This evening San Francisco time Social Media heavy weights and media gathered in the cafeteria at Twitter HQ for a special announcement. Images and Video are coming to the Twitter timeline. This move while condemned by some as the Facebookification of Twitter follows a number of recent changes that Twitter have made to boost signups, retention and participation.

Good For New and Casual Twitter Users

Making Twitter a more visual experience has already improved competition of signups. No doubt it will make the Twitter experience more engaging for new and more casual users. Twitter veterans noticed a low level of participation after the massive growth of early to mid 2009, (Oprah starts tweeting and Ashton Kutcher beats CNN to 1 000, 000 followers) during which time many people signed up, played for a while, and dropped away. The Twitter web interface is very text based and no doubt understanding and engaging with it may seem a little dry to beginners.

Video and Images Will Lead To Greater Participation

However with 1 in 4 tweets containing a link and many of those links being video or images the new interface is likely to seem far more exciting to anyone who is trying to understand what it’s all about. This will really make lists more engaging and will make the feed only accounts i.e. twitter accounts which publish feeds without being conversation, much more relevant

Motivated By Growing Twitter Revenue

With Twitter still searching for a killer revenue model this latest initiative makes the web interface more relevant which will no doubt assist current revenue streams such as promoted tweets.

What are your thoughts?

What are your thoughts? Will you be likely to use Twitter more? How would you compare and contrast the new Twitter with Facebook?

The Great Divide from WebVisible on Vimeo.

This is one of those things you wish you had thought of first, kudos to WebVisible for a smart marketing piece. You might just see a copycat version from Byron New Media before too long.

C.C. Chapman and Ann Hartley have announced that they are writing a book Content Rules – How to Create Killer Blogs, Podcasts, Videos, Ebooks, Webinars (and More) That Engage Customers and Ignite Your Business.

Great Title!

Content Rules is not only the title of the upcoming book, it's an adage that is thrown around liberally by many in the new media game.  Now I am not arguing with the need to create content.

However it's not the whole story is it?

Like the quote at the top of the page says "She asked me for a Social Media Strategy, but that wasn't what she meant"  In the past if a client had asked me for a Social Media Strategy, I might have started by asking what content she had or what content we could create that we could share as part of the Social Media Strategy.

However I have learned that might not be the best conversation that I could have with her.

Because what my client really wants is not a Social Media Strategy. What my client wants is more traffic for her website, more customers for her products and services, more impact in her market, and almost certainly more income.

If you are looking to create more income, more impact in your market or more traffic to your website. To take things up a notch. Then perhaps the first question needs to be what value are you going to create and how can you clearly communicate that value to the people who care?

That's a deeper and a harder question to ask clients, and to ask yourself.

If you are feeling frustrated about your efforts to create more income, traffic or influence. Creating more of what you have been creating or spreading it further is unlikely to be the answer.

Remember 1995. Remember hearing people talk about the Information Super Highway. There was a notion that if you could just get a website, if you were "online". You would be magically connected to this global economy and people from all over the world would start buying your products and services. It was hard work then and while it's so much easier now the fundamentals don't change.

What people give their time to. What people feel compelled to share with friends. Is something they value.

If you want more impact/income/traffic, DON'T do more of what you are doing.

It's like jumping on the earth twice as much expecting to move the planet. Instead like Archimedies look for a lever.

Give me a lever long enough and a fulcrum on which to place it, and I shall move the world. Archimedies

The attention spans of your prospects are cluttered with lot's of stuff that is there simply so the creator can be heard. Your lever is value and your fulcrum is your purpose.

Posted via email from Byron New Media’s Live Blog @Posterous

Posted via email from Byron New Media’s Live Blog @Posterous

In 1995 I remember reading a book about the convergence of media (can’t remember the name), that was complex convergence, this is really simple. Hope it opens your mind to possibilities to create value for your clients and differentiation from your competitors.

We live in an age where there a fewer barriers to create and greater opportunity to connect than ever before, that’s a gift.

For the longer: story http://www.sitepoint.com/blogs/2010/06/04/old-media-meets-new-with-the-ride-ride-kids-book/

Posted via web from Byron New Media’s Live Blog @Posterous

Matt Cutts (Head of Google’s Webspam team) explains what the Caffeine update to Google is all about.

What does Caffeine mean for businesses and brands?

In short Caffeine allows Google to index webpages faster and to have more information about that page. These changes have been made to make Google search results more relevant and more current.

What will this mean?

To start with it will not change rankings over night. If you currently have the number 1 position for your keyword phrases that will change immediately. However overtime this will favour websites that are regularly publishing fresh content.

If your business presence is static i.e. you have a 5 or 10 page website that is updated every 2 years, your competition has an even greater opportunity to dominate Search Engine Results for your keywords.

