Week 6 - Twitterdum and such

Before I start with anything else, if you haven't done the websort for one on my projects — please go to the following website to do the websort.  It would be much appreciated.

http://websort.net/s/A38653/


Ok. Sometimes you can't tell if something is a fad or a trend.  Supposedly, a fad is something that comes and goes whereas a trend is something that is here to stay. Barbie (TM) was a fad that became a trend — I guess.  And Tickle-Me Elmo will hopefully be a fad that stays a fad — who knows?

But I recently read the "Twitter for Dummies" book by Fitton, Gruen and Poston, and I looked at the Glossary — trying to find all of the different entities that have been spurned by Twitter.  Here's an incomplete list in no particular order:

CoTweet, Digsby, EpicTweet, ExecTweets, StockTwits, FollowFriday, FriendorFollow, FriendFeed, HelloTxt, HootSuite, LocalTweeps, Mr.Tweet, 100TXT, 140Story, PocketTwit, SecretTweet, TalkShoe, TinyTwitter, TipJoy, Topify, Tweecious, TweetDeck, TweetGrid, Tweetie, TweetLater, Tweetree, TweetScan, Tweetups, Twellow, 12Seconds, Twestival, Twhirl, twInfluence, Twinkle, Twistory, TwitBacks, TwitPic, TwitScoop, TwitStory, Twittelator, Twitterati, TwitterBerry, TwitterFeed, TwitterFon, TwitterFox, TwitterGrader, Twitterific, TwitterLocal, Twittermail, TwitterPatterns, Twitter-speak, Twittervision, Twobile, twoof, TwtVite. . .

Twell,  how was that?  That's alot of secondary digerati to digest.  I am thinking, at about three and a half years-old, Twitter has gone from a fad to a trend — most definitely.  I have been tweeting for a couple of weeks and without really trying I have 14 followers, and I am following 17 people.  I'd like to tell you that I have had the time to go through all of the above, but I am afraid I haven't.  Will I?   Probably not, but I am definitely going to pursue the ones that use marketing ploys.  And there are some fascinating ones that allow you to manipulate the Twitter API — so those I'll check out.

But this week I have spent most of the time working on the actual text of the printed version of the  Freelance Guide Project (aifreelance.com), and we made alot of progress with that. And I gove a shout out and props and thanks to Brian Bram, Michelle Yaiser and Tom Gentz for checking content for me — I really appreciate it!  And thanks to Steve Rudolfi who is the most excellent project manager in training. Check out his blog and his side of the story — it's great! 

I  also met with one of my clients this week — Carol Zander, who is the Bralady! (http://www.braladybiznewsletter.blogspot.com) and discussed how Twitter could increase her marketing mix.  We talked about a Twitter strategy and I showed her how to connect Twitter with Blogger.  She is on her way.

I thought I hit my reading-threshold  (I know that's not really a word, but hey — I am on sabBOBical — and you get what I mean), but I am going to try to tackle a few more books (in this order):  

• "The Social Life of Information" by John Seely Brown and Paul Duguid; 
• "Predictably Irrational: The Hidden Forces That Shape Our Decisions" by Dan Asriely;
• "Remix" by Lawrence Lessig; 
• "Code: Version 2.0" by Lawrence Lessig;
• "Thinking with Type" by Ellen Lupton, and quite possibly 

That's it for now.  I am a bit tired — I admitted to someone this week that I thought that the work I have been doing for this sabbatical is a bit more tiring than regular work.  Hmmm.  I think I have to look at the leaves next week.

Last Week's Daily Events 

Friday, October 16, 2009 

• Project Management Meeting:  With John Lay, Carreer Services, and Steve Rudolfi — we accomplished much and hope to meet again on October 30th
  
• Meeting with Steve Rudolfi: Freelance Guide — we completely reformatted the FLG docuemnt and setup style sheet for it
  
• Wrote this blog
  

Monday, October 19, 2009  

• Student CD Project: Edits
• Email-a-rama 
• Content Expert Requests:  Brian Bram, Sam Roache, Michelle Yaiser. 
• Freelance Guide: Edits
  

Tuesday, October 20, 2009 

• Client Meeting: BraladyBiz
• Twitter Research
• Freelance Guide: Edits
• Websort: Sent out  invitations
  

Wednesday, October 21, 2009  

• Websort: Sent out  more invitations 
• LinkedIn Work 
• Freelance Guide: Edits
• Content Expert Requests: Tom Gentz  

Thursday, October 22, 2009   

• Freelance Guide: Edits
• Websort Work
• Content Expert Requests: Dave Griffin, Joe Griffin 

 C'est tout!

