Twitter Me to Safety

Over a coffee this morning while reviewing a PowerPoint with an uber smart fellow, Jon Husband, I had a Twitter revelation.

I'm no fan of Twitting (sic?) it seems ... it seems ... unnecessary.

But Jon's presentation referenced a use of Twitter for social activism, namely assuring the safety of activists in dangerous places.

The example was given of Egyptian activist Alaa Abd El Fattah, who has been detained many times and who uses Twitter to constantly let people know where he is, as a form of personal protection through publicity - if he stops twittering, his friends know that something's wrong.

With this example and being aware of the actions of the Junta in Burma, mobile Twittering takes on a greater importance.

[edited: to create italics]

Last comment added: Mon, 08 Sep 2008 03:47:28 PDT

Comment 1 on Twitter Me to Safety

On-line activism such as petitioning using Avaaz, or creating an on-line digest like Burma Digest, and posting videos to You Tube or this one from Google ...

Myanmar Update October 2

feel like an established practice to help the World become aware and witness - even more so in my world after O.net.

Twitter could be a much more powerful tool in the hands of activists who don't have the benefit of an existing broad public profile.

Imagine, now I have a reason to recommend using Twitter.

Comment 2 on Twitter Me to Safety

okay. I have heard this term one more time and I really hate to show my ignorance....but what the heck is a twitter?

Comment 3 on Twitter Me to Safety

Click on the twitter link

Comment 4 on Twitter Me to Safety

thanks. Guess I was showing my ignorance.

Comment 5 on Twitter Me to Safety

Evvy, Did the link to Twitter help you better understand the service?

Comment 6 on Twitter Me to Safety

Honestly Peter, I just haven't had time to really explore it. I had just thought there might be a quick explanation. I will try and make time to explore sometime in the coming week. Thanks for asking.

Comment 7 on Twitter Me to Safety

Here's my "for instance" ... if Christina is travelling (within Uganda or elsewhere) and has a mobile phone she can text her Twitter account to convey her progress and advise if there are delays.

As a user you can follow Christina's journey by "subscribing" to an RSS feed related to her Twitter account.

Of course - no mobile coverage, or internet connection, then Twitter is of limited use.

Comment 8 on Twitter Me to Safety

Wow - what an impressive idea. Peter, thanks for illuminating it! Your post provided me with an opportunity to smack my forehead - fan-TAS-tic!

In past years, I've been a point of contact in emergencies (thankfully never used) for people who were active in difficult parts of the world (e.g. Central America in the 80's) - I can see how this is an incredible tool to have.

Comment 9 on Twitter Me to Safety

Appreciate the comment Jon.

Jon said:

Wow - what an impressive idea. Peter, thanks for illuminating it! Your post provided me with an opportunity to smack my forehead - fan-TAS-tic!

In past years, I've been a point of contact in emergencies (thankfully never used) for people who were active in difficult parts of the world (e.g. Central America in the 80's) - I can see how this is an incredible tool to have.

Comment 10 on Twitter Me to Safety

Been poking around Twitter a bit more lately. Seems like the place for the super-duper uber-connected. Though the cell phone to Twitter online messages does have some interesting possibility behind it.

Comment 11 on Twitter Me to Safety

The function of tracking key words opens some fears and opportunities.

Comment 12 on Twitter Me to Safety

Hmmmmm, I've not bumped into that feature yet.

I could see tracking "darfur" and "ned.com" Can you please open up the box and share some of the possible fears and opps?

Comment 13 on Twitter Me to Safety

Here's a link to some Twitter tweaks.

By using a # mark attached to a keyword, everytime that word is used in a "tweet" it is fed to my e-mail account, along with the user id.

So in the case of "Darfur" I can follow whomever else is "tweeting" that word.

Now ofcourse the paranoid, some for good reason, may not appreciate the functionality.

Comment 14 on Twitter Me to Safety

Here are some key words:

'invite' to invite a friend.

'follow' to receive updates.

'track' to track interests.

'whois' for info.

'off' to silence.

E.g. texting "track Darfur" generates the following ...

twitter: You'll now receive updates matching 'darfur'. To stop, send 'untrack darfur'.

Comment 15 on Twitter Me to Safety

And so ...

twitter: (icsl): US President George W Bush defends his decision not to intervene in Darfur's "genocide"

me: whois icsl

twitter: Ivan carlos da Silva, since Feb 2008.

bio: fanfarrao - Electrical and Computer Engineer

location: Brazil, Rio de Janeiro web: http://lopesivan.blogspot.com/

Sent at 3:32 PM on Thursday

Comment 16 on Twitter Me to Safety

U.C. Berkeley student's Twitter messages alerted world to his arrest in Egypt

Twitter to the Rescue

Comment 17 on Twitter Me to Safety

Twitter-lee'dee

twitter-wee-doo

If i ever said i do, will you still believe i loved you.

Comment 18 on Twitter Me to Safety

The Ratzinger Effect: more money, more pilgrims – and lots more Latin

Comment 19 on Twitter Me to Safety

Carpe Diem

Comment 20 on Twitter Me to Safety

Abutebaris modo subjunctivo denuo

Comment 21 on Twitter Me to Safety

Ad captandum vulgus

Brevis esse latoro obscurus fio

Comment 22 on Twitter Me to Safety

Peter Rees wrote:: But Jon's presentation referenced a use of Twitter for social activism, namely assuring the safety of activists in dangerous places.

I think texting rocks the hoopla out of Twitter in this specific application. [Oh, hello. My name is Lars I have not Twittered in... well, ever...]

