Archive for the ‘twitter’ Category
Thursday, August 14th, 2008
My Twitter usage has been down to practically zero since I started using Plurk. It’s a good thing because the way Plurk actually works is like a community, so I’m getting much more referrals via Plurk than I ever did via Twitter. I have to admit, though, that it’s a bad thing as well because it means I’m not working as much on the network I have on Twitter, which is about three times the size of the one I have on Plurk.
That aside, today I got an email that essentially says Twitter will not be allowing users to receive Twitter updates any further unless they’re in the US, Canada or India. You can read the full details on their blog.
I draw attention to one paragraph in their email:
It pains us to take this measure. However, we need to avoid
placing undue burden on our company and our service. Even with a
limit of 250 messages received per week, it could cost Twitter
about $1,000 per user, per year to send SMS outside of Canada,
India, or the US. It makes more sense for us to establish fair
billing arrangements with mobile operators than it does to pass
these high fees on to our users.
It may be easy for me to say this as an outsider, but shouldn’t they have thought about this as a business issue from the beginning? Shouldn’t projections have been run and costs estimated? Why wait for two years before settling this?
At the end of the day it comes down to expectation management. Users have been used to receiving smses to keep up with their friends locally and internationally while they’re not at their computer. If you remove that, it takes a lot out of the service for these people. I could point you in the direction of numerous Plurk conversations today in dismay at the lack of this service.
I think there’s still value on Twitter. The past months have been dismal for them, but there’s no reason why their recent VC injection can’t breathe some new life into the service. But if they keep going down this road, the Twitter “fail whale” might need to be changed to an even bigger animal.
Tags: fail whale, Plurk, receiving smses from twitter, twitter, twitter fail, twitter stops sms support
Posted in Poor Practices, twitter | 1 Comment »
Saturday, July 5th, 2008
I must really apologise for not blogging much this week. I think it has been the least I’ve blogged since I’ve started the blog, but work has really been tough (though incredibly enjoyable).
The 2nd Ping.sg blog awards (blog aggregator in Singapore with about 3,500 blogs) have their nominees and I’m nominated in three categories:
(for “Are Bloggers Really Influencers?”)
(for “Why Plurk Over Twitter #3: Organic Conversations“)
Thank you to those who nominated me. If I’ve ever talked to you (in person) about why I blog, you know it’s not for the “fame” or money (I don’t even have ads!), but it’s really just me trying to share my love for this fascinating new digital space with you, and hopefully help spread the word about social media and how it can help you in your personal life, academic life or professional life.
I didn’t nominate myself for anything primarily because I thought it’s be a good gauge to see what the community finds valuable. I think the fact that the community has chosen two posts in particular that are aimed at convincing businesses that bloggers are indeed influencers and fostering conversation and community tells me that locally, the people who’re reading are listening and finding some value in it, and that is very, very encouraging.
So do check out the awards nominees page and vote for who you like. I’m not going to ask that you vote for me because looking at the nominees across the board, I think the community has already won.
Tags: are bloggers really influencers, best review post singapore, blog awards, community, conversation, dialogue, most insightful blog singapore, most insightful post singapore, organic conversations, ping.sg, ping.sg blog awards, Plurk, spread the word about social media, twitter, why plurk over twitter
Posted in Announcements, Blogs, Plurk, Singapore, Social Networks, community, social media, twitter | 5 Comments »
Tuesday, June 24th, 2008
I’m writing this with Singapore in mind, but I think it could work anywhere.
Rubin and I had a discussion tonight about bands in Singapore, whether they’re talented or not, whether they could make money or not, etc etc. Towards the end of the night I needed to blog and turned to him for inspiration and he said “write about the local music scene”. Brilliant.
So here’s social media for the local music scene.
1) Get repeat plays.
