Twitter

February 05, 2009

Guest on Blog Business Success Radio with Wayne Hurlbert talking about the power of social media

You think I stuffed enough keywords into that title?! 

I'm a guest tonight on Wayne Hurlbert's Blog Business Success radio show which airs at 7 p.m. central, 8 p.m. eastern. 

We're going to be discussing the power of social media and I will share ideas for getting the most out of your social media experience. 

Topics will include how to use Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and more to build lasting relationships that will grow your business, and we'll go beyond the "how" to discuss the "why."

Join us or listen to the archived version. It ought to be a full hour. 

February 04, 2009

Is Twitter's business model staring it in the face?

The talk of a Twitter business model is still buzzing like bees around the hive. I think one option is as plain as the beak on the little bluebird's face. (Didn't realize I was going to be talking about the birds and the bees in the post. Heh.)

The option I speak of is a premium services model such as that currently used by Yammer, but one which offers features similar to that of a brand new application, wiggio.

In my pitch at OMMA Social I suggested that Twitter do one of two things:

  1. Offer a premium subscription option for business and organizational use -or-
  2. License part of their API for third-party use so services like Tweetdeck and Twhirl could do so.

I also suggested that the "secret sauce" in all of this be the ability to create groups in which everyone of the members could be messaged at the same time.

Well, guess what, that's exactly what wiggio was created to do! And it adds lots of extra bells and whistles as well that, according to MarketingVox, include such things as:

  • Shared calendars
  • Group text and voice messaging
  • Free conference calling and web meetings
  • Filesharing
  • Collaborative viewing/editing for documents
  • Polling capabilities
  • and a list-serv!

To top it off, wiggio is free!

2009-02-04_1438

MarketingVox does say the app is designed for use by college students, but it doesn't appear to be restricted to that. In fact, it lists "small business" as one of the user groups. 

This wasn't intended to be a rave for wiggio (it's just that I'm playing with it while writing this post), but rather a query into why Twitter is letting these other companies steal its thunder.  (You can bet there will be more to come, too.)

I mean, think about it, Twitter has the userbase. They could kick Yammer's and wiggio's butt if they wanted to by providing similar services of their own.

Or...or... they could do "b" from above and let other companies such as these have access to the userbase via the API. Frankly, not being a programmer mind you, I don't know why Yammer and wiggio aren't already tapping into it. 

In fact, if you're a programmer, perhaps you could square me away on a few things:

  • What restrictions does Twitter places on the use of its API?
  • Is there any reason either Yammer or wiggio couldn't intergrate their services with Twitter now?
  • Does Twitter forbid the use of its API if the third-party is monetizing their service?
  • Is it a license issue more than a technical one?

February 03, 2009

Namecheap real winner in GoDaddy ad debacle?

GoDaddy CEO Bob Parsons reports that "Go Daddy's 2009 Super Bowl campaign results shattered prior records for both new customer sign-ups and total orders, with 10 percent more new customers joining than last year's Super Bowl Sunday." 

Despite the salacious nature of the ads, Go Daddy knows its customer base and, in the domain name registrar bowl, it appears they are the clear winner. 

Or maybe not...

I think there is a sleeper that, thanks to their  along with some creatively conceived and well-timed marketing campaigns, gained a measurable degree of marketshare as well. Certainly, they garnered plenty of buzz. If nothing else, they saw a 32% increase in traffic, according to , social media marketing consultant for whom Namecheap is s client.

Who is this sleeper? Namecheap.

Look at this Blogpulse trend graph comparing Network Solutions, Namecheap and Dotster:

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You'll note how Namecheap and Dotster were in a dead heat for second place well behind Network Solutions. However, thanks to their seizing an opportunity when it appeared, Namecheap was able to break out and place themselves in contention more closely to NetSol.
 
For example, the day of the Superbowl they created a "Make the Superbowl 43 Switch" campaign which asked, "Not happy with your current registrar or their advertising models?" The company offered a switch to their service for $6.99 per domain. 

