Thursday, May 22, 2008
Twitter Writing Contest: Can You Tell A Story in Exactly 140 Characters?
Can you tell a story in exactly 140 characters? That’s the idea behind the first of its kind Twitter writing contest being sponsored by Brian Clark, of the hugely popular Copyblogger, a blog for online marketers. "Being constrained to exactly 140 characters will spark your creative juices and force you to focus stringently on word choice, sentence structure, and even punctuation," says Brian.
Here’s an example, says Brian, that I tweeted over the weekend: "Three flies are bugging me on the deck. I kill two, and spare the third. “Go tell the others this is what happens,” I warn as he buzzes off."
Brian admits that’s a bit of a goofy spoof on Keiser Soze from The Usual Suspects. But it’s still a mini-story that allows the reader’s imagination to run with it.
Whoever writes the best Twitter story (as determined by Brian and a couple of other Twitteriffic judges) will win an IPod Nano 4 GB from Amazon.
How to Enter
Just post a link to your Tweet (one per person, please) in the comments to Brian's post before 5:00 PM CST on this Friday, May 23, 2008. That’s all there is to it, but remember…
It’s not 140 characters or less, it’s exactly 140 characters!
Twitter Has Its Detractors! One Even Believes It's Bull...
Here's a sampling of what the detractors are saying:
Scot Jangro makes his argument and offers explanations for his dislike for Twitter in a post titled: Why I Hate Twitter Scot make several recommendations for Twitter improvement.
In his post 21 reasons Twitter is Bulls**t, Matt Davies says, "I just don’t understand where you people are finding the time. Even after reading articles explaining the virtues of Twitter and about how it can be modified to “spice it up“, I’m still convinced it’s really only good for a) low-grade advertising and b) talking shite."
"Okay," says Michael Morton, "so this Twitter thing is completely useless for marketing purposes." Morton who blogs at Marketing Monster wrote a post titled Twitter is Useless
Alan Wolk is really a huge Twitter fan who, we think, was just venting when he wrote this lighthearted piece Ten Things I Hate About Twitter
"Folks, Twitter is stupid. I’ve spent the last two hours trying to find a single redeeming quality to the service, and I have nothing to report," Mark Butler wrote in a post titled Twitter is Stupid over one year ago in March 2007. Since so much has happened with new business applications being created based on the Twitter platform, WTJ contacted Mark to find out if his position has at all changed. Mark's response: "My views have remained unchanged. I don't see a worthy application of Twitter for business purposes. For personal purposes maybe, but not business. Even the video Twitter's website focuses on personal uses; it doesn't touch on a practical business application."
WTJ will continue to monitor RSS feeds and periodically search for blog entries that will help Twitter fans and detractors alike better understand how micro blogging is impacting the social media ecosystem - - for better or for worse.
Wednesday, May 21, 2008
Friendster, Is Now The Largest Social Network In Asia
Friendster, Largest Social Network In Asia, Is Now Available In Vietnamese
Friendster, Inc. announced that it is available in Vietnamese, allowing Friendster users and visitors a greater choice of languages with which to navigate the site, enter content and use Friendster's complete set of social networking features. The 18 million Internet users in Vietnam and Vietnamese around the world can now easily join and use Friendster, the pioneer of social networking that is now the 8th largest website globally of any kind based on traffic.
Friendster currently fully supports eight languages -- English, Vietnamese, Indonesian, Simplified Chinese, Traditional Chinese, Japanese, Korean and Spanish. These languages represent over 67 percent of the world's Internet users, or over three quarters of a billion Internet users in total.
become a fan of their favorite artist or celebrity ("Fan Profiles"), post "shoutouts" and bulletins, and use many new features created by third parties via the Friendster Developer Program.
Jones.
Newstex Launches NewsTwits™, a Twitter-Based Newsfeed
Newstex Launches NewsTwits™, a Twitter-Based Newsfeed
Newstex delivers licensed Tweets to millions of professionals via content distributors and enterprise customers
At the Software & Information Industry Association (SIIA) NetGain Conference in San Francisco, Newstex, the Content on Demand® company, announced NewsTwits™, a new product that delivers Twitter content as a newsfeed to information providers and enterprise customers.
As many of you already know, updates can be sent via cell phone SMS, instant messaging or third-party applications, such as Twitterrific, Twhirl and Facebook. We receive our updates via the Twitter website, instant messaging, SMS, RSS, and email. And, now, add to your list of options, through the NewsTwits newsfeed from Newstex.
