Spotted: @bentmatches at @ashevillefm kick off meeting #

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Just got in on the now-public CoTweet Beta. Review coming soon. #

http://twitpic.com/9sc1a – @cotweet Pic re: my whiny complaint #

@justinthesouth After your Creed tweet I impulsively went for the UNFOLLOW button. I resisted for now. But if you EVER do that again … in reply to justinthesouth #

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@Staticdefender @itswendylou Damn you both #

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Local eateries jump on the Twitter train
“On the surface, we may seem very official, but we’re working as hard as everyone else to figure it out and put it altogether,” says June Thomas, who handles the Twittering duties for Nine Mile [in Asheville NC]. On any given day, Thomas might tweet out the daily specials, bemoan the restaurant’s problems getting its new menu printed and wonder aloud if the real Gordon Ramsay was behind the @RamseyGordo account.

[...]

Nine Mile is widely acknowledged by local foodies as a master of the Twitter form. Thomas, who initiated the account back in March 2008—“I went to Aaron [Thomas’ husband, who co-owns the restaurant and serves as executive chef] and said, ‘This might be kind of nerdy, and I don’t know if it’s going to work”—is an indefatigable tweeter. She routinely runs exhaustive searches for terms like “Asheville,” which might lead to tourists wondering where to eat, which might lead to more customers.

[..]

Thomas’ innate understanding of technology and the restaurant’s commitment to transparency have made for a highly personable, funny and useful feed.

[Full article at MountainX.com]

Chicago Domino’s Owner, @DPZRAMON More Than Gets Social Media … He Breathes It!

Ramon De Leon, owner of several Domino’s pizza restaurants in Chicago not only GETS social media marketing, he lives and breathes it! Who do you know that keeps spare batteries in his pockets (at all times) for his cell phone and video camera to be prepared to take videos of any situation?

A couple of weeks, I met Ramon (@DPZRAMON) at a social media summit where he shared how he utilizes Facebook, Twitter and YouTube to increase exposure for his restaurants and THRIVE in this new economy. Let me tell you, he was the hit of the summit! The whole room was fascinated by his energy, passion and commitment to social media and pizza.

[Full Article at NuReachGlobal.com]

This simple gadget allows webmasters to add customized Google Maps directions to their business locations. With the directions gadget, you no longer need to type and update multiple sets of text directions. Let’s face it: customers are only looking for directions from their specific location.

Any potential customer looking for your retail location can now get text directions from wherever they may be.

This, in conjunction with the Google Local Business Center can provide a tremendous amount of free exposure for your business in Google search results and Google Maps.

A full walkthru of the Google Maps Gadget is available on Google’s LatLong Blog.

Or, you can go straight to the Google Maps Gadget Site.

I’ll be referring to them later in future articles and how-to projects, so it’s important to have them posted here.

Enjoy!

(Poynter.org) Social Web is a ‘Cocktail Party’ That’s Improved the Paper

I describe the social Web as a cocktail party filled with interesting people. You can move from group to group, engaging on different topics, listening quietly when you want to, talking at others. The neat thing is that, like real cocktail parties, you can meet new people, hear great stories, learn valuable things and have a few laughs. You can come and go as you please, and the cocktail party is always going on.

[..]

I hope that the people who connect with me on social networks see me as more than a name on a masthead. I engage with them. I show some personality, to the extent that I have one. I listen to what others are saying and let them know that I am learning from THEM.

[...]

Here’s what people who are skeptical of social networking can’t seem to get past: the trite and trivial musings of people. I entirely agree. But it’s an easy obstacle to avoid. You don’t want to know what someone had for lunch? Cool, don’t follow the people who write those types of things. Follow instead the people who tell you what they think about topics you’re interested in.

Full article at Poynter.org

(24/7 Wall Street) 10 Ways Twitter Will Change American Business

As Twitter grows it will increasingly become a place where companies build brands, do research, send information to customers, conduct e-commerce, and create communities for their users. Some industries, like local retail, could be transformed by Twitter. That transformation will occur at one-store operations that cater to customers within a few blocks of their locations and to the individual stores of giant retail operations like Wal-Mart (WMT). In either case, having the opportunity to tell customers about attractive sales and new products can be done at remarkably low cost while providing for greater geographic accuracy.

[..]

While there may be commercial value for the use of Twitter as a way to communicate with customers, the danger is that the Twitter community could turn against a marketer viewed as being too crass by being relentlessly self-promoting.  Twitter users have set up their own rules for conduct when using the service, not unlike MySpace and Facebook.  These rules were not put together by Twitter itself which only mandates rules of use. Like many social network sites, Twitter is “self governed” by its members and companies must take that into account as they join the service.

(Full article at 24/7 Wall Street)

(Serious Eats) A List of Street Food Vendors Using Twitter

one of the more interesting and truly useful trends sparked by the microblogging service is the way street-food vendors have flocked to it to relay info to customers. This is particularly helpful with vendors who switch up locations from day to day—or hour to hour. In retrospect, it almost seems like Twitter was made for this purpose. What better way for a roving kitchen to publish crucial intel, from the field, without a dedicated internet connection? For your convenience, we’ve compiled a list of street vendors on Twitter, divided by region.

Full article at Serious Eats

(DaveMadeThat.com) Small Businesses Using Twitter

I was as excited as my kids when I introduced them to Fleur de Lis Flavors. That’s the incredibly tasty, New Orleans style snowball shop. The kids were ecstatic about the flavored snow they were gobbling down, I was ecstatic about the fact that they are using Twitter.

Full article at DaveMadeThat.com

(AdAge.com) Twitter Proves It’s Worth As A Killer App For Local Business

Naked Pizza, a New Orleans healthful-pizza shop that’s hoping to go national — Mark Cuban is a backer — has been marketing itself via the microblogging service. And recently it has started to track Twitter-spurred sales at the register. In a test run April 23, an exclusive-to-Twitter promotion brought in 15% of the day’s business.

Full article at AdAge.com