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When asked whether he would be travelling economy class, Deputy Foreign Minister Shashi Tharoor of India replied, “absolutely, in cattle class out of solidarity with all our holy cows!”

But this was not in a telephone, news, or even sit-down interview. It was on Twitter. This, along with other remarks and a random cricket scandal, forced the resignation of Tharoor this past week as “India Loses Its Twittering Deputy Minister” reports. Tharoor amassed over 700,000 followers of Twitter, and many saw him as the “champion of the aspiring middle classes [who are] disillusioned with India’s corrupt politics.” Tharoor tweeted on everything from foreign policy to his “ceremonial duties,” and some of his more controversial remarks landed him in hot water, even with his own party. One Indian blogger praised the minister for his light-heartedness, noting that ‘cattle-class’ is literally slang for ‘economy class’ and reflects more on the airline than the customer.

The SSN Take: With no inflection on Twitter, those in power need to watch what they say.

Samuel Hartman, April 29, 2010

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Foursquare, the location-based social networking service, might need to change its business model, argues “Is Foursquare’s growth boxed in?”

While the year-old start-up may end up getting bought by Yahoo! for upwards of $125 million, the idea of “checking-in” (with its accompanying badges) at various restaurants, bars, and city establishments is specifically urban. The article’s author argues that Foursquare doesn’t have what it takes to cash in on the “average American’s” habits, whether online or off, and must change or capitalize on that niche. While Twitter has effectively done that, Foursquare still has some work to do. A potential solution: academia. “[D]evelop badges pertaining to lecture hall, library, and frat-house check-ins.”  With a pending deal from a huge company like Yahoo!, many expect Foursquare to branch out and grab the “social desires of the audience that’s dropping off kids at school rather than dropping into 2-for-1 happy hour.”

The SSN Take: For many, simply using their phones to find things is a revelation. “Badges” can wait.

Samuel Hartman, April 28, 2010

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Branching way out from operating systems and video games, Microsoft is targeting politicians and government officials with its new CampaignReady suite and TownHall software.

“Microsoft Launches Social Media Platform for Politicians” discusses the TownHall interface, which supports Facebook Connect, and allows users to answer poll questions, ask questions, and earn badges. Much like a crowdsourcing platform, topics with a lot of traction bubble to the top, while still leaving room for new ideas and comments from other users. Within the community are search functions for discussions and report generators, as well. Microsoft’s demo site is certainly flashy enough, and one can imagine a solid GUI for creating topics and questions on the backend. This could be a big deal for Microsoft, allowing them to firmly plant their feet in the social media sphere. Already, NASA is using the TownHall software for their Be A Martian program, an interactive website on the exploration of Mars.

The SSN Take: As the idea of crowdsourcing gains momentum, social platforms like this could gain ground.

Samuel Hartman, April 25, 2010

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At the University of Liecester, Senior Lecturer Dr. Alan Cann uses social media to provide a forum for “discussion and feedback” from his students.

“Social networking utilised by academic to improve student satisfaction” discusses the positive response his students have given to the system, powered by the social aggregator site FriendFeed. Because FriendFeed allows a personalized homepage, it can act as a virtual portfolio, “storing all of their posts, forming reflection on what they are doing and explanations of what they do not understand.” Cann adds that it differs from the interaction that the students have on Facebook – the students are extremely social but “very professional.”

Even microblogging social sites have their place in academia. Chris Kobayashi, an English teacher at the University of Northern Colorado, decided to fully integrate Twitter into this curriculum by having his students tweet their progress on an upcoming research paper. “Social media sites like Twitter are finding new fans in academia” describes an entire class run through Twitter, with Kobayashi having students respond his Twitter questions via the site. When his e-mail account crashed one day, he used Twitter to communicate with the students.

Much like Facebook and Twitter’s use in the marketing world, the social media platform allows for a dialogue between a source of information (in this case, a teacher or lesson plan) and a group of users (students). This open discussion can now be fostered outside of the classroom in a medium that many college students are already quite familiar with.

Dr. Cann, using the ‘feed forward’ model, is making academics more accessible and allowing students to give easy and direct feedback through social networks. Kobayashi, too is harnessing the power of real-time interaction. Will we see a revolution in how changes, both academic and administrative, come about? Through social media it is quite possible.

The SSN Take: Integrating a social platform can go beyond the marketing and business realm.

Samuel Hartman, April 23, 2010

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Back in 2008, AOL’s $850 million purchase of the social networking site Bebo seemed like a good idea – it was huge in Britain and Australia, and part of AOL’s plan to gain “new users and advertisers.”

