Social scientists have a name for the incessant online contact we experience by consistently immersing ourselves in social media. They call it “ambient awareness.” For better or worse, the label accurately captures the main benefits of being social on the web; Using popular tools like Twitter and Friendfeed to engage groups of people online gives you an enhanced awareness of what’s going on within the digital ecosystem (for people and topics you care about) in near real time. The only problem is that it can feel a lot like drinking from a fire hose.
The benefits of social media, no doubt, far outweigh the costs. Being able to “follow people” instead of just “following blogs and news” is tremendously informative and fulfilling, and being able to actually engage people of like mind who are having an impact on the world who share passions in your fields of interest etc is rewarding. Social media has given us an unprecedented amount of access to people and ideas, and for that I love it.
But drinking from the fire hose isn’t all sunshine and roses (I wouldn’t use the fire hose analogy if it was) . Participating consistently comes with significant trade offs and cons that are important to be aware of and manage if we want to get the most out of our days. I’ve learned some lessons this year from being hyper connected that I’d like to share. I think they’ll resonate with many of you… [click to continue…]
Jesse Stay, Marshall Kirkpatrick and Dave Winer recently posted some interesting and insightful pieces on how Twitter is going after people who game Twitter to get more followers. There are some solid arguments made in each post in support of Twitter’s move, as well as on the dubious and controversial nature of Twitter’s suggested users list (SUL). When it comes to the issue of eliminating spam and improving usability, I fundamentally support what Twitter is doing. That said, Dave Winer makes some excellent points on Twitter’s SUL. The three posts in tandem are great reads if you want to understand the core issues and what’s going on. There are also many gems in the comments.
I’ve been following the #IranElection Twitter Stream ever since the protests started. It’s not unlike trying to drink from a fire hose. Social media hubs all over the web have lit up like fireworks and the citizen journalism is amazing. And the Iranians are not alone. People all over the globe are coming to their aid and amplifying the already deafening roar of the protest. Thousands of photos have been posted to Flickr, hundreds of blog posts and new blogs have gone up and literally hundreds of thousands of status posts have hit Twitter, Facebook and FriendFeed from citizens reporting on events happening on the ground in Iran and all over the world long before popular media. CNN can’t even keep up.
The Iranian government have done their best to silence the virtual protest - they shut down popular sites like Flickr, Twitter, YouTube and Facebook…and the crowd found work arounds, organized themselves quickly, got the word out and the cracks in the government’s dams broke and the flood continued. Millions of mobile phones and computers have replaced guns as the weapon of the revolution…and the crowd is winning.
As I’m writing this, people are live-tweeting Mousavi’s address to the crowd, asking the world to participate in a sea of green in all capital cities. It’s being Retweeted at an astonishing clip.
I’ve put together a list of some of the best coverage to links and resources to the event as possible below, some of it from mass media and some from citizens and organizations. The Flickr photo sets, as well as the “Anonymous Iran” site, citizen videos and live streaming are particularly noteworthy. I find this stuff incredible. If this had all happened a few years ago, the technology wouldn’t have been there to support this kind of global movement, but it is and the groundswell is ongoing and doesn’t look like it will let up. On the ground in Iran the situation is terrible, but the movement against the cause is marvelous and beautiful. It’s the first time we’ve ever seen global cooperation and information sharing at this scale - millions of Easterners and Westerners are visibly and publicly united with a common goal. Truly amazing.
Links to Resources & Media Coverage on Iran’s Protests:
Resource: Anonymous Iran -A Full Website of links to information resources and forums for Iranians - put up by Pirate Bay (How-to surf securely and avoid censorship, protest advice, remaining anonymous on the ground, photo sets and news items)
Tweeting A Revolution In Iran (embedding disabled on YouTube - World News Cast Showing News Coverage Of Social Media Usage in Iran including evidence that the current president and leaders of Iran are using Facebook and Twitter to COUNTER the protest with propoganda)
The iPhone 3.0 upgrade software was just released and, within minutes, #iPhone and #iTunes popup on the trending topics list as the iPhone community rushes to their computers to upgrade their phones. Between the time I ran the search and took this screenshot, there were over 1000 new twitter posts mentioning #iTunes - literally in the space of a minute. Hundreds of people are all having similar problems, asking questions, helping each other. Amazing. And Apple is no where to be seen in the stream. Lesson learned…get your community manager and techies monitoring Twitter when someone pushes the “RELEASE” button.
