TechnoSocial

Seriously, how is Twitter going to help my company?

2008-10-15T04:24:57Z

I'm not a PR or social media consultant, so what does this do for me?

I know. We probably do not need yet another "why should I use Twitter" post. But, the topic keeps coming up, and there is no one definitive answer, so I thought I would give it another try.

This evening I was talking to Alan Ball about Twitter. We had first met at Hannah Burr's Productivity session at the MassTLC Innovation Unconference, and tonight we both happened to be at Dan Bricklin's TechTuesday get-together. He asked me about the value of Twitter to someone like him, because frankly: if you are not in the marketing or social media space, it is not really obvious how to use Twitter. If your business is communicating and selling yourself online, there is a clear benefit to being active on social networks of all kinds. Alan, however, is a freelance industrial designer (Alan Ball Industrial Design, Inc.). His customers are usually hardware engineers; they are not likely to be heavy Twitter users. So, why should Alan join Twitter, and more importantly, what should he do once he is there?

Twitter as a golf course.

Even getting people to understand Twitter can be an uphill climb, but Alan mentioned something that Laura Fitton (better known in social networking circles as @pistachio) had said at another session at MassTLC Innovation:

"Twitter is my golf course."

That particular analogy clicked with him. Twitter is a networking tool in the old sense of networking—a way to keep in touch with current and potential business partners in a social setting. (Laura expands on it somewhat here). That's a good way to look at it, but it doesn't change the fact that most of his clients aren't using Twitter—playing golf by yourself doesn't offer a lot of networking opportunities.

Twitter is about reputation.

In my mind, the primary value of Twitter to a business is as a way to build and enhance reputation.

The classic example of this is @comcastcares, a Twitter account backed by one person (Frank Eliason) who spends (as far as I can tell) most of his waking hours answering customer questions for Comcast. He has probably done more to improve Comcast's abysmal customer service reputation than anyone else in the company. He does it by being knowledgeable and transparent. You can watching his responses to customers, and he is very open about network problems, letting you know not only how long until a fix is ready, but why he knows. For example, on 2 October 2008, he tweeted a reply to a customer: "I am not loving your signals, running tests in neighborhood and looks like it could be isolated at your location. I recommend a tech." He also improves Comcast's reputation by being human; one of his tweets from 21 July 2008 reads, "I am home with my 6 month old today because she is sick. I ask our 2 year old if she wants to stay with Dad. She responds NO! GO TO SCHOOL." The human element is something that makes Twitter unique in what has increasingly become an impersonal world of customer support. It is a reminder that you are dealing with an actual human. People's questions are more polite, and more tolerant of any difficulties a service may be having. Companies would do well to not only follow Frank's example on Twitter, but to carry some of those lessons over to their traditional customer support systems.

This approach works for customer support, but there is more to reputation than talking to customers. Reputation is about building a following of people who believe you have something worthwhile to share. I believe this is where Twitter has the most to offer anyone who is not in the social media business.

How do you build a reputation?

One of the first companies I worked for out of school was Apollo Computer. A large portion of Apollo's architecture design and discussion took place on the R&D mailing list. As a new employee (with only one year in the industry plus a highly relevant degree in Anthropology), I was understandably nervous about my skills. I soon discovered the mailing list was completely agnostic as to age, education or background. People would post questions, suggestions, problems; others would respond. If you dove in with a nonsense response, you were ignored (or on occasion, flamed). Fundamentally, though, your reputation was based not on who you were, but how good your ideas were. Twitter provides the same environment, only with a scope which spans companies, countries, and time zones.

When you join Twitter, you generally start by following a few people you heard about online. You can also go to http://search.twitter.com/ to see if anyone is discussing topics you find interesting. As you watch posts from the people you follow, you see half of the conversation, so you begin following some of the people who seem to be carrying on interesting conversations with your contacts. Eventually, you jump into the conversations. The advantage Twitter has over a mailing list is two-fold. First, it scales better: because they are limited in size, many conversations can happen at the same time. Second, people can carry on semi-private conversations which followers can either ignore or contribute to (e.g. anyone following my timeline will quickly discover that my children are attending boarding school this year and that I regularly converse with my oldest about homework, sleep, caffeine, and any other pesky worries a parent has when their child is away).

