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Philadelphia Inquirer

At 40th and Chestnut, you would have thought a presidential motorcade was coming towards Distrito. Cops in riot gear spanned the street on the warm spring night of March 13th, followed by a loud rabble of young, mostly African American kids. And while most were just yelling and ambling to nowhere in particular, a few started fights and damaged cars. A week later, driving across the city, the crowds were everywhere and so were the cops, watching and waiting. Where had these kids come from? What did they want? And what, if anything, should be done about it?

These phenomena are called ‘flash mobs.’ Spurred by disparate invitations on social networking sites like Twitter and MySpace, these groups gather in public places, creating spontaneous spectacle and getting national press coverage. Their goal seems unknown beyond freaking out old people and being a part of something. They have issued no demands, posted no bills and carried no signs. But if their goal was creating fear, the mobs have succeeded admirably.

To date, over 30 teens have been charged with vandalism and violence offenses related to flash mobs. Like any large, aimless group, there are troublemakers hiding behind the anonymity of numbers. But the saddest part may be, while Philadelphia is making national news for the groundbreaking numbers these mobs form in, the destruction they cause is the only thing that makes them unique to Philadelphia.

The concept of a flash mob has existed for years. In places like Paris and London, teenage artists have descended in public places like train stations, surprising passers-by with group activities like choreographed dances and human sculpture. After the death of Michael Jackson, flash mob dance tributes were held in Stockholm and Amsterdam, among other places. But in Philadelphia, where fiercely segregated neighborhoods have recently met with budget cuts on local amusements, kids are increasingly disconnected from their city, desperately seeking involvement by any means necessary.

Reactions have been predictable: while the Mayor believes that “a few troublemakers” are to blame for any violence, Police Commissioner Charles Ramsey has announced zero tolerance for the mobs, deploying cops from Narcotics task forces and traffic patrols to police the hoards. And business owners have been speaking out to a salivating local press about violent incidents and their fears of property damage and chased-off customers.

It makes you wonder if there isn’t something productive that can come out of a group of teenagers desperately seeking something to join. The brilliance of the flash mob phenomenon is its organic nature. It is a suggestion made by one stranger to another to be a part of a happening. Students come, they meet, they socialize. For years, parents have expressed fear for their children when it comes to communication technology; that somehow a lack of real, human interaction may be harming social skills. And any look at teen voting numbers over the last 20 years says that its hard to get teens to mobilize for anything. So the fact that social media has created a completely organic organization to get to the same place at the same time is positive. But how do you channel it?

The Philadelphia Inquirer has reported on students from local charter high schools forming anti-violence groups and calling their meetings in much the same way the flash mobs do. This anonymous announcement of message eliminates barriers of formality that may chase teenagers off from more organized activities. It requires no forms to fill out and no commitment for the future. Participants are free to come and go as they please. And with the violent mobs making national news certainly there are those who will want to be a part of something positive instead.

These mobs have stumbled onto a perfect storm for promoters, where a lack of stuff to do meets a successful marketing strategy. Facebook and MySpace have tried for years to create event schedulers and calendars but, as many commentators before myself have suggested, social media works a lot better when suggestions turn into conversations and conversations turn into action. Twitter Has only furthered this concept, quickly becoming the most relevant social network. And other sites are taking notice, adding more news feeds and search options. Search engines now include Twitter’s tweets and Facebook’s status updates in web searches, casting a wider net for any conversation.

But while companies have tried to harness this conversation concept, putting a brand name on one of these mobs takes the magic out of it. The anonymity and lack of mission or organization allows the numbers to balloon like they have. If community organizers or city leaders wanted to get youth involved in any sort of initiative, this might be the way to do it. Employ power users to help authenticate your message, state clearly what you are about (ending violence, bringing recreation activities back to urban neighborhoods) and be open to how those goals could be accomplished. Require nothing of your audience but their attendance and go from there. Once these mobs are ambling the streets towards a goal, we won’t need 3 police units on every corner. Zero tolerance of flash mobs only reinforces the idea that the city is afraid of its youth. Once these mobs are embraced for the positives, not suppressed for the negatives, the violence will decrease and these mobilized hoards will be marching to a new beat.

