In view of this morning’s Twitter following/followers count reset and the subsequent fall out, I thought it would be nice to step back and examine, once again, how social media has so permeated our everyday lives.

A decade ago, I wouldn’t have woken up and remained in bed while scanning all my accounts for new messages on my phone, only to then get out of bed and do it again on my computer as if the prior were an appetizer before actual computing. But when I find myself reflecting on the days of rotary phones and the simplicity of life with fewer connections, I realize that this reflection isn’t unique to my peers and me. It’s a feeling that cycles in for every generation of adult.

Consider your parents and the childhood they had. Wasn’t there a time when the television (or even radio, depending on how old you are) was a novelty? I wonder if parents in those times worried about raising their kids in the television age the way I worry about raising kids in the smartphone age.

And as this technology becomes more integrated into our lives (and it can), we should expect life to change even more, where our communicative connections revolutionize themselves the way electricity transformed the use of power, or the way indoor plumbing improved the smell of our city streets.

Anyway, this is just a grasp at perspective as we all go from surprise to half-joking panic at our decimated Twitter metrics. On the plus side, at least we’re now all about as popular as Ashton Kutcher…

One could argue that finding moderate success for a musician in this age is relatively easier than in the past. While the basic tenants of promotion still hold true – creating good music and playing exciting shows – the low-cost options made available by online platforms give today’s artists huge marketing advantages over methods from decades ago.

Here are a list of great tools for promoting your music online. If you’re a musician, get to know them well and you can save your time and money on more important things… like your fourth delay pedal.

ArtistData
Upload a show to ArtistData and they’ll automatically send it out to huge number of sites and calendars.

Bandcamp
A powerful distribution and sharing site that gives you ultimate control.

Band Metrics
Measure your engagements and the spread of your music.

Facebook
Obviously. Also, since Facebook holds so much personal user info, site ads can be specifically targeted to specific demographics for maximum cost-effectiveness.

Fanbridge
A feature-rich mailing list system that works incredibly well.

MySpace
During the Musician & Promoter Workshop in San Francisco. an attendee commented that MySpace was dead and thus not worthy of attention. However, as someone who reviews music for an established publication, I can safely say that it is worth the small amount of effort it takes to set up a page. People still expect you to have one, so it’s important to have.

ReverbNation
Quite possibly the most robust social media platform for musicians. Tools include mailing lists, widgets and influence metrics across multiple online sites. Integration with Facebook makes the utilization of their services seamless.

The Sixty One
A slick site that allows listeners to randomly stumble onto new music, rate songs and recommend similar artists. As a songwriter, it’s an amazing way to share your material while seeing which of your tracks stimulate listeners the most.

Twitter
Obviously.

Sure beats the old MP3.com days, no?

The Conversation Prism (Brian Solis and JESS3)

Age Distribution of Social Sites (Pingdom)

The World Map of Social Networks (Vincos.it)

Social Web Involvement (Global Web Index)

Social Media Demographics (Ethan Bloch)

The Web Trend (Information Architects, Inc.)

The Social Media Effect (Social Reflexion)

Sharing on Social Networks (AddToAny)

Twitter Territory (HubSpot)

And of course, any collection of tech pics wouldn’t be complete without the Nerd Venn Diagram (Matthew Mason)

Musician Aimee Man made a comment about rapper/actor Ice-T on Twitter. He retaliated via Twitter, which sparked a short war of words among their respective followers. What was said isn’t important but this Tweet from Ice-T sums up the whole thing pretty well:

Once again. She made a comment.. I replied… She apologized. Peace!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! FLTG. Mooooovin!

At the end of the day, it seems it’s not a big deal for either individual but it does bring into question how something like this happens. A Tweet from Aimee Mann might explain:

Plus, I do not like to hurt people’s feelings. I forget that twitter is not just me and four other dorky friends, ragging on TV stars

She has 9,070 followers but when using Twitter it sometime feels like nobody is paying attention to what you’re writing. Much like the way driving a car can give a false sense of separation from the outside world, it’s easy to forget that Tweeting about real people can catch up to you. Unless you have over 9,000 followers, in which case you need to know that even harmless Tweets can get you in trouble.

On the Nerdist Podcast Mike Shinoda of Linkin Park admitted to initially holding off on Twitter, letting other artists test the waters before he jumped in. It was probably a smart move. Many celebrities have given up Tweeting after being quite prolific, like Trent Reznor. Others like Larry David only managed to write a couple dozen Tweets before giving up. On one hand of the spectrum, you’ll have artists Tweeting their every thought and action, and on the other, there are artists whose Tweets are updates from a publicist. Really successful Twitters fall somewhere in between the two.

