I received an @message on Twitter today that caused me to pause and say “OMG OMG”.
Take a peak and before reading below: Do you notice anything that is not quite right in the first @message compared to the second? Take a moment to notice the difference and discover an important reminder about how to tweet with @ in Twitter.

Did you notice the “.” in front of the @toddlucier that @kag2u used. Why did she do that?

A note about @messages in Twitter
Messages that start with @ in Twitter are only shared between the sender and recipient and those in the twitter community who follow both of you!  None of your other followers will see the message.

For example, @thecleversheep is my identical twin brother, an educator, and an inspiring blogger and podcaster, tech guru…. I could go on.  The point is, you did not see this tweet in Rodd’s twitter stream (if you follow him) unless you follow me too!  It’s like a conversation happening at a party, and only the folks that are in the room with us can hear our conversation.

Including any content before the @ such as “.@toddlucier”

On the other hand, @kag2u use of the “.” is twitter etiquette brilliance.
These messages go to all of her followers because the @ is not the first character in the tweet!

Why is this a good thing?  Including an @message with one or more characters in front of it introduces your followers to the cool peeps that you are actually having a conversation with!  If your followers get curious because they see an interesting conversation it will likely lead to new followers for the person you are @messaging.

Since twitter is all about relationships, doesn’t it make sense to introduce your friends to one another?

Sometimes, keeping the conversation between those who follow both people makes sense. But most of the time, tweeting with the @message embedded in the content, or better with the almost invisible “.” makes the message avaiable to your audience while clearly addressing a conversation between you and the @message recipient.

So today, I’m toasting @kag2u (Give her a follow would you). Thank you for the reminder of the importance of introducing your peeps to one another.

One of the things I like about Facebook is that the free widget “Facebook Fan Box” that makes it easy to keep your website always fresh.

Yfrog Widget is a Showstopper for Photos and Video

Now Yfrog, the Twitter photo and video sharing platform offers a free customizable widget that will update your Webpage any time you stream video or take photos and sharethem on twitter with YFrog.

The delicious user interface for creating the Yfrog widget allows users to customize the shape of the widget and colour it to seemlessly plug in and match your Web site.

Each video or photo posted to Yfrog shows up in a live stream along with your comment and clicking on the Widget brings you to the full version of the photo or video as hosted at the site.

How to know if YFrog’s Widget is for you:

• looking for an easy way to keep your Website always fresh
• enjoy taking photos and video on a regular basis
• photos and video would help your ideal client appreciate something special about your business.
• You use twitter regularly
• have a mobile device that captures photos and video
• you have a healthy disdain for Facebook and wouldn’t dream of putting a Facebook Widget on your site.

What do you think? Is it important to have an always fresh Website?

By now, most of us have heard that the Web is social, but are you taking action to encourage social actions on your blog or website? Of course we can socialize with our fans and followers on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and the like, but now even our websites and blogs can become places where social actions can bring big benefits.

Three Steps to Earning Tweets and Likes

Step 1: Create great content, stuff that gets people excited, interested and enthused about the content you create.  Think beyond basic website information, think about providing something that your fans will want to tell others about.

Step 2: Ask for the action you want people to take.  Be straightforward – instead of leaving it up to your website visitor to decide how to share, ask them to Tweet about it or Like it.  I like to call this action “a small yes”  vs a “big yes”, like opening their wallet to get out a credit card!

Step 3: Make it easier to take that step by providing buttons that make it easy! Grab the new Twitter Tweet code http://twitter.com/tweetbutton and make a customized Facebook Like button http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like.  Then just paste the html code into your blog or website.

Benefits of Buttons

The nicest thing about using Facebook and Twitter buttons is they are interactive and easy for the users.  It is a very small request to ask a visitor to Like or Tweet about you when all they need to do is click a button on your webpage.  If a visitor likes what they see, engaging with it, brings some sense of personal satisfaction.

A big benefit is that this action is social, letting the website visitors spread word about your offer to all of their friends and followers. Actions produce results that are instantly visible to the clicker.  As the button is pressed, the counter updates, showing number of times the page has been Liked or Tweeted.  It’s a small bit of feedback that encourages users who are social to take action on your page.

