Using auto direct messages (DM) on Twitter is a bad idea.

It was a bad idea when I first joined Twitter in June 2008 – a time when there were fewer than 500,000 Tweeple in the Twitterverse. And it’s a worse idea now…particularly with 75 million users on Twitter. Why?

1. Auto DMs are spam – unsolicited and unwelcome mail. To top it off, many Twitter users also get email notifications about their DMs, so it’s actually more like a one-two spam punch – in the face. Why would anyone choose to welcome people to their “community” this way?

Welcome to <Twitter Name Here> on Twitter. We hope you enjoy experiencing learning with us.

Thank you for following the writers of <New Pub Name Here>. We are hoping that our expertise will enlighten you and make you healthy.

We produce #environmental awareness posters, decals, much more, helping companies promote #sustainability & #recycling. Please pass us along

Hi there! I’m new to Twitter so I hope you enjoy my tweets. I love solar electricity and if you want to learn about it, I’ll show it to you

Well, you might be thinking, these sound like friendly, well-intended welcome messages. Yes, they are. But they are also disruptive communications as described in the definition of spam (below). They are disruptive because they are unsolicited and may very well be irrelevant to the recipient. Auto DMs are disruptive because they constitute noise that dilutes the signal for relevant information I want to receive and the conversations I choose to participate in.

Spam: A disruptive, esp. commercial message posted on a computer network or sent as e-mail

And, yes, the worst auto DM spam is the kind that is used for advertising:

Hi, thx for following? Are you up to date with social media? <Link Here to a Book on Amazon>

Thx for connecting. Are you attending <Name of Event Here> next week? <Link to Event Here> Discount code information here.

{In the case above I was already registered, which made the spam even more annoying.}

Just because I follow you back on Twitter does not mean that I am giving you permission to market to me. A follow back on Twitter does not constitute an “opt-in” subscription to anything you perceive is valuable to your community.

2. Auto DMs are sometimes viruses – and they appear to come from people you follow. So even if you are using auto-DMs to sell a book or a workshop, how effective do you think it will be in the DM-shy world we inhabit today? Today it is rare that I will click on a URL in a DM…unless I am “expecting” specific information from a fellow Twitter user.

3. Auto DMs are for robots, not humans. Social media is about human and personal interaction. If you don’t care enough to take the time to personally “welcome” someone on Twitter, then you shouldn’t do it at all.

In my opinion, Twitter DM should be a sacred channel. It should be used conscientiously and for those moments when you:

• Must get through to someone quickly;
• Have information to share with someone that is not relevant for the entire community; or
• Have to take a Twitter conversation offline.

With almost 8 million users on Twitter it has become rather noisy – not just from the auto-DM spam, but also from the grumblings of the unhappy Tweeple – like myself – who are on the receiving end of that spam.

So, if you are looking for a way to be unfollowed before your first conversation on Twitter begins or to lose loyal followers, then try using auto DMs.

Granted, there are some people may choose to unfollow auto DMers and others who may unhappily tolerate it – which is mostly the case for me in the small city where I live. But even if you are not getting unfollowed as the result of your auto DMs, how do you know it is not just because people are being polite and tolerating you?

At the end of the day, I would rather have people happily following me rather than unhappily tolerating me.

How about you?

Chart source: RJ Metrics

If you have not yet used Social Media Releases (SMR), here are five tips that will buy you some valuable added exposure until you make the leap to SMR…

1. Include FlickR image(s) with your news release – preferably one from your own FlickR account. If you don’t have a company FlickR account, what are you waiting for? The PR benefits are enormous, particularly for driving web traffic. Be sure to include stock photos in your account as well. And don’t forget to include the FlickR stream in your press room and on your company web site.

2. Use hyperlinks for key words and phrases throughout your news release – If your story does get ink, you want to make sure it’s also getting juice (of the Google, Yahoo and Bing variety). Obviously the links should also serve as relevant extension of your story.

3. For official statements, include an audio file with the release – What better way to illustrate such an important event? It also happens to be the quickest and most efficient way for your message to get published via all electronic media including radio, television and web.

