I just finished up hosting an hour live chat on AdweekMedia Connect, a social network for account managers, brand managers, planners and creatives. I answered questions about that current state and future of social media, social platforms and about my job at Undercurrent. You can read the questions and my responses in the archived chat thread below.
I have been mulling over whether or not I should blog about a disappointing experience I had with Paramount a few weeks back. But I think there is a lesson to be learned here about the right and wrong way to conduct social outreach, so I am going to lay out what happened.
Here's the story. Below is an email I received the evening of May 4th from interns at Paramount Field Marketing and Promotions department:
So I of course get REALLY REALLY FREAKIN' EXCITED and email everyone at the Undercurrent office, close friends and start Tweeting like crazy. Then I get a follow up email the next day:
To say the least, I was so disappointed as were the friends and digerati's I contacted to go with me. Paramount's half-assed efforts to do something special for Twitter and Facebook-ers is best classified as a "Social Media" Outreach FAIL.
I took part in the SXSW 100 Interviews project by Derek Overbey (@doverbey) and Morgan Brown (@morganb). You can watch my interview below where I talk PepsiCo, my charity: water auction and how I use Twitter and why I love the Twitter community so much.
I attended last night's taping of The Colbert Report, and during audience Q&A ahead of the show, I had the chance to let Stephen Colbert (@stephenathome) know my followers believe he needs to tweet more. His response and our back-and-forth dialog, while hilarious, also brought up some serious questions in my mind about the merits of Twitter, challenging me to answer his question back at me:
That's a really good question. Of course, unable to answer him specifically and quickly enough, I fell back on a more general response, babbling something about it being a place to connect with loyal fans, be a part of their daily lives and grow them into a more avid fan base.
But, at the time, I didn't think my off-the-cuff response answered the most critical question he posed to me, that "[Twitter] takes a lot of time...how does that get me more viewers?"
What I realized is my quick retort was actually perfect. Twitter's at it's best when you're using it in one of two ways; first, as a means of doing something online requiring a short mobilization timeframe and second, as a means of providing daily updates and reminders to interested parties -- keeping them involved in your daily activities. For Stephen Colbert, and others with a built-in base of followers, Twitter's not really a tool for growing viewers, it's for engaging and mobilizing them.
Think about the meme-expanding possibilities of follower real-time action to online pursuits like Colbert's Operation Humble Kanye. Fan-bases in the internet age are much tighter when they feel like they're a part of the action. Twitter is the best tool to make his fan base work with each other and take collective action online, driving views, chatter and sharing. During the time his show is not on air, he can be using his Twitter audience to make his online efforts more successful.
So Stephen, I'm sticking by my guns and the truthiness of my statement -- tweet more, it'll help you keep your loyal fans and get more out of them. Plus, how can you let Ashton Kutcher beat you in followers? You gonna let him Punk you like that? I'm just sayin ;)
The social web can be a dangerous place. Why? Because as soon as one feels comfortable within their own social networking space - to share whatever they are thinking with their "friends," as soon as they think it - it easily becomes a place where one can ruin their own reputation.
I don't quite understand what @theconnor (the potential Cisco employee) and @CV31 (the Milwaukee Bucks' forward Charlie Villanueva) were thinking when they posted not-so-thought-through tweets to their Twitter accounts.
Although @theconnor was a much worse offender than @CV31 - they both should have considered who could be listening and the possible repercussions of their statements BEFORE they posted these messages to their public Twitter accounts:
@theconners: "Cisco just offered me a job! Now I have to weigh the utility of a fatty paycheck against the daily commute to San Jose and hating the work.”
@CV31: "In da locker room, snuck to post my twitt. We're playing the Celtics, tie ball game at da half. Coach wants more toughness. I gotta step up."
Come on people!?!?!?! Twitter is a great place to talk about what you are thinking and what you are doing, but when your thoughts are really inappropriate and/or when you are currently working on something that requires a lot focus and concentration... please try to hold back from posting real-time updates to Twitter.
K, THX, BAI.
I had the most incredible time at the 2009 SXSW conference in Austin, Texas. For the week I was there, it felt like the internet came alive! I got to meet people I follow on Twitter, the authors behind the blogs I read and the web personalities I watch everyday. I didn't know what to expect when I would meet someone in real life that I *knew* from Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, Facebook, etc. But, everyone superseded my expecations and every single person I met was so friendly, cool and just incredibly down to earth.
I was there on behalf of PepsiCo (@pepsicosxsw) and felt so lucky that I was able to attend this immersive real life digital experience for the first time.
When it was proposed that I should donate a date- dinner and drinks with julia roy -to the global Twestival ebay auction, I immediately said yes. I thought it would be fun, to offer up a real social experience on ebay benefiting charity: water, a cause I truely believe in, admire and support.
I had the pleasure of working and brainstorming with charity: water (along with many other amazing nyc volunteers) to organize the Twestival in New York event. Twestival was initiated by @amanda, and as her message spread through Twitter 100+ cities began to organize, independently planning twitter-powered events for February 12th to benefit charity: water. On the night of the event Twitterfolk partied, tweeted and donated more than $250,000 to the cause. When a powerful social network comes together to make a difference, it does.
