The convergence of radio and social media fascinates me.  

Radio, unlike television or print, seems to have significant gains to make by learning to work inside social media and tap into their passive listener base.  Think about it.  From the user end, radio is a very passive form of media.

For years, radio stations have focused dollars, time and loads of effort on producing live events.  From live concerts and happy hours to on-location contests and parties, radio stations use events to connect with their listener base in hopes of creating loyalty.

Fast-forward to now.  Social media has made it possible for events to happen on the web.

Do you see the connection?

Social Blitz

What the 99.7 The Blitz is doing on Facebook is impressive.

If you visit their fan page, you’ll notice that there is no customization.  No special tabs.  No custom applications.  In fact, you won’t even find one any of the free applications that are available in Facebook’s application directory installed.

It’s bare bones – and it’s working really well.

What The Blitz (specifically, their morning show with Blazer and Mo) does have is the power of mass media, a targeted niche audience and solid engagement from their Facebook page fan base.  Win!

Lessons from The Blitz

I love this case study.  It highlights a critically important aspect of social media strategy: social media is more about sharing the right content and having active human users, rather than shiny technology.

Here are some lessons that we can all learn from how the Blitz is using Facebook:

Be Your Audience
Blazer, Mo, and most of the DJs on the blitz, are the demographic that they target.  They are rock fanatics, with active social lives, who share a sense of humor with their audience.  Being “one of us” is important in trust building.  Trust leads to deeper relationships.  Deeper relationships lead to greater engagement and participation.  All of this leads to retention.  Retention is worth dollars.

Create Conversation On Air
Since guys like Blazer and Mo are, for the most part, members of the audience they target, they know how to engage on the front lines.  Look at this example:

What’s interesting is that this conversation does not exist in a vacuum.  Blazer, Mo and the rest of the morning show crew has entitled this contest Facebook: What’s Your Amazingly Smooth Pick Up Line? The contest is announced during each break with a call to action for listeners to visit the Facebook page and post their best pick-up line.  Pick-up lines that are submitted and read on air serve to create more content for the hosts to riff from.  It’s a great way to engage the audience in the comedy.

Play in Real Time
One of the other topics of discussion from this morning’s show is this picture of Mo:

If you grew up in the 80′s and 90′s, you’ll probably find Mo’s classic digs (and ‘do) a bit funny.  Most of the Blitz target audience can relate, and may even have a few similar candid shots of themselves buried in a shoebox deep within their own closets.

Now look in the comments:

In today’s radio stations, DJs sit behind computers.  Within an hour of launching this bit on the air, Mo joined the conversation (via Facebook) in real time, as it was happening.  While some marketers and PR folks might cringe at his comment, it’s absolutely appropriate for the audience and the nature of the conversation.  In social media, being “one of us” and communicating in real time is much more effective than worrying about your brand voice.  Humans don’t speak brand.

Live Stream Your Broadcast
Drive time is huge for morning talk radio.  But what about when your audience arrives in the office?  How do you keep them engaged?  In my opinion, live streaming your broadcast via the web is an innovation that all radio stations should be focused on implementing.

Again, radio is passive.  As I sit and comb through email in the mornings, I typically listen to music or talk radio.  Streaming makes that easier, and, as a listener, it’s also very easy for me to keep the Blitz Facebook Fan Page open in my browser allowing me to participate in the live conversations during the show.  In a sense, this is a new kind of live event that listeners can attend each morning, at precisely no cost to either party involved.  Big WIN!

Things the Blitz Might Want to Do Next

A few months back, I tried this with WNCI and Dave & Jimmy.  Unfortunately, they either weren’t listening or didn’t really care.  Bummer.

