All Entries Tagged With: "social media"

The World’s First Social Magazine?

Remember all that hype around the iPhone 4? Biggest product launch ever, Apple and AT&T websites being crushed by demand, long lines at the store? Well, in the world of social media, a similar thing happened last week- the launch of FlipBoard, the “world’s first social magazine”.

The hype has died down a bit, and I’ve had a chance to download this application and play with it. Here is a review, followed by a quick video.

The Basics
Flipboard is a new, free app available exclusively on the iPad (for now). The Flipboard app essentially turns your time on facebook or twitter  into a dynamic and visually stunning experience. The application turns all of those tweets, updates, photos and links from your social circle into an intuitive, easy-to-read format. Flipboard also has “channels” for lots of other content, like technology, tech influencers, food, sports, etc. These channels, like the Facebook and Twitter channels are vetted and shared by chosen “experts” and influencers in the space. If you’re confused, don’t worry, that’s what the video is for. Take a look.

(Before we evaluate Flipboard, it should be noted that Flipboard doesn’t seem like a one hit wonder. Take a quick look at their investors, and they are a legitimate offering. The co-founders of Facebook, Twitter, Ashton Kutcher and Kleiner Perkins Caufield and Byers. Pretty impressive bunch.)

The Pros
- Intuitive and very easy to use. It is the perfect app for consuming media. It fits right into the Ipad’s goal of being the “couch technology”. Something to do in your leisure time (if you have any left). On the couch, waiting to board a plane, at doctor’s office, before you go to bed, etc. I think it’s ideal for those 15-30 minute stretches of time between activities.
- Personalized for you. As mentioned before, it’s an experience for YOU. Its’ your social sphere and all of it’s related content delivered directly to you- when and where you want it.
- Advertising opportunities for “visual” brands.  If you are Hermes, the Gap, a luxury safari company, or  a gourmet food company, it’s hard to tell your story in 140 characters, blog posts or status updates. You need a visually stunning way to present your brand, and here is a perfect opportunity to do that. With the format of Flipboard, it allows big space for imagery (advertisements!) to tell a company story.

The Cons
I’ll call this “opportunities for improvement” :-)

- Content needs to be fresher. It seems as if Flipboard only refreshes your Facebook/Twitter feed once or twice a day. According to their Twitter stream- they’re working on this
- Why isn’t Linkedin involved? They should be. Maybe because of the investors? ;-)
- Is this legal? For the other “sections” Flipboard essentially scrapes the web for good content. If you are reading a NYTimes article on Flipboard and click on an a Flipboard-sponsored ad, why should Flipboard get the money? Its not their content to begin with, right?. For more on this read Joel Johnson’s excellent article.
- Other Sections need some work. When you first set up Flipboard, you can add 7 other “sections” of content. Food, NYT, TED, sports. etc. For now, avoid the Flipboard-branded channels.
For example, the sports channel I chose kept feeding me stories about tennis. Not that I don’t like tennis, but 7 tennis stories in a row, and I was immediately turned off.
- Limited interaction possibilities. It must be pointed out again that this application is for consumption, not interaction. If you want to add a new tweet, make a status update on facebook, you can’t.

What’s Next?
I think this is a watershed moment for publishers, and they should take note. Flipboard makes consuming media personal and tailored to you, which is the holy grail of publishing. If you could wake up every morning and go to ONE place for all of your personal and professional content, wouldn’t you?  This is like what iGoogle and MyYahoo was ten years ago, only much much better. It’s new content delivered to you that’s always fresh, delivered in a refreshing, “consumable” way, and now, it’s mobile.

What do you think? Is this Flipboard thing here to stay?

Should your business be on foursquare? Let’s get some PERSPECTIVE…

2010  is the year of geo-location, and now the name “foursquare” (the business leader in this space) is creeping across the desks of CMO’s and marketing types around the world. They’re now asking themselves the question, “Should my business be on foursquare?”

Well, maybe. So read on..

Argument for foursquare
- 1.8 million users to date, one of the fastest growing social media technologies out there
- Big brands are doing it, (Starbucks, NYTimes, Zagat, CNN, WSJ) we should follow along.
- We’re a retail establishment. We have a local presence in XYZ city and should engage with customers

Argument against foursquare
- We’re NOT a retail establishment (duh)
- It’s just another flashy social media play, we don’t have time for yet another social media thing
- How do we know it’s worth it? Are people actually “checking in” to (insert name of your business here)?