4. Make sure that all multi-media content you submit is “embeddable” – For example, a video that is “embedded” into a news story looks like this. Publishing videos to YouTube, Vimeo or Blip.Tv makes it easier to share your content, which in turn will increase your level of exposure on the Web – much more so than sending an .MPG file attachment of your video over email.

5. Include the date of your event in the subject line of your email – So what does that have to do with news release prep for the Web? Well, in order for the above four items to be effective, your email must first be opened. Journalists and bloggers receive boatloads of emails every day from PR professionals. And they don’t necessarily get opened in chronological order. Some don’t get opened at all. One of the best ways for you to “red flag” your release is to include a date in the Subject Line. This also allows the receiver to organize and prioritize potential stories of interest.

One of the other hats I wear is that of a journalist over at MyEugene. The above list was compiled based on my experiences working on the receiving end of local PR pitches and materials for the past year.

Do you have any tips for preparing press releases for the Web? Let’s hear them!

It’s the “little” things in life that often have the greatest impact.

Personal paradigm shifts (aka life changes) can come in many shapes and sizes. In 2009, mine came in the form of a microscopic organism called Candida Albicans, a form of yeast (fungus) inside the body.

You may or may not know, we—men, women, and children—have two kinds of yeast in our body – beneficial and harmful. Healthy bodies will effectively ward off the bad yeast…or, at a minimum, keep it in check with minor health-related annoyances.

Bodies with compromised immune systems—due to surgery/antibiotics, processed foods, birth-control pills, poor diet/carbohydrates etc—have a much more difficult time fighting the harmful yeast, which, if left unchecked, can result in often misdiagnosed or “incurable” problems such as:

Other factors that contribute to an overgrowth of Candida include environment and lifestyle, which is not surprising since “stress is one of the leading causes of an unhealthy immune system.”

So today it’s estimated that approximately 80 percent of the population is living with Candida. And in its benevolent round-shaped yeast form, most people do not even know they have Candida.

However, when the perfect storm of opportunity presents itself – based on the aforementioned factors –Candida can and will mutate into a dangerous fungal form.

In this state, as a filament-shaped organism, Candida becomes invasive. It will poke holes in your digestive tract (also known as Leaky Gut Syndrome), enabling undigested food and waste to travel into the blood stream.

On top of that, Candida emits over 70 of its own different toxins into the body. At this point the body’s immune system becomes quite overwhelmed, making it much more difficult to fight infection.

It is no wonder Candida has also been linked to major diseases.

Also, while in its fungal state, Candida rapidly proliferates throughout the body, creating of host of aggravating ailments. For example, Candida “affects up to 85 percent of men; they usually suffer in the form of digestive problems, and, later in life, prostate problems…”

If you have any of the above conditions, or any “syndromes” or “chronic” ailments, they could be related to Candida.

Here are the three steps you should take:

1. Identify the Candida symptoms
2. Take this questionnaire
3. Get tested (more about this in my next blog post).

Candida symptoms and fungus-related ailments vary extensively by individual…as do the symptom lists and questionnaires. To be safe, I recommend that you still get tested regardless of the results of the first two steps. Why?

• First, research regarding Candida is always ongoing…as are the new discoveries about its impact on health.
• Second, Candida is highly adaptable and evolutionary; so even the symptoms and related health issues may change!
• Third, if you do have yeast overgrowth and it’s left unchecked, Candida can be quite debilitating and dangerous (as in “life threatening”). “It will steal your breath, your energy, your life.”

Remember: Candida affects every person differently. No two cases are the same.

Coming Soon – Part 3: Good news and bad news can be the same

The first step to giving chronic ailments the boot – for good.

Chronic ailments are a silent epidemic in the United States.

To be clear, chronic ailments are those seemingly minor and annoying health issues (like sinusitis, Crohn’s Disease, and just about anything with “syndrome” in the name) that are usually a mystery as to their cause.

While the ailments alone aren’t enough to “level” you (at first blush anyway), they can and often do result in prolonged and compounded misery that is somehow seamlessly configured into one’s existence.

Chronic diseases, on the other hand – like those of the heart or diabetes, arthritis, and cancer – are also an epidemic, albeit a conspicuous one. According to the CDC, chronic disease is “the leading cause of death in the United States…accounts for 7 out of 10 deaths among Americans each year.”

