The truth about twitter, tweets and trends

Try saying the post heading three times fast!

Let me first point out that I am a very recent member of the twitter universe or ‘twitterverse’, and as a new recruit I've come to the realization that trying to figure out what works with twitter, and what doesn't, requires full-time commitment. I'll also add that becoming an active tweeter has, dare I say it, changed me into 'THAT' guy, you know the one - you wake up and the first thing you do is turn on your phone to find out the latest tweet or trend? It's part fun, part frightening - at least in my eyes, to know that I'm enjoying an app that actually has a legitimate use and not something that promises to be something it isn't.

As a new 'twidiot', the more I've researched about twitter, the more fascinating I find it, particularly from a strategic perspective. Ok, so you may not be as enamoured of twitter as say, me, and you might have trouble believing it's here to stay. If so, then check out these figures for typical week of tweeting:


Now in case you're wondering, that number for Wednesday would be 669,000 tweets. For that day alone! Are your eyes opened a bit wider now? These numbers are courtesy of tweetstats. For some really great additional information on tweeting and trends from a statistical viewpoint, check out this site as well.

The above sites and numbers can provide you with a fairly good grasp of the power of twitter. Now think of what it can do as a vehicle for messaging. Many organizations and companies are using twitter for exactly that purpose, through twitter-promoted accounts, tweets, and trends.

One of the biggest single goals for any organization is to increase their market size. Twitter promoted accounts are one way to accomplish this while going a step further - by isolating audiences into precise segments, providing the ability to deliver messages in a much more targeted way. You won't realize the value of promoted accounts unless you are an active member of twitter. One of the main features of the promoted account is that twitter will attempt to match your account/followers, with similar accounts you may have missed. This is a beneficial feature, especially when it comes to creating targeted messages.

Twitter trends are lists of topics that are considered to be 'hot', or the most popular in twitterverse. If your organization decides to invest in a twitter-promoted trend, you are guaranteed that your 'topic' will remain at the top of the list for the duration of the day. There is no confusing a promoted trend from regular trending topic, because they are clearly marked with a yellow arrow, plus the word 'promoted', is printed beside the topic word. Sort of looks like this (courtesy of American Express):

As we all know, nothing in social media is ever 'free'. There is and always will be a cost somewhere, and these twitter-based promotional vehicles are no exception. So what is the price point organizations will be required to pay in order to be 'top of the heap', so to speak? Promoted accounts are based on ‘cost per follower’ (CPF) basis i.e., you pay twitter only if someone follows you. The minimum CPF charge is fifty cents to approximately two dollars. So this means your organization will be charged by twitter for whoever decides to follow you, which could turn out to be a very lucrative investment or a somewhat pricey endeavour, depending on how many people choose to follow you. For promotional tweets, you can expect to pay anywhere between 50 cents and five dollars for each promoted tweet, and to remain at the top of the trending cycle for a full day, it will run you about $125,000 (US). In Canada we seem to be cheaper at $45,000. Considering what advertising usually cost for other mediums i.e. TV, radio and print, $125,000 for the potential to reach millions of impressionable minds is absolute peanuts to a large organization. Smaller companies may or will have issues justifying the cost.

Clearly I'm on board with all of this, especially from a pr perspective. Even if I was representing a small organization, despite the prohibitive costs I would find a way to utilize this medium. I know that at the end of the day the number of impressions you make on twitter aren't quite the same as actually getting people to purchase your product or utilize your services, but grabbing attention (positively) and dare I say it, controlling the conversation is exactly what we, as pr practitioners, are paid to do. There is a future in twitter based promotions and we, in pubic relations, should be all over it!

Adventures in foursquare and QR codes

This week we were asked to check out foursquare and QR codes, and provide some insight as to whether these social media applications (apps) would be beneficial for public relations practitioners.

Foursquare is a location based application that was created in 2009. My understanding of the app is that users are asked to 'check-in' to venues, be it a bakery, yoga studio, what have you, and send a message via text or mobile device to friends on your list, that you are there. Users can earn points, badges, earn status labels, or even become 'mayor' of a venue simply by checking in numerous times to the same venue. Businesses offer specials or discounts as an incentive to entice new customers, and retain regular ones. I personally think it's a loyalty program disguised as a fun app for friends to exchange information, but it apparently works wonders for businesses (if enough people positively identify your venue, and it in turn attracts a significant amount of traffic to your location).



Since it's been around for a few years now, I feel like I've joined a party about halfway towards the end, but better late than never right? I do see the huge public relations potential with foursquare, what it can do for business, and how it can attract and retain customers. The resulting exposure can be extremely beneficial, especially if you view it from a smaller town perspective (where I currently live). Obviously in large urban centres there will be a lot more choices, which means a lot more information, not too mention intense competition for users and 'check-in's. But, I think foursquare could be perfect for venues in smaller places that are trying to build a business, and simply get their name out there.

