Saturday 21 February 2009

Twitter - What's It All About!!????



I have been meaning to write a blog post about Twitter since the beginning of Feb. I even got as far as making a few notes and doing a bit of reading around, but somehow work and life over took me and I just didn’t get any further…

But having woken up inexplicably early this Saturday morning I find myself with a few rare moments of spare time and thought I would grab the opportunity to write a blog post…

I thought I should write a blog about Twitter, especially since it is very much in the news at the moment and a certain buzz surrounds this latest Web 2.0 phenomenon.


So, Let's Start With The Basics - What is Twitter?

According to Wikipedia Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users' updates (otherwise known as Tweets), which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter)

I think that I agree with this as a factual definition of the tool, but as with all tools, what makes it interesting is what you do with it and how you use it.


What is Twitter For?

The answer to this question is more subjective, but I thought a good place to start would be to ask my peers on Twitter for their thoughts:

RESEARCH: What is Twitter for? A business tool, self/company promotion, Socializing, making friends, Water Cooler, research, news...????

I received some interesting feedback, but two responses in particular struck a chord with me and are representative of the way in which I use Twitter.

jamesward @GeorgiaBrown Twitter is for all of those, but for me, mostly a network of professional peers, many of whom I wouldn't meet otherwise.

monicatailor @GeorgiaBrown ditto @jamesward 's reply and I find the relationships are stronger because there's more interaction

For me Twitter represents a community of peers with whom I can communicate, share my thoughts and ideas, ask questions and receive help, support or feedback. I tend to follow those with whom I share a common interest, but within the context of the Twitter community this has tended to revolve around technology and therefore I find myself surrounded by a community of professional peers.


So, What Should I Tweet and Why?

To the newcomer I believe the first thought is ‘What the heck (or some other more !*$!?@! type of word) is going on here!!?!??’, followed by ‘Oh, I get it!! This is just like Facebook’s “status” functionality’. In my opinion there is a common misconception that Twitter is all about ‘presence’, i.e. publicising what I am doing now and where am I doing it. These type of updates do play a role in the twitter community, but beware Twitter is PUBLIC, you are not broadcasting to a select (or even not-so-select) number of friends that you have chosen, with Twitter your audience is GLOBAL! So think carefully, do you really want the world and his wife knowing what you are up to on a drunken night out, or even that you are off on holiday and that your house is empty!!?

Twitter’s setup enables you to share whatever content you like with the world at large and receive comment and feedback on that content. If people like what you say they will ‘Follow’ your Twitter feed. However in my opinion the fun really starts when you start to Follow other people who have something to say that you are interested in and so a community with common interests begins to take shape.


So, What Do I Use Twitter For?

I like to use Twitter to share information I find interesting or useful in the hope that others will benefit. For example I recently did a quick bit of research on the best buy pay-as-you-go 3G mobile broadband dongle. I took notes on my Blackberry using Twitterberry and published my findings as I went. I got loads of good hints, tips and feedback from my peers and I was able to refer back to my notes before making my ultimate choice and purchase.

I also like to use Twitter as a micro-blogging tool, in the past when I attended events I used to take copious notes (I guess this is just something that is in my nature), anyway when I started blogging I found that it was useful for me to write these notes up and share them with others who had an interest in the event or the subject matter. However, this can be time consuming and often other work/personal commitments wouldn’t permit me the opportunity to do this in a timely manner. I realise that when reporting on events we are increasing expecting content to be delivered immediately and so it was a logical move for me to use Twitter to report live from events. I have had some excellent feedback on my initial experiments and I continue to refine my methods.

There are many opportunities to use Twitter for marketing and promotion, many feel that it has become one of the most important and effective business tools available. However, I think that there is an increasing and evolving movement on Twitter to discourage shameless and unrelenting self-promotion, I would suggest that whatever you use Twitter for that you are clear about your purpose. If you want to point people at your latest post, ask a question or provoke a reaction, then that is fine, but be upfront about what it is you are saying/promoting/asking. If you want to talk about the progress of your business, products or services, then set up an account for that purpose (we have setup twitter.com/phonefromhere), if people are interested in this content then they will follow you. Clearly marking or flagging content makes it easier for your followers to filter out the parts that don’t interest them and more importantly pick out the bits that do!

