The Blog of Hans Eisenman

How To Use Twitter: Twitter Spam

How to use twitter is a question I get asked a lot.  Along those lines, you might be interested to know what Twitter considers spam.  Here's a list from their site. 

 When it comes to more links than updates (see bold item below), I'm not sure I agree.  If you're sending useful links (which admittedly is hard to measure) to your followers and throwing in the occasional update, I would be more likely to follow you than if you were tweeting more personal updates.   Sending useful links out to your people puts the focus on your audience which is largely where it belongs in any interaction in life.

What do you think?

*Spam: You may not use the Twitter service for the purpose of spamming anyone. What constitutes “spamming” will evolve as we respond to new tricks and tactics by spammers. Some of the factors that we take into account when determining what conduct is considered to be spamming are:

• If you have followed a large amount of users in a short amount of time;
• If you have followed and unfollowed people in a short time period, particularly by automated means (aggressive follower churn);
• If you repeatedly follow and unfollow people, whether to build followers or to garner more attention for your profile;
  
• If you have a small number of followers compared to the amount of people you are following;
• If your updates consist mainly of links, and not personal updates;
• If a large number of people are blocking you;
• The number of spam complaints that have been filed against you;
• If you post duplicate content over multiple accounts or multiple duplicate updates on one account
• If you post multiple unrelated updates to a topic using #
• If you post multiple unrelated updates to a trending or popular topic
• If you send large numbers of duplicate @replies
• If you send large numbers of unsolicited @replies in an attempt to spam a service or link
  
• If you repost other user’s content without attribution.
• If you have attempted to "sell" followers, particularly through tactics considered aggressive following or follower churn.

via twitter.zendesk.com

Twitter and Law Enforcement

Crimereports.com has an interesting posting about how the law uses Twitter in Toronto.  There's also a paragraph about the Arcadia, CA police using blogging as a way to interact with the public.  Good stuff.

Can You Use the Web 2.0 Tools Your Citizens Are Already Using? « The Crime Map.

As well, there is a story today out of Toronto, Canada, covering Sgt. Tim Burrows’ use of Twitter as a public communication tool. At first, he started the account so that local media would know that officers were on the way to an accident scene and so he could conduct basic scene management. But the local media were not the only ones who were listening to his tweets. In a few short months, Sgt. Burrows had 2,300 Twitter followers from the community, so he began tweeting safety tips and publishing other useful information for the community at large. Again, all this without massive resources or security concerns. And the response from the community shows that average citizens are ready and waiting for the information.

Customer Satisfaction Survey Questions

Customer satisfaction survey questions are important.  You have to know what your customers want if you want your product or service lines to hit home.  Here's a great tool to convert those surveys to ACTIONable items within your organization.

Idea Management - Innovation Management - Crowdsourcing - Suggestion Box - Customer Feedback.

Enable Customer Engagement

Go beyond customer satisfaction to the next level: customer engagement. Interact with your customer community through an IdeaScale portal that puts your customer on a level playing field instead of second class citizens.

Social Media: Is There A Point...Really?

A fellow Bizniker (a bit like LinkedIN only more dynamic) emailed me and asked this question below.  She is probably right about these being common questions so I thought I'd make it the subject of my next article.

Her question:

"I think I'm like a lot of people: don't understand how social media helps me connect REALLY with people I can make relationships with. Chatting online is one thing...a relatiionship is quite another.

"Secondly...time. It's hard to find the time to socially network, when I can't see a direct benefit. For my two businesses...require that people actually try my stuff, and see if they like it. I know I should blog about cosmetic issues..but really...what's the point"  -G.A.

What's the Point?
This is a GREAT question because I think a lot of what we see on social media sites begs that question.

To help answer that, let me ask you first to forget social media for a moment.  Instead, let's look at a more "traditional" method of "getting business". What does it really mean to get business?

Learn Guitar 6-8X Faster Using Skype

"Have you always wanted to learn guitar? Or did you start and then drop it because you weren’t learning fast enough? Or maybe you already play and want to take your playing to the next level? No matter what level you’re at, this offer is for you."

Looking for 50 Bloggers Who Want to Learn Guitar | Scott "Social Media" Allen.

Media Shifts Toward Social in 2009 (source: Netpop)

Netpop | Connect: Media Shifts to Social 2009 Preview

View more presentations from Netpop.

Will Facebook's Faster Feeds Make It the New Twitter? - Advertising Age - Digital

Will Facebook's Faster Feeds Make It the New Twitter? - Advertising Age - Digital.

NEW YORK (AdAge.com) -- For the last several months, social-media pundits have busied themselves debating whether Twitter was the new Facebook. But last week Mark Zuckerberg & Co. hoped to change that dialogue, launching a pair of modifications that had people asking if Facebook was the new Twitter.

A Twitter Business Story: 2,000 followers

Here's a story about how someone I met on Twitter (http://twitter.com/JenWojcik) is having business success with Twitter.

Could you use 2,000 followers?

Facebook HowTo: Make New Friends and Maintain Security

Here's a video showing you how to get more out of Facebook by using your Privacy Settings and and a feature called "Lists".  By combining these two features you can a) connect with new people you don't yet know well (i.e., make new friends) and b) not put yourself at risk in doing so. 

If you have trouble seeing the screecast portion, you can try this link.

3 Mins About Social Media

A short video on what "social media" is or what it is doing, if you will.  Part of an ongoing series articles and possibly more short videos related to this area of technology and business.

This will probably be an over-simplification to those of you who already have a firm grip on what "social media" is all about or are heavy users of sites like Twitter or Facebook, LinkedIN, etc.

Also, here's a link to Perry Belcher's video, the one I refer to in my video.