theEweekly Wrap - SEO Manchester, Microsoft and Facebook

SEO Manchester

Digital professionals gathered this week for the monthly Manchester SEO meet up. The event, held at Lass O'Gowrie on Charles Street, saw attendance from those working at a variety of SEO Manchester agencies. The regular meetings are billed as an opportunity for those in the industry to meet like-minded individuals in an informal setting. Tom Mason, SEO copywriter for theEword attended this week's event. "The monthly Manchester SEO meetings are a great way to meet other professionals in the local industry," he said. "It gives those in the sector the chance to discuss the latest developments in the SEO world, as well as offering individuals the opportunity to network with other professionals. Those interested in attending the next SEO Manchester session can search for the event's official hashtag, #mancseo, on Twitter.

Micro Branding

Microsoft has been named the UK's leading business brand in a survey by the Superbrands group. The annual study, which took into account the opinions of over 1,700 business professionals, saw the technology giant trump the likes of Google, Blackberry and Apple to claim the top spot in two different categories. Stephen Cheliotis, chief executive officer for the organisation responsible for the survey, said the results confirmed the brand strength of a number of technological giants. "Once again, Microsoft and Google have proved their potency by fighting it out for the top spots, whilst many other brands have reaffirmed their consistent performance year on year," he commented. The study tops off an impressive 12 months for Microsoft; the company successfully launched Windows 7, while its Bing search engine saw a gradual increase its search market share.

The Book of Love

Facebook is the most commonly used social media site for marketing according to a new study. The Value of Social Media Report discovered 85 per cent of the (predominantly American) businesses surveyed used the popular networking site to raise their brand awareness. Twitter was used by 77 per cent of the companies, while 58 per cent marketed their services via LinkedIn. Andy Beal, editor for popular online marketing site Marketing Pilgrim, said the study suggested companies were beginning to realise the value of social media. "It’s a staggering number, when you consider that [social media] is still in its infancy and arguably lacks any robust tools that businesses can use to their advantage." The report also revealed that 63 per cent of the companies surveyed measured the return on a social media campaigns based on the resulting traffic to their website. 25 per cent of businesses used Twitter and Facebook marketing to increase the brand awareness of their services.

News in 140 characters

Searches on Google account for nine per cent of all page views on mobile browsers. The statistic was revealed after research from Opera Software. Three Google employees have been sentenced to six months in jail after an Italian judge found them responsible for a controversial YouTube video, posted by a user. IE users will soon be asked if they wish to change browsers after a legal agreement between the European Commission and Microsoft. Yahoo will begin integrating real-time Twitter updates into its search results after striking a deal with the social media site. Google, meanwhile, has added Facebook updates to real-time results.

The 5 best technology podcasts

I've been getting into podcasts in a big way recently. By offering an enormous range of shows, podcasts effectively give you the opportunity to create a personal radio station filled only with content you find interesting. Want local news? Try Manchester Business or Manchester's News on the Run – both from BBC Radio Manchester. Is sport more your thing? Then head to Football Weekly with James Richardson from the Guardian.

How to get podcasts:

There are plenty of ways to find interesting podcasts. You can go through iTunes, visit general podcast directories like Audible and Radiopaq or try in-house collections like Guardian Audio and BBC Podcasts. It's then your call whether you want to listen to them directly on your PC or download them to portable devices like MP3 players and smartphones to liven up the daily commute. And best of all, the vast majority of podcasts are free.

One of my main hobbies is new technology. If you're reading theEword blog, there's a fair chance you'll be interested in the same topic. So just to get you started, below are my 5 best technology podcasts:

1. Name: Tech Weekly with Dr Aleks Krotoski
   
   Tagline: The Guardian's tech team with news and discussion from the digital worlds of technology, gaming and the web.
   
   theEword says: Tech Weekly is the best technology podcast around. It boasts impeccable credentials – the presenter is Dr Aleks Krotoski of The Virtual Revolution and Bits fame, while recent guests have included web founder Sir Tim Berners Lee, science heavyweight Dr Robert Winston and Wikipedia founder Jimmy Wales. A great overview of the week in technology.



