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:

Wow! Twitter seems to be hotter than a volcano in the midst of eruption. And the social network has recovered its traffic from the second quarter, when it experienced systematic downtime in June.

Everywhere you go, you see Twitter. Consider the following:

Twitter has become so hot, and in a sustainable way, that it’s become impossible to ignore it. Marketers need to learn how to intelligently integrate Twitter into their online marketing efforts to enable their community to carry the ball forward with word of mouth marketing. The Solutions Stars Video conference owed a great deal of its success to the more than 1000 tweets on the event.

Note that companies can only enable the community, but viral happens when people care enough to talk on their own, not when companies force the matter. Twitter participation is highly interactive and social, so the usual broadcast method won’t work. In addition to active presence, that means providing hashtags, enable tweeting as a bookmark, and executing the proper etiquette. An interesting resource you may want to check out is Warren Whitlock and Deborak Micek’s new book, The Twitter Revolution.

More importantly, what’s next for Twitter? How far can the social microblogging network go?

Updated at 9:30 a.m.

Since last Thursday’s post, “I Don’t Care About Your Personal Brand,” there have been many conversations about why personal brands are or are not valid marketing models (image by Nirav Mehta). There have been some threads that unite to form general arguments for the personal brand, which deserve some discussion. Why? Because they fail to serve social media communicators who work with actual companies.

1) Self-centeredness: I’ve heard self awareness and self fulfillment as reasons to cultivate personal brands. Why don’t we just call this category self-centered since it’s the personal brand using excuses about self worth to cultivate a personal brand.

How does ego-centric branding help a corporation? Why would deploying self-centered brands positively help them affect change, stop contrived messaging and engage in real conversations?

Like the personal brand, companies have been too self-centered, and not market centric. This is the heart of the Cluetrain Manifesto. Any social media consultant needs to read this book, otherwise they will not understand the underpinnings of the social web.

Companies need to stop BS, and start conversing in real dialogue, as opposed to employing rock stars who may or may not offer value in conversations about larger products/solutions and market needs. Social media requires a human voice, not a rock star personal brand. Just a real person with a real voice reaching out in a genuine conversation.

I will say the two can coincide if the personality adheres to the company role. Consider Scott Monty and Shashi Bellamkonda.

2) Personal brands work for consultants: True. It works for the person. That’s great if you are an author or an independent “Army of One.”

See, the problem is an individual consultant’s model - personal branding - is being sold to companies, and it doesn’t work on a large scale. It does not work for corporate communications - my primary focus. Companies by their very definition are more than one person.

If you are Microsoft do you really want another Robert Scoble to come and go? Further, personal brands and rock stars undermine teams and the kind of collaborative cultures necessary for corporate success.

It’s about we, not me. This is a universal facet of all successful life relationships — personal or business. Look how $200 million worth of all-stars have benefited the New York Yankees. Zero rings since 2000.

3) Social Media: But it’s social media! Really? I don’t think there’s anything social about a contrived personal brand. I think being genuine and allowing your personality to come through in a conversation is social. Social media implies more than one (as does communications) in a conversation, and conversations offer genuine dialogue between people, not personal brands.

Personal branding is all about the individual. So when we communicate personal brands in social media spaces we’re messaging at people, rather than engaging with them. That makes for a pretty bad conversation, IMO. See Cluetrain again, and spare me the personal brand BS.

If you are over-cultivating an intentional personal brand, it’s contrived for business (or vanity) and does not equate to a real conversation. Conversations become a notch in your belt towards achieving your self-image rather than a meaningful, sincere two way conversation.

4) Personal branding is about building value: Really? Maybe. The way I was taught branding is that a brand is a promise about a service to the marketplace that’s communicated through visual and verbal communications, as well as the actual product/service experiences.

Building value is about selling stuff to people. Trust me, I do it everyday when I send emails to prospects that contain links to valuable articles related to their business.

So is personal branding promising to deliver something to the market, or is it salesmanship? If that persona is a consultant or an author then I would say a personal brand. But if not, I might argue the latter — it’s selling in the classic Jeffrey Gitomer sense.

