Social Wayne on the Social Web

18 social web and technology related trends that will shape 2010

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Wed, 11 Nov 2009 13:16:36 PST

2010

As we get closer to 2010 we’re already starting to see blog post about what was big in 2009 and predictions for what will be big in 2010. David Armano wrote Six Social Media Trends For 2010, that you should read as David. But as we move forward to 2010 and social media continues to mature it won’t be the only hot topic of 2009 that will have everyone blogging and tweeting about in 2010. I’m no physic but here are few trends / concepts that I think we’ll see maturing and making headway in 2010.

1. Real-Time Search will become uniformed and standardized
Sites like Cliqset, Collecta, Topsy and LazzyFeed will find their places being used by mainstream media and establish partnerships with other established web properties.

2. There will be a rise in Social Media Monitoring and measuring platforms.

3. More apps will think local
As Twitter works on their GEO API and TriOut, Whrrl, Brightkite, Foursquare, Gowalla, and Loopt battle for mobile location base app supremacy. Google is quitely making Google Latitdue more useful. I think we’ll see a lot of web and mobile apps implement location based services.

4. The return of Video
Video ads are taking off and after a year of being push to the back corner by tweets and status updates. Video content and online video aggregation sites will be huge such as Boxee, Jinni and Clicker. Also see number 9.

5. Traditional Media will continual to struggle.
My only two cents about this, is I wish traditional media would focus more on building trust and value and not trying to be first. Also realize that news come from people not the other way around.

6. Smart Brands will become more creative but still fail to listen to their customers until it’s to late.

7. Google vs Twitter vs Facebook
Will someone just buy the one in the middle?

8. Twitter will start making money.

9. iPhone / Apple “iTablet” vs Everyone
The iPhone 4th generation will be nice but when Apple release the iTablet it will be an ebook reader and video device that will change the game for everyone. Allowing people to have mobile video chat, create and watch videos on the go.

10. Hardware will become more social.
We’ll see more TVs, gaming platforms and cars with social capabilities. Examples a weight scale that tweets… but why?

11. Mobile providers will provide us with faster data speeds.
We want 4G and we want it now. :)

12. Content/People/Information filtering becomes easier.
As with Twitter List and Facebook friend groups we’ll start filtering how we intake information from our networks.

13. There will be more tech / social media conferences than you blink at. But you should attend this one :)

14. Augmented Reality will be the social media of 2008.
I think augmented reality will really start to grow in 2011.

15. Conversations tools will remain the same.
If you look at it, we have Email, tweets, instant messenger, sms and various inboxes on social networks. Google Wave is a year or two off and various platforms will launch to mashup the conversation channels like Gist but in the end most will stick to outlook and web based email such as Gmail.

16. The Google social networking puzzle will be solved.
Google has: Google reader, Wave, Chat, Gmail, latitude and their OS, put it all together and you have one powerful social network.

17. Blogs will continue to grow.
RSS is not dead.

18. We’ll focus less on social media and more on doing business on the social web.
Show me the ROI and stop playing games.

What do you shaping the tech world in 2010?

What I’m sharing on Google Reader for November 10th

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 16:00:11 PST

Today, while reading RSS feeds in Google Reader, I came across these interesting blog posts and wanted to share them with you. I hope you find some of them interesting. If one of them was useful to you or if you have a comment about one, let me know in the comments. For real-time results of what I’m sharing on Google Reader see my feeds on FriendFeed: http://friendfeed.com/waynesutton
Thanks

	Shared iPhone Bundle: External 1800mAh Backup Battery + Silicone Case + Screen Protector $14.99 Free Shipping.
	Shared Why Email isn’t going away any time soon.
	Shared TwitOnMSN – A Fully Featured Twitter and MSN Instant Message Client.
	Shared Designing “Coming Soon” Pages.
	Shared Forrester’s Bobby Tulsiani on Online Video: It’s Way Beyond the Media Business Now.
	Shared Google Makes Airport Wi-Fi Free During the Holidays [Free Wi-Fi].
	Shared AT&T unveils new 7.2 Mbps LaptopConnect Lightning modem.
	Shared Is LinkedIn Getting All Social-y?.
	Shared Kindle for PC Beta Brings E-Books to Bigger Screens [Downloads].
	Shared Nvidia CEO Reveals Tablet, Declares His Love for Apple [Tablet].
	Shared More Money For "Real Time" Ad Tech: AppNexus Raises $5 Million [MediaMemo].