If that's not enough, a few days prior to the game they came up with their own answer to GoDaddy's expensive Superbowl ads by creating the Namecheap Big Game Video Contest

Commercialfail

"We are asking you, the NameCheap customer, to come up with a funny NameCheap commercial around the same time," says their pitch. "We can't air it during half time, but the ones we like will be published for others to see in our blog and of course, to our YouTube channel. Feel free to browse through them while drinking beer, eating chips and queso, and arguing offsides calls with your friends."

They went after user-generated content to build buzz and, while it's a spoof, the campaign is creative and fun. The contest winner gets the Creative Vado HD pocket video camcorder, a prize valued at $225. Not too bad for less than one minute's worth of video.
 
Finally, on game night and the day following they maintaned a strong presence on Twitter promoting the switch campaign and coupon code.

It will be worthwhile to track whether Namecheap can hold the ground they've gained. They spiked before in recent months, according to Blogpulse, but receded to previous levels of notoriety in terms of buzz created in consumer-generated media.

What do you think of my surmise? Is Namecheap a "sleeper" winner in the registrar bowl? 

February 02, 2009

Interview with Shashi Bellamkonda regarding Network Solutions' response to GoDaddy ad debacle

9407ba9e-dd67-43ba-9830-906b433fcf22Shashi Bellamkonda SEO 2007 I had the opportunity to do a quick phone chat with , Network Solutions' "Swami of Social Media," earlier today to get his reactions to the GoDaddy Superbowl 2009 ad debaucle. 

My intent was not to sensationalize or stir up controversy, but to try and view this issue through Shashi's eyes as well as to see what lessons could be learned and best practices gleaned. 

To give you some background, GoDaddy rolled out their usual tasteless, cheap, tawdry, tittilating, sexist, demeaning to women, <insert adjective of your choosing> ads, which featured Indycar driver Danica Patrick and other females showing off certain parts of their anatomy. (BTW, Patrick is an Indycar driver, not NASCAR driver.) A few years ago, it had shock value... you know, the first time they tried it... but, now, not so much.  

In fact, what it did was unleash a groundswell of negative sentiment within the social media sphere, namely Twitter. (Mack Collier did a pithy synopsis that I think best sums up the prevailing attitude, so I'd ask you to visit his post to learn more.)

Seeing Shashi on Twitter, I and a number of others (, and to name a few) suggested he to encourage people to transfer their domain to NetSol. Apparently, lots of people are taking him up on the offer too. 

2009-02-02_1315

To be clear, Shashi didn't "opportunize" this of his own accord. He responded to requests and suggestions being made by others he knew and respected. Not saying there's anything wrong with seizing an opportunity, mind you, which is why I suggested he do so. 

In response Shashi created a for anyone wanting to transfer. 

2009-02-02_1320

Then, he waited and watched to see if the groundswell would respond in his favor, and it did. The post got retweeted numerous times (see ). Shashi's hope was that, rather than him tweeting about it, others would do so on his behalf and that hope seemed to be realized. 

Not only that, mentions of Network Solutions, which average between 6,000 - 7,000 per month normally, went up 10 fold, according to Shashi. 

Now, if you're a small business, you can pretty much do these types of things at a moment's notice. Not so if you're Network Solutions. 

Shashi had to alert his customer support and call center staff as to what was going on. Imagine the left hand not knowing what the right hand was doing? Happens all too often in online vs. offline world. Shashi made sure that base was covered. 

There's something else he did that I appreciate. He didn't trash the competition just to drive traffic to his offer. Nor did he need to. This is a situation where a measured response was all that was called for. "Discretion is the better part of valor," as they say and Shashi certainly displayed that characteristic. If that is also the character of Network Solutions, I applaud them. 

It is too early to determine if there will be any discernable positive ROI for NetSol, or the adverse for GoDaddy. In tracking Twitter mentions of the two, GoDaddy is receiving tons more. However, most of those are of a negative tone and the conversation is beginning to morph over into GoDaddy's alledgedly poor customer service.  

