Browsing Tag

tools

Twitter is not just a toy – it’s a tool – 5 ways to USE it

So I continue to just be amazed with the increasing value of Twitter for me as a person. Twitter is helping me be less verbose, although you can’t tell from my posts and it continues to expose me to new folks, ideas and online resources I would have never known about without Twitter. That being said, the Big Bang of the Twitterverse continues to expand the population at an amazing rate, it is increasingly becoming a the platform of choice for communication for many folks.

Twitter-centric content is everywhere! I am easily able to find posts on Twitter which are rewarding and provide for a better understanding of the value of the platform, but there are increasing number of ideas around effective Twitter management which is an interesting twist. The growing number of how to better manage the stream recommendations are not only interesting, but confirmation that the community is evolving. Perhaps the most honest piece on managing the stream I have read is Dopp’s. (If you haven’t read the Juice you should, the content is amazingly honest and insightful – not the kinda stuff you will find here.) Tips, tricks and how to’s are becoming a staple when it comes to Twitter references online.

With the changing landscape on Twitter there is a growing amount of content espousing the good, the bad and the indifferent on the benefits of the platform. The worst post I have seen so far has to be How to Increase your Twitter following by 438% in 30 Days.

Despite the Twitter land grab underway, the utility of Twitter is still non-trivial. With the recent increase in reliability and the platform stabilization of late, which is much needed with the increasing visibility; there is a growing need to understand the use of the platform by new folks. The community does self-monitor and reject poor form, but it will take some time for users to push back against the over crowding, so anything that help improve the usage hopefully is a good thing. So how can you use twitter as a tool for more effective communication? Below are 5 areas for consideration to improve your Twitter experience:

  • Listen and Participate: People are on Twitter to connect. No, really… use twitter to express and share. If someone in your group asks a question and you have input, respond – that’s sorta why they asked. You may want to listen for a while until you participate, your call.
  • Use it for a Place to Get Ideas: The people in your stream will amaze you with their creativity and insight in <140 characters. Actively use the information and the links shared to understand more about what interest you and your followers. You just might find a topic or two which you can share with others or even blog about.
  • Meet New People and Develop Relationships: You will find people on Twitter who will expand your network and your understanding of a topic or a region – it will also expand others views of you and your region.
  • A Place to Find Stuff: This could be content you are looking for or other stuff, such as restaurants or other things to do. I’ve been reminded I need to go see a movie and how much fun an afternoon at a museum can be.
  • People Watch: Sometimes passive is good. More than likely there will be many folks in your network that you won’t engage, but just watch. That’s ok, just because I don’t play with some of my kid’s toys, doesn’t mean I don’t enjoy watching them play with them.

Need to understand a little more about twitter? Here’s a brief little video for you:

Have fun with your new shiny toy and find a way to make it useful and productive for your and your friends.

March 16, 2008 by
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Bulletin: Search goes narrow, topical and coversational

The great thing about networks is you find out about things you would never know anything about and Twing is one of those things. I tooled on over and gave it a try based on a link from someone. Initially I wasn’t too impressed with the functionality, but I am VERY impressed at the conversation I had with Kevin Shea, the GM @ Twing. It started with the brief comment below:

By Kevin on Mar 11, 2008 |

Try your Twing search again under “post” search, which has much better results:

http://twing.com/search?sc=ps&qt=widespread+panic

Your original query was a “topic” search.

And yes, we will keep the crawlers humming :-)

Kevin

So not only did Kevin respond, he was kind enough to A) confirm the stuff is earlier stage B) informed me that there was a little bit of “stupid” user in the process, me and C) started a conversation which asked for input and feedback. As an aside, Kevin is also very good at using his blackberry with near real-time response, even though he was a little under the weather, but that also is a sign of his passion in improving search. So with several emails and encouragement to provide feedback, I went and registered.

So I spent more time on the site and there is 1 feature set that once it is all “crawled” out should be REALLY useful – community buzz. The Community Buzz page has some interesting tools. Tags, posts and linked content which is being searched on and posted on @ bulletin boards. I would have never thought Montauk Fishing was so popular, but I also wouldn’t have thought Aaron’s North Georgia Trout online was one of the largest such community on the planet. So now I have my use case – I did a search on NGTO to see how it worked and it returned meaningful content on NGTO.

So the biggest challenge is how can WE help these folks out? Let’s all use the tool and provide feedback, but before we do that, let’s understand what the intent and purpose of Twing is, in Kevin’s words:

  1. Build awareness about the growing value (and volume) of forum discussion content. We feel this is an under served emerging market that is seeking a true leader.
  2. Enhance the search user’s experience by giving them access to forums across multiple taxonomic categories.

Conversational search will be an increasing important tool for business, more so than individuals I think, so my recommendation is move the tool to have alerts for marketers and product managers. This will also have significant use for technologists, as people and business users, to solve issues. To that end, perhaps a new tab which is focused on support forums, this would help folks find information on software or hardware support issues.

For personal users, I might add just a little more granularity to the first level of the directory and group the content into “smaller” boxes which may have less content, but doesn’t fall below “the fold”. I’ve always wanted a dynamic directory of forums and this looks like it could be one of the largest out there, I looked around and I think that’s a true statement. Bulletin boards have always been an example of niche communities that rarely are found by accident, typically someone in the know pointed you there. With Twing you can join the conversation a good deal easier without being part of the cool kid group.

Search is rapidly moving from shotgun approaches and brute force solutions to deliver results in context of a content type. Few things are as hidden on the web as the conversations on bulletin boards and a narrow search tool can “turn up the volume” on these conversations for more folks to participate in and drive value from. The platform provides personalized views, once registered, which could be useful for businesses and individuals alike to stay on top of areas of interest, brand feedback and competitive intelligence. I agree with Kevin that their are “millions” of folks which could find utility from this solution – let’s help them find Twing.

Kevin’s outreach is a great example of how companies can leverage social media for input and to understand how to improve what they are delivering to the marketplace. I’m glad I was able to virtually meet Kevin and get the low down on Twing. Give it a try and let them know what you think because they are listening.

March 15, 2008 by
(5)

5 Ways YOU can launch a Twitter stream remediation program

Twitter is most certainly one of the more interesting tools in social media. Small- terse messages of random interaction. My specific twitter network is just a little more eclectic than other social segments I frequent.

Twitter just like any social network continues to evolve to include an increasingly diverse set of media snacks for a growing cross section of the population. With the recent service/scale issues and exponential references on television, it is becoming increasing evident that the twitter stream is mainstream. Just as in any type of social network – you need to tend to the stream to maintain quality, conversational purity and value requirements.

River Cross Section

5 Ways to Initiate a Stream Remediation Program

  1. Identify the maximum thread of velocity and prioritize it’s value. High velocity twitter-ers can rapidly obscure the conversation. Bye BBC!
  2. Contribute and interact to enable conversations. The size and shape of your Tweets significantly impacts the conversational velocity.
  3. Channel friction and boundary shear are givens – so add new folk and erode others out.
  4. Various conversations depths exist and the variability is driven by network depth. Engage people – not the just the network to identify YOUR thread of maximum value.
  5. Have a stream clean up day every now and again.
February 23, 2008 by
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