Top Social Media Blog Posts of 2009

Here is a list of 99 blog posts from 2009 relating to social media.  This list was originally created by Compiled by Adam Vincenzini, Paratus Communications, London. I have made a few modifications, but his initial list is bascially in tact.

Social Media (General) (20)

1. 30 top Blogs for social media updates
2. 20 social media best practice tips*
3. 33 hot social media tips
4. 5 ways to fan the viral flame*
5. 10 reasons why you should use Hootsuite
6. How to make time for social media*
7. 3 quick tips to connect your website to social media
8. Top tools for social media monitoring*
9. 10 ways to improve your social media karma
10. 3 Tips for better social media management
11. Video: Social Media Revolution*
12.Social Media tactics for non-profit organisations
13. Why foursquare is the next big social network
14. 5 ways to make your site more social
15. 10 essential social media blogs you should follow / bookmark
16. Top 10 Freebies for Social Media Marketing
17.Simon Mainwaring’s special interview with Rishad Tobaccowala On Advertising’s Digital and Social Media Future
18. What you need to know about running a social media programme – The client*
19. What you need to know about running a social media programme – The product*
What you need to know about running a social media programme – The audience*
20. 25 Social media marketing tips from Dell, HP, Ford and more

Twitter (10)

21. 10 Twitter tools to help you track and perform better*
22. The ultimate Twitter applications list
23. 5 Twitter rules for business
24. Discover who ‘favourites’ your Tweets
25. 8 photo and video sharing tools for Twitter you may not have seen
26. The three E’s of Twitter*
27. 5 must do Twitter style tips
28. A twitter mini guide: 60 useful twitter resources (basics)
29. How to be a useful Twitter user and receiver
30. 62 ways to use Twitter for Business

Blogging (10)

31. 101 ways to promote a new blog*
32. 11 ways to increase your RSS subscriptions
33. 58 ways to build a better blog*
34. 10 ways Blogging will simplify your marketing programme
35. Why guest Bloggers are great for a Blog
36. 10 great corporate blogs
37. 9 vital statistics for tracking site traffic
38. How to put your blog / website on google news
39. 101 blogging tips I learned in 2009
40. 10 ways to think up new post ideas*

PR (10)

41. 15 ways PR can help social media*
42. How to pitch to Mashable
43. A media relations tool for Twitter
44. The best social media tools for PR professionals*
45 PR: From begging to earning attention
46. 15 ways to measure return on engagement (ROE) of Social Media
47. 6 PR Facts Every Marketer Must Know
48. 6 indicators of hope in PR measurement
49. 5 new online tools for PR pros
50. The top 100 PR websites of 2009

Facebook / LinkedIn (10)

51. 20 facebook tips and tricks you might not know about
52. 10 steps make your facebook page shine
53. How to create the perfect facebook fan page
54. 5 tips for optimizing your facebook page
55. 5 tips for getting more from facebook*
56. 5 tips for getting more from LinkedIn*
57. 6 ways to use LinkedIn
58. 33 ways to use LinkedIn for business
59. 8 tips for managing LinkedIn Groups*
60. A collection of ten more great Blog posts about LinkedIn

Case Studies / In Action (10)

61. Case studies of four brands using social media
62. 9 marketing lessons of the pink ribbon Cancer campaign
63. Video: Burger King Whopper Sacrifice (Facebook Campaign)*
64. Video: The clever launch of the Seat Ibiza in Israel
65. Social Media Policies of 113 Organisations
66. Video: Cannes PR Lions Finalist: The £10m Tongue (Costa Coffee)*
66. 30 UK Social Media case Studies*
67. Dairy queen: how it uses social media
68. 6 Social Media Marketing Case Study Lessons
69. HBO’s integrated campaign for True Blood
70. Peter Kim’s comprehensive Wiki of social media marketing campaigns *

Mobile / Content / Measurement / SEO / Other (20)

71. 50 top creative Blogs*
72. How to determine your internet marketing budget
73. The 75 best business blogs of 2009
74. 5 easy ways to optimize your site for Bing
75. Companies Engaging in Social Media Have Higher Financial Performance
76. Ways to influence people online
77. 5 ways to beat the SEO competition in Google
78. 100 useful bookmarklets for better productivity (ultimate list)*
79. 40 Search / SEO Case Studies
80. 10 Tips for Writing bokkmarkable content
81. 15 best places to get free stock photos online*
82. 5 simple ways to create a content culture at your company
83. The five factors of compelling content
84. The benefits of the very under-rated DABR mobile Twitter app
85. 30 iPhone apps reviewed
86. An early look at Foursquare and Gowalla
87. A ‘B’ listers first thoughts on Google Wave
88. 3 financial dangers of social media
90. How to achieve audience participation in 2010 (customer engagement research report)

Tweeting for Dollars- Do You Care?

