Motivation: Social Scale Me is a humorous play on where subjects stand by taking the ‘heaven and hell’ analogy to how others perceive someone and their deeds. It might be subjective, organisational etc., but this offers a series of avenues for further expansion, including daily statistics on word use up to seven days (for example) for comparisons, and a tweeple ranking system with levels of most ‘thank’s and most ‘damn’s by each user. The theory behind it twofold; to consider word-use with regard to interaction with others, and to observe real-time discussion trends, e.g. there was mass influx in ‘damn you Google’ when the service was unavailable.

Creators: Breanna Cumerford, Catherine Crosby

Method of involvement: Breanna spearheaded the mashup’s back-end Twitter and Flickr piping, while Catherine developed the layout and design scheme. The team worked collaboratively to integrate these processes and chose to host the final output on Breanna’s ‘Serial Chick’ blog.

Programming languages, tools and services used: MXML, Yahoo Pipes, Google Analytics, Twitter, TwitterSearch, Flickr.

Known Issues:

Lessons learned:  A lot of fascination can be had in listening to a person’s strong opinion of someone or something else!

Design process:

Hand drawn mockups:

Illustrator mockups:

Inspiration:

• http://twistori.com/#i_wish

Positive Twitter Use

June 2009 saw Pepsi launch its new Pepsi Raw (UK only) product with a ‘tell us what you think’ slogan followed by @twitter.com/pepsiraw to engage consumers in product conversation. Having just hit 1000 followers and counting, the account offers insight into Raw’s involvement with marketing campaigns, music videos, limited offers (RT @nondisbeliever: Pepsi Raw is on offer in Tesco at the mo – £1.50 for 4 cans. Well worth it, as it’s yummy) and replies to customer comments.

Pepsi also embarked on a South by Southwest Festival (SXSW) Twitter campaign in March this year to showcase its involvement in what’s being hailed as the social media capital of the world. The company also launched a complementary website called Pepsi Zeitgeist to track the action.

If people needed an indication of Twitter’s possible use outside of micro-blogging between friends, this is it. Shot into powerhouse status, such a ubiquitous tool becomes a service of mainstream basic utility, unavoidable and used by us all. Hell, it has the potential to become an individual or organisational identifier as much as phone numbers, emails or web addresses, and it’s arguably already embarked on that journey.

Not-So-Positive Twitter Use

Working together with AMP in October 2009, both it and Pepsi were lambasted for an ad campaign – a “before you score” play on modern chivalry – that urged a response out of parent company PepsiCo. They used Twitter to elaborate on their reasoning behind the campaign and apologize to anyone offended:

Naturally, the #pepsifail hashtag captures attention. Does any corporation really want ‘fail’ associated with their official brand? It’s either an immediate indication of self-assuredness or a cheeky attempt to deem the brand not just tech-savvy, but willing to adopt hip social idioms for the sake of it. I suppose the upside in some cases includes heightened media exposure and easy searching for some observers interested in the issue, but it’s asking for trouble.

Success in the above case is based on the assumption those offended aren’t going to rally enough support for ‘pepsifail’ to become popularized enough to force scrapping of the App and tarnishing Pepsi’s good side.

Here are some of the most inspiring mashups in no particular order:

1. triplify.com – search, compare and sort with three search engines in one! Google, Bing and Yahoo, striking contrast, easy to use and bereft of useless stuff.

2. wefeelfine.org – an API that borrows data such as gender, age, weather, country, state and post year together with excerpts across the globe about what people are feeling, to provide a stunning display of technological ingenuity and art.

3. colorhunter.com – create and search for specific colour palettes made from images in an excellent comprehensive and simple search field. Sort by similar colours within the palette, or imagery themes.

4. cursebird.com – Not for the faint of heart. Uncovers and provides statistics on the top swear words uttered by tweeple everywhere – a seven day overview of popularity, profile scores and even ranking!

5. spy.appspot.com – particularly fascinated by this one, which allows you to ‘listen in’ on social media conversations according to your search term. Incorporates Twitter, FriendFeed, Flickr, Blogs, Yahoo News, RSS and more.

6. twitspy.com – a Twitter and Google map duo, drag and search a global map for location-specific tweets. Spy your area for hours and find tweeple near you!

