Does having a million followers actually mean anything?

I admit this is a bit of an unfinished thought so feel free to jump into the comments and finish it with me but I have been walking around with the notion of influence on my brain and wondering if there is such a thing anymore?

Most of this stems from my impression of the Kevin Smith vs. Southwest airlines incident

[Disclosure: I am a self identified Kevin Smith fan. To put that into context, I was one of the very few who saw Jersey Girl in the theatre and have chatted with KS more then a few times at Comic Con and the Toronto International Film Fest as well as have listened to every Smodcast since the beginning...yes a fan.] and what has happened since the initial event.

I am not going to bother with giving you a re-cap of what happened because others have done it better than I would but if you are in the dark on this you can read this great piece by Caroline McCarthy from Cnet or any of these articles.

As someone who is pretty sensitive to weight issues I was initially drawn to this story [thankfully I still have 4 inches on the old airplane seatbelt to work with so my interest wasn't from personal experience] and after the initial salaciousness of it I became instantly drawn to the outcome...and by outcome I am curious to know if this will actually hurt Southwest in any way. I say this because the airline industry is unique since it has a bad reputation already and I doubt that this is going to hurt it any further. The interesting thing to me is because Kevin Smith has a million followers on twitter and if his [in my opinion, deserved] outrage going to get people to not fly Southwest?

We keep talking about how the "power" has shifted from the company to the consumer because people have a voice and while I agree with this and appreciate it I wonder if people will actually give up something they love because someone on Twitter told them to. The last celebrity boycott I can remember was Howard Stern vs. Snapple and while that was a very different time, history has shown that he was able to hurt the company.

So I ask you..With more and more people collecting a million or more followers on Twitter or any other social network are we moving to a place where the people delivering the message...as well as the actual message will become a commodity with people not listening?

.....so THAT is what Thoora does!

A lot of people have been asking me recently what Thoora is all about. I could go on about how we are algorithmically curating news through clustering and news science but better then me telling you I figured since it is Friday and all I would show you a recent presentation our CEO made at the AlwaysON Media NYC conference.

If you look closely you on the right side of the video you will see me all suited up.

15 months later....Are people ready for my thoughts on Twtter yet?

This post first appeared about 15 months ago on the great website Download Squad. I am re-posting it here after all this time because like most observations I make/write about it was way ahead of its time and the sheer funturosity of it sent waves of fear into the hearts of the people who read the post...I know this because the comments were so harsh that shares in AOL fell off the table and fingers were pointed at me for all of the companies problems...but time has a funny way of proving me to be smarter than I look so I now share with you my early observation on the dangers of Twitter...and if you are still unsure if this is a joke at the end I will let you know now that I was just kidding....maybe.

If I keep using Twitter I will go blind!

I am very lucky because I have great parents who tried very hard to raise me with proper manners and values. I wasn't always the best kid and had to hear the following two warnings from my parents far more than I should have...."unlock the door or you will go blind" and "put the keyboard down...you are ruining any chance you might have for beautiful penmanship". Penmanship was a big deal in my house because even though my Dad is 6’4” and looks like a retired NBA All Star he has the kinda handwriting that Mavis Beacon could only dream of.

My parents meant well but were only half right...I never went blind but yes...I have horrible handwriting.

Thinking about the past got me thinking about the future and I wondered what I would be warning my kids about and I think the obvious answer is going to be Twitter!

Think about it...what is the real effect Twitter is having on society?

Give up?

Kids and grownups alike will start to not only talk but think thoughts 140 characters at a time.

I know I know, you are probably sitting reading this and thinking I am crazy but I swear I am already doing it. You can't imagine how many times I have stood naked in the shower (that is sorta a trick statement because I am always naked in the shower but I encourage you to imagine it anyway) dreaming up clever and witty things to post on Twitter.

Witty things like....

I have put away my dream of writing the great American “Sabra” novel and replaced it with writing the greatest 140 character observations or retelling of my experiences in the world...something so clever that even Robert Scoble would re-tweet it.

This is serious folks. I keep hearing how people are worried about how twitter will make money...that is kids stuff compared to the real issue people should worry about. The future of communications as we know it.

I think we can all agree that children are our are future and if we teach them well we can let them lead the way but we are going to have to show them all the beauty they possess inside and I am not sure this can be accomplished at 140 characters at a time...but this is where we are going unless we put a stop to this right now. That is right...you heard me right...I am saying let’s take a stand now before we live in a world where job descriptions and personal ads will all fit into a neat box that says “What are you doing?”

It is too late to correct the handwriting epidemic in North America but it is never too late to take a stand on elongated communications.

So stand with me folks and stand proud the best way I know how...by becoming the most popular person on Twitter so I can make real change from the inside....so please follow my plight from at @saulcolt

Great News!! You Don't Need to "Engage" Customers Anymore!!!

I am writing this post from the world famous Roger Smith Hotel in NYC and the only reason I mention this is so you realize at the beginning that I was not in attendance at the event I am referencing in this post and as well I would like to say that even though I am using an example by @unmarketing I would like to say that if you read the post you will see I am not starting up with him but attempting to show another point of view to his comment in the effort to demonstrate this is an ever evolving space with the need for some fresh eyes. I should also mention that I don't know Scott except for on Twitter and haven't met him in real life so this may not be fair but I am in no way attacking him. I am sure Scott is a nice guy and he is only in the post because he inspired it...and as always, these opinions are mine and mine alone. What I am saying is that not even my mom wants to be associated with some of nonsense.

Last night as part of Social Media Week in Toronto, Scott Stratten spoke on the subject of Social Media at The Refresh Events gathering. I can't comment on the event or Scott's ability as a speaker because I wasn't there but I did see some of the tweets that came out from it and one specifically caught my eye.

This is a bold statement and one that I don't agree with.

Sure conventional Social Media wisdom says you need to respond to every comment and engage your community but since there is nothing really conventional about Social Media there can't really be conventional wisdom...or to phrase it differently, there can't be any hard and fast rules because every situation is different.

Under certain circunstances I advise companies not to engage their customers because there is no one on the team who has the correct personality/passion/disposition to do this sort of stuff. Communications is about comfort and confidence and if you don't have that person on your team you should not be putting people in a position to fail because that is just not fair.

BUT <---- I made that all caps because here comes the part that makes me look really smart and I wanted you to notice.

Even without true engagement you can still make a noticeable difference in customer care and activate customers to become more loyal and tweet about their level of satisfactions by simply listening super closely to their needs and make the necessary (if any) changes...then once the changes are made you let your customers notice on their own and let them draw their own conclusions to how or why the product or service is suddenly better. People are smart and they will notice your work.

How do I know this?

Well because just about every speaker on the Social Media speaking circuit says some version of "Your customers are talking about you weather you engage or not so you better get in there and engage" (I know because I say it in my presentations) so an assumption can be made by that logic that they will continue to talk about the "new" you and spread the word and by just listening you can still do your brand good and not ask your staff to do something they are not equipped to handle.

What says you?

p.s. This is just one example of "non engagement for fun and profit" and I could list a few more but honestly I am going to save them for a future blog post since I am finding myself too busy to come up with interesting blog content :)