thinks

I’ve been tracking the business value of Twitter on thinks repeatedly. Now CNN has a story highlighting its power in a life-or-death situation. What’s most important about tools such as these is not the tool. It’s how you use it and whether it’s used by the people you connect with - whether customers or friends. The key to social networking, social media, or social tools is not networking, media, or tools. It’s social. Without the people, the tool is useless.

Willie Sutton famously explained his reason for robbing banks: “That’s where the money is.” As you plan your social strategy, have you given enough thought to where the customers are?

John Jantsch over at Duct Tape Marketing looks at the value of LinkedIn for increasing sales, which poses an interesting question:

What social networks do you use and which ones work for your business?

For instance, on this blog I get a fair bit of (qualified, meaningful) traffic from:

• Twitter
• StumbleUpon
• LinkedIn
• MyBlogLog

What works for you? Tell us in the comments below.

Is Twitter valuable to your business? Yes.

Well, maybe. Tweets such as “staring at my navel,” “contemplating the universe” or “having a bath” don’t do much for a business (or for many individuals that I can see). But riding the river of tweets (or “twiver” as Doc calls it) is good for several things:

1. News - Not to mention an interesting tool for data-mining news.
2. Commentary - Yours or others. Yes, commentary is news’ evil twin, but hearing what other people think is a Good Thing. Following it blindly, not so much… I also like using it for quick thoughts and to take the pulse of my network.
3. To do lists - Not my first choice, but Twitter does provide One Way To Do It.
4. Marketing - To a degree. Linda Bustos had some great points on how to use twitter to drive e-ecommerce. I’ve grown more enlightened since first worrying that twitter might equate to interruption marketing, but you still need to tread lightly. Josh Bernoff used twitter to promote his latest Forrester report, which I’ll review later this week.
5. Keeping up with friends - OK, maybe you want to know your friend is having a bath. That’s your business, now, isn’t it?

Jeremiah Owyang answered the value of Twitter question supremely well - on twitter, no less. Lee Odden of The BigList refers to Twitter as a many-to-many form of IM. Also on Twitter. Mike Moran is on the fence, but he’ll come around. As someone whose mantra is “Do It Wrong Quickly,” twitter was made for Mike. And it was definitely made for business.

Fresh on the heels of Facebook’s Beacon mess, Google’s blows it with Reader. As I mentioned about a week ago, you need to be a good friend when engaging socially with your customers.

Of course, Chris Webb and Shel Israel discuss “social brands” and whether it’s even possible to be both social and a brand. It reminds me of the discussion Mike Moran and I had about corporate blogging.

I think we’re all still uncovering the answers on this one.

What do you think? Is it possible to be a good social citizen and a succesful brand at the same time?

Isn’t it funny that many social networks call the folks you choose to associate with “friends”? How ironic then that Facebook’s recent Beacon clusterf… er, kerfuffle was one of the least consumer-friendly actions any of us have seen in a long time.

Do social networks have to play by a different set of rules? Must they protect their customers more than any other site? Should you behave different when engaging your customers on a social network?

No.

You should always treat your customers like they’re friends. Very fickle friends.

Look at Webkinz. Silicon Alley took Webkinz to task for peppering kids with ads, and acting “unfriendly.” In practice, it appears a tempest in a teapot. Anne Zelenka, over on GigaOM says it’s no biggie. Speaking as a father of two Webkinz-addicted kids, I agree. Frankly, the ads for sugary crap on TV bug my much more than banners for movies and I’m relieved that Webkinz keeps the links within its friendly confines. Webkinz is acting far more friendly than most companies, while finding ways to grow their revenues. Even better would have been if they’d provided more of a heads-up, but, their actions reflect thoughts about what their customers would care about.

Whether you’re a social network or a more traditional business, increasingly success depends on collecting the best group of customers. Treat them like friends. Treat them the way you would want to be treated. After all, sticking it to your friends costs you friends.

Technorati Tags:
webkinz, facebook, gigaom, anne zelenka, social, social networks, customer privacy

Are social aggregators of blogs over? Fred Wilson thinks so. And generally, you won’’t go wrong listening to what he has to say. What I found disappointing, though, is that Fred seems to miss that nature hates a vacuum. While there’’s always been mainstream media, there’’s also always been an alternative press. That’’s where the action is and that’’s where it will be again. Techmeme may have become the CNN of the blog space. But, there will always be an audience - and not just Fred Wilson - for the voices Fred worries this shift has silenced. Who’’s up for going after it?

[BTW - it looks like a number of folks are using Fred’s comments to show how they’’re going after it. Who’’s doing it best of that bunch?]