If you are using a personal account, think about whom you are presenting, and the image you wish to portray. It may be that an avatar or onscreen identity would suit you better than your real name and photo. I want to use my Twitter account to talk to and converse with a community of my peers, raise awareness of who I am and what I do, but ultimately I am looking to develop a network of professional peers. Therefore it is important to me that my identity translates from online to offline and for this reason I use my own name and picture (twitter.com/georgiabrown).


Where is Twitter Going?

Twitter is becoming increasingly mainstream:

“Twitter has been used as a "social justice tool" to connect groups of people in critical situations. On April 10 2008, James Buck, a graduate journalism student at UC Berkeley, and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested in Egypt for photographing an anti-government protest. On his way to the police station Buck used his mobile phone to send the message “Arrested” to his 48 "followers" on Twitter. Those contacted UC Berkeley, the US Embassy in Cairo, and a number of press organizations on his behalf. Buck was able to send updates about his condition to his "followers" while being detained. He was released the next day from the Mahalla jail after the college hired a lawyer for him.”

“In January 2009, US Airways Flight 1549 ditched in the Hudson River after takeoff from LaGuardia Airport in New York City. Janis Krum, a passenger on one of the ferries that rushed to help, took a picture of the downed plane as passengers were still evacuating and tweeted it via TwitPic traditional media arrived at the scene.” (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twitter)

There are some great Twitter applications out there and more to come is my guess; some are designed to help you use Twitter more efficiently, including TweetDeck, Twitterrific and Twitterberry. Others are designed to add functionality and enable us to make the most out of the service, including TwitPic and Tweetertags. Finally there are those mashups designed purely to help us enjoy the fruits of our labour such as Twittervision.

You can also follow an increasing number of celebrities, Stephen Fry and Jonathan Ross have been dedicated Twitter users for a long time and now you can even follow the PM (twitter.com/downingstreet)!!


Twitter – There Goes The Neighbourhood!!!??

Unfortunately I feel that the Twitter crowd is changing, the influx of celebrities such as Chris Moyles, Radio1 DJ and singer Lilly Allen brings with them a new era of Twitter. The phrase “Life Imitates Art” springs to mind… in our media hungry culture ‘the masses’ hang on to every word of those labelled celebrity, they follow every detail of their lives all widely documented in the press.

Could it be that Twitter is morphing into an online version of Heat or OK magazine… As the celebrities flock to Twitter to publicize their latest show, song or even fund raising campaign, they build upon their public profile, develop their ‘brand’ and popularity and so the masses come to ‘Follow’ their every Tweet!

That is all fine of course, but my question would be what does it contribute to the community? For me it has created a lot of ‘noise’ on Twitter, which has made it harder to pick out the content of real value and worth to me. Is it time to move on?

Monday 2 February 2009

Tweet Report – Northern Startup 2.0

Last week as many of my Twitter followers and Facebook friends will have noticed that I tried my hand at micro-bloging. Using TwitterBerry to commentate live from the Northern Startup 2.0 event (http://www.nwstartup20.co.uk/Jan09), held in Manchester at the offices of Horwath Clark and Whitehill. To mark my Tweets and ensure they could be found easily they were all marked with event hash tag #NS20.

My efforts to provide coverage of the event received a really positive reaction and I got some great feedback from Twitter users both attending the event and those following the feed from home.

markstrefford: @GeorgiaBrown #ns20 excellent stuff!

oceanician: @GeorgiaBrown updates were really useful.Might do an app that takes twitter updates from a channel, that allows later comment.Hmm ideas...

stevelivingston: @GeorgiaBrown #NS20 Thank you for your coverage of the event. Really disappointed not to make it but this made up for it. Much appreciated

AlexGoldstone: @GeorgiaBrown #NS20 Like I was there in the room... Thanks! Impressed that your thumbs made it to the end.