Dear Blazer and Mo, are you listening?  If so, mad props for doing some good work in social media.  Here are three basic suggestions of things you might try next:

1. Determine Fan Page conversion points – What do you want your fan base to do?  Sign up for events?  Register for email updates?  Subscribe to a station blog?  Whatever the goals are, make them clear on the page.  You can develop customized tabs based on what those goals are and work to drive your fans to take that action.
2. Add in some focused, custom tabs – You might try using PollDaddy to get the opinions of your listeners who play on the page.  Having the ability to poll your fans would tie in nicely with the whole “Your Rock Station” position you’ve taken.  Think of your Facebook page in terms of it being an ongoing town hall meeting.
3. More video – There are so many opportunities for using video on your page.  I would start by installing the YouTube application from Involver (a freebie) that would allow you to create a YouTube tab and pull in video content from your channel.  From a strategy perspective, I think it would be fun to come up with contests that get your fans and listeners to submit their own videos.  You’d probably (obviously) need to screen some of these before putting them up, but the idea follows the same train of thought as your pick-up line contest, but is much more interactive.  And just about everyone has a video camera on their mobile these days.
4. Bring streaming to the Facebook Page – This one might cost some bucks, but I’d love to see a custom application developed that would allow me to stream the Blitz, right from your Facebook Fan Page.  While they are few and far between in Columbus, Ohio, there are a handful of developers who know how to code in Facebook Markup Language (FBML).

What ideas do you have on how The Blitz, or radio stations in general, could use Facebook Fan Pages?

This is a continuation of my reviews of the Sprint EVO 4G.  I’m now two weeks in and getting more comfortable with my new sidearm.

Organization of Apps

There are some aspects of the Sprint EVO 4G that I really enjoy – the most prominent of which is the general speed of the operating system (and device overall), as compared to the iPhone 3G I was carrying.

Android seems to have bet their chips on the idea that your average smart phone user will typically use the same set of 20 applications (on a regular basis).  The organization of the apps on the Sprint EVO 4G seems to make it very easy to get to your top 20, but makes it’s bit more cumbersome to get to apps outside of that select group in a hurry.

It’s a decent idea, but I still fancy Apple’s new take on folder organization.

3 Downfalls of the Android Market

In buying into the Sprint EVO 4G, I’ve had to completely relearn how my phone operates.  One of the most stark differences lies in the user experience of the Andriod Market and Android Applications, as opposed to Apple’s App Store and iPhone Applications.

Here’s the breakdown of three differences I think are most noticeable:

1)  I’ve noticed a increase in the amount of comment spammers. These folks post comments on specific apps with the intention of driving traffic to third party app directories.  It’s not at all helpful in terms of learning about user perspectives, and, frankly, a bit annoying.

2)  The organization of the Market is cumbersome. Application titles are vague and it seems to take more clicks to get to information, regarding what each app does.  That alone has somewhat turned me off to seeking out new apps.

3)  There’s a noticeable difference in the variety and quality of the apps in the Android Market, as opposed to Apple’s App Store. While that’s not surprising, I am missing some of the apps I used on my iPhone 3G that were specifically tied to some of the back-end applications I use to operate Social Business Strategies.

What’s your experience with the Android Market and, Android apps and the Market?

I have the pleasure of lending NateRiggs.com to Cheryl Harrison for this guest post.  Cheryl has over 10 years of experience using social media tools, going way back to the days of AIM chat rooms, LiveJournal and GeoCities.

Cheryl is an agency-reared marketer, a member of the Columbus Yelp Elite (where she has written over 2oo reviews of local hotspots).  She has been an active blogger at BeingCheryl.com since early 2008, and works as the Tactical Lead at Social Business Strategies.

Would you like to be a guest blogger on NateRiggs.com?  If so, go ahead and submit your post idea here.  I’ll be in touch.
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If you’re on Twitter, you’ve likely got an agenda.

“I want to sell more products or services.”

“I want to make people laugh.”

“I want to look smart.”

“I want to meet new people.”

While the motives are very different, accomplishing any of them requires some level of influence – people paying attention to what you’re saying.

Here are a few ways you can gauge your current Twitter influence:

1) Number of followers
Yeah, yeah, I know. This number can be spammed, scammed, faked and forged about a million different ways. However, this number still needs to be taken into consideration, because sheer reach does effect how influential your content can become (to some degree).

