Relating to an earlier post about Twitter, a relatively new website, 12seconds.tv, has just gone into public beta. The site is the video equivalent of Twitter, offering microvideo, as opposed to microblogging. Tech crunch discusses a new iphone app that enables Iphone users to upload 12 second videos. However this app is more limiting than normal camera equipped mobile phones, in that Iphone users can only submit 12 second slideshows, while mobile phone users can email 12 second videos to the site which posts them automatically.

The success of Twitter, as in any social network, is the community adoption. Millions of people are now using twitter and it continues to grow in popularity. It remains to be seen whether 12 seconds will have the same success. From an early perusal of the site, it does not appear that there is a great deal of exploration of the format. People aren’t uploading videos that they’ve spent a great deal of time on, rather they press record and hit send 12 seconds later. It seems like there’s an opportunity for some more creative usage than simply pointing your webcam at yourself and uttering a sentence, although presumably if you continually utter interesting/insightful/hilarious sentences that may be all that is necessary.

Like Twitter, the value of 12 seconds may lie in it’s preview/teaser offerings, as a way to entice people to click links to more content rich sites. Many twitter users are also bloggers, and will post interesting links they find to their twitter account, which then reinforces their value as bloggers, because they are seen as purveyors of interesting and “follow worthy” content. (For those unfamiliar with Twitter, users can follow people, giving them real time updates of that twitterer’s ”tweets,” 12 seconds includes this same ’follow’ function ). By the same token, 12 seconds may have value for Youtube users, as a means of promoting new videos, or as content filler for the time in between their more substantial videos.

Most importantly, this seems like a golden opportunity for any small business that has news to announce. In much the same way as Zappos (a fantastic company by the way) emails announcements of their latest and greatest products, this format would be great for retail companies looking to show off their newest items. Travel agency’s can announce their new great travel deals. PR companies can make quick announcements. With a little creativity the 12 second format could be utilized to great effect, and if if it’s both interesting and valuable content users will appreciate it. One of the other great assets is the main page automatically displays every new video that is posted in chronological posting order. New videos will be posted for all to see, as well as a user’s followers. As always with social media, good content is of the utmost importance - create good, informative, entertaining/interesting content, and they will follow.

Marketing Tools, Web 2.0 Social Networking

Guy Kawasaki, co-creator of aggregator juggernaut Alltop.com, has created an incredibly informative post on how to leverage twitter as a marketing tool. He goes in depth with specific tricks to maximizing “tweet” visibility, and discusses his successes using twitter for alltop, as well as highlighting the ways companies like Amazon and Wholefoods utilize twitter to maximize customer interaction.

For small businesses trying to reach consumers, Twitter, if used correctly, is undoubtedly one of the best tools available, and it’s free. For those unfamiliar with Twitter, it is essentially a mini-blogging tool, that allows users to create posts up to 140 characters in length. As a user one can post “tweets” as well as follow the posts of others in the twitter community. The value of this relational tool for marketing is really quite extraordinary, due to the exponential connectivity of Twitter followers.  Here is the most poignant example of Guy’s usage in numbers:

177 people agreed to repost all Alltop news as their own tweets. This took automated tweeting to a historical new high—or low depending on who you asked.

Then my new book, Reality Check , came out, and I made an offer of a free copy of it to anyone who signed up for the Alltop Twitterfeed. Another 280 people signed up—bringing the total to approximately 450 people.

We counted, and these 450 people had a total of 140,000 followers. This meant that whenever we announced a new topic, the 140,000 followers of 450 people received notification. These 450 people had followers in common, so their tweets didn’t reach 140,000 different people (see next section), but this was the Mother of Retweeting.

The post explains how to find followers, how to build a profile, everything you need to know about getting started with Twitter.

Social Networking, Web 2.0 Social Networking, Web 2.0

These days there are a number ways that people can interact via the internet. From groups specifically designed to connect with “friends,” to media and file sharing sites, to corporate networking sites, there are a lot of different ways to connect. But what is the most effective way for businesses to take advantage of these digital relationships?

Michael Jones of Userplane describes the benefit of social networks like Linkedin for making “blind” connections with potential business associates, much in the same way that individuals might meet for blind dates.

Stepping into the conference room, I realize that I’m headed into an appointment with very little information on what’s about to happen or with whom I’ll be meeting. I know the names of the participants, but would not recognize them if I passed them on the street. Nonetheless, I’m pleased with the opportunity and eager about what may materialize from this gathering.

Now here’s the punchline: this entire in-person meeting was arranged online with the assistance of “web introductions,” through the business networking service Linkedin.

He goes on to speculate that these types of business meetings will become more common place, and that eventually, through the integration of technology like tele-conferencing, the necessity to meet in person may be eliminated altogether.

In this B to B model of social networking, the advantages are fairly straightforward. You set up a profile describing yourself and what you do and would like to do, and then go about making connections with the people whose profiles in some way present a common interest or benefit. But what about B to C social networking?

This Tech Crunch article explores some of the best “create your own social network” type of sites. The idea of how to create a successful platform with your business at the center upon which your consumers can interact is the 64 thousand dollar question for these types of networks. I don’t personally have the answer, but at least there are folks out there trying to figure out the best ways to facilitate it.

Social Networking Social Networking