Category Archives: Twitter

Twitter: What language are they speaking?

by Rosemary Plorin on February 9, 2012 | 2 comments
in Social Media, Twitter

About a week ago, my 84-year old father asked me to give him a primer on Twitter. He’s not looking to weigh in on the next hot trending topic, but he’s noticed the increasing prevalence of Twitter in news coverage. From presidential candidates to Superbowl scores to the announcement of the Oscar nominations, newscasters and producers can’t seem to resist citing the latest buzz on Twitter.

So while many millions of television viewers are exposed to what may have been recently tweeted about Newt #Gingrich or from the New York @Giants, many do not actually understand what is being said.

Twitter has its own language – and an etymology that evolves on a daily basis. Like an extreme case study in the mechanics of the Web 2.0, Twitter is constantly being formed and reformed – by its users. Many folks use Twitter like some of us use eye contact or polite conversation; they are on Twitter 24/7 and are slick with the lexicon of the medium. Others, like my Dad, just want to listen in on the conversation and have a better understanding of what’s being said.

If you’re looking to eavesdrop on whatever is being discussed in the Twittersphere, below is the brief primer I gave my Dad.

The @ symbol is used as part of a person’s Twitter name (also called a “handle” for those of us that remember the hay day of the Citizen’s Band radio). When a person opens a Twitter account, she creates a unique name so that others can find her in the Twittersphere (I’m @plorin – follow me!) Many people create Twitter handles that are reflective of their regular name, such as @MichelleObama or @WaltDisneyWorld. Others may try to make an advertising statement with their handle, such as @bestpizza or @ilovebradpitt. If you see a Twitter handle in a tweet, it is likely the name of the tweeter, or the name of the intended recipient or subject of the tweet.

Placing a hashtag (#) before a word in a tweet marks a key word or topic in the message. Words that follow a hashtag are more readily found in a search on Twitter. So if you want others to know what you think about #TheVoice or #SilentMovie, be sure to include the hashtag in your tweet.

RT in a tweet simply means the message has been copied, or ReTweeted, from another source. It’s a form a flattery, and an appropriate attribution to the creator of a tweeted message.

Strange strings of letters, dots and slashes, such as bit.ly/8ZrV9S or tinyurl.com/7xmzcqn , are likely website addresses that have been shortened (so as to not take too much space in a tweet’s 140-character maximum). Click on them if you want to learn more about the tweet’s topic.

While there are many other odd little tweaks and secret handshakes on Twitter, understanding these four common terms and shortcuts can help you decipher the dialogue – and better understand what’s being discussed on the nightly news.

Once you get comfortable with the language, jump in and send us a message @LovellCom!

Photo By: Master Isolated Images

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The Tweet that Saved the Jailbird

by Sam Sudano on December 14, 2011 | 2 comments
in Crisis Communications, Social Media, Twitter

Ever said something that had way bigger consequences than you imagined it would? Ever sent a Tweet, or made a post, or even hit send on an email that ended up being circulated to a group much larger than you intended? Ever gotten someone off death row?

Arkansas resident Randy Franco can answer “yes” in all cases.

Franco was a juror in a 2010 capital trial in which Erickson Dimas-Martinez was found guilty and sentenced to death by lethal injection for the murder of an Arkansas teenager.

Disregarding the judge’s admonitions against the use of electronic communications during the trial, Franco tweeted several musings like, “Choices to be made. Hearts to be broken. We each define the great line,” and, “If its [sic] wisdom we seek …We should run to the strong tower.” Franco also wrote, “Its [sic] over,” 45 minutes prior to the court’s public announcement of the guilty verdict.

After the conclusion of the trial, the court discovered the tweets and questioned Franco, who argued he had not given specifics about the case. He claimed his tweets did not suggest he had made up his mind before all of the facts had been presented.

An Arkansas circuit court agreed with Franco and denied Dimas-Martinez’s motion for a new trial. However, the Arkansas Supreme Court overturned that decision last week and concluded that it was inappropriate for a juror to post information or thoughts about the case on a public outlet, regardless of whether the discussion was one-sided.

While the Dimas-Martinez case may bring about new guidelines regarding the use of social media and mobile devices in court, Twitter mishaps like Franco’s happen more often than they should. Below are a few things to keep in mind when managing Twitter account(s):

Know your followers.

One of Franco’s followers was allegedly a reporter. Had Franco monitored his followers more closely, he may have given second thought to broadcasting his tweet about the case to a journalist. Determine the demographic you are trying to reach on Twitter and be specific in those you follow.

Protect your tweets.