One of the podcasts I listen to mentioned recently that in the music industry, frequency is your currency. So you get people to play it as many times as you can. Give it away free to everyone on MySpace, give it free to the polytechnic radio stations, give it free to the university Campus Radio stations. It doesn’t matter if you’re making money out of it at this stage, just give it free.
I can’t say how many times I haven’t liked a song on first listen, but it grows on me after three or more listens. I’m sure it’s the same for many other people.
2) Pimp yourself.
In a lot of ways, the local music scene is like the local blogosphere. There’s a lot of crap in there, but there are gems too. So how do you get people to notice you? Make yourself searchable. That means pimping up your website, going on MySpace, maybe creating a fan page on Facebook, whatever works. When someone hears your band name and goes home to search for you, you’d better turn up on page one of Google.
Case in point: Origami. I think that’s how it’s spelled because I was only walking past, but I liked their rendition of Kelly Clarkson’s Miss Independent, so much so I wanted to get in contact with them and offer to try to get their track on Campus Radio. So I come home, Google Origami and zilch. How do I help you get your music out there when I can’t find you? Do yourself a favour. If your band name is called Hystericks Stickz, change your name to something Google-able. That advice is free.
3) Get help.
No, don’t get someone to buy you a $30k ad on national radio. There are free (or at least cheap) ways to go about doing it. There are many, many polytechnic or university students out there who would probably be willing to help put your name out there or build you a blog, or pass your cd on to three friends. What could you offer them in return? Well that’s up to you. But remember: your most loyal customers are also your best.
Finally, a disclaimer: All this only works if your music doesn’t suck. As with everything else, content is king. If the content you’re producing sounds like screeching and/or cawing, no amount of publicity is going to help you.
So, now that you know all that. You want a social media/digital strategist to help your band out? Start a conversation with me. Here, Plurk, Twitter, Facebook, whatever works for you.
Tags: blogosphere, campus radio singapore, facebook, Google, myspace, origami, pimp yourself, Plurk, self-publicity, singapore local music, singapore's local music scent, smu campus radio, twitter
Posted in Google, Search, Singapore, Social Networks, collaboration, community, mainstream media, social media, twitter | 5 Comments »
Wednesday, June 18th, 2008
Daphne plurked today about leaving Plurk to concentrate on ping.sg as well as Twitter and because things were just getting too overwhelming for her to keep up with everything at once.
It got me thinking about whether this is a natural progression of sorts. People join an online community until the benefits of another (uptime for Plurk) far outweigh the previous benefits of another (Twitter), or the conversations on Plurk are more intense/genuine than those on the shoutbox on ping.sg. What do we do when that happens?
I know Pat Law has mentioned a very good point that people move on to better value propositions. That’s why we’re not on Friendster or ICQ anymore. If the community shifts to a new “tool”, should it matter? After all it’s people-centric rather than platform-centric isn’t it?
Of course, I’m not saying either ping.sg or Twitter are inferior, unworthy platforms. I think ping is still great for getting the latest buzz in the local blogosphere and log on at least thrice a day to check out the newest posts, Twitter runs in the background on Twhirl for stuff to pop up once in awhile. But when faced with a new, potentially better tool, what happens?
One reason also why the ping.sg shoutbox is less “vibrant” now is because many of the pingsters are on Plurk as well. This suggests that people see more value there, or are joining it because everyone is as well, or a combination of both, but that results in ping.sg being less lively. Natural evolution of online platforms? Innovate and keep your communities or die?
I pretty much understand where Daphne is coming from, so I ask the local community because I’m curious: If you’ve shifted to Plurk, do you feel like you should stick with your previous platforms just ‘cos? Or does the higher value proposition outweigh all? Very curious to know the various views behind this.
Tags: daphnemaia, facebook, friendster, icq, msn, patlaw, ping.sg, ping.sg shoutbox, Plurk, plurk vs twitter, singaporean blogosphere
Posted in Plurk, Singapore, Social Networks, community, social media, twitter | 6 Comments »
Monday, June 9th, 2008
I got directed by Katherine Druckman (who I found out only recently is the wife of fellow Plurker and Twitterer Gary Druckman) to this great video of Gary Vaynerchuck on the topic of community.
