Blog of Mr. Tweet

Have you checked your inbox lately for email subscription updates from the services you’re using? If you have, then you’ve seen plenty announcing support for Twitter comments and/or replies. From Disqus’ Social Media Reactions and Twitter Sign-In,  to 12seconds.tv’s recent integration of @replies and DM’s in your real-time feed, services are aggregating as much of Twitter as they possibly can into the dashboards of your social profiles. Why are they doing this? How does this benefit you?

Keeping You Up-To-Date

Real-time. It’s the hot new trend these days. You can admit it; you’re addicted to getting real-time updates. Twitter replies and comments are important updates to. They’re signals that someone has said something to you or about you. If that’s not the first thing you’re tracking, you need to go back and reprioritize. Developers understand that making sure you get the information you need as quickly as possible regardless of where you are ranks high on your list of must-have features. Plus, it’s a huge time-saver.

Spread Your Brand

While it may seem like more fragmentation, this information helps spread the word about your brand into new communities. They carry a lot of weight since Twitter can be a personal tool and ranks pretty high for getting opinions on brands. You can think of doing all of this as your own digital version of word-of-mouth marketing. It’s easy to integrate and can be setup in no time.

Giving Thanks To Your Community

As the web moves closer and closer to real-time, tapping into what’s being said about your company gets easier. But, did you forget about sharing that information with new connections?  We get so caught up in the stats and our successes, that we forget to let the community know what they’ve helped us to accomplish.

These integrations are a way of saying thanks to your community. It also introduces newcomers to current community members, and we’re suckers for good recommendations. So don’t be afraid to spread what’s being said about you on Twitter across the rest of your social profiles, unless you haven’t read: “8 Tips To Help Companies Avoid Image Fiascoes On Twitter”.

Do you?

• Are you taking advantage of these opportunities? Share some of your reasons why you think it’s important!
• If you haven’t taken advantage of these opportunities, why not?
• Are there any disadvantages to doing so?

This is a guest posting by Rebecca Leaman (@RJLeaman). As the Editor of Wild Apricot’s nonprofit technology blog, Rebecca has her finger on the pulse of current issues and trends in modern web technologies. Read original post here.

Great new presentations on social media are coming out almost daily, now that we’re deep into conference season, and many are directed specifically to the needs of non-profits. If you’ve been thinking of launching or expanding your organization in social media, Slideshare is a good starting point for information and advice. But it can be time-consuming to pick through a wide range of slideshows to find those that are up-to-date, actionable, and appropriate to nonprofits.

Here’s a hand-picked selection of presentations to get you started.

Some of these have become popular standards, while others are new material that you may not have seen before. In fact, a few of these presentations were just made available in the past few days!  And, as always, if you have a favorite social media presentation to recommend to other nonprofits, please tell us about it in the comments.

Social Media for Non-Profits: Overview
What is social media, why should a non-profit care, and who has the time for it anyway? Beth Dunn’s presentation covers the basics, complete with case studies, and suggests Quick start and Advanced Quick Start tactics to launch your nonprofit into social media.

Social Media for Non Profits and Special Causes
John Sheridan’s presentation at at Pod Camp Halifax 2009 gives an overview of social media and social networking, with plenty of non-profit examples.

Social Media for Non Profits
Primal Media’s sideshow is loaded with information on trends, recent statistics, and examples of social media used by nonprofits.

Social Media for Non-Profits: Succeeding in a Social World
Beeline Labs made this presentation to a United Way chapter in Boston: see especially the “10 Guiding Principles” and “Most Common Mistakes.”

Social Networking Strategy

How To Think Like A Nonprofit Social Media Genius
Beth Kanter breaks it down:

• Understand organizational change theory
• Use the Rule of Thirds (1/3 web presence, 1/3 one-way, 1/3 social)
• Listen first
• Build relationships with influencers
• Make it easy to re-mix your content
• No instant gratification — results require effort over time
• Use metrics to discover what works and what doesn’t

Creating Your Organization’s Social Media Strategy
Beth Kanter walks through the process of developing a non-profit social media strategy, with many practical examples.

