn, and Twitter.  Our three-step approach is:

It is definitely a learning experience for us and I look forward to your feedback about how we can improve.  Please comment below or write to me Gregg_Gordon@SSRN.Com .