Social Media Education: 10 Social Media Resources

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Twitter research is one of the key benefits of the network. If you are interesting in learning about social media, the following list contains great resources for your education. Remember to search for new resources by looking at who these people follow for their information.

10 Social Media Resources

• pkitano : Pat Kitano Domus Consulting Group LLC, leader in breaking news and Twitter expert
• TimOReilly: Tim O’Reilly the godfather of the phrase Web 2.0 and new thought leader of the idea of social media a platform of participation
• Mashable: Mashable is the leading online muti-source social media magazine
• TechCrunch: Michael Arrington is the power behind Tech Crunch the Internet’s leading technology magazine
• Jowyang: Jerremiah Owyang leading social media analyst
• emilychang: Emily Chang San Francisco based social media expert, business model focused blogger
• Forrester: Forrester is one of the leading social media firms
• hubspot: Hubspot leading marketing firm and developer of the popular tool Twitter Grader series
• PeterKim: Peter Kim former Forrester analyst and now the Managing Director of Dachis Group
• radian6: radian6 is a multi-faceted platform for large corporations PR and Marketing efforts

Engadget’s Topolsky Reviews Apple iPad: Food For Thought Before Purchase

Joshua Topolsky wrote a great, straight forward review of the iPad for mega tech magazine Engadget “Apple iPad First Hands-On!” that provides readers food for thought. This is not a gushing Applehead review but something everyone should analyze before buying the iPad. Rather than regurgitating Joshua’s points, I am going to give them to you along with my commentary when applicable.

Topolsky’s iPad Review

• It’s not light. It feels pretty weighty in your hand. dg: it’s tough to beat the weight of an iPhone
• The screen is stunning, and it’s 1024 x 768. Feels just like a huge iPhone in your hands.
• The speed of the CPU is something to be marveled at. It is blazingly fast from what we can tell. Webpages loaded up super fast, and scrolling was without a hiccup. Moving into and out of apps was a breeze. Everything flew.
• There’s no multitasking at all. It’s a real disappointment. All this power and very little you can do with it at once. No multitasking means no streaming Pandora when you’re working in Pages… you can figure it out. It’s a real setback for this device. dg: Bad news for bloggers who need an easy to use writing device bigger than the hand cramping iPhone but “lighter” than notebooks
• The ebook implementation is about as close as you can get to reading without a stack of bound paper in your hand. The visual stuff really helps flesh out the experience. It may be just for show, but it counts here.
• No camera. None, nada. Zip. No video conferencing here folks. Hell, it doesn’t have an SMS app! dg: Absolute deal killer for content providers, bloggers, or social media directors who must add content on the go- at any time.
• It’s running iPhone OS 3.2.
• The keyboard is good, not great. Not quite as responsive as it looked in the demos. dg: this is the only point we take exception to with Joshua. I can not, nor can my colleagues, see anything but trouble when attempting to type long posts. Touch screen technology is still far removed from the tactile feel you need when accurately and quickly typing
• No Flash confirmed. So Hulu is out for you, folks!

Apple’s New iPad: Revolutionary For Consuming Content

ComputerShopper published this deansguide article 1-27-10

Chicago Sun-Times published this deansguide article 1-27-10

Apple’s Steve Jobs has done it again! Without too much to say watch this video of the new Apple iPad. It is revolutionary in the way we will consume our content moving forward.  It’s $499 which is a great price. The only possible drawback? The keypad is a touch pad on the surface of the “screen” so I can’t imagine it will be good for long term writing assignments.

Your thoughts?

FreeOkun.com: Website Espousing Okun’s Innocense

“Acting like a Rhinoceros in a rainstorm, the government proceeded to completely muddy Okun’s business operations by seizing all the records which caused massive transactional defaults in the QI business and destroyed Okun’s outside business as well as stopping the cash flow and refinancing efforts that would have kept all the businesses running smoothly, while the stolen funds were being identified and recovered.”   –Passage from FreeOkun.com

As if things could get any weirder and sadder, a new website espousing Ed Okun 1031 Tax Group scam artist’s innocence and has emerged.  The convicted felon, who was found guilty of bilking aka stealing $160 million in investor funds, was presumed long gone. That is not true if you read this site.

Warning

For those victims who have not read this diatribe, brace yourself for the garbage you are about to read: FreeOkun.com

Twitter Strategies: Don’t Be A Eddie Haskell

Another annoying and often undetected Twitter scam is making it’s way into your follow “inbox.” I am calling this new Twitter tactic the “Eddie Haskell” tactic designed to persuade you to follow a person. Here is how it works:

Eddie Haskell Tactic

• New Follower: a new Twitter follow shows up in your list of “Followers”
• Open Tweet: your new Twitter follower tweets you the following message: “@___ Thanks!”
• DM Message: the final step is to send a direct message repeating the open tweet “@____ Thanks!”

What’s The Strategy?