It is these semi-private conversations that can enhance your reputation. You see someone talking about something. You think you have something useful to add, so you reply. Your correspondent can ignore you, block you (oops!), reply to your post, or decide (usually after looking at your Twitter timeline) that the reply was useful and not a fluke, and follow you. Congratulations! You just improved your reputation. Someone felt what you said had value, and wants to hear more.

Your peers are more important to your reputation than your customers.

Back to the question at hand. How does this help if your customers do not use Twitter? The answer is something that also came up at the MassTLC Innovation Unconference, although in a different context. A number of sessions focused on getting the attention (and hopefully, dollars) of venture companies. The issue is that VCs primarily invest in people, not ideas. They want to know the people they are investing in, but of course that is not always possible, so when they are interested in a presentation, they talk to others in the field and the community. They need to know if you are someone who is trusted and respected by your peers.

When it comes down to it, customers are not that different than VCs, especially when they are dealing small companies. Customers want to know if you have a good reputation. They will find out by searching online of course, but also by using their contacts to see if anyone knows you. Has someone they know on the other coast heard of you, and does that person think you have good ideas? What do people in your field think of you? This is where building an online reputation can make a big difference to your company and your career.

So, if Twitter is your golf course, the people with whom you want to play golf are not necessarily your customers (which is not to say you should not invite them if they do play golf). The people with whom you want to interact are your peers, because it is amongst your peers that you can best build your reputation. (And seriously, interacting with your peers is always good for creativity, whether or not you feel a need to network.) The good news is, if your peers are not on Twitter, you can certainly draw them in—because all these arguments work for them too.

Do not hit the golf course without practicing first.

Finding the proper balance of posting/replies, and social/work discussion is a skill, and it takes time. If you were going to network on the golf course, I trust you would go out and get a few lessons before you get together for a foursome. The same strategy works for Twitter. Your peers and customers are not online yet? Great! You get online and learn the ropes now. As your community grows, you will be the expert who has the necessary skills. You had to learn the right way to communicate by the telephone, and the right tone and frequency to use in email. Twitter is just another communication tool, but as with previous tools, it pays to hone your skills first. If you are in a hurry, talk to someone like Laura Fitton, the leading "golf pro" on Twitter.

About that "micro-blogging" thing.

I am not terribly fond of the term "micro-blogging". Yes, there is an aspect of Twitter that is similar to blogging, and certainly it can be used in that manner. Blogging, however, tends to consist of pronouncements-from-on-high without a lot of conversation. (This can change if you have an extremely popular blog that receives a high volume of comments, but face it, most people do not and never will.) Twitter is more about conversations, discussions, and (yes) arguments. Twitter can be used as a mini-blog, but demonstrating your skills in active conversation will enhance your reputation far more than just posting your opinions.

One final thought.

Do not be shy about sharing your expertise. For every person who benefits from your free advice, there are a dozen more who will remember that you are the go-to person when they need your services.

"I always tell people, your biggest problem in life is not going to be hiding your stuff so nobody steals it. It's going to be getting anybody to ever use it." — George Church

Kee Hinckley with help from Angeles Winesett

What are you doing for the International Day of Peace? September 21

2008-09-17T18:39:46Z

I don't think I need to say much here. September 21.

Background and Purpose - International Day of Peace

About International Day of Peace, September 21

The International Day of Peace ("Peace Day") provides an opportunity for individuals, organizations and nations to create practical acts of peace on a shared date. It was established by a United Nations resolution in 1981 to coincide with the opening of the General Assembly. The first Peace Day was celebrated in September 1982.

In 2002 the General Assembly officially declared September 21 as the permanent date for the International Day of Peace.

By creating the International Day of Peace, the UN devoted itself to worldwide peace and encouraged all of mankind to work in cooperation for this goal. During the discussion of the U.N. Resolution that established the International Day of Peace, it was suggested that:

"Peace Day should be devoted to commemorating and strengthening the ideals of peace both within and among all nations and peoples…This day will serve as a reminder to all peoples that our organization, with all its limitations, is a living instrument in the service of peace and should serve all of us here within the organization as a constantly pealing bell reminding us that our permanent commitment, above all interests or differences of any kind, is to peace."

