Archive for February, 2009

TwitScoops: how Twitter is changing real time communication

It may not be the most financially lucrative online service-yet-but Twitter is fast becoming the most loved.

Combined with Flickr, Twitter is making breaking news collaborative AND competitive.

Better than a wiki, these two media combine to enact what is more or less the “big bang” effect in online media.

An Event Happens, like the Mumbai bombings, a plane “landing” in the Hudson River in New York or the plane crash today at Schiphol Airport.

BANG. Hundreds of media mavens descend in the form of eyewitnesses brandishing mobile phones, Twits monitoring news updates, professional reporters, aid workers, victims and survivors still capable of texting or clicking a camera, politicians or corporate PR personnel anxious to alert citizens or clients about what’s going on and why, and families and relatives desperate to ascertain what happened and where their loved ones are.

The Event thus spins into a phalanx of galaxies, each of which is fed by its own sources of stories, ideas, blogs, forums, Tweets, Flikcrs, online videos, and press releases.

From the initial Flikcrs to the onslaught of tweets, stories unfold rewriting the event and offering any number of details, descriptions and personal stories. How does an individual or an organisation choose to follow credible sources or establish his or their own credibility?

That’s our job. Attentio makes tracking and recording online media and its impact on information easy. Attentio knows social media, provides the tools, and monitors and measures what and who makes the buzz where and why.

It’s your job to sift through the stories, photos, videos, and opinions and separate facts from fiction, and to choose the sources that will feed your galaxy. To be effective, you need social media tools that are global, reliable, and easy to use.

Musings on twitter

Image via CrunchBase

Twitter is a limited length update service with few restrictions on who can follow you. It has been adopted in super fast time by social media types, celebrities and increasingly social media savvy “normals”.

I have been consumed by it at times and still don’t know what to make of it. Maybe this is not about twitter but the “real time web”. Here for the first time people communicate and respond to each other as things happen in an online setting. Citizen “journalism” is a reality with twitter as Mumbai and plane crashes highlight. With blogging there was always a delay and conversations didn’t happen (yes there was asymetric responding but not conversations).

Now I wonder how much time companies will spend on the phenomenon and how it can generate business value. The fan base of twitter will point to early brand involvement, JetBlue, Dell etc. but this is too early to know if companies will drive an ROI worthy of future investment. It is of course a place brands should listen to, some of our worthy competitors have been using it well I have noted, it is a wonderful opportunity but of course a mile wide threat if brands fail to deliver…

We as a company are still learning about its value but it has strangely brought us together more as we tweet to each other. Even when we are not in the office we know what the team is up to and what meme is taking over. I can see from twitter we are an engaging, eclectic often eccentric group of professionals that love social media, probably fitting what we wanted the company began :)

In sum, its a great new medium. It is a powerful addition to other forms of social media such as blogging, forums, social networks. It’s not a replacement for them just a new way of passing information from human being to human being, one beautifully crafted soundbite at a time!

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How to type your tweets on Twitter

The buzz about Twitter is a triumph online. But what is the function of the application? Is it useful? Irritating? A waste of time or an innovative touchstone in social networking?
Well, it depends…

Twitter is a tool. Twitter is neutral. It’s our job, as Twits and Twittettes, to give the tool purpose. We can use our tweets for everything from online Twirting (tweet flirting) to tweeting twips (tweet tips) about job opportunities or new studies. There seem to be four unofficial categories of Twits so far:

The Professional Twit (ProTwit)
The Professional Twit uses Twitter to make connections out of contacts. No longer is it enough to send the random email reminding your contacts that you work in the same field. If you are a ProTwit, you are proactive. You are in constant communication with a network. You share studies, data and info in real time on a rolling basis. You think that Twitter’s great for creating a network of connections that you can trust. Your fellow Twits are tried and true and quick to twitter back.

The Social Twit (SocialTwite)
If you’re a bit of a globetrotter, then you may be a SocialTwite. You tweet about your daily activities, sharing your life with a network that may span continents in the offline world. As a SocialTwite, you are interested in the lives as well as the occupations of your fellow Twits. You share gossip, twitter about your frustrations and your fun, and sometimes even twirt.

The SoliciTwit

The SoliciTwit strikes temptation into the hardware of tantalised Twits everywhere. The SoliciTwit is often a marketer or a SalesTwit, but, as a SoliciTwit, you can also work in Human Resources. You tweet about limited time opportunities, special offers, and new releases. Followers of SoliciTwits want to take advantage of special opportunities before any non-Twits find out them about  through simple search or email. SoliciTwits can also tweet about possible jobs or investment opportunities. Most of us Twits include at least one SoliciTwit in our flock of followees.

The Total Twit

As a Total Twit, you combine all the Twit types in your online flocks. A Total Twit is not limited to Twitter, we hope—instead, as a Total Twit, you may find your Tweets are unlimited in type and interest. You mix business with pleasure and tweet about it all to your online flocks. Attentio tends to be a bit of a Total Twit, as does the Attentio team of Twits.