One of the best answers I got was that social media has both nothing and everything to do with their passion, both now and in the future. I was reminded by one of the speakers that not too far in the near future, we might as well call the “Social Media Club” the “What I Do Every Day All The Time For Work And For Fun Club” — it’s going to be that ubiquitous in the future.

Last week, the Society for New Communications Research Fellows met and made their own list of trends and predictions for 2009/2010, while I’ll share with you next week. Not all of them have to do with social media directly, but social media touches on almost all of them. It is becoming ubiquitous. Time to find a new name for the Social Media Club.

1. Feed me! – I’m an information junkie. Don’t spoon-feed me information, pour it on; fill my brain with facts, figures, links and ideas. Maybe this is how I’m wired or maybe it comes from years working on a TV newsroom, where TVs are always blaring, keyboards constantly clicking and producers yell curses at the top of their lungs. Whatever the reason Twitter satisfies my craving. Wake up in the middle of the night and need a quick fix? Twitter is there. Want to know what people are talking about at any given moment? Check out the trends. Need some suggested reading? A new link is just a moment away. It’s like having the whole Internet pumped directly into my brain.
2. Give Me a Great Big Glass of Google Juice – We all bow down before Google. The great and powerful one sends us people who want to buy what we’re selling. Twitter, with its real time updates and every present “buzz,” not to mention its search deals, provides both Google and it’s smaller but powerful friend Bing, with updates that help power your SEO rankings. In many cases companies report that Twitter now drives more traffic directly than Google searches. So as a traffic driving strategy, Twitter is da’bomb.
3. Reach out and touch someone – You remember that old AT&T refrain, right? “Reach out and just say ‘hi.’” I’ve always felt that you can reach just about anyone on the planet by dialing the right digits into the phone. But Twitter makes that process so much easier. In fact, you can find out interesting things about people you didn’t even know where that interesting. I follow Jay Feely, as he’s a kicker for the Jets (I follow most of the players on Twitter). Yesterday he landed himself into a fascinating discussion about religion and I learned about his political and religious leanings. Not that it changes my thoughts about him or the Jets, but it gives me a much richer, more nuanced and personal view of someone who I watch on TV each week. It’s not just that I can touch celebrities, but I can also meet people like Jeff Cutler and Joselin Mane, first online and then in person. These are people with whom I share something in common and who I wouldn’t have met otherwise. Taken one step further, Twitter lets me put out a Tweet about my location and have an instant party. Then there are the tradeshows I can’t travel for, but can attend vicariously by searching on the hashtag.
4. Get that stuff out fast! – Twitter Lists are great, aren’t they? A way to organize the people you follow into groups of like-types and make your full list of followers into something more manageable. Then you can share those with others, like a list of attendees at a show or a list of clients. Because the folks at Twitter get stuff out before they’re fully baked (see yesterday) they can get that stuff into the hands of the users and see what happens. The crowd tells Twitter what it wants, and Twitter delivers. Since they don’t need to worry so much about the business model for every little thing, there aren’t delays while board members discuss “monetization strategies.” Plus, as users, we’re not nickel-and-dimed to death in order to get the features we really want.
5. Retweets – Oh yes, retweets. I know what you’re saying, “Chuck, you hated those yesterday,” and part of me does. But then there is the echo effect. Putting a link or thought on Twitter is kind of like sending off a message in a bottle. The currents are going to take it, people are going to retweet it and send it off to their readers, then maybe those readers will send it to their readers and it’ll land on the shore of some distant land where you’ll receive the most insightful comment you’ve ever heard.
6. BONUS! Tweet Chats – The idea of an online chat has been around since the earliest days of the Internet. I remember talking with my friends on my school’s Unix systems via the talk function or using IRC. Back in the days of CompuServ we called it the “CB.” But Twitter takes this to a new level because people already have the tool. What’s more, you can just search on a hashtag like #journchat or #solopr and see the whole chat at a later time.

So what do you love about Twitter? Come on, don’t be shy. Show how you HEART Twitter.

So what follows are the five things I hate about Twitter, followed tomorrow by the five things I love about Twitter.

