@anywhere

When we designed Twitter, we took a different approach—we didn’t require a relationship model like that of a social network. Keeping things open meant you could browse our site to read tweets from friends, celebrities, companies, media outlets, fictional characters, and more. You could follow any account and be followed by any account. As a result, companies started interacting with customers, celebrities connected with fans, governments became more transparent, and people started discovering and sharing information in a new, participatory manner.

Twitter Announces @anywhere Platform

During his SXSW keynote interview today, Twitter's Evan Williams announced the service's new @platform. While the keynote interview itself was rather forgettable (a large part of the audience left before it was over), the @platform will have wide-reaching consequences for Twitter and its ecosystem. This new platform will allow publishers to integrate Twitter deeper into their site and recreate the "open, engaging interactions" their readers expect from using Twitter "without sending them to Twitter.com."

The Future of Display Advertising

The first online display advertisement — a simple, clickable image — appeared online over 16 years ago. Fast forward to 2010. You're likely to see display ads — image, text, video and rich-media formats — on most of the websites that you visit. These ads are crucial to the Internet. They provide information about thousands of products, services and businesses. They help to fund the web content and services that we all use. And they enable large and small advertisers to reach new customers, increase sales and grow their businesses.

9 Killer Tips for Location-Based Marketing

Social networking has finally become something valuable for brick-and-mortar businesses. Smartphones and location-based social networks allow users to interact, share, meet up, and recommend places based on their physical coordinates. This real-world connection to social media can mean more foot traffic and profits for business owners.

5 Emerging Social Media Sites to Watch in 2010

Just as marketers are getting a handle on Facebook, Twitter, and YouTube, a fresh group of social media networks are poised to make a splash in 2010.

These networks have not reached mass adoption yet, so it’s not necessary to get active on all of them immediately.  But remember, Facebook only took 6 years to reach 400 million registered users.  You should keep an eye on these five upstarts to see if their innovative services attract large audiences in the near future.

The New and Improved Heritage.org

No project has consumed more of my time at The Heritage Foundation than the redesign of Heritage.org. What started in fall 2008 and progressed through all of 2009 and the beginning of 2010 finally arrived today with a big splash. The modern look and improved organization of Heritage’s wealth of content are getting positive reviews.

This morning, the Heritage Foundation revealed a new website design. The goal - to make the site more user friendly for its 600,000+ members.

Take a moment to watch this video about their new design and read through these 6 points that showcase Heritage's methodology. I'm sure you'll find a nugget or two to implement for an upcoming project of your own.

1.  Simplified navigation that allows users to quickly access the content they are seeking. We now have tabs for both Issues and Research in the navigation, giving you the option to browse by public policy issues or, for the more familiar Heritage.org user, by the type of content.

2. The visual design showcases the strength, credibility and stature of The Heritage Foundation, our people and our work, while also encouraging users to explore our site. This is reflected in the multi-tonal Heritage blue color palette, uniform bands of content throughout the site and the introduction of visual icons which work in tandem with the new navigation.

3. An improved search function and new taxonomy should make finding content faster and easier. The biggest complaint about our previous website was its lack of organization. We’ve taken two major steps to improve that by adding a more robust search engine with the option to filter content. In addition, we’ve introduced a comprehensive taxonomy, which expands the number of issue areas from about 100 to nearly 1,000.

4. Our multimedia section features Heritage videos, info graphics and audio in one place. Whether you’re looking for one of our original productions such as “Let Me Rise” or a recent TV appearance of a Heritage analyst, you can now find it easily by clicking on the links above the search on each page.

5. We’ve introduced customized audience pages for the conservative community, government staff, press and media, job seekers and young leaders. By tailoring our content to these groups, we hope to better serve their needs. You can access these pages in the footer of every page.

6. The new footer gives Heritage an opportunity to showcase some of our signature research papers and communications products on the bottom of every page. Given the large amount of traffic Heritage.org received from search engines, we realize that not everyone entering the site is coming through the homepage.

Questions? Send the Heritage Foundation web team a note at redesign@heritage.org.

