Twitter doesn't do impressions

If you are in charge of a website with advertising on it, you should know that cost per impression is dead and you really need to find a new way of creating value to your content.

Referrals.

It's the new skool word of mouth, and what better way to break news or spread something useful/cool/silly/controversial than by using Twitter.

And Twitter doesn't do impressions. It does response - and it SHOWS me the value of what I share.

How does what I put on Twitter become valuable?

If you follow me on Twitter (twitter.com/richardphelps) and I share a link that you feel compelled to click, then that link just became valuable.

The more people who follow me that click that link, makes the link more valuable. If you like it so much, you feel you need to "re-tweet" my post, then the people who follow you also get it. Then their followers... and so on. Simulate the "Pyramid effect" and before you know it, the value of my link goes through the roof.

The value is created by response - NOT impression (or billboarding)

Nifty huh.

I'm now investigating ways to generate cash from valuable links - after all, I am 'advertising' or hey, lets even say 'promoting' something. Hell, lets even call it 'direct marketing' - and therein lies the rub.

So lets go back to the start of this post - if you are in charge of a website and you KNOW that impressions are dead - what kind of marketing/advertising/promotion should you be engaging in?

An Experiment
By the way, if you do follow me - and you got to this blog post via my Twitter post, the link you clicked to get here was tracked! So thanks for clicking. You will see a bar at the top of this window. Please help this experiment by clicking Tweet (if you have a Twitter account) or Share (if you don't and got here from Facebook, or somewhere else).

By the way, if you don't see a bar at the top and wondering what i'm talking about, click HERE and you can participate as well - coz you're very special indeed :)

I'll do a report similar to this (below) after say, a month and see how the experiment worked.


Help the experiment - please retweet!

Newspapers - the source of AGED news

Obama's successful presidency campaign, the Iraq Election, Michael Jacksons death - are the three biggest examples of how Twitter and the internet has broken news - and continued unveiling details on each of these stories freely, without editorial - just the facts.


The Daily Show took note and put the following together. Note - I've used this video so much in the last month, to show people how the internet, and moreso, Twitter - has been instrumental in bringing immediacy to news stories, it's mind blowing.

Before you watch the video - let me ask you... what is NOT in a newspaper?
I hope you don't have to watch this video to answer that question.. but here goes...

Yes Man

I saw it in cinemas. Last night when I saw the DVD in the shop, I just HAD to watch it again!

There are some great scenes with Jim Carrey, and credit to a stellar performance by kiwi Rhys Darby. Definitely Jim's best flick since Fun with Dick & Jane. Here are some of his great faces in Yes Man...

and below, the scene from the above still...

Michael Jackson, dead at 50

I don't think there will be any Memorial Children's Kindergartens named after Michael Jackson, but the pop icon has rocked me less than I expected.

A remarkable news day - Farah Fawcett dies from her long cancer battle, then Michael Jackson of a heart failure. We know this, because a credible source confirmed it.

Twitter has a lot to answer for when it comes to "a source". 19 minutes after it happened, reports of his death was on the air thanks to word spreading through Twitter. Yes, even Tweets of disbelief or jokes about recycling him.

Then... TweetTabs exploded with unconfirmed reports of the death of Jeff Goldblum. Citing the New Zealand Police as a source, trying to access their website was impossible - as you'd expect people are trying to confirm with this "source". I eventually got this from NZ Police.

I found on Google News another opinion piece by a UK journalist about today's explosion of deaths - but trying to click on it, his server was down, which is likely due to the massive amount of traffic across the world trying to look for a source.


It's probably due to the fact that his article was riddled with these key words: michael jackson, jeff goulblum, twitter, and death.

Tweet Tabs

Okay, so I've been using Twitter for a few months now.

It hasn't been too difficult to use, or remember to update. Reason being, there has been one program I've used that's been easy (until now) for me to use Twitter.

It's a Firefox plugin called Twitterfox. Now, it's a great tool to have but the more you use Twitter, it makes the browser sluggish - coz it's constantly pulling tweets from Twitter. This means its downloading.. all... the... time...

So I removed it and went searching for another solution.

I could just go to my default Twitter homepage: twitter.com/richardphelps ...however its a slow process to find new people, and use Twitter effectively - such as follow them, re-tweet their messages, shorten URLs to send... that's why I use Hoot Suite!

Anyway, today - lucky I jumped online, coz one company I follow on Twitter (@killerstartups) informed me of Tweet Tabs.

The moment I saw it, I "got it". I'm not even going to explain how it works, coz its very simple. You only need to be a Twitter user, understand what a hashtag is (and pick a few to follow), and you're set.

All TV and Newspaper newsrooms, journalists, media commentators, talk format radio, and anyone who wants to follow hot hopics, but also watch trending topics - needs Tweet Tabs.

My Tweet about Tweet Tabs is top left in the pic. Click image for larger view :)