Since its inception, Peace Day has marked our personal and planetary progress toward peace. It has grown to include millions of people in all parts of the world, and each year events are organized to commemorate and celebrate this day. Events range in scale from private gatherings to public concerts and forums where hundreds of thousands of people participate.

Anyone, anywhere can celebrate Peace Day. It can be as simple as lighting a candle at noon, or just sitting in silent meditation. Or it can involve getting your co-workers, organization, community or government engaged in a large event. The impact if millions of people in all parts of the world, coming together for one day of peace, is immense.

International Day of Peace is also a Day of Ceasefire – personal or political. Take this opportunity to make peace in your own relationships as well as impact the larger conflicts of our time. Imagine what a whole Day of Ceasefire would mean to humankind.

Links for 2009-08-11 [del.icio.us]

2009-08-12T00:00:00-07:00

Juxtaposer the amazing photo compositing app for the iPhone / iPod Touch
Juxtaposer lets you combine multiple pictures into fun photomontages quickly and easily thanks to its amazingly intuitive and responsive user interface. Take any element from one picture and add it to another. Put your friend's head on a statue's body, remix your pets into a mythical creature, or magically join your favorite band, it's simple and the process is fun.
Midas Photo Enhancement software for Windows/Mac/iPhone
Consumer digital cameras or phone cameras usually produce images that suffer from lack of contrast, balanced brightness, detail, and vivid color. Sometimes this is the fault of the camera, and sometimes it's the photographer who does not know how to use (or chooses not to use) the camera's complicated manual mode. This can result in: Gray and lifeless images under bright conditions such as the beach or snow. Dark photos in suboptimal lighting conditions, such as indoors. Lost details in featureless highlights or shadows.

Links for 2009-06-18 [del.icio.us]

2009-06-19T00:00:00-07:00

The Freelancer's iPhone: Productivity solutions for independent professionals
I've learned that working solo is 1 part thrilling, 90 parts horrifying and 9 parts educational. Also, I've found the best setup for my iPhone to help me through my self-employed day. Here I'll describe the apps, settings and hardware that I've found most useful. Feel free to share your own.

Links for 2009-06-05 [del.icio.us]

2009-06-06T00:00:00-07:00

CSS Shorthand Guide
A guide to CSS shorthand properties (e.g. "background:" vs. "background-color:").

Links for 2009-05-31 [del.icio.us]

2009-06-01T00:00:00-07:00

CafePress.com : Publishing Learning Center | Select Book Size & Binding
Publishing Books on Cafe Press.

Links for 2009-03-31 [del.icio.us]

2009-04-01T00:00:00-07:00

Blambot Comic Fonts and Lettering
BlamBot - Comic Fonts and Lettering

Links for 2008-12-15 [del.icio.us]

2008-12-16T00:00:00-08:00

Twitter News Alerts
"News moves fast, and so do you. Now you can set and receive news alerts from twitter, and change your alerts in real-time. Think of it as Google News Alerts on speed. We use a simple query syntax, along with the ability to limit your search to specific news sites."

Links for 2008-09-14 [del.icio.us]

2008-09-15T00:00:00-07:00

Etsy :: Your place to buy and sell all things handmade
An interesting site. I ran across it when looking up info on Leanne Marshall (a Project Runway designer). She went fulltime into clothing design after doing well selling here. The site looks rather like DeviantArt in concept, a place for artisans to gather, sell there things, and at the same time chat with and support each other. But where DeviantArt is focused on visual arts such as photography and painting, Etsy is for hand-made items.

Police raids in Minneapolis -- What happened to checks and balances?

2008-08-31T18:48:18Z

Salon Article

Protesters here in Minneapolis have been targeted by a series of highly intimidating, sweeping police raids across the city, involving teams of 25-30 officers in riot gear, with semi-automatic weapons drawn, entering homes of those suspected of planning protests, handcuffing and forcing them to lay on the floor, while law enforcement officers searched the homes, seizing computers, journals, and political pamphlets. Last night, members of the St. Paul police department and the Ramsey County sheriff's department handcuffed, photographed and detained dozens of people meeting at a public venue to plan a demonstration, charging them with no crime other than "fire code violations," and early this morning, the Sheriff's department sent teams of officers into at least four Minneapolis area homes where suspected protesters were staying.