3 1/2 Ways for Brands to Reclaim their Twitter Name from Squatters

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 12:16:52 PST

Twitter

It hurts my eyes to see provocative profile pictures of half-naked women and other racy avatars in my twitter stream from squatters who have hijacked brand names. I may not be following these accounts but when I do keyword searches or just looking for brands on Twitter, only to find out that they have yet to claim their brand name is sad. It’s even sadder if they have attempted to get access to their brand name twitter account and were unsuccessful. But with the growth of Twitter and dealing with all of the spam, please be patient with the Twitter team.

adagebrands

Photo via AdAage.com

Yesterday’s Advertising Age article called GM, Kellogg, Nestle Beat to the Tweet as Squatters Take Over Twitter Names is a troubling sign for Twitter and brands but it should be nothing new to brands, just something they haven’t done in a while. Remember the .com squatting back in 1997 and more recently Facebook username / fanpage squatting a few months ago. Regardless I’ve had a few success stories helping brands getting access to squatted Twitter accounts and getting a few spammed “brandjacking” twitter accounts closed. How you ask? Well I will say their is no exact proven method that will work 100% but I will share what has worked for me.

1. Email terms@twitter.com to let them know that you own the trademark to your brand. A screenshot or pdf attachment with proof is advise to let them know you want your Twitter brand name.

2. Send a tweet from a representative of your company or another company created twitter account to the proper twitter employee that handles Twitter name squatting. I’m not going to give you their names but you can find and follow the entire Twitter team here: http://twitter.com/twitter/team and /or here: http://listorious.com/twitter/team. Please don’t spam them. Note that @biz and @ev are the cofounders and are very busy.

3. Login and fill out the “Submit a request page here to Twitter’s support team: http://help.twitter.com/requests/new

1/2. Use a service like DandyID’s Claim my name that will secure your name on social networks and prevent brandjacking. http://www.dandyid.org/beta/claimmyname

To those of you who are squatting twitter names, shame on you. To those of you who are trying to get access to your Twitter brand name, good luck. Oh, by the way @Krispy_Kreme if you want access to the @HotNow Twitter account, just let me know.

Update: Also read DON’T FALL VICTIM TO B2B TWITTER SQUATTING by Jeff Cohen aka @dgtlpapercuts

If you need additional help I can be reached at wayne at ourhashtag dot com

Where did October go? Traveling, speaking, panels & conferences, oh my! Speaking in 2010?

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Tue, 10 Nov 2009 06:00:09 PST

If you walk in local malls in the Raleigh, NC you’ll already see Christmas decorations and I’m like where did October go and it’s not even Thanksgiving yet. But seriously where October go? Here’s a list of events I participated in the month of October and beginning of November. It’s like a flash to me.

Photo credit:RealTimJones
October 1- 4 – IzeaFest, social media and marketing conference, as a panel moderator
October 7 – Triangle Social Media Club as co-organizer

Photo credit should read: (cc) Cameron Gawley - www.buzzshift.com
October 14- 20 – BlogWorld, Panels: Social Media, the bad and the ugly and use blogs to reach a multicultural audience panels ( I stayed in Vegas way to long)

Photo Credit: Digital Papercuts
October 22 – NC State Fair Deep Fried Triangle State Fair Tweetup - attendee & consultant

Photo Credit: eldebe™’s images

October 23 – The Social Media Business Forum

Photo credit: lance

November 4 – Internet Summit – Online Video Panel

Photo credit: david.patterson
November 5 – Raleigh Real Estate BarCamp - Personal Branding and Social Media Tools Panel

To say the last thirty days have been busy is an understatement between traveling, speaking and all the same time managing projects, it’s good to have awesome friends and partners such as Jeff Cohen, Kipp Bodnar and Ryan Boyles. Thanks guys.

As we begin to wrap up 2009 and plan for 2010, I’m already schedule to speak at Social Fresh in Nashville, TN on January 11. I’m excited about 2010 and I know it’s going to be a great year but as I Gary Vaynerchuk says if you want to be successful you have to work your butt off!