If you check out my blog regularly, you may have read my piece on how Fortune 100 CEO’s don’t understand Twitter. And apparently, they are not alone. I hear people constantly bemoaning the popularity of Twitter as instant nostalgia or worse yet, a vain, self-indulgent waste of time. Most of these naysayers, if pressed, will tell you that they feel they have nothing to offer the vast Twitter-verse.

For them, I offer the following piece from the New York Times. Twitter is a great way to get your finger on the pulse of what is going on without combing different news sites or blogs. Twitter is, in essence, a list of links with personalized explanations of those links. And with search tools like the ones featured in this article, you can create a personalized news and entertainment feed that fits your interest. No more trolling the gossip blogs for Oscar Buzz only to find the same article slamming Sarah Jessica Parker over and over. Now you can get the headlines, find the story you want and get on with your day.

As for business owners, take note as to how your customers use Twitter. The big misconception is that Twitter can only be useful to active Twitter users. But many school districts have used Twitter to update parents on school closings. News outlets will often put their breaking news on Twitter first. And many users will connect with their favorite businesses to get updates on new products and services without flooding their inbox with pesky mass e-mails.

Check out this great piece at: http://www.nytimes.com/2010/03/04/technology/04basics.html

Check out my latest piece on PA rail projects and proposals like Magnetic Levitating trains!

Waiting on the rail in Scranton

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From its silly name to its pedestrian commentary, it is easy to dismiss Twitter as a fad that will disappear into obscurity as many fallen website brethren have before it. After all, in the pantheon of social media websites, only Facebook has stood the test of time. But while Twitter may well go the way of MySpace, Friendster and the like, it seems to have captured the hearts and minds of at least one generation for the time being. So one question remains: why do you still not know how to use it?

According to a November study by market research giant Weber Shandwick, America’s Fortune 100 companies need a Twittervention. Of the 540 Twitter accounts associated with Fortune 100 companies, only 24% post with any regularity. Like any ad campaign or branding strategy, continuity and repetition are paramount. 76% of Fortune 100 companies had less than 500 total tweets. And 53% of these accounts displayed no personality at all. In fact, 15% were either completely inactive or simply placeholder accounts to protect the brand name from imposter tweeters.

It would be easy to dismiss Twitter as something only young people use or as a simple fad. Journalists and trend reporters at Neilsen and Business Week seemed to think so back in April when they reported on Twitter Quitters; a growing segment of the Twitter nation that would sign up for an account and then quit after the first month. In fact, they said, Twitter has only a 40% retention rate.

But some interesting developments have occurred since. There were the Iranian protesters, using Twitter to escape the reach of their oppressive government and voice their opinions about possible election fraud. Google and Bing have since announced that they will now include Twitter updates in searches. And in November statistics, Twitter sees 23.6 million visitors every month.

But what makes Twitter the future of social netoworking, and the reason it will one day surpass Facebook is its simplicity and applicability. To this day, Facebook is a time waster for office workers and students looking to procrastinate. But 80% of Twitter users log on using 3rd party platforms and mobile devices. Imagine a world where bad service at a new restaurant can be reported from your phone to 23 million consumers instantly. Or a news story can be reported and shared as a headline as it is occurring.

Everyday, your customers are logging on and having conversations about your services. That is, as long as you make yourself a party guest worth talking to. Creating a personality on Twitter creates conversation. Like any brand strategy, it takes focus, personality and strong communication skills. Start by curbing employee tweets and stick to one Twitter commenter who leads your strategy. Give your posts a character, a personality who represents the customers you want to reach. Start a conversation and use this instant access to stir the pot.

In 2010, you have two choices: you can either have a Twittervention or let the addiction to old thinking and Twitaphobia take over. The choice is yours.