 

Week 5 - Twitter Research and "Tribes"

I am including my email address here if you want to email me directly about anything.  Sorry that the blog limits comments to only Googlers.  I will fix as soon as I can — didn't realize this. roberte.griffin@verizon.net

Before I say anything else I want to say that there is nothing more gorgeous than fiddle-head ferns as they are saying good-bye to the world in their Fall swan song.
Ok, that's as Artsy as I can get.  

I began a part of my Twitter Research this week.  I am putting together a survey that I hope to send out soon,  and I will advise when I do (using the online survey application: Wufoo). In the meantime, I wanted to follow a diverse sub-group (over time) on Twitter, and I figured out what better way to do this than to use my own name: Robert Griffin.

So, I searched for "Robert Griffin" and found 19 of us (who were registered to Twitter). I haven't checked out every profile, but of those I did check,  I can say that these guys are a diverse group.  I suppose to be fair I should also do a Roberta Griffin survey, right?

Anyway, as of now the most "followers" one RG has is "105" and the least is "1." The median number is "6" — the average (coincidentally) is "19." I am going to follow these guys periodically and check to see — as a group — if they have increased their following, and or their "influence.'  I will talk more about "influence" later.  This is only one of many things I have planned for the research on Twitter — stay tuned.

I finished reading Seth Godin's book "Tribes." (His Web site: http://sethgodin.typepad.com/ .

Rather than go on and on about what I think of it — and I think it is great — I want to give you some direct quotes from it, and then you can see for yourself:

Quote#1 (that I love): "Perfection is an illusion, one that was created to maintain the status quo.

(2) (Tribe definition and as far as Godin thinks is the way marketing is headed) "A tribe is a group of people connected to one another, connected to a leader, and connected to an idea." (So, like everyone who uses a Mac, and loves Steve Jobs, and thinks MACS  rule!)

(3) This is not a quote but a comment — Godin is so creative that this partial-image (the t and s are cut off) is the INSIDE of the dust jacket for the hardcover edition, which is a display of Twitter follower avatars — I think.  Awesome!

(4) A crowd is a tribe without a leader.  A crowd is a tribe without communication.  Most organizations spend their time  marketing to the crowd. Smart organizations assemble the tribe.

(5) The essential lesson is that every day it gets easier to tighten the relationship you have with the people who choose to follow you.

(6) What people are afraid of isn't failure. It's blame. Criticism.

(7) A tribe that communicates more quickly, with alacrity [I love that word]  and emotion, is a tribe that thrives.

(8) It's uncomfortable to stand up in front of strangers, to propose an idea that might fail, to challenge the status quo, to resist the urge to settle.  When you identify the discomfort, you've found the place where a leader is needed.

(9) Leading when you don't know where to go, when you don't have the commitment or passion, or worst of all, when you can't overcome your fear—that sort of leading is worse than one at all. It takes guts to acknowledge that perhaps this time, right now, you can't lead. So get out of the way and follow....

(10) The key elements in creating a micromovement are —

To do list: 

1. Publish a manifesto
2. Make it easy for your followers to connect with you 
3. Mkae it easy for your followers to connect with one another
4. realize that money  is not the point of a movement 
5. Track your progress

 The principles:

1. Transparency really is your only option
2. Your movement needs to be bigger than you
3. Movements that grow, thrive
4. Movements  are made most clear when compared to the staus quo or to movements that work to push the other directions
5. Exclude outsiders
6. Tearing others down is never as helpful to a movement as building your followers up

 That's it — ten is enough, if you want more, get the book (and, no. I do not benefit from this endorsement).

What does this all mean for social media? I hope to try to figure it all out when I analyze and synthesize everything that I have read. That's all for now, folks — stay tuned.

rg


Last Week's Daily Events
I am including my email here if you want to email me directly about anything.  Sorry the blog limits comments to only Googlers.  I will fix as soon as I can — didn't realize this. roberte.griffin@verizon.net

Friday, October 9, 2009

• Project Management Documentation: Freelance Guide / created new system for "labeing"
  
• Meeting with Steve Rudolfi: Freelance Guide
  
• Work on finalizing the Student CD Project
• Worked on finalizing the "Websort" for Freelance Guide
• Write this blog
  

Monday, October 12, 2009  

• Happy Columbus Day, I think?
  

