Mobile Twitter Apps List

I'm starting a list twitter applications that can be used on the Blackberry and iPhone (will add others end user devices). So, this is a "Post in progress".

The goal is to provide you a list of apps that includes:

• Pros/cons (mine and others) of each looking through the lens of marketing and business development professional and other business users
  
• Links to video demonstrations so you can see how it works
• Where applicable I'll have a link to the person who tells me about the app. (Note: it will be a link to their Twitter profile).
  

Over time, I hope, this post will evolve. For this post to be useful to you I need know about apps you are using along with your pros, cons and ratings.


iPhone

TweetDeck is a popular desktop that is also available for Apple's iPhone.


Pros: Free app (Desktop & iPhone), same interface for client and iPhone, you can manage multiple accounts, good demo walkthrough. Part of my core app package I use.

Cons: Real time updates make me lose my place when reading tweets. Needs a pause button. They have not responded to tweets I sent regarding improvements/feedback.

Rating: 4 out of 5


Blackberry

Viigo is a broader Application Suite for various push based services you may want on your BlackBerry. Thanks to Alain Theriault for sending me a tweet about Viigo. Here's a video demo.

If you use Viigo please leave a comment re: pros, cons and rating. Thx.


UberTwitter is an app that Haig Sakouyan referred me to. Here's a video review.

If you use UberTwitter feel free to leave a comment re: pros, cons and rating. Thx.

Hasn’t it always been about Trust?

The BusinessWeek article "The Great Trust Offensive" is worth a read. We consumers are skeptical of advertising, jaded by bailouts, huge executive bonuses..and let's not get into the rash of bad customer service experiences. This video (go to link above) summarizes the article....and there is hope!! =)

There are many examples of trusted companies. Companies that have figured out how to focus more on people and less on profit. Companies that are strong, sustainable and financially successful. Companies that view their people as the key ingredient to their success..not a "cost center" or a "human resource". Companies like John Deere and Chapmans Ice Cream come to mind.

In the B2B world, trust and credibility matter today more then ever. Why? Because trust is what makes or breaks a relationship and builds a solid reputation.

A value proposition means nothing if we can't deliver on it. And, today, even if we do deliver on it we must be able to prove that we did! Ideally through word of mouth. This is where I think social media and networking can play a role. (Future post planned on this!)

Lets not jump on the "trust" bandwagon and start peppering our copy and conversations with hollow promises and taglines like "trusted advisor" or "you can trust us". A great book that has really opened my eyes about earning trust is Chris Brogan and Julien Smith's book Trust Agents. I highly recommend it.

Linkroll (other links of interest):
Building your b2b brand
Importance of strategic references
Trust in the Online Retail World

If you'd like me to link to an article of interest let me know and I'll add it to this link roll.

IBM and Green I.T.

Another installment in my fun and funny advertisements. Here are the things that I like about this ad.

• Realism - businesses want to go green but they also are pragmatic and need to cut costs. They need a business case. This ad, uses humour to get that point across.


• Youth and Experience - it shows a young business analyst presenting the business case to the wiser exec. New thinking introducing new ideas to practical (yet open to learn) and experienced thinking.


• Humour - if someone is going to interrupt me with an ad...making it funny makes it worthwhile to me.


• YouTube - this ad is available through YouTube. This allows me and others to virally spread and share this content freely. This is a smart move by IBM.

How long should a blog post be?

This post is dedicated to those that blog and those thinking about blogging.

How long should a blog post be?
This is a question that may be on your mind. It's been on mine recently. I've conducted some research and there are varying opinions. Some folks say posts should average 500 words . But, there are some other folks who think otherwise too.

Jon Morrow from Copyblogger talks about tight writing and how some of their most popular posts are longer then 1000 words. Douglas Karr has an interesting article with some analysis on this topic as well.

I think varying opinions is a good thing. Why? Well, there should be no magic bullet when it comes to "average" blog post length. In fact, blogs in general should be unique and reflect the personal preferences of the blogger as well as their current and prospective audience.

But wait a minute, is there more to this question?

This one question leads to a whack load of others! Including:

• If I was just starting out blogging where would I start? Where could I learn about how to blog?
  
• If I want to get better at blogging where should I go?


• What innovative things are people doing with their blogs?


• Is brevity important when it comes to blog posts like it is with Twitter?


• How long should it take to write a blog post?


• Should you balance blog posts based on length to accommodate those that like to read short bursts of content and longer essay types of posts?


• What happens if you're not that great a writer, but want to blog? Should your posts be shorter to start? You may have interesting things to say while getting your blogging chops figured out, so why not start writing?


• Is it arrogant for a blogger to think that his/her posts length don't matter?


• There are "A" lister bloggers who have a devoted group of followers already but what about those just starting out?

Time to explore this in more depth through conversation and a blog post series.

The blog post length question for me leads to a broader conversation about a blogging publishing framework, examples, best practices etc . Things like (to name a few):

• Blog posts - how often, length and types of posts.


• Writing styles - first person, third person, serious, fun, corporate, personal.


• Categories and tags - how to define, use, manage and classify posts.


• Blog types - single author, multi-author.

Long live and love the blog.

The blog, in my own personal opinion, is one of the most promising channels to express yourself, educate, inform, engage and create conversation. Whether you're a company, an artist, a hobbyist or just someone who has something to say…you now have an outlet!

I think we are just scratching the surface when it comes to blogging. There are so many things we can and are doing with blogs, it makes sense to share how we are using blogs to benefit our readers and ourselves.

So, with that in mind, I'm creating a feature series of posts that explores blogging both personally and professionally. I'm going to share things like:

• What I'm learning about blogging through my own experiences and whatever else turns up in my travels.


• Interviews with bloggers asking why and how they blog.

I'm not sure what to name the series but I'd like to think that it becomes an ongoing and updating "how to" of blogging with real world examples. As the number of posts accumulate it may end up being a nice resource for you to refer to over time. (That's the beauty of tagging!).

Got questions, got answers, got ideas?
Leave a comment below with your question, your thoughts and ideas and links to sites and posts that you think will help us all learn more about blogging.

By the way, this post is 654 words in length and took an hour and forty seven minutes to draft, edit, cross link and publish.