Nonprofit Soc Media Overview
Maren Hogan says “These are the things that I would do”: here’s a step-by-step overview of the basic tools and tactics of social media, starting with a website and blog.

Return on Investment (ROI)

Social Network Fundraising is a presentation by Justin Perkins, Director of Nonprofit Services at Care2.com, featuring research on Social Network Fundraising and use of new media for nonprofit marketing — and an excellent analysis of the ROI for nonprofit  social networking campaigns.

Using Social Media to  Increase Website Traffic
A look at the return on investment (ROI) for using Digg.com and StumbleUpon.com to increase visitors to your website, using the National Wildlife Federation as a case study.

E-Metrics: Followers, Friends, and Fans: Expanding Your Online Community
Beth Kanter’s presentation advocates “ROI thinking” to help build a community around your blog: using measurements to tell you what works and what doesn’t.

Tips and Case Studies
Who’s Doing What, Where, and How?

• An Introduction to Facebook and Twitter for Nonprofits (Nathan Wright)

• A New Tool for Online Campaigns: How to Show, Tell, and Activate with a Video-centric Microsite (Michael Hoffman)

• Blogging for Nonprofits (Shirley Sexton)

• Energizing Word of Mouth through Social Media (Lee Aase / Mayo Clinic)

• Getting The Word Out About Your Cause With Blogs, Podcasts & Social Networks (Britt Bravo)

• Googe 101 for Nonprofits (Mike Heslin / Google)

• Practical Examples of Social Media for Non-Profits (Laura Lacy)

• ROI of Listening: America Red Cross Case Study (Beth Kanter)

• Sharing Your Story: Podcasting (Britt Bravo)

• Social Media and Social Change in New Zealand (Simon Young)

• Social Media for Non Profits - Tapping into the motivations of The People to change the world around us (Ed Schipul)

• Social Media for Social Good (Ian Schafer)

• Social Media Campaign Report: Tour de Kids (Sarah Allen)

• Social Media Marketing for Non-Profits (Laura Lacy)

• Twitter.org: What, why, who and how for Nonprofit Organizations using Twitter (Amy Sample Ward)

• Upgrading Your E-Newsletter (CanadaHelps.org)

Tip: Whenever you view a slideshow at SlideShare, do scroll down below the presentation area to check for helpful notes on the slides and/or interesting information in the comments thread. And remember — SlideShare is a social networking site, itself, so take a few minutes to explore its features and consider signing up to connect, share, comment, or just to build a library of your own favorite presentations!

• Did we miss anything?
• Have you created any of your own?

Share your creations and favorite presentations in the comments!

Some of the more fun ways that people use Twitter are to share what’s going on in their every day lives. From road-trips to shopping sprees, people are tweeting plenty of things about their lives and sharing all sorts of captures of these moments. Here are six awesome and creative tattoos that were recently shared on Twitter!

Share yours! Be sure to tag the your tattoo tweets as #tattweet!

1. How is this for brand loyalty?
“I’m now bald w/ a Zappos tattoo. I feel like Mr. Clean.” – Tweeted by Tony Hsieh, CEO of Zappos @ zappos

     
2. How far will you go to support our troops?
"My Support Our Troops Tattoo” – Tweeted by Dave Murphy, Creator of ThankASoldier (@ThankASoldier)

        
       
3. Will Tap Tap Revenge Be Next?
"DDR Tattoo. This lady was walking in front of me at the NIN concert.” - Tweeted by @six40

      
    
4.  Bulls-eye!
"A friend took this picture this weekend. His name is Rob and he’s a pretty awesome tattoo artist. We became fast friends!” – Tweeted by @drowens

     
     
   
5. We Pity The Fool That Messes With This Shark
”Crazy shark tat.” – Tweeted By @ Beardedlove

6. Rob Pattinson’s Hancock (Inked!)
"[…] once again i never met him, he didnt sign my wrist (im not that lucky ahaha) […]” – Tweeted by @stephay87

     
  
We’d love to see how you’ve been inked! Tweet your tattoos with the #tattweet hashtag and let us know what the story behind your designs!

Bonus: Yes, Mr. Tweet’s blog editor is inked.