Afterwards I thought it might be a good idea to try and post the relevant feed to my blog for future reference, I wasn’t sure about the Twitter etiquette for this so I asked my followers:

GeorgiaBrown: Question: I micro-blog #NS20 event, 1st go at this. feedback good! Now should I copy n paste feed into blog post for future record n comment

StardotGarf: @GeorgiaBrown blog it! (i couldn't keep up with you last night.. a handy ref point would be good). sounded like a good event.

markstrefford: @GeorgiaBrown yes, i would. then tweet the url.

Based on this response I attempted to copy and paste the relevant tweets from my Twitter feed and format them ready to post as a blog. This has proven to be more difficult than I anticipated. Posts in Twitter appear in reverse order and after trying to flip the order of the Tweets using several tools I gave up and did it manually, which took quite a bit of time and effort!

Anyway I think it was worth it as the result provides a handy reference point for this event that can easily be referred to and commented on at a later date. But fingers crossed that @
oceanician comes up with an app that will simplify this process for another time!

Northern Startup 2.0 - 28 Jan 2009

http://twitpic.com/18b9w - Late for #NS20 !! Hot footing across town... Tweet n go!!
about 24hrs ago from TwitPic


#NS20 phew made it, quick chat with @mbites impressed with the redevelopment of #Manchester. Just settling in for the event. Good turnout.
about 24hrs ago from
TwitterBerry

#NS20 manoj doing intro - is this a good year to be a startup - audience say yes!! It has to be!!
about 24hrs ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 daresbury innovation campus now sponsoring, some Momentum building with the event.
about 24hrs ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 Now a few (more) words from our sponsors ... First Flight, BBC, eOffice, Horwath Clark Whitehill, Sun Startup Essentials... Edocr!
about 24hrs ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 brand new BBC Dragons Den, only online!! Seeking upto £50K investment/seed. Pilot online by March. Submit 3min pitch, best go on web!
about 24hrs ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 @mbites talking about the changing landscape of investments made in the tech startup industry - peaked - summer of love ended!
about 24hrs ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 @mbites no big exits 3 - 5 years. Best source of funding is your customers! I agree, that is the way @phonefromhere are going too!
about 24hrs ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 BTW loving micro-blogging at the event, appologies to my Facebook viewers for filling their pages with my status updates -auto updates
about 23 hours ago
from TwitterBerry


http://twitpic.com/18c2a - @mbites talking at #NS20 @GeorgiaBrown gets personal mention... Yey!
about 23hrs ago from TwitPic

