Well, do you? I mean don’t get me wrong, Soccer is fantastic and I’m sure there are TONS of people that love it. But historically I don’t remember so much discussion, chatter and news media in your face coverage about soccer or the World Cup. My analysis below is going to prove to you something is seriously abnormal about the US news coverage of the World Cup.

I did do some research and have to admit, I’m a bit shocked to see the search term “soccer” is about as popular as “baseball”, <GASP>, what has come over you America? Must still be ticked off about the baseball strike, right? Still a Google search for “America’s Past Time” and guess what you get…Uh huh, Baseball!

So really nothing looks out of the ordinary looking at the previous graph from Google Insights. However, when you dig in to the World Cup Google Trends data you will notice two things that seem to pop out at you. One, already the term “World Cup” is trending higher in searches more than it ever has except in 2006 when the Germany World Cup was REALLY interesting for some reason or another.

The big one here though is the absolutely MASSIVE media coverage being given to the World Cup. Yes, yes, I know my Photoshop skills are worse than a 1st grader but I did my best, okay? See my pretty yellow arrow? That arrow is pointing to the secondary Google Trend that shows News / Media outlets pushing out drivel on the World Cup.

Now don’t worry, we aren’t done here yet. Let’s look at another media microscope tool to see the news volume, where it is, where it’s going and what is really going on here. Now we’re going to look at the News / Media outlets actual publication in Google’s News database that include the word “World Cup” from 1930 – 2010. This one is a little more telling as it does show a progressive climb of the media distribution. Instead of the World Cup Google Trends data above which shot up in a crazy way this year, this shows an even stair step build into the progressive trend.

A friend of mine on Twitter had this insightful theory as to why everyone is talking about the World Cup which I have to admit, I agree with.

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/searchguru/status/15966477314"]

Okay, I promise this is the last geeky trend graph we are digging into, thanks for sticking with me. What you are looking at below is the two search trends of “World Cup” and “Oil Spill.” Notice that they both spike at the same time. Coincidence? Maybe! This one possibly shows some type of correlation with the media wanting to talk about something else than the oil spill. I know, correlation not causation but you can comment about it and rip me apart, fair enough?

So there you have it. The truth is, I’m still clueless why everyone seems to care about the World Cup this year and the media is talking about it so much that it doesn’t even compare to the Superbowl or World Series. Something is up and it just may be that they need a new cash cow. Talk about the World Cup enough and maybe the ratings will increase?

On a typical day on Twitter I can usually ask a question and get anywhere from 10 – 30 responses. Tonight? The crickets were chirping. But I did have some great buddies and smart people respond. Here are the responses to my original tweet which will be posted first!

Please leave me a comment here and tell me if your fascination with the World Cup has increased and why you think the media is pushing it so hard!

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/webaddict/status/15966015904"]

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/ejw70/status/15966579662"]

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/d_Arc/status/15966667877"]

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/MichelleBatDell/status/15968800175"]

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/maximonos/status/15972679391"]

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/ssblackman/status/15972699284"]

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/Naughty_Jonny/status/15972755013"]

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/cindyoyo/status/15972821387"]

[blackbirdpie url="http://twitter.com/TrinaMb/status/15973357006"]

UPDATE: I wanted to add a quick note to let you know that all data and graphs above were obtained under United States data and analysis. Other country data was excluded except on the comparing Google Trend analysis of World Cup & Oil Spill!

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More confirmed sources of Michael Jackson’s Death (30 – 40 minutes after the 1st two):

Michael Jackson, 50, legendary ‘King of Pop’ dead in Los Angeles

Singer Michael Jackson dead at 50 (MSNBC)

Michael Jackson dies at 50 (USA Today)

Pop Legend Michael Jackson Dead at 50 (Fox News)

Great collection of stars and legends paying tribute to Michael Jackson through quotes on TV, Interviews and Twitter: The UK Independent

“I am absolutely devastated at this tragic and unexpected news,” said Quincy Jones, a longtime friend of Jackson’s and producer of his “Thriller” album. “For Michael to be taken away from us so suddenly at such a young age, I just don’t have the words. …… I’ve lost my little brother today, and part of my soul has gone with him.” – Quincy Jones

No matter what your personal feelings on Michael Jackson were as a person or about his run-ins with trouble, you cannot deny he was one of the best performers in the world. He redefined dance performance in combination with #1 hits time after time. The moonwalk is a classic. However, Michael Jackson defined and invented a long list of dance moves and made them mainstream. Michael Jackson took dancing to a magician mystery type level that will be emulated for eternity.

Beyond just the magician-like dancing Michael brought to the world, the inner music coming from his beatbox type of body and percussion producing rhythms also took the one-man band to a new level.

This page is in constant update mode. Please comment and let us know the best videos, interviews and stories you like about Michael Jackson and his career and we’ll add them.

Interviews

Young Michael Jackson Interview in 1972: Video Here

Videos

Michael Jackson – Thriller – MJJ Productions Inc: Video Here (watch in High Quality)

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I don’t think I’ll go as far as calling these celebrities or their managers snobs, they are just misinformed. Maybe they think it makes them seem more famous to not follow anyone. Maybe they are afraid of having an out of control twitterstream? It is very similar to putting on those celebrity shades and withdrawing from the world. If celebrities are worried about their twitterstream (which I’m sure they’re not) they could use a tool like TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop to solve that problem. What celebrities are telling you when they don’t follow you is that they don’t care what you have to say. Who wants to be a fan of that? Send in your fan letter you worked so hard on and it goes straight to the trashcan?

Oprah Winfrey Follower Numbers / Ashton Kutcher Follower Numbers:

The trend is changing

Now the good news is there are some celebrities that are starting to get it. You should take screen shots of celebrities accounts that don’t follow anyone because soon you will most likely notice a large portion of them following people back. Why? They may not even do it to listen to you, but instead for pure competition and marketing. Let’s take a look at a managed celebrity account that is starting to follow thousands of people and another account that has shown a similar trend. Below you will find @BritneySpears and @JimmyEatWorld following stats from Twitterholic.com.

With the competition brutal due to Twitter going mainstream, celebrities are starting to clamor for more follows to be ranked higher in the overall Twitter follower rankings. When looking at the column data it is from left to right: Date, Followers, Following.

You can see the incremental amounts that were increased from a mere 1,000 people that the Britney Spears account was following to three days later an additional 9,000. The action of following an additional 9,000 people resulted in a follower jump of 23,837. However, the biggest monumental jump was when an additional 58,000 people were followed which increased the people following the Britney Spears account by 581,000 additional followers.

Another example is with the Jimmy Eat World account. You can see the direct relation from the point that when they started following thousands of people their account is directly effected in people following them. Obviously following 0 people the @JimmyEatWorld account wasn’t doing too well! Two months later after following 70k they have gained 106,000 additional followers. Do you see a trend?

