Throwing Sheep in the Boardroom

It’s an exciting idea, the way that Web 2.0 will transform the world of work, making collaboration the norm by providing wikis, bosses opening up dialogues by posting blogs that are open for comments, replacing meetings with discussion boards.

But before we get to that nirvana, we will have to live with the worrying answers to the question ‘how will the corporation subvert Web 2.0′

In the long term the Luddites always lose. In the long term the organisations which embrace Web 2.o will over-take those which resist it, just as Amazon has flooded out the bookshops and iTunes and Spotify have all but destroyed the the record companies.

What worries me, is the nature of that embrace.

Web 2.0, briefly, comprises the tools and attitudes that enable me to blog and enable you to rate my post and comment on it.  It’s FaceBook and Twitter and citizen journalism and mash-ups and crowd-sourcing and ‘Here comes everybody’.  It’s MySpace instead of A&R  It’s Wikipedia instead of the Brittanica. It’s Twitter instead of… well… instead of no Twitter. Web 2.0, so we all thought, is a force for democracy and good.  It cuts out the parasitical middle-person, it empowers individuals and enables them to form groups and enables those groups to face down corporations and governments.  It puts artists directly in touch with their audience. It enables me to publish this and you to read it with no more cost than our time. It turns base metal into gold and chocolate into a slimming aid.

There are, it seems, two current views of what happens when Web 2.0 meets the Enterprise.  In the first view, Web 2.0 brings about innovative, hierarchically flat organisations where knowledge is freely shared, where anyone who comes up with a bright idea can get it aired and taken up, where discussion boards pwn meetings and where gatekeepers and barriers to innovation are no more.  Google is reported to be just such a place.  The other view is that Web 2.0 and the enterprise are oil and water:  executives and managers will resist Web 2.0 either because they don’t get it, because they think it is a distraction, or because they are just plain running scared.

But I am not convinced by either.  Web 2.0, combined with an internal search engine, are powerful surveillance tools.  Any well-governed Wiki will tell you exactly who made which changes when, and far more neatly than you can track the changes in Word.   You can capture Instant Messenger logs and run searches on them in a way which you cannot tape and search conversations by the water cooler.  Nobody minutes meetings any more, but a discussion forum can be there for as long and the server farm lasts and longer.

Web 2.0 facilitates networks and interactions, but it also makes them more visible, and therefore easier to track.  We already know that the web is destroying privacy.  These days it takes diligence, vigilance and consistency to hide in cyberspace.  It is hard not have your name published by other people when school mates tag you on photos in FaceBook.

So it is surprising that hierarchical organisations don’t espouse Web 2.0 tools more actively, and this supports the theory that this is because execs and managers just don’t get it.

As something of a Web 2.0 evangelist, that places me on the horns of a dilemma.  A trilemma, actually. Do I:

1. promote Web 2.o tools because they empower people and democratise knowledge
2. stop promoting Web 2.0 tools because they expose people by turning situations which they are used to considering private into permanent searchable records or
3. use the argument that they can improve audit and accountability in order to get them into an organisation because they are just so flippin’ COOOL?

Yes you CAN do it. Ive done it. Its so easy, that well…its just easy OK! Here are a few links to get you started. Go to the site and check them out. This is not some kinda spam thing, or otherwise I wouldn’t be involved with it. Its legit. What are you waiting for? Your not gonna make money unless you you get a move on!

Sponsored Tweets:

Ad.ly:

Twitad: Twitad

Click on those banners and links to get yourself started! Also you might want to check out Klout if you not already done so.

As the nights draw in and the temperature drops, it’s time to think of those lovely winter warmers, such as velvety throws, warming soups and cosy fires. Loupe Images has recently updated it’s collection all sorts of lovely photographs to inspire thoughts of long nights and log fires this season.
The new collection covers various wintry themes that include: Pumpkins and Squash, Soups, Curry, Fabric Inspirations, Scandinavian Country, and we’re now featuring Jane Packer’s Flower projects and Ross Dobson’s Market Vegetarian recipes…we’ve even got some ideas for knitting and crafting projects.
So let’s keep wrapped up nice and warm, be inspired and perhaps knit or bake something special!

