vs.

Benjamin K. from Florida asks: “I have a limited amount of time to spend on social media marketing for my apparel company. If I had to choose, should I spend more time on Twitter or Facebook? Which provides the best ROI from a time perspective?”

This is a great question! Since both Twitter and Facebook are free services, ROI is computed based on time spent as well as opportunity cost (what could have been done with that time). Many businesses are also paying staff or outside support to manage their social media presence using Facebook and Twitter. Both services have received a lot of press, positive and negative, especially in recent days. Facebook is growing into a worldwide phenomenon, effectively linking six degrees of separation together for the first time in history. Twitter has been criticized and raved about equally as much and it’s merits as a business promotional tool still have many confused despite the hype. So what gives?  Which is better?

To start off my answer, let’s first touch up on what these two services provide:

• Twitter is a social networking and micro-blogging service that enables its users to send and read 140 character messages, known as tweets. Tweets are posted on the author’s profile page and are delivered the the author’s subscribers, known as followers.
• Facebook is a social networking site with over 250 million users worldwide. Users can create profiles and and send messages to friends. Users can join networks organized by city, workplace, school and region.

In my opinion, Twitter is more quantity-driven (it’s primarily about the number of tweets and followers a user has) while Facebook is more quality-driven (it’s primarily about connecting people that already know each other through two way and public conversation and the sharing of content like photos, videos, links, notes, etc…).

Time spent on Twitter would be spent creating a profile, tweeting messages from your Blackberry or computer, following other users, adding your profile to directories, promoting your tweets, making lists of users, attempting to consistently stay relevant, interesting and/or useful with your tweets (no easy task), etc..

Time spent on Facebook would be spent creating a profile, adding friends, posting content (photos, videos, notes, polls, discussion board topics, pages), managing wall posts by fans, managing ad campaigns, viewing fan page statistics, creating and/or promoting Facebook apps for your band, post on other’s walls, etc…

Facebook is usually a more personal medium while Twitter can be more ambiguous (or less, depending on what’s being tweeted).  If you’re a business or consultant, the additional layers of content and tools you can utilize with Facebook may allow you to better brand your product and more persuasively and visually communicate with your target audience.  Twitter, on the other hand, may be a better customer service tool (customers tweeting issues and receiving quick feedback) for easy two-way communication.

The Conclusion: Facebook wins!

Facebook currently provides more tools for businesses and brands to promote themselves in the way of tailored fan pages and profiles, pay-per-click advertising and the Facebook developer platform.  It also currently has the biggest user base (250 million+).  In my opinion, it’s also easier to use.  It’s nearly just as portable as Twitter (it can be accessed and managed on most cell phones).  It allows you to leverage yourself (through a personal profile) as well as your brand (through a fan page or business profile).  It has a great, cost-effective advertising system offering pay-per-click marketing that is highly targeted.  Facebook provides more statistics for businesses and brands to manage their efforts as well. If you have less time, Facebook can be more useful as in my opinion it is easier and more engaging to connect more with your existing network via Facebook than Twitter.  Plus, it is very likely that more of your existing friends, family and customers will be on Facebook than Twitter.  This is why for initially building your social media presence, Facebook is a good place to start and Twitter is a good place to expand to.  I think Facebook should be the backbone of your social media presence and Twitter your customer service and branding “skin”.

Twitter’s value shouldn’t be diminished because I’m choosing Facebook over it in this post. Twitter is a great tool and one of the most interesting and hyped sites ever made.  It’s helped Iranians organize rallies and President Obama raise money. But Twitter tends to work faster and better for established brands and personalities, not new wannabes.  If you’re a new company or have a new product, you have to start from scratch without name recognition, making your results slower to come by than, say, Ashton Kutcher or Coca-Cola would experience.  Facebook’s a bit more turnkey and provides more value quicker for the average company.  Too many small businesses and consultants brag about thousands of Twitter followers, but they don’t know any of them that well and most are junk or not in their target market.  Better to have a few hundred high quality customers, friends, family, and prospects than a few thousand random people that you don’t know and that doesn’t care about you.