If you’re starting your own business or are in charge of marketing efforts for an established organization, you’re probably more than aware of the importance and cost-effectiveness of “social media marketing.” I place quotes around that phrase because marketing in social media really isn’t marketing in the traditional sense. It’s about building relationships, creating value and being a contributing member of the industry you’re in.

Blah, blah, blah. If you read tech blogs or follow any of the “SM specialists” who Tweet about this stuff 24/7, you’ve heard these statements ad nauseam.

But that doesn’t mean it’s not the truth. And until companies start to embrace these values, it will continue to be repeated if only to be hammered into heads. For the new company, there are certain checklist points that I feel are not only expected but required:

1.) Establish an active presence on Twitter and Facebook

Create a Twitter profile and a Facebook Page for your organization. If possible, try and keep the profile names as simple and consistent to your brand as possible. For example, for RedCandle Research, we have the following:

Main: www.redcandleresearch.com
Facebook: www.facebook.com/redcandleresearch
Twitter: www.twitter.com/redcandlelight (@redcandle – taken; @redcandleresearch – too long)

For my band, Festizio, we had to accommodate for unavailable usernames as well:

Main: www.festizio.net
Facebook: www.facebook.com/festizio
Twitter: www.twitter.com/festizioband (@festizio – taken)
MySpace: www.myspace.com/festizioband
YouTube: www.youtube.com/festizioband

Once you’ve got that covered, you can explore the more industry specific platforms that may appeal to your sharing your message (YouTube for videos, Flickr for photos, ReverbNation for music, etc.). But get Twitter and Facebook covered first. It’s where everyone is and, thus, it’s where you need to be.

2.) Realize that different platforms are different mediums and have different audiences

Online communities are not all the same, and each require a different voice and posting style than another. Twitter is more friendly for periodic posts of short ideas throughout the day, and the platform makes it easier for these posts to be shared via Retweets or organized by hashtags. Facebook enables embedded multimedia posting, making it easier for the reader to see what you’re sharing (video, image, etc.) without having to visit an external link. But for both platforms, it’s important to resist over sharing, as you would risk annoying the customers that follow you.

3.) Start a blog and share your ideas in depth

When thoughts must jump from 140 character posts into more detailed analysis, it’s time to write a blog post. This is your opportunity to show that you have insightful ideas to contribute. It’s your opportunity to prove your expertise to those within your industry. Where a company website might be cold with product info, a blog allows you to humanize your business. You show that there is a thinking human with (hopefully) a warm beating heart in your chest.

4.) Connect with others in your industry

When your presence is set and you’re ready to explore, look for other voices in your industry. Using free tools like Technorati or TweepSearch, you can find blogs and Twitter users by readership levels. For a more detailed analysis on who’s talking and what they’re saying, you could also work with an online analytics reporting firm like us. Wink, wink.

5.) Be interesting or, at the very least, be useful

No one likes to be bored to death.

…

(Image via Toothpaste For Dinner)

Twestival is a shining example of tapping into a vibrant community for the purposes of making a difference. Occurring last night in multiple cities around the world, the collective event donates 100% of the money they make to a notable cause. This year, Twestival supports Concern, a humanitarian organization that helps those living in extreme poverty.

San Francisco Twestival featured great music from Stroke 9 and Sioux City Kid. Notable Twitterati, that you may or may not care about, were out in full force. Overall, it was a great event held for a fantastic cause.

Great job, Krystyl!

Great job, Twestival Team!

While the 2010 census is beginning to find it’s way into Americans’ mailboxes the US Census Bureau has been hard at work incorporating modern tools into the process. However, the actual form is still a piece of paper that is physically mailed to citizens. But if the actual process of filling out the census is the same, it brings into question just how the Census Bureau is using things like social media. The official Twitter handle only has 3245 followers. The main page for the 2010 census is a multimedia experience filled with interactive maps, video and a blog written by director Robert M. Groves. A once over of site reveals that the Census Bureau is using these tools to essentially convince people that filling out the census form is not only safe but necessary. Considering recent outrage against the census itself, it’s not surprising that the Census Bureau is trying to reach out to as many people as possible. This approach might work on people who are already on board or on the fence, but is probably doing little to those who oppose it. Those people aren’t likely to follow the Census Bureau on Twitter or even take a look at their homepage. No, this is a job for the mainstream media and in this instance they are not pulling their weight. But as has been the case for years (some might say decades) the mainstream media does little more than report on the outcry against the census and not on the census itself.