And if building value is really branding an individual vis a vis thought leadership, how does that personal brand translate to a company’s brand and value proposition? It doesn’t do so very naturally, and I don’t see it as a smart social communications strategy for a company.

5) You need personality online: Yes! This is true. That’s why we recommend Rohit Bharagava’s book to clients who struggle with this. But there’s a difference between being yourself, and manifesting contrived “Flair” online. Sooner or later BS like this gets called out, or loses attention from the community.

The most successful individuals with thousands of followers on Twitter (the home of the personal brand) are those that just let it hang out in a natural way. They don’t monitor Qwitter for optimal following, etc. Instead, they do what they do, and share what they want. There’s no real formal strategy.

6) But you yourself are a personal brand: Am I? Umm, until someone else besides me gets Now Is Gone tattooed on their body, I’m not buying it. It’s gotta take more than a couple thousand friends and followers to become a brand. That bar is way too low. No, I’m just another mouthy blogger. Search Technorati, you’ll find we’re a dime a dozen (image by Shashi Bellamkonda).

No one comes to this company because I ride a Ducati. Or because I am particularly vocal on Twitter and on marketing issues like this one. In fact, one could argue that while my personality online rings through and I am genuine, that these aspects of my personality turn away some business opportunities. Clients come to us because of a proven, award-winning track record of social media successes.

Further, Geoff Livingston, the individual, is not Livingston Communications. There is more than a handful of people operating under this masthead, all with their own personal brand identities. In reality, promising me as Livingston Communications would be bad branding because it would be a lie. I can’t do all or even most of the work. That’s why we are a company, and one that hopes to add ownership partners in 2009.

I made this same point to personal brander Dan Schawbel. For the record, if you are an individual seeking to build a good consulting brand, I do think Dan’s blog offers great value..

All of the personal brand noise in the echo chamber amazes me. Why? Because it’s not good marketing.

We are in a recession, and telling people they need personal brands infused in their marketing - while important - will not help companies close transactions. Yes people do business with folks they like, but that’s only a pre-cursor for success. There are lots of people that folks like who are losing jobs and contracts right now.

Thus personal brand propagators seek to bulwark a business model destined to fail. What people need to do is build substantive value for stakeholders that will deliver return on investment for time or money. If personal brands are infused in this value, all the better, but please don’t tell me its the quintessential focus of social media marketing.

Quite frankly online marketing is not about silly personalities with motorcycles (me) or rubber ducks or even pole dancing. If you want to defend your right to be stupid — all in the name of a personal brand — go for it. But while momentarily interesting, your personal brand won’t build real value for the market – unless your personal reputation revolves around delivering consistent regular value to your community.

There is a big difference between reputation and personal brands. Reputation is built upon past experiences — good or bad, a real track record. Personal branding is often an ego-based image based on communications. A personal brand can demonstrate a person is there, but it’s often shallow and can be contrived. It’s just like a sport stripe on a car, nice but no engine, no guts, no substance.

Chris Brogan is always cited as the penultimate in personal brands. I disagree, Chris Brogan has a personal brand, but more importantly he has a fantastic reputation for delivering great, helpful content every day. The combo of incredible value AND the personal brand is lethal. But one would succeed without the other, and its not the personal brand.

25 Personal Brand Manifestos

Here’s some brutal truths delivered Cluetrain Style for those propagating personal brands as the keystones to social media.

1) The online community — a.k.a. the market — doesn’t give a damn about your personal brand.

2) The only people who give a crap about personal brands are the personas trying to prop them up as a business model.

3) While personal brands are concerned with themselves, the market is also concerned about itself.

4) The market doesn’t care about the persona, only what value the persona contributes to the larger community.

5) Ultimately, if the market does not perceive value, the personal brand — while famous — will not successfully monetize him/herself.

6) Businesses do not need personal brands to succeed online. They need to come off their ivory towers and communicate with the market in real conversations.

7) Then companies need to listen so they can give back to their online communities and markets vis a vis real valuable information or products.

8) Messaging — whether delivered through a personal brand or from the corporate ivory tower — doesn’t work online!

9) Personal brands can be contrived and faked.

10) If a personal brand promises one thing and delivers another, their personal name is mud!

