We look forward to sharing with you and answering your questions! Have a specific training you'd like to see on our calendar? Leave us a note on www.getsatisfaction.com/schipul.
Well, Twitter is all a-twitter this morning about their big announcement to finally make some money via ‘Promoted Tweets.†In a casual (if a bit vague) blog post, co-founder Biz Stone lays out the high level points of the program Q&A style with promises of more info today from COO Dick Costolo at the AdAge Digital Conference. So while we all wait in eager anticipation for more specific information about the program, here are the bullet points:
The program will be introduced in phases. As Dwight Silverman of the Houston Chronicle’s TechBlog points out, phase one will leverage Twitter’s most valuable asset’ the data of its more than 20 million users, ‘Twitter’s real value lies in the aggregated information of its estimated 22.3 million users, surfaced by search, so it makes sense that the company would turn to this strength to make money.â€
In phase one ‘Promoted Tweets†will show up only for searches on Twitter itself. No Promoted Tweets on Twitter apps yet.
If you perform a search on a particular term that is relevant to one of the companies paying for the Promoted Tweet service, like those Google Sponsored Links at the top of a Google search, a tweet from the paying company will be displayed at the top of the search page. The New York Times article ‘Twitter Unveils Plans to Draw Money From Ads†has a pretty fleshed out example of this using Starbucks,
Starbucks, for instance, often publishes Twitter posts about its promotions, like free pastries. But the messages quickly get lost in the thousands of posts from users who happen to mention meeting at Starbucks.
‘When people are searching on Starbucks, what we really want to show them is that something is happening at Starbucks right now, and Promoted Tweets will give us a chance to do that,†said Chris Bruzzo, vice president of brand, content and online at Starbucks.
In order for a Promoted Tweet to hold its ground at the top of the search page, it’s gotta resonate baby… people don’t click it, retweet it, engage with it… it’s outta there. And Twitter will be following the results in order to tweak the program… again like Google with its ever evolving, mysterious, and infamous algorithm.
Twitter says these are not ads’ ‘Since all Promoted Tweets are organic Tweets, there is not a single ‘ad’ in our Promoted Tweets platform that isn’t already an organic part of Twitter. This is distinct from both traditional search advertising and more recent social advertising. Promoted Tweets will also be timely. Like any other Tweet, the connection between you and a Promoted Tweet in real-time provides a powerful means of delivering information relevant to you at the moment.â€
First takers, or ‘partners†include: Best Buy, Bravo, Red Bull, Sony Pictures, Starbucks, and Virgin America
Next up? According to the Times, ‘[Twitter] will show promoted posts in a user’s Twitter stream, even if a user did not perform a search and does not follow the advertiser.†This leaves me wondering if a post to Twitter about the overwhelming Houston pollen count induced allergies this season will elicit a Claritin tweet inserted into my stream. Twitter is the most vague about phase 2 stating, ‘Before we roll out more phases, we want to get a better understanding of the resonance of Promoted Tweets, user experience and advertiser value.â€
So there it is folks… I reserve final judgment until I actually see it IRL… (Update: I couldn’t post to the blog fast enough and Mashable reports Promoted Tweets are already showing up for limited searches) I think phase 1 will go by with lots of initial fan fare, may even trend for a bit, and then will fall into the obscurity of the already accepted and ignored ads that float in the periphery of the likes of sites such as Google, Facebook, The New York Times and even National Geographic. I am curious to see how much traction Promoted Tweets will actually gain. I myself don’t spend much time on a search.twitter.com‘ though over coffee in the break room this morning I learned of few co-workers who do use twitter search as their almost exclusive local search tool.
Phase 2 however, has me itching already to get my feathers all ruffled up. I am trying to maintain my calm composure, with a ‘wait and see†attitude… but I gotta letcha know I feel pretty dang partial to my twitter stream being my own. I don’t really have much love for the bullying bull-horn approach of most advertising campaigns and I feel like in the world of social media – where personal brands are more important than big brand loyalty and famous personalities have more followers than global news organizations – there is not going to be a great big love fest should Twitter choose to place paid tweets from mega-brands into the streams of its users.
For more on Twitter Promoted Tweets take your eye-balls on over to:
The SXSW festival (or ‘South by Southwest – think Hitchcock, but geekier and in color) is an annual event that interactive, film and music enthusiasts all the world over look forward to with great excitement!
