Category: Web 2.0

Using Tweepml to Manage your Twitter Contacts and do away with #ff and #tt

  1. In January 2009 I complained how slow the Twitter interface is.
  2. Not much has changed since then for the better, especially since Twitter took away their pagination of tweets and from followers and following. Until then you could at least figure out where you had to look by fiddling a bit with their pagination. Now you have to wade through window after window.
  3. Looking up an old tweet it is also difficult, because there is a limit of (I believe) 3200 tweets the Twitter API allows you to look up. Unfortunately the way around that Storytlr has ceased to exist and changed into a community project that I have not been able to figure out yet
  4. If you want to look up a contact it’s not easy, especially if you don’t remember the exact name of who you are looking for. In January 2009, as proliferate list maker, I had set out to manually compose such list of my contacts and incorporate it here on a page to be able to look up a contact quickly by Avatar. Also I want such contact list alphabetically organized. I dicontinued that a year ago, because it was too cumbersome to do manually. In addition I got more and more followers.
  5. Fortunately, in the meantime Twitter has introduced Twitter Lists and Tweepml is building on that
  6. Although I do like the #ff and #tt principle, it annoyes me no end to see everybody doing nothing more than reiterating their love, which in my view is boring and a waste of twitterspace. Therefor it is ideal to make a couple of niche lists on Tweepml and give them #ff or #tt love. For your followers it is less cumbersome and if they want to, they can in one click follow your entire list if they want
  7. I myself am still in the process of curtailing the number of tweeps I follow. Especially since I use twitter on my mobile…the more tweeps you follow the more cluttered your mobile can get.

How to do it?

I had to delete this section, because after being banned by Twitter at a certain stage, Tweepml has been struggling to get their act together and get allowed by Twitter. Late 2011 it seemed they had succeeded, but somewhere in March 2012 I noticed they have disappeared completely. I think this is sad as they had a great service….

 

Last edited by GJE on March 11, 2012 at 1:41 pm

 

Scary Google

How Does Google Work?

If you click this or the image, it is better readable.

There is a lot of speculation online whether Google will dive into travel and what will happen then. But I say: Google is already heavy in travel. A big chunk of their income is generated by OTA’s (Online Travel Agents) who pay hefty to Google for their adwords and ppc’s. Google is scary!

Infographic by PPC Blog

Dutch Design (57): The Dutch Dress Guerrilla Marketing Babes leave FiFa with Egg on its Face

Part 1 of the story:

Bavaria, a small Dutch beer brand engages the stunning Dutch wife of one of the Dutch football (or soccer if you wish) players, Sylvie van der Vaart, to present its new marketing tool, The Dutch Dress (originally they coined it the Dutchy Dress).

You get The Dutch Dress free whenever you buy a crate of their beer, but you can buy it as well without the beer. Over 200k dresses have been sold by now.

The presentation of the dress gets a bit of attention already.

Sylvie announced she will wear the dress at the WorldCup matches…some journalists already whisper that will cause havoc with the Dutch Football Association, because their main sponsor is another beer brand. Noteworthy a brand that doesn’t hesitate to do some guerrilla marketing of its own.

Part 2 of the story:

The Dutch beer label provides a couple of Dutch and South African Babes with free tickets for the match Denemarken-Holland.
They enter the stadium disguised as fans of the Danes. During the match they strip down to the Dutch Dress and start singing. Several heads up shots follow.

Officials of the FiFa order them to leave the stadium, because the head sponsor of the WorldCup is another beer brand and this is forbidden. They do not comply immediately. Thereupon the babes are taken into a room of the stadium for interrogation by the South African Police. The South African babes are released after interrogation, but the Dutch babes allegedly organizing this ambush advertising campaign are arrested the next day and taken to the police station for further interrogation. Their passports are taken in and they have to go on trial and could face 6 months of jail, because Ambush Advertizing is against the law in South Africa….changed so by virtue of the contract South Africa signed with FiFA to get the WorldCup to Africa.

