Tweeting Breeds Following

I just got an email that broadcast equipment retailer Markertek is now following me on twitter. A few days ago I tweeted about the process I am undergoing of creating a plan for a new post-production studio for the university. I mentioned Markertek by name with a link to their site.

From what I surmise is that companies are actively searching for tweets about themselves and following those that say good things. I find myself doing the same thing with flickr. I search for content that concerns the university then seek creators of that content. This is an effective way to add high quality followers of your social network content. Good marketing in this instance may be more about having the right audience then the right message.

Is Twitter the Be All End All?

The integration of social media is the next leap in computing (human) evolution. I have always said that content means nothing without context. That being said, up until now the concept of creating digital media has been absolute, meaning it is a stand-alone entity. We create a photo to be put on a discrete website, we create bit of copy to be put on a discrete website never to be seen by anyone but the intended user.

Now we can create a photo or bit of copy that can be used and shared by millions with each use being referenced back to the creator. With that, context is king. It not what we have... but how do the things we have relate to other things. It is not enough to have a story, a map, a video, a photo, a graph, a pdf without their reference to other pertinent assets. That's where the rub comes. What is pertinent to the message?

Twitter is a great simple tool, but being simple it lacks serious functionality. Where Twitter shines is its ability to integrate itself into other media. That is the key to being viable in the future. How open is my network? How easy is to share my information with other? Why would anyone ever want to use me?

Score Me!

I just found a fun new way to interact with other people's photos on flickr. Score Me! (post 1, score 5) is a flickr Group that requires you to rate the photo of five other photographers in order to post your own. In return you get five rating on your own photo. It is pretty interesting to see how others view your art. It also forces you to evaluate others. I think I grade a little easily. Usually nothing lower that a 5.