Engagement by proxy

Posted on February 3, 2010 by marc meyer

I was looking at the definition of proxy for some odd reason the other day and I was struck by the irony of the definition.

Last week, Todd Defren, who is taking a unique approach towards the social media space by discussing the ethical side of engagement, blogged about ghost tweeting and ghost blogging. Essentially asking his readers to determine whether doing either or not doing them, had any ethical merits.

But I have news for Todd and everyone else. Ghost blogging and ghost tweeting happen a lot. A lot more than people will care to admit. It happens because people that write and talk and engage for a living are a lot better at it than people who don’t do it for a living. And those that don’t, would rather leave it to those that do. Though I applaud him for taking the high ground on this issue, Todd knows it’s a lot more prevalent than most will admit. So do I.

Is there a solution, I don’t know. There might be, but it has to meet the criteria of the agency and the expectations of the client. Good luck with that.

Engagement by proxy.

This week’s #Socialmedia Tweetchat topic: Twitter What’s Happened and What’s Coming!

Posted on January 25, 2010 by marc meyer

Twitterville It is not often that a technology comes along and changes the world. That is the case with Twitter. Started in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Twitter is a micro-messaging platform used to communicate via the web or mobile 160 characters at a time. In only a few short years the service, both widely acclaimed and widely criticized, has certainly had it’s impact across all corners of the globe.

The impact varies as much as the individuals who use it. Some things Twitter has been used for includes:

Reporting News – the first news and pictures of the Hudson plane crash were sent out on Twitter before any major media was on the scene.
Civil Unrest– like the twitterscope (microscope that Twitter creates, yeah I just made that up!) around the Iranian presidential elections of 2009. The world gained insight into the civil dissention surrounding the election proceedures with detail like nothing ever witnessed before.
Education – grade school teachers turning to Twitter to help in class projects and providing global experiences.
US Politics– most notably, President Barack Obama used Twitter daily to connect with supporters pre-inauguration.
New Business – small companies using Twitter to scale like Threadless and others use it to pick up incremental business like Tony & Alba.
Public Relations – many companies are lifting the corporate communications veil and using Twitter to humanize the organization like Kodak’s CMO. Government agencies are also using Twitter to communicate better

Need more examples? Well, this week’s moderator actually wrote the book on Twitter case studies from over a hundred interviews he completed. Now he wants your story. Shel Israel has a storied career in the social media space helping companies, from start-up to grown-up, better utilize digital communications to grow their businesses. This week’s #socialmedia chat will take a look at how Twitter is affecting all of us and where Twitter’s value will lie in the future. As one of the industry’s most respected thought leaders, you won’t want to miss this opportunity to “hang out” with Shel Israel for an hour.

Topic: Twitterville – What’s Happened, What’s Coming

Q1: How did Twitter change you business in 2009?

Q2: How will Twitter change in 2010?

Notice anything different here? This week we will focus on only two questions (compared with the usual 3). Please join us Tuesday 01/26 at 12 noon EST and follow along at #sm44

via hashtagsocialmedia.com

Posted via web from marcmeyer’s posterous

The sea change in Twitter sentiment

Posted on January 20, 2010 by marc meyer

I thought it was just me and thus I wrote about the rise of the transactional conversation of Twitter on Monday. Then yesterday David Binkowski threw a post up on Shamable about gaming social media. At the same time Hubspot put out it’s 3rd state of The Twittersphere report. And Todd Defren lastly writes about moving the needle on Twitter. All of these posts and reports and what have you, alluded to something that may be occuring before our very eyes and that’s this:

Conversations on Twitter have deteriorated into flat out unadulterated pimping of one’s wares, or the company they work for.

As new marketers and companies flock to Twitter, their predisposed notions of how to use Twitter have been fueled not only by us subconsciously, but also by other marketers and individuals who “think” that the best way to use Twitter is as a one to many broadcast mechanism.

Subconsciously, we have become a party to and have embraced traditional marketing on Twitter.

