emerging media — R James Taylor

Anti-social media: Turning communication into unication

April 21, 2010 By rjamestaylor

Recently I received an unsolicited request for help from someone I’ve never met and whom I do not want to expose. The sender confused me for a Twitter employee, I guess. Here’s the request (paraphrased):

Greetings,

How can I use Twitter for business messaging but block people from sending us tweets back? I’d like to guarantee the public can see our tweets but we don’t see theirs.

I pointed the sender to twitter.com for assistance but could not let this go without sharing the hilarity of the request.

First, I use Twitter but have no relationship with Twitter. I have no idea why someone would think I do.

Second, the request is so totally against social media principles as to be a poster child of “Does Not Get the Concept.”

Twitter and other social networking venues are about sharing, co-communicating (emphasizing the two-way nature because too many one sided message givers call themselves and their function “communicating”) and community. The idea that someone could disable others’ ability to write tweets to one’s own account is, well, preposterous.

However, I firmly believe that many businesses and other communicators would actually prefer a one-way messaging system that would guarantee public consumption but prevent public response. Just so happens this misguided inquirer is more blunt and honest about his or her intent. Others actually use Twitter and Facebook, etc., in this same manner: output only, no input acknowledged.

Most other media are exactly this kind of one-sided “unication” (my term for these “communicators”) that push out messages but have no mechanism or intent for dialogue. Radio, TV, infomercials, print media, banner ads, etc., all favor the message sender and diminish or prevent the reciprocal exchange of information and feedback. Even email has become a vehicle for unication; consider “noreply@example.com”.

I believe one reason for the uptake and success of social networking is the inherent ability to engage in two-way conversations.

It will be interesting to see how Twitter changes with the introduction of Promoted Tweets — that is, in stream paid advertisements. Will this push Twitter to become yet another unication platform? Will Twitter be able to retain the “social” aspect of its service post Promoted Tweets? I hope so.

Filed Under: How-to, emerging media

Twitter Lists: Changing Everything about Twitter

December 13, 2009 By rjamestaylor

Twitter List support has been out for a while now but the impact of this new feature may not be readily apparent to most Twitter users. Yet, Lists have already changed Twitter in dramatic ways that you really need to know about.

Twitter Lists are user-created groupings of other Twitter accounts. This is somewhat like the client-side groups provided by TweetDeck, Seesmic Desktop, FriendFeed and others but since it is built into Twitter itself the impact is far-reaching. The biggest difference between client-side groups and Twitter Lists is that lists are public. User can “follow” lists others set up, for example.

Here’s a quick rundown of how Twitter Lists work. A logged in user can create up to 20 Lists containing 500 users each. The name of the List is up to the user and usually suggests the common trait tying the users together in the mind of the List creator. The list creator is also able to provide a description of the list created. The list can be public (default) or private (seen only by the list creator). However, users added to a list can see which list they are on regardless of the public/private setting of the list itself. That means users on a private list know who has listed them and knows the name of the list that they are on. [ed: Thanks to several people who have corrected me - I agree, private lists are private to the list curator and are not seen by those listed. My apologies!]

@rjamestaylor home page with count of Lists

When I log into Twitter I can see that I’m currently listed on 89 Lists (see above). I can also see the Lists to which I’m subscribed on the right most column of my Twitter home page.

Lists @rjamestaylor created or follows

Let’s create a list! The screencast below demonstrates creating a new list, adding users to the list, viewing the list and deleting the list. (Tip – watch in full screen mode)

The most obvious benefit of using Twitter Lists is to reduce the clutter in your reviewing of users’ tweets. By segmenting users into lists the “noise” of all the twitter users you follow is drastically reduced. But the game changing value of Twitter Lists is more subtle: following lists others make of interesting users.