I also think guys like Seth Guru are on to something when they limit the number of social media channels they utilize.  Seth Godin, a prolific marketing and web author,  has written previously about why he has limited his social media usage to one or two services.  The simple adage “jack of all trades, master of none” rings true in social media.  Try to do it all and you may end up simply managing a bunch of accounts instead of successfully building community and engagement with one consistent audience from your main social media presence.  Limiting your time to one or two main services doesn’t necessarily limit your reach, it can make your more effective!

The good news: you can use Twitter without using Twitter

If you are one of those people who doesn’t have the time (or willingness) to manage multiple social media profiles, don’t fret!  You don’t have to miss out on Twitter.  Turns out, you can tweet without tweeting!

You can (and should) still use Twitter even if you only have enough time for Facebook.  There are many free tools and websites that offer ways of hooking up your Twitter account with your Facebook account.  For instance, you can set it up so that your status updates on Facebook in addition to your notes and wall posts are automatically tweeted to your Twitter profile!  The reverse is also possible, where your tweets are sent to Facebook for promotion with your network there.  This makes it easy to post your content and messaging at one site and yet communicate with several.

- @RobbyBerthume

To follow the series, visit EngagingConversations.com and become a fan on Facebook!

This week, I want to continue the discussion by attempting to answer the following question:

Why should I care and how can I use it?

You may not be an early adopter, but the fact of the matter is that you’re sleeping at the wheel.  Even many of the “early majority” has been on Twitter for a few months now.  It’s time to sign up, if only so in conversation or while watching a news report you know what the heck “Twitter” is when you hear about it and don’t sound like an ignorant fool.  I mean, come on people, it’s not that hard of a concept to understand (if you still don’t get it, re-read my first post and/or watch the video at the bottom of this one). If you’re already on Facebook or MySpace, you have no excuse.  It won’t take much extra time and it integrates well.  If you don’t like it, just cease the tweats, simple as that.  Before you spit out the brussels sprout maybe you should let your taste buds decide their opinion first, it might be personally and/or professional healthy and perhaps even enjoyable in the process.  So stop waiting around for a formal invitation, point your browser to Twitter.com and get on it.

Here’s 10 valuable ways you can use Twitter immediately

1. Interact with the media and “the man”
What does CNN’s Rick Sanchez, Barack Obama, the US Congress, Ellen, The Today Show, and The New York Times have in common?  Twitter!  Listen up and talk back, the media and “the man” has never been more accessible.

2. Follow your favorite celebrities, athletes, and brands
There are countless celebs on Twitter, to the point where some are predicting the fall of tabloids due to Twitter.  Brands and wanna-bes have flocked to Twitter in droves as well. From C-list to A-list, from Athletes to Musicians, from JetBlue to Whole Foods Market, Twitter is exploding with fame and hot air.  Twitter provides celebs like 50 Cent, MC Hammer, Ashton Kutcher, and John Mayer with an easy to manage, easy to run platform for fan engagement.  It’s far less hassle than MySpace and a lot easier than Facebook for celebs to use and not screw up.  It’s a simple, portable way of staying engaged with the largest group of people while not creating a management headache and without sacrificing direct content control or paying hefty fees in the process.  Therefore, to Simon Cowell’s dismay, Twitter is tearing it up amongst today’s celebs and you, the user (unless you’re famous) benefits.   Now you can openly stalk your idols.  Maybe instead of the NBA fining Cuban for tweating about the refs they should instead think about paying guys like him and Shaq to keep up the free promotion and for keeping the NBA in the news and in conversations.  After all, any press is good press, right?  Not exactly…

3. Kill your boredom and maybe even learn something in the process
Bored?  Twitter takes web surfing to a whole new level – it’s like moving from surfing to windsurfing.  Suddenty you have a sail and some wind to guide you.  What a difference! Track conversations and content, snag fresh and hidden links, and get a feel for the undercurrent of opinion and rhetoric.   Your eyes my glaze over at some point, but until then you can justify the screen-staring by thinking about the educational value all of those links and ideas are going to provide you with.