As celebrities, corporations, TV shows and brands observe this trend most of them will fall in line and end up following back. If they don’t, they’ll be passed by other celebrities and identities that are willing to follow people back and allow a two way conversation.

Why will celebrities follow people for more followers?

I’m quite certain you can answer this yourself. However, I do know some people that don’t seem to get it. From a marketing perspective, if you were Britney Spears and you were releasing a new album would you like to tell 100,000 people about it every day or 1,000,000? If you are Ashton, it’s movies, if you are Oprah it’s your show, book club, magazine. You get the point, right?

Now obviously this method doesn’t just apply to celebrities. It applies to all Twitter users really. Let’s be honest about that, right? Corporations, Pizza Companies, Hosting Companies, you name it. If there’s a message to be given, this new trend will creep into every corner of Twitter. Essentially they will follow the leader.

One problem remains: Engagement

So one problem has been solved. From the article mentioned above by Brett Borders which has been retweeted nearly 900 times, you can see that the Twitter majority feels celebs should follow back. Problem solved, the trend is moving in that direction and should tend do so in the future. There is still a problem however. Most of these celebrity accounts still don’t get it. They don’t engage, they don’t talk to their fans, they don’t ask them questions, they don’t take polls, they don’t have contests or even acknowledge the existence of a fan. So one problem remains, while they may follow people, they still don’t communicate with them. I think there is a way to change this trend as well.

The solution?

The everyday folks on Twitter should support celebrities, brands, companies and organizations that have open communication with their followers. If people that use Twitter in a favorable way get more attention, responses, retweets and press than the people that shun their fans, eventually the tide will turn.

I have noticed a particular celebrity account on Twitter due to my friend Susan Elaine (@BuzzEdition) bringing it to my attention, that has shocked me more than once. The account is for the band Collective Soul and can be found at @collective_soul. What I find so simply amazing about these guys is that they actually respond to fans. They retweet fans tweets. They read blogs by users on Twitter. They make exclusive videos just for their Twitter fans. I could go on, but let me put it this way. These guys are extremely successful and have went Multi-Platinum 7 times in the U.S., 18 times in Canada with 7 #1 hits and guess what? They still treat every one of their fans as a person. Amazing huh?

Before they were even jumping in the Twitter pool, this band was participating in Social Media. They have a phone line where fans can call in and leave a message. They randomly call back fans and talk to them. Even more interesting and voyeuristic (just like Twitter) you can listen to the fans messages yourself. I have taken a quick recording of a few fans messages. Crazy huh? Social Media with a telephone.

After talking with @BuzzEdition and @Collective_Soul I got the news that they are launching a blog contest that’s giving away crazy prizes! It just proved to me that these guys truly do get Social Media. Allowing the fans, followers and bloggers to be apart of the party is a great interactive way to be real. I’m thinking that to prove to celebrities and big brands on Twitter that have decided to “broadcast” instead of interact they should be given a wake-up call. By participating in this blog contest a knod can be given to the celebrities that are doing things right in Social Media. Here are the details of the blog contest:

Collective Soul Blog Contest

These guys are giving out some awesome prizes for participation!

1st Prize: 2 Tickets to any show, 2 backstage passes, AUTOGRAPHED GUITAR and a copy of new album

2nd Prize: 2 Tickets, Autographed Guitar Pick and a Copy of the new Album

3rd Prize: Copy of New Album, Autographed Picture, Autographed Drumsticks & Guitar Pick

The first 10 entrants into the contest will receive an Autographed Picture in the mail!

How to Enter

Write a blog post talking about Collective Soul that includes the following things:

1. Include a link to the Collective Soul Twitter Account
http://www.twitter.com/collective_soul

2. Include a link to the Collective Soul Website / Blog
http://www.collectivesoul.com/blog/
or
http://www.collectivesoul.com/news/

3. Mention new tour starting in 2009
http://www.collectivesoul.com/live/

Once you’ve written your blog post leave a link to your blog post in the comment section below. This will add some traffic and a backlink to your blog. Also TWEET a message to @Collective_Soul on Twitter announcing your new blog post like:

I just entered the @Collective_Soul Blog Contest here: YOURURL

Collective Soul has agreed to Retweet your blog post to all of their fans! (Your 15 minutes of fame!)

How Collective Soul Chooses The Winners

The band will pick the top 10 entries out of the all the submissions. It’s recommended that you be creative and let people know how you feel about Collective Soul, their social media interaction, how their music has effected your life or any other creative way you want to present the band. The only requirements that you need to include in your blog post are listed above.

Once Collective Soul has chosen the top 10 entries the final Top 3 winners will be chosen by you! An online poll will be held on Twitter to allow you to vote for the final winner. The top 3 contestants will win the prizes in the order of their votes!

Terms and Conditions

The contest will end on June 15th at 11:59pm Pacific Standard Time. The Collective Soul band will then choose the winners and the online poll will start within a week.

Blog posts must be for public viewing and not private! (ie. MySpace Blogs can’t be seen by anyone but your friends)

Anyone suspected of rigging the votes in the poll will be removed and disqualified from the contest.

If you have any questions just send @Collective_Soul
a message on Twitter!

In Conclusion

I hope that gives you an idea of the coming trends of celebrities and gives you one way you can fight back. You can accelerate the trend by supporting the celebrities that will actually interact and engage on Twitter. In the end, if most celebrities adopt the trend, Twitter will be a better place to hang your hat.

Peace, Love and Chicken Grease,
- webaddict

If you like this article, Tweet this message to your Twitter stream.

RT @webaddict A celebrity that gets social media? I know shocking… http://bit.ly/twittercelebrity #sm #socialmedia

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I said the above paragraph due to some of the responses I received immediately after I sent out a tweet that simply said:

I’m so tired of seeing “Please RT”, “Please Retweet”, “PLZ RT.” PPL we understand U want UR crap RTed. Quit cramming it down our throats.

Well, so how do you think it went? LOL. Yes, I agree it was a little abrasive. I typically am a little abrasive, it’s one of my personality flaws that I have decided to embrace. But the reality is, in this world today, if your statements and opinions don’t stand out from all the lemmings you won’t be listened to and your point will not be delivered in a postage stamped letter.

Some people took my tweet personal and replied as if I sent it to only them. Others requested I take a break from the computer because I’m grumpy. I am not trying to attack anyone and yes, maybe I was a little grumpy, hehe, thanks for the suggestion Grandma. So here are the emotional replies or hey now replies.

LadySascha @webaddict woah. sorry about that. I didn’t realize I was offending =(

waltercolor @webaddict Mmmm.. We’ll not RT it, thus it would have been helpful that you express it in a more pedagogic way. Where is Twitter-etiquette ?

