Planting seeds where roots of influence intertwine

Photo courtesy of Terwilliger911 via Flickr

In botany, inosculation is when a group of plants begin to fuse together and share water and nutrients. Eventually, they can become so entangled with each other that they form a strong network for feeding and hydration. Wherever such a network exists is a great place to plant a seed, so the young tree can reach out and take advantage of the network’s resources.

It’s a great analogy for the social Web. Increasingly, PR professionals are looking for groups of popular blogs or sites that regularly link to each other’s content (sharing nutrients), cultivating relationships, producing their own compelling content and hooking into some very powerful networks.

Using social metrics like inbound links, comments and citations on social bookmarking sites, communications professionals can now identify groups of blogs and sites that link to each other, reblog each other and collectively constitute important spheres of influence in a given topic area. Inosculation between social outposts online is increasingly rivaling traditional media for mindshare. Where are you planting your tree?

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