I'm proud, because my ebay auction raised $1,549. Putting myself up for bidding was quite the experiment for me, but I had a blast and even made the homepage of ebay.com. If your interested- check out the lucky winner ;)
If you were following my tweets last weekend- you know I was in SeaWorld, Orlando with @pop17, @geekmommy, @emom and @aschek. We were invited by IZEA on behalf of SeaWorld to take an exclusive hard hat tour of their new ride- Manta -and cruise through SeaWorld attractions on a VIP tour. I could not have had a better time, SeaWorld is a magical place (my tweets & pics slideshow below).
I can't wait to get back in May to ride the Manta! It is being constructed so that- while you are waiting in line for the ride- you are in a vast underwater cave with marine life of all sorts around you. The flying roller coaster itself is supposed to mimic the way a real Manta ray moves underwater. Watch the Manta simulation video below, it's wild.
Here Comes the Contest...
Win a Trip for 4 to SeaWorld and Ride Manta!
One person will win a TRIP FOR 4 to Seaworld including airfare, hotel and two full days at the park. (Note: Winner will be chosen from all the entries submitted across participating blogs). As an extra incentive to play, I've been told I have a SeaWorld Swag Bag to give away to a reader who participates in the contest via this post.
To enter- share why you want to take your family or friends to SeaWorld to ride Manta. The contest allows you to enter in three different ways:
Blog Comment
Leave a comment on this post, sharing why you want to take your family or friends to SeaWorld to ride Manta.
Twitter Tweet
Tweet why you want to go to Seaworld and ride Manta.
Important: For your tweet to be eligible it MUST end or begin with the exact text below:
Blog Post
Write a post about why you want to take your family or friends to SeaWorld and ride
Manta. Be sure to leave a comment on this post with a link to the permalink of your post to register.
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Fine Print: Each tweet, comment or post counts as one registration. A person can register up to three times. The winner will be chosen at random by IZEA based on all valid entries. Contest ends at 11:59pm EST on March 10, 2009. Please read full contest rules here.
The Manta Mania Contest (the "Contest") is open to anyone who (i) is a legal U.S. resident and legal residents of Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, Peru, Venezuela, or Dominican Republic and (ii) is at least eighteen (18) years of age.
Right now 1.1 billion people on the planet don't have access to safe, clean drinking water. That is 1 in 6 of us. So, what can we do? How about use Twitter to mobilize support and raise money to build water wells in areas that need it most. Bingo!
A little history: The first Twestival was on Thursday 25 September in London and was attended by over 200 very early adopters. Twestival was the most blogged and twittered word in the world that day. 200 twitter folk can make a lot of noise.
Twestival is: a series of events organized using Twitter running in 100+ cities on the same day to raise money for charity: water
charity: water is: a non profit organization bringing clean, safe drinking water to people in developing nations. They give 100% of the money raised to direct project costs, funding sustainable clean water solutions in areas of greatest need.
Why water?: Unsafe water and lack of basic sanitation cause 80% of all sickness and disease, and kill more people every year than all forms of violence, including war.
CALL TO ACTION: Find the nearest Twestival to you and sign up! And, if you're in New York City, you better come out and party with me at the NYC Twestival on February 12th @ M2 Ultra Lounge in Chelsea. Be there or be square. Oh and be kind and follow @nyctwestival on Twitter.
Also make sure to take a look at out our 20/20/20 call-to-action for the NYC Twestival attendees.
Greatest thing about Obama's speech? I'd have to say the ability to see my friends' Facebook status update in real time next to the CNN Live video player. That was wild!
The internet is a wonderful place on your birthday, especially in social networks like Facebook and Twitter.
If you know me, you know I love geek girl, digg-style, vote-a-thons (remember: Me, on Dig-A-Tech-Girl) where users' submit, and vote on the girls they think are the "geekiest." Some people get uptight about these kinds of contests, but I think they are fun- plus it's a great chance to put Twitter follower-power to work for me. ;)
I tweeted and followers activated for me! Well, at least for a few hours, putting me on the "hot" list (see screenshot below). As I write this I have 230 votes (Thanks twitter peeps!), but it doesn't look like I will make it to the Top 10 this year. Ha.
Depending when you are reading this post, I may be at the top or long-gone from the hot list. But I recommend browsing the submissions to Wired's Sexiest Geeks of 2008 anyway, and if you see me, of course vote me up!
Goal: To at least beat Philip DeFranco (Sxephil) in votes.
Tweetbomb – the @ game that crowdsources followers of @tweetbomb to "bomb" a chosen user by @ing them – is back! It was shut down by Twitter not too long ago due to suspicious behavior, but upon further review Twitter must have given @tweetbomb the benefit of the doubt and allowed the shenanigans to continue.
How do I know it is back? Because I was Tweetbomb'd today. The result? I recieved an alarming number of "@juliaroy" tweets, and a ridiculous number of new followers in my inbox. w00t!
screenshot of responses (click to enlarge)
screenshot of new followers (click to enlarge)
