Actually, despite the noise, the mundane, and the trivial, Twitter is extraordinarily effective as a viral broadcast channel.

This should pull up a graph from Compete.com showing the amazing growth in monthly unique users for Twitter.

Anyone using Twitter should watch this video. Now that Twitter has nearly 20 million monthly unique visitors, a lot of marketers and scam artists are working this new channel. Careful who follows you!

Discovery is the new cocaine – Presentation Transcript

1. Discovery is the new cocaine Going beyond engagement By: Ming Yeow Ng, Yu-shan Fung (Discoverio) Note: Section on “Flow” was derived from “The Science Of Designing Interactions” (SXSW 2008) by Andreas Weigend (people and data), and Ming Yeow Ng (Discoverio)
2. First off… Why should you care about Discovery?
3. From Wall Street Journal: What is it about a Web site that might make it literally irresistible? • We are programmed for scarcity and can’t dial back even when information is abundant • … (addictive sites) all presented new information that somehow needed to be interpreted… • this triggers a chemical reaction that makes us feel good… Source: WSJ, Why We’re Powerless To Resist Grazing On Endless Web Data March 12, 2008
4. In other words…. Done right, Discovery can make a website irresistible!
5. What drives Discovery? Desire by humans to be a live node in the network We are always… “Constantly scanning the peripheral, always motivated by the desire not to miss opportunities” “Desire for other people recognizing us, make us feel important.” “Services that win are those that help us protect, filter, create meaningful connections ” Linda Stone Source: Etech 2006
6. What is Discovery? Allowing users to: 3. Discover new, valuable information 5. Get Discovered by others 7. Discovering more about themselves
7. Facilitate user towards: Discovery of Information New and Richly interpretable information triggers chemical reactions
8. New information Twitter, Friendfeed: Constant stream of new information
9. Richly Interpretable Facebook Breakups “Who was she?” “Was his girlfriend pretty??” “You mean she is gay???”
10. Helping users to: Get Discovered by Others “Who is paying attention to me?” “Am I being recognized?”
11. Who is paying attention to me? MyBlogLog Twitter Who is checking me out? Who is following me?
12. Allowing users to: Discover More About Themselves “Who am I to others?” “What do I like?” Key here: People do not know what they want!
13. The Old Personality Test The New Personality Test Tickle: What am I? What am I to others? (400 million personality tests taken)
14. What do I like? Amazon : Stylefeeder: Collective Recommendation Analyzing attributes
15. Taking all 3 types together: Facilitate the Discovery Cycle for your users
16. The Discovery Cycle for Your App Engage and allow contribution of information, leaving of footprints, and giving of feedback Throughout the process: Data becomes basis for: 1) Discovery of User learning more 2) System to 3) Other Users Content and Users about himself generate new to discover him Meaningful connections (Keeps him coming back!) insights for user gets established Personalized Recommendations Interactions that lead to reciprocity and interactions Continuous Learning, Contributing, Recognition
17. Done right, this leads to “Intermittent Variable Reinforcement “ • “One of Skinner’s most important discoveries was that behavior that is reinforced intermittently is much more difficult to extinguish than behavior that is reinforced continuously.“ – via Kathy Sierra • \”You are not sure you are going to get a reward every time or how often you will, so you keep pulling that handle.“ – Patricia Wallace on slot machines
18. In other words… Discovery is less about predicting precisely right about what the user wants It is more about the entire user flow of discovery, with all the hits and misses Think window shopping down the mall or walking through an expo hall
19. Discovering Activity by Social Graph My good friend The guy with great events The babe I check out Based on collective behavior Based on live updates and attention data
20. Collective Judging Collective Behavior
21. No concept of individual Personalization
22. Helping users get discovered Clear attention/intention data Crowdvine: Updated profiles, Crowdvine: want-to-meet, fan comments are on front page
23. Connecting based on commonalities Apache Social Network: Open source projects worked on together
24. Exploitation Exploration
25. Connecting based on mutual interest
26. Randomness that shows the new and richly interpretable Flickr: Etsy: Interestingness Many ways to shop 26
27. Make it fun to explore Etsy: 10 different fun ways to discover! (boring categories are at the end)
28. How to create the right user experience? Understanding the elements of “flow” Feedback, Rewards, Lightweight, Reducing uncertainty Inspired by Mihály Csíkszentmihályi
29. Elements of flow (1) Direct and immediate feedback Successes and failures in the course of the activity are apparent, so that behavior can be adjusted as needed
30. Feedback for users to guide their future behavior Maslow Hierarchy Metrics for: Contribution to others Achievements Popularity Wrong-doings Feedback can be by system or can be by other users 30
31. How am I doing? Yelp: popularity, achievement, and contribution
32. Points as indicators of power and desirability Cash = power Value = desirability 32
33. Setting expected “norm” Linkedin Profile Completeness Pointing out “deficiencies” to induce actions
34. Elements of flow (2) Rewards Intrinsically Rewarding Clarity of Reward Recognition for contribution
35. Intrinsically Rewarding Twitter: Self Expression is its own reward
36. Intrinsically Rewarding Twitter: Validation, and Social Interaction are powerful rewards by themselves
37. Clear recognition for intended actions Crowdvine: Digg: Updated profiles, comments Made popular by… are on front page
38. Making Rewards Clear and Explicit Best Match: Invite 10 to see “best matches”
39. Suggest action and clarify reward GetSatisfaction: I have this question too!
40. Elements of Flow (3) Lightweight Interactions Make it easy for users to contribute
41. Lightweight, In the moment expressions Crowdvine: Yelp: Fan : expression of confidence Variety of lightweight Want-to-meet: initiate relationship interactions directly on reviews
42. Make user do as little as possible Automated retrieval of external data, all user needs to do is confirm Signup Time 15m -> 2m Conversion 0.1% -> 4% Lijit: Made the process entertaining and a little mysterious, with rewards at each step Source: Lijit, SXSW 2008
43. Do not make users think Woot: One Single Action
44. Elements of Flow (4) Reducing fear and uncertainty Uncertainty, even irrelevant uncertainty kills action
45. Assurance that it is up to recipients’ “mode of receiving” Twitter: Communicating with little fear of incurring cost to recipient
46. Reducing Personal Commitment Zoosk: Flirt vs risk
47. Surfacing Improbable Matches HotorNot: No risk of “rejection” 47
48. Reducing uncertainty on “correct” behavior Latest Comments Crowdvine: Showing social behavior right on frontpage
49. Elements of Addiction Day Trading MMORPG 1) Attractor: Things happening outside your control in the system, yet affecting your status 3) Motivator: You have a stake (self- esteem/emotional/financial) in changes happening to your status Source: \”Ariadne – Understanding MMORPG Addiction\” Nick Yee
50. Systematically Introducing Discovery Into Your App (uncompleted) 1. Know what data points you need (Individual / Collective / External) 3. Know what mode of discovery (Recommendations / Search / Browsing) 5. Create pathways of discovery (Filtering / Anchoring ) 7. Maximize exploration / exploitation within the pathway (Intention / Attention) 9. Providing reasons/context for discovery ( Context/Persona/Content) 11. Facilitating mediums for connections (Currency / Reputation) 13. Understand what metrics you need (Diversity, Virality, Engagement) Process by Ming Yeow Ng, Yu-shan Fung (Discoverio)
51. We LOVE Feedback!!! • Discovery is a new, unexplored and very exciting area to be innovating in, and we love to hear from anyone who is just as excited about this as us! • Touch base with us via any of these mechanisms – mingyeow@discoverio.com | @mingyeow (twitter) – yushan@discoverio.com | @ambivalence (twitter)

