JitterJam® Social CRM

Data from JitterJam Social CRM Platform - Click to Enlarge

I’m sure you’ve read the news by now. On Tuesday, Meltwater Group announced its acquisition of JitterJam. TechCrunch reported the news, and the social space went wild!

In fact, JitterJam garnered over 5.6 million brand impressions over social networks on Tuesday. The vast majority of those impressions were not from our own social sharing; they were from people sharing the news out to their contacts and spreading virally. Now that’s what I call Buzz!

Speaking of Buzz, the entire JitterJam team is now a part of the Meltwater Buzz team. We’re happy to be a part of such a strong, global company, and we’re looking forward to being a part of the growth and success of Meltwater Group.

However, on this Fun Stuff Friday, we’re also celebrating what we have accomplished. We took an idea derived from the feedback of the customers of our original platform, JitterGram (mobile advertising), and went from idea to launch to acquisition in a little over 18 months.

Now that’s something worth raising a glass (or three) to.

Happy Fun Stuff Friday, everyone. And thank you for all the generous support and encouragement you gave us along the way.

The JitterJam (now Meltwater Buzz) Crew + Happy Investor

We’ve all been there. The social newbie. “What’s this Twitter thing?” “Do you Facebook?”

I’m addicted to social media. Seriously. I love Twitter and Facebook. I love to see what people are doing. I love it when a long-lost friend discovers me and sends me a friend request. I love just having a glimpse into a long-distance friend’s daily life with the ability to participate. It’s brilliant.

It’s really interesting and fun to watch someone new to social media go through the stages of adoption. For instance, my husband wasn’t particularly interested in joining any social network until he found out that his family was quickly adopting Facebook. Once he got on, he discovered old friends and acquaintances. He even reconnected with some long-lost relatives that found him through his family network. A couple of weeks ago, one of his distant cousins posted a very old picture of his father and his father’s siblings in their youth. We downloaded the picture, uploaded it to a local drugstore’s photo portal, printed it, framed it on the spot and delivered it to his father that day. I’d say that the value of the social network proved itself in just that one act of discovery and sharing.

While he was a Facebook convert, Twitter was this elusive THING that he just didn’t get. I tweet. Sometimes a little, sometimes a lot. I keep track of a ton of topics from social media to Dachshunds, and I find new people that are as passionate about these interests as I am. He didn’t get why I would do all of this. Do I really care that someone I don’t know posted a picture of their dog? Why, yes I do. But just the other day, he was at an industry conference where a speaker related a story about the power of Twitter and the “loose” connection of people. The speaker gave an example of the need to reference a presentation and paper for one of his upcoming talks. He was unable to find the information after numerous Google searches. He then tweeted about it. Within minutes, he had the reference link. He explained that the loose connections of people led to someone who had the answer. His close connections (friends, colleagues) were unable to supply him what he needed, but their very loose, unstructured connections (within their extended and unknown community) picked up on the conversation and found the data.

That one example lit the bulb over my husband’s head. And I think this happens many many times a day. One thing or another may draw someone into joining a social network, but a concrete example of personal value turns a newbie into a convert.

Life, as we know it, has changed for good.

Happy Fun Stuff Friday, everyone.

Sometimes business travel can be fun.

Take, for example, my trip to San Francisco this week. It has been a blast. I’ve eaten every ethnicity of food that I have been missing since moving to New Hampshire. I’ve had the Ginger and Scallion Crab at R & G Lounge. I savored the Hotate (scallop) sushi at two restaurants, including one of my old favorites, Sushi Sam’s. I devoured the “world famous” Swedish pancakes at Sears Fine Foods, but I couldn’t finish an incredibly tasty and large Broiled Sea Bass with Roasted Garlic Beurre Blanc at John’s Grill (it was written in as one of the settings in Dashiell Hammett’s The Maltese Falcon). I’ve ridden a Cable Car (the first time since I was a teenager in the Bay Area), strolled through Fisherman’s Wharf and sipped the original Irish Coffee at the Buena Vista.

Strolling through downtown San Francisco is a treat. From the boutiques around Union Square to the smells and sights of North Beach, from the beauty of the Bay from the Embarcadero to the view from Nob Hill…I carved out a little bit of time to enjoy the city of my childhood on this particular business trip. While there were intense and productive days of meetings and discussions, I was very surprised to find that this trip has been a bit of a recharge for me; I haven’t been back to the area since I moved to New Hampshire two years ago. It hasn’t hurt that today was a quite balmy 69 degrees. After the cold and snowy winter in New Hampshire, shedding my L.L. Bean coat has been a true pleasure.