4. Arrange local “TweetUps” easily
What’s the easiest way to meet up with peeps?  Call out a TweetUp or announce when you’ve arrived somewhere.  You can leave it vague, invite everyone, or pick and choose.  Either way, no more lonely nights whether it’s a pick-up game or Thirsty Thursday.  Mobile, geo-centric tweats make it easier than ever to prevent solo movie theater nights.

5. Integrate Twitter with your existing social media persona without any substantial extra work
Before you reject Twitter because you’re already on social media overload, hear me out.  Twitter won’t take that much extra work.  Do you change your Facebook status or post links to mySpace or delicious?  Tweat these!  Better yet, connect the platforms and eliminate all manual labor from the equation.  With your tweats hooked up to Facebook, you can update both at the same time.  With your blog hooked up to Twitter, you can post each new blog post as they come, automatically.  You get the idea – Twitter is a screwdriver in your toolbox.  You still need the hammer and nails, but boy does a screwdriver come in handy.

6. Expand or detract relationships
There is a difference between followers and friends.  Some of us reserve “Facebook friend” status for real friends we have an offline connection with.  Others accept and seek out friendships and think of Facebook friendship in much looser terms.  To them, a hobby, group, or friend in common is plenty an introduction.  Many of us open ourselves to lots of friends, but still limit certain sections of our profile, like drunken photos.  Twitter gives you a second option in expanding or detracting relationships.  Think about it.  If you send out frequent tweats, it’s a great way for loved ones to really peer into your life and stay in touch with your thoughts and happenings.  Or maybe it’s a profile you can give out to those you don’t want to be Facebook friends with, like a second skin for the strangers (or customers, you get the idea).

7. Build a personal brand and platform
Why do you need a personal brand?  You may have a job or company now, but you never know when shit might hit the fan (pardon my French).  Whether you’re a nobody, an aspiring author, or maybe a 15 year old musician, Twitter can help you begin to build your personal brand.  Building a personal brand involves creating a story (and it should be authentic or risk flopping) and promoting it.  Building a personal brand has never been easier with the Internet and social media.  Maybe your ideas are lame or you don’t need the book contract or record deal now, but why not leave the door open?  By building a personal brand and platform via Twitter, it’s there when and if you need it.   Twitter is like a megaphone.  Imagine yourself in a large, empty opportunity with an open mic.  Now fill those seats with followers and let it rip, but make it meaningful.  Remember, reputation is build in a lifetime and lost in a tweat-second.

8. Promote your business, broadcast sales, and engage in market research
Twitter is all the rage for businesses.  Whether you’re a small business (like this chiropractor or this restaurant) or a Fortune 500, your peers are either already there or are moving in for the kill.  Become a “vocal point” in your industry.  Post sales, promotions, and events.  Distribute links, reports, and articles.  Be a voice.  Answer questions.  Learn from customers, prospects, and market segments.

9. Stay abreast of your industry in real-time
What’s going on in the bridal industry?  Perhaps if you were following a few hundred voices in the industry you would have a better answer to this question?  Whatever your industry, followers find you based on what you post.  So focus in on your hobbies and market and unite with others who care about the same things.  It’s a great way to keep tabs on the ever shifting sandstorm of professional and public opinion.

10. Stay more closely connected with friends and loved ones
As opposed to weekly or monthly calls where you catch up and skip the details, Twitter allows you to engage and be a part of their day-to-day lives, whether the thought of it peaks your curiosity or irritates your senses.

Other popular uses for Twitter include breaking up a relationship, broadcasting a plane crash (colorfully), and telling the world you broke your hip. Let’s summarize: if you can text it, you can tweat it.  If you can tweat it, others will read it and, if you’re cool enough, perhaps even follow you.