Like its Blogs on Demand™ service, Newstex licenses full-text Twitter content directly from Twitter users and then uses its proprietary NewsRouter® technology to aggregate and deliver to distributors and enterprises in real time. The NewsTwits newsfeed from Newstex easily integrates as a headline feed into countless enterprise-grade applications that people use daily.
For bloggers, content creators and other media professionals, NewsTwits is a syndication model that tremendously increases their profile.
Media organizations, financial firms, and government agencies that already use Newstex’s Content on Demand service for millions of their users are finding that NewsTwits makes accessing Twitter-based content a snap. Already, hundreds of syndicated bloggers from Newstex’s Blogs on Demand network have signed up for NewsTwits.
“Blog content has become a ‘must-have’ for millions of researchers and enterprise professionals,” said Larry Schwartz, President of Newstex. “Recently, Newstex has added hundreds of top newspaper blogs to the thousands of full-text, premium blogs that we license and deliver. Now, we are thrilled to be first in licensing and distributing the best user-generated Twitter content via NewsTwits on an editorially-selected, full-text basis for enterprise use throughout the world.”
Second Annual BlogWorld & New Media Expo Reveals the Business, Influence and Monetization of Blogging and Social Media
Second Annual BlogWorld & New Media Expo Reveals the Business, Influence and Monetization of Blogging and Social Media
Registration Now Open for First and Only Conference Designed to Showcase Leading Voices, Tools, Technologies and Success Stories in the Blogosphere
BlogWorld Expo 2008, the first and only conference dedicated to blogging and new media, is returning to the Las Vegas Convention Center, Sept. 20-21, 2008. Registration is now open for the event at
BlogWorld Expo 2008 for all attendees who register by June 20 will save as much as 50 percent.
With more than 112 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media online (1), the business of blogging continues to boom. Blogging is now recognized as a viable content medium that can be monetized and is set to revolutionize the entire publishing industry, disrupt traditional business communications and boost consumer influence. It has created an entirely new channel for people to communicate and build relationships with each other.
BlogWorld & New Media Expo brings together visionaries, pioneers, practitioners and those looking to learn about the art and science of creating online content and building communities. The event offers valuable insight and information for representatives from the technology, political, entertainment, business, sports, journalism fields, and more.
Last year, BlogWorld featured more than 60 sessions and showcased over 100 speakers who shared their wisdom and experience with thousands of attendees. Industry luminaries included Mark Cuban, owner of the Dallas Mavericks, billionaire entrepreneur, and founder of HD.net; Matt Mullenweg, founding developer of WordPress; Jason Shellen of Blogger and Google reader fame; Technorati CEO Richard Jalichandra; b5 Media Founder and CEO Jeremy Wright; and Pajamas Media's founder and CEO Roger L. Simon.
BlogWorld Expo offers many real world benefits beyond new revenue opportunities. In the corporate world, companies such as Comcast, Dell, GM, Southwest Airlines and Zappos are using blogs and new social tools as a catalyst for more personalized customer service, branding, humanization, and community cultivation. The applications and potential for blogging is virtually limitless and also indisputably influential. And, since new media spans blogging, audio, video, livecasts, micromedia, podcasts and more, the landscape only continues to grow while also creating new opportunities for increased brand awareness, thought leadership and market share.
On Friday, Sept. 19, BlogWorld Expo will also host the Executive and Entrepreneur Conference, an exclusive pre-show event. Sessions will be focused on corporate blogging and the use of new media in business environments – including a keynote luncheon and special appearances by well known corporate bloggers. E&E Conference registrants will have full access to the BlogWorld Conference program and benefits, as well as access to the exhibit floor on Saturday and Sunday.
Additional information on BlogWorld & New Media Expo, including speaker topics, session descriptions and registration details, is available at: BlogWorld Expo 2008
Tuesday, May 20, 2008
Five Things Twitter Shouldn't Be Doing - The Stereotypes of Twitter, Part I
Five Things Twitter Shouldn't Be Doing - The Stereotypes of Twitter, Part I
-by Andrew Dobrow - Jersey Suburbia
Much like non-digital society, the world of Twitter can be boiled down into sub-groups of cookie cutter personalities (or at least I’m hell bent on doing so.) In real life, you’ve got your posers, your gangsters, your scene kids, and your cheerleaders. We on Twitter have our own set of lovable stereotypes to shove into a predetermined personality box.
