Last night, at the All Things D’s D:Dive Into Media event in Dana Point, California, Peter Kafka sat down with Twitter’s CEO Dick Costolo to talk about the company and get an idea about the direction it was going. In case you’re interested, the entire conversation was liveblogged and you can read it here. But as I was reading it, I found something interesting about the conversation — Twitter is redefining its role in the world of communication. Some may think that it’s a medium to broadcast their message across the Internet, but rather, Mr. Costolo is telling the world, at least today, that Twitter is just the messenger. In fact, they’re not a media company. He responds that they’re in the media business whereby they distribute traffic and are one of the largest drivers to all sorts of other media properties. So by that definition, the media companies are those that are using the service to broadcast–brands, startups, politicians, and the average citizen.

During this interview, Twitter’s CEO was pressed on a whole lot of issues like SOPA and PIPA and even the 2012 elections. Many probably criticized Twitter for not participating in some sort of “black-out” a couple weeks ago over the Stop Online Piracy Act and Protect IP Act that was being debated in Congress, but Mr. Costolo defended Twitter’s actions by saying that “there were 3.9 million tweets that day about SOPA and PIPA. When you’ve got an amplifier like that, you don’t pull the batteries out of the microphone.” Seems logical to me because how else are you going to communicate your anger while still protesting?  It seems that Twitter has taken on the life of the messenger quite well and that you shouldn’t “shoot the messenger”. In other words, just like communication was done through paper mail or telephone tree or even email and message boards, so too now can people use Twitter as that medium and it seems Mr. Costolo is letting the service be all about the people and allowing them to communicate – as long as it adheres to all local laws.

As for the 2012 election, Mr. Costolo believes that it’s going to be the Twitter election — more than 2008 was. Why? Because it seems that all party presidential candidates and other potential office-seekers are using Twitter to get their message across. Just look at how yesterday, California Senators Barbara Boxer and Dianne Feinstein, joined Twitter. The fascinating thing about 2012, according to Mr. Costolo, is that this was apparent during this year’s State of the Union: “When Obama made the spilled milk joke, there was this collective groan, and we didn’t have to wait for the pundits to tell us that. Republicans live-tweeted.” News happening isn’t late breaking anymore…it’s just breaking. Mashable has analyzed these comments and believes that Twitter has become an essential platform for reaching voters and for gathering and responding to feedback in real-time — and they’re entirely right. No longer are we going to have to go attend a rally just to get 30 seconds with that candidate to ask them questions or ask one of their surrogates. Instead, if the candidate is serious about talking to as many people as humanly possible, voters can send a tweet and get some sort of a response back. Moreover, evangelist voters can create a rapid grassroots effort to help get out the vote as well.

Twitter has definitely helped shape the way people communicate with one another and as I look at the company, I don’t see another AT&T or Verizon or media company that controls the Internet airwaves. Rather, it’s a technology that we can use to communicate. No longer is the pen mighter than the sword…it’s the tweet that rules.

Photo Credit: kenyee/Flickr.com / Peter Kafka and Dick Costolo via All Things D

There is that classic saying that we have heard countless times, “Content is King”, and it truly IS on the Internet. Content on the Internet informs, entertains, and gains users for us. But how is one to do all that with Twitter when one only has up to 140 characters or less  to get one’s message across the vast web? Well lucky for us, there are tools available that allow you to share photos, videos and even polls with your Twitter audience and beyond. Below are a few tools to consider.

TwitPic allows you to simply post your photos and video in real-time directly to Twitter via their website, email or through your iPhone, Blackberry or Android. You will be provided a unique address to email your photos directly into your TwitPic account from your mobile phone. Location Data stored on your camera or video can also be included.

A photo emailed from my iPhone shows up in real-time on Twitter. TwitPic user names and passwords are the same as the ones you use in Twitter. Comments about photographs are sent as reply tweets. TwitPic URLs are already short, making it unnecessary to use URL shortening.

TwitPic stores your photos on their site and you can easily see who and what they are posting on the TwitPic Timeline. Your profile is automatically created from the information found on your Twitter profile. A users Twitter handle on their TwitPic profile allows you to follow them directly on Twitter from their profile, making it easy to build a greater Twitter audience.

TwitVid is focused on uploading fast Video up to 2 GB. You can actually post both Videos and Photos and choose whether you want to post to Twitter or Facebook when you upload your content. Upload and post from a number of options including your computer, Phone or Webcam and also from your iPhone, Blackbery and iPhone. Keep in mind that messages can only be 117 characters or less to make room for your video URL link.