Need a conference speaker for 2010? Email me info at socialwayne dot com

This #shamelessplug blog post is sponsored by FriendWayne.com :)

What I’m sharing on Google Reader for November 9th

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 16:00:08 PST

	Shared iZoca.com – Create Groups And Keep In Touch.
	Shared When It Rains: MySpace Can’t Fill Its Space; Losing $1M a Month on Vacant Lot.
	Shared News Corp To Remove All Content From Google Searches?.
	Shared Busted! "Verified" Facebook App Caught Scamming Users.
	Shared 21 Secrets Your Customer Service Reps Would Never Share (until now).
	Shared Build A Huge Email List Using Twitter \| Social Marketing \| Lawton Chiles.
	Shared Curating the Signal:Noise Ratio in the Social Graph.
	Shared Communicate Your Competitive Advantage.
	Shared 10 Personal Branding Predictions for 2010.
	Shared Verizon Spending $100 Million On Its Droid Ad Campaign.
	Shared Fundraising In The Social Era.
	Shared 5 Reasons to Use the New Twitter List Feature.
	Shared Are We Obsessed With Aesthetics?.
	Shared Apple begins shipping Core i5 iMacs.
	Shared Social Network for Translational Scientists Launched.

You Lie! Numbers do matter: How brands look for influencers on the social web

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 12:47:03 PST

A few years ago showing your RSS subscribers numbers was a big deal for validating your blog success and/or readership. Fast forward to 2009 you’ll see banner ads not saying how to get more blog readers but how to get more Twitter followers. I know you have heard the saying, “It’s not about the numbers“, I have said it before and I’m sure you have heard plenty of “social media speakers” say it before too. But when I talk to businesses and they ask me, how many followers I have and ask how can they reach my audience and gain the same amount of followers and more, it’s tough to say, it’s not about the numbers. Even with Twitter’s new list feature people are already trying to create a social algorithm measuring the amount of followers you have to how many Twitter list you are in and the name of those list compared to your tweet content for validation. Sounds crazy right….

To my point when I say it’s not about numbers, I do mean it. My usual response is it’s about the relationships you have with your connections no matter which social network. It could be a Linkedin or Facebook Fan pages, you could have thousands of connections or fans but without any true relationship with your community, the numbers are just that, numbers.

But what about brands who are now looking to Twitter, Facebook, blogs and “influencers” to create “viral” content to market their product or service? How do brands select who they should reach out to? What are brands going to look at to see if you have an audiences or not? You guessed it, they’re going to look at your Twitter followers, now list count, RSS subscribers and any public analytics number they can find online. So, to completely say it’s not about the numbers? You lie.

Here are 11ways brands look for influencers on the social web

1. Compete.com

2. Technorati blog rankings – http://technorati.com

3. Tweet Grader:

4. AdAge Power 150 Rankings

5. Blog Postrank via http://www.postrank.com

6. Twitalyzer Twitter influence rankings

7. Your Twitter list count
8. RSS Subscribers via Feedburner – http://feedburner.google.com
9. Alexa rankings – http://www.alexa.com
10. Linkedin Connections

11. Facebook fans

12. BackType comment engagement numbers

Still this isn’t a green light to gain as many fans, friends, connections or followers as possible but evaluate your goals for establishing true meaningful relationships on the social web.

Breaking: Google acquires AdMob Mobile Advertising Platform

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Mon, 09 Nov 2009 09:29:01 PST

If there is any sign that mobile advertising is going to be big this is it. Google acquires AdMob Mobile Advertising Platform

From Google’s blog
We’ve written in the past about how mobile phones are becoming an increasingly indispensable part of our daily lives, and we continue to see how great devices with full Internet browsers and vibrant app marketplaces are driving an explosion of usage. In fact:
iPhone and Android users browse the Internet more often than anyone else [Morgan Stanley], contributing to Google’s 5x mobile search growth over the past two years
And a quarter of these same iPhone and Android users spend nearly 90 minutes per day using applications on their devices [AdMob]
Despite the tremendous growth in mobile usage and the substantial investment by many businesses in the space, the mobile web is still in its early stages. We believe that great mobile advertising products can encourage even more growth in the mobile ecosystem. That’s what has us excited about this deal.

Congrats to the AdMob team and only time will tell if Google treats this startup like the rest… Feedburner.

What are your thoughts on the acquisition?

What I’m sharing on Google Reader for November 8th

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Sun, 08 Nov 2009 19:56:05 PST

Shared The Ordinary Person’s Guide to Empire State of Mind.

