Posts tagged Twitter
Will email be defunct in 10 years?
Nov 19th
The jury is out on the future of email, according to new research from TalkTalk, in collaboration with the University of Kent.
The research found that email could become obsolete in 10 years, replaced by instant messaging and social network sites.
These sites, such as Twitter, Facebook and MySapce, are seen as more fashionable and faster and easier to use, plus they can be accessed from anywhere with mobile phone technology.
Although 15 to 24-year-olds do use email, they use instant messaging and social networking sites more often, according to the research, and on the flip side, older generations are more reliant on email and don’t find it as easy to shift to using the latest communication technology.
OneNewsPage.com asked its users to respond to the following question:
‘Will email be defunct in 10 years?’
The respondents were evenly divided. Fifty per cent agreed it would be defunct, the other half disagreed.
The survey was conducted by OneNewsPage.com over two days. The question was displayed on www.onenewspage.com 57, 604 times, and 240 people answered the poll.
But despite the results, I have to say that I do not think that email will ever be ‘defunct’. How would businesses run without email? Haven’t the advent of smartphones proved how much we rely on email – always having it with us?
Email will never die. Dan Grabham from TechRadar magazine agrees. He told Sky News, “Email won’t completely die off – it’ll probably still be used for some important purposes such as sending crucial files to someone particular.
“But it’s clear that for quick, direct communication Twitter and other social systems are easier to use and can garner a far quicker response – not least because inboxes continue to fill up with unstoppable junk.”
LinkedIn and Twitter go together like peanut butter and chocolate, says Stone
Nov 11th
Business and professional networking site LinkedIn has linked with Twitter in a partnership that will allow the two to cross-file to each other’s services by checking a box on either site.
Allen Blue, a co-founder of Twitter who is its vice president of product strategy, said LinkedIn members would be able to automatically repost recent Twitter messages if they wanted.
When LinkedIn users set their status on LinkedIn, they can now tweet it as well, amplifying it to all of their followers and real-time search services like Twitter Search and Bing. And when users tweet, they can send that message to their LinkedIn connections as well, from any Twitter service or tool.
LinkedIn members can also chose to post certain tweets on their LinkedIn profiles, so an executive can separate tweets about lunch from important product announcements.
Blue added that users will have the option of sending only selected materials to Twitter.
In addition to the obvious advantage of increasing the audience for either tweets or LinkedIn information there were two other advantages to the new system.
Twitter “wants to take advantage of the strong identity in LinkedIn to make those professional tweeters more successful”.
LinkedIn and Twitter said they would roll out the new services “gradually over the next couple of days.”
In an online video with LinkedIn chairman and co-founder Reid Hoffman, Twitter co-founder Biz Stone said the partnership was like “bringing peanut butter and the chocolate together to make the perfect combination.”
But more than just creating a virtual Reese’s Peanut Butter Cup, the deal hints at Twitter’s future business strategy, especially with more companies discovering how social networking is evolving into an important communications link for employees and customers.
“It is the integration of the business side of the tweets and Twitter with the business ecosystem of LinkedIn that make the two work together,” Hoffman said in the video.
“The business use case of Twitter is turning out to be very important,” Stone said. He also spoke about “putting a little Twitter in everything.”
How to make money from Twitter using Amazon
Nov 5th
Amazon has this week sent an email to members of Amazon Associates letting them know about its new Twitter integration feature, which can earn users money!
Basically, when you’re logged into your Associate account, you’ll see a new ‘Share on Twitter’ button on your Site Stripe (a management toolbar along the top of the page). Clicking this button will prepare a tweet complete with a shortened URL to send out of all of your Twitter followers.
It’s interesting because as Amazon clearly notes at the end of its email, you will earn referral money for anyone that clicks on these links and buys a product.
As Twitter users do love to click on links, this feature could actually mean some real money for popular Twitter users with a massive following.
And it’s yet another way that companies — and now even Twitter’s users — are making money from the micro-blogging site, which Twitter won’t see a dime of (presumably, anyway).
