The Future of Twitter, by Loic Le Meur

If nothing else, you’ll enjoy the way Loic Le Meur pronounces “Twitter.” Here are his predictions for the future of Twitter (h/t Mashable):

 

Think Social Networking is a ‘Trend’?

Ft. Hard Knox WebWarriors know that we usually steer clear of MMO (Making Money Online) posts, here…not because there’s anything wrong with that (we ARE free-market capitalists, after all), but because there are already enough sites on the line covering MMO, whereas our key focus is on helping conservative activists become more effective online.

That being said, however, I heard this young man on Fox and Friends this morning, and thought several of his ideas about the current state and future of the internet, new media, and social networking are also very appropo to what we’re doing here. Gary Vaynerchuk is the owner of Wine Library, a project in which he took his family’s business online and the author of _blank">Crush it! Why NOW is the time to Cash in on Your Passion. The following is a video interview he did for BigThink.com.

Also see: Three New-Media Lessons from Gary Vaynerchuk

 

(Hat-Tip Mike’s Writing Workshop)

 

Newsbusted on the GOP’s New Website

This is may be the only time in history that HuffPo and the Media Research Center agree on something – how the RNC still doesn’t get it. Jodi Miller also comments on Balloon Boy, kids asking Obama why people “hate him so much,” polling, Rush Limbaugh, senior stimulus, Mike Huckabee, etc..

 

Brent Bozell on the Power of Alternative Media

Brent Bozell, of the Media Research Center talks about the power of alternative media.

 

Also see: Today in Washington D. C. – Sept 25, 2009 – More Polls & Democrats Condescending Attitude Towards the Public

 

Social Media Revolution

Is social media a fad? Or is it the biggest shift since the Industrial Revolution? Welcome to the World of Socialnomics.

 

Is the White House Harvesting and Cataloging Comments from Social Networking Sites?

(Updated)

In the, Can this be Serious?! category, here’s a job opportunity posted on FedBizOpps.gov for a contractor:

 

The contractor shall provide the necessary services to capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP on publicly-accessible web sites, along with information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP offices under PRA maintains a presence, throughout the term of the contract. The contractor shall if possible, capture, store, extract to approved formats, and transfer content published by EOP on non-public websites. The contractor shall include in the information posted by non-EOP persons on publicly-accessible web sites where the EOP maintains a presence both comments posted on pages created by EOP and messages sent to EOP accounts on those web sites. Publicly-accessible sites may include, but are not limited to social networking sites. The contractor shall provide a user-friendly way of organizing and searching captured information. The contractor shall properly transfer the captured information, as identified by EOP, to NARA in an acceptable format for both preservation in NARA’s Electronic Records Archive and presentation at the future Presidential Library. The Contractor shall provide a method to separate content posted by other EOP component offices as required. (Application with more Information – 51 pages – .pdf)

Your stimulus money at work, folks. Ostensibly, this information is being collected for the “future Presidental Library.”

The NLPC and Director Blue are suspicious, especially in light of the White House’s recent attempt to get people to turn in in their e-mail buddies for speaking out against Obamacare.

 

Also see: Maggie’s Notebook: Obama Presidential Library: EOP Presidential Cookies? EOP Data Collector Job

 

Lon Safco: The 10 Commandments of Social Media

Last week’s WebWarrior, Dr. Bill, forwarded this link to me, and it’s great:

As an author of The Social Media Bible, I am often asked, “What do I need to do engage my company, my products, and myself in social media?” The answer is easy: participate. Get out there and get involved. If you aren’t in the game, you can’t win. Here’s your Ten Commandments or things you need to be doing to get in and win with social media.

1. Thou Shalt Blog (like crazy).
2. Thou Shalt Create Profiles (everywhere).
3. Thou Shalt Upload Photos (lots of them).
4. Thou Shalt Upload Videos (all you can find).
5. Thou Shalt Podcast (often).
6. Thou Shalt Set Alerts (immediately).
7. Thou Shalt Comment (on a multitude of blogs).
8. Thou Shalt Get Connected (with everyone).
9. Thou Shalt Explore Social Media (30 minutes per week).
10. Thou Shalt Be Creative (go forth and create creatively)!

…Continue reading on the Fast Company Blog >>

 

Social Networking for Promotion: DIY vs. Free

“I don’t have TIME to learn how it works – I just want it done!”

That’s the sentiment that we, at Ft. Hard Knox often encounter in speaking with politically conservative professionals who are in the beginning stages of incorporating new media and online social networking into their marketing campaigns. What many of them have observed and concluded about social networking is:

1. The social networking sites are free to use – therefore they must not have much value.
2. There are instructions for how to do this, literally, all over the web (again, for free), so it can’t be that hard to learn.
3. The level of communication among adults on the front page of most of the social networking sites (like Digg.com, and reddit.com) is taking place at aproximately a third-grade level of maturity and reading – so, obviously, even any idiot can do it.
4. I’m a busy person. Social networking sounds like something I can hire clerical help off the street to do for me, so I don’t have to waste my time on it.