The Facebook page, which launched last Thursday, already has nearly 3,000 fans. Yelps of “Hooah” litter its wall.

“In just a weekend the Facebook site has become a vibrant community,” said Lindy Kyzer, a public affairs specialist in the online and social media division of Army public affairs. “We have soldiers, spouses, retirees, family members, even a grandmother whose granddaughter just signed up.”

Both the Facebook page and new blog, called “Army Live,” are meant to allow people inside and outside the service to speak informally about the Army. The Facebook page asks viewers to comment on such topics as “Why did you join the Army?” Or “Who is your favorite noncommissioned officer?” It also features podcasts, photos, links to other Army-related Web sites and even a way to follow the Army on Twitter.

“It’s a one-stop shop for people to connect to us,” Kyzer said.

via U.S. Army steps into networking world with Facebook profile | Stars and Stripes.

New York, NY (PRWEB) March 4, 2009 — Search Engine Strategies (SES), the leading and most established search engine marketing (SEM) and search engine optimization (SEO) conference and expo series, today announced that Guy Kawasaki and John Gerzema will give keynote speeches at SES New York (http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/), which will be held March 23-27, 2009. Leading up to the event, Kawasaki will discuss his latest book, “Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition,” and his upcoming keynote, “Twitter as a Tool for Social Media,” during a free Webcast this Friday, March 6, from 1 to 2 p.m. (EST).