GrandmaGriner @webaddict Hey there!Good afternoon,UR a bit grumpy&may need 2 step away from computer 4 a moment! Just a grandma thought!SmileUgoFurther!

Okay, in order, let me address them. Dear Lady, I was not tweeting this directly at you and you weren’t offending me, just annoying me if you were repeatedly using, “Please retweet.” Don’t take me personal unless I send you a personal @ message and say something nice or rude. *hugs* to you Lady, didn’t mean for you to take it so personal. To you Walter, just “not” RTing the tweet does not solve the issue. I have seen this method spread from a set of core users to thousands of clueless Twitter users. Like I said before, while you don’t like my methods, if I would have been nicer and “cutesy” no one would have listened, thus useless. You ask where is Twitter-etiquette? Welcome to it, it’s here on my blog and I’m educating the masses what is highly annoying. To Grandma, you are probably right in some ways, thanks for the nice reminder.

These five tweeple got exactly the message I was getting at and described it well in their tweets:

kirstenwright @webaddict I couldn’t agree more. If you want it to get RT’ed, just have quality content!

kenGe @webaddict true, and if it is worthy it will be done. take out the RT saves on chars

iamkhayyam @webaddict I know, right? Every link out there begs for requoting. Ok, here’s one for you… Please create a beautiful day
iamkhayyam @webaddict My thing is this, are you asking or telling me to RT? Either way, IMO it’s treads a fine line of desperation and insecurity…
iamkhayyam @webaddict …do you not have faith in your content? If it’s good or pertinent, then it will get pushed forward regardless of begging

Lizz_A @webaddict I couldn’t have said it better myself.
Lizz_A @webaddict Furthermore, I find posters who constantly end tweets with ‘RT PLZ’ don’t have much interesting to say. Def nothing I want to RT.

BuzzEdition @webaddict I agree the “Please RT” syndrome is out of control, people should RT what they like & what their followers will find value in
BuzzEdition @webaddict And furthermore, if your tweet doesn’t get RTed, it should be a sign that U R not providing the value your followers R looking 4

The first message I got that seemed to sing to me like a Mozart masterpiece was from Kirsten. She really hit the nail on the head with simplicity and much nicer than me. You don’t have to get people to “Please Retweet” because if the content is interesting, good, moving or fantastic people will retweet it. If people don’t retweet it is time for you to reevaluate why your tweeting out junk no one wants to retweet and they only do if you beg for it.

Ken put out a great point that removing all this “Please Retweet” business saves on those precious 140 characters. This is very true and the reality is, when people retweet the “Please RT” tweets they often include all the begging garbage so the character wasting becomes viral.

Liz and Khayyam seem to pretty much share the same viewpoint. Khayyam speaks a lot of truth and has that edgy feel that I often portray in my words. Khayyam makes the point that it almost shows a bit of desperation and insecurity in a tweeter to use, “Please retweet.” After that, the message that Kirsten made was reaffirmed, “If it’s good or pertinent, then it will get pushed forward regardless of begging.” Bravo!

Susan, under the name BuzzEdition classified the “Please RT” game as a syndrome. Pretty funny because that is pretty much what it has turned into. Susan also pinned down the point that if your stuff isn’t getting retweeted there is a breakdown in communication between you and your followers. It’s very true, if your not getting retweets, replies, DMs and comments then you need to start thinking about how to better connect with your followers.

Now I got a couple tweets that came in saying that essentially they liked getting “Please Retweets” for one reason or another, let’s look at those:

SweetLeafApril @webaddict i think it’s a heck of a lot nicer to say “pls Rt” rather than just RT. (my 2 cents)

juliendorra @webaddict Some people tweet good things, and, from time to time, ask to push on a specific issue. I don’t have a problem with that.

Oh sweet April, I see your point, it is nicer for someone to say “PLZ RT” than just saying “RT.” However, in my experience I often don’t see people say just RT because it really resembles the RT used in an actual RT. With that said, I don’t think it’s nice at all. Please is an overused term in most instances. You see when someone is saying “PLZ RT” they aren’t really being polite, it’s just disguising self promotion and kutzpa for people that get all warm and fuzzy with these fake niceties. I just don’t understand how three more letters or an extra word makes a car salesman pitch seem any nicer. Frankly, I don’t buy it. Julie, you’re right, lots of people tweet good things… but here’s the deal, there’s something I’ve noticed. Most people that use “Please Retweet” use it chronically most of the time. I obviously wouldn’t have made such a strong statement if I only saw this method used once a week or so.

I received a message from the twerson making an interesting point that we should bring up. Make sure you comment and let me know what you think about this one!

chrisboutet @webaddict Hear, hear! http://twitter.com/chrisboutet/statuses/1664170144
chrisboutet Does adding “PLZ RT” actually result in more retweets than, say, writing interesting stuff? Think it comes off kinda desperate & sad. PLZ RT

I will shed some insight on this one. I have spoken to some people that are chronic, “Please Retweeters” before and some of them have told me that they do get more RTs than if they leave it off. I’m not so sure how much scientific testing was actually done but I will lend that to the, “Please Retweet” crowd. It would be cool to do a brief study on what got more tweets, a tweet with or without the dreaded promotion. The truth is though, each tweet is invariably different than another tweet, the time of day and the actual day. So for the testing to be as solid as possible a tweet would have to done on a Tuesday at 5:00pm PST and then done the following Tuesday at 5:00pm PST for the data to be comparable.

The rest of the messages I got were mostly in agreement or retweeting what I or some people replying to me actually said. Since I told everyone I’d include them if they @ replied me, I’m keeping my word. Here is everyone else that directly replied to me as of the time of writing this (in the order they were received):

littlebead @webaddict Agreed!!!

trishaj RT @webaddict: I’m so tired of seeing “Please RT”, “Please Retweet”, “PLZ RT.” PPL we understand U wnt UR crap RTed. Quit cramming it dn …

CriticalTodd @webaddict Thank you for that!

suikagirl1 @webaddict amen!

peteravalos @webaddict doesn’t it depend on the tweet? Please RT

trishaj @webaddict So funny and so true I had to RETWEET, lol!!!  ;)

calinazaret RT: @webaddict: I’m so tired of seeing “Please Retweet”, “PLZ RT.” PPL we understand U want UR crap RTed. Quit cramming it down our throats.
calinazaret @webaddict I agree. RT’d! lol

johnnyflower @webaddict hey dude, i, ah, i have this little favour, to ask? hehe…

louiebaur @webaddict Ok so you want me to retweet your comment about retweeting???

johnmcc @webaddict Totally agree. Or the worst of all, ending it just with ‘RT’!

assault @webaddict It’s interesting to me that very rarely does actual “content” get RT,  instead lists or roundups of other peoples content does.

Bubbalou RT: @webaddict: RT @kirstenwright: I couldn’t agree more. If you want it to get RT’ed, just have quality content!