2. Name: Digital Planet
   
   Tagline: How digital technology affects our lives around the world.
   
   theEword says: Digital Planet is the BBC's flagship technology programme (at least till someone resurrects BBC Radio Four's Click On podcasts). It actually comes from the BBC World Service so there's a strong international slant to the news stories. Extremely insightful, Digital Planet can nevertheless come across a little bit dry sometimes.



3. Name: T3 – www.t3.com
   
   Tagline: T3 website and magazine bring you the latest expert gadget news and reviews.
   
   theEword says: T3 – www.t3.com is a great podcast if you want the latest gadget news. It's a bit geeky, but then you wouldn't expect anything less given the subject matter. For me, the hilarious banter just gives it the nod over rivals like Stuff.tv and the Engadget Podcast.



4. Name: this WEEK in TECH (TWiT)
   
   Tagline: Your first podcast of the week is the last word in tech. Join Leo Laporte, Patrick Norton, Kevin Rose, John C Dvorak, and other tech luminaries in a roundtable discussion of the latest trends in high tech. Winner of People's Choice Podcast and Best Technology Podcast in the 2005 People's Choice Podcast Awards. Released every Sunday at midnight Pacific.
   
   theEword says:this WEEK in TECH (or TWiT, if you will) has a big following in the US. It's the flagship show of the podcast network TWiT.tv, which is owned and operated by new technology all-rounder Leo Laporte. Mr Laporte actually hosts the show and indulges in plenty of banter with his employees, both new and old. The downside is that this makes it all rather cliquey and the barrage of brand tie-ins and 90-minute runtime won't be to everyone's taste.



5. Name: Today in iPhone, iPod and iTouch
   
   Tagline: The unofficial iPhone news and iPhone apps podcast.
   
   theEword says: It'd be wrong to suggest that all the best podcasts are backed by international media giants. Some of the most esoteric examples come from enthusiastic outsiders. Today in iPhone, iPod and iTouch is extremely geeky and likely to appeal only to dedicated Steve Jobs fanboys thanks to its defiantly pro-Apple line. But you can't really fault an independent podcast that covers Apple devices on such a regular basis.

Richard Frost

How SEO and social media have influenced copywriting

The growing emphasis on SEO copywriting has led to a proliferation of traditional print writers branching out into online publishing. Those embarking on a career in internet writing have to substantially alter their styles and techniques in order to get the most from the medium.

SEO content is a completely different beast to traditional copywriting and many writers in the digital field will recognise (hopefully!) the importance of satisfying the search engines in order to successfully rank a website.

Indeed, SEO copywriting requires a myriad of techniques in order to produce a sufficiently optimised piece of content: keywords, anchor text and meta data all need to be taken into consideration before the very first keystroke. SEO copywriters have had to learn to incorporate these techniques into their work.

But content needs to stand up to the rigours of human examination as well as the evaluation of the search engines. Learning to balance the requirements of these two 'readers' has shaped the way copywriters have altered their styles and techniques.

It is painfully obvious when a website has tried to overreach on its keywords and SEO copywriting requires the author to judge a piece of content on its merits for both the reader and the search engine.

But this alteration of writing techniques is not just limited to SEO copywriting. Social media has revolutionised the way writers think about words. Indeed, the prevalence of these informal channels has shifted the way many approach copy, often altering previously established editorial guidelines.


Arguably the most influential effect of social media has been the need for increased brevity; the 140 character limit on Twitter has necessitated the ability to convey a message in as few words as possible. While copywriters tend to enjoy expansive white plains for their sentences to roam free in, the increased significance of Twitter has forced content into a 140-character box. Writers with a finger in the social media pie have had to adjust their copy in order to satisfy the constraints of the service.

