Daniel Johnson, Jr.

Behold the power of Twitter.

I’ve been going to a book networking group for job seekers at the Barnes & Noble in West Chester for a few months now. Monte Washburn, who works at the bookstore, holds a discussion about books and how they can help job seekers. This week, based on my recommendation, we discussed Mitch Joel‘s new book Six Pixels of Separation (affiliate link).

Monday afternoon Twitter: (more…)

I first found out about Ze Frank about two or three years ago when I’d heard of other podcasters talking about “The Show“, a daily video podcast he did for an entire year. While browsing C.C. Chapman‘s blog a couple months ago, I saw a post entitled “Creating Moments with Ze Frank“. In that post was this video in which Ze shares several inspiring moments he’s shared over the years with people online. Ze is, as C.C. put it (and I couldn’t agree more), “a warped, twisted, comic genius mind that after watching this video I have a new found respect for.”

Spend an hour and watch this video of a talk he gave at Webstock earlier this year. Maybe watch and listen with headphones, as there are some explicit moments that are NSFW.

Ze Frank at Webstock 09 from Webstock on Vimeo.

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The past week has shown me a lot about building community in person and online. I thought I’d share some thoughts here.

A multi-viewed, transparent approach

I am wired in a way that I’m able to see things from many perspectives in order better understand motivations. I’m okay with being the devil’s advocate sometimes.

In the time I’ve spent online, especially in recent years, I’ve noticed that people in social media value transparency. That is one major reason why I’ve tried to be the same online as I would be when you meet me in person. I think authenticity is very refreshing, and I’m sure many others will agree.

How I became a community builder

I wasn’t really interested in founding a social media community in Cincinnati in October 2007. I was very busy with a commute and work in Dayton, Ohio. And yet, I’d become passionate about networking online with others in Dayton and the Greater Cincinnati area because I wanted to find work closer to home.

In discussions with others via Twitter, instant messaging, and elsewhere, it became apparent that no one was going to step up and get something started, so I stepped up. I knew there were many podcasters in the area already who wanted to meet up, but I also saw a need to broaden the scope. I looked at what other community builders had done in other cities, being very new to this community-building thing, and decided instead of naming the group Podcasting Cincinnati to instead call it New Media Cincinnati. “New Media” at the time was the buzz word used to describe all emerging forms of media technology.

It took a few months before I got comfortable with this new role. I was still very surprised that people were coming to events I’d organized.

Two years of learning

A lot has changed in the past two years here in the social media community in Cincinnati. Social media has become more widely adopted, and this group is joined by many other great social networking groups that meet regularly – more than I even know about.

I’d like to think the reason why New Media Cincinnati is around is to provide a vehicle for people passionate about and interested in new and emerging technology to meet together. I’ve also wanted it to be a place where someone new to social media can come and feel welcome. Others have said that I’ve done a pretty good job in creating that type of environment, both online and offline.

The success of a group like this doesn’t happen through just one person, and while there are many people I can mention, I’d like to especially single out Jeff Hertlein, who created the logos for the group.

These logos have done so much to establish the New Media Cincinnati brand online.

A “newer” group

When I recently learned that someone else had created a “Newer” Media Cincinnati presence on Twitter, I checked it out and initially thought it was hilarious and interesting. I even reached out to see if there were any collaboration opportunities.

Well apparently the individual behind this group would have nothing of it, referring to the “newer” group as an elite one. I wasn’t sure if they were joking or not, but I was okay with playing along.

Brand confusion

Then I saw that many of the updates became targeted in an attempt to ridicule, and demean things I’ve been doing. Even further, since this individual has taken the logo Jeff Hertlein made for the group and added upon it, it’s no wonder that many have become confused. It would appear that the “New Media Cincinnati” brand is being undermined.

In an effort to clear up confusion, I’ve spent some time engaging people directly through private messages on Twitter, to let them know that this other account is in no way related to me and the group I run. To some, it was a surprise since they had been confused. To others, it was no surprise. All were grateful.

Personal attacks

The individual hiding behind this other account has gone at lengths to publicly mock what it is I do through the Twitter account. I have been “called out” for being a “poser”. This individual likes to point out that I currently don’t have a job, which is true. I, like over 10% of the working population in Ohio, don’t currently have a job. I’m working on that.