2) Number of lists
I give this Twitter metric a bit more weight, the reason being that you can safely assume that most of the people who have listed you are actually paying attention to you. Personally, I have 7 lists, 5 public and 2 private, all of which I am significantly more likely to check than the general stream of all tweets. In addition to analyzing the NUMBER of lists you are on, the name and description of the lists you are on can show you how your peers view you and for what you are influential.

3) Klout
Klout is a service that measures a Twitter profile’s influence, using an in-depth algorithm. Klout tells you what type of Twitter user you are (based on how often you share, have conversations, etc.), what users you influence the most (and who influences you), which topics you discuss most, how engaged your network is with you, how often your posts are retweeted, and a few other factors.

4) Tweet Level
Another service that analyzes a Twitter profile, Tweet Level gives users a numeric ranking to influence, popularity, engagement and trust (in addition to pretty good explanations of what the numbers mean). It also stacks you next to a few of your followers, both those ranking higher and lower than you, for comparison.

5) Tweet Stats
Tweet Stats allows you to view what day of the week and what time of the day you post the most often. What does that have to do with influence? Let’s say most of your posts occur early in the morning (EST). It’s safe to say that your influence in other time zones is virtually nonexistent. These are just numbers to give you a starting point from which to benchmark. A low score or list count does not necessarily mean you are not influential.

The best way to increase and maintain your influence on Twitter is to have real conversations with people and create value for them. Even if you only have 10 followers, be influential to those 10 people.

Who are some of the people you think are influential on Twitter?

If you visit regularly, you might know that my site was down this morning.  I want to give a special hat tip to Chris Adams and all of the folks at WebHostBiz for fast and diligent customer service.

Chris helped me this morning by using Twitter, email and personal phone calls to fix the problem with my site, limiting downtime to less than three hours.  This style of real-time service and people like Chris, are why I’m an affiliate of WebHostBiz.

Sprint Mobile Hotspot vs. Verizon MiFi 2200

This is a continuation of my reviews of the Sprint EVO 4G.  So far, so good.

I decided earlier this year that having a mobile hotspot was another business necessity.  I’m on it right now, typing to you from Lockport, New York.  Necessity.

My first try towards making this happen was with a Verizon MiFi 2200 card and their Intelligent Mobile hotspot.  It’s not a bad product at all and worked for what I needed it to.  My Sprint EVO 4G handles the mobile a bit differently, by using the built-in Sprint Mobile Hotspot.

Here’s what it’s all about:

Product Comparison

It’s important to break this down into the simplest form.

Verizon Wireless Intelligent Mobile Hotspot

• Monthly Bill: Between $55 and $60 per month
• Equipment Needed: Verizon MiFi 2200 card and sync cable (tethering required)
• Connection Type: Requires user to log in to VZ Wireless application
• Number of Devices: Up to 5
• Upload/Download Speed: 3G at 720 kbps (average)
• Monthly Limit: 5GB

Sprint Mobile Hotspot

• Monthly Bill: $20 per month (additional fee)
• Equipment Needed: Sprint HCT EVO 4G (no tethering required)
• Connection Type: Produces typical WiFi broadcast signal
• Number of Devices: Up to 8
• Upload/Download Speed: 3G at 600 kbps (average); 4G at 3-6 mbps (not available in Ohio at the time this post was written)
• Monthly Limit: Unlimited

Have you used either of these mobile hotspot providers?  What’s your take?

It’s done.

I’ve officially broken up with AT&T and said goodbye to my iPhone.

I’ve not yet become an Apple-hater, like Shel Holtz, and still run a Macbook Pro.  But the iPhone 4 just wasn’t doing it for me.

Noodling over the decision to switch has taken about two months, starting when I first played around in the demo of the Sprint EVO 4G on the web.  It’s a slick device in appearance and functionality, and even has useful low-tech innovations like a fold-out kickstand that allows you to place the device upright on your desk (should you be watching a video or on a video call).

