Sites like Facebook and Twitter provide a platform for the country to ban together and share their emotions and opinions stronger than ever before.  Some post memorial messages and notes of respect for the innocent two year old, while others question the verdict and the legal system. 

Those who disagree with the ruling found a way to condense their feelings in 140 characters or less on Twitter.  Today, there are over 90 Facebook pages titled “Casey Anthony” and even more expressing hatred towards her. 

In less than one week after the day she was acquitted, 39,000 people “liked” the Facebook page – “I hate Casey Anthony.”  In the same timeframe, more than 700,000 people had signed an online petition at Change.org in favor of a federal “Caylee’s Law” making it illegal to fail to report a missing child within a specific timeframe. 

The Casey Anthony case is often compared to when O.J. Simpson was found not guilty of murdering his wife in 1996.  The difference between then and now is that these online networks didn’t exist.

These social sites are no longer just for connecting us with people we may know or want to meet.  They have become outlets for the world to respond to current issues, a place to celebrate a life or mourn a death and a form of therapeutic release.

–Courtney

*Photo Credit: Facebook.com

So we’ve read what is out there about blogging, we read that 77% of internet users read blogs and that companies that blog have two times the number of inbound links versus companies that don’t and best yet 58% of people who blog are said to be most known in their industry.

We hear about Twitter and tweeting and using hashtags. One can follow people and find out the latest in the industry and learn about what other people are doing. We are sold on signing on to all of this.

Have you heard about Bloglevel and Tweetlevel? Both of these sites help to find the top influencers in their blogs and on Twitter. These tools help to sort out content by relevance and context. Then it sorts by influence. The people that are ranked the best are the best influencers in that area of expertise.

Although these tools may not be the best out there, they are great to see who are the top influencers out there and why. Keeping on eye on the competition is always a smart thing to do. It’s important to know what people are saying, why people are listening and what you can do to join in the fun.

Go ahead and check yourself out…..how are you doing?

-Jackie
http://thenextweb.com/apps/2011/07/14/tweetlevel-bloglevel-gps-for-navigating-influence-online/