A few weeks ago I had heated debate friendly discussion with Nathan about whether Twitter is a social network or a social media platform. You can hear the discussion here. He said it’s a social network. I said it’s social media. As I have thought more about it since then I think we were both wrong. Twitter is both.

It would be limiting to Twitter to say it is JUST one or the other because it has so many aspects that are distinct to social media and social networking alike. For instance, social media is about user generated content, conversation, and sharing information. Twitter does that. Social networking, however is about connecting people together through shared interests, interacting,  and facilitating relationships. Twitter does that too. What I have realized is that Twitter as a tool/platform is distinct in that it covers both the social media and social networking.

I think Nathan and I were debating the wrong question. The better question is this: Do you use Twitter as just a social network or social media or do you use (and utilize) it as both simultaneously? The basis for my original perspective of Twitter as a social medium was because I only used it as a social medium. I hadn’t really been looking at it for social networking opportunities. Likewise, I suspect Nathan was using Twitter more from a social networking side and not as much for the social media opportunities.

So now the challenge is this: if we find ourselves on one side or the other, how do we incorporate the other side into our Twitter use? For me, I know I can use it better to interact with people who I don’t know (or don’t know well.) That’s not something I’ve done much, but I think I’m going to start…after all, that’s part of the social network aspect of Twitter that I’ve been missing out on.

Bonus Twitter related info: USA Today wrote an article about Twitter. Plan on some extra downtime over the next few days as more people (who hadn’t heard of Twitter until now) join and give it a shot.

I just found out this morning that a client I work with answered their social phone for the first time a few days ago. They have been monitoring keywords in Twitter via Tweetscan’s (UPDATE: he used Summize, not Tweetscan) RSS feeds and when a customer complained about a particular product, the listening employee responded (even though the product had nothing to do with what he does at the company.) That response got an answer to the frustrated customer and the customer had the delight of getting a question/frustration dealt with that he didn’t expect an answer on. The customer came back around in Twitter and said thanks to the client. He noted that he was impressed, and frankly, a little surprised that they were listening and responded.

This is just another case of a ringing social phone that would have gone unanswered were it not for someone listening to it. Companies put significant amounts of money into the technology, personnel, and training for inbound customer service calls, but most companies are not even thinking about the unbound social calls that are being made for the world to see but going unanswered. Your social phone is probably ringing. Are you going to answer it?

For some reason I forgot to post about our last episode of The New Mediology about online video. We talked about everything from the new Netflix set top box and Hulu to infamous YouTube videos like the one that put the band OK Go on the map.

Today our most recent episode of The New Mediology is available about Twitter. Nathan and I covered a lot of ground in this episode. We disagreed a bit about whether Twitter is a social network or social media. I also said Adam Curry a Twitter Spammer. In all the tweets I’ve seen from him he’s only talking about the a new podcast and ads nothing else of value to Twitter…and in my book that’s spam.

Becky is a marketing strategist for a large company here in Nashville. One evening she was planning some snacks for an evening with friends when her search for a snack led her to purchase a book she didn’t know she wanted. Here’s the email Becky sent to her director the next day:

“I Googled Chili’s because I wanted to find out how much it would cost to get chips and salsa to go. When I Googled Chili’s, this link came up that said “Brand Autopsy: Would you miss Chili’s?” That intrigued me, so I clicked on it and found the blog of a marketing guy who used to work for Starbucks and Whole Foods. He, in turn, raved about this new book that is all about marketing and social networks. I thought it might be something that our whole team would benefit from. Isn’t it ironic that I was looking for chips and salsa and found a marketing book? But it hit the right audience at the right time!”

I really like this story at a number of different levels because:

• It shows the power and influence of blogs even in the most unlikely of connections.
• It reminds me that people trust blogs that seem trustworthy.
• It reminds me that your target audience cannot be segmented so neatly all the time because Becky the marketer wasn’t looking for a book but she found one and bought it (and will likely buy one for the entire marketing team at the company) when she was Becky the snack shopper.
• It reminds me of the power of a Google search and how blogs could make (or break) the positioning of your brand.

