Williams was expected to end months of speculation by revealing his company’s plans for an advertising platform, however these were not announced.

Instead, he talked about a new platform called @anywhere. The platform means that when you visit a website that supports @anywhere, you’ll be able to follow any Twitter account associated with that site without navigating away to the profile at Twitter.com.

This sounds pretty useful to us and will help save time and effort when looking to follow interesting people. In addition, Williams believes the platform will help news spread faster on Twitter.

We’re still waiting to hear about the next big thing from SXSW. It sounds like there are even more companies pinning their hopes on being discovered at the event, we’re just not sure it can deliver another Twitter every year.

Certainly puts Facebook in perspective with Twitter…

I can’t take credit for this as a colleague forwarded me the article, but it makes some interesting points about a company Twitter strategy. The article which I will come onto makes some interesting points about segmenting your Twitter communication, and it makes complete sense, as just like all marketing communication tools like press releases, advertising, mailshots, for example, you would of course segment and tailor each exercise to target the audience you are trying to reach.

Referring back to an article we posted a while ago about the fact that you need to have a Twitter strategy and more importantly, just like any other marketing communication, you need to have some kind of sign off procedure to avoid any communication blunders, we feel that ‘Twitter Strategy’ is now starting to move on a step from companies getting a ‘handle’ on Twitter, to deciding how to use it and also how to start making it a bit more creative.

Most companies (or certainly the ones that we represent) are now looking at Twitter communication just like they would any other form of communication within marketing. The link at the bottom of this post takes you to an article on SocialMediaToday.com that talks about how companies can start to segment Twitter for different elements/functions of their business, but I think the general principals apply to most sized businesses or there are lessons to be learn’t in there.

So if you are running a Twitter Strategy and are starting to realise that it dosen’t seem to be hitting the sweet spot for everyone, have a read of this article.

You’ll probably find that many individuals in your organisation are already using Twitter and this can be a great starting point. Before getting ahead of yourself, however, first think about how your company could utilise this great new resource and how can you control it.

Ranieri Communications regularly advises clients in regards to best practice for social media tools and we have picked out some high level tips for getting started with Corporate Twitter accounts:

1 – Twitter is not an excuse to spam people. It is all about two-way communications so, however tempting, avoid using it simply as a way of churning out endless company news

2 – Decide the one person who is ‘owning’ the Twitter page and download an application called Tweetdeck on their PC or Mac. This allows you to set up columns to group together tweets which mention specific words, so you could set up a search column for your brand, its products, competitive products, and consequently keep abreast of who is talking about your company and its ecosystem

3 – Every time someone Tweets about your Company, you should follow them – this will let them know that the company has a Twitter presence, and should make them follow you back, thus increasing follower numbers and giving you a bigger audience for future company and product announcements

4 – If someone asks a question about product availability, send them a standard tweet thanking them for their interest and link them to somewhere they can buy the product – don’t get into too much detail, and certainly don’t tell them anything that hasn’t been announced to the press yet (feel free to be mysterious e.g. “we should have more news about that soon, keep an eye on our website and @CompanyTwitterAccount); where possible, avoid sending the same reply to everyone, as this will show on your Twitter page and could reflect badly on the Company

5 – Always check spellings and grammar when tweeting to customers – your Twitter page is an extension of the brand, so tone and style needs to reflect that

6 – Leave any announcements re: company and product to your PR agency if you have one – Twitter should be part of your ongoing communications strategy, and tweets should be carefully composed and used whenever the Company has something newsworthy to announce

7 – Look out for anyone saying anything positive about the company / products and Re-Tweet these comments (obviously within reason, don’t RT every comment, and let your person in charge of communications know if you are unclear about how to RT)

8 – Look out for anyone saying anything negative about the company / products and, where possible, be seen to do all you can to resolve any issues they have. Communicate firstly via a Direct Message (DM), don’t get involved in a public one to one conversation straight off

That should give you enough to get going, but if you would like to find out a bit more then feel free to contact us!

