Konamoxt, Inc.

If you read my last post, on using Twitter as a marketing and communications platform, you might have said to yourself, “Self, sounds good, but I’m not sure where to begin.” Well, first of all, there are some tools you’ll want to familiarize yourself with. Tools for twitter? Oh yeah, there’s a bunch of them. But here’s my list of the top tools I’ve started using to help manage my twitter presence.

Analytics Tools

As you build your twitter network you’re going to want to understand how it’s growing, whether your efforts to follow more people are making a difference, and most importantly how you rank relative to other influential tweeps. There are several tools out there for determining your rank. Here are a couple of my favorites.

• Twinfluence - In my opinion, this is one of the most powerful tools for understanding your Twitter footprint. The basic principal of this tool is that it will do detailed analysis of your twitter follower/following network and determine several key metrics. The most obvious metric is your Reach - which is the size of your second order network. Several tools out there will measure this for you, but twinfluence takes the analysis one step further and also tells you things like the overall “stability” or “fragility” (depending on if your a half full or half empty kind of thinker) of your network. Is your network overly dependent on a few followers with large second order networks? If so, you could have a big hit to your network if they unfollow you. Note: Twinfluence asks you to provide your twitter credentials to use it. By entering this information into any third party site you leave yourself open to the risk that that site could hijack your twitter account. Use this tool and any tool that asks for your credentials with caution. Consider changing your password after use.
   
• Twitter.Grader - Similar to Twinfluence, Twitter.Grader will analyze your twitter account and give you a grade on a scale of 1-100. Then show your relative ranking globally, and in your region. This is my favorite aspect of Grader. Of course I liked it better when I was in Seattle Elite. Now, enough people have discovered twitter.grader, that I’m no longer in the top 50 for Seattle. But I’ll get back there, just wait and see!
   
• TweetStats -  Oh, I can’t make a list of Twitter Analytics tools without ginving a hat tip to local Seattle twitter maniac @dacort, and his super slick TweetStats. Unlike Twinfluence or Twitter.Grader, TweetStats doesn’t give you analytics about your network. Instead it focuses on giving you stats about your tweets. What are you tweeting about and when. It gets top prize for absolutely the coolest charts I’ve seen in an analytics package in a long time.

Tools For Managing Your Network

The basic approach to growing your network on twitter is to find people that you might be interested in following or that might be interested in following you and engaging with them. Twitter has a very limited number of tools to help you accomplish this goal, and so there are a couple of additional tools you’ll want to add to your arsenal to make a big impact. Here are a couple of important additions.

• Qwitter - Twitter will notify you when someone starts to follow you. But it doesn’t notify you when someone stops following you. To fill that information gap you’ll need Qwitter. Generally speaking qwitter does a good job of noticing when someone drops off your follower list, and it sends you an email to notify you of the person who left and the tweet that drove them away. Sometimes it misses a dropped follow. Some people think that tracking Qwitters is unproductive. Certainly you shouldn’t obsess on losing a follower, so use this tool with caution.
   
• Tweet Later - Tweet Later has so many features it’s hard to know which category it belongs to. I’ll put it in this category because one of the features I like the best is the auto-refollow, and auto-follow-reply. A little background: if you’re going to use the Guy Kawasaki approach to twitter, then it’s customary to re-follow anyone who follows you. If you’re getting 100s of follows a day (which if you get serious about Twitter, you may likely hit that range) then manually re-following can become quite a task. TweetLater will handle this for you. Another twitter custom is to send a message thanking people for following you. Usually you do this with a Direct Message, but you can also do it with an @reply. TweetLater lets you automate this process, with your own custom message. TweetLater can also be used to manage automated tweets, but I’ll discuss that more later.
   
• Friend Or Follow - This tool will tell you who you are following, that is not following you back; who is following you, that you are not following; and which tweeps you are mutually following and being followed by.

Tools For Automated Publishing

Depending on how integrated your online life is, you may or may not want to blend your other social publishing platforms with your twitter stream. But no matter which direction you’re looking to cross-publish, there’s a good chance you’ll find an add-on or widget that does the trick. Here are a couple of tools I’ve found and use regularly.

• Blog Integration - One useful tool is a plugin to your bloggin platform to publish a “new blog post” tweet to my twitter stream whenever you post a new blog post. There are plugins for all major blogging platforms to handle this. Here’s one I prefer for the WordPress platform. This is really useful for spreading the word about your blog. I’ve seen tweets which generated “best day ever” traffic to blogs. I’ve seen tweets that resulted in StumbleUpon spikes. And probably most importantly I’ve seen tweets about blog posts that caused spikes in my twitter followers lists. The point is, if your in the business of spreading your “media brand” then make sure you cross populate your twitter stream.You can also integrate your twitter feed onto your blog using RSS or other twitter widgets. This can be another great way to grow your twitter follower list.
   