We could spend days debating the pros and cons here, so let’s not debate. Let’s educate ourselves and try and answer the last two points above. To help, I’ve just tried out Awareness’, “foursquare Perspectives” a brand new tool that helps enterprise marketers:

a. take inventory of their existing (customer-generated) presence on foursquare
b: deliver comprehensive reports to uncover trends across multiple foursquare venues.

Testing out foursquare Perspectives
So, let’s pretend that I’m a marketing person at Massachusetts General Hospital here in Boston. I chose MGH because, well, they aren’t necessarily a “retail” establishment per se, but they do have a physical presence, and actually, multiple locations, right?  I tested it out by doing a quick search here for Massachusetts General Hospital. Here are some screen shots of what came up.

Quick Reactions:
Well, if I’m a marketing person at MGH, I have just learned the following things…
-There are three MGH “campuses” that my customers are checking in to on foursquare.  Should I, as an administrator/marketer set up other official MGH sites for the many campuses/offices I have?
-The main campus is the most popular one by far, I should focus all of my effort on marketing there…
-Looks like my “customers” -patients, employees and volunteers, are checking in pretty regularly (repeats ratio of 3.6)  how could/should I engage them?
-I have roughly 300 customers that I can engage with using foursquare. What should I/could I do. (interesting conundrum here…as a hospital, do you want regular “customers” – i.e. patients checking in often??!)

Next Steps for You as a Marketer
- By using this tool, you’ve just tapped into the magic of foursquare and been given a quick, visible snapshot of the value of foursquare to share with your team. Maybe you’ll act on it right away, or maybe you’ll wait and see, but at least you have a snapshot in time for where your company stands
- Spend some more time on foursquare. See if you can identify, interact with, or somehow connect with your “mayor”. What works, what doesn’t?
- Take a look at Awareness’s new Social Marketing Hub. This answers your question of the “I don’t have time to do all of this social media work” If you’re convinced of the power of social media, and want to be publish, manage, measure and engage with your customers across all the major social platforms, maybe this is for you?

How to Jazz Up Your Next Presentation….

We’ve all been there. That Trade Show, team meeting or company meeting where someone drones on giving another boring powerpoint presentation.

Well, thankfully at last week’s Social Media Breakfast #18 (hosted by Bob Collins and Communispace- thank you!) we were treated to three clever presentations by Robert Davis of PJA, Pawan Deshpande of HiveFire, Inc. and Andrew Davis of Tippingpoint Labs.

My favorite presentation was by Andrew Davis.  He took a subject as simple, likeable, and “relate-able” like meatloaf (?!) and gave us a crash course in “Content Creation in the New Age of Search and Engagement”.

Don’t take my word for it- take a look at his presentation below (click on arrow) and tell us what you think. If you want to bring it to life, click on the a quick one-minute video (he gets the crowd roaring at around 20 seconds) to get a feel for it…

Food for Thought
So, while we’re talking about meatloaf or “Meat Loaf”, here’s what I’m taking away from his presentation…

- Don’t just use Powerpoint. His presentation was put together by Prezi, a new platform I’ll probably use for my  next talk at the Apple Store. It’s interactive, fun, and is designed in a way to give the audience context and a framework for whatever subject you’re talking about. Think about it, without even being in the room, you get a pretty good feel about what he said and how he said it.

- Poke fun at yourself. If you can’t laugh at yourself, who can you laugh at? You’ll notice the Jim Henson/Muppets reference early in the presentation. He does a terrific Grover impression which loosened up the audience. (NOTE: if you’re not good at impressions, don’t even thinking about trying to pull off what he did)

- Tell a story. This is the cardinal rule of giving presentations, but many people STILL forget to do this. Choose a topic or concept (who can’t relate to meatloaf?!) that your audience understands

Any other thoughts? how do YOU Jazz up your Presentation?

11 Tips to Make Your Brand’s Social Presence Social

Today’s post is guest blog post from Jamie Wallace, a friend here in the social media space (and, as it turns out, a neighbor here on the North Shore of Massachusetts!) She’s a great writer, a well-connected marketer, and someone to keep on your radar screen…) She puts into words what so many people are trying to say, only she does it better, so read on….

Is your brand’s social avatar the company logo, or a photo of a real person? Are your social updates mostly news items, or conversations? Just how social is your brand’s social presence?

More and more companies are venturing onto the social scene, but not all of them are taking full advantage of the opportunities. The key word in social network is “social.” It’s not “broadcast” or “update” or “official” or “corporate.” When some brands start out in social media, they make the mistake of handling communications in a business-as-usual style that falls flat on venues like Facebook and Twitter.

