The major changes to branded accounts in Twitter include:

• More prominent logo and taglines
• Customised headers
• Self-promoted tweets to appear at the top of the brand’s timeline
• Promoted tweets to automatically expand so the user will view photos or content that was posted as part of the tweet
• Allows brands to separate @ replies and mentions

Ad Age reported on the story, mentioning a quote from Chief Revenue Officer, Adam Bain that resonated well with me:

“A tweet’s only 140 characters,” said Mr. Bain. “[Brand page are] like an invitation to learn more. When consumers want to learn more, spend more time or get deeper in terms of engagement, we think they’ll end up on the brand page.”

We always knew Twitter was going to transform into something bigger, who would have thought they would transform into something that Facebook and Google+ are already offering?

You can find out more about the Twitter redesign Twitter’s advertising blog.

What do you think of the new brand pages?

I couldn’t agree more. Now there are probably a handful of people out there who should NOT be on Twitter solely because of what comes out of their mouths on any given day – getting on Twitter would equate to a career limiting move! But those people should probably not be in PR.

And “being on Twitter” doesn’t have to mean Tweeting five times a minute, either. Some of the most interesting people who I follow only Tweet a handful of times a week but they’re usually sharing a great insight or pointing out a must-read article. And that’s OK.

If you’re in public relations, here are five reasons you should be on Twitter:

1. Media Are There: As of two years ago, there were more than 500 Australian journalists on Twitter and if you follow your favourite journo closely you’ll often find them asking for sources or story ideas. If you’re proactively looking for opportunities to get media coverage for your client Twitter is a smart place to be as you’ll find those opportunities and develop better relationships with journalists. All part of the core job requirements of any PR pro.

2. Trains You to Move Faster: PR in general moves fast. The thing I love most about Twitter is that it gets you in the habit of moving and creating content even faster. What’s trending one minute is yesterday’s news the next minute. In order to give clients great counsel and be one step ahead, we need to be on top of what’s trending on Twitter whether it’s to provide them with something to retweet, to share an insight on something that’s trending in the media or to inspire them to start participating as well.

3. Better Manage a Crisis: When I spoke at a travel industry conference in Taipei last year, I woke up to a massive rumbling at 6AM and saw my hotel room literally move two feet in either direction. It turned out to be my first earth quake – a 6.5. The first thing I did was went to search.twitter.com and looked for “earthquake” and “Taipei” – nothing. Checked CNN – nothing. Because there had been nothing on Twitter I half believed that it couldn’t have been an earthquake. Today Twitter is the first place media and consumers turn when there’s an issue – whether its’ a product recall or massive natural disaster. If your client or your brand is the issue then you need to be there in the conversation and getting your side of the message out – otherwise no one will believe you!

4. Cross-Business Collaboration:  The great thing about Twitter is that it serves a number of cross-business functions and gives PR an opportunity to use social media to improve ROI across the enterprise. For example, you might engage the HR department to use Twitter to recruit the next wave of talent. It might give you an opportunity to engage customer service to better manage customer feedback and reduce the burden on more expensive call centres. Or you might have a chat to the head of product innovation and talk about how to listen to what customers “wished” they could get from your brand.

5. Find a New Gig: We are hiring for a digital strategist and last Friday I was given what was billed to be a great CV by a recruiter. Even before opening the CV, the very first thing I looked at was her Twitter account which contained zero Tweets or even a profile picture. While she had to go into the “no” basket, you’ll position yourself well by at least being present on Twitter and if you follow hash tags like #jobs you might even spot an opportunity or two for yourself. (PS – interested? DM me for details).

Lastly, being on Twitter will allow you to explain what the hell a “hashtag” is – and how to use it an event. And if you want to follow a great hashtag check out PRIA’s PR Directions conference hash tag at #PRDir!

What do you think? Are there other reasons to be… or not to be… on Twitter.

The Cantonese term derived for the action of “not honoring the agreed appointment” is specifically phrased “Fong Fei Kei” (direct translation: Let the Airplane Go). Acts of this “Fong Fei Kei” (FFK) culture is often practiced in some Asian Societies; that it has become an expected behavior.

Two brothers here in Malaysia, Eugene Ooi and Eu Veng Ooi have decided to capitalize on this less accepted norm of social conduct by creating a ticket matching service through the power of Twitter and a site cleverly created under the URL http://ffk.me.

All tickets are submitted by registered users of the site and auctioned off to interested buyers. Twitter fits perfectly into the system with its real time abilities to alert followers of the Twitter account @fongfeikei of tickets that are up for grabs.

Users may also tweet @fongfeikei to inquire for specific tickets which will be RT-ed to other followers. Or to sell you tickets/ promote your events.

