Ford has gone one step closer to putting the icing on the cake, with the marketing of the Ford Focus for 2012. Check out the video below see how they got Charm City Cakes to create a masterpiece in the shape of the all-new 2012 Ford Focus, complete with working head and tail lights. Guests were able to tweet using the hashtag #FordTweetingCake and the cake would speak the tweet.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Answer this trivia question. What does Barack Obama, Katy Perry, Kim Kardashian and Britney Spears all have in common? They are all now part of the Twitter 10 million follower club. They now share this distinction with Justin Bieber and the Queen of all Twitterdome Lady Gaga.

According to Twitterholic the current list of 10 million followers are as follows:

@ladygaga	K	14,617,800	…	90
@justinbieber		13,492,053		100
@katyperry		10,990,167		89
@BarackObama		10,240,164		87
@KimKardashian		10,458,449		91
@britneyspears		10,290,280		86

Shakira, Taylor Swift, Rihanna, and Ashton Kutcher round out the top 10 almost 10 million member club. You may recall that Ashton Kutcher celebrated becoming the first person to reach 1 million followers back in April of 2009.

So here is the million dollar question. Is Twitter still relevant to those that follow Barack, Britney, Katy and Kim? Will we see Twitter’s influence begin to fade due to the popularity newer social networking services like Google+? Are those that follow the likes of Barack, Britney, Katy and Kim still being influenced by their Tweets.

Even though Lady Gaga is currently number one on the list with 14,617,800 at this time of this blog post her Klout score is 10 points lower than Justin Bieber. Kim Kardashian is at number 5 at 10,458,449 followers yet she is 1 point higher in Klout score than Lady Gaga the current number one.  Justin Bieber has a perfect 100 Klout score and I think it won’t be long before he passes Gaga and becomes the first to obtain 20 million followers based on the influence he has in the Twitter world.

One thing we do know is that Twitter is still very relevant in celebrity circles and their followers are still growing with each passing day.  The rate at which one gets followers may have slowed down some but their influence on these followers has in fact grown stronger.  Facebook may have the most users, and yes, Linkedin was the first to go public but Twitter is still the fastest most uncluttered way the world shares news via social media.

What are your thoughts on how Twitter’s influences has shaped the social media and the traditional media universe?

All the best

JB

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

Related posts:

1. Twitter Town Hall Gives President Barack Obama More Social Media Cred Did you watch the first Twitter Town Hall? I had...

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Researchers at Johns Hopkins track the flu via Twitter. How amazing is that? There is enough information being shared on Twitter that you can quantify it and then apply it to health studies.

People talk about everything on Twitter. How much someone talks about how much food they are eating could give you and idea of their dietary choices. This research could also pinpoint eating disorders or may find out more on how someone deals with an allergic reaction to something they never ate before. Take a listen to the below video and see how many other things researchers can find out about our health.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Did you watch the first Twitter Town Hall? I had it on my calendar but I was in a meeting with my new boss and co-workers. President Obama @BarackObama fielded a lot of questions about jobs and I for one am very very happy to get the opportunity to work again in an industry I so enjoy.

With that said, I wish I had been able to send in a question or two via Twitter to our President and ask a question about healthcare and the current state of the economy.  Many questions were asked on this subject and for the first time we got to see the actually Tweet and the President answering that question live.

Biz Stone @biz was a great facilitator of the first Twitter Town Hall @townhall. Even though he seemed a little nervous at first with the whole format. Heck, I know I would be nervous too if I was interviewing the President of the United States, at the White House using a new communication services that I helped create. Can you say “Fail Whale”..;-)

Biz was very quick to break the ice with President Obama and the audience when he made a slight joke  reminding the President that he only had 140 characters while he was typing his first live Tweet on camera to his  almost 9 million followers.

I am so very impressed with both Twitter and the President for doing this that I am going to step up my blogging efforts here on Twarketing. I believe Twitter has not even scratched the surface of what they are ultimately capable of doing with this new form of communication to the masses.

Take a look at the Twitter Town Hall and give me some of your feed back in the comments below.

.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

How many of us have done something stupid that we wish we had not done and that we deeply regret?  I sure have, and I know a lot of other people who have made some bad mistakes many times over throughout their lives.

Rep. Anthony Weiner (@RepWeiner) did a stupid thing then lied about it, then confessed to the world what he did and how it happened.  Twitter should thank Mr. Weiner because his mistake will forever become a teaching moment on how not to use their service.

Many famous and not so famous people have also done some stupid things in the misuse of their Twitter accounts but not till now has someone gone on public display in front of an international audience to tell their story of how it was done. Rep Weiner didn’t just say he Tweeted his now famous picture to the wrong person, which many have done. Mr. Weiner admitted that he mistakenly used the “@” symbol  instead of the “D” for direct message.

For those of us who do know the difference between an “@” and a DM message on Twitter, this is a moot point but for the millions upon billions who didn’t know what they were you can be rest assured they definitely know now. Unless you were fortunate enough to work for Twitter or happened to be one of the early adopters of using the Twitter service know one really knew how to correctly send a Tweet.  Yes, many books on the subject came out to explain the difference but before Rep Weiner not many would admit they themselves didn’t have a clue. I would even go as far as to wager that before this unfortunate incident many didn’t even know there was a way to send a private direct message to someone on Twitter.

