chrisbrogan.com

I’ve already written about Tweetdeck before in my post about using Twitter at volume. And to be honest, you should just skip my post and go read Louis Gray’s piece. Just stop reading this.

Still with me?

Tweetdeck is a desktop Twitter application. It requires Adobe Air installed on your desktop to run. The cool thing is that you can run the same applications in Windows, Mac, and most times, Linux. I’m a fan of Air as a platform in and of itself, but let’s not talk about that right now.

What’s great about Tweetdeck is the multi-pane view. If you notice in the picture above, I have four columns. One is for general tweets. Another is for replies to me. A third is for searches on the word “Brogan” because sometimes people don’t form a proper/clean @chrisbrogan reply to me. The fourth allows me to see direct messages.

That’s all in one view, and it updates frequently, meaning that I have the perfect dashboard for working Twitter.

Another decent Air client is Twhirl, owned now by Loic Lemeur’s Seesmic. I like that one, too, but I’m using Tweetdeck.

Why? Because Tweetdeck gives me a huge dashboard view of Twitter, and I can configure it to do many things, including search for topics of interest, group users into bunches, and more.

If you’re looking for a powerful communications dashboard, my vote’s with Tweetdeck. Since these upgrades, it’s better than ever.

How are you using Twitter?

Note: This is a bit self-serving, as I run a series of conferences, and as I’m pitching social media marketing as my business.

I’m reading this article in Advertising Age about marketing opportunities in the JetBlue Terminal 5 at JFK, and I have mixed emotions. On the one hand, as a frequent flyer, I like that I can recharge my phone and laptop courtesy of Samsung. I think the Best Buy and Apple branding on those vending machines for electronics is brilliant. I love when someone sponsors wifi in a terminal. I get that.

But as a return on investment, how’s that working out for you? (Please - if you’re still buying static media like that, can you chime in? I’m not being ass, exactly.) Are you getting “I saw your billboard at Logan” types of responses? How CAN it?

I get that it’s a lot of eyeballs going through there, but does it convert?

Please: someone educate me

Wouldn’t Human Contact Do Better?

I ask this as someone who spends every day connecting with people online, offline, and in between. I say this as someone who believes the future of business is in engineering cafe-shaped conversations. I say this as someone who appreciates the personal touch on the other side of my marketing experiences as a consumer.

How much does one of those opportunities cost? It can’t be cheap to put up a billboard in an airport, right? That same amount would fund a social media project for an entire year, and you’d have clickable metrics for the effort. Wouldn’t that be a better return?

See how this post is more about questions? I want your feedback. Share this with your marketer friends, too. I’d love to know what the mindset is.

Is this just about volume? Millions of people walk through here kind of stuff? Does that still matter? Seriously, I’m asking.

Educate my dumb old self, okay?
Photo credit cote

Okay, I just logged into Facebook and I was given the two ads listed to the left. The first asks me whether “she’s” cheating. The second asks me whether the “P’ssy Fairy” has visited lately. I’m sure you can fill in the missing letter.

WTF?

Seriously, Facebook - you can’t mean to say that these are ads you want representing your platform, do you? I mean, I’m not especially prudish, but puh-leeze.

2009 will be an unprecedented time for workers in the US, with many people losing their jobs through no fault of their own. This will ripple economically to other countries as well. No one’s really safe. I wanted to offer some ideas ahead of the mess.

I’ve written Using the Social Web to Find Work as a free ebook for you to download and share with others. It includes ideas and information from [chrisbrogan.com], and takes you from the specifics of using LinkedIn to your benefit, into some ideas on how to grow and nurture your social networks ahead of a need for them.

It’s not much, but I wanted to help in one way that I know how - by providing ideas and actionable information.

Please share this liberally by pointing back to this original post.

