The JaffeBLEND Blog

Twitter101 for Twits

As a newbie to Twitter, I spent the first few weeks a wee bit perplexed. How did I find new people to follow? How were people finding me? What should I be saying to people? The twitter question says “what are you doing now?” yet people are actually sending URL’s and questions. How come I’m witnessing conversations on Twitter? What’s a Tweetup?

If you’re reading my intro you’re either nodding in agreement or wondering why I am such a dumb blonde. Having said that, I’m sure there’s at least 1 other dumb blonde out there, so I thought I’d share some of my tips to newbies to Twitter to help them get acquainted.

Definition: Twitter is actually a micro-blogging service, making it much more proactive and pointed than Facebook and other social networks. Users create a free account at Twitter.com, then make posts (called "tweets") of 140 or fewer characters, which answer the question "what are you doing?" These postings can be made at Twitter.com or by texting/emailing from a mobile/cell.

Twitter for dummies: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddO9idmax0o

"Background: Evan Williams, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone launched Twitter Inc. in April 2007. A year, many awards and constant media attention later, Twitter now has well over 1 million users, including some famous ones. Most followed stream: Barack Obama with 15,094 (vs Hillary Clinton with 1,907), humorist Stephen Colbert with 5,529 and Apple CEO Steve Jobs with 4,660. 

Relevance: Adopted commercially and by institutions due to its characteristic as a broadcast medium with immediacy. CNN, The New York Times, the BBC and al Jazeera all Twitter their breaking news headlines with links back to their stories; the Los Angeles Fire Department uses it to communicate with its firefighters, and the University of Texas at San Antonio sends updates to its students via tweets."

Type of information shared: URL’s (thank heavens for www.tinyurl.com), tips, information, Q & A, social (tweetup = meetup) and of course, arbitrary information (actually answering the question “what are you doing now?”).

Useful twitter tools and sites:

·         www.twitdir.com: to find top to follow

·         OutTwit: a twitter updater in outlook

·         http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fkd-Kft1xy8 (how to use twitter)

·         http://www.twitterlocal.net/ : filter out feeds for a certain geographical area

·         www.tweetscan.com : search for topics mentioned in all tweets eg. Comscore 

Since posting this, I have some new twitter links:

• www.twittersnooze.com : hit the snooze button on your hyperactive twitterati
• twistori.com: an interesting web social experiment searching and scrolling feeds based on emotive words like "love, hate, wish, believe, etc). Quite freaky!
• www.tweetdeck.com: good desktop software
• www.twitteriffic.com: iPhone app
• www.qwitter.com: get updates on who has decided to quit following you (grrr)
• twitter.com/mrtweet: great tool to get recommendation for new people to follow

UK readers: get a free Caffe Nero coffee! (or not)

Caffe Nero and BT are offering "buy one get one free" vouchers if you register on this link. It gets sent to you in 2 weeks (which is disappointing considering the 'instant gratification' offered by the web). Since its limited to 20,000 folks, I'm guessing they didn't build a smart tool to manually check addresses and quota's for the vouchers. People are still wary of the story of a UK wine merchant whose emails were spread virally offering 20% discount to the extent that they were unable to honour the offer (so I hear). There are those who believe the whole thing was a cleverly orchestrated PR stunt as well. I digress, go enjoy your free cuppa Nero blend now...

Or not!

UPDATE 30 APRIL: Since posting this, I have yet to receive notification of my voucher (today is April 30th). How ... pathetic! I've since checked my junk mail as well. What a shame that they successfully activated me to subscribe to this offer and then it fails on execution. Please do let me know if you have received such a voucher as I am interested to see if perhaps it just didn't work out for me. Sigh .... its back to Costa and Starbucks this week. 

UPDATE 1 MAY: I came home after posting the above paragraph to find a plastic clad brochure with card for a free coffee for redemption. Some direct marketer out there should consider a career change. How can it be a good thing to spend on printing, paper and postage .... while also making a consumer wait 20 days (!!) for just a free cuppa Java. The decision ws probably routed in fraud-prevention however its a shame that this or back office fulfillment resulted in poor execution.

Rick Rocking and Rolling

After I was Rickrolled this week by my brother (I was hoping to read about a cool presentation on new innovation at Google), today I discovered the Rickmob. Completely silly and equally hilarious. I coincidentally have a business meeting at Liverpool street on the afternoon of April 11th. Is anyone tempted to join me there? Would anyone like me to cover this event? I am so curious I just have to check it out. Also heard that even CNN have covered the upcoming event!

Better go and learn the words, just in case.... Join the facebook group.

Know Your Meme: The Rickroll - More amazing video clips are a click away

Do you prefer a virus or a bacteria?

I read in the Guardian on March 24th 2008, that the most eagerly awaited commercial of 2008 is the follow-up Cadbury's commercial of the gorilla playing the drums to Phil Collins' "Something in the air tonight".

The gorilla ad was created by Fallon. Without a single mention of chocolate, it was shared millions of times on the web. This must have been tremendous to all marketers at Cadbury's after a year in which Cadbury's had a salmonella outbreak, a recall of a £5m Trident gum campaign which was so offensive and a recall of Easter Eggs lacking in nut allergy warnings. My personal favourite is the Easter Egg hunt in the US which led people to a graveyard in Boston containing the remains of historic American figures!