The medium requires brevity, forcing copywriters to consider the best way to get their message across in as few words as possible.

theEweekly Wrap - Manchester Masters, MEN on Twitter and Fortune 500

Master Class

This week, theEword's SEO copywriter Tom Mason appeared on the judging panel of Manchester Masters 2010. The scheme saw students from the Universities of Manchester Metropolitan, Salford and Manchester compete for the chance to win marketing placements at a number of local companies, as well as paid-for tuition in a business masters degree. The competition saw 43 students from a range of different disciplines complete various tasks in an attempt to woo the judging panel. Ten winners (pictured) were eventually selected from the group. Tom Mason said of the scheme: "The Manchester Masters was a great experience. The competition between the students was very fierce and choosing the lucky ten winners was a very difficult task." "This is the second time theEword has participated in the scheme and we've been very impressed by this year's placements, Rick and Emily. Sandy Lindsay and Tangerine PR did an incredible job in organising the competition."

MEN of Twitter

Regional publication The Manchester Evening News is set to substantially increase its social media presence, according to its head of online content. Speaking to local media site How Do, Paul Gallacher said journalists at the paper would be placing more emphasis on micro-blogging site Twitter. "The objective overall is to engage more readers directly and enable more live reporting as we look at ways to integrate social media even more than before. The more reporters we have twittering, the better for us all," he said. In related news, a new study from America shows 65 per cent of journalists source stories from social networks such as Facebook and Twitter. The investigation by The George Washington University also found that while reporters were using social media sites in the reporting process, only 15 per cent classed the services as important to their role as journalists.

Low Fortunes

A new study has revealed that a number of Fortune 500 companies are unsuccessfully managing paid and organic search strategies. The investigation, from marketing organisation Conductor, found the majority of top US businesses failed to naturally rank for terms used in PPC campaigns. According to research, over £2.1 million is spent every day on online marketing campaigns by companies in the Fortune 500. When compared to natural listings, it was found businesses only ranked for 25 per cent of the terms used in PPC campaigns. Nathan Safran, a research analysis on the project said that the findings were surprising. "Since they spend all that money on paid search keywords, you would expect these companies would want the keywords in natural search to correlate with investments on the other side and make them as visible as possible," he said.

SEO News In 140 Characters

The marriage between Microsoft and Yahoo has been sanctioned by the European Commission and the US Department of Justice. Research from comScore found Twitter received over 75 million visitors in January. Over 1.2 billion tweets were posted during the month. Two big birthdays this week: YouTube turned six, while image manipulation software celebrate its 20th year in existence. A study by SEORoundtable discovered that 60 per cent of Google AdSense publishers have experienced lower earnings between Jan and Feb.

Facebook, LinkedIn or Twitter?

Social media is clearly high on the agenda over at Google. In the last few days alone, Google has rolled out social network Buzz to all Gmail users and bought fledgling social Q&A tool Aardvark for £32 million. And don't forget that the technology giant is still testing the much-hyped social collaboration tool Google Wave.

But despite this hive of activity, Google is clearly still playing catch-up. Social networking may have only been around for a few years but it has taken off in spectacular fashion and online marketing professionals have been quick to exploit its potential for spreading messages at unprecedented speed. In particular, three social networks increasingly seem to dominate the thoughts of businesses when it comes to online marketing. Here, we look at the relative merits of Facebook, LinkedIn and Twitter.

Facebook

Number of users: 400 million (internal figures from Facebook)

Best suited to: B2C and C2C online marketing

Pros: Facebook is by far the biggest social network. To give you some sense of scale, if it was a separate country, it would have the third largest population in the world behind China and India. This makes it an obvious choice for B2C online marketing professionals who want to get their message out to the maximum number of people possible.

Cons: In reality, Facebook marketing is not simply a case of broadcasting to 400 million. Users spend the vast majority of their time on profile pages and newsfeeds, chatting with friends in private networks rather than in public areas. It's true that Facebook relaxed its privacy settings at the end of last year. And some public pages and groups have generated huge levels of interest (the Coca-Cola Facebook page has just topped 5 million fans). But generally speaking, Facebook is a private social network, requiring plenty of legwork to get noticed through C2C online marketing.