To view more warming images visit us at http://www.loupeimages.com. To follow our tweets on more inspiring ideas we’ve found go to: http://twitter.com/LoupeImages.

¿Un llamamiento al periodismo ciudadano? Twitter cambia su pregunta de “What are you doing?” a “What’s happening?”

Bibliografia

The common craft show by Lee le Fever

www.commoncraft.com/twitter

* 한 두달 전에 정리된 문서라 좀 늦으감은 있지만,  블로그에 올려두고 두고두고 업데하는게 좋을것 같다는 생각이 문득 들어 포스팅.

꼬리. – 사진 말고, 내가 자주 쓴 단어들과 관련된 단어들을 쓴 사람들을 모아서 보여주는 서비스는 어떨까? SNS의 원래 GOAL에는 그게 더 맞지 싶음.

트위터 트렌드 툴 , 지난24시간동안 뉴문, 구글웨이브, 쌩쓰기빙 등이 핫 하고 있군요.

http://www.statussearch.net

최근에 실연당하거나, 연인과 헤어진 사람들을 찾아 match-up!!!

http://geo.ly/5bbfi
+Google map. 간단하게 위치를 저장하고 저장한 위치를  트위터, 페이스북 등으로 공유

http://twitterposter.com
영향력있는(팔로워가 많은) 트위터들의 프로필사진 총집합.

http://www.coupontweet.com
미국에서는 트위터로 실제 마케팅을 하는 업체들 꽤 되는듯. 트위터 내 쿠폰들 싹 다 찾아주는 서비스.

http://www.twistory.net
잼난놈. 내 타임라인을 구글캘린더에 백업. 원래 쓰던 캘린더 지저분해 질 수 있으니, 캘린더를 새로 만들어서 사용해보기를 권장

http://sxoop.com/twitter/mosaic.pl
내 트위터 팔로워, 내 친구의 프로필사진. 내 프로필 등을 소재로 하여, 티셔츠, 가방, 머그컵, 마우스 패드 등을 제작하여 배송해주는 서비스. 국내에서도 해보면 재미있을 것 같은데 시장성이 있을지 좀 갸우뚱(트위터에서의 친구 정의는 뭘로하는지… 맞 트윗인지, 맞RT인지, DM인지…, 아님 일정 숫자 이상의 오고감인지).

[GOOD] http://apps.asterisq.com/mentionmap
멘션 (@아무개)를 기준으로 사람과 사람사이의 네트웍을 시각적으로 표현.  꽃이 뿅~ 하고 피는 듯한 효과가 아주 재미있음

http://twitteranalyzer.com
트위터 분석, 나의 트윗

O Twitter está aí, é fato, veio para ficar em suas centenas de roupagens, como apps-desktops, gadgets, extensões do firefox, plugins de blogs e APIs para uso em outros serviços, enfim, há de se acreditar que o motivo do grande sucesso da simplória ferramenta venha a ser sua enorme capacidade de se transformar ao sabor de cada usuário, e ao mesmo tempo caiu nas garras Geeks pela fácil implementação de novas funcionalidades.

Algo que pude perceber, é que o utilizador do Twitter “amadurece” com o tempo, e conforme vai ficando íntimo do potencial do Microblog, vai alçando vôos maiores, ficando mais íntimo das funções do Twitter.

Acho que me encaixo perfeitamente neste caso, e depois de algum tempo “Twitando” no site, Spaz, depois no TwiterFox, resolvi adotar o TweetDeck com minha ferramenta, faltava mesmo tempo para documentar o processo, que envolve não só o aplicativo, mas também a instalação da plataforma AdobeAir, que vem ganhando muito terreno.