The Stereotypes of Twitter is a series of posts which I hope will be three parts long. Hopefully I can rack my brain for more of these clear stereotypical personalities.
1. The Pot-Stirrer: This is the tweeter who is always trying to cause a ruckus. You can usually point out these community members by their “I’m the best in the world” attitudes, which is clearly a compensation for some other void they need filled in their lives, (or they are just really cocky, but ultimately funny.) A perfect example of the Pot-Stirrer is 1938 Media’s Loren Feldman, who has launched a series of “puppet sketches” where he imitates legacy man, Shel Israel (at one point he even had a fake username set up to poke fun at Shel,) and more recently, Mike Arrington of Tech Crunch.
2. The Lonely (and Sometimes Horny) Thirty-Something Housewife / Single Mom: (Editor’s Note: This stereotype doesn’t seem to be as prevalent as I originally thought. Wishful thinking maybe?) One thing that 1938 Media’s Loren Feldman had right is his view of the demographics of Twitter. Twitter is absolutely FULL of lonely housewives trying to get their game on (though there are some exceptions of stay-at-home moms which are really fantastic people.) Whether it be because the geek demographic of Twitter gives them the flirtation that these women’s dead beat husbands don’t provide, or just because they’re trying to get their game on without their boyfriends knowing any better, the lonely housewife / single mom demographic is nice chunk of the Twitter community.
3. The Shameless Self-Promoter: Jason Calacanis…Ok, no but really. The Cala-Man as I like to call him is a great example of the shameless self-promoter stereotype on Twitter, even to an extreme level. Going to the point of offering an expensive MacBook Air to your 20,000th subscriber might be a great way to let the follows roll in, but damn, if you would talk about something other than your follower count, that would be fantastic. The Shameless Self-Promoter never mentions anyone else, unless it is to make themselves look better, and half of their Twitter content is probably links to something about themselves or how fantastic they are. I probably fall somewhere between this one and the first stereotype.
4. The Follow Snob: These are the Tweeters that limit their following numbers to strictly A-Listers, people with over 600 followers, and close family. In fact, their own family members might have a tough time making the cut. You can call Henry Rollins a follow snob, even though he’s more of a bad-ass than anything. And even though Hugh MacLeod of Gaping Void fame is following almost 900 users, he goes on these blocking sprees. I was a little surprised when he blocked ME for using Twitter how I feel it should be used… socially. I admit, I made a snide comment about his age, but it was totally tongue-in-cheek. Now? Blocked for good.
5. The Unobtainable Chica: These unobtainable Twitter harlots are the ones which are so unique, so cool, so intelligent, and/or so damn hot that users are either intimidated to talk to them, or try to talk (and hit on) them too much. Great examples of the unobtainable girl are Meg Fowler and iJustine.
Hope you enjoyed my first set of Twitter stereotypes. What’s the fun of a community if you can’t have some fun pigeon-holing an entire demographic?
Editors Note: Andrew is working on The Stereotypes of Twitter, Part 2.
Follow Andrew on Twitter.
Monday, May 19, 2008
Who Is Using Twitter And How
The Twitterverse has grown expotentially since Twitter was publicly launched in August of 2006 and there's no leveling off in sight. According to Max Freiert at Complete, a Boston-based web analytics company Twitter traffic nearly doubled from February to April, currently attracting nearly 1.2 million people per month.
Results of a recent study undertaken by Complete are quite revealing, not only in terms of number of users but also the amount of time spent Twittering. During the same February to April period, time spent online more than quadrupled.
How people are using Twitter has a direct correlation to the amount of time spent online evidenced by a poll conducted by Top Rank Marketing, a leading SEO firm, using as its poll base readers of its popular Online Marketing Blog.
Online Marketing had over 220 reader responses. Below are the poll results. You can read detailed comments on the blog.