If you think all this is overblown, I would remind you of what happened a few years with a small bicycle lock company called Kryptonite. (See for background if you're unfamiliar with the story. It still lives to haunt them to this day.) Also, consider the Motrin Moms controversy as another case in point. 

If you think the same thing can't happen again, you're mistaken. It can and in spades. 

The saddest thing of all is that GoDaddy has at least one staff person assigned to monitor Twitter, , who, at the time of this writing, had yet to respond to any of the commentary.  I think that's inexcusable! One thing is for certain, Twitter users are . 

I suspect there is much more to come before this issue becomes yesterday's news. Perhaps it is the controversy du jour, but I believe there are lessons that can be learned that having bearing on how companies do business in the era of the social web. 

January 29, 2009

Five key takeaways from OMMA Social from a Silicon Valley outsider

Before I get to the meat of today's post, let me pubicly thank Cathy Taylor for putting together what proved to be a great event, OMMA Social. It was by far one of the best conferences I've attended to date; well-coordinated, solid content from industry experts and delicious food/drink. The event seemed to come off without a hitch too.

Now, to my obersvations...

The keyword of the day was "listening." 
Listening is the new marketing, or so it seems. It's a shame companies like Radian6 or Techrigy weren't there to take full advantage of the opportunity for them to speak to the issue from a sponsor/exhibitor standpoint, or at least as attendees, especially considering the room was full of agency people. Kudos to  from Crimson Hexagon, another social media monitoring company, for being in attendance. (I joke with Perry that their company name sounds like a 60s Bay-area rock band.)

Gauging what constitutes "influence" in social media is a huge issue. 
led an outstanding panel on what was referred to as "personal CPM." Essentially, the panel discussed how to measure influence in social media. It's a topic you'll hear discussed a lot this year. 

When marketers do figure out how to reward users for access to their influence, I hope it doesn't bring complete and total prostitution to an otherwise authentic medium. (Sorry, Perry Hewitt. Guess that's 5 demerits for using the term "authentic.") I can imagine a mad gold rush by socmed users to up the anty on their personal CPM in order to profit. 

Measuring the ROI of social media is another issue that must be dealt with in 2009.
Given this economy, if it can't be measured, it won't be taken seriously by many, if not most. We're at a point now where we're faced with the task of proving this medium can produce pecuniary value.

OMMA Social was a seminal event.
Matters that were introduced at the conference will become fodder for much discussion around social network water coolers in the weeks and months to come. 

The Twitter business model was a hot topic.
While those of us serving on the Twitter business model panel were not exactly considered experts on the topic, the viewpoints expressed were well thought out and not necessarily naive or ill-conceived. Certainly, they sparked some measure of discussion by the audience. Whichever direction Twitter decides to go in terms of a monetization strategy, one thing is for sure, it will be the topic of much discussion and analysis.

Again, kudos go to Cathy and her team for putting together such a well-coordinated event. I hope to attend next year whether I'm on a panel or not.

BTW, Cathy has put together her own list of takeaways over at Social Media Insider. In addition, David Berkowitz did a complete run-down (well, almost... he left off the Twitter panel) of the event over at The Marketer's Studio.

January 26, 2009

Twitter business model to present at OMMA Social

OMMA Social

Today is the big day when I and three other hand-picked contestants present our Twitter business plan ideas at OMMA Social. As a refresher, here's mine: Twitter should offer a premium version for biz use, similar to Yammer. Create private networks. Charge based on # of users.

I've given this idea more thought, obviously, and fleshed out additional details. (If you recall, Cathy wanted these in 140 characters or less.) This is what I've come up with.

TWITTER BUSINESS MODEL

Twitter should offer a premium version of the platform similar to Yammer, but with a twist -- Twitter sells the service as an OEM solution. They license part of the application for use by third-parties like Tweetdeck and Twhirl as well as enterprise users. These third-parties resell the service to businesses and organizations based on either a per-user fee (per "seat" license), message volume or combination of both. 