This year, as in years past, the Schipulites will have a small contingent joining thousands of other marketing and technology nerds in Austin for the Interactive portion of the SXSW festival. And… to say that we are excited would be the greatest understatement of the year 🙂
Here are the Schipulites that are attending SXSWi this year and some of the panels we are most looking forward to! Keep up with ALL of our SXSWi-related content on our shiny new Storme site at: www.storme.com/sxsw
What panels and events are you most excited about? Hope to see you there!! Be sure to say howdy if you walk on by – even if we’re busy Tweeting / blogging / video-ing 🙂
When I was 21, I decided to move to Los Angeles. Out of the blue. I’d never expressed much interest in permanently relocating out of Ohio before, but following a semester in Washington, D.C., by golly, I felt invincible enough to do just about anything.
My mother, understandably, was flummoxed. She posed every question in the world that a parent could possibly conjure. “Where will you live?” “Where will you work?” “What if something happens to you while you’re out there; you don’t know anyone…?” “What if you hate it there?” “What if you miss home?” “What if your car breaks down on the way?” “What if Gael Garcia Bernal decides he wants to marry you?”
Okay, no, she didn’t ask that last one. Duh. It’s obvious that he does. He responded to me on Twitter once. I still think it was real, no matter what his official account says.
Anyway, the thing is, my mother never once said, “Don’t go, Fayza.” Despite her unanswered questions and despite her personal fears. Do you know why? Because she knew it was good for me. As hard as it was to see her eldest daughter pack up her inconsistent-at-best 1989 Honda Accord with everything she could stuff into it and head off across the country to inhabit a city she’d never even visited, my mom knew it was the right move for me. To date, it was one of the most pivotal life decisions I’ve ever made. In a good way.
Why did I tell you this story? Because. Because I like stories? Well, yes, but there’s a point; I’ve become very sage over the years, dontcha know. The moral is this: Sometimes, it’s hard to let a member of your family fly. But spread their wings they must. Because fly they should.
And taking flight from the family nest I am, again. For today, with both a smile and a sigh, I turn in my Schipulite badge and bid the roost adieu.
“But what now?” you ask. Don’t worry; I’m not dying. Nor am I leaving the city of Houston. I know, right?
If you couldn’t tell, I’m quite passionate about writing. This hunger knows no bounds (and, some would say, no boundaries). I also happen to be a Twitteraholic and a Facebook fiend. And when a position as the Social Media Editor at CultureMap was staring me in the face, I knew it was my time to flap ye olde wings again.
But I don’t do goodbyes, yo. Because the strangers who became my sisters and brothers at this company are people who will remain in my life for years to come. And the knowledge I’ve earned, the skills I’ve learned, and the client experiences that I’ve had will stay with me and fuel my growth ’til my brain can’t hold no more. I’ve been a lucky little person, that’s for sure. And I take that luck with me in my pockets. Like office supplies. Um, did I just say that? Ignore me.
So this is not a goodbye, ’cause HEY! Here I am, loud and clear, still kickin’! And so are you. It’s a see-you-later, at best, and a now-we’re-gonna-have-to-make-lunch-plans at worst. ‘Cause you knowwhere to findme. So please do.
Ever clicked on the top link in Google only to find a page that takes For-ev-er to load? Well, that page may not be a top site for long. Google is changing up how they are ranking websites and one of their new pieces of criteria is speed.
Example of Webmaster Tools Page Speed Graph
Page Speed
Google has recently released an entire sub-site to improve on website speed. The site includes a tools page which highlights among others Page Speed which is Firefox plugin for developers. The also showcase a new report in Webmaster Tools to show how quickly your site loads. Many of these tools give you stats about your site speed as well as suggestions on how to improve it. These suggestions include:
Google Page Speed in Chrome showing data load times
*This website embeds our Twitter feed, which requires an extra DNS lookup and can increase the load time. You will have to decide the importance of similar widgets for your site. We like our Twitter feed and Flickr pics, so we’ll take the small performance hit to keep those. But, we don’t include other widgets from most of our other social media profiles so we can speed up our blog. Finding the right balance for your site may take some testing and tough decisions, but speed is definitely something to keep in mind.