Several years ago, I knew a man who very much wanted to be self employed. He wasn’t sure what he wanted to employ himself to do – He didn’t have much education, and no real job skills. He just figured that as a self-employed person, he could be his own boss, get paid as much as he wanted to pay himself, and do as little as he wanted. At least, this was his perception. Eventually he learned, after numerous failed attempts at such a lifestyle, that self-employed people tend to work harder, longer, and often for less take-home pay than those who are working for others. He finally gave it up and got a job. Being self-employed sounded easy, but turned out to be a lot more complicated than it seemed.

Anyone who has taken on “DIY” (Do-It-Yourself) projects around the house now understands that in many cases it would have been cheaper to hire a professional. By the time they bought all of the necessary tools and instruction manuals, corrected mistakes, and factored in the cost of their time and labor – “DIY” work turned out to be costly. Of course, it might have been worth it. Maybe they did the work with a family member, and enjoyed the time spent, or maybe they learned valuable skills they’ll be able to re-use. Perhaps they just enjoyed the satifaction of being able to say to themselves and the world – look what I did – all by myself (a good feeling, indeed)! But it is rare for a DIY-er to brag about money saved, unless they are already basically a professional in the work they are doing.

Likewise, those of you who are reading this who are long-time conservative bloggers who have been promoting your own blogs to draw traffic and support causes that are important to you know that taking on the task of self-promotion is not easy. It’s a skill that constantly needs to be updated. While uisng social networking sites does not cost money, the activity takes a toll in time (LOTS of time), and in terms of the emotional wear and tear of doing battle with the “progressive” left. As in many other things in life (to address #3 above), just because there are plenty of idiots involved in social networking, doesn’t mean that any idiot can do it effectively.

While some aspects of traditional marketing also apply to social networking, social networking (effectively) is a separate skill. It is done on a much more personal level, and in order for someone to do it for you, that person must know you and your business very well, and must be authorized to speak publicly on behalf of you and your business at all levels. Social networking (again, effectively), requires first the development of a substantial (quality) network, then soft promotion of whatever goods or services one wants to offer.

To be successful in social networking, you’ll need to convince complete strangers to help you promote you for free. People need to know who you are, and they need to believe in you and like you before they’ll help promote your “stuff.” The “viral” phonomenon (where by a fluke, a person or idea suddenly becomes outrageously popular on the web, and no one is quite sure why) is rare, and most of us do not have the name recognition and fan base of a celebrity or national politician. Therefore, accomplishing effective social networking, for the majority of us requires personal interaction over a period of time, on a variety of topics with our potential peers, then clients. Hiring someone off the street or assigning the task to a clerical worker who has no real knowledge of you, your business, your industry, or online social networking will not be effective.

Self promotion using social networking is a “DIY” project. It’s not easy, and it’s not free. If you decide to hire a professional, be sure to hire someone who knows you and your industry. Also, be aware that the professional is working along side you as a consultant, but that this type of marketing is done on a very personal level, and that you will need to be personally involved in the entire process.

Not for you? No problem – there’s still paid online advertising.

 

Drill-Down Info on Twitter with Topsy.com

One of the problems with social networking versus blogging for “numbers-minded” online activsts is that it is more difficult to measure effectiveness in terms of statistics. I’m personally not one of those people (I’m not really even sure my brain actually has a left side), but for those of you who are, this site might help fill that void, at least on Twitter. It’s called Topsy.

Topsy is ultra user-friendly. Just enter a search term (any search term), and you’ll be given easy-to-read statistics on how many times that search term has been used. Try entering your blog name (or url), your username, your real name, your favorite hobby, or any topic of interest to you, and you can see how many times that term is mentioned on Twitter in the last hour, day, week, month, and ever. It’ll also give you the links and number of times those links have been tweeted/re-tweeted on Twitter. If you click on the little orange number next to the link, it’ll show you which Tweeters are talking about your topic.

This is especially great for tracking how much attention a particular link is getting, or for finding fellow Tweeps who like to discuss your favorite topics. Learn more, HERE, or try it for yourself, at Topsy.com.

(Hat-Tip, Duct Tape Marketing)

Posterous could be the future of blogging.

I got this from Mashable, and am flabbergasted.

Posterous is a site that allows you to create a blog by simply e-mailing your first post to the site, which immediately returns your e-mail with a link to your new blog, where you’ll be given very simple instructions for setting it up however you wish.

