Earlier today, Director of Programming for Xbox Live, Larry “Major Nelson” Hyrb asked his sizable twitter audience the following:

What new features would you like to see in the Xbox LIVE Twitter or Facebook applications? I think we know…but tell us

Months ago, Microsoft was first to take a step into the social networking space, adding apps for Facebook, Twitter, and Last.fm to Xbox Live, the pay-to-play online network of the Xbox 360 gaming console. The Twitter app was essentially a simplified client to view and send tweets, with support for twitter search and trending topics as well. Though it worked just fine, there was hardly any value to tweet on the Xbox, for without a keyboard, the process of posting and responding to tweets proved to be quite laborious.

The Facebook app took the integration further, allowing users to post status updates along with the ability to edit their profile, and view photo albums. Arguably the most useful feature though was the ability to find facebook friends that also have Xbox Live. This Facebook app was a refreshing step in the right direction of integrating social media with gaming platforms in a truly useful way,

While I gave each app a fair shake, there wasn’t much substance to them, and little incentive to use them again (with the one exception noted above). I had all but forgotten about the whole affair until I saw Major Nelson’s tweet this afternoon, and that got me thinking.

Allow me to look up the gamertags of people I follow on Twitter, along with those who follow me.

Just like the Facebook friend lookup, why wasn’t a similar feature for twitter rolled out as well? Though I’m sure there’s a solid argument that the average Xbox Live user who is on Facebook is also likely on Twitter too, your friend/follower audience does not necessarily overlap completely. For me at least, plenty of my Facebook friends have 360s, but most of them are not followers of my gaming blog’s twitter account.  It seems like a fairly no-brainer, simple feature to implement, yet here we are without it.

Make Xbox.com more public, and integrate social streams from Facebook and Twitter as well.

Xbox, being a Microsoft product, has benefited from some of the natural synergies of other MS brands, such as the Windows Live ID. Xbox.com allows the player to log in with their Windows Live ID, view their friends, check achievements, etc. While a pretty cool idea on paper, the reality is a somewhat half-baked social network that is completly invisible to non xbox-live users, and has a frankly ugly interface.

But what if Xbox.com functioned almost like the World of Warcraft Armory, where you could look up anyone who had live (or by email address), check out their games, achievements, etc, all without necessarily needing to log in first. What if you could integrate your Facebook and Twitter streams? To me, Xbox.com is such a missed opportunity, one that sites like Raptr and GamerDNA have managed to fill in the interim.

There is a missing link. People like to share the networks that they are on. Look at all the social media icons on the sidebar of this blog, or any blog for that matter. Notice anything missing? Why can’t I link to my  Gamertag profile? Xbox Live is heavily reliant on network externalities, the idea that the value of a network grows as the number of people using it increases. So shouldn’t Microsoft want for me to  promote to everyone and their dog that I am on Xbox Live, and they should join too? It sure seems like a no-brainer to me.

Get these features out of the submenus, and put them front and center.

Probably what has hamstrung the Twitter application most is the fact that it was not readily available on the dashboard, you have to first go down to the community section, find the twitter icon, and then enter it. Its not available from the main xbox menu. And you know something? It needs to be. I need to be able to hit the xbox button on my controller, and in fewer steps than I can count on a hand, be able to post a status update. That update needs to be visible as my avatar’s “motto”, the small chat bubble that appears over Xbox Live member’s avatar when their profile is viewed. I need to be able to view any of my friends profiles and instantly be able to see their Twitter handle, if applicable, along with their linked Facebook account (should they choose to display it).

Stop hiding these applications if you expect people to use them regularly. Make it easier to update your status. Perhaps its offering the word predicting feature that the PS3 has. Perhaps its allowing you to tweet out your achievement the moment you receive it (I personally think status updates full of achievement notifications are annoying, but I know there are people that love this,  so there is definitely a market). Offer the ability to tweet the group you are in and the game you are playing, so that other friends that may not be logged on, but are watching their twitter feed will see it, and be able to hop on and join the party.

I doubt I am sparking any epiphanies for Major Nelson and the  Xbox Live team with these ideas, but you asked, so I answered.

Posted via web from Jeff’s posterous

Posted via web from Jeff’s posterous

via mashable.com

I must have missed the boat on MySpace during its heyday, but it certainly has lost relevance recently. The one thing I have always appreciated on MySpace is the music aspect. Perhaps this is just a sign that their intended size is no long realistic, and they should be refocusing on the needs of bands.

The music-focused social network market seems much less competitive than the general do-all be-all that Facebook has come to dominate. I could see MySpace making a strong case against the likes of Last.fm.

Posted via web from Jeff’s posterous

To some, it can seem daunting to maintain a twitter profile. Hundreds of people to follow and a constant struggle to stay relevant to your existing followers while attracting new ones can make twitter feel like a lot of work sometimes. So some people might think me crazy to have multiple accounts. I recently started up a video game site focusing on the industry and the community, Northwest Gamer. The site is partially an outlet to share my hobby with the web, but its also a personal test of my ability to build an online community.

Different Strokes for Different Folks

Obviously social media is a big part of this project, and a key ingredient is Twitter. Less than a month into this project, and Twitter accounts for 80% of my site referrals. I suspect that focusing a twitter account solely on my target audience has helped this spike in traffic to my site. Most of the followers on @jeffrshearer are not likely to be interested in my video-game related commentary, while the same is true for my @northwestgamer followers.

