Twitter is one of the most popular and least understood social media vehicles. This micro-blogging service is the equivalent of sending a 140-character SMS to upwards of 3,000,000 people at once.
Of course, some companies are concerned that as products become part of a customer conversation, some control may be lost. The trade-offs are that the dialogue with real, live customers can help you refine or improve your products to meet your customers needs. Not to mention Twitter lets you keep up with what your competitors are up to in real time.
Some of the most well-known uses of Twitter by advertisers include Zappos, Dell, BestBuy, Pepsico (Tropicana) and Amazon who are using Twitter to brand build without breaking the bank.
Other high-profile uses of Twitter include a Twitterer aboard the ferry headed to rescue the US Air passengers, a global Twestival event that raised money for clean water, Lance Armstrong staying connected to cycling fans and the LiveStrong community, and Democrats mobilizing to help elect Obama.
To fiind out more about the possibilties Twitter offers, check out this SlideShare presentation called “How Twitter Changed My Life”. It’s good food for thought about how Twitter can help you or your company expand your social network, stay on top of trends, have a genuine 1×1 relationship with your customers and ultimately spread the word.
First published in June 2007, Larry Weber’s second book quickly became a bestselling guide on how to build businesses online. It talks about the decline of traditional advertising and helps marketers navigate the evolving digital world of blogs, reputation aggregators, social networks and e-communities. These environments, he shows, present new opportunities for businesses to maximize marketing investments.
Grab a copy to read the new foreword by Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales and communications consultant Andrea Weckerle, a new chapter on Facebook as a marketing tool, and updated examples and interviews. You can also check out a video of Larry talking about what’s new in edition two. Let us know what you think!
Will the economy make advertisers run for the traditional advertising hills? This was the topic of the evening at the Digital State 2009 BIMA/MITX event I attended recently.
All 5 the panelists were survivors of the dot bomb. And 4 out of the 5 agreed that the economic downturn of 2001 was far more devastating to the industry, largely because the Internet was in its infancy and the value of digital marketing was not yet established.
Their experience reinforces our thinking at Digital Influence Group – that a flight to safety by advertisers would be a huge mistake. Clients who reduce their presence online could miss out.
Those who capitalize on this environment by using social media could gain an increased ability to listen to the market, share their vision, influence their customers and generate business income.
Major takeaway from the evening: the economy is tough on everyone. But, savvy clients will recognize that some of the best opportunities come after a downturn and that the value proposition digital marketing offers is now clear and measureable.
The Digital Influence Group is excited to be a part of the New Marketing Summit coming up at Gillette Stadium in Foxboro, MA on October 14 and 15.
This conference is all about the knowledge, tools and strategies marketing and PR professionals now need to be successful in an economy driven by social technologies. They’ve got Chris Brogan, Paul Gillin and David Meerman Scott organizing the sessions so this should be the biggest event on social media and emerging marketing technologies in the Boston area this year.
I’ll be speaking on the panel “Selling Up - Convincing Senior Management about Social Media” at 12:30 on the 14th. Also, DIG will be sponsoring the networking cocktail reception at the Showcase that evening. (Nothing’s been announced yet, but there is talk of a possible appearance of one of the Patriots players) This will be a great event and we hope to see you there.
I’ve always been a big fan of the Gartner Hype Curve. It is an effective tool to visualize the evolution of the technologies around us so we can separate the hype from the business reality.
If you are not familiar with the hype curve, it is Gartner’s way of representing the maturity and business adoption of a group of technologies. There are 5 stages in the curve that represent the rise of a technology to a period of over-enthusiasm and “hype”, to a rapid decline period of disillusionment when it falls short of expectations - to a time of enlightenment when it evolves to become widely accepted and valuable for businesses.
Wikipedia has this explanation of each of the 5 stages:
1. “Technology Trigger” — The first phase of a hype cycle is the “technology trigger” or breakthrough, product launch or other event that generates significant press and interest.
2. “Peak of Inflated Expectations” — In the next phase, a frenzy of publicity typically generates over-enthusiasm and unrealistic expectations. There may be some successful applications of a technology, but there are typically more failures.
