Invites to Brightkite are flying like…kites. The location based social network has received a lot of buzz over the past weeks, and I was lucky enough to secure a beta invite to check it out.

Brightkite serves as a social network that allows users to share and find friends based on location updates. The stream of news (your location updates) is shared with your network. You can include photos and notes to go along with your location. For example, you can say "Starbucks" or "Office", or post a picture noting your location.

Integration with Twitter is key for Brightkite. Here you can see examples of recent updates from @technosailor and @corbett3000:

Cool new features include the ability to search for users, businesses, and even configure your location at varying degrees of accuracy. For example, you can choose to be notified when someone in your network is within 20-4000 meters of your current location.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 2 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: It’s a useful tool to push the formation of real-world interactions from online relationships. It’s still in beta mode so we have a lot of opportunity to see the application evolve.

Negative: Some people may think it’s a little creepy to notify people where you are at any given moment. Privacy issues remain a high priority for mobile and location based services. Although, you can alter privacy settings to "trusted friends" or be vague about your exact location.

Other issues include the fact that it does NOT integrate with Verizon phones, and requires you to manually enter in your location every time instead of leveraging mobile location technology. Brightkite also requires you to join another social network as opposed to fully integrating.

Conclusion: Geo-social networks are important. Bright Kite steps up to the location sharing game, I just hope they are able to keep one step ahead in this crowded web app space.

Social media marketers love words like conversation. Authenticity. Transparency. Interaction. Participation.

But what does that really mean?

It’s all about being yourself.

(Photo Credit: Fresh Webs)

As PR professionals we are constantly pitching media to fight for a our 15 minutes of fame. In a world where there are numerous ways to connect with reporters and media (Twitter, Facebook, e-mail, LinkedIn, etc.), how do you make yourself stand out?

Establish rapport. And mean it. This is the most important part of standing out when initiating conversation. Remember  Dale Carnegie said to "become genuinely interested in other people." This doesn’t mean taking a quick glance at someone’s blog or recent articles and firing off comments like, "hey I like the picture of your dog". It means looking at what they put out there and finding something to really relate to. Rapport is best when it’s real.

Tell a story. Don’t string together a series of related but impersonal paragraphs. You should arouse in the other person an eager want to hear your story, but balance it by making sure you’re not droning on and on about yourself. Make sure that you are being a good listener, encouraging and letting the other person do a great deal of the talking. (More Dale Carnegie)

Have a personality. Rohit Bhargava wrote a whole book on it. Companies and brands fail because they are ordinary and boring. If you present an exciting, enthusiastic, and friendly face - then you’re likely to get a similar reaction in return. If you’re passionate and truly believe in what you’re doing, selling, pitching, or talking about…others will be too.

Overall it’s about being yourself. Blogs, Twitter, and every other Web 2.0 technology only work with the strength of the people in the community behind it.  If users are being fake and not authentic, then these great ways of connecting with others and establishing relationships will become stale.

Twitter will become just another site for spam messages, Facebook will become one big advertisement, and users will be left searching for the next great site that will offer what they’re really looking for: a real genuine person.

Most people in the Web 2.0 tech community know what Twitter is. We love it so much that we use it for work and for fun, and consistently tout its advantages despite long periods of unplanned downtime and the overwhelming nature of 24×7 microblogging.

(Photo credit: Geek and Poke)

But, is Twitter really the wave of the future? Will the general public be quick to adopt this as a new tool to keep in touch, keep track of, share links, and converse with their networks of friends and family?

I’m in my 20’s, supposedly one of the main adopters of Twitter and like services. None of my friends have a clue what Twitter is, and many aren’t even on Facebook (or, if they are, they rarely log in and interact).

Will this continue to be another Web 2.0 service for the “tech elite”? What about the other Web 2.0 companies that are fighting for a piece of the pie? From Sandhill.com:

Something like Twitter is ground breaking in terms of breakout adoption, but what about the other 10,000 startups?

Twitter has received so much press and start-up hype because it’s largely used by a community of influencers, which is fueling its growth. According to top tech bloggers, media sites, PR firms, social media marketers, and more, it appears that Twitter IS the wave of the future. It’s proven to be changing the way we communicate with each other, gather information, and network. In terms of the larger picture of technology and innovation that’s set to change the world, is Twitter really that important?

For businesses, it may be that important. Companies have an even bigger stake in getting involved with Twitter. ComcastCares proves it’s a unique way to engage customers. Are they reaching a large majority of their customers this way though? Comcast is barely reaching 1,250 users on Twitter. How did they communicate before Twitter? Before blogs? What was their disaster plan?

It’s easy to get caught up in something when your entire community is engaged. But, consider life beyond the glowing reviews, fast-track adoption rates and VC funding. If the greater Web 2.0 and tech community suddenly moves away from Twitter, then how will that impact the service? While our community is certainly attached to Twitter, is the rest of the world? That remains to be seen, and so far the jury is out.