Using the Social Web to Find Work (pdf)

Making a list of any kind is deadly. You miss people. You upset people. You exclude people. Lists are downright dangerous. And yet, I want to show you 8 bloggers that you should be reading, if you’re not already. How about this: if you think your blog or someone you admire is should be on the radar for 2009, feel free to add a link to it in the comments. (Please note that doing so will probably raise the dander of my spam filter, so I’ll have to fish you out most likely). Fair?

Oh, and if you don’t like my list, make your own. Link back here and people will find it and see what you you think. That would be fun.

8 Bloggers to Watch in 2009

**Update: Marshall Kirkpatrick, superstar from ReadWriteWeb, made a nifty OPML file if you want to subscribe to these guys all in one whack.** Thanks, Marshall!

Social Media Explorer - Jason Falls is not only an advertising guy, but a pioneer. His work in 2008, including tweeting a race for a company are the kinds of things that you can expect from him. Jason is quite the thinker. He raced into the public eye in 2008, but I think his best work is still ahead of him. Stay tuned.

Conversation Agent - Valeria Maltoni has been knocking the cover off the ball for a while over on her blog, but still, I feel she’s undervalued. Her work is consistent, has strong strategy elements, and leads one to think about execution. I recommend her work highly, and if you’re not on board yet, get there.

Feeds - Jennifer Leggio writes about social media for Ziff Davis. I think her writing has been solid all year long, and I expect even more quality posts in 2009. It’s frankly one of two blogs I still read over at Ziff. She’s a great writer, and delivers balanced thinking and ideas.

Danny Brown - Danny has roared up out of nowhere. His blog is a consistent read, and the quality is improving every day. I find myself gnawing on his posts and deciding how they might impact things. For 2009, I hope Danny turns that insight out and away from the social media crowd and starts exploring his thoughts on various verticals. I think he has the chops to deliver good stuff in those areas.

Very Official Blog - Shannon Paul makes great pieces that help me better understand the hybrid mindset from traditional PR and marketing into the new stuff. Her perspective and sense of humor bring me a lot of happiness each time she posts. Keep an eye on this one. She’s a force of nature.

Take Me To Your Leader - First off, if I owned this domain, I’d cherish it. Freddie Laker’s who I know from this little outfit, and he spoke at this year’s New Marketing Summit, which is where I got a glimpse into Freddie’s style. I hope to see more deconstruction and analysis in 2009. I’m watching you, Laker.

Technotheory - not only is Jared Goralnick the creator of AwayFind, he’s a thinker. Jared and I got together a few months back, and that one conversation has spawned several changes in how I do business, from something as simple as buying a new laptop bag to more strategy-level things, Jared keeps me thinking.

Learn to Duck - Micah Baldwin isn’t new to blogging nor is he new to marketing. But he’s someone I’m watching. His work is always thought-provoking, and gets me moving in a new direction. If you don’t add Micah, you’re missing a voice that will impact your thinking.

**Update: Marshall Kirkpatrick, superstar from ReadWriteWeb, made a nifty OPML file if you want to subscribe to these guys all in one whack.** Thanks, Marshall!

Veterans

Here’s a quick listing of people I love and follow for their perspective that aren’t exactly new, but still worth perusing, while I’m writing a post with links in it. This list doesn’t include the obvious people that you already read like Seth or Brian or Darren. You know about them. But are you reading:

• Six Pixels of Separation - Mitch Joel
• PR Squared - Todd Defren
• Web Ink Now - David Meerman Scott
• Awaken Your Superhero - Christopher S. Penn
• Successful Blog - Liz Strauss
• C.C. Chapman - CC Chapman
• Altitude Branding - Amber Naslund
• Paul Gillin - Paul Gillin
• Brian Solis - Brian Solis
• Technosailor - Aaron Brazell

Your Turn

Either add a comment or write a blog post with YOUR picks. I bet you’ll find some different ones. Let’s see what comes of it. And if you’re not on my list, I probably still read you. I’ve got hundreds of people I’ve started reading by way of my Rockstars page. Are you on it? (If you’ve submitted recently, it takes about 2 weeks for me to add you).