Comment 23 on Twitter Me to Safety

Lars Hasselblad Torres said:

Peter Rees wrote:

But Jon's presentation referenced a use of Twitter for social activism, namely assuring the safety of activists in dangerous places.

I think texting rocks the hoopla out of Twitter in this specific application. [Oh, hello. My name is Lars I have not Twittered in... well, ever...]

Lars -

Not sure I'm getting your point. It sounds like your saying, "I have a phone, who needs radio?"

The dynamic is using a one-to-many relationship, rather than a one-to-one.

And that's disregarding how Twitter may integrate with other "social media" applications.

Comment 24 on Twitter Me to Safety

phone today is a one-to-many: text-to-web-to-text... anyway, my real point was that, for example, during the SF anti-Olympics rally, texting was far more strategic than twitter for 'real time' social activism. twitter will clearly have its edge for online-only activists. i'd be curious to know how many people have a twitter app on the phones/pdas ie saturation in hand-held market? the edge of texting is that it doesn't need an app right?

Comment 25 on Twitter Me to Safety

Lars said:

phone today is a one-to-many: text-to-web-to-text... anyway, my real point was that, for example, during the SF anti-Olympics rally, texting was far more strategic than twitter for 'real time' social activism. twitter will clearly have its edge for online-only activists. i'd be curious to know how many people have a twitter app on the phones/pdas ie saturation in hand-held market? the edge of texting is that it doesn't need an app right?

Twitter Helps Student Escape from Egyptian Jail offers an example.

Your text may go to a distribution list ... however is that everyone who may be interested in your activity?

Comment 26 on Twitter Me to Safety

I think of your generic "distribution list" in the context of a "social action" discussion as something of a "community of interest." so in that context, if that distribution list is made up of a network with natural "degrees of separation" existing among its diverse, diffused members (take the composition of O.net membership of a good example of such a network - not the technology aspect) - then it doesn't really matter whether they are interested in my ongoing activity: in an "emergency" situation (which I assume your Egyptian jail scenario would be) then yes, I think they would be interested in some such specific activity - Twitter or not. Make any sense?

Comment 27 on Twitter Me to Safety

Use of Twitter main story at CNN.com right now: Freed student uses Twitter to demand translator's release

Comment 28 on Twitter Me to Safety

Here's a re-print of an invitation:

Mark your calendars for two free TechSoup Twitter events: TechSoup Talks Twitter: Webinar June 9 and Online Event June 10 .

There's a lot of buzz about Web 2.0 tools, but how can you determine how to best use them for your organization? On the surface, tools like Flickr and Twitter may just seem like fun diversions, but they can be effectively used by nonprofits to mobilize constituencies, enhance outreach and fundraising activities, and expand reach. The webinar session includes an expert-led exploration of the above Web 2.0 tools and hands-on advice on how to best implement them for your nonprofit.

Take part in the webinar Mon. June 9 from 11:00 A.M.-12:00 P.M. PDT:

We'll follow-up the next day, June 10th, with a free, all-day, asynchronous (not live) online Twitter event in the TechSoup Community forums: http://www.techsoup.org/go/twitt er

Join new media consultant and blogger, Marshall Kirkpatrick and Michaela Guerin Hackner, Director of Online Strategy at World Learning, as they dive deeper into how and why to use Twitter to benefit your nonprofit. We'll look at more complex ways Twitter can be incorporated into your marketing strategy, help with professional development, and build your community of supporters. This is a great chance to discuss ask any further questions you have of our expert event hosts.

Come join in the conversation in the TechSoup Emerging Technologies Forum: http://www.techsoup.org/go/twitt er as we discuss issues such as:

Building your community through the Twitter network
How to use Twitter applications to manage your Twitter account
Twitter etiquette and best practices
Connecting Twitter to other Web 2.0 tools to maximize your use of these social media applications

Take part in one or both of these free TechSoup events!

The online forums event on June 10th is asynchronous (not live). No registration is required, just show up and post! http://www.techsoup.org/go/twitt er

If you have any questions about either events, please email: community@techsoup.org.

You can also follow the action on Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/techsoup

Comment 29 on Twitter Me to Safety

Thnx Peter, I was one the call/webinar and it was interesting.

Also, here's a post by A VC (Fred) talking about reading a book distributed via Twitter.

http://avc.blogs.com/a_vc/2008/0 6/reading-books-o.html

Comment 30 on Twitter Me to Safety

Regret to say my day took on dimensions that didn't allow participation.

Comment 31 on Twitter Me to Safety

Twitter numbers for you.

Twitter Traffic Explosion: Who’s behind it all?

Comment 32 on Twitter Me to Safety

And...

Reader Poll: How do you use Twitter?

What is your most productive use of Twitter?

Sharing links to items of interest to your network (39%, 88 Votes)

Networking for new contacts (28%, 64 Votes)

Reinforcing current network contacts (21%, 48 Votes)

Promoting specific content (10%, 22 Votes)

Re-distribution of content from blog, web site (9%, 21 Votes)

Twitter cat posts: flight delays, eating habits, who knows what and why (8%, 17 Votes)

Replacement for Facebook updates (5%, 11 Votes)

Influencing your network to do and think what you want - muhahaha (5%, 11 Votes)

Group and project communications (2%, 4 Votes)

Shilling for Digg and other social news votes (2%, 4 Votes)

Microblogging conferences (1%, 3 Votes)

Pitching journalists and bloggers (0%, 1 Votes)

Comment 33 on Twitter Me to Safety

Some have called Twitter "the 'Seinfeld' of the Internet - a Web site about nothing." And at first glance, this micro-blogging tool that connects users around the world through short bursts of real-time text messages can seem mindlessly superficial.