3. “Trough of Disillusionment” — Technologies enter the “trough of disillusionment” because they fail to meet expectations and quickly become unfashionable. Consequently, the press usually abandons the topic and the technology.
4. “Slope of Enlightenment” — Although the press may have stopped covering the technology, some businesses continue through the “slope of enlightenment” and experiment to understand the benefits and practical application of the technology.
5. “Plateau of Productivity” — A technology reaches the “plateau of productivity” as the benefits of it become widely demonstrated and accepted. The technology becomes increasingly stable and evolves in second and third generations. The final height of the plateau varies according to whether the technology is broadly applicable or benefits only a niche market.
Gartner’s 2008 Hype Curve for Emerging Technologies was just released and it is interesting to see where our favorite social media technologies are today.
(Click the image to enlarge)
On the Way Up
Microblogging is rising rapidly just about to enter the Peak of Inflated Expectations. (some Twitter users may say its been there for a long time) Not far behind is cloud computing. Both are expected to move through the cycle rapidly reaching mainstream adoption in 2 to 5 years.
On the Way Down
Social computing platforms and video telepresence reached their hype peak and are dropping into the trough of disillusionment. Further down trough are public virtual worlds and Web 2.0. Keep in mind this is part of the evolution and each of these are expected to evolve rapidly. From the Gartner’s press release:
“Although Web 2.0 is now entering the Trough of Disillusionment, it will emerge within two years to have transformational impact, as companies steadily gain more experience and success with both the technologies and the cultural implications,”
Rising Again
Corporate blogging, wikis and social networks have been through the worst and are now on the path towards productivity. Their technologies have been through a couple generations, they are being widely adopted by consumers and companies are making them work for business.
Social media tools are some of the fastest moving technologies on this curve. Gartner has shown how important these technologies are and how critical they will be for businesses in a very short period of time. The key to success right now is to develop a strategy and set some clear objectives so you can try the various tools and technologies to see where you can make the biggest impact for your business.
If you don’t believe me… see how Groundswell author Josh Bernoff combines social media strategies in this short video.
That “Social technology smoke, dont breathe this” line gets me every time I watch this.
Does anyone else feel like there just isn’t enough time in a day to do, read, watch everything you want? Sure things like Tivo make it easy to catch up on the shows that we might have missed, but what about the things we are really passionate about? Things that we shouldn’t wait till the weekend to catch up on. Alisa Miller posted this great resource which highlights 100 things you can do with RSS.
I feel like RSS is an extremely important and necessary tool not only in the Social Media world, but in our personal lives as well. Everyone should take advantage of RSS and keep up-to-date on what matters to you most. Take a look at Alisa’s list below and I want to know if you had to pick 10 RSS feeds to subscribe to from this list what would they be?
Entertainment
From your favorite NPR shows to movies to video games, the list below offers some form of entertainment you can have sent to your reader every day.
1. Books. Read books with DailyLit. They will send sections to you each day via RSS feed.
2. Recipes. Get a recipe of the day, recipe raves, recipes from chefs and friends, and more from bigoven.
3. Vegan Recipes. If you are a vegan, get recipes, articles and more from VegWeb.
4. NPR. Find your favorite NPR show updates, local NPR stations, and more each with their own feeds.
5. Blogs. Find your favorite blog and read it in your reader every time it’s updated rather than visiting the site waiting for updates.
6. TV listings. Have local TV listings from TV Guide sent to you every day.
7. TV reminders. Use mytvrss to customize RSS feed reminders on the day when your favorite shows will air.
8. Watch TV shows. Find out as soon as free downloads are available of your favorite shows on Hulu.
9. Movies. Read movie reviews from major critics and the editors themselves at Rotten Tomatoes with their updates.
10. DVD. Find the latest about DVD new release and bestsellers with Movies.com.
11. Viral videos. Get those crazy videos everyone loves from YouTube sent directly to your reader with their RSS feed.
12. Music releases. Get the top 10 songs or albums among other music feeds from iTunes Store from RSS at Apple.
13. Video games. Go to your specific console’s website, like Xbox.com and see if they have RSS feed updates for video game releases.
