Posts tagged Twitter
What is your market validation plan?
Apr 28th
By Peter Hanschke
Here’s the situation: Your development team is busy creating a Minimum Viable Product (MVP). You have people off in all directions trying to secure some funding. But do you have a Market Validation Plan? Furthermore, are you executing this plan along with all the other activities? In other words, is this an activity that you are currently performing?
As the name suggests, a Market Validation Plan (another MVP for those who like TLAs) is about reaching out to your target market to determine whether:
- The market likes your product or product concept
- The market is willing to buy your product when you have it ready Read the rest of this entry »
Canadian voter apathy extends to social media realm
Apr 27th
If a politician sends a tweet, but nobody is following them, does it even have an impact?
That’s an existential question that political campaign organizers from each of the major federal parties may be asking themselves at the end of this election period. Each party has put in ample time and resources to engage Canadians in a real-time and online manner. Federal party leaders have started Twitter accounts, party organizers are running Facebook Pages and blogs, campaign videos are being uploaded to YouTube – Indeed, it’s even been dubbed by media as the “social media election,” but it may all be for not. Most Canadians just don’t give a hoot.
Brian Jackson
5 ways to get more Twitter followers
Apr 26th
By Kristin Burnham
Twitter has evolved into one of the most popular, go-to tools when it comes to reaching broad audiences, whether you’re promoting content, branding yourself as an expert in a field or networking with individuals who share similar interests.
One way to expand your reach on Twitter is to obtain more followers–but it’s not as simple hitting the follow button and hoping they follow you back. Read the rest of this entry »
Facebook, not Twitter, is the social network for revolutions
Mar 29th
Twitter often gets the credit for being the modern-day digital medium that captures disasters, protests as they unfold – 140 characters at a time.
The micro-blogging service that was designed to be simple enough to use via SMS message has been the focus of much media attention over the last couple of years as journalists grapple with the changes social media has made to the way we codify dramatic world events. It’s fascinating to see how easy-to-use digital tools have been embraced by citizens around the globe and become an effective tool for documenting highly important events from the grassroots level. Never before has so much information been available in such a timely fashion, from so many sources, so quickly after the event.
Brian Jackson
Twitter comes of age but still has room to grow
Mar 24th
The ITBusiness.ca staff has written a great piece on “5 memorable Twitter moments as service turns five,” as well as produced a neat video rewind to celebrate Twitter’s 5th birthday.
Gadjo Sevilla
It is hard to believe that a nerdy social media service that forced people to think in “140 characters or less,” has outlived a lot of its contemporaries like Google Buzz, Jaiku, Plurk and Pownce and created such a vibrant, speedy and robust micro-blogging ecosystem complete with link shortening services and photo and video workarounds.
What started out as a rather mundane way for people to share what sandwich they were having for lunch has, for the most part, evolved into the world’s best leveler and given hundreds of millions of users a voice. The culture of celebrity has taken over Twitter as the best way for personalities to stay in touch with their public and for their public to communicate back.
Twitter has also made it possible for consumers to whine about poor customer service or unfair business practices and get a quick and public response from companies. Small and large businesses have responded in part by hiring staff to man their Twitter feeds and provide customer service via Twitter.
Twitter has also been the best service for taking an “opinion pulse” or crowd source certain topics and ideas. It is also the fastest way to get news. By the time you’ve turned on your TV and fumbled your way to CNN, you could have all the news headlines on display on your Twitter client.
The instantaneous nature and hyper-fast speed of disseminating information has been Twitter’s greatest strength. It has also proven to be an indispensable tool for social change helping people organize and keep in touch during the recent calamities in Japan and New Zealand as well as mobilize during the political unrest in Egypt and Libya.
On the flip-side, Twitter has also been ground zero for the propagation of hoaxes, spam, morbid death rumours and wholesale trolling and hate messages as well as fake accounts.Then there’s the inevitable outages and “Fail Whales” that let users know the service is overloaded and inaccessible.
Twitter has been improving but we feel it is still the Wild West out there with a lot of room for improvement.
What are your thoughts about Twitter? Has it been a useful tool or a time waster? We would love to know, in 140 characters, or less.
Gadjo Sevilla is a Toronto-based writer who reports on technology and writes reviews on consumer and business gadgets. He is also a blogger and community manager for ITBusiness.ca.
Lessons learned from Kenneth Cole’s tacky tweets
Feb 8th
For all those who needed an illustration of how a business shouldn’t use Twitter, Kenneth Cole kindly provided it this week by using the current unrest in Egypt as a promotional tool.
“Millions are in uproar in #Cairo,” read the original tweet from Thursday morning. “Rumor is they heard our new spring collection is now available online at http://bit.ly/KCairo.”
Widespread uproar was the result, all right, but not as a result of any spring collection. Such was the magnitude of the outcry at Cole’s insensitivity, in fact, that the company hastily removed the tweet that same day and issued two retractions instead.
“Re Egypt tweet: we weren’t intending to make light of a serious situation,” read the first. “We understand the sensitivity of this historic moment -KC”
A second, posted on Facebook soon afterward, read as follows:
“I apologize to everyone who was offended by my insensitive tweet about the situation in Egypt. I’ve dedicated my life to raising awareness about serious social issues, and in hindsight my attempt at humor regarding a nation liberating themselves against oppression was poorly timed and absolutely inappropriate.”
Related stories
How not to waste time on Twitter
Tweet nothings won’t get you hard somethings, Google expert warns marketers
5 insider tips to tame the Twitter beast
Cole’s apology didn’t prevent the creation of a satirical Twitter account inspired by the gaffe, however, and it’s now filled with mock tweets such as, “South Africans won’t be able to tear APARTheid my new knits — they’re just that strong!”