Para quem não sabe, TweetDeck é um aplicativo construido para monitorar vários Twitters ao mesmo tempo, publicar, visualizar e upar imagens, além de administrar também contas do Facebook, precursor inchado do Twitter e MySpace.

Bom, alguém já mencionou um dia, “uma imagem vale mais do que 1000 palavras”, e 13 imagens?

This post is a work in progress.  to be reread and edited many times is my guess.  I do know I still need to add quite a few answers to the question.  I look forward to your criticism and input to improve this post.

I ask the question “Why Do You Tweet?” on Twitter.  I realize that this question has most definitely been asked before, but I was still curious.  What I found wasn’t to surprising and you may also not be surprised, most people are trying to find a connection.

When I say connection it comes in many ways, you have marketer’s, celebrities, news seekers, humorists and much more.  What I did notice was the fact that most of us just want to be heard we want someone to listen to us, the connection comes down need the need of being wanted.  The ultimate need for humanity to socialize.

We all have an instinct to want to connect we go to parties, we go out to dinner or coffee with friends or to meet new people.  This for the majority of the world is all that we need.  But people who Tweet have a greater need there curiosity for what’s happening in the world a crave and in fact may be even an addiction to get more information and to share that information on a huge scale.

Tweeters want to socialize with the world they want to be heard and in some ways want to be celebrities in there own right.  As for why celebrities tweet well it’s to talk about what they are working on, to let fans know, in there own words what they are really up to.  Yes we heard that before, however I have a belief that many celebrities may have a need to connect because they want to socialize outside their own celebrity status. To see a little of the average person and possibly find what’s real.

Here are some of the answers I got and more are to be added.

Find out more About The Heart Sleeves

1. TheHeartSleeves

   @epwait Twitter is like a wall. You throw your tweets against it & see if they stick or fall into obscurity. 2:39 PM Nov 17th from web in reply to epwait

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2. TheHeartSleeves

   @epwait I started tweeting 2 promote my band, then I found a quilt-ish community of other promoters, we’re all circumventing death in limbo. 2:35 PM Nov 17th from web in reply to epwait

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3. modernsextrash

   hahahaha @epwait because the world is counting on me to. 2:35 PM Nov 17th from TweetDeck

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4. TheHeartSleeves

   @epwait I tweet 2 have audience, however random, for my thoughts & music. It is the easiest way to raise the water level 1 pebble @ a time. 2:33 PM Nov 17th from web in reply to epwait

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5. houstonmacbro

   @epwait I tweet because it connects me to others. I DO have something to say. Not ALWAYS profound, but good enough. #amahighered 2:32 PM Nov 17th from TweetDeck in reply to epwait

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6. theamygrace

   @epwait I tweet to prevent you from taking over the world. 4:07 AM Nov 13th from Brizzly in reply to epwait

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7. uglywebsites

   @epwait i tweet to make up for the ppl too lazy to tweet. 3:27 AM Nov 13th from web in reply to epwait

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8. JustinSxE

   @epwait Because updating my Facebook status annoys my friends. 3:25 AM Nov 13th from web in reply to epwait

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9. Mnmissy

   @epwait I tweet to not only network for a job…but also to meet people from around the globe! Lots of fabulous friendship created here! 1:36 AM Nov 13th from TweetDeck

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10. uglywebsites

    @epwait i have 589 channels-> and nothing good on ANY OF THEM 10:42 PM Nov 12th from web in reply to epwait

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11. uglywebsites

    @epwait (longer)-> keeps me “connected”-> if u’re able to edit out the crap, there’s good “news” on here. ppl tweet about things before the 10:37 PM Nov 12th from web in reply to epwait

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12. uglywebsites

    @epwait I Tweet Because… nothing good on TV (short answer) 10:35 PM Nov 12th from web in reply to epwait

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13. BuzzEdition

    @epwait I tweet because I enjoy sharing unique stories & interesting people with others. Basically, I do it for the social connection ~hugs~ 7:16 PM Nov 12th from TweetDeck

