With yesterday’s announcement of sponsored Tweets, Twitter is finally beginning to peel the money-making onion. You have to make a living, right? This first step in the monetization process is the inclusion of “sponsored Tweets” at the top of a Twitter search for specific keywords, thus pushing a brands key message to the top of the results list. For brands and organizations this appears to be an advantage since their key messages will bubble to the top and not get lost in the stream even…
Read MoreFirst thanks to the two “Jeffs” for their guest posts. They represented their sides in an informative and respectful manner and achieved record readership numbers. Hmmmm….. anyway…. Here are some of my thoughts on the Foursquare subject based on their posts and a number of conversations I’ve had on the subject in the last week or so. Foursquare is perhaps the most polarizing social media platform. Period. People either love it or hate it, there is no middle ground. They love it because it’s fun,…
Read MoreEditor's note: If Jeff Kraus had been a little bit bigger, he would be playing football for the Pittsburgh Steelers. If he could skate a little faster, he would be playing hockey for the Pittsburgh Penguins. Instead, Jeff – the VCCS Assistant Vice Chancellor for Public Relations – spent years working as a wire service, radio and award-winning television reporter in Richmond, covering state government and politics. His professional background includes strategic communications, speechwriting, and media relations for three years for Governor Timothy M. Kaine. He is a…
Read More(Editor's note: This is the first of two guest posts in a "Foursquare Faceoff." This is from Jeff Kennett is a social media fan who lives in Glen Allen, VA with wife Annette and their two rescue dogs. He runs the Greater Richmond iPhone Users Group http://meetup.com/iphoners. Jeff’s on LinkedIn at http://linkedin.com/in/jeffkennett and welcomes new connections.) I’m sitting outside at Stony Point Fashion Park enjoying the sudden pretty Spring weather and free WiFi. I’m writing a guest post for Jon’s blog on my MacBook Pro. Just…
Read MoreActually it's greeting from Jekyll Island, Georgia. I'd check in with Foursquare but I'm frankly too lazy to at the moment. Just a reminder that since we're on break this week, we have solicited two guest posts on the subject of Foursquare. It was actually friend and client Jeff Kraus' idea. So tomorrow local social media enthusiast Jeff Kennett (@jkennett) will post his "pro" Foursquare arguments and on Thursday Jeff Kraus (@jeffkraus) will post his "con" arguments. I have already read both of them, they are quite…
Read MoreNot sure how I feel about this one, but Facebook is once again tugging at the social media rug that we all stand on and giving it a swift pull. Coming soon, you will not have to “Become a Fan” of a brand or Fan page, all you will have to do is “Like” it. All the details are not there yet, but is it yet another move to make Fan pages more accessible to the close to 500 million active users. Our guess is…
Read MorePlease forgive the lack of posts in the coming days, with spring break coming up there’s a great deal to do. This one will be longer and reflective. It revolves around communities. In most cases we people in social media talk about communities, they primarily mean those attached to a product or organization or cause. In this post, when considering “community” I’m talking about an IRL (in real life) region. In my case, Richmond. In the past few weeks THP as a company and me…
Read MoreWhile most of the conversation about news media going “hyperlocal” is about the creation of super-localized websites or blogs focusing on a town or neighborhood, an interesting battle is about to be waged in the nation’s largest market. In a few short weeks in New York City, the Wall Street Journal is about to go “mano a mano” with the granddaddy of them all, The New York Times. At the core of the battle is Rupert Murdoch’s long-time war with The Times, a battle he…
Read MoreFirst let me tell you how cool it was just to spend some time picking Shashi Bellamkonda's brain. Network Solutions' "social media swami" and I "co-worked" at THP yesterday afternoon and it gave me a chance to ask questions, go to school and validate some things we've been kicking around. He also was able to tailor last night's presentation to #SMCRVA and Hype Richmond which was a must see for folks who want to really get serious about social media, making a case for it in their organization,…
Read MoreSo it comes as little surprise to many that Tiger Woods today announced his return to golf will be in Augusta. Since his speech…oops I mean news conference a few weeks ago and subsequent pictures of him practicing were released, it clearly was a matter of not if, but when and the when would be relatively soon. If the crisis PR folks follow the usual script, next up will be the handpicked exclusive one-on-one (televised, probably) interview to “set matters straight so we can put…
Read MoreBusy days coming up but I wanted to share these random thoughts and get your feedback on them. IRL: I had the pleasure of meeting some of my Twitter friends “In Real Life” at events and during some informational interviews over the last week or so. It’s a great thing to cement these relationships in person. It’s the first thing I mention when people tell me they “don’t get Twitter.” It’s about the relationships you create. Social media rules of engagement: I’ve been reading a…
Read MoreFoursquare, we don’t need no stinkin’ badges. Actually we do. Really. Want them. But I digress. The story begins earlier this week on Twitter as Matt Lake of Wine and Beer Westpark (@wbwestpark on Twitter) in Richmond’s fashionable West End, his wife Caroline (who works with me: full disclosure) and others were volleying back and forth on Twitter. Someone, not sure who it was (maybe Kira Siddall, maybe not) brought up the quest for the holy grail of Foursquare — the elusive “Swarm Badge.” Lost? Foursquare,…
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