1. Who needs a business model? – Perhaps nothing frustrates me more than the fact that Twitter can’t seem to find any way to earn money. Worse, no one at Twitter seems to care. Since we’re talking about a service on which so many people are relying, it would be kind of like AT&T, in the early days of phone service, saying “we’re not going to worry about making money, we just want people to talk on the phone.” If Twitter runs out of cash all the servers go dark and all this work people are doing to build a following is for naught. Thanks guys.
2. Numbers, numbers everywhere – People love seeing their Twitter follower numbers grow. It’s a badge of honor but also gives actual figures to the idea of “I’m more popular than you.” The only problem is that it really doesn’t mean anything. Sure, you could have 800,000 followers, but how many are engaged in what you’re doing on any given day? And if you’re following more than 1,000 people do you have any idea what someone says? Lists make this a little easier, but those will get unwieldy too. Analytics companies are starting to downplay the follower numbers and look at other factors, such as how often you’re retweeted or whether people mention your name. But none of this gets to the core issue of influence, which is much more difficult to measure. Still, numbers give the illusion of measurement when none really exists.
3. That’s what she said… – It’s great to get retweeted, what a wonderful feeling. Someone loved what I said so much that they wanted to say it too! Yay! I’m a retweeter, that is, when I think something is relevant to my specific audience. But I’ve seen people become retweet central, in which most of their Tweets are not their own, but someone else’s tweets. In the news business people decry “pack journalism,” the idea that everyone covers the same story the same way. To me, retweeting is much the same idea. It doesn’t add anything new to the conversation, it’s just an echo. Why have your own audience if you’re just going to repeat someone else’s words? Worse, getting retweeted is a measure of how influential you are on Twitter, so we need to be retweeted to make up for the fact that the follower numbers really mean very little.
4. Those features aren’t half-baked, they’re just chewy – Twitter Lists came along and got pushed out to users long before it was fully baked. Yeah, lists are great (more on that tomorrow) but as of this writing there is no way to search list titles or descriptions and application developers weren’t given time to fully integrate lists into their services before it went live. So if you develop a list on Twitter, it doesn’t show up in Tweetdeck or on Seesmic, which for most of us is how we use Twitter (not the Website). Worse, Twitter didn’t take time to consider how they may be able to make money on lists, such as letting people max out at, say, 10 uses on a list but charging for more additions (see number 1). Not to mention that adding people to the lists is a clunky process. And yes, I know it’s technically in “beta,” but let’s be real here, beta doesn’t mean what it used to.
5. The non-techie barrier – Non-techies just don’t understand the language we Tweeters use as if it were AP Style. All the @ names and hashtags look terrifying to a new user, not to mention all the abbreviations made necessary by the 140 character limit. Then there is the time problem; in order to get the true value of Twitter you need it running all day long. Like a toddler in need of constant attention, it sits on your desktop or mobile device spitting out new information just waiting to be retweeted. If you’re a non-techie, do you really need this constant influx of information? For most the answer is an unequivocal “no.”

Tomorrow I turn this all around and share the love. But in the meantime, what do you hate about Twitter?

Not to continue harping on customer service, but here are a few examples of the impact improved customer service programs can impact the top line (courtesy of social commerce vendor Bazaarvoice):

• Reviews led to a 20% decrease in PETCO’s return rates.
• Customer Q&A decreased product returns 23% for automotive retailer JC Whitney.
• Canadian Tire decreased customer service costs by 81% with Bazaarvoice Ask & Answer.

And that’s just customer service — social media can impact HR, finance, engineering and many other departments. So, this begs the question: who owns social media? This question was beaten to death back in 2008, and yet the answers were not consistent. Are we ready to finally settle on the answer? Everybody owns social media, and therefore the CEO owns social media. Any questions?

The Social Media Breakfast Club

1. “The Change Agent” When you first look at the change agent, he might seem like “The Criminal.” He’s not satisfied with the status quo and is willing to go to lengths to challenge the system, even if it causes a little trouble. But he’s a necessary character in the Social Media Breakfast Club.
2. “The Champion” Call him “The Jock” if you want to, but you’re still going to need him, because he’s the guy who can rally the troops and, if necessary, force some of the change that needs to happen down the team’s collective throat.
3. “The Creative” She might seem like “The Kook”or “The Basket Case” to some, but that doesn’t mean you should lock her up and hide her from the world. Tap into her creativity to help lend some authenticity and originality to the content that you develop.
4. “The Nerd” While social media is getting easier and easier, it doesn’t mean that throwing a little technology savvy at it can’t significantly improve the end product. Tap “The Brain” — or find your inner nerd — to work with The Creative to find some news ways to do old things, and maybe even some new brand new things!
5. “The Collaborator” She may seem like “The Princess,” but she’s not as stuck up as she seems — she’s just intensely aware of what others think and feel. In reality, she’s an incredible collaborator, and can be great at finding and working with others to achieve a common goal.

None of these characters can, by themselves, succeed at implementing social media across an organization. But together, they can find common ground and work to make a much better place for everyone.