Creating Video for the Web: Examples, Strategies, and Pitfalls

I come from a tradition where creating video requires expertise.  The web has changed that, both for traditional media and emerging, evolving media.  Now that we’re all brands and we are all the media, McLuhan’s “the medium is the message” rings true more than ever before.

Brown's Aggressive Web Buy Crushed Coakley, Drove Volunteers

Following a whirlwind campaign and an election upset in Massachusetts, Republican Senator Scott Brown's digital strategist has finally sifted through the results of his online ad efforts. Two months after the election, Rob Willington's takeaways aren't far off from the things he stressed before the election: digital efforts like online ads and text messaging should push real world activism, and campaigns should be willing to cede some control to supporters.

Five Insights into the Behaviors of Social Media Users

We do a decent amount of social media coverage here at Ars, but not everything that happens with Facebook, Twitter, and the like is worth its own story. Sometimes, though, we happen across things that make us say "huh, that's interesting." It turns out there are a lot of things we thought we knew about social media users, but not all of them are true. Here are a few tidbits we gathered that may surprise some of you. 

Foursquare Hits 347,000 Check-ins in a Day

With legions of mobile, tech-savvy individuals invading Austin, Texas for SXSW, Foursquare experienced an extraordinary day yesterday, recording a record-breaking 347,000 check-ins.

In response to the boom in usage, the developers added a new badge called Super Swarm. There was already a badge called Swarm; it was awarded when 50 people checked in at the same location at the same time. Super Swarm is achieved when 250 people check in.

And here's a little insight into why people are watching less TV ala Seth Godin...

But It's Better than TV

At the local health food store lunch buffet, they offer stir fried tempeh.  I never get it. Not because I don’t like it, but because there are always so many other things on the buffet that I prefer.  That's why I don't watch TV. At all. There are so many other things I'd rather do in that moment.

CNN Prez Klein More Afraid of Facebook than Fox News

CNN president Jonathan Klein sees social networking sites like Facebook as more of a threat to CNN than Fox News.

From Fishbowl NY:

In an interview with Bloomberg BusinessWeek editor Josh Tyrangiel at BusinessWeek's annual media summit in New York this morning, CNN President Jon Klein said Web 2.0 presents concerns him far more than cable rival Fox News.

Social Campaigning ROI

ROI for a campaign or call to action can be condensed into a four-step process called

DIDM:

D = Define your GOALS
I = Identify the METRICS that represent those goals
D = Determine the TOOLS and methodology for measuring your metrics
M = MEASURE

Express Yourself with the Blogger Template Designer

In Blogger’s more than 10 years, we’ve learned that blogging is a powerful way for people to express themselves. More than 350,000 words are written on Blogger every minute of every day and over the years we’ve added a bunch of features to ensure that writing those words is as easy, fun and rewarding as possible. Today, we’re happy to announce the launch of the Blogger Template Designer on Blogger in Draft, our experimental playground where you can try out the latest features Blogger has to offer. Instead of creating a lot of new templates that will grow stale over time, we decided to go beyond static templates and reinvent the whole process of designing your blog, making it even easier to express yourself online.

Nevada Politicians and Journalists Engage Constituents One Tweet at a Time

Something you don't see everyday is a politician "live tweeting" (by themselves) from the floor of a legislative session to keep constituents apprised of up-to-the-minute happenings. Something you never see is a politician leading a session at an interactive conference about reporting government and politics through social media.

Radian6, "a complete platform to listen, measure and engage with your customers across the entire social web," just launched their new dashboard this past week to private beta (set to end in April) that brings their powerful monitoring tool to your desktop via Adobe Air.

This new tool is quite powerful. It not only tracks the conversations happening on Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Google Buzz, LinkedIn, mainstream news sites, forums, videos, blogs, boards, and public discussion groups but it also lets you engage your social communties straight from the interface. No more worrying about going to 10 different websites to track the latest comments on your newest YouTube video, it can be done in one place.

