Radian6 SM monitoring and Dell's Social Media Strategy

I always fancied myself kind of a tough chick, but now that I moved from the centrally located Tendernob (Where the Loin meets Nob Hill) to the Outer Mission I'm realizing how much I've been relying on taxi cabs and how very little I've been utilizing my bike/public transit. 

I'm so freaked out about figuring HOW to get somewhere that I've basically bordering on being an agoraphobe at this point. I mean, I like to have certain things easily accessible to me--I need a grocery that is a step above a bodega, a pharmacy, a gym and maybe one decent thai take-out place. 

Right now, I have to bike a mile and a half to get outside of the residential area. This is definitely going to put a cramp in how late I go out and how much alcohol I imbibe. Navigating a bike while tipsy = BAD IDEA JEANS.

Anyway, in between learning the in's and out's of MUNI, BART and biking the crazy SF terrain, I've also been drawn to PowerShift, the blog at the Radian6 website. If you don't know much about Radian6, then take a look at what they're up to. They provide amazing social media monitoring and analysis platforms to corporations and businesses. You may be familiar with Dell's smart use of social media. Well, Dell is one of Radian6's biggest clients. If you aren't familiar with Ideastorm or other Dell SM tactics, check out this post's video, above.

Because I see Radian6 as a kind of Great Oz behind the SM curtain, I decided to contact Radian6 via @AmberCadabra, the uber on-top-of-it Director of Community for R6. I asked her for a demo of their product, and she got me in touch with one of their account managers (@CoryHartlen) who then walked me through a real time demo of the tricked-out platform. The Radian6 product can track search terms and influencers via a social media profile river, trending charts, and clouds. To me, it felt a little like what being omnipotent must feel like. If you're repping a brand that needs to become a part of the conversation, I highly recommend poking around the R6 site.