On PR, Social Media and the Evolution of the Web with Robert Scoble

Hi Brian,

I just got done watching all these videos, and just wanted to make a few comments. My takeaway was that you and Scoble were essentially addressing these questions:

- What is Twitter?

- How do you use it strategically?

- What methods can be used to filter out the noise?

- How can the value of Twitter become quickly apparent for new users?

I'm only responding to your post because I've been trying to address these same questions, and have a few insights to share based on a lot of reading and exchanging ideas via Twitter.

1.) What is Twitter?

Twitter is an Information Exchange. That's the most succinct description I've come up with so far. Runners-up would be 'Idea Exchange', 'Knowledge Network', or 'Personal Learning Network.' I've never experienced anything quite like Twitter, where you can access the minds of people who share your interests and are happy to provide you with a wealth of specific, targeted, relevant information that no google search can match.

I'm sorry to be self-referential here, but I just want to point you to 2 posts I've assembled that have helped me to peel away the layers of what's really going on with Twitter:

Is Twitter a Complex Adaptive System? (http://emergentbydesign.com/2009/11/17/is-twitt…)

and

Twitter's Intelligent; Welcome to Web 3.0 (http://emergentbydesign.com/2009/11/26/twitters…)

I didn't really “write” either of these, I just pulled together a bunch of posts from people smarter than me to try and see a pattern. The results have been surprising.

2.) How do you use it (strategically)?

I really see it as a platform for the exchange of information and ideas, so for Scoble to say it's just for “pimping your blog” seems to detract so much from its potential. I think 'social media marketers' are seeing that it doesn't work as a broadcast network. It really is about sending and receiving 140 character nuggets of value.

For example, for those who seem to 'get it' in the Social Web Strategy arena, (you, Brogan, Kawasaki, Owyang, etc), blog posts are usually well thought out, insightful, and give the reader something to chew on. Tweets are a combination of links to those posts, in addition to an aggregation of tweets and retweets of similar material that would be useful to someone interested in developing their strategy.

At the same time, there are many people on Twitter who simply tweet awesome content. I've found that quite a bit of material I find comes from those 'curators' and 'filterers' of the web, who are passionate about their interest area and only tweet things that they think people within that community would want. Most tweets include a link to other information. (blog post, PDF, resource)

So, I think one component of getting the most value from your time and effort invested in Twitter includes really being selective about who you follow, and asking yourself 'Will having this person's tweets in my stream make me smarter?' That applies to any interest area. As you mention in the video, if an avid quilter joins Twitter, they should know how to access the people/organizations that tweet great content about quilting – tips, tricks, links to blogs, etc. As they learn more about the craft or find a great piece of information they think the quilting community would get value from, they can tweet it and start the positive feedback loop of giving and receiving value.

3.) How do you filter out the noise?

I'll agree with Scoble's sentiment in the video that some Twitter users are detracting from their own value by putting too much “noise” in their tweetstreams, which can be distracting and frustrating, especially for new Twitter users. I actually wrote a post recently commending Scoble for his suggestion to bloggers to create separate Twitter accounts that will only include their original content, as a service to those people who aren't interested in seeing all the extra chatter.

Other than that, be selective about who you follow and use lists to organize people/content.

4.) How to make the value apparent?

Getting rid of 'suggested users' was a good start, it was really misleading as to what's out there. Introducing the Lists feature was also good. (http://www.listorious.com helped me find my first round of interesting people to follow). After that, it was a matter of looking at who people I followed were following, who they were retweeting, and who they were recommending (usually via #FF #FollowFriday), and selectively following them too. It takes time to build a solid network, and I'm constantly building and reshaping mine.

I've also been trying to put together basic resource and strategy guides to lower the barrier to entry for new users, and thinking about “elevator pitch” explanations as to why it's important.

Final Thoughts

I think the real-time web (whether it's Twitter, or whatever comes next) is a powerful new form of communication that is still vastly undervalued and unexplored. As we learn how to leverage these global networks, some highly disruptive (and potentially amazing) social changes will be facilitated. My intention is to continue to simplify and spread these ideas so more people will benefit from the possibilities.

@venessamiemis

FYI to Scoble: the reason 4sq pops up Twitter so much is because it relentlessly spams, not because it's “hot”.