Photo credit, makou0629

The company FootJoy has a custom shoe division called MyJoys, where they can make various color and logo combinations on shoes that you order. These variations amount to something like 250,000 custom shoes you could potentially order. (Yes, I know that Nike is doing that, too. That’s interesting-ish, too.)

I just think it’s incredible. 250,000 possible combos. Now, I also know (because I spoke with Mike Lowe, Sr. Interactive Manager of Footjoy and he was kind enough to fill me in) that they do custom logos as well as major league baseball and National Football League and those kinds of things. Mike was contributing to a strategy meeting about the larger company’s projects overall, but when we were all done, he walked with me by a table covered with special custom shoes (see the above picture).

Quick geek moment: how cool would it be to have a pair of shoes with my logo? Cool.

I think that custom projects like MyJoys are really where the action is. Like Seth said so well, “Small is the New Big.”

What’s your take? If something like shoes can be made into a customizable product, why are you still leaving your marketing to the mass level?

YouTube taught Kat how to how to parallel park. She’s not this good, mind you, but she passed her test.

YouTube helped me figure out how to pair my new Jawbone bluetooth headset with my iPhone 3G. That video answered a little technical glitch that was keeping me from getting the job done. The instructions on paper? Not so good. Not as easy.

YouTube is my MTV. It’s my Saturday Night Live. It’s my.. oh, did you click that last one? It’s my movie trailers.

It’s my way to check in with friends’ happenings.

So, it’s a lot of things. It’s education. It’s marketing. It’s conversation. It’s mind blowing.

And it’s a channel for conversation starters, messages, business, and more. You pick what you want to do with it. You decide. But if you’re not thinking about it in 2009, at least giving it thought on your various potential business communications opportunities, you’re missing a chance.

Photo credit, mikecogh

Last week, people questioned my journalistic integrity. I’m not a journalist. I am a reporter, insofar as I report. Often times, I’m called a consultant, but I prefer advisor. I sometimes win awards for marketing, but I grapple with saying that I’m a marketer. Through my efforts, I perform roles sometimes given to PR professionals, and other times I do what marketers and sales people do.

I’m president of my company, but I’m also a salesman. I’m president of my company, but I run a pirate ship. I’m a publisher, a writer, a blogger, an author, a videoblogger, a podcaster, a conference organizer, a community developer, a leader, a servant, a participant, a speaker, and many other things.

You worry about names. You think long and hard about titles. You put boxes around what you’re doing, if that suits you.

I’ll be over here just doing. Thinking, planning, doing, and observing my results.

What’s your name? How are you defining yourself? Better still (or worse), how does the name for what you do limit what you do?

Photo credit Jack Dorsey

Twitter is a stream. Facebook is both a stream and a stopping point (but mostly a stream). Your blog is a stopping point pretending to be a stream.

It’s important to think about where you want information to live, and how you want it to impact the world. For everything you toss into a stream rolls past, and if I’m not at the stream when you throw your leaf onto the waters, I’ll miss the leaf entirely, or perhaps catch only the ripples.

I love the picture in this post by Guy Kawasaki. If I share it with Twitter, you might see it. If I blog it, you can come back to it. If I tweet a link to my blog post, I’ve just introduced a stopping point to my stream.

Now, Shift the Analogy

What if your blog itself is comprised of streams and stopping points? Are you introducing data into your stream (the posts) that needs to actually reside at a stopping point (the pages)? Have you made it easy for your blog to help you do business?

To Do Next

Design the flow of information in all of the systems you use. Think about temporary and permanent connections. Think about loosely-joined groups, and about how information spreads.

The stream is a great place to refresh, to see life, and to feel vibrant energy flow past. It is a powerful giver of life. But remember: life often happens out of view of the stream.

Thoughts?

Photo credit tanakwho