It looks like too much of a good thing is bound to feel some affects from the “bad guys”… the hackers.
Twitter was down today because of a hacker attack on the micro-blog site. It sounds like as of now the site is back up. This article also spoke about the fact that some NFL teams and our US Marine Corps are banned from using the social networking site(s)…. goes along with today’s previous blog post about ESPN cracking down on it’s use too.

Sounds like the employees of ESPN have gotten busted by the “twitter police”. ESPN has recently rolled out some new guidelines for acceptable behavior with social networking sites such as Twitter. The goal of these new guidelines was to provide guidance on how websites, blogs and social networking sites should only be used in a way to benefit ESPN.
This brings up a good point about employers and the use of these social networking sites. A couple items come to mind when I think about these guidelines being implemented. First, there are a lot of people that might occupy a lot of work time to keep their fellow “tweeters”/Facebook “friends” etc updated on their daily activities. This affects them in their jobs and performing what they are paid there to do… work not Tweet. Secondly, social networking really has not been a part of our daily lives till recently, so there has to be some sort of guidelines implemented to help control what company information/news can be funneled through the social networking sites. If there are not guidelines, then sometimes the common sense factor will not come into play when releasing possibly some private information. However, there are a lot of companies that will use Twitter as a source of promoting their product or service, and I believe that is a different conversation. Promoting your company’s product or service should be okay, but there has to be guidelines on how much time is actually done doing that while working.
Leadpile does work on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, but in a way that does not violate any information that should not be disclosed improperly. It will not surprise me if we continue to hear stories like this one, because employers are having to set a precedence on how to effectively use the social networking sites while conducting business.

I don’t think there is a day that goes by where something about Twitter is not being talked about. That’s great for them, but what is it really bringing them as far as money in their pockets? It seems they are still working on long term initiatives that would help them make money off it’s popularity. However, for now they are continuing to come up with ideas that will help the current users make money. In the next few days, they will be rolling out the first phase of educational information for businesses on how they can effectively use Twitter to generate revenue for their own company (big and small). Twitter will continue to roll out educational information so they can help their users become more Twitter savvy with Tweeting. They see their site as a great tool for businesses to use to help generate revenue. Does this mean if they are going to help educate businesses on how to make money, then they must have something planned for themselves on how THEY are going to make money? I hope so!
Twitter is looking to be looked at more like a communication network, versus a social network. They have forecasted that they will have revenues of around 4 billion for the 4th quarter, but I am not sure how they will achieve that with the way the site is currently. Maybe they have something “big” up their sleeves????? Leadpile Lead Exchange uses Twitter on a limited basis, however maybe with some new tools available we could look at using it even more! Are other lead generation companies using Twitter to generate leads? I would be curious to see how affiliate marketers and other lead generation companies are utilizing this “communication network” to help their business?

Can it really be? Facebook to make billions within the next 5 years? Reuters is reporting that one of Facebook’s board members is predicting this. It seems that promoting more advertising, to really capitalize on the massive amounts of traffic frequenting the social networking site, is key. 225+ million users are on the site, so there has got to be some way to monetize this site to maybe earn these billions that are being predicted. However, will it follow the trends of Twitter where there are massive amounts of traffic not being capitalized on yet? I think the future of social networking really depends on these sites figuring out an effective way to capitalize on the users on their sites. What way(s) of monetizing the social networking site(s) will work best? What are the demographics of the Facebook? Who is coming and going on the site?
The users on Facebook seem to be a lot more diverse than the other large social networking site (myspace.com). However, where did myspace go wrong………. or did they NOT go wrong? They dominated the net just a few years ago, yet times seemed to have changed when the site became more of an advertising site than a place for people to network. Let’s keep an eye on Facebook and see if they stay on the right path to really do the right thing for their network… AND earn this BILLIONS of revenue! Maybe Facebook should contact Leadpile to do some lead generation!

It seems Microsoft sees some “good” in Twitter because it is incorporating Twitter messages into the Bing search results. They will be indexing some of the more popular “Tweeters” who have some good followers and tweets. I guess Twitter is not a one hit wonder that is just going to go away. The realtime updates of what people are doing, and talking about, is truly something everyone is trying to get a piece of. These realtime search results are going to be displayed in a separate area of the Bing results page, so people can stay in touch with the Twitter world.
You really can’t blame Microsoft for trying to capitalize on all this traffic going to Twitter. They have some nice competition in the search engine world with Google, and probably want to do anything in their power to make the new Bing search engine work, and work like no other search engine. Score for Microsoft!

