I have contributed to a really cool project that is being led to help the Susan G. Komen Foundation called the Project 100.  This is a book that is being written by 100 great social media minds and people that understand social media marketing.  The name of the book is going to be: Connect!  Marketing in the Social Media Era

I am embedding a Slideshare presentation as a teaser as what is to come.  I wanted to thank Jeff Caswell for the opportuynity for helping a great cause. You can get more information on the book and what is being done at The Project 100 site.

Tags: Project 100, Susan G. Komen Foundation, Social Media, Social Media Marketing, Jeff Caswell

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I have been meaning to write this post for some time and continue to get sidetracked and have my ADD kick in which keeps me from writing (oh look something shiny). It wasn’t until Guy Kawasaki recently wrote a post on Twitter as a business tool or as he refers to it a Twool, that i decided I had to finally get words to a page.

I am referring to Guy’s post of a few days ago called “How To Use Twitter As A Twool.” I had to look twice to see if he spelled that correctly. Normally I do not disagree with Guy. He has about twice the brain power I have and it shows in his success and frankly his bank account. When he speaks people really do tune in and listen to his advice. He is one of the leaders in the world of tech and social media which is why I don’t often disagree with his blog posts. In this instance however, I have to say I think he misses the mark on a couple of things. Not because Twitter should not be used in business as part of your online social media arsenal, but because his advice comes from on high and not down in the trenches.

Guy has paid his dues early and has worked hard to garner the celebrity status he has today. He has launched a few online things that take off immediately just because it has his name attached to it. Some of his things are not too popular as in Truemors, but other things he has are quite cool and do well such as Alltop. I needed to preface my post with all of this because I have seen companies like Guy’s try to launch and get attention and hit below the mark. His companies get instant saturation because he is in the cool kids group. I struggle to help some companies not in the cool kids group get the traction they deserve and help with with the use of tools just like Twitter, which brings us full circle to my point (we had to get there sooner or later).

Guy provides 10 ways to use twitter as a business tool and I agree with nearly all of the points made but I wanted to clarify the point or flat out tell Guy he is wrong. The first of his 10 tips caught my attention immediately:

1. Forget the “influentials.” You must buy into the theory that products and services reach critical mass because mere mortals spread the word for you. This defies the common wisdom that a handful of “influentials” shape what the rest of us try and what we adopt. In the online world, these influentials include Mike “I can go a week without Twitter” Arrington, Robert Scoble, Seth Godin, and to some extent me.

Guy is very much correct in his opinion that mere mortals will make your business a success. The problem with that statement however is the fact that mere mortals do not have the accessibility to the information as much as the influentials like Guy and Robert Scoble and Mike Arrington and Seth Godin. It is easy for Guy to say I can’t make or break your company you have to have a product that doesn’t suck. Agreed Guy, but you have to have the ability for a mass amount of the little people to actually hear of your product and then you can sit back and watch the buzz begin. Not everyone has that luxury. I watched at Blog World Expo when you mentioned a company you were looking at everyone madly making a note to go and see what company you mentioned. Yeah, it was a cool company, but because you mentioned it, I actually had a chance to check them out. My advice is don’t discount getting the info to the people through a megaphone such as those influencers mentioned. It is the somebodies that get the information to the nobodies. I myself would never hear about some of the cool stuff in the tech world had it not been for Robert Scoble having access to things where I cannot get past the door. Yes, Robert Scoble is the Richard Grieco to me being a Butabi brother. This is a blog post unto itself (more to come).

Remember the Motrin debacle? It took a few of the influencers in the Mommy blogdom to get the ball rolling, then the army of the nobodies were able to take the ball and run. Actually that is not true completely as a nobody mentioned it to a somebody and then, well you know the outcome. Getting the influencers to light the fuse is a part of the equation Guy discounts in his post. I think it is one of the more important parts of the puzzle. Guy has never not been invited to the party. He has not stood on the street hoping his name is on “the list”.