I can’t embed the video, but here’s the link.
If you know me personally you know I don’t spend time on watching videos or browsing YouTube at all. When people send me links I watch them for 30secs and switch them off, but this video kept me watching from start to end. Trust me when I say: You. Must. Watch. This.
I watched the video and think I totally identify with what Gary is saying. I have the benefit of having a relatively small community right now and it’s important that I reply to all comments (yes, I know sometimes some fall through the cracks and I’m sorry!) and I engage as many people as I can through Twitter and Plurk, heck when someone I don’t know comments on my blog, I send an email to him/her if they left a valid one just so I know who they are and what why they chose to spend their very precious attention on my blog.
I don’t care who these people are. They could be some hotshot banker or someone going through a hairstyling apprenticeship (yes, that’s Tasj from Australia who loves the “little guy” coffee chains as opposed to the big Starbucks franchises), I value them all the same. And I choose to believe these relationships matter and if nurtured, will grow in to bonds of value that you just could not put a value to.
If you’re blogging or you’re involved in an online community in any way, do not take them for granted. Don’t think you’ll start caring when you’re a B-list or A-list blogger, you gotta form those bonds and show some appreciation now. Drop an email to a commenter, @reply them on Twitter or message them on Plurk saying thanks. Even better, head to their blogs and leave a comment in return. They’ll payoff sooner rather than later.
Tags: blogging, community, gary druckman, gary vaynerchuck, katherine druckman, twitter
Posted in Blogs, Plurk, community, social media, twitter | No Comments »
Wednesday, June 4th, 2008
#1 and #2 reasons why Plurk over Twitter are cliques and threaded conversations respectively. Cliques allow you to send plurks to specified subsets of your followers. I have a local clique, and that’s where all the chatter that is unique to Singapore goes to, instead of spamming it to everyone. Threaded conversations allow you to follow one conversation, unlike Twitter where replies are rather fragmented.
Let’s go on to #3: Organic Conversations.
Yesterday I posted about EA Games getting customer service. I posted about it on Plurk as well:
Within seconds of posting, NovelistKat talked about how they may get customer service, but not how to treat their employees. This went back and forth awhile until litford hopped in to talk about jPod and how it’s a spoof of EA and its programmers. (full conversation here)
Isn’t this how true conversations happen? Imagine talking about a shoe brand (no names) over dinner. “Man those new shoes I bought are comfortable“. Somehow the conversation meanders to “I hope that comfort is deserving of the child labour that it took to make it” and then after a little more it goes to “Did you see the new ad for the shoes on tv last night?”
Conversations have a life of their own. Seeing them grow organically has a lot of value. How many brands could listen in or participate in the EA conversation and learn from it? EA certainly. Douglas Coupland perhaps. The jPod network could’ve pointed us to a website to stream the first episode for free and get us hooked. The possibilities are endless.
I write this post partially in reply to @jonathank of Fabrikade who isn’t sure of the personal/business possibilities of Plurk yet, hope this is one step towards convincing you, Jonathan!
Tags: customer service, ea games, following the conversation, joining the conversation, organic conversation, Plurk, Singapore, twitter
Posted in Blogs, Plurk, Singapore, social media, twitter | 3 Comments »
Thursday, May 22nd, 2008
Got a link in the mail today pointing to Rainier PR and their hiring of staff via Twitter.
That’s pretty amazing, but before you jump in and get yourself a Twitter account, it’s not really about that one tool. It’s about building an online presence, getting people familiar with you, and building your personal brand. More from the article:
PR students listen-up. If you want a fast track career in digital PR use your holiday time to get work placements and like Matt immerse yourself in the tools of your trade such as Blogger, Facebook, Flickr, Google Tools, Twitter and Wordpress. Chances are that if you do you’ll have a head start on many of those that have been in the industry for several years.
