Social Media Butterfly

Twhirl-Like Application Coming Soon for FriendFeed

Posted by Nathania Johnson

FriendFeed opened up its API and already there is a desktop application to get excited about. According to TechCrunch, Howard Baines is in the process of developing Alert Thingy. As you can tell, the image to the left indicates that Alert Thingy could be FriendFeed’s Twhirl equivalent.

I love that it’s called Alert Thingy. Social media really thrives on transparency and what better way to name a FriendFeed client than this!

I’m particularly happy to see a search feature, as I feel that’s where the true power of FriendFeed lies. It will be interesting to see what the settings will be. I’d like to be able to track keywords or brands in order to empower online reputation management.

Also, if you can Tweet directly from Alert Thingy, what will be the implications for Twhirl and other Twitter clients? Could it be that Alert Thingy will be a Twhirl killer?

I think it will depend on how most people will use FriendFeed. Watching all of the updates from all of your friends on FriendFeed can be overwhelming. And if you just use AlertThingy for Twitter, it will likely have to offer something more than Twhirl currently does.

Perhaps, the best use will be to watch everything BUT Twitter. If so, it may give a boost to social media sites that may be a little neglected since the Twitter craze took over.

I guess we’ll have to wait until Alert Thingy and the inevitable other FriendFeed applications are released to the public. I know we’ll all be keeping a close eye on these cool apps to come.

Blog Carolinas Scheduled for Friday, May 9, 2008

Posted by Nathania Johnson

A FREE one-day blogging conference, Blog Carolina, will be held in Research Triangle Park, NC (Raleigh-Durham area) on Friday, May 9, 2008. If you can be there, I recommend that you attend. Even if it’s just to meet yours truly

If you’re on Twitter, it’s recommended that you sign up as a “Twitterer” instead of attendee because “Updates and logistics about the event will be tweeted by @blogcarolinas. You will be asked to spread the word to the folks in your immediate vicinity.”

Pretty cool. I better get a phone that’s better suited for Tweeting than my Motorola Razr (or just take my laptop!). The agenda will feature “central gatherings” for everyone in attendance as well as seminars broken down by topic and time. Here are those sessions:

Tracks	Marketing & Communications Conf Rm A	Community Enterprise Conf Rm C	Learning Lab Conf Rm E	Geek Conversations Conf Rm D
9:00 Sessions	On-Line Reputation	Talent	Blogging	Privacy and Identity
10:15 Sessions	Distributed Brand	Enterprise 2.0	Twitter	Legal Issues
11:30 Sessions	Engaging the Customer	Culture Shift	In-Line Video	SEO
1:30 Sessions	PR & Social Media	Project Management	Social Networks	Data Portability
2:45 Sessions	Monitoring & Measurement	Customer Service	Podcasting	Mashups

Needless to say, there’ll be a whole lotta blogging going on. I’m sure there will be much to discuss on this blog as a result of going to this mini-conference. Stay tuned!

Good Read: Rachel Happe’s Big List of Social Media Metrics

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Rachel Happe has compiled a thorough list of data points for measuring Social Media. Thank goodness for people like Rachel who won’t take the measurement battle sitting down!

How Twitter Helped Me Get 3 Solid Job Offers

Posted by Nathania Johnson

In early February, I found out my contract at an online marketing firm was ending at the end of the month. I immediately Tweeted my availability for a new gig. Within 24 hours, I had 3 solid job leads, all of which eventually turned into fantastic offers.

I’m not used to this. I’ve been unemployed something like 4 times in my life. I was having fun living in the DC area when unemployment struck one year. I applied to 100 jobs, went to several interviews and a good number of second interviews. I made it into the top 2-3 candidates for many jobs, but never got the offer.

I ended up moving home to NC and living with my parents at the humbling age of 27. I took a job at a nonprofit, only to be caught up in layoffs yet again six months later.

Thankfully unemployment only lasted 1 month that time, as I found work at an SEO firm as a copywriter. I took a $5,000 a year salary cut, but I had wanted to be a web content writer for so long (I didn’t know anything about SEO until this job, so I wasn’t searching properly).

Something about writing for the staff blog caught hold of me. I had this undeniable knack for blogging and social media. I was doing social media efforts via volunteering my marketing skills for nonprofits - before I even knew it was called social media.

Blogging at the seo firm and subsequently at the online marketing firm started to help raise my profile. Things weren’t clicking for me at the online marketing place, and I often wondered if I was desirable to other companies.

When my contract was terminated, I had my chance to find out. Like I said, with just one tweet on a given Tuesday, I ended up with three job offers. What if I had tweeted more often? I’m glad I didn’t. Choosing among good job offers is hard enough and Twitter wasn’t my only source of job leads.

But let’s be clear - the only reason I ended up having such success with Twitter was because I used the tool to network and to try and offer something of value. If I only Tweeted what I was doing (i.e. “having coffee” or “petting my cat”), then I don’t think I would have had any interest.

I used Twitter in a way that showed that I understand SEO, social media, and online marketing. And because of that, others had confidence in me in a way where I became hire-worthy.