Twitter isn’t all peaches ‘n’ creme, though.  Here’s why, in 3 points

1. Clutter, Spam, Abuse & Misuse
What would Simba be without Scar?  Batman without the Joker?  Everyone needs an enemy.  Spam and clutter, unfortunately, is the enemy of the web.  Whether it’s e-mail, links, social networking, videos, you name it – spam affects it.  Wherever there is freedom, there is abuse.  Where there is a system there is an abuser of a system.  Before getting too deep into philosophy, just take heed.  Not every Twitter profile is legit, not every tweat is meaningful, and not every follower is worth following.  Get Rich Quick schemes aren’t limited to e-mail.

2. The Fat, F’ugly Fail Whale
Twitter gets overloaded every now and then. With its breakneck growth rates and ever-multiplying traffic, it’s not always online to accept your tweats. When it breaks, I introduce you to the “Fail Whale” as it’s known.    While this happens rarely, it still happens more often than all of the other websites I frequent.  It’s a bit annoying sometimes, after all, what if my plane crashes and I’m not able to tweat about it? It’s a problem Twitter is no doubt working hard to address.  Meanwhile, the whale calms me and enrages me at the same time.  Not sure how that works…

3. Stupid Tweets & Tweet Overload

It’s easy to get carried away.  There is a heck of a lot of garbage and downright lame tweats out there in tweat universe.  People spew really boring crap either because they are trying to reel in new followers, are that full of themselves, or are simply boring, dull, and uninspired to begin with.  I don’t want to always know what you are doing, right now 24 hours a day.  I want to hear what you are doing, in general (for more on this, re-read Part 1).  Is that really such a hard concept for people to grasp?   On Twitter, it’s too often quantity over quality and not the other way around.  Keep your twitter-holicism in check, will you?  Didn’t your mom teach you to think before you tweat?

Still hung up on the concept?
I present to you “Twitter in Plan English” courtesy of CommonCraft

- @epsilonc

I admit, I wasn’t the first to join this “microblogging platform.” But I did realize pretty quickly that Twitter wasn’t all hype.  I determined it deserved a place in my social media arsenal months ago after realizing that it wouldn’t really take me much extra time and it would be a valuable tool and resource that could easily be integrated into my existing social media presence.  To me, Twitter + Facebook + Delicious + Blogging is the holy grail of social media.  The best part is that they all work together remarkably well. In my case, instead of changing my “Facebook Status” I tweet my status and it automatically updates my Facebook account.  So it didn’t really create any additional work, but opened up my rants, raves and riffs to a wider audience.  And when I write a good blog post (or at least when I think so), I can tweet it and it broadcasts the link to my Twitter followers and Facebook friends.  And if I run across a helpful link or want to note a blog post I wrote, I add it to my Delicious bookmarks, which automatically shows on my blog (using a WordPress plugin) and Facebook account (Facebook app).  It’s easy to see how these things can work well together. The web is truly like legos at this point, it’s just a matter of putting them together. It all helps expand my sphere of influence and opens myself to feedback and new ideas without creating a management nightmare in the process.

I think Twitter gets made fun of a lot because it famously asks the question “What are you doing” before giving you 140 characters to explain (just see the video below).  It’s important to remember that “tweeting” (posting a message on Twitter) isn’t simply about telling your followers what you’re doing (e.g. getting ready to take a shower, eating M&Ms, listening to Phil Collins, etc…).  I like to think it’s also talking in much more generic, broad terms.  As in, what are you doing with your life, your business, your passions.  What are you thinking, seeing, feeling and finding?  If Twitter was only made up of a bunch of people sharing the mundane factions of their life, I doubt it would be elevating in fame like it is.  It’s not always about sharing for the sake of sharing, it’s about sharing when it’s remarkable, when it’s worth talking about.  Tweeting is like sending a text message to a large group of people, instantly.  And sometimes getting texted back.  But it’s portable (you can tweet from your computer or cell phone and the service can be utilized via various apps, SMS, RSS, etc..), free and provides a platform for a wide audience.  Following people like Shaq, Lance Armstrong, Ryan Seacrest, and 50 Cent is like getting a live feed of text messages from them.  Pretty cool, if you’re a big fan.