Why I Switched From AT&T & the iPhone to the Sprint EVO 4G

• AT&T’s phone service is terrible and their customer policies are a joke.  While I have had some helpful and polite reps on the phone, I’m sick of fighting through their system every time there is a problem to address.
• The Sprint EVO 4G has a larger screen.  It’s wonderful.
• My friend, Chris Simmons, really likes his Sprint EVO 4G and he was one of the first people I knew who purchased one.  I respect his opinion.
• I no longer need a Wifi card and a phone.  The Sprint EVO 4G does it all and does it well.
• I’m saving about $70 per month switching to the Sprint EVO 4G.  The pricing plan is clean-cut, affordable and includes some added benefits, as opposed to AT&T’s plan.
• Free mobile-to-mobile minutes with Sprint – across all providers – is a huge hook.
• I wanted to try out Android because I never had.
• Even though we Ohioans don’t yet have 4G, the Sprint EVO 4G is a super-fast phone, even on the 3G network.
• The 8 MP camera (with a dual flash) and the HD video camera (shoots in 720p) have become a business necessity for what I do as a blogger and content engineer.  The ease of sharing what I create is certainly a plus.
• From the times I’ve played with the iPhone 4, I didn’t like the feel of it aesthetically.  From press, blogs and other reviews I’ve seen, there seem to be tons of issues Apple’s newest device.

I’ll provide some more details on the finer points of my reasons listed above in subsequent posts, as I review the phone in detail.  Trust me, I’ll be looking for things I don’t like and that don’t work.  They’re there, I just need some time to test out the device in my normal usage patterns.  There’s more to come so stay tuned…

For now, if you are thinking about making the switch to the Sprint EVO 4G, here are some must-have accessories you will want to look for when you buy.

For reference, below are links to the accessories I mentioned in the video.  All of these are Amazon links, simply because that’s where I purchased the extras.  I am not affiliated with Amazon at this time.

• Car Mount Adjustable Phone Holder for HTC EVO 4G Sprint
• Seidio Multi-Function Battery Charger for Use With HTC Droid Incredible, HTC EVO 4G, Droid Eris & Touch Pro 2
• Seidio Inno 1750mAh Extended Life Battery for Use With HTC Touch Pro 2, HTC Hero (Black)
• HTC EVO 4G/HTC A9292/Supersonic Screen Protector
• Premium Orange Rubberized Snap-on Case Cover for HTC Evo 4G, Seamless Design Rear Case Only
• HTC EVO 4G Retractable Sync & Charge USB Cable

What would you add to this list?

Here are two questions to think about:

1. If social media and blogging were popular when you were a student, and there was a program to teach you how to use these tools, would that have signed up?
2. Do you think it would have had an impact on your career path?

The Social Learning Lab at Hi-Point

My friend, Shane Haggerty, believes that the impact would have been exponential.

That’s why he’s doing it right now.  At the Ohio Hi-Point Career Center, Shane is teaching a select group of students how to proactively and responsibly use the social web to build their individual presence, and with it, build a presence for the center itself.  Shane is building a human business team.

The student bloggers at Hi-Point Journeys are worth your attention.  The program itself and the students, led by Shane, are challenging the status quo in education.  They’ve built a laboratory to help them experiment with education strategies that leverage social media and the Interwebz.

This video is just over 16 minutes in length, which (by my own standards) is way too long for a single blog post.  However, the trouble is that every time I try to edit it down, I feel like I take away from Shane’s story of this amazing project.

To make it manageable, I can simply suggest the following:

• Make sure your speakers are turned up
• Pretend this is a podcast
• Push play
• Listen and go about doing what you need to get done

I also want to tip my hat at Oxiem Marketing Technology, as well as Tom Williams and Innogage.

As Shane mentioned, Oxiem is the development partner behind building the web platforms on which these students operate to produce their content.  In my opinion, they are one of the best firms at integrating social media, SEO and web design in Ohio.