"just ate a great burrito," types one Twitterer.

"time for a nap," says another.

But drill down a bit, its fans say, and the San Francisco-based network has all the makings of an Internet phenomenon with vast potential for social, business, political and cultural applications. Critics say Twitter, which can be accessed by computer, instant messaging, PDAs and cell phones, is prone to system crashes, has yet to show how it will turn a profit, and seduces its addicted users into unproductive dead zones - "a time-suck" says one critic, "for those not able to stay away."

But don't tell that to the users - 1.2 million unique visitors in May, by one account - who have embraced the 2-year-old tool and use it to trade sports scores, organize protests and even hire new employees. Many who try Twitter are smitten.

Comment 34 on Twitter Me to Safety

Jeff Bezos just joined the Twitter board of directors

Also....Project: Runway - Twitter will become a sustainable business supported by a revenue model. However, our biggest opportunities will be worth pursuing only when we achieve our vision of Twitter as a global communication utility. To reach our goal, Twitter must be reliable and robust. Private funding gives us the runway we need to stay focused on the infrastructure that will help our business take flight. We will continue hiring systems engineers, operators, and architects, as well as consultants, scientists, and other professionals to help us realize our vision.

Comment 35 on Twitter Me to Safety

tweet tool: http://tweetscan.com/

Comment 36 on Twitter Me to Safety

Summize likely acquired by Twitter:

http://www.readwriteweb.com/arch ives/summize_likely_acquired_by_ twi.php

Comment 37 on Twitter Me to Safety

Twitter saga translator going free

Comment 38 on Twitter Me to Safety

I have looked in at twitter on and off since the beginning of this thread. I have to say that from the beginning, I just didn't get it, thought it was an incredible waste of time and over the intervening time I have not seen anything to change my mind - I believe there are much more efficient ways to do what I have seen or heard of that is of value.

Today I got a notice that someone named Daddiogo was following me. Mind you, my username on there is Sapayakorn (no one would have a clue as to who that is) and I don't think I have ever posted anything on twitter...so I am wondering who Daddiogo is and how s/he found me and why s/he is following me. This person joined twitter yesterday and is already following over 1800 people. I looked through a number of pages of those people and saw precisely one person I knew. (Someone I would never follow around at that)

How can someone follow 1800 people? I have 22 people that I "follow" (sorry folks I rarely read what goes on on twitter) and yet in the last 4 days there were over 160 posts - all save perhaps 1 of which were mindless.

How can someone "follow" 1800 people? Do I want that person "following" me?

I decided that I really didn't like the anonymity on the site....names and pictures that were noon-identification.

I decided to delete my account and then had a real trip doing that. Only was able to find out how to do that by landing up on a forum off-site and reading a post by a twitter employee directing someone to the privacy policy which is where there is a link that tells you that to change information or remove the account you have to email privacy ....very convoluted...

Comment 39 on Twitter Me to Safety

Perhaps Alexandra's post on governmental tweets might help - or create despair ...

Here's a sample:

"For government agencies, most often, the Twitter account is in conjunction with the government’s related blog. So, now, we’re getting government agencies who are not only blogging, but using TwitterFeed to promote the posts through Twitter. I am still rounding up info. to find government accounts on Jaiku and/FriendFeed."

Comment 40 on Twitter Me to Safety

I think how people (and orgs) use Twitter will become more and more interesting. I think what people (and orgs) do with the Twitter-stream will become more and more interesting as well.

Comment 41 on Twitter Me to Safety

Twitter stated as a fun thing to do and a means to keep in touch with friends all over the country through broadcast updates. But as our networks have grown, we use the technology to quickly get questions answered or send out invites.

Today, I used it to gauge advice and experience with Zazzle vs. CafePress for a hosted store solution. We also often broadcast that we're going to this restaurant or event and ask if anyone would like to join us.

Last week, I used Twitter to vent my frustration with DirecTV and it prompted an immediate response from Comcast. You can read the thread on my blog: http://tinyurl.com/647kyk

I agree that there are many things to come. Drop some terms or brands into http://search.twitter.com form field and notice the interesting results.

Comment 42 on Twitter Me to Safety

What Twitter's Global Failure Means for Africa

Comment 43 on Twitter Me to Safety

John, when worlds collide. I've been speaking with Erik (White Africa, Afigadget) the last few weeks, great link, and pretty sad story for Twitter and Africa. (also spoke to Erick today, and sked to speak to him tomorrow as well)

Comment 44 on Twitter Me to Safety

Mark I'm so happy you're talking with Erik. Both of you are visionaries in the space intersecting technology with development and wealth creation. You both have a gift for seeing what's practical and an ability to let what others think of you roll off your backs like water off a duck.

Comment 45 on Twitter Me to Safety

John, Erik joined Ned yesterday.

Another interesting Twitter use: http://foodfeed.us/

Comment 46 on Twitter Me to Safety

Foodfeed, just what I need, or not.

Happy to see that Erik joined up. There are so many ways to connect and chances are he's connected with some Nedsters already. Erik has mastered the art of saying something important in a few words. If you're interested in technology, entrepreneurship, or Africa add his blog White African to your list.

Comment 47 on Twitter Me to Safety

John, you're too kind. I thought this might be a good thread to make my virgin post on Ned, so here we go... :)

The foundational problem with the recent changes to Twitter globally is this: anyone around the world can still send updates to Twitter, the problem is that only those locally in North America and India can receive those updates.

We've already seen how useful tools like Twitter can be in the humanitarian space, but without anyone in that foreign country able to catch the updates, it's not useful. What use is a Twitter update from an Egyptian wrongly detained when it only goes to his/her American counterparts?