I also wanted to touch on the third point Guy makes in his tips:

3. Get as many followers as you can. I recently explained what I do to get more followers. Click here to read about my methods. Ignore people who tell you that it’s the quality of your followers not the quantity. They’re trying to make friends, not use Twitter as a tool. And, truth be told, there are only two kinds of Twitter users: those that want more followers and those that lie. You can follow me here.

The reason you want more followers is the law of big numbers: the more followers, the more people talking about what you do, the more you can reach the tipping point. If you think you “know” exactly who can and will help you, you are deluding yourself.

I purposely ignore those people on Twitter that don’t use the tool as it is intended. This is a fine line you must learn to walk. Guy seems to imply that getting followers is important, and it is (follow me here) but how you get those followers is more of the point. I get many people that follow me on Twitter and when I go to their twitter page they have perhaps 10 updates in the last 6 months or even not at all and they have 3000 people they are following and have about 100

people that have reciprocated that action. This is in no way using Twitter. You have to put a little effort into it to get anything out of it. Yes, Guy is correct, the more followers the larger the reach, but make sure you are not shelved as a Twitter spammer. Your influence will be ignored.

At the end of the day however, pay attention to Guy and what he has to say about things. He had a hard time with twitter at first and I must admit I unfollowed him and ignored any Twitter stream he had. He has since turned that ship around and really uses Twitter as a tool for his own business. I have read a book or two and the man is a genius when it comes to doing things right. Guy’s latest book is Reality Check and I don’t yet have my copy. I’m hoping I can get one of those checks soon.

[tool photo via flattop341]

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Well it looks like the caveman has signed a deal with ABC making my attempt to copy and plagiarize GIECO’s advertising campaign moot.  I wanted so badly to have the caveman tapping away at his keyboard, making fun of Robert Scoble, linkbaiting, Digging, and perhaps even signing up to work for clamshells at PayPerPost!  How cool would it have been if he would have been like Loren Feldman on 1938 media talking about the latest in tech gadgets and testing blog platforms, all while rubbing elbows with the likes of Om Malik, and Dave Winer.  He would have been perfect making a behind the scenes deal with Jason Calacanis starting the Caveman Blogging Network!  His videodcast would be picked up by John Furrier and he would be interviewing 40 second spots (rather than a Scoble 40 minute taping) of Paris Hilton, Britney Spears, and the latest in celebrity gossip like Perez Hilton.  He could write a great book like Jeremy Wright or Shel Israel or Debbie Weil.  He would be a sought after keynote at all the cool conferences like Gnomedex, Blog Business Summit, and of course Blog World Expo.  He would be sought after for his political opinions, like Instapundit, Little Green Footballs and Daily Kos.

Then I thought I might just get a variation of it and have it be "Blogging:  So easy a lawyer can do it."  Of course then I would probably be sued by litigious Mike Arrington, or I might offend for the second time people like Brian Clark.  I was soon talked out of that as a result of not wanting to offend Cavemen everywhere.

Since it seems that I am losing out here on the real wave of  "The Caveman", I have decided to do it myself and start my own campaign. Since I kind of took a beating yesterday after taking on Adobe, and since Dave Taylor believes my Bloggers For Hire operation to be similar to second class, I’m beginning the new campaign here:

"Blogging, so easy  Jim Turner can do it." 

Of course, you have my permission to actually let everyone know just how easy blogging is since nobody would possibly believe that I could actually do it successfully.  TGIF!!

Tags: The Caveman, ABC, GIECO, Robert Scoble, Linkbait, Digg, PayPerPost, Loren Feldman, 1938 Media, Om Malik, Dave Winer, Perez Hilton, Mike Arrington, TechCrunch, Brian Clark, Jason Calacanis, Adobe, Dave Taylor, Jim Turner, Bloggers For Hire, Jeremy Wright, Shel Israel, Debbie Weil, Gnomedex, Blog Business Summit, Blog World Expo, Instapundit, Little Green Footballs, Daily Kos

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 Dan Farber ran into his friend Dave Winer at the this past week and they discussed/reflected on blogging ten years on.  If you think about it, blogging has come a long way.  Did it take longer than the forming of the Dot Com bubble?  Were we all just a bit wary of pushing it too far?  I think so.  Of course blogging evolved with the web, so it isn’t really fair to say that blogging lagged behind, now is it?

