Jeff Woelker : Chicago SEO, SEM, and Online Marketing Consultant

So recently I’ve been really getting into microblogging (aka lifestreaming or twittering). I briefly tried out Twitter a few months ago, but didn’t really get into it. I didn’t see the value aside from letting people know I was going to grocery store or reading a book. Since then though, I’ve seen the light. Now granted, it has a lot of uses, but be forewarned, once you put your toe into the twitter pond, it can quickly become a deluge of data, a inundation of information, a massive amount of media, a…well, you get the point.

These tools are great ways to stay on top of those conversations and still maintain some sanity and keep your job. Let’s go through some of the tools that I use every day:

Ping.fm:
First, Ping is fantastic! If you don’t already have an account, sign up today. There have been a few other status updating services, but this one is by far the best. It allows you to update as many statuses as you want, at once. The one caveat to this though is that it’s really good for saving time, but if you tailor your message to each individual community, it’s still probably best to visit each site individually. (i.e. I post stuff to Twitter and Friendfeed that I would not necessarily post to LinkedIn.)

Friendfeed
Friendfeed, if you’re not already familiar, is a social media aggregator. You supply feeds from your social media universe (Flickr, Twitter, LinkedIn, Netflix, Vimeo, YouTube, etc. etc. etc.) and it pulls in all of your activity, as well as anyone else who you want to follow on Friendfeed (ala Twitter functionality). Beyond just following, Friendfeed also has intelligent suggestions built in, whereby if I am following say Jeremiah Owyang or Adam Ostrow, it will also show me what their friends are doing as well. I’m assuming this is done based on these people I’m following, interacting with their friends in some manner, which tells Friendfeed to also suggest this content. If someone has a better idea, I’d love to know. Maybe Bret knows.

Plurk:
Plurk is another Twitter clone and there’s been much back and forth as to whether Twitter is better or whether Plurk is better. At the end of the day, Twitter is better because of two factors. First to market and lack of “karma”. Karma is a fun idea that Plurk tried to implement, but which has a divisive effect.  You either love it and stick around, or hate it and leave quickly. I was of the latter camp and didn’t bother to come back. Now, I still update Plurk as part of Ping.fm settings, but it doesn’t go beyond that. It’s again, mostly a content redistribution channel with some Friendfeed functionality. The one thing I will give them credit for is an interesting take of the time stream interface. I also like their quirky graphic design sense and built in user incentive chotchkies.

Adobe Air
Ok, so maybe this isn’t an official twitter application, but since it’s launch, I’ve seen some fantastic implementations of the Adobe Air platform which enable applications to make the jump from the web to the desktop. I’m currently running Pandora Desktop, Tweet Deck, Twhirl, and a few others currently.

Twhirl
I actually installed Tweet Deck first and then Twhirl, but I wanted to feature this one first, as it’s become my default Twitter and Friendfeed status monitors. The only thing I would like to see next is a Ping.fm feature incorporated into Twhirl, so I can update each site at once directly from the Twhirl interface. If anyone knows if or when this is coming, let me know.

Tweet Deck
I installed Tweet Deck to see if it was any better/worse than Twhirl. Well, it’s pretty much the same, but without the Friendfeed feature. So I still have it, but don’t use it that often.

Summize:
Summize is great in that it provides better filtering and search functionality than Twitter itself. Actually, scratch that, as those are now one in the same. Guess Twitter caught on to what was needed.

So what’s been my experience and how does it translate into professional/business use?
Well, so far, I can’t say enough good things about it. I’ve seen my attention stream steadily dwindling from email, to blogs, and now microblogging. It provides quick informational segments, which I can digest quickly and easily, while still maintaining my productivity. By installing Twhirl, Twitter and Friendfeed updates come directly to my desktop, instead of having to go back to each respective website and refresh, refresh, refresh. Now, what does that mean for a monetization model for each of these companies? Well, it’s going to come down to either subscription models or some kind of advertising either integrated into the platform itself or each feed.

Granted, there is a lot of noise that occurs on a daily basis, so you have to be cognizant of that. However, it also offers a pulse about the industry and where people’s foci’s are for any given day. Take the last few days for example, when you couldn’t take two breaths before someone was talking about 3G or iPhone apps.

If you’re looking to network with industry leaders, find additional informational resources, learn about industry opinions, or get some quick feedback - these are fantastic tools. But as always, remember to respect the community you are interacting with and interact often. Even if you are not a rockstar today, everyone has to start somewhere.