Musing about the power of Twitter to enable companies to get quick feedback about their products or ideas.Mobile post sent by davefleet using Utterz. Replies. mp3
Archive for 2007
The Power of Twitter
07.12.11
How Jaiku Can Succeed: End Those Walled Gardens
07.12.10
Jaiku generated a lot of interest this October when it announced its acquisition by Google. Suddenly Jaiku accounts were in high demand (not least because they shut off non-invited registrations).
Around this time, along with many others, I decided to find out what the fuss was about and explore Jaiku (I also wanted to be on there in case Google announced something funky with their new toy).
Along with a lot of those people, I discovered that Jaiku just isn’t as useful as some other services out there.
Strengths
I like a lot of the basic ideas behind the tool:
- Like Twitter, it can push messages out to IM and text
- Unlike Twitter, it can aggregate RSS feeds from your multiple accounts to show a ‘lifestream‘
- You can comment on others’ posts, creating an easily-trackable conversation
- Comments don’t have the 140-character limit that regular posts have.
Weaknesses
I also found a few fundamental weaknesses that undermine Jaiku’s usefulness for me. Two in particular:
- It doesn’t seem to update feeds regularly or thoroughly. According to Jaiku, Chris Brogan only posted on Twitter once today. According to Twitter, he’s up to 36 posts at this time. Not very helpful
- You can post comments on Jaiku messages, but if the item is being drawn from a contact’s feed then adding a comment to that seems counter-productive. Given that, you have to go over to the other application and post your response there.
Perhaps this is why, in North America at least, Jaiku doesn’t seem to have the market penetration that Twitter has.
From my perspective, Jaiku is losing the micro-blogging battle with Twitter. I’d be interested to see the stats, but my perception is that they just don’t have the numbers. Meanwhile, Twitter just seems to keep growing.
Unless Jaiku pulls something huge out of the bag (which they may – I don’t think Google bought the company because of its funky stylings), I see failure in its future.
What Can Jaiku Do To Succeed?
Two things.
#1: Fix the feed updating issue. If someone’s Twitter, del.icio.us and Flickr accounts are linked to Jaiku, I want to see all of their updates, not a small sub-set. Without this, nothing else matters.
#2: Change Jaiku’s focus.
Jaiku should focus on breaking into the walled gardens around other applications.
I’ve written twice recently about the crazy number of new tools out there, and the need for one tool to pull the others together.
The time for walled gardens is over. Open fields are the way forward from here.
Jaiku has a great base for achieving that.
Jaiku could increase its value ten-fold by becoming the tool that aggregates multiple channels and allowing people to respond via those channels.
How would this work?
Context
Jaiku’s comment feature should be context-sensitive.
If my contact posts a Flickr photo, let me comment on the Flickr page for that photo.
If they post a Facebook update, let me post a comment to their wall.
If they write a blog post or record an audio Utterz, let me comment on that.
If there are many possible ways to reply within an application, give me options.
I’m not a technical expert. I don’t know if the various APIs allow this. Bottom line: if they don’t, they should. They would benefit along with Jaiku (side bonus: Google gets more data, too).
What’s more, Jaiku now has Google’s weight behind it when negotiating this with companies.
Stop this one-way sucking of information from other sites. Make it two-way.
That’s how Jaiku could differentiate itself. That’s how it could set itself apart from the pack.
The current fragmentation of web tools can’t go on. There are too many applications out there, all doing their own thing.
There’s a gaping hole in the market for a service to pull them all together.
Without that, a lot of these tools will join TechCrunch’s deadpool. Jaiku may be one of them.
Utterz/Seesmic – What’s The Business Use?
07.12.09
Utterz and Seesmic are the hot new thing right now.
While they’re both still in testing (Utterz is in beta and Seesmic is in alpha), a large number of social media types are using them regularly.
These tools are very cool. Mobile looks to be the next big thing for the web, and these guys are leading the way. Naturally, people are excited.
I got to wondering:
I’m not knocking these tools.
Far from it.
I’m playing around with Utterz, and it’s cool. I do wonder, though: what’s the business application? Is there one?
I was surprised at the lack of response when I posted this question on Twitter. I usually get a good number of answers when I ask for input.
