Turning News Into Knowledge

LinkedIn announced a partnership with Twitter on Nov. 9  allowing LinkedIn users to Tweet status updates from LinkedIn and vice versa by including a #li or #in hashtag in updates.

The announcement spread quickly across the Twittersphere after Mashable blogged about it the same day. LinkedIn and Twitter users around the world were fast to jump in and try it out, many of whom merely announced that their updates were now posting to both Twitter and LinkedIn. In fact 23.3% of tweets from our sample in the first couple of days did just that.

After two weeks, it seems the use of #li and #in has dropped to less than 10% of the activity in the initial 2 days after the launch.

More interesting facts:

• Realtors and recruiting “tweeters” were fast to make use of the tags.  4 of the top 5 handles (@hrdadgar, @ZuluJobsIN, @linkedin_jobs and @hotcandidates) posted 31.6% of tweets using the new tags, @hrdadger posted 26.7% of all tweets alone!

• #in seemed to be the preferred tag, with #li being used in only 9.2% of LinkedIn tweets.

• Of the top 10 URLs used in these updates, 75% linked to the announcement about the LinkedIn Twitter partnership

While the partnership may have been a strategic business move for two of the top social networks, the lack of uptake by users might deem this initiative a #fail.

This is a quick look at emerging patterns on Twitter. After three-months, MediaMiser will do a full analysis on multiple news sources. Stay Tuned!

Please take this post with a grain of salt. However, this has been a really weird week in both the world of sports and the Twittosphere.

This week, we had cases of politicians and public figures tweeting stuff they shouldn’t, which of course made it to the mainstream press, making the person who made the inappropriate tweet look foolish and requiring them to make an apology.

In the world of sports, the FIFA World Cup (Soccer/Football) is reeling from an extremely contentious goal scored by the French National team over Ireland, knocking the Irish out of the upcoming World Cup in South Africa.

So, what do these two things have in common? Well today, Thierry Henry, the French player who passed the ball with his hand (which should have negated the goal, sending Ireland to the World Cup) was reported by the Telegraph to have apologized on Twitter. You can see his apology on his Twitter page.

Now, I’m not saying it was inappropriate of Henry to say he’s sorry on Twitter. In fact, I believe this is a very good forum to do so, and many politicians and public figures may want to take note. That said, for the mainstream media reporting on Tweets of this nature, let’s be honest, it’s made for an interesting and very weird week.

Therefore, in the spirit of this very weird week, I suggest we develop a terminology for issuing apologies on Twitter.

I went to a Twitter glossary and found terminology for almost everything, except an apology. Since Twitter is now broadcasting apologies and, in many cases, is creating reasons for people (or tweeple) to apologize, we need a Twitter term for an apology.

Do you have a suggestion? Leave a comment below…

Resources:

• Nearly a third of the members of Parliament are on Twitter bandwagon (Canadian Press)
• MP tweets herself into hot water (Sun media)
• Halak agent faces Twitter backlash (CBC)
• Thierry Henry apologises for handball on Twitter (Telegraph)
• Thierry Henry’s Twitter page
• Twitter Glossary

Being the CTO (Chief Technology Officer) at MediaMiser, I’m constantly having to prioritize projects. Developing a successful application is about solving real problems and constantly being weary of cool ideas that add no value.

MediaMiser has been successful, in part because we’ve avoided features that add no value to our customers — features that are more cool than useful.

That said, six months ago we had to make a decision on whether or not to leverage Twitter content. The hard questions were asked:

• Was Twitter a flash in the pan, or is it here to stay?
• Does Twitter provide real value, or is it a forum for vacuous banter?

To figure that out, I had to experience Twitter first hand. I had to become Jane Goodall living with the apes — hence my user handle icon.

I registered myself on Twitter and decided to act like a good monkey and play nice with the locals.

What I found is that Twitter has real value and fills a void that other social media have problems addressing. Soon after, we started developing processes for collecting and analyzing twitter content in the MediaMiser platform.

What communication problem does Twitter solve?

Many refer to Twitter as a micro-blog. Twitter has a text limit of 140 characters–imposed so that Twitter could be made compatible with SMS messaging on cell phones.

That said, cell phone compatibility is not the only value of Twitter. Twitter has developed into a communications platform that addresses many different issues more efficiently than other media.

Blogging alternative

Blogs are a great way to share and broadcast information. However, maintaining a blog can be a challenge for the average person and many times people have only a little bit to say. The 140 character limitation of Twitter provides a less formal and time-consuming medium for the self-conscientious writer to update the public.

