Chapter 7: Connecting with Twitter: Part C

Web 2.0 and Social Media for Business 2nd Edition

Roger McHaney, Kansas State University

Twitter Searches

Searches use a variety of tools provided by Twitter and third-party organizations

Example Results from Twitter’s Search Page

Using Twitter’s Search Page

http://twitter.com/search

Twitter’s TweetDeck

www.tweetdeck.com

Uses Firefox or Chrome

Create an Account

Track and Organize Tweets

TweetDeck Example

Twitter’s TweetDeck Video

Video

Other Tweet Searches

7 Twitter communication is public so Tweets are available to everyone

Twitter’s default search only extends a couple of weeks

A wide variety of third-party applications have emerged to provide additional search capabilities and interface with business intelligence tools

Competition is fierce and new applications appear regularly

Examples of Other Tweet Searches

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Compiled by Jeong-Ah Lee, Kansas State University

More Tweet Searches

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Managing Followers

Networks formed with Twitter can be extremely complex with large numbers of people who follow and stop following for a variety of reasons (called ‘unfollow’ in Twitter lingo).

The pool of followers can be a latent resource bringing a wealth of knowledge and other benefits.

A wise business Twitter user can find ways to become better acquainted with his or her follower base; to target new followers; and, to follow key players in strategically relevant areas.

Follow Me!

Management Tools for Twitter Followers

A business should use a follower management tool. These tools enable a user to classify her or his followers; watch trends that might include people that become followers (or stop following); and, find new connections.

Tools that help with this include http://unfollowers.me and FindUnfollow (a mobile app)

FindUnfollowCan help with discovering: New followers

Recent unfollowers

Users not following back

Followers that the current account holder does not follow back

Knowing this information can help provide a mechanism for ensuring that key followers do not slip away unnoticed, and so new followers can be contacted and better integrated if desired.

More Followers

Users tend to seek easy methods to build their follower base. According to TwitterCounter.com (in September, 2013), celebrity teen idol Justin Bieber has the most followers, with Katy Perry, Lady Gaga, and Barack Obama not too far behind.

Problem ToolsTools appeared that promise to quickly add followers to subscribers’ accounts. Many took the form of mass follow bots which attempted to automate the follower-acquisition process.

Less reputable services would create fake users and make these followers of subscriber accounts.

Other tools appeared which would automatically follow back any follower.

Users began placing a #followback, #teamautofollow, or #teamfollowback hashtag in their message to indicate they would follow anyone who followed them.

Had the effect of creating large numbers of followers with little or no value----not potential customers or business partners.

Auto Follow

The auto follow had previously enabled “an immediate and programmatic means of following another user back after they follow you.”

Twitter removed it to stop large numbers of followers from being automatically generated.

Twitter also removed the auto follow back functionality from its API and stopped third party applications from providing that service.

With the programmatic features gone, the primary ways of acquiring followers become: to follow other users (including your followers); to publicize a Twitter handle, and to write clever, timely tweets likely to be retweeted.

Good Ways to Find FollowersLeslie Walker suggests:

1) Start following. Find others with shared interests and hope that they return the favor and follow back.

2) Create a complete and compelling Twitter profile. This will put others at ease and help them identify reasons for wanting to follow.

3) Follow those that have followed your account. Many users appreciate the engagement and will remain as a follower longer.

4) Tweet regularly. This will keep an audience engaged and provide more notice.

5) Ensure that tweet content is relevant, timely and contains recognizable hashtags. Again, good content makes a world of difference in Twitter.

Follow Friday

Tradition on Twitter which can result in more followers.

The idea is to send tweets on Fridays with the hashtag #ff or #followfriday.

Tweets are meant to help followers identify new people that they in turn may wish to follow.

Being mentioned in a #ff tweet is considered a friendly gesture.

#FF

Example #FF

To create a #ff tweet, a list of Twitter handles is inserted into the message followed by the hashtag. Sometimes a short message is also inserted. The recipients of that tweet, trusting its source, may choose to follow the list of names provided.

Example 1:  @mchaney @edutech @susanb #ff

Example 2:

Welcome newbies @mchaney @edutech @susanb #ff

#FF

Twitter Analytics

In situations where important, mission critical information can be learned by mining tweets, a business might want to use more sophisticated search tools. Business analysis of Twitter is truly in its early stages and the available tools have not yet fully matured. However, advances are being made.

Twitter Analytics LimitationsSearches limited by time and number of Tweets accessible at any given time

Vast unorganized volume of Tweets have been generated since 2006

In April 2010, Twitter donated public tweet archive to U.S. Library of Congress

Every public Tweet will be preserved and eventually made available to public

Historic donation removes social responsibility from Twitter and enables rich, grass-roots level history, generated as people lived through events

Mission Critical Twitter Use

Mission critical information may be discovered by mining Tweets. Business needs sophisticated search tools.

http://www.tweetarchivist.com

What is Provided by TweetArchivist?

• Ability to understand more about Tweets.

• Tweet Volume, Top Tweeters, Number of ReTweets, Top Words, Top URLs and the source of Tweets are all summarized

• Discovering social chatter source• Allows businesses to understand

more about clients, potential markets, and competitors

• Information regarding business opportunities, quality management efforts, and general improvement is provided

Some Businesses Can’t Wait

• Some organizations that need to analyze older (this may mean only a few months!) Twitter content and cannot wait for the Library of Congress

• Twitter’s full data feed, called its Firehose, provides all Tweets being sent through Twitter

• Gnip currently provides access to Twitter’s data streams and dozens of other social media feeds

• Gnip is an authorized reseller of Twitter data.

• Gnip extracts the subset relating to a particular firm, its products, and other interests

Gnip

Business SuggestionsBusinesses use Twitter for a variety of purposes: from marketing to customer service to product development. Twitter can be powerful for new companies and can result in the quick dissemination of information.

From Jill Duffy:

https://twitter.com/jilleduffy

Follow Dr. McHaney at: @mchaney

End ofChapter 7 Part C

Web 2.0 and Social Media for Business 2nd Edition

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Slides Prepared by Professor Roger McHaney Kansas State UniversityTwitter: @mchaneyBlog: http://mchaney.comEmail : mchaney@ksu.edu