Disqus - Latest Comments for Steve_Dodd

Re: Two Examples of Companies Measuring Social Media ROI

Steve_Dodd — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:01:22 -0000

Are you aware of other SMB's successfully leveraging Social Media?

Re: Two Examples of Companies Measuring Social Media ROI

Steve_Dodd — Wed, 14 Oct 2009 08:00:45 -0000

Jacob, these are terrific examples. Obviously Reality Digital is in the "business" and should get this strategy (but so glad it's working for them all the same). But, Naked Pizza, now that's news! Talk about creative, out of the box thinking. I keep hearing about the statistics out there that talk about the high powered users generating 95% (or some other really high %) of all social media (Twitter specifically) activity inferring that this is not a widely spread phenomenon when in reality, if we look at these "smaller" users (of which there are many millions) I'll bet we'll find lots of "Naked Pizza's" with real successes building businesses by adopting social media.
Thanks so much for sharing!

Re: 10 People You Won’t See on Twitter Anymore

Steve_Dodd — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 18:25:09 -0000

I really like the way Twitter is attacking abuse to keep the system clean. Facebook could learn a few lessons here. These are crucial issues. Enforcing them could be a challenge but at least they are being identified. However, I would like to see more focus specifically on URL shortening services and their ability to hide bad content (worms, viruses, bots etc.). Even though it is addressed somewhat in the rules about bots and spam, by the time the bad users are caught and eliminated, the damage is already done. These services should be forced to provide virus checking inherently in the service so that sites are checked before shortening occurs. This would protect users from aggressive and very troublesome behaviors.

Re: Segment twitter streams to increase relevance and reduce noise

Steve_Dodd — Tue, 18 Aug 2009 21:03:45 -0000

Hi Dirk, I believe you are taking the right approach, especially for companies with multiple products serving various vertical markets. People want focus and to see content that is relevant to them. With too much noise, they'll lose interest. Although there are some corporate announcements and cross sell items that would need to be posted across the streams, mostly each stream should be self sufficient and focused. From a corporate point of view, this also makes measurement much easier and less subjective.

Re: Why I Know A Lot About You, David.

Steve_Dodd — Fri, 31 Jul 2009 09:01:05 -0000

What's frightening Tod, is that most people have no clue about how exposed they really are. And often, because of the convenience, don't care (until it's too late).
Thanks for this insight. What a great story.

Re: The Goal of Twitter’s New Homepage? Be the World’s Water Cooler

Steve_Dodd — Wed, 29 Jul 2009 08:53:39 -0000

Finally, a focus! Perfect. Twitter doesn't need to be yet another Social Network (ie: Facebook etc.) This is something it can do and win with. But, I do agree that the next challenge is to change the market perception and lose the "people think Twitter’s just about telling people about what cereal you ate" to "Twitter is the one place where you are plugged in to the collective world". And, I think if you look at how most predominant Twitter users have adopted the platform, they are already there. This make perfect sense.

Re: What is Twitter? 69 Percent of Adults Don’t Really Know

Steve_Dodd — Tue, 28 Jul 2009 22:34:21 -0000

What is most interesting to me about all of this is the surveys seem to be missing something. We've seen Twitter stats published that say the vast minority of users generate the vast majority of the activity, people under 25 are the largest user community, and most expect Twitter's life expectancy is short etc. But, we also have significant proof that companies are generating real value through Twitter, not only the big guys, but also many small local businesses. We also know that many, many business people from many different professions ( I heard about funeral directors the other day) are meeting more contacts and having better discussions right across the planet than ever before. Any technology that grows virally starts at the bottom not the top. If the same study was done about Email, Skype, Google, Microsoft and even the Internet itself in their early stages of development, the results would have been very similar. Give it time to find itself. Even if it is displaced by something "better", its basic fundamental value proposition will continue to grow. Statistics like those flying around are only at a specific point in time and the questions asked normally are too general to get at the heart of what’s really going on. IMO the real value story is in the details. We need more details to really determine its future potential!

Re: Twitter’s Security Meltdown

Steve_Dodd — Wed, 15 Jul 2009 09:01:39 -0000

Been "yelling" about this for a while! Glad this crucial topic is now getting mainstream attention. Hacking, Spam and Identity Theft of a huge concen and if not fixed will kill Twitter! Without solid security and identity management it ceases to be relevant as sources cannot be validated. Just think of the last Amber Alert spoof yesterday and so many (ie: Goldblum death)before it. If sources cannot be trusted, messages will be ignored, Twitter will die.