Matt McGowan, Vice President and Publisher for Incisive Media’s Interactive Marketing Group, which includes Search Engine Strategies, Search Engine Watch and ClickZ, will host the SES Webcast with Kawasaki. To register for this event, go to SES Webcasts (http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/webcasts/).

McGowan said, “We’ll discuss Guy’s most recent book, Reality Check, and get his insight into why Twitter is rapidly becoming the social media tool of the 21st Century. Our exclusive 60 minute closed-circuit webcast, which takes place in advance of Guy’s keynote presentation at SES New York, is also your chance to engage Guy with specific strategic and business questions of your own.”

Kawasaki is giving the opening keynote at SES New York on Tuesday, March 24, 2009. He is a founding partner and entrepreneur-in-residence at Garage Technology Ventures, a seed and early stage venture capital fund. He is also the co-founder of Alltop.com, an “online magazine rack” of popular topics on the web — the success of which is attributed to social networking tools such as Twitter. He is considered one of the top 50 most popular bloggers worldwide, and was recently selected by Invesp.com as the #2 top marketer of 2008.

Kawasaki’s newest book, Reality Check: The Irreverent Guide to Outsmarting, Outmanaging, and Outmarketing Your Competition (Portfolio, Penguin Group), was released on October 30, 2008. Reality Check is his all-in-one guide for starting and operating great organizations — ones that stand the test of time and ignore any passing fads in business theory. He is also the author of eight books including The Art of the Start, Rules for Revolutionaries, How to Drive Your Competition Crazy, Selling the Dream, and The Macintosh Way.

Gerzema, the Chief Insights Officer at Young & Rubicam Group, is giving the morning keynote at SES New York on Thursday, March 26, 2009. The best-selling author and pioneer of account planning in American advertising agencies has designed brand strategies for clients for almost 25 years, guiding campaigns to international strategic and creative acclaim. He previously oversaw the international network for Fallon and founded offices in Tokyo, Singapore, Hong Kong and Sao Paolo.

Gerzema’s new book, The Brand Bubble: The Looming Crisis in Brand Value and How To Avoid It, was voted #3 Best Business Book for 2008 from Amazon’s editors and “Best Advertising and Marketing Book for 2008″ from CEO Read. The book is currently on Business Week’s Best Seller List.

Those who register for SES New York (http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/newyork/registration-details.html) by Friday, March 6, 2009, will save up to $200.

About SES

Incisive Media’s Search Engine Strategies (http://www.searchenginestrategies.com/) is a leading global conference and training series focused on search engine optimization and search engine marketing. Other Incisive resources for interactive marketers include Search Engine Watch (http://searchenginewatch.com/), which provides news and information about search, analysis of the search engine industry and tools for improving search marketing effectiveness, and ClickZ (http://www.clickz.com/), which provides digital marketing news, information, commentary, advice, opinion and research.

Incisive Media (http://www.incisivemedia.com/) is a leading global provider of specialized business news and information, in print, in person and online. The company’s principal markets include financial services, legal services, commercial real estate, marketing services and risk management. Incisive Media’s market-leading brands include Accountancy Age, Computing, Investment Week, Legal Week, LegalTech, Post, Real Estate Forum, Risk, Search Engine Strategies and The American Lawyer.

This is still a great tactic, but social media can do so much more today. For example, with Twitter or Facebook it is possible to use networking and information sharing techniques to build high quality links. I have seen sites from a number of different spaces use Twitter effectively as a PR outreach mechanism.

This new type of PR has become a new technique for link building and promotion. However, fast forwarding from today, there is the widely held belief in the SEO community that social media will be a major source of ranking signals for the search engines in the future

via The Evolving State Of Social Media & SEO.

In Facebooks first public confirmation of the talks, Thiel said the parties disagreed over price and structure when they seriously considered a deal last fall. “It became pretty clear it wasnt going to happen,” Thiel says from the mid-Manhattan office of his hedge fund Clarium Capital. “The deal would have to be done with Facebook stock. And then you have to figure out how much the stock is worth.”

via Facebooks Thiel Explains Failed Twitter Takeover – BusinessWeek.

I had heard rumblings about Andreessen’s funding efforts earlier this week, with sources I talked to nicknaming it “Project A.”

Actually, Andreessen said the new firm is called Andreessen Horowitz (zzzz), because he is doing it with longtime investing partner Ben Horowitz.