11) If a company over-relies on personal brands it can be let down with no social media presence post persona (Microsoft and Scoble)

12) Personal brands can let the market down… in some cases regularly (Calcanis).

13) If a personal brand becomes regularly tied to a corporate brand, then it’s not personal. It’s business.

14) Having personal interaction is a small part of the larger value proposition to the market in order for it to have a transaction with you. It is not a business model in itself.

15) The difference between a good personal reputation and personal brands is subtle. One delivers constant substance while the other relies on BS to overcome shortcomings.

16) The only value of a personal brand is blinding the uneducated on lack of social media expertise (from Micah).

17) When a personal brand fails to deliver real expertise, the market turns quickly on the persona.

18) Twenty years later national personas gone wrong get super bowl ads (MC Hammer, Vanilla Ice, or in the case of K-Fed 2 years later). Micro personal brands online are simply forgotten.

19) When reality catches up with personal brand hype, bad endings occur.

20) The marketplace wants solutions, not to feel better by hanging out with coolness. Even better if you can provide both, but at least provide the prior.

21) Personal brands are like toilet paper. They are a tradable commodity on the interent. Reputation is another thing.

22) Social media consultants rely on personal brands, communicators rely on building value between organizations and their stakeholders.

23) Communicators can measure their social effort, personal brands talk about friends and “hubris.”

24) A personality oriented brand does not necessarily equate to successful results. Ask John “Maverick” McCain.

25) The marketplace doesn’t need specific personalities. There’s always another chap who can fill the role.

Refocus on Others

So what do you do if you are over-relying on personal brands? As part of the Solutions Stars Video Conference, I wrote a post about rising above the noise that offered five tips. Here’s a short summary:

There’s a reason personality was fifth in that post. Communicators put their stakeholders before their egos.

Thanks to Amber Naslund who brainstormed with me and inspired some of the 25 manifestos.

A brief "state of the union" update for DC’s Social Media Club.

It’s already been a great year for DC’s Social Media Club (SMC-DC). We kicked off with our September meeting on Social Technologies in Associations and Non-Profits. Jeff De Cagna of Principled Innovation LLC moderated and Fleishman-Hillard hosted the event.

Our October meeting brought us some insight into government agency use of Web 2.0 technologies. Brian Giesen planned the event and John Bell moderated. The entire Ogilvy Digital Influence 360 team hosted.

Thank you so much to everyone who has participated and brought together great panels and content for members. If you’re not already following the SMC-DC conversation on Twitter, check out the  hashtag #smcdc for additional updates. Also be sure to follow @socialmediaclub for more information about the national organization.

Upcoming 2008-2009 Meetings

NOVEMBER 2008

Date and time: November 12, 2008 6:00 PM to 8:00 PM

Location: National Press Club

Description: How to Apply Local Search, Social Media Search, and Trusted Networks to your Web Marketing and Outreach

**REGISTER ON EVENTBRITE – CLICK HERE**

Special thanks to Jared Goralnick of AwayFind & Technotheory for organizing and moderating this event, and we greatly appreciate Beth Shankle and the National Press Club for kindly providing the venue.

DECEMBER 2008

Date: December 10th, 2008

Location: TBD

Description: Clearspring’s Justin Thorp will be talking about how, if you want to get your content or Web app seen, you need to have a distribution/sharing strategy that will help to get it out into the marketplace, where people spend their time online.

More details to come, but should be a great discussion with Justin!

JANUARY 2009

Date: January 14, 2009

Location: TBD

Description: Government 2.0: Part II. We’re still finalizing details, but this follow up to October’s meeting will feature government agency and social media experts Mark Drapeau, Associate Research Fellow, National Defense University; Steve Field, Media Relations Manager, Ground Systems at BAE Systems; and Chris Dorobek, Federal News Radio co-anchor, The Daily Debrief with Chris Dorobek and Amy Morris and former FCW Editor-in-Chief.

2009 and Beyond

We’re still looking to plan meetings in 2009. If you know of interested individual keynote speakers, panelists, have other ideas for meetings or looking are to get involved with SMC-DC, then please let us know! Venue and sponsorship opportunities also available. Please e-mail your inquiry using the subject line SMC-DC 2009. Contact information below.

