It’s official: I’m a twit. I avoided this self realization for a few days now but I’ve finally come to terms with it. I can openly admit now, with the support of my fellow DragonSearch employees, that I am indefinitely and wholeheartedly addicted to Twitter. Ever since I picked up the book Twitterville: How Businesses Can Thrive in the New Global Neighborhoods by Shel Israel, I’ve been obsessing. My mission has been to utilize it as much as possible and to educate those who have not had the opportunity to get to know Twitter. The thing that still surprises me is not the number of people using Twitter, which is in the millions now, but the few who don’t use it. What surprises me even more are the businesses that choose not to use it. Now it might seem like I’m late in the game but there are still businesses out there that don’t understand the benefits of Twitter.
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Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’
What Do Social Media Privacy Concerns And Your Insurance Rates Have In Common?
February 23rd, 2010 by Andy GrollerWell, Your Last Tweet May Have Jacked Up Your Home Insurance
Please Rob Me. Wait, hold on. PleaseRobMe.com. That’s more like it. In the new era of social media privacy concerns, the folks at ForTheHack pretty much exposed popular/next-big-thing Foursquare (the location-based, social media…ummmm, game, I guess) as a giant “Please Loot Me Silly” target on your house or apartment.
PleaseRobMe.com cleverly takes the updates of the Foursquaring masses and repurposes them as “opportunities” to access an empty abode. For example, let’s say Bob announces on Foursquare that he is at the grocery store. Well, Carl sees that and knows now that Bob ain’t home – he’s cruisin’ the produce section. That’s a potentially empty home/apartment that is now a target.
Monkeyluv and Facebook
February 16th, 2010 by Ric DragonIn his book “Monkeyluv : And Other Essays on Our Lives as Animals” (Scribner, 2005), Robert Sapolsky explains how it is that gambling is so addictive. Surprisingly, its not the winning part of the process – but the anticipation of winning. Brain waves go wild. And if the odds of winning are closer to 50/50, the wilder the anticipation brain waves. If the odds are too stacked against you, the anticipation factor is diminished.
OK, so how is it that Facebook and Twitter are SO addictive to so many of our milieu? Whats the anticipation of pay-off. Perhaps my wall on Facebook today is an example. Its my birthday, and I’m getting loads of well-wishes. Talk about pay-off! In Twitter, perhaps the pay-off is getting retweeted? Maybe its enough payoff to be spoken to, to have your existence aknowledged. Now, I might be a bit of a nerd-geek, but I’m not that desperate for attention, and I doubt if the nerd/geeks I consort with are that desperate!
Perhaps the pay-offs in social media are the interactions. Lets call them “chits”. We give chits AND receive them. It would be interesting if Mr. Sapolsky or one of those other scientists with very expensive equipment would check that out. If we marketers knew a bit more about those pay-offs, we might be able to create interactions that were more satisfying to our community.
By the way, check out the book Buyology to learn how marketers HAVE hooked people up to the MRI’s and Catscans to learn about the effectiveness of advertising.
Smile Big Brother (Or The Benefactor)—You’re On Twitter
October 8th, 2009 by adminFind, and Hurt, Big Brother On Twitter: @BigBrother
Send Him A Tweet!
First and foremost, the Big Brother being referred to here has nothing to do with the reality show (which, unfortunately, comes up on Google before Orwell’s masterpiece). Now Twitter may be considered to be full of noise/nonsense (I implied something similar regarding the net as a whole in my last post), and has certainly had its share of extremely humorous satire. (more…)
Best Buy’s Major TwelpForce Flaw
September 30th, 2009 by Claudia D'ArcyThe Problem with TwelpForce, @Best Buy and Twelping
I like to watch how other companies, such as Best Buy, use social media to get their messages across. It helps me do my job as the Director of Social Media. I get ideas from them, inspiration and even if the ideas are of what NOT to do, it helps me not make the same mistakes.
Being that I don’t just talk the talk, but walk the walk of full social media interactions, this often crosses over into my personal life. I am not very good at leaving my job at the office. This also, teaches me what NOT to do at times. Best Buy, despite a major TV advertising campaign pushing for customers to ask them questions on Twitter:
Best Buy Blunders on Twitter with Major Social Media Error
They say they have embraced Social Media and they are trying. I see that. I only say this professionally, as a message to Best Buy on how they should improve their social media outreach on Twitter. I have experienced this personally, as a loyal, yet unhappy BestBuy customer. From July 30th until September 27th, I was feeling very unhappy with Best Buy.
Like many Twitter users, I tweeted about Best Buy:
Please note that the Tweets are sent directly to @BestBuy because I want their attention, so I am going to do more than just type them out, I am going to ensure that they see me. I don’t recall actually seeing the TwelpForce ads at that time, so I was not looking for TwelpForce, plus TwelpForce is NOT the Brand Name, yet, it is still BestBuy.
My initial Tweets went out on 7/30 at 7:30ish pm EST. Since I didn’t get a direct and immediate result like I wanted … you know a “hi @FauxClaud; what can we do to help you?”, I kept checking and by the AM, I was feeling really disappointed in the lack of personal response. (more…)
Tweet This Twitter with Your Very Ambiguous Term of Services!
September 16th, 2009 by Claudia D'ArcyTransparency & the Trouble with Twitter
I got notice that Twitter updated their TOS. There are more pages about what they do and such, but for me: a day too late and a dollar short!
I manage approximately 30 Twitter clients with the help of Hootsuite. I pop in and out all day, keeping my eyes peeled and reacting, very organically, to what is happening in their worlds. Which is why my annoyance last week went sky high when:
One of My FAVORITE client Twitter accounts was SUSPENDED!
And when I say favorite, I don’t just mean that I like the client. I mean; I like the client, I like what they do, I like the way the Twitter account is being used, I like the way people react and interact with this account and I like being this account. And now, I have had my/clients voice taken away.
I immediately, went over to Twitter to find out what was going on and submit my request ticket for an explanation. Being I had I run this account through Hummingbird the day before, I was pretty sure this had triggered Twitter to accuse the account of “strange activity.” Yet, how “strange” can it be really? I was following a bunch of relevant NY people, granted with an automated tool, but it was very logical.
Plus, isn’t that the whole ideal of Twitter to follow people that you, or your account, would find interesting?
JetBlue on Twitter Does Is Right
September 15th, 2009 by adminUsing Twitter, JetBlue Succeeds in Humanizing Its Brand
JetBlue on Twitter has seen great success since its inception. The @JetBlue twitter network has 1.2 million followers. JetBlue follows about 120,000 of these fans. The concept of an airline being able to interact with its passengers in real time is one that was just waiting for the right tool to emerge that would enable this to happen. Think about all the times that you were stuck in the airport or looking for airfare promotions. If only there was a quick solution. JetBlue on Twitter offers just that.
JetBlue on Twitter has managed to gain followers through its remarkable customer service and positive brand reception, but how has this helped in this down economy? The main reason why JetBlue on Twitter has been so successful is that it enables JetBlue to carry out targeted (more…)
