Seesmic Desktop: Every Marketer Should Use It

There is no arguing that Twitter is a powerful marketing lever. There is also no arguing that Twitter can be remarkably noisy and difficult to navigate (in part because of the presence of so many marketers).... And that is where Seesmic Desktop comes in. Let me first make the assumption that, as an online marketer, you already use Twitter. Second, I will assume that your main interests are one or several of the following:

1. Growing a community of followers 2. Tracking discussions of your brand / website across the web (not just on Twitter) 3. Interacting with relevant Twitterers (either publicly or privately) 4. Receiving real-time notifications based on set alerts (keywords, retweets, etc) 5. Doing everything efficiently Seesmic Desktop does all of these things - and most importantly - efficiently. My main struggle with Twitter as a consumer is noisiness - sifting through all of the activity is downright difficult and time consuming.

With Seesmic, I am able to manage my followers, get real-time access to their stream, monitor activity for Widgetbox, define a list of searches and userlists, and respond from multiple accounts. It is a powerful utility for customer support, brand surveying and promotion.

Other apps exist - but I haven't found another that compares to Seesmic in functionality and ease of use. Go ahead - cut through Twitter's noise by downloading Seesmic Desktop.

My only complaint - I want Facebook integration (badly!). Perhaps it is coming after Facebook's most recent announcement for app developers?!

Twitter, Facebook's Feed, Facebook Connect and Seesmic: Navigating it All

I've been using Seesmic's Adobe Air Facebook application for a few days now. Despite all of it's inadequacies (see below), it raises a larger question to me - and one that I have written about before: Is there room for both Twitter and Facebook feeds? Both on the consumption and creation side - navigating between both is a pain.

If a user has to choose between the two, which would it be? This is where I struggle the most: as a consumer of content, Facebook's stream is more interesting and 'valuable' to me. It is more relevant, less noisy and generally less promotional. Hence why I have converted to the Seesmic client (again, despite it's inadequacies). As a marketer (in other words, a producer of content), Twitter has the larger reach (because it is open rather than closed) and consequently a more effective promotional lever. But again, navigating between both communities is troublesome.

These questions arose as my desktop real estate (and more importantly... my time) were looking at Twhirl, Tweetdeck and now Seesmic for Facebook. And, at least for now, I have opted to use Seesmic because I still find Twitter to be too noisy and too cluttered to make the experience both relevant and efficient. But it is not without it's limitations:

- First, it is really a glorified sized-browser of my Facebook feed - There is no ability to post, reply, navigate, etc... it is purely for reading - There is no customization other than window size - Ideally, you could post to Facebook and have it also post to Twitter (which would solve 90% of my complaints). Twitter currently allows the opposite flow... - Finally, I am confused how this fits in with Seesmic and, if it doesn't, why it is branded as such ("Seesmic for Facebook")

I Lost My Comments Installing the New Disqus & Facebook Connect

Some good news:You can now comment on this blog using Facebook Connect and Seesmic. I upgraded versions of Disqus to enable it (very slick).

Some bad news: While installing the new Disqus version, I encountered some issues and lost all of my existing comments. Yup. I was struggling to upgrade Disqus versions because it kept reverting to the "legacy version"... so I exported my comments in the XML file and then uninstalled Disqus. I assumed that, since there is a function to export via XML, there would be the ability to import via XML.

I haven't yet figured out how to import my existing comments - in fact, I am worried that it's not possible (I've dug through the Disqus interface a fair amount... even posted to the forums).

Anyone have advice on how to solve this?! Of course, you can leave it below using Facebook Connect!

Loic Le Meur Discusses Seesmic Layoffs; Community Response is Fascinating

Loic Le Meur, founder of Seesmic, laid off over one-third of the company as the economy continues to weaken and start-ups continue to be affected in various, meaningful ways. Seesmic is certainly not the only company to be affected in this manner (more will occur)... and, in and of itself, I typically wouldn't write about this. But I was struck by Loic's decision to cover the changes via a Seesmic video - a controversial, but admirable decision. It is clear that Loic was troubled by the decision and, for a usually upbeat / engaging personality, the video is hard to watch - whether you are an entrepreneur, colleague, investor, etc.

After watching the video, I scrolled down to Loic's comment system (powered by Disqus), and was blown away by the discussion.

There are dozens and dozens of thorough comments. Some text, some Seesmic replies. This is a result of the deep issue, Loic's following and the power of a communal / distributed comment system like Disqus + Seesmic.

Also striking was the quality of the replies. Most are well thought out and reflective of the economic situation (see Jeff Clavier). Others are clearly angry for a variety of reasons (high sense of bitterness). And others are opportunistic (ie offering readers blogging jobs for their companies).

I am not sure what to make of all of this - but the levels of interaction and emotion are fascinating.

Tough times. Tough decisions.also read my blog post http://www.loiclemeur.com/english/2008/10/tough-times-tou.html