Can You Pass The Turing Test? If So, You Might Be a True Twitter User!

In case you missed it, Barracuda Networks’ Barracuda Labs issued an interesting set of data points on Tuesday with a particular focus on Twitter. While the report did show that Twitter is growing in terms of active users, only 10 percent of Twitter users are, as Barracuda Labs calls them, “True Twitter Users.”

What lofty goals do you need to reach to become a True Twitter User? According to Barracuda, the requirements are:

• 10 followers
• Follow 10 people
• Tweet at least 10 times.

That’s all you need to do to become a True Twitter User, yet only 21 percent of accounts on Twitter meet this criteria. All Things D points out that this shows that Twitter is still mainly a service for watchers, not talkers.

What I think this shows is that Twitter as a platform is practically begging for meaningful content and actual opinions – if you have something to say, Twitter remains a great platform on which to say it. Listening and retweeting (in moderation) are fine, but actually participating and contributing your (pertinent) thoughts to the discussion are even better.

--John Terrill

Twavorites

So I’m really not a fan of when people make up twitter words like tweeple, twebinar and the one above. But we here at SpeakerBox are pretty addicted to the social media word itself and we’re not the only ones – Twitter has been named the most used word of 2009 – it has crossed that threshold where a product name becomes a verb (ie: Google and Xerox). Earlier this year Time magazine gave us details about how Twitter will change the way we live – in a great article that outlines just why exactly it’s important.

SBXers are hooked and we all use Twitter in different ways and follow different people, so through this series “twavorites” on the Sounding Board, we are going to give you a glimpse into our favorite people to follow, either in general or around specific topics.

To single my self out in starting this series, I use Twitter mostly as a listening post. I have it or cotweet up pretty much all day and check in periodically to see what folks are saying. I’ve found a lot of useful info this way but don’t actually tweet too often, that said my handle is @asmith731 if you want to find me. 

So without further ado here are a few of my twavorites:

·       @FishbowlDC – I love Fishbowl’s blog and it’s Twitter stream is on the same par. It keeps me updated about local (and national) media news with just enough gossip flair to keep it interesting.

·       @dcsportbog – I am impressed by all things Dan Steinberg. I am a huge sports fan and love his Post column/blog, his twitter feed and when he’s on the Junkies. He keeps me up to date, has a biting wit and the same attitude as DC fans – he also regularly makes my fiancée say “how did you know that?”

·       @shannonpaul – I found Shannon though a guest blog post on PR Squared. She tweets on topics that keep coming up in our office (ie: assigning value to work). She also tends to post links to articles that I find really interesting on the influence of social media on traditional media and consumers.

Stay tuned – there are more twavorites to come from the SBX team…

- Ali Smith

Why Twitter Matters to Lawyers (and Non-lawyers Alike)...

On Wednesday, I joined approximately 500 other attendees on the free Legal Rebels Webinar: Why Twitter Matters to Lawyers, featuring LexBlog CEO Kevin O'Keefe. The webinar was designed to explain how Twitter and social media are changing the dynamic for lawyers, but truthfully you could have changed the name of the webinar to "Why Twitter Matters" and it would have been relevant across industries.

The original agenda for the webinar was as follows:

• How is Twitter being used by attorneys and other industry leaders today?
• Who are some of the "big guns" in the legal industry using Twitter? What are some examples of how they use it?
• Which Twitter applications are worthwhile and which are lame?
• What are some etiquette tips on using Twitter for professional social networking?

I was most interested in point number two, so shared a little disappointment with others that the content focused more on the "how-to" of Twitter and desktop tools like TweetDeck (admittedly, O'Keefe said during the webinar that many of the attendees were non-Twitter users) but he did make some great points during the webinar that are worth reiterating here:

1. Twitter use is pervasive and anything but a trend. Twitter is at the New York Times; Twitter is at CNN. "Twitter is everywhere."
2. When it comes to breaking news, Twitter is unparalleled. In the last year alone, we've witnessed some fantastic examples of times where Twitter brought us first hand reports of major news events significantly before the mainstream media. This same trend is trickling down to business and industry-specific news as well.
3. Protect your brand! Even if your firm or business is not currently on Twitter (or prepared to jump in), claim your firm's name before someone else does.
4. There are significant marketing / business benefits to being on Twitter. O'Keefe walked through the major benefits as he saw them, including: brand-building; relationship building (an opportunity for firms to begin, nurture and develop relationships); information sharing (share interesting industry developments); and news distribution (one way firms are already using Twitter is to share the content they are already developing, from newsletters to press releases and client alerts). There is a big opportunity for law firms to promote its lawyers, firm events, community service activities and major news in the legal world and, to date, many firms haven't taken advantage of this opportunity.
   
5. "Don't forget that social media is SOCIAL."
6. Return on investment for time on Twitter? O'Keefe advises lawyers and law firm marketing managers alike to "Relax. Be a person. Build relationships. The more people who get to know you as a person, as a lawyer, the more business your firm will get." O'Keefe says firms need not take a shotgun approach to Twitter - he says he connects with people who may lead to new business opportunities.
   