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14. Donrengon

    @epwait I tweet cause I like having an outlet and don’t care who can read my inner thoughts. 9:35 AM Nov 12th from Echofon in reply to epwait

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15. rmilana

    cc @epwait > RT @lammiia: @rmilana I tweet to air my views about topics and engage in interesting discussions. 7:31 AM Nov 12th from dabr

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16. ScottATaylor

    @epwait I tweet to meet people and share information 8:53 PM Nov 11th from UberTwitter in reply to epwait

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17. STYLEMOM

    @epwait to engage, laugh, connect, get news, promote site, consumer reasearch, i’m a chatterbox & a tad nosey, & get the pulse of people 8:33 PM Nov 11th from Snaptu in reply to epwait

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18. rmilana

    @epwait tweet sounds better than bark hehe just for having fun and connect with people 8:23 PM Nov 11th from dabr in reply to epwai

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    2. scarletmandy

       @epwait or else I might just b an attention whore lmao 6:48 PM Nov 11th from mobile web

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    3. scarletmandy

       @epwait because I love socializing and there’s not much of that in a small town lol 6:48 PM Nov 11th from mobile web

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    4. treaclelilly

       @epwait Actually, no. I liked that answer, so I RT’d it. I tweet to talk, kvetch, share, enjoy, sing, wax poetic, muse (no, not the band). 5:48 PM Nov 11th from Echofon in reply to epwait

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    5. CGArticleDir

       @epwait I Tweet to spread Love, Value, and good information to those who might crave it….. 5:46 PM Nov 11th from TweetDeck in reply to epwait

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    6. keeperofdreams

       I tweet to create, intrigue,share, flirt, laugh, tease, and to open my mind… @epwait Why Do You Tweet.? 5:24 PM Nov 11th from TweetDeck

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    7. cheth

       @epwait to connect with liked minded people ( designers) and also to connect with the rest of the world with the power of 140 characters! 5:04 PM Nov 11th from web in reply to epwait

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    8. santasdevil

       Cuz I stopped doing drugs n this is just as gratifying .RT @epwait: @santasdevil Why Do You Tweet? this is for an upcoming blog post 5:00 PM Nov 11th from TweetDeck

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    9. Weaverous

       @epwait i tweet because its a great way to connect, communicate a interact with people across the globe many whom id never have met irl 4:45 PM Nov 11th from Echofon in reply to epwait

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    10. IvySunny

        @epwait Why? Because I want to make new friends. I want to make people smile and laugh. Once in a while, I succeed 4:44 PM Nov 11th from TweetDeck in reply to epwait

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    11. Dan303

        RT @epwait: Why do you tweet? your answe…..[I tweet Because its good promotion for my blog and music. It's also good to chat to followers] 4:21 PM Nov 11th from TweetDeck

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    12. allisonjanney

        @epwait To share, collaborate, and learn from other PR studs, profs and pros. Can’t NOT do it going into PR. Also super fun/addictive. 4:15 PM Nov 11th from TweetDeck in reply to epwait

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    13. OhioSteelerGirl

        @epwait It gives you an opportunity to “meet” people you would most likely never know. 3:58 PM Nov 11th from web in reply to epwait

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    14. verwon

        @epwait Cool! You can take ‘especially men’ onto the end! Have to drive them crazy, it’s my calling. 3:48 PM Nov 11th from dabr in reply to epwait

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    15. purplehayz

        @epwait I also tweet for the conversations and to give and get information 3:47 PM Nov 11th from TweetDeck

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    16. verwon

        @epwait I tweet, because good insanity MUST be shared! 3:40 PM Nov 11th from dabr

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    17. wei_wu_wei

        @epwait to inform, to be informed, and most importantly for fun… 3:36 PM Nov 11th from TweetDeck in reply to epwait

Hallo Twitteraars,

Het RuijsDraaisma account is actief en is al flink aan het tweeten geslagen. Wil je weten wat er allemaal getweet wordt, volg dan ons RD-Twitter account.