While the above is a strong feature, I believe the biggest benefit to any campaign team or new media shop is the ability to have a dedicated workflow. This allows you to tag, assign, and route posts to individual members of your team.

As expected it has the ability to break out the different media types into separate windows or to even break out on different keywords, tags, etc... This is very handy, if for example, you are tracking an individual item within your campaign that maybe separate from your specific message.

The cost for this product starts at $500 month for up to "10,000 net new monthly results (individual posts that match your overall profile keywords)"  From there the cost goes up to $1,000/month for 25,000 results, $1,500/mont for 50,000 results, and then $500/month extra for each 50,000 results.

So yes, it is costly but it can be a life saver if you are a smaller campaign trying to track a message within a large media market with only a few staff members.

Hattip to TechCrunch as they reported on this article, but also mentioned a few start-up companies that are challenging Radian6 in this space: ScoutLabs (starts at $199/Month), Visible Measures, Viralheat (starts at $9.99/month), HootSuite (Free), People Browsr (starts at Free).

Have you used Radian6 or any of these services? If so, were they productive for your campaign or organization?

YouTube Calling:  Now Serving Ads on the YouTube Mobile Site

Mobile phones are rapidly becoming essential tools for surfing the web, connecting with friends, and sharing and watching video online, and we're seeing these effects at YouTube. The YouTube mobile site is more popular than ever: site traffic grew by over 160% in 2009, and now millions of people all over the world are streaming tens of millions of videos every day on their mobile phones. The mobile space moves fast, so we've been working hard to roll out new features and functionality quickly, especially as more and more people adopt YouTube-capable phones.

Micro-Targeting:  It's Not Just for Niche Brands Anymore

Nielsen Wire reports: The rise of new technologies and increased channel fragmentation makes reaching consumer targets more challenging than ever. More and more consumer packaged goods manufacturers and retailers are finding that micro-targeting strategies—traditionally employed by specialized business—are unleashing new, deeper insights into their customer targets enabling them to grow brands in creative and profitable ways.

The Truth About the Average Twitter User [STATS]

A new study from security firm Barracuda Labs provides some interesting insights into the state of the Twitterverse. Unfortunately for the microblogging startup, the stats say that most of its users aren’t very active.

The study looked at around 19 million Twitter accounts (PDF) in order to figure out how people are using Twitter (Twitter). It started with one assumption: an active or “True” Twitter user has at least 10 followers, follows at least 10 people, and had tweeted at least 10 times. By that definition though, only 21% of Twitter users are active users.

The Adfero Group and the National Press Club team up to host educational seminars to help you get PR Smart in an evolving media world.

It seems like a new Web-based communications technology is introduced every day. As more and more people embrace these creative methods of sending and consuming information, PR professionals are challenged to stay up to date with the latest trends and tactics to help clients reach their target audiences. The emergence of social media, in particular, has forced PR pros to get out of their comfort zone and expand their skills to remain competitive.

Report:  Facebook to Add Location Features

Beginning next month, Facebook may start telling its users not only what their friends are doing, but also where they're doing it.

The New York Times' Bits Blog says the popular online social network will announce this "location-based" feature at its upcoming conference, called f8. The conference takes place April 21-22 in San Francisco.

Site users, according to the post, will be able to add their locations to status updates on Facebook.

What the Alzheimer's Association Gets and 100 Other Organizations Don't

I just flipped through today's Politico hard copy - actually it was the digital online version of the hard copy which is wonderful - it even makes the "turning the page" sound - anyway, the only ad that contained social media icons was the one presented by the Alzheimer's Association.

The Elusive Follower/Following Twitter Ratio

I seem to be agreeing with Wesley Donehue a lot lately. His latest post “Claire McCaskill’s Twitter Arrogance” addresses an issue I was considering writing about. The optimal Twitter followers/following ratio is a topic that many have weighed in on. Some say that your followers should always be 5% more than those you’re following, some say only follow people you care about, and some say you should only follow people with “influence.” There are dozens of theories on what your ratio should be.