Many business professionals are turning to Twitter because it’s less time consuming than a blog. Blogs have to be well-thought out (especially for executives) and, in many cases, executives don’t have the time. Transparency, however, is important in maintaining the trust of staff and clients.

An easy to use two-way RSS feed

RSS feeds are an excellent way of providing and consuming news information. Many people use RSS feeds to keep up with techniques specific to their professional field or areas of interest. RSS feeds, however,  don’t allow for instant and two-way communications.  Twitter does.

Sharing news

Whether it’s from your website, blog,  or a news site, Twitter provides an excellent forum for re-broadcasting or sharing news information.

Forum for Corporate and Consumer related issues

Twitter offers consumers a forum for elliciting product information or providing both positive and negative feedback on products or services.  Conversely, Twitter also provides companies and organizations a mechanism to respond quickly to issues and get feedback to improve their company or organization. At the same time, companies and organizations can demonstrate and project transparency to the public, which evokes trust.

Networking and facilitating business

Twitter provides a platform for people to foster relationships and businesses to promote their brand through simply having a Twitter presence. Also, as mentioned before, Twitter also allows companies and organizations to broadcast news.

Many journalists and opinion leaders are also using Twitter to cross-promote themselves. In many cases, journalists will leak information on Twitter to create a buzz or communicate live events. During the 2009 NHL entry draft, I followed Darren Dregger and received news and draft information before it was officially published on the TSN web site.

Furthermore, using the courts, a law firm attempted to prevent a British daily newspaper from reporting a question in the British Parliament. However, outrage ensued on Twitter and other social media. The publication ban was later rescinded, partly because of the outrage on Twitter and partly because of the realization that even if there was a ban, there was no way of censoring Twitter.

Final thoughts

By leveraging the Twitter information within MediaMiser, we were able to perform competitive analysis and issues management, and identify pending issues for our clients, etc…  However, most interestingly, we were also able to correlate news information and measure the viral effect of a news story. We successfully demonstrated  the viral relationship between traditional and social media by analyzing the United Breaks Guitars issue.

Will Twitter continue to be an important communications tool? Only time will tell. It’s possible it could be displaced by a newer medium that more effectively addresses the same issues as Twitter.

That said, even media that Twitter has supplanted have not disappeared, and the same will probably be said of Twitter when other new media emerge.

One of the great dangers of social media is not saying too little, but saying too much.

Being a decision-maker and founder at MediaMiser, not only do I have intimate knowledge of where my company is going, but I also feel I have intimate knowledge of where the industry is going.

MediaMiser has a lot of credibility in its space and that opens the door to many different relationships. Plus, since a lot of my time revolves around technology and the operation of my company, I’m exposed to many leading-edge concepts.

There is so much I would love to communicate, but can’t. If I did, I could alienate partners and clients, and provide our competition with an edge.

This should not be just my dilemma, this should be everyone’s.  “Keep your cards close to your chest!”

So the question is, how do you give back and provide value so you are relevant?

The answer is there is no right answer.

It’s a tight rope walk that you need to struggle with and there maybe times where you make a mistake.  Hopefully, it’s not a big one. Keep in mind, when you say too much, you are not just hurting yourself, you could be hurting coworkers, partners, investors, etc.

Tips to avoid saying too much:

1. Don’t get emotional and always keep your ego in check: This is tough, especially if you are naturally competitive like most entrepreneurial people are.
2. Think of the consequences of communicating something and remember you can’t take it back.
3. Try to vet your information through someone else, especially if you are unsure. I personally do this a lot. It is not a weakness to know your limitations.
4. Provide a reason ‘why’ or an objective to posting information. If you can’t answer why, maybe it’s not a good idea. Warning: if you have a reason, make sure it doesn’t conflict with point 1, ‘don’t get emotional’. Some ideas seem good at first. Also, when justifying something, deploy point 3.
5. Wait a day before communicating something. This helps flush out ideas based on pure emotion.
6. Have a clear idea what your target medium is designed for. This may also aid in preventing abuse.
7. Develop a social media usage policy for your organization.
8. Develop internal social media networks. This has the potential of also creating a new set of problems, but at least in theory the damage will be limited internally. This also allows people to get familiar with social media. Practice makes perfect.

These tips aren’t designed to remove spontaneity or to stifle creativity.  However, it may be a side effect. This is why I wrote, “it’s a tight rope walk.”