If your Twitter account is for personal use, you may want to set your account to private to allow views from approved subscribers only. While it’s best to leave business Twitter accounts public, it’s a good idea to take the content of personal accounts into consideration and use privacy settings accordingly.

Fine-tune your message.

In the conversation with the judge, Franco had a hard time justifying what he meant by some of his tweets. In this case, the juror used the tweet’s ambiguity for his advantage, claiming that the message was neutral –later clarifying that “define the great line” was a reference to an album by the band Underoath. Although Franco should not have gone against court orders to tweet, had he been less ambiguous in his message he may have had a stronger argument. Make sure your tweet is clear and well thought out.

Think before you tweet.

In today’s social media world, impulsiveness often results in a PR crisis. Much like firing off that angry email, posting a tweet in the heat of the moment can have dire consequences. Along these lines, be sure you are posting from the correct Twitter handle. As we’ve seen in the past, there have been several examples of tweets gone haywire when someone who manages Twitter messaging for both business and personal reasons makes an errant post from the wrong account.

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Tales of Social Media, First Amendment Rights & Hackers

by Dana Coleman on August 23, 2011 | 2 comments
in Facebook, Social Media, The Media, Twitter

Social media, First Amendment and data security issues are interwoven in recent accounts of current events that raise fascinating concerns and questions.

In San Francisco, attempts were made to foil protesters planning to disrupt public transportation services when the Bay Area Rapid Transit authority temporarily interrupted cell service at several subway platforms. This unleashed a barrage of reaction and debate on both sides of the issue. Perhaps the most notable and certainly the most vicious group to take exception to BART’s action was the hacker group Anonymous, which attacked myBart.org, defacing the site and releasing personal information for 2,400 BART riders, and even organizing a subsequent demonstration.

It’s not only the vigilante group that is acting in the wake of BART’s decision to thwart protesters by disrupting cell service, however; the Federal Communications Council has also launched an investigation into the matter.

Was BART’s temporary shutdown reasonable given the public safety concerns of the transit authority, which designates free speech areas for public protests safely outside of its train and subway platforms? Were the free speech rights of the protesters violated? What about other riders who may have tried to reach a child, parent or even emergency services during the period cell service was disrupted? Was it worth the cost to attempt to prevent potentially dangerous protests?

While all these issues are sorted out, BART’s professional reputation has certainly been damaged. Policy-makers are questioning the organization’s decision-making and lack of leadership, some even comparing BART to former Egyptian leader Hosni Mubarak, who shut down cell service in Tahrir Square in response to peaceful protests earlier this year.

Days before the San Francisco incident, social media was cast first as the villain and then as the hero across the pond in London. First, rioters utilized BlackBerry Messenger to organize days of extremely destructive and disturbing lawless acts. In the wake of the riots, however, volunteers have been recruited and massive cleanup efforts have been mobilized via Twitter and Facebook, redeeming social media’s role in this unfortunate episode in the eyes of Londoners and other observers.

Back in California, Anonymous is again making threats, this time in Fullerton where the vigilante organization seeks retaliation for the alleged beating death of a homeless schizophrenic man by Fullerton police. The Anonymous YouTube video is both fascinating and disturbing with its masked spokesperson, computer-modulated voice and demands.

So where will this tale end? Its conclusion is yet to be written. The debates surrounding the use of social media platforms to incite action, the use of cyber-attacks to exact vigilante justice and the threats to First Amendment rights and data security are too important, however, for any of us to ignore. Where do you stand on these issues? Which of these threats do you find most disturbing?

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Hardware Store Bill Hears a Tweet

by Scott McIntosh on July 7, 2011 | no comments
in Brand Management, Corporate Communications, Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter

A friend of mine and I were discussing social media the other day over lunch at a local pub. My friend’s name is Bill and he isn’t a fan of any of the new media services. Bill runs a nearby hardware store that is trying to offer better customer service to beat the big name wholesalers. He asked me to join him to discuss some of his marketing options and, of course, I brought up social media.

Bill said, “Scott, I just don’t see the point of it and I don’t have the time or resources unless I can see what the return on investment will be.”

I responded with, “Bill, it’s not the return on investment you should be worried about but the return on ignorance. Your customers are online, they are talking, and if you want to provide the best customer service possible, you should be listening to what they are saying.”

Bill took a sip of his beer and sat back slowly in his chair with his arms crossed. He pondered what I said for a moment before shaking his head and saying, “Nope, I just don’t see the value.”

Just then, a married couple came in talking loudly and took a seat at the table next to us. They were a bit upset as they discussed what seemed to be a bad experience they had just had while searching a hardware store for the right part for a house project. Bill perked up and started listening intently. He smiled at me as he assumed they had gotten lost in one of the big name stores. Then the wife mentioned Bill’s store.