This isn't the first of these this week. It really bothers me that the police can arrest people, confiscate their goods, never press charges, and release them all later with no explanation and no consequences. This makes intimidation far too easy. The magic words "homeland security" keep getting invoked.

If the police now have a simple way to hold people without charges, then the people need a simple way to make the police suffer consequences when the power is misused.

Companies fear web search finding a bad review. How will they feel when it's

2008-07-07T01:29:59Z

Companies fear web search finding a bad review. How will they feel when it's attached to their physical location 4 future visitors to read?

The key concept geolocation brings to social networking is not

2008-07-07T01:22:25Z

The key concept geolocation brings to social networking is not location-centricity, but rather time-independence. Msgs are time capsules.

Charles de Lint--Changing how you see the world

2008-06-25T18:43:54Z

Mobile post sent by nazgul using Utterz. Replies. mp3

By George, I think he's got it!

2008-06-21T19:35:52Z

Well, okay, he's getting close…

Doonesbury@Slate - Daily Dose Donesbury

"Take the Middle East seriously, because that's the center of - that's the place where people get so despondent and despair that they're willing to come and take lives of U.S. citizens."
-- George W. Bush, asked on Al Arabiya TV what advice he would give the next president

You mean like, maybe policy of supporting dictatorships and monarchies, and squelching even semi-democracies, might possibly have something to do with terrorism?

Will the Apple App Store Stick to Just the iPhone?

2008-06-13T02:52:23Z

I brought this up a while back when Apple first announced the store, but now that analysts are estimating possible revenues of $1+ billion in 2009, I think it's worth repeating.

Apple's App Store could emerge as $1.2B business by 2009 AppleInsider

Investment bank Piper Jaffray is urging investors who typically focus only on Apple's hardware announcements to also pay attention to the company's iPhone software strategy, particularly its upcoming App Store, which could balloon into a $1 billion market by next year.

Once you've gone to the trouble of setting up all the infrastructure necessary to sell, deliver and update applications—why stop with just the iPhone? You've done the hard work, everything else is just incremental costs. The Macintosh is the obvious next step, but there's no reason not to provide Windows applications as well. The market potential dwarfs that of just iPhone software.

The initial folks who stand to lose are places like Kagi and Digital River, who currently provide payment and (in some cases) delivery services for small software vendors. But they don't provide marketing, automatic updates, signed applications, and FairPlay copy protection. Apple is going to roll right over them; but they won't stop there.

See The iTunes Trojan Horse: Selling Applications for more thoughts on where Apple might go.

Video Collage Using Flickr's Moving Pictures

2008-06-13T02:03:17Z

Stabilized Video Collages, First Try
Originally uploaded by ibftp

Flickr as brilliant to limit their videos to 90 seconds. They aren't videos, they are moving pictures; which is perfect for the way people use Flickr.

Here's a wonderful experiment in using moving pictures to do something that people have done with still pictures for ages. Take a series of (moving) pictures and merge them together into a panorama or collage. The result is fascinating, and far more useful than I would have thought. I've often used movie-mode in my camera to create panoramas, but if you have a scene which already has lots of movement, that's like viewing the world through peephole. This, on the other hand, gives you the full breadth of a panorama, with the movement of a video. I'm definitely going to give it a try.

Supreme Court ruling cripples Guantanamo trials

2008-06-12T20:29:43Z

Let's hear for for having three relatively independent branches of government. It's far from perfect, but the odds of all three making the same mistakes at the same time are thankfully low.

The future of President Bush's controversial military trial system for terror suspects held at Guantanamo Bay has been dealt a potentially terminal blow by the US Supreme Court.

In its third rebuke of the Bush Administration's treatment of prisoners at Guantanamo Bay, the court ruled that the 270 foreign terror suspects have the right under the US Constitution to challenge their detention in civilian courts on the American mainland.

The 5-4 ruling did not order the military tribunal process to be halted but it could trigger a chaotic rush to civilian courts that in practical terms will leave the question of what to do with men such as Khalid Sheikh Mohammed, the September 11 mastermind, in the hands of the next president.
http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/us_and_americas/article4123181.ece

Elections and Erections: A One-Queen Play at the A.R.T.

2008-04-16T07:15:32Z

"Don't ask me about racism. As a white racist it didn't affect me. But if you ask me about fear, I can tell you about that."

