I love this!
About a week ago, I posted about some effects of retweets, and how businesses can use them here – inspired by Jeremiah’s post – Retweet: The Infectious Power Of Word Of Mouth .
My post inspired Anton (also blogging here), from blog search engine Twingly, to write The Microblogging Phenomenon Retweet.
In the comments, Hanta asked:
“So is this about twingly creating a kind of TweetRank? Or building a twitter search based on retweets?”
To which Anton replied:
@Hanta: well, nice ideas! Haven’t thinking of it before but using retweets as a parameter of search rankings could of course be possible! Thanks!
I think this is a brilliant example of how you can get new ideas by engaging with the environment through social media. It was just intended as a curious question from Hanta about future developments of Twingly, but it turned out to be an interesting idea. So, what did Anton do to get this idea from Hanta?
- He was listening to the conversation going on – in this case my post.
- He was participating in the conversation, adding value to it – in this case his own post.
- He engaged directly with other people out there – in this case through the comment to Hanta
By doing this, he got a new idea for the company he works in. I don’t know how viable the idea is, if it will be realized and valuable. But it is an idea he woundn’t have gotten otherwise. And by continuing to engage in the conversation, he will get more ideas.
I love this! =)
More on this very soon, in a new post I have started to write.
Kristofer,
Thanks for following up on my comment. These thoughts dovetail into conversations I’ve been having and thoughts I’ve been thinking about product/market fit. How do you know if your product works for your market? How do you know if you’re in the right market? Having these conversations, considering others’ ideas, and implementing them as appropriate demonstrates responsiveness and engagement. Social media tools like Twitter, blogs and forums in conjunction w/ measurement/monitoring tools help you do this in a quickly for minimal cost.
Thanks again for the comments 🙂 Looking forward to reading more.
Hi An,
nice to see you here! =)
I agree with you a 100 %. I think social media is even more important from a business development perspective than from a marketing perspective.
The post is already up. http://www.kristofermencak.com/2008/12/how-to-speed-up-evolution/ =)
Kristofer
Thanks for the quote. Wheater it´s a good idea or not maybe twingly gets the ideas rolling in by a social media brainstorming which is continued internal.
It´s the intelligence of the masses, which may be the resource for people to ask for good products. If i can ask all of my followers on twitter about which netbook to buy i will hardly rely on the products websites
I agree. You might have spurred some internal discussions. And maybe, if they come up with something new because of it, you might get a trip to Sweden! 😉
I too rely more on the masses than product websites. On amazon for example, I practically never buy books with less than 4 star average, and less than 5 ratings. I love knowing it’s good stuff I buy!
Btw, this is something we see all the time at our tech plan, which is found here: techplan.twingly.com.
I would love to see you suggest this feature 🙂
Here’s a good list (in Swedish) on other companies doing the same: http://bjornalberts.com/2008/12/01/om-jag-fragat-vad-kunden-ville-hade-jag-byggt-en-webbplats/
That is great!
I suggest Hanta to go ahead then, and suggest it! =)
Interesting list. I have heard of most of the companies and their efforts, but some new stuff too. =)
Thanks!
It is done: http://techplan.twingly.com/feature/?id=123
Cool! =)