Moving on…

So what is it, exactly?

Technically speaking, Twitter is a microblogging platform launched in 2006 by Jack Dorsey, Noah Glass, Biz Stone, and Evan Williams. The service allows anyone who creates an account to write and read 140 character updates, also known as “tweets.”  These tweets are shown on the author’s profile for all to read (unless the user only allows followers to read his tweets) as well as on the home page of the user’s followers.  It allows you to search and follow other Twitter users, send direct private messages and broadcast public replies.  It’s not only about 1 person, it’s about a community, conversation and feedback.   Twitter is often referred to as the “SMS of Internet.”

Why should I care and how can I use it?

We’ll answer this question and more in next week’s post!  Stay tuned!

Below is a recent funny video mocking Twitter. It’s entertaining and brings up some funny points, but keep in mind it’s oversimplifying a lot of things rather than highlighting the complete story around why Twitter is valuable. Obviously, this is because it’s a video mocking Twitter not a documentary explaining value propositions.  There is a reason Twitter is considered to be worth more than a quarter billion dollars at this point and why it’s 3rd behind only Facebook and mySpace in traffic. After reading next week’s post you’ll understand why this video isn’t a reason to stay away from tweeting.  Remember, there is more to Twitter than what you are doing, in the narrow sense of that phrase. And keep in mind this video’s success was no doubt propelled when numerous users spread the link through Twitter.

- @epsilonc

Inauguration Day didn’t simply usher in the 44th President heralded globally as hope for an Extreme Makeover: USA Edition. Exciting for web heads, the first change this President made, nearly on the dot during the botched oath was The White House official website.  Keep in mind, this is the president who talked about social networking on the campaign trail, embraced Twitter, now posts his weekly address via YouTube, and fought fiercely for his BlackBerry over the last few days.  Needless to stay, we web-heads are eager to hear his choice of national CTO and are thankful for the ways in which President Obama has and continues to embrace the Internet for a more transparent government and a more united America.

The first wired President clearly wasn’t just poking people on Facebook in the days before his Inauguration.  While Change.gov functioned as the transition hub, he also went to work (or should we say put others to work) on a new version of Whitehouse.gov that would be ready for January 20th’s festivities.  In past days, design, usability, social media, blogging, and video weren’t given attention, even in the land of the Internet that Al Gore invented.  Former President George Bush’s site design reflected his presidency in many ways, if you know what I mean.  President Obama appears to have carried over successful design and usability parameters as well as social media integration strategy from his previous sites, BarackObama.com and Change.gov.  Not to mention the online Briefing Room.  What a great concept in government, to use the web in this way!

So while President Obama’s administration is blogging about the year of the ox and his stance towards the Muslim world to try and heal the wounds of yesteryear, I recommend you visit the new WhiteHouse.gov site for yourself, grab his RSS feed, and start watching his weekly addresses on YouTube.  If government is going to be more transparent via the web, it’s up to all of us to keep tabs on it!

The Old Version of WhiteHouse.gov, courtesy George W. Bush:

:: written by @epsilonc ::

I’m using Pollster.com to follow polling data (a couple of other projection sites are covered in Mashable’s 12 Presidential Poll and Electoral Projection Resources) and for twitter eye candy there’s the Election Results According to Twitter.

For coverage:
Election 2008 on Current tv
“Co-hosted by Digg and Twitter, with video from 12seconds.tv, and with a Live DJ set by Diplo, Current is uniting the best of social media with a real-time broadcast of the most important results, facts and information and giving you a completely new way to experience election night.”