Sports
Sports fans have no reason to be left in the dark with all these great feeds available.
14. Baseball. Baseball fans can get feeds with news about favorite teams from both the American and National League at MLB.com.
15. College Football. Find feeds with all the latest news on your favorite college teams from Fanblogs.com.
16. Professional Football. For the latest news and more on professional football teams, visit NFL.com.
17. Hockey. You’ll get news, features, stories, and videos of your hockey favorites at NHL.com.
18. Basketball. Basketball lovers will get news, scores, and videos from your favorite teams delivered from NBA.com.
19. U.S. Soccer. If you want audio podcasts, US soccer news, and news on both men’s and women’s teams, sign up at ussoccer.com.
20. World Soccer. With World Soccer, you will get all the latest news on soccer games around the world.
21. Olympics. Get an RSS feed to update you on any number of aspects of the 2008 Olympics from the official website.
22. Cycling. If cycling is your thing, get updates on mountain biking, road riding, BMX, and more at USA Cycling.
23. Nascar. Racing fans can follow their favorite driver, specific series, or specific races with feeds from NASCAR.com.
24. Skateboarding.SkateboarderMag.com offers videos, photos, feature articles, and more with their RSS feeds.
Fun Stuff
Become smarter, more centered, or get a laugh with all the following feeds that you can read.
25. Word of the Day. Get a new vocabulary word sent to you every day with Dictionary.com.
26. Quote of the Day. Need some inspiration each day? Get a quote every day with Quotes of the Day.
27. Joke of the Day. Find a joke every day on your reader with Comedy Central.
28. Fortune Cookie. Get an unusual bit of advice from Random Online Fortune Cookie sent to you.
29. Horoscope. Get a range of specialized horoscopes each day with Astrology.com.
30. Urban Word of the Day. Have Urban Dictionary send you the word of the day and you’ll know what dress flops or carbon guilt means.
31. Comics. Find your favorite comics that are published on the web and subscribe to an RSS feed with Comic Alert!
32. Weird Stuff. Find the oddest blog posts with this feed dedicated to the best of weird blogs.
33. Astronomy. See beautiful and amazing photos taken by two professional astronomers with Astronomy Picture of the Day sent to your reader.
34. Puns. If you appreciate the unusual humor of puns, then Pun of the Day is a must for your subscription list.
35. Random fun. Subscribe to get some fun daily updates like famous birthdays, articles, and this day in history with Cool Site of the Day.
Computer and Internet
If you want software information or just want to change the wallpaper on your computer, these feeds will help you out.
36. Free software deals. Each day you can receive free downloads of software that would normally cost money. Get the feed to let you know what is available each day with Giveaway of the Day.
37. Software releases. Find out when software is released for your specific operating system with Track Version.
38. Virus alerts. Get alerts from Viruslist.com any time a new virus is detected.
39. Wallpaper. Change your wallpaper with this fun tool that also serves as a news aggregator.
40. PageTiki. This tool will let you know when your favorite webpages have been updated via RSS so you don’t have to keep going back to check for new information.
41. Follow trends. Learn what other web surfers are bookmarking with del.icio.us hotlist feeds.
42. Wikipedia. Hardcore Wikipedia fans can learn when there are any changes to the information with their recent changes feed.
43. Tutorials. Get video tutorials teaching complex tasks in a simple, easy-to-understand format with commoncraft feeds.
Dating and Social Networking
Whether you are staying in the loop with friends or looking for a date, these feeds will guide the way.
44. Singles events. Learn when a singles event in a city near you will occur with updates from Singles On The Go.
45. Matches. Some online dating sites will alert you when new matches pop up so you can find out immediately.
46. Speed dating. Find speed dating events all over the world with this RSS feed.
47. Relationship advice. Need relationship help? Perfectmatch.com will provide you some dating tips and advice straight to your reader.
48. Twitter. Follow your friends’ updates with Twitter RSS feeds.
49. MySpace. Add an RSS feed to your MySpace page with this application.
50. Facebook. Subscribe to RSS updates from Facebook with multiple options such as friends’ statuses, posted items, and notes.