I decided to get this tattoo the day before my 21st birthday (Nov. 7th). It represents the Scorpio zodiac sign, which I love reading about. (Hi, I’m a scorpio, I like long walks on the beach, McDonalds, and of course Twitter!) - @corvida

Share yours!

The saying goes, “you can’t win if you don’t play”. Today, the New York Times appointed Jennifer Preston (@NYT_JenPreston), a long time employee of the NYTimes, author, and journalist, as their first Social Media Editor! Not only does this point out that social media is growing, but it says a lot about the direction the NYTimes might be taking in light of economic issues.

However, after  checking out Jennifer’s Twitter account, it seemed @NYT_JenPreston was not a very active woman around the web and a lot of her social media profiles were private. 

Suggestion #1: OPEN UP

Since news has spread, Jennifer’s accounts are no longer private, she’s now following more people on Twitter, has attained more followers, and is replying to the community. She has also posed a valid question not only just for the NYTimes, but for any company looking to dive into Social Media:

How should @nytimes be using Twitter? - @NYT_JenPreston

We’ve previously asked what YOUR use for Twitter is and received over 200 insightul and unique comments! Let’s help the NYTimes be just as effective as you are on Twitter. Share your tips in the comments and we’ll add the best to our blog post! 

• How should @nytimes be using Twitter? 

Share your hashtag tips in the comments or on Twitter using “#hashtagtip” and we’ll add the best tips to this post along with a link to your Twitter account!

Hashtags are popular on Twitter now more than ever! With popularity has come numerous questions asking what the heck hashtags are, why they should be used, and how to get started on using them. We’ve been listening to your tweets and present you with a guide to using Twitter hashtags.

Hashtags Defined

You see them in Twitter messages and 1-2 are always trending on Twitter Search. We’re talking about hashtags. Hashtags are created by prefixing a word with a hash symbol: #hashtag. You can think of them as bits of context or meta-data for Twitter messages that pertain to a specific topic.

Hashtags (Twitter Fan Wiki) are a useful way of tracking specific conversations on Twitter. However, the uses don’t stop there. You’re probably using hashtags when you tweet about contests, conferences, events, or specific brands and companies. They are also used to grab some of the largest “pulses”, or happenings, on Twitter.  Some people are using hashtags to recommend music today (#musicmonday). Others have used hashtags to express their feelings about Twitter’s recent reply changes (#fixit). 

How-To: Create and Use Hashtags

Making a hashtag is very simple. Previously you would have to follow @hashtags on Twitter. Now, you can simply start tweeting with your hashtag and it will be counted in Twitter Search and quite a few Twitter search and hashtag tools (see below). When creating your own hashtag, pick a creative name, but also make it simple to retweet and understand by making it under 10 characters and choosing a word(s) that are on topic to the information that will surround your hashtag. Chris Messina (@chrismessina), credited with starting hashtags, has a great article on making the most of hashtags.

There are no rules or regulations on how many hashtags you can make or what they can say. In light of this, it’s recommended that you exercise control over how you use hashtags. Some people find hashtags to be irritating for very good reasons.  If you’re using 2-3 of them in 1 twitter message, you could come across as a spammer to your audience. Who wants to see that in their Twitter stream all the time? So, be sure to exercise control and show your audience that you understand how to use hashtags. 

You should be smart about using them not only for your benefit, but also for the benefit of your audience and those that might find the tweets surrounding your hashtag to be valuable. We recommend using a hashtag when you have valuable information to share about a tweetup, conference, or contest that you’re participating in. You can also use hashtags to poll your Twitter community.

Tracking And Using Hashtag Applications 

We recommend making a stop at Hashtags.org to see what hashtags are trending right now. You can also use hashtags.org to see if a hashtag has been used yet. For more Twitter hashtag activity we recommend:

• Twemes
• What The Hashtag?!
• What The Trend?
• Twubs

Real-time search dashboards such as Monitter and Twitterfall are great for keeping track of tweets with a particular hashtag. If you’re using a Twitter client that has built-in search functionality, it might be easier to save the hashtag you’re tracking as a saved search. Tools such as Tweetmapper and the Selective Twitter Status app for Facebook creatively use hashtags to indicated a particular action you’d like to initiate. 

