nov0caine’s posterous

Centralizing your business model around Twitter...?

When you trawl through the myriad number of blogs on the internet, take note of the topic of the post, and how frequently similar topics are being reciprocated by the author over and over again in different formats... Then ask yourself, why are these guys so persistent in blogging about twitter?

I'm going to come right out and say it, yes Twitter can be a highly profitable medium for businesses online and individual blogger alike, but it is severely over-hyped by web 2.0 geeks. Definitely. And the result? People are turned off of Twitter because they're sick to death of hearing about it. Look at the stats... A survey conducted by the participatory marketing network shows that only 22% of generation Y are embracing the social networking site as opposed to a staggering 99% who admit to being regulars on either myspace and facebook... But what about the celebrity hype? Twitter received an exponential growth when it was discovered that A-list celebrities began to use the site as a direct way to engage with fans, and then it all started to backfire as the real-time celebrity twitter streams became the prey of the press. Columns started popping up in newspapers, gossip columns started running hot with twitter news, and they even introduced a 'trending topic' segment into the 2009 VMA's. The result of all of this...? Celebrities are beginning to boycott the website, saying that it's just too invasive - need examples? Look no further than Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails and Miley Cyrus.

So if the most imperative generation is refusing to embrace Twitter, and celebrities are considering mass exodus, is it fair game that Twitter may be reaching the plateau of its seemingly perpetual growth? And if so, does this indicate a potential incline and eventual downfall...? We're witnessing it with MySpace right now as we speak, with the once upon a time largest social media player reported a loss of 5 million users in the past month.

Here lies the question, if you're monetizing a blog or centralizing your business model around Twitter, did you forecast the life span of the social networking site before devoting your livelihood to it? It seems that a lot of internet marketing companies and bloggers alike have their financial umbilical cords fastened to the nutrient twitter trend wave... What's going to happen when the cutting of that lifeline is highly imminent? Your twitter branded empire, complete with your hordes of followers, vanishes in a flash... The traffic trends to your blog move inversely, and all of a sudden you're out on your tail with no revenue stream and no catalyst for your content.

I'd like to here of your post-Twitter contingency, if you have one, and your thoughts on the demise of Twitter (who can tell when the trends will change).

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The Twitter Censorship Blunder

Like all social networks that boast an impressive following, there are expectations and demands that certain means of censorship should be put in place to protect it's users. We've seen it done all before, with sites such as Facebook and MySpace sporting 'report' functions and censorship crawlers. But in the case of Twitter, the site doesn't facilitate any 'report' functions. It relies solely on the number of times an account has been 'blocked' by its users, and only then will it consider a ban.

There has been a growing number of protests and concerns voiced by the Twitter population as to the measures of censorship that should be put in place to stop spammers and abusive morons using the site wrongly. Celebrities themselves have been backing the demand for better protection measures, such as Trent Reznor of Nine Inch Nails, who has previously advocated the support of campaigns such as @blocksunday, a community collective of anti-trollers.

Today, Twitter announced that it was crawling through it's database and eradicating potential spammers and offenders. And the end result? Totally horrible. Thousands of innocent Twitter users were 'accidentally' blocked, with Mashable once again all over the news.

Twitter has since made an announcement, in an attempt to recitfy the major blunder:

"Earlier today, we accidentally suspended a number of accounts.

We regret the human error that led to these mistaken suspensions and we are working to restore the affected accounts—we expect this to be completed in the next several hours.

One additional note: some the accounts suspended were using the third-party site Tweetlater. However, Tweetlater is not to blame for these suspensions nor is it in violation of our Terms."

What's that you say, human error...? Are you sure? In my opinion, I think the developers got lazy - but on the plus side, at least they are taking measures to censor out spam and offensice content... I for one, am sick of being followed by myriads of sex ads.

I didn't get suspended accidentally, so... I'm happy ^_^

What were your experiences?

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Twitter takes a bite out of the #Moonfruit

There are a lot of Twitter promotions happening around us, some on a macro scale and some on a micro scale, but in the past few days a web design and marketing company in London known as Moonfruit has launched a massive promotional campaign in celebration of it's 10th birthday that in essence epitomizes how companies should endeavour to market themselves on the web. Using #hashtags, Moonfruit have set up a campaign that will give 10 random Twitter users 10 free MacBook Pro Notebooks - announcing one winner each day for ten days. What's the catch? It's easy, users just simply include the #moonfruit hashtag in their posts to heighten their chances of winning. It's an excellent marketing strategy that will inevitably pay dividends for the company.

In looking at the effect of this monstrous campaign, hashtags.org gives the following stats on the tag #moonfruit from it's launch on June 29, in less than two days the trending figures for the moonfruit tag soared from a mere 449 to 11,607... Not bad at all, eh? Mashable was also all over this story like a flannel, undoubtedly giving the site another unprecedented traffic boost. See it for yoruself, click here for the Mashable Story.

As for me? Well, I'm going to be tweeting moonfuit until wear through my good 'ol Dell QWERTY keyboard. To my keyboard I say, RIP mate, it's been a good few months!