Sharing can be viral:  When visitors see others have tweeted or liked your content, it encourages others to share it too! Tweet Button is very well designed

Tweet Buttons Well Designed

The Twitter button is well thought out and features text you can define (default is the page title), a shortened URL and a link to your preferred Twitter account. Users of the code can also recommend a second twitter account to follow once the user confirms their tweet.  Twitter users can also edit the tweet to their desire.

Using the Code

Twitter Tweet Button code is super user friendly, because wherever the code is used, the tweet that is generated automatically creates a shortened URL to the page that was liked.  Once you’ve decided on the design of the button you want for your site, you can use the same code over and over again on any page that you would like tweeted.

The Facebook Like button is highly customizable.  Website editors can even choose to show the Facebook avatar (photo) of the last person who liked your stuff.

Facebook Like button could be better

One of the downfalls of the Facebook Like button code generator, is that the Url to Like must be updated for each page the code is placed on so that when people Like your content, the link in the Facebook status update links directly to the content that was liked.

Think about your site users and fans before determining how social to make your button.  Adding a counter encourages action, but I think most users might be hesitant to see their face show up on the webpage of a tourism business.  My preference is for a simplified counter to save page space.

Get Social on your Webpage or Blog with Facebook Like and Twitter Tweet buttons

If you are in the tourism business, there are big benefits to be had by creating content that engages your audience, just make sure you are making it easy for webpage visitors to share your content with their fans and followers by using Facebook Like buttons and Twitter Tweet buttons.

By now, most of us have heard that the Web is social, but are you taking action to encourage social actions on your blog or website? Of course we can socialize with our fans and followers on Facebook, Twitter, Foursquare and the like, but now even our websites and blogs can become places where social actions can bring big benefits.

Step 1: Create great content, stuff that gets people excited, interested and enthused about the content you create.  Think beyond basic website information, think about providing something that your fans will want to tell others about.

Step 2: Ask for the action you want people to take.  Be straightforward – instead of leaving it up to your website visitor to decide how to share, ask them to Tweet about it or Like it.  I like to call this action “a small yes”  vs a “big yes”, like opening my wallet to get out my credit card!

Step 3: Make it easier to take that step by providing buttons that make it easy! Grab the new Twitter Tweet code http://twitter.com/tweetbutton and make a customized Facebook Like button http://developers.facebook.com/docs/reference/plugins/like.  Then just paste the html code into your blog or website.

Benefits of Buttons

The nicest thing about using Facebook and Twitter buttons is they are interactive and easy for the users.  It is a very small request to ask a visitor to Like or Tweet about you when all they need to do is click a button on your webpage.  If a visitor likes what they see, engaging with it, brings some sense of personal satisfaction.

A big benefit is that this action is social, letting the website visitors spread word about your offer to all of their friends and followers. Actions produce results that are instantly visible to the clicker.  As the button is pressed, the counter updates, showing number of times the page has been Liked or Tweeted.  It’s a small bit of feedback that encourages users who are social to take action on your page.

Sharing can be viral:  When visitors see others have tweeted or liked your content, it encourages others to do it too!

Tweet Button is very well designed

The Twitter button is well thought out and features text you can define (default is the page title), a shortened URL and a link to your preferred Twitter account. Users of the code can also recommend a second twitter account to follow once the user confirms their tweet.  Twitter users can also edit the tweet to their desire.

Using the Code:

The Facebook Like button is highly customizable.  Website editors can even choose to show the Facebook avatar (photo) of the last person who liked your stuff.  One of the downfalls of the Facebook Like button code generator, is that the Url to Like must be updated for each page the code is placed on so that when people Like your content, the link in the Facebook status update links directly to the content that was liked.

Think about your site users and fans before determining how social to make your button.  Adding a counter encourages action, but I think most users might be hesitant to see their face show up on the webpage of a tourism business.  My preference is for a simplified counter to save page space.

Twitter Tweet Button code is super user friendly, because wherever the code is used, the tweet that is generated automatically creates a shortened URL to the page that was liked.  Once you’ve decided on the design of the button you want for your site, you can use the same code over and over again on any page that you would like Tweeted.

If you are in the tourism business, there are big benefits to be had by creating content that engages your audience, just make sure you are making it easy for webpage visitors to share your content with their fans and followers by using Facebook Like buttons and Twitter Tweet this buttons.

