Twitter, Tweetdeck and what a purchase means for the symbiosis between developers and social networks...

The relationship between social networks and 3rd party developers is an interesting one. A good working relationship allows networks to expand development capabilities beyond in house resource, allowing their users to, in effect, do "R&D" for them. Looking at this end of the developer/network relationship, everything seems to be pretty advantageous for the company. This sentiment was most passionately stated by Microsoft's Steve Ballmer, who when asked what the most important asset to Microsoft's Operating System success was, responded (3rd Party) "Developers". Fittingly, Steve has since also shown love for 'Web Developers', showing the growing focus of web external developers in today's world. 

However, the cost of 3rd party developer work isn't free for a social network. Fostering real advances from developers requires stability to allow developer's products to succeed, resources (such as robust APIs and documentation) and most importantly, a company culture that is comfortable with the network expanding through non-internal channels. This permission sums up what is perhaps the largest cost for a network's involvement with external developers, as it pays to not only create a development framework to harness the power of the network, but must also cede control in how that network is used.

The risk/reward balance of the external developer relationship plays out all around the web in a variety of configurations. Facebook is perhaps the most robust example, with a variety of frameworks to allow developers to harness almost every part of site. Website developers can integrate Facebook features into their sites, as well as syndicate external content through Facebook via pages, like buttons & more. Application developers can build entire games, commerce solutions and more within the network, tapping into the 600 million user base to expand the reach of their creations. Every object on Facebook from pages, to users, to status updates is an clear object within the network's API or graph. This robust approach to a developer framework has led Facebook to rapidly expand their hold on a share of a user's online time, with gaming and expanding communication options making 3rd party development companies such as Zynga increasingly rich. Alternatively, while Facebook has made a robust framework, they have also clearly demarcated where developers fit within the network's structure. Through careful design, Facebook have made sure that developers enhance the network and collaborate with it, instead of being in a position to usurp any functionality. Through this clearly marked development ecosystem, Facebook have made possible competitors into collaborators.

Similarly, Twitter's relationship with developers has historically been a story of collaboration, with external developers driving network adoption and awareness from making mobile/desktop clients to improvising ways to drive analysis. Twitter's development framework has been clearly refined over time to handle the immense load developers place on the network, around 13 billion calls to the API per day. Subsequently, developers have leveraged this API to help Twitter become a household name, making everything from interesting data visualizations to raise perceived value of the network's communications, to integrating twitter conversation with sites, media outlets and broadcasts, and creating clients to increase network access across multiple platforms such as mobile.

However, Twitter's recent rumored acquisition of 3rd party client Tweetdeck may signal the biggest in a series of changes to this dynamic. In the run up to Twitter's acquisition of the client, the network tightened restrictions on data access and whitelisted accounts (accounts which are enabled to make more API calls an hour than regular accounts), as well as banning development of new 3rd party clients. The ban on third party clients may have seemed inevitable to some developers after last years acquisition of iPhone Twitter client 'Tweetie" by the network, re-branding it as the official iPhone client. This move, mirrored by the current acquisition of Tweetdeck, shows that Twitter is consolidating the ways in which user's can access the network, under the banner of unifying the social network experience for users. While this move makes sense from an advertising perspective, as Twitter can claim to advertisers and agencies that their increasingly robust paid offering (promoted tweets, trending topics & accounts) is unified across platforms, it comes at the cost of the current developer environment.

Tweetdeck's Trending Topic Functionality

Advertising and media opportunities for the network seem to be the current focus for the network as it aims to continue its transition from start-up to established social network to a network with a paid support offering. The initial success of products such as promoted tweets have shown that the market is there for advertisers to support brand presences through spend, but the previous variety of 3rd party clients represented a weak spot for the offering's success. Twitter couldn't gaurantee that paid support options were as effective as they could be across multiple 3rd part clients and additionally, 3rd party network tools represented an additional option for media placement outside of negotiating with Twitter.

While this reorientation makes sense from an advertising and control point of view, the network must hope that it doesn't disrupt the developent ecosystem from producing other useful offerings which expand the usefulness and reach of the network. Twitter finds itself in a unique position in striking this balance as the user experience is very straightforward compared to other networks such as Facebook. Going back to the factors for a successful developer environment, Twitter still possseses a robust API, but must drive a sense of stability for developers to balance out the reorientation of its network's access.

