ReTweets Are The New Currency Of The Web as Michael Arrington noted.  That makes the launch of a new search engine Topsy, which had been in stealth development for three years, particularly propititious.

Links are sorted by those that Twitter users are sending around the most, weighted in favor of links sent by more influential Twitter users. You can sort results over all time (going back to September 2008), last month, week, day or hour. Results show popular links and also the most influential users tweeting about that topic. Click on that user and you’ll see all their tweets about the topic.

Topsy isn’t looking at the number of followers in determining Influence. Rather, Influence is gained when others retweet links you’ve sent out. And when you retweet others, you lose a little Influence. So the more people retweet you, the more Influence you gain. So, yes indeed, retweets are the new currency on the web.

Getting RTs for serious topics

If your topic is particularly newsworthy or appeals to the masses, then getting a large number of ReTweets is not very surprising.  If you are writing on something that has a limited appeal, how do you get your readers to tell others via Twitter about it.  What  tweaked my interest was that a recent tweet about a blog post got 30 ReTweets at this time when checking via a Topsy search for ‘PageRank Null Hypothesis’ (note – some of these had different short URLs).  The Tweet was as follows:

Topsy even indicates that there were 16 associated ReTweets of the corresponding Sphinn entry.  Others may find the reasons for this good performance of interest and value.

Automatic Tweets from the Blogging software

If your blogging software is set up to automatically send a tweet to Twitter when the blog is published, then you should make sure that the Titles ReTweet Well.                       

You may wish to add appropriate hashtags to your post title as well, although we have more to say on that below.  Chris Brogan also had some related tips on how to Spread Your Wings And Get More Retweet Action.

Hand-crafted Tweets

There is no harm in letting the software do its job, but it may well be appropriate to take its output and make a more twitter-visible tweet.  Louise Doherty has a formula for getting retweeted and that is a good start.  However there are some further tips that are worth mentioning. 

The most important is of course to make sure the title has words that are likely to draw your readers interest.  In the above example, it is probable that the phrase ‘Null Hypothesis’ tweaked the interest of all those who have struggled through their statistics courses and wondered how it could possibly come up here.  If you can find a short catchy phrase like that, you are a lot farther ahead.

Working the Hashtags

A hashtag such as #google ensures that all those who watch out for tweets that have been labeled with the google hashtag are likely to see your tweet.  It is a way of targeting a particular audience.  Which hashtags are worth using?  Clearly popular hashtags are the only ones.  You can get an idea on this by doing a Twitter search for say #google. 

Check out how old the tweet is at the bottom of the search results page.  Currently for #google it is about 2 hours ago, which is fairly good.  You will get the same result for #seo.  #pagerank on the other hand is about 7 days ago, so it is still worth considering but is less popular.  Just to give a point of comparison, a search for a current trending topic such as “Swine Flu” shows tweets at the bottom of the page that are only from 2 minutes ago.

The other point that is worth mentioning is that the addition of hashtags does not seem to influence twitter searches so that a search for Google will include entries with #google as well.  In other words the ‘#’ is ignored in the Twitter search for the non-tagged version of the word.

Getting a little help from your friends

Having crafted the best ReTweet-able Tweet you can, all that is left to do is to seek a little help from your friends.   If you have done your work well, they will probably be delighted to do their bit.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Topsy: Search Ranking Based on Twitter Linking (themoderatevoice.com)

Post from: StayGoLinks

Tweet Tips For Max ReTweets (RTs)

Related Posts

• April 3, 2009 -- Getting Links With Twitter Hashtags (9)
• April 13, 2010 -- Look Mom No Home Page LMNHP (18)
• August 19, 2009 -- Guy Kawasaki Repeats Tweets: So Do It (15)
• June 24, 2009 -- SEO Clients Deserve NoFollow Discounts (23)
• May 29, 2009 -- Social Media Is An Oxymoron (19)

I must admit my vision of Twitter is very much like that painted by Kelly Forrister  who sees it as the Twitter river.  She works on David Allen‘s Getting Things Done Seminars and provides individual Coaching for their clients around the world.