Within a decade blogging has became mainstream, by virtue of the fact that bloggers are highly influential in forming public opinions, although not necessarily canonical truths. Every entity, from newspapers and political campaigns to corporate executives and PR pros, has adopted blogging as a communications medium, many from a defensive posture. So-called citizen journalists and notions of participatory journalism are reshaping, in fits and starts, how news is gathered and disseminated.

Dan goes on to discuss a new book by Andrew Keen called “The Cult of the Amateur”:

He posits that citizen journalists don’t have the resources to provide reliable news, lacking the filters of traditional media, and that the hordes of amateur journalists often distort the news. In the introductory chapter of his book, Andrew writes:

…instead of creating masterpieces, these millions and millions of exuberant monkeys [Internet users]–many with no more talent in the creative arts than our primate cousins–are creating an endless digital forest of mediocrity.

Andrew of course isn’t wrong about the noise to signal ratio problem and issues related to establishing trust, professional standards or creating a more safe online environment for kids. On the other hand, his elitist stance stance on the digital forest of mediocrity isn’t a solution to filtering out the noise or even a possibility.
Yeah that’s harsh stuff.  Nothing we haven’t heard before, of course.  Just like any mass medium there are going to be good publications (if we consider each blog as a publication) and bad.  We all shudder at the beginning of the desktop publishing revolution when everyone thought they could produce a newsletter.  See how much free clip art and different fonts they could squeeze into a few pages.  Yeah, well we survived that and we’ll survive this too.  Dan’s summation is the best capper to the discussion:

The genie is out of the bottle. It’s not a battle to the death of mainstream media versus the blogosphere. Over time, better filters and search mechanisms; measures of authority and trust; and natural selection will improve the noise to signal ratio, potentially for every individual’s preferences, and change perceptions about what constitutes mainstream media.
Source: » Reflections on the first decade of blogging | Between the Lines | ZDNet.com

 This is a process, an evolution, an adaptation.  And I think it’s going pretty well so far.  Hmm, I wonder what the blogosphere will be like as a teenager?

Technorati tags: decade of blogging, Dan Farber, Dave Winer, Andrew Keen, evolution of media

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I hope everyone had a wonderful holiday season and I looking forward to a great 2007 as things progress here at One By One Media and at Bloggers For Hire.

It appears that Shel Israel has gone global with his Naked Conversations blog, and he is sporting a new look and new title. I love the blue color scheme Shel and I hope I get on that list of people that can review your book as it hits the shelves. Good Luck in 2007.

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A manifesto is a public declaration of a position. We now have a public declaration about business blogging from Debbie Weil, author of the popular book, “The Corporate Blogging Book.” She is by far one of the most influential business consultants on the planet so when she talks people listen (yes, I stole that line).

The Weil Manifesto:

The Inflection Point of Corporate Blogging

- Blogs and other social media tools are here to stay

- Blogs are just next-generation Web sites

- The social media tools (RSS, blogs, podcasts, videocasts, wikis, etc.) can be used effectively by any company, large or small, B2C or B2B

- They symbolize community, conversation, mutual respect between users and an ethos of sharing

- These tools are more powerful at informing/influencing/persuading than most traditional forms of marketing, advertising and corporate communications

- They help you get found online

- If you can’t be found, you don’t exist

Conclusion: This isn’t optional

You gotta start using blogs, podcasts, online video, etc. today!

The last two points are what most companies should take to heart and apply immediately. Can you find your company online? How did you find it? Was it on page 1 of Google? Was it on page 2? Does your business even exist? How quickly can your customer find you? These are important questions to answer, and the answer lies within an inexpensive marketing tool called a blog. I’m signing on to the Weil Manifesto and shouting it as loud as possible. Don’t be late, now is your opportunity to join the early adopters and get in on the ground floor. Your competition is contemplating the tool, so beat them to the punch.

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