What I’m sharing on Google Reader for November 7th

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Sat, 07 Nov 2009 19:57:05 PST

Shared Internet Summit 2009 – Group Story (#isum09).

What were your top Tech Conferences of 2009?

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Thu, 05 Nov 2009 07:24:43 PST

conference

So last night while at the Internet Summit pre-party I was chatting with Simon Cole @simonjcole, Meg Crawford @Postgrad and Tessa Horehled @tessa about what drives attendees for tech / social media conferences and what are the top conferences that people should attend in 2010. Most people would say it’s the content or the speakers that drive attendees, for me it’s networking.

As we start looking at budgets for next year people are already starting to plan what conferences they should attend in 2010. While talking last night we were listing conferences that were valuable to us such as SXSW and BlogWorld (of course) but then after that the list is wide open. I would also add my conference (The Social Media Business Forum ( http://socialmediabusinessforum.com ) #shamelessplug :).

With that being said, what were your top Tech Conferences of 2009 and why?

Call it a Tweetup & they will come? Wrong! Social media event marketing 101

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Tue, 03 Nov 2009 10:15:40 PST

Photo Credit: Abbyladybug

Wrong!
You know the saying, “build it and they will come” well, we all know how that works out and now it seems there’s a new saying, call your meetup a Tweetup and they will come. Just like the first saying, businesses and people need plan accordingly and don’t expect by calling your event a Tweetup that the Twitter community will embrace your meetup and show up tweeting about your product or services.

What’s a Tweetup?
Oh, if you’re wondering what a Tweetup is, according to urbandictionary.com a Tweetup is A group of friends on Twitter (social network) that are planning to meet up, that’s it, that’s all. But with the success of Twitter in the news, TVs shows and being used by music artist and other celebrities Twitter has now caught the eyes of brands to host Tweetups as a way to reach various communities to market their services offline and locally to potential buyers. Tweetups can consist of two people and can be held anywhere from coffee shops to businesses to parks. There are sites now that focus on Tweetups such as: http://tweetups.com

Tweetup Photo by Jeff Cohen

Past Tweetup Success
You may be asking why am I posting about this now, well, in the past few weeks I have been approached by a few national brands, local malls stores and individuals about hosting a tweetup. It seems that people have started to notice the success we have had with Triangle Tweetups ( http://triangletweetup.org ) in North Carolina. Some of our past Triangle Tweetup numbers have been 150, 250 to 180 attendees with our recent partnership with the North Carolina State Fair to host a Deep Fried Triangle Tweetup at the State Fair. What’s unique about those Tweetups except for the @NCStateFair tweetup is they were not directly linked to another event/conference. There were just planned well and organized to bring the community together to learn and network with the common interest being Twitter.

Brands, Businesses and Tweetups
As I stated earlier, brands / businesses are now hosting tweetups to reach out to various communities offline to market their product and services. There’s nothing wrong with that but I would like caution companies looking to host Tweetups because it’s the new “cool” thing to do without any research. Especially if you’re trying to host a Tweetup in a different location where you may not have a local connection or network reach. But even then I would do a lot of market/Twitter research to see how the local community uses twitter and with various Twitter tools available it’s easy to find users by location now. Also look at how locations view your brand before you host a Tweetup. The last thing you want is to have a tweetup and all the attendees are showing up to complain about your product or service.

Social media event marketing 101
So you still want to plan a Tweetup? If you’re an individual and just want to meet for coffee, lunch or just to catch-up with local tweeple, have at it and enjoy. I think I’m meeting a few friends at a coffee shop in Raleigh for a #busybeetweetup in a few weeks myself. But if you’re a company and you want to host a Tweetup to announce your grand opening or your new product / service or to show that you “get social media” I would start with the following before I decided to host a Tweetup:
1. Use a custom twitter location search or Twitter Grader to find local Twitter users and build a relationship with them.
2. Plan at least 30 to 60 days ahead to market your event.
3. Join other location based social networks such as Whrrl, brightkite, foursquare, gowalla, and Tri-Out (NC only) and connect with the community there.
4. Find the right loaction with wifi and good parking.
5. Use a Tweetup planning sites like: http://twtvite.com or http://tweetvite.com
6. Sponsor existing Tweetups held by the community that can serve as the same purpose as hosting a tweetup
7. Ask yourself the following: Why does my company want to plan a Tweetup
What is my goal for planning a Tweetup and how are we going to measure the success of the Tweetup

No guarantees
With that being said you could simply hire companies or experienced individuals to plan Tweetups for your organization and talking with these individuals you may find out that a Tweetup may not be something you should invest your time or money into at the moment just because it’s the cool thing to do. Yes, hire someone because even though Twitter is free but peoples time, network and expereince is not. Still there are no guarantees, even after you have done your market research and planned accordingly that after the doors open and tweeple arrive that you will convert a tweetup attendee to a new customer.