Google is rewarding businesses that are marketing in a stream. If your niche has been dominated by players who have not got their mind around Social Media and publishing a stream, now is you time to differentiate and pick up market share.

There was another great tip in this video I wonder if you heard it? Matt mentioned that Google's "Social Search" results are pulled from many public sources, however he specifically mentioned Google Profiles.

So if you want to get the jump in your market or niche, now is the time to;

• trade in your old website for one based on WordPress (or similar) and start publishing some regular updates (blogging),
• now it's time to create those Social Media profiles (Facebook, Youtube, Twitter, and LinkedIn for starters) and
• add them all to a Google Profile.

If you need help converting your brochure site over to a powerful WordPress driven marketing machine or a strategy for your Social Media presence, Byron New Media can help you with than.

Posted via email from Byron New Media’s Live Blog @Posterous

The window of attention or attention dashboard for the majority of the population has changed. You have probably sensed or observed this already. Yellow Pages, Radio, TV and Print Advertising are getting less effective, the way we found new clients 2 or 3 years ago don’t work like they used to. It’s because we are shifting into a new economy. Let me show you some sign posts.

March 2009 Neilsen Online releases a report that shows Social Networking has by passed eMail for time spent online.

August 2009 The Pew Centre for the People and the Press reports more people get thier new online than via newspapers.

March 2010 Hitwise shares the stats, Facebook passes Google for monthly traffic.

What does this mean for the average business person?

Your prospects and customers are more likely to ask their online peers for buying advice in your industry, then opening your email or finding your site via Google.

The window of attention has shifted. The changing attention dashboard has become a silent business killer.

There is some light on the horizon. A new economy demands a new approach to marketing and whenever a platform changes the balance of power is disturbed. For smart agile businesses this is an opportunity for you to pick up market share from your competitors. Chances are by the time they realise what has happened you will have out positioned them and you will be in a league of your own.

Here is the summary.

• New attention dashboards mean “If you are not in the stream you are not being seen“.
• Publishing a stream allows your prospects to get to know you before they buy from you and your existing customers to remember how awesome you are.
• Publishing to the stream allows your prospects and clients to consume your content at their attention dashboard/s of choice.
• A good stream positions you as an expert, makes your products and services more valuable to your clients and prospects, and let’s people see inside your business.
• Getting started publishing a stream is quite easy (I give you some simple tips at the end of the mini-podcast above.

In the the mini-podcast above I talk about setting up a Posterous blog if you would like more help with that see my FREE (no opt-in required) tutorial on setting up Posterous Blog. You can also read my supporting article How to Set Up Your Own Posterous 500 Pound Social Media Gorilla in Pam Brossman‘s Social Media Woman magazine.

Posted via web from Byron New Media’s Live Blog @Posterous

Apps that allow tagging people in photos, keeping a diary via your tweets, harnessing the fashion know how of your Twitter followers to check in whether your outfit is “Drab or Fab”.

Twitter may play second fiddle to Facebook. However it’s open nature and data portability in combination with a richer API may lay the base for the second coming of Twitter.

Perhaps this time function and value may drive adoption as opposed to celebrity and curosity. No offence to the peeps who poularised the platform.

For more detail http://feedproxy.google.com/~r/Venturebeat/~3/bUts-TgrU6Q/ via @louisgray

What do you say? What would like to be able to do on Twitter?

Posted via email from Byron New Media’s Live Blog @Posterous

Karl Fisch and Scott McLeod created a info-video called “Did You Know“ in 2007 to document the way the world is/was changing (in 2007). They may not know have know at the time, that this video meme would launch a genre. Fisch and McLeod have updated the video 3 more times (version 2.0, one referred to as 3.0, version 4.0) and spawned a wiki for reference (Shift Happens) and lead to a great deal of remixing and adaptation of the presentation. Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh) is one such adaptation based on the book Socialnomics by Erik Qualman. Social Media Revolution 2 (Refresh) documents some really important changes that have taken place in the last 12 months that really shift things again.

• Facebook surpasses Google in weekly traffic (social passes search)
• Mobile Internet traffic has skyrocketed and it largely Social
• Facebook is closing in on 500 Million users

Which underpins the shift I blogged about last week 2 weeks ago changing Attention Dashboards are silently killing businesses. Enjoy the video I’d love to hear your thoughts on whether you have noticed a shift in the way people are engaging with your business.

Seesmic has been such an impressive company. Their initial video chat product, their ability to change gears quickly, their enegmatic leader Loic (did you see his video calling Mark Zuckerberg haters bullshitters).

Well they have done it again and shipped a beautiful iPhone app. The app has a very lightweight interface, 4 floating portals per screen and each one can be a Facebook, Ping.fm or Twitter account, a search, Twitter List or trending topic. You’ll be up and running in no time.

As you would expect the app is free and available in the App Store right now. Enjoy!!

Posted via web from Byron New Media’s Live Blog @Posterous