Could Twitter be the next source for a "War of the Worlds" (1938 Orson Wells Radio Program) but intentional, not accidental? Think about it.

Re: The Dirty Little Secret of Social Media Monitoring

Steve_Dodd — Tue, 14 Jul 2009 21:10:02 -0000

Well, I've been watching all of these comments and found a couple of key points very interesting.

1. The focus is on two of the many, many monitoring / analytic products and services out there. They all do things differently just like every responder to this post does things differently from their competitors. If each of you were given the same question by a client, you'd all likely have a different answer because you all do things differently to remain competitive.

2. No search engine (Social Media Monitoring or otherwise) returns the same responses nor holds the same data. Why didn't you also ask Microsoft, Yahoo and Google to respond?

The real issue is to know enough about your chosen tool provider(s) to ask the right questions to ensure you get the informationyou needed for your specific project. This is one key reason why the KDPaine's, Nielsen's, Cymfony's etc of the world attack the monitoring packages on a regular basis. In my opinion, too many people rely on the output of these systems without truly understanding their customer requirements, the system capabilties and to a certain extent, its shortcomings.

Re: About

Steve_Dodd — Mon, 05 Jan 2009 16:07:19 -0000

Hi Ken, I've been reviewing your blog at great length and have found it most informative. You certainly understand the importance of Social Media and how to leverage it.

We've recently launched a new Media Analytics and Measurement server called www.sysomos.com. We go far beyond the traditional monitoring that exists in the market today and provide a level of analytics to help users understand conversations. We provide concept / context extraction, sentiment analysis, geo-demographic analysis and much more.

When you have a few minutes, I'd love to show you what we are doing.
Please let me know,
Thanks.

Re: StockTwits nails stockpicking on Twitter, raises round

Steve_Dodd — Thu, 18 Dec 2008 09:59:06 -0000

This is great to see! Companies are commercializing Twitter and creating tremendous value. The nice thing about this approach is (as was clearly stated) users will not be posting anything but relevant content to this community. To me, the "personal" content on Twitter is hard to filter out when not necessary. My company, www.sysomos.com, provides a high end analytic solution that includes twitter content. With communities like this forming, the value of analytics in this microblogging space will also increase.

As was previously stated, Twitter itself needs to determine how to get some income from this evolution. Perhaps though, a direct royalty approach is not the way to look at it. There are other alternatives to capitalize on this "Twitter Community" trend without "biting the hand that feeds you".
Steve Dodd
www.sysomos.com

Re: Twitter has made Dell $1 million in revenue

Steve_Dodd — Wed, 17 Dec 2008 08:18:58 -0000

Lot's of interesting comments here, but business has to start somewhere. $1million's not much, I do agree, but it is the begining of a potentially new way of doing business. When Dell started years ago "with a new business model" and did less that $1million in it's early days, many didn't pay attention then either. Neither did they pay attention to Microsoft, Google and many others.
The money is not the issue at this stage. The fact that they actually did it, tracked it and proved the concept is. Watch what they do with this next!
In my mind (lowly SM tech sales person), the biggest challenge will be weeding through all the "junk" promotion that is about to hit all Twitter users.

Re: Defining you Brand - One Conversation at a Time

Steve_Dodd — Tue, 25 Nov 2008 20:46:33 -0000

Excellent comments Brian! And, once you understand the perspectives of those you need to engage with, the value becomes even more positive because then you can truly participate in conversations, not just attempt another form of "advertising" by mentioning names and "corporate" opinions.
Steve Dodd
www.sysomos.com

Re: Discussion Forums - An Oft-Overlooked Element of Social Media

Steve_Dodd — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 17:02:36 -0000

True enough but a good monitoring tool will eliminate most of the noise. And, when you analyze this content to other forms of online media, it can really tell an important story.

Re: Discussion Forums - An Oft-Overlooked Element of Social Media

Steve_Dodd — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 15:34:24 -0000

We couldn't agree more. As a media monitoring and analytic solution provider we find that content from message / discussion boards is very valuable because it is more open in nature and doesn't necessarily have the "Corporate" watchdog to be sure the discussions adhere to "Corporate" strategy.