Recommended HashTags To Track

• #womentofollow - Recommendations of awesome ladies on Twitter
• #healthcare OR#hcsm OR #hcmktg - Healthcare and Healthcare marketing tips 
• #pradvice OR #PR” - Recommended for those in PR

Share your hashtag tips in the comments or on Twitter using “#hashtagtip” and we’ll add the best tips to this post along with a link to your Twitter account!

• How are YOU using Hashtags?
• What shouldn’t they be used for?
• What hashtags have you created?
• Which hashtags do you use a lot?

Have any tips or stories you’d like to have us feature? Email us at: corvida (a t)mrtweet.com . Be sure to follow @MrTweet for more great Twitter content and our Blog Editor Corvida Raven (@corvida) for more awesomesauce technology insights! 

“Think of me as the social media lead car on the Autobahn of the Internet.”
Wayne Sutton (@waynesutton) is a Social Media Strategist, Consultant, and a prolific twitterer who’s passionate about using new media and technology to connect businesses and consumers. You can catch his tech reviews and insights on SocialWayne.com.

1. Filters and searches

Using Twitter Search and filters for your searches save you a ton of time when you’re looking for information via Twitter. Mashable has previously compared 6 great Twitter search services and Mr. Tweet’s Blog Editor, Corvida Raven, has recently posted about great ways to use filters combined with Twitter’s saved search feature to help you harness some of the benefits of Twitter Search.

The value in utilizing the filters is they help you to fine tune the results of your searches. For example if your looking for content on Twitter that fall within the niches like SEO or Social Media, you could do a simple search. But this opens up to a bunch of noise. What if you only want tweets with links? “social media filter:links” would return better results because all of these twitter messages contain a link in them along with the keywords “social media”. Louis Gray has done a nice summary of the importance of filters.

2. There are no rules, but establish your “twitter goals”

• What do you want to get out of Twitter?
• What topics would you like to continuously discuss?
• What do you want to give to your followers?
• Would you rather keep your conversations private or open to the public?
• Are you going to have them between small groups of friends, or are you open to networking?
• Do you want to broadcast? To how many people?

3. Understand prime tweet hours for conversations and traffic

Recommended Prime Tweet Hours: Twitter has replaced the morning email time for some. Between 7:30 A.M. to 10:00 A.M. EST Mon. - Fri. most twitter users are at work, reading tweets, tweeting, checking rss feeds and sharing information. However, this can vary when it comes to your followers and followings.

4. Setup your workflow and apps

I’m a big fan of Tweetgrid but for some, Seesmic Desktop or Tweetdeck works. I also recommend using, use Twitter web apps like Hootsuit, Cotweet and Tweetbeep. Dig into these apps and understand how they can better help you. Read the tips about how to better utlize their features. Why are you doing all of this? You want to make them work for you.

5. “Always a tweet away”

Meaning, be it your iPhone or Blackberry, you can send a tweet from anywhere, anytime. You want to appear to be always thinking about your followers or the entire twitter community. You might see something important such as breaking news, or it could be a thought; be able to tweet on the spot.

6. Sharing information and being helpful

This probably is the #1 reason I have as many followers as I have now. Before the celebrities, nba players, and music artist, I was finding and sharing a lot of helpful information or information I thought others could benefit from. Be consistent with your sharing habits and try not to make too much noise.

7. Understand what Twitter really is

For me, Twitter is a means of communication. It generates and enhances relationships through social networking. I find value in not only my connections, but also by giving back to the community (see Habit 6 for more). What is Twitter for you?

Bonus: Attend tweetups or understand how to use twitter offline as much online for your personal life or busines
[ Authors Note] We recommend checking out Wayne Sutton’s excellent post on great Twitter Conferences to attend.

Share your Twitter habits in the comments!

*Note: This is the second part of our Highly Effective Twitterers (#het) series to highlight Twitterers who have achieved significant professional and personal success via Twitter. They share their unique approach towards building great networks here!

