#SMTW – Social Media Tools Week – Day 1 Recap

Today was day 1 of social media tools week. It comprised two sessions – one from Axel Schulze and one from John Todor.

Both were cracking sessions and a good intro into the week we all have ahead of us.

Axel as always gave us a really good overview of how social media is starting to impact our business world. I could sense Axel wanting to break loose and really get stuck into some of the entrenched mindset issues that we all confront – but he kept it under control.

John’s presentation took things to a new level. John touched on many of the ideas that we’ve had around social business – and why we’ve set ourselves a goal of becoming a leader in social business strategy space.

Axel and John have set a good foundation for the week. I’m looking forward to tomorrow’s presentations as I work hard to wrap up what I intend to present.

And it would be remiss of me not to acknowledge the tireless work of Marita Roebkes in bringing this whole program to fruition…herding cats no less

My Ongoing Debate about Twitter’s Relevance

Earlier this year I wrote about my doubts regarding Twitter. I had concerns at the time about the relevance of Twitter and whether it would be effective enough to warrant investment and attention. I’ve kept at Twitter, I’m an active user with the service integrated into my other social activities. Whilst mainstream media continues to be slap happy about Twitter, I’m still not convinced.

I get the whole information distribution thing. I blogged recently about how effectively Australian band Powderfinger had been in using Twitter to build enthusiasm for their free concerts. I see lots of other good examples – ABC Radio for example. We’ve even had tremendous success – for another business I own Twitter has become a very powerful sales and communication channel.

But

The system has issues and the risk for enterprise in my opinion is too great – particularly in the B2B context.

Here are my concerns:

1. The system is flakey – part 1

The whole ‘fail-whale’ thing is cute for like – 2 minutes. Google gets its butt kicked when Gmail is down for 10 minutes yet constant service from Twitter is a rare thing. Running a major service channel through Twitter with this service standard? Sorry, I wouldn’t be hanging my career on that option

2. Hackers Rule the Roost

I used to get angry when people sent me DM’s about ‘I’ve added you to my mafia family’ or ‘are you as smart as me’. Then I realised these users were subject to hack attacks and spam attacks.

Here’s an example of a user who I consider to be prominent issuing an apology:

This would be a tough conversation with the CMO or CIO – ’Lets get on Twitter. Good chance we’ll spam our followers, our account will be hacked – but it’s all good. Everyone’s doing it…’

3. The system is flakey – part 2

What is it with changes being lost, blocks being unblocked, the system being severely constipated before it suddenly spews out a torrent of ‘past due date’ content?

This is poor. And again, in an enterprise context – why would you put trust in a system with these flaws?

4. Inappropriate Content

I’m pretty diligent about blocking anyone who mentions money, sex, or religion. But most days I find companies and individuals with followers who are so suspect it beggars belief that they haven’t been blocked or reported.

I’ve seen some really really inappropriate avatars used by Twitter accounts – why aren’t these users blocked?

Worse, I’ve seen some major US companies following users who have avatars that are quite shocking. I have to ask. If you’re following users who have graphic images of women – what is your Twitter strategy? Is this really a reflection of your company’s values? One of these companies is a major brand in the social media space.

So how are we protecting our brand in this free-for-all world? Can someone fill me in on what Twitter is doing to police this space? And don’t give me that ‘oh there’s a new report spam link’ – rubbish!

5. Widespread Abuse

This really irks me. Company names and brands are being hijacked. The proliferation of this abuse is amazing.

Given I work in the CRM space I’ve been watching a couple of accounts. One account bbakari uses the Twitter API to flood the service with – spam.

Here’s an example

Now, granted I can block this user and not worry about the mindless river of drivel – but the fact is if you search for Salesforce.com or SugarCRM.com this torrent of spam clogs up the search results.

And just so you know, this is bbakari’s second account on Twitter. His first account @freecrm was killed off.

My Conclusion

Personally, I like Twitter. I follow people whose opinions I value and I like that they use the service appropriately. I like the fact I can tie my other social profiles into Twitter.

I can see the value. I can see the big picture with Twitter being a useful tool for information distribution.

But if I put a CEO hat on I have concerns – serious concerns. Would I recommend a B2B company jump into Twitter – probably not! I think their social media strategy would make more sense and they’d get better value focusing elsewhere.