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Turning Your Twitter Green Doesn't Save Lives

When the controversy and tragedy surrounding the current election in Iran first started, like many other Westerners I was engrossed by sick, sad apathy towards the horrendous affairs happening in the Middle East. The way in which these events grabbed our attention makes me feel sick to the stomach when I think about it, and I'm sure you all felt the same after someone made a broadcast of the horrifying and graphic death of an innocent woman named Nada who lay bleeding in the streets of Tehran. Sure, we care about the elections now but it should never have taken an innocent young woman to bleed to death to grab our attention and concern. Unfortunately though, in an age of hedonism, ignorance and greed this level of ignorance is common practice and prevalent in many cultures around the world (not just Westerners).

But here's what really gets me... I came across an article published by some random American journalist (don't quote me on who, but it was really eye-opening and you can read it here) that really was a reality check and a stern slap in the face. We are popularizing the cruel nature of this election coverage to the point where it wouldn't suprise me if certain people were starting to make a profit out of it. I believe that the author made the comparison to that of a Miss America pagent, where the cute blonde graces the stage with her false empathy and melodrama and sings out something cliché like "people are dying every second around the world from hunger... We need to stop this!"; her speech captivates people, and their facial muscles tense up and their throats begin to swell. As for the people watching at home, they listen intently, but get up off the couch to go and eat a big fat greasy burger. In the mean-time, the Miss America candidate marvels dumb-founded at her brand new trophy and over-sized novelty cheque. Someone asks, "how are you going to spend your winnings?", to which she replies "I'm going to go and visit the starving children in Africa... and buy a new car."

Visiting them shows she cares, yes. However it's one thing to show that you care, but are you actually going to contribute anything that will help change the situation? Probably not. But most of us won't even get as far as making the gesture to show that we 'care' in the first place. We'll just go and eat a burger.

The elections in Iran pose a similar situation, people listen, turn their Twitter profiles green as an empathetic gesture, but don't actually contribute anything to the cause. Although it's a sad reality (and sorry people it might take a little effort), if you really want to make a difference you need to donate. Even a small dollar goes a long way when you combine the figures. It's the same old story, and as of tonight, I myself am going to make a donation because I'm sick of this type of thing happening to innocent people around the world and I want to fight it. Turning your pictures green is still lovely, yes, but please commit fully because these people need your help. There are a number of charities listed on the link I provided you earlier, and this blog outlines a list of the official aid sites.

That was my two cents on the whole thing anyway, and for those who are contributing my hat comes off to you all!

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*Just a personal note on the sensitive issue of this post, even though I have inserted a client reference erverything I have written is personally motivated. I see no profitable agenda in adding client links to this post and this section should be regarded separately.

 

 

Why TIME Magazine's Twitter Special sucked

Did anybody else read this? Now, when it comes to TIME magazine I'm a huge fan of their work. I mean, if you read any TIME article dealing with important world issues the articles are intricately laced with delicate human emotions, but at the same time, they are highly logical and astute. When it comes to reviewing technology however, they suck. I'm going to put it right out there and say that the TIME article as pubished by writer Steven Johnson, entitled "How Twitter Will Change the Way we Live", was poorly put together given the copious amounts of time they had to write it... Ha, TIME not making use of their "time". Poor irony, I know, but it's still funny. Even Mashable reviewed the article with blatantly sombre undertones:

"Does Time nail the Twitter phenomenon? You would certainly hope so, considering they’ve effectively had three years to write the story. Twitter’s hype cycle, however, may be winding down."

Mashable are a social media collective who by trade are essentially journalists, but not expected to be of the same calibre as their TIME counterparts. Even so, at least they know how to conduct their research when wrirting a piece on such a bizarre communications phenomenon. You can read the TIME article here.

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The Quest to be the Twitter King

In 2009, no-one would have predicted that Twitter would establish itself as one of the most powerful communication mediums on the web amongst the ranks of Facebook and Myspace who boast an ungodly market share of social media traffic. Twitter is so simple, whilst the others are so complex. Who would of thought that the concept of 'micro-blogging' (bullshit for religiously updating your status) would convert even the most technologically inept and arrogant of celebrities. 

Not so long ago,  Ashton Kutcher the self-professed king of Twitter, introduced the Larry King himself to the not-so microcosmic world of Tweeting. Kutcher himself also defeated CNN in a well-publicized race to become the first member in the site's short history to achieve a surreal 1,000,000 'followers'. But what is the obsession with Twitter?

To me, I revel at the simple, yet powerful concept of being able to publish your thoughts in front of the eyes of several readers instantly. But it also carries many other benefits. For example, for web marketers, the reconnaissance of trends in particular demographics is made easy - just hit up the Twitter search feature, type in your target keyword and before you know it thousands of active users appear before your eyes, tweeting with their invaluable insight into your target niche... And it's all at your discretion.

But benefits aside, Twitter is all about getting your voice out there. Like blogging, everybody wants their opinions to be recognized. Users seek to evoke a reaction when they post... Whether it's playful banter between friends, or witty rhetoric aimed at a popular topic of interest. I guess people see it as a way to gain a quick 15 minutes of cyber fame, or possibly turn it into something more...

Regardless on whether or not you want to be the Twitter king, it's be foolish not to embrace something this powerful... seeing as it has a lot to offer.

On another note, I'm currently in Noosa Queensland enjoying Mayfiesta. Probably the best thing I've done in a while actually... You might not think that Noosa Beach in Winter ain't th best idea... But you'd be presently suprised. The atmosphere here is amazing... I scored well with my Noosa Accommodation too, hehe. Anyway if you're ever considering Mayfiesta hit up the site for more details!