A Corporate Guide To Twitter

From this PR Week article:

1. Understand how Twitter works. Like every community, there are norms and expectations for participation. Read the Terms of Service and watch how other people are using Twitter first.



2. Don't assume Twitter doesn't affect you. There are more than two million people on Twitter, including a disproportionate number of bloggers, reporters, influencers, engaged consumers and even public officials. People tweet about companies frequently. You should be actively monitoring – before a potential crisis occurs.



3. Protect your brand. As with other online platforms, opponents and critics can disparage or even hijack your brand. You can minimize this risk by monitoring Twitter and proactively registering account names related to your brand (e.g., Twitter.com/brand or Twitter.com/tagline).



4. Create a plan. Develop guidelines for employees and designated spokespeople, including guidance on what they should and should not discuss. Create a process for channeling information requests that do not fall within these guidelines.



5. Be transparent. Authenticity is a critical value for participation. Clearly define who you are and why you are on Twitter. To verify your credentials, link to a page on your company's Web site that says, “Yes, this is an official communication” from your Twitter bio.



6. Get personal. Twitter asks its users a simple question: “What are you doing?” Companies on Twitter should engage personally, as an individual representing the company, rather than as a monolithic corporation or a series of stodgy media statements.



7. Be consistent. Tweet on a regular basis. You do not need to tweet every thought, but you should invest the time to actively engage the community and respond to your followers. One rule of thumb is to tweet as often as you eat, not as often as you breathe – three to four times a day.



8. Include links. Twitter limits communications to 140 characters but you can use services such as TinyURL to create short hyperlinks to additional information.



9. Ask for help. When in doubt, ask for help. Don't be afraid to ask questions about how Twitter works or how it might affect you. The community is receptive to companies that are sincere about tweeting.



10. Remember these best practices (Twitter-style in 140 characters or less). Understand the community & how it affects you; think before you act; be transparent, consistent, and personal; link to information and ask for help.

YouTube: Music without the video

Just because it is on YouTube, doesn't necessarily mean that it is a video. Many people use YouTube as a simple hosting site for songs. As AP points out:
"Though YouTube is known as the Internet’s greatest video warehouse, it’s becoming known as the place to find new music, no video needed. Put in the name of your favorite artist and there’s chance that besides an assortment of their videos, you’ll find a song with perhaps just a picture or a montage of photos to accompany it — and it still gets thousands of views.

If anyone wants to hear Akon’s remake of Michael Jackson’s ‘‘Wanna Be Starting Something,’’ it’s there. Someone yearning for the new Guns N’ Roses track ‘‘Shackler’s Revenge’’ or T.I.’s new release ‘‘Live Your Life’’ featuring Rihanna, all it takes is a quick search of their name and song title. No problem. While some of the songs are posted directly by an artist’s camp, others are uploaded by fans eager to share and discuss new music by their favorite act."

I've noticed this is especially common for leaked tracks and singles, since videos usually aren't available right away.

How to get a massive amount of views on YouTube:

...put up a video of Tina Fey impersonating Sarah Palin on SNL. The daily "most viewed" page has been flooded with the short sketch since Sunday morning. I'm surprised the videos haven't been removed. Usually, NBC is pretty strict on its content being on YouTube.

Remember Lazy Sunday? The sketch with Andy Samberg and Chris Parnell was incredibly popular. It was also removed from YouTube about as soon as you could upload it. It was a short SNL sketch that everyone seemed to love. But NBC would only let you watch it on their website, which isn't quite as convenient as YouTube. They struck down the free publicity they were receiving on YouTube. I understand where they are coming from: the sketch is popular so you want people to only watch it on your site, where you will be making money off ad revenue. But wouldn't you want to open up as many people as you can to SNL? Seeing a short, funny sketch might inspire people to start watching SNL again...just a thought.

There is my YouTube/NBC rant for the day.