But when it comes to overall attention and awareness, the chronic ailment is the ugly stepchild to the chronic disease. The chronic ailment is not a darling topic for corporate-run media. It’s not the beneficiary of multiple behemoth fundraising machines. It’s not mentioned in popular hip-hop songs. It’s not the focus of a celebrity charity event. It’s not a trending topic on Twitter. And it’s not even popular in Google search results.

Chronic ailments – or what I call “soft diseases” – have become a regular part of every day life for millions of Americans who buck it up and “deal with it” because “there isn’t a cure.” Often these same people are prescribed different pills by different doctors each of whom claims to have the solution – but only the kind that will take the greatest edge off their patients’ misery.

So how many people do you know who have one or more of the following chronic ailments and quietly tolerate their condition because “there isn’t a cure?”

Examples of chronic ailments include:

What would you say if I told you that it’s possible to eliminate multiple ailments at the same time? Without costly procedures? Without pharmaceutical drugs?

Stick with me here. I am not trying to sell you a product.

I want to share what I learned through experience: That I was personally able to eliminate multiple health ailments once I learned about a “root problem” that doesn’t get addressed in the healthcare industry in the United States.

In my case, the chronic ailments were symptoms of another underlying issue and not diseases unto themselves.

So, today, my health “mysteries” (also not-affectionately known as health “miseries”) over the past several years are now gone.

It didn’t take a miracle. But it did take a valuable investment of time to figure out that my health issues were due to a natural cause and effect that occurs in the body…one that most of us don’t think about or know about…or that our physicians don’t address…much to our detriment.

If one thing is off kilter in our bodies, it can throw the whole process of functioning into a tailspin over time. Even worse, the changes leading up to the “tailspin” are often incremental and self-perpetuating. The resulting scenario is not much different than that of a frog in a pot of boiling water…with potential consequences that are equally dire.

The moral of part one of “A true story about wellness” is actually the first lesson I learned on this unforgettable journey: IF YOU WANT TO BE WELL, IT IS GOING TO REQUIRE WORK…from YOU.

That’s right. I went to multiple doctors, talked with friends and family, conducted my own extensive online research (including personal blogs, which were an enormous help), had many tests done, and – of course – was prescribed useless medications (some of which actually exacerbated the problem!). In the end, once my search for a cause and cure began in earnest, it was about six months before I figured out what course of action to take.

So here’s the bottom line: No one is going to figure this out for you. You need to do it yourself. It takes a great deal of work to figure out the causes and cures to health problems. For some reason, I thought that I could simply go to a doctor with my first-rate insurance plan and receive an accurate diagnosis as well as an appropriate cure. But it wasn’t that simple. And, as it turns out, it wasn’t even possible.

If you want to give your chronic ailments the boot, I highly recommend that you collect information from multiple sources and be open to alternative medicine, which – although we call it “alternative” – has actually been around for thousands of years.

COMING SOON: Part 2 – What I discovered

When I woke up this morning, things were lookin’ bad
Seem like total silence was the only friend I had
Bowl of oatmeal tried to stare me down… and won
And it was twelve o’clock before I realized
That I was havin’ … no fun. —John Prine, Illegal Smile

During the last few months I had the unfortunate opportunity to become intimately acquainted with our health care system, a topic that deserves its own blog post or two in the future.

But, for now, I wanted to share a simple recipe for improving and/or maintaining good health – a different kind of public option.

Solutions don’t have to be flashy, costly or complex. Sometimes the best solutions are humble, boring, and proven.

Oatmeal: The “motherlode” breakfast of champions

• Organic rolled oats in a bowl – Serving size at your discretion
  If you have extra time to prepare breakfast, consider steel-cut oats.
• Soak for 10-15 minutes in Soy, Rice or Almond Milk or other non-dairy option
• Warm in microwave (optional)
• Add a few drops of NuNaturals Pure Liquid Stevia with Singing Dog Vanilla Extract to taste (optional); Stir
• Add 3 tbsp. of raw, organic black walnuts – chopped or whole
• Sprinkle cinnamon
• Top with a generous dollup of Trader Joe’s French Village Vanilla nonfat yogurt

Do you have a simple solution (or recipe) you’d like to share?