After that, you can add subscribers, set a password (optional), and customize your domain. Then, you can continue to post by e-mail, or using a browser bookmark from pretty much anywhere on the web, or, you can share your blog posts to any of the more popular social networks (Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, etc.,) or to your other blogs (Wordpress, Blogger, Typepad, etc.) You (and your approved subscribers) can edit your posts in html or WYSIWYG view.

It is really very simple, and easy to use. I set up a test blog in less than five minutes, just to check it out (here) You can even track your stats on this new blog. It doesn’t yet have the ability to customize the appearance that some other blogging software has, but makes up for this providing a fully-functioning, interactive, “ready to go” blog that is also a social network in (literally) minutes.

See some examples, here, or try it yourself, here.

Retaggr – Strange Name, Great Site

I got this link Retaggr link from Mashable a while back, and finally decided to try it out. Aside from the name, which is hard to remember, and doesn’t make sense to me, I love this site.  It’s easy and secure to load all of your social networking profiles into one convenient place (You are NOT asked to give your passwords to your social networking profiles), and it integrates beautifully with other sites like Facebook, Twitter, and Gravatar.

Even for me (and I have social networking profiles all over the web), it only took a few minutes to produce a neat little social networking profile page, and card, which I’ve embedded below as an example. I do wish it were a little more interactive with e-mail, but overall, it’s a great tool.  Check it out.

 

Social Networking vs. Social Marketing

I’ve been noticing a trend lately, mostly among online marketers, to make the term “social networking” synonymous with “social marketing.” While it’s true that these two often overlap, they are very different activities, with different goals.

Networking involves actually building a network – of colleagues, contacts, and potential clients. Networking is an individual activity, and more “personal” (in the professional sense). It is not uncommon to network with people who have absolutely nothing to offer you at this time – simply because they are contacts of your contacts.

Marketing, however, involves promoting or advocating for your business, your service, or your cause. Part of an effective marketing strategy might be to judiciously promote your product, service, or cause to select members your well-developed network. Whether online or offline, if you do this too often (particularly without reciprocation within the network), you’re going to find your “network” diminishing, as people get grow weary of constantly being hit with a sales pitch. And notice, that in order to promote your product to your network, you need to have already developed the said network.

Let me repeat that last part: In order to promote your product to your network, you need to have already developed the said network.

What is happening all too often, instead, is that marketing professionals are discovering online social media outlets, and viewing them as “free advertising space.” They’ll jump onto Twitter or Facebook with no existing friends, no followers, no contacts, no followees, no prior history, no “networking” activity at all, and announce that they are there to promote their new splog (”spam blog“) – a website with no value to anyone who isn’t specifically looking for whatever they’re trying to sell.

This is the online equivalent of attending a local Bible study, or lodge meeting, or Thursday Happy Hour for the first time, and walking in with a stack of life insurance brochures and applications. How well would that be received? How effective would that be? Not very. And you might be asked to leave. But if you’ve made the effort to get to know the folks there over time, it’s likely that you’ll know who may or may not need and be interested in buying your product; they are more likely to trust you and at least listen to your spiel.

The same holds true online – if you start trying to sell to members of a social networking group before you build your network, you’re likely to be rejected as a “spammer.” However, if you first build the network, then very carefully market in a way that is not obnoxious, you’re more likely to have good success.

Also see: Harte Marketing & Communications – The Four Faces of Social Media (Hat-Tip Kristen Turley, APR @Kristen_Okla)

www.Wednesday: Help?! I’m social networking and I CAN’T STOP!!!!

Most of my posts on the topic of social networking are geared to encouraging political conservatives to try new techniques, visit new sites, join new groups – be bold, take a step out of their comfort zones, and just go for it.

Well, what happens if you’ve done that, and answered “yes” to every other invite you’ve received from your network of online fellow activists – and now find yourself awake in the wee hours of the morning trying to respond to all of your alerts, messages, diggs, seeds, superpokes, nudges, @replies, stumbles, friend requests, DM’s, group invites, shouts, retweets, and #feeds – not to mention your regular blog posts, cross-posts, comments, reciprocal link requests, and, of course, hundreds and hundreds of e-mails.

I knew I was in trouble a while back when I received a reply to an e-mail I had sent a state legislator at 3AM from my mobile phone…I’d gone to bed that night at about midnight. I vaguely remembered the e-mail, but thought I had dreamed about sending it. Seriously, you have to draw the line when you catch yourself sleep-e-mailing. Fortunately, I’d been “professional” in the e-mail, but it was truly a “wake-up” call in more ways than one.

So, what to do? If you find yourself in this situation, it’s time to set priorities, and cull the time-sinks. Following are some techniques I’ve used and/or that I’m working on. I hope you’ll add your own.

