Return On Tweeting

I think I coined my first acronym a few weeks ago and feel compelled to broadcast it to the interwebs so that I can lay claim to it before it becomes the new LOL or ROI or FMFL.

ROT = Return On Tweeting

Brilliant!

Joking aside, the acronym spawned from an email exchange with a friend in which we discussed Twitter's emergence as a mainstream social platform, its inevitable emergence as a real deal marketing channel, and some early-stage technologies that enable marketers to measure the impact of their Twittering - their ROT.

Case in point - in addition to my personal stream of consciousness, I tweet off/on as Kenan-Flagler Business School.  Last week, I tweeted (or twote?) Michael Porter's lecture on campus and used my friend Adam Covati's idek.net service to shorten the URL to this:

http://idek.net/48a


instead of this:


http://uncnews.unc.edu/news/business/harvard-business-professor-porter-to-talk-about-global-competitiveness-march-6.html



The short URL from idek not only lets me squeeze in enough characters to serve the link, but it also lets me track the response.  Kenan-Flagler has 135 followers as of today.  Per idek, my link to the Porter press release was clicked 29 times.  I didn't post the link anywhere else, so we can safely assume that all of the clicks came from my tweet.

Some quick math yields an astounding click-through rate:

29 / 135 = 21%



For those of you unfamiliar with online/email marketing - that is a ridiculous number.  If I were an ecommerce site and had 135K followers instead of 135, the 21% click-through rate would represent revenue.  Even better - it represents high margin revenue because Twitter is a free service...at least for now.  (I look forward to testing other types of links and Tweet constructs.)

In my opinion, the strong conversion comes from a mix of the following:

15% - Twitter is still largely comprised of early adopters who voraciously consume information from the service.  I probably could have posted a link to just about anything and gotten a similar response from this crowd.  Yes - I'm talking about you @djwaldow...  :-)

15% - Kenan-Flagler's followers are MBA applicants desperate for any crumb of information that will help them improve their app and chances for acceptance.  This is actually a good thing - I'm aggregating these people and building a conversation keeps them engaged with Kenan-Flagler.

70% - Twitter is the real deal.  Marketing is about conversations...and so is Twitter.  The next Google?  Probably not.  The next Facebook?  Umm.  There is a reason that FB tendered an offer to acquire Twitter...and a reason Twitter declined...and a reason that the forthcoming FB homepage rev looks awfully familiar...

As for the measurement piece - it is a little rudimentary for now, but will get better with time.  There are a handful of apps out there now - and more to come for sure - that enable marketers to aggregate their Twitter and other social web activities, measure the effectiveness of their programs, and ultimately tie it all back to an ROT.

Believe me, this post could go on for much longer.  I'm a big fan of Twitter and continue to be amazed by its utility and evolution as an Internet powerhouse.

I wish more of my friends/family would sign up.  (Mom, Dad, Erin, Evan - HINT!)  It is a great way to keep in touch...

PS - If you're still a Twitter skeptic, then you should try following keywords in real time on http://search.twitter.com during the next big event - televised or otherwise.  You'll be hooked immediately.  The commentary from the masses is WAY more entertaining and sometimes more insightful than the blatherings from the mainstream media talking heads.

Sorry Charlie

My latest musical project - big rock cover band "Sorry Charlie" - is playing at The Library on Franklin Street in Chapel Hill on Friday, Feb 20 at 9PM.

If you're reading this, you should come out:

Sorry Charlie

--
*We named our band "Sorry Charlie" because my friend and musical cohort Charlie introduced me to his college buds David and Chris with the thought of forming a band and booking a gig when he returned from an exchange program in South Africa.

David, Chris, and I jammed in early January, found a groove and some common musical interests, and decided we'd cook up a band immediately...without Charlie.

Alex and Brian joined up and we booked a gig a couple weeks later.  We're all in graduate programs - so we have a built-in fan base and expect a nice turnout.

We will kindly extend an opportunity for Charlie to audition for the band when he returns.

Microsoft Songsmith = Endless Comedy

My friend Allen linked me to a NY Times article about Microsoft Songsmith - a new application that takes the words that you sing and turns them into a song by adding drums, instrumentation, etc.

