Archive for August, 2007
Deeper Twitter- Tuning Twitter for Value
This all started because I wanted to dig into exactly who I was following on Twitter, and who was following me. Not in that “quid pro quo” way, but I became interested in who found my Twitters of value, and who wasn’t even tuned in any longer. Note: I send LOTS of Twitters, so I understand why people would drop me after a fashion. But the thing is, I try to send lots of USEFUL Twitters, so I hope to keep people engaged.
In doing this digging, I found some things of interest, and thought I’d share them, because I find that they helped me better understand what I value about Twitter, how I use Twitter, and what, if anything, can be made of this social augmenting system.
Deep Users vs. Internet Stars
Reviewing who I follow became interesting. I found that there’s a difference between real Internet deep users and “Internet stars.” The Internet stars barely use the application, rarely follow back, and don’t understand how they could be using it as a platform. These include new media personalities, and mainstream personalities who use Twitter because someone told them to use it.
Deep users like Robert Scoble or Eric Rice or Dave Winer interact on multiple levels and in different modes. Watching people like this give you a sense of ways Twitter can be useful.
Announcers vs. Conversationalists
This is a current hammer-target for Eric Rice. He’s railed out about people (including me) using Twitter as a promotion engine. I understand this, insofar as some people do nothing but twitter links to their blog posts, their flickr pictures, and whatever else turns them on. (Note: I will Twitter that I posted this article when I’m done writing it).
But conversationalists know to use a mix. They talk with other Twitter users, using the @ function to make sure people see the threaded conversation. They engage with the flow of people twittering around them, building a social sculpture, and engaging in what Jeff Pulver calls amorphic communications. Conversationalists reach into Twitter and move people back and forth.
Finding the Future
If you’re not following NewMediaJim, you’re missing your own personal newsbreaker. Cutting straight through the crap, Jim (who has a day job with NBC) brings us news TO US, not to the mass media. And gives us pointers to places we might have missed in the clutter that used to be daily news. Follow Kosso and learn new tech craziness. Follow about a hundred forward-thinking people and watch Twitter bring you information far faster than your RSS feeds, your television, your podcasts. It’s just faster. Follow DYKC, who is always giving me reasons to pause and think.
For Fun and Community
There’s another Twitter hidden in all this and I don’t want to discount its value. There are people out there like Ann in Ohio and Marti Liz Strauss and Brendajos and hundreds more who use Twitter like a great social outlet, a place to communicate and build relationships, and converse. It’s AMAZING and lovely seeing these friendships happen, to watch the jokes and the lighthearted side of Twitter come out. And seeing “names” participate in these reindeer games is triply fun for me.
Check Yourself
Let’s not forget to consider ourselves in this examination. If I’m tuning Twitter for value, I’d better be ready to scrutinize my own traffic. Of my last two pages of tweets, I’ve sent about 50% of my messages as @ messages to other people. In my last two pages, I have asked a few general questions. I’ve also asked questions to educate me. I have pointed to other people’s projects, and once to my own. That seems reasonable. Why should you connect with me on Twitter? Because I’m showing that you can use Twitter for something other than talking about your food and your delayed flight (though when I’m delayed, I sure get twittery).
Summary
For all of its 140 character limitations, Twitter teaches impactful brevity, enriches online relationships, delivers human-powerful search (which should be further inspiration for Jason Calacanis), and provides a strong sounding board. By culling and cultivating my Twitter network, I’ve found a recently improved vision of who’s out there talking about meaningful things (or things that matter to me). In fact, I suspect Twitter has some kind of “gating” factor that decides how many updates from my list I can see, no matter if I’m following 200 or 2000. So consider that, too, when selecting who you choose to follow.
About that, who are YOU following, and why do they matter to you?
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Things To Do on Facebook
Let’s pretend someone has convinced you to join Facebook. You play along, and at least register for an account. Now what? Whether you’re a business looking to represent yourself inside of Facebook or an individual looking to tap into Facebook for its rich social interactions, here’s a quick list of things to go do.
- Put a decent profile picture on there. NOT a professional photo. God, those look like school photos.
- Fill out your interests a bit. (I have a hack here: I killed most of the personal info, so that the “Wall” and other apps wasn’t a mile down the page. How do YOU do it?)
- Add a few useful apps. I’ve added Flickr, Upcoming, Lijit, Blog Friends, Video, Google Reader, Email Me Instead, and a few more.
- Avoid not-so-useful apps (Unless they’re your thing), like zombies, fishbowls, graffiti, etc.
- Add friends. Facebook’s nicer if you have people to interact with.
- Join a few groups. See if you can contribute.
- Update your status message periodically. (This is Facebook’s hint to get you to come back often).
- Explore. Why be in a social network if you can’t see what you don’t know?
- Relax with a nice game of Scrabulous (Scrabble). You can’t live by work alone, can you?
