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How many of us us can relate to the stereotyped image of the über geek sitting in a darkened bedroom in self imposed exile away from the rest of the ‘real world’ with the curtains closed, unable to relate to other people unless it is through l33t speak on some obscure bulletin board system or internet forum? Yet this is the very person we were warned we would turn into by self styled commentators and psychologists if we spent more than a few hours a day on the internet.
A recent study has just revealed that social media and mobile technology has not turned us into the social pariahs we were warned we would become. In fact peoples social media is not actually turning them into hermits but is actually enhancing them. This may seem kinda obvious to anyone who has connected to new (or old) friends via Facebook or have been to a Tweetup in their city or town so tell ‘em all to tweet off!
Kraft Foods Inc. have announced they are to rename the new Vegemite spread, iSnack 2.0 after a consumer backlash in Australia. For those unfamiliar with Vegemite it is a black, salty spread made from yeast and beer slurry (seriously!) yet it manages to hold a special place in Australian’s hearts.
Kraft held a contest for the new name and chose iSnack 2.0 (flaccid wordplay on iPods and Web 2.0) from among more than 48,000 suggestions but finally conceded the new name has simply not resonated with Australians. Particularly the modern technical aspects associated with it.
Its amazing that a foodstuff which looks like pooh can make some people so emotional. Even still in July Kraft managers in Australia rolled out the new version of Vegemite mixed with cream cheese, the first new flavor since Vegemite was launched in Australia in 1923. This new product had traditionalists up in arms.
From a marketing perspective this was always going to be a disaster. As soon as I heard the new name I simply said I will give it six months before they have to change the name again. Little did I know that it would be pulled after only FOUR days! I’m thinking that heads are going to roll in the marketing department.
Kelly Sonora has put together some tips to help you get the most out of Twitter if you are using it as part of any social marketing mix. While it is not an exhaustive list there are some very good suggestions nonetheless.
Tweet during peak hours >> A no brainer really
Use a Twitter management tool >> Use a tool like TweetDeck to easily organize your groups, updates and more
Try Twitter’s Advanced Search tool to find people, places, and dates
Follow the competition on Twitter to learn about any deals competitors have going on
Tweet about what’s hot >> Join buzzed-about conversations and stories
Update your subjects >> Keep your Twitter subjects up to date on your progress
Ask questions through Twitter to get a broad range of responses from followers
Use a variety of Twitter directories
Follow the tweets of an expert in your field to find sensible, quality information
Stay organized >> Use groups, alerts and other tools to organize everything
Put it all into context >> Tweetree displays your Twitter stream as a tree with all replies organized by context
Manage different accounts with a service like Hootsuite
People will take you serious if you list your credentials
People will be more likely to help you out if you present a valid name and photo
Use survey tools to find out how your followers feel about a particular subject
Use Tweetake to make sure your research and notations are safe
Full time bloggers and home based workers will agree that distractions are a massive drain on productivity. There seems to be an endless stream of websites, blogs, apps and all manner of gizmos and tech related things to distract even the most dedicated blogger away from his or her work. If you have children like I do you may as well forget about getting anything done while they are around unless you lock yourself away which is a little anti social dontcha think?
So what can you do?
Problogger Darren Rowse gives us some quick tips in this short video on how he manages his day-to-day activities and how he avoids those constant distractions that plague bloggers and home based workers.
Tweetahead
Free MAC widget that let’s you tweet messages from your desktop (and schedule a time when it should post).
Tweetr
Tweet directly from your desktop – works on both MAC and PC.
Twhirl
Twhirl is a free desktop client that allows you to use Twitter like an instant messenger. It makes URL shortening, contacting friends directly, and reading tweets very easy.
Twinja
Twitter from your desktop (MAC & PC) – built on AIR
Twitteroo
Quickly shorten URLs and tweet from your desktop.
Twitterrific
MAC desktop application for tweeting that costs $14.95.
Twitter Aggregators
Crowdstatus
This web application allows you to group all the people you like to follow on Twitter – and formats all the tweets into one page.
Gridjit
Lets members view the tweets of all their friends in one giant grid. It’s sort of like seeing Tweets from your different friends divided into different boxes on your iGoogle page.
GroupTweet
This lets users send private tweets to a specific number of friends.
Notches
Users send a tweet to @notches – along with a topic to review – and it gets posted on their Tweet stream. Check out the site to see the reviews and how to format your tweet if you’d like to participate.
Summize
Find out what people are talking about on Twitter by topic. Simply type in a topic – and you’ll find out what people are tweeting about. You can also subscribe to an RSS feed about any of these topics so you’ll get instantly updated.
Tweet Clouds
This site allows users to create word clouds based on tweets from a Twitter stream.
TweetVolume
Find out how often certain words are mentioned in Twitter.
Twitori
Find out who is tweeting with the words: love, hate, think, believe, feel, wish.
Twistory
This is currently in private beta, but it allows members to sync their twitter messages into their favorite calendar (iCal, Google Calendar).
Twitter Blocks
A visualization tool that lets you see recent updates from a user’s friend and their network.
Twitter Digest
A manageable way to read twitter updates from a variety of people. You can either visit the site or create an RSS feed to send it all to your favorite RSS reader.
TwitterMap
It’s a Twitter zeitgeist. You can see a user’s location on a Twittermap.