Groet van jullie Social Media Manager

Keanu Reeves: Photo Courtesy of keanu.org

In this week’s premiere of New Communication Technologies (NCT) class, our great lecturer, Ping, showed us Minority Report. I was beginning to think whether it was a coincidence (Ping could have been intending to recruit Keanu Reeves fans like herself) or that there was a more significant agenda – to let the ignorant children trapped in the protective environment of this classroom open their eyes to what could be the future of the universe!

We have the usual adventure story – good guy, righteous and all, wronged by the bad guys hence set out to clear his name… by kidnapping a bald-shaven and pale woman – who can barely communicate well with her stutters, which is good because it prolongs the storyline and the air time.

Alright, who am I kidding?

The crux is this – the technology used and displayed in the show is beyond the present. However, many revolutions have passed through the centuries and the sci-fi in Minority Report could just be the next in line.

And current technology seems to be edging towards the Minority Report reality. Compare the following:

Today’s technology – a man interacting with a projected surface using his fingers:

(click on image for video)

Minority Report – Keanu Reeves interacting with holograms using his fingers:

Keanu Reeves: Photo Courtesy of flixster.com

Aren’t those two most alike? Not forgetting location-based services are personified as the Precogs (ones who are capable of telling the future) in the movie as well. It is indeed amazing to see the human race mingle with science to create possibilities and bring about what seems to be convenience to the society.

However, things appear too perfect. And too-perfect things can be flawed in some way or another.

Think about this – one of some other problems that may surface: what will happen to the privacy of each individual if tracking whereabouts of individuals were as simple as a click on a system – especially with the impending proliferation of location-based services?

Do privacy and convenience with technology possess an inverse relationship? Think about it while you tweet, facebook, plurk, stumbleupon or use that android application.

]]> http://outingmyinnergeek.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/to-tweet-or-not-to-tweet-how-important-is-it-really/ Tue, 24 Nov 2009 05:00:49 +0000 Wendy Peters http://outingmyinnergeek.wordpress.com/2009/11/23/to-tweet-or-not-to-tweet-how-important-is-it-really/

Brian Solis tells us in his post  “Guess how many tweets fly across Twitter each day” that

According to new data from Pingdom, Twitter users are averaging 27.3 million tweets per day with an annual run rate of 10 billion tweets.

So with 27.3 million tweets per day, how much of an impact can one of your tweets have?  I mean really.  27.3 million.. and you put out even 10 tweets a day, that’s like 0.000037% of the content on Twitter in a day.  And tweeting 10 times for many people is alot.  But what if you’ve got 301 people following you?  All of a sudden, your world is a whole lot smaller.  Hubspot says the average number of tweets per day per user is 4.422.  So if you’ve got a community following you of 301 people and we assume that they see the average number of tweets from the people that they follow, there are 1,331 tweets a day for them to read.  Now you’re 0.07% of what they see at 10 tweets a day.  It still doesn’t seem like a lot, does it?

I’m going to make some assumptions here based on my own behaviour on Twitter.  Let’s assume that out of the 400 people you follow, you actually only pay attention to about 20-30 people on a regular basis.  This happens in any crowd, you’ll naturally tend to draw a few people who pay more attention to you than the masses.  To the masses, your tweet probably isn’t that important.  But to the few who follow what you say more closely, your tweets are everything.  Knowing who these people are is important, it’s identifying your influencers, your torch carriers.  And if they don’t like what you say, I can bet you’ll lose them over time.  And online, that time can happen fairly quickly.

How important are your torch bearers?  I’m not sure.  That depends on you and your goals.  It depends on where you want to take yourself.  The influencers you have today may not be the correct ones.  If this is indeed the fact, spend some time changing your voice and your message.  Decide on who it is you want to build closer ties with and then talk like them, because if the internet has proven anything to us, it’s that like will always find like.