“AOL Plans to Sell or Shut Bebo Social Networking Site” cites May 31 as the date that AOL will decide whether to shut down or sell the site. In today’s market, AOL must continue to revise its business strategy – gone are the days of selling expensive internet plans – and social media seems to be the best option. But Bebo “has not been able to retain an audience” said a social media researcher in the article, with a 45% dip in February traffic compared to 2009. Facebook, on the other hand, had 68% more visitors. Competition like that makes the choice pretty clear for AOL.

The SSN Take: AOL should still investigate social media, but ditch Bebo.

Samuel Hartman, April 22, 2010

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“Twitter Buys Tweetie iPhone Client” confirms it – Twitter will be launching an official app for the iPhone, and it will be free.

But the Twitter team’s app isn’t brand new; they acquired Tweetie, a Twitter-branded mobile client that won a 2009 Apple Design Award. A BlackBerry app is on the way as well. Named “Twitter for iPhone,” the app will be optimized by Tweetie’s developer LorieBritcher. Not everyone is happy though – once the change happens, all other Twitter-capable apps will be “implicity labeled as second-class citizens,” possibly affecting Twitter’s success given the multitude of Twitter-capable mobile interfaces. But Twitter wants to avoid the “confusion” users experience when searching for a way to tweet on the go, and who can blame them? The microblogging site still has room for growth, and needs to dominate in the mobile market.

The SSN Take: Twitter’s open-source, friendly persona may be on the line with an official iPhone app.

Samuel Hartman, April 18, 2010

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The “digital footprint,” as it’s called, is getting quite large for some businesses online.

For some it can be difficult to manage, to keep track of the reviews, feedback, and mentions across local sites and social networks. Enter Chatmeter, a self-billed “Reputation Management and Local SEO” solution that allows benchmarks against other local competitors, recommendations for improvement, and a spectrum of analysis on your company’s online reputation. “Chatmeter Launches Service to Help Local Businesses Manage their Online Reputation” explains the features, pricing, and availability of Chatmeter. The tool, while currently in beta, features a “review tracker,” “social media/blog tracker,” “rank tracker,” “competitive benchmarking,” and Local SEO analysis. Personalize recommendations can also be generated to help improve rankings and search results for your local business. Basic services are free, but premium subscribers (at $19.99 a month) will receive the benchmarking and recommendations.

The SSN Take: If promoting your local business online concerns you, give Chatmeter a try.

Samuel Hartman, April 9, 2010

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Awareness, Inc. has released a new white paper entitled “Social Media Goes Multiplatform” containing research done by Paul Gillin Communications.

The press release on MarketWire describes the research as an “online survey and in-depth interviews with marketers,” focusing on their multiplatform social media strategies. Included are several interesting sections, including: social media adoption rates by year, favored platforms (blogs vs. YouTube, etc.), ROI and metrics, and social media spending plans. The report includes interviews with marketers from a diverse mix of companies, including Coca-Cola, Ford Motor Company (who, as we’ve written, has a vast social media strategy), Cisco Systems, and Dell. Metrics that each company used to judge progress are included, as well as what each business learned from their multiplatform approach. The research plans to continue through the first half of 2010, offering us more insights into social media’s heavy use in the marketing world.

The SSN Take: Skim through the white paper and glean some insights about how companies are using multiplatform social media strategies.

Samuel Hartman, April 7, 2010

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The travel sector’s strategy has changed, says a new report by Total Media, a UK-based media planning and buying agency.

“Six critical issues to consider with social media in travel” highlights six key trends of the report, driven by the “sociability” of consumers. First and foremost is the “word-of-mouth” experience – getting customers to talk about their experience and share it with others online. Handling praise as well as criticism is important: “be active in the reviews ecosystem.” We all know that SEO is important, and being “visible on search” is crucial. Mentioned many times is the keyword “inspiration” – advertising, content, and reviews need to inspire consumers to book dates and seek out deals. Lastly, they caution to avoid going after the young, flighty consumers who may be too busy to review – it’s the “older, mainstream consumer” who will be the influencer.

The SSN Take: With the consumer’s influence and your company’s inspiration, any market can be positively affected.

Samuel Hartman, April 6, 2010

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“Yelp for Business: 4 Steps for Success” lays out the reasons for local businesses to claim and manage their Yelp listing.

With its user-generated review and rating system, urbanites come to the trust the site for information on where to eat, buy clothes, or get an oil change. While your business may be listed, “claiming” it is important, and only take a few minutes. Once completed, update your listing with all pertinent information – an incomplete page will likely send a consumer to a competitor looking for a service.

Yelp allows businesses to respond to customer feedback, and even provides an easy guide on how to handle criticism. Part of keeping consumers happy and interested is using the Yelp platform to announce offers and sales. For those wishing to take it to the next level, Yelp offers a premium account with on-site advertising – rates range from $300 to $1000 a month.

The SSN Take: “Take the reins” of your Yelp page and utilize its feature to hone in on local consumers.

Samuel Hartman, April 6, 2010

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