Yes, everyone. It's time. Time for this little intern to spread her wings and fly from Firebelly (or be pushed out of the next unexpectedly by Duncan. You choose the visual you prefer!) and venture back into the world where commoners don't understand social media and all of the opportunities it presents; back into the world where aren't thinking about what they need to Tweet or how they can update their status every second of every day; back to a world where I must defend my social media obsession and repeatedly explain why it's so important to thrive as a functioning human being in this computer-driven day-in-age. I have been so spoiled here at Firebelly and learned so much.
Twit and tweet have become two of the most popular words in
Web language lately, it seems. Twitter has so many applications developed to
make it more accessible and convenient for followers, it’s hard to keep track
anymore.
To make social media life a little easier, I've compiled a list of the Top 20 Twitter Applications and written a one-sentence description of each. (Ranks are based on monthly unique visitor numbers from Compete.com.)
Photo by AnthonyCarlucci/Flickr.com
Twitter Applications
1. Twitpic – share your photos on Twitter
2. Tweetdeck – personal browser for Twitter
3. Digsby – live newsfeed for Twitter
4. Twittercounter – track follower numbers on Twitter
5. Twitterfeed – feed your blog to Twitter
6. Twitterholic – track which Twit has the most followers
7. Twhirl – desktop client for Twitter
8. Twitturly – tracks/ranks what’s talked about on Twitter
9. Twtpoll – create a poll on Twitter
10. Retweetist – track what’s being retweeted
11. Tweepler – process new followers
12. Hellotxt – update your status on all social networks at
once
13. Twitdom – Twitter application download database
14. Tweetscan – Twitter updates via e-mail or RSS
15. Tweetburner – tracks links shared on Twitter
16. Tweetvision – see where people are twittering in the
world
17. Twitterfall – Tweets delivered in waterfall fashion
18. Monitter – enter keywords to see what people are saying
19. Twibs – browse Twitter businesses
20. Twistori – tracks specific words in tweets and feeds
them
Feedback
Which have you used? What do you like/dislike about those you have used? Which do you think are the most useful?
Share your thoughts. Let it out. Pent-up thoughts are never good for anyone.
~ Alyson ~ @ Twitter
Earlier this week, Facebook CFO Gideon Yu parted ways with
the popular online networking Web site. Why? Facebook headquarters claimed it
was because the company needed someone with more public-company experience
(Keep in mind this is the man who previously held the CFO spot at Youtube and
negotiated the video sharing Web site’s $1.65 billion acquisition with Google).
But that must only be part of the reason. A later memo Facebook CEO and founder
Mark Zuckerberg sent out says the reason involved family: “Gideon’s family is
his highest priority and it’s certainly not the usual cliché to say that he
plans to take some time off to be with his wife and son.”
Yu’s not the only one who has jumped ship since the
company’s beginnings. It started with five founders. Now Zuckerberg’s flying
solo.
The question is, what’s going wrong? What is so bad at
Facebook that money-minded business moguls are leaving one of the most
potentially profitable companies in the world.
Many blogs blame it on Zuckerberg himself. Gawker was so bold to
suggest Zuckerberg should resign (or at least back off the leading role for a
while) and let someone else take the reins to bring the company back on track
and train Zuckerberg to get back in the saddle.
In case you’ve been out of the social media network, here are some slipups Zuckerberg has made
recently:
The Terms of Service Debacle: The Terms of Service was changed to suggest Facebook would keep users’
information forever, even after they’ve deactivated their account. Facebookers
were not cool with this. It resulted in Zuckerberg instituting a policy where users
can have a say in future changes execution.
The Recent Redesign: Facebook
is a following Twitter…literally. The company that had always been praised for
being unique and visionary instituted a message delivery system freakishly
similar to Twitter’s tweet stream. Facebook asks the question, “What’s on your
mind?” rather than “What are you doing?” Again, users were outraged. But did
Zuckerberg listen to user feedback as promised after the Terms of Service
catastrophe? Just the opposite, actually. He told his staff to ignore user
feedback, and Zuckerberg personally deleted any employee concerns from his news
feed. And that brings us to…
The Executive Exodus: They’re
all jumping ship, as we mentioned earlier. It’s apparently because Zuckerberg
is becoming a total tyrant. According to sources quoted in a recent “The
Business Insider” article,
the Harvard dropout no longer allows open disagreement or discussion of his ideas
in meetings. But that was a major contributor to his success in the first
place. Now, employees say the company is completely image-focused.. And
apparently so is Zuckerberg. The article quotes a source saying he’s
“unbearable,” letting all the media hype about his technology genius go to his
head.
What do you think? Is it time for Zuckerberg to call it
quits for a while so he doesn’t run his business empire into the ground before
its even reached its full potential?