LinkedIn

Number of users: 60 million (internal figures from LinkedIn)

Best suited to: B2B online marketing

Pros: LinkedIn is a distinctly business-oriented social network. Users are invited to post details of their career history, academic qualifications, professional achievements, specialist skills and so on. From an online marketing perspective, this makes it possible to run highly targeted B2B campaigns that can get businesses on the radar of hard-to-reach decision makers and high flyers.

Cons: Most members don't check their LinkedIn profiles as frequently as Facebook and Twitter, making it less suitable for urgent requests. LinkedIn also has another potential pitfall in that people almost exclusively use the site for business networking purposes. Because of this, it can be tricky for online marketing experts to create long-term bonds or emotional attachments with users.


Twitter

Number of users: 75 million users (external figures from The Metric System)

Best suited to: B2B, B2C and C2C online marketing

Pros: Twitter is by far the most open social network. By doing away with the system of making and confirming friend requests (Facebook) or connections (LinkedIn), Twitter lets users instantly follow accounts that interest them. It also straddles the divide between B2B and B2C online marketing. Online marketing professionals can find hard-to-reach B2B leads on specialist Twitter lists or follow everybody for maximum B2C penetration, all the while enjoying C2C exposure via retweeting.

Cons: Twitter engagement is notoriously uneven – it's estimated that only 20 per cent of accounts have tweeted ten times or more, while only 17 per cent tweeted at all in December 2009. Another problem is that the most recent posts always rank at the top of Twitter feeds, meaning important updates get buried all too quickly. The alternative is to tweet repeatedly or to @ users directly, but overuse of either strategy risks getting your account unfollowed.


Richard Frost

theEword Academy - Monitoring brand presence online

"We've known it for a long time: the web is big."

Jess Alpert, Software Engineer, Google

There are over 1 trillion URLs known to currently exist, although in reality, the number is probably much greater. To put it in perspective, 900,000 new blog entries are posted every single day. Given this information, how does one go about managing a reputation online?

SEO copywriter Tom Mason looks at four different ways to monitor a brand online via several different channels.

Web mentions

Google Alerts gives users a way to manage references across the internet. The system can be used to quickly source current mentions of a company or brand via a number of different mediums, such as blogs, news or video. Users can choose to have the information emailed to them on a case-by-case, daily or weekly message, or have the information included in a Google Reader account. Up to 1,000 alerts can be created at any one time.

Monitoring Links

Keep tabs on references to a company via link checkers such as Yahoo Site Explorer and Google Webmasters. Reviewing any links to a website is important for a number of reasons, but in regards to reputation management, these tools are indispensable for monitoring what other internet users are saying about a specific company or brand without ever mention of a company by name.

Twitter

There are dozens of different tools which can be used to manage a reputation on Twitter. theEword uses Tweet Deck to monitor '@' mentions and references to the social media account which it manages. This allows the social media team to quickly respond to any questions or comments individuals have about a specific brand or company.

TweetDeck can be downloaded for free and, once installed, can be customised to display specific information. Users can monitor direct messages, mentions and specific keywords. theEword SEO copywriter Richard Frost explains how to set up TweetDeck in this recent blog.

Internet forums

Keeping track of conversation on internet boards and forums is just as important as monitoring conversations on Twitter. Board Tracker is a helpful tool for those who want to keep tabs on brand discussions across the internet.

The website scours over 32,000 forums for references of a specific term or phrase, allowing an individual to act accordingly to any damaging posts.

theEweekly Wrap - BBC, Buzz and Bing

Hootsuite Edwards

Peter Horrocks, the BBC's director for global news, has demanded journalists at the organisation increase the use of social media in their coverage. Writing in Ariel, the weekly in-house publication at the Beeb, Horrocks insisted editorial staff make use of Twitter and blogs or face the consequences. "This isn't just a kind of fad from someone who's an enthusiast of technology. I'm afraid you're not doing your job if you can't do those things. It's not discretionary," he wrote. In the past, the BBC has been very cautious regarding its use of social media (citing copyright issues), although Horrocks' comments suggest that viewers could soon be seeing an increased level of social media content in the future. "If you don't like it, if you think that level of change or that different way of working isn't right for me, then go and do something else, because it's going to happen. You're not going to be able to stop it," Horrocks ominously added.

