Category Archives: Social Media

Drawing a Line in the Twitter Sand

Posted by Andy Boyer in Social Media

I still like Twitter.  I do not feel any shame about posting 140 characters from time to time at http://twitter.com/aboyer. (Or as they say…. @aboyer)

However, a line must be drawn.  When you go to an industry party, you put your name and company on your name tag.  You DO NOT put your Twitter name.  I’m sorry, I have to simply insist that putting your @address on your name tag is just weird, and a tad creepy.  Put it on your biz card, your email signature and your blog if you want.  But your name tag is for your name.  If we are at an event and you have @MyTwitterURL on your name tag, I will have to ignore you.  That’s just the way it is.  I have to set a limit to how far Twitter is allowed to spread.  Thanks for understanding.

KomoNews Gets Twitter (Sometimes)

Posted by Andy Boyer in Marketing, Seattle, Social Media

It’s almost lunch time, so perhaps I might head down to Dad Watson’s for a Voodoo Chicken sandwich.  But I am saved from being stuck in traffic by none other than KomoNews, who alerts me via Twitter (through my Digsby application) that there is a head-on crash on the Fremont Bridge.  

This is much more valuable than the story they reposted from the AP earlier today, and shows that they are kind of starting to get the local aspect.  Eventually, I believe they will have KomoNews_Seattle, KomoNews_Tacoma, and KomoNews_Wallingford (character issues notwithstanding) as a way for me to customize how niche I want the feeds to be.  But this is a good start.

Now, if you want just plain humor, go check out ChuckNorris_

Why 30+ Year Olds Have More Fun on Facebook than Our Junior Counterparts

Posted by Andy Boyer in Creative Writing, Personal, Social Media, Technology

I just don’t understand when people my age tell me, “Facebook is just for kids.”  I will argue that the best part about Facebook is in fact lost on these newbies, and us more mature folks are getting the best it has to offer.

To wit: My friend’s daughter is 15.  She has something like 700 friends.  Basically every person she has ever met is on her Facebook page.  There has never been a time in her life in which she was not keenly aware of what her people were up to.

No consider the 30-something year old who is tip-toeing into Facebook for the first time.  First he finds some work friends and maybe some folks he plays soccer with.  Then a few folks from his last job.  Then a few people from the town he used to live in, then college guys and then back to high school and elementary school.  People he hasn’t talked to or heard from in 20 years are now available.

I mention this because this has happened to me twice now in the last few weeks.  An old friend from college disappeared off the planet, reappeared on Facebook and it allowed us to have lunch and catch up.  Meanwhile, the next time I’m in New York in June, I will be able to meet up with a friend I last saw in New Orleans circa 1986.  

Now, today’s 15 year olds won’t get to enjoy this type of reunion.  So I’m sticking with my story – Lil’ Green Patches and SuperPokes may be fun and all, but it’s the reconnecting with long lost friends that makes Facebook as powerful as it is.

Suck it up Haters – Twitter is here for good

Posted by Andy Boyer in Marketing, Social Media, Technology

I know – it still makes no sense.  And it still sounds dumb to say you “Tweeted” something.

But there are times when you have to admit things.  Like when you realized the DVD was replacing the VCR, that EVERYONE would eventually have a mobile phone, blogging was going to be here forever, and you would never again buy music that didn’t come as an .mp3.

Twitter has reached that stage.  It is here to stay.  It has enough users now that business models are being built around it, even while it doesn’t have one of its own.  And here’s the thing – it doesn’t need one.  Someone will buy it.  If you won’t listen to me, read the charts below – the ones that show 800% growth YoY.  So go get your Twitter account and stop resisting.  It’s free, it’s easy and it’s fun.  Quit making fun of it and use it.

 

 

I Become an iLemming

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Marketing, Social Media, Technology

Well, I finally succumbed to the pressure.

Since it launched, I’ve seen proud and cheerful owners of the iPhone gleefully show off thier little toy.  In bars, in meetings, in lines at Starbucks, they tauntingly stick it into your face, showing you all the magical things it can do.

I resisted.  

I stayed true to my core Blackberry.  I like the Blackberry.  It’s easy to use.  I don’t need real time stock ticket updates or the best way to walk from the Space Needle to Palace Kitchen.  I need a phone and text, and maybe some Internet.

Saturday, something snapped.  

Suddenly I realized that the phone had changed.  I knew it before, but I finally admitted to the analogy that we’re in the mobile version of the shift from VCR to DVD, and I still owned a VCR.  And there is no reason to buy another souped up VCR.  It is no longer an issue of iPhone vs Blackberry.  It’s become an issue of mobile devices in 2009 and beyond, vs mobile devices in 2008 and prior.  I knew all of this already, but some light piece of straw finally made that camel’s back break.  And the camel asked for an iPhone.

Now I’m simply a junior member of the cult.  I look for and will listen to the teachings of those original iPhone disciples.  And I have to admit to myself that I’m more than a little excited to play with all the toys and gimmicks.  

Now, I haven’t yet stood in line and condescendingly scoffed at those simple “iNots” walking around with their pedestrian devices.  But I’m sure one day, as I breeze through Google Maps or order a video before boarding a plane, I’ll have that smug look of a full fledged cult member.  