Take a good look at your objective with Twitter.  Is your purpose to self promote?  Is it to add value and share information?  How do you want to be seen?  Do you toot your own horn a lot?  Or are you more subtle and let your good work speak for itself?  Think a little bit about these things as your looking at your network and your tweeting habits.  In a world where all many people have to go on are the updates and information you share via platforms like Twitter… Are they helping you?  Or are they hindering you?

“I’m already 350 pounds, sleeping in my car, and doing a lot of speed. Do I really need to get some kind of special license to be a trucker?”

The tweets of ‘Fireland’ aka Joshua Allen writer based in Denver

Annoyed because you have to leave your e-mail inbox every time you would like to respond to someone else’s Facebook status update? Good news: the social network is testing a brand new feature that will enable you to comment on threads by e-mail.

It appears as if the new feature is currently being tested only with a very small subset of users; we haven’t seen it at the bottom of any Facebook notification e-mails yet and there are only about 4 tweets from the past couple of days mentioning the new feature.

found @ www.techcrunch.com

U.N. Declaration of Human Rights

“How is twitter similar to status updates in Facebook and Myspace and why is twitter more popular NOW than both Myspace and Facebook? You have probably already compared them but how do these sites contrast, or how are they different ,and do you think you will ever be tired of social networking?”

Who could have imagined that Twitter will unfold into a powerful marketing tool? Apart from being a social network it has eventually evolved as a marketing platform. Businesses and users can showcase their products and services to their followers and draw their interest.
It is imperative to note that you understand your product well and identify a set of audience who become your followers on Twitter. There would be times when you could start following people. Care must be taken while you choose to do so. You must not follow anyone to everyone. This might not help the cause of promoting a product or service. Only a set of audience who might be interested in your niche are the potential audience. You should often socialize with your followers and tweet on their posts. It is a myth that more the number of followers you have more money you will make online by selling your products and services. To be honest this approach is like finding a needle in a bunch of hay. You never know who could be your potential audience base. Since the number of followers is huge the chances of a maiden marketing campaign automatically diminishes as you don’t even know if they are your right segment.

While micro blogging on twitter ensure that you don’t end up spamming the tweets with business related posts. Therefore tweet often but do not tweet too much of the same kind. People are accessing it to socialize and not always looking to trade with you.

Each time you inform your followers about an update on your services make sure it is informative and creates a value proposition for them. They might wish to contact you, so does that mean you share your personal details – phone number, address in tweets? No, this could be the biggest mistake you could ever commit online. You are a business so sound more professional by placing a link to your official website.  Don’t get too personal with online customers too quickly. As in conventional business first understand their needs, analyze if your product can fit in their expectation landscape and then try to pitch in.

Be simple that’s the mantra of becoming a successful marketer on Twitter. Don’t fool or scam your followers. You could be easily reported and banned from accessing Twitter. Manage your business and marketing campaigns in the righteous manner and you will prevail.

Viral marketing leverages the existing social media applications to market products and brands. Twitter has been instrumental in taking viral marketing initiatives to the next level. And why is that so? It is primarily because of the fact that it is simple and easy to use. Unlike social applications like Facebook and MySpace, it tries to condense the content through micro blogging platform in 140 characters only. This makes it ideal for business users who can always reply to the generic question, Twitter asks “What are you doing?”
The essence of a viral marketing campaign is to share the information piece with followers and friends. On a broad scale it could do couple of things for you. Firstly, it can enable you to gain new customers and secondly, you can get a fair feedback about your marketing campaign and its success. You should act smartly and ensure that you share information about your product on twitter as per a devised plan. Too much of similar type of information will not sustain interest in your followers. Eventually they might un-follow you and start exploring newer trade avenues in no time.
Be sure as to why you are even doing viral marketing for that matter? In order to taste sweet success, your aim should be to inform people around of the services you can offer and how your services are differentiated from the rest of the service providers. If you can answer these questions and make it reflect in your tweets trust me you will be making good business model online.
Design a viral marketing campaign keeping in mind the interest of customers and also keep an eye over the competition. How are they are doing it? Can you do it better by offering more for less? And if not how will you draw the attention of the end consumer? You should follow a proactive and reactive marketing strategy than a stand alone or monotonic marketing pitch. Your campaign should be compelling and the service should be portrayed as best in class. Trust me, most of the products available online are successful over their competition only because their presentation is good. Therefore market your products in a presentable manner. It will draw maximum interest and attention of your followers. And you never know if they might become your future customers too! So what are you waiting for? Start exploring the viral marketing avenues through twitter.

