"Hey, cat! You have cheese on your head!" - Anonymous.
How would you feel if I told you to your face exactly what I think of you? You'd probably hit me, and I wouldn't blame you. Now, how would you feel if I told you exactly what I think of you anonymously over the Internet? You'd probably do quite a bit of research to track down my IP address and then my real address with the goal of hitting me. But you wouldn't be able to. Ha!
While being blunt with someone you're not too fond of is a time-honored tradition at bars and inside New Jersey state limits, it's going to become viral on the Web very soon. At least, that's my prediction. I read Mashable's take on a brand new social media site that's about to hit the Internet for beta testing very soon. It's called Failin.gs, or Failings for those of you who don't understand this new wave of URL addresses. Basically, Failin.gs is going to give users the ability to track down their friends on the site and tell them everything they have always wanted to with the added convenience of Web 2.0 anonymity. That's right. They'll never know it's you who told them there's an odor that persists whenever they stand up after sitting for a while or that you think their lame attempt at a mustache is childish and creepy.
In an added bonus, Failin.gs allows users to categorize the things people say about them. Users can choose the following: "I knew this about me," "I had no idea," and "I totally disagree." Something tells me the disagree function will be used quite often on this site, although it'll be interesting to see the types of things that fall under the "I knew this about me" category.
This site may seem like a hilarious spoof on social media, but it's not. It's the real deal. It's like a more hurtful version of Hot or Not. And my prediction is that it will be wildly successful when it finally launches gets some legs. For me, this is just the latest chapter in the "Me-First" generation. It allows all of us to feed into the curiosity we've always had about how people feel toward us. It allows us to focus more on ourselves. More importantly, it allows us the opportunity to tear people down without all the guilt that comes from confrontation and punches while making us feel better about us. Social media is not without its flaws, and the perpetuation of the "Me-First" mind-set is definitely one of them. It's that mind-set that spawns ideas like Failin.gs and keeps us constantly searching for validation and approval from others. But it's that mind-set that will likely allow Failin.gs to torch the Internet ablaze. And I say good for Failin.gs. It has a niche and it definitely has a market. Everything is set up for it to be successful.
But will I join the site to hear what people really think of me? Absolutely not. That's what I have a blog for. Besides, I bruise easily in the emotional sense. Failin.gs is just not for me. But what about you? Is this a site you would join? I'm interested in knowing why or why not. Please comment below.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @JayAdams70.
Confusing title, huh? Well, that confusion has brought you here, so that's good, right?
Maybe not. But I can't help but notice all the information out there regarding how to successfully run a blog, a Facebook page or a Twitter profile. This information usually comes in packages of 10, but it's not uncommon to see five packs, seven packs or eight packs. Personally, I think those people shot for 10 ideas but ran out way faster than they thought.
I've set out for 10 ideas in this post, but we'll see how it goes. I'm not promising anything. I'm no better than the people who write seven or eight reasons. In fact, I'm worse.
10. You don't have time for ten reasons
You're a busy person. We all are. Who has the time to read 10 reasons to do or not to do anything? Honestly, if I'm given one really good reason to do something or not to do something, that's usually good enough for me. I'm sold. Call me cheap. It's how I roll. I understand you put a lot of thought into reaching ten ideas on one subject, but I just don't have the attention span for that many ideas. In fact, I'm already bored with this post.
9. Because of Reason 10, you only read the first few reasons anyway
When you're a one-reason person living in a 10-reason world, it's tough to get all the way through a blog post. I read the 10 reasons posts just as much as the next guy, but you usually lose me after about Reason 3. If those three reasons are good enough, I'm not so sure I need to go any further. So I'll skim. Yeah, there was nothing decent after Reason 3 anyway.