Brian Solis – founder of FutureWorks, PR 2.0 blogger, and revolutionary thinker – presented at NewComm Forum 09 last month about “The New Organization Landscape for Marketing Communications.” Here are the highlights of his fabulous presentation, which has yet to be released:

Solis asked “Who owns social media?” A very hot topic in the blogosphere these days, it was a great way to start the presentation because all ears pricked up.

He said that no one owns it and, at the same time, everyone owns it. The sum of all parts (of an organization) make a whole. And social media affects every part of an organization.

Solis then described social media as “the new gold rush,” where everyone’s jumping in because “it’s hot” and “it’s supposed to be what we’re doing.”

But, Solis says, the question we should be asking is: “How are we going to socialize what we (our brand) represent?”

And who represents your brand in the Social Web does matter. Solis recommended that organizations carefully consider who in the company should be entrusted with the keys to the Ferrari. He talked about “Twinterns” or interns who are in charge of corporate Twitter or other social media accounts. He said, “Are you going to risk having a Twintern deal with a blogger with thousands of RSS subscribers?”

“Are you going to risk having a Twintern deal with a blogger with thousands of RSS subscribers?”

There are other ways to be cost effective.

Companies today are still viewing Social Media from a top-down perspective…when they really need to be embracing it more as an evangelical initiative.

“Social Media provides a fantastic opportunity to build communities and create ways to get other people to go out and do work for you,” said Solis. Each division in a company needs to be “socialized” in order to build these communities.

How would this setup occur in an organization? A social media “team” begins an “interagency” within your organization. The new roles for this new communications agency would look like this:

• Digital Anthropologist
• Strategist
• Communications Manager
• Research Librarian
• Support Team

The most important thing to remember is that social media is about sociology; not technology. Effective immersion into this world requires experience, insight and perspective…solidified by interaction…and measured by relationships.

Photo Credit: Kenneth Yeung – www.thelettertwo.com

Before tactics, you need strategy. Before strategy, you need research. The analysis of your research will ultimately open doors to new ideas, opportunities and directions. Only then will you have insight.

“Research without insight is just trivia.” – Katie Delahaye Paine

Put simply, the 2009 NewComm Forum was a hotbed of insight dispensed and discussed by the new media communications elite. As appropriate for a research firm-sponsored event, the presentations and discussions were littered with heaps of advice and best practices.

Held in San Francisco, from April 26-29, the Forum catered to about 400 professionals from the communications, media and marketing industries. I honestly had difficulty choosing between the sessions – which were highly relevant and practical, as well as forward thinking. From the “New Business Models for News Organizations” roundtable discussion with Tom Foremski and Andria Carter to the “Social Media and Crisis Communications Revisited” keynote with Shel Holtz, the conference was pure bounty.

Beyond the lack of power strips for laptops, my only disappointment was that I could not attend all of the presentations, which were delivered in a break-out session format. Fortunately though, after the conference, many of the presentations were made available here for download.

The value of this conference is in its DNA as a product of the Society for New Communications Research (SNCR). If you work in communications, marketing and/or media and you’re not familiar with SNCR, you should be. According to the SNCR website, the organization is “a global nonprofit research and education foundation and think tank focused on the advanced study of the latest developments in new media and communications, and their effect on traditional media and business models, communications, culture and society.”

Include this conference in your budget for 2010. Now.

NOTE – Stay tuned for highlights from “The New Organization Landscape for Marketing Communications” a presentation (not available for download on the SNCR website) by Brian Solis. I will also create a separate post regarding the “Trends in Journalism” session.

Over the weekend, while some gathered for family dinners or hunted for Easter eggs, and others enjoyed a day in the park, I got caught up in listening to the online buzz about Amazon and the global reaction to its new policies.

I watched as anger and dissent – like mutating airborne bacteria – rapidly diffused throughout the Social Web, from network to network and person to person…all while the giant – Amazon – slept. By the time the global bookseller got wind of the situation, Plan A – which could have been “containment,” the chance to proactively manage the situation, was no longer an option. It was time for the big bookseller to declare a public relations state of emergency and go straight to Plan B: global communication and response.