I’m always gobsmacked by candidates, both graduates and those that have been in the industry for some time, that come for an interview (almost always via recruiters) at Rainier PR that don’t make an effort to look at the agency web site or our blog. They typically don’t use an RSS Reader and haven’t had “time to look at Twitter”. Bollocks. Don’t waste your time – or ours.
How true is that? I think it extends to any communications effort and I don’t think you even need to be in PR. Let’s not even talk about the real world. If I had to form a team to do a communications/marketing plan for a student club in school, I wouldn’t want someone who doesn’t know how to use Google Alerts or Wordpress (at the very least).
Congrats to Matt Watson (who I am now following on Twitter @mpwatson) and I think this is only the start of things to come, and we’ll definitely be hearing more of such instances in the future.
You can find me on Twitter (@uniquefrequency). Feel free to follow!
Tags: @mpwatson, building online presence, building presonal brand, communications effort, communications plan, google alerts, hiring through twitter, hiring via twitter, matt watson, rainier pr, recruitment, social media hiring, twitter, uniquefrequency, wordpress
Posted in social media, twitter | 1 Comment »
Monday, May 12th, 2008
I originally meant for this post to show some excerpts from Pat’s blog today, titled “The Holy Trinity Of Blogging“, until I realised she has it so spot on and so easily understood that there really is little else I could add by posting about it. (That said, do check out the link, relevant to individuals and companies alike.)
But as I sat down to start writing tonight, I realised there’s a bigger question here: Why, out of the many, many links sent to me and blog posts that I read a day, did I want to particularly highlight Pat’s? Someone who I have never talked to online or in person? Of course because it’s relevant and well-written, but there’s something else.
It started with a tweet:
This is the second direct message she sent me, the first was even more targeted, saying something like “for the social media junkie” followed by the URL.
Let’s go back to CRM, according to Wikipedia, it
helps companies understand, as well as anticipate, the needs of current and potential customers.
Isn’t that exactly what happened here? Unlike the mass tweets about a “new blog post” (which I don’t mind at all), this really makes me sit up and take notice, because I know it’s a careful, considered move to bring the level of interaction one step closer (from general tweets to a direct message). And the reason why that step would be taken is because she knows that that post would be particularly relevant to me.
“So what” you say? Well, what if you could do that for your customers? Companies are obsessed about CRM, about data, interactions, trends and the like. And here they are in front of you. What if you knew Person A particularly likes a biscuit flavour that you happen to be bringing in? A personal email with an invite to be the first to taste it? Or an ad in the newspaper in hopes the general population will pick up on it and drop by?
It’s a lot of work, no doubt about it. But hey, people pay money for CRM software and hotels notice how guests shift their furniture so that they can do it for them for future visits. Is this really too much? Especially in Singapore?
Tags: customer relationship management, holy trinity of blogging, pat law, social media = crm, social media and crm
Posted in Marketing, Search, Wikipedia, social media, twitter | 9 Comments »
Monday, May 5th, 2008
I’ve only been using Firefox for two months and made the change primarily because of it’s enhanced security and great plugins. Somewhere along the way, being the sometimes-technologically-challenged person I am, I changed a setting that caused my downloaded files to be saved when I wanted them to be opened.
So of course, I turned to Twitter:
And got a reply back very quickly from @firefox_answers:
And I was amazed. Firefox has two things going for it: great product and great customer service. Not going to go into the debate of which is better, but it’s important to have both.
Before you start thinking “Sure, great for companies like Firefox or Microsoft whose users are right in front of Twitter”, but what if your company could jump in and respond to these questions?
- I wonder what’s good on tv tonight
- Why does my [insert brand] printer keep printing it’s test page?
- What should I get for mother’s day
The list goes on. There’s some commentary on how the vast majority of Twitter users talk about frivolous things. That may annoy some, but to companies, it’s an opportunity to jump in, join the conversation and make a positive difference the same way Firefox did for me today.