I do not have a need “all the time” to take myself away from the oppressive facts of my life, however oppressive they may be, in order to go somewhere where I have control. I need to stay here and take control. Right now, for example, I cannot speak, but I am writing this. You lose some, you win some.
-Roger Ebert

Almost three years after losing his voice to thyroid cancer, Roger Ebert has debuted his new, electronic voice today on the Oprah Winfrey show. Many have commented that the quality and similarity to his original voice are impressive. But what’s more impressive is how he has maintained his status as one of the country’s most respected movie critics without the use of his voice. With the aid of tools like Twitter and his site on the Chicago Sun Times he’s maintained the profile and quality of writing he’s known for.

The below chart is a rough estimate of traffic to Roger Ebert’s site created by Quantcast. Note that the data being collected begins in April 0f 2007, 4 months before making his loss of speech public.

While there are some dips during health related inactivity, site traffic remains relatively high. His story is inspirational because it’s such a great reminder that the internet can not only include but cater to people traditionally left out of the conversation.

We apply Trendistic, the web analytics trending tool used in our previous post, to the topic of earthquakes. Covering the past 30 days, we can link spikes in the usage of the keyword “earthquake” on Twitter while associating blog coverage of what was going on during that particular moment. Additionally, the chart allows us to track the frequency of the term as a percentage of total Tweets (how often the topic is discussed in every 100 posts).

February 1
Frequency: 0.08%
Magnitude 6.2 earthquake off the coast of Papua New Guinea but most posts offer continued coverage on Haiti.

“It was a moderate quake, no damage, no tsunami,” said Lawrence Anton, seismologist at the Geological Institute of Papua New Guinea. Papua New Guinea, located on the “Ring of Fire” Pacific junction of several tectonic plates, is regularly the scene of an earthquake.

February 4
Frequency: 0.08%
Magnitude 5.9 earthquake hits Northern California.

Today’s quake adds to the North Coast’s reputation as being one of the most seismically active regions in the western hemisphere. The Jan. 9 quake caused $40 million in damage, says sfgate.com. Jim Goltz of the California Emergency Management Agency told the Eureka Times-Standard that today’s event might have been an aftershock to the Jan. 9 quake.

February 7
Frequency: 0.05%
Magnitude 5.4 earthquake hits Japan.

The Meteorological Agency said the earthquake hit at 3:10 p.m. (0610 GMT) and registered magnitude 6.6. The U.S. Geological Survey measured it at 6.4. There were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

February 8
Frequency: 0.06%
Magnitude 5.8 earthquake hits Oaxaca, Mexico.

Some Twitter users in Mexico City reported feeling the quake, though others said they did not. One witness in Mexico City said his building shook for approximately 30 seconds. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

February 10
Frequency: 0.38%
Magnitude 3.8 earthquake hits Chicago.

So, when I woke up and saw that the top story on the news was the earthquake outside of Chicago, of course I called Mom and Dad to make sure they were all right.

“Are you okay?”
“Yeah, we didn’t really get any of the ‘blizzard’.”
“What are you talking about? You had a blizzard.”
“What are you talking about?”
“The earthquake.”
“What earthquake?”
“The earthquake y’all had last night.”
“Betsy, I just turned the news off after the top stories and they didn’t mention an earthquake. I’ll go look for some damage if you want, but it doesn’t even look like the cat’s rattled.”
(Though I have met their cat and I think it always seems a little rattled.)

So, there you go.

February 27
Frequency: 1.01%
Magnitude 8.8 earthquake hits Chile (and where you can donate…).

Recent news that a killer whale actually killed a trainer at SeaWorld today is spreading quickly. This situation brings up the validity of the old saying; “any press is good press.” One of the less obvious factors that makes this so damaging for SeaWorld is that people weren’t talking about it much until something went horribly wrong. The below chart, created by Trendistic, illustrates how many times SeaWorld was mentioned on Twitter, starting 7 days ago.

It’s barely mentioned at all, but of course as soon as tragedy hits, mentions skyrocket. SeaWorld has embraced certain aspects of social media. Its Twitter handle, RealShamu is currently protecting its Tweets (although that may have always been the case). There was also the issue of paying Julia Allison to essentially shill for them. Neither move seems to reflect much in the way of social media skills. It’s not easy for a company as large as SeaWorld to not only embrace social media but excel at it, but a situation like this calls for both.