This wouldn't be a problem if there wasn't a network effect happening with Twitter OR if Twitter's services would "talk" to other similar services like Identi.ca and Jaiku.

The Network Effect: In today's day and age, web services gain popularity and are more useful the more that others you know use them. Basically, it pays to be where everyone else is, so there's a tendency towards social network monopoly.
Distributed, Independent and Open Networks: With this move Twitter is stating that they don't have the economic capacity to handle a global platform. If that's the case, and they have already proved the viability of the model, then one GREAT option would be to allow multiple services to shoot up (maybe with different business models) that have a common protocol that allows the connection between like services.

I'm wondering if we'll see a growth of independent Twitter clones. If it can be monetized at all, even minimally, there will undoubtedly be versions popping up around Africa soon. If Twitter were to take the drivers seat in creating an open protocol, then we'd see some major development happen.

Comment 48 on Twitter Me to Safety

"If it can be monetized at all, even minimally, there will undoubtedly be versions popping up around Africa soon."

Some people here may not be familiar with your blog Erik (one of your blogs), so I cannot resit positing a link to one of your seminal posts from two years ago, African Micro-Banking: What the “Big” Companies Don’t Get. Read that and then if you really want to get the flavor of Erik's strategic thinking scroll through the links under the "strategy" category of his blog.

Relevant to this thread and the question of monetizing Twitter, the assumption is that advertising is the way to monetize Twitter, e.g. this post, oh probably best to just go to the Business Week article that post links to. I doubt that ads are a sustainable way to monetize a microblogging service in Africa. BW article gives four possible approaches:

• Twitter could ask users to pay.

• Twitter could get messages to pay.

• Twitter could extract money from user data.

• Twitter could sell ads.

The middle two seem ideas seem to have the best chances in African contexts.

Erik makes the case for networks to be able to talk to networks--openness, both in the case of a Twitter for Africa and for a mobile banking platform. He's also made the point Mobile Phones are African's PC. I don't have the linkages worked out, but my hunch is that the micro-banking Erik envisions is the key to monetizing an African Twitter-like service. With an ability to make micro payments with the mobile phone some weird amalgam between Craig's List and eBay which supports a microblogging feature seems imaginable for Africa.

Who would complain if every fifth or tenth tweet was an ad if part of the function was assumed commerce? Likewise the existence of a widespread microblogging tool would aid in all sorts of data collection. For example Kiva really pioneered using cell phones to manage loans in the field. Erik has also written about the value of data in Africa.

The point is that monetizing Twitter-like services in Africa probably won't look the same as in the developed world, but that doesn't mean monetizing such a service is impossible. But it still seems that a micro payment platform is the key piece to make that happen.

Comment 49 on Twitter Me to Safety

John, an additional revenue stream in some instances is affiliate fees from the addition of new users. The carrier makes money whenever someone sends a text message, so if you can prove that you're bringing in, or causing an upswing in text messaging, then there is a possibility something could be negotiated.

That is an interesting thought - the idea of marrying up some of the open/agnostic banking and ecommerce ideas with a Twitter-like communication platform. SMS messages are getting sent anyway, and users would have to have a key (likely their number), so it's only a small step to implement something like this. (However, we still need someone to really take a look at mobile banking/commerce first...)

I'm a user of Twitterific on my iPhone. The free version puts ads into the stream every once in a while. It doesn't bother me a bit. Ads aren't the only way to go, but they're definitely viable here.

Comment 50 on Twitter Me to Safety

There are always huge gaps in my thinking. After I posted I wondered whether there was any sense in what I said at all. Mainly what I was thinking about is what Erik has to say about strategy, not just in terms of Twitter in the context of emerging economies, but also in terms of his ideas about micro-banking. I know there are threads that connect, just not very clear what they are.

So in that regard, Umair Haque's piece today What Apple Knows That Facebook Doesn't provides a few ideas which connect with Erik's thinking. Haque contends that the easiest way to think about platforms today is to think of them as markets. And offers three insights:

Markets alter the basis of competition.

Markets cause strategic domino effects.

Markets atomize the value chain.

Erik wrote:

one GREAT option would be to allow multiple services to shoot up (maybe with different business models) that have a common protocol that allows the connection between like services.

Looking at Umair's post about Apple at a glance one might think it an argument against common protocols, but dig a little deeper and openness is a key value. Umair's piece A Manifesto for the Next Industrial Revolution is worth reading too. There he writes:

The fundamental question new DNA must answer is this: how do we organize and manage resources so they’re not depleted, crushed, strip-mined, and slashed-and-burned?

Umair Haque uses the metaphor of DNA, sometimes to my disquiet; I think that's because I'm old. But I still agree with the general thrust and excited that platforms developing in emerging markets reflect new thinking about the structure of companies.

Michelle Martin writes a great blog called The Bamboo Project about strategies for personal and professional growth. She's a Myers-Briggs introvert and remarked that Twitter is an extrovert's dream. I expect that a Twitter-like platform in Africa would look different, that people would use it more as an entry for economic production. I'm probably wrong about that...in any case Umair's "Markets atomize the value chain" is the part that gets me excited about Twitter in Africa.

Micro-banking is a tough nut to crack. In Erik's post,African Micro-Banking: What the “Big” Companies Don’t Get, he makes an essential point:

It’s not about your particular bank or phone platform, it’s about people being able to trust and pay using an agnostic payment system. Meaning, the credit and payment system should interact with all banks and phones regardless of type.

That really seems a big part of why it's so hard to solve. The temptation is to think it impossible. But John Robb did a great post the other day about the rise of containers in shipping Malcolm's Platform.

