Twitter. You have heard of it. But is it useful for anything remotely useful? The easy answer would be “no”.

If it were easily dismissible, we can cross another new-fangled technology related trend off our over-crowded list of things to keep up with. Sorry, the answer is “maybe”.

If you are finding ever-trending technology simply exhausting, please read this post for its entertainment value only. If you you’d like to find out if Twitter fits into your ambitious social marketing strategy, hopefully the following stories will inspire.

Comcast Cares
Frank Eliason, arguably the most infamous customer service manager in the United States is using social networking every day to directly impact business operations. Eliason is monitoring Twitter all day every day – searching for signs of unhappy Comcast (an internet service provider) customers. On his dual screen set-up, one screen is dedicated to searching live tweets from people all over the country. He’s looking for Tweople (People on Twitter) who have chosen to voice their displeasure over poor service they’ve received from Comcast. Using his second monitor, opened to his Twitter account, he can reply to these tweets in real time and get in direct contact with these customers.

Sometimes the instant contact is enough to surprise and satisfy his unhappy customers. Other times, service calls are scheduled and problems are resolved in days rather than seconds. The ability for Comcast to read and respond instantaneously is changing the way the company does business and the way it’s perceived by it’s customers. This social media strategy has a direct influence on Comcast’s bottom line.

Tacos via Twitter
The Kogi Korean BBQ taco truck is a social media phenomenon in Los Angeles. It’s daily whereabouts is only available on Twitter. Check out this clip:

In these cases there is a direct correlation between social media and real results. The challenge is finding a platform that engages your clientele and then deciding how to use  it creatively. Don’t give up because the pace of change is scary – with every change comes opportunity. Plan carefully and test the waters – your real life social media success story may be just around the corner.

Posted by Neil Gilbert

They are everywhere! Strange, abbreviated web addresses.  What are these things? Are they dangerous? Let’s find out!

Why URL Shorteners
The creation of URL shortening was introduced in 2002 in order to simplify long, hard to read links. The driving force behind its widespread adoption today is due primarily to the popularity of Twitter. As the social medium was quickly adopted – sharing links to interesting web content became the primary focus of it’s users. Many times, these links would come close to eating up the entire 140 character limit provided to share a tweet. Lacking the ability to share entire thoughts as completely as a typical Twitter user would like, a solution was needed to this difficult predicament. To solve this problem, Twitter turned to URL abbreviation.

How Abbreviation Works
When you use a link shortening service, your link is entered into a database and associated with a key. This key can be randomly generated or in some cases, chosen by the creator which will show up at the end of the new URL. Each time your shortened URL is clicked on, the key is referenced in a database, the URL is found and the visitor is re-directed to the correct location on the internet.

What are the Risks?
There are a few things to keep in mind when you are using or creating shortened URLs. Sometimes people will obscure their links to hide the final destination of the link. Many times, advertisers, who get paid to sell a product online, will shroud affiliate links so that people who click on them don’t know that they are being sold something. Other times, phishermen (people who are trying to steal your login information) will use URL shorteners to trick you into providing information you shouldn’t be sharing.

To minimize your risk, ensure you trust the person who is sharing this link with you and closely examine the website you arrive at before you decide to share sensitive information. It may be safe to say that you will never be approached by any reputable organization in this fashion.

One of the major risks you face in shortening your links is the stability of web service you choose to use. If your link is being used over a long period of time, it will not work anymore if your link shortening service goes out of business. Facing dead links internet-wide is a major risk introduced by the growth and popularity of URL shortening.

The Future Outlook
Some of the common URL shorteners today are websites like bit.ly, owl.ly and tinyurl.com – the pioneer in this field.

You will find that most shortening services have short URLs to improve the abbreviation process. As the industry grows, hacked domains, which are domains using country code endings (like .ly – Libya’s country code) are becoming increasingly used to create short memorable phrases for shortening services and for many other purposes as well.