Similar to TwitPic, you can log into TwitVid via your Twitter user name and password. You can even view your videos before the upload process is complete. Share with all your friends and followers via your Twitter stream and Auto Share video to Facebook. TwitVid can also be used with popular twitter clients such as Echofon, Twittelator, UberTwitter, Twitterrific, or UberSocial for Android.

Twittpoll.com allows you to create polls for your twitter audience who can then vote within a 24 hr. period on your poll. After your 24 hours is up, you will receive the overall results of the poll directly into your twitter account. As the author, you will also see any updates in your Home Timeline.

It is so easy and quick to create a poll, I can’t imagine why you would not create one to add instant content and engagement with your Twitter audience. To get started, all you need to do is authorize use of your Twitter account by Twittpoll.com, fill in the fields to create your poll and there you have it, your very own poll. Below is how your poll is shared on Twitter.

Researching people on Twitter is very limited – users have to settle for reading a 160 character bio, some recent tweets, and one link to another site. Twitter has proven to be an excellent medium for discovering new contacts, but often the information there isn’t enough. So, do you turn to Google and wade through an ocean of results? Look up their LinkedIn bio, blog, company website, or…?

With qwerly, one can simply type in a Twitter username, and the site aggregates all related social profiles tied to the account. It will even include recent activity for the profiles, including recent tweets and Plancast posts.

There are similar services for aggregating social profile info about users (Gist, Rapportive), but these services are for people you are already in contact with (mostly via email). With Qwerly, you just need to visit their site and type in a Twitter username.

What tools do you use to discover people on Twitter? Let me know in the comments or on Twitter.

Flickr CC: Daniel Greene

When Foursquare, the coolest lbs kid in town, favourite of approx. 3 million users with 200 million check-ins, was down earlier this week, the social web reacted with frustration, sad tweets, and hunt for alternative check-in services.

Apparently, the most dedicated Foursquare users hooked on rewards and badges even chose to stay at home , until they were able to collect rewards of their check-ins.

“We are hearing from many users (they want to remain anonymous) that they are staying at home until the service is restored. One user called us on our tips hotline noting that it just “isn’t worth going out if you can’t get a badge”.”

The concept of check-in also continues to heat up among businesses, especially fashion industry going gaga over the new ways location based services allow brands to interact with, as monetize their customers. Good example of how hot it is, Swedish retailer giant H&M just launched their first Foursquare campaign in Sweden, regardless the fact, that use of location based services is still fairly moderate in Sweden. Gowalla holds the pole position with 35 000 users against Foursquare’s 9 000 users. The buzz and eyeballs around the campaign evidently are worth as much.

Sharing location was seemingly hot concept already back in 2007, when Facebook filed for a patent on general sharing location mechanisms. The patent was granted this week, adding an extra twist on the already competitive space.

Map.pr Finds You Interesting Places With Help Of Groups

The one not afraid of patents and competition is Swedish Map.pr. Map.pr is all about location around groups and interests, based on the idea that your friends make the best maps. Map.pr uses places from Foursquare, building enhanced search on top to let you find cool places nearby recommended by your group members. No need to trust the “Giraffe sign”  I’ve been one of the beta testers, and since its release in July, the app has already had thousands of downloads.

When you check in with Map.pr, you still check-in with Foursquare, so you don’t miss out on any badges or mayorships. But what’s unique to Map.pr, with any check-in, one can also check-in with a group one belongs to. To give a sense of a venue’s popularity, unlike Foursquare, Map.pr iPhone app also shows how many individual and team check-ins a venue has. Anyone can create its own group, and the possibility to create and add venues via Map.pr is being added in the next coming update. Until now, it’s only been possible to check-in to already existing venues.

There’s no native Android app on the roadmap, instead an updated mobile web version with check-in functionality is round the corner. Check-ins with Facebook Places, which hasn’t reached Nordics yet, aren’t yet allowed by Facebook API, but instead Map.pr is about to integrate with new Facebook Groups, released earlier this week with both privacy blunders as upsides, to let you share check-ins within a group, private or open. As before, one can share check-ins to both Facebook and Twitter. Gowalla users have, for now, been left out of the service.