I got this (thanks Jay and Adele):
This raises a few questions in my mind:
- Does the lack of responses mean people just haven’t figured out business uses for it yet, or are they afraid that they don’t exist and that this is just the next "shiny new object?"
And just as importantly:
- Does there have to be a "business" use? Or can it be, as Jay says, more for personal use than for organizational channels?
- Does a purely personal mobile blogging tool provide a big enough market to sustain a viable revenue model? Are enough people out there savvy enough to want to use this?
Maybe the business uses will emerge over time (as they are with Twitter). Maybe there’s value in being first to market with something like this.
What do you think?
I’m not sure at this point.
Maybe, like Twitter, Utterz and Seesmic will be useful tools for getting messages out quickly through multiple channels, but with the added richness that audio and video provide.
Maybe there are other, as yet undiscovered, uses.
Or maybe they’re just another set of tools for users to create their own content outside the business world.
For now, these are two more tools that I’ll use, keep tabs on, and watch for opportunities to implement.
Sean Moffitt Buzzes About Word Of Mouth
07.12.06
I had the pleasure of attending a recent presentation by Sean Moffitt of Agent Wildfire to a speaker series event at work. I’ve followed Sean’s blog for a while, so I was excited to meet him and hear his thoughts on word of mouth marketing. I wasn’t disappointed.
I live-blogged Sean’s presentation; unfortunately my fingers couldn’t keep up with the amazing information he kept throwing at us. I was particularly impressed with his focus on ethical practices – a hot topic recently and something I’m big on.
With Sean’s permission I’m posting his slides here.
Two parts of the presentation struck me as particularly insightful:
Don’t Rush Into Word of Mouth Marketing
Fools rush in to creating buzz. Sean outlined nine key questions to ask before you should launch a word of mouth initiative:
- Do you have a story?
- Is this a new initiative/audience/feature?
- Can you customize/experience the offering?
- Is the benefit complex?
- Is there a high need for credibility? Authenticity?
- How frequent is the use/purchase of service/product?
- Is there a natural influencer group/fan base?
- What is your current reputation in this area? Resources?
- Do you have an appetite for risk?
Success Factors for Viral Advertising/Marketing
Sean actually wrote a great post about this recently, you can check this topic out in more detail here.
Here are his 14 viral/buzz success factors:
- Humour (e.g. John West)
- Authentic & Cause-Driven (Dove Evolution)
- Taboo (Agent Provocateur)
- Remarkability/Creative (Sony Bravia)
- Outrageous (Trojan Games/Will It Blend)
- Mystery (Ronaldinho)
- Celebrity (Paris/Perez Hilton)
- Clever Visual Idea (Honda Cog)
- Schadenfaude [embarrassing] (Dell Hell)
- Interactive/Customized (Subservient Chicken)
- Unusual Talent (OK Go)
- User-Generated (iPod Touch ad)
- Spoof (Slob Evolution)
- Free (Radiohead)
Hit on a winner in one of these key themes, and you’ll be in good shape. The chances of this happening, though, are small – according to Sean they’re in the 10-15% area, and the best are inside 1%.
According to Sean:
Viral success, or more the lack of it, is a function of: a) the competition from thousands of campaigns, b) the particular context for launching a campaign, c) the initial push you can give it, both paid and unpaid and d) tapping into a core viral motivations of wanting to pass something along. It’s certainly more art than science!
A Few Good Examples
Lastly, Sean left us with a few great examples of some governments/causes/NGOs that are doing great work in this field:
- MoveOn.org – American advocacy group
- Vancity – Online community for people who want to change things around Vancouver and Victoria
- Xoova – Online medical services marketplace
- Toronto Transit Camp – Barcamp-style event about the TTC
- DailyStrength – Online network of support groups
- ChicagoCrime.org – Browsable database of crimes in Chicago
- FixMyStreet – UK-based site – report, view, discuss local problems
- New Zealand History Online – Government-produced interactive history site
- Ron Paul – American Presidential candidate
- Free Hugs
For more great info, check out the rest of Sean’s presentation or head over to his blog.
Event Write-Up: Richard Binhammer (RichardatDELL) Speaks At Third Tuesday Toronto
07.12.05
Richard Binhammer, aka RichardatDELL, dropped by Third Tuesday Toronto today for a fantastic presentation about the work Dell is doing in the social media space.
