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Twitter

Forget Streamtime: Preliminary Impressions of Twitter and the Real-Time Web

by Daria Steigman on August 3, 2010

I’ve been looking at my Twitterstream in real time since Thursday morning. Unlike the streamtime approach we’ve become used to, real time has no updates. It is a non-stop stream. Instant-ness. Immediacy.

In a blog post aptly titled Trialling Twitter at the Speed of Wow, TweetDeck opened up an experimental version of its desktop app to a handful of accounts. I was lucky to nab one, and so I thought I’d share my first (very preliminary) impressions.

1. Much as our brains have had to learn to process growing amounts of information in streamtime, real time will force us once again to readjust how we process information. I’m not sure yet whether this process will be iterative or require new systems and tools.

2. Without the “chunking” of tweets (via timed stream updates), it’s easier than ever to miss key information–so setting up TweetDeck notifications for mentions and DMs is more important than ever.

3. You can once again pull in replies to people you don’t follow from people you do. This is a huge step to restoring the ambient discovery Twitter took away 15 months ago.

4. We’re following a lot more people than we were 15 months ago, and somehow we’ve gotten accustomed to the quieted stream. I’ve been experimenting with the new functionality restored sometimes–and sometimes silenced when the volume of tweets streaming by gets overwhelming.

5. I’d like to see Twitter (or TweetDeck and other app developers) create a tool that lets me selectively follow the public replies of some people in my Twitterstream without having to pull in all of them. A list that I can shape and reshape to fit what matters to me over time.

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Who Are Your Twitter Followers?

by Daria Steigman on July 19, 2010

Branding | Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llcI used TwitterSheep to get this quick snapshot of how the people I follow on Twitter describe themselves.

In my case, this pretty much gels with what I already know. Though I was a bit surprised that “entrepreneurs” was so small. And while I’m tracking some athletes, I’ve put most of them on a list–and they’re largely not people I’m officially following.

You can also use this handy tool to peak in on your competitors to see who they’re interacting with (or at least lurking around). You might learn something unexpected.

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You’re Using Social Media, But is Your Audience Listening?

by Daria Steigman on June 10, 2010


Independent Thinking | Steigman Communications, llc

I wrote here about the secret to a great client relationship (hint: it’s about how you communicate). Now I want to talk about a related issue: understanding how your audience is listening.

For example:

  • Have you ever had someone say, “Well, I tweeted about that”?
    Okay, but I didn’t see your random tweet at a random-to-me time in a sea of tweets from the 500+ people I’m following.
  • Have you ever had someone tell you they posted the event to their LinkedIn Group?
    Great, except I get a weekly digest and your event was three days ago.

  • Have you ever had multiple people send you Facebook notifications for the same event, even though you’re on the organization’s distribution list and so have obviously received at least one event invitation (and possibly signed up already)?
    Gee, now you’re spamming me.

Here’s the problem: When you do this, you’re making assumptions about my behavior and how I use various social media channels. Get it right, and we’re cool. Get it wrong, and your message is lost. You become irrelevant. Or worse, I unfollow, unlink, or unfriend you.

Whether you’re asking directly, monitoring online behavior, or accessing analytics, it’s important to understand how people consume information.

What strategies do you use to understand how your audience is listening?

Note: This post originally appeared on IABC’s Communication World blog.

Photo by cogdogblog (Flickr).

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Are You Squandering First Contact?

by Daria Steigman on April 19, 2010

Social Media & First ContactStar Trek has a special protocol for establishing “first contact” with new civilizations. It has to do, first, with ensuring that the people are ready for aliens who come in peace on spaceships. More broadly, it’s about setting the stage for a fruitful relationship.

Closer to home, we’re having a hard time with this concept. Especially when using social media.

My gripe is with people who squander opportunities every day. The other day, for example, I tweeted in conversation that I was headed on a road trip to Albuquerque. Immediately, @AlbuquerqueApt and a second local company followed me on Twitter. But did either bother to say hello, suggest any cool restaurants, or point out a great hiking trail?

Now you might say that it doesn’t matter or that I’m not going to be in Albuquerque long enough to go hiking. But (1) they don’t know that, and (2) they don’t know who else I know who just might live there or be moving to the area. Contrast that to Busboys and Poets here in DC which tweeted me to say they looked forward to seeing me the next day. Or the Roger Smith Hotel, which I’d recommend in a heartbeat even though I’ve never stayed there.

Clearly, my point isn’t about brands on Twitter that don’t know anything about social media. It’s about business, and how you build communities.

Mitch Joel had a good post the other day about people who feel compelled to ask favors of strangers. He wrote:

Because we’re all intrinsically connected … many people are asking people do things that are over and above the social capital equity they have put into the relationship…

The real world is the same as the online world. In fact, even making the false assumption that our social rules do not apply online is silly (and wrong). One of the better mantras to embrace when it comes to engaging with Social Media is:“just because you can, it doesn’t mean that you should.”

While Joel is talking about presumed intimacy and I’m talking about failing to build intimacy, both are ultimately about lost opportunities.

Are you squandering first contact?

Photo by Scragz (Flickr).

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Robin Hood: Men in Tights, OpenGov, and the Twitterverse

by Daria Steigman on April 15, 2010

There’s a scene in Robin Hood: Men in Tights when the merry band of men is trapped in a banquet hall. Prince John has just called in reinforcements: a seemingly invincible army of clanking armored men. Robin Hood looks for a moment, and then shoots an arrow at one. They all fall like dominoes.

Yesterday the Library of Congress announced that it intends to archive all public tweets. Alan Silberberg tweeted that live digital information being archived at the Library of Congress “should make people see what a sea change we are living through.”  Tom O’Keefe tweeted that the development is “great for psychology, technology, sociology, and history studies.”

They’re both right, of course. This is a watershed moment in the influence of digital media and an acknowledgement that each of us is a mover, shaker, and content creator. Like letters from civil war soldiers in an earlier era, tweets from Sudanese dissidents building support or tweets from people reacting to breaking news (think election night 2008, for example, or the responses last month to congressional passage of health reform legislation) can offer insights into both history and our psyche long after we’ve moved on to something new.

As the news broke, however, my first thought wasn’t to what this announcement means but to where it came from. Would this have happened now if there hadn’t been a concurrent push for open government and data transparency, or are Gov 2.0 and OpenGov initiatives the dominoes that set this curating push in motion?

Photo by Jo Jakeman (Flickr).

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