In other exciting news, next year the SMC-DC Chair position will be turning over. If you have a love for event planning, social media, and our DC community of professionals, then consider putting your name or organization in the running. More details to come, but the position will turn over in May 2009.

Our final event for this year will be BlogPotomac 2009. Save the date now for June 12, 2009. Last year was a great success, and we’re looking forward to planning another great event for 2009. More details to come!

Questions, concerns, confessions?

Please CONTACT Larissa Fair at larissa@livingstonbuzz.com or on Twitter (@LYF108) for more information.

Connect with others on the SMC-DC Facebook Group: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=2419741913

The Network Solutions sponsored Solutions Stars Video Conference (Oct. 29 at 1, don’t miss it!) features nine content themes:

This is the seventh of nine posts in nine days, offering thoughts on each section.

You Need Social Networks

Here were my thoughts after viewing this series of videos:

This was by far my favorite section in the series. It was fantastic to see all of the bloggers touting the importance of social networking, in some cases, ahead of blogging.

It reminded me of a post I wrote on Now Is Gone last spring titled, “Stop Pushing, Start Pulling.” In that post I lamented the ever constant focus of companies pushing out content and not participating in social networks and communities. Here’s a healthy snippet:

…a customer probably couldn’t give a damn about Company X UNLESS it’s an active member of their community, a member who understands them and tries to resolve particular needs. Companies must become part of the larger whole.

Getting a blog out there is great. But so what? It’s not special anymore. People that say folks will flock to your site are operating off old marketing information from last year.

How are people going to find out about it unless you are participating in the larger discussion? Which social networks do you play in? Why will they care without relevant context to their problems. Ditto for blogger pitches. Don’t treat bloggers like media!!!! Why bother unless you really know what the blogger wants, writes about and cares about?

Since I wrote that post we’ve seen a lot more activity by companies in social networks, particularly on Twitter. Lots of folks are trying to figure out how to make Twitter work for their enterprise. Our interviewees were also very hot on Twitter, in particular Tim Ferriss and Tony Hsieh.

What was interesting was to see the different styles of Twittering, from Ferriss’ no follow back to Zappos unleashing 400+ employees on Twitter. Then there’s the whole personality thing on Twitter, too. Lots to think about…

Personally, I find Twitter to be a great place to be for Livingston Communications. And for Geoff Livingston (find me here). It’s been a mix of highs and lows, friends and the not so amiable, and in truth, some really strong conversations. Twitter has been the network I’ve hated, loved, from which I benefited, and also shied away.

Eighteen months after joining, I’m still Tweeting and every LComm employee has their Twitter address on their business card. After Google reader, it’s our top referrer to the Buzz Bin, and the top social network So in my mind, it’s a must. Not to mention, I have a lot of friends out there, too.

In addition to the main site, please visit the Solutions Stars Video Conference event pages on Facebook and Upcoming:

• www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33854706886
• upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1200021

Network Solutions is producing the Solutions Stars Video Conference on October 29 at 1 p.m. This free video conference aims to provide insights and online marketing tips to small businesses. It will be of great service to small businesses, particularly now that the economy has gotten tough, and it’s not as easy to attend a conference in person.

As author of Now Is Gone, it was an honor to work with Network Solutions Social Media Swami Shashi Bellamkonda and the 32 top bloggers who participated and shot videos with us at BlogWorld Expo.  The conference features nine different documentary style video sessions:

• Building Web Presence
• The Social Opportunity
• Start with Listening
• Strategy Drives Outreach
• You Need Social Networks
• To Blog or Not to Blog
• Visibility Through Search
• Rising Above the Noise
• Time Demands

In addition to Now Is Gone Co-Author Brian Solis, Solutions Stars include:

I hope you can participate in this  conference and conversation. It will be well worth your while, with lots of great insights.

In addition to the main site, please visit the Solutions Stars Video Conference event pages on Facebook and Upcoming:

• www.facebook.com/event.php?eid=33854706886
• upcoming.yahoo.com/event/1200021

I came across this blog post by Jason Baer of Convince and Convert and thought it was a great piece that deserved some additional attention (apparently so did 50+ other people as evidenced in the comments section).