On a wider scale, the Twitter example may indicate how the relationship between social networks and developers will progress with a new generation of social networks. As startups, a network aims to draw in an established community, growing this into a robust developer network as it grows in popularity. Developer networks have previously driven interest in networks and expanded the list of the offering past its basic premise. However, as paid support within networks becomes a ubiquitous demand amongst larger social players, networks must reconcile keeping developers engaged vs. offering a verified commercial solution. If this balance isn't maintained, the competitor into collaborator dynamic that currently exists may change into a much more dangerous permutation for the future.

5 Reasons why programming can help your understanding of Advertising/Media...

Everything has been pretty hectic around most aspects of my existence lately, so projects like the Social Media Thunderdome have ground to a halt, but will start again soon. 

     Currently, I've spent the last few days programming (something I've been known to do sporadically for work) and it got me thinking about how useful it is in the overall scope of Advertising and Media. I know every position in marketing/media varies in the way computer science and programming can be applied or proven useful, however, I think that a variety of reasons exist why understanding such can help how you think about Marketing Communications. Most people in Advertising or Media outside of specific programming related jobs, myself included, don't have specific Computer Science qualifications. In spite of this, I don't think it should discourage anyone from understanding general concepts or even go on to teach themselves a language or software package.

Understanding programming doesn't mean that you'll be hearing "Mr Szalinski, your 2pm client meeting is here.... "

     In thinking about this, I've managed to come up with 5 reasons why I think everyone in Marketing should understand atleast basic concepts related to programming. This doesn't mean you have to go out and learn Visual Basic, C++, C#, Java, Fortran (god forbid) or Actionscript tomorrow, but as with everything in marketing, a variety of skills and knowledge can prove useful.

5 Reasons Why Programming Can Help You Understand Advertising & Media:

1.) Programming helps you to understand, shape and visualize data.
     Data, be it consumer opinion, awareness figures, ROI calculations, channel prices, sales figures or anything else, is an integral part of creating and implementing effective Marketing Communications. Programming and software development can help to show you what formats data can be stored in, how it can be manipulated from those and what outputs are available. As more and more creative data visualization techniques are becoming popular, the ability to shape data into something more interesting than a simple Power Point chart is increasingly valuable. Working with even something as basic as data shaping macros in Power Point or Excel can cut research or development time by more than half, as well as reduce repetition in your daily work.

2.) An understanding of Programming helps you to understand the limitations and capabilities of digital creative content and social media.

     There is no better way to understand what something can do than by seeing how its made. No one expects everyone working in fields related to digital Marketing Communications to be able to create it, but a few articles on flash development, web design or social network APIs can mean the difference between the ability to clearly explain what you're visualizing or waiting for someone else to find it for you. As more and more social media campaigns gain notoriety, the ability to track, understand and change communications messages and objectives hinges on the degree to which someone understands what the capacity of the medium is technically.

3.)  Learning even the basics about how software is made can allow you to gain insight into how technology is developing
      Technology is a broad and varied field which constantly expands and reinvents itself. Therefore no one is expected to be an expert on every established and emerging field. Finding something you're interested in though, be it mobile, desktop or other platform development, can allow you to see the shape of the field as it stands and where its going. The interplay between software and hardware development also allows those with an understanding of the field to view new platforms and technologies in a more application oriented light.

      You don't need to know how to actually write an iPhone application to read about the technical developments coming out of the platform. Understanding the things that are being developed and the challenges they face on a more technical level can allow you utilize newer capabilities and concepts for communication efforts.

4.) For those that currently, previously or will work on technology based accounts (business or consumer tech), an understanding of software development will go along way towards shaping relevant campaigns and content

"Good copy can't be written with tongue in cheek, written just for a living. You've got to believe in the product." -David Ogilvy

     I tried to find another Ogilvy quote about the need to become a master in the fields of your clients, but I believe the available one communicates the same concept. For those working on technology based accounts, a basic understanding of the field is a given. The insight given from learning about software design, as talked about above, can allow you to deepen this understand quickly and along a relatively clear path. For example, individuals working on accounts for a word processing software company would do well to read about advancements toward cloud computing based platforms.

    Software exists as an interaction between what the user wants, what the developer does based on what he/she thinks they want and what is actually delivered. Understanding the development process allows you to see all sides of this relationship, something that can prove helpful in any part of a technology based issue.

5.) Learning more about how software works will help your overall computer skills by demystifying technology

"Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from magic" - Arthur C. Clarke

    I know from personal experience, that growing up learning how to use a computer in concert with learning how to program helped me to not fear breaking a system. Of course, a few computers took a while to rebuild during this long and still ongoing development process, but knowing how something works helps you to see its strengths and weaknesses. Knowing how software is written allows you to see that errors can (almost always) be fixed and crashes (most of the time) aren't the end of the world. Through a greater understanding of different levels of a technology, what at first seemed imposing, can later become second nature.

