Red Is A Flavor

Twitter is the hottest thing on the net right now, but it can easily get overwhelming when you follow a large number of users.  Many people, including myself, have utilized Yahoo’s powerful Pipes mashup tool to make feeds and interfaces to help wade through all of the data.

Never heard of Yahoo Pipes?  It is a composition tool to aggregate, manipulate, and mashup content from around the web.  It has a very easy to understand (and memory intensive) user interface, that illustrates the dataflow from module to module.

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Basically, if the data you want can be obtained via RSS, XML, ATOM, etc, you can integrate it into your mashups.  But chances are someone has already built a pipe to do anything you need, as there are thousands of pipes using data from all over the web.  Yahoo allows any piped to be “cloned” as your own, so find something similar to what you need, clone it then tweak it how you see fit.

As far as Twitter goes, here are some of the more interesting ones that have been cloned often.

Tweets Nearby - See the tweets happening near a Twitter user's location.

Friends Name Alphabetical – Helps overcome a simple flaw on twitter, when you have a large number of followers.

Twitter Friend's Favorites – Easy way to see the “favorite tweets” of people you follow.

Local Twitterstars - This pipe returns the most-followed Twitter users from a geographic region.

True Twitter Friends – Shows all twitter’s who you’ve had a conversation with.

Twitter Monitor - A twitter observer. Simply enter a keyword you want to monitor and it will mashup data from terraminds, tweetscan, twemes and summize.

Social Media Firehose - This is a social media search for tracking brand or product mentions on a slew of social media sites, including flickr, twitter, friendfeed, digg etc. It taps into their search APIs directly, so it's much more immediate and comprehensive than say, Google alerts.

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Yesterday, someone in my building spotted my Twitter Badge (my follow me cards in my badge holder), and asked me about it.  This person's interest was a result of the Ashton/Oprah/CNN media storm.

I spent a few minutes trying my best to explain what it "is" and how I use it.  I tried my best to illustrate it is not just about bowel movements and breakfast activities.  I explained the "conversation", the "observe before diving in" mantra, and the benefits of the 144 character limit.   But afterward, I could tell it didn't click.

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After walking back into my office, I immediately wrote "need twitter elevator pitch" in my moleskine.  It was to be one of my goals of the week; to write my thirty second sales pitch.   This was not the first nor will it be the last time I'll be asked about Twitter.

For the last couple of days I've been looking at that entry, wondering how I should go about this.  What is the best way to sell the concept of Twitter to a "lay user".  I recalled most of the blogs I've read and videos I've watched about twitter, but none explained the "benefit" to those not already connected in some fashion to other Social Media.

Thinking back to all of those past "what is twitter conversations" I've had, the most successful ones were those when I showed the power of Twitter, sort of like a magic trick.

The Photo out of Thin Air Trick

First, ask the person about something they are really into.  Try to steer them into something relevant to the day, like a conference, sports game, or TV show.

Then, bring up the Twitter Search or a client with search capabilities, and search their topic.  Try to find a TwitPic tweet posted in the past few minutes and you will really blow them away, especially if the topic is an event that is going on right at that moment.

Example:
This happened to me last night, while at a baseball game.  One of the parents was saying how he was missing the Fleetwood Mac concert that his wife and daughter were going to.  I quickly searched "fleetwood OR amway" (they were playing at the Amway arena), and found quite a few people tweeting from all over the concert crowd.  I was able to show him images of the band taking the stage, as it was happening.   When his wife called and told him the same thing, he surprised her by saying he already knew, thanks to Twitter.

The All-Knowing Wizard Trick

Next time you hear something like "I wonder what's going on over there", answer their question with Twitter.  It is very likely someone is tweeting it.

Example:
While driving past a local high school late at night last weekend, I noticed all sorts of tents setup on the football field with the stadium lights on.  One quick search on Twitter of the school name, showed someone tweeting about the fundraising event being held there.  So I immediately knew what was going on.  Try that with your local paper, news, or even Google.

Bottom Line - Relate Twitter to "Their" Lives

It is hard to quantify Twitter's benefits without showing how is applies to someone personally and how they can benefit from it.   Twitter functions like millions of eyewitness news reporters, reporting on topics they care about.  This immediately peaks their interest and shows the power of the community, of which they can be part of it.

So, what is my Twitter Elevator Pitch?  "It's Instant Magic...Just watch this..."

[Image: pokpok313 via Flickr]

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Occasionally, I like to search for phrases on Twitter search, here are some of my favorite ones and some sample tweets.

"Lost my Virginity" 

  

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"Diarrhea"

"I'm Pregnant"

 

"I ran into a..."

 

I could do this all night.  Can you think of any good ones?  Post them in the comments.

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Taking the queue from John Jantsch and Chris Brogan; here is my personal Social Media System

The Tools

• Internet Explorer 8.0, 7.0 and FireFox 3
• MS Outlook 2007 (at work because we are forced to)
• OperaMini
• Asus 1000h eeePC (w/Gmail and Docs offline)
• Gmail (Google apps for Domain)
• Native Nokia E62 Email Client
• WirelessIRC (Symbian IRC/Twitter app)
• TweetDeck
• Google Reader
• Flickr Uploader
• Delicious Plugin
• Olympus 720SW - Small, Waterproof, Shock Proof, durable!
• xShot 2.0

