Chris, great post, as always. Thoughtful and erudite. Of course, Google and MS, among others are interested in the “social graph” — the landscape of how folks are connected through various social media platforms. Charlene Li at Forrester has some interesting thoughts, and I blogged about the tension between consolidation and fragmentation a while back. Your piece offers a useful perspective on this unfolding , evolving technology.

Original post June 18, 2008 @ 10:22 am

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/threading-the-social-needle

Yup. There’s no way Plurk will succeed without the API and, moreover, its adoption by the developer community. Its open API has been one of the strengths of Twitter, greatly extending its functionality.

I haven’t seen any news of the release at the time of writing…

Original post 2008-06-12 06:34:30
http://mashable.com/2008/06/10/plurk-api

 
Good post, thanks. I agree that the debate is not about one versus the other. These services are different, will appeal to different demographics and will evolve in different directions. Maybe one will come to dominate, as Google emerged to dominate search (there are parallels in the evolution of this technology). But another possibility is a consolidator function which will allow a user to microblog one time and send that to all the various applications.

Original post  June 12th, 2008
http://blogsessive.com/blogging-tips/social-media-blogging-tips/twitter-vs-friendfeed-vs-plurk

Great post, Darren, thanks.

You’re right of course, anything can be a waste of time if not used appropriately.

And it’s probably that preconception that inhibits new adopters of Twitter more than most.

And it’s that impression that some people have when they first try it which causes them to leave.

But like any tool, which is what Twitter is, you need to learn how to use it before becoming effective.

Twitter’s simplicity works against it in this regard. Many people think because it is so simple, that there’s nothing to it—that there is no learning curve. Wrong!

Chaos theory teaches us huge complexity can emerge from the simplest initial conditions (as I have mentioned in several blog posts and comments). That is what has happened, is happening and does happen with Twitter.

Users need to get their heads around this complexity and navigate their way through it to realize what a profoundly important tool Twitter has become.

 Original post June 6th, 2008 2:21 am

http://www.problogger.net/archives/2008/06/06/twitter-is-a-waste-of-time 

Interesting post, thanks Scott.

I like the experimental approach. From my own experience, Twitter is a useful promotional tool, but it should not (for the moment) be the only one in the mix. My own website, which is primarily about Twitter, started in April. I have used a variety of channels to promote the blog including commenting on other blogs, placing a link on Wikipedia (quickly removed!) and posting on Twitter. Of course, I have also focused on SEO by tagging appropriately, using relevant outgoing links, etc.

To date, I am finding that Twitter provides about 10 percent of my traffic. It’s early days yet, but I think the bottom line is that bloggers need to use a range of promotional tools, of which Twitter is one.

Incidentally in a recent post on my own blog, I discuss my findings that a majority of the top Twitter users are bloggers. Clearly, they are getting mileage out of Twitter.

Original post June 4th, 2008 at 6:21 am

http://www.manvsblog.com/2008/06/03/the-twitter-effect 

Good post, Jeremiah, thanks.

Business exploitation of the social media/CRM juncture is inevitable. As marketplaces fragment (with increased product diversification and personalization of customer experience) the only way enterprise will be able to stay ahead is by increasing customization of product. But how to leverage social networks to develop leads? One solution, which I blogged on a while back, is Kaleidico. In fact they promise the end of conventional CRM through their app SalesTwit, in which sales can connect directly with leads through any media, at any time, any place. This seems to fit the linkage model you’re proposing. But we’ll have to wait and see whether the solution is succesful in the long run.

Original post  June 3rd, 2008 7:55 am

http://www.web-strategist.com/blog/2008/06/03/when-social-media-marries-crm-systems