This is a guest posting Brett Borders (@BrettBorders).  Brett is an independent Web Traffic Developer based in Boulder, CO, specializing in SEO and social media consulting. He’s also the brains behind Social Media Rockstar, a weekly social media blog . Read original post and the discussion here.

A few weeks ago, I mutually befriended a fellow blogger on Twitter thinking that we had a lot in common…but yesterday I woke up and discovered that I’d been wiped from his friends list. I felt slightly concerned that I’d somehow offended him, until I saw a blog post where he describes spamming 45,000 people for the sake of self-promotion and then using scripts to drop everyone. It’s worth reading, as an amazingly slick PR piece, where he paints baiting-and-switching people to build one-way followers as a virtuous self-discovery process… and many of his fans applaud him for it.

I’m not writing this to pick on any one person - but to call out and discourage the practice of passive-aggressive follow spam from gaining any kind of social legitimacy. I feel strongly that if more people try to gain one-way followers like this, the quality of the average user’s experience on Twitter will go down the dumpster - fast. 

Why is this kind of behavior passive-aggressive? First, because he aggressively power networked with people, spending months madly mashing buttons and sweet talking anyone with a pulse, often adding hundreds or thousands of new followers per day.

Then he passively used multiple scripts to drop everyone (because it would take too much effort to whack everyone by hand) - keeps the benefit of having most of his followers - and then invites those who notice what he did to “re-apply” for friendship. To me, that’s far sketchier and more insidious than some “Make Money Online” guy building up mutual friends and dropping MLM links. The active of aggressively following and then mass unfollowing deserves a gold cup in the “Social Marketing Hall of Shame” (see picture above).

The Defining Traits of Social Media Spam

• Spam is self-promotional. The sole motivation is to benefit the person who does it. Oftentimes it will promise false benefits to the recipient (”You Have Won $5 million!, “I’m a nice guy who really wants to connect on Twitter and be your friend!“) to entice people to take action that benefits the perpetrator - i.e., having more people follow them.
• Spam is done on a mass scale. Spam gets its name from the Monty Python sketch where a restaurant bombards customers with thousands of ‘Spam’ dishes that they really don’t want. Passive-aggressive Twitter spammers hustle thousands of people they have no real interest in connecting with.
• Spam is automated. Spammers use scripts to follow and unfollow people… to do the dirty work that would be too exhausting to do by hand. Scripts have legitimate uses, but it depends on the intention they are used with: Is it to make connecting and reciprocating easier, or to make baiting-and-switching people easier?
• Spam is calculating. Spammers know that a lot of people will be irked and inconvenienced by their actions, but they calculate that the long-term personal gain will outweigh the bad karma and short-term fall out.
• Spam is deceptive. Spammers often use deceptive headlines and double-speak to obscure what is really going on. They’ll try to take your money, clog your inbox and waste your time… and make it seem like it was a good idea or something you signed up for.

How Passive-Aggressive Following Ruins Twitter

• It’s a game. Twitter spam is a game to see who can “get” the most attention followers while wanting to “give back” as little attention as humanly possible. It’s the three-card monte of microblogging.
• It wastes people’s time. It clogs people’s timelines and inboxes with notifications from insincere spammers who aren’t really interested in connecting, causing real friends and fans to get buried in the noise.
• It disregards people’s feelings. People don’t like being dropped. Fellow spammers don’t notice… but it leaves a very sour taste for those who legitimately cares about the other people in their online network.
• It decreases community trust and goodwill. After people get used enough, people stop trusting new people. Twitter becomes like a gaudy Flash banner, a Nigerian marriage proposal, “hot chick” who friend requests you on MySpace.
• It creates crashes and down time. Using scripts to game people puts an incredible strain on the technical network infrastructure. Next time you are at a conference and urgently need to send a message… and Twitter goes down, thank your neighborhood mass follow spammer for using many times their fair-share of the bandwidth to promote themselves.

Mass Following or Cleaning Isn’t Spam, But Doing Both IS

Some people feel that anyone who mass follows is spammers - including people like@zaibatsu @robmcnealy & @alohaarleen - but I disagree. I think they are ’social butterfly’ personalities who are driven “go big” and interact with thousands of people. They are social marketers (’people artists’) who understand people’s feelings and relationship karma… probably to well to seriously consider chopping all their fans. Nor do I think that all people who trim down their follow lists are spammers. It just depends on how they got their followers and their intentions.