I’ve been using Lijit since the inception of the service and while I’ve added and removed many different “fad” widgets, Lijit remains a core widget I’ve kept because it continues to consistently bring me traffic and add value to my readers. As of today, Lijit has brought my blog over 7500 unique visitors via research (a feature that’s unique to Lijit) and I’m averaging one or two blog searches per day - not bad for a widget on a personal blog that only gets updated once or twice a week.
Lijit offers a variety of options for customizing the widget and there are a five simple things you can do to increase the number of times your readers use Lijit, which increases reader engagement, page views, and search revenue.
Tip 1: Add the Popular Searches Cloud. A small number of terms that display beneath the search box would not, on first glance, seem to do much, but on average, publishers see anywhere from a 200 - 500% increase in searches, according to Lijit - my experience is that this figure is accurate. The popular searches cloud does a lot to signal what types of content is popular on your blog and invites people to click on popular searches.
How does the Popular Searches Cloud work? It records repeat searches and displays the most popular ones. To appear in the cloud, a search must be performed a minimum of three times and come from different IPs. You can control the number of terms that appear in the cloud in your widget settings. You can also blacklist terms from appearing in your search cloud within the settings.
Tip 2: Move the Search Box to the Top of Your Blog. A simple rule is that if people see the search box, they will use the box. If it’s hidden among all the other items on the sidebar, people will miss out on the goodness that is Lijit. How much does moving the box above the fold mean in terms of searches? Another 200-300% increase. Nice!
Tip 3: Make it the Only Search Box. Ok, this one might not be such a revelation. If there is only one place to search, then, well, people will only use that one place to search. Amazing and simple.
Tip 4: Be an Expert. As a publisher, you know that writing about a specific topic will almost always increase readership and engagement. But did you know that the more expertise you develop around a specific topic, the more people want to search your content? I know! Weird.
Tip 5: Turn on Re-Search. There is a feature in your widget settings called Re-Search. What does this do? Well, when someone does a search on a search engine like Google, Yahoo! or MSN, and clicks on your result, Lijit does the same search in your search widget when they get to your site. Then, depending on your settings, Lijit displays those results either with your widget, on top of your blog, or below the post. Why is this good? About 1-2% of readers will click on a result in Re-Search, letting them read more of your content. This increased engagement helps readers trust you more, which leads them to read your content more, which leads them to trust you more…it’s a crazy cycle of goodness!
That’s it. The bottom line is, the more often people use Lijit on your site, the more often they will be able to discover your content whever you’re creating it, which is what we all want. Small tweaks can and will make a difference.
Note: Special Thanks to Tara at Lijit for providing the content and discusson that led to this post.
At the beginning of September last year Clive Thompson published an influential article on NYTimes called “A Brave New World Of Digital Intimacy“. In the article, Clive discusses an interview he had with Facebook’s Founder Mark Zuckerberg on how Facebook’s newsfeed (dominated by short status updates) has been central to the sites success. He asks…
“In essence, Facebook users didn’t think they wanted constant, up-to-the-minute updates on what other people are doing. Yet when they experienced this sort of omnipresent knowledge, they found it intriguing and addictive. Why?”
Clive cleverly pokes fun at the Facebook status culture with the line “I’m so totally, digitally close to you!” and points out that…
Social scientists have a name for this sort of incessant online contact. They call it “ambient awareness.” It is, they say, very much like being physically near someone and picking up on his mood [etc] through the little things he does…
Understanding the dynamics of ambient awareness in the digital world is crucial to using social media effectively. In fact, increasing others’ awareness of YOU is what signaling and brand building on Twitter is all about.