Jason lists six fallacies of social media and explains as to why they are false. There are good and bad points to his arguments, and I’d like to delve further into his analysis.

(Picture Credit: NIDA)

1. Social Media is Inexpensive

Social media tools are inexpensive. They are generally open source and shareable. Monitoring is free (unless you use a professional tool). I agree that engaging in effective social media campaigns is extremely time consuming (and therein lies the cost). Factor in hours of research, diving into communities, participating, commenting, reading, reading, and more reading.

To ease the pain, consultants and agencies embracing social media as a tactic to add to their overall PR and marketing counsel should develop strategies and clear tactics. Develop clear metrics to determine viable and influential sources. Work hard, work smart, work strategically. Over time, you will identify methods of searching and pulling out the best information for your client or company’s goals, while saving valuable time and endless hours searching through infinite web content.

(Picture Credit: Gaping Void)

2. Social Media is Fast

Social media IS fast. It takes mere seconds for a blog post to go up about your company or client, for comments and responses and conversations to take place about your brand. Without effectively monitoring and participating in relevant communities, it’s very easy for things to quickly get out of hand (especially in a situation with an unhappy customer or other crisis).

Getting yourself out there is fast. It’s the follow-up and overall social network engagement that is slow. However, if you have the right research in place from the start and know exactly what people you need to contact for your client or company’s business goals; it can go a lot faster. Spending time reading and contributing to 100 social networks and blogs where only 20-50 of them may be extremely relevant is time consuming. Focusing on just those 20-50 and hitting them hard makes a lot more sense.

3. Social Media is “Viral Marketing”

Social media, at the core, is viral. It allows for interactive conversation. Blog posts, YouTube, Flickr, Facebook, Utterli…all these sites provide easy ways for your content to be shared and discussed.

Whether it’s a blog post or a video, the first thing to remember is that viral material starts with great content. If the content is clever AND meaningful, it will spread like wildfire. However, just because something is socialized and has gone “viral” does not mean it will necessarily have the desired outcome. Take Sarah Silverman’s “The Great Schelp” video. Viral, yes. Results, eh.

4. Social Media results can’t be measured

Social media can be measured. Like any metric the ROI is determined by the relation to the company or client’s goals. Is it sales? Is it media coverage? Is it brand reputation or recognition?

Let’s take reputation management for example. A company that is seeing multiple online conversation from unhappy customers through a high percentage of negative blog posts, Twitter updates, and message board comments has a problem. After a few months of addressing those issues directly, participating in conversations, offering customer service support, and providing value to those communities…the negative discussions decrease. That’s a social media campaign result every company would like to see. Just ask Comcast or Dell.

(Picture Credit: Ignite Social Media)

5. Social Media is optional

Chances are your company or client is being discussed online. But, before deciding to engage in a social media campaign simply because of that fact, consider your audience. Your audience may be online, but that does not mean they are on Facebook, on Twitter, or commenting on message boards and blogs.

It’s more important to make establishing an online brand and persona part of your business plan, a necessary part. As Andrea mentioned yesterday, a web presence is a must for any business. It’s time to stop thinking about whether or not to go online. Instead, start considering what is already being said online about your company or client. Take that knowledge and manage your online brand, whether you choose to use social media tools or not.

(Picture Credit: Minnesota Parents Know)

6. Social media is hard

Without the correct research, clear goals and strategy in mind, social media is hard and overwhelmingly complex. However, it’s not hard when you erase all the technical jargon and consider that the main benefit of engaging in social media comes down to the “humanization” factor of your company or client.

Social media is an extension of community involvement. It involves seeking out community members that share your interests and passions. It’s about talking to them, learning from them, getting to know them. It’s about connecting with them and joining together for a common cause. It’s about sharing your view with others, and listening to theirs.

The only difference between those ideas for community involvement and social media, is that these conversations and connections are taking place online. Participation and authenticity in personal relationships is easy to translate online if you change the way you think about it. There goes the neighborhood.

Liveblogging is not a new phenomenon, but with the Presidential debates over the past few weeks, it’s come into the limelight. There are a few benefits to liveblogging, and a couple different methods of doing it.