All Time Low is under attack by the Westboro Baptist Church. If you don’t already know, WBC is known for their radical anti-homosexual views.

This is what the WBC has to say about the situation:

“You may be wondering what in the world WBC cares about these losers – so let me break it down for you. How do you know how far gone a society is? You look at their social icons. When you look at these gender-confused, haphazard freakazoids then you can plainly see that america is DOOMED, for real! This is the final generation, and a little concussion is the least of their worries. Here is what they have to look forward to when this once great nation finally falls – for her fall is already started… Cain was the father of all musicians, and you still bear his curse to this day. Praise God! AMEN!”

A member also tweeted Alex Gaskarth [frontman for All Time Low] the following:
“”God Hates Fag Enablers! WBC will picket All Time Low’s concert in Philly.”

Gaskarth’s response:
“”Stay home. Intolerance isn’t welcome at our show.”

Ridiculous much?

• Well my back seems a bit better today, it no longer hurting when I breath. #
• My back is still no better, what have I done? It hurts when I breath deep :- #
• I've pulled a muscle in my back and I'm laid in bed in pain but everytime I move it makes me laugh, which makes it hurt more :-/ #
• Where do you fit in? http://dailybooth.com/u/11y46 #
• Why thank you O2 http://dailybooth.com/u/11y3m #
• That was nice of them! http://twitpic.com/prawv #

Twittering, what to do without it? some may say. While on the other hand people dislike it so much that they simply refuse to visit the site. Twitter is great example of combining forces, because in these days every celebrity, sports hero, newspaper guy, or head of the local grocery store. Everyone seems to have a twitter account on which he, tweets! Like a bird.

But what is the point? I ask myself. Most people who ‘tweet’  also have some other social media account on the internet, whether it is on Facebook or on Youtube. Besides that we all own a technological device, called al cell phone.  And basically, all the short messages we post on twitter are like short SMS text messages which we send thru our mobile phones. Only difference is that twitter is for free, and it reaches all of your contacts at once.

I just think it is a shame that we need social networking to make friend, or to keep them. Humans are mend to contact each other in a direct way. Our mouth was mend to communicate, and our  hands were supposed to physically contribute to our thoughts and ideas. now that seems to have changed and we use our hands to speak. Although I think this transformation makes our world less human, I have to admit that twitter is one great way to get informed about all your interests. It is like reading the paper, watching the news, and talking to your friends in 5 minutes. Which in turn again contributes to the growing technological world. doesn’t it wonders you, how long it will take for us to live as avatars, while controlling these kinds of clones, from behind our desks.

Every things nice with a little sugar and spice. Isn’t it? Ohhh yes, it is. Cowgirl Chocolates can prove it.

When the package arrived from Cowgirl Chocolates, and I opened the box and saw the gorgeous red box inside, I didn’t want to open it! It was so pretty, wrapped in ribbon, adorned with the sweet little star on top. Being the country girl I am, I was in love. Marilyn, the head cowgirl over there, has great taste!

This is chocolate with a kick. Whatever your chocolate need be. Ladies, we all have a need for chocolate at one time or another. How many occasions can you think of? Cowgirl Chocolates creates a “just because” chocolate occasion, sporting the spiced up flavors that’s sure to make your toes curl!