1. Unsubscribe from any newsletters you don’t read. Use the “unsubscribe” option provided on newsletters through professional news services, ask to be removed from the more informal lists, and if all else fails, start marking those particular e-mails as “spam,” so they’ll be filtered out of your regular in-box.
2. Consolidate groups. If you’re finding that you’re on 27 Ning Groups, for example, and you have pretty much the same friends on all of them – nix the smaller or inactive ones. (Note to all of my NING.com friends – I’ll be doing this in the next week.)
3. Change your settings. Most social networks give you an opportunity to choose if/how often you want to be e-mailed with alerts, friend requests, etc.. Take time to review these options so that you’re e-mailed only about things that are time-sensitive.
4. Differentiate “productive” v. “fun” v. “obsessive.” Take Twitter for example. For me, 10 minutes a couple of times a day adding new followers, responding to @replies, retweeting the best of the best, and posting a great link or two is “productive.” Taking a break from work a few times during the day to exchange sarcastic tweets is “fun.” Staring, mesmerized, at my home feed for hours and re-tweeting 1 out of every 10 tweets is “obsessive.” (I mean, I can imagine it would be…not that I would know from personal experience…ahem…I’m just sayin’…b-b-but, it’s “research,” right?)
5. Know the difference between “socializing,” and “networking.” If you’re in a group or network that started out being a link exchange and has deteriorated into a place to exchange numerous e-mails a day debating the finer points of who is the most “conservative,” amongst yourselves…you’re now socializing. There’s nothing wrong with socializing if you have time for it, but don’t kid yourself into believing that the several hours a day you’re spending there is necessary “networking.” It isn’t.

Bottom line: Time is valuable, and we need to spend it wisely. Likewise, our social networking time should be spent on activities that help us meet our goals. Sure, it can (and should) be fun. But there’s no need to let our social networking activities keep us from the other important things and people in our lives.

www.Wednesday: Everyone is on Facebook…Everyone

It seems the line between the virtual world and the “real” world (i.e. between our lives online and offline) is becoming more and more blurred every day. Recent news and events reveal this is particularly true on Facebook.com.

There has been an on-going battle for many months between the Muslim and Jewish Groups on Facebook, as we reported on Ft. Hard Knox last Fall. The New York Times is reporting that there is some concern that the Cicilian Mafia could be using the site. Naturally, where there are suspected terrorists, mobsters, and everyday criminals, there will be law-enforcement agencies. Naved Akhtar, of Digital Journal reported in January that “New Zealand police have made their first ‘Facebook arrest’ after placing CCTV footage of a burglar on the social networking site, Facebook.”

The web, just like the so-called “real world”, is a fun and interesting place. But remember, the people you’re dealing with online are “real” people. As technology continues to develop at incredible speeds, and becomes more and more a part of our daily lives, we need to be prepared for the fact that there is no longer a clear distinction between “online” and “offline” reality.

 

Ning.com

I’d like to direct your attention to an interesting social network – or, rather – a network of networks that is attracting a lot of folks, including a significant number of conservatives online.

Ning.com is a site that allows you to form your own social network. I first learned about this a few months ago, and I have to admit that a just rolled my eyes, and thought, “Oh, great. That’s exactly what we need – ANOTHER social network! (Not!)”

But then I began to receive more and more invites to various networks on Ning, and I must admit that I am impressed with several of them. The best part of this new experience for me is that I’m meeting conservatives that I have not met before, addressing what has been a growing concern for me, as I’ve been wondering what good it does to join 57 social networks (that’s only a slight exaggeration) if I have exactly the same friends on every one?!

Ning networks allow members to have their own page, set the level of contact they want, add applications that interact with other social networks, customize their own “page” and blog, add rss feeds, and much more. I’ve found it to be very user-friendly.

Here are a few examples of conservative networks on Ning you might want to explore:

• Patriots Fro America – Constitutional Emergency (550+ Members – And look for your state group.)
• The Conservative Underground (Nearly 1,000 members in just about a week!)
• Take Control of Your Classroom (This one’s for anyone involved in education, including parents – 179 members and growing)
• Fair Tax Nation (750+ members)
• Smart Girl Politics (600+ members, and they let guys in, too, shhhh…)
• The #TCOT Network (If you’re active in #TCOT on Twitter, you’ll want to check out this network – there’s one at the national level, and several state-level networks developing.)
• The Patriotic Resistance
• Conservative Talk

To find more, use the “Search” feature on Ning.com to search for more groups, using terms like “conservative,”politics,” “education,” “Christian,” or whatever else interests you.

You’ll have to join each network individually, and they each have their own ambiance and “rules,” so be sure to read any instructions for new members. Once you’ve signed in to Ning.com, however, some things will stay with you through all of the networks, including your avatar, your e-mail address, your default settings, and any mutual friends you might have in each network.