“For the first time in my life, I am crossing over into the dark side,” said Andreessen.

Although he gave few specific details about the fund, Andreessen essentially said he was simply putting a structure around his own active angel investing, which has included start-ups like Twitter, Digg, LinkedIn and many more.

His new effort will focus on early-stage investments, he said, noting that “our claim to fame is, we’ve actually, you know, by entrepreneurs for entrepreneurs, we’ve done it, we’ve been on that side of the table for a long time; we know what it’s like.”

Adding that he and Horowitz had made 36 investments over the last three years of up to $200,000, Andreessen said his new firm will make up to $1 million bets on start-ups.

Of course, for most of the interview, Rose zeroed in on hot topics like Facebook, the social-networking site on whose board Andreessen serves.

The voluble tech star did his job, talking about how Facebook could turn on the spigot and make all sorts of money anytime it wants and about the recent controversy around its Terms of Service kerfuffle.

He also talked about the Andreessen-backed Ning social network service, the Apple (AAPL) iPhone, Twitter, why the New York Times irks him, Google (GOOG), the Amazon (AMZN) Kindle e-book reader and gaming.

via Marc Andreessen Crosses Over to the “Dark Side” With New Venture Fund (Here’s the Video) | Kara Swisher | BoomTown | AllThingsD.

Social Media Influencers Predictions 2009 By Trendsspotting – Presentation Transcript

1. Influencers On Social Media 2009 Predictions
2. The movement is rooted in a desire to have quality, not quantity, as S people cocoon in the face of the economic crisis. O C Charlene Li I The Altimeter by Charlene Li A http://blog.altimetergroup.com L M Social Exclusivity E trumps Facebook’s Shopping Obama- D accessibility SocialRank maniacs will algorithms I spawn a new emerge to drive the age of A open social Web activism. Everyone 2 becomes a 0 marketer 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
3. Is this really doing anything new? S RWW on social media tools O C I A www.readwriteweb.com L M E D I A 2 0 0 9
4. S Organizations Grapple With The Human Web O C David Armano I Logic + Emotion A http://darmano.typepad.com L M E D I A 2 0 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
5. Social Media Indigestion | Personalized Service | S Back To Fundamentals O C Pete Blackshaw I ConsumerGeneratedMedia.Com A http://notetaker.typepad.com L M E D I A 2 0 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
6. S 5 Things Marketers Did In 2008 That Will Be Obsolete In 2009 O C Rohit Bhargava I Influential Marketing Blog A www.influentialmarketingblog.com L Empowering company’s’ M spokespeople E Social media efforts to be lead D by the most passionate person I Implement listening programs A to get actionable knowledge Target relevant bloggers: offer value relationships. 2 0 Measure customer service metrics: satisfaction & social 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
7. Doors are going to close all over the social web. S The money didn‘t come the way people thought it would O C Chris Brogan I chrisbrogan.Com A www.chrisbrogan.com L M Consolidation E & D Identity Shuttering I Aggregation & Segmentation A Velvet 2 Rope 0 SNS 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
8. The tipping point has not only not been reached, but could S still tilt away from Social media O C Todd Defren I PR-Squared A www.pr-squared.com L The Great HOW ? M Transparency Debates E Continues D Multi Channel Integration I A Simplified Measurement B2B Goes Social Media 2 0 Reaching The ‘Spectators’/Unreached 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
9. S There’s a lot of fixing that needs to be done. O C Jason Falls I Social Media Explorer A www.socialmediaexplorer.com L Blogger outreach from PR will get Google will buy Twitter better, but not much M E o D l I g o g A e 2 0 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
10. Dwindling budgets suddenly make low-cost social S media look like the pretty girl at the ball O C Ann Handley I Ann Handley.com A www.annhandley.com L • Companies increasingly crafting content M • Green is less . E • Sputtering economy entices companies into D social media space. I A • Blogging isn’t dead . • Mobile marketing takes off . 2 0 • Arianna Huffington becomes the White House embedded blogger . 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
11. We’re going to develop a set of better metrics to help S guide, direct and validate \”commitment\” O C Joseph Jaffe I Jaffe Juice A www.jaffejuice.com L Better Metrics M Community : Killer E Rise of MoSoSo D App I A 2 “Live “ : As it Social Search 0 happens Content 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
12. S eCommerce Goes Social O C Jeremiah Owyang I Web Strategy by Jeremiah A www.web-strategist.com L M E D I A 2 0 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
13. Twitter – continue to achieve legitimacy | Online video will come into S its own | Customers insist on custoMEr service O C Scott Monty I The Social Media Marketing Blog A www.scottmonty.com L M E D I A 2 0 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
14. Customer Satisfaction Uprising| Companies Will See The Light| S Love Beats Money O C Andy Sernovitz I Damn! I Wish I’d Thought Of That! A www.damniwish.com L M E D I A 2 0 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
15. Suddenly, being Facebook friends with your mom will seem S less ridiculous than following 4,000 strangers on Twitter O C Greg Verdino I GregVerdino.com A www.gregverdino.com L Geo Debate on M Location whether PR or /GPS , Marketing ‘owns’ E mosco social media D will be over I A Ad agency will be Social 2 disintermediated Graph 0 Shrinkage 0 9 Source: beingpeterkim.com
16. S RWW Feedback O C I A www.readwriteweb.com L Social ..the ease with which people are able to see feedback .. with confirmed shopping identities, really could be a game changer. M Even the biggest cynics often have a dramatic turn around .. the E twitter intimacy that develops is remarkable. D we’re not optimistic.. all the gradations between success and failure are I Measuring SN going to be very hard to quantify. A Quality vs We expect a middle ground between sale slow-down and an Quantity evolutionary adjustment to vastly increased data input. 2 Making most Getting into the social media space and doing it wrong is something that 0 of limited a lot of companies fear getting blown apart for. We expect that to budgets change slowly 0 9
17. Social Networks Will Flourish S As A Result Of The Economic Crisis O C Dr. Taly Weiss I Trendsspotting.com A www.TrendsSpotting.com L M New users and more frequent visits to work related E networks as LinkedIn or Facebook D I SN will provide social support to victims of the crisis A Dedicated niche SN will evolve: sharing information and implications of the economic situation. 2 0 0 9
18. Ranking The Influencers (the engagers) as a measurable tool for new S media O C Dr. Taly Weiss I Trendsspotting.com A www.Trendsspotting.com L M Influence will be defined by measurable variables E D Google will “pagerank” people I Influence will be defined by measurable variables A People will really become the media. Google will “pagerank” and “map” peoples influence 2 0 People will really become the media. 0 9
19. S Twitter Will Get Recognized For Its Social Search Assets O C Apurba Sen I Trendsspotting.com A www.trendsspotting.com L Search Popularity in Twitter has increased ~ 2x M E D I A twitter: most relevant and updated information source Twitter the ultimate human search 2 0 Google will buy twitter 0 9
20. Did You Know ?? 2008 Webster’s New World Dictionary’s word of the year is . vershare Find its meaning here…
21. Discover more Trends at : www.trendsspotting.com

