Moldovan’s Revolutionise the Use of Social Media

Following recent political and public un-rest in the country, Moldovan activists and demonstrators protesting alleged vote rigging by the countries Communist party have been making full use of current Social Media to both co-ordinate and publicise the nature of their demonstrations and the feelings towards the issues and events taking place.

Twitter, Live Journal and Facebook are among the range of social networking websites being used to communicate and co-ordinate demonstrator activities. Regular Tweets being posted to #pman, a hashtag filter abbreviation for Piaţa Marii Adunări Naţionale – the Romanian name for the capital city’s biggest square. Protesters are Tweeting everything from general messages of support and political outbursts, to images of the recently seized president’s office, which was later retaken by riot police.

Cloudapp is also being put to use by the technically savvy activists to aggregate Twitter-streams, blog posts, videos and images relating to the events onto one web page.

Police officers in ransacked Parliament hall at Chisinau - Image by Avdeev Max

However, there are many, such as Evgeny Morozov, who have decried the role of social media technology in the events. Worrying that more will be made of the use of technology than the events themselves, Morozov asks “Will we remember the events that are now unfolding in Chisinau not by the color of the flags but by the social-networking technology used?”.

With little coverage actually being attributed to the internal political events that are taking place, it is not entirely impossible to believe this will be the case. The riots and protests taking place in Moldova, a poor, largely ethnic Romanian country situated between Romania and the Ukraine, are the result of allegations of vote rigging in recent elections by the Communist party and of economic stagnation which has led to increased impact of the global recession.

With local authorities requesting some Moldovan ISP’s restrict internet connection with the outside world in an attempt to restrict the flow of damning reports such as “a grenade thrown by the police has torn apart one of the protester’s leg” getting out, it is certain that, at the very least, these events will end up yet another example, in a growing list, of the uses of modern social media in generating “live news”, created by the public.

Google Buy Twitter – What Would This Achieve?

"Tweet this!" - Google buy Twitter?

The online rumour mill has been churning recently to the tune of tweets and news articles suggesting that the search giant Google are set to acquire social media phenomenon Twitter.

Reports suggest that talks are in the later stages and that the deal would be in the $1 billion range, with Google paying through a mix of cash and stocks.

But what purpose would acquiring Twitter serve for the big G? Well, firstly it has been proposed (by Computerworld’s Seth Weintraub) that Twitter could help Google by providing a better pool of real time data from which Google News stories can be pooled and their popularity guaged in order to determine what deserves to rank highly. The platform would also help Google tie together other social networking sites it owns, Blogger and Orkut, in order to truly rival, and potentially dominate the social bookmarking super-powers such as Facebook and MySpace by offerring both “immediate” communication through Twitter, tied with the typical profile and personal news sharing that Orkut and Blogger provide.

A deal between Google and Twitter creators Evan Williams and Biz Stone wouldn’t be the first deal struck between the parties either. The Twitter founders previously sold personal blog publishing website Blogger to Google in February 2003 for an undisclosed fee.

Despite the numerous recent claims that Google has no interest in purchasing the social media platform, the value of Twitter is rapidly increasing. Attracting nearly 2.7 million users in the U.S. in December alone, and having secured an additional $35 million from venture captialists in February this year, the acquisition rate for users of the platform has begun to snowball at a phenomenal rate making the advertising potential for Google very lucrative. Not to mention the value of mining the large database of information Twitter has already accumulated.

Effectively, the deal would work out well for both parties. Google would get another valuable platform to monetise and harvest data from, while Williams and Stone would get richer off of yet more Google stocks and cash. We wait with baited breath to find out the results of these talks.

The Changing Face Of Journalism – Channel 4 Spotify a Use For Twitter

The snowballing popularity of social media’s latest phenomenon, Twitter, is inescapable. Rarely a day goes by without the application featuring in the national papers or on the news. While the merits of the service for providing instant news, as it happens, have already been well covered, Channel 4 recently notched two Twitter firsts, adding to the discussion of how new media is irreversibly changing the face of journalism.

Twitter - Changing the face of journalism

First, Channel 4 news conducted a live interview with an eyewitness Twittering live from the scene of the February 25th Turkish airline crash in Amsterdam. Effectively taking the first steps towards attempting to harness instant journalism by the public for the public by opening up the vast amounts of eye-witness accounts of news world-wide, to the general, non-Twitter using public as they happen.

Then, last weekend, Channel 4 attempted another use of the application by allowing Twitter users to provide questions for an interview held with co-founder of new streaming music service Spotify, Daniel Ek.

Channel 4 news presenter Krishnan Guru-Murthy selected a number of questions submitted to the @channel4newsTwitter account for Ek to answer during their interview, allowing the public to have a more active role in shaping the interview and getting answers to more interesting and pertinent questions than might typically be covered in a number of the, normally, tame interviews aired on the majority of news channels.

The novel approach to news interviewing is also potentially beneficial to the interviewee since it allows authoritative figures from corporations, councils etc, to be seen and heard “fighting fires” on current public issues relating to the organisation they represent, something which may not otherwise take place normally due to these issues typically being handled by an appointed spokesperson. This is particularly notable in the “grilling” Ek takes over why people should use Spotify, the business model and why you would pay for the premium version of the application. After-all, it’s always nicer to be able to hear the reasoning behind such things from the horses mouth rather than the slightly less credible source of a meticulously prepared statement delivered by an appointed spokesperson, un-equipped to truly deal with any off-the-cuff questions.