How to Create Web Pages that Share Beautifully on Facebook

It’s really the fine details that matter most when it comes to website design: the balance of text and images on a page, the user experience after submitting a form, how linkable text appears throughout the site.

But think also about how your website appears when shared on other sites, like when someone shares it as a link on Facebook. It’s important. When Facebook users scan a busy news feed, a strong image or a bold headline can make all the difference and lead to a better click conversion.

Social Business Beyond Just the Marketing Department

I've been thinking a lot about how organizations extend the use of social networking beyond the marketing department. You've probably thought about this too or are even implementing it at your company.

It seems there are three phases of development as an organization matures its social business 

Young Republicans More Enthusiastic

A new Harvard Institute of Politics poll of 18 to 29 year-olds finds young Republicans are showing more enthusiasm than young Democrats for participating in the upcoming midterm elections with 41% of Republicans planning on voting, compared to 35% of Democrats and 13% of Independents.

Data Shows Articles with Digits May Be Shared More on Facebook than Those Without

More new Facebook data, continuing this series.

The next Facebook sharing data point I analyzed is the presence of numbers (in digit form, 1 through 9) in titles. In a wide range of marketing arenas digits have been shown to perform very well. They tend to help conversion rates in the form of prices and on social news sites like Digg “Top 10″ style posts have always done well.

 

When the Staff Tweets, Who's Talking?

Among the many innovations that social media tools have brought to the world of campaign politics are new ways to conduct opposition research.

Like any employer, political candidates have a vested, if indirect, interest in how staff members express themselves on personal social media sites such as Facebook or Twitter.

But in the hypersensitive and competitive world of campaigning, the question is especially sharply felt: How many degrees of separation are there from a legitimate campaign issue and a campaign staffer’s personal views posted on their personal social media page?

Dan Riehl's take on White House Tweets Spread President's Message....

Twit-in-Chief Now Using Twitter for White House Spin

Given that White House press secretary Robert Gibbs seems to get into trouble, often putting his foot in his mouth when he tries to speak in full sentences, I wonder if they didn't decide 140 characters was probably the most he could handle at one time? If Rahm is tweeting and you want to see it, you'll probably have to drop any profanity filters you may have installed. heh!

Don't be the Next Toyota: How You Can Use Social Media to Make a Difference in a Crisis

Over the last few weeks, I have been monitoring the Toyota recall and subsequent Congressional hearings as well as reading some commentary and articles on the subject. It is all very interesting to me for a number of reasons. Not only did I grow up in Motor City with family members working in all aspects of the auto industry, but I also directed the grassroots and public affairs efforts for the American International Automobile Dealers Association for a few years and we have a Lexus RX in the household fleet. I feel close to this situation and know firsthand how this crisis is creating a serious economic and confidence challenge to Toyota's numerous stakeholders.

Chris Pirillo Debuts E-Book: 140 Twitter Tips

One of our favorite geeks has just released an e-book on best practices for Twitter use.

Chris Pirillo's 140 Twitter Tips, a 14-page PDF, is a concise compendium of useful guidelines and helpful hints for every kind of Twitter user, from doing-it-wrong noobs to social media addicts. From the best time of day to get retweets to how to process public criticism, the e-book also covers a broad range of common issues users experience.

Twitter Analysis: Influencers Still Signing Up; Lots of Followers Doesn't Equal Lots of Lists

Twitter launched lists in October 2009 and this feature has quickly become an essential part of the Twitter ecosystem. The power of lists isn't just in their ability to organize your followers, they also provide an an insight into how other users use Twitter. The number of followers an account has might show its popularity, but the number of lists called, for instance, "most influential" or "essential", that it appears on reveals just how important that account is.

Check out this informative presentation from Altimeter - Social CRM: The New Rules of Relationship Management.

And this is an oldie, but goodie, that I failed to share with you when it came out. Conservative blogger, Adrienne Royer, was featured in the Washingtonian's Blogger Beat last week...

