EyeSee

Twitter has a few memes/games and one of them is the popular #FollowFriday. So on Friday you will see Tweets ending with #FollowFriday.

The rules are simple

1. On Friday

2. Suggest interesting Twitter users to follow

3.  @<twitter id> … #FollowFriday

It’s that simple. The idea behind this is to promote users that you find interesting.

Your followers or anyone checking the Everyone updates will see this Tweet.

It all got started with one simple tweet from Micha Baldwin…

With a suggestion from Mykl Roventine…

And it went wild….

Today FollowFriday is still here and yes there is an official website for it, FollowFriday.com. In addition to this there is

@FOLLOWfriday , @FollowFridays, @

Good old twitter search

Top Follow Friday

Tweeple Rank

Follow Friday Stats

Trend details

FolowFriday Tweeps

TwitScoop

Twitter Tag Project

So next time it’s Friday, recommend someone. Check out the above sites to find interesting people to follow.

It seems that wherever you turn these days people are talking about Twitter. The bookshelves at the bookstores are lined with books about Twitter, the news constantly quotes tweets, you just seem to get away from hearing about Twitter.

So just when you think that all that needs to be said about Twitter has been said well here’s a new twist ….

100 days of fry and so the story goes…

Stephen Fry is a British actor who is fairly popular on Twitter.

Morgan Ritchie is a cartoonist that took one of Stephen Fry’s tweet each day and illustrated it.

Why?

100 Days of Fry is an editorial illustration project based around the micro blogging website Twitter. The aim is to produce 100 drawings celebrating the site’s most celebrated tweeter, Stephen Fry. The challenge will be to see if I can produce an illustration per day, for one hundred days, based purely around what he tweets. I will post each image via twitpic and flickr the following day (so as to collect as much information about Stephen’s Fry day as possible!).

There you have it… 100 days of fry.

There are updates on Flickr, Facebook and Twitpic.

So what does this tell you about Stephen Fry’s days?

I presented at the OCRI, Zone5ive event today and I focused on must have social media tools to engage your customers.  As I was preparing for this presentation I needed to figure out a starting point as customer engagement is as vague as being “green”. So I took a look at the websites of companies that typically attended these events to find a starting point.

To explain where I came from I used the analogy of social media being the invitation to the house party and the house being the company website. I went further to stress that if the house either did not exist nor was structurally strong then the party would fail.

So my starting point was reinforcing the house and creating the invitations.

Details are in the following presentation.

My goal was to let the people in the room leave with information that they could use to implement these basic social media tools into their websites and social media marketing mix.

The room was fairly silent with not a lot of questions however I did notice a fair bit of note taking. I guess it’s a very different dynamic from the interactive workshops that I am used to giving.

So if you were at the presentation today and have had time to digest this do you have any further questions? If you do, then drop me a line via this post and we can take it from there. Remember there is not such thing as a stupid question. Also there are other people out there that have the same questions in mind.

Several weeks ago I was invited to create a 3 minute video about the use of social media to engage employees. I did create the video however it’s guaranteed to give someone a seizure, my video editing skills need much improvement. It’s on my to do list to edit and improve so I don’t have a video for you to see, however I do have a detailed presentation in regards to this.

When I started to work on this project I knew that there was a number of people that did not like their jobs however I was very surprised to find out the actual numbers.

Only 29% of employees are engaged, 54% are not engaged and 17% are actively disengaged!!! I can’t remember where I found these numbers but they seem to be somewhat consistent across the board wherever you look.

The reasons are many but the one point that I focused on what shortening the gap between the leaders of the organization and the employees. It’s a known fact that business owners, CEOs etc. are very passionate about their company and if you are part of a small organization it’s very easy to feel that energy, know what the vision is and share in that vision. When you are a large organization it becomes hard to have that connection with the owners so to speak as there are many layers between you and the leaders of the organization. There are many ways to shorten the gap and one is by regular meetings/updates with these leaders. However these are few and far in between but what about on a more regular basis? Social media, if used effectively, can enable this gap to be shortened thus driving employee engagement up.

The presentation goes through the various tools available today, how to use them and the benefits to the organization. So take a look and ponder. I have not presented any case studies here however you are only limited by your imagination. So to all the leaders out there, try something new.

Traditional advertising is costly and these days it doesn’t seem to be very effective.  So what are the alternatives if you don’t have a large budget for advertising but want to let people know about your brand, business etc.

The answer to this dilemma is Social Media. So what is Social Media anyway? Social Media is a term used to reference sites like Facebook, YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, LinkedIn and more.

Currently there are 12,381,640 Canadians on Facebook. Statistics Canada’s  population clock estimates that the total population of Canada is 33,760,010.