Whether you’re just getting your feet wet or optimizing an existing approach, here are 11 tips to help you get your brand ready for a social close-up:

Complete your profile: There are few things more off-putting than an incomplete profile. It only takes a few minutes to fill out your company name, URL, and description. Do it.

Be creative: When writing up your company description, don’t just grab the existing corporate line and call it a day. Think about the audience. Tailor your company description to include how what you do benefits them. Don’t be afraid to include something a little personal or cheeky or both. Humor – when used judiciously – goes a long way.

Use faces instead of logos: There is some argument that logos are more easily recognized in news feed streams. However, I’d argue that a picture of a real person creates a faster, stronger connection. Putting a face on a social presence brings the experience one step closer to a real relationship. It also makes it easier for people to recognize you in real life – at conferences, for instance.

Be a person, not a company: Along the same lines, I recommend that your brand be represented by a person (or people) rather than an anonymous corporate entity. People are more apt to engage with an individual than with an organization, and they will engage on a different level if they feel they are dealing with a real person.

Communicate consistently: It takes some planning and diligence, but – as in life – half the battle is just showing up. The people who see the greatest benefit from their social efforts are the ones who put in the time.

Inject personality: As the name implies, the social Web is meant to be social. That means that it’s about more than just publishing information and generating status updates; it’s about sharing personal opinions. Sometimes, those opinions are about a business-related topic, sometimes they are about True Blood or the World Cup. People want to engage with real people, not publishing robots.

Add value: It’s been said nine ways to Sunday, but I’ll say it again anyway: bring something to the party. If you retweet something, add a little note of your own to explain why you think the content is worth sharing. If you leave a comment on a blog or a Facebook status, make it something more than just “great post.” Post alternate theories, conflicting opinions, relevant resources, additional examples – add a little something-something.

Focus your efforts: Using the tired analogy of social Web as cocktail party, it is often said that you can’t hope to have meaningful conversations with each person there. Instead, pay attention to which people and conversations repeatedly attract your attention and focus on developing more intimate relationships with that subset of your network. Using lists in Twitter and Facebook and pulling favorite blogs into a Reader subfolder are easy ways to isolate your core circle of friends for concentrated conversation. On the flip side, be mindful of where your intended audience is hanging out and who they’re talking with and find a gracious way to insert yourself into those conversations.

Make other people shine: One of the easiest ways to make new friends on the social Web is to compliment someone’s work by sharing it. For the highest impact, you should do this manually (vs., for instance, automatically retweeting every post from a particular account) and include your own commentary. For every self-promotional tweet/status update you publish, you should put up at least one update promoting someone else’s work. (ED. NOTE- I WOULD RECOMMEND THE 80/20 RULE HERE. 20% ABOUT YOU. 80% EVERYTHING ELSE…)

Have conversations: This is why we’re here. Don’t be afraid to get in there and actually connect! People on social networks are inherently social – they want to talk to people. Make their day – respond to a question, pose a question, reply to an update, LOL at a joke. It takes only a few seconds to make these small connections, but they can make a world of difference when it comes to building a real relationship.

Start now: Speaking of relationships, start building networks and relationships before you need them. If you are launching a project or planning an event, don’t assume that you can jump on the social scene at the eleventh hour and rally support. Social marketing is not a quick fix, it must be cultivated and nurtured. The ramp up can take some time, but the long-term benefits of a solid, responsive network are priceless.

Jamie Wallace is an independent copywriter and marketing strategist who focuses on content and social marketing for small businesses and start-ups. You can read more of her writing at the Savvy B2B Marketing blog where she has way too much fun with her 5 Savvy Sisters.

Great content, right? For those of you interested in writing a guest post here on Dialogue- please send me a quick email/tweet/message.- thanks.

Eat, Drink and Be Social- The Thank You Edition.

Dennis Crowley, Mike Schneider and Alexa Andrzejeweski (photo by Derek Wilmot)

By now you may have heard about an event held in Cambridge earlier this week combining the best minds in Social Media and Restaurants/Foodies/bloggers and more. I won’t recap the event for you because many others did (see below). Thanks everyone!

http://blogs.a-g.com/wp/?p=6152
http://sarahwallace.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/my-take-away-from-eat-drink-be-social/
http://thebostonfoodie.blogspot.com/2010/05/foodies-and-social-media.html
http://sierratierra.wordpress.com/2010/05/27/business-advice-tapas-from-food-and-social-media-conference/
http://bostinnovation.com/2010/05/24/eat-drink-and-be-social-bringing-together-local-and-national-tech-foodies/
http://www.grangehallmedia.com/2010/05/eat-drink-be-social-wrap-up/#more-75

But what I WILL do is thank the people that made it possible.