8. Reasons are really opinions being sold as hard facts
You'll see the blog posts that guarantee success if you follow the 10 steps laid out. You'll follow the 10 steps and wind up unsuccessful. You'll then determine yourself to be a failure and threaten to kill your Twitter profile. Don't to it. I need someone to compete with. But while the 10 reasons may come from credible sources, they're really just a list of things the poster has done that ended up working. Those 10 things may not work for you. That's just the way it is. In social media, not much is fully proven to be successful every time, except spouting off opinions as if they're facts. That works extremely well.
7. People post 10 things just to get retweeted
Yeah, that's why I'm doing it. So? The word "ten" and the number "10" are two of the most commonly retweeted words, according to some source I likely found on a top ten list. Getting retweeted is good for all of us. I happen to suck at it. That's why I'm writing this post: strictly for the retweets. But I won't get any. You won't do it. (That's a challenge. I think you should).
6. Ten reasons lists are too simliar
I can't tell you how many times I've read multiple top 10 lists and found the same reasons over and over. I get it already. Don't tweet while drunk. Understood. I know most people who spend their lives drunk need to be reminded of a lot of things over and over, like where they live. But I read all top 10 lists completely sober. If I didn't, I wouldn't tweet about it anyway.
5. Ten reasons lists are too dissimilar
There is so much conflicting information out there in top 10 lists. Should I follow everyone and hope they follow me back? Should I hope people just find me and determine that I'm interesting enough to follow? I don't know, but I've got two top 10 lists telling me to do two different things. What should I do? Oh, yeah. Refer to Reason 8.
4. I've run out of reasons
See? Told you it would happen. So now I have to think up some desperate reasons to reach 10 and not get yelled at by you. So now the following items are going to be throw-away reasons. I should have just created a top six list.
3. Anyone can write a top 10 list
This reason is similar to Reason 8, you say? I told you these last few would be throw-aways. But it's important to note that anyone can come up with 10 reasons to do something or not do something when it comes to social media. That kills the credibility of top 10 lists. Anyone can blog, too. So I guess I'm taking down the whole Internet with this list.
2. Ten reasons make you feel comfortable
Reading a top 10 list is like wrapping a nice, warm blanket around yourself. It feels nice. It feels like home. We love the number 10. Ten commandments. Ten-day forecast. Ten-gallon hat. Ten just works because it's a nice round number that doesn't cause disorder, like seven does. I hate 7. It messes everything up. What's 7+6? I can never remember. I blame 7.
1. You don't need reassurance
Seriously, you don't. As long as you're not spamming people or letting your social media profiles sit idle for days at a time, you're doing social media right. Everyone has their own way of doing things, and whether you're using social media for fun or for business, each case is unique. Only you can determine the right things and the wrong things to do. Sure, researching tips and tricks is awesome, and educating yourself is always a great thing to do. But you don't need me (especially) or anyone else to reaffirm that you're doing something right or wrong. Success comes from trial and error, and it's never too late to try something new. Figure it out for yourself. Then, write a top 10 list.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @JayAdams70.
As I've incorporated myself into the world of social media marketing, I've done a whole lot of reading on the How To's, the What To's and the What Not To's of how to build a personal brand using social media. Through my learning of more and more about social media, I've found myself having to make a lot of changes to my existing social media profiles to better serve the strategy I have created for myself. One of the things I did today was rebrand myself on my Twitter profile. I changed my profile description to be a little more, well, descriptive of who I am and what I'm about. Here's what I changed it to:
"Graduate student focused on new media and social media marketing, hardcore Buffalo Bills fan and an all-around pretty sweet dude."
My previous description just included my interest in social media and social media marketing, but I'm so much more than that. So I included the fact that I have an undying, pitiful passion for one of the most lackluster franchises in the NFL, and I showed decided to show my sense of humor by including the pretty sweet dude part. But if you notice, nowhere did I include the words "expert" or "guru" or "rockstar" in my description. Why? Because I'm not any of those things when it comes to social media. Now, let me clarify. I'm no stranger to social media sites. In fact, I've got a good seven or eight years of experience using social media sites on a daily basis. I've pretty much been obsessed with them since I discovered Friendster and MySpace so many years ago. I'd be willing to bet that I've logged just as much time on social media sites as the experts out there.