Here is Microsoft's promo video.  Pretty funny in its own right, yes?

The high comedy comes from the community of YouTubers that took the vocals from popular songs and backed them with music from Songsmith.

Here are some of my favorites.  Some are funny, some bizarre - all make ambitious rhythmic statements.  Enjoy - there are many many more on YouTube...

Buddy Holly

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cZ3em9v0-kc]

Sgt. Pepper

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9BZk6aZp9xE]

Battery  (Probably my favorite.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bZWTfrW3gEo]

Tom Sawyer  (Geddy's glasses rock.)

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xavyV5smvdI]

Who Is John Galt?

I have a deeply held belief that the primary reason that most people go to the ballet is so that they can say that they went to the ballet.

Until recently, I thought the same thing about reading "Atlas Shrugged" - a beast of a book that is admittedly good, important, etc. - but amazingly redundant and philosophically somewhat glib.  Lots of people read the book and then like to talk about how they've read the book, blah blah blah...in which case I usually roll my eyes and admit that I have read it too.

(Yes - I recognize the irony of a post about how I read "Atlas Shrugged".)

Turns out, the book was an eerie harbinger of the mismanagement, bailouts, intervention, etc. we've seen over the past month.  The Wall Street Journal paints a scary portrait.

FYI - John Galt is the mysterious hero from "Atlas Shrugged"...which I read, by the way.

2008's Greatest Hits

Last year, I posted the songs that made up the soundtrack for my 2007.  Here is my soundtrack for 2008.
--

3 Dimes Down - Drive-by Truckers

My favorite track from the latest DBT album, Brighter Than Creation's Dark.  The sloppy guitars and slick vocal phrasing really do it for me.  Plus, the lyrics are pure genius - "Totally screwed while the chicken wing puke eats the candy apple red off his Corvette".

I look forward to seeing the Truckers blow out Asheville in a couple weeks.

Shame - The Avett Brothers

I had never listened to the Avett's before I saw them at Memorial Hall this Fall.  The show was amazing and I haven't stopped listening to them since.

Minglewood Blues - Old Crow Medicine Show

An old song that OCMS does up just fine.  Really wish I could blow a harmonica like this.

Death Goes To The Winner - Harvey Milk
Start Your Digging - Big Business

I listened to these records a lot while working this Fall.  Aggressive music often helps me concentrate - can't really explain it...

I would be remiss if I did not mention that my friend Ben turned me on to these bands and, as per usual, he nailed it.  Hopefully he'll leave his own equally smug Top 10 list as a comment, just like last year.  I'm sure that the new records from Shellac and AstroVan PickUp left a lasting impact on him...

Lords - The Sword
Fire Lances of the Ancient Hyperzephyrians - The Sword

Sweet Jesus - The Sword's new record "Gods of the Earth" is sooo good.  Couldn't believe how tight they were live.

Mutha'uckas - Flight of the Conchords

The Conchords are brilliant.  I sang the chorus of this song endlessly for at least a month this summer.  Just ask my wife.

Bulldozers and Dirt - Drive-by Truckers

I include this one not only because it is one of my favorite songs to pick and sing at home, but also because my friend Charlie and I wrote up some great spoof lyrics for the song and performed it - along with many others - for a packed house (of our classmates) at The Local 506.

Womanizer - Britney Spears

I actually hate this song.  But, because Kelly loves it and because she drives me to school every day and because we have a rule stipulating that the driver gets to pick the music, I've heard it just about every day for the past month or two.  Thus, it makes the list.

Knockin' On Heaven's Door - Guns 'N Roses

This one is on the list for a few reasons:

- I distinctly remember Roberta playing this on the jukebox on an exceptionally fun night at Bub O'Malley's.
- Axl finally released Chinese Democracy this year.
- Evan and I have a halfway completed, halfway ridiculous recording of this song from the Fall that we'll probably finish at some point.

Everything I Do - Whiskeytown

I couldn't get this one out of my head last week, so it is a fitting closer.

--
Happy 2009.

Eric

Barack Obama Killed The Daily Show

Count me among the many Americans that voted for Barack Obama and that found relief/hope/inspiration with his election.