Social Search and Authority
Speed is very important to Google themselves. As the real-time web continues to change minute by minute, Google is beginning to bring some of that data into its results. You may have noticed that Google now displays twitter results at the top of some searches.
The first part of the ranking system is the time of the tweet. Google generally displays the most recent tweets first so searchers will have up-to-the minute results to their queries. This speed combined with link authority shapes how searchers can get the latest Glee news (or other important things of course).
Google Search with Twitter Results displayed above the regular results
As you can see, this search result shows twitter responses. While the exact science behind choosing tweets is not know, we do know that Google follows a similar model to their search results. Incoming links to a website can raise its ranking, and similarly more followers and incoming links to a Twitter profile can give that Twitterer more authority. There are similar theories out there, but we know that Google is ranking authority somehow.
The Facebook Factor
Google also has agreements with Facebook to bring your status updates and Facebook info to the Search Results as well. Before you freak out, yes, you can keep these things from the search engines using the Privacy features in Facebook. They have a dedicated page for Search Privacy Settings. I have mine set to Everyone, but I understand that may not work for you. Other options include Friends and Networks, Friends of Friends, and Friends Only. From the Search Privacy Settings you can preview your public profile, which will give you an idea of what information Google will see about you (see below).
Facebook Seach Privacy Setting Options
Google can also use this public Facebook profile to show authority. If you do not have your own website, doing a vanity search may show your Facebook profile as the top result for your name. I have my personal website (JMO), but my Twitter feed and Facebook profile both rank above it because of the authority those sites carry. I urge you to search for your name to see where your social profiles rank.
Tips for you
What steps can you take to insure people find you fast?
If I have seen further it is by standing on the shoulders of giants.
~Isaac Newton 1675
One right of passage for designers at Schipul has been uploading and editing “before and after” plastic surgery photo sets for clients like MyBeautifulBody.com. It seems like a pretty far stretch, but I would say that most of our non-profit clients like the Zoo and Children’s Museum owe a great deal of thanks to plastic surgeons.
Why?
As innovators and early adopters, groups like MyBeautifulBody.com help to develop innovations that benefit other clients. So you might say that liposuction is good for donations, and doctor videos help museums give visitors a taste for the exhibits. Plastic surgeons are one of the groups that I think help to “blaze a trail” that others can follow. For those “trail blazers” I am thankful. So, let’s take a closer look at what causes innovation from a pretty personal level.
Innovation happens at Schipul as a result of three major catalysts:
Early Adoption
Stress
Culture
1. Early adopters pay more money, face more risk, undergo more stress and experience lower efficiency. So why do groups like plastic surgeons take the chance. Because it can pay huge rewards to be number one. MyBeautifulBody.com has placed well in Google for years, now getting pretty close to a decade. They have had a dynamic web site long before competitors ever saw the need to generate “gobs” of content for visitors to digest. MyBeautifulBody.com has thousands of photos that help visitors determine the quality of their surgeons and also to find before and after images that closely resemble themselves. They have run pay-per-click campaigns, tracked online contacts, built multiple sites, sold product, and interacted socially. Each venture has had different levels of success, but success was there.
In 2003 Schipul developed the “contacts report” that tracked submissions from contact forms in order to optimize the traffic flow of a web site (today this is common place). After this report was developed we had a method of measuring how effectively we got business leads for clients. We could also get an estimate of our “cost per lead”. Today, clients benefit from the knowledge, experience and reporting that was funded by groups like plastic surgeons. In effect, standing on the shoulders of giants.
2. Innovation also happens through Stress. Imagine not getting sales for six months!!! That could be a little stressful. The 2001 post 9-11, dot-com-burst, Enron, MCI, internet world went through massive change over night. Projects before 2001 were mostly custom, extremely flashy, and pretty shallow – and also expensive. After 2001 buyers were pragmatic and painfully skeptical. The change was as surreal as watching Buckaroo Bonzai. (Ah hell, here is the video so you know how weird it was)
Post 2001 stressful innovation at Schipul resulted in a focus on “search marketing” after 2001 and development of our software now known as Tendenci. The search marketing push was directly tied to getting business for existing clients to maintain longevity. The development of Tendenci resulted from the extinction of custom code projects and the leveraging of reusable existing code. Stress innovations are difficult internally as they often do not afford the time luxuries of innovation developed through early adoption or culture. In addition, these developments are also most closely tied to supply and demand economics.