Twitter is a service that I personally just don't get. It is however a service that I think could make a huge difference in Africa especially when thought of in conjunction with micro-payments using mobile phones.

Two years ago when Erik first wrote his post on Micro-banking not many people in Africa were using phone credits for money, nowadays it's common at every level of society. That increases the universe of an agnostic payment system money is more loosely coupled. And that looser coupling is probably pretty revolutionary. I think the business economics of this are just being invented.

Comment 51 on Twitter Me to Safety

John, for a foggy brained beginner like me, would you explain why advertising is not a sustainable way to monetize microblogging in africa?

my goodness, and foodfeed? sheesh am i outta step: i simply cannot see a value, except maybe that it is twitter practice for these humanitarian purposes twitting is supposed to be good at?

funny though, how something that started out as pithy - like, "hm, how can i make irc like a widget for my friends when i'm really bored at conferences" - gets overlaid with greater expectation. kinda cool, kinda interesting, kinda eerie. "its like freedom in a cup!"

Comment 52 on Twitter Me to Safety

Me and my fuzzy brain.

Dave Winer said about advertising:

Advertising will get more and more targeted until it disappears, because perfectly targeted advertising is just information. And that's good!

Kevin Kelleher wrote about Craig's List what a lot of people think:

Newmark is an oddball because he leaves money on the table. If Wall Street were a church, that would violate a sacred commandment. Craigslist reportedly made $25 million last year, which is really nothing next to its potential. With one phone call to Goldman Sachs, Newmark could launch the biggest tech IPO of the next year or so and make enough money to built a rocket to fire into orbit, where it would bump into all the other rockets built by tech billionaires. But he doesn’t!

Well, I mean lots of business people think Newmark is just foolish for not going for the gold. But I think Newmark is has in mind how Online properties are different fundamentally. Erik's vision of a revenue model which would spur "multiple services to shoot up (maybe with different business models) that have a common protocol that allows the connection between like services" isn't Craig's List model, but seems to have the same radical character.

The problem with a revenue model that is based on advertising as we think of it in such commercial economies as ours is that what's needed in developing economies is Winer's "just information." Put another way the beauty of Twitter-like services is how great they are at targeting information.

BW's idea of getting messages to pay is essentially text ads inserted into users tweets at some interval, or product placement. I'm not completely sure I get the difference between this and having ads pay. What I think is that the attempt is to target information and it's this sort of approach that I think has a better chance of success in the African context than more traditional advertisements.

My point is not so much that branding isn't important in an African context, but rather the way I imagine Twitter-like services to function there is more as an information platform. I see something like Craig's list where the revenue comes from a few special case streams. I don't think that Twitter-like services can survive as a mass medium advertising platform because the radical nature of the service is not a mass advertising platform but rather a platform for organizing information.

Comment 53 on Twitter Me to Safety

Foodfeed seemed ridiculous to me at first. Of course I checked it out and immediately thought of what I'd just eaten for supper. I had three sausage patties and some home grown vegetables.

Yes, I still eat meat. I know that as much meat eating as I do isn't sustainable to spread out across the population. It's just a part of my over consumptive lifestyle. With things like climate change we're told that as a society we could get to desirable goals just by reducing our energy consumption 2% a year. The imporatnt thing is that Americans like me need to start reducing. Maybe Foodfeed has a role. For example no more than 2-4 ounces of meat a day is about tops for sustainability spread out among the world's meat eaters. I need to reduce my consumption about in half. Perhaps streams of meat eaters who want to reduce their meat eating, a community of reducers, might help us a long the way. I probably won't sign up, but I do see possible utility to the service.

Comment 54 on Twitter Me to Safety

Re: foodfeed. knuckleheaded me, I still don't get it. Are you saying something like:

you ate. you twittered what you ate. you became conscious of what you ate. you wish to change what you eat. thus twitter can help people become more conscious eaters and thereby change how they eat for the better.

something like that? interesting, for a site that says, "Its not really useful. Its just fun."

why not write it on a postcard and put it in the mail to a stranger? thats more fun. or roll up the message, put it in a bottle, and leave it on the street corner.

hell, if i'm looking for fun i can find about 1,982,843,312 ways to have more fun than twittering.

i think.

but anyway, about the good stuff. you wrote: "the attempt is to target information and it's this sort of approach that I think has a better chance of success in the African context than more traditional advertisements."

why is that, this 'targeted approach until its just information'? that's boring, and good advertising is fun, exciting. and sometimes its moves product.

i wish i could get stuff like this on the iphone that i do not own:

Now that's fun, right? So if Sony were smart, and really wanted to leverage the network effect of these tools, some group of schmoes would just have to whisper (or "twitter"), "hey buddy, seen the new Bravia ad?" Knowing how to relay the right signals to the right audiences - ahem, I mean e-fluentials - seems to be the rub. Not that traditional advertising is going to go away.

I think... Smack me down!

I heard the iPhone was out in Facebook. I got interested in it after seeing a buddy at a bar show me how it works. Almost bought one, I swear. But I just don't feel like my 6-year old phone is obsolete. Yet... But I think these are the new vectors - the right juice in the right spaces by the right people...

Comment 55 on Twitter Me to Safety

Viral marketing is effective, but the recipe for businesses to do it is fickle. Michael Wesch's talk at the Library of Congress An anthropological introduction to YouTube is so cool but about an hour long. Expand the description and there's a nice outline with the time stamps. About 34 minutes in he starts with emokid21ohio and then Reflections on Authenticity that gets into the sorts of challengers would-be viral marketers face in the new landscape. At 44 minutes in he shows the user-generated Chevy ads--lol. Wesch's The Machine is Us/ing Us is short and gets to the point that "we'll have to rethink a few things."

