The Edgy Entrepreneur

Twitter in Context, TweetTree

One of the biggest challenges with Twitter, especially for new users, is the never ending flow of information. So far, attempts to make sense of this barrage have been via applications that segment discussions and friend groups. Both Tweetdeck and Seesmic do an admirable job of creating group structures that give the user an opportunity to focus on specific people or topics. Really, I think the  potential of Twitter isn't realized until someone grabs a hold of an app like Tweetdeck and starts experimenting.

But what hasn't been available to date, is an app that will create context and relevancy for ongoing conversations. Essentially, a tweet stream is very linear...chronological postings of tweets, one after the other. This can make it a big challenge to follow a conversation, yours or anyone else's. Hell, there are times when I get a delayed response and I have no memory of what we were discussing. In order to avoid serious flakiness, I have to go back and dig through hundreds of tweets to find the original thread.

Enter TweetTree. This site allows Twitter users to enter in their id and password and see a version of the stream that has conversations located in proximity to each other. Put simply, if you are tweeting with someone, you can see what you said, then what they said right next to it. And, you can see what your friends are talking about with their friends in the same format. Such a simple thing, but the difference it makes in readability is huge.

The other fantastic thing that TweetTree does is that it creates a feed that looks a lot like something you would see in Google Reader out of your Twitter stream. Links, photos and videos show up right in the stream, no need to click over and leave the page. Talk about adding dimensionality...it's like suddenly seeing Twitter in 3-D!

I think TweetTree has a lot of potential...though it is not in a place where I could use it as my sole Twitter client. As much as I like the 3-D experience, I still follow way too many people to not use an application that corrals them into segments. However, I definintely love this site as an ancillary to what I am already doing. The depth of information is fantastic.

This application could certainly be used to enhance individual user's experiences. But, it is also a great market research tool. The depth of information gathered, combined with the efficiency of it being in one location is really amazing. I am certain TweetTree will have all kinds of applications that haven't been discovered yet.

I would love to know if you are using TweetTree. If so, how?

Social Business Networking: How to Connect on the Web

There are a ton of ways to use social websites for business networking. The critical issue is finding the right site that is a good fit for you. Even in person networking is not particularly effective if you are meeting random people.

Networking, as a term, can a few things. For the purpose of this post, we will talk about linking with other business professionals who could be a good referral source.I have talked about using the using the internet to market your business in a previous post, and in some ways, networking is similar.

Start by identifying communities where making a connection makes sense. If you are a woman business owner, for example, you could do a quick Google search. I typed in "women business networking". Here's what I found:

This is only a portion of the results...After checking one of the paid ads, and a few of the online networking sites, I settled on three potentials, WomanOwned.net, SocialJane.com and W2WLink.com.
Now that I have these sites, how can I tell which one will have the greatest return? Part of that answer has to do with knowing your business, but part of it has to do with the website itself. Is it new and growing? Is it established and maintaining? Is it fading? Before building out a profile and wasting your time finding friends, do one quick thing. Go to Compete.com and take a look at the website's performance. 

I entered our three sites into the Compete Site Analysis tool...here's the results:
The blue line is WomanOwned.net, the red is SocialJane.com and the green line is W2Wlink.com. You can see that W2W is far and above the competition. And if you look at the bottom of the chart, they are showing a 606% growth increase. W2W is the clear winner here, and a good bet for investing some networking time.

Now, this certainly isn't a fool proof method of deciding which site to use. Part of making that choice is knowing your business and knowing what is most effective for you. But, if you are looking for online networking opportunities, you will be bombarded with them. You need to sort out those that are most beneficial for your first tier efforts. Otherwise, you will be spending all of your time filling out profiles instead of making connections.

Social Media: Following Across Multiple Platforms

Social Media is still quite a phenomenon. We, as a culture don't really have a clear definition for what qualifies something as social media. And we haven't come close to establishing the "rules of engagement".

One of my favorite ways of exploring its boundaries is through a Twitter Poll. In a Twitter Poll, I ask a question that I have been pondering and see who is interested in a conversation. I ask a couple of clarifying questions, then I create a post about it so we can all benefit from our shared knowledge.

Recently, we had a great conversation about following people across platforms. When you see the list of all of the sites that someone has profiles, how many can you add to boost your connections, increase resources and expand your community?

@jeanannvk Thinking about the complexities of the relationships across social media. When we "find" someone do we follow them across platforms?
@jeanannvk OK, so if you follow someone across multiple platforms, when does it become too stalker-like?