However, despite all of the good things that I believe Obama represents and all of the good things I believe he will do for our country, I've got to admit that I'm a little worried about his impact on "The Daily Show".

I say the program's golden era is over.  Can Jon Stewart be consistenly funny without George W. Bush?  Without Dick Cheney?  Will the studio audience full of leftward leaning nerds laugh at Barack Obama jokes the same way that they laughed at George W. Bush jokes?  I say no to all three.

I suspect that the show will go the way of the The Simpons and South Park - it will still be marginally funny...just not nearly as as it once was.  Hope I'm wrong...

My prediction?  Stephen Colbert becomes the new Comedy Central golden boy...that is if he hasn't already.

Axl Rose Killed My Quip

One of the first lessons I learned as a product manager for a start-up software company was that you can't please everyone.  Different stakeholders - sales, marketing, support, customers, executives - have varying priorities and often divergent opinions regarding where the product needs to go next.

This is why product management is hard and product managers are ballers.

One of the first mistakes I made as a product manager for a start-up software company was ignoring the first lesson.  I was the world's worst at telling everyone what they wanted to hear and making sure that their feature was "in the pipeline" and "coming soon".

Boy howdy - have I learned to never make that mistake again.

Many moons ago, there was one feature in particular that "triggered" a strong reaction within our organization.  Some wanted it yesterday, others could not care less because they believed that other projects should take precedence.

My co-worker and I found the entire episode fairly entertaining.  Those begging for the feature didn't really "know" what they were asking for - they just knew it was a box that we needed to check in sales conversations.   My co-worker and I also knew that the application had a long ways to go before we could implement the feature in a way that would fully satisfy customer needs.  Plus, we agreed that other issues should take priority, thus we had no plans to move on the feature any time soon.  Moreover, there were a number of organizational factors precluding me/us from exerting any significant effort to advance the project.

Yet, despite all of this, the feature remained on the product roadmap as a "near term" priority.

My bad.

The borderline absurdity of the situation led my colleague and I to begin referring to the feature as Chinese Democracy - which is the title for the way-over-hyped Guns 'N Roses album that has been 14 years in the making, leaked and "unleaked" several times, unanimously thought to not actually exist, and mercilessly ridiculed in the mass media:

In 2005,The New York Times called it "the most expensive album never made" and the "music industry's most notorious white elephant".

Dr Pepper supposedly offered a free can of Dr. Pepper to everyone in America — excluding former Guns N' Roses guitarists Buckethead and Slash — if Axl would man up and finally release the record in 2008.

Spin reviewed the album in 2006 as an April Fool's joke.

Yet, Axl never shut up promoting the record and the music media never stopped publishing his stupid interviews.

As you might imagine, I reaped endless amounts of smug satisfaction from my little inside joke.

So, given the story I just told, try to visualize my shock/disappointment/laughter when I hear this and read that Chinese Democracy supposedly drops November 23.

Amazing.

So it is goodbye to such a thoughtful, flexible, and beloved wisecrack.

I guess nothing lasts forever, even cold November rain.

--
Note from the author:  My former employer released the beginnings of the "Chinese Democracy" feature a couple months ago.  All we need is just a little patience.

God Endorses Obama



I can't believe how Coach Smith's endorsement stopped me in my tracks this morning.  Like so many North Carolina sons, Dean Smith and Tar Heel basketball are as much a part of my identity as my last name.

I can't really explain it - I feel proud, hopeful, excited...and wish that I could somehow volunteer to run suicides and 3 man weave drills for Coach Smith to show my support for the Obama campaign.

Kelly and I are enthusiastically voting for Barack Obama and we strongly encourage you to do the same.  North Carolina is without a doubt in play.  Our nation needs a new direction.