Obviously lots of Internet content is ad supported. But I think the revenue models even in commercial cultures are going to change in time here. And I don't think the present models translate easily in the developing world. I think there's an opportunity for developers in emerging economies to devise business models which leap over antiquated models. I'm just not smart enough to dream them up.

Comment 56 on Twitter Me to Safety

Hm, I guess I'm hearing "fickle," "rethink," (maybe even "antiquated" though viral is hardly antiquated, nor is it new, coming as it does off of WOM and whisper campaigns) etc. But what I'm driving at is why these models don't "translate" in the developing world...? I'm still not quite gleaning breakdown.

Comment 57 on Twitter Me to Safety

In the developing world there is a relatively smaller middle class. It's possible to make business models for ICT tools which translate the impersonal commercial values of Western models of revenue generation. But one can also think about ICT and the longtail of poor people in the developing world. The penetration of mobile phones in the developing world is impressive and is not restricted to the middle and upper classes. As Erik points out the mobile phone is African's PC. In that I think he's pointing out that if you want to design Internet tools for widespread participants in Africa, the best way is to think phones not PCs. And it's that sort of approach that makes Twitter-like services in Africa interesting to me. But poor people are not a big target of most advertisers, at least in the conventional sense. So the revenue, it seems to me has to come from different approaches.

Twitter-like services will have to have a revenue stream, but there are also application services that make the the Twitter-like services useful to people which will need revenue streams too. While these may be independent businesses, I think the success of their respective business models is interdependent. That's the significance of Erik's point that various Twitter-like services should be able to communicate with each other.

Ads which try to add value to brands are relatively less important to poor people because being poor means they have fewer choices. Poor people can contribute to the revenue stream when they receive money through participating in the system. For example to tweet a product or a service a person might want to exchange for money should be free, but it may be possible for the service to receive a charge for successful transactions.

One way to think of it is to convert money into phone credits and then imagine phone credits as a payment system. Such micro-charges might then be seen as feasible. Phone credits have become an important medium of exchange. But they are limited and are certainly not the only medium. That's why Erik points out that micro-banking via mobile phones should be agnostic about payment methods.

I think my fundamental concern about ad revenue as a business model is that it seems to retard the radical openness which seems fundamental for the success of a tool for ordinary people in the developing world.

Comment 58 on Twitter Me to Safety

Okay, now its starting to get interesting! You write:

In the developing world there is a relatively smaller middle class.

Might the middle class in the developing world be growing? What should we be using as our frame of reference: a static or dynamic model?

It's possible to make business models for ICT tools which translate the impersonal commercial values of Western models of revenue generation.

You lost me John: what are "impersonal commercial values of Western models"? I can see how features like "personal service" and "a sense of place" can be lost as businesses scale (Starbucks being a recent good example). And at the same time i find commercial activity to be very personal, downright socialable often, in the West and elsewhere.

But one can also think about ICT and the longtail of poor people in the developing world.

What is the "longtail of poor people"? I thought the longtail refers to how, with the Internet, products never stop selling?

The penetration of mobile phones in the developing world is impressive and is not restricted to the middle and upper classes. As Erik points out the mobile phone is African's PC.

Are you saying this is how it should remain, or is this a way of saying the mobile phone is most Africans' first - and so far enduring - "point of entry" to the Internet? Seems to me like it can be a leveraged kind of thing: first a phone, then a laptop. Certain other things need to happen as well, including wifi penetration and electrification. I am hopeful these will spread.

In that I think he's pointing out that if you want to design Internet tools for widespread participants in Africa, the best way is to think phones not PCs.

That may be. If I was an African, I would not want my future sidelined.

And it's that sort of approach that makes Twitter-like services in Africa interesting to me. But poor people are not a big target of most advertisers, at least in the conventional sense. So the revenue, it seems to me has to come from different approaches.

Perhaps there is reason to believe (might I say, to hope? to anticipate, to work for?) that with more VC groups like Acumen, which focus on developing products for consumers earning less than $4 a day, along with the growth of SMEs that this historical will shift.

Twitter-like services will have to have a revenue stream, but there are also application services that make the the Twitter-like services useful to people which will need revenue streams too. While these may be independent businesses, I think the success of their respective business models is interdependent. That's the significance of Erik's point that various Twitter-like services should be able to communicate with each other.

I am sure this is true. And I am not sure why it would eliminate advertising as simply another revenue stream. There's a tool called SocialThing, just bought by AOL, which I think is looking to help consolidate the "twitter-like services" and other social apps into some kind of coherent stream.

Ads which try to add value to brands are relatively less important to poor people because being poor means they have fewer choices.

I haven't heard of ads whose purpose is to "add value to brands." I am more familiar with ads that try to sell products (commercials) and ads that promote values (public interest/service). Can you say more about "ads that try to add value to brands" - advertisements for communication's sake?

Poor people can contribute to the revenue stream when they receive money through participating in the system. For example to tweet a product or a service a person might want to exchange for money should be free, but it may be possible for the service to receive a charge for successful transactions.

One way to think of it is to convert money into phone credits and then imagine phone credits as a payment system.

I thought they already were?

Such micro-charges might then be seen as feasible. Phone credits have become an important medium of exchange. But they are limited and are certainly not the only medium. That's why Erik points out that micro-banking via mobile phones should be agnostic about payment methods.

I would say, flip the model: recognize that people have phones loaded with cash-cum-credit. Pump some ads for things people need/want that have the right price point and promote web-enabled transactions through the phone.