Eric Schwarz over at Grange Hall Media- he created the logo and the catchy name. The next version of this event won’t be called “Eat, Drink and Be Social” because well, Eric has other plans for the name. So stay tuned for a new name for a similar event announced in the next week or so. If you’d like the chance to pick the new name (and get 5 comp tickets to the next event- head on over here.)

Derek Wilmot. Pictures tell a thousand words, and well- take a look at these pictures that he took. If you are ever interested in hiring a top notch photographer for your event- he gets it.

Lindsay Pollard from Arrangements. Did you notice the flowers? Hope you did, and hope you hire her for your next event.

Ellie O’Keefe from Nestle Waters. During the event we didn’t drink from your standard plastic bottle of Poland Spring. We enjoyed Pelligrino and Aqua Panna in bottles. After all, we’re foodies.

Dante De Magistris. On Sunday night, the panelists were treated to a custom-designed dinner for us, a 6-course feast that took us about 2 hours to eat. A BIG Thank you goes to Jessica and Dante over in Cambridge for opening up their hearts, their kitchen, and their restaurant to us.

Joselin Mane and Boston Tweetup. Great promotional video, great publicity for the event, and stay tuned because Joselin is going to share some video excerpts from the panel with Mike Schneider, Alexa and Dennis.

Christine Major and Awareness. Remember that food you had on Sunday night at Dante? That was Awareness. Thank you Christine!

John Pepper and Boloco: For the inspired burritos on Monday afternoon. We were dying to have John attend, but he was out of town. Next time John, next time.

B. Good. This was my first time meeting Jon Olinto face to face AND tasting one of his burgers. Jon tells a great story, has a fantastic restaurant business, and I’m happy to be part of his family. (I just don’t want to run a marathon in a burger suit)…

Below are some sample pictures from the event- more of them can be found here.

Mike Schneider and Alexa Andrzejewski (photo by Derek Wilmot)

The program (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Alexa Andrzejeweski and Dennis Crowley (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Leighann Farrelly: Yelp, Aaron Cohen, @eatboston (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Jody Adams: Rialto, Barbara Lynch, BLGruppo (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Mary Catherine Deibel , Naomi Kooker, Amy Traverso, Leighann Farrelly (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Justin Levy (photo by Derek Wilmot)

(photo by Derek Wilmot)

Derek Wilmot and Dennis Crowley

Flowers by Arrangements (photo by Derek Wilmot)

Jon Olinto: B Good, Naomi Kooker (photo by Derek Wilmot)

The Menu from Sunday night at Restaurant Dante

Why Doctors Should Spend More Time Online…

It’s still a great time to talk about healthcare and social media.

Just like every other industry, healthcare has changed dramatically in the last 15 years with the abundance of information available to patients beyond their physician. Docs might not like it, but patients are going to continue to come in with questions about something they read online. More importantly, they might be reluctant to ask doctors at all, instead relying on “experts” on the Web.

Doctors need to accept the fact that patients are going to the Web first for information on their health just like information on big purchases, entertainment, and so much else. They’ll start with Google and their network of friends and families.  Then they’ll sift through the most effectively search-engine optimized sites for those they trust the most. The best way to combat misinformation from these resource is first to have an online presence and second to embrace in two-way conversation with patients.

The conversation is going to take place with or without you.  A physician should adopt social media to communicate with patients more effectively and publish reliable information their patients can use in their independent online research. Right now in healthcare, the  most widely used tool is email -A doctor or nurse can  answer questions and dispense advice by replying to emails to give patients immediate, actionable information. But the future can be so much more efficient. Hospitals could have a team online, acting like customer service representatives and chatting with patients to determine when a child’s fever warrants more concern than a cool wash cloth and Tylenol. Imagine if 10 hours spent online with patients can avoid 20 hours in the doctor’s office?

There are lots of tips and tricks out there, but Dr. Bryan Vartadedian from the Better Health blog network has it right when he says “90% of social media is just showing up”:

“I took a lot of heat when I posted this quote on Twitter a few months back,” he said in a post last week. “But I think there’s something to it.  Everyone wants to believe that social success comes from deep, ‘meaningful’ relationships.  These descriptors are relative in the virtual world.  Social media isn’t rocket science and simple visibility has real value when you’re starting out.  Find socially active doctors.  Be present. Be real. See how things evolve.”