Map.pr White Label To Boost Businesses’ Customer Engagement

Cartomapic, the startup behind Map.pr, was founded early 2010 by a team with backgrounds in Google Maps and Spotify, surely qualifing regarding domain competence within location and app design. But, as all social check-in services, they’re about understanding and triggering human behaviour. Since grouping and categorizing venues as function isn’t considered a long term competitive advantage, Map.pr needs to do something else differently. One way is to monetize by competing with a more attractive price model on partnerships than its established competitors. It also plans to offer its solution as a white label, letting businesses create their own branded check-in services around events, releases etc. I find the idea of focusing on aggregating check-ins and information from several location based services, e.g. like Buzzd does with hottest venues nearby right now, compelling. By also aggregating check-in info into a comprehensive recommendation system for groups, I could see how Map.pr just might find its way to the end of the rainbow.

Paula is online strategist and startup evangelist. She blogs at paulamarttila.com and here at Bub.blicio.us.
Connect with her on Twitter, LinkedIn,
Drop her email at paula.marttila[at]gmail[dot]com

This morning was an eye-opener for me. For the first time I really stuck it to my boss publicly without losing my job.

After attending the AppNation Conference this week, former editor-in-chief at CNET and my current boss at NetShelter Patrick Houston, made the statement that“everything is an app” and that all publishers are software developers.

Clearly he’s dead wrong. And today, in blog battle format, I responded on Netshelter’s company site. It was liberating.

This exercise was refreshing –not just because I’m the clear victor — but because there’s a chance here for me to contribute as an individual rather than as a cog in a machine. Everybody talks about company-wide engagement, employee influence and enacting open leadership, but how many executives are comfortable with getting publicly bested for the transparency and exposure of the company?

Embracing the Truth: Good and Bad

We can talk about all the warm and squishy things social media and blogs can do for us, but when Pat decides to let me taunt him in my own voice, or guys like Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh leave the employee Twitter page up after laying off 8% of his staff –that is open leadership.

Decent leaders aren’t threatened by an employee’s version of the truth. They let them express themselves and look for ways to improve an organization from all levels of the organization.

The best thing about social media is that it cuts through hierarchy and gives everyone from the wage slave to the CEO a chance to creatively decompress. Embracing open discussion, extracting lessons, and finding recommendations create a healthy culture — one where I’m not scouring Linkedin or job boards.

My recommendation to Pat: Keep doing what you’re doing.
His probable recommendation to me: Good job kiddo, but try not to be so smug.

——————————-

Dana Oshiro is the Senior Media Analyst and Publishing Strategist for NetShelter Technology Media – a company that works with more than 180+ mobile, IT and consumer electronics publishers including VentureBeat, IntoMobile and MacRumors. She is also a contributor to ReadWriteWeb’s Startup Channel and she updates her personal blog Villagers With Pitchforks regularly. You can reach her by pinging @suzyperplexus or emailing her at dana@netshelter.net.

Related Articles:

• How to Get Published on a Premium Tech Blog (blogworld.com)

By Julie Blaustein

Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter

The Girls in Tech event, TWITTER NATION Fireside Chat with Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter was held at the incubator Kicklabs in San Francisco with over 100 attendees. It was moderated by Claire Cain Miller, reporter for the New York Times. The chat was full of new and interesting information about Twitter and, surprisingly Evans was quite entertaining.

Evan Williams is known for inventing the term blogger and in fact one of his previous companies, Blogger, was acquired by Google. His success is a result of his need to be driven by his passion within. He is a big fan of Napolean Dynamite who he sees as one of the biggest geeks that there is, but so geeky, that he is cool.

Twitter had over 90 million tweets the day of the event and has now more than 145 million users. Evans feels  there has been no real need for PR and Promotion until recently, and that is because they were “lucky” enough not to need it. Twitter shares a great deal of information not surprisingly, on their own Company Blog .

Eric Brown, Sarah Brown, Lisa Phillips and Dana Contreras of Twitter

Did you know that Twitter is hiring! They have grown to over 300 people and are continuing to grow. Williams feels its important to continue having meals together to get to know one another. Perks include not only working in SF but having your gym membership covered, yoga, pilates and of course most of your meals taken care of.

What is it like working at Twitter? The Twitter folks present at the event were more than enthusiastic about being a part of this fast-moving train that the entire world has either joined or is quickly jumping on board.

By Julie Blaustein

PR Summit Boot Camp, produced by Shaun Saunders of Graffiti PR and held in San Francisco, brought together experienced speakers in the PR world who provided great tips and insights into how the media and you should be embracing today’s changing landscape. The old and the new protocols of PR 2.0 are starting to blend and with it are new ways of going about doing the business of PR. At the end of the day, it was agreed by all that the key to successful PR is to create, foster and engage your personal and your businesses contacts along with those in your community to create your networks both online and offline.

