I was lucky. I started on Twitter when it was still new, and just being on Twitter was a reason to connect to someone else.

By some accounts, it’s a different story now. In many ways Twitter is a busy, crowded marketplace with people struggling to get attention.

But Twitter wasn’t designed as a marketplace; it was designed as a person-to-person social network. The problems seem to arrive when we have a message to get across, or something to sell.

In a recent workshop where we were getting people onto Twitter for the first time, I tweeted:

“New tweeters … would you say it’s hard work to break in to the ‘in crowd’ on Twitter?”

I got some fascinating responses.

“What in crowd?”

The vast majority of responses asked “there’s an in crowd?” This was a mixture of people new to twitter and seasoned tweeters, and some of the responses were pretty funny:

(er, ignore the “rooftop” message … another benefit of Twitter, multiple conversations at once!)

Only two or three people said it was a bit hard at first:

Great analogy. And yet one of the secrets of Twitter success is in the tweet above from @spdalton: “…everyone I’ve met has been super nice and friendly.” Twitter works best when it combines with real-life meetings, whether that’s a one-to-one coffee meeting, or a more festive atmosphere like a Tweetup.

That’s the beauty of social media. It’s part of an ecosystem where the whole is greater than the sum of its parts. You’ll likely end up knowing the same people on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn and in real-world events. Social media just allows you to have more conversations in more different ways.

What if you live in Eketahuna or outside the country you want to reach? It’s harder but not impossible, and requires a bit more online time.

Rule 1: There are no rules. Just relationships. But here are a few tips:

• Find conversations where you have something of genuine value to add, that doesn’t involve selling your product. It’s counterintuitive, but you earn more trust when you just offer value and don’t stand to gain anything immediately.
• Click through to people’s profiles to learn more about them, including where they are, their bio and website link. Also make sure your profile gives people enough info about you – it really makes a difference because there are no other ways to get a fix on who you are.
• Take a long-term view. People buy from people they like, and how long does it take for someone to like you. Not five minutes. But not five years, either. Build relationships and look after people you connect with. As Zig Ziglar says, if you help other people get what they want, you’ll get what you want.
• Ask for help. (But get to know people first). If you’re just learning Twitter, and there’s something you don’t understand, ask your followers for help. Or, ask for opinion. That’s how this blog post came about; I asked my followers’ opinions.

So is there an in crowd on Twitter? Not if you follow the advice above.

How about you? How did you find your groove in Twitter – or are you still trying to? Or worse still, has Twitter not worked out for you? Love to hear your comments below.

(Photo from It’sGreg. Did you know ducks were inherently amusing?)

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Why do people use Twitter? That’s the question Sarah Moore wants to know for her academic research. So we thought we’d put the question out to everyone. Or rather, questions:

• Why do YOU use Twitter?
• What kinds of Twitter updates are of most interest to you?
• Do you follow any businesses on Twitter? Which of their Tweets are of most interest to you and why?
• In your experience, do many teenagers Twitter?  Why/why not?
• What does Twitter offer that other social networking sites (such as Facebook) do not?
• If you use Twitter for business purposes – what does Twitter offer your business?
• How do you think Businesses can make the most of Twitter?

You can send answers in the form of a tweet to @whytweetnz or email to sarahmooreblue@hotmail.com. Happy explaining!

(Photo credit: Brittany G)

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Can you fit weighty thoughts into just 140 characters? Find out:

I reviewed:

Twitterature

Think Tweet

Leadership Tweet

Quality Tweet

Also mentioned, The Best Ideas are Free, and ChangeThis, a source of much inspiration and cogitation!

Happy reading!

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What social media has been missing for a while is the ability to easily segment your network. Facebook allows you to create lists, but Twitter and LinkedIn have dragged the chain … until now.

Twitter is slowly rolling out a lists feature, that lets you put your contacts in specific lists. You’ve been able to do this already using desktop apps like Seesmic Desktop or Tweetdeck, but it’s great to have this built-in to the service itself.

