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TweetDeck’s Presence Felt In Twitter Redesign
Twitter rolled out a major redesign last week and announced brand pages at the same time. While the brand pages announcement is by far the most exciting part of this, we’ll have to wait to see their full implementation since they’re available only to mega-brands at the moment. You can read all about the redesign here.
You’ll remember that Twitter purchased TweetDeck earlier this year, and at the time there was much hand-wringing over what Twitter would do with its new toy. Theories ranging from a complete shutdown of TweetDeck to a shelving of the popular 3rd-party service were flying around. Then, the redesign happened and we have an answer to the question of what Twitter will do with TweetDeck. The answer? Harness that team’s ingenuity into making the Twitter site and mobile apps a real choice for power users. The designs are strikingly similar; from the “compose” button all the way down to the fonts, the TweetDeck’s teams fingerprints are all over this.
For the longest time, many people (I among them) argued that the worst part about Twitter was its own webpage and its mobile apps. When Twitter purchased TweetDeck in May for the low, low price of just $40 million,functionality was a big reason I thought they were making the move. Twitter’s functionality was a reason many used services like TweetDeck; and many still do. The gap is getting smaller though, and I’ll predict that within the next year, TweetDeck will simply be known as either Twitter Web/Desktop App. It’s all the same company now, so TweetDeck shouldn’t care about what it’s being called and Twitter SHOULD want to have its name all over power-users preferred app.
A few other things I’ve noticed:
- Your Real Name Matters - Rather than your username, Twitter is displaying the name you’ve given them as the prominent identifying text. That’s bad news for spammers, because they just got even MORE obvious. It’s fantastic news for those whose name is their brand; freelancers really benefit here.
- Twitter Is Going After 3rd Party Apps - Seesmic, HootSuite and other popular 3rd party apps have been put on notice by this redesign. What Twitter did isn’t all that different than what the Angels did last week in signing Albert Pujols. Twitter went and got the big free agent name to help them win; and that free agent just smacked a huge home run.
- Twitter Is Morphing Into A News Aggregation Site - I’d love to say I thought of this, but the good folks at Poynter thought it first. I’ll paraphrase a bit of what they have to say, and I’d encourage you to click through and read that article. The new Discover section is huge. It’s a personalized news wire and what you tweet is much more important now as each tweet is embedable. Tweet with care and compose those in a way that encourage people to use them on their blogs and elsewhere.
What about you? What do you think of the redesign? Love it? Like it? Hate it? Think I’m off my rocker? Let’s hear it in the comments.
Why I’m Proud To Proclaim I Quit Klout: A Response to @JasonFalls
In response to Jason Falls’ post yesterday.
Jason has made some very valid and accurate criticisms here. I’m sure there were many people whose feelings were hurt because of the change in Klout’s algorithms. I didn’t really care that mine went down, and while I will admit to liking the fact that I had a score of 60+ before the change, my ego or professional self-worth has never, and will never, be attached to Klout or any other kind of online social ranking method.
Know why I quit Klout? I wrote about this when I did it, but allow me to reiterate. I have no problem with Klout, as long as people have agreed to have their online presence measured by Klout. The fact that the company was creating profiles for people who hadn’t signed up for the service worried me. Again, I’ve LONG said that your online privacy is your responsibility, not any company to whose services you subscribe, but the catch there is you’ve agreed to their terms of service.
As for my deletion of my Klout account making it more difficult for those using Klout correctly; tough cookies. Tell Joe Fernandez to stop making profiles of people who haven’t agreed to allow Klout to track them and get back to me. When Klout tells me someone like Shonali Burke is influential about the Kardashians, I find it more than a little difficult to take seriously.
There are real reasons for deletion of a Klout account. Will I sign up for Klout again in the future? Probably. I think it’s absolutely a step in the right direction, and they’re blazing a trail in social media measurement. Until I feel like Klout takes itself seriously, (e.g. no longer creating accounts for people who didn’t create them; taking transparent steps toward an end in gaming the system, etc.) I won’t be back.
My PR Bucket List
Inspired by Arik Hanson, Justin Goldsborough and Heather Whaling, I’ve decided to put together my own PR bucket list. Traditionally, I don’t have goals for my career as defined by most. There’s not a particular job title I want to hold. I don’t have an idea in mind for a salary number that would make me feel as if I’ve “arrived”. There’s not a particular client I want to land. That said, after some thought, I think these are some things I’d love to shoot for. Two of these probably aren’t feasible in any way (#3, #5) because I’d have to be employed by the University of Iowa and it’s doubtful I could ever convince my wife to move to Iowa City; and Rage Against The Machine is likely kaput forever (WHY CAN’T YOU JUST GET ALONG WITH THE BAND, ZACH??!!!!). Without further ado, my Top 5 for my PR bucket list:
- Secure the opportunity for a client (or myself) to sing the 7th inning stretch at Wrigley Field
- Advise a Major League Baseball franchise (stole this one from Hanson; but it’s been something I’ve wanted to do for a while)
- Conduct media relations for the University of Iowa Hawkeyes during a Rose Bowl trip
- Do press for a non-profit I either work for or that is a client that has secured a 7-figure donation/fundraising event
- Manage the press for Rage Against the Machine’s reunion World Tour
How about you? What’s on your PR bucket list?
Comments About My Ruminations