I hope this post didn’t come across as arrogant. I hope some of you are able to use this to help empower your networking and your Twittering. Get out of a crappy job or get more freelancing gigs! Whatever your goal is, I know that social media can help you do it. And Twitter is a great place to start.

Welcome, Copyblogger Readers!

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Today, I had a guest post on Copyblogger about maximizing your Twitter use. I am a Twitter fanatic. It is my absolute favorite social media tool (with StumbleUpon being a close second).

Please feel free to comment on posts or contact me as well as subscribe to my RSS feed. And of course, follow me on Twitter @nlj.

The Jonas Brothers Pre-Sale Ticketing Disaster

Posted by Nathania Johnson

UPDATE: The Jonas Brothers Fan Club sent an email to members saying they will refund one membership if you buy the Team Jonas Bundle on Ticketmaster. This is great - and surprising - customer service. The email suggested waiting until after 3pm today to make your request to the fan club.

After enduring the fiasco that was securing face-value Hannah Montana tickets, I thought I knew what I was in for when ordering Jonas Brothers tickets for my daughter and I this morning. But apparently someone decided that the Jonas Brothers would do their fan club presales differently. And they took a broken system and broke it even more.

Instead of releasing the passcode ahead of time to fan club members, they decided to require fans to sign into the Jonas Brothers fan club site at the time of pre-sale in order to obtain the passcode.

But the Jonas Brothers site is not used to the kind of traffic that, say, Ticketmaster is.

So when it came time to release the passcode to the masses, the inevitable website issues arose. And wow, were they severe.

10:17 am I finally get to the passcode landing page. And when I got there it was blank.

I kept trying the page to no avail.

I’ve been trying to access the page via FF and IE to see if one browser was faster. But then I decide to close down to just one browser in case they had Ticketmaster-like rules about trying to access info via more than one browser (not allowed on Tmaster).

10:30 am ish I do a search on Tweetscan to see if anyone is tweeting about Jonas Brothers ticket problems. I click on a link from @sxypanda and get Rick Rolled. This completely hijacks my Firefox browser - all three windows and all of their tabs. I have to use Task Manager to shut them all down. I’m worried that I’ve lost some place in “line” on the Jonas Brothers site.

If I had only noticed that the tweet had been posted 5 hours later, I could have avoided the Rick Roll in the first place. (Don’t go to that TinyURL unless you’re in the mood for some serious Rick Astley!)

11am The Team Jonas Bundles go on sale on Ticketmaster. The bundle allows you to purchase a fan club membership and tickets at the same time. I assumed that tickets would get snatched up so I buy another fan club membership along with tickets.

I search multiple venues to see if and when Team Jonas brothers will sell out. Tickets seem to be widely available. Also, I could have gotten seats 2 rows closer. So much for “Best Available.” And so much for the need for all these secure measures.

12:12pm I finally reached a live pre-sale passcode landing page. I was denied the passcode due to reaching my pre-sale purchase limit, which allows just 1 pre-sale purchase city per tour, apparently.

This is potentially good news. If they can link my Ticketmaster account to my Jonas Brothers fan club account (via credit card matching), then hopefully I will only get charged for the one fan club membership.

On the flip side, the system could still be broken.

12:14pm I click through to view My Tickets. I get a page that announces the site is experiencing High Traffic. No kidding. Why didn’t they have this page available earlier? Better yet, why weren’t they better prepared for the madness?

12:40pm I’ve received multiple high traffic pages on my way to get back to my account information. I’m simply trying to confirm whether or not the Team Jonas Bundle was realized by JB Fan Club or if I could get the passcode and see if I can get better seats.

12:44pm Http 1.1 service unavailable error

12:56pm I’m finally back on the Jonas Bros Fan Club ticketing page again. Long time no see. I click my city in hopes to get the passcode.

1:04pm I’m rerouted back to the pre-sale landing page.

1:12pm I once again get a page informing me that I’ve exceeded my limit. This time I try clicking the passcode and details link (previously, I clicked the “My Tickets” link). I FINALLY HAVE THE PASSCODE. I enter it in Ticketmaster and am able to get tickets. But the ones I’ve already bought are better.

I’ll wait until later to see how accommodating the Fan Club will be in combining what is now 2 fan club memberships.

Now, if you’ll excuse me, I’m going to go order a Transformers birthday cake for my son.

John Mayer Clears the Air About Clearing the Air

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Recently, the New York Post’s Page Six gossip column alleged that John Mayer Googles himself every morning and even - gasp - responds to criticism online.

John Mayer, ever the jokester, responded to the criticism on his blog, saying it simply wasn’t true.

Mayer’s humor hides whether or not he the accusation is true. I suspect it is not, as any self-respecting geek would have a Google Alert set up with their name, which would include News and BlogSearch results, as regular search results would be largely static over time.

But the so-called writers at Page Six should look into a little thing called Online Reputation Management. It’s where individuals and companies keep an eye on the web for rumors or negative items that may hurt their business. And when your name represents millions of dollars, not to mention jobs for other people, I think it prudent for John Mayer types to be concerned, to a degree, with what is said about their name and their craft.

