From the category archives:

social media

Why I Use Twitter as my RSS Reader

by brianlburns on 18 March 2010

in RSS, social media, twitter

rssIf you’re like me, you have an RSS Reader (like the one offered by google) that’s overwhelmed with backlogged posts from the many blogs you subscribe to.

If you’re also like me, you don’t bother trying to dig back through your pile of posts, overwhelmed by the shear quantity, and uninspired by the fact that most of them are probably uninteresting or unhelpful for your needs. This is surely a problem.

One solution that I’ve been using with good success is to use my twitter account as my new RSS reader. I’ve found that it’s a good place to easily identify, store, read, and redistribute  content.

How it works

Every time I see a link I’m interested in, which is quite often, I favorite that tweet. I don’t bother trying to read them as they come; I’m usually busy doing something else, and just checking in on twitter for a few minutes. Then, once or twice a week during set times, I flip back through my ‘favorited’ tweets, opening all the links I previously earmarked for reading.

Why it works

The people I follow on twitter — those within my online community — usually do a good job selecting out content that I’m interested in, and I find I get a varied and vibrant selection of posts to choose from. Best of all, I’m then able to interact not only with the original author (through the blog comments section), but interact with the person who posted the link (by RT’ing them or saying thanks).

Why it wouldn’t

Granted, I miss a lot using this system, and don’t get a representative sample of the blogosphere (reading only what I happen to catch). But really, with all the blog content that exists out there, could you ever get it all? If you really want to read content from one source, you can always navigate there specifically.

Discussion

I’m curious to hear if anyone else has tried this method, and if so, what their experience was. More broadly, I’d be interested to hear approaches to consuming blog content in general, as to how it improves and informs your profession (or not).

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Avoiding The Social Media Guru-Complex

by brianlburns on 5 May 2009

in guru complex, social media

Social Media offers many benefits to many different businesses. It can help you build your reputation, attract potential customers, and communicate with your clients. Smart businesspeople everywhere are piling onto networks like Facebook and Twitter, trying to get their piece of the pie, and realize these benefits; in an increasingly-crowded and noisy market, there are a lot of people trying to find their way. Guiding them to do it — the art of social media consulting — is fast becoming a growth market.

Like any growth market though, social media consulting is attracting its share of idiots. They’re easy to spot, if you look at the title. Many are self-proclaimed experts, gurus, or mavens. However, in their ignorance, by self-proclaiming such a title, these “consultants” are giving themselves away. The fact is that proper social media marketing, if you can call it that, hinges on interaction. The biggest benefit businesses will get is from participating in two-way conversations with their customers. It’s the gradual back-and-forth that will grow your brand over time, as well as improve its visibility. Andrew Hyde wrote a decent post about this the other day.

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This being the case, any expert or guru title is oxymoronic. It’s like talking about how great you are at listening. It’s like going to a party, climbing up on the couch, and announcing that you’re the best qualified person in the room to have a conversation. And also that everyone else is inferior at the act, because they don’t hold the right credentials or skills. Pretty ridiculous. But more times than even I expect, this very approach is used.

Consultants using this approach may have short term success, but their lack of focus on interaction will stunt any real benefits from their efforts. Over time, their clients will become wise to the trickery, and seek out someone taking a more sustainable approach. Consultants who get it, and who avoid the social media guru complex, will enjoy better long-term success, better serve their clients, and better contribute to the growing social media landscape many of us treasure.

If you’re looking to get into social media consulting, please avoid the guru complex. If you’re looking for someone to help with social media, do your due diligence, ask around, and select someone who does it right. It’s worth it.

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