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My mother always told me if you can’t say it in 140 characters or less, it’s not microblogging.

Enjoy!

Mobile Microblogging

tinySCRAP – Location based microblogging

Qaiku – Integrates with Facebook

brightkite – Integrates with Facebook and more

Seesmic – Includes desktop app

floort – Share your opinion about anything * Integrates with Facebook, Twitter, Live, and Ning

P2 – WordPress microblogging

tumblr - Integrates with iPhone, Facebook, AIM, Twitter, and more

mysay – Record what you’re saying

Zannel – Share videos and photos

Rememble – Add texts, videos, pics, and audio clips from your PC

Build a Microblogging Community

Typepad Motion – Bring Microblogging to your website

Jaiku – Post from the Web, by SMS, or from desktop clients

Yonkly – You can host it yourself, and they have an opensource edition

Twingr – Stay in touch with friends, family, or those who share your interests

Microbloghost – This is a WordPress based microblogging host with an online translator

Business Microblogging

Socialcast – A microblogging platform that allow companies to stay in touch with their customers and employees * Integrate with iPhone and Blackberry/Includes desktop app

Cestu – A social marketplace for businesses to promote their products, services, etc

sharetronix – Microblogging with a multi-media corporate version

SlideShare – Upload and share PowerPoint presentations, Word documents and Adobe PDF Portfolios

Socialtext –  Includes social networking, microblogging, Wiki Workspaces, and more

Yammer – Helps companies stay in touch with their customers and employees.

Yahoo Meme – Of course Yahoo joined the microblogging craze.

presently –     A microblogging platform that allows companies to stay in touch with their customers and employees

Others

Identica –  A microblogging service similar to Twitter

koornk – A basic microblogging platform

Flattr – A microblogging platform that allows you to show the love by sharing the wealth

Twit Army – A public timeline based on laconica

youare – Import your life from Youtube, Flickr, Delicious * Includes a WordPress theme

posterous – Post by e-mailing post@posterouscom

dailybooth – A picture and video sharing microblog

hictu – Build a microblog with video, audio, and text posts

Spotjots – Share your life in pics with the world

12seconds –  Send video updates * Integrates with Twitter and Facebook

Sweetter –  Opensource microblogging

Sprouter – Collaborate and networking with other entrepreneurs

plerb – A basic microblogging platform

meemi – Microblog and comment on people’s posts

Secondbrain – Discover and share great bookmarks

textcurve –  Share anything anonymously

sFeed – A shopping microblog that focuses on fashion news and entertainment

blellow – Allows freelancers and professionals to collaborate, find work, and be more productive

twingly – Follow and discuss various topics or events

FriendFeed – A microblogging platform Integrates with Facebook, Google, and Twitter

echowaves – Pick up your conversation where you left off

blurtit – Ask questions and get answers

Plurk –  A basic microblogging platform

There’s a few others, but they weren’t worth mentioning.

Go ahead and comment, Tweet me , or e-mail me.

Erick

Recently, Pandora started telling its users what type of music their Facebook friends enjoy.  Now, if sites like Facebook and Pandora could tell me more about what my customer base enjoys, I might find more value in their advertising efforts.

Social networking trends come and go, attempting to allow people to better get to know their friends, colleagues, customers, and anyone else they network.  If sites like Facebook and Pandora could develop social networking technology to let businesses know what their customer base enjoys, so they could get to know them better, that would be valuable.

In social media advertising, a business owner doesn’t need Facebook to tell them about products they already know they may like or need, they want to know what types of products their customers and potential customers like or need.

Recently, mobile social networking leapt into a new frontier when HP acquired a cloud based social media marketing platform called Melodeo, which includes Nutise and MobilCast social media marketing, for $30 to 35 million dollars.  So, what does HP intend to do with the musical social networking platform it paid all that money for?  Time will tell, but they have something up their proverbial sleeves.

The beauty of Melodeo’s MobilCast is that users can listen to playlists they downloaded from the iTunes, or they can listen to their friends’ playlists.  Using those playlists, MobilCast discovers other music users may enjoy based on a music cloud.  I imagine it works pretty much the same way with friends’ playlists.