It’s an interesting look on how fast the world is moving, or how little our attention spans are willing to absorb, that a quirky little service like Twitter seems to be luring so many of us in.  Have you ever been to one of those Lazy Rivers at a resort hotel? The kind where you hop in and out as you please? And around it goes, whether you’re in the river or not. That’s the best description I’ve heard of Twitter.

That’s largely the way it goes even if you use some service like Tweetdeck to keep things somewhat organized.  Of course you have Twitter Search and  Hashtags that can allow you to explore just a smaller creek but it is still moving along.

This week I now have a new perspective.  If you want to get together with a few friends just to explore something rapidly, then you can use TinyChat, which are Disposable Chatrooms especially for the Twitter Generation

Sometimes all you need is a simple chatroom for real-time text chats. TinyChat solves this problem by creating simple, disposable chatrooms. Tinychats works exactly as advertised. It’s a disposable, no-frills chatroom, with a deliberately limited feature set. There are no accounts to sign up for and whenever you open up a new room, TinyChat will simply create a new URL for you.

If you are looking for more permanence, then I highly recommend TweetChat, which gives you access to more permanent chat rooms.  In fact they are just showing you the tweets for a certain hashtag, but it is very user-friendly.

To get the idea, you might want to check out Brandchat,which is to be found behind the #brandchat hashtag.  This group meets every Wednesday to discuss branding , brand development and customer service. Every Wednesday morning 10 a.m. CST, they tap into their “collective mind” on Twitter and discuss everything branding. Next meeting is April 1st.  If you have a question, you can even join their Facebook group.  Anything on the Facebook wall gets put on the #brandchat agenda.

If up till now, Twitter has been a raging, tumultuous river, pop into a chatroom and enjoy quietly meeting a few people.  Why not try the Google #friendconnect chat room?  It always is very quiet there.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Twitter Chat Rooms

Related Posts

• May 29, 2009 -- Social Media Is An Oxymoron (19)
• February 18, 2009 -- The NOW Web Is Not The Mobile Web (2)
• August 19, 2009 -- Guy Kawasaki Repeats Tweets: So Do It (15)
• August 12, 2009 -- Mobile Local Marketing – or MLM (4)
• June 11, 2009 -- Tweet Tips For Max ReTweets (RTs) (5)

Barack Obama relied on grassroots leadership to support him in his path to the White House.  Not surprisingly he is now re-enlisting volunteers to build support for his bold approach for renewing America’s economy.

Democrats mounted a nationwide effort Saturday to try to harness the grassroots support that helped propel President Obama’s campaign and use it to push for his administration’s initiatives.  Volunteers met in 1,200 to 1,300 locations across the country, organizers said — from a library in Arlington, Virginia, to a park in Brooklyn, New York, and to homes and restaurants in California.

In some, participants discussed the president’s agenda. In others, they set out to homes, subway stations and farmers’ markets, asking people to sign forms in which they pledge support for “President Obama’s bold approach for renewing America’s economy” and commit to asking friends, family and neighbors to do the same.

This is the first large-scale effort by the Democratic Party’s new “Organizing for America” initiative to use the network of volunteers to help build and push the administration’s agenda, although in February the group did host house parties where the proposed stimulus bill was discussed.  The objective is that organizers can continue growing the vast database of supporters’ e-mail and text addresses, which will include the Obama presidential campaign’s list of supporters.

The success of this type of initiative will greatly depend on the energy and determination of grassroots leaders like Sergio Salmeron, who energize their friends and team-mates to spread the word.

Sergio Salmeron, who started a Washington-area club after the election for supporters of the president’s policies. His effort Saturday afternoon brought together about 16 people, discussing everything from health care reform and whether the president is being inclusive, to foreign policy and whether the administration is on the right track, to the economy.   “Obama will need your help to win this fight,” Signer said. Then about half of that group set out to seek signatures at subway stops.

Grassroots leadership works well when hierarchies are downplayed and there is strong mutual respect. Activities like Barack Obama’s appearance on the Tonight Show with Jay Leno this week are clearly signs that the president is reaching out to his fellow citizens.

Grassroots leaders were always powerful forces in their own local settings.  What the Internet supports with the increasing popularity of social media is an enormous leverage of the power of their examples. 

