Here’s a slightly different take on the customary predictions post on 2009 social media trends… A campy Hot and Not list. Here we go:

Smartphone of the Digerati

Hot: Blackberry Storm (image from cellfanatic)

Not: iPhone (thank you, Walmart!)

Marketing Blogger

Hot: Amber Naslund

Not: Seth Godin

Corporate Social Media Tool

Hot: Radian6

Not: Blog

PR Blogger

Hot: Technosailor (Ha, ha!)

Not: Ike Pigott (and probably happy about it)

Twitter Personality

Hot: MC Hammer

Not: Michael Arrington (techcrunch)

Social Marketing Trend

Hot: Community collaboration

Not: Personal branding

Social Network

Hot: Twitter

Not: Facebook

Geek Region

Hot: Inside the Beltway (Metro DC, compliments of the mighty Obama)

Not: Silicon Valley

Social Media Strategy

Hot: Integrated approach

Not: Individual tools

Work Ethic

Hot: Great service-oriented approaches

Not: Personal balance

What would you say will be hot or not in 2009?

The recent herd mentality on Twitter reminds me of the French mob screaming for aristocrats’ blood. Break out the guillotine! First it was Motrin, then it was the Matt Bacak smeering (I did think he crossed a line, but still the response was excessive), and most recently the portrayal of Chris Brogan — of all people — as unethical for writing an IZEA (formerly Pay Per Post)/K-Mart sponsored post.

Much has been said about the Brogan post, some by Chris, some by Amber Naslund. To me the fact that Chris got his chops busted, and other prominent bloggers like friend Aaron Brazell didn’t just shows you how ridiculous Twitter can be sometimes. The hangman-out-for-blood mentality just shows human nature at its worst.

Frankly, I understand the angst about Pay Per Post. It’s a loss of credibility. But the rebranded IZEA service is bit more high-brow, and in this case sponsored folks like Aaron and Chris with a $500 stipend to shop at K-Mart. It’s hard enough making money as a blogger, but $500 at Christmas time is no joke, especially in an economy like this one.

I am not saying take $15 for writing SEO pieces every damn day that destroy your blog’s credibility. Personally, hat’s off to the K-Mart bloggers for being good enough to attract that kind of sponsorship. Just openly state that it’s a sponsored post. No big deal.

Amber had a nice entre to her post:

..the underlying issue to me is this idea that social media mechanisms like blogs are somehow sacrosanct, hallowed ground. That there is no room for commercialism within the walls of the Almighty Conversation. That the only use for these tools in within the confines of personal expression, removed from a capitalistic context. That simply isn’t the case.

Regardless of how you feel about Chris getting a $500 sponsorship, to me the mass hanging and outrage on Twitter has gotten to the point where the community is starting to validate Andrew Keen’s Cult of the Amateur. There’s an increasing lack of common sense and a mad rush to bury people online. And that does not bode well for Twitter’s credibility as a source of mass intelligence.

As someone who has seen enough of these, I’m starting to get a) calloused to the cries of evil and b) question whether these events are actually hurting the brands in question, or in actuality helping them. I recently met Chris Anderson and he said to me all publicity is good publicity. Folks like Madonna would agree. In these cases, I am more likely to buy Motrin, I am now following Matt Bacak on Twitter, and I have more respect for Chris Brogan. The mob be damned.

What do you think?

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.

The concept of backing up your computer is now coming to social networks like Twitter. Tweetake allows Twitterers to back up their friends, followers, favorites and tweets into a CSV file. Founders Alfred Armstrong and Nikki Pilkington decided to create Tweetake after Twitter proved to be unreliable (i.e. Twitterers losing followers).

Why might this tool be useful? In case you want to change your Twitter name, you’d have a record of your current friends to add to your new account, which is a big plus. Backing up your account also gives you the flexibility to go through old tweets – as needed. The CSV file is divided into 11 columns, which includes names and screen names of your Twitter friends, their location, profile descriptions, a link to their images and URL, as well as a time/date stamp, and current tweets. (image from StartupMeme)

Buzz Meter Ranking: 3 out of 4 Buzz Bees

Positive: Tweetake is simple and easy. All you need is your Twitter username and password. With one swift click, you can have a CSV file of your all of friends, followers, favorites and tweets.

Negative: Although it is a good back up service, you still need to back up your own computer files at the end of the day if you want your Tweetake file to still exist.

Conclusion: Tweetake is just as simple as backing up your computer files. It’s an easy and fast procedure that gives users a chance to protect their tweets and profiles. If you’re a big Twitterer, then you should definitely use this tool.