~ Alyson ~ @ Twitter
Everyone knows about Twitter. Many are tweeting instead of —
or in addition to — texting. (If you aren’t, please check it out so you’re in the know.
You can’t fight social media. It’s bigger than all of us).
Twitter is such a phenomenon that morning talk shows have
started covering the social media networking Web site because, as crazy as it
seems, people in the morning show target market are interested. Yes, that means retirees and stay-at-home parents have moved into the realm of social media with college students and recent college grads. (The “Today
Show” did a detailed piece last week, if you’re interested in checking out a
summary of the service.)
Visit msnbc.com for Breaking News, World News, and News about the Economy
But that’s not really the point of this post. The point is
that despite Twitter’s ever-increasing popularity — Compete.com sets the site at third in ranking of largest
social networks behind Myspace and Facebook at roughly 6 million users in
February 2009 — the company is not yet turning a profit.
Why? In the “About Us” section of Twitter’s homepage, an
answer to the question “How do you make money from Twitter?” is listed. To
paraphrase, the statements says the company has received many offers but wants
to concentrate more on developing user services. “While our business model is
in a research phase, we spend more money than we make,” the answer states.
Since Twitter isn’t jumping on the cash train after two
years of operation, other Web sites are. If you snooze, you lose, right? Well,
I’m not sure Twitter is losing anything — the company was recently predicted to
be worth $250 million — but it will be wise for the company to team up with
these sites once they get their money-making plan up and running.
German start-up Magpie & Friends would be a great partner. The company recently began paying Twitter users for
the right to sell ads in their tweets. Advertisers typically pay $13 per ad,
and registered users get a cut of the check for lending out their tweets. To
make the money, Magpie collects a series of keywords that advertisers would
want to associate with their ads, like iPhone or NCAA. The advertisers then bid
on those words. The winning bidders’ ads are paired up with a registered
Twitter users’ message streams, and VOILA! The ad is seen by the users’
followers. Money is made. All is content in capitalism.
Social media blog Mashable is also
cashing in on Twitter but in a different way. The blog recently began
soliciting brans like JetBlue and MailChimp to pay to have their tweets
featured on its Web site alongside the normal banner ads.
Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said the company is already
keeping an eye on sites like Magpie and Mashable as it prepares to launch a
fee-based service later this year. And collaboration is very much in the
picture.
“We want to work with those companies that are already
making an effort,” Stone told The Wall
Street Journal.
But until that time, Twitter is taking small steps in the
right revenue direction. In a recent interview with “Media Money” of CNBC,
Twitter CEO Evan Williams said his company plans to work with its larger
corporate users, like Zappos.com and The
New York Times, to “make it more valuable for them in a way that also
benefits users.”
Just this week, ExecTweets, a Web
site that posts tweets of the nation’s top business executives, announced it is
giving Twitter its first taste of revenue. The Web site is putting display ads
on posts from business execs and giving a cut of the revenue to Twitter.
What do you think is next on Twitter’s revenue plan? How
will they turn a profit when the service is free? Will users be willing to pay?
Alyson (@ Twitter)
Interview with Brian Halligan, CEO, HubSpot
Recently spoke with Brian Halligan, CEO, HubSpot. HubSpot is an internet marketing company and their product is B2B Inbound Marketing Software that helps their client attract more visitors using SEO, social media and blogs, as well as, capture more leads with landing pages, lead intelligence and marketing analytics. Whew what a mouthful! What’s even more interesting is we’re working with HubSpot on one of a project.
Both Brian’s presentation (which I’d watched earlier) and our interview (which you can watch below) confirmed my strong beliefs in content. Its clear that companies that are leading in the search race are producers of great content. Great content includes copy, photography or illustrations, video, and applications. Good content can be on your website, your blog, and on other places on the web with links back. Brian actually believes in “remarkable content” (coined in this context by Seth Godin who coins everything that already exists with cool little phrases) which is content that people dig (pun only slightly intended) so much that they are compelled to remark on it. Yeah I know you didn’t really need the explanation.
So, while I believe there is a place for paid search, invest in good content FIRST. Whether its on your website, blog or social media assets. Doesn’t matter. If you know what you’re doing, write it up, get some photos, get some video, develop an application. And if you’ve got chops – develop it yourself, if not, hire a professional. Remember your content is a reflection of who you are!
Web marketing will be the most popular tactic among advertisers and marketers in 2009 according to executives surveyed this month by the business development consultants at Reardon Smith Whittaker.
If you look at the chart from eMarketer above, it is interesting, but not at all surprising, to see those uber low (and no) numbers for TV, print and radio. Those three combined garnered only 7%. They're hurting just as much as the other Big 3 in Detroit.
Marketers rated these tactics based on client interest and perceived effectiveness. When asked which tactics interested the marketers most themselves, 70% said web marketing and 25% said mobile marketing.
What about you? Do your tactics for 2009 match the ones illustrated above?
