Twitter's Update on Enduring Value

Yesterday, Twitter gave an update on where they see the service heading and how they're going to build a long-term product. While there were several components to their message, one stuck out in my mind a little bit more.

While Twitter has constantly struggled to demonstrate a viable business model, the recent announcement of Promoted Tweets has excited some and dismayed others. What Twitter said yesterday is as follows:

"...aside from Promoted Tweets, we will not allow any third party to inject paid tweets into a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API."

I think Twitter is making the right move here. While they are initially turning down the potential for short-term revenue, they're more focused on preserving their existing user-experience over the long haul. I think that demonstrates maturity on the part of the higher-ups at Twitter. Many companies are looking for their quick cash out which unfortunately often comes at the expense of user satisfaction and experience. Most people don't want to see ads, especially ones that are put in by third parties that may bombard the user and not provide value. I think most people are willing to put up with some ads, considering Twitter is completely free to anyone right now.

Of late, certain companies ::cough Facebook cough:: have made changes to their policies at the expense of their userbase. I think Twitter is seeing what these other companies ::cough Facebook cough:: are doing and are trying to avoid the negative backlash associated with it. They've got the vision to take this slowly and not jump to a quick and easy pay out at the first chance.

I hope other companies take note of the fact that it is their extensive and loyal userbases that have brought them to where they are now. To navigate the landscape successfully, they need to take the wishes and feelings of their users into account. Making brash and significant changes without user input (and making it difficult for users to preserve their existing experience) can only lead to feelings of distrust and negativity.

'Yer doin' it right: Kodak

So today I sat in on a twebinar (yes, that's Twitter webinar) sponsored by the monitoring tool Radian6 and Kodak.  Kodak was explaining how they've been adopting social media tools into their company and how it's working for them.  Put simply, I was BLOWN AWAY.

The way they described what they were doing and how they've been approaching it was just awesome.  (Keep in mind that they never actually mentioned how they use Radian6 at all, just how they were taking advantage of the tools out there.  That gets props for both Radian6 and Kodak in my book.)

Kodak has their employees, some of whom are just regular folks and others who are geeky camera enthusiasts, blogging, tweeting, and engaging all across the social web.  These are passionate people; not everyone in the company does it and it's not necessarily the marketing or PR people. These people are authentic and "real."  They show off their personalities and don't only talk about camera and photo stuff.  They share what's going on with their lives and often don't mention Kodak at all by name. 

One great quote from the Kodak speaker, @tomhoehn, was that "you can't outsource real."  I could not agree with this more.  This is what companies and individuals have to understand.  An agency cannot be you.  Only you can be you.  Only you know how you talk, your life's story, your hopes, dreams, wishes, and fears.  That will never come across through an agency.  An agency or consultant can guide you and show you how things work but they can't replace you.  You're the expert on your subject and you're the expert on you!  Not to mention the amount of time and level of connectedness you need to have which brings me to another point.

These guys understand Sweat Equity.  As a student of the Gary Vaynerchuk School of Hustlenomics, I couldn't have been happier to hear this.  Tom admitted that it takes a lot of work and effort and time to keep up their engagement and interaction.  That means doing things at home and after hours.  He knows that if they didn't all work so hard, they'd never be successful.  A lot of people miss that when it comes to social networking.  They think that just because they have a Facebook profile, that magically they're going to have a community that cares about them.  Sorry, but if you build it, they may not come.  In new media, you get what you put into it.  As @garyvee would say, you have to "bleed through your eyeballs" if you want to be successful.  Again, an agency can't be you just from an authenticity/quality/morality standpoint and they definitely can't keep your schedule.  They can't be you.  This is hard work, but if you want to be successful, you have to do it yourself.

One final point that Tom made regarding ROI which is that he's "having the same conversations about ROI & social media that I had in 1996 about the internet."  I'm feeling similarly.  Many people just don't see how powerful these things are.  I'm sure people said the same exact things about telephones when they first came out.  This doesn't mean you shouldn't measure things but make sure you don't forget the bigger picture- you have powerful tools for engagement that can help you learn more about your company/brand, your field, and have your customers/fans learn about you.  This is a mutually beneficial exchange, but only if you play the game.