As for Quick Response (QR) codes, I can definitely see how it could be put to amazing use from a pr perspective. QR codes are basically barcodes that can be scanned by your smartphone, which in turn uploads information to your phone. Last week in class it was mentioned that at a special event, t-shirts were made with QR codes for the participants. Once you scan the shirt with your smartphone, up pops information about the person. I LOVED that idea. I was also thinking that since I come from a food industry background, QR codes would work exceptionally well in making food labels an easy to read experience for consumers. Consumers always want to know where their food is being made, when, and what ingredients are being used. QR codes on meat, dairy, vegetables, fruit, all manner of food products could be revolutionary, providing up to the minute information. This is real-time transparency that the food industry may be reluctant to embrace at first, but could turn out to be an excellent pr opportunity for both the practitioner and the industry. Hey maybe that could be my job one day?

Look what I created!!

I know, it's really simple and I'm getting overly excited about it, but I would never have known how to do this had I not taken this class (special thanks to Jonathan Laba for the instructions)!

Thinking out loud: a guest lecture commentary

We were lucky yesterday to have guest lecturer Jonathan Laba discuss the many exciting new projects in social media that are coming our way. He talked about location aware applications -- which ones are on the way up, and which ones won't last (hello Foursquare!). He discussed augmented reality, a mind boggling concept that is pretty cool once you get past the code speak. These were great topics, but it was the upcoming projects and products that really caught my attention. One in particular, was the new Google glasses click here for more info .

These glasses work like a visor, and are equipped with a mini camera embedded in the lens so you can film anywhere, anytime, anyplace. You are basically a 24 hour walking camera. I personally think the concept is cool, but the glasses themselves are hideous. It's akin to putting a jockstrap on your head! Google was smart by trying (with clear emphasis on the ‘trying’ part) to lift the image of the glasses, by placing them on models and celebrities:



See? On them it looks great (sort of). Angles and proper lighting, not to mention a pretty face can make anything look good, but lets be fair here. Models and celebrities won't be the ones wearing them: WE will. This is how they really look on ordinary people - check out Sergey Brin, founder of Google. Do you think the glasses look good on him?

Aesthetics aside, the bigger question for me was what effect this product would have on our roles as pr practitioners. When the question was posed to Jonathan, he, like most techie developers, only saw and focused on the big, bright future which was fine, but it made me wonder if he thinks or had thought about the potential negative consequences of the glasses. Believe me, my classmates did and brought up some pretty serious concerns, which was met with an almost detached, mostly confused reaction from Jonathan. It’s like he couldn’t quite believe that these concerns were concerns. We know that social media has already completely changed the way people connect with one another, and has changed the way pr practitioners do their job. This product in particular, really looks like it has the potential to have a more serious impact, both positively and negatively, on the social media landscape and people in general. I hate being a Debbie downer, but as communicators we have every right to explore and even ask uncomfortable questions regarding the impact of social media platforms; what will work for us, how the product may work against us, and what really is or isn’t necessary for us to perform our duties effectively. Google glasses definitely raised my concerned antenna simply for all the reason any new social media product would.

This was a great lecture overall. It’s always interesting to see what concepts and products are created in the social media world, but it’s infinitely more interesting to witness peoples reaction to them.

You are part of us now...

Pretty ominous heading isn’t it -- sounds like we’re being attacked by The Borg. Now I know I lost about half of you there with the nerdy Star Trek reference, but the point of the heading is that whether we like it or not, the social web has caught us, and has no intention of letting go anytime soon. Social web platforms, specifically designed for ongoing online interactions including YouTube and Skype, are becoming a regular part of our daily lives, whether it’s work or recreational related. Unless you're super web savvy, keeping up with the constant changes can sometimes make you feel like this:

(pictures courtesy of istockphoto.com)

Whatever your feelings are regarding the social web, it’s here to stay. I know that last bit of news would make most of my fellow Canadians pretty happy, because we really like to be connected. Recent statistics have shown that Canadians run the world in online social activity. A quick classroom poll showed that about 90 per cent of my classmates have a Facebook page. Not all social platforms, however, are created equal. Check this out for an interesting look at a few social platform meltdowns and failures.

Businesses are now understanding the benefits of joining websites like LinkedIn or Foursquare. Not only is it good business sense in today’s world, but the social web also:
a) Provides a huge forum to promote and measure/track reactions to services or products, and;
b) Enables businesses to network, as well as establish and strengthen customer relationships.

Public relations practitioners know that the social web has forever changed the way communications are performed. Thanks to social platforms like Twitter, situations that once took a few hours to be noticed are now instantaneously captured and transmitted virally within seconds. As a result, public relations practitioners have been forced to play catch-up, becoming much more reactionary with shorter, tighter, response times to events. The flipside of this are the pr practitioners who are well versed in social web training, and are rewarded accordingly for staying on top of trends and situations. The public relations world is realizing that this is the future for communications, but a question remains: are public relations practitioners as vigilant as they’d like to be in keeping up with the ever shifting social web world?