The Dutch foreign minister is already taking diplomatic steps and requested the South African ambassador explanation.

An English television reporter seems sacked because of he allegedly had provided the tickets for the ladies from his ticket allocation for members of his family…

Here is the Youtube footage of the act itself:

Questions

Off course this is a variant of guerrilla marketing. I love it! Not only advertises it the beer label, but also the fact that our Dutch ladies are stunning creatures. But should you be labeled as a criminal for this? Apart from a very tiny Bavaria label in the dress there is no clear Bavaria logo. An orange dress is a dress is a dress…nothing else..

South Africa has specifically enacted anti Ambush Advertising laws when they signed up with FiFa for this WorldCup. If this is true we should start to boycott FiFa. For South Africa this could mean that it sinks in the esteem of the international public opinion, just because it has already a history of lack of freedom of speech. It should never have given in to this requirement.

Does FiFa need this to protect it’s rights? My suspicion is FiFa’s actions just get the opposite of what they tried to achieve, because of the outcry their action creates in social media.

What is your take?

Update
On June 22, 2010 the prosecutor dropped all charges in the South African court after a delay of 3 hours. Reportedly so instructed by the South African Government and also reportedly because Bavaria and Fifa had reached an undisclosed agreement.

Brilliant Hotel Marketing by Radisson Blu: The Greatest Holiday on Earth

I’ve entered the Greatest Holiday on Earth contest.

The Scandinavia based hotel brand Radisson Blu (Formerly Radisson SAS and SAS without Radisson) has launched this brilliant and simple internet driven Web 2.0 contest. The participants have to enter the competition with a slogan, 4 photos and possibly a video to explain why they deserve the price, 365 nights in one or more of the 200 plus Radisson Blu hotels. They win the price when they have received the most votes. The hotels of the Radisson Blu portfolio are basically located in Europe and the Middle East. The winner may use the 365 free hotel room nights in 5 years. A brilliant prize and there is a lot of buzz forming already.

Once entered the participants have to use their social contacts to vote for them. Mind you, every 24 hrs they and their contacts may cast their vote. The contest runs until July 24st.

Would you like to vote for me?

Update
As we will never be able to take all nights ourselves, I’ve decided that if I win, I will throw 300 nights into a Travel Bloggers Camp somewhere in Europe so that 300 Travel bloggers can enjoy 1 free night for a two days event, or 150 Travel bloggers can enjoy two free nights for a three days event.

Com on travel blog friends let’s flex our muscles and show the world we can do this:-) Vote!

The Roger Smith Hotel Case

Chris Brogan about the Roger Smith Hotel case at the Web 2.0 conference (Web 2 Expo).

Update

Some quotes of Chris Brogan in this presentation:

  • Use Twitter Search. It’s a gold mine!
  • I had to be in New York City and asked on twitter: “Where should I stay?” Two well known twitterati answered: “The Roger Smith hotel” and then The Roger Smith hotel answered itself: “We would love to welcome you. We have a blogger Special” They reached out to me….
  • Look at the Four Seasons Hotel a couple of doors from The Roger Smith Hotel and compare the (lack of) action there with the action at the Roger Smith Hotel.
  • Sometimes the management and the Doorman of the Four Seasons have a look outside and wonder how The Roger Smith succeeds in getting so much more action than they are able to get. The answer is that Roger Smith has a live voice, communicating with us on the social platforms.
  • Listen 12 times more that talk. Talk about other people 12 times more than about your self. You get so much more back than when you broadcast only.
  • Ask yourself. How do we share?
  • How do we extend experiences and relationships?
  • How do we collaborate?
  • How do we build relationships that yield?
  • Do not go the road that is already there, but make a new road..
  • And don’t forget to check out Brogan’s Case Study links at Del.icio.us

Via Etourism.

Note this was Posted by Chris November 20, 2009. I wonder how he would look at Facebook now…