@RanieriPR

Are you one of the 12 million signed up to Twitter? Do you try to say something interesting, thought provoking or funny in your status? Are you limited by 140 characters? Drawtweet, the new Bamboo Mini is an application that allows users to say more in one tweet.

Sometimes it is difficult to express thoughts and ideas in just 140 characters. With the new Bamboo Mini ‘Drawtweet’, users can make a quick doodle or sketch and share it through the social networking and micro-blogging site Twitter.

Drawtweet provides easy and simple drawing features to master the Bamboo digital pen. With one click on the ‘send’ button, the drawing is uploaded to Twitter and instantly tweeted to followers. The tweet will contain a link to a service called Twitpic, where the drawing can be viewed.

Twitter is a valuable tool for sharing information with friends and colleagues and is also a powerful search engine. By searching ‘#Drawtweet’ users can see in real time what other people have been drawing using Drawtweet and their Wacom Bamboo pen tablet. Drawtweet also features an image gallery that presents recent drawings from other users.

Bamboo Minis is an open platform where any developer can create and publish Minis. Drawtweet was created by 22 year old Fabian Vercuiel, a South African living in Bulgaria. Using Wacom’s ‘software developers kit’ (SDK) for Minis, Fabian was able to easily develop Drawtweet, even though he is primarily a designer. Wacom invites other developers to create expressive, small fun applications such as Drawtweet. The SDK is available for free through the Bamboo website where all required information to develop and publish a new Mini can be found.

The Bamboo Mini Drawtweet will be offered through the Bamboo Dock starting 16 September 2009. The Bamboo Dock can be downloaded for free at www.wacom.eu/bamboo.

A video introducing the functionality of Drawtweet is available at Wacom’s YouTube Channel: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b8MA8QKA6d0.

Further information on Drawtweet can also be found at Fabian’s website www.drawtweet.com.

What is Bamboo?
Bamboo provides an enhanced and creative way of using computers at home or work. It is a natural, vibrant and creative way of using technology to express ideas and communicate in a more personal and unique way.
Bamboo is a family of consumer pen tablets – Bamboo, Bamboo Fun and Bamboo One.

Each provides an ergonomically designed cordless and battery-free pen and supporting software. Bamboo comes with JustWrite Office, Bamboo One with ArtRage 2.5 and Bamboo Fun with Adobe Photoshop Elements 6 and ArtRage 2.5. Every Bamboo now also offers Bamboo Scribe; a powerful handwriting recognition application; Bamboo Link, an advanced search tool for Windows and a beta version of Bamboo Space, an online application to collect and share ideas.

Bamboo Minis are an ever-increasing series of small but useful desktop tools that enable users to do anything from digital doodling and sketching to adding handwritten notes to a map or playing addictive little games. Through an icon that sits on the desktop, Bamboo Dock acts as a gateway to the new applications. It provides an intuitive way to navigate through the tools using the Bamboo pen and alerts users to the latest applications available for download.

About Wacom
Wacom Europe GmbH is a subsidiary of Wacom Company, Ltd. (Tokyo Stock Exchange 6727). Founded in 1983, Wacom is a global company based in Japan with subsidiaries and affiliate offices around the world to support marketing and distribution in over 150 countries. Wacom’s vision to bring people and technology closer together through natural interface technologies has made it the world’s leading manufacturer of pen tablets, interactive pen displays, and digital interface solutions. The advanced technology of Wacom’s intuitive input devices has been used to create some of the most exciting digital art, films, special effects, fashion and designs around the world. It also provides business and home users with leading interface technology to express their personality encouraging a sense of curiosity and discovery that excites and inspires. Millions of customers are using its cordless, battery-free, pressure-sensitive pen technology.

The @ mention idea is pretty simple really. For those of you who are not familiar with Twitter, it was introduced by the social networking and micro-blogging system as a way of letting people know when you are talking about them in status updates. So for example, if I wanted to let Peter Andre know that I was sat at home watching his (ridiculous) reality TV show, I’d tweet something like ‘Can’t believe @MrPeterAndre was ever in love with that crazy woman’ and Peter (if he actually ever checks his Twitter personally) would see that I have spoken about him.