7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers- CC Chapman!

As we all take our collective breaths from  an eventful SXSW, let’s get back into the “ 7 Habits of Highly Effective Social Marketers” Series.

Next up is CC Chapman.

I honestly can’t think of a friendlier, more approachable guy in the business of social media. When he’s not creating terrific content online, he’s probably snapping a photo of you and popping it up on Flickr…. (NOTE- a few of my favorite collections are here and here)

About CC
C.C. Chapman is a Boston based family first entrepreneur, freelance photographer and digital storyteller. He is a Creative Director at Campfire and the Founder of Digital Dads.

1. What one trait or habit got you to where you are today?
I was raised with a strong work ethic and while it frustrated me more then once growing up, I’m very thankful that my parents instilled it in me. Growing up in a blue collar family I think grounded me in the reality of the world and constantly pushes me to do the work rather then just talking about it.

2. Your work day just started, what’s the FIRST thing you do and why?
Pour a cup of coffee and sit down on the couch with the laptop. It is the first thing I do every morning before the kids go to school to do my morning surf of Twitter, E-mail and Google Wave.

3. What makes you efficient with your day?
I’ve never found a single productivity methodology that worked for me. What I know I couldn’t live without and keeps me on task is Spaces on the Mac. It allows me to have multiple desktops with different programs opened in each. I recently moved from 9 to 12 and it has made all the difference. I don’t know how I got so much done before this.

4. Your Favorite Business book of all time?
Just one? Wow, that is a tough one. There are three that have made huge impacts on my career directly and those would be:

First, Break All the Rules
Made to Stick
The Dip

Each of them has caused a seismic shift in the way I thought and approached business.

5. 3 things on your desk right now/3 things you can’t live without
Those are two VERY different questions, so I’ll answer both.

On my desk:
My Canon S90 camera
A signed copy of Freedom by Daniel Suarez
Navy blue Nalgene water bottle (that I should refill)

Can’t live without:
Notebooks to jot down ideas (I go back and forth between Field Notes & Moleskines)
a camera (can be any of the many I own)
a device to connect to the internet.

6. Habit you want to kick in 2010
Being highly distractible. With so much going on it is very easy for me to jump from one screen to the next and suddenly find myself deep in a rabbit hole and not being productive. I hate this, so I deemed 2010 the year of FOCUS for me and so far it is working pretty good but it is a constant struggle. Sometimes I feel like Doug the Dog in the movie Up! Squirrel!

7. Habit you want to form for 2010
Becoming a disciplined writer. I’ve got a goal to write at least a real book proposal, if not the full book this year and in order to do that I’ve got to learn to set aside time and make it a priority.

BONUS: Picture of CC’s Office!

Can Social Media Save Healthcare?

Well, maybe.  But I hope this title caught your attention…Yesterday,  just hours after the passage of the new healthcare bill, my Facebook update said “wish there was a dislike button”.  Minutes later, the first comment was added, the healthcare topic was brought up, and the fireworks began….

For the record, I’m not for the healthcare bill, but most of my friends were. Over the course of the day, each of them made their argument- and good ones- in favor of the this monumental piece of legislation. And you know what? It was a terrific discussion. Since, I don’t know enough about the healthcare bill, each of them explained it to me in their own, well thought out language. I got more out of this discussion with my friends, than I ever would reading the NYT, WSJ or any other news source.

So what does this tell us?

• Facebook is still a terrific platform for a lively discussion with friends. There’s no way we would have had this same discussion on a blog. Facebook brought us together, and will keep us together. Bottom line, we’re more comfortable on Facebook because it’s our own network of vetted friends and acquaintances.
• More and more of us are getting our news, and forming our own opinions, through social networks. According to a well publicized statistic, 80% of original news content is consumed away from its original source. If it’s shared on Facebook (and we’re really comfortable on Facebook) we’re more likely to chime in and voice our opinion.
• The “Obama-Effect” is still in play here. We all know how Obama used Social Media to win the hearts and minds of America. It’s spilling over into every nook and cranny of social media. People feel more empowered to voice their opinion, speak their mind, and (hopefully) engage in a useful dialogue.

Engagement is on Fire..
Around the internet, user-engagement is increasing at a break-neck pace. We’re not just consuming content. We’re talking about it- a lot.  We’ve all become experts/critics and more.A recent blog post from Brian Solis reflects some startling new changes in human behavior online, based on some fresh new research from Josh Bernoff and Forrester.

