content development (&) management

[Apologies for the use of the "tw" lingo. I really didn't have a chance to use it before it became gauche!]

I got turned on to Tr.im the other day. It, and other sites like http://bit.ly are useful for shortening really long web addresses, which is almost a necessity if you plan to post the address on Twitter, or Tumblr, or Facebook, etc.

For example, my last blog title resulted in a URL that looked like this: http://writingbench.com/2009/05/22/why-twitter-is-great-for-busy-people-despite-what-you-might-think/, but with Tr.im I was able to tweet it as http://tr.im/mkCF…

Exactly. The first one would have only left me 39 characters. Have you met me? You know that I can’t write (or say) anything in 39 characters. Though “writing tight” is something I really should work on on a daily basis often practice.

Shortening addresses isn’t the best part, however. Often overlooked, Tr.im and Bit.ly have another feature that is even more powerful – they track clicks. And after posting a few shortened addresses, I found the trends interesting. Here are my latest shortened addresses:

Meaningless without the associated URLs (though you could paste the 4 characters shown into a browser window after http://tr.im and see for yourself, but really, that’s a lot of work for very little guaranteed payoff), but here’s what I found interesting – my top three visit counts? Posts about jobs. Job finding resources, freelance myths, and a local Tennessean article about former colleagues starting new businesses.

#1 http://heatherkrasna.wordpress.com/2008/12/15/fun-career-sites-ive-found-lately/

#2 http://www.elance.com/p/blog/2009/04/the_10_myths_of_freelancing_and_what_its_really_like.html?rid=1HN95

#3 http://tennessean.com/article/20090517/BUSINESS01/905170349

Looking at the way those display, you can see other benefits besides Twitter postings!

Now, it should be noted that some of these URLs were cross-posted to Linkedin or my personal Facebook account, which would increase the potential audience, thereby increasing the odds of a click. But interestingly, the cross-posting doesn’t seem to have affected the trend (except perhaps in th case of #3). Another potential “muddying” of the pool could be that some of these were RTs – retweets – the original link was previously posted on Twitter. Depending on the credibility of the resource, it may have already been read. Or avoided. I may have also written more excitedly about some links than others… but overall, the averages play out about the same in this sample.

This is consistent with what Jeremy Scott of Keystone Business Solutions teaches in his Internet Marketing 101 class. Keystone sends out an email blast to subscribers – a newsletter for customers, friends, and SEO types – and Mr. Scott has consistently found that the links that generate the most traffic are ones that point to tips for finding jobs, best jobs on the internet, top 10 most applied for jobs, local employment trends, etc.

Not trying to drive traffic this morning – just observing things that appear to be of interest to other web denizens.

Be free,

Jeff

I’ve heard it said that there are folks that GET Twitter and those that don’t. I know a lot of folks that use it… and many that say they never will. It’s a time suck or it’s a useful business tool. Everyone will be using it soon or the business model isn’t sustainable. It’s going commercial, it’s great for nonprofits, invest in it, don’t use it, use it, lose it…

It’s new. Ish.

And everyone’s got an opinion. No-Ish about it.

As an independent consultant, every minute I spend on non-billable activities is another bite I don’t get to eat this month, so I have to be careful to avoid too much Face(book)-Time with my computer that isn’t directed at a billable activity. But I finally figured out why I like Twitter so much, and why it’s beneficial to me and every other busy person.

And since I’m already out here, I’m going waste one more minute on a story:

When I first started traveling for business, I took a flight from Nashville to San Jose that had a stop in Los Angeles (one of those things about Southwest that I really don’t get, but doesn’t make me <3 them any less). I’ll save my airline strategies for another post, but suffice it to say these were formative years. I ended up with an aisle seat on this flight, and there was no one between me and the passenger in the window seat. Just the way I like it.

But at LAX we got filled up. The last person to board was a young lady in a business suit, and she chose the inside seat next to me. She was already flustered and rushed, and had some trouble getting her carry-on under the seat in front of her. She never lost her cool, however, and once settled, she struck up a conversation.

Now – I’m fairly extroverted. But at this time I was still getting used to flying – in fact, I’m not sure that I knew yet that water was free on most airlines. But when I’m at the TOP of my ENTJ game, I am STILL not more outgoing than this girl was. After finding out where I was from and what I did, she told me who she was – and everything was rapid fire. I was hanging on for dear life, and we hadn’t even taxied from the gate!

The she asked, “Have you read the papers?”

No, I said, Has something happened?

“No,” she said, “the papers. Have you read the papers?”

Still not sure where this was going, I repeated that I had not ‘read the papers’, whatever that was supposed to mean.

Apparently there was no devastating earthquake, nor had we declared war on Saturn… She pulled out the Wall Street Journal and began skimming the business headlines. Before we were in the air she had found an article about one of her competitors, traced the movement of two executives she knew, and got the opening stock prices for a dozen clients. Then, tucking the WSJ into the back pocket of the seat in front of her, she pulled out the LA Times. I got the play-by-play on a couple of new corporate ventures, and no longer an active participant in the conversation, just soaked up the news feed from the seat next to me.

She was hoping we could exchange information, and save each of us some time digging through the newspapers for the important tidbits that would matter to “young professionals”.

So this is the thing. When I started following people in my industry on Twitter, I started “getting the papers read to me” just like the business professional did on the plane from LAX to SJC. I don’t know how you get your news, but I used to rely on NPR to wake me up with the headlines. Now, the people that I follow tell me about global, national, AND local events hours – sometimes days – before NPR, CBS, or the Hendersonville Star News reports it to me. And it’s stuff I’m INTERESTED in! And now I make an effort to dig up items that would be of interest to MY followers. And we are ALL better informed, in less time that it would take for any one of us to dig through – or wait on – the traditional media.

So that’s what Twitter is good for. Not a time suck. If you normally spend an hour reading about your world, you’ll get 10X the amount of info in LESS time by following tweets from like-minded professionals.

If you normally don’t spend ANY time learning about the world… Twitter might just be the way to “plug in” with a minimum investment.

Be free,

Jeff

Update 06/20/2009: I just found out about Twitter for Busy People (on Twitter, where else?), which is great for  a quick check on activity that gets you caught up in a hurry without having to sort through tweets you’ve already read. Check it out here: http://tr.im/paaJ