I live-blogged the conversation, along with Connie Crosby (see our feeds here and here).
To illustrate my perspective going in – I was on the receiving end of Dell’s old customer service when I tried to get help on a (still defunct to this day) laptop a couple of years ago. I never got my problem resolved. As a result, my current computer is not a Dell.
Dell is turning things around. I’m happy to hear it and I’m fine with writing about it.
I was highly impressed tonight. Richard seemed genuine about his commitment to openness and transparency, and answered some difficult questions very well.
Key Take-Aways
- “People are going to say bad things. You just have to get over it”
- “If you don’t respond within 24 hours, forget responding”
- Dell has a strict customer privacy policy, so tries to take technical problems off-line
- If you’re doing things on behalf of the company, you have to be up-front about it
- You don’t lose control by joining the conversation – you gain it. Not engaging online is when you lose control.
A few more interesting points from tonight’s event, excerpted from the two twitter streams and my notes:
Background
- Jeff Jarvis criticized Dell back in 2005. The majority of his (highly negative) posts received between 100 and 600 comments
- Dell attempted to soft launch Direct2Dell in June 2006. Within a couple of days it was discovered, and was also highly criticized
- Dell announced its August 2006 (Sony) battery recall on its blog before it announced it to the mainstream media
- When the recall happened, they decided to respond to every post that mentioned their batteries. They responded to one of the first posts within a couple of minutes; the blogger was blown away
- Michael Dell sees blogger outreach as a way of re-connecting with Dell’s customers
- Richard doesn’t think Dell could have done all it has done in the social media space if it hadn’t lost the number one spot to Hewlett Packard. That shook people up and made them realize change was necessary.
Outreach Tactics
- Dell has several main components to its social media outreach:
- Direct2Dell
- Idea Storm
- Blogger outreach – responding to bloggers
- Dell decided to respond by going out and addressing bloggers directly. Richard now reads about 200 blog posts per day
- Originally focused on reducing negatives, but now they try to respond to both negative and positive comments
- They don’t just ‘hit and run’ on blog posts, but will monitor conversations for days.
- Richard is involved in one ‘on again, off again’ conversation that’s been going on for about six months
- When Joseph Jaffe wanted an MacBook Pro in return sponsorship of his podcast, Richard couldn’t resist
- In his opinion, Apple is about as closed and “Web 1.0″ as they come, and for a conversational marketer to accept a product from a company like that would be hypocritical
- Dell gave Jaffe a new, top-of-the-range laptop. They’ve already made several directly-attributable sales from Jaffe using the laptop on his book tour
- Dell hasn’t figured out what to do with Facebook yet. It’s not as easily ‘scrape-able’ as MySpace or the blogosphere so it’s not as easy to see what’s going on
- Dell also hasn’t worked out what to do about employees blogging. Richard’s own blog is referred to as the ‘rogue blog’
- They’re thinking about pushing Idea Storm feeds out through Twitter.
Results
- Dell’s blogger outreach drove negative mentions down from 49% to 22%. That number has been steady for a while now.
- From his experience in politics, Richard isn’t sure negative coverage can go much lower
- Interestingly, positive coverage hasn’t really increased. That means Dell is moving people into ‘neutral’ but not completely winning them over
- There’s no way to know if these people are still saying negative things offline. Regardless, the fact is the negative online buzz is reduced
- Dell is currently using Technorati and “stuff thrown together” on Yahoo Pipes to measure coverage
- They’re developing an in-house blogger relations ‘dashboard’ that will categorize positive/negative/neutral posts and allow them to respond to more people.
I know this post comes across as quite pro-Dell. I’m fine with that. I think they’re doing some great things in the social media space.
Clearly Dell still has its problems to work through. That doesn’t mean we can’t applaud its online engagement and outreach. I do.
Huge thanks to Joseph Thornley, Michael O’Connor Clarke and anyone else involved in organizing tonight, and to Richard for his excellent presentation.
Technorati Tags: Dell,RichardatDELL,Richard Binhammer,Joseph Thornley,Michael O’Connor Clarke,Jeff Jarvis,Joseph Jaffe
A Day In My Social Media Life
07.12.04
A little while back I wrote about my social media life and my excitement (and despair) at the number of social media tools I use.
