I prefer Seesmic Desktop to Tweetdeck as a PC Twitter client, just because I like it. One feature I love is the ability to choose to direct a post to Twitter or Facebook, or both, or even to multiple accounts. It’s also something I like about Posterous, which lets me direct posts in any of several different directions.
I am very curious to see how the addition of Ping to Seesmic works- it seems it could become a switchboard for you social media posting.
With apologies to those who have heard me rant about ho I hate when people quote Monty Python at parties, I still feel compelled to bring you the sketch that brought us “the machine that goes ping.”
A New Nozzl For the News Firehose?
Thanks to Marshall Kirkpatrick at ReadWriteWeb, I heard a bout a new service from Nozzl Media that automatically draws keyword-dependent news bits from all over the social web, including Twitter and blogs, to a widget a local news organization could place on their site. If you believe as I do the the “hyperlocal” trend will be fed by social media, tools like this may be valuable. They also may need tweaking to work correctly. I would love to see examples of Nozzl or a similar tool in action.
The New ROI is– You Want ROI? Pound Sand
We often hear of the trouble people have in creating an ROI case fr social media. David Meerman Scott turned that on its head in a recent podcast, re-posted here on his blog. Basically, he asks: “What is the ROI of those billboards you spend so much money on?” He even references asking what is the ROI of putting on your pants.
Aside: I recall a recent Social Media Breakfast in Boston n which someone asked what was the ROI of walking to your car. The answer turned out to be $25, the cost of a parking ticket in Cambridge MA of you waited too long to make that walk.
Is PressLift the Next Iteration of the Social Media Press Release?
To be fair, the new PressLift service from drop.io is presented more as an easy way to share multimedia from a press release than as a social tool. But multimedia, as a resource to reporters and other media, has always been a difficut and sometimes expensive proposition when it comes to sharing on a large scale. I’d love to hear more opinions, and see who takes to this.
Suicide by Facebook Cop
I can get the appeal of the Suicide Machine tool for people who want to quit a social media addiction cold turkey. I can also understand people thinking Facebook heavy-handed for banning the service. However, the issue of handing your login credentials to a third-party service is one worth thinking about- as is that of taking extreme measures to cut yourself off from a rather useful set of tools because you yourself have no control. This tool reeks not of suicide but of self-mutilation.
Twitter Comment
RT @DougH: Social Media Top 5: Is Seesmic the Machine That Goes “Ping?,” + Nozzl, Presslift & Suicide Machine [link to post] #in
– Posted using Chat Catcher
I like Seesmic over Tweetdeck too. Like the video spent much of my college days watching this.
Love to see a seminar on the best tools.
Thanks Doug.
Hey Doug – thanks for pushing along my ROI rant. David
Hi Doug-
You’re right on both counts: (1) tools like this will be valuable to hyperlocal news reporting and (2) they may need tweaking to work correctly. I encourage you and your readers to hop over to http://www.nozzlmedia.com to check out our stream in action and, as importantly, to tell us what we need to work on. Our commitment is to help local news organizations continue to do their good work. Your feedback is essential.
Thanks for the comment,
Greg Griffiths
VP of Marketing and Sales
Nozzl Media
Dara- A seminar on best tools? You might need a new one every month, but it’s an idea– maybe one for Mashable.com (or for someone to do through Mashable).
David- I hope I got the paraphrasing right. I’m wondering if your rant will affect the people it needs to= the “bosses.”
Greg- Glad you stopped by (for the record, I got feedback from the Presslift folks as well). I will pass Nozzle on to my friends at the Newton TAB newspaper– they might find this interesting.
I get into those Social Media ROI discussions frequently, both with potential clients and at networking events. It’s funny, the owner of the company I work for frequently brings up the billboard ROI example.
Increasingly, I find myself thinking the same way – why do we HAVE to prove an ROI? Can’t we just show that it works, do it, report where we can, and move on?
Colin,
I think the problem we face in social media is that we still have to speak some sort of CFO language. Chuck Tanowitz (Fresh Ground Comm’s, http:itsfreshground.com) brought that up in conversation just yesterday.
Advertising is an incumbent, so has less to prove
Very good post. I’m dealing with a few of these issues as well..