My experience?
I’m co-organizer of the Triangle Tweetup in Raleigh, NC ( http://triangletweetup.org ) and partner of OurHashtag where we plan community events using social media. I planned the first tweetup in North Carolina with 5 people in December of 2007 and have planned tweetups up to 250 attendees in 2009. I have also co-organized first time tweetups in Atlanta, GA, Charlotte, Raleigh Wilmington & Durham, NC & Harlem, NY.

If you would like to plan a Tweetup or use social media to plan an event email us at contact@OurhHastag.com.

Brands gone mobile: Walmart, Geico and Gucci, new in the app store

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 22:36:34 PST

Tonight while looking in the Apple itunes app store under the new section I noticed a few apps that I haven’t read about being released in the app store yet. Those apps are: Walmart, Geico and Gucci.

While I didn’t buy none of the apps, as if I did you would see a better screenshot below, I did find it interesting and just a sign of the times as we become more mobile, that we’ll see major brands move to the app store. Especially with the recent news from Ebay and Open Table about the success of their iPhone apps.

My question is, what took them so long? :)

PS: This is my first blog post using the new WordPress 2.0 app for the iPhone. I wanted to test it out too.

What are some other major brands you have seen in the app store and what are some you wish you would see that are not there yet?

What I’m sharing on Google Reader for November 2nd

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 19:55:58 PST

	Shared Are you Brainstorming to “Feed” Content Ideas to your Blog?.
	Shared 80+ Typography Related Twitter Accounts To Follow.
	Shared Brief: TomTom sold 80,000 copies of their iPhone application Q3.
	Shared Firefox 3.6 appearance adds a lot of developer features.

The ROI for attending Social Media Conferences. Defining your goals.

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 08:22:23 PST

conference

This is part 2 of my post “Why we planned a Social Media Conference in NC?” post. As I stated in the previous post it seems that everyone is planning some sort of social media conference, meetup, forum, workshop, bootcamp or webinar. Just like any marketing or social media campaign before you start you must do at least two things, one define your goal of attending and two, do your research before you attend. As the space has become crowded, for any person or business owner you need to make sure your employees take part in valuable conversations where they can learn to increase their knowledge to make they are a valuable asset to your company. As these events become more popular you really need to make sure you look at agenda from the conference organizers, the type of sponsors they are attracting and the speakers. Don’t just look at any conference with big names or what some people call the “rock stars” of social media and assume the conference is going to be awesome.

A lot of the time people set unrealistic goals when attending conferences, they go with an expectation of being wowed by speakers and they will hear some grounding breaking secret that is going to tell them how to send a tweet and make a million dollars like Dell and that’s just not the case. But sometimes the over hype of attending a social media conference is to be blamed on conference organizers as they try to make the event sound awesome. Either way you should do your research and set realistic goals before you attend any conference.

Speaking of goals and getting to the ROI for attending a social media conference topic, as I mentioned defining your goals before you attend is key. While attending conferences most of the time your number one goal is simply to learn. I would say your second goal is to network for possible business leads or deals that could be profitable for you. For some, the goal for attending conferences is just a way to get out of the office and have a good time. That’s another story. One goal that I try to obtain while attending social media conferences is to create content while I’m there or afterwards via blogging therefore it becomes a resource not only for me but for my blog readers. Read a few post from David B. Thomas of SAS as an example

Now that you have your goals defined, then you measure the outcome by the following:

Did you learn anything new?
Did you build new relationships with possible partners?
Did you create any new content before or after?
Are you able to teach others about what you learned?
Did you connect with someone new who you might be able to refer to someone else?
Did you do more listening or talking?
How many business cards did you pass out and obtain?
If you’re planning a conference did you connect with a potential sponsor?
Did you find answers to your questions you had before you left?