The Workflow

• Constant (all day) - Monitor Email
• Constant (all day) - Add links to Delicious (via various sources)
• Constant (all day) - Taking pictures
• Constant (evenings) - Monitor Twitter stream using TweetDeck
• Two/Three times Daily - Read/Skim my 200+ blog subscriptions.  Share posts, which are pushed to Facebook.  Star items that I want to dig into a little deeper.
• Six-Ten times Daily (daytime) - Check in on my Twitter feed using WirelessIRC
• Daily - Check in on Facebook
• Daily (or less) - Check in on MySpace
• Daily - Review my photos of the day.  Select the "photo-of-the-day" and upload to Flickr (which is pushed to twitter)
• Daily - Check out my network's photos on Flickr
• Daily - Check in on Google Analytics, Adsense, and Adwords performance
• Daily - Review my Google Alerts
• Daily - Review Stared Google Reader Items for followup, research, etc.
• Weekly - Check in on LinkedIn, search for Questions to Answer
• Weekly - Check in with Affiliate programs for new opportunities
• Bi-Weekly - Check MrTweet's recommendations

Summary

The most powerful, and underutilized tool in my Social Media toolbox, is easily Twitter.  The fact that I cannot access it via my work PC, and that I'm only armed with a limited phone app, greatly limits my "daylight hour" interactions.

Also, the fact that I'm forced to use MS Outlook for my work email client greatly cuts down on my productivity at work.  I'm constantly cussing at Outlook and Exchange because I cannot find things.

The most streamlined tool in my arsenal, is Facebook.  Its ability to update as a result of my activity on Google Reader, Twitter, Flickr, etc. makes it appear that I'm the busiest person in my world.  When in fact, I only logon to it once a day, to check in on other people.

Image: John.Karakatsanis [via Flickr]

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HP has launched a new printing service targeted to small businesses called MarketSplash.  As a welcome gift they are giving away 100 free full color business cards, shipping included.

I decided to take Izea CEO, Ted Murphy's idea for "Follow Me" shirts, and use his template on the free cards.

Today the cards arrived, less than four business days after I ordered them, and they look great.  With it only being 100 cards, they won't last long, but you can't beat the price!

My next batch of "real business cards" will have this on the back too.

100 Free Business Cards from HPs MarketSplash

Download my Fireworks Template

Image: TedMurphy [via Flickr]

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Two of the most useful and powerful web 2.0 applications (in my opinion) can easily linked together using the RSS-to-Twitter tool Twitterfeed.   Using this and Flickr's upload-via-email feature, you can build a powerful enhancement to your Tweeting arsenal, which allows you to tweet images easily from email.

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Posting images to Twitter via Flickr is not new.  Dave Winer developed TwitterGram, which in addition to adding audio to tweets, allow image post via Flickr (http://flickr.twittergram.com/).  But the way I illustrate below is extremely easy, straight-forward and puts you in 100% control of your tweets.

To Set it Up

The following assumes you have both a Flickr and Twitter account setup already.

1. Go to TwitterFeed.com [http://www.twitterfeed.com] and logon.  You can logon using any OpenID provided, including Flickr.
2. And create a new RSS-to-Twitter push
3. Add the RSS URL to your Flickr Feed, which can be found on the bottom of your Flickr Page.  Just look for the RSS icon.  See mine at http://www.flickr.com/photos/jking89/
4. Set the INCLUDE OPTION to "Title Only"
5. Set the FILTER BY KEYWORDS value to "twitter" (and/or any other tags you want to tweet)
6. That's it!

How to Use

To post a image tweet-via-flickr, simply generate an email and attach the image. With the following fields.

To:
[your unique Flickr upload address]

Subject:
Title of your Image (This will be in your tweet)

Body:
tags: twitter (plus any other applicable tags)

The Results

A image uploaded to Flickr...

and a nicely formatted tweet with a shortened URL to your Flickr Image.

 

Using Twitterfeed allows to to customize and tweek your tweets, as well as setup different feeds for different purposes.   For example images with the tag "vacation" post to Twitter prefixed by "What I'm currently doing on vacation...".

Another benefit of this method, is that Twitterfeed will automatically shorten the link, saving those precious 140 characters.

The Tools

Twitter
http://www.twitter.com

Flickr
http://www.flickr.com

Flickr Uploading by Email
http://www.flickr.com/account/uploadbyemail/

TwitterFeed
http://twitterfeed.com

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I'm usually one of the first to try out new social media sites and new technologies, but Twitter, I just didn't get.  I thought, that it was just IM messages shot into the "cloud" with no recipients.  I just didn't get it....

While attending Izeafest 2008 in Orlando, there were screens all over utilizing the Twitter API, to pull "tweets" related to the event.  How eff'n cool.  Seeing it as an immediate response, multi-user threaded discussion, it made sense.

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Twitter fills the void between email and IM.  Email does not effectively support group "conversations".  It works well as point to point, or point-to-many communication.  Additionally, it does not effectively keep the conversation active, as an email discussion can cross many days or weeks.

Instant Messaging is the exact polar opposite.  It requires your immediate attention within a group conversation or you quickly are lost to it. 

Both email and IM do not facilitate new participants to a conversation, "getting up to speed", due to not being included in the earlier threads.

Twitter allows for that happy medium, group conversations over time and immediate request/response.  Users tweet when they can contribute to "the conversation", or they can mindlessly update their followers on their bowel movements.  Twitter's search and conversation threading, in addition to its API, facilitates both, while not becoming that thing you have to stay in tune with 24/7.  It also allows people to "catch up" with a conversation, when they join late.

"Hi.  I'm Joe, and I'm a new Twitterer"...now if I could only convince everyone else of its value!

Be looking for Twitter integration into the applications I've developed....I have a ton of ideas.

Twitter for Business Reading list

Twitter Goes Mainstream [WSJ]

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