In today’s NY Times article Tweeting for Dollars, Pradnya Joshi introduces and reviews  Izea’s new service allowing people to tweet advertisements and get paid.   This follows Magpie & Friends service creating new advertising networks on Twitter.  With Izea, they require the tweet to use a hashtag with #ad, or something similar, at the beginning of the tweet.  So now we can promote other brands and make some  money.

Twitter users who sign up to send ads to their network of friends and followers will get paid based on various individual metrics, such as a person’s reach on Twitter, the ratio of friends to followers, length of time on Twitter and, of course, the number of followers. An active Twitter user with 10,000 followers could make $25 to $35 per commercial tweet, Mr. Murphy said.

Neither of these services matter.  One of the beauties of Twitter is that it is an open network (unlike Facebook which requires me to accept you as a Friend or LinkedIn with the same policy).  Each of these structures has its uses.  The open platform of Twitter creates a great deal of churn, but that churn is the beauty of the service.  If someone is sending lots of Spam (make $1 million on Twitter, my secrets for just $59.99), you just “unfollow”.  As many people have articulated, social currency is build upon trust.  If I offend , spam , don’t engage, or simply don’t interest a follower, they will abandon my tweets quickly enough.

The critical issue is consistency.  If you regularly tweet about your life and loves and then start tweeting me about your brilliance as a social media expert, your lack of consistency results in zero credibility.  Alternatively, if you regularly send out tweets with coupon and discounts (check out the new CheapTweet’s service that aggregates all these tweets), I know what to expect and I am following you for a reason.  It is my choice!

If someone regularly tweets advertisements, and they do so authentically with products they truly support, I won’t be offended.  If someone is jsut trying to make money off of their list of followers, they will be abaondoned quickly enough.

Twitter Tools — My Complete List

Twitter is a status-updating or microblogging social networking website. It is a breakthrough in social networking because it takes communication into another level. Before, a person can only update his status (eg. what he’s doing, where he is) at a certain time. But with Twitter and it’s mobile integration, he can update his status almost all throughout the day and get in touch with people that matters to him the most. But the functions of Twitter do not stop there. It is now used by various fields. Business, for example, has used Twitter to get in touch with customers on a personal level. It is also a nice place to meet people from different parts of the world that shares the same interests. Furthermore, its possibilities to promote new technology, news and products can’t be denied. Join Twitter and use these Twitter applications to spice up your tweets! Visit me on Twitter

Twitter have been used by companies, bloggers and agencies to promote their brand. Promote your own brand today.

Twitter

Really basic explanation.

A little bit richer explanation.

Twitter Applications Directory…

Find Tweeters like You

Directories and User Search Tools

Twits like Me

Find out people like you

Twellow

A Twitter directory sorted by occupation

Just Tweet It

A twitter directory sorted by interest

Twubble

This tool will automatically find people who are compatible with your interests. However, if you follow too many people, then Twubble may recommend some people that you already follow

Twittie Me

Search for similar users and advertise your twitter page

Twitdir

Search for words in usernames, locations or descriptions

Find out what is the latest trends on Twitter

Sites that tell the latest stories and trends on Twitter

Twitter Search (Summize previously)

Search for the latest trends on Twitter

Twitscoop

A search tool that tracks trends as well as certain events.

Flaptor Search

A search tool that can be installed on your browser.

Tweet Scan

Search keywords on Twitter

Twitterment

Search Twitter users and topics

Twitbuzz

Find out the latest links and conversations on Twitter

Tweetmeme

find out the latest Stories on Twitter

Twistori

Find out what twitter loves, hates, believes, etc.

Twitturly

Find out the most talked about stories on Twitter

Twitterverse

Find out what Twitter is doing

GoodBadMe

Keep track of the good and bad on the twitterverse

Favotter

Find out the most favored (saved to favorites) tweets

Twitstat

real time twitter analytics

Track Twitter Users

Find out who the top Twitter users are

Twitterholic

Find out who the top twitter users are

Toptweet

Find out the top twitter users on one place.