Making lists and checking them twice

Since anyone can make lists of any (non-blocking) Twitter users and share these lists with the Twitter public a new way of discovering interesting users has come to Twitter. The impact is this: those users with special knowledge of other Twitter users can group otherwise unidentifiable users into easy to find categories. For example, if you’re interested in venture capitalists, you may have tried to find those VCs on Twitter you know of or can find through searching Twitter profiles for their own self-description as a VC. Yet, you may miss some key VCs without special knowledge. Twitter @Scobleizer probably knows more VCs on Twitter than most and he has faithfully created a list of VCs on Twitter: @Scobleizer/venture-capitalists. Now you can easily follow the thoughts, activities and actions (including locations) of the top venture capitalists on Twitter. Needless to say, finding trends among VCs is significantly easier for all of us due to Twitter Lists.

Let’s take this a step further. Say you are interested in a particular company for reasons such as news reporting, competitive intelligence, investment research, employment research, or even to follow the tweets of your own employees. Previously, finding Twitter users from particular companies relied on the self-reporting of each user. Now those with special knowledge of a company’s staff can make their own lists. So an employee of a company may not realize they have been listed by others as part of their employer’s Twitter users. Impact? Your personal intention to separate business from personal life on Twitter is compromised. More over, those companies that make their own list of employees who tweet make it very easy for the public to learn about the culture, sayings and doings of their employees. By having a public list of employees whether self-made or made by others with special insight, researching a company has been simplified. PR departments may think they control the public perception of the internal nature of their companies but Twitter Lists has busted this wide open.

Previously a Twitter user may have been followed by a handful of others. Such a user may have been careful not to related themselves to their employer but by being listed as an employee of their company they have become a de facto spokesperson on their company’s behalf. This is why I believe Twitter Lists have changed everything about Twitter.

For example, say a company is going into a quiet period required by the SEC. Because of Twitter Lists employees that believe they are speaking independently and privately now may give critical information to investors through tweets like, “Wow – just met our new owners – great company! Can’t wait until I can talk about this!” As part of a List of employees this may be an improper disclosure. This is an extreme example, sure, but a real one that could have employment and legal consequences for the employee.

Example two: an airline is facing inquiries from the FAA over possible maintenance violations. An employee not knowingly aggregated with his employer due to being listed on “Airline-X-engineers” list tweets, “finally the chickens are coming home to roost. Shortcuts we’ve been forced to make are getting exposed.” Oops.

Example three: a utility company suffers a public-affecting outage. Many people are impacted. Phone lines are jammed, customers are hurting. An unwittingly listed employee tweets, “Nothing to do at work so we’re catching up on World of Warcraft.” How do you think customers would react when the PR department releases a statement that everyone is working hard to recover power to each customer? Perhaps the employee works in accounting for the utility and their department really is at a point when the workers are able to catch a break. Think customers will understand that an accountant isn’t going to be manning the cherry pickers? Ouch!

Rethinking Twitter in light of Lists

Twitter has changed, dramatically, with the introduction of Lists. As a long time Twitter user I see that the former semi-anonymity associated with tweeting was seriously compromised by Twitter Search and practically eliminated due to Twitter Lists. I believe we all need to rethink some previously held assumptions about Twitter.

Should I tweet at all?

Previously I encouraged everyone to use Twitter. However now more than ever we must realize that tweeting can affect our personal and professional lives. Those with any concern that their tweets could jeopardize their livelihood should seriously consider not tweeting at all.

Those who continue to tweet need to remember that much is on the line with each tweet. Deleting a tweet is not guaranteed to remove it from the Internet (see: Once Tweeted, Never Deleted). Remembering to ask, “is this hurtful? Is this helpful?” before tweeting is necessary now more than ever.

I’m listed as an employee of my employer, what should I do differently?

First, make sure to carefully follow SEC and company policies with each tweet. Not sure what those rules are? Better read step one above and find out before continuing to tweet.

Second, before tweeting make sure that your company’s customers are not suffering on Twitter. How? Search for your company’s name or brands on Twitter using Twitter search. If your customers are suffering try to reach out to help them or consider not tweeting until the issues are resolved.

Third, remember that your company will be judged in aggregate through the tweets of listed company employees. Proud that your company provides expertise to customers related to technology? How about including relevant links every once in a while, or offering up a simple tip related to some area of your own expertise? That will positively impact not only the public perception of your company but help show you personally are a contributing member of the company to others. Conversely, if your company sells vegan products as its main product offering, tweeting about hunting trips and company outings that include baby backed ribs may have a negative impact on the company and your employment.

