I love that Twitter is baked directly into iOS…. but could be so much more – and I’ve written about that from the launch (example here). My primary frustration is that the integration doesn’t do enough with my contact list – which remains the most accurate, important social network. Furthermore, Twitter uses aliases – and I rarely remember people’s Twitter usernames. This problem exists even within the Twitter app or popular readers like Tweetbot.

Apple has a Twitter Contact tool – but it doesn’t do enough: I should be able to connect with the user by name and not by username. After all, my contact list is the more natural convention and, of course, how I know these people.

In the below screenshot, I Tweeted a TechCrunch article by Anthony Ha – and the only reason the association worked is because his Twitter handle is his name!

Big opportunity for Apple to make Contacts more social and usable. And for Twitter to grow usage and cement user identity.

I haven’t logged into Google Plus in a little, so I cannot tell if this is a new feature or a result of my infrequent usage – nevertheless, I was taken aback by Google’s new Trending on Google+ module… which looks exactly like Twitter’s. While it is interesting to see that the topics are related (ie Junior Seau, NFL), I was most interested by the use of hashtags on Google. Within my Google+ network, I have not seen hashtags used with any regularity (whereas they obviously are part of the Twitter culture) – I also would have assumed they would relied on real-time search and trends to populate the list.

Facebook has launched Messenger for Windows. Finally – it’s great. (Although I still think it’s time to launch a browser!)

What’s noteworthy is the download page and flow… which is unique (to me!) and a gorgeous, effective way to convert users through the download process. It’s the best design of this flow I’ve seen.

Here’s your standard marketing page – driving users to click download (“install now”). Very Facebook in its presentation.

And here is the cool part: once clicked, the lightbox appears with instructions and is situated directly over the download section of the browser (screenshot is of Chrome). The lightbox sits atop the download and instructs users through the next three steps – including getting over the biggest hurdle of the flow: converting users from download click to application open.

Beautiful and creative.

“We are moving from ads to stories. Lots of ads add up to noise. Lots of stories are how we build our relationships.”
- Mike Hoefflinger, Facebook

From Facebook’s Marketing Keynote

Just last week I wrote about the new Facebook Feature Posts that are being anchored atop the newsfeed (and are very lightly marked as ads).

Well here is another example of the anchored ad unit but using a new format: Offers. The example is from Macy’s and includes an in-line offer.

Visually it is very clearly separated, includes a big visual and a unique border (you really cannot miss this).

The ad appears both in anchor format (top screenshot) and in the actual feed. Obviously, the anchoring / promotion causes more visibility and thus virality – the examples here move from “5 friends” of 7,200 Facebook users claiming an offer to 22 friends of 26,000 users within a matter of hours.

Note: This article originally appeared on TechCrunch (“5 Ways for Startups to Grow Their Brands on Twitter”).

Last week I began an effort to answer those questions I get asked most frequently, starting with how to create an early-stage pitch deck. Today, I address the next most popular question: how best to grow your brand on Twitter?

Twitter is the ultimate marketing platform. But the scale of Twitter is so extraordinary (250 million tweets / day) that it is actually quite easy to get lost in the noise.

Separating yourself from the masses really begins with the recognition that Twitter is first and foremost a platform for conversation. If you believe that, you avoid the mistake most brands make: treating Twitter as a mechanism to push content rather than create engagement.

And once your goal is to foster conversation and engagement, you can follow these five guidelines:

1. Listen.
2. Be authentic.
3. Be compelling.
4. Find the influencers.
5. Extend off-twitter and onto your site.

In the below presentation, I breakdown these core themes and provides examples of people and companies successfully using Twitter to drive engagement and grow their brands.

Below is a screenshot of Facebook testing new listen buttons in the news ticker alongside music apps like Spotify.

Visually, its a bold move because they are all over the feed… and it turns a good percentage of Facebook into a music network (people, songs, apps, trends, etc).

It’s also a bold move because it’s potentially a very slippery slope… are “read” icons coming? “Shop”? etc? Visually that could create significant clutter / confusion – but it also creates hubs of verticalized activity. Fascinating to watch.