At least through this service, there is some hope of salvaging some of the lost investment from a person who has already declined your invitation with a questionable excuse.

As a previous beta tester, ffk has managed to turn around a large amount of glum into some relief for folks who have no idea what they can do with potentially under-utilized tickets. Pretty neat idea eh?

I’d personally like to see a mobile app come out of this. Do you think something like FFK has potential in your country?

블로터닷넷이 창간 5주년을 맞아 ‘한국의 트위터 이용 현황’ 조사를 실시했습니다. 최근 2년 4개월의 데이터를 토대로 한 이 조사를 통해 대한민국 트위터 유저들의 사용 실패를 파악할 수 있을 것이라 생각합니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

880 million tweets have been sent worldwide from April, 2009 to the present point. The number of Korean Twitter users is estimated about 3,017,625 people. Among these, the number of active Twitter users who tweet at least once a day is estimated about 1,179 people. Moreover, the number of users who send tweets at least once a month is 445,339.

조사 기준 시점인 2009년 4월부터 지금까지 발생한 트윗 수는 8억 8천만개이며 한국 이용자는 대략 301만 7천 625명으로 추산됩니다. 하루에 1회 이상 트윗을 작성하는 트위터 마니아는 1,179명이었고 월 1회 이상 트윗을 작성하는 유저도 44만 5천 339명이나 되었습니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

Average Korean Twitter users have 126 followers and follow 119 people creating average 453 tweets. They seem to receive more mentions than sending mentions to others. However, the number of retweets (RT) that they sent out was greater than received RTs.

한국 트위터 유저들의 평균 팔로워 수는 126명이고 이들을 팔로잉하는 유저들은 119명으로 나타났습니다. 한국 트위터 유저들은 평균 453개의 트윗을 날리며 타인을 멘션하기 보다는 맨션 받은 적이 더 많았고 본인이 타인을 RT한 횟수가 RT된 횟수보다 많았습니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

Koreans users have shown their active twitter usage during 11pm – 12am. People are most active on Tuesday and least active on Saturday.

한국 트위터 유저들은 주로 저녁 11시~12시 사이에 가장 많이 트위터를 이용합니다. 화요일에 가장 많이 트위터를 이용하는 반면 토요일은 가장 적게 이용하는 요일입니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

As known as the most famous city in the nation, Seoul is the city where people tweet most. Especially, Tweets are sent most frequently in Gangnam-gu and Seocho-gu area.

서울, 경기 지역은 가장 많은 인구가 사는 도시답게 전국에서 가장 많이 트윗이 발생되는 지역이었습니다. 수도권에서도 강남구, 서초구에서 특히 많은 트윗이 발생하는 것으로 나타났습니다.

Source: http://bit.ly/qNX8Un

Among Subway stations in Korea, City hall station, Kang-nam station, Yeok-sam station in Seoul are where most tweets occur.

지하철역을 기준으로 조사했을 때는 서울 시청역, 강남역, 역삼역 순으로 트윗 작성수가 가장 높았습니다.

In defense of his friend, social activist @fahmi_fadzil  tweeted in reference to the HR policies by a local publishing company for “giving her so much s*** because she was preganant” This went on for a number of tweets with responses by angered folks on Twitter with word such as “angry” and “retarded”

*Screenshot taken off Malaysiakini.com

In a twist of fate, legal action has been issued by the publishing company with a most idiosyncratic pronouncement. Fahmi was sentenced to tweet an apology 100 times a day for his act of defamation along a total of 3 days to his 4,300 odd followers.

What is happening now is a stream of media attention directed at the company with more severe name calling and messages. Social media has started to react.

The term in the last few hours to use is “#defahmi” (An obvious wordplay between fahmi’s name and defamation). The question to bear in mind is “what kind of statement was the ‘defamed’ trying to get at?”

 It definitely now has more attention than it cried out for when most Twitter uproars in the country are a “let bygones be bygones” and usually quelled downed in a day or two (unless there is persistence of course). A situation that could have been kept off the radar if it now isn’t repeatedly tweeted 100 times a day.

With new media laws still being freshly popped in and out of the oven, legislations and settlement forms for platforms such as Twitter are still unclear for now. Defamation itself too is a loose belt of the law that’s hard to justify and find evidence for.

 It’s becoming plain to see though, that some parties should consider the reaction of the hyper-reactive Social Media stream before hitting the “Send Tweet” button.

For Twitter-holics like myself (where tweeting is like verbal diarrhea), this serves as a reminder to pay careful attention to what is being tweeted.

Fahmi is now an International sensation (with 400 new followers since appearing in the headlines), appearing on the 7th Twitter trending topic, and is one case that would be interesting to continue to observe.

