Web 2.What?

When Twitter first started gaining momentum, it was called “permission-based stalking” by some. (I’d credit whoever came up with the term, but I have *no* idea who it was). However that term sort of died down as Twitter popularity went up, especially as people found other uses for it, rather than just stalking.

However, many of us who’ve been obsessing over our iPhone 3G’s have discovered Twinkle. A twitter app that also records your location, so you can find “Tweeple” near you. I thought it was a little creepy at first, but it seems really cool! Not sure I have a solid understanding of why it’s great… but I see some potential…

So have you used Twinkle? What are your thoughts on location-based twittering?

I recently finished reading Groundswell by Forrester’s Josh Bernoff and Charlene Li.  I was particularly excited about it because about a year ago I was interviewed by Josh Bernoff for it as an active participant of Constant Contact’s user community. (The company I worked for was major business partner of CC) At the time I was just starting to get excited about social media as a business function and I was dying to know what these top notch analysts had to say about it. Especially since a big challenge of social media so far is (in my opinion) some excuse a lot of it for noise or time-wasting, and have a hard time seeing business value.

Well what else can I say but “Wow!” Josh and Charlene not only clearly explained theories, strategies and tactics, but also assembled a fantastic mix of real life case studies. I was even happy to see a few Canadian examples in there–Bell Canada and Loblaws.

I also love how they’ve put some easy to remember names for developing strategies, like the POST method. (Stands for People, Objectives, Strategy and Technology and dictates the method & particular order for developing successful social media strategies). Also the book flows in the different stages of interacting with the Groundswell — First you listen, then you engage, then energize. (I think I’m missing some steps, but you’ll have to read the book to fully understand anyway)

One thing that really irked me, however, is that throughout the book they really pump up the social technologies profiling tool, developed by Forrester, and available free on the site. Sounds fantastic? Well it looks like it is, until you realize while it includes data from South Korea, Italy, Australia… There’s no Canada! Almost insulting as we are one of the more connected countries (ahead of the US!) and that I would suspect we have a proportionally higher ‘creator’ population (just my hunch though). Plus, of course, being attached to the US we do have a bit of a complex.

I wasn’t the only one who noticed. Jay Moonah of Toronto actually spoke up in the Groundswell discussion board. Josh replied and said that because of bad timing they were unable to include Canadian data, but it’s coming… Keep your eyes peeled!

Overall, however, a fantastic book I recommend picking up. Have you read it? What do you think? Let me know!

First of all, expect my postings to be light over the next bit, it’s summer and finally beautiful out and I just got my new iPhone so while I’m getting to know it, I don’t foresee myself blogging too much. (Until I learn how to blog FROM the iPhone…)

Anyway, I did want to let you know about the Social Media Breakfast event happening next Tuesday, July 15. This time Overlay.tv’s CEO Rob Lane will be talking all about monetizing video and presenting some case studies from Overlay.tv, which I don’t really know too much about yet, but it sounds very cool!

Check it out and don’t forget to come say hello. Though I have a funny feeling there might be more than a few faces buried in their iPhones…

When I embarked on the exploration of social media monitoring tools, I surveyed my Twitter friends, I posted about it on this blog, I even wrote about it in my LinkedIn and Facebook statuses. Throughout all that, one name that came up again and again was Radian6.

So I was delighted when they offered to give me a demo. One distinct difference between the first tool I looked at, social radar, is that Radian6 is targeted specifically to PR firms (or large multi-unit company). Which is good, because now I don’t feel I have to compare the two.

So if you happen to be a good size PR firm or a large company searching for a social media monitoring tools, than I urge you to check out Radian6. Somehow it’s complex and detailed, yet manages to stay very user friendly. One of its strength lies in the ease and simplicity of managing multiple profiles–something that can be tricky to pull off, but a necessity when you have multiple clients or business units.

Also I love how it’s layout is based on widget style functionality. So essentially you “build” the tool how you’d like to use it. Very Web 2.0 friendly!

I can go on, but a picture says a lot more, so let’s take a look (click for larger):

The middle boxes top and bottom (behind) are examples of a “river of news” which is essentially the search results for whichever terms you’ve chosen, the river also includes media like microblogging (Twitter, etc), video and podcasts. Very cool!

As well, you can build a tag cloud around your search terms, as viewable in the bottom left corner. Aside from the fact that everyone loves a tag cloud, it visually gives you an idea of what else people are talking about along with your search terms. Very handy!

But wait– how do you know how influencial these people talking about you are? Well they’ve got a widget for that too, which is best explained in this shot:

The middle box shows a list of blogs/web sites that mentioned your search terms, and when you click on one, the dashboard below pops up and tells you all about its links.

So essentially, the dashboard is completely customizable via the widget icons (pictured on the left) you can set it all up the way you like it and leave it as is, or you can switch it up at will. It’s clear these guys understand social media and the specific needs of their target audience. Being a PR gal myself I can easily see how well this could work in an agency as well as how it can also help educate users who may not be totally up to speed with all this social media stuff. (hey it is still pretty new!)

And the final kicker why I really love Radian6–they’re Canadian! Yup, based out of New Brunswick, these guys are taking the social media monitoring world by storm. Keep up the great work!

Every used Radian6 before? Or another social media monitoring tools. Please leave a comment!

**UPDATE**

One really cool thing about Radian6 I forgot to mention is its “Twebinars” which obviously is a webinar that’s discussed in tandem on Twitter! Each one features leading experts in social media. Unfortunately I had to miss the first (silly work getting in the way!) but fortunately more are on the way. As far as I know this they are the first to initiate something like this, so major points for that.