The Blogger Beat: Cosmopolitan Conservative

Adrienne Royer’s love affair with politics started in first grade. The class was learning about the 1988 Bush/Dukakis race when six-year-old Royer thought, “This is so cool. We get to pick our leaders!” She wore pro-life buttons in elementary school and a handmade T-shirt that said, “A person is a person no matter how small!” A right-leaning political junkie was born.

In college, Royer traded in her puffy paint for a blog. She started her first site, Girl From the South, as a way to keep in touch with family and friends back in Tennessee. Two years ago, she decided to delve into politics. “Cosmopolitan Conservative sounded like a fun name,” she says. “I knew it worked when I told a liberal former colleague at happy hour one night, and he burst out laughing.”

I don't know U.S. Sen. Claire McCaskill from Adam. She could be the sweetest, most caring person in the world. I don't know much about her, but when I look at her Twitter page, arrogance is the first thing I think of. My friend and political strategist Warren Tompkins has been writing a lot about the arrogance of the liberal elite, and I see no better example than Claire McCaskill's web strategy.

According to TweetCongress, she's the second-most followed member of Congress on Twitter, although Sen. Jim DeMint is quickly gaining on her. Despite having 36,691 followers as of the morning of March 8, McCaskill is only following one person. That screams arrogance. It’s as if she’s saying, “It's all about ME. I don’t care about you.”

Twitter is a tool for two-way communications. It's where elected officials can feel the pulse of the electorate. Yet McCaskill uses it to tell her followers about University of Missouri basketball and plans for breakfast.

As I’ve said many times, the Internet is an important tool for campaigns and elected officials to do what they want to do. From the website, to Facebook, to Twitter and email, there are endless ways to connect with voters and keep people informed. But it’s more than just letting people know what you’re doing. It’s about hearing what’s on other people’s minds too. A politico who is not following people is like that jerk at a party who has to be the center of attention, who only talks about his/her self, and who could give a damn about other people.

Yes, this is a representative democracy. People are elected to cast votes because nationwide direct democracy isn’t an effective form of government. However, because someone is elected to lead, that doesn’t mean they can stop listening to people. While McCaskill may well be browsing papers from across Missouri and brought concerns from home received by her staffers, her Twitter account is like an alarm going off.

Having a 36,000-to-one followers-to-following ratio says that she might be just a little out of touch with involved voters in the Show-Me State.

Oh, and then there's John McCain.

Data Shows: Articles Published on the Weekend are Shared on Facebook More

When I started posting my new series of Facebook data points, one of the most requested graphs was the days of the week (and times of day, which is coming soon) that are best to publish on to get lots of Facebook shares. What I found when I looked at days of the week is at first a little unexpected, but upon further thought fairly logical.

How Targeted Online Ads Helped Sink Lou Dobbs on CNN

Be sure to catch this article from the February issue of Politics Magazine, particularly if you’re looking for examples of how even a relatively small online ad buy can reverberate across the media landscape. Late last year, longtime CNN host Lou Dobbs resigned due to pressure from a coalition of organizations, including media watchdogs and groups representing Latinos and immigrants. Lacking a huge budget, the organizers used a strategy planned to leverage their limited money into as much news coverage as possible. According to Josh Koster and Tyler Davis, online advertising gurus working with the coalition and the authors of the Politics Mag piece...

Google's Establishmentarianism

National Journal suggests that political incumbents have amongst their advantages Google Juice. The longer political records of office-holders, as (generally speaking) compared to challengers, provide Google more to work with, and can boost those establishment folks higher in search rankings than their underdog peers.

Cashmore: Why I'm Banking on Facebook

We already connect with friends on Facebook to share photos, videos, text updates and Web links, but might we also use the service to exchange money?

I'm willing to bet we will.

Buxter, a Facebook application that launched this week, tries to make that logical leap: Users add the app to their Facebook pages to send U.S. dollars or euros to friends.

Is the Internet a Fundamental Right? [POLL]

In a study conducted by the BBC World Service, four in five respondents said they believe web access is a fundamental right. 90% described the Internet as “a great place to learn,” and 78% considered it a source of “greater freedom.” A bit more than half said that the Internet should not be regulated by government at all.