If someone is a top blogger or international conference speaker who earned a large chunk of their fans through legitimate buzz ( not from aggressive mass following & hustling) - and they want to cut back on the noise - it’s more forgivable, to me. But I’m hard-pressed to think of a social media behavior that strikes me as more unsavory, or more un-rockstar-like than becoming an instant, fake “Twitter celebrity” by using scripts to add zillions of friends — and then using scripts to drop them all the second you think you can get away with it.

Can you think of anything less cool? If you can, please tell me in the comments. Spammers might think it makes them look “big” and more popular, but for me - it just shows that the Emperor Wears No Clothes. I can read between the lines see what a small-time, “triple digit” player they would be if it they hadn’t resorted to gaming people.

• Do you think it is wrong to game Twitter for followers?
• Do you think it’s excusable? Why or why not?
• Have you ever been gamed? If so, how’d it make you feel?

Share your thoughts in the comments!

Ouriel is the GM of LightSpeed Gemini Internet Lab, an Israeli VC investing in early stage Internet startups. He sits on the board of Wikio and Eyeview . He founded the French version of TechCrunch one of the most popular blogs in Europe, and iDrink, one of the main internet social events in Israel.

*This is the first in our interview series with developers who are adding great value to the world of Twitter. Special invite code to Topify here

1) Let me get a burning question off my back - The first thing that jumps at me is that both of the founders of Topify are very well accomplished (bios here) - why choose Topify as the project to work on?

Topify started, like all great projects, with something we needed for ourself: making smart email notifications for Twitter, meaning with more information about the user profile but also emails that are actionnable and save users the effort to go to the twitter site (to follow back, unfollow, block or answer a Direct message). We did that as a side project (both Arik Fraimovich and I have a full time job already) and we were surprised by the attention and adoption of the service.

Topify actually started as a blog post i wrote about a year ago, where i was saying that email notifications were dumb. Arik was inspired enough to create the first prototype and that’s how all started…

2) Do you mind sharing a bit about your backgrounds?

Arik is finishing his degree in computer science and has a built a couple of popular facebook apps in the past. I started to work for big consumer firms before joining the startup world in 2000 which ended u in an acquisition. I then joined ICQ and run their business operations in europe and asia. Further i joined a Venture Capital firm and i specialize in internet investment. I also founded the french version of TechCrunch, which is one of the most popular blog in Europe.

In a word: internet is our passion and our playground

2) On a scale of 1-10, how awesome do you think Topify is right now? Why?

In relative value (meaning compared to Twitter) it is a 10 but compared to what we want to really do this is a 4. So much more is coming - we hope that when users look back they’ll understand we were just starting.

3) What would make it a 10? Why?

More features and better design that will both improve the experience and help users save time and click!

4) There were some comments that part of Topify’s functionality was made redundant by Twitter’s improvement in follower emails. What is your response to that?

Twitter recent design change actually helped us in our progression. Since they only introduced limited information to their email, users suddenly realized that what we were doing was much better. This created an immediate buzz but also dramatic increase on traffic and conversion on our site.

What Twitter did not understand yet is that it is not about adding more information. It is about providing a better experience. We feel also very confident about the future because we are so obsessed and focused on the user experience quality that we’ll have always more to offer, specially because we are open to third party services like MrTweet which is integrated in our emails

5) Well said! It is a problem that every app developer must face - if you are successful, you need to be ready for the platform to supersede you in some way. How are you handling it?

We are building the app very fast - listening very carefully and constantly (i insist on that) to our users. For example one killer feature was suggested by one users (adding following/follower in the email subject) and we created in less than an hour and rolled it out in 24h.

We also try to anticipate the next moves but also try to see the big picture so the service is built for the long term, specially for scaling matters.

6) Lets talk shop. Free services have started charging or even shut down recently. How do you plan on making this a sustainable venture so that users will always continue to enjoy your great service?