The conversations have eroded into flat out pimping, so has the spirit of what all of us celebrated no less than a year ago. The conversation and ensuing relationship. But not, for some of us, we’ve become jaded, and wary of what it it that you want. For some of us, the quality of the conversations are few and far between and it’s our fault.

I know, some of you are going to fire back and say “What conversations?” You’ll say, “Twitter is not a platform for conversations and never was.” You’ll say,” Who can have conversations in a 140 charcaters or less?”

The interuptive interaction?

And maybe that is what the true evolution of what Twitter is or what it should be?… A way for brands and individuals to pimp themelves and try an extract something from the engagement.

Instead of learning more and developing a relationship with the people you follow and that follow you, Twitter now just might be turning into one big drive in theater to make out in now. Who needs conversation?

10 lessons Twitter should have taught you in 2009

Posted on December 29, 2009 by marc meyer

You know we’re all amazed at the power of Twitter and the numbers don’t lie. I know I am. But if Twitter went away tomorrow what would you do? How would you adapt? As we have all seen when Twitter does goes down for any prolonged amount of time, the silence is deafening. Some migrate over to Facebook and still others bounce over to friendfeed. But at those times, if you just stop for a moment you notice some things, actually a few things.

This morning I was thinking about those things and then some, and in those times you have to gather your thoughts quickly. Here’s my take on Twitter and real time conversations. Did you notice these things?

1) Our need for real time communication is insatiable

2) Our desire for a platform or a “place” that supports real time communication is what has fueled growth on the internet over the last 12 years.

3) The more focused these type of platforms are, the more successful they are and possibly you!

4) Simple wins

5) Plurk wasn’t simple.

6) LiveFyre will have potential

7) Friendfeed is not the alternative you think and neither is Facebook.

8. A premium level can exist but value has to trump the bells and whistles; And you won’t use it unless everyone else is.

9) The premium level has to have 99.9% uptime in order for you to trust it.

10) Yes, real time instantaneous communication is a great thing for businesses, and an awesome networking tool, but the real power will lie in its ability to bridge the gap with the customer. And the customer needs to know that they have this channel to access where they can get real answers from real people and get real results in….real time.

In the end, I think Google still might win. If you look at this past year, Sidewiki and Google Wave were and are diamonds in the rough for real time communications, they’re just waiting for you to figure them out and… given that those 2 came out in 2009, know that Google is not done, never forget that.

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What do you do when an employee slanders you via Twitter?

Posted on October 26, 2009 by marc meyer

In professional sports, there is the unwritten rule of keeping your dirty laundry in the clubhouse, or in the locker room. By that, if you, as an athlete or a coach, have a problem with a teammate or a coach, you addressed it internally and did not air it with the press or the public.

But this is the age of social media and full transparency…

Yesterday, after the NFL Kansas City Chiefs got throttled by the San Diego Chargers 37-7, Chiefs running back Larry Johnson decided to air his dirty laundry. Via Twitter!

Though his Tweets are protected, this came via NBC Sports and thus I have no reason to doubt that this has been fact checked:

Johnson’s first tweet:

“My father got more creditentials than most of these pro coaches, “Google my father!!!!!!!”

Then this:

“My father played for the coach from ‘rememeber the titans.’ Our coach played golf. My father played for redskins briefley. Our coach. Nuthn.”

So now what? An employee is slandering his boss via social media. The employee, not on company time, is slamming the organization. Perception, whether it’s true or not, is now being shaped by a disgruntled employee’s tweets. What does a company do? What do the coaches do? What does an employer do when someone does a hatchet job on the bosses and the organization? Does social media change the playing field? Do protected tweets mean that the tweets are now safe from public consumption and thus are off the record? Can the employee say, I didn’t say that?

A lot of gray area here. But the fact of the matter is the damage has been done and the Kansas Chiefs have to do something about it. Do the Chiefs have a social media policy? At the moment the NFL policy on tweeting is pretty weak and I’m wondering if that might change because of something like this.

More questions need to be answered but consider this a case study in motion here.