Leo Laporte w/ Jason Goldberg
“…if you’re looking for election coverage with a tech twist, Jason Goldberg, the founder, will also be covering the election with Leo Laporte live on This Week in Tech on Tuesday, Nov 4 @ 8 pm EST/ 5 pm PST.”

Mashable’s The Ultimate Election Day 2008 Toolkit has two links I particularly like and will be using whenever there’s no one looking:

Power Readers in Politics a feature for Google Reader users, “..it tracks things tossed into the Shared Items firehose by the presidential campaigns as well bloggers and journalists like Arianna Huffington and Patrick Ruffini.”

Youtube’s VideoYourVote experiment (in conjection with PBS) to document people’s experiences at the polls. The best videos will then be included in PBS’ election day coverage (there’s also a fantastic article on Mashable profiling Youtube’s contributions to the election that’s worth a read).

As always, CNN & USA Today blow it out the park with the visuals:

CNN Electoral Map – Not only do you get current projections, you can tweak the map to run your own scenarios.

USAToday.com – More often than not, these guys provide great data visuals. This time it’s an easy way to eyeball the the percentage of difference between the candidates.

UPDATE: AnOrangeAmerica.com is the latest election tool to join the arsenal. It would have remained “just another cool app”, but I like Tropicana’s OJ so I’ll give it the nod for coolest election app. Read more about it here. HT: Simon.

I had the pleasure of attending the LA Social Media Club event at Mahola‘s headquarters here in LA this past Monday night.

Approximately 200 people in and outside of the social media realm attended the event which included dinner, drinks, networking, and a panel discussion emceed by Jackie Peters of HeavyBag Media and including Nicole Jordan from Rubicon Project, Michael Dorausch a chiropractor who’s use social media as a pioneer in his industry, Robert Richman a social media strategist, and Brian Solis, a social media guru, co-founder of Social Media Club, and principle of FutureWorks.

You can follow Social Media Club on twitter by clicking here and I urge you to visit Social Media Club’s site here for an event in your area and if you’re in LA it’s time to join the group on Facebook and start coming to the events!

I enjoyed enlightening discussions with many of the attendees including Devlyn Steele, CEO of ToolsToLife.com about the value of content and his value-driven social network, with Francisco Dao, founder of TheKillerPitch and blogger for FastCompany about PR in the social media realm, Kyra Reed and Marjorie Kase, co-founders of Markyr Media, an LA social media PR agency about the value of authenticity in social media, and enjoyed a thoughtful discussion on the evolution of web design with Andy Dugan of C/D Entertainment. I definitely can’t forget Tiffany Weller of Done! SEO who so graciously turned a dry event into a party with her wine and bartending services and TechZulu‘s presence with Jennifer Stavros, Efren Toscano, and Cristina Cinque and though I didn’t get a chance to speak with him, I could see Hayden Black of GoodnightBurbank and AbigailsTeenDiary cracking everyone up.

I can’t forget Tim Street‘s hilarious and poignant tweets throughout the evening, Edwin Duterte of OneKeyAway fame, John Noland Marchesini, Omar Foshizzi of WhoopTonez.net, Salvador Medrano, and last, but certainly not least, photographer Wm. Marc Salsberry of TechZulu and owner of WMSProductions for the great event pictures available on Facebook and TechZulu and for permission to use them on this post.