Though, if I were that famous I might outsource to a publicist, which I’m sure Mayer has.

True fans of Mayer know he possesses his voracious sense of humor, which is displayed in his quirky blog posts. I suspect that any vanity searches provide fodder for his hilarious ripostes, something we’ll never get from tabloids like Page Six.

The One Thing Starbucks Needs to Do to Win Back Customers

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Photo attributable to scottfeldstein

Starbucks has outlined a 5 point plan to bring customers back to stores of the Seattle-based coffee company. But new espresso machines, a new coffee blend, and loyalty rewards will not lead customers back in droves.

The one thing that Starbucks has to do to bring back customers is….(drum roll please)…

FREE WIFI

In February, Starbucks announced that it would be updating its WiFi offering. They’re switching from Tmobile to AT&T. Some people will get free wifi as a result. Those who possess a Starbucks card will get 2 free hours of Wifi a day (and then it’s $3.99 an hour). AT&T broadband and U-verse customers will get unlimited free wifi.

That’s nice, but it’s not enough. I can go to Panera Bread, Caribou Coffee or any number of local independent coffee shops to get free wifi.

What Starbucks offers that these other shops doesn’t is convenience due to its many locations. But in the shopping area closest to me, there is a Panera, Caribou Coffee, and Camille’s Sidewalk Cafe that offer free wifi while Starbucks doesn’t.

If I want to head downtown, the options increase. All of the alternatives offers good coffee, and I don’t think Starbucks can come up with a blend powerful enough for me to interrupt my productivity to enjoy.

Having said that, I have gone to Starbucks twice this week. I’m not anti-Starbucks. I do like their coffee. But they have certainly lost a good portion of my business when I need a wifi coffee shop.

Paull Young from Converseon on Fox Business, Offers Spot-On Advice

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Paull Young from Converseon appeared on Fox Business’ Happy Hour show today. He chatted with the lovely Rebecca Gomez about how companies can advertise in Social Media marketing and advertising.

He offered up a piece of advice which I 100% support: When you look into social media advertising, listen to your space first!

Find out where your target audience is and advertise there. Don’t just go to MySpace, Second Life or Facebook because you’ve heard a lot of hype about it.

And I’ll add something else: Don’t just copy what your competitors are doing! You have to look at your customers and your company’s capabilities in executing a social media campaign.

Social media is an exciting place for companies to engage in a variety of promotional campaigns (word of mouth, conversation marketing, branding, etc.) But its fast paced can often lead people to fly straight past strategic planning. Before you enter in the unfamiliar territory, know what you’re getting yourself into.

Ask questions about social media advertising by leaving a comment or contacting me!

Test-Driving Flock, The Social Media Web Browser

Posted by Nathania Johnson

Last week, I was alerted via Twitter to Flock, the new Firefox-based web browser designed with social media enthusiasts in mind. I have to say I am very impressed with all that Flock attempts to do. (post continues after the picture)

It aggregates information from your big social media accounts and displays it in various ways (primarily through a very dynamic and interactive sidebar). But unlike many social aggregators, Flock offers the ability to publish to most of these sites from its browser interface, as opposed to visiting various websites or publishing clients.

My favorite feature is the Web Clipboard. You can literally drag and drop the tab of a site or image you want to remember later over to the clipboard. You can then keep those clips organized by folder. For example, I have a folder to keep social media news I want to reference for this site later.

Another fantastic feature is blog publishing. If you think ScribeFire is easy, then you’ll love the built-in blog publisher that comes with Flock. It’s really like composing an email, and you can set it up to work with multiple blogs. You can use images from your web clipboard or your media bar (where you can grab Flickr and Picasa files). It truly redefines easy.

However, I haven’t become a full-time Flock convert yet. The site is a bit slow, which might be due to some of the plugins I needed to install, but I need the StumbleUpon toolbar, for example, if I’m going to keep up with my social media activities. The slowness comes when I try to type an email. Also, Twitter isn’t displayed in real time, so I reverted back to receiving updates through Google Talk.

The Facebook updates only include the “What are you doing right now?” feature, which you’re probably getting on Twitter anyway. It would be more useful to have notifications and inbox alerts.

And I couldn’t give up Google Reader for the RSS reader in Flock. Google Reader is super-easy to skim. For some reason, Flock marks posts as read before I even read them, and if you want to read full feed, it makes all the posts full - not just the one you’ve selected.

My last criticism involves the design. The tabs and toolbars look bulky, giving the impression that you’re viewing a smaller window than in Firefox, when in reality, it just takes up the same amount of space at the top. I was already losing real space to the sidebar (which is collapsible), so the appearance of losing more was a bit uncomfortable - even if it does have a 2.0 look. Perhaps the development of themes could help with this.

Still, I think Flock is off to a great start. With a few improvements, I could absolutely see myself switching over to Flock full time. I’m keeping my eye on it, and so should you.

Have you tried Flock? What do you think?

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