(Photo Credit: MEGATONik)

Benefits of Liveblogging

Liveblogging is beneficial for a variety of reasons.

• It provides quick and easy content for your blog, Twitter stream, etc.
• It gives people who are not at the event an opportunity to view the content and respond, in real time or after the fact.
• It provides an interactive platform and generates conversation for attendees of the event (and those following remotely) to discuss what was said, or a place to reflect after the fact.
• It gives a point of reference to go back to and make commentary on key points after the event is over.

Ways to Liveblog

There are a few methods to approaching liveblogging. Some methods can be combined to give a more comprehensive view.

• Provide short “play-by-plays” with time-stamped updates. Consider using an embedded system designed specifically for this, such as CoveritLive.
• Provide a general overview of the event. Summarize what was said and provide your own commentary and insight. Paraphrase what the speaker is saying.
• Provide content from the event with as much verbatim as possible. For example, if you are attending a conference panel session, include all Powerpoint slide content (if applicable), and try to write as much detail and exact phrases as possible from the speaker.
• Provide alternative methods of getting information, other than through your blog. Mix it up by using Twitter, uStream, Utterli (formerly Utterz), or like services. Many people also bring their flipcams to events and simply upload the entire video to their blog and social networks.

When choosing a method, think about factors such as your organization’s (or personal) goals for liveblogging, your blog audience, attendees of the event, and content of the speaker. Think about whether or not you are liveblogging to increase traffic to your site, or to provide valuable information to the public. Consider your audience and how they absorb information. Liveblogging using short updates (think Twitter) may make more sense for a Web 2.0 audience, while more general overviews of content with commentary may work well for an IT crowd.

(Picture Credit: Flickr)

It’s also important to consider the content you are sharing. Make sure it’s valuable to your audience.

A good example of how to do a “play-by-play” comes from Mashable:

This doesn’t mean “Speaker X walks up to the podium, clears throat and opens with quip about your mom,” but more like, “Speaker X says trust is the most important factor in determining marketing success. Jack from Company Y challenges this.”

Keep in mind that your content is openly available to the public, and can be reused in a variety of ways that you may not be aware of. Take Doug Haslam’s experience for example.

Boy was I surprised to hear my snarky Tweets about this week’s Vice-Presidential debate ended up on Current TV’s broadcast of the debate.

What other reasons can you think of to liveblog? Are there other ways to approach liveblogging?

We live in an online world filled with endless information. You can search and find anything online, and day by day that available information grows exponentially. There are even tools to search the web for you.

While at Web 2.0 Expo and Interop NY a couple weeks ago, I had the opportunity to listen to Clay Shirky’s keynote on information overload. Several of his points made perfect sense to the audience since many (like me) were people who are constantly online.

Check out Clay’s keynote for yourself.

Clay discussed the idea that information overload is an institutional system design failure. But that’s not the real problem. What we’re suffering from now is “filter failure”. We need to filter for quality. Publishers of content (news media, corporations, the “average Joe” blogger) now have an easily accessible and free way to get information out. But how do you sort through all the “spam” in life and filter out unwanted and unnecessary information?

• If you are a social media, marketing, or PR consultant - you may filter information by only reading news that is important to your clients’ industry and business goals or your own business.
• If you are a student - you may filter information by only reading news that is relevant to your university (sports scores, announcements), your studies (research for a specific subject), or your friends (”Facebooking”).
• If you are an average adult going online - you may filter information by only reading news that is important to your career (industry news, announcements), family and friends (sports scores, movie reviews, politics, etc.) or hobbies (skiing, racecars, knitting, etc.).

No matter how you do it, maybe it all comes down to a simple point. You choose your own destiny, and you choose your own path in navigating the online world.

“Meanwhile, I’m not completely convinced information overload isn’t a problem, but filters are. For instance, no one is forcing you to have those 2,000 RSS feeds. No one is requiring you to Twitter non-stop. And really: How much of the information that swirls around you is all that important anyway? Take my inbox: I get a hundreds of emails a day. There may be 10 that are important. I could definitely manage my filters better, but that becomes a pain in the rear too. At some point you just have to say no and reckon that if something is super important it will get to you rather quickly anyway.” - Larry Dignan at ZDNet