Twitrank

a list of the top 150 Twitterers

Read more

My Favorite Twitter Tools

Here is my list of my favorite tools, applications, and time saving recommendations I have found! Visit me on Twitter

My Favorite Twitter Tools Directory…

Find Tweeters like You

Directories and User Search Tools

Twits like Me

Find out people like you

Twubble

This tool will automatically find people who are compatible with your interests. However, if you follow too many people, then Twubble may recommend some people that you already follow

Find out what is the latest trends on Twitter

Sites that tell the latest stories and trends on Twitter

Twitter Search (Summize previously)

Search for the latest trends on Twitter

Tweetmeme

find out the latest Stories on Twitter

Twitstat

real time twitter analytics

Read more

Twitter Vocabulary

Here is a list of Twitter vocabulary.  I am sure that it is incomplete, but I will keep adding as I go.

• tweets: posts made by twitter users, which must be under 140 characters
• follow: subscribe to a particular users’ twitter posts
• unfollow: unsubscribe from a particular users’ twitter posts
• RT: Retweet: tweeting content posted by another user
• DM / direct message: send a direct private message to another twitter user
• Tweetback: a backlink tweet for a blog article
• favorite: a post on twitter that you mark as favorite to find it quickly when you need it
• followorthy: a twitter user who is worthy of following
• followspam: The practice of following another twitter account, usually to prompt a reciprocol follow in order to boost follow count, or to encourage the followee to explore the profile fo the follower, whereupon they inevitably see some form of advertising or come-on.
• tweetup: meeting a twitter user/s in the real world
• Fly-bye: signing off of twitter
• tweeps: friends on twitter
• tweople: people who tweet
• twirting: flirting on twitter
• twitterhea: the unstoppable urge to tweet
• twammer: Twitter + spammer: someone that follows many people and post updates with links to web sites akin to those found in spam e-mails.
• tweetjacking: Hijacking someone’s tweet by switching their link for your own and retweeting it, piggybacking on their authority to drive traffic to your own target page.
• twitterverse: The cyberspace area of twitter. This naturally extends beyond twitter.com to anywhere you can twitter.

Twitter Over Tworty — Part II

Ten days into my experiment. I now have 270 followers and I am following 650 tweeters. It has been interesting and I have learned a great deal. Conclusions: 1. I am a fairly private person, and I definitely see that there is a big generational difference for what people of different ages think is “public” and what is “private”. 2. Figuring out how Twitter works is VERY time consuming. I would guest that I have spent atleast 30 hours over the last ten days looking at different tools, reviewing how others use Twitter, figuring out what I wanted to Twitter about, etc. 3. Following other Tweets has been at times extremely boring, sometimes funny, and occasionally very educational. (more on this later) Learning: 1. No one reads all the Tweets they receive (assuming they are following more than 25 active Tweeters). There is simply to much information flowing. Instead, I occasionally scan the tweets I have received and look for the few that are interesting. Those usually are leading me to other sites of interest. This has been the most beneficial part of following, I have found some great sources of information. 2. The Twitter interface is very weak compared to all the third party tools available. I have settled on a variety of different tools which I will discuss later. What is important to learn is that the Twitter interface is not the one most people use, and for good reason. 3. Twitter has lead me to other sites, tools, and interfaces that are much broader then Twitter.

It has been interesting and I have learned a great deal. Conclusions:

1. I am a fairly private person, and I definitely see that there is a big generational difference for what people of different ages think is “public” and what is “private”.
2. Figuring out how Twitter works is VERY time consuming.  I would guest that I have spent atleast 30 hours over the last ten days looking at different tools, reviewing how others use Twitter, figuring out what I wanted to Twitter about, etc.
3. Following other Tweets has been at times extremely boring, sometimes funny, and occasionally very educational.  (more on this later)

Learning:

1. No one reads all the Tweets they receive (assuming they are following more than 25 active Tweeters).  There is simply to much information flowing.  Instead, I occasionally scan the tweets I have received and look for the few that are interesting.  Those usually are leading me to other sites of interest.  This has been the most beneficial part of following, I have found some great sources of information.
2. The Twitter interface is very weak compared to all the third party tools available.  I have settled on a variety of different tools which I will discuss later.  What is important to learn is that the Twitter interface is not the one most people use, and for good reason.
3. Twitter has lead me to other sites, tools, and interfaces that are much broader then Twitter.