I think my fundamental concern about ad revenue as a business model is that it seems to retard the radical openness which seems fundamental for the success of a tool for ordinary people in the developing world.

Not sure I'm arguing for ad revenue "as a business model," but I would write it off as an important part of the economics of business growth in the developing world.

Comment 59 on Twitter Me to Safety

Okay, you're right my language is sloppy because my thinking is sloppy:-)

About the growing middle class in emerging economies, I'm in favor of it. Which model to choose in thinking about business clearly matters. So far use of Twitter in Africa as Erik points out is an elite activity. But it seems to me that with the penetration of mobile phones going for numbers of users rather than a niche demographic is better. LOL but if I were good at business I'd be rich.

Economics decisions are influenced by embedded cultural notions. Economic decisions for the most part in the West are presumed to be beyond human values: "It's just business." This has all sorts of cultural ramifications; for example how people in the West view gender. The premise many hold is work ought to be non-gendered. I would join you in praise commercial culture, but my point is about economics and values. Subsistence living involves a corpus of shared values that are different from and often opposed to commercial values. People all over often operate holding different value systems at the same time. But I think it's a mistake not to recognize economies operate within embedded value systems. I do think that the value system of Western capitalism tends to be impersonal, that is the premise of the impersonal is a value.

"What is the 'longtail of poor people'? I thought the longtail refers to how, with the Internet, products never stop selling?"

As I understand it longtail is a name for a group of statistical distributions. The concept entered the popular conversation after Chris Anderson's 2004 Wired article. I think the term can refer to products which never stop selling, but that seems a quite limited understanding. Just from a view of it as a statistical distribution imaging a long tail of poor people doesn't seem odd or wrong to me.

Twitter limits the number of people an individual can follow. It's very different from a service where everyone or almost everyone will follow a very small number of popular people. Twitter is different from a broadcast media model.

Part of the problem I suspect with this discussion is just what we consider ads. I guess when I think of ads what I think of is ads on TV. Or say ads on the front of Uganda's "The Monitor;" there are automobiles, banking services, luxury houses, such ads don't really seem to me to fit on an African Twitter that is penetrating deeply into the vast numbers of mobile phone users. Such ads may make a kind of sense for the current elite users of Twitter today, but I envision a more ubiquitous service.

About the idea of mobile = African PC and to the question do I think it should stay this way: What I care about is the participation connected communications technologies enable. What the future of personal computers? I don't know. My sense is that more and more computing that will be in the cloud, so what we think of as a PC will change. The infrastructure is just now being built. What seems clear to me is that now with existing infrastructure the mobile phone is the personal computer available to most Africans. I want to see ways invented so that Africans can participate in the Web. So I see mobile phones as essential for this and a Twitter-like service as possibly a major market which will enable mass participation in short order.

I like SMEs and investment in them. I'm all for global trade. But there are many challenges not the least of which is the cost of oil. So while I appaud the development of small and medium sized industries, I know that for a long time to come large swaths of people in the developing world will be trying to make ends meet employing themselves in very local activities. Twitter-like services seem to me a platform that is a market which could enable more productivity among ordinary people living in developing economies.

As I say I'm not much of a Twitter user myself. Socialthing and even Friendfeed aren't really important to me. I hardly read my newsfeed at Facebook! But applications like this are key to making a Twitter-like service valuable to people in Africa. Say you are an auto mechanic, the combination of Twitter and applications which aggregate or allow you to search for parts might be useful. So it's important for value creation that Twitter-like services be open enough that developers can invent applications to add value for users and find ways to profit themselves. Billmonk so far as I know doesn't have a Twitter application yet, but they do have a Facebook application. This is the sort of application which could add value to a Twitter-like service in the developing world.

"I haven't heard of ads whose purpose is to 'add value to brands.'"

Apparently you don't consume much mass media Lars. Think of beverages, the prices popular brands command are only partly based on the cost of the products and their distribution, the value of the brand is enormous. Much mass advertising is in support of brand recognition. Yes sales of product is one reason to advertise, but another reason is to support profit margins through brand identification. So: We don't sell cigarettes, we sell pleasure.

Yes micro-payments with phone credits is a major new market. What other not government issued money might come along? I've been interested in complementary currencies and think there is great potential for their use in the developing world and between people in industrial countries and those in emerging economies. I suspect the use of phone credits is just the beginning.

I am arguing against an ad model for a Twitter-like service in Africa because it seems contrary to the fundamental nature and purpose of the business. But as I said: If I knew anything about business I'd be rich.

Edit: repeated word subsistence when wanted to do is note contrast between subsistence and commercial values, so corrected that.

Comment 60 on Twitter Me to Safety

It's hard for us, sitting in the West, to understand and identify with the needs of Africans - urban or rural. I grew up there, travel there frequently, yet still find myself projecting my world on to theirs.

In my most recent trip to Kenya, I spent a good deal of time talking with a wide variety of people for both Ushahidi and AfriGadget. No matter what the conversation was supposed to be about, I tried to make room to ask a few questions about their use of mobile phones. A couple of my takeaways from that very unscientific, random canvassing were that:

Many "average" Africans (eg. not your middle-class tech guy) used a phone that was at least 5-10 years old.
Most people didn't use or need email, SMS was enough - and if they really needed to, they would call.
Everyone had a mobile phone.

So, when thinking of Twitter, or any mobile phone related social network, there are a couple conclusions that this leads me to. First, that the service needs to work with the lowest common denominator, SMS. Second, that though everyone has a mobile phone, no one has yet created a social network for it in Africa.

The closest we've seen to an SMS-is-the-glue social network in the world is Twitter. The point has been proven, it works, and people want it.