If you are an iPhone Davidian and have a favorite “must-have” application, please let me know.

All Hail the Blogger In Chief

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Politics, Social Media, Technology

Inauguration day – Tears of joy, hope renewed and a feeling that we will all succeed.

Well, maybe that sentiment was felt by the general public as well, but anyone running a Social Media Marketing agency was even more pleased when the President of the United States proclaimed transparency was king and announced the White House would have a blog, communicating directly with its consumers/constituents in a conversational manner.

The news made waves around the Seattle Social Media community as well.  “Will he Twitter?”  “Will there be a White House YouTube Channel?”  “What new platforms will the White House use for Social Media?”

Any marketing effort that is being undertaken by the leader of the free world basically trumps every argument from any CEO rejecting Social Media as a valuable part of the marketing mix.  So thank you Mr. President.  You have already provided stimulus to one industry.

 

AOL Splits

Posted by Andy Boyer in Big Businesses, Social Media

We know that a number of companies are going to have to radically change their practices to survive this year.  In what could be the first “re-invention” of 2009, AOL appears to have split itself in two, blowing up the AOL brand in the process.

The new divisions are called MediaGlow and PeopleNetworks.  According to AdWeek, “MediaGlow encompasses a collection of 70 niche content sites launched in recent years, ranging from AOL Health to nonbranded properties like TMZ.com.”  it appears to be similar to Federated Media, a collection of web sites all served by a single ad network.

Meanwhile, “People Networks focuses on social media properties like Bebo and AOL Instant Messenger.”

The AOL portal is effectively gone, an acknowldgement that people are using search to land in their destination of choice, rather than having a single home page they visit every day.  

There are a number of other features that you can read about in the article.  Basically though, the old AOL is finally done.  It will be interesting to see if the new AOL properties become leaders in their new markets.

But How Much is My Facebook Page Worth

Posted by Andy Boyer in Marketing, Personal, Social Media

So Twitter doesn’t make a dime of revenue.  But there must be value there, since it’s extremely popular and nature abhors a vacuum.  So maybe I’m the one who should generate the revenue from it.  

For example, suppose Pepsi called me and wanted me to tell all my Twitter friends that Double Caffeinated Clear Blueberry Diet-Pepsi was a one calorie blow pop of hyperactive goodness.  How much would I charge them?

Well lucky for me, I can go to TweetValue.com and get an estimate.  Turns out all my 60 or so Twitter friends are worth a measley $18.  Which actually sounds like a lot of money to me because it’s around to a $300 CPM.  Pepsi media buyer, call in the next 48 hours and I’ll give you a special deal price of $10 for each January tweet, and we’ll see how it goes.  

Maybe one day I can get as valuable as Shaquille O’Neal’s Twitter feed, which is a reachable $302. Barack Obama’s value of $41,000 seems a little unattainable.

But, I do wonder what would I get to message my Facebook friends?

Why Models Don’t Run PR Agencies

Posted by Andy Boyer in Personal, Social Media

So someone writes something nasty about you on a blog no one reads.  What do you do?

a) Ignore it 

b) Write a post on your own blog explaining why the other post is libelous

c) Do some personal SEO work so that you can bury the post on Google under a list of your own links

d) File a lawsuit so that the post goes super public across the blogosphere, letting everyone in the world link to the post that says the nasty things about you, and making it the number one link that shows up when people Google you for the next 20 years?

If you answered A, B or C, then we can have a reasonable conversation.  If you said, D, then you are model Liskula Cohen and are not familiar with how the world of Social Media works.  According to this Mediapost article, “Cohen alleges that she was defamed by the blog Skanks in NYC. The entire blog consists of five posts, all dated Aug. 21 that jab at Cohen.”  Note that the posts came out in August 2008, and if anyone cared about it then, they certainly don’t care now.  But, Cohen has managed to grab the remains of that flame, fan it, dump gasoline on it, and insert half a forest into the campfire.  Well done.

On a side but not totally irrelevant note, this is an important lesson in why you need to spend the $50 a year to own the url’s of your name, to register yourname.everyblog.com, to have basic profiles on Ning, LinkedIn, Naymz, Biznik, etc….and lock down yourname@everyemailaddress.com.  Because, you just never know when you may be named to a blog like Skanks of NYC and need to bury the link when people Google you.

If the Snow Didn’t Convince You…

Posted by Andy Boyer in Marketing, Social Media

Widespread economic panic, destruction of everyone’s retirement accounts, home prices through the floor, a holiday snowstorm paralyzing the country, and David Hasselhoff singing the national anthem at a bowl game.  If this wasn’t enough to convince you that the world is off its rocker, I bring you the Shorty Awards.

Thankfully, this is not a reference to the Hip Hop community’s favorite groupies.  But it is a ceremony for the best “Twitterers.”  Yes, if you can constantly come up with 140 characters of witty banter, you can be nominated.

So far I see Darth Vader and Peggy Olsen (pretending to be the Peggy Olsen from Mad Men) are nominated, along with many of the old Web 2.0 stand-bys that you’d expect to see nominating each other.  If you’ve never used Twitter, this might be a place to see what all the short-form hubbub is about.