Social Media Tools Week – My Presentation

Thanks to the team from Social Media Academy I’ve been given the opportunity to present at their global multi-day event next week – Social Media Tools Week. Given we’ve just launched Smart Social Media – this is a great opportunity to outline some of our thinking on social media.

The topic of my presentation is

Social Media Monitoring – Why the Executive team needs to be using these tools

Why this topic?

Several reasons. Firstly, social media monitoring tools like Scout Labs have quickly evolved from brand buzz monitoring tools into significant business intelligence portals.

Secondly, TEC speaker Gary Bertwistle is a big proponent of business leaders being active thinkers. Gary’s speaking topics like ‘What made you think of that‘ and ‘Leading Innovation‘ has influenced how I think information should be used in organisations and the importance of a business leader having access to knowledge that isn’t shaped by functional prejudice.

The current business climate means their are many threats and opportunities and business leaders need to be alert and need to be looking across more than the traditional information channels. I’ll also drill into why Government agencies need to be using these tools as well – and why they are more powerful and useful than existing services (like news clipping services).

My presentation is Thursday the 19th at 10.30am AEDT (9.30am for those of us in Queensland).

I’ll be posting more details on my presentation between now and Thursday.

http://www.socialmedia-academy.com/html/socialmediatoolsweek-nov09.cfm

Social Communities – A Simple Explanation

I’ve been doing a bit of strategy work recently around social communities. I’ve posted before about communities and how 2009 seems to be the year they are coming of age. I’m pretty excited about where the community space is going in terms of functionality, deployability, and sustainability.

Building a social community isn’t viable for every company but given the breadth of good platforms (from Ning, through to enterprise solutions like Xeequa, Awareness, Mzinga, and Igloo) they warrant attention and discussion within the context of your social media strategy.

This presentation is a simple overview of Social Communities. It’s an extract from a larger presentation that I put together for TEC groups here in Australia and New Zealand.

Are Social Media Obligations and Responsibilities Mutual?

Many of us would have read the story recently about Za’s Brick Oven Pizza restaurant and their run in with a South Carolina Twitter celebrity. It’s an interesting lesson about the power of the crowd and how sometimes this power can be misused (either intentionally or unintentionally).

As someone who is active in social media, generating income from working in the space, consulting to companies, and providing solutions I’ve long advocated the basic principles put forward by the luminaries like David Meerman Scott (as an aside – did you know that David is coming to Australia next month – don’t miss this…) Brian Solis, and Axel Schultze – be open, be transparent, contribute and expect nothing in return, accept feedback, listen, engage, and most of all be honest.

But as I read this story and thought about the ideals that we strive to live to I was struck by this notion that sometimes consumers don’t seem to live to the same set of expectations. So there’s no mutuality in this social media thing… Is this fair?

You don’t get to play by the old rules any more, and it doesn’t matter what business you’re in. You don’t get the old privilege of anonymity – Sonia Simone

So we as vendors can’t live by the old rules! But what about consumers who choose to use word of mouth tools (like Twitter) to make a complaint that they know full well is going to spread; is there an obligation or expectation on them to take an active role in the resolution?

Is it fair on the vendor if a customer rants on Twitter and then decides they don’t want to talk, that they want to move on!

Or have we entered an age where consumers won’t accept mistakes period?

Or worse, have we entered an age where minor transgressions become internet headlines? My dish arrived 2 minutes later than I expected so it’s death to the reputation of this restaurant… I have to admit I don’t like this model where a consumer can rant and run. It goes against my core values of fairness and accountability.

How should we deal with those that decide to rant and run – do we as active members of the community have a right to turn the tables and call out consumers who do a seagull?

Twitter Announces Verified Accounts

The Wall Street Journal reports this morning that Twitter is planning the introduction of verified accounts.

Twitter will soon offer verified accounts for certain user groups

Twitter deserves praise for this move, as the growing number of impersonators/fakes/squatters is close to becoming a serious blight on the service. Many of the Australian companies I talk to are turned off by this and also the effort involved in reclaiming a brand or branded twitter account.

As the WSJ article noted, this move will potentially create a nice revenue stream for Twitter. I personally feel there is real merit in charging certain groups of users for a verified account. My advice to our enterprise clients will be to utilise the service once it’s launched.

For companies wanting a professional and consistent presence in the social space this move fits nicely with the rumoured move by Facebook to introduce vanity URL’s.