Technology As Innovator

What is Twitter?

Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows its users to send and read other users’ updates, which are text-based posts of up to 140 characters in length.

You can follow and have followers on Twitter. Followers can read updates of the followed. Updates from many people that you follow are aggregated on one page.

Why Twitter?

• It’s not real time so you can just leave your message and the intended receiver will pick it up when s/he login
• It’s quick to write small stuffs
• It’s helpful to update activities you wouldn’t normally blog on
• It helps you to stay connected more closely to those you care about

See this video for more information:

What is BackType?

BackType = Comment Tracking + Twitter’s Follow

What BackType does

1. It searches the web for noteworthy comments that might otherwise be lost in the noise
2. It allows you to follow people who leave those comments. Excuse me, are you interested in Michael Arrington, Darren Rowse or Pete Cashmore and want to know what they comment on other blogs? If yes, BackType is the place for you
3. You can submit your link so that BackType would aggregate all comments to your account
4. BackType requires NO installation
5. You can find discussions on you or your services by searching

BackType is NOT CoComment

If you’re not familiar with CoComment, it is a plugin which tracks comments on discussion threads and emails you when there’s an update.

BackType is not CoComment in the fact that CoComment is discussion-based and BackType is URL-based and commenter-based.

Twitter and BackType enforce classification in web users

Twitter’s usage turned from personal to authority

Foremost on Twitter’s homepage you read this:

Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent answers to one simple question: What are you doing?

The initial intention of Twitter is for people with real relationships to know one another more. And how have power users of Twitter utilized it?

1. Those who have interesting things/opinions to share use Twitter as a sharing channel
2. Businesses use Twitter as an announcement board
3. Service providers use Twitter as a channel to communicate with clients
4. Those who need updates use Twitter as an information goldmine
5. Those who seek to expand their networks use Twitter as a networking tool

In fact, these usages have been emphasized much more than the initial intention of Twitter. Top bloggers and some service providers have utilized Twitter to strike up or engage in conversations, update their lines of services and express their opinions. Twitter has become a place where power media users extend their influence on the web. That’s exactly where all the buzz is about.

Meanwhile, you or I can still follow our ‘real’ connections’ lives, only more quietly.

BackType further boosts the influence power of power users

When BackType was introduced, the enthusiasm burst out almost immediately. People are talking about how BackType is yet another information goldmine: you have always got information from news, blogs, Twitter - now you have comments served on a plate! There they are, your favorite top bloggers right on the front page! Can’t be sweeter.

However, this is where hierarchization forces its way.

Power media users become even more powerful when, by default, they are on BackType’s front page right from its launch. They had the power of opinions on blogs and the power of audience on Twitter yesterday, now they are having more power of comments on BackType.

So what?

Actually I believe it’s a fair game after all. Power users invest their time and efforts to tie their career with the media they create and it’s worth for the recognition they’re gaining. It’s also fair for BackType to try to win quick endorsement from top users by featuring them on the front page.

Just my observation that hyrarchies and long tails have been formed in the web society. Breakthoughs from starters must be done with more innovation & boldness than ever.

target=”_blank”

…because you don’t want people to leave your page when they click a link.

People don’t want to leave a page when they haven’t finished reading either.

Describe your link and explicitly say “Click here”

Throw your RSS subscription options out

• For tech-savvy readers, RSS icon is all they need. Show off this in an easy-to-spot place
• For non tech-savvy readers, offer email subscription at the end of an entry. Since around 85% traffic comes from search / social media, readers normally jump right in one post of yours and you want to keep them by offering them the option when they finish their reading.
• To many who are not familiar with RSS subscription, the word “Subscribe” sounds like they’re being charged to receive service. Make it clear to them that subscription is free.

Previous posts

Click here to read the first 4 tips in the series.

Click here to read the next 4 tips in the series.

Manual Highlight Posts

There are benefits to manage your highlight posts manually.

First, automated widgets that display popular posts base on certain criteria and may not cover all your needs. For example, you may want to attract traffic to a post with lower pageviews that it doesn’t appear when using plugins.

Next, if you do it by hand and announce so, readers will appreciate your hard works and the intimate readership is enhanced.

Lastly, you control everything about the list.

Use Images for posts

One tip is to use images for posts to create visual clues instead of all text links.

Manual Related Posts

“Related Posts” plugin works well. However, it works by detecting similar posts by using keywords including tags. It is not intelligent enough to understand that some story should continue the article you’re writing.

For instance, you’d written an article about Management and never once mentioned Leadership. Then, you write about Leadership to prove the differences and the supplementing between Leadership and Management and want to link to the previous Management article. The plugin then only displays related Leadership articles after the new article, without knowing your preference. Manually doing so may improve the reading flow of your blog.

Tell your readers exactly what they should be doing

Click here

Compare these 2 paragraphs:

1. My summary of the Enneagram, for example, summarizes my knowledge after reading most celebrated books on the topic.

2. My summary of the Enneagram, for example, summarizes my knowledge after reading most celebrated books on the topic. Click here to read the summary.

What have you noticed? Which do you think is more of a temptation of clicking?

Statistics has that clear instruction such as “Click here” increases clicking rate by roughly 8%. Do give internet users explicit and specific commands.

“Related Posts” vs. a Selling statement

Compare these 2 invitations:

1. Related Posts

Principles of leadership
Leadership today
The theory of leadership

2. Interested in this topic? You might enjoy another article I’d written named The differences between Leadership and Management and how they supplement each other. It further explores the points covered in this post.

Since it’s an invitation, make it an invitation.

Date

Show-off the date of your post. This gives reader more hints on the context of the story so comprehending the article can be easier.

For example, some readers may be surprised to read your post that praises Sony Walkman as the state-of-the-art portable music player while Apple’s iPod was dominating in 2006. If the date “1/2/1990″ is included in the post, such confusion is avoidable.

***

Interested in this topic? You might enjoy other WordPress publishing tips. Click here to read the previous article.