Bill looked stunned. He quickly turned around in his chair and introduced himself as the store’s owner. Bill asked about what happened and listened intently as they discussed their experience. Bill told the couple that if they revisited the store, he would personally help them locate the part and offer them a large discount. Their attitude changed and they immediately looked relieved. They thanked Bill and said they would be happy to return that afternoon.

Bill turned around to me and said, “Wow, lucky we were here or I would have never caught that.”

I said, “Caught what?”

Bill replied, “Caught that couple talking… Those are important customers, if I hadn’t heard what they were saying I wouldn’t have been able to fix their problem.”

I just sat back and smiled.

Bill looked at me puzzled for a moment until his expression changed like the light bulb turned on in his head. He replied, “Ok, so tell me about this Twitter thing.”

(This is a fictional story but hopefully a fun way to show some basic benefits of social media monitoring. If you’d like to learn how to monitor social media for your business, we’ll have an article going out this month in our email newsletter which you can receive by clicking here.)

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New Law Pertaining to Photos Shared on Social Networks Worth Noting

by Dana Coleman on June 10, 2011 | 1 comment
in Facebook, LinkedIn, Social Media, Twitter

If you share photos on social networks, a new Tennessee law is worth noting; particularly by those who may occasionally have a thoughtless moment, or worse, a wicked mean streak! It amends an important section of state law that deals with harassment as a criminal offense in a manner that, as local columnist Brantley Hargrove notes, is troublingly broad and vague when examined closely.

The intent of this amendment to the law is undoubtedly to acknowledge the growing role of social media in our lives and to extend the protections against harassment that pertain to other types of communication to photographs and videos. It broadens Tennessee’s harassment law to include transmitting or displaying an image in a manner in which there is a reasonable expectation the image may be viewed by the “victim,” but here’s where it gets broad and vague. Among the acts that can legally constitute harassment is any communication, and now image, that causes the person to be emotionally distressed.

It would be hard to argue the victims of criminal harassment should not be protected from having their image transmitted or displayed by their harassers, but to Hargrove’s point, if someone posts an unflattering photo of me when they know it will cause me distress, and they post it where I’m likely to see it – on Facebook, for example – have they committed a crime? I suppose it depends on whether I attempt to press charges, but I’m sure you can see the issue here. A law that can be interpreted this broadly does give one pause and, as the Nashville Business Journal reports, some constitutional scholars are already crying foul because of the law’s First Amendment implications.

Following the possible ramifications of this new law to their furthest extremes leads to a simple conclusion and familiar refrain that can’t be repeated too often: Think before you post. Be thoughtful and respectful. Don’t use social media thoughtlessly and, certainly, never to strike out at others. It’s also a good civics lesson in the difference between “legislative intent” and the substance of our laws themselves as they often make it on the books.

A recent post by Lovell’s Robin Embry explores Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg’s desire to attract kids under the age of 13 as members. It’s certainly not hard to imagine adolescents using social networks irresponsibly, as evidenced by the known prevalence of cyber bullying. Obviously, the ongoing debate surrounding the use and evolution of social media is an incredibly important one, so please share your thoughts with us on these issues or other social media matters.

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Three Must Know Tips for Maximizing TweetDeck to Manage Your Twitter

by Scott McIntosh on May 6, 2011 | 1 comment
in Brand Management, Networking, Twitter

I’m sure you’ve heard of Twitter, but have you heard of TweetDeck? If you’re in the marketing and communications space, you probably have a Twitter account, if not many Twitter accounts. Managing multiple accounts can get overwhelming, as you are constantly having to log-in to each different account and remember multiple logins and passwords for each. There are a few services out there that make this process much easier, with the two most popular being TweetDeck and HootSuite. Both have their pros and cons but I tend to stick with TweetDeck. It has all the functionality I need and I’ve just become accustomed to using it.

TweetDeck is a free desktop application that you can download from the TweetDeck website. Once installed, you can then link in all of the Twitters accounts you are managing along with other accounts such as your LinkedIn or Facebook accounts. From there, you can pretty much handle all of the functionality of being logged in to all of those services, right from your TweetDeck desktop interface. And that is where the fun starts!

Here are three useful functionalities of TweetDeck that can make your Twitter account management that much easier:

Tip #1: Monitor your business space, not just your brand.

You may have set up a search for your brand name or Twitter handle, but have you set up a custom search for your keywords? TweetDeck allows you to continually monitor the conversation on Twitter by establishing a custom search column for any words you desire. You may already be using Google Alerts for this type of service but you may also want to consider a service like TweetDeck. For example, say I sell insurance and want to be alerted when someone says the following on Twitter: “need car insurance.”