Simply compare the top chart (2007) with the bottom chart (2010).  We’re creating more content, commenting on more content, and being conversationists (updating our status) on a regular basis.

Does this mean that we’re going to change the face of Healthcare? Well, at the very least, we’ll be talking about it online every single day. And with open discussion comes a more educated and enlightened audience. An audience that will help move and shape healthcare,  in whatever direction we go in…

Christine Perkett Joins Dialogue Advisory Board

There’s a new member joining the Dialogue team. I’m very pleased to announce that Christine Perkett has joined Aaron Strout, Melanie Notkin, Carol Cone and others as a member of the Dialogue Advisory Board.

It’s not very often that you find a PR practitioner that really “gets” social media. Christine is one of the few CEO’s out there actively engaged on Twitter, who blogs on a regular basis, all while managing a crack staff of senior-level marketing pros at the company she founded in 1998.

Don’t take my word for it, here is a list of a few of her accolades.

Inclusion two years in a row by BusinessWeek as a social-media savvy CEO (keeping company with notable CEOs from Federated Media, Mashable, Sun Microsystems, Zappos, Digg, TechCrunch and more).

Published author and subject matter expert in the following books:

• New York Times and WSJ current bestseller, “Will Work From Home,” by Tory Johnson, Workplace Contributor on ABC’s Good Morning America
• “Twitter Means Business” by Julio Ojeda-Zapata
• “Inside the Minds:Public Relations Best Practices” by Aspatore Books
• “Entrepreneurial Small Business” by McGraw Hill (January 2008)

While not running her company, she somehow finds time to train for a marathon. This year, she’s running the Boston Marathon. Interested in following/supporting her cause? Take a look at her progress here

Christine Perkett, Founder and CEO, Perkett PR
Christine Perkett founded PerkettPR on the heels of a diversified career in corporate and agency public relations in both the high technology and non-profit arenas. She holds specialized expertise in social media relations, business and high-technology media and the promotion of early stage, venture-backed companies. She has extensive experience in public relations and branding, new media strategies, issues management, marketing communications, community relations, promotional writing and events.

“25 Entrepreneurs and Businesses You Should Be Following on Twitter”

One of the “30 Experts You Should Follow on Twitter”

One of the “Top 25 Authorities Moving PR Forward” by Traackr:

One of the “100 PR People Worth Following on Twitter” by Valeria Maltoni, Conversation Agent:

Hometown – Marshfield, MA

Favorite Book/Recommended Reading- ah, there are so many! Professionally,”Why Good Girls Don’t Get Ahead but Gutsy Girls Do“ is a great book as is The World is Flat. On a personal note, I am a fan of non-fiction like Into Thin Air, Beautiful Boy, Black Mass. I have a thing for learning about how people overcome tragedy or extreme challenges.

How I relax: reading (non-work/mindless stuff!), boating, jewelry design, playing with my sons (coloring and Legos are very relaxing!), date night with my husband, TV. Also, whenever I can get around to it – massages at the spa!

Words to Live By/words of wisdom – Trust yourself first, listen to your intuition. Also, life’s short – be colorful.

Getting Your Content Out There – Fast.

Content is considered the “currency” of social media. Content is made by you, your company, you favorite blogger, news outlet and more..

Now, how do you/they make the content easier to find? Read on.

The algorithms that have made Google famous may be replaced in the near future with a new indexing system that will be better for web publishers out there. According to ReadWriteWeb, the system “will enable web publishers of any size to automatically submit new content to Google for indexing within seconds of that content being published.” Sounds good right?

The system is called PubSubHubbub (PuSH), and that article explains it better than I could; you can find more technical information here, and a great explanatory video here.  The kicker is that anyone can use this method of distributing content; it is entirely free code. And people are taking advantage: Wordpress has already adopted it so now, all your new content will get sent within a matter of seconds to those who subscribed to receive it.

Besides being a more efficient for Google to catalog everything, now, it won’t be just your tweets getting out to your readers in real time, but your blog posts as soon as you write them. The Web is moving to real time more and more every day, which is good news for marketers. Looking to break the latest story, lead the dialogue? Then you need your content available in real time. Stephen at Impact Media (which also reported on the PuSH announcement from Google) makes a good case that this sort of cataloguing won’t topple the search algorithims of today, but I think more people are interested in what’s happening right now than Stephen suggests and the faster you get your content into the search engines and their news feeds, the more likely they’ll see it.