If you have turned on the national news in the last week, there is talk about what is going on in Iran. Unfortunately, there is a lot of uproar going on, and there is some finger pointing going on with internet companies and their involvement. Internetnews.com is reporting,”Internet traffic experts and DPI firms have been hard at work assessing the traffic into and out of Iran, but such data only provides a certain level of insight into the motives and actions of the government of Iran. Experts believe that specific applications are being targeted, but cannot prove that the government is using a specific technology such as DPI. ” This opens up questions of how much should a government be able to interfere with it’s residence with their use of the internet. Are sites such as Twitter that powerful that there needs to be intervention? Technology is powerful, however is it really that powerful to affect results of Iran’s political affairs?

In today’s era of social networking and free email address accounts, I find this very surprising that China has chosen to ban both Hotmail and Twitter. SearchEngineWatch.com points out a good point that a third of our world’s population lives in China, therefore will this ban affect active users on both Twitter and Hotmail? It’s kinda hard to believe that something like Twitter and Hotmail can be that bad that a government would eliminate it and just throw one’s freedom of speech out the window. I guess China is maybe a little behind the times with allowing people to control their own lives, so I guess this is not totally surprising to me. I wonder how those that live in China feel about this government intervention with their lives? If you live in China, I hope you get Twitter back soon!

Internetnews.com is reporting something “new” with the mega social networking site Twitter. According to the website, “Twitter brass confirmed that it’s signed a deal with TV producer Reveille — which has produced hits like “The Office” and “Ugly Betty” — and with Brillstein Entertainment, a talent agency that also has production credits under its belt that include ”The Sopranos” and ”NewsRadio”. ” This potential show would be something where they are putting ordinary people on the trail of celebrities in a revolutionary competitive format.” The idea of this sort of show does not seem to be exciting to the biggest “tweeter” of all: Ashton Kutcher. Leadpile loves Twitter, but is this all a little bit of a stretch for a story line? I do have to say, Twitter is remaining more than just a “phase”! STAY TUNED.

             Apple and Twitter marriage?

Who is next?

First it was Facebook, then it was Google, and now the latest rumor is Apple is interested in purchasing Twitter. Could this be true?  ”Twapple” news was all over the net yesterday and today that there could be a deal brewing for $700 million.  A lot of money for an “entity” that does not necessarily make any money.  The question you always hear is, How does Twitter make money? We all know Facebook used to have no advertising on it, and in recent months there are now advertisements.  However, Twitter has not yet ventured into any advertisements, yet everyone wants to buy the unprofitable site.    Appscout points out, “A deal could be done by June 8, the date of Apple’s Worldwide Developer Conference.”
Leadpile, once again will be keeping an eye on this potential marriage made in cyber heaven.

There has been much written and talked about Twitter over the past few weeks.  Celebrities such as Oprah Winfrey and Ashton Kutcher have brought much hype and attention to Twitter.  It turns out that all of this discussion may just be hype after all.  Nielsen Online released some research this week indicating that new users of Twitter are not staying around very long.  In fact, their research indicates that over 60 percent of Twitter users have stopped using the micro-blogging service a month after joining the service.

With a retention rate around 40%, Twitter’s growth will certainly be limited in the long run.  Facebook and MySpace had retention rates nearly double of Twitter’s at similar times in their respective growths.  Even today, Facebook and MySpace have retention rates around 70%.

So, perhaps all those companies that are trying to capitalize on Twitter should take pause, and wait to see what the core Twitter audience will be.  If people are not staying with Twitter for long, the challenge will be to engage this audience and keep them engaged for more than a month.  Apparently, Ashton, Oprah, and others can bring a large audience, but unfortunately it also appears this audience is leaving very quickly.

Facebook passed a remarkable figure this week.  The 200 millionth user was added this week to the popular social networking site.  If Facebook was a country it would have the fifth largest population in the world. Facebook isn’t only getting larger, it is also getting older.  People ages 26-44 make up the the fastest growing segment of the Facebook population.  

Most Facebook users are still reluctant to click on adds, and businesses are still trying to leverage the social networking space.  Real problems and perceived problems regarding products and customer service can be monitored with social media.  Great opportunities lie ahead for Facebook, Twitter and others.

If Google is not already big enough, it is now in talks to potentially purchase the mega microblogging service Twitter for an estimated $250 million. According to The San Jose Business Journal, “TechCrunch said it has been told by three unnamed sources that the companies are talking. The blog added that the purchase of Twitter — which allows users to post 140-character updates and see what others are posting as well — would give Google a leg up in real-time search.” Previous rumors had circulated about Facebook offering $500 million, however that “deal” never happened.
The brilliant thing is the founders of Twitter (Evan Williams and Biz Stone) had previously sold their blogging service Blogger, to Google earlier this decade. What is next for this internet gurus? Inquiring minds want to know…. and so does Leadpile Lead Exchange. Stay tuned folks.