Twitter Over Tworty — Part I

Twitter, tweet, twhirl, twintern, twitterati, tweetlater…I can’t keep up. I started to actively twitter last week. As a 44 year old, who describes himself as a technological enthusiast, but not an expert, or even an power user, its all been tweek (greek–get it?) to me. Why do I care that someone left their groceries in their car over night, or that some else like telling me obscure quotes, or that someone else is still in love with their husband, or some mother is leading a busy, harried life? The truth is I don’t. I am only following 34 people and have all of 37 following me. I spend most of my time helping companies, many of them online publishers, monetize their digital traffic. One would think that I would understand this stuff. I am still figuring it out. I thought it would be interesting to have a series within my blog about what all these technologies/tools are and how businesses are successes deploying them. I am going to write aobut my experiences on Twitter, if and how I find it useful for my work, and what tools and resources are needed to leverage it to success.

Do Users Matter?

The rumored $700 million dollar price tag for Twitter is based upon what? Where is the math? QWhether a deal ever occurs or not, that valuation seemed to be built upon the “if you build it they will come” rational. Traditionally, those of us who struggled through an accounting or finance class (or for those of you who loved them) were taught to look at the cash flow, discounted of course, to place a valuation on a company. Since Twitter’s revenue strategy remains murky, at least to me, this method is of no use. Is it simply the fact that they have lots of users? With Twitter reaching almost 6 million unique users in January ‘09, it’s growth of users is simply astounding. Now that Oprah found Twitter, the growth rate just continues to climb. So OK, the world has found Twitter. Even putting aside the huge TwitterQuitter rate for new accounts reaching around 60% of new users dropping out after a month, Twitters growth is still impressive. But why is it worth so much money. Facebook, while dominating the social media landscape, with over 68 million unique views in January, still does not have a revenue model that I understand. What advertisers are willing pay remains paltry, and Facebook’s attempts to obtain more control over their users continues to meet resistance. Isn’t this just valuing “eyeballs” all over again? As I struggle through these valuations, and try to figure out where is the financial proposition, I of course think of Google. But the folks at Google seemed to come to market with a value proposition in mind–namely advertising. It is hard to see how advertising on Twitter would ever work, and as mentioned, the social networking world is struggling to monetize users. Those new search services focussed on Twitter ( TwitterTroll, Tweetscan, Twazzup, Tweefind, etc.) seem to be following the Google strategy, but why is Twitter worth so much? Since I began actively twittering, all of a week and a half, I am concluding that the value of Twitter for a my business, consulting, is PR/Promotion/Branding. If I can create value for my followers, and re-inforce my “brand”, I will attract new clients and grow my business (www.digitalcapitalstrategies.com). That supposition (Twitter will help me grow my brand) is certainly not proven, but many seem to believe it to be true. So if Twitter can serve that purpose for me, ultimately I will be willing to pay something for this service. Maybe that is the ultimate model. For the more social user, they are clearly finding value in the service. There willingness to pay for that value is unclear. We all see the web as this vast amusement park, once we pay our admission (ISP access, time and energy to learning the tools) we expect all the rides to be free.

What is Digital Capital

Everyone is familiar with financial capital and human capital is not far behind. There is also intellectual capital, emotional capital, political capital, and many others. In today’s world, lots of people are beginning to focus on what I call Digital Capital. Digital Capital is the amalgamation of all the users, views, followers, tweeters, twitters, friends, blog readers, fan, linkedin connections, youtube, and all the myriad of other tools that individuals and companies are using to develop, enhance, and grow their other types of capital–particularly financial. While I have been in and around this space for some time (I have been consulting to firms for the last eight years), over the last few months my practice has increasing migrating towards helping companies deal with this issue. Whether it is a non-profit trying to develop a new strategic plan for growth, an advertising exchange looking for new channels of distribution, a retailer creating content sites to enhance their brand, they all are experimenting with different digital tools to reach their goals. As I spend my days helping companies (see: digitalcapitalstrategies or capital-strategies) develop their strategies, goals, and plans, and I am increasingly confronted with helping companies integrate the tools from this digital landscape, I decided to start blogging about my experiences, insights, successes and failures.