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that allows people to configure and book a trip. Sell cars? Do the same thing: let people build their cars right from Facebook and submit a form to your dealership. Rather than immediately driving people back to your website, let them do as much as possible within the social platform itself; that’s where they are and where they’re most comfortable.

      Actionable insight (personal): Facebook can be a time suck, particularly if you use it to connect with the wrong people. If you didn’t like Chip back when you were in ninth grade chemistry together, you probably don’t like him now. So instead of adding friends and accepting requests from every insignificant corner of your life, use Facebook to share and connect with the people who matter in your life (and consider limiting it to one or two circles rather than mixing friends, family, colleagues and more—just as you wouldn’t invite all these people to the same party for fear they won’t all mesh, the same can be true of virtual meet-ups, sometimes even more so when it’s just words on a screen). Configure your privacy settings so that undesirable people cannot find you (or view absolutely everything you’ve uploaded—pictures, videos, status updates). You’ll save time (and face!) and enjoy it more.

      Twitter

      Twitter is a micro-blogging platform that allows you to set up your own page and start tweeting—or posting content—in minutes. Those tweets automatically go out to people who choose to follow you (they need to be registered for the service, too), but people can also search for your page (even if they’re not registered) and read everything you’ve ever tweeted. Here’s the fun part: Tweets are limited to 140 characters. Not words…characters! Communicating this way may sound challenging, but it is what makes Twitter so appealing. You don’t have to wade through wordy diatribes and manifestos (like, say, this book!). Theoretically, you must say more with less—be quick and pithy. William Shakespeare, Thomas Jefferson and Robert Southey probably would have approved:

       Shakespeare (from Hamlet): “Therefore, since brevity is the soul of wit, And tediousness the limbs and outward flourishes, I will be brief.”

       Jefferson: “The most valuable of all talents is that of never using two words when one will do.”

       Southey: “It is with words as with sunbeams. The more they are condensed, the deeper they burn.”

      Twitter benefits you in two ways: You can share and learn in one place. For example, I currently follow my wife, CARE, CNN, The Economist, the UN Refugee Agency and the Tour de France (it’s July and what a Tour!). I get all of the updates and news from the people and organizations I care about in concise, authentic vignettes—all on my page, as they happen.

      Serial entrepreneur Jack Dorsey hatched the idea for Twitter in March 2006, and it took flight that July.

      According to The New York Times,

       Twitter was born in 2006 as a side project. At the time, it was an appendage of a podcasting service named Odeo, another company that Mr. Williams co-founded that had millions of dollars from investors.

      Work on the project started on March 21, 2006, when Dorsey published the first Twitter message at 9:50 p.m. Pacific Standard Time: “just setting up my twttr.”

      Those five words cracked the ocean floor and triggered a tsunami.

      In an interview with the Los Angeles Times, Dorsey said: “…we came across the word ‘twitter,’ and it was just perfect. The definition was ‘a short burst of inconsequential information,’ and ‘chirps from birds.’ And that’s exactly what the product was.”

      It’s a creative and clever name, but it carries a negative stigma for being irrelevant and insipid. Although a lot of it can be a mind-numbing exercise in too much information (even in 140 characters or less—it only takes 28 to say “I’m out of toilet paper again,” for instance!), a big enough part of Twitter speeds communication, tips brands, and changes the world. It’s like a trade show: Much of it is ego-stroking and back-slapping, but pockets of it are productive.

      Twitter’s growth is eye-popping: 200 million users now churn out roughly 350 million tweets every day. The website fields over 1.6 billion search queries per day. If you want to know what’s happening at this moment about virtually anything, visit search.twitter.com and enter the topic. When a tsunami struck the coast of Japan, more people followed the news on Twitter than on TV, where coverage lagged. When it comes to real-time news, the little blue bird flies circles around search engine behemoth Google—or any mainstream media for that matter.

      Success Story: @wholefoods

      Whole Foods Market joined Twitter on December 4, 2008. They saw the platform’s potential and got in early, and they are reaping the rewards—much like riding a new, breakout stock. What Whole Foods has achieved in 36 months is impressive. As of this writing, they have amassed almost two million followers. Klout, a service that measures online influence, scores them 73 out of 100, which is high. Thousands of people have “listed” Whole Foods on Twitter, which means those people genuinely value what the company has to say (probably because they put out good, relevant content like “How to pick the perfect tomato,” rather than gratuitously marketing to their followers).

      Whole Foods leverages the social platform brilliantly for customer service, stating on their profile: “Ready to answer your questions Mon-Fri 9am-5pm CST!” They have tweeted over 16,000 times, sometimes as often as 20 times a day. They offer Twitter-only promotions; they empower individual stores to use the platform; and, they engage media and partners through the platform. If you want to understand how to use Twitter for your business, take a look at: http://twitter.com/wholefoods.

      Actionable insight (business): Make sure your organization’s Twitter page has three things: 1) A branded background consistent with the look and feel of your website. 2) A “profile bio” that conveys your brand’s key message point and call to action, and 3) A link to your website. For more advanced users, design a specific social media “landing page” on your website for people from Twitter, Facebook and YouTube so that you can craft custom messaging—and measure traffic and engagement from your social media efforts. This landing page should be consistent with the look and feel of your website, but should have all of your social content in one page (Tweets coming through, Facebook posts and YouTube videos). Those platforms have widgets and feeds that allow you to embed content right into your website. The page should also speak directly to social media users and should present specific offers to them as well. For example, “For our Twitter followers only: Book a tour this week and receive 20% off!” Or, “Upload a video about us to your Facebook page and get a free pound of coffee with your next order!” Be creative. Have fun. Engage your audience. Don’t merely message them.

      Actionable insight (personal): Visit www.twitter.com and sign up. It’s free. It’s fast. And, you can send out your first tweet within a couple minutes. Granted, you won’t have any followers right away, but tweet your cards right and you most certainly will. Remember: Twitter is not just a broadcast outlet, it’s a content aggregator. So search for organizations and people from whom you want to hear, visit their pages and click the “follow” button. This will “push” all of that aggregated content into your timeline for you to enjoy whenever you want, and as people receive notifications that you’re following them, they’ll be more likely to check out your page and reciprocate.

      YouTube

      YouTube is a video-sharing website where users can upload, share and view

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