Google Gets Buzzy

Google took another swing at social media this week with the launch of its latest networking offering Google Buzz. Buzz, which is integrated into Google's email service, gives users the opportunity to share news with friends, as well as posting links, photographs and videos. The service automatically sources contacts based on a user's online social circle, scraping usernames from Google Mail and Google Reader. Despite a lukewarm reaction and concerns over its usability and privacy, social media site Mashable reported new adopters had generated over 9 million posts and comments since its launch on Tuesday. Todd Jackson, product manager of Google Mail and Google Buzz said the application was the latest step in the company's real-time ambitions. "Our belief is that organizing the social information on the web - finding relevance in the noise - has become a large-scale challenge, one that Google's experience in organizing information can help solve," he wrote on the official Google blog.

Bing Boing

Microsoft's Bing search engine enjoyed a boost in its US market share over January according to stats from Experian Hitwise. The research showed that Bing experienced a five per cent growth in users between December and January, rising from 8.9 per cent to 9.37 per cent. The share increase for the search engine came at the expense of Yahoo and Google with the companies suffering a two per cent and one per cent drop in users respectively. However, staff at Bing were unlikely to be doing cartwheels regarding the news. Matt McGee, assignment Editor at Search Engine Land, commented that the search engine had merely retaken the market share it had lost over the Christmas period. "But if you go back a couple months, what you’ll see is that Google and Bing both returned to numbers that were very similar to two months ago," he wrote.

SEO News In 140 Characters

Browsers leaning towards hypochondria will be pleased to hear that Google AdWords has tightened its guidelines regarding pharmaceutical ads. Facebook underwent a design overhaul this week, changing its navigational layout. Last week, the site celebrated its sixth birthday. Authorities in Iran have permanently blocked user access to Google Mail. The move comes during a week of political unrest in the country. Vodafone emerged virtually undamaged from an incident which saw an employee tweet a homophobic statement on its official Twitter account. Google is to offer high-speed broadband connections across the US. The trial is to be available in a select number of locations. And finally, theEword is looking for an SEO copywriter. To apply, send your CVs to daniel.nolan@theeword.co.uk.

MEN v Liverpool Echo – a Twitter comparison

All change at the Manchester Evening News:
This week, Trinity Mirror bought GMG Regional Media in a deal that will completely reshape the Manchester media landscape. For a total consideration of £44.8 million, the publishing giant acquires 32 local newspapers from the Guardian Media Group including the Manchester Evening News and websites like ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk. The buyout is expected to be completed on March 28th 2010.

Commenting on the deal, Trinity Mirror chief executive Sly Bailey said: "GMG Regional Media is a perfect strategic fit for our group. This acquisition, which includes the Manchester Evening News with its rich journalistic heritage, together with the weekly titles and associated websites, extends our reach across print and online, and is a further step towards our strategic goal of creating a multimedia business of real scale."

Of course, a true "multimedia business" is about so much more than just print. Growing numbers of readers are getting local news from websites – and social media tools like Twitter are proving important traffic generators. That's why I thought it would be interesting to compare the Twitter accounts of LiverpoolEcho.co.uk, Trinity Mirror's flagship newspaper site in the north west, and new addition ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk.

Main news feed on Twitter:
@LivEchonews has a clear lead over @MENnewsdesk in terms of followers (2,545 versus 1,677). It also tweets far more frequently (according to Twitter analytics service TweetStats, 7.7 times per day versus just 3). And it's consistent (as you can see below, @LivEchonews has tweeted between 150 and 350 times per month since April 2009 whereas @MENnewsdesk has fluctuated wildly from 3 times to 88 times per month).

So in terms of the main news feed on Twitter, LiverpoolEcho.co.uk wins.