Full text of the email:
There is a point in every contest when sitting on the sidelines is not an option. That is why Linnea and I are writing to urge you to join Barack Obama’s campaign for President. There are pivotal moments in history when the right decision by a nation can change its course for the better — opening up new paths before us and providing future generations with opportunities that we had not thought possible. This coming election provides one of those moments. Linnea and I believe Barack Obama is the right leader at this critical juncture. I have written that when coaching a team, you must be prepared to make changes to meet new challenges and obstacles. We must be prepared to do the same as a nation. Now, it is the United States that needs a change in direction… and a change in leadership. Join Barack Obama today by volunteering in your corner of North Carolina:

http://nc.barackobama.com/jointhesmiths

Linnea and I respect all that Senator McCain has done for our country. However, we feel strongly that it is Barack Obama who offers the real leadership our nation needs to tap its potential as a land of opportunity — even as we face difficult times at home and abroad. Senator Obama is a patriotic American, a committed Christian, a good family man, and a man who shares the bedrock values that most North Carolinians have in common: fairness, hard work, respect for others, and personal responsibility. And he has the vision and judgment to help us push through this period of uncertainty to a time of greater economic stability and greater security from threats abroad. If you believe America needs to set a new course, then the time to join us is now. If you are already an Obama supporter, please step up to help our campaign. There are only about three weeks left before Election Day, and if we are going to move away from the failed policies of the past, then we need your help now. So we encourage you to get out there and get involved — talk to your neighbors and sign up to volunteer today.

Get involved now: http://nc.barackobama.com/jointhesmiths

And pass this email along to those you think might be interested. This election is too important to stand on the sidelines and watch history pass us by. Thank you,

Coach Dean Smith and Linnea Smith
Chapel Hill, NC

Time To Buy...I Think?

After getting Kelly's permission via IM, I just bought GOOG at 393 and AAPL at 104.  Yes - I ignored my own advice and used more of my student loan to finance the (laughably small) transactions.  Why?

GOOG

- Advertising budgets will shrink during a recession, but direct marketing budgets should remain strong.  Companies still have to acquire customers - even if they're treading water - right?  (I think I read that somewhere...or maybe I just made it up.)  PPC advertising is much closer to direct marketing than advertising and should remain relatively strong (compared to other advertising categories) during a downturn.  The ROI is a cinch to calculate and - more importantly - the service works, thus the case for AdWords should remain a no-brainer.

- My recent liberation from MS Office to Google Docs has been a complete success.  I've opened Excel only a few times over the past month - and each time was to work in a very complex financial model.  Otherwise, I've worked exclusively with Docs.  The formatting isn't as slick as it could be and I can't do page numbers - both of which are fixable problems for Google, by the way -  but the content is exactly the same and my work-flow is much cleaner.  The way I see it - businesses are going to look for ways to cut corners, MS Office is expensive, Google Docs is free/cheap, most people don't build buyout models every day, and I'll turn a profit with my piddly Google investment.

AAPL

- This one isn't as clear cut for me - instead it is more a depedent argument based on my Google hypothesis.  As companies/individuals move to Google (or the web in general) for their productivity applications, platform becomes much less of an issue, thus more people will be comfortable switching to Macs.

- Unlike iPods, iPhones aren't a luxury purchase.  They offer true productivity advantages and stand to change computing game going forward...that is if they haven't already.  They might not sell like hotcakes this Christmas, but they're still going to a hot ticket item and should find their way into the enterprise sooner rather than later.

- The Jerry Seinfeld and "I'm a PC" commercials are horrible.

--
2 posts in one day.  Wondering why I haven't been doing this more often of late...

Hadron Colliders, Poverty, and Priorities

I'm guessing you've read about the Large Hadron Collider, a $9B project funded by CERN.  If not - here is the latest.

I'm guessing that you may have also read The End of Poverty by Jeffrey Sachs...or maybe have a general awareness that 1/6 of the world lives on less than $1.25 per day...or at least have seen a Sally Struthers commercial.

Frankly, I'm having a hard time reconciling the 2.

It isn't that I'm opposed to research, science, seeking the truths that may unravel the complex questions of our existence, etc.  On the contrary, I can think of few other causes more worthwhile than applied scientific research...one of which happens to be ending one of the most pressing and solvable issues of our time.

I'm currently about 1/4 of the way through Sachs' book, hence the departure from my typically pointless programming.  I've felt a mix of emotions - mainly embarrassment - with every page I've turned.  I have such relative wealth and opportunity to the developing word, yet I squander so much of my time and resources on the remarkably insignificant.