    I've written this list from the perspective of someone who isn't formally trained in Computer Science. I've worked as a programmer before, but my education is firmly in the fields of Marketing & Psychology. I don't claim to be highly technical as I'm proficient in VB (and sadly VBA) as well as some C++ and web design, but even I'm currently intimidated looking at Actionscript (the current learning project). I'd love to know what people more and less technically inclined think of the list, so leave some comments below.

Mindshare Twitter Research

    I've been waiting to put this up for a while as we've been conducting some network and user analysis for the course of this year. As you can probably tell from the previous (4 part epic tome) on brand analysis on Twitter, I and 3 other great people at Mindshare (@acotterill,@JezP76 & @picolim) conducted qualitative research on Twitter  users and quantitative research (through a bespoke analytics engine I'm still very proud of) on Twitter user behavior and WOM pass-on rates. Our analysis yielded some interesting facts on how users utilize Twitter, through what platform they do and how messages travel through networks.

     I plan on writing a bit more about the research and its implications later on; but for now, check out below and let me know what you think.

Mindshare Ispy Twitter Research

View more presentations from Mindshare.

Tweet it your way? Twitter's Capacity for Consumer Sentiment Measurement - Part IV

Research Conclusions
   In the previous two parts of our Twitter Consumer Sentiment analysis series (II & III), we aggregated and analyzed data relating to mentions of Burger King on the social network/microblogging site. When we consider these parts as a whole, insights are produced in one of three areas.

     Overall Twitter Performance:
           Without comparing Burger King with other companies within the sector (which would generate our share of activity for the UK), the company's Twitter activity is shown to be less than purely reactive to media or campaign events. As can be assumed with others within the sector, while some consumer opinions and experiences are stated, most messages are posted mentioning BK as a destination or location. Exceptions to this trend include certain rumors or news items which reasonate with the younger target demographic of the firm. Assuming the rest of the sector performs in the same manner on Twitter, opportunities for general performance increases exist through simple Twitter based campaigns. An audience sporadically tweets about the company and therefore the opportunity does stand to transition these sporadic 'experiential' conversations into a longer, more robust one through promotions ranging from simple (hashtag based contests or promotions) to complex (multi-step campaigns tied into a brand page).

      Geographic and Chronological Performance
            Analyzing mentions of the firm by geographic UK region yielded similar results to the overall distribution for network usage. London reigns large in most geographic analysis of the UK and requires a much more granular analysis to get insights for comparably smaller areas. For Twitter based communications and promotions, this signals that the current trend of London based campaigns should continue specifically for the firm. The prominence of the catchment area in our results (users mentioning the brand outside of a specific radius of a metro. area) could signal the possibility of future possibilities outside of London, but a large amount of activity can be described as commuters or non-specific location coding.
              Chronologically, our hourly data and user analysis of dining mentions (i.e. Breakfast/Lunch/Dinner) showed that lunchtime activity was highest for the brand, both in content and volume. This, by itself, doesn't indicate much, but it might begin to hint at the brand's image as a lunchtime destination for network users.

        User Behaviors
             User and platform data yielded perhaps the most concrete insights of our analysis. Platform data highlighted the fragmented usage context for Twitter, something that is matched by overall network data. Burger King was shown to be mentioned on the go, at a desktop and everywhere inbetween. Data also demonstrated that users weren't likely to mention the brand frequently, another consequence of brand mentions being a product of experiential tweeting. User mention frequency was demonstrated to have little or no effect on when or what a user tweeted about when talking about Burger King, but an overall patten of traction was found for product launches or advertising campaigns.

Implications
        As we can see from the example analysis, a majority of the insights gathered from Twitter search are more topline than detailed. For getting a quick feel for the performance or promenance of a brand on Twitter, such an analysis may prove rather useful, however, further analysis or supporting data is required to produce detailed observations. Network analysis of user segments or a brand page could serve to deepen the insights produced from Twitter.

      Perhaps the most important thing missing from the current analysis is the examination of consumer opinions for sentiment. While we manually did this in our user analysis section, available online automated solutions for such are still in the rudementary phases. By scanning for key words or terms, various websites and programs attempt to classify messages as "Happy/Sad", "Good/Bad". While there is an inherent value in knowing the amounts of good vs. bad messages about a brand, the intricacies of why these messages were classified as such, as well as errors that can stem from semantic differences in wording, are still necessary considerations when thinking about automated analysis. Overall, without utilizing automated sentiment analysis (or doing a lengthy manual analysis), data should be examined from the top down, establishing points of interest or behaviors that warrant more attention. These can serve as starting points to segment users for analysis, cutting the work load involved.

