Twitter Pushes Out Instant Notifications

The news cycle in the Internet space these days is interesting in that it seems to have a herd mentality of sorts. There is one group that dominates the landscape for a short period of time, which gets everyone’s attention. In the time that everyone is looking at the most current shiny object (as of late Facebook is that) the other large players have a tough time making waves (Google is announcing a lot of changes but no one is taking real notice) and Twitter has just faded into the news background for now. It’s an interesting phenomenon that is created by the rapid rate of change and the fickle nature of the media and consumers in general.

Having said that, it looks like Twitter is busy in the background doing something. Their blog tells of the introduction of instant notifications that are going to be pushed out to iPhone users.

We want to make sure you see important Tweets even when you’re not looking at Twitter at the moment. To help with that, today we’re launching push notifications for @mentions.

Whenever an account that you follow mentions you, you’ll immediately receive a notification. You’ll know who is talking to or about you on Twitter, and you’ll be able to continue the conversation in real-time. Notifications for @mentions will initially be available on SMS and on the latest version of Twitter for iPhone, which you can download today from the App Store.

I had to chuckle a bit on this one since the term “important Tweets” is used which more often reads as an oxymoron but we’ll save that for another time. Because this update focuses on the @mentions function all this really does is serve the need of the inner-narcissist that many Twitter users have over developed in the past few years. Kind of like those video game thumb muscles that were never intended to be used like they are. God forbid, you aren’t glued to your Twitter feed when someone has retweeted your critical retweet that could end world hunger!

One interesting side note is to see the development order of importance for Twitter. The blog continues

In addition to @mentions, we’re also bringing push notifications for Messages to Twitter for iPhone, as we’ve already done with SMS and Twitter for Blackberry. We’re working hard to introduce this feature to Twitter for Android and Twitter for Windows Phone soon.

Considering the pace of Android devices flooding the market it looks a little backwards to rush to get that done while already having the Blackberry functionality in place.

So that’s the news for Twitter today. I am not sure who is in line next for the complete focus of the Internet media’s attention but for now we are going to have to suffer through a “breaking news” mentality around Facebook and every time Mark Zuckerberg gets a gas bubble. Yay.

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MySpace’s Full Rethink

If there is anyone out there who is truly interested, MySpace ( I want to put their new logo in here but I don’t know how to type it so it makes sense to a reader, which is a BRILLIANT marketing move by the way ) is getting ready to rollout a whole new look, feel, mission, mantra. You name it they’re doing it.

According to Bloomberg News

News Corp.’s MySpace is introducing a new website design with a focus on younger users in a drive to stem subscriber losses and distinguish itself from Facebook, the biggest social network.

Starting today, most U.S. users will be able to access the site’s most-popular music and videos, updated in real time. They can choose between homepage views and earn rewards for postings, according to Beverly Hills, California-based MySpace. The new version will be available worldwide by the end of November.

The strategy hinges on drawing 13-to-35-year-olds seeking an entertainment- centric social network separate from parents and other adults on Facebook, MySpace President Mike Jones said in an interview.

“This is a full rethink,” Jones said. “This is an entirely different product.”

I honestly don’t know what to say here. You have to respect the effort to get MySpace back into the view of social media practitioners and end users alike but does anyone have the time or the strength to add more social to their network?

Here are a couple of the more noteworthy changes:

-Three different ways or settings to view the site in ranging from ‘traditional’ to a montage / collage of messages, media etc that is updated constantly. Sounds like the ADHD sets answer to a stock ticker which must be the News Corp. influence in the project.

-Loyalty programs and labels / badges for those who demand to quench their insecurity through social media titles.

Probably more telling are the basic financials which start with the $580 million purchase of Facebook back in 2005 for about $580 million. From the Bloomberg article we see just how well this investment has worked out.

If the site doesn’t turn around, New York-based News Corp. will likely sell the business within two years, RBC Capital markets analyst David Bank said. MySpace is worth about $300 million, Alan Gould, an analyst with New York-based Evercore Partners Inc., said in an e-mail.

Whatever the end game, this whole effort and process seems to be putting good money after bad. With Facebook continuing to gain momentum and the landscape changing at a rapid pace it appears as if the likelihood of MySpace squeezing itself into the social media mix again (at least here in the US) is pretty slim.

Since I fall outside their target demo I guess I don’t even need to pay attention or care. Oh, I probably would do that anyway.

What about you?

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Mitch Meyerson Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars Interview

Mitch Meyerson has put together a fantastic book about social media, “Success Secrets of the Social Media Marketing Superstars”, but as important to me is the strategy he used to create the book. Anyone who has publishing aspirations should take a good look, not just at the product but the model.

I got a chance to interview Mitch yesterday about the book and his strategy behind it. Check it out here.

Here is the Music Player. You need to installl flash player to show this cool thing!

The book contains “the priceless secrets, strategies, tactics and insights of more than 20 of today’s social media elite.” (and me):

Contributions from 20+ top social media marketers
The biggest mistakes people make with social media and how to fix them
Actionable plans for all areas including social networks, blogs, web TV and mobile marketing
Real-world case studies, best practices and proven techniques from the experts

If you want to check out the book, the book site is:
http://www.SocialMediaMarketingSuperstars.com/

Thanks to Mitch for the interview and for including me in the book, and I hope everyone enjoys it

[Apparently I need some kind of disclaimer here. If you buy this book as far as I know I don't get any compensation at all. Look, not even an Amazon link! Hopefully someone will read my chapter and say "Hey, that Chris Garrett is the awesome, I need to look him up on the interwebs", but essentially I contributed for the Authority and just so I could say I was in the same book as those famous people.]

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Save 15% on BlueGlass LA’s Search & Social Conference

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Or perhaps you’d like to double up on your small group training for that week?

Well, be sure to take a serious look at BlueGlass LA–two days of search and social marketing training from some of the smartest guys in the industry. A follow-up to their highly-rated Search and Social Summit, Chris, Tony, Loren, Dave et al are “putting the band back together” for what will likely be another great conference.

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Oh, and Marketing Pilgrim readers will save 15% by using the discount code “pilgrim.”

So what are you waiting for? Head to LA, then catch PubCon Masters Group Training in Austin, TX. Three days that will likely be the best investment in training you’ll make this year!

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