51. Friendfeed. Get all your friend’s updates in Friendfeed, then have them sent directly to your reader with an RSS feed.
Travel
If you are taking a trip, make use of these helpful feeds to plan and implement your journey. If you can’t make the time for a trip, then there are a few options for those stuck at home, too.
52. Airfare.Travelocity provides low fare alerts and alerts when fares to your favorite cities drops below 20%.
53. Flight delays. Get delays that are happening at any airport in America with FlightStats.
54. Hotels. Find top deals, exclusive offers, and hotels under $99 with Orbitz RSS feeds.
55. Currency rates. Select from one of these feeds to receive the most up-to-date currency exchange rate from CurrencySource.
56. Travel itinerary. Use TripIt to organize your travel itinerary, then sign up for alerts which will send you RSS feeds any time something on your itinerary is updated or changed.
57. Virtual sightseeing. Subscribe to weekly updates with Google Sightseeing to visit places around the world using Google Maps or Google Earth.
58. Map fun.Google Maps Mania will send you updates with all the fun mashups and tools making use of Google Maps.
Weather
Keep up with the weather in your city or find out if it’s raining at Aunt Emma’s house with these feeds.
59. Local weather. Get daily updates to know what your local weather will be from The Weather Channel. Plug in your zip code and start now.
60. Alerts. Receive alerts when the weather threatens your area from National Weather Service.
61. Tides. Find tidal information from tides.info for most coasts around the world and have it sent to you.
Family and Friends
Keeping up with family and friends or updating them with your information just got a lot easier with these feeds.
62. Share photos. Use RSS feeds to share your Flickr photos with loved ones and buddies alike.
63. Share calendars.Share updates from your Google calendar with others whether they have a Google account or not.
64. Plan a party. Use online invitations with mypunchbowl and get RSS feed for the Punchbowl Buzz.
65. Name your baby. Use the baby name wizard at iVillage and get updates on your reader.
66. Find an activity. Search for fun events in your city with Eventful and have them sent to you with their RSS feed.
Productivity and Career
Jumpstart your career with these handy feeds that will keep you on track or help you find a job.
67. To do lists. Create to do lists with FLEXlists that you can send to yourself or share with co-workers.
68. Traffic updates. Make the most of your commute time with Traffic.com’s traffic reports from major cities around the nation.
69. Job openings. Find a job with Monster and get an RSS feed specialized by location, category, or keyword.
70. Specific emails. Set a filter, then use MailBucket to have those emails sent via RSS feed. Be aware that these messages are public.
71. Reminders.Reminderfeed lets you receive reminders straight to your reader with this easy tool.
Shopping
Internet shopping is hugely popular, so take advantage of these feeds to help you find what you want, save money, or track your package.
72. Best Buy. Get the latest sales going on for movies, game consoles, electronics, and more at Best Buy with their RSS feed.
73. Target. Sign up for Target’s weekly ads to be delivered to your reader by clicking on “Sign up for reminders” here.
74. Gift registry. Whether it’s a wedding or a new baby, you can create a gift registry and make it available to your guests with an RSS feed on TheThingsIWant.
75. Coupons. Get the latest online coupon codes with this RSS feed from Retailmenot.com.
76. Deals. Find out when the latest internet shopping deals come through with a feed from Ben’s Bargains.
77. Ebay. Get specific searches from Ebay auctions sent to you via rssauction.com.
78. Package tracking. Follow your package from most of the major package carriers with this tool from simpletracking.com.
79. Price changes. If you are watching an item and waiting for the price to fall, use RSStalker to do the work for you.
80. Under $10. If you are really on a budget and want to find only the least expensive deals on the Internet, sign up for the SpendFish update that will alert you with any product under $10.
News
Getting news with RSS feeds is nothing new, but some of these options are truly cool. Check out the offbeat news or National Geographic updates for something a little different.
81. Medical news. If medical news is your thing, you’ll love HubMed, which sends daily update feeds of results from your searches on PubMed medical database.
82. Legal news. Choose your favorite legal news to be delivered through RSS feed via LexisNexis.
83. Business news. Not only can you get business news at Yahoo!, you can also get a variety of other news touching on such topics as science, politics, and technology.