Some interesting points of discussion and a few of my takeaways/thoughts from the event:

• Care must be taken to remember that if you’re in this industry (“the left”) it seems like everyone and their Mom is on Twitter and is networked on Facebook. Yet, their is still a vast ocean of individuals who’ve never experienced social media (Wikipedia’s entry was showcased during the event) and its grandeur and who have no idea what web 2.0 even means. Additionally, if you’re in this industry it’s easy to fall prey to the overwhelming sensation that everything in the realm of social media and social networking is so fast-paced and saturated that you should give up on launching anything without heavy competition and earlier-to-market entrants. We must remember it takes the rest of the world time to catch on to new trends, so if you’re ahead of the curve or riding the curve, don’t become overwhelmed. Even 37Signals, with their uber-popular blog Signal vs. Noise recently wrote about how when they launched their blog they thought it was too little too late, what with the thousands of blogs cropping up before theirs hit cyberspace. Yet, their blog is now incredibly popular and widely regarded in the tech and design communities and proved to be an invaluable marketing channel helping to propel their products to success. Lesson: if you create content worth talking about, people will talk about it. Give them no choice and don’t fear the clutter. Clutter only makes you look better.
• There was some talk about social network “cultures” and how Fortune 1000s and companies in general aim to enter the social fray without context. Facebook has a culture. mySpace has a culture. Bebo and Twitter and Digg and Squidoo have cultures. I see similarities between entering social media spaces and entering foreign markets: before entering a foreign market you must understand the culture and if you don’t, you must find someone who does. I think Facebook and mySpace and other social networking channels can have cultures within cultures, in the form of groups and such. McDonalds didn’t go into India serving meat burgers and a company shouldn’t go into the social networking realm blindly ignoring existing cultures. Immerse yourself (or find others who are immersed) and give value to gain recognition.
• Corporate social media endeavors are often successful when bridging corporate with humanity. In my opinion, the best marketers aren’t marketers; they’re customers, other departments, and fans in general. Corporations that have experienced success often experience success as the result of social media being attached to an individual or group of individuals or sometimes simply a passionate fan. It’s 2008 and it’s time to bring personality and humanity to your business if you’re entering the social sphere.

Other memorable quotes included:

• “once you know where to look, you know where to be”
• “…the Internet has experienced several waves including a wave of static websites, a wave of interactive websites, and the current wave of social websites…”
• “social media is a conversation, not a campaign”
• “people make it viral”
• “there’s nothing that succeeds like success”

Can’t forget some more pics courtesy of Wm. Marc Salsberry of TechZulu (more pics & videos can be found at their site):

Last of all, I want to hear your thoughts on the event! If I left you out or if you thought a discussion point was particularly thought-provoking, please post a comment… I’ll review each comment and will incorporate them into the post as pertinent. What did you gain from SMC LA? Will you go to the next event? How would you improve it? Also, can someone post the link to the “Social Media Guide” mentioned during the evening? What other social media events in LA and beyond are worth attending?

If you want to hear about upcoming social media / social networking posts and other riffs and rants, follow this blog and join me on twitter! Until next time…!

Starting off the festivities, Thursday night was the fantastic Twiistup 4 at the Viceroy in Santa Monica, which certainly lived up to expectation, what with smart people, good conversation and walking on water (yes, it’s ok to be jealous).

Other highlights of the night included:

• BookRenter.com
  My only qualms with these guys is that they failed to show up when we needed them most. Where were you when shelling money we didn’t have for textbooks was a constant headache that had to be dealt with every semester?! Oh well, the cost of getting an education just got a little more affordable and the future’s certainly the better for it.
• AOL
  If you’ve been under the impression that AOL, like Microsoft, has over-stayed its welcome and is on its way out, something about the list of tools they have available on their ad network may lead you to want to rethink that position (apart from the phenomenal Winamp, other tools include Mapquest, Truveo, Bebo, userplane, goowy and sphere).
• ADISN.com
  Break-ups aren’t always bad events and these guys encourage you to break up with your ad network purely for your own good. Their “Break Up With Your Ad Network” cd is packed full of songs that make break-ups seem appealing and will certainly soften the break-up process.
• Phonevite
  Simply put, phone invitations on the go. Gone are the days when inviting the poker clan or changing event venues meant calling a looong list of people. Sign in, setup, record your message and you’re good to go! How many steps was that again
• Minggl
  Minggl is a social interaction manager that creates a relationship layer over the social web. The Minggl toolbar makes it easy to manage information, communication, and navigation across social networks
• ToolsToLife.com
  Voted the Twiistup Showoff Winner, this social networking website offers compelling self-improvement programs wrapped around a supportive social network. This site really excels in value-driven social networking and in our opinion represents the evolution of social networking in the coming days. We enjoyed speaking to Marketing Director Greg Johnson about this remarkable start-up.
• Twiddla.com
  A free, no-setup, web-based meeting playground. Mark up websites, graphics, and photos, or start brainstorming on a blank canvas. Browse the web with your friends or make that conference call more productive than ever. No plug-ins, downloads, or firewall voodoo – it’s all there, ready to go when you are. Browser-agnostic, user-friendly. WebEx, GoToMeeting, be warned!
• Project: Possibility
  Project: Possibility demoed under the banner of the USC innovation booth and is a nonprofit, community service project committed to creating groundbreaking open source software for persons with disabilities. Their mission is to inspire a community of persons with disabilities and software developers to work together and make a difference by inventing software that will unlock new areas of life for persons with disabilities, giving them access to experiences previously impossible to achieve.