Main sports feeds on Twitter:
@LivEchoLFC has a huge presence on Twitter with 2,264 followers, while LivEchoEFC has 520 followers. Compare that to @ManUtdMEN with a measly 277 followers or @ManCityMEN with 455 followers. However, we should point out that publishing frequency is remarkably similar across all four accounts with between 3.5 and 4.5 tweets per day.

So in terms of the main sports feeds on Twitter, LiverpoolEcho.co.uk wins.


Chief reporter feed on Twitter:
Despite my best efforts, I have been unable to find any Twitter account for Liverpool Echo chief reporter Michelle Fiddler. By contrast, Manchester Evening News chief reporter David Ottewell has a hefty profile with 743 followers and an impressive tweet ratio of 6.4 times per day. While several Liverpool Echo reporters maintain their own Twitter accounts, it seems Michelle Fiddler is not one of them.

So in terms of the chief reporter feed on Twitter, ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk wins.


Summary:
LiverpoolEcho.co.uk is clearly well ahead of ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk when it comes to Twitter. Its main news feed has more followers, tweets more regularly and is more consistent than its Manchester counterpart. Similarly, its main sports feeds enjoy much larger audiences (unless Liverpool FC really has 10 times more fans than Manchester United!). One major surprise is that the Liverpool Echo's chief reporter has no Twitter presence whatsoever. But on the whole, LiverpoolEcho.co.uk has a much bigger profile despite the fact that Liverpool is a smaller city with fewer Twitter users than Manchester.

Consequently, Trinity Mirror may need to revamp the ManchesterEveningNews.co.uk Twitter accounts if it wants to capitalise on the growing number of referrals from the site.

Richard Frost

Google Street View awards: theEword verdict

The shortlist for the best streets in the UK was unveiled today, courtesy of Google Street View. The roads, divided into the three categories of most picturesque, best for fashion and best for restaurants, were selected by a panel of experts, including judges from Visit Britain and the Times.

Two streets – Wilmslow Road and New Cathedral Street - were nominated for the awards in Manchester. SEO copywriters Dan Nolan, Tom Mason and online marketing assistant Rachel Holce give their opinions on the local streets which should have also made the list.

Most picturesque street, Dan Nolan, SEO content editor

Liverpool Road



Liverpool Road is a picturesque street which is home to two of Manchester's most famous attractions; Beetham Tower and the Museum of Science and Industry. It's got a lovely blend of old and new architecture and it's the perfect road to contemplate where Manchester's architecture has been and where it is going to go in the future.

Best shopping street, Rachel Holce, online marketing assistant

King Street



King Street is the exclusive hub of Manchester's shopping district. Its cobbled streets host the likes of Vivienne Westwood, DKNY and DUO. If you're looking for the best shopping district, look no further.

The a-little-bit-of-everything street, Tom Mason, SEO copywriter

Oxford Street



Stretching from the centre of town to the beginning of Rusholme, Oxford Street has it all. The university campus is very picturesque, while a host of excellent restaurants line the route.

theEweekly wrap - iPad, Google Apps and online sales

iWant one of those

Popular producer of sleek electronic goods Apple finally unveiled its iPad last week, spawning not only a slew of 'hilarious' parodies on its name but also a worldwide debate as to the actual usefulness of the new visual touch brick. Is it a revolution in computing? Will it change the way we design for the web? Is it just a really big iPhone that you can't make phone calls on? The answer, to at least one of these questions, is yes. As soon as Steve Jobs finished presenting the iPad to the gathered throng of slavering tech types in San Francisco, hype began to spread around the net faster than a Susan Boyle YouTube clip. Our verdict on the machine? It's a beautiful piece of equipment, but it will take more than a few killer apps to make it a must-have purchase.

Market share? There's a scrap for that

Speaking of applications Google is said to be on the verge of launching its own app store in a bid to rival the market-dominating Apple App Store. The service would initially focus on selling third-party products (add-ons, extensions) for its suite of Google Apps tools, splitting revenues from sales with developers. It is thought any new Google app store would supersede the existing Google Solutions Marketplace. True to its penchant for secrecy, Google refused to be drawn on the accuracy of these rumours, merely stating: "[We are] constantly working with our partners to deliver more solutions to businesses but we have nothing to announce at this time".