Democracy is a political system in which the supreme power lies in a body of citizens who can elect people to represent them.  Now those same citizens at the grassroots can also make their own impact on how things get done by involving their friends and colleagues.

Related articles by Zemanta

• President Barack Obama on Tonight Show Full Interview Video (binside.typepad.com)
• Obama hangs out with Leno (thenewspundit.com)

Post from: StayGoLinks

Grassroots Leadership

Related Posts

• November 10, 2008 -- Barack Obama And Grassroots Leadership (6)
• May 29, 2009 -- Social Media Is An Oxymoron (19)
• January 4, 2009 -- Top Ten Lists Are Overrated (9)
• November 29, 2008 -- Reputation Management and Social Media (5)
• November 3, 2008 -- Talking Behind Your Back (8)

Twitter for many used to be a way of passing the time, like watching the crowds walking along the High Street, or watching a turbulent river flow by.  Fascinating and in some ways relaxing.  However with so many people now using Twitter it has become a rich resource that you can use effectively for business purposes and many people are.  How can you best get results that justify the time you may spend on Twitter.

Biana Babinsky has some suggestions on how to Stop Wasting Time And Get Results On Twitter.  It boils down to the following three suggestions:

• Evaluate Your Goals For Twitter and work to achieve them
• Don’t Borrow Time For Twitter but only spend the time that you have available for Twitter
• Track Everything

One problem is that Twitter as such is a very rudimentary process geared only to see what is happening instantaneously as it passes by.  Other software does a better job of helping see the bigger Twitter picture.  I thoroughly recommend TweetDeck, which better gives you an overview of what is going on in the recent past.  In particular it allows you to see instantaneously on the same screen, the Replies and Direct Messages that are of interest to you.  Just fire up TweetDeck on whatever regular schedule works for you, say every two or three hours, and you can stay aware of your corner of the TwitterSphere.

To improve your Twitter performance further, I highly recommend TwiTip, which is a website wholly dedicated to high performance tips for Twitter. TwiTip is edited by Darren Rowse from ProBlogger Blog Tips.

For example a recent post offered suggestions on How to Target and Attract High Quality Twitter Followers from Your Blogging Niche.  Some of the more interesting suggestions were:

• Follow Your Niche’s Trusted Authorities – Twellow will tell you who the big players are in your niche and you can then follow them.
• Turn on Your Radar – be aware what these high profile users in your  niche are doing by subscribing to their blogs via RSS.
• Start dialoguing with them by sending @replies on a subject you know they care about
• Blog on topics that mention something that is of interest to them and let them know

Twitter is not just frothy foam that is floating by like a turbulent river.  There are serious possibilities of developing important relationships.  Do your homework and make Twitter work for you.

Related articles by Zemanta

• Converting First Time Visitors to Loyal Readers (problogger.net)

Post from: StayGoLinks

Getting Results From Twitter

Related Posts

• April 3, 2009 -- Getting Links With Twitter Hashtags (9)
• August 19, 2009 -- Guy Kawasaki Repeats Tweets: So Do It (15)
• June 11, 2009 -- Tweet Tips For Max ReTweets (RTs) (5)
• May 29, 2009 -- Social Media Is An Oxymoron (19)
• May 20, 2009 -- Titles Must ReTweet Well (8)

When Does Reputation Management Become Unethical? That is an interesting question posed by Jeff Quipp of Search Engine People.

There is obviously a great deal of power in being able to hide certain search results from the majority of searchers. With this power however, comes great responsibility. This responsibility becomes even more important if one considers that there are currently no guidelines to help guide us through the murky waters of morality.

It is certainly true that by careful SEO (Search Engine Optimization) one can push negative references down the Google search page, or with sufficient other online properties perhaps even off the top 10 page.  however you cannot make them disappear.  Now with the rise of social media, it is even harder to still all those dissident voices.

The words of Katie Delahaye Paine as recorded by Liana ‘Li’ Evans reflect current reality.

Trying to manage your reputation in a social media environment of today, is just plain silly (and futile), you just can’t.