What would be even better – particularly for larger networks – is intelligent segmenting. For instance, sometimes I’d just like to see my contacts who are in New Zealand, but at the moment I have to manually create a list. Still, it’s a good start.

LinkedIn has also introduced lists as part of its paid service, one of the first features I’ve seen that makes me seriously consider upgrading my account.

The way they’ve rolled it out is clever, too. Underneath all the usual options (Add this person to your network, Forward this profile, etc) there’s “Save [Name]‘s profile”. You get the opportunity to sign up for a 30-day trial, after which I don’t think many people will turn back.

Nice one, LinkedIn!

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Experimented upon!

Yesterday we were part of an experiment in collaboration, along with a group of senior executives and business owners as part of On-BRAND Partners‘ Executive Stretch er, thingy (programme? session? it was good, anyway!)

The exercise: brainstorm the bank of the future, in three separate groups, in three separate locations. We had On-BRAND’s internal forum to use for collaboration, as well as whatever else we could use.

“Whatever else we could use” for Marie and I meant Twitter. And yet we got very different results.

My results first, because they were appalling.

I tweeted the question: “In a collaboration exercise. Our question: if you run a small organisation, what do you need from a bank?”

I got three responses. And two of them were jokes!

Why?

Maybe Marie’s approach will give us a clue. She began by tweeting:

Hi Tweeps, I’m with a group of Executives, they’d like to ask you what would you like to see change in our banks?

She got around 30 replies! And to her credit, she kept both conversations going, online and off. How do you do that? Here’s what she did:

• Summarised replies coming in (eg: @Twonetweet Banks making less profit and really care for customers is another hot topic being discussed now)
• Asked clarifying questions
• Gave context. At the beginning, she said she was with a group of executives. At the end, she said “Thanks everyone for your feedback. These guys are staggered by your real time responses ”
• She also didn’t mention that it was an experiment. The way you say something is often as important than what you say.
  

And they were. Marie’s demonstration of the power of collaboration over a distance was better than any two hour presentation. And my poor showing was proof that it’s not about the technology, it’s about who’s using it.

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Twitter = more than just what’s for breakfast

Perhaps predictably (as a social media consultant), I disagree with Patrick Kershaw‘s verdict on Twitter in the NZ Herald this morning.

Twitter’s a fad, he says, and reaches so few relevant people as to be a big money-losing time suck.

Not sure where you’re getting your numbers (perhaps less than 250,000 users worldwide?) from, Patrick, but I read in Emarketer that Twitter predicts 18 million Twitter users in 2010.

Patrick also emphasises the importance of controlling others’ perception of you:

I believe it will become a science to manage your online presence, so that what people can find online is exactly what you want them to see. This goes for businesses as much as it does for individuals. And as Twitter is a very public forum, it goes directly against the rules I have for controlling my online presence.

He’s right that it’s a science (not just will be, online reputation management is already quite a science), he’s wrong that it’s possible – or even useful – to completely control it.

That’s because the revolution that we’re in the midst of thrives on transparency. The technology that’s being developed, and the culture that we’re forming, highly values authenticity and transparency.

Of course, that’s easy to say and hard to define. Everyone needs to reach their own comfort level with privacy, so they’re running the technology, not the other way around. It is possible to use Twitter in a small, private group, by protecting your updates. Not recommended, but absolutely possible.

That’s my two cents. NZBen has written a very gracious reply to Patrick on his blog, and it packs a punch, especially considering Ben was a Twitter sceptic once.

Also, some practical advice from Claire and GetFrank, two small NZ businesses using – and benefiting from – Twitter.

Ok, that’s my social media consultant, predictable-as-rain-in-Auckland answer. What’s yours? What did Patrick get right?

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Last week we asked on Twitter, “what should we blog about next?”

Nathaniel answered: “What comes after Twitter?”

