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TwitScoop for News & Business Intelligence

twitscooplogo2Want to know what’s hot on Twitter right now?  TwitScoop gives you a quick snapshot of the top words in a tag cloud that updates every 20 seconds.  Hover over any of the words to get a view of the last 5 tweets with that word highlighted.  Click on a word to get a graph of its usage over the past 6 hours, day or 3 days.  If you see an interesting tag cloud, click the “Tweet this cloud” button to save a snapshot of the page,  with the option to send a link to Twitter (its kind of like freezing time).  Here’s a link to the snapshot I saved of the twitter cloud.  A widget is also available to add the hot trends tag cloud to your blog or website. Or subscribe to TwitScoop on Twitter to be updated with links to top events.

For more in depth results, choose a keyword or username to search for.  Twitscoop will give you an overview of the tweets which you can click on to get more details – the last 20 tweets with the keyword highlighted and a graph of the usage over the past 6 hours, day or 3 days.  If there are new results, Twitscoop will periodically update the page with a reminder to refresh to see new results (which doesn’t interupt your current research). Click the “Tweet these results” button to save your results, giving you a link or an option to send a link to Twitter.  For examples, this is a link to the results for “social” that I just investigated.

TwitScoop is good tool to get a quick view of what’s going on or for research into what has been said about a certain topic (if it was within 3 days).  Unlike TweetScan, there isn’t an RSS feed to subscribe to results for periodic updates, but TwitScoop’s graphing capabilities can give you good information of how a topic is trending.

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11 Ways to use Social Media for your Business

socialseier

Now that you know a little more about what social media are, how do you use them for your business?

  1. Listen to what your customers are saying, not just about you, but what their concerns and problems are.
  2. Network with other companies and customers in your industry.  Get to know people.
  3. Connect with potential customers and partners.
  4. Share your expertise and information valuable to your niche.
  5. Answer questions and help others.
  6. Leads, for your company, but also for others in your network.
  7. Market subtly within your areas of expertise by being a part of the conversation.
  8. Reputation building, both for your company and for your personal brand.
  9. Content to add to your website, blog, resources, etc.
  10. Research what people think, what the next big thing will be, how to position yourself for the future.
  11. Traffic being directed to your blog and website.

How do you use social media for your business?  Please add to this list in the comments section.

(photo by seier+seier+seier @ Flickr CC)

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What is Social Media?

crowdvictoriapeckhamI had an interesting conversation recently about social media.  It seems that a lot of business owners kind of know what it means.  If you ask them about it they’ll say “oh is that like facebook or something?” or “it’s media that’s social”.  But if you try to dig deeper into what that actually means you’ll get a mixture of answers.

Social media is media that is social.  But it goes beyond Facebook or MySpace.  Social media is any type of media in which there is, at least, a two-way conversation – usually a multi-way conversation.  Social media is about engaging the audience and having them respond to you and to each other.

Social media is also about a philosophy of listening (instead of shouting).  Just using media that is social does not make it that way.  If you have a blog but never reach out to your readers and never respond to what they are saying, you’re not being very social.  Even if you don’t have a blog, you can listen to what your customers are saying on their blogs and respond to their concerns.

Social media are primarily Internet- and mobile-based tools for sharing and discussing information among human beings. The term most often refers to activities that integrate technology, telecommunications and social interaction, and the construction of words, pictures, videos and audio. This interaction, and the manner in which information is presented, depends on the varied perspectives and “building” of shared meaning among communities, as people share their stories and experiences. – Wikipedia – Social Media

Let me highlight the most important aspect of this definition:

“building” of shared meaning among communities

Social media is not just about your story or your company’s story.  It’s about the shared meaning you create with your customers as you interact with them and they with each other.

What story are you building with your customers?

(photo by victoriapeckham @ Flickr CC)

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