RandyInman RT @webaddict:  I couldn’t agree more. If you want it to get RT’ed, just have quality content! [exactly! that is EXACTLY it.]

jdschultz RT @webaddict …tired of…”Please RT”, “Please Retweet”, “PLZ RT.”…we understand U want UR crap RTed. Quit cramming it down our throats.

achimbrueck Please, please RT RT @webaddict: I’m so tired of seeing “Please RT”, “Please Retweet”, “PLZ RT.” PPL we understand U want UR crap RTed.

derekbaird @webaddict re: RT’s spot on!

johnjambrose RT @webaddict: I’m so tired of seeing “Please RT”, “PLZ RT.” PPL we understand U want UR crap RTed. Quit cramming it down our throats. Irony

BuzzEdition @webaddict Well at least I’m getting my blog now *hugs*

tommytrc RT @BuzzEdition: @webaddict Well at least I’m getting my blog now *hugs*

ecopolitologist RT @BuzzEdition: @webaddict I agree the “Please RT” syndrome is out of control, people should RT what they like…

faithgoddess7 RT @BuzzEdition: @webaddict People should RT what they like & what their followers will find value in ***I Agree***

Paul_Holgorsen RT @faithgoddess7: RT @BuzzEdition: @webaddict People should RT what they like & what their followers will find value in ***I Agree***

creativejo RT @BuzzEdition: @webaddict I agree “Plse RT” syndrome is out of control, ppl shld RT what they like & what their followers find value in

HindsiteHealth @BuzzEdition @webaddict if someone says Please RT, I pretty much don’t. I’m ornery that way. (amber alerts etc, yes. quotes, no)

Well, I hope that inspires some of the chronic “Please Retweeters” to tone it down a little bit. It’s not that there is anything wrong with using “Please RT” every once in awhile, it’s just becoming an old worn out tire, like FollowFriday. If anything, it just seems crazy to say, “Please Retweet” because why wouldn’t you want us to retweet you? Of course you want that. Let’s just make an agreement, we will always KNOW that you want to be RTed and you don’t even have to tell us to! Just remember that if you say something stupid, slutty or horrifying to let us know, “PLZ DON’T RT.” Most things are pretty cool in moderation and silly promotional pushes and begging is ok if it’s a rare breed too.

By the way, now that you’ve reached the end of the post, can you PLEASE RETWEET this?

Peace, Love and Chicken Grease,
- webaddict

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If you don’t know who Dave Winer is, you should. For a detailed explanation of who he is you can check out this Wikipedia entry or just hop on over to his blog homepage to get his bio. Two big accolades of Mr. Winer’s are pioneering the development of weblogs and syndication (RSS). With that said, you can also jump on over and read Mr. Winer’s blog post on why he feels the, “Retweet is stupid.”

Quoting Mr. Winer from the meat of his post he says:

A retweet is the same as voting up something on Digg or Reddit. It’s a piece of metadata about the tweet, and should be stored and displayed with the tweet. When you retweet something, none of the 140 characters should be used in saying that it’s a retweet and who it came from.

Now it’s very possible that Mr. Winer was not devaluing the power of the resyndication of information but was just saying that retweet information is wasting space in the confined 140 characters provided in Twitter. That is pretty much what the above quote says. However, there are some problems with what is said above and the comments this post spawned revealed that many people embraced the idea and feels that the retweet is pointless, spam and is inferior to social votes from sites like Mixx.com, Digg.com, StumbleUpon.com and many more.

From this Mixx comment thread there were these two comments that started my feeling for the need of a retort:

FROM MIXX ID: justiuli
Retweeting is pointless. It’s completely ridiculous. You only have to fill up 140 characters, and you don’t have the creativity to even come up with that. So, you fire up TweetDeck and hit the retweet button all day long. Uncreative and utterly pointless for anyone who’s not a pointless social media retard.

If I see a Twitter profile and it’s got nothing but retweets, I hit the magic “block” button. These people are pointless leeches, and usually have nothing of any interest to say: it’s all “OMG social media is so transgressive! I love Web 2.0 so much!” etc. Pointless crap.

FROM MIXX ID: cmcgill (Mixx Founder)
hate the retweet- but I suppose it is a way to “pass it on”

Now before I start to discuss my objections let me state that I have the utmost respect and admiration for Chris McGill, the founder of Mixx. He created a social news site that I have loved from day one and always look to for innovation in that niche of the social web. In regards to Dave Winer, who can’t admire him? He’s like a co-father of the Internet’s Web 2.0. Okay, credit given so here’s my take!

My comment on Mixx was this:

I’m disappointed in the views of my fellow Mixxers in their feeling that the “Retweet” is stupid. What it tells me is that most don’t understand it’s implication or point. While it certainly is the same as a Mixx Upvote, a Digg or a Stumble it’s so much more. The reason I think most of you think it’s stupid or pointless is because you are categorizing and compartmentalizing it in the same category as the voting system.

While a retweet is a vote, it’s also the syndication of information within seconds. If someone has a lot of followers on Twitter, they are respected to have a keen eye for good content, breaking information or a tight niche categorical focus on content. Instead of simply just voting, that content is then displayed to hundreds or thousands of eyes, minds and feeds within seconds.

So if you want my true opinion, I think a vote is more pointless or stupid than a retweet. It’s effect is much less substantial. It’s power limited. It’s butterfly effect small. Wake up and smell the revolution.

With all of that said, I absolutely love Mixx, which is why you see me here, voting away and commenting.

Mixx on buddies!

P.S. This comment thread and Mixx submission just may spawn a blog post from me. I think people need to be educated as to the real point of a retweet and what it really means instead of the explanation of “Firing up Tweetdeck and mindlessly spamming links along.” Keep your eyes open for my post and vote accordingly.

Update: I had pretty much finished this blog post and noticed a response from Chris McGill on Mixx where he makes an excellent point. I will put his quote below and see if I can address it.

Is a retweet just a vote like a Digg, Upvote or a Stumble?

Part of the answer is a definite yes. A retweet is simply a vote for an idea, piece of content, picture or blog post. These votes are aggregated by a growing number of sites like Tweetmeme.com, Popurls.com and Twitturls.com. So the representation of top content rising in a voting system is built out by these 3rd party websites and replicates most of the features of sites like Digg and Mixx.

With that said, besides just the voting system each retweet lends more power, syndication and traffic than a simple vote on a social news site. When you vote on a site like Digg and Mixx you have the potential to lend more traffic and exposure to that site if your vote helps it rise to top pages or the frontpage. If your vote doesn’t have that effect it was simply a nod of agreement and that’s about it. With Twitter, a retweet instantly offers hundreds if not thousands of people the chance to see the content as soon as it is retweeted. The power is multiplied by much more and then you have the chance of a retweet of a retweet which then build the viral syndication model even larger.