MattSearles  I often do, depends on the connection though
daddyclaxton There is value in that, certainly, but I dare say it'd not be possible for 1400 people. Pick and choose what makes sense!
melinor In terms of: Follow me on Twitter, then follow my blog? Like that? Often the people I follow here end up in my Bloglines
aleta yes, if I find someone I think is interesting I will follow them across platforms but they have to be REALLY interesting.
jantallent I do the ones who really interest me. For example, I do NOT want 2 join 100 networks but cannot resist "just 1 more" from my favs

@jeanannvk See, I am thinking there is some value to following people on muliple levels, but not "major sources". ie might follow on Twitter, stumble
@jeanannvk And delicious...what's the diff between that and an aggregator like friendfeed

fmll RE: Follow - Usually not, unless I aspire to be where they are. Otherwise it's a little stalkerish and the same info repeated.
melinor If an individual advertises their various endeavors, and they all coincide with your interests, I wouldn't call it "stalking."
melinor However, rarely do I follow more than one or two instances of a person's Web presence.
jmhelms  when you only follow one person across several networks? Perhaps?

@jeanannvk Anyone following peeps across platforms because it helps them find likeminded people?
RichHopkins A cross between interaction level and intent. I follow joelcomm, & wld xplatform him, cuz he is a marketer. But I don't KNOW him


@jeanannvk ok, but hear me out...right now, I follow no one on delicious, but I want to find other entrepreneurs...can't I follow 2x?
RichHopkins  but xplatforming those I just 'peoplewatch' would be more stalker like, or at least meaningless application of those platforms.
@chloevdc well, I think maybe that's the case...can one do it without being too creepy? I think so
chloevdc If people are out there, follow wherever. Can get diff info from same person on blog v. FB v. twitter, helps to follow all, no?
RichHopkins I was thinking more LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace, etc - haven't logged into Delicious in months. less intrusive than others IMO.
bluerose0907 @JeanAnnVK It depends on the person I think whether I would follow them across several platforms.

I think the results of the poll show that we still aren't sure if it is ok to follow someone on multiple social media platforms. Still, I think we are on the verge of discovering that we can optimize social media following like we can search engines. We leverage our contacts to find new information and other contacts, and we follow people we "trust" or "like" into new parts of the web.

In reality, I don't think that is much different than what we do in life outside of the web. Do I join a certain sports club or eat at recommended restaurants because my friends recommend it? Of course! And am I a member of professional groups that appeal to my mission? Sure. And I am more likely to use a particular product/service or connect with other people that are friends of my friend than I am to try something unfamiliar.

We need more research on this topic...and no doubt there will be many more conversations about it. We are still at the very beginning of understanding social media and its part in our lives...

Social Networks and Social Network Marketing, the Great Equalizers

OK, seriously, people…Since I got a laptop and ditched the family computer, I have become engrossed with all of the new ways to connect and build community online. I hate to say it, but I am addicted to social networking and social network marketing.

Sites like Facebook and MySpace are usually the first things that come to mind when people think about social networks. But, as I have discovered, there are so many more. One of my new favorites is Twitter. It is a “microblog” that asks you to answer the question “what are you doing?”. I know, this sounds odd…and it did to me, too…until I started “tweeting” regularly.

I am also excited about sites like Stumble Upon, Reddit and Digg. These are sites that allow you to identify cool posts, pages, sites,etc, review them and post them to a publicly viewed page. For those of us who have businesses attached to our blog, or if you are trying to build readership, these sites are great ways to get the word out there. They are generally easy to use, and (this is big) they are fun! I particularly like the feature on Stumble Upon where you click a button and go to one of the higher rated sites…it lets you “stumble” around the net, randomly unearthing cool sites.

Finally, my most used site is Flickr. I post all of my pictures here. I am able to share photos with friends and family and also easily upload them to my blogs and other sites. A certain amount of storage is free, but I use the paid membership version. It essentially gives me unlimited storage and other options, like on line photo editing.

Believe me, this is not an exhaustive list. There are plenty of other ways to connect. These social networks are built around all kinds of themes, bookmarks, photos, even gardening (find me at Gardener to Farmer on Blotanical and MyFolia). There are also blogs that have their own social networks on site. Amazing…and just in case this seems too overwhelming to follow, there is a site that collects all of your sites… Friend Feed is a great place to keep tabs on your friends…and your teen aged daughter who just got a laptop…no more searching for all of her, I mean, your, postings…this aggregator has it all in one place. Check me out at http://friendfeed.com/jeanannvk.

And what I like the most about social networking and social network marketing, and really all emarketing, is accessibility. In a way, the internet has become the great equalizer. We have the opportunity to reach readers just as effectively as the big guys. We only need an internet connection and a computer (now found at local libraries) and we are ready to take on the world.

Do you use any of these networking sites? Do you use others? Are there some I should join? Let me know!