If I’m listed without wanting to be, what can I do?

Above I show how to tell whether or not you appear on any lists — check that frequently if you are concerned about which lists you appear. Currently Twitter users can add anyone that is not blocking them to a public or private list of their own choosing. So if you do not want to be on a particular list I recommend first trying to contact the list curator to have you removed. If that does not work, the more extreme step of blocking the list maker will remove you from any list you on which you do not wish to appear. Blocking is considered extreme and even rude, so use this as a last resort.

I want to use this new, powerful research tool – how do I get started?

Due to my concern over the average Twitter user I’ve focused on the worrisome aspects of Lists in this blog post. I care that people not be surprised about the changes to Twitter due to Lists and that’s my main focus here. However, Lists are powerful for reading as well. The best place I’ve found to begin exploring Lists is a third-party website specializing in Lists: listorious.com. On Listorious the top lists and list makers are curated and made searchable. Spend some time there to find lists that interest you. Once you find interesting lists and follow them think of the lists you would like to create and start making your own. Do be polite and sensitive to others that you list. Blocking may be considered rude but adding people to a list they do not want to be on can be hazardous to them, personally.

Filed Under: General, How-to, Tech, emerging media

Personal Paparazzi: Managing Social Media work/life bleed-over

November 13, 2009 By rjamestaylor

Techintwenty.com interviewed me on the topic of managing a work/life balance especially in context of using Social Media in private life and work life. Main takeaway from me: participating in Social Media is opt-in and by doing so we become our own personal paparazzi, exposing ourselves in our private lives.

A special thanks to @epodcaster and @LuisSandovalJr for having me on the program.

Filed Under: General, How-to, emerging media Tagged With: helpful, podcast, privacy, techintwenty, Twitter Lists

Tweeting 201: The Goal of Tweet-ups

October 27, 2009 By rjamestaylor

rjamestaylor said: A tweet-up is an event to have 140 char conversations face to face with expectation that some personal DM’s will follow.

Much has be written and said about “how to tweet” (my favorite being Paula Berg’s advice on how to get started: “Lock yourself in a room with a couple bottles of wine and start doing it” – heard at a private talk she gave in Spring 2009) but not as much on how to “tweet-up”. A tweet-up is a Twitter-oriented / announced meet-up. Pretty simple. It can be announced by something as simple as posting a venue and date to meet or can be organized with fanfare and aplomb, but the purpose is to bring people who otherwise meet by tweet to a face-to-face gathering.

Yet the tweet-up is not the end goal. At a well attended tweet-up there is little time to have in depth conversations or to establish lasting relationships in the usual two hours allotted for such events. What, then, is the goal of the tweet-up? To establish enough of a connection with people of interest to develop lasting, personal connections — real-life “Direct Messages”, if you will.

The rapid pace and brevity of tweet-up conversations are akin to the 140 character conversations held on Twitter itself. Yet, like as on Twitter, people will follow other users met online and then be able to engage in DMs or email exchanges off-line. The tweet-up should be seen as an opportunity to find interesting people to “follow” in real life and have those longer, more intimate personal (or business) discussions. Bring your business cards, mix around the room with people you don’t know and be ready to make new or stronger connections.

With this expectation in mind it’s time to head for the next tweet-up!

Filed Under: General, How-to, emerging media

Once Tweeted, Never Deleted: Your Reputation Online

October 20, 2009 By rjamestaylor

Recently The Official Google Blog posted an article entitled Managing Your Online Reputation Through Search Results. The bullet points are worth repeating:

Think twice
Tackle it at the source
Proactively publish information

While the second and third points are helpful to remove or hide (read: “bury”) already published information, the first point, if followed, will go a long way to avoiding ever needing the other two.

That is, for the main part, your online reputation is up to you. Think twice before posting or replying online.