Social media marketing platforms are beginning to draw in more and more users through cloud based efforts, in which they can discover users’ interests based on users’ social media marketing trends.  Now, if they can harness that power to let business know more about their customer bases’ shopping habits, businesses might spend more money on their social media marketing efforts.

For now, until social networking sites start helping businesses listen to their customer bases’ habits, businesses would be wise to listen to the conversational Web through services like the ones listed in my blog on Listening to the Conversational Web.  For those who aren’t quite sure they want to spend the marketing dollars on listening, you can also check out this great blog on 25 Monitoring Tools that will not cost you a penny by Mirna Bard.  Whether you spend money or don’t spend money on listening to your customers, make sure you spend the time to listen to them.  Your business and your business endeavors will be better for it.

Do you have any comments? I’d love to hear your thoughts. Comment here, Tweet me, or e-mail me.

Erick

I found this blog written more than two years ago that lists 38 mobile social networking sites. Two years later 17 of them survived an onslaught of smart phones, apps for everything, and sites like Facebook and Twitter going mobile.

Of those 17, four offer mobile services Facebook, Twitter, and others don’t. I listed those mobile social networking sites, and  I put asterisks next to the four that set themselves apart.

Veeker – * Take videos on your computer and send them to your cell phone and any other cell phone.

3jam – Includes visual voicemail, voicemail sharing, and more. Not really mobile social networking, but it was on the original list.

flagr – * Create maps of your favorite places and share them with friends.

Socialight – Lets you build iPhone app. Not really a mobile social networking site, but it was on the original list.

Jaiku – Update your Jaiku stream. You can see your friends’ availability, location, and calendar events.

Zannel – Update several sites, including Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, and more.

Mig33 – Use the chat feature to connect to your e-mail and various other social networking platforms.

Mobiluck – * Let’s you know where your friends are, and sends you an SMS when your friends are in your area.

Broadtexter – Create a mobile club for your brand. Good for people who have an audience (tribe).

Zinadoo – Not really mobile social networking, but you can create a mobile website.

MocoSpace -  Includes free chat, games, videos, and more.

BrightKite – Update groups of people via text.

Treemo – * Create a personal mobile page via media: Image, video, audio, and text.

Wadja – A microblogging platform.

Rabble – Picture-sharing, blogging, places, groups, messaging.

JuiceCaster – Share your photos and videos from your cell phone.

Shozu – Updates your favorite sites at once.

Mobile social networking must evolve as mobile phones and major social networking sites evolve. Here’s a smaller but more recent list by ReadWriteWeb. Give it another year or so and more sites on both lists will be outdated.

I don’t think I’m important enough for people to want to receive texts that I found a coffee house that makes an apple cinnamon latte (Such a find might be worth the 140 characters via Twitter). If I see a good book, I might let people know. But I consider mobile social networking platforms other than Facebook and Twitter overkill. What do you think?  Do we need mobile social networking sites that update people via text?  Where will mobile social networking be a year from now?

If you want me to update you about the jerk who cut me off, the cute waitress who smiled at me, or any other personal details, let me know. I’ll text you directly. The point is, it’s one thing to make your Tweets personal. When it comes to forming groups and updating people via text, unless your Ashton Kutcher or Lebron James, that’s overkill. Aside from that, they use Twitter like the rest of us to update people.

Comment, friend me via Facebook, or Tweet me.

Erick

This past weekend I watched an old, 1927, black and white, silent movie called Metropolis. The more I read the captions, the more I realized silent movies were the first microblogging platform. For this blog, I will use Twitter as an example, but the list applies to all microblogging platforms.

Silent Movies vs. Microblogging

Text

Silent Movies: Writers had a limited amount of text with which to convey the most pertinent messages of a silent movie’s story line.

Microblogging: A limited amount of text should tell your audience a story about yourself and your products or services.  Your Tweets should be relevant, personal, and conversational. Not necessarily all at the same time.

Scenery

Silent Movies: Where writers couldn’t add text, scenery had to match the story line.

Microblogging: Your Tweets, your brand, and your website should match your message.  Write about what’s relevant to your audience, and brand yourself as caring about the same things your audience cares about.

Gestures

Silent movies: Actors used overt gestures and facial expressions (Silent movie actors studied the art of mime).