Let’s face it, although social networking and time on twitter, facebook and other social sites has grown to eclipse email, many folks still spend a great deal of time in email.

Listimonkey is a great tool for tracking Twitter conversations on demand in email.
Receiving filtered tweets and Twitter list digests in your inbox may sound strange at first, but it has many benefits:

1. Social media in your email isn’t new any more.  With Google Buzz already in Gmail, many folks are already using social media within their email client.
2. Tracking keyword combinations or Twitter List conversations by email might be easier than using a twitter client for some folk – particularly social media beginners.
3. Monitoring conversations in email  makes social media more manageable by reducing time spent looking at Twitter clients for relevant tweets and conversations.
4. Monitor more conversations. By monitoring multiple keyword phrases by email, twitter clients like seesmic, tweetie and tweetdeck can be focused on fewer keywords.
5. Digests are a great way to stay up to date with social media happenings on days when traveling, or computers and handhelds are not at hand.  Spring is here, heck maybe we’ll spend more time in the garden if we know we’ll be kept in the loop by email.

In short, Listimonkey could make it easier for social media users to measure and monitor conversations.

Facebook becomes more like Twitter

It’s clear that Facebook has size and growth that easily diminishes that of Twitter.  However Facebook has been watching twitter steal quite a bit of the media limelight for it’s instantaneous distribution of news!

Facebook’s improvements on Twitter innovations have been many including:

• changing of  Facebook privacy settings and terms of service to encourage much wider distribution of status updates, photos and more.   Better than Twitter which by default makes all posts public; distribution can be customized for each Facebook status update (from a closed – friends only to a broadcast news visible to all)
• recent changes status updates to include links to user profiles when including the name of a friend is akin to @messages in Twitter;
• NEW share links capability in Facebook is much like Twitter’s retweet feature, only much better.

How Facebook Share is better than Twitter Retweet

Twitter’s Retweet

A few months back Twitter added the retweet function to repost original users comment and/or link without the opportunity to editorialize or put your own personal spin on the link or status update.  The Twitter Retweet functions much like the game of telephone where users cannot editorialize.

The tweet appears to come from the original twitter user (1) including featuring the avatar and name with a credit for the Retweet (2) given as a footnote.

There is little incentive to retweeting another’s post and in fact twitter followers can easily be confused by seeing the avatar and name of a twitter user in their stream that they are not following.

Sharing in Facebook – Better than a Retweet

The new Share link in Facebook only appears on status updates that feature URLS (not photo links or text only status updates).

Since the link is what matters; users insert their own commentary on the link.
Once posted the shared item references the original poster of the link in the smaller footnote of the new shared post.
To many, this way of giving credit to the original link is much preferred over Twitter’s parroting (if it’s not a word it should be) of the link.

Sharing options include posting to your Facebook profile or sending the link in a message.  Note the via credit to the original post below the new comment:

What do you think? Is Facebook Share better than Twitter Retweet?

Other Copycat Innovators

Be sure to check out how Foursquare is changing the world.  Indeed small innovative companies like Foursquare are giving larger businesses like Yelp great innovation ideas.

Yelp has taken on the best aspects of Foursquare and Facebook’s iPhone app to establish itself as the premiere social networking business review app.  Be sure to read about Yelp’s iPhone app at Mashable.  The Yelp app, with over a million iPhone users and apps for all mobile devices might be very well positioned to create significant space between itself and smaller Foursquare and Gowalla location check-in games and less well known business review site Google.com/maps.  It will be really interesting to see how Google Maps responds to Yelp’s innovative updated iPhone app.

Tourism Innovation

Sometimes being original pays off.  Sometimes it’s best to see what others are doing well and improving on their ideas to enhance your tourism experiences, clean up your Web presence or improve the way you connect with your ideal guest.  I think we could all spend more time looking at the Web sites of others who are innovating and succeeding.

Now you can use the social networking sauce of Google FriendConnect without a Google Account.  The Google Friend Connect box (like the one at right) is a neat way to see who else frequents the Web sites and blogs you do.  If a site has Friend Connect installed, a user can log-in using either their Google account or their Twitter account and other users can see their avatar (photo) and username.