(39%, 87 Votes) Sharing links to items of interest to your network
(28%, 63 Votes) Networking for new contacts
(21%, 47 Votes) Reinforcing current network contacts
(10%, 22 Votes) Promoting specific content
(9%, 21 Votes) Re-distribution of content from blog, web site
(8%, 17 Votes) Twitter cat posts: flight delays, eating habits, who knows what and why
(5%, 11 Votes) Replacement for Facebook updates
(5%, 11 Votes) Influencing your network to do and think what you want
(2%, 4 Votes) Group and project communications
(1%, 3 Votes) Microblogging conferences
(1%, 3 Votes) Shilling for Digg and other social news votes
(0%, 1 Votes) Pitching journalists and bloggers
EV Williams, Twitter co-founder, and his team must be very happy campers. The question now becomes: Can reliable service keep pace with user growth?
Saturday, May 17, 2008
How To Get The Most From Your Twitter Account
How To Get The Most From Your Twitter Account
by Rob White - The NMP Network
Here are some ideas that you can use to get the most from your Twitter account!
The more you tweet and the more active you are when using your Twitter account, the more likely you are to have someone find you from within Twitter and start following you. Every Tweet you do comes up on the Twitter Public Timeline - so the higher your Tweet numbers are, can help you to appear more often there.
Notice - Tweet too often and about nothing worthwhile and you run the risk of loosing followers. If you are more talkative on some days, there may come a point when your followers don’t have any time to respond. Twitter can actually become quite confusing once you have too many tweets going all at once, so you should try to stick to one topic at a time and create pauses between them to let others respond.
Tweeting on a personal level is fun and for many that’s as far as it goes - but if you’re interested in growing your Twitter influence you need to provide your followers (and potential followers) with value. It’s the same principle as growing your blog - if you help enhance people’s lives in some way they are more likely to want to follow you and read more of what you have to say. As a result your tweets should ‘matter’ on some level and actually have something to say. Sure you can throw in personal tweets and have some fun with it - but unless you’re providing something useful to people (information, entertainment, news, instructions, etc) they probably won’t follow you for long.
Currently, it appears that I get the most new followers on those days that I interact with other Twitter users and promote my Twitter account. Every time you reply to someone and have them reply to you your Twitter ID appears in the feeds of others which exposes you to potentially thousands upon thousands of other Twitter users. Asking questions is perhaps the best way to get conversational on Twitter. Get a few people to answer a question you’ve Tweeted and if even just one person follows you from each of those people’s replies to you you have several new followers. Just as important is to participate in other people’s Tweets also - reply to their questions and ideas as much as possible.
The key with this approach is to be conversational about topics that will interest others. For example if you ask a very general question like ‘What word processor do you use?’ and get a lot of answers - but i suspect you’ll get more answers AND new followers if the question was more relevant to people’s lives in some way or another.
Another thought on the ‘art of conversation’ on Twitter is that I find I do better when I’m not talking about me. No one likes to hang around with people who just talk about themselves - so get the balance right between talking about yourself and talking about others and other topics of interest.
Do you have an existing online profile somewhere outside of Twitter (big or small)? Use it to springboard into Twitter. If it’s a blog, mention that you’re using Twitter in a post and link to it from your profile and contact pages. If you’re on Facebook use one of the numerous tools available to drag in your Tweets to facebook. Add it to your email signature, business card, mention it in interviews or guest posts that you might do…. etc. The same applies with any online (or even offline) presence that you have - link to your Twitter page and link to it often (if you’d like to connect with me on Twitter, my Twitter feed is here).
Last time I tracked when I had new twitter followers add me, I found that this was primarily during business hours. Tweeting during these times only increases the chances of someone finding you and adding you as someone to follow.
I was a little slow getting onto Twitter last year (when so many other bloggers embraced it). To be honest I didn’t think it had much to offer me - I’m beginning to see how wrong I was.
I want to show you how I’m using Twitter to:
> improve the quality of my blogs
> network with other bloggers
> widen my readership
> grow my profile
> drive traffic to my blogs
One of the main things that I’ve discovered about Twitter is that no two Twitter users are using it in the same way. Almost every Twitter user that I come across tells me that they have a different objective when it comes to using it and are benefiting from it differently.
One of the things that I’ve come to enjoy about Twitter the most is the way that it can be used when you’re researching an article to post.
Stuck for inspiration? Twitter an idea and see what others add to it. Need an example for a point you’re making? Twitter it and you might get some good ones. Got a question that you’re stuck on? Ask it to your followers to see what they think. Need to test a hypothesis? Do a straw poll on your followers.
The beauty of Twitter is that it’s quick, is used by a wide variety of types of people and because of the 140 character limit to messages it keeps interactions concise, manageable and productive (usually).