Previously, my main twitter account attempted to serve all of my interests at once. It was both a professional networking tool and social instrument, and while this is still true, I have narrowed my focus on @jeffrshearer to focus on digital marketing, while @northwestgamer publishes my gaming activities. It is my belief that with this tactic, I can build a stronger, more relevant following with each of my individual twitter personas.

Twitter is used in many different ways, but it is my belief that it should not be all of these at once. There is simply too much noise on Twitter to risk trying to be everything to everyone. If you struggle with follower retention and growth, find your niche, your beachhead, and dig in!

There are a lot of blogging options out there to choose from. Blogger is probably the most popular, and one of the easiest to get started with. I originally started on Blogger, but I was left wanting more in terms of features and expandability. It allows for nearly limitless customization of its appearance, but the work involved in building a professional grade blog on Blogger can be time consuming.

Wordpress, on the other hand, allows much more in terms of extensibility via widgets and plugins, but has limited customization as a free blog. Hosting is limited, and CSS editing is disabled unless the user opts to host the blog offsite or pays a fee for editing capabilities.

If you want to blog and not pay a dime, the choice between Wordpress and Blogger is difficult. If you already own a domain or have hosting, Wordpress is the obvious choice. This website is powered by Wordpress, and I frequently find myself recommending the tool over Blogger for its no-nonsense interface and powerful extensions.

I’m not convinced purchasing additional hosting/css editing via Wordpress is worth it however; my recommendation is to purchase your own hosting and domain, through a provider like Blue Host (my host), and building a wordpress blog on it. You get all the advantages of a custom domain, more than enough hosting to meet the needs of a personal site, and full discretion on layout and design. For around $6-7 a month, I strongly recommend this strategy (plus, when you have money involved, you are more likely to post on a regular basis).

If you blog, what tool do you use, and why?

Social Media is often tough to describe. Even as a professional in the field, it is hard to find an all-encompassing description that isn’t endlessly long. I like to direct people to the wikipedia definition of social media, because it itself is a form of social media, and who better to describe the phenomenon than the social media revolution itself?

While watching my twitter feed this morning, I came across a tweet referencing the video below, which attempts to awaken the viewer to the “social media revolution”.

So what do you think? Is social media just a flash in the pan?

As a young, recently graduated marketing professional, I get a lot of questions about twitter. What it is, what its for, what all the bustle is about. Considering the infinite number of ways that people use Twitter, I thought I would outline how and why I use twitter, to give you an idea of how it can be used, but more importantly why.

Affinity

I first joined twitter when I heard about it at a marketing conference, reasoning that if all the techies and the pros used it, why not me? Since then, I am a big follower of the latest technologies, especially in the social media realm. I’ve even started a career in the field.

Personal Branding

A big part of getting the job is looking the part. With terms like social media and search engine marketing flying around, simply knowing about them is not enough, you need to embrace them too. Besides, your posts on twitter say a lot about the type of person you are. That’s why I think Twitter is so much more useful in personal branding than most other social networks. Many people are making a conscious effort to join the service to show that they are aware of new technologies, and not just using it as a place to post pictures of the last party they got drunk at.  The users worth following tend to post relevant and insightful tweets.

Sharing

One of the main things I use twitter for is posting links to videos, articles, news, anything that spreads. Sharing links is simple and measurable; I can see the effectiveness of my tweets by the amount of people who follow me.

Ultimately, as the writers of Groundswell put it, “concentrate on the relationships, not the technologies”. The basic idea of Twitter can and has been duplicated, but more importantly it can also be improved upon. Find how you want to express yourself and share online, then choose the technology that works for you.

http://twitter.com/JeffRShearer

Yesterday I made the journey down to Seattle for the monthly American Marketing Association (Puget Sound chapter) luncheon. The topic of this month’s event was “Mutually Beneficial Marketing: Why businesses and brands need a good purpose”, and the keynote speaker was Caroline Dettman, the managing director and executive vice presidentt of the Chicago Consumer Brands practice who also serves as director of the U.S. Consumer Practice at Edelman.

Caroline focused her discussion on social responsibility as a cornerstone of successful businesses today. She argued (with supporting research data) that consumers prefer brands that support worthy causes, and are willing to pay more because of it. They are even more likely to promote the brand to others through word of mouth. Even in a recession, where value is key, consumers still prefer companies with purpose. Consumers believe that companies are spending excessive amounts on advertising, while that money could be better spent towards a good cause. Social purpose is sometimes even more important than price or quality when distinguishing between competing brands.

These statistics show that marketers and consumers are finally on the same side,  at least when it comes to social causes.  Caroline related “social responsibility” to charitable causes, environmental consciousness, etc while citing examples such as Dove, Quaker Oats, Brita Filters, and other success stories.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iYhCn0jf46U&hl=en&fs=1]

To maximize the effectiveness of these social causes as a source of brand equity, new social media is ideal. Viral campaigns, social networks, blogs, and other word-of-mouth facilitators can be invaluable in conveying a company’s worthwhile purpose.

Carol’s closing comments resonated with me: “Word of mouth, social marketing, and new non-traditional channels are key to bringing the social purpose concept to life in a world of Attention Deficit Disorder and 24/7 communications.”