Twitter Story No. 1: Time well wasted!

It has been argued that Twitter is no more than a fun way to waste some time during the day - entertaining for sure, but with no real-life applications, and no business value.

The Ad Contrarian, in Twitters Never Win. Winners Never Twit stated in no uncertain terms that Twitter was a monumental waste of time (I won’t repeat the exact terms here because my nieces and nephews occasionally reads my posts and I don’t want them picking up this sort of language, at least not from me). He also states that his critique is based on the fact that he “tried” Twitter (for a total of 6 days).

I understand that Mr. Contrarian (if that is your real name!) generates most of his traffic by being overly obnoxious and in-your-face so as to goad people into linking to his blog, so I have purposely avoided doing so (you can easily find his blog if you really want to).

Thus was born Twitter Stories, a series of posts based on micro case studies of the use of Twitter in real-life and business situations. This post is the first in a series that I hope will show practical applications of Twitter by the folk who really and honestly use it.


Micro case study number 1: Mitch Joel vs the Airline

October 14, 2008,
Mitch Joel is waiting for a flight to Winnipeg where he is set to speak Personal Branding at a Power Within event.

At 6:53, he posts the following tweet:

need help: anyone know anyone who talks on the subject of Web 2.0 and Social Media and is based n Winnipeg? DM me details please :)

He does not get the tweetback he is looking for, so at 7:23 he posts a follow-up tweet:

really need your help. my flight is delayed. do you know anyone who can talk about online marketing in Winnipeg? Please DM me. It's urgent.

October 15, Mitch posts the following on Twitter:

Twitter & Facebook win! Was able to find Joel Parent who kept the crowd engaged while my flight was delayed. Managed to squeak in 40 mins.

Outcome: Twitter is a business contact and emergency services tool

This is the new business reality that Twitter and other Social Media offers to those who are willing to invest in it. And by invest, I mean take the time to develop ties to a broader community. It goes far beyond networking in the traditional sense. It not just a matter of collecting business cards and doing the occasional follow-up phone call. Here, two professionals who didn’t know each other beyond their social networks were able to come together and collaborate on a specific project. Mitch was able to reach out to someone, and to verify his qualifications to get the job done, primarily through Twitter and by extension, through Facebook.

Twitter, like other social media, is a tool and is only as good as the ties you have made and nourished and to the brand and the reputation you have built up. But for those who can use them properly, these new tool offer incredible new opportunities never seen before, many of which have yet to be discovered.

To know more about the story, read Mitch’s post Twitter For Business Works

If you have any such experiences you would like to share, please comment on this blog or email me at alainlemay69@gmail.com

Of course, you can also contact me via Twitter under: Alain_Lemay69

Customize your Twitter Page - Update!

At Podcamp Montreal, Adele McAlear did a session on how to build and monitor your brand using Twitter.

One of her recommendations was to create a background image that displays your branding and whatever contact information you want to put right up front. She used Wayne Sutton's Twitter page and her own Twitter page as samples.

I was intrigued by this and did a little research.

Here are a few posts that describe different ways of creating a customized background for your Twitter page:

• Create A Twitter Background Using PowerPoint (very Creative) by The Closet Entrepreneur
• Twitter background Guidelines by Croncast Archives
• Free Twitter Backgrounds from Twitterbacks.com
• Monetize Your Twitter Background by Kevin Muldoon from System0 (Approach this one with caution! Not for everyone!!!)
• Make a Good Impression with a Custom Twitter Background from Twitip
• Photoshop template to customize your Twitter profile page from Boingboing
• 26 awesome backgrounds for twitter fanboys on webdistortion
• How to make a Twitter Background Picture with Photoshop by Lawfulevilville
• How about a Twitter Background Gallery
• My Tweet Space has a background generator but I have experienced mixed results.

If you try any of these, please come back to this post and share your experience.

Don't make an Ass of U and Me!

OK, be forwarned. This is a rant! A full blown, mad as a hatter rant!

I bought a coffee cake. (keep reading, the righteous indignation is coming)

I was at the grocery store looking for a dessert to enjoy that evening with friends who were coming to dinner. I spotted a nice looking cake. It said Coffee Cake on the packaging. So I thought "Mmmm, I like cake and I know we all like coffee so a coffee cake would hit the spot just right". I was already salivating at the thought of bitting into that first moist and tender piece and have that delicious java flavour explode on my palate.

Well, on the fateful evening, I bit into a forkfull of cake only to discover that...it tasted nothing like coffee. When I mentioned this to my friends, they all chuckled (as I am sure you are doing now) at my innocence. "Coffee cake doesn't have any coffee in it. It is to be eaten with coffee!" I was told. Well, perhaps it is because I am a francophone and had never had coffee cake but this made no sence to me. None at all!

So, for the record, I wish to state my case to the world: In the title of a cake, the first ingredient mentioned is supposed to be the main ingredient of the cake. Cheese cake is not a cake made to eat with cheese! Chocolate cake is not a vanilla cake made to eat with chocolate! Coffee cake is supposed to be a cake with coffee in it!!! These are basic rules of grammar we are dealing with here, rules without witch our society will descent into chaos and crumble! (crumble cake is ok though, because crumble is not an ingredient).

To support my point, I am including a long but not exhaustive list of cakes:

Caramel cake, Chocolate cake, cheesecake, strawberry shortcake (no shorts in there though), butter cake, fruitcake, Pineapple Upside Down Cake, Rum cake, Three Milk cake, etc.

Exceptions to this rule:

• Birthday cake (and all other "event" cakes like wedding cake, etc.)
• Mooncakes (same deal)
• Sponge cakes/pound cakes (which refer to the texture and consistency rather than to the ingredients)
• Pancakes (which are not really cakes but a form of flatbread)
• Angel cakes (I wouldn't expect them to be made with real angels, although that would be cool!)

Whew, that felt good!

But seriously, this whole thing reminded me that assumptions are dangerous things in the communications business.

You know the old saying (or do you???) : When You Assume, you make an “Ass” out of “U” and “Me”.

Whenever you are trying to communicate something, whether it is to market your brand, to promote yourself, or simply to inform or entertain your audience, don't assume that they understand your cliches, your sayings, your word plays, etc. This is especially true if you are adressing an international audience with a different cultural background or for whom the language you are writing in is not your audience's native language. On the web, this is increasingly likely.

So, what do you do? Write plain boring text that is painfully to the point? No, of course not. The fact is that expressions can add colour and emotion to a text and you don't want to eliminate those, but do use them sparingly. They will have greater effect this way.

Also, know your audience. This is much easyer if you are targeting a niche market or a specific group. Even then, try to ensure that your message is clear and can be understood even if someone doesn't understand your inside joke or the bon mot you just thought up. What's great about the Web is that is allows for built-in context so you can offer your readers a way to clarify specific content it if they need to (just as I did with the link above for "bon mot").

Communications, and especially persuasive communications, requires that your audience understands what you were trying to convey. This is true wether you are writing copy for a million dollar add or a simple blog post.

Well, I'm off. We're having Spotted dick pudding for dessert tonight. God I hope that's another exception...