The book Becky found was called “Groundswell: Winning in a World Transformed By Social Technologies” by Charlene Li and Josh Bernoff. I’m reading this book now too but I found out about it through Twitter via Jeremiah Owyang.

I’m keenly aware of the irony here (and also the affirmation of the power and influence of social media) that a book called Groundswell benefited from the groundswell in at least two cases I can point to directly (mine and Becky’s) and I’m sure countless others. So the question is, what are you waiting for if you’re not getting in yet? Don’t fight the groundswell.

I was challenged recently to think about customer service representatives as part of an organization’s social media response and tracking team. I had never thought of using customer service reps to keep tabs on blogs, Google Alerts, and any other social media that may be talking about an organization but it really makes sense. After all, customer service reps serve as a front line for companies already and they know the ins and outs of the company about as well as anyone, so why not pull a rep or two aside for social media monitoring?

What if a company started allowing its customer service reps (or any other employees for that matter) to be proactive in engaging prosumers? Why not monitor and respond to complaints voiced in Twitter? Why not leave a comment of thanks from a blog post that had something nice to say about your product or service or company? Why not leave a video response to a YouTube video that discussed your product? Why not join a social network group or entire social network that was dedicated for (or against) your organization? Why not have your reps start a blog on the company website?

The new world of customer service is going to be proactive engagement unlike what the average customer service representative is paid to do today. It’s going to require as much trust from the company as they have in their reps now but with more freedom. It’s going require the legal department relaxing just a bit. It’s going to require the marketing department working closer with the customer service department. It’s going to require customer service being a part of your social media training. It’s going to require rethinking the roles of marketing, public relations, and customer service. Perhaps a “customer relations department” is more in order. Whatever it may be, it’s going to change

Twitter has had a rough week. What has been one of the quirks of a budding new communication medium (new to most people but not to those who have been paying attention for the last year and half), downtime is beginning to be a more frequent pain for Twitter and Twit alike. The micro-blogging service has admitted that there is a lot of work to do to make the system stable. But here’s the deal. Most people who use Twitter just roll with it. Though I’ve observed more comments about Twitter’s instability in the last few weeks, the overall tone isn’t that they’re going to abandon Twitter, rather they just want Twitter to fix what’s broken and move on.

Twitter’s growth is both helping it and hurting it right now. It hurts because so many more people are using it and the system keeps crashing. It helps, because more people are using it, connecting with their friends, and realizing it’s where everyone is…rather than leaving to find people on a Twitter-like service such as Pownce (where everyone isn’t.)

So…to all the fellow Twits (I’m not sure if that’s what we’re calling Twitter users but it works for this post) in waiting, here’s a little something for your desktop I made using the Parody Motivator Generator.

I have observed several different kinds of Twitter users as it seems to be gaining in popularity. They are the givers, takers, zombies, and spammers. Here’s a definition for each:

Twitter Givers: A Twitter Giver is the best kind of Twitter user. These are people who see the medium for what it is: an opportunity to converse with people you know, connect with people you should know, contribute knowledge with links/observations/experiences, and convey the in-between moments of life. Jeremiah Owyang from Forrester Research is good at this as is Steve Rubel. So is Michael Hyatt, the CEO of Thomas Nelson. If you know any Twitter Givers please mention them in the comments to this post.

Twitter Takers: A Twitter Taker is active within Twitter but doesn’t share much information either personal or in helpful knowledge and learning. The Twitter Taker’s tweets are regular (meaning he/she is active daily or nearly daily) yet the bulk of their time in Twitter is spent reading other tweets rather than sharing much him/herself. I think I’m guilty of falling into this category but am trying to break out of it and become a Twitter Giver. I get a lot of great information within Twitter but recently realized I didn’t give a lot of good information beyond sparse updates and a notification when I had a new blog post. I want to do better because I see the collective value in more Twitter Givers helping everyone learn and grow. It just doesn’t seem right to me to take and not join the conversation and learning…so, like I said. I’m going to try to be a Twitter Giver from now on. There, I’m accountable. Feel free to hold me to it!