This is at the crux of my argument for related networks. In truth, even if you only had a country or region specific network Twitter clone, that would work just fine. You can get a network effect out of just that area. However, there is much more to be gained if it is able to connect to a larger global sphere - just as the Internet did.

On to thoughts about monetization...

The truth is, I'm not against advertising. I find advertising is the easy way, after all, you can always just bolt on some type of ad feed, display or sponsorship. Because it's easy, it'll probably be done that way by someone. Even in Africa, where one would think that low income would mean less advertising, we see advertising plastered all over the place - rural and urban. There's not a kiosk in Kenya that isn't painted in the colors of a large international or Kenyan brand.

What I find more intriguing is the idea that there could be a way to monetize outside of this ad-driven world, and I think there is. As John pointed out, there are possibilities of tying this type of service into other value adding services, like banking, job listings or marketplaces to name a few.

In each of these areas, if you are providing a needed service, an African user will gladly pay. Maybe they won't pay as much as their Western counterpart, but there is still cash flow happening then. I'm assuming that's where John is talking about the Power curve (longtail) - where there are only a few rich enough to pay for, or need, full-fledged banking services, so you ignore them and provide a service with a smaller fee/margin for the millions who don't need or can't afford a bank.

Profit margins can (likely) be made attractive enough to attract even more mature/older companies and services to new models. When you find an industry that needs a connection through mobile phones, and realized the potential of mass adoption, the fees that come out of that type of service can be small but add up quickly.

Personally, I'm excited to see what some enterprising young entrepreneur thinks of and builds for this space in Africa. There is a void waiting to be filled, and just like what happened with M-Pesa and non-standard money transfers, we'll see something pop up that takes Africa and the world by storm.

Comment 61 on Twitter Me to Safety

You both might enjoy keeping in the loop with the next billion, an interesting effort to both anticipate and foster the next generation of mobile computing in the developing world. have you looked at frontline? i think there are many examples of the stitching together of a social web via cell phones; twitter is the "latest most funnest." Here's a good "hands on" blog of mobile computing in Malawi if you don't have it rss'd already.

so how will these applications get developed, vs imported (which has been the dominant development model - lets not recreate when the web reduces the barriers to innovation)? that's where the power lies...

in terms of driving this innovation today, few of these applications are developed on hand help devices. real efforts to broaden participation in defining this environment will be key, in a way moving people in developing countries away from a 'status' as users and choosers of technology to makers and shapers. this isn't going to be done on $100 laptops either.

i believe both mobile phones and low cost computers can be 'gateways.' ensuring that all dimensions of the computational future reamin... and then African businesses shouldn't be pooh poohed away from advertising, as a product they produce, a service they make use of, and a product they consume. I say, get in there: play ball. Produce ads western eyeballs encounter too.

And yes, from my experience, advertising is everywhere in Africa, and its not just Marlboro man on bill boards. But locally drawn Fanta signs to the ubiquitous barber cuts. Radio spots to television serials. High end fashion to crappy business logos. Its all there, waiting to bust loose - whether as "impersonal" as macroeconomic theory or as social as the butcher shop.

More advertising, more business, more prosperity. That's what I hope to see in Africa. Whether on a hand held, a lap top, desk top, or mainframe. The next generation cars rapide or pebble bed reactor. Hi tech, low tech. Digital, analogue. Experimentation and collaboration and cross pollination is where its at.

Oh, and brightkite looks like an interesting effort to help strengthen the ties between location-aware devices and social networks.

Comment 62 on Twitter Me to Safety

Not paying attention at all to Twitter, I signed up to follow someone live blogging the Democratic Convention via Twitter. While I was at it signed up to follow Erik. Via his Twitter stream he points to tweetSMS. They've worked out bulk purchasing to offer pricing in 190 countries. The price in Uganda is 4 pence per message, so about 10 cents a message. That actually might be worthwhile and I'm eager to see whether my friend Nathan wants to try it out--to see whether it makes sense and is cost effective.

Comment 63 on Twitter Me to Safety

Little Known Facts About Sarah Palin big meme for the day.

Comment 64 on Twitter Me to Safety

Thanks Mark that meme is a laugh.

Comment 65 on Twitter Me to Safety

Glad you liked it, it's been a strange and fun day watching it unfurl

Comment 66 on Twitter Me to Safety

omidyar.net community member Andy Carvin is doing some amazing prep work for online efforts related to Gustov http://twitter.com/acarvin

Comment 67 on Twitter Me to Safety

Andy and dozens upon dozens of volunteers have come together, mainly on Twitter to do just an amazing collaboration putting this site together on Ning

http://gustav08.ning.com/

Comment 68 on Twitter Me to Safety

We were working like crazy to see if we could bump our release date up to help with Gustav (of Ushahidi), but weren't able to do it in time. I was really impressed with Andy's work, along with Patrick at of Mapufacture who put the map together: http://crescentmaps.org/gustav

If anything this type of scenario shows us that we need some type of platform that can be pushed out immediately, that helps with data aggregation, relief coordination, visualization and messaging.

Comment 69 on Twitter Me to Safety

Andy did great work on Katrina and the Pakistan earthquake as well. Its interesting to see the evolution of tools. I believe David Gielhufe (sp?) had used CivicCRM to create some mobile alerts too?

Its interesting to hear your observation, Erik, because it hasn't emerged yet. I was thinking Craigslist would be a natural home for such a tool but these things seems to subside once the recovery winds down. Perhaps the value of "institutionalization" - whether govt, private, or npo = and the value of bridge-funding - it ensures (in the best of worlds) that the system remains "alive"...