Topify is here to last, but we are not sure yet what is going to be the right formula. we were surprised by the way things happen. I assume in the next weeks we ll figure our part of the answers.

What is certain is that Topify has become very quickly one of the top 5 preferred twitter apps for many users and that we are certain we hit on something that could become bigger

7) Tips for developing on top of Twitter?

Listen to the users. Create fast. Be ready to answer many questions - on Twitter!

One last question: How confident are you that Twitter will be a sustainable platform for you to build your business around?

Like i said, what you are seeing is a very little part of our plan (really little). There is a strong uncertainty factor at this stage, but we have identified a few areas of development. One of them is going ot catchup faster than the others and we ll focus on it. Twitter is here to stay. So we are not worried about the future of our service.

Thanks Ouriel, and continue developing great services that adds value to the Twitterverse!

This is a guest posting by Leslie Fishlock (@Genevangelist). Leslie is an Internet Marketing Evangelist and Marketing Diva. She’s also the Co-Founder of Geek Girl Camp, providing technology unconferences for women across the US. See original post on Geek Girl Camp here

The other day on Twitter, I was following a friend who tweeted about a new contest service a web applications company made for a well known hotel chain. Because my day job involves running a web applications company that creates successful web apps based on the Twitter API, I was intrigued on how the service would work as well as supporting other developers. So, I signed up. As was the protocol the contest company agreed to when I signed up, no more than 1 retweet would be made.

Needless to say, they screwed up big time. Because of the programmers not testing the application well enough before unleashing it, the application, unbeknown to me, retweeted and subsequently spammed my Twitter account to the point when others complained. The only thing I could do was change my password on my Twitter account to stop the service. Not only had a I trusted these programmers, I also trusted the large well-branded hotel chain with my information.

What happened next? Well, let’s just say the programmers took little or no responsibility (tsk tsk) but the large well-branded hotel chain did. They contacted me personally after I made it quite clear to stop spamming me. Was it effective? It was effective to me because the person managing the Twitter account got a hold of me immediately and apologized profusely. They also explained the problem as best they could and offered solutions. I also believed this person and knew her to be genuine. It wasn’t about her company telling her to do so. You can tell in her emails she was born with the innate ability to do the right thing genuinely.

In a time when the genuine aspect of humanity is hidden under lines and lines of 140 character tweets and blog posts, the brands and the people who will survive online will always be the ones willing to admit mistakes, be efficient, and on the scene before the problem gets bigger. They react in a caring and genuine way to people they have never met, while offering solutions to any problems.

If you think this is commonplace online, then you obviously are not buying a lot of items and services online and spending as much time as I do. I don’t get this service a lot online, mostly because some large brick and mortar brands are dragged kicking and screaming into using new technologies like social media for customer service.  Then there are some that still don’t get it. For those that do, let’s look at these brands as the bellwether and hope that more companies, both large and small, not only use social media, but never forget that “human” aspect of being genuine and caring.

If you or your company ever gets into a brand snafu online, here are some ways to stop any hemorraghing and keep that customer.

1.) Hire the right person for your Social Media representative(s). Don’t just tell grab some young buck because you think he MUST be great on computers because he is young, or let someone who needs a job handle your online presence. Find the right person who is knowledgeable on Social Media, spells correctly, is efficient and is first and foremost your brand protector on social media sites.

2.) Find the Best Social Networks for your Brand. Some brands only use one or two social networks and that is fine. There is no need to be on hundreds of them and as long as you are committed to a few and regularly update the sites. Here is a great list of major brands who use social media. Make a plan to determine which ones are best for you. I always suggest Twitter first for many reasons, such as the speed of the conversation with you and a customer and the ability to search real-time tweets.

3.) Prevent bad things from happening. I know it sounds silly, but “an ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure” is not just an old adage, it should be in your marketing plan. Don’t leave anything hanging that people can call you on. Make sure you are taking some measures to be ready if anything happens.

4.) When something happens, react fast. I remember a story way back when Dell had not only exploding batteries but awful customer service. Instead of going on their site or blog, they chose to ignore customer complaints in the early stages of the battery disaster. It created some very resentful customers and rather pissed-off bloggers who to this day will never buy Dell. Could Dell have averted this? They most certainly could have if they were diligent and got in front of the public first.