Google has a URL shorterner called Goo.gl, and Youtube uses Youtu.be. Even Coke has their own service at http://cokeurl.com/

This trend of brand association will continue to evolve and grow as organizations attempt to cultivate loyalty across social networks by giving consumers the opportunity to share branded links with their friends.

URL shortening services will continue pop-up all over the internet and it will be an industry that thrives as social media thrives.

To wrap things up, it’s important that I share one last link with you to complete your education on URL shortners, please click here.

This is why your education is now complete. Congratulations!

Posted by Neil Gilbert

What is Google Buzz?

Google Buzz is a new social network powered by Google.

Similar to Twitter you can follow people and have them follow you, reading and posting constant streams of real time updates. But that’s just the start … there’s the ability to add images and videos, comments, like and share posts/statuses. Integrate your favourite sites and Google Apps together in one place and do everything from your desktop, notebook or mobile device.

There have been many reactions to Buzz in a short period of time both good and bad. Many concerns about privacy, automatic opt-in from Gmail, features and uses.

Google Buzz had made a huge impact in less than a week, only time will tell what is to come in the future.

We have our Google profile set up with Buzz. We haven’t used our Gmail account a lot in the past but will be expanding on it and using it a little more to test this new social media resource.

Tools & Integration

Migrate your Twitter Contacts to Google Buzz
*Beta Code: p4rtr1dg39405

My Tweeple matches Twitter Profiles with Google Buzz Profiles

View Google Buzz Mobile From Your Desktop & Android 1.5+
@Brandon Partridge

How to Send Google Buzz Posts to Twitter
@Darren Humphries

Ping.fm already updates Google Buzz instantly from txt, apps, email …
@Seesmic

HOW TO: Integrate Google Buzz Into Your WordPress Blog
@Christina Warren

HOW TO: Make a Google Buzz Desktop App
@Christina Warren

HOW TO: Integrate Facebook, Twitter, and Buzz into Your Gmail
@Ben Parr

Buzz off: Disabling Google Buzz
@Jessica Dolcourt

Posted by Beau Durrant

The risks organizations run in not embracing new trends in social media don’t seem great at first glance.

On the surface, there is very little fear felt for those missing out on a few Facebook fans. The time spent not tweeting is re-invested into core business strategy or customer service and becomes a well-played investment for most anti-social enterprises.

This philosophy may not be as stable an investment as most may think. The ability to be agile and responsive across social networks is a major asset in today’s marketplace. Knowing how and when to interact may be the difference between dodging a bullet and facing a very public catastrophe.

Recently a few large organizations have learned a lesson in social media negligence the hard way.

January 2010 was a difficult month for H&M, a major clothing retailer. On January 5th, The New York Times ran a story detailing the discovery of bags of purposely destroyed clothes in an alley behind an H&M store in New York City. The clothes were sliced,  ripped and discarded as unsold inventory. Later that day, H&M was the top trending topic on Twitter as people trashed H&M’s decision to destroy clothing especially as many people suffer through difficult economic times.

H&M did not offer much of a response to the social uproar, besides a short apology through traditional media. H&M’s Twitter feed was corporate and cold in it’s own defense. Five tweets in total were issued on the matter. All linked to non-related pages on their corporate website, one asked for e-mail feedback, and another to an official response but was a broken link.

Currently, with no social media response, the blogosphere remains a one-sided indictment of a company’s poor corporate responsibility decisions. Without a response, reputation will continue to be negatively affected and only time will tell if profits will be influenced.

Ideally any response from H&M could have been presented in a social medium that people prefer to use. A blog post would have been ideal and working links to this post from their Twitter account would also have been very useful.

Any subsequent follow-up posts or tweets on the subject would have also been seen as meaningful attempts to reach the social sphere.

Is your organization ready to react to crisis in a social environment?

Catching the buzz of social media now will not only equip you to respond if disaster strikes but who knows, maybe you’ll profit from your involvement in the short-term as well.

Posted by Neil Gilbert