Category Archives: Strategy

Twitter’s “Suggested User” Feature

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twitter screen capture

I was directed to an LA Times technology blog by a @jowyang tweet. He called attention to the fact the article explains why the rankings on Twitter have been shifting drastically. Twitter has been incorporating a new feature called “suggested user”. When an individual signs up on Twitter one of the first things they are presented with upon completion are suggested users. Twitter co-founder Evan Williams explained that, “The reason we created this feature is because lots of people sign up to Twitter but aren’t following anyone, so we’re trying to help get them started”. The feature has been live for over a month and has featured accounts like:

  • The UK newspaper The Guardian. Within that time frame the Guardian has grown from 4,000 followers to 66,000 followers. Over the last 2 weeks the Guardian has been adding followers at an increase of 300% over the previous 2 weeks.
  • TechCrunch, a startup and tech news blog network, went from 41,000 to 111,000 followers.
  • The NY Times increased its base by 6x’s and is at 145,000 followers. All of this information is garnered from the LA Times post, you can read it here.

Reading this two different thoughts came to mind. One, Twitter users are upset. And they have every right to be. The time and effort put into building the relationships with your followers is no small feat. It is about being 1 part engaging, 1 part informative (or funny) and 2 parts creative. Some individuals put a lot of effort into building their presence and reputation. So for Twitter to create a a way for select individuals/companies to gain as many followers in a month, that people have been working on building (day and night) for a lot longer seems to unfair to the people who are not suggested. Rank (in followers) is equal to credibility something people work hard to attain. When an individual is ranked #5 two months ago, and 2 months later they are ranked 35th it can make a person be a little bit annoyed.

The second thought was more busniness related. Twitter should monetize this! People have been recognizing the phenomenon (it is 3rd on the list of social media platforms behind mySpace and Facebook) but have been asking two questions:

  1. How can business use social media?
  2. How can Twitter (like a lot of other social platforms) find a way to make money.

Within the LA Times post I see clear value add for being a suggested user. All the sites above are new sources, and at the end of the day they want people to get their news from them (not unlike any blogger or expert). Showing hard number on how the suggested user feature can do that for organizations looking to connect with an audience is what will get companies making space in their media budgets. If Evan Williams and Biz Stone are not thinking about this I think they should be. Mind you I don’t think the formula would work if it was as simple as $$$ == placement. Twitter hopefully understands it’s growing populace and will try to focus content that users will actually like.

I think it is just as important to find a better way to connect new users with engaging users. I would suggest that when users sign up, they fill out a small questionnaire about their likes and interests. Twitter can then use a list of criteria (keyword connections, bio, followers, engagement, retweets, etc) to offer up a list of users that would engage the new user. It would do a better job of connecting users to content of interest. Surfacing people based around similarities versus popularity would be a good way to target segments and keepthem engaged.

What do you think?

Facebook spins on a dime over TOS

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Here is a story evolving so fast it will make your head spin. Facebook changed it’s TOS (Terms of Service) agreement, and within 48 hours changed it back. Here are the events (as related to FB and Mashable):
2/16 (8:24 am)
- FB changes Terms of Services Agreement. Mashable blogs about it (1k diggs):

2/16 (3:45 pm)
- Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg responds to the concerns as to why the change in the TOS

2/16 – 2/17
- Facebook polls users in their feed to the changes. Mashable asks the same question.

2/17 (11:49 pm)
- Facebook reverts to it’s old TOS
The FB blog link is down (due to traffic), but here it is.

From a business perspective that seems a little weak willed. I assume there was a business objective for changing the TOS. I wonder what the impact was on the FB usage or business. I mean other than the uproar over the last 2 days. Like one individual pointed out here, how many people actually ever even read the Terms of Service for any web site?

Maybe FB looked at the people being vocal as a sampling of their user group. Maybe that combined with some vision statement that says, “We will put our users 1st” led them to some swift action. Seeing a company react to its’ consumers so quickly is great. I am just curious if the swift change is based around acknowledgment of a corp. misstep or back peddling due to public outcry.

These course of events may have worked out for FB, but can it really be applied to other organizations? I think the group that would fit into this category is relatively small at this point. First, a lot of companies are not connected to their consumers the way FB is. Second, changing the wording in the terms of service is one thing but in a lot of instances there are more factors that would need to be taken into consideration for change to be implemented (ex: features, pricing, options).

From a consumer perspective I think it is great that FB listened and reacted so quickly. From a business perspective it makes me wonder about the corporate flip flopping.

What do you think?

Mashable.com has been covering this topic pretty closely, you can follow it here for all the details:
http://mashable.com/2009/02/17/breaking-facebook-reverts-to-previous-terms-of-service/

Social Media That Works? The Obama Administration

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The Obama Campaign was successful in using social media to inform, gain, and mobilize voters. Awhile back I collected a bunch of the ongoing discussions on my delicious. All of it culminating in President Obama being selected “Marketer of the Year” by Ad Age. Well the Obama Campaign Administration has built on that with the new website whitehouse.gov. Here are some ways that the President is using technology unlike any other president before him.