• Twitterfone - There are hundreds of twitter clients out there. But twitterfone is one of the coolest. It’s a pretty simple concept. You call a number, speak your tweet, and twitterfone records your tweet, transcodes it to text and posts it to your twitter stream. It also archives your message as an MP3 for later playback. This is a great way to update your twitter stream when you just can’t type in a message. Like, say when you’re in the middle of an Ironman Race and there are lightning strikes coming down around you, or you’ve almost been hit by a car while walking across the street.
   

Other Types of Tools

Ok, the truth is, there are just too many tools to document in one blog post. Other tools to look for include: alternate readers (that can help you manage large following lists) one that comes highly recommended is TweetDeck. I’ve used it a little, but haven’t quite got it configured to my liking. You can also set up RSS feeds of your fried feed, and use your favorite RSS reader.

There are several tools for searching, monitoring, and watching various keywords and hash tag (#) topics. So far, I’m really excited about what TweetLater offers in this department.

If you know of other useful tools, please share them with me.

Note: In my next post I promise to give some details about how I went from 500 followers to over 1,200 (high quality) followers in 1 week, while maintaining my “resilient” rating for Centralization/Network Stability on Twinfluence.

Filed by Brad Hefta-Gaub at 8:00 am under Social Media
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I have a confession to make… when I first signed up for twitter, I thought it was a waste of effort… but lately, I think I’m starting to “get Twitter”. Its finally becoming clear to me why Evan Williams has been so confident that Twitter is really “the next big thing”. 

I first signed up to twitter earlier this year. I suspect my introduction is pretty similar to most peoples introduction to twitter…

I followed a couple friends, posted some “is this thing on” tweets, and tested the SMS features. Ok, the technology worked, but so what?

After a couple months, my follower list had grown a little, mostly from friends or colleagues of mine who were also signing up to twitter, and like me, had searched for people they knew who “might be on twitter”… I’d get emails telling me that so and so was following me, but when I checked it out, I didn’t see much to their streams other than the same “hello, anyone here?” type tweets I had posted.  I still hadn’t figured out what to do with this gadget.

Then, a couple months ago, as I prepared to race my third Ironman race, I had an idea for integrating my fitness blog, with a “live stream” of my race. Now stick with me here, fitness is not just my passion, it’s also my business. Konamoxt’s primary product is Sweat365.com, a fitness portal. A big part of the emphasis of our product focuses on how ordinary people can reach amazing fitness goals when they have the right tools, information and support. And so the idea of me live blogging my Ironman race seemed like a natural use for my until now relatively nascent twitter account.

As I turned back to my twitter account, I discovered that in fact I’d picked up a handful of fitness followers… people I have never met, but they found me through the social graph that is twitter. What’s particularly interesting about this seed “fitness group” within my growing twitter follower list, is that they found me. I hadn’t exactly been a very interesting person to follow… until now… But now, I had a reason to to share. And so I began to actually tweet.

There are plenty of things I could tweet about… Business (many of my early followers are fellow entrepreneurs); technology (many twitter early adopters are technologists); politics and current events (what with a Presidential election and economic collapse on our hands); and I could also unapologetically talk about fitness. I don’t think I put much thought into, I just started tweeting. Tweeting whatever came to mind. But from day one, I have been very deliberate that this stream I am creating is Content.

Unlike facebook, where the social network is person centric, twitter’s open follower/following paradigm lends it’s social networks to be more content focused.

As someone in the “Media Business”, this content derived social network is a significant advantage.

This content orientation isn’t new of course, blogs are all about content, and only loosely related to people. And blogs, which largely pre-date the “social network” boom do have some early beginnings of network connectors in the form of blog rolls. And as any good blogger knows, Blog rolls are great resources for discovering other like minded bloggers.

You know the drill,  you have a blog you love, then one day you check out a couple blogs from the blog roll, they turn out to be good to, you engage, you comment, and if the author engages back, you extend your network.

Twitter, has it’s equivalent of the blog roll, in the Following list. The list of other tweeps that this this twitterer is following. But twitter also shows you, all the other people who are following the original twitterer, and this is where the real power of twitter is revealed.