Is a retweet just mindless spamming of links?

This idea really gets me. I don’t see any relation to spam or mindless activity or laziness with this. Essentially when you retweet you are placing your authority, brand and credibility behind someones tweet, blog post, image or idea. The credibility factor is HUGE. There are many times when I will take a double-take and a closer look at an article because of WHO retweeted it. So the idea that it’s a waste to see “who” retweeted is way off too.

Niche / Trust / Categorization

Beyond just the idea of credibility, trust and authority there is the focus of niche content. There are many Twitter users that stay extremely true to the type of content they retweet. A good example of this is @mayhemstudios as about 80% of his tweeting and retweeting is focused on web design and graphic design. This compartmentalization of information is powerful in many ways and is slowly replacing or competing with RSS feeds. I have already heard from at least a hundred people that they have quit using RSS feeds and just use Twitter to aggregate their niche information they’re looking for by scanning their groups in Tweetdeck or their 3rd party client of choice.

Waste of 140 characters?

Where I will say that I do agree is that possibly the RT @username and the sometimes long list of this information can take away from the sparse amount of characters we already have to use in Twitter. It could be effective to have this information of who retweeted in a different way so that the 140 characters can be utilized for extra information such as a short opinion and hashtags.

Chris McGill’s reply to my comment on Mixx – he makes a great point!

@webaddict First of all- this is a great response and I completely appreciate where you are coming from. The downside for me is that it just fills my twitter stream with the same thing over and over again. A vote on the other hand just simply readjusts what I should be lookin at.

Clearly I am biased… and I am not a twitter power user. I’ll look for your blog post and seriously appreciate the perspective.

Twitter Stream same thing over and over?

In Mr. McGill’s reply comment he really does touch on a great point. There IS a problem with retweets when on Twitter. If something is hot or for some reason everyone decides to retweet it a lot one can find their Twitter Stream littered with the same tweet over and over as it’s retweeted by other users. The only solution I see to this is using a 3rd party client like Seesmic Desktop or TweetDeck. With these 3rd party apps you can setup Groups and filter in specific users you are monitoring. In my own groups I try to not add people that simply retweet people every time they tweet. I do find that if I see an article retweeted multiple times and I haven’t read it yet that I might be missing something and I better take a peak. With that said, the voting mechanism of social news sites certainly does solve this problem. Thanks for the reply Chris.

I hope this helps some who don’t see the value of the retweet as to why some people find it simply amazing. While I can vote for things, like them or comment on them in other social media spaces, I cannot present it to thousands of people and help drive traffic to amazing ideas and information like I can with retweeting on Twitter.

Please let me know what you agree and disagree with on this post. What do you like and dislike about retweets? Do you think they’re worthless too? Do you find yourself reading things because a certain person retweeted them?

Peace, Love and Chicken Grease,
- webaddict

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TweetDeck has made Twitter possible for me so that I could take Twitter to the next level. I could not handle so much data steaming at me 100 miles an hour, without a powerful application to sift and organize that data in a useful way. TweetDeck innovated when no one else was there to do it and made using Twitter on a power user level possible. Kudos to the TweetDeck Development Team for this amazing accomplishment and being the first ones to make Professional Tweeting, (if there is a such a thing) possible. With that said, here comes the next part of this blog post that readers of this blog have probably come to expect…

I fired TweetDeck today because I have been begging for 1- 1/2 months, for one single feature to be added or fixed on TweetDeck. For anyone that follows over 5,000 people on Twitter, TweetDeck has been useless in terms of adding people to the group categories. This is due to the fact that TweetDeck was loading every single user that you follow and would hang and then crash when this action was performed.

Do you want to know the truth though? Of course you do! TweetDeck will come back within a week offering an update of their client allowing a search function to add people to Groups. Once that addition is made, I still won’t start using TweetDeck again. Why? Well let’s look at this thing a little bit closer and examine the key ingredient of any successful company, customer satisfaction.

On March 16th 2009, TweetDeck announced at SXSW they were releasing a major new improvement, a Beta that would offer an amazing new feature to TweetDeck. If you follow a lot of people on Twitter you were probably holding your breath like me as you clicked the link. Is it true, have they finally reduced the system resources load and fixed the group problems? Guess again, instead of improving on the current build of TweetDeck and improving user experience, TweetDeck was battling head to head with Seesmic to add Facebook integration to TweetDeck. While I certainly give props to TweetDeck for competing with their competition, I learned what matter most to the TweetDeck Development Team and it wasn’t me.

Of course it’s smart to meet major SXSW buzz with a one-two punch. But honestly? I look at it like this. If we’re talking cars, which I certainly don’t know a dang thing about, it would sound like this:

Ford steals the automobile market by producing an electric car that goes 500 miles on a charge. Customers are thrilled with the new efficiency in their driving experience except about 20% of drivers, which are having troubles with the battery cables catching on fire when they hit 70 MPH. During the Detroit Auto Show, Toyota announces the release of a car called the Petunia that is not only electric, but it emits carbon killing substances in the atmosphere every time you brake. Ford has been studying this technology and rushes to release it before the end of the Detroit Auto Show.

What exactly does that hair-brained example mean? Ford may have added the technology of carbon killing substances to it’s break-through electric car, but when people go 70 MPH the damn battery cables STILL catch fire. Need I say more? If every company operated on the adage that they add appendages and features before their core product was working effectively, they would fail.

I suspect since Twitter 3rd party clients are not actually based on an actual profit model yet, it may not be a priority to fix all issues or deal with customer satisfaction. Instead, right now it’s about expanding market penetration, generating as much buzz as possible and getting as many sets of 10 fingers to use your client as possible. Facebook is no doubt a gorilla that needs conquering. However, TweetDeck had conquered the chimpanzee of social media, Twitter. I believe they missed the boat by not making sure it was functional to the most influential users on Twitter.

One thing I’d like to explain real quick is that I do have a degree in programming and while I don’t actively use my degree coding, I still understand the architecture of programs and how changes can be made. My degree is just a Bachelor of Science, not a Master’s but I will say this: All TweetDeck needed to do to fix their issue was change their group function to a search / add function as Seesmic Desktop did and the TweetDeck Group Issue would have been fixed. It wouldn’t have taken months but days to complete the change, test and release.

Seesmic Desktop Steals The Show

Seesmic has taken their ability to make things from Twhirl which were all fuzzy, fun and pretty and bring them to a high end client that is ready to be a workhorse for Twitter. In all honesty, Seesmic has copied all of the bells and whistles from TweetDeck and made them available while changing the name from Twhirl to Seesmic Desktop. Now obviously you KNOW what I was looking for in this flashy new version of Seemic’s Twitter Client. I was looking for the ability to properly add groups even if I follow 1,000,000 people on Twitter.