Now why did I move to New Hampshire again?

Thanks for the Fun Stuff Friday, San Francisco. I hope to be back soon!

I can’t believe it. It is 57 degrees outside right now. In New Hampshire. In February.

From the peanut gallery: “We need fresh powder.”

Um. Not me. I love the melt.

It makes me so happy to see the melt water flow across the parking lot. It has been a hard-fought winter, complete with 5-foot icicles cascading off of the eaves of my home. Now, we have a clear sign (outside of Punxsutawney Phil’s prediction) that Spring is just around the corner. And I couldn’t be happier.

I hope this is the end of our cold, snowy winter. My California bones are aching for some warm sunshine!

Happy Friday everyone!

This is our 50th Fun Stuff Friday post!

One year ago (tomorrow, in fact) we posted our first Fun Stuff Friday blog post. It seems like ages ago to me rather than just one year.

Milestones are fun. I like having places along the way where I can stop, look back, evaluate where I’ve been and review where I’m going. Goals should have milestones to ensure you’re on track. Personal milestones can be the hallmarks of success and satisfaction. But milestones don’t need to be tied to a measure of success; they can just be a stop along our way, a time to reflect, or a really good excuse for a party.

We use milestones at work to measure progress, to motivate people and reward them for their accomplishments, and to mark significant change. I think that whenever possible, we need to celebrate what we’ve done and thank those around us that helped us get here. We’ve written 50 blog posts about Fun Stuff in the office and in our lives. I think that’s a great milestone, and I look forward to the next 50!

So to mark my 50th post, I’d like to thank Dave (yes, you Dave!) for his ever-patient support as I grumble about html and CSS, drive him crazy about Java script and PHP errors, and generally become a pain in the…you know…when I post to and update this blog and this site. (Don’t kill me Dave. Please?)

Is it time for our official Fun Stuff Friday beer bash yet? I hope so. We certainly have a lot to celebrate!
 
“Fifty” Photo Credit: Berkeley

The social web has provided everyone with the ability to voice their opinions—and be heard. The Obama administration took notice of the new media revolution the day that they took office, and they have continued their use of social and new media channels to not only promote their agenda but to foster personal engagement with people across the country. Since then, much of the political fight has been taken online, and people ARE paying attention.

Let’s take this week’s State of the Union address as an example. Did you watch the broadcast? In the past, that would have meant, “Did you watch the address on TV?” These days, that question could be refined to include “or online” as well.

But new media isn’t just limited to just watching the speech’s broadcast online. Did you follow or add to the conversation on Twitter and Facebook? Did you watch the live interview with the President on YouTube? Did you submit a question to the White House via Twitter or YouTube? Did you attend an online policy roundtable? Did you watch the Tea Party response online?

Acccording to a post on Mashable, Tweetbeat reported 400,000 tweets about the #SOTU with 100,000 of those tweets occurring during the first hour of the speech itself. Spending, healthcare and jobs were abuzz in Facebook status updates during the address.

Traditional media is being enhanced/augmented/supplanted/altered by new media, and people are flocking to social and online sources that map to their individual preferences for media consumption. New media channels are not only enabling rich content delivery (just look at Fast Company’s story on how digital media options enhanced the address), but also rich/individual content generation, personal engagement with the social audience, and individual social commentary.

The result is more information, conversation, debate, awareness and engagement in our political process. “Rock the Vote” is being supplanted by “Talk the Vote,” and the social generation is ready, willing and able to voice their opinions. It’s great that our leaders are listening. Are you talking?

I love it when I discover something new. And I’m thankful that there are others out there that are sharing what they have learned and discovered.

I’m a tech junkie. I love new gadgets, new apps, new services…anything that can help me to save time, to learn something, to get more information to make good decisions or to keep me entertained. So when someone shares out something cool and new, I have to try it. I want to figure out what intrigued this person and if it’s right for ME.

This morning, I attended a Social Media Breakfast in Manchester, NH. If you haven’t been to one, it’s all about education and networking (and a bit of food and coffee) as a start to your day. This month’s topic was about Location Based Services (LBS). As you might know, LBS is starting to take hold due to the convergence of LBS and social media through applications like Foursquare and Gowalla. As these applications are beginning to gain attention in the mass market, new and innovative applications are also emerging.

What’s great about speaking to different people, going to networking and educational events and just monitoring the chatter of your contacts across social networks is that you always learn something new. Among the many “new to ME” discoveries this morning was the stand-out application ShopKick. This is an application that enables you to earn “kickbucks” (points) each time you “check in” or even “walk in” to participating retail outlets. And you can even earn more kickbucks for scanning specific advertised items using your smartphone! These kickbucks can be redeemed for rewards (primarily gift cards) or even donated to charities! How great is that?!!