But that doesn't make me an expert. I'm not sure what would, really. What does make for a social media expert? What are the qualifications? Do you have to use social media as a business tool before you can be considered an expert? Mashable's Pete Cashmore, one of the very few people I would consider to be a true social media expert if there was a way to truly measure such a thing, wrote a blog post almost three weeks ago saying that there are more than 15,000 people on Twitter who call themselves social media experts in some form or fashion. Then, I saw a tweet from one of my favorite tweeters, Douglas Idugboe (@douglasi), that completely captured my thoughts on this subject:
"douglasi: To call yourself a social media expert is like saying, "I don't know what da heck I'm talking about!" We are all students just now."
Couldn't agree more. Let me take that thought a bit further. I've found in my personal experience with experts in any field that they tend to be closed off to new ideas and new ways to do things because of the status they have achieved. I feel, whether it's a conscious decision or not, that the day you consider yourself an expert is the day you stop learning little by little. That's a dangerous prospect in social media when things are changing so rapidly; day-to-day in some cases. Now, is there anything wrong with being considered an expert by your peers? Absolutely not. In fact, I applaud anyone who has achieved that status through years and years of hard work and dedication, and to have other people consider you an expert is the ultimate form of flattery. I just wonder what the value is in referring to yourself as a social media expert when there is absolutely no way to measure such a thing. Cashmore wonders in his post about the 15,000-plus social media experts how us folks who make social media such a big part of our lives go about creating a reputation for ourselves when there's no certification process for what is still a new, growing industry. I wonder the same thing.
So what is the standard you have to reach to consider yourself a social media expert? Is it, as I mentioned before, achieving success by marketing a business or product through social media means? If that's the case, you're leaving out a lot of people who could seriously be considered social media experts. Off the top of my head, I can think of Justin Halpern, who found fame with his Twitter account @shitmydadsays. Justin started the Twitter account to keep a record of all the funny, sarcastic things his father says. He turned it into an Internet sensation and currently has more than a million followers. He has parlaying that success into a book deal and a CBS deal that could bring a character based on his father to TV. Now, is he a social media expert? Sure, in some roundabout way, the content he provides ends up being some form of marketing. It's just another case of good content ruling all. But he's not a social media marketer in the same way a lot of other people on Twitter are. But I'd consider him to be a really good source of information on how to turn an idea into a burgeoning brand, even though he basically stumbled into his current success. Do we leave him out of the conversation simply because he doesn't blog about SEO, ROI or The Top 10 Twitter Tips You've Already Likely Read in 50 Other Blogs? What about Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Chad Ochocinco — who is a great marketer largely because of his phenomenal personality? Do we leave him out, too, because he doesn't share the latest social media trends?
This is precisely why the term "social media expert" is so murky. What does it encompass? How can we tell who really is an expert and who's just trying to give themselves a boost? If we look at what social media's purpose is, we can have a better idea of how to separate the real experts from the impostors. Social media is about engaging in conversation — whether it be by sparking the conversation or joining in on it. It's about making digital connections that add value to the space as a whole. With that said, can we really consider someone an expert simply because of their follower count? Or because of the amount of links they tweet at a feverish pace?
I guess, in the end, it all comes down to who you trust, whose input you value and who makes your social media experience better. Until there is a way to gauge who is truly a social media expert, it's up to you to create your own criteria for such a title. The problem, then, becomes the criteria people set for themselves to place such a title in their own Twitter description. Oh, well. For now, trust your instincts and be skeptical of anyone claiming to be an expert until they meet YOUR criteria of such a title. Don't just take their word for it.
With that said, what would your criteria be to consider someone an expert in any field? What standards would you set for those kinds of people? And how long would it take you before determining that someone is not only trustworthy but deserving of the title of "expert?"