We also enjoyed a compelling conversation with John Olsen of Liforia (stay tuned for this up-and-coming breakthrough concept in social networking) and doing an interview with Jennifer Stavros of TechZulu (and writer of a compelling sex/relationships blog to boot). Not to mention numerous free t-shirts, NeoHire’s hooka, and some interesting and enlightening conversations with some interesting people (you know who you are!).

Friday brought Social Media Camp and Mashable’s SummerMash. Talk about a full, long day!

Friday’s highlights brought along Erica O’Grady’s refreshing talk at Social Media Camp on what social networking is, where it’s going and the awesomeness of things like twitter (if you don’t use twitter, try it before you knock it and follow @ bushmanbill and @ epsilonc while you’re at it).

The following rabble-rousers also stood out during the weekend’s festivities:

• Freshbooks.com
  These guys have made invoices and time tracking sexy again (not that they ever were, but you get the point). Here’s a question for you: How the hell do you get 25 people to eat dinner with you because you run the website they use to invoice their clients? Here’s your answer: Give a shit, be passionate and make love to your customers (their words, not mine). Every time. We got the chance to hear them share about the way they work, their passion for invoices and how they listen to their customers. These guys wrote the book on engaging clients.
• Collarfree.com
  It’s true that by the time you read this, we’ll probably be rocking Collar Frees. And why not? They pay their designers well and offered us a 20% discount (because we went to Social Media Camp). They also use a cool voting style (a la HotorNot) and like Ayn Rand, which is never a bad thing.
• Yoono
  Now here’s a Firefox add-on you should not browse without. In a single browser sidebar, Yoono users can interact with the best of the Web more than ever before by discovering, communicating, and sharing with friends across multiple networks and platforms all in one place. You are now free to stop wasting time checking for updates and using up bandwidth by keeping multiple tabs open.
• RockNRollDating.com
  This upstart social network connects all you fans of punk, goth, metal, indie rock, stoner rock, jam bands, and you name it so you can find each other, catch live music, and perhaps even fall in love. Owner Daniel House explained the concept of the site to us and we think it rocks!T

The SummerMash was hosted at Rubicon Project’s trendy headquarters and featured the suave smooth social media celeb Pete Cashmore, a thirst-quenching open bar, and a swarm of tech hipsters. We also enjoyed chatting with the uber-funny Hayden Black of Goodnight Burbank and Abigail’s X-Rated Teen Diary.

SummerMash official pictures will be posted here and for SoCal tech/social media event interviews/coverage, check out TechZulu. And stay tuned for feedback on Digital Drinks happening today, July 21st and Social Media Club’s event on Monday, July 28th. We’ll be there so say hi if you see us and we’ll be writing updates about the events for those that don’t live in Tinseltown or can’t make the events. Until then, good afternoon, good evening, and good night!