At the time, I posted a rapid-fire description of a day in my life. I thought I’d take a moment to take a slightly more thorough look at how new media permeates all aspects of my life right now:
Morning:
- Wake up. Check Twitter feed
- Head to work. Twitter about how annoying the TTC is on a snow day
- Listen to the latest Six Pixels of Separation podcast on the way to work
- Get to work early (any time between 8:00 and 8:45am); use that time check my RSS feeds and post to Twitter about my latest blog post
- Do regular work ‘stuff’ (it’s not social media, but to be absolutely clear it does make up the vast majority of my day)
Afternoon:
- Head to presentation by Sean Moffitt (aka Buzz Canuck) of Agent Wildfire. Live-blog his presentation
- Throughout the day, post interesting articles to my del.icio.us account
- Show a colleague how to use Google Reader. Discuss how public your del.icio.us feed is and how that makes some people feel uncomfortable. Suggest that that’s nothing compared to Facebook Beacon
- Occasionally surface for air and check in on my Twitter and Jaiku accounts (through one handy website – Twitku)
- More regular work ‘stuff’
Evening:
- Head out for a 14km run. Listen to Jaffe Juice, FIR Cuts and The Economist’s Democracy In America podcasts
- Get home around 9pm. Don’t upload the GPS data from my run to my online log (like this one) – it’s too damn cold outside so I ran indoors at the gym
- Draft the write-up for tonight’s run for my running blog. While I’m at it, vow to avoid running indoors as much as possible
- Look for images for my running blog post on Flickr
- Log my run on BreakingTheTape.com, where I track my mileage
- Start to write my PR blog post for tonight. Realize I can’t write the one I wanted to. Make a note in Google Notebook to put the presentation I need on my flash drive tomorrow. In passing, wish I could sync my blackberry notes and Google Notebook
- Move to plan B for tonight’s blog posting (this one). Start to research it, using the Flock browser. Naturally, post to Twitter about my frustration
- Realize it’s past midnight and I have another late night tomorrow. Simultaneously realize it’s going to be a long week
- Publish.
Technorati Tags: Twitter,BuzzCanuck,del.icio.us,Facebook,tools,Jaiku,Twitku,podcasting,Jaffe Juice,For Immediate Release,Six Pixels of Separation,Flickr
Dear Santa 2.0: My Social Media/PR Christmas List
07.12.02
Santa Claus
North Pole, HOH OHO (sorry Aussies)
Canada
December 2, 2007
Dear Santa 2.0,
I’ve been good this year… I really have:
- I’ve started two new blogs
- I’ve tried really hard to stop lurking and get more involved in this social media thing. In fact, I tried so hard that I found it hard to keep up
- I got out from behind my computer – I went to and spoke at lots of events. I even started helping to organize one
- I started a wiki to help people create a social media training program
- I even got a new job that will let me educate and help people to understand social media better.
So, I really think I’ve been good enough to get some presents this year.
Here’s my social media & PR Christmas list. There’s a lot here, but a few at least would be nice.
I would like:
- A widely-adopted code of ethics to stop the idiots pushing unethical tactics both online and offline
- Facebook to stop acting like a monopoly and treating its users like cattle. I’d really like it them to do it of their own accord, not because of negative reactions from their users
- An end to product recalls from kids’ toy manufacturers that really should know better
- Movement towards an accepted way to measure the effectiveness of social media (and PR, for that matter), so we’re not viewed as a bunch of cowboys by executives
- Something… anything… to help take ease the burden of staying on top of the multitude of social media tools out there. Flock is a nice start. Unfortunately, I can’t use it at work – something web-based would be lovely and a mobile tool would make me weep with joy
- The Social Media Training Wiki to get some traction and become a useful tool for the community
- A move away from the news release as a default PR tactic and towards a more thoughtful look at the approaches available
- The opportunity to help my new colleagues to understand social media… and the opportunity for them to embrace it
- Bloggers to respond to comments (or trackbacks) on their posts. If this is about conversation, it can’t end at post/response – it needs to continue. Plus, it builds goodwill with people who have bothered to write about your post
- People to stop thinking of blogging/podcasting/wikis/[insert social media tool here] as strategies. They’re tactics.