If you're interested in checking out the archived webinar and its associated mindmap, you can find them online here.

One thing I was very interested in that the webinar didn't address: how many AmLaw 200 firms are using Twitter, and how are they using it? Kevin O'Keefe does a great look at the AmLaw 200 blogosphere every year, but I haven't seen an equivalent for Twitter. I might take this on next month, similar to my look at Washington's Tech Titans on Twitter last summer.

UPDATE (Nov. 2): Shout out to Erin West, a former colleague and Communications and Marketing Manager at Sterne, Kessler, Goldstein & Fox PLLC for pointing me to some links that answered my final question about AmLaw firms on Twitter. Erin pointed me to this great post by Patrick DiDomenico at the LawyerKM blog from January 2009 on AmLaw 100 firms on Twitter. I'm still looking to do an update on this, so watch for that soon. Erin also pointed out this list of 145 Lawyers (and Legal Professionals) to follow on Twitter. Worth checking out, especially for anyone who is jumping into the new Twitter Lists functionality! Thanks Erin!

-Stephanie Stadler
@stephstad

A newbie’s foray on Twitter and all the other variations of the verb form

Twitter, Twitter Search, twitterfeed, TweetBeep—is tweetbook on the horizon or is it already here? Well maybe, but its not affiliated with Twitter.

As a newbie, delving into the Twitter world is more than just taking part in the latest phenomenon of microblogging, but a journey that promises to deliver social media at its best and is definitely worth encouraging.

Who doesn’t want to debate, heckle, or send a few lines of communication love via direct messages (which can be routed directly to cell phones mind you)? Why not boost your ego a bit by gathering a flock of followers? Or follow others that have plenty to offer in way of news, business know-how, political gander, a healthy dose of comedy, and the list goes on. A tip to see your flock flourish: microblog often and be real in your few sentences for the world to see.

The basics of posting my 140 words or less was pretty self-explanatory, the only problem I had was trying to figure out how to respond to my followers or those that I was following. I have to say that I’m pretty savvy when it comes to figuring out and maneuvering new sites and until someone pointed out the reply sign on the updates popping up on my message board, I had no clue on how to sound off when I had an opinion about a post.

If that’s the only critique—then I’d say the site is in pretty good shape.

On top of what it regularly offers, Twitter has a lineup of addendum sites that provide specific services, enhancing your Twitter experience. Take TweetBeep as an example. All you have to do is input any one of your topics du jour (i.e. Sarah Palin, the bailout, Spore, Apple, Tina Fey, Wii, all the way down to Ask a Ninja) and then type in your e-mail address. Tada! Now you’ll get alerts via e-mail when a tweet matches your search.

Some of you might already have a blog—well guess what? You can feed that to Twitter too! Sync it up by using twitterfeed. The site’s server will check your blog's feed at the specified interval and post any new items to your Twitter account.

I have to say that Election 2008 on Twitter is the best addition yet. See what all Twitter users are saying about the candidates, Congress, and all things political. Just like Twitter search, Election 2008 is real time. Read the lifeblood of citizens nationwide and across the globe—and see what they’re really thinking outside of what the media is splashing in the news.

Oh and FYI, Twitterbook is the site affiliated with Twitter, offering users the ability to update your home page vis a vis Facebook. However the site that offers a series of tweets strung together in a never-ending story is one thought of by many, but put together on tweetbook.com. What needs to happen? Giving Twitter users the ability to create their own Tweet Book, invite their followers to come play along in the fictionalizing process and see how the story unfolds. Sure, we give Micah Baldwin props for having his own Tweet Book site—but what about all the other Twitter users that want to have control of the storyboard? Come on Twitter—make it happen already!

- Jackie Gilbert

Twitter as a corporate tool? Six reasons your company should be communicating in 140 characters or less

By now you've likely heard about Twitter. TIME let us know why everyone was talking about it, BusinessWeek told us why it mattered, and Forbes named a Twitter King. After reading Federal Computer Week's cover story on Twitter earlier this week, and excellent posts from social marketing guru Chris Brogan and Forrester analyst Jeremiah Owyang on the value of Twitter for business, and how to jump in (here and here, respectively), I decided to pull together some ideas for the use of Twitter as a corporate tool.


But first, some Twitter love from businesses who are already using Twitter to communicate.
37signals, the software company behind popular Web-based applications like Basecamp, Highrise, Campfire, and Backpack, shared their benefits with Twitter:

"We're able to see what people are saying about us or our products, and if they report a problem or slowness with Basecamp, immediately twitter them back. If they have contact information on their profile page, we send them a direct email from our support address asking for more info so we can troubleshoot the problem for them. It opens up this whole new level of contact with our customers and we're able to proactively handle support requests within seconds of problems being reported."

