To use BigTweet, all you need is your Twitter account login and password. Go to the BigTweet site and drag and drop the button (looks like the image) to your toolbar. All major browsers (Firefox, Internet Explorer, Safari and even Google Chrome) support BigTweet. From there, you are ready to experience BigTweet. Click on the BigTweet button, now in your toolbar, whenever you’re surfing the web and want to share the site you’re on with your Twitter friends. The open window automatically shortens the URL of the site you’re visiting to be included in your tweet. Ever feel that 140 characters are not enough? BigTweet lets you choose between the normal 140 characters limit to double the size of 280 characters. You can make your tweets more exciting with over 60 different unicode characters to choose from:

A question you might ask: How secure is BigTweet? The Twitter application uses the secure https protocol during login and your password is always kept encrypted while on the BigTweet servers. You also have the option to keep yourself logged in. If you choose to uncheck the “Keep me logged in” box, your encrypted password is not stored when you close your browser.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 4 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: BigTweet goes above and beyond Twitter’s existing features with the different character limit choices (280 or 140) and the unicode characters. It’s a fun and simple tool.

Negative: The open window you use for posting does not go away after posting. You have to manually close it. It would be nice if it closed automatically. For Internet Explorer users, you can’t see the BigTweet bookmarklet unless you expand your Links Toolbar.

Conclusion: The drag and drop button reminds me of social|median’s “Clip it!” Applications or services that make it easier to surf and share what’s on the web seem to be the growing trend. I’m especially enjoying the unicode characters. BigTweet is a big hit in my book.

It occurs to me that whether it’s in person, using traditional tools, or here in the echo chamber (a.k.a. social media) that great communications remain difficult.  Why?  Because it’s not the toolset; it’s not the ability to be friendly; and it’s definitely not a personal brand. On the contrary, simplicity matters more (Image: the almost perfect circle by enggul).

This post assumes you understand the stakeholder and can give them value. It assumes you are using the right media forms to reach out. If you’re really good, you already have relationships in play. How do you get you through the noise?

Well, as we have learned repeatedly over the years.  Simplicity in communications. But as we most recently learned from the Heaths, simple is not easy. In fact it takes a concerted and consistent effort, regardless of the media form.

Here are six tips that I personally practice to make my outreach as effective as possible:

1) Outlines and frameworks:  Good strategic communications usually have forethought.  Creating outlines and frameworks to everything from blog posts and emails to major proposals and books forces you to structure your thoughts.

2) Take the time to communicate the obvious:  For example, with this post I just wanted to write the six tips. But without context and a thesis, the tips would have been random and probably would have seemed tactical. Just because the logic makes sense to you, doesn’t mean people have enough information to come to the same conclusion.

3) Thesis: Always start with a great intro that communicates your thesis. Get people’s interest right away. If it’s a longer communications, start subsections with section-specific thesis and intros.  Similarly, if it’s a complicated communication, repeat again with a conclusion. Again, it doesn’t matter whether this is for a speech or a white paper.

4) Brevity:  Speaking simply means concise dialogue. If you have a hard time with this, practice using Twitter.  One thing this social network (besides being part of a real community) will teach you is brevity. Take the time edit and cut the fat.

5) Great headlines: Blog posts, titles, section headlines, presentations, etc.  Try to make a snappy headline that communicates exactly what will be delivered.  This is a skill I learned from my Dad, who used to be managing editor of the Philadelphia Daily news and won two local Pulitzer awards for his headline writing.

6) Be real (or sub in personality or transparency or authenticity or…): The great lesson from social media: Make sure there’s some grit and real personality within your communications. Eloquent rhetoric means something, but it means a heck of a lot more when people can sense a persona with real experiences behind it.

Special thanks to Chris Heuer and Kristie Wells for encouraging us to blog on the SMC site about some work we are performing on behalf of Save Darfur. This week marks the beginning of an aggressive campaign to take advantage of the administration change and use social media to encourage President-elect Obama to action and end the Darfur genocide.

