This week I sat down with Matthew Goldman of ATTi  to explore how executives can better manage their companies’ reputations while Mike was busy moderating a panel at Mediabistro’s Socialize conference on developing real-world products at the intersection of mobile and social. Mike also told us Facebook reported reaching 250 million mobile active subscribers.

Jed told us about Travidia’s Find-n-Save app, which helps publishers promote local social deals.

Here’s what we uncovered this week in socialsphere:

How to Get Started With Social Media
Where do I start? That’s the most asked question by marketers at small-and-mid-size businesses when first considering creating social media campaigns in Facebook, Twitter and similar social sites, according to Anne Field. So, she gets advice from three experts: Rhea Drysdale, Lee Odden and Wendy King.

Are You a Q&A Expert?
Looking for a way to build a social presence on Q&A sites? Aliza Sherman steps through ways to use Quora, Focus and Namesake to improve your professional reputation and showcase your expertise. She also provides a few extra tips such as incorporate the site into content production, and become a true experts in one, not many things.

Tips on Managing Social vs. Search Promotions
Getting the most out of Facebook and Twitter promotions might seem like an art, but it’s really a well-thought-out science backed by a bunch of numbers and stats. Define goals, set metrics, evaluate and adjust as often as necessary, according to Alanna Francis.

LivingSocial in the Money
Since LivingSocial secured $400 million from several investors, the company now is reportedly worth more than $3 billion. It plans to use the funding to close the gap in the daily deal market with Groupon. Evelyn Rusli tells us about LivingSocial Instant, a mobile app delivering discounts to users on the go. It’s only available in the Washington, D.C., area.

Differences Between Social and Search
David Sasson serves up interesting tidbits on bounce rates when someone finds the site via social media compared with search. He also tells us how to write better headlines, make content visual, and hold on to readers through awesome content.

Un-silo Local, Social, Mobile
Gregg Stewart warns against placing in silos local, social and mobile marketing efforts. Beginning with a local business listing, Stewart provides recommendations for success aimed at small and medium-sized businesses.

Attracting Face Time on Facebook
Buddy Media released a report providing tips on best day of the week or the best time of day to post to your brand’s Facebook page. Marc Babej describes some tips such as writing shorter than 80 characters will produce better results than longer posts.

Buy on Facebook; Pick Up in Store
Retail stores that sell goods on Facebook aren’t new, but Gamestop this week launched a buy on Facebook and pick up in store option at one of the company’s more than 6,660 stores. The feature allows consumers to pre-order games.

What I Really Meant to Tweet
The intellectual types know mining for sentiment and opinion, or reading between tweets on Twitter, takes a sophisticated software program similar to the one created by Rohini Srihari at the University of Buffalo. Christopher Joyce tells us Srihari created the app because “history is best told not by what the Napoleans say, but by the foot soldiers, or, in this case, the tweeters.” Interesting read.

This weekend let’s hope this #shutdown is not a trending topic.