The essential ingredient is the ability to create private groups (an intranet) in which members can message others individually or the group as a whole. There would also be the ability to create sub-groups within groups (Departments, project teams, etc). 

Why this model? 

A premium services model offers several unique advantages to others, advertising and usage fee models in particular.

Advertising
An ad-based model is fraught with problems. First of all, it's, well, advertising. We all know ads have not bode well in social media. Click-through rates are low, CPM rates are declining and ads are interruptive. Our love affair with them ended long ago. 

Usage fees
Charging users a fee is an equally bad idea. Twitter has been around for almost three years and has always been free. While hard-core users like me would be willing to pay a fee, I think a lot of people would be pissed off and defect to apps like Plurk. Certainly, it would dissuade casual users from becoming more active and will slow the growth/adoption of the application. 

Why offer it as OEM?

The problem with Twitter creating something they offer directly to consumers is that no one uses Twitter's interface. (Not anyone who's been using the service for any length of time.) 

Keep in mind, part of the problem faced by services such as Yammer is that they run independently of Twitter. Another profile/login is required and another interface is necessary. 

The genius an OEM solution provides is that the premium functionality is built right into the client interface. Tweetdeck, for example, would be perfect for such an integration. 

The other part of the "secret sauce" is that the wealth is shared (President Obama would approve.) Twitter wins by providing an OEM solution, service providers win by being able to monetize their offerings, and users win because they don't have to deal with ads or pesky usage fees.  

So, that's what I came up with during the several hours on the plane from New Orleans to San Francisco. I'm sure there are other things relative to this model I"ve not considered. If so, please feel free to offer your suggestions. But, do so before 4:00 pm pacific time, because that's when the panel ensues.

January 14, 2009

Panelist at OMMA Social on Twitter business model

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UPDATE: Here's Cathy Taylor's post at her Social Media Insider blog at Mediapost announcing the winners. Four of us made the cut and there are some interesting business models presented. I still think mine is the hands down winner tho. Heh.

Great news, for me at least. I've been chosen to be a panelist at OMMA Social on the topic of creating a Twitter business model. 

I know, I know. You're asking how that came about. I mean, Chris Brogan I ain't. The fact is , a columnist for Mediapost and the person overseeing this event, held a contest asking those interested in doing so to submit an idea for a business model for Twitter. The prize, participation as a panelist. 

Here was my entry... 

Twitter should offer a premium version for biz use, similar to Yammer. Create private networks. Charge based on # of users. Def. winner!

{Note: It had to be 140 characters or less. It was for Twitter afterall.)

To be honest, I never thought I had a chance, but very happy to be chosen. It's an awesome opportunity and I'm grateful to Cathy and Mediapost for extending the offer. 

OMMA Social is designed to guide marketing and media professionals through the terrain of social media. This one-day conference will address social marketing challenges and provide insights into how to make social networking work for companies now, and in the future.

This year's event features such notables as , , Rob Key, , and , to name but a few. 

Here's a link to a video from last year's OMMA Social. (No embed code available)

January 09, 2009

FifteenTwitter follow dos and don'ts

school of fish twitter follows  
There are two schools of thought pertaining to who to follow on Twitter. One is what I refer to as the Guy Kawasaki method which says, "forget the influentials," "defocus your efforts," and "get as many followers as you can." It's more of a mass marketing approach.

Up and until on the number of people that I could follow in a given 24-hour period, that's pretty much the school to which I subscribed and just about anyone and everyone qualified (minus the spammers of course).

Since then, I've had to be more discerning and have actually found that to be a good thing. So, here are fifteen suggested Twitter follow dos and don'ts based on my current Twitter follow modus operandi:

Dos...

1. Focus your efforts - If you're in sales and marketing, hopefully you've outlined specific target markets based on demographic, psychographic and technographic profiles. Maybe you've even created a persona of the ideal client or customer. Find those folks and follow them.