Both PR Coverage and Social Media (it’s better when they are working together) have a big effect on how companies are perceived and in the end a big effect on what they are doing. The key though, is to measure both what is working and what is not working. Companies also need to understand that people are talking online, they are saying and doing things with brands, products & services, whether you are active in the conversation or not.

The first imperative of course is to try to make sure that the actions of your company are blameless, as far as you can achieve that.  With such a policy you no longer need to hide but can become active in the conversations.  You probably need a blog and may well decide to be active on Twitter. 

One example among many is the CPA advertising network, ClickBooth.  Early in the year, there were a number of negative comments from disgruntled affiliates that could be found through search.  Now there is a ClickBooth blog and you can also follow ClickBooth through Twitter.  The two approaches provide the best possible channels for dialoguing with any who may be dissatisfied.  Now that is the way to do reputation management.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Reputation Management and Social Media

Related Posts

• June 24, 2009 -- SEO Clients Deserve NoFollow Discounts (23)
• May 29, 2009 -- Social Media Is An Oxymoron (19)
• March 31, 2009 -- Death, Taxes And Google (4)
• May 23, 2008 -- SEO Cash Cows Anyone? (4)
• September 5, 2009 -- Designing High Performance Websites (17)

Despite the fact that Barak Obama seems to have done so well with social media, others seem to have more problems.  It is all a question of signal to noise ratio. Two contrasting discussion threads this morning typify this.

The most heated one centers around Live Blogging at PubCon Vegas 2008.  There was somewhat strong criticism of this in a blog post and since then the chatter has been incessant. Search Engine Roundtable has done some excellent live blogging of Internet Marketing events for several years.  Barry Schwartz (aka rustybrick), the owner of SER, has asked the question, I’m Insulted But Should We Give Up Live Blogging?

The other side of that equation of course is what is noise and what is signal. Ruud Hein, a moderator at Cre8asite Forums, poses the question of how one should share news, views, hopes, and fears around the social media world.  Some services such as FriendFeed provide multiple messages to many social media for each item.  How does one separate the grains of wheat from all this chaff?

The question is not new.  Yvonne Russell suggested ways of keeping the noise down earlier in the year.  Marshall Kirkpatrick on the other hand seemed to suggest that Online “Noise” is Good For You.  Peter Da Vanzo has now suggested that the noise level is so high that Social Media Marketing may well be A Waste Of Time.

Perhaps an item in this morning’s paper suggests why people may come to different views.  It was entitled SFU biologist’s theory called one of greatest since Freud’s.

Bernard Crespi, an evolutionary biologist at SFU, has developed a theory — with the help of Christopher Badcock, a sociologist at the London School of Economics — that suggests a “genetic tug of war” could be behind mental disorders such as autism and schizophrenia.

The theory, first published in Behavioural and Brain Sciences, suggests autism and schizophrenia are at opposite ends of a spectrum of mental disorders. Each is an extreme outcome of a battle between the mother’s and father’s genes, which can steer brain development in one of two directions.

The article goes on to say that it is all linked with how sociable any individual is. Too sociable and you are schizophrenic: not sociable enough and you are autistic. Most of us will fall somewhere in the middle. 

I am sure we all have our own particular position on that axis and that may well explain why what some people regard as noise others may regard as  signal.  My own picture of the social media scene is like a crowded shopping mall.  As you wander around, you bump into people and may dialogue for a little while.  Then you move on and may bump into other people.  Some people like shopping malls and others hate them.  I believe each of us has to find the appropriate balance so that we can still achieve our goals and have the amount of social interaction that works for us. That is why some may find live blogging provides a signal but others hear it mostly as noise.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Social Media: Please Keep The Noise Down

Posts from the Archives You May Enjoy

• August 7, 2006 -- Windows Mobile For Greater Creativity (0)
• February 17, 2010 -- Desktop PCs from a Mobile Perspective (1)
• January 4, 2009 -- Top Ten Lists Are Overrated (9)
• January 3, 2008 -- Mobile 2008 – Year Of The Google (1)
• May 28, 2008 -- Website Reviews Free, Really? (9)

The nomination of Barack Obama as President elect clearly signals a new era.  Finally African-Americans can take their rightful place in the United States.  It has taken much longer than one might have hoped, but in some ways has happened much earlier than many expected.