Microblogging: If someone retweets you, thank them. Interact with your followers and those you follow. And don’t be afraid to put a smiley face or wink in with your Tweets.

Future

Silent Movies: They evolved from one form of communication into another.

Microblogging: It evolved from one form of communication (blogging), and it will evolve into another form of communication.  Microblogging may not die out, much like blogging, but it will develop into a new form of communication.

I don’t think it’ll be too long before we’re using computers like the one in Tom Cruise’s Minority Report. Maybe them, social media marketing will become more virtual, and we’ll be able to interact with one another in holographic virtual realities.

Do you have any thoughts about what social media marketing might look like in the near or far future?  Go ahead and comment, e-mail me, or Tweet me.

If you’re engaged in Social Media Marketing, you should be equally engaged in Social Media Monitoring—the listening side of the conversational web.

You can listen for your name, your brand, other brands, your company, your competitor, or any number of terms.  Though, no matter who you listen to or what you listen for, it’s important you listen strategically and converse actively.  I listed some Social Media Monitoring tools. Some of them have free versions, so go ahead and peruse.

Social Media Monitoring Tools

Jive Software Radian⁶ BrandsEye PostRank BuzzGain SM2 Buzz Logic

Trackur Visible Technologies ReputationDefender Sentiment Metrics Brandwatch

StepRep CISION ScoutLabs Sysomos ListenLogic Vocus Social360 PivotLink

Questions to ask before listening

• Why do you want to listen to what people are saying (market research, customer relations management, etc)?
• What are you going to listen for (Name, brand, etc)?
• What mediums/people are you going to listen to (Find out where the most relevant conversations are and listen to those)?
• Are you willing to spend time and money to listen and respond?  If yes, how much?  If not, is it really worth your time? (There are plenty of free tools, but you don’t get what you don’t pay for).

Do you know of any other Social Media Monitoring tools, or do you have any other suggestions of what people should consider?  If so, comment, e-mail me, or Tweet me.

I believe in niche social networking site.  Since I am a writer, this week’s blog is a listed of various literary social networking sites.  Now, before you join all of them, find out which ones fit you best.  And after you join, become an active part of the community.  Be sure not to get into the habit of putting up profiles just to gain an extra link to your site.

Writers have a bad habit of being recluses who only network with other writers.  We need to network with our readers as well.  It’s all about finding your audience (Tribe).  I’ve put asterisks next to a few of my favorites literary social networking sites.  I don’t yet have profiles on all of them, but here are links to my RedRoom and San Diego Writers profiles.  If you have a profile on either of those, I’d love to connect with you.

Good Reads­ – This is a great site to read your friends’ reviews of books they’ve read.

Authors’ Den – * This is a great place for readers and writers to connect.

Shelfari – This is a great place to keep a list of the books you’ve read and want to read, as well as to see your friends’ lists.

weRead – You can get personalized book recommendations, share your ratings and book reviews, and connect with people with similar reading tastes.

Library Thing – This is a social networking site for book lovers where they can catalogue their favorite books.

Absolute Write – This isn’t really a social networking site, but they do have a forum.

filedby – * You can discover great new books here, as well as readers and writers can connect.

Internet Book List – The name says it all.  This is not really a social networking site, but they do have a forum.

CrimeSpace – This is a Ning site for people who like to read and write Crime fiction.

Book Marketing Network – This is also a Ning site for book authors and Publishers to connect.

Readerville – Another literary non-social networking site with a forum.  Though their forum focuses on bringing in weekly authors that people can begin conversations with.

Writing – This is a place where writers of all levels can build their writing portfolio and connect with other like-minded people.

Reader’s Circle – This is a great place for readers who are looking for a book club.

Critique Circle – As the name suggests, this is a place where writers can critique one another.  There is a ToolChest that offers great aids for writers.

For Writers – This is a great place to find writers groups.

Chick Lit Writers – This is a great place for women (okay, maybe some guys too) who write Chick Lit.

Forward Motion for Writers – This is a forum for writers.

Writing Forums – Another forum for writers.

editred – They offer a forum, as well as you can build your readership.

Red Room – * This is simply the closest thing writers and readers have to Facebook.

IndieBound – This is a great place for readers who support independent bookstores.