There’s been a great deal of articles on how Twitter can be used for marketing purposes and I think most of them can be condensed to the simple aim of tracking and directing attention. Twitter allows you to monitor how influencers think or feel, you can also get into their attention zone via active networking.
For businesses, Twitter is another channel which connects current and potential customers with your product or brand. It allows deeply infiltration into the lifestyles of interested participants, which helps to build brand persistence/loyalty.
In its most obvious form, Twitter can be seen as a traffic generation tool. The placement of links within profiles and conversations can direct visitors to a specific website and is especially powerful if you pitch to early adopters and influencers.
As a lead acquisition tool, it doesn’t always reach the audience you want. Most Twitter users are somewhat web savvy and it is extremely difficult to target a specific subset of the general demographic and determine their level of potential interest.
As there isn’t an option to advertise within Twitter (unlike Facebook), Twitter marketing is a task that involves two-way audience engagement, on the part of the marketer or business owner. In a way, this is a good thing.
Twitter is not a difficult tool to use so there’s a low barrier of entry; Anyone can pick it up. What really matters is how it impacts your online habits and daily life. For many, Twitter is a distraction, albeit one that is very much welcome.
I had signed up for a Twitter account a long time ago and used it sporadically because it never really did appeal to me. I started using it actively and gradually developed an avid interest. I think Twitter is a manageable process that can be adopted for all types of lifestyles, busy or inactive. You’ll just need to integrate it within your normal workflow. It’s addictive but once you understand how to use it, it’ll be a very effective tool indeed.
Having read a great deal of other articles on Twitter, I decided a do a quick summary of all the ways you can use Twitter for both your professional or personal life.
Personal Branding. Twitter is a social media platform you can use to build your personal brand. It has the primary benefit of developing a casual persona and establishes you as a social personality that is connected and approachable. As Twitter adoption increases, new users will be drawn towards well established Twitter personas.
Get Feedback. Need an alternative perspective on how a website looks or the right course of action to take? Blast out a message asking for advice and you’ll receive replies from other users. This collective intelligence can be used as fodder for articles or projects.
Hire People. Need a good logo designer, marketer or programmer? Send out a message asking for recommendations. This is a very quick and easy way to hire freelancers or even companies based on familiar recommendations.
Direct traffic. Twitter can be used to get traffic to your websites or the sites of friends. If you ask your friends to tweet about it, the message will spread faster and further as other active users pick it up. There is a viral nature to all types of news, even on a site like Twitter.
Read News. Twitter users often link to useful sites or articles and can be a source of scoops and alternative news. You can also subscribe to Twitter feeds for specific websites/conferences, which allows you to receive and view content quickly. This is very useful for active social news participants.
Make New Friends. Like any other social network, Twitter has a built-in function for you to befriend and track the messages of other users. This is an easy way for you connect with people outside of your usual circle. Make an effort to add active users you find interesting. A Twitter acquaintance can be developed into a long lasting friendship.
Network for benefits. Twitter can be used as a socializing platform for you to interact with other like-minded people, especially those in the same industry. It can be used to establish consistent and deeper relationships for future benefits such as testimonials or peer recommendations.
Use it as a ToDo list. Use Twitter to record down what you need to do while you are away from the computer. Mark the tweet as a favorite to file it for referencing. Another alternative is to use an
Online task management service that is synced with Twitter.
Business Management. Twitter can be used as a company intranet that connects employees to one another. Workers can liaise with each other when working on group projects. Particularly useful when certain workers go out often in the field. Updates could be set to private for security reasons.
Notify Your Customers. Set up a Twitter feed for the specific purpose of notifying customers when new products come in. Customers can subscribe via mobile or RSS for instant notification. Twitter can also be used to provide mini-updates for one-on-one clients.
Take Notes. Twitter provides you with an easy way to record important ideas or concepts you want to explore further. Include links relevant to ideas you want to explore. Note taking can also be done offline via mobile applications.
Event Updates. Businesses can use Twitter as a means to inform event participants and latest event happenings/changes. This is a hassle-free way of disseminating information, especially when you don’t have the means to set up a direct mobile link between you and the audience
Find Prospects. Twitter can be used as a means to find potential customers or clients online. Do a search for keywords related to your product on Terraminds and then follow users. Tweet about topics parallel to your product and close prospects away from public channels by using direct messages or offline communications. Discretion and skill is needed in this area.