7. fivedollarcomparison.org – ever wondered what five dollars (or its equivalent) would get you? More fascinating than it is functional, anyone and everyone is welcome to submit photos of objects or services that fit the bill.

8. mytweetspace.com – personalise your Twitterscape! Backgrounds, logos, profile pictures, borders, font editing and all the other goodies you might consider to adapt your Twitter page into something truly unique, or complementary to your website. Have a go, it’s easy and it’s free (if you want it to be).

9. kvetch.com – an oddly fascinating collaboration with Twitter and exposure of complaints around the world. Love it, hate it? Rate it! Be warned, feeling better about yourself and your predicaments after reading unending woes becomes highly addictive.

10. search-cube.com – want a search option that really impresses? Try search cube, a three-dimensional visual search engine you can turn, adjust and interact with for previews of up to ninety-six websites, videos and images. Javascript and Flash Player 9 or above are required, but it’s well worth a look and a play.

11. interes.tingness.com - if you’re after inspiration, this is where it’s at. An absolutely beautiful composition of interesting photographs of the day for your viewing pleasure. Find the source to learn more about the subject, fetch by date or randomize results.

12. Playmymusicvideos.com – An MTV-like approach to viewing Last.fm music videos via YouTube. Adjust your screen size and let it run wild!

While Facebook isn’t required to announce changes made to its privacy policies, the site essentially indicated that the new laws permitted full control of the 175 million personal content files of its users to any extent. “An irrevocable, perpetual, non-exclusive, transferable, fully paid, worldwide license” of all content posted to the site. Reverting back to its old policy dictated that, again, the site could not publicly display the personal data of current or deactivated accounts.

Did you read Facebook’s disclaimer prior to signing up? According to surveys, most users pay little heed to the contract. The user agreements states that the company has access to personal information you provide, but it will not supply contact information to third parties without permission. It also reserves the ability to obtain information about you from outside sources “such as instant messaging services, other users of Facebook, blogs and Facebook Platform developers to supplement your profile.”

The Consumerist highlighted Facebook’s changes in a burst of rebellion by the blogosphere, even witnessed within the site’s profile pages, forcing Facebook’s policy changes to the backburner together with an attempt to placate the masses in a user-contributed Bill of Rights and Responsibilities (not yet in effect). The company’s controversial stance is made prominent when comparing to other networks that rely on user-generated content, all of which terminate their rights either immediately or within a reasonable amount of time following profile termination.

“Do you own Facebook? Or Does Facebook Own You?” is a comprehensive article by Vanessa Grigoriadis that includes insight into how Facebook user Julius Harper managed to rock the boat to the extent that he did. After having created a protest group on Facebook entitled People Against the New Terms of Service, membership soared to 20,000 within 24 hours and NBC Nightly News was at his doorstep. A call from privacy experts requested his support in the $5 million FTC complaint, and Zuckerberg was forced to adapt company policy formation into a democratic event.

While Facebook has stated that missteps for new social networking terrain are inevitable, swift and upfront responses are required in order to quell a potential firestorm of global criticism. Privacy concerns in the online socialsphere is under trepid exploration by all major sites in the effort to connect and serve the user optimally without infringing on their personal space. Facebook’s also had a run-in with its controversial Beacon service, which automatically placed ads in profiles according to their activities and interests in 2007. The wave of criticism it received led to a pulling of the plug, but not before a couple of class-action lawsuits were filed.

Search Facebook in Google news and return with 1/3 privacy invasion and identity theft cases.

You nailed it in terms of the core target, though see my other comment. We’ve seen a surprising number of pretty advanced users that like leveraging it just to save time.

Our goal is to just let people focus on being conversational – e.g. talk about your business or the topic that you’re passionate about as though your standing behind the counter in your shop or meeting with a client at their location. We take that conversation and push it across the web in a search optimized way while enabling you to see and know where you should be engaged to make sure you’re delivering great responsiveness and customer service.

Given the crowd on this site, I’ll give you an example for the advanced user. If you’ve got keywords that you’re optimizing a web site around for SEO purposes, why do you have to think about finding a separate tool for creating Twitter searches for those same keywords to “listen” to the real time conversation that is unfolding on the web? What about the same thing for Facebook?

We’ve made that automatic. It’s a small example and there are loads of others, but we think it’s a wide open space for innovation and time saving tools that help drive discovery in both search and social media and help funnel and manage engagement across all of those sources.