Pieter-Dirk Uys, in "Elections and Erections"

That line ends a serious interlude in the show, one of several that provide counterpoint to the satire and humor he so deftly uses to highlight the flaws of South African society, both before and after apartheid. He has just told us how he came to be a democrat, and he has told us of sharing the garden-shed home of a yard-boy at a rich South African home. Of the fear of being discovered. The fear of being black with white, white with black. A fear so powerful that it overwhelms the fear of being man with man. Even now, when I relate the story to my friends, that final line sends a shiver down my spine.

Pieter-Dirk Uys' alter-ego is Evita Bezuidenhout, a household name in South Africa, famous for over thirty years of satire against the apartheid government. But she hasn't stopped there. "Elections and Erections" makes it clear that Uys' true enemy is that which makes people afraid. Whether it's corruption in the apartheid government or in the ANC; politicians denying the existence of AIDS; friendships with dictators based on a common race; ignorance; false pretenses; or just the everyday fears of trying to survive in a country stuck in a downward spiral. Uys wants to expose the things that make us afraid, shine the bright light of humor on them, and bring hope and laughter to the people he loves: the people of South Africa.

I'm hearing only bad news
From Radio Africa,
I'm hearing only sad news
From Radio Africa
"Radio Africa" by Latin Quarter.

If Evita Bezuidenhout has a counter-part in the the U.S., it might be Stephen Colbert, with his pseudo-conservative satire. But Evita is much more biting and relevant, and Uys has many more roles to don beyond Evita. He plays the ANC politicians contemplating whether the next president will get the position before, or after, he is thrown in jail for corruption. He lampoons (gently, but none-the-less) Archbishop Desmond Tutu. He describes the trials of a Jewish African Princess, her relatives self-exiled to Canada, trying desperately to be the liberal she knows she ought to be. He takes on Winnie Mandela, including relating the time he played her character (complete with rubber tire jewelry) with the real Winnie in the audience. He talks to the asian storekeeper whose husband used to be too black for jobs, but now is turned down because he is too white. He does a chilling rendition of Grace Mugabe as an evil child-like woman, losing her mind to AIDS. And he doesn't save all his barbs for Africa; his characterization of Mother Theresa, filling in for Marilyn Monroe as God's secretary, is priceless. The angels are on strike, suicide bombers keep showing up in pieces looking for their virgins, and the son of the managing director is refusing to return to Earth. He even does a great Hillary (and Bill!) impersonation.

What makes Uys' work really stand out, particularly as compared to American satirists like Colbert, is its compassion; even his enemies are human. The apartheid-era security chief he lampoons still had a sense of humor. Winnie Mandala may have "necklaced" informants, but she now tours AIDS facilities and pushes AIDS education. This, in a country where the government Health Minister promotes a cure of beet juice, and claims that HIV drugs are poisonous. His barbs are as pointed as they are funny, but he sees the humanity in everyone. In his heart, his true goal is to make his people happy and unafraid. You can see it in his eyes as he relates the story of a little black boy who wanders into his theatre as he is building the stage. From a simple "do you like to sing" and a few shaky songs, you see Uys' pride as he relates how that same child made it all the way to top awards at Trinity College. Uys' South Africa has nothing to do with race, and everything to do with the pride of being a good human being.

Told today that they release you
That you had paid your debt
Nomzamo in her own damn country
How much more boorish can these people get?
But you refuse to get the message
Of waving whips, in bloody semaphore
Where only gunfire's indiscriminate - as always
One People! One Cause!
One People! One Cause!
Nomzamo! Nomzamo...
"Nomzamo" by Latin Quarter.

South Africa has not been on the forefront of American minds for some time. As Uys says, if Nelson Rolihlahla Mandela hadn't had an easy-to-pronounce first name, Americans may not have been aware of the country's plight at all. In "Elections and Erections," Uys entertains, and more importantly, educates. Throughout the show, he relays tidbits of history and culture which later become the punch lines of his comedy, ensuring the audience understands the satirical context of his work. Yet the pace never suffers. The flow of comedy and pathos, serious and profane, never falters. This is not a show you want to miss. I only wish we could import Pieter-Dirk Uys to provide a similar look at ourselves.