Last year, the CEO of calendaring startup 30 Boxes weighed in with their goals for communicating via Twitter:
1. keep those people who are interested literally in the development loop
2. provide an offsite status location in case there are any site issues–so bookmark http://twitter.com/30boxes.
3. provide a direct and instant feedback mechanism in case any of you find something drastically wrong, have a creative impulse, or just want a private channel (add 30boxes to your twitter account and you can message us directly)

Want other examples of who's doing this well? Check out Dell, Comcast, Zappos.com, Southwest Airlines, Siemens, JetBlue, and Intel.

Back to the point of the post. How can you use Twitter for your business?
1) LISTEN. Want to know what your customers, partners and target press/analysts are saying on Twitter? Use tools like Twitter Search (formerly Summize) and Quotably to not only find, but track conversations. If you want to be notified every time somebody tweets about your company, product, competitor or market, set up Twitter alerts (similar to Google News Alerts) via TweetBeep.

2) COMMUNICATE. Using Twitter for business is about more than just observing what people are saying about you. Use it as a tool to communicate with customers, partners, media, analysts and your broader community on the trends impacting your industry, product / service news, or company culture. Respond to the questions and feedback you receive. Above all else, make sure that the company voice is authentic, and that if you are hearing customer feedback via Twitter (even bad) that you take the opportunity to actually help.

3) SPOT TRENDS. Use tools like Twist to compare the relative popularity of words and phrases (similar to Google Trends), Twitbuzz to track the latest popular links, and Tweetmeme to identify hot trends.

4) REPURPOSE YOUR CONTENT. Use tools like TwitterFeed to feed your blog (or other corporate RSS feeds) directly to Twitter.

5) ENGAGE YOUR INFLUENCERS. Just like the rest of us, an ever-increasing number of analysts and journalists are using Twitter to communicate, source stories and stay in touch with their communities. Follow those people for the same reason you want to engage with customers and partners - to observe what trends they are watching and what they are working on, to engage in a dialogue on industry trends, and - above all else - establish an authentic and personal relationship with those contacts. SageCircle maintains an excellent Analyst Twitter Directory, and Twellow is a people search engine that will help you locate other influencers.

6) PROVIDE REAL-TIME UPDATES DURING EVENTS. During its annual user conference in June, SpeakerBox client Red Hat used Twitter to keep attendees up to date. For Red Hat Summit attendees who were not Twitter users, Red Hat took advantage of a large, open wall in one of the convention center's central areas and projected the Summit feed onto the wall. Each time I walked past, large groups of attendees were gathered around the Twitter wall catching up on the show's real-time updates. Industry conferences are using it to communicate as well. Check out the RSA Conference's Twitter feed for one of my favorite examples in action.

At the end of the day, the true value of Twitter for businesses is the forum it it offers to create authenticate relationships. Don't think of it as another place to test marketing messages or sales pitches; its not. Twitter is your opportunity to show brand transparency, authenticity and sincerity by listening to and communicating directly with your community.

- Stephanie Stadler

Tweet Tweet: Twitter Saves the Day

(Image Credit: Twitter)

I’ll be the first to admit that I’ve always bit a tad skeptical of Twitter, the social networking/micro-blogging site that allows users to send updates or “tweets” to a network of followers on Twitter’s website. I’m not sure if it’s the 140-character limit or the name Twitter (I, without fail, think of Tweety Bird every time someone mentions Twitter. Even now I’m thinking “I tawt I taw a puddy tat”.), but I’ve never been fully on the Twitter bandwagon. I’ve always thought it was interesting and somewhat cool but it also seemed to be void of real content – after all, how much can you really say in 140 characters? Plenty, it turns out.

Earlier this month a Cal-Berkeley grad student studying in Egypt used Twitter to help him secure a release from an Egyptian prison. James Karl Buck Twittered the word “arrested” from his cell phone as he was taken to a police station following an anti-government protest. Buck was covering the protest, which he had found out about through Twitter, as part of his multimedia thesis project on Egypt’s “new leftists and the blogosphere.” As the protest turned violent, Buck and his translator, Mohammed Maree, were arrested even though they were attempting to stay away from heart of the dangerous scene.

Buck’s simple message – initially written so that people would know he had not disappeared - caught the attention of several of his friends, one of whom wrote about Buck’s arrest and detainment on his blog. While in prison, Buck sent Tweets every few hours to update contacts on his status, noting he had seen a prosecutor and no charges would be filed. Within 24 hours, Buck’s school hired a lawyer and the student was freed. The status of his translator, from whom he was separated is unknown, but Buck is now telling his story through Twitter and other avenues, in the hopes of helping his friend. It would be hard not become a Twitter convert after hearing this remarkable story. Buck needed just eight letters to get his message out there, demonstrating just how powerful one word can be. So while I’ll probably still think of Tweety Bird when I think of Twitter, I’ll also think of how it helped one man to freedom and how powerful a social network can be.

-Jennifer Becker