• Message: “Thanks!” is the follower’s first attempt to raise your curiosity and have you engage with them
• Reciprocity: open tweeting “Thanks!” begins the cycle of intended reciprocity. This is similar to the sales tactic where the salesman (usually of the car variety) tries to get you (the target) to respond to a list of questions with the answer “Yes.”
• Elicit Question: after the open tweet “Thanks!” a second direct message is sent: “Thanks!”. This second message is meant to again raise your curiosity (Why are they thanking me?) but more importantly– it “allows” you to use the private DM channel to engage with the follower

What Do You Do?

Here is my advice. Do you really want to add a new follower who uses tactics to gain your “follow” back? What is this person’s motivation in building a large following? In most cases, these types of tactics are used because the person is a MLM, affiliate marketer, or someone being paid to tweet. Your follow strengthens their network but what do you get out of the deal? A: a non targeted follower who is only concerned with their own wealth and success.

Twitter Spam Tactic: Follow, Unfollow, Follow

One of the newest “practices” surfacing on Twitter is designed to make sure you follow a person or company that has followed you. Since this tactic does not have a name we are dubbing it the Follow-Unfollow-Follow tactic

Follow-Unfollow-Follow: How It Works

• Follow: a twitterer that you are uninterested in following follows you
• You Ignore: you do not follow this useless Twitterer and ignore them
• Unfollow: the twitterer waits for 24-48 hours and once they realize you are not following them, they unfollow you
• ReFollow: within the next 24 hours after their initial “unfollow” the twitterer will refollow you

What Is the Follow-Unfollow-ReFollow Strategy?

1. Everyone Follows: this tactic’s goal or strategy is to ensureevery single person that a twitterer follows will follow
2. Top of List: by refollowing a second time, the twitterer’s logo or face is at the top of your follower’s list
3. Pest: being a pest, the twitterer hopes to ware you down so that you follow them back just to get rid of them
4. Multiple DMs: each time the twitterer follows you he/she can direct message you, it will surely be spam, a sales pitch for whatever they want you to do for them

Powerful Twitter Strategy: Mine Favorites Section For Insight

Your Favorites section is the library-repository for your research on Twitter–and so much more. In what is going to be a very important strategy moving forward, the Favorites section will have multiple benefits not yet realized.

The next step in a Favorites’ strategy is to “mine” liked minded peers, industry professionals, or competitor’s Favorites section.

Benefits of “Mining” Twitter Favorites

• Discovery: find links for your research from people or companies you respect
• Due Diligence: review your competitor’s Favorites section to understand what they find important, strategy, and future direction
• Audience: mine your consumers-audience to understand what they are saying, if anything, about you. Look for information about your competition, their buying habits, likes, possible dislikes
• Who is Who: find out who your competitors consider important and who they receive their research information from on Twitter
• Following Targets: mine your competitors Favorites section to find new Twitterers to follow for research
• Prospecting: mine the Favorites section looking for your competitor’s prospects or customers

Conclusion

Mining the Favorites section of other Twitterers will be a multi-faceted beneficial strategy in 2010.

A Friend We Never Met: MLK Tribute

Some people, even if we have never met them, seem to be people we could be friends with if we had the opportunity. Martin Luther King Jr. is just such a man. If I could have any 3 people at a table for dinner, Dr. King would get one of my seats.

MLK: A Man Never To Be Forgotten

Martin Luther King, a doctor, a pastor, a leader, a man of passionate idealism and faith. Where ever you are in the world today, try to remember what once was- a man bridging the gap of social injustice while setting an example of non violent resistance. If words are the pillars to our actions, then Dr. King built a castle to freedom.

Remember What Made Him Great

• “All men are caught in an inescapable network of mutuality.“
• “Faith is taking the first step, even when you don’t see the whole staircase.“
• “Human salvation lies in the hands of the creatively maladjusted.“
• “Let no man pull you low enough to hate him.“
• “Segregation is the adultery of an illicit intercourse between injustice and immorality.“
• “We must learn to live together as brothers or perish together as fools.“
• “When you are right you cannot be too radical; when you are wrong, you cannot be too conservative.“
• “All progress is precarious, and the solution of one problem brings us face to face with another problem.“
• “Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.“
• “The ultimate measure of a man is not where he stands in moments of comfort and convenience, but where he stands at times of challenge and controversy.“

Twitter Strategies: Twitter Research Groups Expand Your Reach

One of Twitter’s greatest assets is as a research, information trading hub. If you need answers, breaking news, and research, Twitter is the best resource online today.

The next step in Twitter research is to create Twitter research groups. This groups could be within one company, entrepreneurs who wish to expand their “reach”, or BNI type referral groups

Types of Twitter Research Groups

• Companies: multiple work groups can utlize twitter together to accumulate research
• Entrepreneurs: small businesses and one off entrepreneurs can form research groups thus emulating research departments seen in large corporations
• BNI-Referral Groups: groups of people who share leads or provide referrals could form a research group on Twitter with

Benefits of Twitter Research Groups

• Expand: expand your reach and ability to find information
• Accumulate: accumulate more data with more people involved in your group
• Filter: listen to your group members for evaluations on data accumulated
• Perspective: data accumulated will likely include data you would not necessarily chose due to your own bias or lack of experience
• Network: your group can begin to network within Twitter looking to add new group members with new perspectives that help solidify your growth on Twitter- strengthening your Twitter network