Tom comes in with his product, Innoblogs, which plugs into WordPress to create a back-end workflow system to manage collaborative blog teams.  I like it a lot, and accordingly, use it with a few of my own clients.

(I’m writing about these folks because they are doing great work.  For the record, I’m not affiliated with either Oxiem or Innogage, but we do sometimes work on projects together, openly.  Also, Hi-Point is not a client.  Shane is simply leading educators towards social media adoption in the classroom.  And that’s worth talking about.)

What do you think?  Should social media education be taught at the high school level?

I’m not a huge basketball fan, but I will say that Dan Gilbert has gusto.

He also seems to get how this social media stuff, and human business on the Interwebz, is working these days.

Some NBA critics are cringing at his Open Letter to Cavaliers Fans - claiming that it’s an emotionally-charged, knee-jerk reaction.  I, however, completely disagree.

To me, this open letter seems like a very calculated tactic that’s been extremely well executed, in terms of using social media to gain viral reach for the fans’ position.  It’s a rally cry.

Why?

• Placement of the letter as a redirect on the Cavs’ homepage leverages the natural query volume generated by LeBron’s television announcement.  High potential to go viral VERY quickly (which, it already has on Twitter - to the tune of about 30-40 mentions each refresh).
• Gilbert is talking directly to his paying audience: fans of the Cleveland Cavaliers (most of whom live in and around Ohio)
• It’s passionate as heck.  He’s leveraging what Chris and Julien call, “One of Us.”  The copy uses “we” and “our” all over the place.
• Gilbert is turning the folks who are upset about LeBron’s move into a motivated and technology-enabled tribe
• The choice of using Comic Sans as a web font is unique enough to spark up its own conversation
• Gilbert knew that this rebuttal would spread like wildfire

Basketball fan or not, what’s your take?

In the past two days, I’ve been a part of two very powerful hugs.

The first was with a childhood friend when she and her husband came for a visit to Columbus and Community Fest.  At the end of a wonderful (and much needed) evening, one final hug goodbye reminded me of how and why we’ve stayed friends after all these years.  The second hug was with my mom.  Just before dinner one evening, I could tell by the expression on her face that some of the health issues she’s been facing recently were wearing on her spirits.  Without knowing what else to do, I hugged her.

Both of these hugs were real hugs – not simply the “pat on the back” type of hugs that we have all become so used to giving and receiving.  In that moment of real hug, a small chemical reaction occurs in the brain of each human involved.  The chemical emitted produces certain emotions and, with it, a sense of behavior.

Powerful Hugs

One of the most fascinating things I’ve read yet this year was a Fast Company story documenting the work of  Neuroeconomist Paul J. Zak, a professor at Claremont Graduate University.  Paul so believes in power of a hug that he makes a point to hug just about everyone he meets.  That behavior is one of the many things that has led to his Claremont campus nickname, Dr. Love.

Zak is responsible for popularizing the term “neuroeconomics,” an emerging field that combines economics with biology, neuroscience and psychology.

With an eloquent writing style and a good sense of storytelling, Fast Company’s contributing writer Adam Penenberg details his time working as one of Zak’s test subjects in three-part experiments.  Why is this important?  Dr. Zak has discovered, for the first time, that social networking triggers the release of the hormone Oxytocin, the chemical present in our brains that produces emotions of generosity and trust.

This is a video clip from the article, but I also suggest you go back and read it for yourself.  It’s truly amazing thinking and research to follow.

Future of Social Media

I believe that Zak is on to something bigger than we can fully see right now.

Decades ago, the media of the time (television, radio, and print) changed the way that we humans consumed information.  With that, the way we processed information also changed.  Our paradigms, our culture and maybe even our sense of societal norms shifted, as humans spent more and more time in front of the TV, or with the car stereo tuned to to their favorite station.  Over time, the business landscape, and how humans conducted business, changed too.

In the early 1980s, primitive computers and BOD modems started that shift yet again.  Humans started using more technology to communicate.  Communication led to the formation and maintenance of mass amounts of human relationships, developed across geographic and socioeconomic boundaries.