Nothing Binding – This is a place where writers can connect with other writers and promote their work.

She Writes – This is a Ning site where women writers can connect with each other and their readers.

San Diego Writers – If you’re a writer or reader in or around San Diego, or you just want to connect with San Diego writers and readers, this is the place to go.

If you know of any others, please comment.

Erick

I’m not a publisher, agent, or published author. I’m an aspiring author, who listens to the wisdom of those who have gone before him and pays attention to literary trends. With that said, please do not take this blog as authoritative or having come from first hand experience. Rather, take it as a student of the written word passing on what he has learned to you.

Almost 40 years ago, Dan Poynter couldn’t find a publisher, so he went straight to the printer and started the trend of self-publishing. Four decades later, self-publishing and the Internet have led to e-publishing. Now, websites like FastPencil, iPadPublishing, and Blurb help people self-publish their books in paper or as e-books.

Over the last decade, because of social networking, it seems agents and publishers have turned their attention more toward finding marketable writers with compelling stories. And it seems the success of writers has been determined more by writers’ writing good content and reaching out to readers.

Now, the advent of e-books and e-publishing will cause a new literary trend. Self-publishing and e-publishing have lowered the publishing bar, and because of that people can’t assume a book is good simply because it has been published. They need to rely on that book’s content. But they won’t know anything about that book’s content unless others who have read that book give them their thoughts.

From my vantage point, I foresee e-publishing causing the roles of the writer, agent, publisher, and even reader to change.  Ever hear that saying, ‘Everyone’s a critic’? The role of the publisher and agent will merge into one marketing entity (publishing consultants). The writer will reach out and listen more to the reader through traditional and social media marketing. And the reader will become like the agent, reading critically, and passing on their opinions to other readers.

All of this means that rather than the writer trying to seek the approval of a few people in the publishing industry, they will have to find an audience and seek the approval of their audience. And as that author’s audience approves more and more or less and less, that author will need listen to their audience (or the lack thereof).  I foresee the writer’s insurmountable publishing mountain will become a daunting literary mine field. Tread carefully, fellow writer.

Whether you’re a writer, agent, publisher, or even a reader, I’d love to hear from you.  How do you think the advent of e-books and e-publishing will change the literary world? Do you think lowering the publishing bar will even the playing field, forcing writers to write more well-written content and compelling stories? Or, do you think a lower publishing standard will simply water down good content, allowing anyone to become an author? I encourage your thoughts.

For more on me and my literary endeavors, follow me on Twitter @ErickWrites, befriend me on Facebook, or just e-mail me and ask.

Erick

For this week, I would like to explore the ethical issue of e-book piracy, so please read and respond to this blog with your thinking caps on.

Books lose their value due to wear and tear; but it is the e-reader, rather than the e-book, that loses value due to both wear and tear and new technology. Since what causes a physical book to lose value does not cause an e-book to lose value, the issue of e-book piracy is a two part issue. First, it is an issue of what we as readers allow to determine the value of literature. Second, it is the issue of what determines the deterioration of the value of that literature.

If it’s not considered stealing to rummage through a used book store’s free book bin, is there a point that an e-book, perhaps 20 years from now, will also lose value? What will cause it to lose its value? If a I can borrow a physical book from a library, shouldn’t I be allowed to borrow an e-book from a library? If I cannot borrow e-books from libraries, why should I buy an e-reader? For me, convenience is not enough.

Perhaps, with e-books, publishers will come out with a technology that allows friends and libraries to transfer e-books provided they agree that e-book be erased from their computer or e-reader. In the case of author royalties, perhaps authors, publishers, and distributors should raise e-book prices, thus accounting for waste and theft.

I am of the persuasion that literature is created to be shared not hoarded, but never stolen or pirated. How should authors and publishers handle e-book piracy? Should they raise e-book prices to adjust for potential piracy? Should they shy away from selling e-books much like so many would be authors never publish because of fears that someone will steal their ideas? I’d love to hear any thoughts or suggestions.