Much has been written on that and one of the best is in a New York Times blog by Judith Warner entitled Tears To Remember.  This moment of triumph marks the end of such a long period of pain, of indignity and injustice for African-Americans.

A Business Week article by Bill George brings out another important aspect: Barack Obama: A Leader for the ‘We’ Generation.

Leaders can learn a lot from Obama about power that comes from the bottom up, not just from the top down.  The sweeping victory of Barack Obama ushers in a new era of leadership that will affect every aspect of American institutions and that sounds a death knell for the top-down, power-oriented leadership prevalent in the 20th century.

A new style of "bottom-up, empowering" leadership focusing on collaboration will sweep the country. A new wave of 21st century authentic leaders will take oversee U.S. institutions of every type: business, education, health care, religion, and nonprofits. These new leaders recognize that an organization of empowered leaders at every level will outperform "command-and-control" organizations every time.

Some might regard those words as overblown rhetoric.  However they are supported by an enabling technology: the Internet.  For confirmation just check out the Obama Delegates website with its strong emphasis on the grassroots movement.

This is more than just Barak Obama using social media well as some have commented.   Just check out MoveOn�s very clever election video.  This was just one of many viral activities.   Clearly Barack�s Youth Vote Was Energized by Social Media.

According to CIRCLE, a nonpartisan research center studying youth engagement and civic education, without the youth vote, Barack Obama might have had one heck of a time winning this year�s election. That�s just how energized and how active a part in the campaign the youth vote has became. The youth overall turned out in record numbers this year.

The Stats on McCain vs. Obama Online and the Buzz as reflected in Google Trends showed just how wide the gap was between the two campaigns.    This had been apparent for some time as Bryan Eisenberg pointed out in August.  He saw Obama as someone who was doing online marketing extremely well.

A New York Times article pointed out that this had been in the making for some time:  How Obama Tapped Into Social Networks� Power

In February 2007, a friend called Marc Andreessen, a founder of Netscape and a board member of Facebook, and asked if he wanted to meet with a man with an idea that sounded preposterous on its face. Mr. Andreessen agreed to hear the guy out. A junior member of a large and powerful organization with a thin, but impressive, r�sum�, he was about to take on far more powerful forces in a battle for leadership.

He wondered if social networking, with its tremendous communication capabilities and aggressive database development, might help him beat the overwhelming odds facing him. And as it turned out, President-elect Barack Obama was right.

Now it is time for the transition from DotCom to DotGov.  In particular Obama’s new website is change.gov.  As might be expected it includes a blog.  It seems quite clear that at least in the political field grassroots leadership is being adopted with vigor.

Related:

The Internet – Tidal Wave Or Grassroots Movement

Post from: StayGoLinks

Barack Obama And Grassroots Leadership

Related Posts

• March 22, 2009 -- Grassroots Leadership (2)
• May 29, 2009 -- Social Media Is An Oxymoron (19)
• January 4, 2009 -- Top Ten Lists Are Overrated (9)
• November 29, 2008 -- Reputation Management and Social Media (5)
• November 3, 2008 -- Talking Behind Your Back (8)

If someone is talking behind your back, then you are unaware of what is being said.  That idea came to mind after reading an article by Jim Edwards, Why Pharma Fears Social Networking.  The Internet provides a great communication channel and everyone can get involved.  Perhaps their lawyers may be concerned about pharmaceutical companies encouraging conversations in social media, but they will happen anyway.  The companies can either be participants or they can merely be the objects of the discussion.  Before the Internet, some would encourage such companies to hide in a trench until the noise died down.  That is no longer an option.

These social media are somewhat of a challenge to all big companies.  That is why it was interesting to see the BlogWell seminar on How Big Companies Use Social Media. There are many factors for a company to consider, not least The Ethics of Disclosure as Mike McGrath points out. However the Internet genie will not be going back in the bottle, so companies must learn how best to behave in this new environment.