I think we’ll all agree that, at least in its infancy, status updates were Twitter’s main MO. I think that’s changed as the UI and culture has developed and I’d argue that many people have evolved away from using Twitter to tell everyone what they’re doing all the time. Beyond socializing and sharing information, Twitter for many of us has become an essential tool for signaling, creating community and self branding. By engaging the social web correctly with Twitter, we can find and target individuals and groups and signal to them that we share interests and goals, that we belong to common communities and tribes. This type of signaling is the most effective way to build relationships and community over the web. Why? Because you can sincerely engage people based on mutuality and reciprocity.
How To Use Twitter For Effective Signaling On The Social Web
Signaling and branding are two of the most important uses for Twitter that work hand-in-hand, and while most people “get” how to use the tool effectively to broadcast and communicate, they miss hundreds of opportunities to create value and social capital for themselves and to network effectively. Here are some ways you can create the most value for yourself as you post to Twitter…
When You Share Content, Don’t Forget To Also Credit The Author Publicly
If you’re like me, you read constantly and you’ve got a list of favorite blogs and communities that you go to as much as daily for your information. I share noteworthy articles and posts I read on Twitter daily. Sharing ideas and content is the primary way I use Twitter and almost all of my my favorite writers and blogs have Twitter accounts. In fact, now that Twitter is mainstream almost anyone who is actively creating content on the web is on Twitter. Knowing this, we can create value for ourselves as well as the those whose content we enjoy. All we have to do is include the author’s Twitter account in the tweet when we link and share content (or even say “read X on @techcrunch or @rww” if you would rather credit the blog - most big blogs have Twitter accounts too). Not only does the author or person running the online community’s twitter account instantly see that YOU have shared the content with your community, they can also see that you’ve promoted them and given them credit. Win-Win, right? As Tara Hunt would say, you’ve just created a little bit of Whuffie. Kudos to you.
This can have huge benefits if you do it consistently. Over time, going the extra mile to give credit for content that you share by simply adding “by @[username]” or “on @[blog'stwittername]” when you link to content tells the author that you’re interested in their work, that you share interests and that you’re a regular reader. It’s validating for them, it helps them with their writing/blogging goals (they want to spread their content) and you’ve identified yourself as a member of their tribe and given them a reason to be interested in creating a relationship with YOU. This is serendipity at work. As a blogger, I love when people who read my stuff let me know who they are - there’s no need for anonymity anymore - real time public sharing and credit giving creates friendships quickly and effectively. I always reach out to regular readers and I find that when I consistently credit other writers, they also reach out to me. I have many good now-offline friendships that started this way online. Now contrast this with a Twitter post that has the same link with no credit - You’re not directly creating a trigger point to start a relationship so the chances of the author being aware of you is much lower so the ball never starts rolling. While it required the same effort to post the Tweet, the mutual benefit of the author and reader are much much lower.
Ok, so now that the meat of the point has been established, here are some other ways that you can use credit to create social capital -
Make Public Introductions with the people’s @usernames: For all the reasons stated above, introducing people, along with a short description of why you think they should know each other on Twitter benefits everyone. Not only are you creating goodwill by endorsing BOTH parties, by introducing them in a public way, you are also endorsing them to your followers. Introducing people on the web is a high value action for all.
Recommending Someone On #FollowFriday: We all know what #followfriday is for - it’s for finding the cream of the crop in the Twitterverse using the crowd as our guide. And of course, it’s not completely altruistic in practice, is it? Follow Friday is about you recommending others for mutual gain. You receommend someone, they get followers AND it signals to them that you’re aware of them, that you endorse them etc etc. I find that people create the most mutual value on Follow Friday when they focus on a single person and give explanations why they are making the recommendation. Tweeting a message like
“@globalpatriot inspired me this week. He writes a great blog on Global issues that I frequent #followfriday”
Now that I’ve outlined a few ways to use Twitter for effective signaling, I hope your creative juices are flowing and you’re starting to think of other ways that you can use Twitter for signaling and creating relationships in the future. Remember, including people’s names in posts helps them find you and can often be an indicator of mutual interest and be used for mutual benefit. Giving credit and making recommendations in positive ways consistently can only benefit you in the long run…So go forth and crank up that antenna.
