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Feb 24 2012

Your Fill In The Blanks Social Media Bandwagon Blog Post

Last year? Quora. This year? Pinterest. What’s Next? Doesn’t Matter: All you have to do is copy and paste what’s here, and fill in the blanks once the next new thing arrives. You’re welcome.

Joyous Social Media Users
Photo courtesy lightruth, used with CC license.

There’s no question that [BLANK] is the hottest thing going in social media right now. After its launch [6 MONTHS AGO, 6 YEARS AGO, LAST NIGHT], [BLANK] is attracting the attention of brands, venture capital firms and even the President [OF THE UNITED STATES, OF RUSSIA, OF MY LOCAL SOCIAL MEDIA CLUB CHAPTER].

We took a look at the inner workings of [BLANK] and we like what we see – there’s a reason for all the buzz! In fact, Social Media [GURUS, NINJAS, ROCK STARS] from [CITY] to [OBSCURE CENTRAL EUROPEAN NATION] are all jumping on the bandwagon.

So, should you join them? Well, here are some tips before you [GET STARTED, SELL AN EBOOK ABOUT “BLANK”]:

1. Don’t Ignore the Other Networks

“[BLANK] should be part of every brand’s social media strategy,” said [EXPERT, GUY OFF THE STREETS, SIMPSONS ANCHORMAN KENT BROCKMAN]. “In fact, the way it seamlessly connects with other networks, I can’t imagine life as a brand marketer without [BLANK].”

And, with the backing of [GOOGLE, MICROSOFT, THOSE GUYS WHO GOT INVESTMENT FOR THAT ONE THING], you can bet that [BLANK] will become part of the social media fabric for years to come, meaning that it will be another tool in the arsenal – and your experience [BLANKING] will integrate well with your experience [FACEBOOKING, TWEETING, QUORA-ING].

2. No Matter Your Industry, Learn From Others Who Use [BLANK]

Just last night, [WEBSITE] reported that a Not-for-Profit used [BLANK] with great success. “We [BLANKED] and, while we were wary that it was a bunch of hype, after [BLANKING] we totally love it. And, two people came up to me [AT AN EVENT, ON THE STREET, AFTER SEEING ME ON THE TODAY SHOW] and said they saw our integrated, strategic [BLANK] presence and planned to [DONATE, COME TO OUR EVENT, WATCH THE TODAY SHOW AGAIN].”

Pinsanity
Guess which camp we think Pinterest is in?

3. Even if [BLANK] Goes Away, Have Fun [BLANKING]

The founders of [BLANK] admit that they’re a little surprised by the attention. “I remember the early days of our startup [6 YEARS AGO, 6 MONTHS AGO, LAST NIGHT], when we wondered if anyone would [USE IT, FUND IT, GIVE US $200 MILLION DOLLARS]. But we stuck to it – we were committed to our dream, and, even though Mom and Dad told me how awesome we were, we knew that, until we had [A TECHCRUNCH POST, 25 USERS, JEREMY LIN’S ATTENTION], we weren’t going to make it. Now, though, we’re convinced – this will be huge.”

As with any emerging technology, there’s always some hype. But, if you use this template, you, too, can post about what [BLANK] is doing.

Have an awesome time [BLANKING]!

 

Written by Dave · Categorized: Bacon, Buzzwords, Poseurs · Tagged: Linsanity, Plaxo, quora

Jan 10 2011

Quora, Hashable and You

Ready for all sorts of Social Media Creamy Goodness? So are we! Time to dive into these relatively new tools – and compare their utility with Twitter. Follow along, young Jedi.

 

Quora
quora.com

First, Quora. Yes, another “Social Media Tool.” Not THAT kind of Social Media Tool – but the type that you can put to good use.

Questions and Answers on Steroids?

Another version of Yahoo!’s Q&A thing?

The LinkedIn Killer?

Honestly, kicking the tires on this puppy has led us to realize a couple of things here. First of all, you can probably get some good answers to your questions, and you can probably position yourself well as someone with something to say, if you use the site.

Secondly, it’s going to be a matter of time before the Spambots and “Social Media Tools” of the variety that try to sell you spambots and push-button systems get a hold of Quora.

From a UX experience, it’s okay. I’m not turning cartwheels, but I’m not kicking my PC yet either.

From a “Why?” perspective – I’m still not convinced.

Twitter had me convinced within a few minutes of its usefulness. Dive in to conversations, make connections, learn from each other. Don’t totally get that yet with Quora.

Hashable. After just one use, I have earned “Hashcred.”

The next question is what I can DO with this Hashcred.

Probably more was written about Hashable after its launch than Quora. Probably less is being said about Hashable now on social media because, well, it’s more of a tool that sits on top of other sites than a stand-alone.

To try this out, I decided to connect an action IRL – in this case, sending mail to @JPedde, whom I owed a Slurpee Coin – and using the hashtag “#sentmail” to tag this action. Below is what transpired on the Hashable site.

 

Hashable in Action
Result of a Hashable Interaction

Next, my Twitter account, which was linked to Hashable recently (earning me hashcred), posted a simple message:

DV on HashableNow what?

Well, while the motive APPEARS to be adding some real-life interaction to this online stuff we Social Media Types do all the time…Hashable might add a little less to the equation than Foursquare or Gowalla.

Plus, it doesn’t have all the Question and Answer capability of Quora.

So?

Verdict: Don’t Chase the Category Killers.

Seriously, these could both be great, world-beating tools. Or they could go the way of Netscape.

This brings us back to that advice that we’ve stuck to from the get-go:

Use what works for you. There are no rules. Dive in. Have fun. Don’t like it? Move on to something else.

Back to work, right?

 

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Written by Dave · Categorized: Uncategorized · Tagged: hashable, quora

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