Twitter Lists – 1st Insight?

October 31, 2009 at 9:31 am · Filed under Emergence, Event Announcements, Twitter

What might be a outcome of Twitter Lists? I think it may be a step nearer to “Emergence” in some key areas.

This slide shows what happens to children’s language as they approach Emergence in the 3rd picture on the right.

I think our use of Twitter can track this trajectory. At first it was me and a few friends that I knew from my face to face or blogging life prior to Twitter.

Then in the last 3 years, I have added a few more friends from the Twitterverse. These in my case have come mainly from Pub Media and from the Bryant Park Gang that Morphed into the Planet Money Gang.

I exclude myself from the many who merely add thousands of folks indiscriminately. I have added several hundred of these but I find that only 1 or 2 have been people that I have learned to care about or interacted with in a good way. The Dunbar number is not a nice to have but a Rule!

What I have immediately seen from the new lists that are emerging around the two and related areas of my interest – the PM/BPP Gang and Pub Media – is that I have some real gaps. Those that created the lists whom I like care for and admire have people that I don’t know and who don’t know me.

But it is highly probable that we will get on – your friend is my friend!

So we move toward phase 3. When we get a critical mass of Trust – Affection – Attraction then don’t we get close to “Emergence” being possible?

Andy Carvin’s NPR News List would surely make an incredible starting point for more experiment – now add to it his Pub Camp list and you have the 300 Spartans!

This then is power.

A large, talented and also diverse group that has a large bond of trust.

Such a group can surely take on the “Persians” of our time?

Comments (42)

The meaning of Twitter

October 30, 2009 at 2:52 pm · Filed under Social Media, Twitter

Here is a short piece made by a client of mine – KETC in St Louis about Twitter and its chairman – a native St Louisan – Jack Dorsey

What hit me as I watched was the attitude of the young people in the film – do you ever imagine that they will feel comfortable in an organization that does not allow access to social media?

So if you don’t allow this – what’s your plan?

Comments (17)

Social networking adds pizazz to insurance industry (2)

September 9, 2009 at 3:11 pm · Filed under Facebook, Social Networking, Twitter, YouTube

My colleague over at Insurance Networking, Pat Speer, has just published an account of a major health insurance company that is employing social networking to communicate with its members/customers.

For starters, Pat reports that Anthem Blue Cross and Blue Shield in Wisconsin is piloting a program which employs Twitter to “identify members who may have questions or concerns about their health benefits.” The use of Twitter enables the insurer “to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, real-time conversation, and respond to each tweet about Anthem.”

Anthem is also using its Twitter channel to help members with healthy lifestyle choices such as weight loss programs. If that isn’t enough, Pat reports that Anthem has also formed a Facebook channel and a YouTube channel to promote wellness and member interaction.

As Kate Quinn, VP of corporate marketing for Anthem, puts it: “Social media provide a great opportunity for us to engage our members, listen to them and be more responsive.”

At a time when the viability and future direction of the health insurance industry is under debate, social networking is providing a means for insurance companies to reach on on a very personal level to their customers. The perception of “big, bad, greedy insurance companies,” however rightly or wrongly earned, has been part of the discourse for years, and came about because of the sense of impersonalization that created a very high wall between the companies and their constituents.  Social networking may be just the right tool to tear down this wall.

Comments (1)

Twitter and Politics – Essential Today

August 26, 2009 at 6:03 am · Filed under Politics, Politics 2.0, Twitter

Micah Sifry and Eric Kuhn weigh in with the point here in two contrasting pieces on the “Right” and Twitter that the Right are making good use of Twitter to build a platform of support.

One thing is clear from both articles is that using Twitter well will be an essential part of politics in the future.

Unlike other political web tools, like email lists, websites and video channels, Twitter is completely instantaneous and multidirectional. A fact or an idea can start almost anywhere on Twitter and spread without centralized control. To be sure, if you’re trying to start and spread a meme using the platform, it doesn’t hurt to have a network of well-connected friends–but the most popular memes seem to spread mainly because they’re fresh AND of inherent interest to users. (Sifry)

Lewis added, “The ability to effectively utilize the Internet in the political realm works very well for the have-nots. It does not work so well for the establishment.”

To that end, Republicans are working overtime to establish a beachhead, online.

“Twitter is the best example of the most modern technology and how folks are organizing,” David All, a GOP new media consultant who has helped galvanize the party on Twitter, told CNN. He points to the success of hashtags – a popular way to keep track of a conversation – on Twitter. “#TCOT” (top conservatives on Twitter) has seen much more success on Twitter than “#P2 (progressives 2.0).  See stats from Hashtag.org here: TCOT vs P2.

Cooper is quick to defend progressives: “Conservatives are always good at pushing that one concise message. The death panels are easy to tweet. The explanation for why there are no death panels and making that explanation takes much more explanation. You can’t do that on Twitter.” (Kuhn)

Thanks to Jay Rosen for setting this up.

Comments (8)

Mining Twitter – Citizen Journalism in a New Form

July 30, 2009 at 12:25 pm · Filed under NPR, Public Media, Public Radio, Twitter

Comments (6)