Tuesday, October 13, 2009 

• Reading: Finished "Tribes" by Seth Godin
• Setup: Watched Twitter video
  
• Did online research on "Twitter" - wanted to see who has written what about it.
  
• Read through Twitter "help" files
• Began to Twitter in earnest and follow people --- it is more interesting than I originally thought --- I hope Dan Barron is reading this. 
• Emailed Steve Rudolfi new "labeling" file (xls) for the Student CD-ROM 
• Worked on Joomla! Logistics --- so frustrating to be given bad information 

Wednesday, October 14, 2009  

• Read three Cory Doctorow periodical articles (online) about "content" - email me if you'd like list.
  
• More Twitter research
  
• Typed edits in the Freelance Guide.  Ran into major problems with the document — may have to redo entire 106 pages due to this — major setback!

Thursday, October , 2009  

• Online research for "best practices" in writing a "white paper" and scored a homerun with this.  Email me if you want all file references. Basically, Stelzner Consulting is a small marketing communication consultant who wrote a nice white paper about writing white papers. A little self-promoting, but it is free!
  
• Travel day and medical appointment
  

Week 4 - Marshall McLuhan Strikes Again!

Howdee! Ending Week 4 of SabBOBical!

I am going to keep this blog short this week as I have written a longer, separate blog that you might want to look at on my Techno-Travels blog.  It is regarding the re-reading of Marshall McLuhan's "The Medium is the Massage (sic) Message." It was quite a reading experience.

Additionally, this week  I read Seth Godin's book, "Tribes" and Mr. Godin has done it again for me in describing  a new way to think about  marketing. It will be on my newly revised readng list for my WDIM225 class (E-commerce and Marketing Communication).   Basically, the book is about how advertising as we know it, is changing.  As I was reading this I was listening to Tom Ashbrook's NPR Radio show "On-point" and the very subject was the FTC's new rules and regulations about bloggers accepting "booty" or "loot" for "advertising"  products or services within their blogs. I know I don't have to worry about that but check out the new FTC regulations.

And for those of you thinking about buying a Macbook — hold off until I let you know — there is a bug with the keyboard and it is very tiresome.  Basically, it is not registering all keys on the keyboard while typing and no matter what you do — change the touch, download new (supposed fixes) firmware etc. etc. — it doesn't fix the problem. If anyone knows anymore about this, please let me know. When I called Apple — they seemed to know about the issue and advised me to download firmware to see if it alleviates the issue, but honestly — it didn't even sound like the guy who I was talking to believed what he was saying.  He advised me to go to an Apple Store to show them the issue and take it and my case number from there.  For those of you who remember my problem with Dell many moons ago — it sounds like it is happening again! AHHHHHHHHHH!

That is  all for this week  — see details below!

RG

Calendar of Events for the Past 

( Key: Green items need follow-up.)

Friday, October 2, 2009

• Project Management Documentation: Freelance Guide
  
• Meeting with Steve Rudolfi: Freelance Guide
  
• Trip to Barnes & Noble for a course book inventory
• Online reading about "Twitter"
• Online investigation of "Meetup.com"
• Work on Student CD-ROM Project
• Write this blog
  

Monday, October 5, 2009  

• Travel to Boston
  
• Technical meeting with Steve Rudolfi to install Joomla!
  
• Project Plan: Freelance Guide
• Domain name check and decision for freelance Guide Project 

Tuesday, October 6, 2009 

• Reading: Joomla! Documentation read-through from BlueHost
• Setup: Mail on new laptop 
• Discussion: Michael Goldberg, Graphic Design Department — about logo contest for "aifreelance.com" 
• Email: Museum of Science contact RE: Site Visit 
• Freelance Guide Re-write: Addendum 1-8 

Wednesday, October 7, 2009  

• Student CD Project: Permission Form Check
• Project Management Documentation: Load latest version of these to Campfire
• Reading; Marshall McLuhan's "The Media is the Message (White Paper research)
  
• Write: (Techno-travels Blog: "Twhat's Ups?) — part of White Paper research 
• Online Support research and call into Apple RE: Keyboard issue with Macbook (#138478129)
• Review InspireData Software — email to customer Service 
• Review Steve Rudolfi's Blueprint of the Freelance Guide Website

Thursday, October , 2009  

• Agenda Creation: Tomorrow's meeting
• Independent Study Documentation 
• ( Completed an Apple software firmware update to see if it fixes the issue with the keyboard — can I ever get a break with computers — maybe it's my physical aura! )
• Reading: Seth Godin's "Tribes"
• Reading; Clay Shirky's Blog on "Mass Amateurization"

 That's it for this week — enjoy the fall foliage!