The timing of the Google announcement is interesting seeing that Yahoo just announced Facebook Connect integration with Yahoo! properties  that will allow Yahoo! members like Flickr users to send updates of their activities through Facebook (coming in January).

The integration of Twitter and Yahoo! log-in credentials for Google FriendConnect will enhance the reach of FriendConnect, but I really think it comes a little too late to benefit either Google or Twitter (which only has 10% of the followers of Facebook).

Know your Audience

For most tourism Web sites Facebook Fan Boxes are probably a far better option for adding social networking to their blog or Web site, particularly with the massive scale of the Facebook audience (some 350 Million users!).  We use Facebook Connect widget on our Web site at Northern Edge Algonquin and don’t provide social networking via Google or Twitter (although we link to our Twitter profile).

It’s important to know your who your ideal audience is and provide social opportunities that match their desires. In terms of Twitter community who frequent this blog, I really like the Twitter box at right from TwitterCounter, which provides one click follow access to folks who stop by.  Nifty.

Google’s FriendConnect widget provides links to profiles of site users which is beneficial to followers who become members of sites with Google credentials. By clicking on a users avatar, members of the site can also tweet direct messages to Twitter FriendConnect members (identified with the small blue T logo over the avatar) or send messages to Google and Yahoo! members.

I’m not sure the integration of Twitter with Google’s FriendConnect widget will inspire more uptake in logging into FriendConnect.  For that matter, you’ll decide.

Thankfully the good folks at Twitter have enhanced the Lists feature by providing a space for users to add a description to each list they make.

It should be painfully obvious the last missing piece of the list equation – tags.

All the social media that is shared on the Web (photos, videos, blog posts, etc.) share the same conventions:

• Title
• Description
• Tags

All three are valuable Search Engine Optimization tools but more importantly Description Field and yet-to-be-included Tags field will really let people know the value of the people you are tagging.  This will be much more valuable than just the title tag.

Some of the people I follow have terrific lists, but the list name doesn’t make the list relevant for outsiders and new twitter users who will benefit from your great lists.

So . . . get editing those Description fields in your Twitter Lists.

Backstory:

@PrincessCruises invited a number of well known travel bloggers on a Caribbean Cruise. The folks at Princess Cruises must have been excited about all the social media they were going to generate. While the captain of the ship had his eye on the weather, (even changing the cruise route to avoid the worst of a seasonal tropical storm ) a hurricane was brewing online under the twitter hash tag used for the event #followmeatsea by cruise industry opponents.

For an overview read Pam Mandel’s recap of the brouhaha or Nellie Huang‘s post that also captures the discussion on the ethics of complimentary travel for bloggers. See the #twethics tag for more on the ethics of host-paid travel blogging.

Three stories seem to be at the centre of this storm:

• the ethics of complimentary travel
• the environmental impact of cruise ships
• travel writer in-fighting

But the real story is about the openness of social networks and the Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media

The Story behind the Seven Deadly Sins

For Princess Cruises, no one was at the helm as cruise industry opponents (one in particular) from beyond the ship hijacked the hashtag and stormed the ship with challenges on the ethics of the cruise travel industry. Interestingly, the target of the attacks wasn’t Princess Cruises, but the travel writers on board.

Seven Deadly Sins of Social Media

Deadly Sin #1. Thinking you can control social media.

Social Media is beyond anyones control. You can create a hashtag, but anyone can post to it. Expect it. Influential bloggers and microbloggers can control a conversation from inside or outside your event

Deadly Sin #2. Being unprepared for negative social media.

Know your foe. Know the arguments others will make against your business or event and be prepared to defend your position. Public relations damage control needs to be in place before your event begins. Think about what issues could be raised and plan the best way to respond.

Bloggers were taken behind the scenes on a five hour ship tour that revealed many impressive facts about the cruise ships environmental practices.

As Kim Mance tweeted:

@PrincessCruises could have tweeted weeks before the cruise:
PrincessCruises: We look forward to showcasing our environmental efforts with an extensive behind the scenes tour for bloggers!

If your tourism product, service, or experience has shortcomings, address them. Astoundingly: 85 % of hotels DO NOT have guidelines for Social Media (Market Metrix / TripAdvisor).

Deadly Sin #3. Expecting others to protect your brand.

