Sirona Says

Is Twitter the new RSS subscription?

It's Monday, so I thought I would start the week with an interesting poser to get your brains working.

Is Twitter the new RSS subscription?

RSS Subscription is an awesome and powerful tool, but has it already become 'mainstream'? Are people now looking for that next communication channel with an edge? Has it just become 'accepted' all of a sudden?

Twitter has become that edge (for the moment anyway!) and is expanding very very fast, so just think if you had joined Twitter just 6 months ago? How many followers would you have now? You could have 1000's of people following you and taking note of what you say - a very powerful distribution channel to get your message across. There is no doubt that Twitter could be as powerful as RSS subscription, but is it better?

So for those of you that either haven't joined Twitter yet or have only recently seen the light (my hand is raised here! - want some Twitter tips?) then you need to get over to Twitter and join up (follow me).

Twitterberry - a new Twitter addiction!!

I know this Twitter thing seems to be everywhere, but today I discovered that there is (of course) an application for Blackberries - very correctly named Twitterberry!! So if you want to take your Twitter addiction (follow me) a little further download this neat little app here.

Very simple but so effective!!

Social networking is a true symbiotic relationship

We are all members of numerous social networks - in many cases, way too many to be really effective!! But is this coming at a price for all the friends that we keep adding to each new media? The ability to follow your friends on multiple channels sounds great ....for the first week, and then unless you are a SNOS (social networker on speed) it will it will naturally tail off to follow the most interesting only. So what about the reverse - all the people following you. Why are people tracking what you do, reading your blog, watching your videos and  listening to you twitter on?

The reason is they want something from you, and of course you want something from them! So what do you get when you link up / add a friend / follow / join a new network group etc. Maki from Dosh Dosh explains what benefits you get:

Access to more data. You get to view more data on the user, some of which may be intentionally obscured from the public or other non-friend users. This allows you to network with the specific user in a more intimate and personal setting.

Greater communication options. Depending on the social site, when someone adds you as a friend, they open up more avenues of communication. This adds a greater level of interactivity: you can connect with the person who added you through private/direct messages, instead of the highly visible public channel.

Recommended content. When someone adds you as a friend (and vice versa), your activity or actions on the site may be recommended or ‘pushed’ towards the other person in some part of their admin panel or profile. This means that you’ll get greater visibility automatically whenever you use the social website.

Greater Social Proof. An auxiliary advantage of having many fans on social media websites is social proof, especially when the social site itself ranks the users according to the no. of followers/subscribers they have. Popular and visible users tend to accumulate friends more easily than unknown users.
Basically, you have nothing to lose and everything to gain when someone adds you as a friend on any social media website. They are giving you permission to share messages with them while bestowing attention on your recommendations/actions within the social site.

So as you can see social networking is the new symbiotic relationship of life! It is about both parties getting something out of the relationship.

The new networking SIN - Special Interest Networks

There has been recent decline in the sign up rates for Facebook and other social networks, and I believe this is a sign of people's expanding knowledge and expectation of using social networks. For alot of people, joining a huge entity like Facebook or MySpace is perfect for them - being part something new but still part of the generic social media mainstream. But there is now a trend seeing users wanting more out of a social network - they want to  interact with like minded individuals that have specific knowledge about their skills or interests. It may be a specific skills at work, such a network for HR Professionals, or it may be a network for mothers with newborn babies. The main point is that add real specific value to the people in that network, with very relevant information about their subject.

So the SIN has been born - the Special Interest Networks.

Special interest networks are nothing new - take LinkedIn for example - but they are now gathering pace with sites like Gurgle, Flixter, BakeSpace, Recruitingblogs and of course Talent Management Network. The one thing they have in common is their need to be niche - without that their value is minimised. The shifting of social networks is reflecting how we are as people, and by networking on a site that is specific to us, we are solving our needs. We solve the practical need to find out specific information about the interests we have and we solve the emotional need to express ourselves to people that will be interested and will listen.

So for all you optimisers, add another to the list - SEO, SEM, SMO and SIN!!!!!

Retailers have a problem with Generation Y'ers

When I first started in work in retail many years ago there was one thing that was ingrained into me........"The customer is always right". Of course we know that is not always the case, but as far as the interaction with the customer goes, it is a strategy to keep customers coming back. It teaches you to manage expectation and deal with people in a civil and considerate way etc This has provided a great base for my career, especially in recruitment (although it becomes a challenge, believing it with some clients!!)