Twitter Zombies: A Twitter Zombie is someone who signed up for Twitter and gave it a shot for a while but then dropped off at some point and only rarely gets back into it. I was a Zombie for a while until several months ago when I decided to give Twitter another try (and have been very glad I did, by the way.) I heard that Leo Laporte had dropped Twitter at one point but he’s very much back to life in recent months from what I’ve seen also. The nice thing about being a zombie is that you can come back to life and hopefully be a Twitter Giver.

Twitter Spammers: A Twitter Spammer is a person or organization that clearly just signed up for Twitter to promote whatever they’re doing and not engage anyone in conversation. You can generally spot these folks by looking at two things. First, if they don’t reference a website or blog on their bio there’s a good chance they’re a spammer. There’s no way to take a step further to see who they are if they don’t have a referring link. Second, if the number of people following them verses the number of people they follow is drastically different they may be a spammer. More specifically, if there’s something like a 4/1 ratio of the number of people they follow to the number of people who are following them, they may be a spammer. Spammers seem to request to follow a lot of people and don’t get followed back by a large percentage of the people.

If you don’t know what Twitter is, start with this helpful video. If you’re on Twitter and we’re not following each other, you’ll find me here. I’ll be a Twitter Giver for you. Will you be one too?

Ok, quick tip if this applies to you…if you use Twitter, be a person. Don’t be a nameless, faceless brand. I’m seeing more of these lately and I’ve determined I’m not following them back. I know there’s someone behind the scenes, but why not introduce yourself? I can’t have a relationship with a brand. I can have a relationship with a person.

The same thing goes for social networking sites. Don’t created a Facebook profile for your organization or product without making it clear to everyone that there’s a person behind it. We know he or she is there…so why hide behind the logo?

Social media and social networking tools rely on personal interaction. This may be hard for some companies or counterintuitive to others, but at some point you’re going to have to get out from behind the brand to actually say, “Hi, I’m Jim. I’m the guy who handles this for the company.” If you’re not willing to do that, you can’t play in the sandbox…and not because I say so…but because you’re the one who put the bucket over your head. How’s anyone supposed to talk to you with that bucket on your head? Take it off and start talking.

As of this blog post I am following 166 people in Twitter. I see a lot of information on Twitter every day (but not nearly as much as someone like Guy Kawasaki who is following 7,882 people or Chris Brogan who’s following 5,020 people) and it’s interesting to see the different things people talk about. The “Twitter in Plain English” video does a great job talking about how Twitter connects people and provides an outlet to let people learn about you through little glimpses into your life.

What I’ve noticed, however, is that the most interesting Tweets don’t just answer the “what are you doing” question. Some people who use Twitter only answer that question and quite honestly it’s not as interesting as the people who provide a broader view of themselves. Twitter can be a lot more than that for you but you have to think about it in that way. Some people have made that transition, but a lot still haven’t. That being said, here are five other questions you anc answer with Twitter to make your Tweets a lot more interesting.

1. What did you learn? This might be breaking news or an interesting blog post you just read or maybe a poignant thought you heard. Tweet this little nugget of information and be sure to include a link if you have one. Use TinyURL.com to shorten the URL and keep you within the 140 character limit.
2. What made you laugh? You can learn a lot about a person by what they find funny. When is the last time you linked to something that made you laugh?
3. What do you need an answer to? Twitter can be a great place to find an answer to a need you have. Just last night I saw that Dave Delaney was having some technical issues with his blog and he asked for help from his Twitter friends. Within minutes Cal Evans discovered the blog wasn’t the issue. It was the server and Dave knew he needed to contact his host provider. That’s just a great little example of Twitter connecting people to answer a question. One thing to note here, rhetorical questions probably won’t get a response but specific questions often will.
4. What are you thankful for? This is also tells you a lot about the person and can also inspire you to be a little more thankful in your own life.
5. What ticks you off? Some of the most interesting Tweets are during a moment of frustration. These are usually funny but I’ve seen them get pretty serious too. One funny one I saw once was from a commuter here in Nashville who said, “Dear I-24, you are not a parking lot. Let’s get moving!!!”

The bottom line is that you want to round out your Tweets to answer more than just what you are doing. People will discover you’re a more interesting person and will get to know you better as well.