Parasocial: something beyond social norm. From Latin where para can have the meaning ‘beyond normal’. One example of this phenomenon is that someone who watches a soap opera over a period of time creates an illusion that s/he has a relationship to the television persona. These relationships can significantly influence and change people’s lives. This is generally perceived as an unconscious event, as the subject does not realize what is happening.*

It’s kind of fun being a micro nano B-List celebrity, especially if you don’t take it seriously. Social TNT Author Chris Lynn and I had fun with this at the Love 2.0 Engage web 2.0 party on Monday (see this 20 second video).

Yet, attendance at Web 2.0 parties this week in Silicon Valley and SNCR’s NewComm Forum reminded me of how strange this cultural phenomena is becoming in social worlds. Watching other relatively to extremely well known bloggers and executives get worshipped, hit on, and in some cases mocked and/or stalked, gives one reason to pause.

Social media lowers the bar for stardom, at lease within microcommunities. And as a result, people that may naturally be inclined towards becoming groupies, stalkers and trolls find themselves empowered. Identities are stolen, attacks occur, and mayhem ensues.

Perhaps the most hilarious of these was this week’s hijacking of Shel Israel’s Owl named Hoot on Twitter. This comes after the whole (and pathetically continuing) puppet thing from Loren Feldman. The plastic bird’s fowl representation really shows the hilarious and absolutely silly nature of social media “stardom.”

There is no worse example of the absolute pathetic nature of parasocial than Valleywag a shameless virtual tabloid that chronicles the rise and fall of Silicon Valley rock stars. Having spent some significant time in Silicon Valley since the book was published, it’s easy to see how this rag serves a certain part of the population, both locally and from afar.

Living in a town where the Washingtonienne (a.ka. Jessica Cutler) and the Monica Lewinsky-inspired impeachment happened, where scandal rocks national and global governance, this seems so… Little League. At the same time, it’s very real and needs to be taken seriously.

In a fractured media environment, a certain percentage of the population in any micro-community will become parasocially attached to A, B and C-list stars in an unhealthy manner. It’s best to accept it, and start talking about what to do, if anything.

Some may say, “That’s the price you pay for fame and success.” This made sense to me when millions of dollars were being doled out to athletes and Hollywood stars. But most bloggers and social media successes don’t make more money.

So should we really tolerate parasocial behavior just because someone has a achieved a little nano success? Conversely, is it simply a part of the human condition? Or do we just love a success, and some take it way too far?

Sidenote: I actually saw Feldman at a party this past weekend, and at the behest of several friends, decided to put aside my original feelings expressed here and other places and say hello and a possible handshake. This was promptly dismissed with a snarl.

I’m not sure if this Tweet was a response, but it really doesn’t matter. Principles must supersede personalities. While I still strongly and openly disagree with Feldman’s continuing and unnecessary attacking of Shel Israel, civility matters more in the big picture.

* American Psychological Association (APA): Parasocial. (n.d.). Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. Retrieved April 24, 2008, from Reference.com website: http://www.reference.com/browse/wiki/Parasocial

Our next SMC-DC meeting will be May 15 at Viget Labs. We welcome Chris Dorobek, Editor-in-Chief of Federal Computer Week. Chris is no stranger to social media, and he will share his experience with blogging and social networks (visit him on Twitter and Facebook), as well as his opinion of government and military use of Web 2.0.

The federal government strives for collaboration between the different departments and units it holds. The government is still experimenting with social media, with the wiki Intellipedia already in use for the intelligence community, and even the Department of the Navy’s CIO dipping his toes into blogging.

So how else is the government using social media? Are they ready for it, and what’s the value for them? Come discuss the current and future state of Web 2.0 as the government views it.

More details:

Please RSVP by Tuesday, May 13 to Larissa Fair.

Special thanks to Viget Labs for hosting the event.

Date: Thursday, May 15, 2008

Time: 6:30 pm – 8:00 pm

Location:

Viget Labs headquarters

400 S. Maple Avenue, Suite 200
Falls Church, VA 22046

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=19100475790

The second session of NewCommForum I attended featured Shel Holtz of Holtz Communications. Shel brings his insights of employees becoming the brand of a company, particularly through blogs.

What is the definition of a brand?

An audience member says it is how customers perceive you. Shel sees brand as the aggregate of all the experiences you have had with a company, which turns it into what you see, feel, and think. Brand is owned by each individual.

Shel points out that every time an employee says something or does something, and they are NOT happy - it creates a risk. Think of Ryan Kuder being let go from Yahoo!. His experience was chronicled on Twitter.