As a business person, the return on the time spent isn’t immediately obvious. The truth is, the return doesn’t come right away. It’s more a networking effect. You get to know people. You get to appreciate people. And eventually, some day, someone will be in need of something you know, or you’ll need something from someone else, and through the cultivation of the relationships you’ve built through Facebook, someone will know this and the transaction will happen.
But it’s not a set-up-and-forget application. It’s not something to go and push around like a Brussels sprout. It’s a breathing “social sculpture,” as my friend, Geo would call it. And you’re invited to participate, or sit out a vibrant conversation between millions of engaged people.
What do YOU do on Facebook?
Explaining PodCamp
Larry Lawfer, the man behind YourStorys took some footage of Mr. Christopher S. Penn and myself recently. He’s doing some neat stuff with it. And one thing Larry’s doing is putting up little bits of microcontent on Blip for us to look at and appreciate. Here’s one that Larry did around Explaining PodCamp:
Microcontent is such a fascinating topic to me. Snack-sized audio and video. Small blog posts. Reaching people but not burying them in a time suck. Larry’s skills as a storyteller and video creator still show through here. No need for 20 minutes of work for you to see that. Just this nifty bit explains what we’re trying to do with PodCamp.
So, come to PodCamp Boston 2 this October, and meet Larry, meet us, and get to know more about microcontent and quality video storytelling.
Which Tools for Which Job-Social Business Class
Welcome to Social Business Class, a new super-brief audio podcast about using community tools to build your business. Each episode is recorded in one take, with all stumbles left right in. The goal? Get in, say what I have to say, and get out.
Music by Andrew Pfaff found at the Podsafe Music Network.
Social Media WrapUp-August
My blog doesn’t have a great way of going back and catching up on things, so I thought I’d post a few stories from August that might be of interest to you. Feel free to read at your leisure:
- Improve Your Social Network
- If Communities Are Just Marketing Pools
- Making Social Networks Work
- The Long Tail of Community
- Why is Social So Big?
- Corporations Control the Conversation
- Five Things to do on LinkedIN
- The Power of Local Social Media
- Local Social Media Applications
I hope something in here is useful to you, and that you find the site bringing some kind of value to your life. If you want MORE of something or LESS of something, feel free to speak out. I’m certainly not just writing to read myself think. : )
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Folk Media Interview
Joel Mark Witt interviews me here at PodCamp Pittsburgh for his great podcast, Folk Media. It’s about six minutes of conversation about community. Watch it here. By the way, I think Joel is destined to fame. Can you see it?
Twitter as a Lab
Thinking is a group sport. Sometimes not, but there’s something to Surowiecki’s “wisdom of crowds,” and if you have the right friends list, Twitter is useful as a place to build things. What things? Ideas.
Play and Games
I started twittering a few days ago that I was thinking of play, of games, of things related to locative art (using geospatial information as part of the creative process). And people responded. First a little, then a lot. People started launching links at me. Sean Bohan sent me to learn about Alternative Reality Games (ARGs). Bre Pettis helped me understand that RFID was probably tricky. Someone else told me that if I can come up with a fun something-or-other to play at his conference, that I should let him know. My friend from high school, Jon Glassett, gave me lots of support and some inspiration in direct messages. **UPDATE: I guess Robert Scoble pointed some people to a Facebook video I did. That built even more collaborators into the mix. Thanks, Robert. ***UPDATE2: Nik Butler, the Loudmouthman shot me 3 or 4 video messages that were great and helpful, too!
I got this video from Ula on Facebook, who saw my little video on play and my thoughts. This shows a flash mob kind of game.
Use Your Network
People are watching. They’re getting it. People are there to help and participate, and if something resonates, often times, they’ll jump right into it and help define it. Why? Because it’s exciting to be part of something, and it’s always fun watching someone get excited about a project.
How can YOU engage your friends/network/community to build things? Are your projects inclusive? Are you the Lego example of having Mindstorms users build the next gen, or are you designing from the top down? Sure there are times when the crowd doesn’t work, but let’s talk about when it DOES. What can you do to engage your networks?
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Photo credit, youdenism
Animoto Rocks Your Presentation
Thi wasjust created in a few minutes over at Animoto.com. Pretty wild stuff. Picks your photos, lets you use your own music or their stuff, and pow: slideshow power.
Five Ways to Be Ready
Justin had a great comment on my opportunity post, mentioning something that matters a great deal: being ready. To that end, a quick post on five ways to be ready. Basically, if you want to be considered for something, or if you want greatness to find you, or if you want to be part of all this great, amazing stuff going on, here are some words of advice.
Ways to Be Ready
- Make it easy for people to contact you.
- Make it easy for people to understand what value you bring
- Be there. It’s easier for people to include you.
- Be EVERYWHERE. Use social media tools.
- Have something to bring to the picnic.
So there you have it. Agree?
Photo credit, hodge
Thank You
I just hit 1000 subscribers to my blog:
Thank you. : ) That makes me feel so happy.
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