Hat tip to Andrew Machado for the screenshot. Founder of OpenHomePro and Dogpatch Labs resident

without the new listen buttons

Here’s the Google+ right column. It’s getting awfully crowded / busy and its one large promotion for Google+ functions / features:

- Google’s universal notification header
- a floating YouTube search tool (when clicked it expands and plays videos in a mini-browser)
- my friends and suggested uesrs to add to circles
- Google+ invitations (although anyone can now register)
- ability to start a Hangout (Google+’s best feature)
- ability to create a Google+ page
- Google+’s “Games” center and links to popular / featured games

I am not sure how I feel about. Clearly it differs from Facebook and that’s in part because Google is still fighting for adoption and engagement. For instance, it is more beneficial for Google to promote tools than it is to insert ad units. However, this is essentially a vertical-ized version of the horizontal navigation bar that rests atop every page. It’s cluttered, redundant and frankly ineffective at doing what Google wants it to do: drive deeper usage. For all the criticism that Facebook’s Ticker has received, it is clearly a more powerful usage driver than this is.

Sports fans today got a Black Friday present: the 149 day NBA lockout is on the verge on ending.

And the result is a good thing for fans: the season will be 66 games (a better result than the normal 82!), result in greater league parity (ala the NFL), lead to a healthier league (good for everyone), and create a whirlwind December free agency period (the surprisingly great outcome of the NFL lockout).

The lockout was painful, mismanaged on both sides and generally could have been avoided… or at least handled far differently and far earlier. But the 2011-2012 season is saved and hopefully goodness comes from the ugly.

One of the most interesting and overlooked aspects was the role Twitter played in a world where:

- players couldn’t communicate with the league

- players themselves were not entirely knowledgeable of the latest events / outcomes

- both sides were feeling significant pressure from the public (pressure is a soft word here for disgust for most and hate for some)

- both sides were starved for communication outlets

So everyone took the Twitter: the league, the owners and the players. Some were trying to position themselves, some trying to save face and others trying to voice their opinion in a public manner (since it wasn’t being heard privately). Fascinating.

So why Twitter was so important here? First, the NBA and its players could feel the public’s disgust… far more publicly. In prior strikes / lockouts, the fans didn’t have as much power as they do today. And in prior situations, nobody had the outlets they do today: players and owners were able to immediately express frustration, anger, etc… and to huge audiences. The result was a very public negotiation that made many of those involved come across as confused, desperate, disjointed and/or displeased.

Nevertheless, it provided a platform for all constituents to amplify their voice… and to listen. And while that was debatably an effective / ineffective exercise – it was terrifically powerful for the fans.

Here are some examples:

Miami Heat owner Micky Arison (@mickyarison) took to Twitter to express his thankfulness to his fans. This was retweeted by the NBA (@nba). Takeaway: comes across as desperate.

NBA player Luis Scola (@lscola4) took to Twitter at a time when there was debate within the players union as to whether they should pass the league’s proposal. There players were beginning to fracture and many had expressed confusion over the proposal’s specifics. In one of these tweets, Luis asks the NBA a question directly and publicly. Takeaway: shows player disjointedness and general player confusion with process / outcome… which shows weakness.

Here’s an example of Chris Sheridan (former ESPN NBA writer) and Luis. Chris posted a critical piece about the lockout and Luis retweeted it. Takeaway: fascinating as it shows the players are reading the commentary and clearly trying to share certain opinions.

This is my favorite one. The NBA took to Twitter to do a fan Q&A session about the lockout. It was in an effort to engage fans, show appreciation and help communicate… but it was a terrible idea (and I’m shocked anyone in PR allowed this to happen). It lead to fans spewing negativity, players tweeting questions, and the league being forced to answer uncomofortable questions. Takeaway: trying to do something positive but no an intelligent move.

Facebook has begun integrating their new Subscribe functionality into Facebook Comments. It includes a small subscribe link next to each commenter’s name / icon that allows in-line subscription. That does a few things:

1. It keep activity on the external site… so publishers love it.
2. It gives yet another incentive for users to comment… so readers love it.
3. And it provides more context for readers as Facebook helps sort content based on relationship, activity and ‘following’.

And….

4. It is a great way for Facebook to promote the Subscribe feature which frankly is lost of Facebook.com…. findability, context and usefulness is better off-Facebook.com (just ask Twitter).