Provide Live coverage. Twitter’s message size limit prevents detailed coverage of events but it can allow you to provide real-time commentary which may help to spark further discussion or interest on the event as other Twitter users spread the message. Very useful for citizen journalism.
Time Management and Analysis. Twitter can simply be used to keep a detailed record of what you are doing every daily. This might be boring for others but this type of usage is useful when you want to analyze how you spend and manage your time.
Set Up Meetings. Twitter can help you organize impromptu meetups. For example, you can twitter a message while at a cafe, event or art gallery and arrange to meet fellow users at a specific spot. It’s an informal and casual way of arranging a meeting.
Acquire Votes. Send a link to your stories you’ve submitted in other social news sites like Digg. Sometimes your followers will vote up the stories because they agree with it. This allows you to acquire more support for your efforts on other social media websites.
Well, I hope you got some use out of this information. Twitter is up and coming and will only get bigger and bigger!
If you want to follow Rob on Twitter, you can find him @robwhiteus
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The NMP Network is a group of companies and podcasters that share a common goal of getting the word out to the maximum amount of individuals. If you would like to learn more, join them every Friday Night at 8:00pm EST at http://www.newmediapro.tv.
Friday, May 16, 2008
What are People Saying About Twitter?
Here's what bloggers are talking about this week. Find out how popular blogger, Chris Brogan, faired when he decided to spend A Day Without Twitter
Known for straight talk, Dosh Dosh tackles the issue How To Get Twitter Followers: Some Methods That Work
Dan Costa, PC Magazine, says, "Be good, avoid these crimes, and I will follow you anywhere" in a very instructive post titled The Seven Deadly Twitter Sins
Thursday, May 15, 2008
What Would Machiavelli Say About Your Twitter Personalty?
You probably have heard the adjective "machiavellian" attributed to someone's conduct or some public or corporate policy. The term has been used often during this Presidential primary race to describe an opponent's position. But if you are like most people, chances are you may not know what the term machiavellian means or that it refers to the statesman, political theorist, republican, essayist, historian, biographer, poet, and dramatist, Niccolo di Bernardo de' Machiavelli, who was born on May 3, 1469. I did not know much about Machiavelli either until I listened to a panel discussion about his book, The Prince, on PBS recently prompting me to read his landmark treatise which, over the centuries, has become the bedrock of modern political theory.
So what does this have to do with Twitter?
Today, Machiavellian theory and advice is being applied to Twitter and, more specifically, to how people use Twitter. There is a blog totally devoted to the subject called Twitter by Machiavelli. "It is an attempt to carefully analyze and “segment” all the curious personality types and behaviors emerging from Twitter land," says popular blogger Pete Blackshaw, who conceived the idea over Italian roast and biscotti.Currently there are 16 Twitter personality types categorized. For example, if are you are a FlackSmacker, BrandBagger or RingCiter you can find out what Machiavelli would think of you and what his advice would be with regard to your Twittering activity. Same goes for being a Twitnik or AdverTweeter. Of course, you may not know that you are a Brandbagger or Twitnik. But the blog has descriptions of each Twitter personality category to help you determine where you fit.
Twitter by Machiavelli is the brainchild of Pete Blackshaw, with the able assistance of Shiven Ramji, Stephen Tompkins, Greg Hay, and Barbara Baker. Pete is looking for more personality categories. Contribute your own categories if you feel none of the 16 fit your particular Twitter personality. Your contributions, says Pete, will be credited in the final version.
How you might benefit from reading The Prince and its relationship to your Twitter personality:
The Prince is a terrific book. It is recommended reading for those of you who engage (or have to engage to survive) in corporate politics. The Prince describes many power play situations very well. From politics to corporations to most office environments where advancement, influence and control exist, Machiavelli's astute observations and rules apply. What Machiavelli wrote over 500 years ago - describing the rules of the game during that period - have existed and always will exist for many situations involving humans engaged in competition, which makes the Twitter by Machiavelli project the even more compelling.
The Prince is also about pure ruthlessness and putting the attainment of goals ahead of any other consideration. Sound familiar? Do you know of a blogger who fits the description? Such maxims as the "the end justifies the means," "it is better to be feared than loved," originated with Machiavelli. These maxims were true then and are certainly true now. I suppose knowing what kind of Twitter personality you are is important to anyone who works in a competitive environment and hopes to advance, if for no other reason than many of your competitors may operate by Machiavelli's dictums.