These are a few ways I look at the ROI of attending not just social media conferences but any meetup or event.

Do you have any success stories from attending a social media conference? If so, please share in the comments.

What I’m sharing on Google Reader for October 30th

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 20:56:10 PDT

Shared Bram Stoker’s Dracula – Full Movie from Crackle.

One week later: Why we planned a Social Media Conference in NC? #SMBF Thank you!

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 10:15:22 PDT

Photo via: toprankonlinemarketing on Flickr
It has been a busy year for me in the terms of speaking and traveling to attend various conferences accross the United States. It started in January where I was on a panel at a conference called Chicks who Click in Boulder, CO where I met @GeorgeGsmithjr & @GeekMommy. Then I attended the Future of Web Apps in Miami, FL., next came PubCon Austin where I was on a panel with Chris Brogan, Reem Abeidoh and Lee Odden. Then I was able to speak at SXSW on a panel with Angela Benton. After that I stayed local for a while, working on the Triangle Social Media Club Chapter and attending one day conferences, such as (ConvergeSC) in South Carolina and (New Media Atlanta). Somewhere in between those two conferences I was on a panel at Jason Keath’s Social Fresh conference and after that Ted Murphy asked if I could moderate a panel at IZEAFest. Recentlly I was humbled to be able to speak at Blog World Expo with Robert Scoble, Amber Cadabra of Radian6 and Patrick O’Keefe aka @iFroggy. You can see a full list of my 2009 speaking events here: http:/FriendWayne.com

Photo credit: (cc) Cameron Gawley – www.buzzshift.com

To say it has been a busy year is an understatement, all while launching a company called “OurHashtag” and planning local events in the Triangle (Raleigh, Durham and Chapel Hill, NC ). But last week my partners and I, along with the help of a great team of volunteers planned the Social Media Business Forum in Durham, NC at North Carolina Central University. The conference goal was to bring in national and local speakers together with businesses, marketing agencies and individuals who were looking to have conversations about using social media in their work environment. Basically to discuss “how social media is changing the way businesses communicate”. Personally another goal of the Social Media Business Forum was to bring the experiences I’ve collected while traveling to various conferences to the Triangle. Also I wanted bring in some of the industry leaders in social media marketing, Twitter, marketing, video and blogging to the area so others can learn from people who I consider my peers.

Another reason why we planned the conference is because if you look at your Facebook inbox, gmail and Twitter stream, I’m sure you see a tone of “social media” bootcamps, workshops and meetups from all types of individuals. Everyone from beginners, to copy cats, to other experienced individuals are planning events to share their knowledge on how to use social media. While there is nothing wrong with that, as Brogan would say, “you have to feed the babies” or something like that, my only caution is take a step back look at what your needs are, look at the agenda, speakers, “teachers”, your budget and other attendees to make sure you get the best ROI (return on your investment) while spending time at various “social media” events. Evaluating the ROI of attending meetups / conferences is a blog post by itself that I’ll touch on next week.

But back to the post title, why did we plan a Social Media Conference in North Carolina? Why not? Social media is about sharing, relationships, community, information, business and people; North Carolina has some of the smartest people in the technology / social web living right here in the Triangle and we wanted to bring some of them together and let everyone know it. So to all the speakers, sponsors, volunteers, my partners and attendees Thanks for making the Social Media Business Forum a success and we’ll see you next year.

Also read: Jeffrey L. Cohen Talks About the Social Media Business Forum

Why I have a Verified Twitter Account and what does it mean… to you?

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Fri, 30 Oct 2009 07:44:03 PDT

We’re almost at the end of the year and Twitter is still the “buzz” of the social media and main stream media world. With every little feature added such as Twitter List or new partnerships such as the one with Bing to API updates it sends the blog world in a posting frenzy. Earlier this year a feature that Twitter added was Verified Accounts. Via the http://twitter.com/help/verified page, Verified Twitter Accounts were created to “To prevent identity confusion, Twitter is experimenting (beta testing) with a ‘Verified Account’ feature. We’re working to establish authenticity with people who deal with impersonation or identity confusion on a regular basis.” So for those of who you are new to Twitter, have I had anyone impersonate me on Twitter? Yes, late last year and earlier this year someone create a “lilwaynesutton” and a “bigwaynesutton” Twitter accounts posting rude and disruptive content that I would never say.