Good question! And one that’s puzzling quite a few people.

We have two answers:

1. The Direct Answer

Two years ago, when iJump started, Twitter was a sideline curiosity, but one that we could clearly see was going to be big.

Now, Twitter is big – it’s huge, if you go by the amount of public awareness and media coverage. So what’s next?

There are no obvious contenders, although FriendFeed was vaguely interesting until its recent purchase by Facebook.

Why Friendfeed? Because it offered two very important things:

• the ability to filter the “noise” of everyone you know and group conversations
• the ability to follow conversations more easily than on Twitter

With FriendFeed now becoming part of Facebook, it’s possible Facebook will continue to evolve and be the platform it can be. It’s already way bigger than Twitter, with around 250 million users compared with Twitter’s 6 million .

There are plenty of other Twitter-like candidates out there (like Plurk, Identi.ca and Jaiku), most of which had their moment in the sun last year, and yet couldn’t shake the seemingly irrational loyalty Twitter garnered by being first.

The issue? People want to be on a social media platform with other people they already know, even if there’s a better alternative.

Remember Virb? A few people wanted me to join them on Virb because it was much, much better designed than MySpace (this is going back a while for MySpace to even be part of the conversation). But nice as it was, not enough other people I knew used it.

Which brings us back to what’s next after Twitter?

There’s no longer room for a new single platform. Whatever is next will need to combine the information from multiple places, putting the user back in control of their own life.

Wherever we go, whether we’re talking to 19-year-olds or 48-year-olds, the need is the same – to make meaning out of the chaos.

On a big picture basis, this ties into the trends of Generation C and Service-Dominant Logic mentioned in my Otago Lecture earlier this year.

2. The real answer

The most important answer is … it doesn’t matter that much for most people.

Investment in social technology is not like investing in developing a website. It’s not a lot of money and infrastructure, it is a lot of time and relationship-building.

Emphasis on the relationships. There’s a clue here.

As a Twitter user, I have relationships ranging from very close  to “I barely know you” with about 5000 people. If Twitter falls down tomorrow, I know that the people I need to be connected with most are also connected with me, through Facebook, Friendfeed, LinkedIn … or through my email address book.

It’s about the people, not the technology. Build long-lasting, meaningful relationships with people across different platforms. Reduce your dependence on a single platform and get to know your community better.

How about you? What’s on your “after Twitter” list?

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John Johnston (JJProjects) led the social media campaign for the World Wildlife Fund’s Earth Hour earlier this year. Find out the connection between success and letting go of your message!

Key learnings:

• 21st century marketing – whether it’s for a non-profit cause or for a business – is about you being of service to your audience. In the case of Earth Hour, JJ’s team were of service to people around the world who cared about the environment, and gave them resources to rally others to the cause.
• The way to scale your social media project is to share control with your audience. Try to control everything, and you’ll never be able to scale.
• There may be malicious or negative people who will try to sabotage, but this is largely self-correcting as your community stands up for you.

There’s a theme here of cooperating with your audience. It’s emerging in all sorts of aspects of business, as I discovered at the Auckland Tweetup on Friday night. Justin Flitter told me that Zendesk finds its staff among its greatest fans on the community forums. Our intern Courtney, who’s also a big fan of Giapo Icecream, found herself behind the counter serving a customer. An apt analogy for what’s happening now.

Will you let your customers behind the counter? When does this not work? Love to hear your thoughts, as always.

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Josie Campbell, Communications Manager at The EDGE Performing Arts Venue, tells us how she uses social media to build buzz and hold conversations with her customers.

Follow Josie on Twitter. And let us know what you think? How do you use social media for more than just one-way announcements?

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Vodafone loaned us the brand new HTC Magic for a couple of weeks. It’s the first handset in NZ to feature Google’s Android operating system. What does this mean? Find out.

For a more in-depth (ie: techie) review: see NZBen’s review.

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