So the ad created some positivity for Cadbury's although a mate of mine summed it up when he said "loved the ad and the viral marketing success story, still don't want to get the salmonella bacteria".

There's no doubt that this ad contained that X-factor that makes people want to watch it and share it. I'm also pretty sure that it created some positive company and brand equity for Cadbury's when it was much needed. I am left wondering 2 things at the moment:

• What impact did it actually have on brand equity and sales?
• How can the second ad try to replicate the same x-factor? (nice challenge for Fallon)
• How will it do? 
• What will the second ad sell more chocolates?
• Will there be a third ad? When do you stop?

My feeling at the moment is that there HAS been a positive impact on brand equity and sales, and I hope that Fallon can replicate the magic. I have just bought a second Bravia TV although I don't know if this is attributed to my belief in Sony's brand, design and superior quality or perhaps the results of consumer tests  which I read (the Bravia came out top) or maybe it *IS* my belief in it having colour.like.no.other (thanks to the balls, paint and rabbits ads).

What do YOU think about the questions above? Do you think I was influenced by the Sony Bravia advertising? I'd like to invite you to comment on this. Please, pretty please? Don't be shy.

Hot or Not (interested)?

On hearing about Facebook fatigue, I admit to being somewhat less interested in Facebook thesedays. My primary annoyance being the Superwall posts which are a (futile?) attempt to see who accesses your profile by forwarding a useless picture of something (e.g. a puppy) to EVERYONE on their friends list. Now if this actually works, please let me know, as I haven't had the guts to spam my entire list of friends whilst admitting my curiousity at the same time.

While I am also relieved to be given cocktails and voted someone's top best friend, I just don't know where people find the time. Moving right along, I guess I'm not the only one. Check out this Anti-Facebook anthem:

On a more serious note, people are using the different applications to different degrees. Thanks to Daria Radota Rasmussen at Social Hallucinations and Greg Verdino for providing some insight into how people use Facebook.

"Enhanced Communication" is in the number one spot .... but guess what's in the number 2 spot? A: "Social Comparison". Tsk tsk. What does that say about society? Next is "Playing Social Games" and in 4th position, "Social Selection". What??? I'll be honest, I'm not quite sure what this means, but it reeks of my high school basketball field (playground) where we used to hang in school breaks. The sweat starts to break on my forehead...

But moving back to the implications for marketing (and wrapping up), although Einstein once said, “Not everything that can be counted counts, and not everything that counts can be counted.” I feel that insight like this is another feather in the web's measurability cap when data like this becomes available!

Matt Damon, Ben Affleck and BEEEEEEP

The power of the web has provided a distribution channel for one of the funniest things I've seen in a long time. Sarah Silverman, girlfriend of Jimmy Kimmel (US talk show host) first released this video entitled "I'm F***ing Matt Damon".

8 Million views later .... Jimmy Kimmel released a response called "I'm F***ing Ben Affleck". I challenge you not to end up laughing at this one! Enjoy.

From Real Beauty to Surreal Warning

Check out this video warning women about the messages sent out by Axe advertiser in contrast to the Real Beauty messaging sent out by Dove (both Unilever brands).

Private Member Clubs hit the web but when will the web hit the clubs?

The latest newsflash is that facebook for the well connected, "aSmallWorld", are planning to open a London office. This social network is invitation-based only and purports to include the likes of Quentin Tarantino, Paris Hilton and Tiger Woods. There are apparently already 150,000 members.

I am of course on Facebook and Linked In, however I also have membership at Soho House and visited the swanky HOSPITAL yesterday. Both of these are very much for the film and media industries and across London, and they are dispersed and segmented by demographic, industry and entry fee. Take Home House for example, very finance and banking oriented with a cool £2,500+ fee p.a. (give or take a few hundred quid).

The big difference between these social networks and member clubs is the access. Free access on the web or fee-based and/or invitation-based in the real world (for use of the "club house" as well). The phenomenon of the private memberships now seems to converge with web-based social networks with A Small World. The mind boggles what is behind the closed doors and memories flash back to my teen years waiting in lines at clubs when the bouncers would decide your fate whether or not to let you in, making the area behind the door that much more lucrative and determining your social stature for the night.

Anyway, let me get to the point. I think the extension of the (private) members club to the web is a great logical extension of real world to web-based social networking.It would be really useful to somehow extend the existing clubs to the web or converge them with web networks.

I think I'm going to suggest that to someone. I'd like to be able to connect to other members of Soho House based on similar interests or projects and the web seems like a perfect platform for that. The barrier of simply walking across a room and extending my hand to a total stranger is still somewhat high for me, I confess.  It could be as easy as starting a facebook group. However I would expect the Club's website to be a logical place for this. It could easily integrate with the club events (although the 20 seats for the moving showing would disappear like hotcakes if an invite was placed into a member social network)!

Two questions remain. Firstly, does and will A Small World start opening up club houses and secondly, IF YOU ARE A MEMBER, CAN U PLEASE SEND ME AN INVITATION? :-)