Good news! It works but alas, I was not quick enough to figure it all out on my own. I asked a buddy of mine named Mark Frost if he had any clue how to add people to Groups in Seesmic Desktop. My issue was when I created a group and clicked on the word “users” it didn’t do anything. Stupid me, as quoted from Mark, you have to do this:

Click on your name under accounts, then the 4th tab, search for them, click the gear, and add to list

I know, I should have figured this out on my own but I wanted to know quick. If you want a picture of exactly how to do it to make it even simpler, click here. It’s simple, quick and best of all, it works. Now I can add hundreds of friends to my Twitter Desktop Client with no issues.

I have only used the Seesmic Desktop Client for a couple hours and I do miss the feel and look of TweetDeck. A person I follow closely on Twitter, Fantomsurfer said, “Seesmic Desktop seems to be faster than TweetDeck but too much screen space is wasted.” I have to admit, I agree with this. Seesmic Desktop does seem more frilly, bubbly and less efficient with utilizing space. TweetDeck is built off of a framework that is square, clean and maximizes space. Then again, it’s only been hours and maybe I’ll get used to it, right?

One more thing that I think is pretty interesting was mentioned by another buddy of mine on Twitter. Mark Murnahan had a great point that it seems like Seesmic Desktop is using less than half of the system resources than TweetDeck. Mark tweeted this:

Seesmic Desktop is using below HALF of the system resource of TweetDeck! WOW

While I certainly agree with Mark after testing, I am guessing that once I add all of my groups, people to the groups and specific searches, that Seesmic Desktop may start to run similar in the system resources level as TweetDeck. If not though, that’s just one more reason to use Seesmic Desktop over TweetDeck.

With all of that said, go try it out. Are you going to fire TweetDeck?

Peace, Love and Chicken Grease,
- webaddict

If you like this article, Tweet this message to your Twitter stream.

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I believe there are five different types of what is perceived to be social media experts. Please note: I’m excluding the idiots above because they’re not experts and they don’t need to be discussed, just ignored.

Type One: Authoritative Expert

This first type of expert has the lucky ability of transferring their authoritative status in their field over into the social media world. Basically, they are a high profile executive, someone famous, someone with a TV show, radio show, have written books and had them published or they were found dancing to some stupid song on YouTube. This is an authoritative expert because they are an expert and master in something else. People flock to them in social media because they are comfortable with the brand, the person or know of their accomplishments. Examples: @joelcomm, @guykawasaki, @jimmyfallon, @aplusk (Ashton Kutcher) or the Numa Numa Guy (he really could have done something with this mainstream popularity)

If you’re into search engine optimization or Internet Marketing you can liken this type to what is called PageRank. PageRank is essetinally a ranking number based on how many links a website has, making it an authority on the subject. Once again, these sites can just crap out content and have it rank well because the rest of their site already has a power authority that can not be obtained overnight.

Type Two: The Power User Expert

This second type of expert has successfully climbed the social mountain of one social media institution and can generally transfer this power over to other social networks. Once one mountain is conquered it’s invariably easier to conquer the next. You will often find these power users have established a network of die hards, fans or people that just think they are the next best thing since sliced bread. Sometimes the fascination relates to a sort of fame but just a more “geeky” type of fame. Most of the time these power users follow an extensive list of RSS feeds or favorite publications (sometimes ones they’re getting a payment from) and faithfully submit stuff that catches their eye or fills their wallet. Now hold up, don’t get all pissy with me, I’m not saying all these guys are paid, that is certainly not the case, some of the top ones aren’t paid a dime and I’m certain of it.

Now this second bit of explanation is going to hurt a little more, so bear with me. A lot of these types of experts claim they know something others do not, they have voodoo sauce or they are just that good. I say that’s just horse shit. What these users have done is played the numbers game. Remember that they conquered a mountain before many? They were early adopters and were able to amass insurmountable numbers that are hard to fathom outside of the Internet. With this following they also are adept at using cutting edge content finding tools, errr RSS readers and aggregators / insider contacts, and definitely do have a feel for content their minions will clamor over.

A large percent of these users don’t create much content, they just scour top headlines and feed the masses with what is already popular or what looks like it will be popular, good content eye-ballers.

Examples: @zaibatsu, @mrbabyman/Digg:MrBabyMan, @msaleem/Digg:msaleem (Muhammad does create his own content too), BadWithComputer, @LouieBaur/Digg:LouieBaur, @stejules

The last sentence above is the most important to me in defining the third type of social media expert.

Type Three: Content Creation Social Media Experts

The third type of social media expert is a studier of people, a voyeurist of social interactions, a trend follower and someone who knows how to work with stats, analytic programs and finding the correct timing and mechanisms to create and launch content tailored to the social world’s desires. This group of users are not famous and they are generally not power users but they still find a way to craft their content and get it recognized in the social media world. These users have either gained a respect extremely strong due to crafty social skills or have found a way to create effective content with mass appeal. An interesting example of someone who fits the crafty social skills model is a budding social media expert on Twitter. His name is Mark Murnahan @murnahan. What is interesting about Mark is that he’s not a power user but he still seems to harness the power of the retweet on Twitter. He is often ranked as one of the top retweeted people on Twitter but he maintains a fairly low follower count. This hints at a social media expert intelligence that is far deeper than controlling the masses but instead, effectively managing a tight nit group of users in a powerful way.

I have proven time and time again that I’m adept at creating content with mass appeal. For more stats please read my comment confession below. Sorry for the shameless self mention!

This type of social media expert can be a hybrid and obviously uses RSS feeds, top news headlines and great posts they have found to spread to the masses also. However, one of the unique parts of this type of social media user is that they do create content and aren’t just living off of everyone else’s content.

Examples: @murnahan, @webaddict, @mayhemstudios, @jessenewhart, @szetela, @fantomaster

Type Four: Natural Social Media Experts

This fourth type of social media expert is in a way becoming a new breed of social media expert due to Twitter and Facebook. This user isn’t really focused on finding specific content and directing people towards news, articles or content driven sites but basically exude the defined properties of a social butterfly. They are generally fuzzy, loveable, nice, supportive and helpful and nurturing. Now that probably sounds a little over the top and surely every item doesn’t fit them all but I hope you get the point. These people are like that little Tony Robbins sitting on your shoulder. They provide that feeling of ghusto when you need it or they give you a positive vibe when you’re on emtpy. These users have risen to the top because they have great personalities and are excellent people persons.