Some say I should let this go and just admit that criticism is going to happen.  I’ll accept that to a point.  It appears that this person, who has the ability to stop receiving updates from me by simply clicking an Unfollow button on Twitter, instead wants to take what I am saying and who I am and twist it into something stupid.

The individual behind this account has crossed the line, as evidenced by many others who are telling me they are trying to get as far away from this person as possible.

Because these comments have been targeted at me personally, I have wondered if there was something I’ve done to make this individual upset. If that is the case, I would really like to do what I can to reconcile or at least understand where this person is coming from.

Different approaches to building community

So, I see two very different ways of building community at work. On one hand you have someone hiding behind an online presence, tearing other people down. This person creates confusion by repurposing another group’s brand identity. Harassment and impersonation. Division. What does it say to you about someone who can simply unfollow someone on Twitter but instead looks for ways to be critical?  What does it say about individuals who align themselves with someone like that?

That’s certainly one approach to building community. Some would say this is the “newer” approach.

Then you have another approach. I have openly shared who I am and what I’m about. What you see online is basically what you get when you meet me in person. You can choose to follow or not; it doesn’t matter. I want to be useful, but I’m also using social media for my own purposes. If it’s not for you, fine.

I began having New Media Cincinnati community planning conference calls a few months ago to help clear the air and talk about what’s working well and what we can do better. This group remains open to anyone interested in the social media space.

Which type of community do you prefer?

[photo credit: Day 323: Come Together]

 

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For the longest time, people keep asking about the ROI (Return on Investment) of social media. I remember in a Community Chat on Friendfeed a few months ago, Olivier Blanchard mentioned he needed to put together a Basics of Social Media ROI presentation to share. While browsing the Marketing Over Coffee website, I noticed they linked back to it.

Here’s Olivier’s presentation from Slideshare:

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My friend and independent musician Drew LaPlante likes to use the phrase, “It’s a beautiful thing.” I could say that about Twitter and Twitter search.

Using Twitter Search to track trends

One way I use Twitter is to track the presence of certain phrases over time. I subscribe to the RSS feeds for searches in Google Reader and let them sit for at least 30 days.  I’m not as much interested in the content of the individual Twitter updates(tweets) as the aggregated information. I find this exercise to be instructive in understanding trends.

What’s being said and how I might help

I had thought of doing this to identify opportunities to promote the How I Got My Job job-hunting success stories podcast. My original hypothesis was that people might be more interested in knowing about the series right when they’ve lost their jobs.

Understanding the stories data can tell

In all the data analysis I’ve ever done at work and in other projects, to better understand the stories data tell, I’ve realized it’s vital to check and verify the underlying data, and make sure assumptions are clear. That way I and others can make better business decisions.

Analyzing Twitter search trends definitely comes with a caveat.  Take this snapshot of Twitter search data, as shown by day of the week, for example:

This chart shows that, over the past 30 days, the phrases “just lost my job” and “lost my job today” have showed up on the Twitter public timeline on Wednesday the most.  Does this mean that more people are losing their jobs on Wednesdays the most? Maybe, but you cannot be sure from this visual alone.

Why? Because aggregate information like this, a gross overview of the presence of phrases or terms, ignores context. What does “just lost my job” mean to you? Does it mean today? Last week? A couple weeks ago? What about those who do not report their job loss on Twitter with these words?

Even so, Twitter search trend analysis like this is instructive to know that people are talking about losing jobs, and it identifies opportunities to share about the series.

The visual above shows the same Twitter search data over the past 30 days, but in this case by time of day. The orange bar shows what time I’ve marked the items as read in Google Reader and can be ignored.  The chart indicates more people mentioning “lost my job today” or “just lost my job” in the afternoon or evening, perhaps, after coming home from their last day of work.

How I use the data

So, what does this mean for me? It seems that promoting the show on Twitter in the afternoon would perhaps reach the largest audience that might be most receptive, and maybe doing this on Wednesday would be best.  I still need to find a way to measure whether these efforts are successful, and this could be done by checking web analytics.

What say you?

I don’t claim that this approach is without flaws, and would love to see how it could be improved.  I would like to better track the effectiveness of promotions and welcome your thoughts.  What do you think of this approach?  What would you do differently? Have you ever taken a similar approach?

April 13, 2001 UPDATE: Christopher Penn shares some additional insight into timing Twitter updates that you should read. Check out “When is the best time to tweet?”

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