As the list of Twitter personalty categories evolves, WTJ publish an update.
By the way, The Prince is available in paperback at Amazon for $4.50
Tuesday, May 13, 2008
Can You Define Twitter in 140 Seconds? Here's the Challenge...
As a Twitter user you know full well the need to be succinct in your Twitter messages. Using the same challenge of combining brevity and clarity can you define "What is Twitter" in a 140 second video?
What is a Brandable Avatar?
on Twitter?
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Your avatar shows up on the profiles of your followers! That means every time someone visits a follower’s profile, there is a chance that the individual will see your avatar. I know for a fact that I have checked out twitter users based on seeing the same avatar over and over again while browsing through Twitter.
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Examples of brandable avatars* [Please reference the image above for the numbers.]
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Final thoughts:It seems the best tactic to maximizing your avatar’s effectiveness is the use of an original color. Pink and Green seem to be the two colors of choice for this tactic.What do you think about branding your avatar? Is it useful or is it a waste of time? Are you doing it right now? If so, how?
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About AJ Vaynerchuk
Friday, May 9, 2008
5% Of All Tweets Come From The Top 100 Active Accounts, Study Reveals
Recently ReadWriteWeb, the popular technology news provider, and Summize, the Twitter search and discover site, collaborated in a comprehensive study about what people are talking about in the Twitterverse.
A most illuminating report that is certainly worth reading!
Click >> "What People Say When They Tweet"
Society for New Communications Research: A Leading Social Media Think Tank
Providing the leadership is Jennifer McClure. Jennifer is SNCR's Executive Director, Board Chair and Co-Founder. SCNR's list of Founding Fellows is truly a Who's Who list in communications. Among them are Elisa Camahort. Ms. Camahort is the co-founder of BlogHer; and John Cass author of Strategies and Tools for Corporate Blogging, who has been blogging at his PR Communications blog since 2003.
According to McClure, over the next few months the Society will be focusing on publishing the fourth edition of its Journal of New Communications Research, releasing three research reports, issuing its call for entries for its Excellence in New Communications Awards Program and announcing a call for 2009 Fellows.
The Society has Academic, Individual and Corporate memberships available and also conducts sponsored research. To find out how you can become involved with SNCR, attend one of its events or about becoming a member, visit http://www.sncr.org or contact: Jennifer McClure at 800-304-SNCR or 650-331-0083, or via email at jmcclure@sncr.org.
Social Media Video Library Open for Viewing
Social Media Video Library Open for Viewing
Today we debut the Social Media Video Library, a user-generated video search and on-demand viewing/video sharing channel. The Library features video content on every topic of interest related to social media including, new media public relations, marketing through social media, micro blogging, corporate blogging, podcasting and Web 2.0 applications and services.
The Library's objective is to be the educational video destination of choice, where people can visit to learn about what's going on in the rapidly-changing world of social media and hone their skills by viewing instructional videos and interviews with leading Web 2.0 experts and social media evangelists. The site is community-based -- anyone can upload a video -- and a peer review protocol and rating system to weed out poor content.
The Library has six featured Playlists:
Social Media
Web 2.0
Public Relations & New Media
Podcasting
Blogging
Twitter
Video creators may upload their collection and add a specific category to the Playlist. And anyone can create a customized video widget for posting to their blog.
To keep its video library fresh, we plan to automatically search for videos across multiple user-generated video sites, then - approximately every 5 days -add the most educationally significant videos available. The Playlist categorizes and tags the collection by topic. From that point a peer review protocol and rating system from actual viewers takes over. Currently, the collection has over 100 videos.
We see the impact of engaged video viewers wanting and searching for content-specific information as a significant educational opportunity. Our goal is to become the leading curator to sort out and categorize the huge volume of videos on the web focused on social media. The role of video curator is becoming just as important as that of creator. There's lots of great material out there; but there are also a lot of videos with low-value education content. Now people can search, view and share some of the most popular social media videos on the Internet.
Scroll to the sidebar video widget or click, Social Media Video Library
Thursday, May 8, 2008
New Social Networking Service "RMBRME" Launched
SMS RMBRME (762763) to add real-life friends using any mobile phone, carrier or social network in real-time