No doubt this won’t be the last use of Twitter on the news, and if anything, it will probably see increased use in the coming months as Twitter membership statistics continue to grow and an ever increasing percentage of the general public find yet another medium to voice their opinions through.

Follow these links for more information on what Twitter is, and famous Twitter users.

Nike find a good use for Twitter…. then stop?

There has been talk lately of the lack of global brands using social media’s latest phenomenon, Twitter, to engage with their customers and potential customers.

However, Nike, pretty big global brand I’m sure you’ll agree, were actually one of the better brands using Twitter (in the middle of last year anyway, seem to have gone quiet in recent months) in my honest opinion.

http://twitter.com/nikeplus

It was a pretty interesting take with a lot of potential I thought when I first came across it in early May 2008. Rather than push the products, they made tentative steps to try and encourage participants in a major sport their products are used in, running. This sort of thing would tie in quite well with Nike’s websites, which offer training techniques etc (at least the American Football section of their North American site does http://tinyurl.com/bdfc3m).

Sadly though, it seems like they have given up on engaging through Twitter before it had REALLY taken off this year. Shame really as there is great potential to add value to the brand by engaging with customers about the sports the products are used for. After all, people have to be playing football to need football boots, the more participants the bigger the potential market! Positively interacting with this market would (rather obviously) seem like a good way to garner brand loyalty.

Seems like a missed opportunity to me.

Twitter – Changing Social Media

The social communication website Twitter, designed to allow people to communicate and stay connected with friends, colleagues, family and increasingly, celebrities and brands, has been gathering steam lately. Chances are you will have heard of it in one of the growing number of press stories relating to the website of late, the most notable of which detailed how victims of the Mumbai terrorist attacks kept “followers” (people who you are connected with on Twitter) up to date on their situation as the attacks took place.

The service is a phenomenon of sorts, rapidly revolutionising online interaction by allowing users to provide practically real time updates on their situation or what they are doing via 140 character “micro blog” posts which can also be submitted and received via mobile phone, effectively meaning you can “tweet” (the term used to describe creating a post) wherever and whenever you want!

The service has begun to be adopted by both celebrities and major corporate brands, as well as businesses of all sizes, as a means of improving interaction and engagement with their clients, customers and fans. Notable celebrities include Jonathan Ross of movie review and BBC radio scandal fame, who maintains a regular stream of updates and is continually haranguing his celebrity friends into joining him on Twitter. Andy Murray, world no. 4 ranked tennis player, also keeps fans up-to-date on his comings and goings. 

Global sports brand Nike have also recognised the opportunities this site presents and maintain a Twitter account for their “Nike Plus” range of running products. The account allows them to keep on top of customer opinion  of their brand as well as promote their products and events directly to people who have displayed a clear interest by following their updates.

Effectively, Twitter is allowing brands like Nike to run focus groups at no cost, garnering opinion on products and possible improvements that customers would like to see. It also allows companies to monitor public opinion and respond to any issues clients, customers and the public in general, may have with them before they become a significant problem.

Of course, this is all well and good for celebrities and global companies, but how can you put the growing power of Twitter to work for you? Well, one of the best things about twitter for businesses of all sizes is that it is very easy to find people interested in your particular niche, be it website design, property rental, yacht charter or anything in between. Simply search twitter for the terms you feel relate to your business and then search through the results for people who might be interested in your product or service. From there you can message to these people either publicly or privately to determine their interest.

So maybe next time your stuck on a train or taxi, or patiently waiting for your plane with nothing to do, why not do a little more to benefit the online presence of your business and generate some good leads at the same time by having a “tweet” on Twitter.

If you would like help on furthering the online presence of your business or perhaps improving your existing website, why not give us a call on 01786 498 079 or drop us and email and we’ll get in touch with you.

Twittering up a Buzz, or Potential Uses for Twitter

Never one to have been an early adopter of social media, I have only just recently gotten around to signing up with the latest craze – Twitter.

Basically, Twitter allows it’s users to create a profile and post short messages, either through the site or by mobile phone, which are then sent to the page, and or phone, of anyone “following” the user in order to allow your friends/colleagues etc to know exactly what your doing.

Now, I’ll admit, I didn’t immediately get what the point of this, or the use would be. I don’t feel the need to let everyone know exactly when I’ve just sneezed or realised I’ve been walking about with my fly undone, and I’m pretty sure not even my closest friends and family would really care! But after a little more thought and a quick scout through some user’s profiles, I began to realise that it actually has alot of potential beyond simply keeping in touch with friends.

Even celebrities get caught "flying low"...

One of the better and more creative uses for Twitter that I have seen is London Tower Bridge’s profile. Some clever clog has written a piece of code that works with Twitter in order to automatically provide information on when the bridge will be opening (and why) and when it will be closing. This is clearly handy for anyone living in London, and regularly crossing the Thames at this point, to be updated with via their mobile.

Another method, employed by Objective Associates‘ very own Mr Software Scotland himself, is to mini-blog on events as they happen. Unfortunately, understanding this mini-blogging takes a bit of thought, sometimes more than my brain is capable of!

Understanding mini-blogging on Twitter can, at times, require more than moderate intelligence...

In SEO circles, Twitter has received alot of press as a useful method of driving referral traffic to your (or your clients’) website. However, gaining referral traffic only really works if you have interesting content that will appeal to a reasonable number of people. I’m not sure many people are going to link to our Web Wise Business website on twitter to tell their friends about “web design scotland” as it’s just not really one of those topics people tend to talk about. Or maybe we’re just not prompting them enough…

PR: wait… I: wait… L: wait… LD: wait… I: wait… wait… C: wait… SD: wait…