iMEDIA  CONNECTION

Social networking growing as an online marketing tool

Stewart Cink is a nice golfer — ranked 29th in the world, a member of the 2008 Ryder Cup-winning U.S. team — and one of the most affable, accessible guys on the PGA Tour. But the 17th flagstick at Sawgrass has more star power than the laid-back Atlantan. So why does a digital version of Arnie’s Army, 280,000 strong and surging, follow Cink’s musings on Twitter? Perhaps they are riveted by the revelations that he recently forgot the departure time of a flight, got lost driving around Jacksonville Beach and — brace yourself — refilled his allergy medication. Even Cink is bemused. “I’m honored,” he said of the size of his audience. “I respect and am grateful to everybody choosing to listen to the b.s. that I’ve put on Twitter.”

Twitter craze is rapidly changing the face of sports

Social media networking is a marketing phenomenon too powerful to ignore. Many companies use it wisely to communicate and connect with existing and potential customers, but just as many use it incorrectly. Here are some wincingly bad social media practices.

Ten common social media mistakes

Time Magazine Explains Twitter

While an appearance on Oprah back in April may have marked Twitter’s official jump into the mainstream, the coronation might be this week’s Time Magazine cover story about the company, entitled “How Twitter Will Change the Way We Live..”

The magazine – a barometer of sorts about what’s important in the world – expounds on all things Twitter, ranging from the very basics about how it works, the power of real-time search, its application ecosystem, and its cultural significance, among other things. So how does Time explain the phenomenon to its audience of more than 20 million readers, median age 47.2? Here are a few choice excerpts:

On how Twitter works:

“As a social network, Twitter revolves around the principle of followers. When you choose to follow another Twitter user, that user’s tweets appear in reverse chronological order on your main Twitter page.”

On overcoming the initial feeling that Twitter is mundane and pointless:

“We don’t think it at all moronic to start a phone call with a friend by asking how her day is going. Twitter gives you the same information without your even having to ask.”

On the power of hashtags:

“Yes, it was built entirely out of 140-character messages, but the sum total of those tweets added up to something truly substantive, like a suspension bridge made of pebbles.”

On Twitter’s lasting influence:

“But the key elements of the Twitter platform — the follower structure, link-sharing, real-time searching — will persevere regardless of Twitter’s fortunes, just as Web conventions like links, posts and feeds have endured over the past decade.”

And some hyperbole:

“There’s a kind of resilience here that is worth savoring. The weather reports keep announcing that the sky is falling, but here we are — millions of us — sitting around trying to invent new ways to talk to one another.”

Does Time nail the Twitter phenomenon? You would certainly hope so, considering they’ve effectively had three years to write the story. Twitter’s hype cycle, however, may be winding down. Without many more mountains to climb in terms of media coverage (60 Minutes would seem to be it), perhaps Twitter’s goal to be just like electricity is all that’s really left.