“Few small business owners and managers are joining the consumer trend towards increasingly using social networking websites and services”, according to the Citibank / GfK Roper survey. 500 small business executives across the U.S., employeeing fewer than 100 staff, were interviewed over the phone – but here’s the kicker – results were plucked from a far larger questionnaire about small businesses and the recession.

For an overview of Citibank’s data, findings included:

• 3/4 business owners said they did not find sites such as Facebook, Twitter and LinkedIn helpful for generating business leads or expanding business in the past year
• 86% have not used social networking for information or business advice
• 25% are using more online advertising to generate business leads and sales
• 10% have sought business advice and information on expert blogs

While the statistics aren’t being dubbed inaccurate in any form, they aren’t nearly as in-depth as would be required to properly analyze social media adoption in small businesses. As highlighted by RedWriteWeb, the segmented data was instead extracted and re-wrapped with a catchy tabloid headline: “Citibank Survey Reveals Small Businesses Not Joining Social Media Conversation.”

In truth, the current numbers are understandable in that we’re still in our infancy of experimentation, and as shown, to have 12%

According to the survey, small businesses are much more search engine intensive than they are with social media tools; 42% have stated a greater use in their company’s website to generate business leands and sales in the past year. Companies with 20-99 employees say 57% have made greature use of their sites, while 28% are using email marketing and 25% generate leads and sales via online advertising. Further recent statistics shows social media becoming higher stakes for businesses going forward:

Small businesses that take a proactive step toward making connections with their consumers, which entails focusing on the individual for small progressive steps, are going to have their brand amplified for a sizable leg-up on the competition. Accessibility is key, and the uprise of social media will force small businesses to bring these sorts of behaviours from the offline world of the online world. There are many up-and-coming online tools and support sites for businesses willing to get engaged with broader audiences, if they’re willing and able to commit to the effort.

Wave intends to serve as an elaborate mashup of email, instant messaging, collaboration and real-time functionality into one neatly packaged platform. Users create and invite people to “waves”; the ability to use richly formatted text, photos, gadgets, and feeds from outside web sources allows each user to reply or edit waves directly. A concurrent rich-text editing function will (following rebuttal and outcries for clarification by critics) be user-configurable to allow the user to see all others’ keystrokes on the wave as they type. As you might imagine, this sort of feature has raised alarm bells and concern over personal privacy protections, inadvertent social trainwrecks (CCing the wrong person? Never…) and the direction, however initial, Google intends to take the platform.

But I digress! There’s a lot of talk about exactly how ambitious a service Google is cooking; Wave’s project leader Lars Rasmussen conceptualizes it as today’s revolutionised email, plugging features such as:

• rich client-esque software
• sophisticated threaded e-mail
• IM features when multiple collaborators are online at once
• Extensive workgroup editing (including “playback” to replay missed meetings, etc)
• Instant photo sharing
• Ability to be embedded into blogs and social networks
• Serve as a container for OpenSocial applications
• Revolutionary spell checker (details?)
• Mobile ready for Android and iPhone

…Pronouncing it as paving the way for real-time collaborative tools. So it appears Google’s hoping to urge people to sever ties with AOL, Microsoft and other online services in its fast-tracking toward improving corporate workflow, to say the least. As if a team’s computer desktops were linked with a whiteboard smack in the middle, you say? Companies are surely going to be enticed to at least experiment, given the ability to write their own servers, encouraging freelances, telecommuters and anyone else relying on remote collaboration to jump aboard. If it’s open-source and declaring itself the ultimate time saver, they’ll likely stick with it too.

Plus, the delay for public release is (according to Twitter trends) working sublimely to fuel our anticipation and encourage thought into how Wave might improve workflow and feeling secure in the adoption of Web 2.0 technologies into our lives. This type of lead-up will surely lower the angle uphill for casual computer users who haven’t fallen pray to adlib communications services (hello again, Twitter).

Where are its competitors? Jordan Golson offers a not-so conservative but highly relevant take on Wave’s potential to remain at the forefront of the digital age if Google were to merge Docs/Gmail/Cal under Wave. I don’t see why they wouldn’t, especially considering their functions are essentially annulled by their own superior platform and collaborative tools will be the next Must Have for us all. While Google may’ve initially brushed off Microsoft’s Sharepoint as a competitor by instilling absolute faith in Wave’s openness and federation model, I highly doubt that’ll be the end of it. Golson argues Google’s blowing off as an inability to examine how one might make money from a product in favour of self-touting and an untouchable aloofness of sorts – I disagree entirely.