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @JayAdams70.
If you're like me, you probably do a lot of research on things you're passionate about. That's why I'm constantly searching for the latest news on the Buffalo Bills. After I'm through punishing myself with that, I do quite a bit of reading on social media. Unlike a lot of people on Twitter, I don't consider myself to be a social media expert. To me, once you consider yourself an expert, you stop learning. Since I plainly promote myself as a student of social media in graduate school, I don't ever want to stop learning.
So I spend a lot of time reading various tips on how to effectively use Twitter. One thing I've noticed is there is a lot of conflicting information out there. It's enough to make your head spin and second guess every single tweet you ever post. I've read countless articles and blog posts that will claim to make you successful on Twitter if you just follow a couple of simple rules. Some experts will tell you to follow a lot of people in order to build up your own following. Others will tell you that's a bad strategy to build a following. Some experts say to tweet as much as possible. Other say tweeting too much will annoy your followers.
See what I mean? For a Twitter user like me who has only been on the microblogging site since July, all this conflicting information gets really confusing to the point where I've found myself gunshy at times. Throughout all my reading, however, I've found some really good information that I think is valid regardless of what the opposition says. Again, I am no expert, and I will likely never claim to be, but here are five really good tips I've found to be very useful:
1. Above all, be yourself. It's a tip I've seen from multiple sources, and I think it's the most useful tip I've seen. If you're not an expert, don't claim to be one. If you're not into the topics that are currently trending, don't tweet about them. Just be yourself. Be who you are, and everything else will follow.
2. Content rules all. There is no substitute for good content. If you provide good content, people will find you. Not only that, but people you share common interests with will find you, which adds value to your list of followers.
3. The number of followers you have is not everything. Twitter is not a contest nor a race. If I had a choice of having 3,500 casual followers or 150 followers who really appreciate my content, I'd take the latter. If you want to collect friends and followers, try MySpace circa 2004.
4. Don't curse in your tweets. I used to be really guilty of this, especially on Facebook. I had a friend comment to me about two months ago that he had kept track of the amount of swears I used in my status updates. It was kind of embarrassing. Since then, I've completely gotten rid of cuss words in my social media usage. A good rule to remember is that people don't usually want to retweet something with a barrage of four-letter words. Understandable.
5. Twitter is not about you. I saw this bit of advice from @AskAaronLee, and I thought it was pretty poignant. If you want to be successful using Twitter, bring something to the table that your followers will find useful. Your schedule for the day doesn't do that. But engaging in a conversation, asking your followers for their opinions and posting useful links does. Being egotistical will get you nowhere quickly.
What about you? What tips and tricks have you found to be successful? Better yet, what do you see as things Twitter users shouldn't do?
Here's a list of really helpful links I've found in reading about how to properly use Twitter:
- Mashable's Twitter Guide is an excellent source of information. I highly recommend spending some time on this site if you want to learn a lot about Twitter.
- For those of you looking how to incorporate Twitter into your business strategy, I found this post from Neil Williams really helpful.
- Computer World's Twitter Etiquette post lays out some good rules.
- Guyism provides a humorous look at seven things you should never post on Twitter. But seriously, follow things guide.
- The Morning News has a great Twitter guide.
- SheGeeks clarifies some of the rules for Twitter.
Do you have any links that you've found particularly helpful concerning Twitter? Please share them here. I'd love to read them.
As always, you can follow me on Twitter @JayAdams70.
It was a trend that started today, and you've likely seen it on Facebook. Got a lot of friends leaving statuses like, "Blue," "Black," or "Leopard print?" These statuses have left a lot of people scratching their heads and asking why so many statuses have been largely ambiguous. Here's the answer: breast cancer awareness.
