Catch Up Lady

Why Twitter Will Endure

One of the best sessions at the #140 Conference yesterday was by David Carr @carr2n, a brilliant writer and blogger for The New York Times.  In 10 minutes he gave one of the funniest, most spot on presentations I've seen on "why Twitter will endure."  I do it barely any justice...

• Momentum – Despite some slowing growth of the user base there are more than 50MM tweets posted per day.  Besides, the metrics aren't the most important thing to focus on "look at MySpace."
• Twitter is Joyful – Nothing gives the deep joy of Twitter, and the ability to see into the skulls of some of the best writers in the country. 
• Utility – If forced to pick between listening on Twitter and broadcasting, he’d pick listening on Twitter every time.  Twitter is human enabled RSS – you can scoop in a cup and find out what’s happening right now.
• Simple/Easy UI – Simple is hard, and Twitter does it well. 
• Starbucks – Twitter makes waiting in line at Starbucks tolerable, and calms you the baristas appear to be moving underwater. 
• Hook Ups – We never give up hope that we’ll somehow meet and have serendipitous interaction with other humans, and  Twitter - or mindcasting - is one of the best indications of who you are.
• Pipes – Twitter is infrastructure. 
• Serendipity – David's "thanks to Twitter" story involved getting an offer for a new seat on an airplane after tweeting that the passenger next to him seemed to be involved  in an Axe Body Spray cult.  Everyone has a story like this.
• Zietgiest – Twitter helps you see over the hill and expose you to trends that might open your eyes (like Glee!)
• Hivemind – Need help with Final Cut Pro?  Recommendations for a NetFlix rental?  Interviews for a story?  The hivemind is always active and always helpful.
• Decency – Your avatar is you and people mind their manners unlike other places.
• Fame – You have the opportunity to curate your followers to maximize value
• Inertia – Chances are that you wont leave your followers behind, even for something like Google Buzz. 

Cast & Crew of Mad Men Dick Around

Love this behind the scenes look at the cast and crew of Mad Men spoofing their Bye Bye Birdie set in honor of Matthew Wiener, the shows Executive Producer/Creator.  Totally strange to see the characters we know to be so buttoned up goofing off (not to mention seeing John Hamm really smile - creepy!)

Wish more shows took advantage of social in this way - low to no barrier to entry and so so appealing to fans.

Confessions of a Reformed FourSquare Hater

As FourSquare burst forth onto planet Earth and quickly amassed nearly 1MM users in a matter of months I totally resisted the pile on.  I had joined initially last summer and unstrategically friended pretty much anyone that came my way.  I checked in like three times (ok once), got annoyed with the push updates, and quit.  Over the next few months, as the platform gained popularity, I stayed in the corner - siding with the haters like Gawker who recently proclaimed, "If you use foursquare you are an annoying jackass."  I was a typical hater - I didn't see the value, I didn't want people to know where I was at all times, and the gaming aspect of it didn't appeal to me at all. 

Nevertheless, I followed the trend from a business perspective.   I saw some value in Yelp's rendition given the number of people already using their app and their review based premise.  As conference season took off I began to re-examine FourSquare.  Intel was one of the first brands to partner with the company for an onsite activation and used the service to promote their presence at CES.  At SXSW Foursquare was all the rage and helped people keep track of each other in the nerd herd chaos.   Couple that with brand's like Starbucks usage of the tool and the constant barrage of geo-targeted social networking headlines, and it was clear that the trend isn't going anywhere.  In fact, geo-targeted social networks are obviously the next big thing - and are closing the gap between social and consumer action/purchase in a very real way.

So, I got hip to the game.  And approached FourSquare with the same Mack Collier-esque strategy that got me turned onto Twitter almost two years ago to the day.

1) Create Your Own Experience.  Make sure you are following the RIGHT people - people you care about.  For Twitter this was a large social media crew, for FourSquare it's a more intimate group of people I actually know city to city.  Knowing what my friends are up to is actually interesting, and with status updates, amusing.

2) Try Hard.  You get back what you put in - so just passively signing up isn't enough.  I started checking in multiple times a day and low and behold I started to see some value.  Last week I saw that @DougMeacham and I were both in New York.  Doug and I hadn't seen each other since SXSW 2009 and we were able to hook up for drinks and dinner thanks to me actually using FourSquare.

3) Learn from Others.  Ask how others are using the platform, you might be surprised what you find!  I'm searching for "deals" in DC that you can get through FourSquare and am continuing to track how brands are using a platform that I'm invested in.

All this goes to show - you have to use social media to "get it."  You can't sit on the sidelines passively reading about social media, or attend a 2 hour training and count on it unlocking the secrets (or the badge - haha.)  You have to be proactive, even when you think it's not immediately applicable to you.  Lesson learned.