You can invite a blogger to blog, a twitter to tweet, but they cannot defend your brand in the social media space against those whose mission is to devalue your brand. In the absence of a brand manager on this cruise, the bloggers became targets for direct abuse, and in some cases their emotional responses may tarnish whatever media they ultimately produce.

I had communications with one of the bloggers (prior to the ships departure) about her desire to report on the environmental impacts of the cruise and her concerns about sustainable tourism. Unfortunately bloggers who now report on the environmental, ethical, responsible practices of Princess Cruises will look like shills for their hosts; responding to a conversation that was driven by a cruise industry foe, particularly in light of the paid-for nature of the trip.

Deadly Sin #4. Being deaf to the conversation:

Ignorance of the Tweet is no excuse. Numerous tools permit listening and filtering social media. As this cruise event was going on I used Twitter to voice displeasure with @disqus blog commenting system in a tweet. @Disqus was listening. Customer service response was immediate.

They fixed my problem, I became a fan. Was @PrincessCruises listening to the conversation as the tempest was brewing?

Deadly Sin #5. Taking Time to Respond

Respond immediately to criticism. Responding, can resolve issues before they grow into a huge wave of consumer defection and can transform your foes into fans. In the best case, you can know when your guest is unhappy before they leave. Address their concerns before they have the time to share them with the world.

@PrincessCruises waited more than 48 hours after the peak of the online storm before posting a link to their environmental policy (copyright 2008). Why the delay? A significant amount of mis-information was passed off as fact in micro-blog posts by cruise opponents in the intervening two days.

According to TripAdvisor only 4% of negative reviews get a response. Negative social media is the biggest missed opportunity for most businesses. To consumers, a company responding is cast in a favorable light (Compete Inc., 2007).

Deadly Sin #6. Responding in Public to a Passionate Foe

In many cases it might be best to take an emotionally charged conversation out of the public channel. Direct communication can be less emotional and more constructive than dealing with a passionate foe reacting with emotion in a public space. During this event I exchanged direct twitter messages with people on and off the ship in order to understand and appreciate the issues and the best way for all parties to achieve desired outcomes. Engage with your foes by listening and responding to concerns directly.

Deadly Sin #7. Charging folks for Internet Access

Bloggers on this cruise have access to social media with complimentary WiFi. Make it easy for your fans to share their stories using social media by giving away the WiFi! Sure having guests pay for WiFi generates revenue, but instant uploads from twittering bloggers can deliver more long term value in form of customers. Since 1/3 of travelers have posted comments or blog posts on trips, it makes sense to allow your guests to access the Web so they can influence their family, friends and followers while they are visiting. Move the cost of WiFi from your infrastructure costs to your marketing/public relations budget. Then encourage your guests to use it.

Get Greater impact from Twitter on your Website Search Ranking:

Perhaps the biggest benefit of the recently announced Google / Twitter deal is that Google can now see all those links that are tweeted.

Links have always been the secret sauce for getting your Website to rise above others to the first page – or even the top of the first page of the search results. The image above says it all.

Turn your Website into a Blog to get the most of Twitter

GET BLOGGING! No matter what business you are in. Produce real time content that your community will love. The more you do it, the more you will benefit.

Here’s Why:

• Each Tweet is a Web page on a Website with high authority granted by Google – Twitter.com
• Using Twitter, people are helping Google rank Webpages in real time by linking to them.
• If your content is good, Retweeted links will produce more incoming links to your content.
• Links in Tweets can point to Webpages of all kinds but most tweeted links go to Blog posts.
• Tweets are generally about real time, current news and content. What is more tweet-worthy (if it’s not a word it should be – get with it spell checker): a Website that is updated seasonally or a Blog that is updated daily?
• Tweeted links may have higher time-sensitive value that degrades over time.
• Your Website is not likely to generate much interest if you tweet about it constantly.
• Blogs are platforms for producing link-worthy content frequently.

Conclusions: How Twitter can improve your Website Search Ranking

Blog posts that provide value to your twitter community by featuring news, podcasts, video, photos, stories can earn you considerably more link juice and lead to increased position in the Google Search results.

Links:

• Twitter and Google Partnership
• Using Social Media is a lot like flossing
• How to get any kind of media into your WordPress Blog
• Does your Website still look like it did in December 2008?