The status updates refer to the color of the bra the poster has been wearing today I've even seen some guys get into the act. The origin of the trend is still unknown. It's just another one of those cases where a good idea goes viral very quickly. The purpose behind the trend is for women to show solidarity and unity for the benefit of a good cause. While I've learned an awful lot more about the women I'm friends with on Facebook today, I think it's a great social media strategy. It'd be better if everyone provided a link to the Susan G. Komen for the Cure site to make things a little more clear about what exactly is going on, but this trend is successful in that it has caught the attention of a lot of people.
As someone who had a family member with breast cancer, I think any tactic to raise awareness is a great thing. Kudos to whoever started it. I'll be sure to update if I can find the origin of the trend. If anyone knows, please comment below with the info.
As I explained in a previous post, I had a very strong aversion to Twitter a few months ago, mainly because I thought there was a real lack of credibility in the information that was constantly being spewed in tweets. It took me a few weeks after signing up for an account to actually find some real value in Twitter, and since then, I've pretty much become addicted.
More and more, I see reasons why I should allow someone large and particularly cruel to kick me in the seat of my pants for not joining Twitter long before I did. Just a few moments ago, I saw this tweet from Sacramento Kings (and former Syracuse star. GO CUSE!) Donte Green:
EARTHQUAKE!!!!!!! Ahhhhhhhhhhh!!!!!!
I checked my Twitter feed back to see if anyone else had tweeted about an earthquake. Sure enough, the ever informative Jacob Morgan tweeted out this info:
So get this: train to airport delayed due to minor earthquake, flight also delayed 30 mins.
So, within minutes of this earthquake actually happening in San Francisco, people around the world are informed about it. I know this is nothing new about Twitter, and this is certainly a small scale example of the distribution power of microblogging, but it's amazing to me that information like this now has the ability to get out long before news outlets have a chance to grab a pad and a pen. As a former journalist, I can now see why I hated Twitter so much. And as a member of human race who likes to be informed, I can now see why I'm obsessed with it.
Has there been a time in your Twitter life when you were surprised by the type of information you received and the quickness of it? I'd love to hear about it.
Are you fed up with your social media life taking over your real one? Wish you could just commit social media suicide? Well, now you can. Moddr, a social media lab, has developed a program that allows users to simply input their social media login information and watch as the slow, agonizing process deletes the user's Web 2.0 footprint. The aptly named suicide machine handles Twitter, LinkedIn, MySpace and — until a ban of the program — Facebook accounts.
A humorous video at the bottom of this post points out all the reasons one would want to commit social media suicide. The video cites reasons like losing real-life connections with friends and family members, as well as a general real-life social absence that could make a user feel alienated from the rest of the world.
All valid, I suppose, for anyone who is completely obsessed with social media to the point where real relationships begin to suffer. If you're one of those people, by all means, commit social media suicide.
If you're simply doubtful of social media's value and you're considering getting rid of your social media profiles, keep your finger off the killswitch. Step away now!
The social media suicide machine works by deleting your contacts on the various social media sites and changing your passwords so that you can never resurrect yourself in the likely case you have a change of heart. Much like real life, once you're dead, you're dead.
If you're still considering using the Dr. Kevorkian of Web programs, let me give you a few reasons to keep your social media accounts around:
Social media is a vastly growing technology
We've seen social media sites grow in popularity and number with incredible speed during the past few years. Truth be told, social media sites have been around since the mid-1990s. Remember Classmates.com? Perhaps you still use it. The site was one of the first that paved the way for sites like MySpace, Facebook, Twitter and the like. If you ever used Classmates, you probably look back thinking that the site was way ahead of its time. It allowed users to reach old high school and college classmates that had fallen out of touch, or simply off the face of the earth. Back in the days of dial-up and AOL popularity, Classmates just seemed like it couldn't really get a proper footing. While the site is still very much around and used, the differences between Classmates and Web 2.0 social media sites are a clear indication of the types of advancements social media sites have made since the mid-90s. Imagine five years from now when we're talking about Facebook and Twitter the same way we think about Classmates. Social media technology will continue to advance and, most importantly, get better in serving the individual needs of the user. Jumping off the social media bandwagon right now would be like swearing off Taco Bell before the advent of the Chalupa. The delicious, delicious Chalupa. Don't be so callous.