Hey big spender(s)

Recession? What recession? New research has revealed that we Brits spend more money online than any other country in Europe. The findings, from the Centre for Retail Research, show that Britons bought £38billion worth of goods over the course of 2009 alone, making up almost one third of all web sales across the continent. Not only that, but the proportion of consumers willing to spend over £1000 on a single transaction has also gone up – doubling from 12 to 25%. You could buy 125 Susan Boyle albums for £1000. Or pay for the hosting of a personal website for 21 years. In all seriousness, the news is positive for people whose business is in online sales. "This year is when we will really start to see online sales achieving a significant share of overall retail trade in the UK," said Bruce Fair of Kelkoo.

theEword Academy - How to create Twitter lists

If I could pick out one feature that has transformed my experience of Twitter, it would not be technological breakthroughs like UK trending topics or search engine integration. Instead, it would be the humble Twitter list.

Discovering Twitter lists

I first came across Twitter lists on the superb third-party app TweetDeck and it's no exaggeration to say that this was the day I was finally converted to micro-blogging. Up till that point, I had found myself drowning in a sea of information. Why?

One of the main ways of building up a community of followers is to follow them first – indeed, a recent report from market research group Hubspot found that the average Twitter user had 100 followers but was following 170. Unfortunately, this soon means your personal feed becomes filled with babble about, for example, what sandwich somebody is eating. And the problem is that important broadcast tweets inevitably get drowned out by trivia.

Another problem is segregation. Like most people, I have a range of unrelated interests – journalism, SEO Manchester, local news, comedy and Liverpool FC to name but a few. In the daytime, I might want to keep abreast of the latest developments in the SEO Manchester community for @theeword whereas at home I might want to browse the main stories and rumours concerning @LFCTV. But when I joined Twitter in July 2009, it was an all-or-nothing experience.

Twitter versus TweetDeck
Official Twitter lists finally launched in October. But TweetDeck got there first and, for me, it's still a much more user-friendly and intuitive way of setting them up. It surprises me that many social media fans still don't know how to create Twitter lists so read on and discover how you can get started.

1. Download TweetDeck and click the '+' button ('add column') in the top-left corner:
   
   


2. Click 'Groups/Lists' and 'New List':
   
   


3. Name your new list ('SEO Manchester' in this example) and select whether you want it to be 'Public' (everyone can see it) or 'Private' (only you can see it):
   
   


4. Choose which of the people you're following you want in the list and press 'Save List':
   
   


5. Your list is complete. To make changes, click the group name ('SEO Manchester') and select 'Edit list':
   
   

These Twitter lists will then appear automatically on TweetDeck whenever you launch the application, complete with the latest tweets from everyone on the list. You can also sync between your work PC, your home laptop and your iPhone when you register a TweetDeck account (it's free). And you will even see the lists on the right-hand side of your profile when you log into Twitter directly. If you went down the public route, everyone else can see and follow them too.

Twitter lists are an amazing feature that will revolutionise how you use social media. So what are you waiting for?

Richard Frost

How Manchester museums use Twitter

Today marks the first 'follow a museum' day on Twitter. Created by Jim Richardson, the internet movement asks users to recommend various museums and education institutions to their followers via the social media site through the use of the #followamuseum hashtag.

Writing on Follow A Museum.com, Jim states:

"Most museums on Twitter struggle to attract more then 500 followers. I started to think about how we can draw attention to the museums on Twitter, and get more people to consider following a museum."

To commemorate the first follow a museum day, theEword's SEO copywriter Tom Mason analyses how four Manchester museums are using Twitter to market their institution.

The following information was collated through Twitter Analyzer based on Twitter updates between the 1st and 31st January. Interactional tweets are classed as those which use the '@' function to converse with another user, while broadcast updates are those which only share information.