The race to 1,000,000 followers between Ashton Kutcher and CNN followed shortly thereafter by the Oprah Effect and the ensuing celebrity stampede has propelled Twitter beyond two of the world’s most prominent media brands.
According to Compete and Quantcast, as documented by PaidContent, Twitter.com soared past the online properties of The New York Times and The Wall Street Journal.
The truth is stranger than fiction…but it is reality.
I’m happy to announce an updated version of my ebook, “The Art and Science of Blogger Relations” is now available on Docstoc. For all of you Kindle enthusiasts, it is also available in Amazon’s Kindle Store.
The methodologies and tactics required for effective blogger relations will shatter everything you were taught or thought you know about traditional PR. Part “un” common sense, part market expert, part enthusiast, and part customer, together, this guide will help you embody the new techniques and mastery necessary to effectively excel in media, analyst, and blogger relations today and tomorrow – while building long term, meaningful relationships along the way.
Last year, I covered the landmark SEC decision to recognize corporate blogs and potentially other forms of Social Media as a recognized form of meeting public disclosure requirements under Regulation FD (Fair Disclosure) – in some cases. It was a significant validation of a widely recognized medium for facilitating information between companies and stakeholders. Jonathan Schwartz, CEO of Sun, among many others, successfully lobbied over the years for official recognition of blog and the SEC finally took notice.
Sarah Lacy is an exceptional reporter with a unique flair for cutting through the fluff, extracting the real story, and communicating it with a scrupulous sense of relevance, impact, and vision.
She’s an award winning journalist and author of the upcoming book, “Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and the Rise of Web 2.0.” Lacy has been a reporter in Silicon Valley for a decade, covering everything from the tiniest startups to the largest public companies. She writes for TechCrunch, contributes a biweekly column for BusinessWeek.com called “Valley Girl,” and is co-host of Yahoo! Finance’s Tech Ticker.
Following the solo media vs. traditional media race that led Twitter into both relevance and irrelevance, the result is that the carefully guarded community and its unique culture are now permanently altered – for better or for worse.
According to estimates sourced by Engadget Editor-in-Chief Ryan Block, Twitter grew by 1.2 million users simply as a result of the “Oprah-effect.”
TechCrunch’s MG Siegler also explored the process for estimating Twitter’s path into the mainstream.
As I’ve written over the years, in the era of the Social Web, we are all brand managers. While I spend a significant portion of my time sharing the importance of listening and observing to noteworthy conversations and the enveloping cultures that define relevant online communities. When it comes to participation and engagement however, identity is often an afterthought by most companies.
It started as a simple and seemingly harmless contest. Who would be the first person on Twitter to reach 1,000,000 followers?
This wasn’t yet another follower push open to just anyone on Twitter however, not even the Weblebrities who helped propel the popular micro community to an emerging, iconic pop culture status; it was (and at the moment, still is) a race between the world’s most visible celebrities and prominent media brands.
Domino’s brand cultivated over 49 years…damaged in 30 minutes or less.
The latest viral video on the Web today isn’t related to an upcoming summer blockbuster, nor the next Chocolate Rain sensation or even the next Obama Girl. Today’s social video frenzy is a real time case study of what happens when the employees of a franchise use online video to inadvertently cause a global domino effect that financially and emotionally impacts other franchises, employees, customers as well as bruising the corporate brand overall.
I admire the work of Valeria Maltoni. Over the years, we’ve shared our individual ideas and vision for discovering, monitoring, and measuring relevant conversations in order to effectively chart the corporate landscape and identify opportunities for mutually beneficial engagement and learning. We’ve decided to collaborate to weave our experiences and advice into one post that we hope helps you unravel the confusion stemming from value over hype when evaluating Social Media as a channel for presenting, interacting, and observing.
On the heels of my recent post, “Is Social Media Recession Proof,” Forrester released new details associated with its latest research survey that links business buyers and their process of researching solutions to Social Media.
Forrester interviewed business buyers to learn about their social activity, in this case, more than 1,200 technology buyers in the U.S., Canada, France, Germany and the U.K. with 100 employees or more in seven major industries.
Brian Solis is principal at Altimeter Group, a research-based advisory firm. Solis is globally recognized as one of the most prominent thought leaders and published authors in new media. A digital analyst, sociologist, and futurist, Solis has studied and influenced the effects of emerging media on business, marketing, publishing, and culture. His current book, Engage, is regarded as the industry reference guide for businesses to build and measure success in the social web.
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