The conversation needs you. Yes, YOU!
Privacy concerns in social media are very real for some people, and I completely understand them. For me, social media is a way to get myself and my brand out there, so I don't really have a lot of privacy concerns with the exception of horrible, deplorable spam. In fact, Forbes.com's Mike Schaffner recently wrote about the death of social media. The killer, he surmised: spam. I agree with Schaffner's take that spam is a huge annoyance on social media sites — especially MySpace, which really hasn't been able to get a handle on the problem — and it's enough to keep casual users from logging on and participating. For the most part, however, social media has become something that most people use on a regular basis, and I don't see how most of them would leave the sites for a little spam. Schaffner also argues that the commercialization of social media sites is also becoming more and more unappealing to most users. I see his point, but I don't agree. If anything, I believe the presence of more and more companies and businesses on social media sites makes for not only a better social media atmosphere, but better companies and businesses.
Look, the whole idea behind social media is to create a conversation. You're a Facebook user, right? Why do you update your status? Is it because you think your friends really care that you took grandma to knitting class this morning? No. It's because you're trying to start a conversation. People who think about their status updates tend to spark the most conversation. I had a friend recently post a status about Florida head coach Urban Meyer's recent health issues stemming from stress. My friend's post was somewhat controversial in nature — I believe it included the words "pompous ass" — and it created a buzz among his friends. So much so, that it reeled in 36 comments in a relatively short period of time. He seemed a little shocked that so many people responded — and mostly with bad things to say about the status — but I would argue that he did exactly what social media is intended to do: He started a conversation. Good or bad, it's still a conversation, and I'd be willing to be more of his friends are now apt to paying attention to what he writes in his status updates.
The same is true for businesses on social media sites. Now, I wouldn't recommend businesses try to start conversations about whether or not Urban Meyer is a pompous ass, but businesses that start social media conversations help themselves, which, in turn, helps the user or the consumer. Think about this: Let's say you follow your favorite video game company on Facebook. This company released a brand new game that's supposed to be the biggest thing since Pong. You, as a loyal customer, go out and buy this game and notice that it's not everything it's cracked up to be. What can you do about it? Besides complain to your friends, you can go back on to Facebook and post on the company's page about all the faults you found in the game. If social media works the way it should (and it will), others will join in the conversation about the flaws. If the company is paying attention to its social media strategy the way it should be (and it is), your input, as well as that of the folks who joined in the conversation, will go right to the people who make the decisions within the company. The great thing about social media sites for consumers like you and me is that, while companies can spark a conversation, they can't control it. Good companies wouldn't want to, anyway. Good and bad, the company would find out about what its consumers want. Isn't that what we, as consumers, want: a company that is going to pay attention to our needs and demands? Please, tell me a better way to get something like that across than social media.
Connections don't get frayed through social media
Take a look at your Facebook friends list or the list of people you follow on Twitter. How many of those people do you actually know? For Facebook, I'd wager that you've at least met nearly all of them. Twitter, it's probably much less, but you likely follow people who talk about things you're interested in. I can only talk about my own experiences, but I've found that the connections I've made through Facebook and Twitter have only served to strengthen the connections I have with those same people in real life. Through Facebook, I've found a bunch of friends I had fallen years out of touch with. I've even found a few family members I had lost track of or hadn't even met yet. Through Twitter, I've strengthened personal connections by learning about shared interests I have with other people I may never have otherwise found out about. Who knows where that could lead me in the future?