 

 

 

Week 3 — SabBobical

So far, no week has gone the way that I had planned.  I had this amazing plan and I was going to accomplish everything in it a certain way by a certain time.  Instead, it has flowed, and I have gotten a good deal of work done — but it feels sloppy. But I suppose sabbatical time is a time to give yourself a bit of a break.  The only schedule I am on is my own.

I also didn't think that this period would feel so winsome, and yet so isolating. To deal with the isolation I have been going to the local library or Barnes and Noble Cafe to do some of my reading.  There is less "home" distraction there and I am learning about solitude of a different kind.

I decided that this week's blog would be a bit more rambling than the past few, as I feel like there is a place for that even  in an academic treatise.  

I have alot of technical stuff to do to get properly setup for the continuing weeks. 

• Now that I have a Macbook with wifi I have to get a wireless router for home. 
• I have been saving money for a Windows PC netbook purchase (I've looked and none yet have it with Microsoft Windows 7 just — Vista, yuck. ). There are so many different deals for netbooks — it is confusing. If you here of one, give me a shout!
  
• I want to get an iPhone and say good-bye to Verizon.  Dumb, dumb Verizon. How they ever gave up the chance to work with Apple on the iPhone is beyond me.
• I also want to get an external hard drive to backup stuff
• And I have to finally commit to a server host to begin to build and rebuild some websites in Joomla! 

So, much to do.

I haven't talked much about Joomla! yet because I really have only done the training and haven't really used it yet, but i am excited about it.

Today I did do a training session on the new features of Mac OS 10.5 — alot of great new technology.  I loved Time Machine and Photo Booth.  (This is a photo I took with Photo Booth.  Not bad.)  

I also did a training session later on in the day in iWork'09 for Numbers.  I have been using Numbers for a bit, but didn't realize the many great features that it has — so different from Excel!

I got through a major milestone this week by completing the inventory of edits for the Freelance Guide Project and also creating the project plan for it.  I met with Steve Rudolfi, a student of mine,  today to discuss the project — it went well.

That project is on-track, but my reading and research is not exactly where I want it. 

That's all for now!

Calendar of Events for the Past Week 

Friday, September 25, 2009

• Project Management: Freelance Guide
  
• Meeting: Freelance Guide
  
• Reading and Research: Finalized "Rapt" notes
  

Monday, September 28, 2009 

• Email catch-up 
• Joomla! Training, Sections 8, 9 & 10
  
• Project Plan: Freelance Guide
  
• Physical: Setup new office space

Tuesday, September 29, 2009 

• Developed Project Management Template (in Numbers): For edits for the Freelance Guide
  
• Training: Joomla!
• Reading: "The Dip" by Seth Godin
  
• Re-created Twitter Account to: Griff_Graff — read through documentation
• Reading: Started to read Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue"
  

  Wednesday, September 30, 2009 

• Project Management Template (Numbers): Freelance Guide
• Listened to Tom Ashbrook's show on "Multi-tasking" and "Attention" — have to get this podcast
• Reading: Bill Bryson's "The Mother Tongue"

Thursday, October 1 , 2009 

• Training: New features of Leopard, Mac OS 10.5
• Training: iWork'09 - Numbers
• Reading: Clay Shirky's "Here Comes Everybody" (almost done!)

Friday, October 2 , 2009

• Meeting:  Agenda   
  o    Go over any open questions from the edits
  o    Go over Project Plan (spreadsheet)
  o    Go over schedule for next week
  o    Communicate (Steve R’s role) to Kristin Cassasanto/John Lay
• Steve due next week (October 9th)
  o    Project Plan / Spreadsheet
  o    Flow Chart / Blueprint
  o    Websort setup
  o    Beginning Artwork