Thanks Santa!
Facebook Beacon – A Debate
07.11.30
I had a great email conversation with a couple of colleagues at work today about the furor over Facebook’s Beacon application. With their permission, I’m posting the conversation here (with their names removed) for your thoughts:
Subject: Facebook Beacon
ME: The latest in a loooong series of stories this week about Facebook’s Beacon system:
http://valleywag.com/tech/your-privacy-is-an-illusion/does-facebook-hate-christmas-327664.php
COLLEAGUE A: Yep had read that – amazing how old people haven’t realized young people don’t see it the same way anymore. The whole concept of privacy is changing, inevitably, due to technology.
ME: I think they’ve made a mistake not forcing companies to let people opt in rather than the reverse, though. The story about a guy who bought an engagement ring & whose girlfriend found out about it through that system is particularly compelling (although… seriously…. who buys an engagement ring on Overstock.com???)
COLLEAGUE A: They forced News updates about all our friends and everyone complained – now its become the core value of FB everyone loves…
ME: Very true & I agree that young people have a different view of things, but when it comes to things done outside Facebook I think that crosses the line if there’s no option to opt-out. If I bought [my girlfriend] a Christmas present from Company A, I’d be pretty pissed if it showed up in my news feed & she found out about it.
They should at least force companies to flash up a "We’re posting this to your Facebook profile – are you ok with that?" message.
(on a separate note, remember that most new users are over 35 on Facebook now…. they’re not just dealing with youngsters any more)
COLLEAGUE A: Is it up to Facebook or Company A? 
COLLEAGUE B: I’d say Company A. (I give my personal & financial info for the sole purpose of making a purchase, and nothing else — and they do say something like this before you get to the "secure access" pages). 
As for Facebook, they’ve got this bit of legalese on their privacy page:
"Facebook may also collect information about you from other sources, such as newspapers, blogs, instant messaging services, and other users of the Facebook service through the operation of the service (e.g., photo tags) in order to provide you with more useful information and a more personalized experience."
ME: Company A, for sure, but Facebook should have a terms of service for companies that mandates it.
—————
Interestingly, it appears Facebook has actually listened to user concerns this time. As reported late today (see here and here):
Stories about actions users take on external websites will continue to be presented to users at the top of their News Feed the next time they return to Facebook. These stories will now always be expanded on their home page so they can see and read them clearly.
Users must click on “OK” in a new initial notification on their Facebook home page before the first Beacon story is published to their friends from each participating site. We recognize that users need to clearly understand Beacon before they first have a story published, and we will continue to refine this approach to give users choice.
If a user does nothing with the initial notification on Facebook, it will hide after some duration without a story being published. When a user takes a future action on a Beacon site, it will reappear and display all the potential stories along with the opportunity to click “OK” to publish or click “remove” to not publish.
Users will have clear options in ongoing notifications to either delete or publish. No stories will be published if users navigate away from their home page. If they delay in making this decision, the notification will hide and they can make a decision at a later time.
Clicking the “Help” link next to the story will take users to a full tutorial that explains exactly how Beacon works, with screenshots showing each step in the process.
Thank goodness. I applaud this move by Facebook, despite how late in the game it came. I was beginning to think I’d have to ‘opt out’ of the whole site.
RichardatDell Visits Third Tuesday Toronto
07.11.26
Richard Binhammer, aka RichardatDell, will speak at a Third Tuesday Toronto (which I’m quickly realizing is possibly the most arbitrary name ever) on December 4.
Richard is one of the key figures behind Dell’s emergence from Jeff Jarvis’s Dell Hell as a social media-savvy company, and his insights into Dell’s social media efforts should make for fascinating listening.
A small bit of trivia for you: Richard actually started his career in the Ontario government. As he told me, “Cabinet office folk always in way:-)” Thanks Richard
If you’re in the Ottawa area, Richard is also speaking at a Third Tuesday Ottawa meet-up on December 3.
To attend the events, sign up here:
Another big tip of my hat to Joseph Thornley for organizing yet another great event. Joe, I’ll buy you a drink tomorrow
