I’m aware some people still don’t ‘get’ twitter. So, there’s little point in me talking to them about the wonderful research resource that is twitter. These are nice chats, but not productive or efficient. I like to sell cars to people who drive. So, for those who still don’t use or ‘get’ twitter, here’s twitter in plain English
Social Flow map of OBL RIP.
In the past month I’ve seen perhaps 20 new firms entering this soon to be crowded space. Having developed several ideas in the area, it is great, if a little surprising, to see how many people around the world are having the same sorts of ideas.
Top of my list is Trendrr, an expensive but uour cseful tool for a wide range of companies, from PR through to CRM and brand researchers. It’s worth signing up for a demo, but be careful as, at a grand a month, you can be left with an expensive bill if you forget to delete your account.
Socialflow is one of the main data visualisation companies that has come to the fore with their analysis of the death of OBL It is absolutely delightful to see the speed and manner of idea spread around the world for important moments in history such as this. At the same time, these pretty pictures aren’t engaging in a long term way. This site is more interesting for me in what it promises, rather than what it delivers.
Counting firms abound. Akin to qualitative content analysis methodologies, these will give a count and a degree of sentiment analysis of pretty much anything. If your company is very sensitive to being part of the buzz, this might be interesting. Typically though, what is trending on twitter emanates from a diverse set of interests, where ‘Apple’ is alongside ‘Bieber’ and ‘Glee’ is alongside ‘Gadaffi’. Question: So? Now what? For gossips and entertainment junkies this is interesting stuff. But, for business more honest curated solutions which provide targeted relevant insights are more flavour of the month, as they should be.