One woman from Kodak, whose name I'm blanking on (sorry!), explained how that by engaging their customers on blogs and forums, they've actually received amazing feedback which they have then TAKEN BACK TO THE PRODUCT TEAMS!  Not only did they just take this feedback back to them, but they used it to actually implement improvements to their products.  This set my heart a-flutter!  Your customers are out there telling you the product they want, all you have to do is listen, engage, and then make those changes.

I was honestly shocked to hear a big corporation explain that they truly get it.  I think Kodak is going to be very successful and I think they feel that they already are.  I think it's safe to say that I definitely have a social media crush on Kodak right now!

Bulldog Reporter Session "New PR" with Brian Solis

Today, I was fortunate to attend a seminar sponsored by Bulldog Reporter on the next generation of PR featuring Brian Solis.  Brian is a well-respected PR guy who has been working with and building communities since the mid-1990s.  Brian's Conversation Prism has been widely circulated around the web and I think is an awesome tool. (Disclosure: Jess3, the team responsible for the visualizations of the Conversation Prism, are one of our vendors at Widmeyer.)  Two things really stuck out for me in the presentation:

The Prism was actually a featured part of the presentation as Brian demonstrated how many people, when first getting going with social media, seem to only think of Twitter and Facebook when it comes to what sites they're going to use.  The Prism is a fantastic visualization and tool that reminds you that there's more out there than just those two sites.  Its broken into different sections based on categories of sites including video, reviews & ratings, image, document, blog platforms, microblogging, music, and many others.  The Prism features all the major networks and tools that are out there and really is a great way to remind yourself just how many different networks there are out there.  It's important to consider these when developing a strategy for engagement and presence.  There are many that get neglected but may be in fact better places for your brand to engage if that's where the conversation is taking place.  The takeaway is that the conversation is bigger than any social network.  There are many networks that get left out because they aren't as sexy as the big ones.  But after analyzing where the discussions around your brand are taking place, these may actually be more appropriate.

Brian also discussed his measurement tactics and tools.  One that he worked on with the folks at PeopleBrowsr, that looks awesome and I'm definitely going to start using, is a project crafted around brands.  It's a FREE tool for measuring sentiment.  For the most part, Brian's setup seems to be manual when he's getting started learning about what's going on with a brand.  I'm actually not surprised at all; I've mostly relied on manual work myself.  While tools like Radian6 can provide some neat things, there's still really no all-encompassing solution for social media monitoring.  And definitely not one that's automatic.  I certainly hope more tools are developed that can automate the process but for now, I think the best dashboard is a combination of tools.

Brian gave way more info and knowledge than I can share here, but I definitely recommend checking him out and seeing his perspective on the way public relations is changing.

Ghost in the Post

David Mullen has a great post on social media's gray areas and how agencies are tackling them with their clients.  I think this is a topic worthy of discussion and I'm not sure how much it's brought up at different agencies.

I am personally squarely in the camp of not having ghost writers.  New social networking tools have changed the way the world communicates- not just how brands communicate, but also how individuals communicate. 

When I send a message to a 'friend' on Facebook, I expect that the response that comes from that person is actually from them- not their aunt, or their brother, or their boss.  When I send a direct message to someone on Twitter, I expect the same.   Most people I know started using social networking tools in their personal lives, well before people tried to start using them for business. 

I was lucky to be at one of the first schools to have Facebook.  When it first started making its way across campus, the excitement was genuine.  And that's because people were connecting with each other.  They were making friends, joining groups and clubs, learning.  The point is that it was raw and real.  I never believed that someone I 'friended' was anyone but themselves.

I think that the way people have come to engage on social platforms necessitates this sense of rawness.  If I'm going to read something on a corporate blog or Facebook page or Twitter account, I expect that what's coming out is from that brand, not their agency.  What helps people connect with others, whether it's another person or a brand is that sense of rawness.  It's not just about authenticity- you can have authenticity without having rawness.  It's pointing out a great movie you just saw or a super hilarious LOLcat that you just had to share.  It's being able to take a joke about yourself or your brand and then being able to dish one right back.  If you have someone else pushing out content who doesn't eat, sleep, and live your brand, how are you going to get that?

I think the decision ultimately rests with the client, but if I'm a good agency person, I know what I'm recommending.  Where do you stand?