Facebook status updates will include a drop down menu of relevant Facebook friends so the published line will now read ‘Can’t believe Mr Peter Andre was ever in love with that crazy woman’. The name will become hyperlinked, and I presume, the recipient will receive a notification letting them know they have been spoken of – although Facebook hasn’t confirmed this part as far as I know.

@ mentions have played a massive part in making Twitter what it is today. Facebook however, is still leagues ahead in popularity, so whilst in that position, why not take ideas that work from others if you can get away with it. Pretty sure Twitter will be cursing Facebook after this news, it really is game on for them. However if I was in the Twitter hot seat, I’d be thinking of selling up pretty quick if Facebook continue to behave this way!

Over and out.

@AdamRhodes ; – )

The funny thing is, is that most of us that are really into Twitter and Facebook probably won’t get the joke!

If you have any comments on the video or find any more, go to Pocket-Lint and let them know…

“Win a reduction in tax; just add the hashtag #gordonisawesome”

However, is this the desperate attempt of an unpopular government to chime in on an incredibly popular international past-time? Is this a shrewd PR stunt in order to give the impression of government showing change and ‘getting down with the kids’? Or is this an exciting and well overdue project which will allow the people in power to re-engage with the masses?

Let me know your thoughts.

Tom

Whilst the story itself is a good read, it is perhaps not the exposé that it first appears and instead raises questions about how a company that was once (and still very much is) a media darling seems to have been set up for an extremely public fall.

SpinVox is something of a dotcom success story, launching in a blaze of publicity in 2004 under the stewardship of no-nonsense CEO Christina Domecq. The idea was a simple one. Change voice messages into text and solvean existing and everyday problem – something that technology triumphs at doing time and time again. It caught the imagination of press and consumers alike. Even the failings of the Voice Message Conversion System have been celebrated via the Twitter hashtag spinvoxchangedmyname.

But, as a wise man once said, what goes up must come down and today’s news seems to be the latest in a series of falls for SpinVox. In isolation, this story wouldn’t represent anything more than a pretty large headache for the PR team. However, when added to last week’s news that it had asked staff to take part or all of their July and August pay in the form of share options and the unfortunate timing of being locked out of one if its London data centres in a dispute over payment, crisis teams are no doubt being gathered pretty rapidly.

The company attributes some of these issues to growing pains – it has over 100 million customers around the world and is now operating profitably – but how it communicates now will be pivotal to the company’s future. Customer loyalty is hard to obtain, assuring and retaining 100 million disillusioned customers is an awfully big challenge. Expect to see an online led charm offensive over the coming days, weeks and months – it already seems to have started on Twitter, with many users dismissing the BBC’s article as overly sensationalist.

Personally speaking, I hope SpinVox can ride out the storm. The company is a great example of how a highly effective communications strategy can turn a good idea into a major technology champion for the UK to be proud of.

Well, apparently millions of us were sat in front of a computer or on mobile internet devices frantically searching the web for more information on why/how/when it happened. So many people infact, that the web could not quite handle it…

Google had so many users searching ‘Michael Jackson’, that its operating system closed down to protect it from what it thought was a harmful virus. So instead of users reading lists of results about Jacko, they were treated to a page titled ‘your query looks similar to automated requests from a computer virus or spyware application’. Google had this to say in its defence; “It’s true that between approximately 2.40PM Pacific and 3.15PM Pacific, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to Michael Jackson and saw the error page”.

The social networking service Twitter also crashed due to the shear amount of users. TweetVolume (a service that instantly measures how many people are tweeting about a particular item) noted that “Michael Jackson” appeared in more than 66,500 Twitter updates (one of those was me!) before it crashed.

AOL, CBS, CNN, MSNBC and Yahoo were also affected however the BBC news website apparently had no such problems.

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