I can set up a custom alert for this keyword set and TweetDeck will let me know whenever this statement is tweeted. I’m then able to quickly respond to that person on Twitter to ask if my firm can be of service.

Set up your search by first clicking the add column plus sign. Then ensure search is selected as seen in the image and enter the search term in the field.

Tip #2: Customize the TweetDeck pop-up alerts to notify you.

TweetDeck has a desktop pop-up window much like email and chat services do. If you are using Outlook, then you’ve likely seen one of these pop-up windows appear in the lower right corner of your monitor when you receive a new email. The TweetDeck default setting will alert you with a pop-up and sound whenever any of your columns are updated. TweetDeck allows you to customize this pop-up to alert you only in certain instances. In order to keep the pop-ups to a minimum, I set my TweetDeck to notify me only when I may want to respond. For instance, I have alerts set-up to notify me when anyone mentions my company name or my keywords that I want to respond to.

Set up your alerts by clicking on the settings button (the little wrench). Then select Notifications in the left side bar and click the Advanced Options for columns button. This will allow you to customize all of your pop-up notifications to alert you only when you think it is necessary.

Tip #3: Use the timer to schedule your tweets during optimal times.

One of the coolest options of TweetDeck is the ability to schedule your tweets. Let’s say you want to tweet something at a specific time. Just click on the little clock symbol next to the send button and schedule when you want your updates to go out. You can also select multiple networks on which to send out the update.

For instance, say I get inspired one night and stay up late writing a blog post. When I finish the post, I don’t want to tweet it right away because most of my readers are asleep. I know that most of my potential readers usually visit blogs from work at around 8am to 9am every weekday, which is also the time I notice they share the most on Twitter and Facebook. So I can set up my TweetDeck to tweet my new blog post at 7:55am and hit the optimal time to gain the most readers’ attention. This allows me to sleep in a little bit after staying up so late writing.

The Future of TweetDeck

Recently, a few stories have been running that TweetDeck was being purchased by Twitter for a sum around $45 million. So I guess this answers the question of how TweetDeck makes money! In reality, TweetDeck didn’t seem to have a source of revenue for the creators, but maybe that was the most important part. By not charging, being simple to use, and remaining advertisement free, TweetDeck was adopted quickly by a large user base, making it one of the most popular platforms for interfacing with Twitter accounts (along with other social media accounts). I’ve always enjoyed using TweetDeck to manage my online accounts and am excited to hear of the proposed purchase by Twitter. Hopefully this will ensure that TweetDeck continues to work extremely well with Twitter in the coming years.

Got any TweetDeck tips you’d like to share? Let us know in the comments…

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The Difference In Breaking News Today and 10 Years Ago

by Ashley Webb on May 3, 2011 | no comments
in Social Media, The Media, Twitter

I can distinctly remember sitting in my 10^th grade Algebra class when news broke nearly 10 years ago on September 11, 2001, that terrorists had attacked the World Trade Center. Our entire student body gathered in the auditorium as we watched the news unfold on CNN.

Sunday night’s news of Osama bin Laden’s death was just as momentous, as I will always remember sitting on my couch watching TV when ABC interrupted my Sunday night guilty pleasure to broadcast the breaking news.

Although I watched the news unfold on TV much in the same way I did 10 years ago, the news of Osama bin Laden’s death actually broke on Twitter, The New York Times reported. According to the report, Keith Urbahn, chief of staff to former defense secretary Donald Rumsfeld, tweeted “So I’m told by a reputable person they’ve killed Osama bin Laden. Hot damn.”

The rumor of bin Laden’s death had social media websites abuzz as people posted messages of the news to Facebook and Twitter every second. According to The New York Time’s Media Decoder blog, Twitter recorded more than 4,000 Twitter messages per second at some times during President Obama’s address.

Commenting on Twitter’s role in breaking the news, Nicholas Jackson of The Atlantic wrote:

“Twitter has once again proven its worth. It might not win wars or spark revolutions — that’s still being debated — but its value is clear to those of us who watched their feeds fill with news and notes over the past hour. Newspapers might be dead or dying, but traditional ink-on-paper reporters were able to share this story much faster than cable news outlets by adapting to this technology.”

Social media websites like Facebook and Twitter have changed the way the world receives its news; it’ll be interesting to see how these stories break 10 years from now.

How did you hear the news of bin Laden’s death? Do you think social media websites, like Twitter, are credible news sources?

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Three Must Know Tips for Maximizing TweetDeck to Manage Your Twitter