Google Trends is one of my favorite tools to come out of the Google Labs. While we data junkies are forced to envy people like Bill Tancer who have access to tons of rich, real time data about what’s going on on the web, Google Trends is the best thing that we can get for free, and it’s still very useful for basic analysis and research. In this post I’ll show you a few great ways you can use Google Trends to do research on the web like a pro and give you a quick list of hacks you can use to build your “Google Ninja” skills. [click to continue…]
Everyone, meet George. Every morning at 7:45am for the last 6 weeks I’ve passed him on my way to work in Carlsbad, CA. Every day he’s up before me, standing proudly in business attire with his bright yellow sign that says in huge bold letters “I NEED A JOB”. Today I stopped and interviewed him on camera in hopes that I could share his story with all of you, because it’s quite inspiring (see the video below).
I’ll let George tell you about what his 6 weeks holding his sign has been like in the video, but I would like to share some additional thoughts about him. Off camera I had a chance to chat with George and ask him very directly about why he believed standing at the side of a main thoroughfare in Carlsbad was a good idea and what the experience had been like for him. I genuinely wanted to hear what he had to say - 6 weeks is a long time to stand in the hot sun holding a sign like this one. His answer was incredibly humble, optimistic and honest. He said “I am one of the huge percent of people who’ve been laid off in California, and all of them are looking for work. This turns the tables in my favor. Every morning I have people see me who can help. People have come together to help me pay my rent, and this week I’ve had more interviews than I’ve had in 3 years, but it’s taken 6 weeks of standing here to get to this point. It’s hard because it hurts your pride standing on the side of a road with a sign like this, but the experience has been positive and I’m optimistic. [click to continue…]
There’s a lot we can learn about best practices for creating and releasing software or web services to the masses from watching the video gaming industry. Successful video game companies know how important it is that they engage and immerse users quickly because they know they aren’t just in the software business, they’re in the fun business, and there’s nothing fun about sucking at a game. Recognizing this, they’ve developed innovative methods for getting complete novices engaged and enjoying the product as quickly as possible. I call this the “zero to fun” metric.
Getting a user from zero to fun as fast as possible isn’t just a gaming industry must. Everyone wants to enjoy the experience of using software and the web, and how much we enjoy the experience is largely a function of how adept we feel as users. Making a user feel like an expert is key to making their experience remarkable, and for that reason, giving a user that feeling quickly should be one of the primary goals of any company releasing software or web services to the world. [click to continue…]
I enjoy following TED because it’s like drinking from a fire hydrant of amazing new ideas and stimulating discussion. The conference challenges some of the world’s most fascinating thinkers and doers to give the talks of their lives (in 18 minutes) and what results from that challenge is consistently entertaining, informative and inspiring. This list of the “10 Commandments of TED speakers” came to me via an emailed ezine article by Dana Bristol-Smith. While all 10 in the list apply to presentations, I’d argue that the first 8 (with some minor language tweakage) could be called “The 8 Commandments for blogging and social media”…Enjoy.
Thou Shalt Not Simply Trot Out thy Usual Shtick.
Thou Shalt Dream a Great Dream, or Show Forth a Wondrous New Thing, Or Share Something Thou Hast Never Shared Before.
Thou Shalt Reveal thy Curiosity and Thy Passion.
Thou Shalt Tell a Story.
Thou Shalt Freely Comment on the Utterances of Other Speakers for the Sake of Blessed Connection and Exquisite Controversy.