A lot of blogs disclose when they’re supplying you with a referral link that they will make money from (though certainly not all of them). But on Twitter, that’s going to be hard for people to do even if they wanted to because of the 140 character limit.
Other social sites, like MySpace, for example, do not allow you to post affiliate links. Twitter, it would seem, has no problem with this. In fact, at least one employee tweeted that he was excited for the launch.
Just how big a crowd can you rally on Twitter in 72 hours?
Nov 4th
Just how big a crowd can possibly be rallied via Twitter in 72 hours? The results of an experiment are soon to give an answer.
An online PR and social media agency based in Dublin, Simply Zesty, are using crowdsourcing to create country lists of Twitter users
What started as a small experiment 24 hours ago to use the lists function on Twitter to create county lists in Ireland has now snowballed into projects covering the UK and Ireland.
The company have set a limit of 72 hours per country, to gather as many users as possible.
The idea is to create lists by area that anyone – including marketers – can use and also to produce a map showing which areas are the most active on Twitter.
The experiment started in Ireland on Tuesday morning but within 24 hours was spread to the UK and America, due to apparent “high demand.”
The project aims to show the power of social media and is an example of just how quickly news can spread.
The UK and US experiments have already been picked up on by leading Tech blog, Techcrunch, which has contributed to the snowball effect.
The project works through crowd-sourcing with people sending a tweet to be included.
Word of mouth is key to the success. To take part is simple and for each country users just have to tweet the following (replacing the place name with their county).
For England, “I want to get listed #TwitterEssex, users need to add themselves here.
“When Twitter lists first launched there was a mixed reaction and some people weren’t too sure if they were useful. We hope we’ve found a great use for them and I can’t wait to see which areas are the most active on Twitter,” said co-founder of Simply Zesty, Lauren Fisher.
“This is a really exciting experiment and we just can’t believe how quickly it’s growing. We never thought that just 24 hours ago we would be doing this in the UK and America.
She added, “It’s certainly putting the new Lists function in Twitter through the paces. We started off doing the Ireland list manually but have now got people working on scripts to help us out a bit!”
What Google’s Social Search means for search engine marketers
Nov 4th
The recent deal between Google and Twitter means that the search engine giant will now able to use Twitter data to provide more relevant searches for Google users.
This means that search engine marketing strategies now have the potential to be tailored to specific demographics and target audiences.
In short, according to Highposition.net, Google Social Search will enable anyone logged into Google Profile to find real time search results from others in their social networks.
Although results from microblogs are in the public domain and therefore searchable, Google Social Search will make relevant results about local issues more prominent.
If plans go ahead to incorporate Facebook and Linkedin with social search capabilities, results from microblogging sites will be easier to find. This will improve and refine search results by increasing time-based relevancy, resulting in a more favourable experience for the user.
As far as search engine marketing goes, Google Social Search could be used to target a wider audience. However, there is an underlying worry that this will generate more spam as far as the user is concerned and therefore backfire in marketing terms.
As search engine marketing harnesses the potential to reach more people through optimization using social networks, the end result could be a massive spam machine, which Google will ultimately have to filter out to retain prominence as the preferred search platform.
Of course, all of these applications are still in Beta stage to discover how they can be made more user friendly. With any luck, one would hope that these improvements will allow a refined feature for businesses.
If a user is logged into their Google Profile and uses Social Search to find a local service, those trusted and recommended by their contacts should be promoted. At the same time there will undoubtedly be scope for business advertising, likely through Google’s Adwords platform.
It is often said that the internet forms a global community to the detriment of local alliances, but using applications such as Google Social Search, it also has the potential to bring back local issues and support local businesses through easier internet searches for relevant information.
Meanwhile, why is the ‘Google Doodle’ Wallace & Gromit? It’s their birthday today!
Facebook and MySpace partner to take on Twitter – it’s war!
Oct 28th
Traditional social networking rivals Facebook and MySpace have said they are in talks about sharing content.