‘It Goes in the Trash’
Sensitivity, of course, is a key requirement of any business trying to use Twitter as a promotional tool, and Cole’s original tweet failed miserably on that front. Cole, however, is by no means alone. We couldn’t resist putting together a small roundup of other notable gaffes from other businesses and public-facing officials.
- Back in 2007, Steve Rubel, a senior vice president at publicity agency Edelman, used Twitter to post a negative comment about PC Magazine. “PC Mag is another. I have a free sub[scription] but it goes in the trash,” he tweeted, prompting the magazine’s editor-in-chief to publicly suggest a media boycott. Rubel later apologized.
- In 2009, Dallas Mavericks owner Mark Cuban criticized referees via Twitter during a game. He was fined $25,000.
- An employee of Vodafone UK used an unattended keyboard to send a homophobic tweet from the company’s @VodafoneUK account, which then had more than 8,500 followers. In response, the company had to issue multiple apologies.
‘Pls Refudiate’
- Late last year, a profane tweet was made on Sen. Chris Dodd’s (D-Conn.) Twitter account. “”U love torturing me w this s—,” the tweet read, causing Dodd’s office to have to scramble with an explanation and an apology.
- Speaking of unfortunate word choices, former Alaska governor Sarah Palin used a nonexistent word in a tweet last year and then excused it by likening herself to Shakespeare. The word in question was refudiate: “Ground Zero Mosque supporters: doesn’t it stab you in the heart, as it does ours throughout the heartland? Peaceful Muslims, pls refudiate” Later, she sent a tweet of justification: “Shakespeare liked to coin new words, too. Got to celebrate it!”
- Another bizarre turn of phrase was tweeted last year by the U.S. embassy in Beijing, which in a Twitter pollution report referred to Beijing’s air as “crazy bad.” Of course, at least it used real words…
- Earlier this year a U.K. councillor admitted on Twitter that her party had not effectively tackled inequality, despite the party’s proclamations to the contrary. “Inequalities deepened despite our 13 years in power,” wrote Isobel Bowler.
6 Twitter Rules of Thumb
What can businesses learn from these well-publicized missteps? There are plenty guides out there for using Twitter effectively. Based on the above examples, however, I’d hasten to add the following rules of thumb.
1. Be Sensitive. Never, ever use a political, environmental or civic crisis to promote your company or your products. It reeks of opportunism.
2. Be Positive. As a business entity, you should never post negative comments about others on Twitter. You’re the only one that will end up looking bad.
3. Be Clear. Make sure you have a policy regarding who in your company may post using the company’s official Twitter account, and make sure you offer them training on what is and isn’t appropriate. Make clear the ramifications for misuse.
4. Be Clean. Never use profanities or other vulgar terms in a tweet. Once again, it will only make you look bad, and you’ll likely offend customers, too.
5. Be Literate. Don’t follow in the footsteps of Sarah Palin or George W. Bush: Make sure it’s a word before you make it public.
6. Be Careful. Last but definitely not least, remember that using social media is a little bit like driving. Don’t do it while intoxicated, and always think twice before you tweet.
By Katherine Noyes -PC World (US)
Follow Katherine Noyes on Twitter: @Noyesk.
Goo.gl fake antivirus worm spreads across Twitter
Jan 24th
By Tony Bradley
Twitter and Twitter users are being targeted by a malicious worm. The worm sends out tweets with a goo.gl shortened URL link directed to a rogue antivirus application. The attack demonstrates once again how URL shortening can be a Pandora’s box as users click on links with no clue where they might lead.
A post on Naked Security by Sophos’ Graham Cluley describes the threat. “Thousands of Twitter users are finding that their accounts have been tweeting out malicious links without their permission, pointing to a fake anti-virus attack,” adding, “A quick search on the popular micro-blogging network finds many tweets from users containing no message other than a goo.gl shortened link (Google’s equivalent to bit.ly or tinyurl), which itself points to a URL ending with “m28sx.html”.
Leave Out Violence with the click of a mouse
Dec 10th
The call for businesses to use social media to boost the presence, increase sales or enhance customer touch points keeps on growing louder each day.
Nestor Arellano
But at the same time we keep reading reports about how SMBs are puzzled by these new tools. Perhaps some of the most creative ways of using social media can be found in the various cause-oriented and charitable organizations that are effectively employing these tools to boost awareness, augment programs or raise funds.
Leave out Violence (LOVE) an award-winning non-profit youth organization has effectively been using the power of digital images for some three years now to spread its message of hope for victims of violence against youths. Read the rest of this entry »
I tweeted on the Rock
Nov 18th
I tweeted on the rock last week, and the response I got was worth blogging about.
Krista Napier
I was in Newfoundland checking out the startup scene, and while I was there I tweeted a simple 102 character comment on my iPad:
“In Newfoundland this week checking out the tech start up scene out east – hoping I don’t get screeched”
My tweets are synched up with LinkedIn, so faster than you can say “Long may your big jib draw”, I had two people reach out to me. Read the rest of this entry »
Canadians present one face to social media
Oct 14th
We all wear different masks at different times.
The persona you take on at work may be different from the one you have at home. The way you ingratiate yourself towards your boss is likely different from how you act around friends. One person has more than one personality – but do those habits extend to social media?
I’ve heard anecdotically from some friends that they operate two Facebook accounts. There’s a few good reasons to do this – some who work with children or young people might want to keep one account with limited information about their lives to communicate with youth, and another more personal account to relate to family and friends. Or perhaps some Facebook users just prefer to keep a separate account for the office and another (perhaps less politically correct) account for their personal life.