Weekly Radio Address:

Franklin D. Roosevelt’s gave what are known as the “Fireside Chats” in the 1930′s  during the height of the Great Depression. Every president since has taken part in the custom in some form. For the first time, you will be able to access them on YouTube. Much like FDR in the 30′s, President Obama will be using them to discuss his policy decisions during these tough times. I have embedded the first official weekly address. You can visit the Whitehouse YouTube channel here.

The Briefing Room:

The title paragraph reads, “The White House provides timely and accurate information about the President’s latest events and public statements.  Here you’ll find photos, video, and blogs, as well as proclamations, executive orders, and press releases.” – whitehouse.gov

In an effort to to create transparency, the President of The United States will post his Executive Orders (five in two days!) and Presidential Memoranda (five in 3 days!) in an easily accessible format. And you can get it in an RSS feed…The Briefing Room and whitehouse.gov

Presidential Inauguration Committee 2009:

“The Presidential Inaugural Committee, at the direction of President-elect Obama and Vice President-elect Biden, will organize an inclusive and accessible inauguration that reflects the new Administration’s commitment to leadership that sets aside partisanship and unites the nation around our shared values and ideals.” – pic2009.org

The PIC (Presidential Inauguration Committee) utilized the site to discuss upcoming events (Neighborhood Ball), stream content from the events, and gather donations (to pay for Inauguration activities instead of just taxpayer dollars). The site also posted live feeds of the Youth Ball and the National Prayer Service. They provided text message updates leading up to and during the events. The PIC also has  Flickr, Twitter, Tumblr, and YouTube accounts.

USA Service:

“President Obama believes that we, as Americans, have a responsibility to help our communities and fellow citizens. In summoning a new spirit of service, he is calling on us to make an enduring commitment to our neighborhoods. Sign up today and let’s renew America together.” – usaservice.org

Want to volunteer but don’t know how? You can sign up to find out about volunteer opportunities and events. Visit the site to find out more information, you can find resources, events, and service opportunities. You can also join USAservice.org on facebook.

Transparency and Participation:

“President Obama started his career as a community organizer on the South Side of Chicago, where he saw firsthand what people can do when they come together for a common cause. Citizen participation will be a priority for the Administration, and the internet will play an important role in that. One significant addition to WhiteHouse.gov reflects a campaign promise from the President: we will publish all non-emergency legislation to the website for five days, and allow the public to review and comment before the President signs it.” – whitehouse.gov

I think this is something extraordinary but I am curious to see how it works. No matter how dry and unreadable ( I am not a lawyer) I am going to try and sink my teeth into at least one of these a week. The tech side of me wonders how the comments are going to combed and moderated. In any case I think the presentation of information like this is vital to making people feel they have a hand in government.

Personally, I think all of this is incredible. Independent of political views, these and other initiatives are a step towards transparency, information organization, and participation. I think that some of these links should be staples on every school computer if not shipped as bookmarks in IE (why does it all have to be product based?).

What do you think about the usage of social media and the web? What do you think about the content, and the organization of content? I will continue to add additional resources/information/programs that I come across or as they are sent to me.

Article with IT Business Canada.

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There is an article over at IT Business Canada that I contributed a pov for. I guess with the holidays I forgot it was going out.

It talks about the changing attitudes of CMOs in regards to social platforms (particularly facebook and mySpace). I get the sense that this nut was to hard to crack. In the article I put some reasons as to why. I will follow up with more thorough post related to the topic, but in the meantime you can read the article here.

The Power of Twitter and a good cause.

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Tonight over the period of almost 7 hours (by the time I finish writing this it will be) I saw something unfold that was amazing. Something that companies and organizations all over the country have been trying to refine over the past year. Figure out how to use Social Media to drive people to action. But before I continue, I would like to draw attention to someone in need and the reason why people have acted. Please read this story.

David Armano posted that to his blog around 6:15, and then tweeted it. Setting a goal of $5,000 to help Daniella’s family get them an apartment and get on their feet. By 12:45AM they have raised almost $10,ooo. He was able to do this all by writing a blog post, and broadcasting that post to people who follow him on twitter. I have compiled the twitter posts as they came through from David (his twitter ID is @armano) expressing his and Daniella’s gratitude towards peoples generosity.

The communication spread, and from his blog and got picked up on Digg and was dugg (or tagged) over 115 times in a 3 hour span. The topic “#daniela” was at one point trending higher than “Apple” on the 1st day of MacWorld. For the non technical folks, MacWorld is a highly anticipated, highly talked about event for Apple. It is the event in which they normally unveil new products, like the 27th revision of the iPod Nano (making yours obsolete!).

In the end David was able to have a simple conversation with the 7,500+ people who follow him on Twitter. Objectively, he litteraly asked people for money (you can payPal it to him) and in total they donated almost $10,000 in a short amount of time. David has credibility with the 8,000+ people that follow him on twitter, and the personality to engage with new followers.  He has been most gracious to put Daniella’s family up during this rough time.  He asked those people to help out someone in need and they did without hesitation. What company out there that can do that? And again, if you would like to help Daneila and her family, please go here.

This morning I woke up and there was a mention of it in businessWeek, there has been over $12,000 raised for the cause, and his network (readers, followers, etc) has exploded. Scott Drumond over at “Come Together” has collected a lot of the articles and postings on the events. All very interesting. I think this is the impact which is what brands want to achieve. Unfortunately they are missing a couple components, character and credibility to speak to an audience in a non-targeted casual manner.