One good way to do that is by using Twellow, which is a Twitter "yellow pages." It categorizes Twitter followers based on geography and industry and covers everything from aerospace to Web development.

Twellow Twitter

For example, a search on my city, Lafayette, LA, brought five pages of returns totaling 100 people. Not a lot, but consider that a) Lafayette is a small city by comparison and b) it's in the deep south which is often the last to catch on to new trends. If you're in a more metro area, chances are your returns will be manifold times this.

What might be more relevant is search by category. For example, Bizzuka, the company I serve as marketing director, is targeting the legal industry. A search for lawyers brought over 930 returns. We are also targeting healthcare. A search returned almost 100 hospitals.

Apply that same methodology to your own situation and see what comes of it.

Twellow defaults to ranking returns based on number of followers, but you can also sort by
recent activity and/or whether the person has verified their Twellow account.

Each person listed has a profile associated with their entry which, depending on whether they've verified their account or not, could contain lots of information, including a bio, latest Twitter updates (good for knowing whether they're an active user or not), and link to their Web site or blog.

2. Follow those with real names - That's one way to know it's a genuine account. (It's always a good practice when setting up a Twitter account to use your real name.)

3. Follow those who follow you - In most cases it's a common courtesy. Chances are they're in the same industry or have some relevance to you.

4. Follow those following the people who are following you - Same rationale as #3, just once removed.

5. Follow those following the people you are following - If you've chosen to follow a particular individual for whatever reason (maybe they fit the profile mentioned in #1), there's a good likelihood at least some of the people following them would be relevant for you as well.

6. Follow those in your industry - Obviously, one of the best uses for Twitter is as a vehicle for networking, gathering feedback and getting advice.  It's a great tool for meeting others in your industry or discipline.

7. Follow those you find interesting and/or entertaining - In all the mad rush to turn Twitter into a business communications and marketing tool, leave a little for pure fun. If you find someone's posts interesting, maybe they're worth following as well.

8. Follow those who use the same hashtags (ex. #nms08) to follow a conversation - Again, if they're interested in the same things as you, consider following them.

9. Follow those who @reply you - @replies can be sent into the public timeline addressed to people you're not following. If a user has addressed you in that way, might be fruitful to add them.

10. Follow those interacting with people you follow - If you see a tweet with an @reply addressing someone you're following that comes from someone you're not, they may be worth following. Check em out!

Don'ts...

11. Don't follow those with numbers behind their names - This is a technique often used by spammers (Twammers) due to the fact that have multiple accounts. It's a dead give-away. (One word of caution: When setting up your Twitter handle, don't use numbers. Your real name will do nicely.)

12. Don't follow those with no avatar - If you can't see their face, company logo or some sort of avatar, don't follow.

13. Don't follow those who only broadcast - Unless you know it's an account set up strictly for that purpose - a news, shopping or "tips" type account - don't follow. If they don't participate in conversations with anyone else, they won't with you either.

14. Don't follow those who aren't active - I don't know the number or percentage, but I bet the number of people who've subscribed to Twitter and aren't actively using it is sizable. If a user is not actively maintaining the account, chances are it's dead.

15. Don't follow users based on their follower count - In social media, it's not necessarily how many eyeballs that count but who those eyeballs belong to. There are some very influential people who may not have huge numbers of followers.

There you have it - 15 tips for know who to follow and who not to. That's my list at least for now, though I'm sure I'll add to it. BTW, you can too! What criteria do you use in determining who to follow. Please share it in a comment. Thanks!

Finally, if you're not following me, please do. My Twitter handle is .

January 03, 2009

Twitter phishing scheme

There is a phishing scheme propogating through Twitter now. It works in this way: 

  1. You get a direct message which often contains a URL with "blogspot" in it. Do not click that link. 
  2. If you happen to click the link, you'll be taken to a phishing site asking you to login. Don't do that either. 
  3. If you did and logged in, change your password immediately. 
Go to for more info or to learn more.