As a marketer, I’m intrigued by the ability to really get a true indication of who is shopping at your store and notification of when they’re physically at a location, what they’re looking at, which aisles they go down, whether they look at and purchase an advertised item, etc. Part of the point made today by the speakers is that people WILL provide brands with lots of data IF the brand provides value for that information. For me, attending today’s event introduced me to some really intriguing new apps. It was a dose of new that fired me up.

I encourage you to find YOUR new every day, whatever that new might be.

Thanks to @njdeluca, @walterelly and @ericleist for today’s discoveries. I appreciate your taking the time out of your busy schedules (and trudging through the snow) to help spread your knowledge.

And now I’m passing the torch onto you, and I’m hoping you’ll share your knowledge with others. What cool “thing” have you discovered recently?

Have a happy and safe weekend, everyone.

I’m not a fan of snow.

As a person with a disheartening lack of ability to propel myself using anything strapped to my feet, I can’t ski, snowboard, ice skate, snowshoe or do anything remotely related to winter sports. Coupled with the fact that I grew up in the San Francisco Bay Area and rarely visited the Sierra Nevadas, I was, shall we say, snow averse. Even living for seven years in the Midwest snow belt didn’t change my attitude towards gobs of frozen flakes.

Imagine the surprise of my friends and family when I moved to New Hampshire. Now I’m knee-deep in it. And given my first encounter with driving a snow blower this past week during the first blizzard of 2011, I’m still not enamored with snow.

As one of the driving forces behind JitterJam being a Pet Friendly office, dogs are one of my core pathways to fun (I would imagine you have already determined this by some of my previous Fun Stuff Friday blog posts!). And I think seeing a dog bounding through the snow is pushing me closer to the tipping point of accepting snow as FUN.

Brewster the Snow Dog

Snow Fun Links

• Skiing. New Hampshire has a number of ski resorts, and most of the locals have their favorites. I’ve noticed that many flock to the smaller resorts due to their family-friendly attitude. So in that spirit, here’s a link to a list of the Top 5 Mom & Pop Ski Resorts.
• Hot Tubbing. I do have to say that this appeals to me MUCH more than skiing. But what do you do when you have to get out? Midwest Weekends–Seeking an Outdoor Hot Tub.
• Dog-Friendly Resorts. When planning travel to any of these resorts, don’t forget to make sure you can bring your snow-loving furry friend. Search the DogFriendly.com to find your ultimate destination.
• Sledding. Not looking to travel? When I was plowing out my driveway the other day, the neighbor kid slid by on the street with a cool plastic sled. (Of course, this 6’4″, 240 lb. “kid” didn’t stop and help me man-handle the giant driveway full of white stuff, but that’s another story.) After browsing some cool sleds online, this one caught my fancy–mainly because of the name.
• Ice Fishing. Okay. I’m not sure of the point here. Fishing? On a frozen lake? Someone told me it’s about the two B’s–Beer and Bonding. Um, I think I’ll stick with outdoor hot tubbing. But just in case, here’s a plausible site for you to learn all about how to get started in Ice Fishing.

Any other suggestions for a snow-challenged Californian?

Happy Friday to you and yours. Stay warm!

Thanks to this video taken by a Doral Chenoweth III, a videographer for the Columbus Dispatch, Ted Williams has gone from the streets of Columbus to a new job (and home) with the Cleveland Cavaliers.

The video, which went viral after being posted to YouTube (and generated more than 13 million hits), garnered the attention of the social public and then the national press. As a result, Ted is working on his deal with the Cavaliers and has already recorded a voice-over for a Kraft Macaroni & Cheese commercial. He also was reunited with his mother on CBS’ “The Early Show.”

In an interview with CBS, Chenoweth used the footage and story because it was “a slow news day.” He had no idea that the video would have such a viral lift.

Viral content becomes so because it touches consumers in some way; in this case, it was because of a spectacular voice and the story behind the man. In the case of the viral marketing campaign for Old Spice, it was because of the uniqueness of the campaign’s concept and execution. What’s exciting is that the social ‘swarm’ can have an immediate and real impact.

I, for one, am glad that social media had an impact on one man’s life and future.

Happy Friday, everyone!

This totally fluffy and fun video is just my way of wishing you joy this holiday season. Sometimes Fun Stuff Friday is just about simple fun, so I decided to share my favorite YouTube video with you.

Happy Holidays to you. May you share the joy of the season with the people (including the four-legged kind) that you love.