Of course big businesses are in it for the money; the difference between Google’s handling in comparison to Microsoft, however, lies in its dissention to drop Beta stage too quickly. Heck, Gmail was only released out of Beta last month after three years of complete integration with enterprise, which eventually afforded them a much better product – this is key to innovation and productivity. Alright, so Google sports a bit of a history for purchasing budding projects only to scrap them months or years later, but if Google couldn’t make it work as a leading open-source representative and big bucks competitor, I doubt whatever was bought had enough substance to stick to the proverbial wall by itself anyway (elements may be utilized elsewhere).

At any rate, confidence in open-source exploration for both participatory marketing of Google services and discovering exactly what consumers need is a leap in the right direction. Microsoft’s going to need to pick up its game rather than following in Big G’s footsteps; heck, Wave’s even gone so far as to include “twave” – beginning to integrate other mainstream communication tools such as Twitter through a Wave extension, using small adaptations to ensure its placement in the workplace.

In an effort to explore microblogging in terms of corporate use, marketing and event management, I present to you a growing list of truly inspiring Twitter phenomena – who knows, it might prompt the next unprecedented avenue for micro-messaging, or the new Big Thing for social media. Twitter is my focus for several reasons; its edginess and innovation seems to lie in the dissolution of “privacy” it symbolizes, with an API that can really work to build greater applications and connectivity. Its distinctive blend of ephemerality, permanence and presence combined with its flexibility allows us to manipulate Twitter in a manner unlike most social tools.

I’d love to hear any other tales of Twitter stunts and outstanding uses, and perhaps you might even find your own story among those listed below!

1. Twitter fast-tracks social networking

Let’s start with the obvious.

2. Tweet from Mars (link)

While the Phoenix Lander itself isn’t SMSing across the solar system, NASA’s utilizing its own Twitter account to provide radical updates and fresh photos of the surface of Mars. Follow @MarsPhoenix for a heartening combination of latest space news, cute lingo and thoughtful responses to questions.

3. Tweeting from the womb (link)

Kickbee, invented by Corey Menscher, uses Twitter to let followers know when the fetus is active and kicking in the womb. Used in the last trimester, a gentle wrap with sensors send a remote message to a computer, which sends a Twitter update! The device uses a transreceiver and a low-powered radio to transmit a signal that’s much less than a cell phone or computer, allowing fathers to really participate in pregnancies without missing the fun.

4. Love is Tweet

Traditional? Overrated! For various reasons, whether it be living apart, traveling constantly or sheerly a little fame and flavour, tweeted proposals are becoming the next best thing.

5. Social networking to raise funds (link)

Early 2009 saw David Armano ask a favour of his Twitter network: raising funds to assist a family friend fallen on hard times. With over 8,000 followers and as author of prominent blog Logic + Emotion, $15,000 in donations from 472 people was cobbled together within 24 hours of Armano’s tweet for help. A combination of hard-hitting influence from regular, small interactions with the network over many months provided trust that was earned over the long term. Seconday distribution was critical in order to spread his message to others via “retweets”, reaching thousands more people. “I’m hopeful we can move the discussion from who has influence to what we do with what influence we have,” Armano wrote of the subject.

6. Tragedy coverage

Global:

Personal:

7. Tragedy prevention

8. Money saver

9. Job offers

10. Real-time education

12. Moldova’s Twitter Revolution (link)

13. Helpline

14. Medical procedures (link)

Surgeons at Henry Ford Hospital in Detroit used Twitter to post live updates during an operation to remove a kidney tumor. Another doctor observing the operation posted the updates using Tweetdeck. As a means of raising awareness and experimental use of the tool, Twittering of the operation was a success.

15. Turning brainwaves into tweets (link)

Adam Wilson from the University of Wisconsin has created a brain-twitter interface – you think it, you tweet it! Alright, so it only allows you to write an average of ten characters a minute, but we might interpret this as emerging technology current in its infancy, or as a social-cultural reflection on the phenomenon of Twitter and the re-tribalising functioning it has.