Social media is like anything. Building little ships inside bottles is a great hobby, but it can overtake your life and ruin your personal connections if you do too much of it. So can stamp collecting, an unhealthy obsession with Slip 'n Slides and sports (unless you have a cool wife that loves football, like me). But if used the right way, these things can add to a normal, healthy life (OK, maybe not the Slip 'n Slide obsession, but you get my point). What social media offers that these other things don't, however, is the ability to find more people who are into the same stuff you are. You may be a crazy Slip 'n Slide enthusiast, and without social media, you may think you're the only one. But through social media, look: there's 288 people just like you. Imagine the conversations you could have with them. And imagine what you'd be missing out on if you commit social media suicide.
As promised, here's the funny video from Vimeo about the suicide machine:
UPDATE 1:40 a.m.: I have learned that Boise State's cowbell girl is, in fact, a blind student. While I mean absolutely no disrespect, I think the main point I was trying to make still stands about the power of social media.
While watching the Fiesta Bowl this evening, I stuck around in front of the TV during halftime long enough to catch a bit of the Boise State band playing. I'm glad I did. Like many of you, here's what I saw:
Immediately, I went to Twitter to see if anyone else out there had noticed the largely unenthusiastic cowbell girl from Boise State. Sure enough, tweets were pouring in about her. She probably has no idea how many people are talking about her performance right now, but it just goes to show how quickly average people can become stars in this social media age. One blogger has already called her this decade's most enduring image. So true. So, so true.
UPDATE 12:01 a.m. ET: Cowbell girl already has her own Facebook fan page. Forgot to mention, too, that video of cowbell girl in action was on YouTube within five minutes of it airing. Amazing.
I have a bit of a confession to make. A year ago at this time, I was 100 percent anti-Twitter. Yeah, I admit it. Allow me to explain. At the time, Twitter was a burgeoning social media tool that hadn't really proven anything to me. The way I saw things, Twitter was simply a way for narcissistic people to keep others informed about what's going on in their day-to-day lives, as if anyone really cared. I had been using Facebook's status updates at the time, but I found there was some real value to those as opposed to Twitter. I thought Facebook had a better system for sharing links and information, and that Twitter was just a way to be extremely self-centered while providing absolutely no value at all. That was my personal opinion.
Professionally, I was extremely against it. I had heard Twitter being tossed around as a journalistic tool last year, and that got my blood boiling. As a former journalist — and a journalist at the time this was all occurring — I was furious that any journalist would use someone's tweets as a source in what would otherwise be considered a respectable news story. Even when Twitter was gaining a lot of credibility with the situation in Iran last year, I was very critical of journalists using Twitter as a way to keep the public informed about important, credible information.
During my first semester of grad school, however, we were required to set up a Twitter account. I did so with much protest and apprehension. We used Twitter for a couple of class assignments — no big deal. And since I had the account, I figured I might as well use it for a bit what all the fuss was about. Of course, as time went on, I began to find that Twitter had value. I was able to get breaking news a lot faster and in more digestible snippets than I did by simply becoming a fan of a journalist or news outlet on Facebook, and that hit me right where I itched. So it was around September when I really came around on Twitter and changed my previous opinions on the social media outlet.
In doing more research since then (and opening my mind quite a bit more to other social media sites without coming to any conclusion before actually trying them) to better prepare myself to get hired for a social media marketing position after graduation this spring, I found a lot of great tips on how to use Twitter and, more importantly, how to add value to what it is you're tweeting about. One of my favorite sources for these types of tips is Mashable's Twitter Guidebook. Through these tips, I found that I could add more value to my tweets by engaging in a conversation, starting a conversation or sharing links that my followers would find valuable. Because of that, I largely stopped posting inane tweets with absolutely no conversation value at all.
Fast forward to this past weekend. I took a couple of days off from the blog — and coherent, sober life — to go down to New Orleans for New Year's. While sitting in my hotel bar a block off Bourbon Street, I was staring out the window. On the other side of the street, I see a familiar face. Could it be? No. Can't be. It is! It's Nick Lachey! Now, I'm not the type to be starstruck, and seeing Nick Lachey didn't change that, but I decided to tweet about it anyway. Here's what I wrote:
JayAdams70: Just saw Nick Lachey outside my hotel. I wanted to tell him to stay out of it.