#NS20 so which business will work? Niche social networks, smart advertising, mobile (really this year might be the year of the mobile!)
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 more business predicted for sucess, online gaming, social shopping
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 @mbites -social media web 1.0 find, web 2.0 friend, web 3.0 follow - twitter is new social media. Other businesses adopt follow model
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 we are part of #Europe take full advantage ... @mbites running out of time
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 zoe lock technology stratergy board up next. £1billion 2 invest over 3 yrs. But will be very strategic. Look 4 growth sectors of tomoz
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 driving innovation, make connections, support connections act as a catalyst. Challenge led innovation will take 50% of the funding
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 aim to understand the challenges of the market and use technology to meet need. Set up uk companies to meet these types of req in gov
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 grants 2 consortia 2 conduct research n development. 100 of projects on go, range of sizes. Can they support us? Check this out!
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 build communities n networks in the UK, support innovative UK businesses www. Innovateuk.org
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 calibre one james brocken (sp?) Looking at the market downturn, pretty bad. Catastrophic loss of value across markets!
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 tech venture in US vs Europe, US much larger scale, but since the peak US now not investing at all still capital in Europe 2 invest
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 great business r built in tough times. Great product combined wiv great investment allow growth n great people. Peeps is most impotant
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 great people, need vision, track record, well networked, pragmatic, stratigic, relevant exp... Look beyond CV recruit the person
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 when looking to recruit think of people in your network, get good people to congregate around your biz - I think this is great advice!
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 when you identify someone you want, share the wealth, be realistic!
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 when attending events b aggressive set yourself target get 10-20 business cards. Get out there n talk 2 people. Its not easy we no!
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 sort out elevator pitch 30 seconds, don't bore them follow up quickly, but it takes time to build relationships. Romance!!! :-)
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 Business Link - grant for business investment, venture and loans from NWDA. You will need a biz plan, they can help you write one.
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 business investment 'gone tits up over the last 3 months!!'
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 can offer help support and training how to set up business. High Growth programme, Knowledge 2 Innovate, NWDA grant for Research n dev
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 Innovation Vouchers next batch issued beginning of Feb, winners picked out of hat!! 3K money to spend with a knowledge provider.
about 23 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 it seems to me from that presentation there is a lot of help out there if you know where to look for it!! Good news :-)
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 @edfrench enterprise ventures - 40 early stage companies invested in. So sucess some failiure. There is still investment 2 b had in UK
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 what is in the head of a VC, predict using imperfect knowledge of the biz and the VC. Looking for less risk n large returns.
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 VCs realise may need 2 support existing deals for longer, less money left to invest. Now looking 2 invest less with v high returns
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 @edfrench, showing how climate effecting the chance of investment and chance of ultimate sucess - it doesn't look good!!
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 improve your chances of investment by adding the right people. Avoid non-execs who are too corporate need them to have venture exp
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 Make sure your biz is focused. Not 1% of 1billion market, in real terms look for 20% of a smaller more focused market segment.
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 communicate, make sure people can understand your business straight away!! Speak their language!
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 quick break, now onto the next segment, QnA panel. BTW welcome to all my new followers on Twitter - Hello!!
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 question to @edfrench is non-exec with skin in game more powerful than without-Can b advantage shows endorsment but can lead 2 dispute
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 non-exec n techie in a startup is basically like a marriage!!! - woooh got tweeters thumb ache now!!
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 hire slowly, fire quickly! It seems very difficult for biz in UK to fire people - hire slow slow. Google now carry out 12 interviews!!
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 Zoe building networks in tech industry, currently have 4 tech networks, join for free n attend free events. Big players are linked in
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 use social media, facebook n twitter, useful for getting message out and into the global cloud. Useful 2 prebrief and target prelaunch
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 @mbites gets pitched all the time, fine with that it happens, part of the job!! Pitch quick and make heads turn. Go uk startups Go!
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 BBC rep pitching his own startup!!! Lol he is also filming on behalf of BBC - did they know? They do now! whoops! Oh well got a laugh!
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 @edfrench lots of sucessful biz, eg Twitter aren't clear how they will make money out of there huge user base-VCs now less interested
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 @mbites biz angel investors will be more important in the early stage high growth biz. No point in putting cash in bank!!
about 22 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 angels tend to invest when they see that you have good offering, but they have the expertise to fix the problems you have identified!
about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

http://twitpic.com/18dlc - half the crowd at #NS20
about 21hrs ago from TwitPic

#NS20 startups for slaughter! Talent on View represented by Lisa. Hot house this startup in 10 mins!!
about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

http://twitpic.com/18dmq - Q&A Panel at #NS20
about 23hrs ago from TwitPic

#NS20 Talent on View - web based video tool for recruitment market. 23000 agencies in the UK alone. Video profiling. Niche social network.
about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 TalentOnView-identify where revenue from? Which opportunities 2 go for? Pick sector n focus! Pick high potential partners n SELL NOW!
about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 TalentOnView - worried about missing one of the opps. What about franchise or licence 2 of the opps?? Reseller network in place.
about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 TalentOnView, should focus on most profitable, n share benefits of the other 2 opps with someone who can free up necessary resource!
about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 wrapping up any min and heading to Revolution for networking - unfortunatly I can't stick around tonight, but great event @Manoj
about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry

#NS20 hope Tweet Report was useful, feedback please, was it too much? Too little? Not enough opinion? What should I do next time? Pls tell!
about 21 hours ago from TwitterBerry