Over the weekend visiting a number of retail shops, it dawned on me that retailers WILL have problems with their Generation Y workforce.Their seemingly lack of interest and motivation, and 'what's in it for me' attitude doesn't mix with retail customer service too well. They don't like to engage with customers, won't accept they have made a mistake and certainly won't adopt the customer is always right philosophy (sorry Tescos, WHSmiths, JJB and Next but they don't!).

So how do companies with such key customer facing roles change the attitudes of their staff? They can't, but they can look at other companies that I believe get it right - namely Marks & Spencers and Waitrose (John Lewis). They start getting it right at the recruitment phase - knowing what they want in terms of staff quality, and sticking to it - and continue the process with regular training, mentoring, appraising. And this is just for their shop assistant/sales assistant roles!! Have you ever been into either of these stores and had a bad experience with one of their staff? Highly unlikely I suggest.

So all you retailers, recruiting generation Y'ers won't be easy, but try and engage with them, after all if they won't engage with you then they certainly won't engage with your customers!!

Search Me - this looks good!!

Thanks to Debbie Weil's for this find, and publicising on Twitter today. This IS a good way to search on the web - it is a fantastically visual way of showing search results.

Go to Search Me and find out yourself!

There's being clever, and there is being different...not sure where this fits?

I came across this site today, and I have to say it is certainly a little different. But did it get the message across - not immediately, and I had to try and figure out what they did! It is all well and good having fancy clever animated sites, but unless they convey the message clearly then they sort of miss the trick don't they?

Nice idea, but a little off track for me!

Ten Tips on using Twitter

For all of you that have gone Twitter mad over the last few weeks, I thought these unofficial tips from Grammar Girl on using Twitter might be helpful for you.

1. Don't start posts with “I am.” You're answering the question, “What are you doing?” It's OK to answer with fragments in a conversation.
2. Use proper capitalization. Typing in lowercase doesn't save characters; it's just lazy.
3. Use proper basic punctuation. It helps people understand what you mean.
4. Don't use abbreviations such as 4U and L8. They make you sound like a 12-year-old (which is bad, unless you actually are a 12-year-old).
5. Shorthand symbols such as >,  =, &, and @ are allowed.
6. Shortened word forms such as nite and thru are allowed.
7. Use numerals, not words, for all numbers.
8. Provide links and context whenever possible. Remember that many of your followers can't see what you are responding to.
9. Use tinyurl or urltea to shorten links.
10. If you can't say it in 140 characters, reevaluate whether you should be posting it at Twitter.

So off you go all you Twits, and carry on twittering properly!!

The Five defined behavioral groups of Generation Y'ers and Generation Z'ers

Following on from my last post on Habbo's Global Youth Survey, another part of the interesting research clearly identified five clearly defined behavioral segments amongst the generation Z and generation Y teenagers surveyed. It examined interests, values, attitudes, online habits, current media usage, consumption behavior and brand preferences to understand what drives these generations. With each group representing approximately one-fifth of the total teens surveyed, the five groups were categorized and described as the following:

1. Achievers: Ambitious, strong minded and materialistic.  They value material success and whilst having lots of friends do not consider other people's feelings as much as other segments
2. Rebels: Value gathering lots of experiences in life and enjoy a fast-paced lifestyle.  Like Achievers they want to become “rich and famous”, but they are not willing to compromise on having fun in order to achieve this goal
3. Traditionals: Value having an ordinary life and see themselves as honest, polite and obedient.  They are keen to help others but are less ambitious and  pleasure seeking compared to other segments
4. Creatives: Share many of the same positive traits as Traditionals, but with a focus on creativity.  They place value in getting a good education and being influential in life, but they are also active, social and have an interest in traveling
5. Loners: More introverted and less likely than other segments to identify with any specific personality traits.  They rarely see themselves as active or self-assured, but are more open minded in their attitudes compared to Traditionals or Achievers

For those of you with children, I am sure you can identify with some of these groups, but for employers it will be more difficult. The one thing for sure, is that they will have to learn fast how to identify the right group mix for their future recruiting strategies.

How do Generation Y'ers and Generation Z'ers communicate?

This may surprise you (it certainly did me) that mobile texting didn't come out top in this survey, especially the way my daughters use their mobiles!! Habbo's Global Youth Survey looked at generation Y and generation Z teenagers - particularly aged 11-18 - to see how they communicate with other people (friends, family etc). Here are the ways they communicate:

1. Instant Messaging via internet  81%
2. Meeting in person   77%
3. Text Messages   70%
4. Talking on the phone   60%
5. Social Networking sites  54%
6. Email   41%

So as an employer looking to tap into this market, it does make interesting reading. Although the surprising one at the bottom is email with only 41%, it must be said that 72% of them do hold current email accounts but only use them for non-personal communication like school, work and family(!!!).