5.) Always reach out to people. If you are using Twitter, use Twitter Search or some other tool to type in the name of your company and see what people are saying about you. No, don’t ignore them. I don’t care if you are shy, or you “don’t want to bother them” or you just don’t have time. This is the perfect opportunity to turn a problem into a win. How? Most people just want to be heard. They just want their grievance to be heard. Depriving them of this is a big mistake. Suck up your pride. Admit your fault. Apologize. And find a solution. Chances are this person will continue to use you AND might even write a blog post about this wonderful experience with you. You can’t BUY marketing like that!

6.) Make them an offer they can’t refuse. Offer them something for their discomfort. You do not need to go broke in doing so, but make them a sensible offer for their inconvenience. One that the two of you can live with. I am not saying 100% of them will be nice and accept it, but that does not matter. You do it anyway. People eventually come around on good customer service.

7.) Execute what you promised. Doing something bad is what got you into this mess, don’t mess it up again. Make sure you have an online system that tracks clients and notes how they were handled. Schedule the day you will execute what you promised. Nothing is worse than not following up on something you promised. Especially on something you promised to replace a bad experience they had originally!

8.) Thank them and don’t forget the experience. Always thank the customer for their feedback and their service. Just think if you didn’t take the time to research what people were saying about you? Things could be really bad - and you don’t even know it. Thank them for their input. And try to use the experience so this never happens again, or at least minimize the next time something happens.

This is a post by Leslie Fishlock, originally ran on the blog of Geek Girl Camp (@geekgirlcamp). The blog of Geek Girl Camp discusses a great variety of news insights and tech commentary. You can subscribe to Leslie’s writings on Geek Girk Camp’s blog or follow @genevangelist on Twitter.

Share your story of companies that have went above and beyond to resolve any issues you’ve had with their product!

• What was your issue?
• How did the company handle your issue via Twitter?
• Did the conversation take place in the open or via DM’s?
• Have you ever had to handle a bad hit to your brand or company, both online or off?
• How did you deal with it?

UPDATE Twitter makes a compromise after learning a lot from YOU:

“First, we’re making a change such that any updates beginning with @username (that are not explicitly created by clicking on the reply icon) will be seen by everyone following that account. This will bring back some serendipity and discovery and we can do this very soon.

Second, we’ve started designing a new feature which will give folks far more control over what they see from the accounts they follow.”

Is this enough? What needs to happen next?

There’s plenty of hoopla surrounding the new changes to Twitter @ replies. For those that are unaware, Twitter has announced that you’ll no longer have the option to decide whether or not to receive all @replies. Previously, you could either receive them all or only those that consist of individuals you’re following. The latter was the default, but the former option has now been completely removed.

Community Concerns

You may think that not many would even be concerned, yet it’s currently trending on Twitter (twice!) in part because of Mashable’s request to #fixit.  In doing so, more users have been made aware of the feature and some are questioning whether Twitter was right or wrong for removing the feature. While Twitter recommendation memes such as #followfriday could be affected, Mr. Tweet users won’t experience a complete loss in new valuable recommendations. 

Both Sides Of The Coin

We understand that the option for some was great when it came to expanding your network from trusted sources like the people you’re following. On the other hand, the default option helps a lot of new users control information overload and filter tweets that can be irrelevant from time to time as topics of interests in followers can overlap. If you’re following the same people, you may be more likely to take interest in those messages. Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb does a nice job of summarizing the potential cause and effects of the changes for long-time users versus new users.

UPDATE: Kevin Rose says the new changes are making his Twitter stream cleaner.

Share Your Thoughts

Despite the uproar, Twitter is listening to your feedback and seems to be taking it well. We’d love to hear your thoughts on whether this will affect your Twitter experience in any way.

• We’re you previously using this feature? Do you want it back?
• If you’ve just found out about the feature, would you like it back?
• What are you thoughts on the way Twitter is handling the situation?
• Any suggestions for Twitter on another way to implement the feature?