Yes, Rep. Weiner did a stupid thing in using such a public form of communication like Twitter to send something so private.  And Yes, this mistake could very well cost him his political career and yes his wife may never forgive him for putting her through such an embarrassing ordeal. I for one hope he stays in public office and I do hope both his wife and family can weather this storm and come out of it with a an even stronger resolve.

What I also hope will happen is that Rep. Weiner will embrace this teaching moment and become a spokesperson as to how not to use public social media services like Twitter to send pictures of your privates…;-)

Take a look at the video below and judge for yourself.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

With all of the drama going on with the recent death of Osama Bin Laden, many have voiced their opinion by posting comments on Twitter.  One such person just so happen to be a professional football player who plays for he Pittsburgh Steelers.  Running back Rashard Mendehall used Twitter to make comments on what he thought of people celebrating after the news of the killing of Osama Bin Laden.  He later apologized for those same comments and tried to help people understand where he was coming from when he made those comments.  Take a gander at the two videos below which are reports from ESPN on Mendehall’s comments.

Twitter has become a tool used for many pro athletes to voice their opinions, both good and bad. The question is should athletes, who represent their respective teams be allowed to send out messaged to social media sites? I tend to agree with the group that says Twitter and other social media sites like Facebook are a form of free speech. If you use these forms of communication you are subject to the same accolades and consequences you would get if you used traditional media.

That means you would also be subject to be reprimanded if you say something that is out of turn or character of your employer.  One should be very very careful when posting anything using social media. Hitting that send or publish button could take you to a point of no return. Just ask many of the people who have been fired from their jobs for posting something that didn’t agree with the wishes of their employers.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

I have shoes older than Twitter, yet I seldom wear those shoes.  I use Twitter every day since I got my first Twitter account almost 4 years ago.  I didn’t understand it at first but my good friend @brentleary kept telling me that sending Tweets will be the next BIG thing. I resisted the urge to Tweet for almost a year then I got my first taste of how powerful Twitter really is in the world of communication.

This whole Twitter thing really hit me when the Twitter account of our current President of the United States, Barack Obama @BarackObama started to follow me.  Back then he was only the Senator of Illinois running for President but it meant a lot to me that he decided to follow me.  It was not until later on that I found out that he followed everyone who followed him at the time.

The point is I was so impressed that he thought to follow me, I started following others who in turn followed me. This time it was someone who actually knew me personally and wanted to follow the links I was sharing. We have been following each other ever since then and of course now I am hooked on Twitter.

So Happy Birthday Twitter!!! And thank you Brent for pushing me to Tweet for the first time.

All the best

JB

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

One person, two awesome ideas, millions of happy users. How is it that lighting can strike not once but twice with one person. Jack Dorsey, @jack co-founder of Twitter and founder of Square  has been in the right place at the right time with amazingly successful services.

Twitter has made the distribution of information to the masses both quick and easy. Square up has simplified how small businesses accept credit cards.

Jack’s ultimate goal in life is to make complex things simple.  He sat down with Charlie Rose on the Charlie Rose Show @CharlieRoseShow and explained how challenging it is to make things go from the very difficult to something that becomes very manageable and effortless.

Take a look and give us some feedback on how you use both Twitter and Square. Click here to check out the full interview.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Are you listening to what is being said about your company or your brand? Well both Gatorade and Dell have taken listening to Social Media to the next level with the help of Radian6.  The Social Media landscape is ever changing and more and more companies are finding out that listening to their customers and potential customers pays dividends.

Gatorade’s Social Media Command center was one of the first to concentrate on listening and  monitoring for its brand from Pepsico. Dell’s  command center launch just brings more attention to what they have already been doing when it comes to monitoring Social Media to help their customers with buying decisions.

Take a look at the 2 videos below and let me know if you think having a Social Media Command center will become a growing trend or a flashy fad.

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.

Does your company have a social media policy regarding the use of your company branded Twitter account? Well The Washington Post has just found out that they need to create a social media policy that protects both their company name and the integrity of their staff writers.

Check out the controversial article that prompted this whole issue of using a company branded Twitter account to defend the publishing of an article. “Christian compassion requires the truth about harms of sexuality,” by Tony Perkins.

This online article was written by a guest writer. The article argued that homosexuality is a mental health issue, which prompted GLAAD, a gay activist group to complain about the article via Twitter and on its site. Responding to GLAAD’s public tweets, a staffer from The Washington Post tried to defend the publishing of the article as giving a platform for “both sides” of the debate. The response only fueled more frustration from GLAAD, which took to Twitterto say that there aren’t two sides to the issue at all.

The Washington post has since sent out a memo to its staff by Post Managing Editor Raju Narisettithat that tried to explain the use/misuse of that company branded Twitter account.  See the full article and memo via Mashable.

I for one truly believe that every company, both large and small should have a social media policy.  Twitter has grown from something that was considered to be just a passing fad to a communication power house.  If large companies like the Washington Post have to rethink their use of Twitter, what should smaller companies do to insure that they make the right moves with social media as a whole.

So, has this issue sparked a thought on how your company should conduct itself on Twitter.  Have your employees spoken out of turn using your company branded Twitter account?  Isn’t it amazing how this new form of communication has made us have to think about how to respond to certain issues that may come up both now and in the future.

Please post your comments about this growing issue below.

All the best

JB

Post Footer automatically generated by Add Post Footer Plugin for wordpress.

No related posts.

Related posts brought to you by Yet Another Related Posts Plugin.