84. National news. Get all the latest national news from such well-known agencies as ABC News and Fox News.
85. Local news. Visit your local news station’s website to find out what RSS feeds they offer.
86. World News. One of the top news agencies offering world news brings it to you via RSS feed at Reuters. They offer their highly entertaining Oddly Enough by RSS as well.
87. U.S. Government. Find a huge amount of information that the government will send you through RSS feeds on USA.gov.
88. Offbeat. Find offbeat news that others might not be reporting with Topix.
89. Gadgets. Learn the latest news on technology gadgets with Engadget’s feeds.
90. National Geographic. Get updates that include beautiful photos from some of the most talented photographers around with National Geographic News updates.
Tools to Do Stuff with Your Feeds
Now that you have so many new feeds coming into your reader, learn what else you can do with them. From changing them to voice, sending them to your IM, or just filtering through all you’re getting, these tools will help you manage your feeds.
91. Page2RSS. Monitor websites that do not offer RSS feeds with an RSS that you create with this tool.
92. RSS Mix. Use this aggregator to blend several RSS feeds into one feed you can post on your website.
93. Ping-o-Matic. Ping other sites when you update your blog with this easy RSS feed.
94. Feed Crier. Get real time alerts from all your favorite feeds sent to your IM with this free tool.
95. NewsAloud. Transfer your RSS feeds to voice with this tool if you don’t have time to read your feeds.
96. flurry. This tool will allow you to send and read RSS feeds on your mobile phone.
97. RSS2PDF. Change your RSS feeds into PDF format documents with this tool.
98. RSSMicro. Find RSS feeds with this feed search engine.
99. TapTXT. Monitor all RSS feeds for specific keywords and get alerts you via IM, email, or on your mobile as soon as something is posted with those keywords.
100. AideRSS. If your RSS feeds are out of control, this tool will help you manage them by customizing to your interest and then filtering out less popular stories
After months dismissing Twitter as a fad, I jumped in earlier this year and quickly discovered a whole new social media community… and a new perspective on the business impact of social media in the future. Twitter may be the purest form of social media and the change in web behavior that Twitter represents may be may become one of the most exciting opportunities for marketers on the web.
Social media is all about candid conversations and developing relationships. Blogs started it all by giving people a new voice, but that voice is still largely a one-way conversation. Most posts don’t have many comments, especially when you eliminate all the simple “great post” or “thanks for mentioning me/my company” entries. Sure you’ll see a few high profile blogs with hundreds of posts debating the issues and building on the points of the blog, but once you get beyond Technorati’s top 100 that level of interaction is rare.
Forums and discussion boards are a step up and many communities have deep and insightful conversations on very niche topics. The problem is you often have to look pretty hard to find these groups and you often see many people shouting at each other hiding behind anonymous usernames.
Twitter is different. The culture of Twitter is very open and personal. People are identified by their real names and their picture appears next to their name whenever they participate. A click on your name brings you to a profile page with a history of your tweets and links to your blog or website. Conversation occurs is real-time so whatever is on people’s minds at home and at work is represented here, as it happens. As you can imagine, that includes many discussions about brands and product experiences.
There is certainly a lot of noise here, but that is what monitoring tools like Radian6 and specialty search engines like Summize are for. As with any type of social media, the sheer volume of conversations requires that you use smart tools to organize the data and apply metrics to understand the trends.
Companies are involved now. For example, Comcast has been widely praised for the way they are using Twitter. Service reps are monitoring tweets about the brand and reaching out personally to get their service problems solved. Customers love to see that their voice matters and companies are taking them seriously.
The funny thing is that the opportunity here isn’t necessarily about Twitter. Twitter itself may not even be a big part of this trend in the future – unless they get bought. Twitter is a private, understaffed organization struggling to find a way to make money…and they have a lot of shortcomings. I see the “fail whale” more than I see my kids in a typical day. What’s important here is that Twitter is a great innovation that started a new type of consumer behavior.