"Elections and Erections: A Chronicle of Fear and Fun" is written and performed by Pieter-Dirk Uys. It is playing at the American Repertory Theatre's "Zero Arrow Theatre" playhouse (a wonderful dinner-theatre style space just off Harvard Square, with tables, a bar, and wonderful ambience). It will be showing through May 4th, 2008. For more information on this show and other performances, see the A.R.T. site.

The A.R.T. graciously provided free tickets to myself and other Boston-area bloggers in exchange for an honest review (good or bad). I'd like to thank them for initiating this experiment in new media.

Many thanks to @devyl for the editing assistance.
Any errors are due to my not following her advice.

April WebInno Meeting: Jack Cards

2008-04-03T21:44:55Z

I went to the Web Innovators meeting in Boston last night (April 2nd, 2008). I made these recordings after looking at a number of the demonstrations. I'd originally planned on writing them up, but given time constraints, I'm going to leave it with the original audio. Sorry About the quality, it was a *very* crowded ballroom.
http://www.webinnovatorsgroup.com/
http://www.jackcards.com/

Jack Cards apparently has been getting a lot of coverage in the mainstream press, and I can see why. It has that kind of magic mix of online and offline that makes it stand out. That said, I just don't see a future for it. I wouldn't have mentioned it at all except that people seemed excited about it; so I figured it was worth saying why I'm not.

Jack Cards has the goal of keeping you from forgetting about birthdays, anniversaries and all those other events when you need to send cards. They've done an impressive job. You can put in the events, enter the names/addresses of people, enter their interests, and get a wide selection of cards that match those. And you can choose them years in advance!

The magic piece is that we aren't talking digital cards. These are real cards. And secondly, they don't mail them to the destination. Instead they mail them to *you*, enough in advance that you can fill out the card, personalize it, and then stuff it in the SASE and forward it on. That's pretty cool.

But I just don't see it. First of all, I hardly send physical cards anymore. Secondly, when I do, they are made using pictures of my family (last time we just used CVS to do it; uploaded the picture, picked up the cards that evening). The mail-it-to-me-in-advance model doesn't work real well there, although presumably they could email me a reminder to upload a recent picture.

It just seems to me that the overhead of doing those SASE's, and packing and shipping all these onesie/twosie sets of cards, has got to be pretty high. I don't know what their pricing is, but obviously there's some premium there. I just don't think they are going to drive enough traffic (and remember, they don't get a lot of cost savings from larger traffic) to make it fly.

Mobile post sent by nazgul using Utterz. Replies.

April WebInno Meeting: Yamli

2008-04-03T21:33:54Z

I went to the Web Innovators meeting in Boston last night (April 2nd, 2008). I made these recordings after looking at a number of the demonstrations. I'd originally planned on writing them up, but given time constraints, I'm going to leave it with the original audio. Sorry About the quality, it was a *very* crowded ballroom.
http://www.webinnovatorsgroup.com/
http://www.yamli.com/

Yamli provides a simple, straightforward service. Arabic (and Persian) speakers are often not comfortable (or have available) keyboards or software that support their languages. So an adhoc communication mechanism has sprung up. They send their posts using the English character set, but phonetically in their language. Yamli translates the phonetic into the actual script. That means that someone without an Arabic keyboard can do Arabic searches on sites like Google. Or they can type email messages in their web mail client and send them to their friends. That's a big bonus, because this phonetic Arabic is a lot easier for a human to type than it is for a human to read.

The concept is simple. The implementation is straightforward, and Yamli provides a set of Javascript routines that let you embed the functionality on your own web site.

I don't know what their business model is, but I suspect that the concept will gain widespread acceptance.

I asked them about a Farsi version, since the problem is very similar, and the language scripts are essentially the same (same character set, slightly different display styles). All they really need is a different set of phonetic lookup tables. They claim it would be straightforward to do (and Urdo as well), they just need a native speaker to work with them. Given that Farsi has a major presence on the web, particularly in blogs (certainly more than Arabic) I hope they make a move in that direction, I think it would gain them a lot of support.

Mobile post sent by nazgul using Utterz. Replies.

April WebInno Meeting: Good2Gether

2008-04-03T21:24:02Z

April WebInno Meeting: Traackr

2008-04-03T21:00:45Z