Social Media & New Media Protocols Panel

There are a number of tools available at your fingertips to engage in social media. The burning question is, what social media tools are the most productive and which are the time wasters? The Social Media & New Media Protocols panel addressed this by asking the seasoned PR speakers how they go about their day in terms of social media. Myles Weissleder of Mylermedia still feels email is the best tool to focus on to do important communications. “Although its beneficial to check your Facebook and Twitter streams numerous times a day, doing so can take up all your time. And if your network is large, it can be like a fire-hose providing you too much useless information.” Daniel Lemin, formerly of PainePR and now the founder of Social-Studio digests his daily news through newsletters which he considers the most credible source of information. He then turns to his Twitter and Facebook streams but strictly for business, to seek out information about his own campaigns. His tools of choice include Hootsuite, TweetDeck, LinkedIn, Cadmus along with in-house proprietary tools. Preston Lewis of Bonfire Communications uses social media throughout the day to build awareness of events to come that night. “My personal and professional lives are blurred on Facebook while Twitter is strictly professional.” And Ryan Singel of Wired.com’s Threat Level views navigating websites as the best source of information and starts his day off by viewing numerous content aggregators through open tabs. He also finds Flipboard and the search engine Duck Duck Go most useful.

Facebook’s Manager of Corporate Communications, Matt Hicks, shared how to grow a company’s fan page. He used Facebook’s own Fan Page as an example of a successful Fan Page. It was launched after the Haiti Disaster and already has 14.8 million people who have Liked its fan page, 9 million monthly actives and 1 million daily actives. It has been promoted in organic ways such as through photos, videos, a link to its blog and is always creating fresh content. Each time you publish an update on your Fan Page with  photos, videos or links it will automatically go out into the News Feeds of all your fans creating not only virality but enabling your content to be searched and found by others. In addition, sharing content on YouTube and Twitter and directing users back to your Facebook Fan page also keeps them engaged.

Akilah Bolden-Monifa, Director of Communications with CBS5 | The CW44 cable 12 and CBS Radio has had decades of experience in the media. Although she receives tons of pitches through Twitter, FB and email for news reports, the reality is that most of the news comes from the wire services. If you are going to do a pitch, she suggests to keep it simple and keep in mind the basic 5 W’s – Who, What, When, Where and Why. To her, the Press Release is dead and ineffective for getting press. She toots the horn for Twitter. Being brief and to the point might get her attention while long wordy press releases, especially with attachments, will most definitely not get her attention.

The Old Spice campaign was brought up numerous times throughout the day as a great example of how using Social Media has revived an old brand. We all associate it with the smell of our grandfather so how did it become the phenomena it has become? Thanks to the cunning creativity of the ad agency Wieden + Kennedy and the help of Twitter, YouTube and Facebook, millions of people have viewed the campaign. Daniel Lemin summed the hit as a result of them taking risks and pushing boundaries. “They factored into their campaign that people want to be entertained, add that with the shock factor and you have a HIT.

Much more was discussed at the PR Summit Bootcamp and it was all captured on Justin TV. And check out Amie Vaccaro’s great summary of the confrerence in, “Graffiti PR’s 12 Tips for reaching Your Audience.”

Speakers Teresa Rodriquez, Alkilah Bolden-Monifa and Liana Burtsava

Myles Weissleder, Shaun Saunders and Leyla Fara

Ryan Singel of Wired.com's Threat Level

PR Summit Bootcamp Audience

By Julie Blaustein

Don’t miss the next big thing in advertising, social media and discovery!

The Geo-Loco Conference will be held in San Francisco on July 21, 2010 at the UCSF Mission Bay Conference Center where you will learn how geo-location services are going to be monetized and leveraged across industries and verticals.  You will discover what the new breed of Geo-Location-enabled services and applications is doing for brands, for businesses and for consumers.

Speakers will provide their expertise from agencies, brands, businesses and consumers including:

• Fred Wilson of Union Square Ventures (Keynote)
• Othman Laraki of Twitter
• Paul Adams of Lattitude
• John Battelle of Federated Media
• Andy Ellwood of Gowalla
• Matt Galligan of SimpleGeo
• Deborah Schultz of Altimeter Group
• Robert Scoble of Rackspace and many more!

As a loyal Bub.blicio.us reader, they are offering a special 20%  DISCOUNT!!! Register here and include the promo code bubble20

And don’t forget to join the conversation by following the Geo-Loco Conference on Twitter @geoloco2010 & #geoloco and their Facebook Page.