Related articles by Zemanta

• The Number of Small Businesses Using Social Media to Double in 12 Months

Post from: StayGoLinks

Talking Behind Your Back

Related Posts

• May 29, 2009 -- Social Media Is An Oxymoron (19)
• March 22, 2009 -- Grassroots Leadership (2)
• November 29, 2008 -- Reputation Management and Social Media (5)
• November 10, 2008 -- Barack Obama And Grassroots Leadership (6)

Everyone is talking about viral marketing. However a better description may be exponential Marketing. It is all that old Breck shampoo commercial, “She told 2 friends, who told 2 friends, who told 2 friends….” What we are talking about here is exponential growth of the number of people who are in on the secret.

All this is by way of introduction to the new button you will see below on this blog and on the other two SMM blogs. You will see there a Tell A Friend button. In a way it is a bit of a misnomer, since the button helps you tell a number of friends in one go. The button is provided by Social Twist who suggest that with the Tell-a-Friend button you can Leverage Word of Mouth Marketing.

Tell a Friend widget helps websites and blogs to popularize their content through word of mouth marketing. Users can access their address book to email friends or tell a friend through blogs, Instant Messengers and social networking sites.

It is available as a widget for blogging software such as WordPress or as HTML code that can be inserted in a regular HTML webpage. It really is a very effective process. That is perhaps why the Social Twist Blog records such exponential growth in its adoption.

10 million more reasons to tell a friend
Posted on 1 Oct
We are overwhelmed with the response we have got. Within a few weeks of our official launch, we have already reached a milestone: 10 million widget serves� and counting! We are exploding the number of registered users. Plus there are so many thousands who are using the Express edition of Tell-a-Friend which requires no sign up.

Since other Send To A Friend code may only pass on the recommendation one friend at the time, this new button really does leverage the process. Truly exponential.

Post from: StayGoLinks

Exponential Marketing .. And She Told Two Friends

Related Posts

• May 24, 2010 -- Professional Writers Blogs Are More Visible With LMNHP (1)
• October 11, 2009 -- Best Least Known Blogging Tool (11)
• May 20, 2009 -- Titles Must ReTweet Well (8)
• April 3, 2009 -- Getting Links With Twitter Hashtags (9)
• January 29, 2009 -- Twitter, The Blog Killer (9)

Ending breast cancer is a cause we can and should all support. So many families are affected by it. It’s not surprising that a great number of people get involved in trying to help. One very powerful way is in raising donations. Many thousands do it through the Weekend to End Breast Cancer?. If you check out their website, you will find that 60-kilometres weekend runs are being arranged again this year right across the country.

• Ottawa June 6-8
• Calgary July 25-27
• Edmonton August 8-10
• Halifax August 15-17
• Montreal August 22-24
• Toronto September 5-7
• Vancouver September 5-7

You can get an idea of what has been achieved by looking at the 2007 results in Vancouver. As is noted, over 2,000 participants walked 60-kilometres through several neighbourhoods around Vancouver during the Weekend to End Breast Cancer and raised $5.1 million. Proceeds benefit the BC Cancer Foundation, funding important breast cancer research, education, services and care.

If you want to get involved here in Vancouver, then the Vancouver End Cancer website provides full information. More immediately you could look at a short Video, which opens in a new window, by clicking on this button:

I’m proud to say my wife Vivianne has decided to take part in this. If you would like to support her, then you can visit her website and make a donation. Any amount, large or small, will be much appreciated. If you like what you read for free on this and the other SMM blogs and newsletters, then this could be a good way to show your appreciation. It certainly beats those [Buy Me A Beer] buttons that some blogs carry.

If you know of someone else who is participating and would like to support them, or wish to make a donation directly, then this link will get you there.

Post from: StayGoLinks

End Breast Cancer

Posts from the Archives You May Enjoy

• August 26, 2006 -- China has most mobile phone users in the world (1)
• August 21, 2006 -- Mobile Gaming and the Internet Open Space (0)
• November 9, 2007 -- Your Cell Phone Overhears All Your Conversations (3)
• April 3, 2009 -- Getting Links With Twitter Hashtags (9)
• November 15, 2006 -- Ubiquitous Web – Visiting A Museum (2)