Twitter Accounts are limited to what seems like celebrities, athletes, government officials, major brands, A-listers in the blogging / social media space and friends who know people at Twitter. With only a select few of the million of Twitter users having a Verified Twitter account puts me in company to where “some” value the Verified Twitter Account badge as a symbol of status and/or creditability. From http://twitter.com/help/verified

Who has a ‘Verified Account’ badge?
We’re starting with well-known accounts that have had problems with impersonation or identity confusion. (For example, well-known artists, athletes, actors, public officials, and public agencies). We may verify more accounts in the future, but because of the cost and time required, we’re only testing this feature with a small set of folks for the time being. As the test progresses we may be able to expand this test to more accounts over the next several months.

Personally I didn’t seek out to get a Verified Twitter account but I was wondering why @ScottMonty and @comcastcares didn’t have Verified Twitter accounts because they represent major brands and after doing some “research” I was able to reach out to a few contacts and I figured why not me too. Either way, the outcome is @ScottMonty and I are now verified. But Scott works at Ford and for myself I’ll let you decide. :) Hear are what a few Tweeple are saying:

mattkoz81: Does Wayne have a problem w/ evil imitators? RT @iFroggy:@waynesutton is a famous Verified Account. :) #iknowacelebrity

ryanpthompson: Props to Wayne! Your picture is putting a Verified Stare into my soul jk @iFroggy: .@waynesutton is a famous Verified Account. :)

iFroggy: .@waynesutton is a famous Verified Account. :)

BillCammack: @waynesutton: Congrats, Dude. :) Can you tell me the value of getting a twitter account verified? We already have our accounts. \o/

What does a Verified Twitter Account mean to you?

NC State launches mobile & Twitter website embracing the social web. NC Colleges Get It.

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Thu, 29 Oct 2009 10:38:33 PDT

For those of you who know me, then you know that I love to talk about what North Carolina is doing in the technology / social media/ mobile industry. Also you know that I’m a UNC fan but that’s another blog post. Today, while looking at my local @WayneSuttonNC twitter stream where I only follow people form NC, I saw a tweet from @Jason_austin who’s a NC State Developer about NC State new Mobile site featured in the campus bulletin. The tweet caught my attention so I clicked on the link to find more information.

article.

At a meeting last spring, staff members from the Office of Information Technology and Web Communications met with volunteer Web developers from units across campus, such as engineering and the libraries.

They all agreed that the future of the Web was tied to mobile applications and that NC State needed a mobile site. No budget, no time, no formal structure? No problem, they decided.

The price tag for Duke’s recently launched mobile site, created by an outside vendor, was clearly out of reach, says Jason Austin, senior solutions implementation engineer with OIT.

I must say that I’m very impressed with NCSU mobile site and the fact they decided to build the site internally instead of spending the money to have it built like Duke University did is smart. Those Blue Devils…., remember I’m a UNC Fan. :)

The NC State Twitter page is designed very simimlar to search.twitter.com and provides links to the schools official twitter accounts and hashtags. They also provide the source code so even if you’re a business or another college you can create your own branded Twitter page too.

Update:John Rees shares the link to the UNC mobile site.

A big congrats to the university on embracing technology and understanding that the future of the web is mobile and embracing the use of Twitter. It will be interesting to see if other university will provide the same service. If you know of other university that have created their own mobile or Twitter page let me know in the comments.

What I’m sharing on Google Reader for October 27th

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Tue, 27 Oct 2009 20:56:29 PDT

What I’m sharing on Google Reader for October 26th

wayne@socialwayne.com (Wayne Sutton) — Mon, 26 Oct 2009 20:55:59 PDT

Shared @waynesutton of OurHashTag "What is Social Recruiting?".

	Shared Social Media Time Management: Resource Allocation.
	Shared Creating Valuable Content Online.
	Shared Real-time Attribution.
	Shared The Apple App Store breaks the 100,000 approved applications mark.
	Shared It’s Official. Google Wave to Get Its Own App Store (with potentially more than just apps).
	Shared ABC TV Interview: How business can create value with Twitter.
	Shared What Is Twitter Now?.
	Shared R.I.P. Deleted Tweets.
	Shared Chart: Newspaper Circulation – the Last Two Decades.
	Shared One in Five Americans Now a Tweeter.