That’s a significant amount of Canadians on this one social network. This does not take into account the number of people spending their time on social media sites like YouTube, Twitter, Flickr, Blogs etc…

Based on all the statistics it’s very apparent that social media is here to stay and is not just a fad. So as a business how do you advertise or market yourself in these sites? It’s through social media marketing.

Then what is social media marketing?

Marketing is about building relationships and social media tools help you achieve this in an online world. Social media marketing is about using sites like Facebook, YouTube et. to create awareness and credibility about a brand. This is indirectly translated to growing revenues for your business.

These sites are free however it’s very important to

• tie your business goals into your participation in these spaces
• not spam your audience
• use these sites the the way they were inende, entertainment
• start a dialogue with your customers (build relationships)
• incorporate this  into your business processes

Participation online takes time, effort and consistency.  If you are spending time online building your business then take time to track your efforts and tie this into your website analytics.

So before you participate in social media start paying attention to who is visiting your website and where they are coming from. This will give you a baseline to start from. Then track the difference between the traffic to your website before and after your participation in social media.Tweak this as you go.

Summer is here, although it’s hard to believe due to all the rainy cold days we have been having lately. It’s also the time when most people take their vacations and the office is generally quite and things slow down a little.

So if you are looking for some excitement how about some personal development on the social media front. We have just launched our Social Media Summer Series.

Three great topics to inspire and enlighten you to embark on a social media adventure.

Twitter demystified – July 14th 9:30am-noon

There has been a lot of hype around Twitter lately and most people sign up and don’t know what to do after that. They quickly loose interest. Twitter is a microblog and if used effectively can be very effective communication tool.

Flickr & YouTube – a key to the success of a Social Media Campaign – July 21st 9:30am-noon

Flickr is a photo sharing site and what has this got to do with anything? Images are interesting and entertaining so what better way to get your message across using an image.

YouTube is a video sharing site and too can be used very effectively from a business perspective. There are many ways and it’s not just about amateur videos but professional ones as well.

Blog and website design using Wordpress – Aug. 18th 9:30am-noon

Blogs are getting increasingly popular today. Wordpress is a free open source content management tool that can be used both as a Blog and to design a website as well.

So why is social media becoming so popular these days? People do spend a fair bit of their time online whether it’s for work, their own personal use or entertainment. As a business it’s very important to have a presence in these places or be part of these communities and connect with them in a meaningful way.

It’s not about spamming them or telling them about your product or service. It’s about establishing a connection with them.

These seminars have been designed to show you the how to as well as the different ways these tools can be used.

Registration

Twitter demystified – July 14th 9:30am-noon

Flickr & YouTube – a key to the success of a Social Media Campaign – July 21st 9:30am-noon

Blog and website design using Wordpress – Aug. 18th 9:30am-noon

So take advantage of this great learning opportunity and sign up for these sessions. See you there.

June 25th was an interesting day as there was a flurry of activity online especially Twitter. As the morning progressed RIP Farrah Fawcett and Farrah Fawcett replaced Iran on the top 10 trending topics on Twitter. However as the afternoon progressed there were a number of tweets stating that TMZ had confirmed that Michael Jackson was dead. Soon the trending changed to RIP Michael Jackson and other similar versions. This trend has continued since then.

My newsfeed on Facebook was filled with updates from my friends giving their thoughts on the mpact of his passing to their lives.

The Bloggosphere was filled with content where people expressed their opinions on the situation or the impact of his music to their lives.

So what is going on in Social Media during the Memorial Event.

A social media analysis during the Michael Jackson Memorial Event

From a technological perspective it has stretched most sites like Twitter, Facebook etc.. to the limits as people view, share and post updates from June 25th to the Memorial Event.

Blogs

Well what can I say, there are millions of Blogs out there with everyone giving their opinion since June 25th. Some spread gossip, speculation, rumours, defending their friend MJ, news outlets and finally the every day people giving their experience of MJ in their lives.

Facebook

The activity online has surpassed the inauguration of Barac Obama. His Facebook Page has topped over 7 Millions Fans!!! The most popular application being the free virtual MJ glove.

According to Mashable, there have been over 500k updates posted to Facebook. This is probably why I have managed to get onto Facebook only once today.

There are many discussions started on his Fan Page and it appears that this page is unmoderated. Do check it out, I do have to warn you that some of the content is very offensive.

Twitter

There are various trending topics on Twitter that has been changing at a record pace as the Memorial Event progresses today.

Some topics were M’s, We are the world, Gone too soon, KFC, MJs and much more. So what has KFC got to do with MJ? Majic Johnson shared a story of his dinner invite to MJ’s house where he was blown away that MJ ate KFC.

You Tube

The types of videos on YouTube vary from MJ Memorial Tickets for sale to scenes from outside the Staples Centre. Fans videos and much more. The news channels also posted their videos here as well.