The Save Darfur Coalition’s "Be A Voice For Darfur" postcard campaign seeks to ensure that Darfur is a top priority for the Obama Administration. Obama has already promised “unstinting resolve” to end the Darfur Genocide.   The effort, which aims for no less than 1 million postcards to be emailed, blogged and snail-mailed to President-elect Obama within his first 100 days in office. 

The hottest part is the unveiling of a petition application developed in conjunction with Facebook Causes. Other social media components include an influencer relations campaign, and a Darfur Blogger Toolkit with videos, photos, and other resources at http://www.addyourvoice.org/pages/blogger_toolkit.  And of course, there’s the mandatory Twitter hashtag: #voice4darfur .

The appalling genocide in Darfur continues – now in its sixth year and at the price of nearly half a million lives. Ironically, this December marks the 60^th anniversary of the United Nations  Genocide Convention, and we are still dealing with this horrific issue.

The time to for action is now, and in a year when many of us are suffering financial hardship, we can still make a difference. Signing the petition, tweeting or writing blog posts  are great ways to help without expending a lot of cash. 

This is a great example of social media for social good.  But for it to work, you, the Social Media Club member needs to believe in the cause and do something about it. Help us end genocide, and spread the word to your friends online and with other local Social Media Club members

Kami Huyse responds to criticism that social media is cult like. Kami says, “Unless you can call the printing press, radio or television a cult,” no it’s not cult like. Check out Kami’s post on Communication Overtones and see why Kami advises, “…Remember that the tools, while interesting and important, are never the ultimate goal. The ultimate goal is to be an effective communicator.”

Kevin Dugan provides details on a few Twitter tools for Strategic Public Relations readers. Tools Kevin details include a way to sort your followers and those you ignore, a Twitter news alert, a “personal Twitter assistant,” “an informal media database – in reverse,” and “an early alert system for media looking for sources.” For all the details on these tools check out Kevin’s post, and add a few of your own favorites.

Jason Little explains why the social media press release (SMR) is a more powerful marketing tool than the traditional text release. “What better way to market your company than through a concise press release that includes a 2-minute video or audio clip of the release?” asks Jason. Visit Q4Blog for SMR details and to see a great example.

Twitter has grown, but stayed much the same in 2008. That doesn’t mean that others aren’t leveraging Twitter’s success. According to Louis Gray, BigTweet, a cool new bookmarklet site that allows web content sharing on your Twitter account, is doing just that. Louis Says, “BigTweet’s bookmarklet means you can do it from anywhere, without leaving that page. The service’s added symbols and double the characters are also a plus.” Check out LouisGray.com for all the details on BigTweet.

Given that we’re recovering from a big Thanksgiving meal, it’s appropriate to reflect on what we’re thankful for. On his blog, Saad Kamal provides details on seven social media tools that he’s thankful for, because they make his life as a blogger easier. Some tools he highlights are Mint, Google Adsense and Wordpress. Visit Saad’s post for his full list and explanations, and let the community know what tools you’re thankful for.

“Enough about me, what do you think about me?”

“You? You? I called about me, myself and I!”

Sounds like a pretty bad conversation. Yet, that’s often what you see when corporate types start promoting their wares in social channels or when “personal brands” deliver their cultivated messages to us (Sheep Meadow Image by Joe Schlabotnnik).

In its own right these types of chats limit the conversation to a very contrived one-dimensional activity. Or worse, just the same old marketing BS delivered to you in a new form. Heck, these efforts can be just flat-out anti-social.

Let’s look at some of the etymology at play here. The much overused word social has many definitions, including, “pertaining to, devoted to, or characterized by friendly companionship or relations.” Inevitably the words companionship and relations are involved in defining social. Going way back, social is derived from the Latin word socius, which means sharing, associated, or allied.

This should tell you truly social media — something that at LComm we simply define as the wide variety of two-way conversational media forms — involves more than one person or entity. Great social media from organizations and marketers engages the larger whole on topics that are more diverse than simple product discussions or contrived messaging.

By addressing the larger whole, good social media serves the community. Intelligent marketers understand that their stakeholders’ interests represent the heart of the conversation, thus their needs supersede a desire to talk about self, product, services or solutions. Even Star Trek’s Spock knew this when after sacrificing his life to save the Enterprise, he said, “The needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few… or the one.”