Maybe I'll get my act together and figure out a way to do something about it.  Maybe the Big Bang Machine will lead to world-changing discoveries...or maybe it won't.

Either way, I can't help but think that there are better ways to invest our time, money, and minds.

Google Chrome

My obligatory chime on Google Chrome will be brief because it isn't available for Mac OS yet.

Thus far, my insight comes from my bevy of super-internet-friends on Twitter (those that I follow, but don't actually know personally) who assure me that it is REALLY fast and can handle heavy web-apps with ease.

I can't imagine that it will be anything less that successful...eventually.  Considering its success with web apps - and its steaming piles of cash - it makes perfect sense that Google forward integrate its business to include the delivery mechanism.  Will be interesting to see if/how this pays off in the long run considering the price Google has paid to get into the browser game.

I suspect that I'll be hesitant to make the switch for a while, at least until I can replicate the browsing experience I'm able to create with my assortment of Firefox extensions.

On a related note, check out the search phrase in one of the Chrome tutorials:

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iRqmfCFU_AI]

Too bad they misspelled "Tar Heel".

Top 3 Awesome 80s Movie Montages

As inspired by a Twitter exchange with Adam Covati.

#1.  Karate Kid - "You're the Best Around"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9fWvub_WBho]

#2.  Top Gun - "The Volleyball Scene"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TEA-jhwsoGc]

#3.  Revenge of the Nerds - "Poindexter on the Violin"

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkzAJs7NutM]

Honorable Mention - Rocky IV - "Rocky = Democracy" - submitted by Jeff

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IDko7Utfqdg]

Honorable Mention - Teen Wolf - "Surfin' USA" (dubbed en Espanol!) - remembered by Eric

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7cfx7V5e-8Q]

Shacking Up With Google

After careful consideration, I've decided to move my entire "work" life - my email, calendar, to-do list, and documents - into Google.

I've tip-toed around the commitment for awhile and decided to take the plunge last week.  I'm still waiting on the Kenan-Flagler IT people to resolve a mail forwarding issue - otherwise I'm already settled in and getting comfortable...and wondering why I didn't do this a long time ago.

Truth be told, inspiration for the move came from the good people at Shoeboxed.  They run their entire office (mostly) through Google apps and seem to do pretty well.  For the 4 weeks I was there on a regular basis this summer, I only used MS Office for a couple complicated spreadsheets - everything else went through Docs.  Couldn't believe how easy and productive it was...

For now, I foresee two problems with the changeover.  One - the "to-do list" add-on I plugged into iGoogle is much weaker than iCal's feature. (Wonder why Google Calendar doesn't have a built-in to-do list feature?  Am I missing something?)  Two - I'll need to work out the attachment issue.  Invariably, I'll have to share a document with a classmate or professor that doesn't use Docs and/or will prefer to use MS Office.  I'll figure it out as I go...

So it is "so long" to the Thunderbird/iCal/MS Office combo I've used for the past few years - at least "mostly so long" to MS Office, I hope.  The juggling act was a little clunky at times, but I grew to love it.  I guess I'll miss the flying bluebird icon that has so cheerfully and dutifully delivered my mail for the past couple years, but I sure as heck won't miss opening and managing so many attachments locally.

Plus, I'll retain the smug satisfaction of not using Outlook in a school addicted to Microsoft's productivity soma.

Canadian Expat Network

I had coffee this morning with my friend Sean to catch up and to learn about his venture, the Canadian Expat Network.

Quite simply, CEN is a free social network and resource portal for Canadian expats living the US.  Users can connect by geography, common interest, etc. to discuss expat issues and build social and business relationships with their countrymen/women.  Plus, Sean does a great job of writing articles and features of interest, such as this piece on the head coach of the Canadian National Baseball team.

I was admittedly surprised to learn that he is well on his way to having 1K registered users by the end of the year and has already booked some strong Canadian brands as sponsors, including Air Canada, the Ottawa Senators, and the Hockey Hall of Fame.

Considering the niche-ification of online networks and, more importantly, his passion for all things Canada, I think that Sean has a great chance to build a significant site.