Another great example of stress innovation is our use of open-source software to fill the needs of clients after 2007. Content management systems since 2007 have grown to a saturated marketplace, with open-source projects dominating lower cost and semi custom development. In 2007 we added WordPress and Drupal developers to be able to add aditional product lines and service the demands of the customers. It is important to not give in to internal stress barriers, but change with the external stress factors.
3. Finally, Culture can lead to innovation. They don’t let me design projects anymore, but when I did I looked forward to the phrase, “Aaron, that sucks.” I needed to hear other designers tell me that the work wasn’t yet good enough. That indeed, “I sucked” and needed to put in more time and effort to make my work better. The culture at Schipul is fun but direct. From the stockdale paradox, to candor, to no excuses, to a very transparent work environment – the culture here is a great culture for innovation. Also, I believe the culture for innovation does not include “silly shit” like team building workshops, or thinking cap analysis, etc. A culture of innovation is a culture that faces the facts and does something about it.
At Schipul we believe in complete knowledge transfer, both internally and externally. This type of culture gives the crazy-diverse people we have the opportunity to manipulate knowledge through differing viewpoints and to develop new strategies to solve problems.
What does that mean?
If you have programmers that are willing to write a navigation as a dynamic list,
And you have the CSS coders that can design rollout menus from a dynamic list,
And you shared the knowledge the two of those “knuckleheads” have locked in their brains
Then you are likely to develop a CSS based navigation that clients can edit themselves using pretty ajax.
That is a culture of innovation.
So, thanks for reading. And thanks for giant shoulders to stand on.
Do you remember what you were doing the day after your high school graduation?
While you were hanging out with the fam, maybe having a little shindig at the house, Bobby Hillin Jr was whipping around the track at the Charlotte Motor Speedway in the World 600 NASCAR Race… where 400 laps (and 600 miles later) he took 11th place. Makes your post-graduation look pretty tame eh?
Bobby went on to wow the racing world by winning race after race and ultimately being the youngest to win on a Superspeedway with his win at Talladega. He was only 22. This is a record that would stand for the next 19 years.
When at the age of 28 Bobby retired from his NASCAR career, he started a successful Hydro Excavation company called T-Rex Services in Houston, Texas.
Let’s put on the brakes for a second here (no pun intended)… Hydro WHAT?? Hydro Excavation is a process that uses pressurized water to break up soil and a high flow air vacuum to safely excavate around active utilities and pipelines. Think shooting the dirt with your water hose and vacuuming it up with a shop vac to dig a hole… except 10,000 times stronger.
Bobby put as much passion into this new venture as he did his racing career and because of that, T-Rex is a successful company that is growing more every day. T-Rex is one of our beloved Schipul clients and last week they called our Schipul Media team with some news and an amazing opportunity.
Bobby was returning to the NASCAR track and they wanted us to come cover the event. We JUMPED at the chance. Dallas road trip? Yes please!
Courtney, JJ and I went to the Texas Motor Speedway in Dallas to see Bobby race in the #81 car… to be the media team… to do a job… Who knew you could learn so much about life at the race track?
Here are our Top 5 NASCAR Takeaways:
Sometimes it’s better to get out of the way and let someone else be the driver: After a promising start, unfortunately the car started having some problems in the rear end (not a good thing when you are entering a turn at 190 mph). Bobby wanted to push the car but guaranteed the crew chief that he would end up ‘in the wall†if he continued to drive it the way he wanted to. Since Bobby had only known this race team for a couple of weeks, he sensed they needed reassurance. He suggested that they put another driver in the car to make sure it was not his error. The other driver did experience the same problems and eased off the gas to and stayed in the car for the duration of the race (keep in mind that Bobby and T-Rex actually sponsored the car). Sometimes it’s hard to let go of the wheel but if you want to finish the race, we’ve got to put our ego to the side and let someone else drive!
You aren’t going to make it to the top by yourself: And if you think you are, you’re wrong.
Work hard and play harder: Both Schipul and T-Rex live by this tenant. Your life is more than just your job! You should enjoy it.
Never EVER Give Up: Time after time Bobby had to pull into the pit because of the problems with the car. This didn’t stop him though. No matter how far behind he got from the number one car, Bobby kept racing. Winning isn’t always the most important thing; it’s the trying that counts.