See video clip of this epic scene from Star Trek II.

Back to etymology. Community also has similar lessons to offer: “A social group of any size whose members reside in a specific locality, share government, and often have a common cultural and historical heritage.” Hmm, I wonder if personal brands, messages or sales pitches need apply to this shared activity.

See you next week!

NTEN’s Peter Deitz says, “Raising money in 2012 will require creativity and foresight. Micro-philanthropy — that ambiguous term that refers to all things socially networked, small-scale, and charitable — will have matured.” Check out Peter’s post for specifics, from hiring the social savvy to using technology such as the iPhone, on how to get the funds you need in the changing economic environment.

“Sometimes it’s good for brands to get into trouble — that is, for customers, and the public generally, to begin to question if a brand is what it says it is,” says Scott Baradell. Why? A crisis acts as a wakeup call. It sends a message that stagnation is not an option. Read Scott’s post on Media Orchard to see how a crisis can make a brand reevaluate itself and make improvements.

Mack Collier captures the essence of social media in his post on The Viral Garden. Mack’s post reminds readers that social media is about using conversations to build trust. With trust companies and customers can develop an understanding of each other. Understanding creates barriers of entry, innovative product development, focused marketing efforts, etc.

How can internet startups get off the ground during this down economy, especially when so many internet services are free? Profy’s Svetlana Gladkova says, “I may be too naïve but as it is I think that we will continue watching the entire internet industry slowly stagnating because of inability to turn great ideas into successful businesses.” Svetlana thinks new monetization efforts across the internet are needed. Check out her post on Profy for her detailed ideas, and share your own.

I just tweeted for the 10,000th time. So what the heck does that mean? I am a Twittering fool? 20 months, 10,000 tweets, 3,000 followers. What learning have I gleaned from all this (image by Sonny Gill)?

Twitter remains a strange place. That’s what I’ve learned.

It’s just weird in a captivating, yet maddeningly ugly way. Twitter represents heaven and hell at the same time. It captures the best of life, and some of its ugliest aspects. Twitter is a big ole bazaar, and there’s nothing quite like it.

There will likely be variants, imitators, and maybe even the acquisition of Twitter. Who knows, who cares? Given my longevity and frequency, I’ll probably still be tweeting.

Fourteen observations about Twitter:

1) Twitter sucks until you start following about 100 people.

2) It’s the most viral place I’ve ever seen. Ask Motrin.

3) You can follow everyone or not. It doesn’t matter, because people can still follow and “@” you, and you can still converse with them. I know that now. Since I can’t deal with more than 500 people in my stream, it’s hard to get me to follow you.

4) Isn’t it amazing that suddenly there’s a competitive marketplace for Twitter books with Warren Whitlock already published, and both Laura Fitton “Pistachio” and Shel Israel rushing to be next?

5) I don’t believe in Pistachio’s theory of micro-messages (an idea propagated by Joel Comm in his Twitter book, too) or micro-sharing. I find it hard to believe that Twitter is in itself a place to build a solely focused social media consultancy. I like Laura personally and am happy to see her prospering, but I don’t get it. Just saying, but hey, proof is in the bank account. I’ll shut up on that topic. Or maybe I’ll just ask her to ’splain it to me!

6) Qwitter is for the self-absorbed. Get over it, and get into real conversations, will ya?

7) Real people on Twitter don’t treat it like a popularity contest for their “personal brands.” They just be. Get it. Know what I’m sayin’, Shaq?

8) The amount of people following you doesn’t mean crap. It’s a number to drop in conversations. Influence is determined by value, and whether or not people believe in you enough to do something.

9) Stalkers, trolls, and not so nice people live on Twitter. Just like reality.

10) Trying to please all the Tweeple is impossible. Instead it’s better to find Tweeple like you or that at least can engage you so the conversation is worth your time. And their’s.

11) Twitter is a place people can take too seriously. The world exists without Twitter. Really. It does.

12) If you tell people to unfollow you, they usually won’t. Damn.

13) Jousting with Amanda Chapel is a serious waste of time. That’s why the last time I sauteed Brian Conolly - oops, Chapel was really the last time.