How many Twitter followers do you have? Many people brag about it. In the real world of runners, however, things might look quite different, specially if you spend so much time behind the computer.

To prove the point —and engage consumers with their Buenos Aires 10K race— Nike created an innovative Twitter application that allowed users to compare their running stats with their Twitter followers and followees and determine who follows who in real life. Watch the InterTwitter Race video here video for the details and very impressive results. All the explanations, in 140 characters or less.

Another great example of digital activation is the sponsorship of Planeta Terra (one of the biggest music festivals in Sao Paulo) for Volkswagen Fox.

A clever combination of free tickets with scarcity tactics —the few hidden tickets were discoverable only by tweeting about the promo— made #foxatplanetaterra jump to the top of the charts in the Brazilian city, achieving a very cost-effective boost for their participation in the event. Watch the groovy Fox at Planeta Terra Twitter Zoom video here.

Both have a lot in common apart from using Twitter. Not only they take advantage of social media to create WoM but they move people to action. Users don’t just share links or play an online game. They do something outside their computers or mobile devices. The two campaigns blur the line between online and offline.

Note that no complicated technology or expensive hardware is required. By using a freely available tool like Twitter, they show clearly that the power still lies on the ideas. Simple, well executed ideas that appeal to our very human nature.

More examples of these kind of work to come.

This is an interesting survey and provides a glimpse on how small and medium sized businesses are dabbling (or not) in social media.

Tim Reed, CEO at MYOB and quoted in the release, observes that the hype in social media hasn’t yet translated to full scale adoption, which in my opinion is not a surprise, especially as 35% of those surveyed don’t even have a website.

What do you think?

More importantly, the digital savvy business owners and marketing teams in these businesses are focusing on their websites, and optimising content for search. The latest MYOB Business Monitor also reveals:

•    Female business owners are slightly more online savvy than male business owners, with 39% of female business owners having a website compared to 32% of male business owners.  Female business owners are also more likely to use social media to promote their business (Female 20% vs Male 17%).
•    Businesses in West Australia are more likely to have a website (40%) and more likely to use their website for marketing and sales – ecommerce (25%).  Compared to Queensland, with 32% of businesses with a website and 17% using their website for sales and marketing.
•    Business owners in New South Wales are the most likely to belong to business networks online (22%), compared to business owners in West Australia (11%).
•    Businesses in South Australia are more likely to use social media to promote their business (27%), compared to businesses in New South Wales (15%).

Here’s a clip from our interview…

In a market where even the undisputed heavyweight champion of SNS, Facebook, has struggled to gain traction, a little bird named Twitter now rules the roost in Japan.

According to ratings agency Nielsen Online, 16.3% of Japanese Internet users tweet, or “mumble” as it is translated in Japanese. This is compared to less than 10% of Americans. Perhaps the most stunning aspect of this story is the blazing speed which this little bird has added to its flock. Twitter Japan launched a Japanese language service in 2008, but it wasn’t until a mobile version was introduced in October 2009 that things really took off.

Having left Facebook and MySpace in the dust long ago in the Japan market, Twitter users finally surpassed the long-time king of Japanese SNS, Mixi. Following the example of Masayoshi Son, a Twitter evangelist who also happens to be CEO of Japanese mobile phone and data provider Softbank, Japanese businesses are waking up to the necessity of having an effective social media and more often than not, it is Twitter they are most interested in.

Opportunity no longer knocks in Japan. These days, it tweets.

Fast facts:

• 16.3 – Percentage of Japanese on Twitter
• 9.8 – Percentage of Americans on Twitter
• 3 – Percentage of Japanese on Facebook
• 8,000,000 – Number of tweets per day from Japanese users
• 12 – Percentage of global tweets that come from Japan
• Japan recently set the world record for tweets per second following a recent world cup game

Note: This blog entry was based on an Associated Press article by Yuri Kageyama.

Amid the excitement of this year’s Wimbledon tennis tournament, IBM have released their 2010 “Seer” mobile Application, built by OgilvyOne London.

IBM actually launched their first Seer Application for Wimbledon in 2009 and also brought it to this year’s Australian Open tournament, but for this  year’s Wimbledon the Application has been updated and improved to include some stunning features:

• Live video feeds from around the stadium – Allowing users to see Tennis matches, Taxi ranks, etc from anywhere inside the stadium.
• Live radio – so users can hear the commentary as they are watching the game
• Real-time augmented reality – Pointing the phone’s camera around the stadium shows the user which matches are currently playing on the various courts (and other information)
• A Twitter client – allowing you to tweet about the match you’re watching

This is an amazing application that really adds value for the spectators at the event. Check out the video of it in action:

See through walls! IBM Seer Wimbledon 2010 demo