Flickr

There were a lot of updates on Flickr. These images are by various people that were outside the Staples Centre. It gives great insight to what was going on outside.

MySpace

The live feed had a lot of updates

Other

MTV

Provided live streaming of the MJ Memorial Event.

Twitter updates….

Facebook Connect

Online News

The Globe and Mail

The Globe and Mail used Coverit Live to provide live coverage of the MJ Memorial Event.

The comments were disabled due to the high volume of participants and offensive participants.

Macleans

Live blogging as well as aMacleans posted the moving video of Paris, Michael Jackson’s daughter.This video was posted on YouTube by CNN Live.

Live Streaming

CBS

CBS provided live coverage of the Memorial event. They used Facebook Connect.

CNN

Facebook Connect to follow the conversations on Facebook. Your Voice, the capability to email your comments.

The online news channels did a great job of quoting some of the comments from Facebook and Twitter.

So what does this all mean?

In the past our only source of news would have been the media outlets possibly with live TV/Radio coverage and the newspapers possibly creating special editions that evening or the next day.

Social Media has now changed all of this with the traditional news channels competing with every day citizens to provide the news. It has also given us the incredible ability to express ourselves, our emotions and connect with each other. It has also enabled us to break down geographic barriers and socioeconomic as well. We can now share information instantly via photos, videos, text and audio as well as give our feedback on what is going on or what we think or feel.

What’s important is not just what the media channels are saying but the news from the eyes of the everyday citizen. This certainly does not make traditional media obsolete but just provides a more balanced perspective.

What’s been great is the way these traditional media have now embraced social media and are finding their own flavor of incorporating them into their reporting.

Since June 25th Michael Jackson has been dominating the online channels and has given people the opportunity to express their sorrow and grief. The flip side is that this topic has overshadowed other news worth events.

Now that Michael Jackson can rest in peace these social media channels will be free to discuss the next big event.

Some further analysis

Michael Jackson’s Massive Impact (On Google, Facebook, and Yahoo)

Michael Jackson Dies: Twitter Tributes Now 30% of Tweets

I am at Change Camp Ottawa and there are a lot of very good sessions lined up. I am currently blogging from the Social Media in Government session.

For live blogging check the Apt 613 Blog.

Public Health Agency of Canada, during swine flu they were using twitter to keep folks updated.

There are tonnes of folks complaining about government agencies on twitter, but is anyone watching them and responding? It seems that there is currently no mechanism to respond to these complaints and help out.

Fisheries is using twitter to send out releases, this is just the first step, working in both French and English in one feed, took a seven page plan to describe how to use to 140 characters.

Tweet Congress – degree on conversation happening with their consistuents.

The government is trying to use social media with policies that were created before all this technology was available. Tho shalt not use any other thing than windows being one of them.

How do you deal with the innundation of messages that are flooded in social media. Those are technical issues that have been addressed.

Identi.ca is a Canadian opensource microblogging platform that would solve all of these integration issues.

Educating the public is a great use of social media for government. News media are now picking their stories from Twitter.

Know where your audience is and go there.

Part of Canada 150 connect 150 public service people. Ideas fair at NAC on June 3rd. Everything was done using web 2.0.

Summary

Performance metrics – managing the expectations. Successful in managing the email capacity on implementation. That gets reported every year. The idea is that citizens need to know that their money is being used effectively. Followers is not a good measurement. Communication with peope to figure how to use web 2.0 to drive change.

The King of Twitter is apparently Ashton Kutcher according to Oprah Winfrey. He is on Oprah Live today if you want to get the scoop.

A few months ago I started following him to learn how celebrities are using Twitter. Since the mainstream media has been writing about this face, his followers have increased and so have other celebrities joining Twitter.

What makes this attractive to their fans is the fact that they get the inside scoop on what’s going on from the celebrities themselves. The paparattzzi might just go out of business. That’s wishful thinking.

A lot of people say that they don’t what to know who had coffee or what they eat for breakfast. Well if you are a celebrity then your fans definitely want to know this kind of stuff. It’s turning out to be a great way to promote yourself and celebrities are capitalizing on this to create their own perception of themselves and one that is different from the tabloids.

For all you celebrity obsessed there is try out Celebwitter, they track all the celebs on Twitter. Apparently Ashton go 1Million followers before CNN did!

It now turns out that Oprah is not only on Facebook but on Twitter. Maybe I will DM her, do you think she will respond?

For the longest time it was referred to a Tweet. You tweet someone on Twitter. Then the traditional media picked up on it and now I hear Twit or Twittering. So given that everyone is jumping on Twitter what is it supposed to be?

Tweet

Twit

Twittering

I have added a poll on LinkedIn. I will update you on the results.