So what did Amazon do? They emailed a comment:

“There was a glitch with our sales rank feature that is in the process of being fixed. We’re working to correct the problem as quickly as possible.”

Amazon’s reply was like pouring lighter fluid on a fire.

As of this writing, the company’s blog still has not been updated and the tweets continue to pour into the stream with #AmazonFail holding its own as a top Twitter trend. There’s talk in the Twittersphere that says Amazon will “speak” tomorrow – the start of what will prove to be a very long week of defensive maneuvering.

In the end, this all could have been avoided. And there’s no excuse for it anymore. Twitter has proven itself – time and again – as a viable and valuable communications channel…in times of disaster, giving, protest, and celebration.

Twitter – like any communication tool on the Social Web – doesn’t take a holiday. It doesn’t sleep. And it doesn’t take weekends off.

And neither should you…if you care about your reputation.

RELEVANT READING:

• Amazon sees censorship decisions magnified through the social web magnifying glass (12 April 2009)
• Open Letter to Amazon Regarding Recent Policy Changes (12 April 2009)
• Amazonfail  (13 April 2009)
• Blogs and Twitter Coin “Amazon Fail” (13 April 2009)
• How to Build a Reputation Monitoring Dashboard (March 2009)

Check out this sweet slide deck on podcasting from Kelli Matthews, who cared enough to KISS (Keep It Short and Simple) the content for readers.

Is your subscription revenue threatened by the current economic climate?

Whether your organization is b2b or b2c or non-profit, whether you’re a local business or global enterprise…and whether subscriptions and memberships are your business model or your gravy – now is the time to start protecting this precious revenue stream.

Here are nine strategies to get you on the path toward preservation – and, yes, possibly growth:

1.     Get creative with the packaging of your benefits and services

• Figure out what benefits and services are being used the most and which ones are not. What benefits and services are not being offered that would be logistically and economically feasible to add?
  • Ask your existing customers using a quick online survey
  • Study your usage data, trends, and patterns
• Pare down your packages so they include only the most popular and/or practical benefits and services and change pricing accordingly.  
• For your big customers who want the existing entire enchilada: Spice the package with a few extra features and benefits (again, base this on data/feedback) and increase your price for the “premium” package by 15-20% minimum
• Consider subscription packages for “niche” audiences – for example:
  • Verticals
  • Channels
  • Technologists
  • Millennials
  • Students / Seniors
  • Government / Non-profits

2.     Consider changes to your Terms of Service and/or Length of Contract (this can be extended or reduced based on your strategy and market)

3.     Offer an E-membership or E-subscription package at a greatly reduced rate

4.     Collaborate on a joint subscription/membership with another business or organization that may offer relevant, complementary services/offerings.

5.     Consider creating an online community as the heart of your subscription-based business model. Although it will require manpower to manage it, the technology is established and it’s free. Best of all, the community will be considered a valuable benefit in your subscription package.

6.     Promotions, Deals, Incentives, Limited Time Offers – Make them count. Don’t bother with 10 or 15 or even 20% off. Those offers will not move the needle in this economic climate. Try 20-25% off to start, buy-one-get one free, two-for-one, multiple seats, all-inclusive, 1 or 2 extra months added at the end of the contract, whatever…just make it compelling.

7.     Referral programs – It’s no mistake that this is lucky #7 on the list. The power and potential of this program alone – using the social web – is staggering (yes, even in this economy). To expound on this strategy would require a separate blog post.

8.     Testimonials – I know this sounds elementary; but when is the last time you updated your customer testimonials? Are they relevant to each of your target markets? How prominent are your testimonials? How ubiquitous are your testimonials and references (yes, this ties in to #7 too)?

9.     Make it as simple and seamless to renew as possible. Most important: Make it easy for your customers to give you money.

Note: If packaging creativity and flexibility are constrained by technology, it’s time to revisit your IT investments. Seriously. The collaboration and content management solutions out there today will astound you AND save you money and heartache in the near and long term.