        On the whole, the usefulness of utilizing Twitter search to measure customer sentiment is highly dependent on the company, the sector and the product. Search analysis shouldn't be viewed as the end point of generating consumer insight, but the beginning of seeing where your brand sits within user's minds and the network. From a completed analysis, a company can consider promotions, brand page(s) or adjusting online activities to raise prominence or conversation levels.

Tweet it your way? Twitter's Capacity for Consumer Sentiment Measurement - Part I

     I know two Twitter posts in a row (4 if you count parts coming tomorrow and over the weekend) may seem a little excessive, but with all the news surrounding the service right now, I'm writing my ongoing fixation off to the influence of news coverage and marketing zeitgeist. With today's valuation of Twitter at the $1 billion mark (paltry compared to the estimated $8 billion value of Facebook, but impressive none the less), attempting to quantify the various uses for the service seems rather envogue.

     From a marketing perspective, Twitter's capacity to deliver a breadth of consumer thoughts is already well understood. Typing a company's name into search.twitter.com or the homepage link is a rudementary proof of the torrent of thoughts available about a product or business. While some product sectors produce more insight than others (luxury/aspirational products, global brands, recreational products and the like lend themselves to more conversation than the more mundane or basic such as household FMCGs and financial services), the ability to look into the amorphous "crowd" and pull out buzz is invaluable. This utility has spawned not only business interest in the website itself, but has also impacted 3rd party services. Twitter specific services such as Hootsuite harness the reasonably accessible Search and REST APIs within the network (ease of use being something I can attest to having written my own Twitter analytics software),in addition wider buzz tracking offerings have added functionality beyond blogs and forums to include Tweet aggreagation.

But what do customers really think about the Baconator(TM) Hal?

     Anyone who's familiar with the advanced search functionality of Twitter knows that added value stems from the ability to segment messages gathered from the service. Searching by user, user mentions, network position from a fixed point (if you're willing to code a large amount of secondary aggregation data) and geographic location mean that user's messages can gain a relevance. However, with this wealth of possible data, what actionable insights can be generated?

     At the most basic level, number of mentions and time series data on mentions are the easiest data to procure. By simply collecting a period of data on a term, one can compare activities such as news coverage with Twitter activity.Combining message amounts with other competitors in a sector can generate topline statistics on its performance and loosely gauge twitter activity possibilities for sector ("market tweet size" if you will) and company share ("share of tweet" if you won't).

     At a slightly more advanced level, user mentions and user profiling are possible, as well as multiple searches to determine activity by various geographic areas. Combining this with analyzing Twitter profiles, a brand can gain insights on what type of users are talking about the brand (though the value of such topical profiling is limited). Geographic searching allows not only for regional activity comparison (great for larger brands), but also for specializing a search area (great for smaller brands and singular locations such as a local chain of restaurants).

Looking at the UK BK Tweets for the last few months makes me want to have a "Chicken Fries Whopper" for some reason

     Finally, data such as message content, message platform and links can generate insight on user behavior when mentioning the brand or associated content (through seperate link spidering - something that is easier said than done with bit.ly and tinyurl's api limits). Perhaps most evidently, the time consuming process of actually reading every user message can generate a specific picture of trends emerging around a brand. Depending on the volume of messages, this can be unfeasible, confusing or flatly impossible; in situations such as this, I've found that porting messages into a word cloud generator such as Wordle can provide top line figures on atleast the most basic of consumer sentiment.

     For the future, I see the nature of "real-time" search analysis becoming even more reliable and specific. Services such as Foursquare (Hurry up and get to London!) are ushering in consistent geolocation of messages in a system that encourages more detail than simple experiential tweets (i.e. "I'm off to get lunch at Business X" vs. "I just had horrible service at Business X").  Furthermore advances in automated semantic analysis are making the process of analyzing user messages for trends and sentiment quicker and more accurate, something that will be highly appreciated by those attempting to read the breadth of aggreagated content.

    In considering consumer sentiment measurement, perhaps the best way to illustrate current and future possibilities is to provide an example. Tomorrow in Part II, we'll take a real-world example and generate some topline data on Burger King within the UK utilizing a variety of web tools.