Tags: firefox on twitter, solving firefox problems, twitter, twitter case study, twitter customer service, using twitter to listen
Posted in twitter | 1 Comment »
Friday, May 2nd, 2008
Hack College posted an article on the Case for Student Blogging and @KellySutton posted the same question on Twitter as part as a competition to win a Hack College t-shirt. I’ve been wanting to write about this for some time, so it seems like a good time as any.
I’m going to write a few segments:
- Whether you already have a blog
- How it can get you an internship/job
- My personal experience
- Other intangible benefits
- Whether blogging restricted just to people like me, ie those interested in social meda.
But I Already Have A Blog!
Actually, no, you probably don’t. Having a Meepok Blog (ie one where you talk about the meepok you had over lunch) is not a blog. It is a blog in that you’re capturing down your thoughts, but it’s not a blog where you’re adding value. And that’s the kind of blog you need to have if you’re in school, especially a university looking for an internship and/or employment.
Seriously? A Blog Helping Me Find A Job?
Yes. An article got featured in the New York Times about Christopher Penn’s (from Marketing Over Coffee) social media resume about the same time that Seth Godin questioned the need for a resume at all. ie: Your blog should speak for itself. Granted, we’re early days into this line of thinking, but if you’re just entering university now, a lot can change in the four years till you graduate and join the workforce. In fact, I just saw a social media internship today saying that including a blog and/or Twitter stream would be helpful.
My Personal Experience
I started this blog with no expectations except to contribute to the community. However through it I’ve gotten an invitation to advise a company on internal/external blogging, to be a panelist at a conference that costs $680 to attend and three internships. (Full disclosure: I couldn’t take up two of them, the third has yet to be confirmed). Ultimately it doesn’t matter whether or not it works out. The point here is: When was the last time you heard of offers coming your way just via a blog? No formal submission of resume, no cover letter? It’s a whole new world that frankly, surprised me as well.This can happen to you. But you have to start right now.
Other Intangible Benefits
As the world progresses, more and more of our lives are going to be lived online. Blogging/Tweeting/Podcasting etc creates and online presence and reputation for you. When your prospective employer Googles your name (and believe me, they will), you don’t want the first thing they see to be a story of you drunk at a club via your friend’s blog. You want them to see a thoughtful article you’ve written. Online reputation for your personal brand is priceless, and the difference between a good or bad one is how much effort you put in to develop it.
Another intangible that I’ve found particularly for me, is that it helps me write better and faster. I take an average of 20-30 mins to punch out a blog post. That translates to my school work where I’m writing papers and it takes me 45 minutes to get two pages out and send it for editing. Lightning fast.
Final point on intangibles, the great thing about everything being online is relationships. Whatever you blog about, the chances that someone will pick it up is always there, someone may be scanning Twitter for keywords that you mention in your blog, or simply Googling randomly or using StumbleUpon. Why not provide them an opportunity to connect to you?
But I Don’t Blog About Social Media!
It doesn’t matter. Your blog can be on anything. Drawings/sketches if you’re looking to be a creative in advertising. Commentary on the sub-prime crisis if you’re in finance. What changes in interest rates mean if you’re studying economics. Anything that you can point your future employer to and say “Look, I’ve been on top of this stuff for awhile now, and that makes me more valuable to hire than the other person who just submitted a resume with his grades.”
So what do you think? Are you reading this right now and thinking “Bullshit”, or are you thinking of what to name your blog? Let me know. If you’re thinking of starting a blog but you’re unsure of what to do/how to get about doing it, feel free to drop me a comment as well. I don’t claim to be an expert, but I’d like to help if I can.
Tags: @kellysutton, christopher penn, hack college, marketing over coffee, seth godin, social media internship, social media resume, student blogging, student blogs, twitter, why have a resume, why students should blog
Posted in Blogs, social media, twitter | 7 Comments »