Now, if anyone watches "The Soup" on E! you'll catch the reference to a quote they use quite often from some overly-sensitive, unrealistic teen show I can't think of the name of: "Stay out of it, Nick Lachey." Anyways, the point is I was trying to be sarcastic with a tweet that had absolutely no value to anyone and then go on about my day. If I have no value to offer through a tweet, why not at least try to make it witty, right? I didn't give the tweet a second thought until the next day when my BlackBerry started buzzing. I picked it up and saw that I had received an e-mail with a subject of "Hi, Jay." I opened it:
"My name is (name withheld) and I am the (position withheld) of Us Magazine. I am urgently trying to find out some details of Nick and Vanessa's trip to New Orleans and I see that you spotted them at your hotel. I wondered if you could please tell me which hotel it was and also what you observed. All in complete confidence, of course. I would never use your name. Thanks so much."
Well, I'll be damned. I've spent much of the past few weeks tweeting and retweeting social media links, thinking I'm upping my Twitter value, and a sarcastic, worthless tweet about Nick Lachey gets me hunted down by a national gossip magazine? I had several e-mail exchanges with this staff member of Us Magazine to get down the gritty, juicy details of my 15-second experience of watching Nick Lachey walk down a street. For those interested in what actually went down, here's what I sent to Us Magazine:
"Happy to help. They weren't staying at our hotel, but I saw them when they were walking by ours. We were staying at the Holiday Inn Chateau LeMoyne on Dauphine Street one block from Bourbon Street. Nick was walking and holding hands with a woman I couldn't identify. I don't keep up with a lot of celebrity news, so I couldn't really tell who she was. He had a drink in his other hand. They were walking with a fairly large man about five feet in front of them that I could only speculate was a bodyguard. When I saw them, the street was pretty empty save for a few people. One of them yelled to Nick and he turned around and quickly acknowledged the fan with a wave and a smile before quickly walking away. That's what I saw. Hopefully that helps. Let me know if you have any follow up questions."
Thrilling stuff, no? I didn't think so at the time. Honestly, I still don't think so. As I mentioned in my e-mail to Us Magazine, I don't follow celebrity news. If I had expanded on that thought, I would have likely included the fact that I find it to be mostly trashy and self-indulgent. BUT, just because there's no value to me, and just because I have personal opinions on a subject like this, doesn't mean there's no value to someone else. And through this experience, that's the biggest thing I take. Did I care that Nick Lachey was taking a leisurely walk down a New Orleans city block with Vanessa Minnillo? Absolutely not. I cared enough to point it out to my fellow barmates and then sarcastically tweet about it, but I found no value in what I saw. But someone did find value in it. That someone in this instance happened to be a national magazine browsing around Twitter for celebrity news and sitings. That tells me that, regardless of the topic, most tweets have some sort of value. Now, is the situation I described to you typical? Probably not. There was probably some luck (is luck really the word I'm looking for here?) involved with timing and keyword selection on my part. But it's an example of just how powerful and valuable Twitter can be even in seemingly value-less situations.
That doesn't mean that suddenly what you packed for lunch today is a valuable tweet that someone out there in Twitterland will strike up a conversation with you about. (So, please, stop tweeting about your lunch). But it does mean that tweet value has to be thought about in a broad way. Ask yourself some questions: What will others get out of what I have to say? Is what I tweet relevant? How can I make what I tweet valuable to followers, or even non-followers? What keywords can I use in my tweet so that others looking for this type of information can easily search for it and find it on Twitter? Is what I tweet, regardless of my own opinions of the situation, going to get me a paragraph in this coming Wednesday's Us Magazine?
I am currently a graduate student at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University, focusing on new media and social media marketing. Upon graduation this spring, I will be looking for a job in social media marketing.