Imagine if you could start a conversation with every reader of the most prestigious periodical in your industry? What it if you had the email address of every reader Wall Street Journal? What if you had the phone number for every viewer of “Lost” or “Heroes”?

If you’re in the business of delivering content, and building your brand by marketing your content in the social internet, this is a gold mine. You now have a completely transparent list of all the people who find any particular topic interesting. And, you can immediately and directly engage with them.

And this is where the controversy over how to use Twitter really comes out. Guy Kawasaki is a huge Twitter fanatic, and although there are several other internet illuminati with strong Twitter footprints, Guy recently stepped out on a limb and declared his bold philosophy about how to use twitter as a marketing tool. He’s not alone in his belief (I agree with most of what he’s saying, and clearly by how people like Jason Calacanis, Chris Brogan, Gary Vaynerchuk, and others, we’re not alone in seeing the value in these relationshops).

Guy’s twitter strategy can basically be summed up as: follow everyone, tweet about anything and everything, don’t be bashful about promoting yourself or others as you go along.

Guy’s caught a fair amount of flak for this. And there are many folks who disagree with his approach. One of my earliest followers, local Seattle startup guru, Marcelo Calbucci, recently posted on his blog about the “Wrong Way” to use twitter. Marcelo’s a great guy, and I’m sure he won’t mind me disagreeing with him on this. But Marcelo’s post basically argues the exact opposite position that Guy makes. My sense is that Marcelo hasn’t yet “got it” when it comes to Twitter. (I hope I don’t lose him as a follower now that I’ve posted this.)

The detractors of Guys approach usually use the “but it’s spammy” argument for why you shouldn’t use this technique. But here’s where I think they have it wrong.

The number one rule of publishing is always to make sure your content is compelling. If your content really is just spam, you won’t last long.

If you’re a spammer, real people won’t follow you. And unlike blogs, you can’t really comment spam, twitter’s paradigm actually allows the publisher to manage the contribution of external comments to her conversation in a much more direct manner. James Governor had a really great post that details not only the technical but social implications of this style of conversation. If you’re a developer thinking about scaling its a great read on its technical merits, but its an even more compelling read for doubters of the twitter tide.

Finally, let’s not forget, Twitter is just like any other media source, as a viewer you can always just change the channel. If you don’t like how Guy’s using twitter, then just unfollow him!

Filed by Brad Hefta-Gaub at 8:00 am under Social Media
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Cruising around my favorite blogs lately, it seems clear that the latest thing to do is discuss your thoughts on the current “economic crisis”… who am I to buck the trend? As an entrepreneur, I can’t help but think about the effects of the economic down turn. How it effects my business, my customers, my business partners, and the world in general. You can’t open your web browser (or turn on TV for you less “advanced” media consumers) without hearing the latest on bailouts, foreclosures, and the stock market roller coaster. 

Putting aside for a moment the debate about whether or not the bailouts thus far have made any positive impact, and whether or not potential bailouts of the Auto Industry are needed or even a good idea, I was struck by a strange reaction to recent news in the Sport world, of Dustin Pedroia’s new contract, and it got me thinking more about why I am an entrepreneur, and more deeply about what it really means to have the American Work Ethic.

What? Sports? Dustin Pedroia? American Work Ethic? Bailouts? What’s the connection?

For those of you who aren’t baseball fans, you might have missed the news that this year’s AL-MVP, Dustin Pedroia signed a controversial new contract for 6 years and $40 million… the controversy is that he “let his colleagues down by taking such a small contract”.

When I mentioned there was a controversy about this contract to a friend who’s not a baseball fan, her jaw dropped, she was flabbergasted by the idea of a grown man making $40m for playing a game. (No, I’m not interested in opening the debate about salaries for professional athletes. Their salaries are nothing compared to the salaries and severance packages of most Wall Street executives and non-executives.)

But I was stunned while watching ESPN’s “First Take” show on Thursday Dec. 5th with what Rob Parker, a sports columnist from Detroit, suggested was wrong with this contract. Rob argued that by taking such a ’small deal’, Dustin was letting his teammates and other professional players down. His argument goes something like: other MVPs have signed $15+m/year contracts after their MVP seasons, sighting examples like A-Rod, Manny, and others, and by taking less Dustin is leaving money on the table, and possibly starting a downward trend in the market.

Setting aside the detailed technical debate that baseball stat heads would love to have about the value of these players, what struck me was that Rob Parker was essentially criticizing someone for make a personal choice (whether or not to accept a job) because he felt that that choice makes it harder for other people “to get what they deserve”. He went on to say “I am totally against anyone choosing to get paid ‘less than what they deserve’ for doing any job”.