14) If you let the tyranny of the un-urgent — a.k.a. Twittering all the time — drive you, there can be seriously negative results in your life. Most weekends and every vacation I just turn it off.

Today I asked some other long-term Twitterer’s the lessons they’ve learned. Here they are:

Very public, socially-catalyzed non-profit activity can humanize a company in a much more meaningful way than just highlighting “a personal voice” on the blog. Showing a human heart across the company touches people in a genuine way, especially in a time when people throughout the country really need the help!

In fact from a corporate marketing standpoint, this is exactly when a company should be seen contributing to society and encouraging its people to very publicly pitch in and help causes. The key is that the activity needs to be genuine, truly representing the company’s views.

“Our collective reality is borne of our interactions. We can and must create a different pattern than that we are facing with the economic slowdown,” said Conversation Agent Valeria Maltoni in an email interview.

“I was talking with some friends the other day about how this Christmas will be about love,” said Maltoni. “There is nothing more energizing, nothing more powerful than the conscious decision to be there for one another. We don’t use the “L” word inside organizations often. Demonstrating resiliency is also about looking to help those who are facing less fortunate circumstances. In the end, we are all connected.”

And what means more, personal brands deployed by a company or publicly investing in our society? Or even better, using these critical social media tools to encourage our companies and their extended networks of vendors, investors and customers? To help our fellows who are suffering?

Real voices on a blog and social responsibility both provide transparency inside the company’s soul, but human contact can only go so far sometimes. Has comcastcares’ Frank Eliason changed Comcast’s public perception? It’s really just a start. Corporate integrity demonstrated through real actions often means more.

Incorporating Social Responsibility

We practice this ethos at Livingston, both in our recommendations and our actions. Our blog represents only a small example of how we are giving back. Here’s just a sample:

As a team our activities are deep and consistent in this regard. In fact, we gave Qui Diaz her own social cause practice to foster this important activity.

We’re not the only firm pushing companies to get more engaged with social causes. Edelman has its Good Purpose effort. According to Edelman, over 83 %of consumers are willing to change consumption habits to make tomorrow’s world a better place. Another big agency, Fleishman-Hillard conducted a study reaffirming this:

A recent national opinion survey of Americans found that knowledge of a company’s commitment to social responsibility influences purchasing behavior more than lower prices do.

The business case is clear (hat tip: Richard Becker). Social responsibility means more to customers.

Now More Than Ever

Because they are small and subject to charitable donations, they too are endangered by the current economic situation. As the Washington Post reported yesterday, many non-profits face their extinction or demise.

There will be no bail-out for the non-profit industry from Congress. While the auto industry certainly has a big impact on our economy, so does the non-profit industry. In fact, social causes and other non profits do more than just provide jobs, they seek to better our society in a variety of ways, from supporting the arts to feeding the poor.

Now more then ever companies need to show their human side… and do it with more than a little “flair” on their blog. The economy may be an excuse to cut costs, but charities still need our help.

That’s why I refuse to send our clients meaningless mugs or gift baskets for the holidays. We give money and services on their behalf to charities. We use those resources to impact and change our world. That means even more this year, when our country really needs these charities to get through what will be one of the toughest times in living memory.

Updated at 12:19 a.m.

Here’s my video review:

Some more color… The thing I took away from the book was the theme of transparency, and how critical this new level of visibility is for organizational social media. While personality matters, this book is about more comprehensive corporate social media, and as such it’s more important to show the entity’s logic, efforts, reasons, as well as its people. In essence, what personality adds for the individual, transparency provides to the larger entity.

In addition, I really liked how Holtz and Havens blended brick and mortar examples of transparency with online versions. The reality is online works so much better when it’s integrated into traditional communications. It’s great to see a book recognize that.

My only minor critique is an overly strong focus on blogs as a tool. In comparison, while social networks are well discussed, they are not as well documented. With each passing year, I feel that social networks have become an increasingly critical component of corporate social media.

All in all, I rated it five stars on Amazon, and will be buying additional copies to provide to colleagues and clients. Well done, Shel and John! Buy Tactical Transparency today!