This developed over the weekend while I was away at my parents who have no Internet access. I checked Twitter via my iPhone and saw a message asking me to visit the link. Unsuspectingly, I swallowed the bait, clicked the link and, believe it or not, logged in. D'oh! 

The result was that I spammed every person following. While I'm not to blame, I do feel terribly about it nonetheless. Don't become a victim like me. 

This will come and go in a few days hopefully. Phishing, like email spam, is a fact of life on the web, so there's little to be done about it I suppose. Still, viligence and a good malware program is called for.

December 30, 2008

On the web, Authority has always been about popularity

I was apprised of the latest episode of "As the Web Turns" today by my boss who , "I can't believe you're not weighing in on this."  

I'm referring to yet another version of the same drama that's been playing for years regarding the question of what defines authority on the Web, this time as it pertains to Twitter. It involves some veteran actors too - Robert Scoble, Mike Arrington and Loic LeMeur - Silicon Valley insiders who, because they live in a bubble, tend to get worked up over things the rest of the world doesn't or shouldn't.

Loic, founder of Seesmic, posted a request that Twitter add a new feature, search by authority, which he (rather innocently if you ask me) suggested equated to the number of followers one has. The more followers, the greater the authority. Arrington chimed in saying the idea made sense. Scoble, who has dealt with this issue in the past in regard to Technorati's version of authority, countered by saying the idea is "patently idiotic." (I'm with Scoble on this one.)

Before we go any further please understand my purpose in this post is not to jump into the frey in hopes of obtaining mention on TechMeme (probably too late for that anyway). I could care less about this "bitchmeme," as one blogger referred to it. My desire is to add some historic perspective and say that, as it pertains to the Web, authority has always been associated with popularity.

Google PageRank

Take , for example, Google's term for its link analysis algorhitm used in determining how Web pages are returned in search results. One means by which this determination is made is the number of links one page receives from others. 

In other words, PageRank is like a "ballot box" and the more votes one site gets from others, the more "authority" it has. I know it's not merely a matter of the number of votes and that other factors are involved. However, the number of links is foundational to the way the system works.

Sound like a popularity contest? It does to me. 

Technorati Authority

Technorati defiines authority as "the number of blogs linking to a website in the last six months. The higher the number, the more Technorati Authority the blog has." Again, a popularity contest. 

Steve Rubel weighed in on this nearly three years ago and what he said about Technorati then has bearing on the argument today.  

"So, I am going to argue that links - be they Google or Technorati - have turned the entire concept of authority into something rather trivial - popularity," said Steve. "Does this mean Britney Spears is an authority too just because she's popular?"

Replace the term "links" with "followers" and you see it's the same argument all over again. BTW, , and I echo Steve's question, does this make her an authority? If so, about what? 

Taking Britney into consideration, another way of looking at this is authority = celebrity (or vice-versa), and that's decidedly not how it should be defined.

How Authority Should Be Defined

"Authority" on the Web should be defined no differently than the dictionary does: 

1. "An individual cited or appealed to as an expert" is one way Merriam-Webster puts it. In no way does that suggest a correlation to popularity. I know many experts in social media marketing, for example, who do not have large followings on Twitter. They are authoritative nonetheless.

2. "Power to influence or command thought, opinion, or behavior." It is conceivable to equate "influence" with popularity in this case. After all, one could argue if they weren't influential they wouldn't have large followings. So, score one for the authority = popularity crowd. Yet, like Steve said in his post, it seems strange to me. 

Loic mended the error of his ways in a later post by saying, "the number of followers is in no way a measure of authority" and indicated his use of the term was a faux pas

Still, he got his wish. Merely 12 hours after making that request, a developer named John Wheatley created an app called, are you ready for this, Twitority. And it does precisely what Loic asked for, returns authority-based Twitter searches. (UPDATE: I just found out there was yet another Twitter authority search engine already in existance, Twithority. Not sure why the need for two, but, oh well.)

Should popularity be the barometer for what constitutes authority? I think not. How about you?

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