TwitterTroll
Find out what people are saying about a given topic.
Twitterverse
See a tag cloud of topics that people are tweeting about right now.
Quotably
Quotably turns tweets between people into a threaded conversation so that conversations between users can be easily understood. As you know, it can be difficult following conversations when tweets are directed at one person, right? @yourname.
Twitter Link Research
Alpha Twitter
Aggregates a list of links shared by Twitter users. It ranks the links and shows an archive of the most popular links shared within the last day, week, and all time.
TweetMeme
Tweetmeme aggregates the most popular links being shared in between Twitter members and posts them on the homepage.
TwitLinks
Twitlinks is an aggregator that pulls in tweets from tech industry experts. It’s a way to find out the buzz before it hits the blogs.
Twitturly
Tracks the links people are tweeting about. It ranks results based on popularity and freshness.
TwitterBuzz
Track what people are linking to right now.
Twitter Video/Pictures/Files
Seesmic
This is currently in Beta, but users can upload video directly from their webcam and post directly to Twitter by automatically posting a short video URL. It will soon allow users to record Skype video and chats.
LoudTwitter
Automatically publishes a daily post on your blog that contains a digest of all your tweets.
Twitter Feed
Twitter feed will check your RSS feed at a specified time and then will post a snippet to your Twitter. It’s like having Twitter on autopilot.
TwitThis
TwitThis is a nifty little button that you can add to any of your blog posts. When clicked, it will allow visitors to immediately Twitter about your blog post with a TinyURL attached.
Twitter Tools
This tool integrates with Twitter by allowing you to create a blog post from each tweet. It will also allow you to post your tweets in your sidebar. You can also post a tweet from your WordPress Admin screen.
Twitter Widget
A WordPress widget that allows you to add a single widget to your sidebar which will display Twitter updates.
Twitgets
A sidebar widget for WordPress that reveals your Twitter friends’ timeline.
SimpleTwitter
A WordPress plugin that shows your most recent Tweet on your blog template.
Twitter Widget Pro
This widget works for WordPress blogs and handles twitter feeds. You can pull in the feed from one user or all the tweets from your friends. It also displays profile images.
Twitter Firefox Plugins
Ludicrous
Publish updates to Twitter from your Firefox search bar.
Firefox Search Bar
This nifty plugin allows you to submit tweets directly from your sidebar.
Power Twitter
Embeds flickr pics and youtube videos right on the Twitter page you’re viewing. It also unwinds tiny urls and maps links to their full titles.
Twitbin
Another sidebar plugin that lets you post tweets.
Twitterbar
Post tweets from your address bar – not search bar. Click on a small icon on the right of your address bar to see how many characters you’ve written.
TwitterNotifier
Find out when you’re friends update their Twitter profile with this small icon located at the bottom right corner of your Firefox browser.
TwittyTunes
This plugin will automatically list the song you’re listening to when posting a tweet – it can also show what website you’re on. You can turn this functionality on or off when tweeting.
Figure out whoever the key influencers are for whatever it is you’re selling. Read their blogs and leave comments on them regularly. Proper ones. Ones that make them feel loved. They’ll get to know who you are and then when you want to sell something you won’t have to make a bunch of new friends. Never forget that the purpose of a conversation with a new friend is not to sell something. It’s to have another conversation…
Techcrunch has revealed that Twitter CEO Evan Williams had recently disclosed to employees that the company secured $50 million in new investments. This $50 million investment was based purely on valuing the company at a whopping $1 billion. The investor is a New York-based venture capital firm Insight Venture Partners.
In February 2009, Benchmark Capital and Institutional Venture Partners invested $35 million in the web startup, based on a valuation of $250 million for the company. In a mere seven months, Twitter’s worth has apparently quadrupled.
Twitter's growth has been phenomenal
The investors obviously have faith that Twitter will continue to grow at its current pace, and fully expect Twitter to eventually make money. It begs the question. … how exactly will Twitter make money? This problem has beset its management and investors from the beginning.
At the moment Twitter gets revenues from advertisers on its mobile apps. Another way is to sell Twitter applications to mobile OS developers as a built-in application. Due to its popularity, mobile devices with a built-in Twitter application could attract younger consumers familiar with the service. The challenge will be to capitalize on Twitters phenomenal growth without alienating its users with intrusive advertisements.
A recent study by the Retail Advertising and Marketing Association based in Washington has revealed that more than 60 percent of stay-at-home moms are more likely to use Facebook, more than 42 percent are more likely to use MySpace and nearly 17 percent are more likely to use Twitter. That’s compared to average adults – 50 percent of which use Facebook, 34 percent that use MySpace and 15 percent that use Twitter.
Stay at home moms usually work two jobs.
The findings show retailers what advertising and marketing opportunities can be found on the Internet and within social media sites. Nearly 94 percent of the moms surveyed said they seek advice before buying products or services and more than 97 percent said they give advice on products or services purchased.
Mike Gatti, the executive director for RAMA announced,
“Retailers who aren’t engaging customers through social media could be missing the boat. Twitter, Facebook and blogs are becoming increasingly popular with moms as they search for coupons or deals and keep in touch with loved ones. The web provides efficient, convenient ways for brands to stay in front of their most loyal shoppers and attract new ones.”
