This article reminded me of the time a cloud antagonist asked me what happens when the Internet goes out for the enterprise running on the cloud.  My first response was that virtually all enterprises are crippled during Internet outages due to heavy reliance on email and VoIP.  My second was to ask, “When are you ever NOT connected to the Internet?”  Without thinking too hard, I have four different methods for connecting to different streams of the Internet within arms’ reach right now.

• Pocket Data Connections

R “Ray” Wang rounds up some simple rules for using social media in business.  The more interesting aspect of his article, however, was the benefits gained by early adopters who saw “faster … customer adoption” and “reduced marketing spend.”  The benefits show why there is a natural synergy between social media and CRM and why a company like salesforce.com invests so heavily in the success of its social application, Chatter.

• Best Practices: Five Simple Rules for Social Business

The reverse also holds true and Twitter has taken the initiative to strengthen its business value with a new website called Twitter for Business.

• Twitter Solicits Interest for the “Most Engaging Innovative Ads on the Web”

• Twitter for Business

The salesforce.com-acquires-Heroku announcement at Dreamforce 10 caused a lot of excitement but many also asked, “What does it really mean?”  Ben Kepes walks us through a case study that demonstrates the agility that such a partnership would bring.

• When Enterprise Apps Get Agile – A Ruby/Salesforce Case Study