Twitter goes to India and Japan

Posted on October 18, 2009 by marc meyer

Twitter Shows Global Ambitions With Moves in India and Japan

Cuts SMS Deal With Indian Telecom and Launches Mobile Service in Japanese With Banner Ads

10.15.09 @ 01:50 PM

India has roughly 457 million mobile subscribers, a massive population that, despite a fondness for SMS, hasn’t been able to receive Twitter updates via text. That all changed this week when Bharti Airtel, India’s largest mobile provider, inked a deal with the massively popular microblogging service that will allow subscribers to send Tweets at the usual text rates and receive them for free.

via adage.com

This just in: They still don’t have a business model but are valuated at a billion dollars.

Posted via web from marcmeyer’s posterous

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Gen T…The Twitter Generation

Posted on October 12, 2009 by marc meyer

Is that possible to have? Seriously… A generation that revolves around and relies on Twitter; and wouldn’t know what to do without it? A group of people that start and end their day with a good morning and a good night to their Twitter network. Is that you? Gen T?

When Twitter was down or went down what did you do? When Twitter doesn’t do what it is supposed to do, what do you do? Do you rely on Twitter for your information about the days events? Is it your search engine for content, and content ideas? Is it your own informal little polling tool?

Twitter is an icebreaker for you.

Do you reach out to your network for restaurant ideas and places to go when you’re traveling? Do you share the mundane? As well as the exciting and earth shattering things that may happen in your life? How important is it that you Retweet something? How pissed do you get when you are auto-DM’ed? How much do you Tweet after the work day ends?

How does your work day begin? Does it revolve around starting up your favorite Twitter client? Do you share your wins and losses- your frustrations?

I bet you have a story about Twitter and how it affected your business for the positive. I also bet you could tell us about something bad or unpleasant that you were witness to on Twitter as well. I imagine you have a fairly healthy list of suggestions that Twitter could enact that would make it better for all of us.

How strong are some of your personal relationships versus some of your relationships forged because of Twitter? When you meet someone for the first time, though you have been tweeting for months or years on Twitter, what’s it like? Good, bad, better, or indifferent?

You are part of the Twitter generation.

On Twitter do you reap what you sow?

Posted on October 5, 2009 by marc meyer

It’s as simple as this.

Your deeds or actions on Twitter, good or bad, will repay you in kind.

The words “What you do comes back to you” are an excellent paraphrase of what generally occurs or can occur on Twitter. “You reap what you sow.” You plant spam, then later you gather the resulting harvest of backlash, useless followers, and nothing to show for your worthless attempt at gaming the system.

The harvest that you reap depends on the kind of seeds you sow. If you sow nothing but broadcast, push style Tweets, you cannot expect to reap anything of consequential value from that.

If you retweet value, if you engage in some type of dialogue and help others, promote and encourage others efforts, then what can you expect? Value begets value.

I think you know the answer.

How to strike the balance between your blog and Twitter

Posted on September 12, 2009 by marc meyer

Do you feel like Twitter is stealing the oomph from your blog? That you don’t blog as much as you used to? Yea me too. A lot of good topics get thrown under the 140 character bus in the form of epiphany like sound bites. So what do you do about it? How are you striking the balance between the 2? Are you on a schedule? Do you tweet at certain times?

How do you decide when to save that mind blowing tweet for a full blown blog post?

I used to blog every day, and now? 3 times a week. However there are days that I might write 3 blog posts in one day. Is that you? Here’s what might work for you. Because though I may be only blogging 3 times a week, I’m getting my source material from Twitter.

So though Twitter might be stealing some of my thunder, it is also creating the lightning for my blog posts.

Use Twitter as your source and inspiration for topics.

The real trick though, as has just been pointed out to me by@newjerseyliz, is how do you manage to read tweets, respond to tweets, read blog posts and respond to blog posts and write your own blog posts? And do it consistently. That’s why my Twitter network has evolved into my own personal RSS filter of what I should read. Maybe yours should too? Tell me what’s working for you.

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