Positive brand experiences can be created by individual employee bloggers who have the opportunity to represent companies well. Thomas Nelson Publishers provides an aggregate of employee blogs that are highlighted on the website. The most trusted spokesperson of a company comes from a REAL person who just happens to blog about where they work - not the CEO, not the official marketing person.

Examples of Employee Bloggers

Shel shares his experience blogging about a negative experience with Park ‘N Fly, and the following comment from a Sales & Marketing Administrator who promptly responded and offered to make it up to him with free parking (and the all important apology).

Customer service should then be seen as the frontline of the brand and company experience. People who deal with issues themselves are EMPOWRED by their companies, and it’s better for consumers too when they are not constantly approached from a PR or media perspective. Real people and authenticity win every time.

Shel points to the Coca-Cola Second Life Campaign which shared a video update to let consumers know where the campaign was headed and to thank people for participating.

The TSA blog Evolution of Security is aimed at the traveling public to improve relations and have a genuine conversation. The bloggers for this blog are TSA employees who range from screeners to former air marshals, the voices are true and provide an insider’s look to the organization.

Strategies

A few questions on strategy:

• What is the role of internal communications?
• What is the role of content "owners"?
• How do we get them to have the right knowledge but know the facts, without astroturfing?
• What is the role of management and leadership?
• What about policies? On employee behavior and employee access

Overall, Shel says the same thing as Microsoft, "Be smart" (or "don’t be stupid") when you are having employees blog, and when you are blogging about the company you work for.

Did you know Jamie Lee Curtis writes children’s books? She’s penned nearly 10 of them, including “Is There Really a Human Race?,” a story of a boy who wants to know, “Is the human race an obstacle course? Is it a spirit? Does he get his own lane? Does he get his own coach?” The babies and kids in the story run around in circles trying to win friends and influence people, until the book concludes with the boy’s realization: the human race is not meant to be won at all.

(For what it’s worth, I chose this image of the book cover over a video of JLC’s hilarious True Lies strip tease - Not totally SFW.)

A copy of “Human Race” was gifted to me last month. It came to mind yesterday after I read Jared Goralnick’s poignant post: “Avoiding the online popularity contest to seek a deeper connection.” Jared is a true blamigo. His willingness to call out those who fake “frolleague” (friend + colleague) status in exchange for the spotlight is appreciated. We humans are a special breed. Gives us the tools, we’ll build empires for ourselves. Give us the Internet and some tricked out AJAX platforms, and we’re still building empires to ourselves. We all want to win the human race, in one way or another.

Call it what you will: popularity, pretentiousness, pride. Far be it from me to name names or deny my own fallibility here. If you are, indeed, atop a mountain of supporters/friends/followers, then do what we tell our clients: stay grounded, keep in touch, engage your fans, and be a conduit for change that’s bigger than yourself. Thanks to the online powerhouses who are already doing this (you know who you are). To overstate the obvious: I would not be working for Geoff if he didn’t practice what he preaches.

Thursday’s Tech cocktail DC is one of countless opportunities make new blog friends and determine the best way to keep in touch. I’ll be engulfing a few real world friends in hugs and meeting new blamigos - hope you find opportunities to do the same.

(Above: Jared at last week’s Pimp My Nonprofit: Global Giving, hosted by Net Squared at Affinity Lab. If you see Jared at Tech cocktail DC, be sure to ask him about PSO.)

When you belong to different social networks, it can be hard to keep track of who in your network is saying what. There is a lot of background noise and static that you just don’t need.

Socialthing! is a first-of-its kind Digital Life Manager that makes it easy to see what’s going on in all of your networks at once, keep a consolidated friend list and post content to multiple sites at once. It was created to help ease the noise and focus on what you really care about. I was able to secure some private Beta invites (DM me on Twitter if you would like one) and check it out.

How It Works

Signing up for Socialthing! is easy, and after a quick confirmation, it takes you to a page where you can fill in your information (securely) to whatever social network you choose. You can pick which ones to integrate. I chose Facebook, Twitter, and Flickr so I could see when friends post status updates, links, and new pictures.

After registering for what social networks you want to include, your Lifestream is generated. User updates are shown as they happen, no matter what network they come from. You can also click directly to links, profiles, and reply to updates within the Lifestream (it will open in another tab/window). You can easily click a button to refresh your friends’ updates, and direct messages on Twitter show up in a different color to easily identify them. Multiple updates from one person are grouped together.

(Click for full view)

The Future

Since it is in Beta, you can easily share your thoughts and suggestions for improvement. They also have a cool option where you can vote for what functionality they will add to the site. The list can be sorted from A-Z or through number of votes. From picture and video websites to bookmarking to blogs, it has it all. And if you don’t see the service you use, you can request it.