After I finally opened my pretty little red box, my husband walked by and nabbed a piece of candy. He just happened to pick up Buckin’ Hot Habanero Caramel, HA! He ran with it. Straight to the sink for water. That’ll surely teach him to nab my goodies again. Now the mix of chocolate and spices are good, really good! But not all will set you on a running trip to the waterin’ hole. My daughter and I got to taste some of the Cowgirl Chocolates that didn’t have a kick. One of our favorites were Raspberry lemonade dark chocolate, an old cowgirl recipe blended to perfection with raspberry, lemon and deep dark chocolate. And on my “to get” list is Sarsaparilla Milk Chocolate, milk chocolate swirled with sarsaparilla (root beer) from the good ol’ days.

Why don’t you wander on over to the Flavor Guide, and see what you can find that you’ll like. With or without a kick.

I love the keepsake packaging they have.

Head Cowgirl Marilyn Lysohir founded Cowgirl Chocolates in 1997.

Her two favorite things in the world are art (she has a notable career as a ceramic sculptor) and chocolate. In fact her first job was working in a chocolate factory in
Pennsylvania. Marilyn mingled some favorite memories
with some new ideas to create an American original,
Cowgirl Chocolates.

Cowgirl Chocolates has won a total of 16 product awards
and 2 packaging awards and is located in Moscow, Idaho
USA.  It has also been featured on the Food Network
on “Unwrapped” and “Extreme Cuisine” and in the New
York Times and Toronto Star among others.

Cowgirl Chocolates is kindly offering one of our readers a 1/3 pound sampler package of their chocolates! Don’t want to wait to see if you win? Then you can purchase the same sampler for $12.95.

WIN IT

MANDATORY Entry – Visit Cowgirl Chocolates, and tell us what flavor(s) you would like to try the most.

Extra Entries: The mandatory entry MUST be completed or no extra entries will count. They can, and will be deleted, 1 entry unless specified otherwise below. You MUST leave a separate comment for each entry, otherwise it will count as one entry.

EXTRA Optional Entries

~ Sign up for Cowgirl Chocolates email updates, and specials. (very bottom of the site.)

~  Subscribe to our rss Feed (1 entry)

~  Subscribe AND confirm to our Email (2 entries)

~  Follow Networking Witches , WinterWitch and/or RedNeckWitch on Twitter (1 entry for each followed) And please send the below tweet.

~  Twitter this giveaway feel free to copy and paste this:  (You can tweet daily But you MUST leave the link to your tweet) NetWorkingWitches.com is giving away Cowgirl Chocolates http://wp.me/ppVmm-Nm Chocolate with a kick! Ends 12/05 Great for #snowdays

~  Grab our button and post the link where we can find it. Copy and paste the code from the right hand side.  (2 entries)

~  Fave us on Technorati and let us know your user name. (2 entries)

~  Add our text link to your blogroll and leave us a link to it. http://www.networkingwitches.com

~ Blog about this giveaway linking to Networking Witches and the sponsor. Come back and leave us the direct link.  (3 entries)

~ Stumble this post, not the site.

~ Digg this post, and leave a link to the Digg, and your username.

This giveaway will end on 12/0509 at 11:59 PM CST.

I was sent Cowgirl Chocolate samples for review, I was not paid any monetary compensation for this review. This post is my opinion and should be taken as just that. Having received samples has no impact on my personal use, experience, or like for any product.

When Courtney Love becomes a headliner for a section in CNN, many of us being to wonder where journalism is going these days; however this article asks a pretty interesting and valid question. Can the law keep up with technology?

Taking her frustration out on Twitter, Courtney Love has been accused of posting derogatory and false comments about a clothing designer after arguing over the prices of some items. Due to her tweets, she is now being sued for libel.

This story doesn’t sound too unfamiliar to us. Consider the situation between Amanda Bonnen and her landlord when she tweeted about mold in her apartment. Once the reality company found out what was said, they sued her for libel and seeked $50,000 in damages.

Although social media networks aren’t considered the most credible sources sometimes, it is definitely showing signs of impact on other’s reputation. With this in mind, I believe laws might begin to form for these types of sites eventually, especially since there have been several issues with the networking sites already.

This made me wonder: would the creation of a social media law infringe too much on our freedom of speech?