Thou Shalt Not Flaunt thine Ego. Be Thou Vulnerable. Speak of thy Failure as well as thy Success.
Thou Shalt Not Sell from the Stage: Neither thy Company, thy Goods, thy Writings, nor thy Desperate need for Funding; Lest Thou be Cast Aside into Outer Darkness.
Thou Shalt Remember all the while: Laughter is Good.
Thou Shalt Not Read thy Speech.
Thou Shalt Not Steal the Time of Them that Follow Thee.
I had the privilege of recording some great talks at this year’s Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco. For those interested, I’ve posted all of my footage up on Vimeo in a “Web 2.0 Expo 2009″ album. All of the videos are between a half hour and 45 minutes long, but well worth watching. In [...]
Today an article I wrote for ReadWriteWeb went live titled “Did Mark Zuckerberg’s Inspiration For Facebook Come Before Harvard?‘. I think it’s a great question, one worth exploring far beyond the light coverage I gave it in the article because the answer can offer us important clues into why Facebook has been so successful.
Facebook [...]
Mick Liubinskas (Co-Founder and Web Product Director of Pollenizer) wrote a piece today on ReadWriteWeb as part of their ReadWriteStart channel that had some great points about the realities of “first mover advantage” that I’ve heard echoed by many battle-hardened internet entrepreneurs. The post is titled First-Mover Advantage Is About Compound Interest, Not Market Share. [...]
Speaking at the National Academy of Sciences 2 days ago, the President reinforced the need for a sustained national commitment to science. His firm stance that “science is more essential for our prosperity, our security, our health and our environment and our quality of life” is an important step in shifting the national consciousness to [...]
I mentioned in a previous post that open-social development for products has been a getting a lot of press lately. Companies are learning that true customer insight starts by including customers and users in the development stage. Getting prototypes into the hands of your potential customers early-on, and iterating a ton based on the feedback [...]
If you’re a heavy Twitter user like me, you may be familiar with the awkward, tense feeling that can grip you when a non-Twittering friend or co-worker decides that enough is enough and it’s time to confront you about your “habit” (Twintervention?). Regardless of the events that lead up to said awkward moment, the blank, [...]
This week was my friend Angie Swartz’s first week hosting TwitterTalkRadio on WSRadio.com. I first met Angie at the Charity:Water Twestival at the beginning of this year in downtown San Diego. She’s a superstar. She’s a successful entrepreneur and currently runs several websites including SquareMartiniMedia.com, twitterattraction.com and sixfiguremomsclub.com.
On Monday she shot me a message asking [...]
I recently spent a week at the Web 2.0 Expo in San Francisco, CA. I had a ball. There’s something (dare I say Worldchanging?) about the O’Reilly events this year. There’s a sense of community, shared responsibility and agency in the air. It’s one thing to be social in the blogosphere and participate in online [...]
This just popped on to my radar and I thought it was worth sharing. A number of people have asked me about what Glue is and what it does since my latest post on the major upgrades AdaptiveBlue released last week during the Web 2.0 Expo. Nick O’Neill has done a 15 minute interview with [...]
I hope you didn’t miss this in the wake of the Web2.0Expo excitement this week. AdaptiveBlue released a few major upgrades to Glue yesterday that the community is no doubt going to love. These guys consistently show how in tune they are with what their community wants and how committed they are to delivering value [...]
Steffan is a technologist, writer and social media participant who lives in San Diego, CA. He has contributed to the popular tech blog ReadWriteWeb and has been a featured guest on Internet Talk Radio. He began researching human behavior in virtual communities as a graduate student at Georgetown University in 2003, where he developed a passion for studying the intersection between technological innovation, design and social change. Find Out More
As I’m writing this, people are live-tweeting Mousavi’s address to the crowd, asking the world to participate in a sea of green in all capital cities. It’s being Retweeted at an astonishing clip.
I’ve been using 
At the beginning of September last year 
When You Share Content, Don’t Forget To Also Credit The Author Publicly
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