Love on your clients: they’re the ones that got you where you are!!
Thanks again T-Rex team for having us out. We had an absolute blast and have nothing but love for Bobby and the #81 car.
And because we couldn’t leave it out… Here is our 6th NASCAR takeaway: The boys at NASCAR are too cute for words!
To say I love my family is an understatement. Anyone who knows me will testify that an expletive is usually involved in some way when I speak to how much I love my 3 men.
In fact, this is what I wrote when I signed up the for this blog post…
And no one questioned whose day it was.
I often joke that working at Schipul is just the vehicle to support by boys Adventure of the Humongous Adventuresocial media efforts… but all joking aside I am extremely grateful that my small family is part of the larger Schipul family of employees and clients.
I am grateful that my days start with Michael Jackson ‘This Is It†playing in AK’s alarm clock and I remember going to see the movie with my boys a group of Schipulites.
I am grateful for a Friday afternoon spent taking Zombie photos… and that my boys were invited to participate in the fun… our Christmas cards will be awesome this year.
I am grateful for family readiness plans… I had to convince Fab!Hubby we were planning for a Zombie invasion to get it done… still, I never had one before and I sleep a little better knowing I have one now.
I am grateful that my family is cared for enough that the company gave everyone a road atlas for our cars. I know that sounds so lame… but I am so grateful to know that I work for a company that doesn’t want me and my family to get lost is we ever have to evacuate cause of something lame like a category 4 hurricane.
I am grateful for co-workers that will take my kiddos to the Houston Zoo so I can move in peace
The list could go on and on…
My life would not be full of the wonder and magic it is without my family and I wake up and go to sleep thanking the Powers That Be for the gift of them.
Today I want to say THANX! for my family… both the little one and the big one.
I want to thank Coffee Groundz and specifically JR Cohen for being one of the biggest inspirations for not only me but countless others in our community. You continue to raise the bar in social outreach and never forgetting where you came from. You embraced Houston with open arms and I’ll be damned if we’ll ever stop hugging you back.
Coffee Groundz Lovez Geekz
Coffee Groundz started off with a basic but killer recipe of great coffee, tea, food and full bar, throw in their embrace of all things Geek and Coffee Groundz has easily become THE place to be and be seen. Over the past year or so Coffee Groundz has become the jump off in all things Social Media, Twitter, independent Art shows and anything and everything Geek.
Not only did they embrace online social connections they opened the coffee shop to real life interactions that go beyond Facebook and Twitter. CG is regular stop for local artists and musicians. I was lucky enough to have a one person poster show showcasing some of my Concert Posters there.
Basically, they are ingrained in our community. If you want to know what is going on with Web, Arts and Music in Houston Coffee Groundz is a great place to start, and you’ll never go thirsty plus they always have free Wi-Fi and electrical outlets for your laptop
JR Cohen, You Rock Our World
It’s like they say, behind every great coffee shop is a great man. If they don’t say that when then they should but what can you say about JR? For one thing he is a winner of the 2009 Social Media Awards by the Austin-American Statesman. A very prestigious award that left a lot of people jealous and for good reason, he makes it look easy. Awards aside JR makes sure that everyone is taken care of and things like that aren’t easily taught, you need to be born with it
Open Letter to JR Cohen:
You sir give each and everyone of us a warm fuzzy every time you walk into a room. Whatever it is you do, whether it is some kind of voodoo magic or Jedi mind tricks please keep doing it. You make each and everyone of us 100% better just by knowing you. I always know that you have our backs and on behalf of everyone else in this crazy community we whole heartedly have yours. Houston and Texas is proud to have you as it’s son.
I know you’ve easily turned into one of my favorite people and its not because you’re going to grow a mustache for charity with us this year but because of the reasons above, plus many more and the fact you always have a smile on your face
Coffee Groundz and JR Cohen’ Thanks from all of us, you deserve it!
Katie Laird – Communications Manager + Cupcake Lover
Jonti Bolles – All Star SEM Manager + Fitness Geek
David Stagg – Creative Guru + David Beckham lookalike
JJ Lassberg – Brilliant Brilliant Project Manager + Earth Mama
Courtney Pemberton – Sales Gal Extraordinaire + All Around Peppy Gal
Caitlin Kaluza – Social Media Project All Star + Cat Lover With a Wii Problem