Twitter for beginners – Presentation Transcript

1. Twitter: a beginner’s guide Paul Bradshaw Senior Lecturer, Online Journalism, Magazines and New Media, School of Media, Birmingham City University, UK (mediacourses.com) Blogger, Online Journalism Blog
2. Imagine being able to send a text message to 100,000 people
3. link
4. Or 1,000. Or 100.
5. Imagine being able to follow the text messages of 60,000 people
6. Or 6,000. Or 600.
7. link
8. Imagine being able to see what most people are talking about right now
9. Or what links are being passed around most.
10. Or when a particular person is mentioned. Or a product. Or an event.
11. Twitter
12. Imagine your words being passed on by 5 people. Then 20. Then 100.
13. (Newsflash)
14. What do people do when a major event occurs?
15. more
16. What will you do?
17. Imagine being able to find someone where that event is happening
18. Imagine being able to map what’s being said and done.
19. link
20. link
21. How people feel.
22. Imagine being able to ask 100 people to help you.
23. Or 1,000.
24. But why should they help?
25. Why should they follow you at all?
26. Twitter is social.
27. Be social.
28. And have fun.
29. 5 things you can do now 1. Sign up to Twitter and follow anyone you know, plus 10 people from your field (use Twellow or Tweepsearch) or area (use Twitterlocal or Twitter Grader) 2. Tweet what you’re doing 3. Tweet a useful link 4. Tweet an @ message to someone you don’t know 5. Try using Pingvine or Twitterfeed to send a Delicious RSS feed to your Twitter account (so anything you bookmark will be tweeted)
30. paul@onlinejournalismblog.com Paul Bradshaw Senior Lecturer, Online Journalism, Magazines and New Media, School of Media, Birmingham City University, UK (mediacourses.com) Blogger, Online Journalism Blog