Tools are created to allow people to do things more efficiently. Sometimes though, they allow you to do things in a completely different way which can change the paradigm entirely. Individuals can now get the attention of the entire world. That is a big deal and a massive paradigm shift.

I think we are in an era that makes many things possible that were impractical before. Twitter allows me to meet so many amazing people, all over the word, and this has actually led to new ideas and even business.

Yes, it is in part about people connecting with people, but it is also important to know how the tools work and use them properly.

I’ve added going to conferences, tweet ups, phone calls and emails — all to meet and have conversations with the people my tools have brought to me.

I”m not a clone in the corner — I’m a human being with a need to talk to others. Tools get me to the conversations quicker.

See you at SOBCon!

@debworks

Yes, social networking services are tools and the bottom line is developing a believable profile for potential customers, but these services, particularly twitter, are demonstrating innate weaknesses. They are owned by individual groups and operated through single data centers. They have the same weakness that saw the Blackberry service fail in past years: single point of failure. Since all communications are threaded through the data center at RIM HQ (Waterloo, Ontario), a botched upgrade there resulted in outages across the continent.

Just look at the effect of the twitter worm mikeyy (aka: stakdaily worm). It spread like wildfire exploiting a somewhat simple cross site scripting vulnerability that web-application developers are now trained to prevent by rendering inert all input from the client side. Why did it happen? Twitter is built on a platform by a small group of enthusiasts we don’t know. These people put together a concept, which quickly caught popularity. Was the software built robust enough to handle its skyrocketing load? Are the developers trained to build safeguards to ensure its integrity or availability? Do Twitter’s owners have any idea how attractive the tool has become because of its sizable end-user base? More than likely “no” to the first two questions. Regarding the third, if not before, they are now.

The point is that no one is paying for the service to be robust. It is free and it has amassed a large number of users that has businesses salivating. In my humble opinion, for responsible businesses to use social networking services as they stand today, they need to take care in doing two things: 1. monitor the latest and greatest social networking services and fight for their brand and 2. build some redundancy by putting together contingencies to maintain consistent and continued contact with customers. This means such things as setting up a content management system, building or employing a service to automate transferring content from it to a social networking service (e.g. Twitter), and continuously mining correspondence to feed a customer relationship management tool. Such a setup means that all content on Twitter originates from a trusted source and contact can be maintained if the service falls.

As Sue points out, it’s not about the tool. It’s about the people.

It’s also about seeing social networking services for what they are.

If you don’t trust the people you work with, why bother in the first place? Tools are like any physical thing – they can be manipulated because they’re generally static. People, on the other hand…

Great thoughts, Sue, cheers :)

Danny Brown’s last blog post..Does Twitter Monitor Its Brand? Fake-Twitter.com Suggests No

I’ve never been a fan of the latest widget or gadget. Nor have I understood why people get so bent out of shape about what people say or don’t say on Twitter, Facebook, etc.

All of social media are merely tools to help us connect with other people. I podcast, for example, but I’m not a podcaster. Or at least, I don’t think of myself in that context.

I’m a consultant who specializes in the fields of Information Architecture, Usability, and Human Factors. Podcasting is merely a tool that I use in an effort to provide greater context to content.

It’s disturbing to see the huge number of people who call themselves “Social Media Experts”. Mostly b/c many in the field have few to no social skills; (Perhaps the label “social” media needs to change) and what’s worse is they have no understanding of how these tools are used by others.

Social media tools can be a powerful means of connecting people; unfortunately, until we start seeing them as a means to that end, they will continue to be ignored or mocked by decision makers in business and government.

Jeff Parks’s last blog post..You’re All a Bunch of Tools!