Thanks to Twitter, people are now comfortable making frequent posts about what they are doing and what they are thinking throughout the day. Aggregators like Friendfeed make this even more interesting. They collect your “tweets” and then add many of your other online activities - like shared news items from your RSS reader, Facebook updates, and product reviews submitted - and make them all available in a single “lifestream” that is published online.
Not only does this lifestream change the way people present themselves online, it encourages them to share more. Google talked about this at the Supernova conference recently. They say people have been reluctant to share a lot of their lives because they don’t want to feel like they are interrupting and spamming their friends. In this new lifestreaming environment, sharing is encouraged since friends can subscribe to your news feed and view your pictures, stories, product reviews and commentary when they want to see them. People are now motivated to share more of their life as they grow their network and shape their online image.
As the information in these profiles become richer it becomes even easier to get advice and recommendations on purchase decisions from your extended online social network. This pushes the influence of corporate marketing and advertising messages even further away from the consumer.
But this is where social media marketing gets interesting. Lifestreaming facilitates the power of consumer-to-consumer influence making it even more important for companies to be actively involved in social media. These profiles are a new window into the lives of the advocates and critics surrounding your brand. You can learn a lot more about what they like or dislike and track the impact of their influence all across the web so you can engage with them on a more personal level and participate in their lifestream.
I use Twitter to communicate and share interesting interactive and social media news and issues. If you find that interesting, follow me here.
One of the most common questions companies have today about social media is how to measure and evaluate success of their efforts. Since we are well beyond need to “do it because it’s cool”, marketers need to demonstrate how their blogging, community participation and influencer outreach is impacting their business.
Social media is all about relationships. Everything you do in social media is about cultivating and nurturing the relationships of the people that shape your brand. The different ways to measure that influence is what the slides below are all about.
This short presentation summarizes the different types of influence in social media and how they can be measured. Since that elusive business impact is so difficult to quantify, I included some interesting industry studies that point to the specific ways social media is impacting business results.
I’d love to hear what you think about these slides and if you have additional ideas to make it better. Leave a comment, send an email or find me on Twitter.
I vividly remember a day back in 1997 sitting in front of my computer coding the GUI for a Web-based corporate research portal. It annoyed me that I had to find a way to package so much information into a 640 x 480 parcel of techno-real-estate. And as I longed for more square footage, I could taste my dreams as bigger and bigger monitors propelled me into a world of designing for an 800 x 600 screen resolution. I was in pixel heaven – and then came the Mobile Web.
11 years later, with a good 30-40 percent of my online time spent via my Motorola Q and iPod Touch mobile devices, I’ve got a persistent “déjà vu” feeling that takes me back to the “old days” of the Web.
HTML Emails: The corner has finally turned on being able to send out graphically-formatted HTML emails as a standard. It’s not easy to consume HTML formatted emails on my Q – at times it’s nearly impossible and I lose out on that particular communication.
Heavy Graphics/Formatting: Broadband internet access finally beat out turtle slow dialup and websites became a rich-media experience. These same websites are usually a mess on a mobile browser.
Screen Resolution: Forget 640 x 480 pixels – a good Mobile GUI has to fit on a fraction of that real-estate.
Don’t get me wrong. I’m a HUGE fan of portable content – I just find it fascinating that as mobile technology continues to evolve, we are finding ourselves solving problems that we thought we already solved.
While I’m sure I’ll continue to get a sense of déjà vu, I’m glad we now have a collective set of lessons learned which means only good things for our mobile web user experiences.
Wikipedia is the best thing ever. Anyone in the world can write anything they want about any subject. So you know you are getting the best possible information. – Michael Scott
This week one of the world’s most popular encyclopedias turned 7! It’s hard to believe that Wikipedia, which is often credited with jump starting the user-generated content revolution we all know as “Web 2.0,” went from a small experiment to one of the world’s most reliable resources covering a ridiculously wide array of subjects. As of January 14, 2008, the English Wikipedia had over 2,176,000 articles with over 946,000,000 words! That’s 371,271 new words added every day!
Now I wouldn’t recommend citing Wikipedia articles for your thesis or term papers, but if you wanted to find out who Chris Crocker is…… well that’s another story lol.