Examples: @AlohaArleen, @BuzzEdition, @MariSmith

Type Five: Social Media Salesman

This fifth type of social media expert doesn’t really care about participating socially and you can usually see that from their discussions. They’re often touting their next guru launch, recession eliminating product or some wonderful new voodoo product that will make you rich. These are pretty much just straight Internet Marketers. I am not saying they don’t create products of value, but not all of them do and it seems most of them feed off of each other. You’ll find them all talking about each other and stroking each others follower lists, email lists and they all speak about each other like Gods. It really gets quite old eventually. You can typically find these guys singing songs, pushing you towards squeeze pages or promising big convention parties that cost thousands of dollars. With that said, I’m not saying once again that they don’t sometimes put out valuable stuff, it’s just that this is their type of social media expertness. Just list building and hawking goods to be honest.

Examples: @masscontrolkern, @mikefilsaime, @ed_dale

This post was actually inspired by a blog post from Jay Fowler @silentjay74, a good Mixx buddy of mine. You can read his blog post titled – What makes you the “expert”. I can’t seem to reproduce the passion that this post sparked in me but what it really sparked was a social media confession. I’ll provide a quote of my comment in response to Jay’s blog post here:

Hey Jay, this is a really good post touching on a growing issue. Why this is a growing issue, I have no clue. It’s sort of like bullies in High School, if they’re ignored they die off, if they are talked about and lauded by others, they seem to grow into cult status.

A social media expert in my opinion is completely different than what everyone thinks one is and I would be slaughtered for all the rules everyone says you must follow to be an expert.

One constant drivel of information about “good social media” people is that they can NOT only submit their own content. I personally think this is just bullshit.

A true expert in my opinion would be someone who creates all their own content, whether it’s for a client or not and submit it into the social media world and gets top rankings and wide exposure every single time. This to me would prove a strong knowledge of what people want, what people like and what WORKS in social media.

On Digg I had 44 front pages and the big secret is, they were ALL my own content and blogs.

Same with Mixx, almost all of my populars / front pages were my own content. Now on Mixx I operate a little differently and will gladly submit content from friends I respect.

My original purpose was strictly for historical and analytical reasons. When I had a percentage rating of successful front pages on Digg that was a very PERSONAL number. When removing my early Digg experience my successful frontpage percentage of my own content was around 90% FP. I know of not one social media “expert” that can say the same.

I know I’ll be hated for revealing this “secret” but everyone is an idiot if they can’t look at my submission histories and see the reality on their own.

So this brings me to being a social media expert when you’re slinging around content from frontpage publications, major news media outlets and mainstream media productions… does that really make you an expert? I believe it does not. How hard is it to look at RSS feeds and headlines all day long and submit them and get a front page or mass syndication? Pretty damn easy if you ask me and any gerbil with a clicking finger can do it.

What makes a social media expert? Results. Period. That’s it.

Joel Mackey
- webaddict

P.S. I operate on Twitter completely differently, I think it’s a very different animal and I use my credibility to RT posts and in effect I am putting my name behind those as well. It seems more purposeful to me to participate in the 2 way submission process.

Some will look at me in disgust and say how does your method equate to social? My method equates to social because I support good content, I constantly monitor the networks and vote or RT or Stumble content I feel is valuable. This does NOT mean you have to personally submit it. I feel bad because so many people will hate me and my view, but really, it doesn’t matter because they don’t have a clue what an expert is anyway.

Yes, you read that right, according to everyone’s Social Media Rules they often state, I just committed social media suicide. I revealed that all of my Front pages on Digg, Mixx and other sites were ALL content written by me and put on blog properties that I run. However, as I mentioned in the comment above, it’s just horse shit to say that you can’t be successful doing so. I also don’t believe this eliminates the social part of social media. What I really believe is that it shows an even more refined expertise that is not just slinging around mainstream media links or popular blog posts and submitting for a popular. Instead it takes a fine skill to study the trends and produce content that people want to vote for and pass around. Most social media experts you’ll find will state you can’t be successful if you self submit. Obviously that isn’t true so I’d really like to see this myth go to the dogs!

I personally believe that someone that can research a trend, create the content, syndicate that idea and generate successful exposure and reaction from the social media community has more skill than someone submitting twenty things a day they didn’t even write. One is like gambling, the other is a steady precision game that is focused on a particular goal. What do you think?

Well, there it is, practically a blog post all in itself. So let’s sum up all this information to a simple idea. If you find yourself being told by a social media expert how great they are and listening to their long winded theories, ask them or yourself this: Do you have results? Do you have proof of something going viral? Do you have frontpage data? Do you have traffic numbers or analytics proving the spread of your ideas and information? With the incredible growth of these “experts” most of them won’t have much. Their number of followers doesn’t mean a dang thing. If anything, you can guage their engagement values on Twitter by using a site like: www.twitalyzer.com Now if you’re looking at a user like Muhammad Saleem (msaleem) or Reg Saddler (zaibatsu) their value is undisputable and you don’t need to question whether you’re dealing with an expert. But some of these people are so far from experts it’s getting just silly to see their over inflated titles.

BOTTOM LINE: What is a social media expert? Proven results. See above for a more detailed explanation!

Let me know if you have any question by either leaving a comment here on the blog or dropping me a DM or @ message on Twitter over @webaddict.

Peace, Love and Chicken Grease,
- webaddict

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While Mr. Gray did an awesome job at providing some excellent data proving these accounts were run by robots (programming scripts) that seemed to follow and unfollow him at the same time every day, he sort of missed the boat on why this is happening.

Quoted from Mr. Gray’s blog:

So what is the benefit of such a clearly robotic practice? Is the idea that the follow notifications are a form of advertising, giving me a chance to see their name more than once, and increasing the times I’ll go to check out their Twitter page? Do they also think we’re naive enough to not notice?

No, these robots, accounts or scripts could care less whether a specific account notices them or not. They aren’t excited you’re getting email notifications and they don’t hope you check out their Twitter page, blog or whatever their promoting.

These accounts are strictly after eyeballs. Let me explain… If you take a look at the Twitter Top 1,000 list at TwitterHolic.com you would have noticed these accounts at the top of most of the movers and shakers Followers list. Mr. Gray was correct that this is a form of advertising. You can see Mr. Gray’s current Twitter ranking on Twitterholic here:

Now really, this isn’t the greatest example of trying to explain this but you can see Mr. Gray is ranked #956 out of the Top 1,000 on Twitter as of March 8th, 2009. A better example is to look at some people in the Top 100. If someone were to FOLLOW and UNFOLLOW all of the Top 1,000 multiple times a day, just like the banned accounts mentioned above did, they would find themselves at the top of the Twitter accounts Follower list.

Let’s try this out so you understand what I’m talking about. I’m going to go and follow the #1 ranked Twitter user http://twitter.com/cnnbrk, they have 421,913 followers. As soon as I follow them I’m the user at the top of the list. See the pretty graphic I’ve included.

Do you get it yet? Some of you might not, so let’s put it this way. Let’s compare Twitter accounts to real estate. The Twitter accounts with the most followers are the most prime real esate because those accounts are getting the most eyeballs and activity. So if you can put your name in front of 20 users (the amount of followers per page) several times a day, then these robot accounts have done their job.