The top votes are for:

• RSS
• LinkedIn
• Google Reader
• Wordpress
• Tumblr
• FriendFeed
• Blogger
• Google Calendar
• Amazon
• StumbleUpon
• Picasa Web Albums

(Click for full view)

For updates on Socialthing!, check out their blog or friend Socialthing! on Twitter.

General Overview of Socialthing!

Description: Socialthing! creates a “lifestream” of updates for all of your social networking profiles. Currently it supports Twitter, Facebook, Flickr, Pownce, LiveJournal and Vimeo. They are still working on del.icio.us, Digg, Last.FM, MySpace and YouTube; among others to be designated by popular vote.

Usefulness: Overall, this is a good service that allows you to see all of your friends’ updates in one place. This alleviates the hassle of switching back and forth between websites and logging in and out. It makes it easier to manage the “stream” of conversation happening within different social networks.

Buzz Meter Ranking: 2 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: This tool has potential. It’s cool that you can see everything in one place. The option to post your status at once to Pownce, Twitter and Facebook is cool (although using the Twitter application in Facebook offers the same service). It has a clean, user-friendly interface and offers lots of room for feedback and growth.

Negative: When you get to having 500+ friends, it may offer a more streamlined service, but not necessarily cut down on the noise. Some say it’s also quite similar to the popular FriendFeed and other aggregators.

Conclusion

I will have to check out Socialthing! again when it’s out of beta, to compare features and functionality.

For more reviews on Socialthing! and similar applications, check out: Website Magazine, ReadWriteWeb, Lifestream, TechCrunch, ThePete.com, DownloadSquad, Publishing 2.0, WidgetsLab, Propeller, Process of Change and Lifeblog.

In the old days (and by old, I mean not even a decade ago), people used social networks in its simplest form, most often for one-on-one interaction. Then instant messaging grew to group chat and e-mail turned into groups, listservs and chains.

Today we have even more interactive tools and networks that allow us to build our business, find out information, create online communities, raise money for a cause or non-profits, connect with friends and loved ones, and make new connections based on common interests or mutual relationships.

The question is, now that we have all these uses and ideas for how to maximize interaction on social networks, what is the value you get when you have 500+ friends on Facebook and Twitter?

(Photo Credit: My Friend Wheel on Facebook)

Do people who have that many friends and/or followers have the time to develop true interpersonal relationships? Or does it become more of a marketing and branding tool, displaying your credibility through how many people are linking back and friending you?

I have found that since turning my personal Facebook page into a professional link, that I have less time to actually interact with my “real-life” friends. I use it as more of a tool - to promote events, share information and links, add contacts I meet at networking events, etc.; instead of a way to stay in touch or reconnect with old friends, it’s just another platform for promotion.

What have you found? Does the value of a social network increase or decrease with the number of friends and followers you have?

So much of today’s discussions about blogs, social networks, content, etc., gets bogged down in tools and nomenclature.  It’s easy given all the scattered hubris out there.  Forced with creating social media content, applications or even social networks, communicators can chase many red herrings.  But the answer lies in throwing the noise to the side and treating the outreach like a product for your customers.  Because at heart it is (image by kevinthoule).

In an interesting round of tweets on Sunday night, Rich Becker, Ike Pigott and I all agreed there is no one size fits all solution for social media. Instead we have to focus on basic tenents to succeed. That gets back to understanding specific communities and stakeholders, and serving them with well engineered content.

That’s where the product analogy works. By treating online communications and tools as products designed for a specific stakeholder(s), there’s a much higher chance for success.  It’s built to serve.

A couple of months ago, I published 14 step open source social media content generation process on Now Is Gone. This entire process revolves around focusing on core stakeholders and their needs to drive development.

Example: IceBreaker

Marshall Kirkpatrick wrote an interesting article yesterday on whether or not mobile applications are really dead. Many commenters said no. I agree. Many of the apps that have failed (like the cited Yahoo! Mobile) are traditional products designed for the computer screen. They are then repackaged for the mobile phone.

The problem there is the lack of product marketing that goes into creating a truly mobile application. Enter IceBreaker’s Crush or Flush social network with more than 700,000 users.

Crush or Flush was designed specifically for the mobile phone.  It has special features created to protect women who are uninterested in their crushers (and as a result boasts more than 40% female membership). It’s mobile platform agnostic, and has also evolved to allow for mobile advertising. Now the company is moving towards the PC to expand reach with the socially savvy.

In a phone interview last week, Icebreaker VP of marketing Josh Levine said the basic foundation for their success was intelligent product marketing. Josh told me IceBreaker literally aimed to build a social network for the handset. “We didn’t take an existing social network and tried to make it fit. Crush or Flush was built from the ground up  for its users so they would feel natural and comfortable with it.”

And so there you have it.  Success is predicated on having something to be successful with… Without a great product — content, application or network — winning will be elusive.