Ironically, I had just flipped the channels from CNBC where the discussion was the auto industry bailout. The debate there was whether or not the unions would agree to renegotiate their existing contracts in order to assist the companies in surviving this downturn. Although you won’t hear this stance taken on CNBC, I know that many “union supporters” will make essentially the same argument that Rob Parker was making… “But they had a contract, they worked 30 years to earn that health plan, that pension… they are owed that!” This is in fact the exact argument I have heard by proponents of Wall Street for why executives should be unapologetic about their golden parachutes and big bonuses. “Hey, they have a contract, they earned it!”

I have to get a kick out of the fact that these various sides would actually point fingers at each other, and insist that the other is being greedy and not constructive, when it seems clear to me (and I hope many others) that they are all essentially making the same argument… an argument that goes something like “I was always in it for myself, that’s the American way, right? And I got you to agree to this deal, and now I’m owed it.”

I’m reminded of a lesson I learned back in Kindergarten. I convinced a classmate to trade me his “GI Joe” action figure for a pack of baseball cards. I guess I was a born negotiator, I had no problem convincing him that he never played with the toy (true) and the pack of cards could very well contain that card he needed to finish his collection (true, but not likely). I didn’t care for baseball cards, and I really liked those action figures; he didn’t have much interest in that action figure, and he really wanted to complete his collection. The deal was made, and I walked away. He opened the cards, found they were all duplicates of cards he had, and went crying to his mother.

Was it a fair deal? Sure, both parties understood the deal structure, no one was coerced, it was perfectly ethical… But that’s not how his mother saw it. And it only took a couple minutes of an angry phone call before I was sent over to Jimmy’s house to return his GI Joe.

After words, my Dad sat me down and said “Just be cause you CAN do a deal, doesn’t mean you SHOULD!”

I can’t help but wonder if we haven’t gotten into this mess due in large part to the idea that everyone should be “in it for themselves”… and “get the best deal they can now!” I don’t want to come off as a bleeding heart liberal, because, I really don’t see this as a liberal or conservative issue. I see this as a basic ethical issue… and in some sense I see it as something that boils down to motivated self interest.

I am a naturally selfish person. I’m a fan of Ayn Rand’s “Virtues of Selfishness” mantra. But as Rand argues in many of her essays on the subject, many behaviors that we often associate with self-interest may in fact be counter productive to ones own self-interest. I’d say we’re clearly living in the midst of a crisis created thanks to the actions of people who were primarily driven by the concept of “self interest” taken to an extreme… and many of them will in fact suffer greatly. I fully expect the parade of perp-walks similar to what we saw after the collapse of Enron and WorldCom.

I Googled “American Work Ethic” this afternoon, and came across and interesting read from 2003: “Revisiting the work ethic in America“. This was written shortly after the Enron and WorldCom debacles and details the historical view of work ethic and how it has evolved throughout the years.

According to research on the Protestant work ethic, some traits associated with a strong work ethic include asceticism, integrity, independence, diligence, motivation, loyalty, and dependability (Hill, 1996; Kern, 1998). 

I’ve often been described by my colleagues as being very driven and hard working… I’ve been told I have a strong “work ethic”. But I’ve never really thought that… I’ve often responded that I have a horrible work ethic, but I have a great “play ethic” and I’ve been luck to have jobs that I love doing… they are just play to me.

Although, I’ve never met the man, so I can’t say for sure, I suspect that that’s what explains Dustin Pedroia’s decision most clearly… He’s not out to “get what’s his”… because he already has all he wants. 

I’m not suggesting that people should work hard and not reap rewards for their effort. I’m not suggesting that people who work hard, should get paid well. But I think it’s time we stepped back and asked ourselves as a country and as individuals, what is in our self interest? Is an incessant drive for wealth and material things really healthy for us as individuals or as a country?

They say that a being rich is not defined my how much you have… but instead, by how little you need.

Filed by Brad Hefta-Gaub at 12:49 am under Entrepreneurship
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This is a blog about the business of being in business. There are plenty of blogs you can read by entrepeneurs and start up CEOs, so why do we think we should add to the noise? Well, we’re far to humble to promise anything revolutionary here, but we do believe we have a fresh perspective on different aspects of technology, media, and building businesses. And more importantly we are big believers in listening and learning from our peers, our customers, and anyone who’s willing to share their opinion with us.

So, with that in mind, here we go.

Filed by Brad Hefta-Gaub at 12:00 pm under Random Thoughts
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