Again, my question is not about what defines e-book piracy, rather it’s where do the ethical lines of what is e-book piracy begin and end, as well as what determines the value and the deterioration of the value of literature? It’s obviously stealing to walk into a Barnes & Noble, take a book off a book shelf, and walk out of the store without paying for it. It’s not considered stealing to go to a library and borrow a book. If authors have a right to expect readers not to download pirated copies of their books, readers have a right to expect that they can share that author’s information with other readers in an ethical way.

Perhaps, aspiring authors, such as myself, can take a lesson from names like Harriet Beecher Stowe, William Faulkner, and Fyodor Dostoyevsky who determined the value of literature according to strong content that caused people to think and change society rather than fluffy literature that did nothing more than allow people to further delude themselves from the ills of society.

Next week, I’ll explore the issue of e-publishing, so make sure to come back.

Erick

For those of you who follow me on Twitter, you might have seen my snide remark about the Kindle’s black and white screen. I think I said something about it being 2010, not 1910.  Let’s just say, they’re a little behind, asthetically.  Since it’s too late for Amazon’s Kindle to lead the charge, they at least need to take the hint and catch up.

For now, there’s a new kid . . . er . . . I mean e-reader on the block, and this one rivals the iPad. Or as I like to call it, the iFad. I’d like to introduce ‘Novel‘ by Pandigital.

So, let me tell you about some of the cool features. Starting with the built in dictionary. One of my pet peeves is when authors insist on using big words that require dictionaries. Apparently, Pandigital gets frustrated with that also, because this e-reader comes with a dictionary.

Another great feature is for people like me, who actually enjoy 19th century Russian literature (i.e. Doestoevsky), but sometimes get confused with the names and places (not the words, though). Just search for a name or place by keyword and Novel will let you know who’s who, what’s what, and where’s where.

Okay, so you want more, and this e-reader gives you more. Pandigital teamed up with Barnes & Noble to bring you over 1,000,000 e-book titles to select from Novel. Each title includes a book summary, plot overviews, and more.

Now, if you’re anything like me, you can’t go for long without checking your e-mail and various social networking sites. Pandigital understands it’s important to keep up with what’s going on in the world of social media marketing, so they equipped this e-reader with a Web browser. And some of the features integrate your experience with social media.

Among a few of the other features of the Novel is the built-in camera, digital audio player (yes, there’s a place for your headphones), and more.

For now, if you really reall really must have the latest in technology, you might want to get the iFad, because the Novel by Pandigital won’t come out until sometime in June.

But, here’s the good news for those who can wait. It runs on Google’s Android, and it starts at just $199.

For more information, check out this great vid by Cnet.

Throughout the last several years, programmers have developed WYSIWYG (What You See Is What You Get) Web design platforms, allowing everyone to take their piece of the Web. Among the most popular of those are WordPress, MovableType, and Wix.  I believe that of all of those sites that allow everyone their piece of the Web, one will revolutionize the way in which we interact with each other through social networking.

For the past couple of years, ever since the iPhone went on the market, everyone has wanted the latest app. In fact, the saying goes, “There’s an app for that.” A while back, Evan Williams (CEO of Twitter) referred to Twitter as being part of a social networking environemt. If sites like Twitter, Facebook, and others are part of a social networking environment, then people who use those sites and connect them to their websites responsibly are social media environmentalists.

During the evolution of websites that allow people to develop their own websites, third party developers have added apps and widgets that allow people to integrate their websites with various social networking accounts. Those third party apps must be supported by that site; though, people want more security in knowing that the apps and widgets they put on their sites won’t harm their sites or their computers.

Finally, one WYSIWYG platform (Squarespace) has developed their own apps, giving everyone the ability to design their own website and the confidence in knowing where their apps came from. And because of this innovative WYSIWYG platform, I believe 10 years from now, we will look back on the Internet in the 2^nd decade of the 21^st century as the decade of Social Media Environmentalism.

In the future, I hope to see Squarespace develop apps and widgets for various other social media sites. And I hope sites such as WordPress, Movabletype, Wix, and others will follow.

For now, we the people of the World Wide Web want apps for that and everything else, and we don’t want to have to worry about our security. Squarespace just started a new trend—Social Media Environmentalism—and those who build their sites using Squarespace can pride themselves on being some of the very first Social Media Environmentalists.

Let’s get a conversation going.  Let me know your thoughts.

Erick