Facebook has reportedly said it’d be happy to feature content from MySpace now that the two are moving in different directions.
The Telegraph newspaper quoted Facebook’s chief operating officer Sheryl Sanderberg, “Facebook is focussing on building the best technology which helps people share content, while at MySpace they are focussing on more a content-led strategy.
“We would like to have their content, as we already do with many other sites, shared across our network because it is good for our users.”
MySpace boss Owen Van Natta – who left Facebook in April to lead News Corp’s social network – confirmed the talks by adding that Facebook is about “core communication” while MySpace is about “congregating around popular content”.
He said that Facebook was no to be a large part of MySpace’s future.
Seems odd to me, but Facebook has more than 300 million users now, while MySpace lags behind with 124 million so it’s not surprising the site is looking at ways of appealing to more people.
In the past 12 months Facebook has extended its dominance in every territory in Europe, but that doesn’t mean it’s terminal for MySpace. The battle certainly isn’t over yet and a combination of the two would be mutually beneficial because ultimately, it would attract more advertisers and give them greater opportunities to target a wider and more diverse audience.
The question now is, I mean about this Yahoo/Microsoft style partnership, is whether it’ll come up against regulatory approval. And what does it mean for Twitter – the current social media darling? It means a while new war.
Be a leader not a follower on Twitter
Oct 22nd
You may have heard about big brands and advertisers employing staff to create social media strategies and I can see the value in that.
However, I don’t see why the FBI needs to be telling the world about itself in 140 characters or less.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation has an update on its feed this morning about an arrest it has made.
I have come to know Twitter as a ‘social network’ for the media and journalists. I see little value in it for individuals. I have all the major news services I follow in my feed, as well as industry commentators, press officers, some brands (just to see when they release new products and advertising) and a few celebrities (for fun). But do I have any actually ‘friends’ on there? Well no.
It seems to me that a lot of people and brands and organizations are on Twitter for the sake of it. There are some that I’m following that haven’t posted any updates since July. So what’s the point of being in a space you don’t use, let alone reach your actually advocates and consumers?
I think if you are going to be on Twitter, research who else is one there and really think about who you follow. If people want to follow you, for whatever reason, give them a reason to check in with you everyday.
Be compelling. I recently started following a lot more brands as I realised I probably hadn’t been making enough effort with the network.
Out of about 30 new brands I started following, only one wrote to me and said “thanks for following us” and then made me a list of promises. I will now be checking in with them throughout the working day. They made me feel like Twitter was worthwhile and they are obviously using it for all of its benefits and not just because, well, “everyone else is doing it”.
The next ‘holy grail’ of search advertising?
Oct 9th
Micro-blogging site Twitter is in advanced talks with Google and Microsoft about licensing its data feed to the companies’ search engines!
This is very exciting news for all those brands and advertisers that currently use Twitter to release information about upcoming products and company news.
I personally think this is a brilliant idea, and if you’ve ever used Twitter Search you’ll know why – it’s a great way to follow trends, get the news straight from the horse’s mouth and find out what people are saying about you.
The ability to cull through the flood of tweets as they are posted is gaining popularity as an important new way to search the internet for up-to-the-minute information on the latest news events and happenings on.
Twitter’s discussions with Microsoft and Google are being conducted separately and would allow each company to incorporate the 140-character messages, or ‘tweets’, that Twitter is known for into their internet search results.
The AllThingsDigital blog (part of the Wall Street Journal) quoted unidentified sources as saying the companies are discussing several types of deals.
Details could include Twitter receiving a payment of several million dollars and various types of revenue-sharing agreements to allow Twitter to benefit from the ad revenue that Microsoft and Google generate from search results.
Twitter has emerged as one of the fastest-growing internet social media services due to the amount of businesses that use it to promote themselves and stay in touch in ‘real time’, however the company has yet to generate any significant revenue from its free service. Could this be the micro-blogging site’s ‘holy grail’ of revenues?
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