But, what should one consider prior to making a comment, uploading a picture, giving a shout-out to a buddy, etc., online? First and foremost always remember this maxim:

The Internet Never Forgets

Indexing engines, content scrapers, RSS/ATOM feed readers, etc., mean that once something is available online it generally remains available even if the original source of the posting is removed. In fact, sometimes removing a questionable posting from the source creates more attention to the item than leaving it alone. Ever seen an Outlook user request a recall on an errant email? The resulting “so@so.com wants to recall” message usually guarantees more people will review the original message itself (few email clients respect this “recall” feature). The same attention is garnered by removing posts or entire threads to forums, etc.

One example in particular is Twitter. Posting to Twitter is easy – so easy a person unable to drive due to substance abuse can still “tweet.” Sure, going back the next day and deleting the post may appear to remove the evidence of a wild night from one’s Twitter page, but simply using the http://search.twitter.com page will reveal the errant posts for anyone who is interested. While deleting posts is still recommended on occasions the sad fact is; “Once Tweeted, Never Deleted.” There are even services that will “recover” deleted tweets from any Twitter user – example: http://tweleted.com/ [rjt: now defunct, see below].

Update: According to TechCrunch as of 10/24/2009 Twitter now removes deleted tweets from the search results as well as a users tweet stream. However, the fact remains that any service that automatically collects tweets and stores them outside of Twitter’s control may still be able to reproduce “deleted” tweets. ALWAYS act under the assumption that what you post in a public forum will remain publicly available.

Before posting, keeping the above in mind, there are two other questions you should ask yourself. These two were suggested to me by Rob La Gesse and I’ve come to treasure their simplicity and profundity:

Q: Is it hurtful?

We’ve all seen it – flamewars over operating systems, programming languages or other religious matters. Debates that spin wildly out of control enhanced by the apparent anonymity of the Internet. But this is only one obvious form of “hurtful.’ Other more serious hurtful examples include:

violations of SEC disclosure/insider trading regulations,
corporate trade secrets,
items under NDA,
violations of employee privacy (such as compensation, HR issues, health information)

But moreover there are hurtful things that may be less obvious. For example, when a competitor is experiencing a service failure there’s a tendency to say, “Woo hoo! XYZ Co. blew it!” Sometimes co-workers even say something about this to each other, privately. But posted publicly it hurts. First, it creates a negative reaction from third party observers: it’s just flat-out ugly. Like cheering when an opposing team loses a player due to injury: revolting. Second, “Pride comes before a fall”: cheer when XZY Co. suffers failure *only* if you’re positive you’ll never suffer a failure yourself. People will remember the hubris and use it against you when the stars misalign over you.

For a real-world case study showing the harm that can come from gloating over a competitor’s misstep read this blog post by Shel Israel regarding Rackspace, OnlineTech and ServInt. As a bonus it shows what can be gained by correctly maneuvering these two questions for one’s own benefit.

Other examples include mixing personal opinions with official company positions. Now, not many of us think we might do this, but by announcing publicly one is an employee of ABC Company that one takes on added scrutiny of his or her online activities. Have a company twibbon? Your 2 AM tweets about being inebriated are branded with your company. That’s hurtful to more than just you: now your reputation is tied to your company’s as well. Unfair? Sure! But this is an opt-in problem: when in doubt, don’t link personal life and work.

Bottom line: if it’s hurtful, it’s not helpful and should probably not be posted publicly.

Q: Is it helpful?

This question goes to the heart of managing your online reputation. If others find you as a resource of helpful information, whether technical, inspirational, educational, or even entertainment, your reputation online will grow in positive ways. Think in this way: what reputation do I want to have online? Then work towards creating that reputation with your actions.

A great example of one creating a helpful reputation is Major Hayden, AKA RackerHacker. Sure, he, I and others get into silly #YELLING fits at times on Twitter, but generally Major’s reputation is set by the excellent work he does with his blog, RackerHacker.com, and his frequent linking to helpful information via his Twitter account. He manages to be himself (Chinchillas!) yet present information people technically inclined tend to respect. His work on mysqltuner.pl helps to give credence to his helpful persona. It’s who he is and what he does.

So, avoid the call from a lawyer demanding you to remove a public disclosure faux pax by remembering: Is it hurtful? Is it helpful? We’ll all be the better for it.

Filed Under: General, How-to, Web, emerging media

R James Taylor