Now take these robot accounts and multiply this example by all Top 1,000 Twitter accounts and you have 20,000 potential views on each account until it gets pushed off of the first follower page of each account.

Essentially what you have is free advertising and promotion. It’s similar to going over to Google Adwords and buying a sponsored placement for the keyword, “Twitter” and every time someone searches for Twitter on Google they see your account. Obviously, Google charges per click, so it’s a MUCH better deal to just go and FOLLOW and UNFOLLOW all high profile accounts and wallah, FREE Advertising for your Twitter account.

Now another reason someone might do this is to hit their target market. If you’re in the news business, you would target all major Twitter news accounts, like CNN Breaking and be at the top of their follower list since that is your targeted demographic. If you’re an up and coming rapper, it might be smart to be at the top of @iamdiddy’s Twitter Follower list. (As a side note: I absolutely love Sean Jean clothing, founder is @iamdiddy)

Anyway, I hope that explains the “mystery” behind this practice. I don’t particularly see anything wrong with this practice as long as it’s performed by addicted and caffeinated humans. However, the accounts mentioned above were suspended because they had an automated system doing the dirty deed for them at the same time every day, multiples times.

Let me know if you have any question by either leaving a comment here on the blog or dropping me a DM or @ message on Twitter over @webaddict.

Peace, Love and Chicken Grease,
- webaddict

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Now you don’t see me flashing around titles and sales pitches calling myself a social media expert or any of that garbage. These are just my opinions that should have a little merit since I have spent a lot of my waking moments on social media websites writing and syndicating content through and around these networks.

In addition to that introduction, I know, the display of this information isn’t pretty. If you want something pretty, go to TechCrunch, Mashable or Engadget. I relate this to my feelings as I have done with SEO clients, it’s not always about being pretty, it’s about getting the job done and providing valuable information!

With all that said, enjoy the voyeuristic pleasure of being inside my conversation, sounds like Twitter huh? I censored out some private references, changed my Social Media Buddy’s name to SocialMediaBuddy, but I have left most everything else in tact. I hope this helps convey why some of you on the fence should probably start actively using Twitter.

(Quick note: Some of you may be scratching your heads when you read this. Please understand that this discussion of Twitter is really from a PR, Internet Marketing, content distribution & syndication viewpoint. Twitter is wonderful for many reasons, this is one niche.)

ENTER SOCIAL VOTE REQUEST CONVERSATION:

SocialMediaBuddy: Joel Upvote (Please hit the pic first)
(Censored Reddit Title / Reddit Link)

SocialMediaBuddy: thanks for the help Joel

hope you are good

SocialMediaBuddy: HAHAHAH

but you looouuuve me

Joel: I don’t use digg man. Period.

SocialMediaBuddy: okay

all good joelle

spanish pronunciation

Joel: They’ve banned me twice when I had 69 frontpages so really, not going there anymore.

SocialMediaBuddy:

Joel: You’re promoting on Digg now too?

SocialMediaBuddy: all good

Joel: Tisk tisk, playing w/ the dying devil.

SocialMediaBuddy: ha

I’m just sending it out to a few peeps before I hit the hay

Joel: Sweet. have a good sleep yo.

SocialMediaBuddy: wooooord

let me know if there is ever any damn thing I can do for you

but it seems like you HAVE a life

so I won’t expect it

SocialMediaBuddy: ah cool

I feel the same way

but please ask me

I want to feel like I do something for you.

(some private stuff censored here)

SocialMediaBuddy: can I steal your followers

haha

SocialMediaBuddy: yeah good point

okay I’m going to do it now

hahahahaha

Joel: I thought you might take a 2nd look…

Join me on the journey to social media orgasm.

lol

SocialMediaBuddy: haha

dude

I would follow you anywhere

ha

Joel: Yeah, I’ve checked him out quite a few times.

www.twitterholic.com

SocialMediaBuddy: WOW

Reg is at 45,000

so this is the future huh?

why?

just talk at me

SocialMediaBuddy: ah

maybe it might be good not to identify me

as it makes me look like a big dummy doofus

God forbid they should know the truth.

Joel: I definitely won’t identify you!

We’re all goofs man, I didn’t know shit about Twitter 2 weeks ago and I didn’t care to either.

SocialMediaBuddy: HAHAHAH

I have been simmering under the surface with it

starting to see its viral power in terms of helping with digg

Joel: Facebook is making wonderful changes. They’re just proving that Twitter’s model is the future. Duplicating a business model is the best compliment one can have.

Facebook could possibly steal the show but somehow I don’t see that happening. Just as no one has ever really stolen the online auction show from eBay (because they were first) … well truthfully there was one little site that took the rug from under eBay… it was Craigslist.org. Then eBay saw it and tried to compete with Kijiji.com and alas, the 1st on the scene still prevails. Kijiji will never be able to compete with Craigslist even with all of eBay’s corporate dollars pushing it.

My point is… if Facebook is going to win in this instance, they will have to build a better mousetrap, innovate beyond Twitter, not just copy them, just like Craigslist.org shook up the business model of eBay, they just gave it away.

Facebook has the biggest weapon of all really though, users and worldwide adoption. Twitter is still new. However, if Facebook thought it was “in the bag” for them, they wouldn’t have tried to buy Twitter.

SocialMediaBuddy: ah

when did they do that?

Joel: Twitter has developed into quite the international sensation too though. It’s just a horse race at this point. In terms of users Facebook is winning… but really the sites are just too different to compare. Twitter is more sleek and lean at information transmission, Facebook is a big social smorgasbord. Twitter really just compliments Facebook or enhances it. It would be in Facebook’s best interest to adopt Twitter into their model or try again to buy them with Microsoft’s money.

SocialMediaBuddy: hahaha

wow.

a lot ot take in

Joel: A good cover on how Facebook failed to buy Twitter can be found here: http://www.businessweek.com/technology/content/mar2009/tc2009031_743025.htm

Well, I certainly think I’ve blabbed too much. I’ll shut up now. Quit thinking about Twitter and go jump in the pool.

SocialMediaBuddy:

Ima go to bed

take care man and thanks for letting me into your world a little

Joel: Haha, no worries. See ya in Twitterville!

SocialMediaBuddy: OH wait – before you go….

what about the revenue generation!

don’t leave!

twitter doesn’t have any

Joel: We’ll talk about that another night!

SocialMediaBuddy: (yet)

well just say one little thing about it

it’s pretty important!

just anything

Joel: Business intelligence, brand protection / promotion, brand surveillance and contextual sponsored integration (stealing from Google’s model with a most likely innovative twist).

SocialMediaBuddy: okay – explain more to me another night — take care Joel

Joel: You too. Night!

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