Is This Evolution?

Zak’s work, and maybe even others like Dan Zarella, always leave me with this one question on my mind:

As humans continue to evolve the interwebz, are the interwebz also evolving us as human beings?

What’s your take?

I’ve subscribed to SurveyGizmo for about three weeks now.

It’s an online survey and polling tool that has a bit more meat on its bones than PollDaddy.  And in my mind, it also has a much nicer user interface than SurveyMonkey.  I’ve used all three and landed here from my own projects.

What’s interesting – from a marketing angle – is that I never saw an ad, read an article or blog post, or even received a tweet from the company.  Nope. Nothing.  I found SurveyGizmo while taking a recent survey that Dan Harris included me on.  It just so happened that, at the time of Dan’s Q&A, I was about to start looking at survey tool options.  Serendipity, yes?

I was so impressed with how clean Dan’s survey was designed, I decided to try SurveyGizmo on for size.

I currently have three client surveys out and I’ve been impressed with how easy they have been to set up.  There’s also a good amount of pre-build logic for questions.  I’m planning some more surveys and polls for research for a few eBooks in process over the next few weeks.

Then on Friday afternoon, SurveyGizmo did something VERY important, in terms of growing a business.  With a heartfelt, creative, and highly humanized piece of direct mail, the folks at SurveyGizmo converted me from a happy customer into a raving fan.

Guess what else happened?  I’m now telling you the story.  See the connection, friends?

Here’s what I mean:

Let’s Review What SurveyGizmo Just Did

• Focus on Making a Great Product – SurveyGizmo invested in developing a product that delivers and is impressive.  It’s not just a shiny marketing campaign.
• Go Viral by Making it Easy to Spread – SurveyGizmo’s customers spread the word virally by using the product to conduct surveys, such as how I learned about it from Dan.  Genius.
• Get More Personal with Customers – New customers are immediately embraced and thanked in a very personal offline way that is rather unexpected.
• Humanize Your Company – Rather than send a catalog with more products (like some companies still do), the team at SurveyGizmo sends a creative mailer with introductions to the humans who make up the company.

While I don’t have any access to the data to prove this, I’m willing to bet that a possible outcome of SurveyGizmo’s efforts is an extremely high customer retention rate.  (Folks at SurveyGizmo, please feel free to share that in the comments if you’re willing and able…)

Being Reminded of Little Things
I used to be really good about taking time for the little, personal human touches.  Treating people like human beings is how I built my network of friends, as well as professional connections.  Yet, somewhere along the path, I’ve gotten away from things like handwritten notes and simple, personal phone calls to say “congrats!” or “happy birthday.”  I use Facebook for that now, along with almost 500 million other users and hundreds of thousands of companies who, like me, buy into that machine and set of norms and processes.

As I type, I find it ironic that a single customer experience with SurveyGizmo and the humans behind their business has reminded me about the foundation upon which my own business has its roots.

What have I learned?  I need to readjust.  I need to do better at getting back to my roots.  Stay tuned…

What about you? Where are your business roots?  Are they still important or have the been buried under overgrowth?

I’ve been a HootSuite user for some time now, and while I won’t be signing up for the HootSuite Certified Professionals program anytime soon, I’m digging the new release of HootSuite5.

I’ve been playing around since about 6 a.m. this morning when I received the notification of the update.  This post is purely an initial review of HootSuite5 and only my first reaction, as well as the reactions of some of my Twitter followers.  I’m pleased to feature some of their opinions.  Thanks for the insight, folks!

What’s Different about HootSuite5

You don’t have to write code to know that Google’s HTML5 is creating a ton of buzz across the web.  It seems like a good move that HootSuite has invested time and energy into building on the new web standard. Geo-search capabilities aside, I think the most promising ability that innovation offers is an improved ability to drag and drop various media objects, much like how Apple products work.  Improved refresh speed is a plus, as well.

Review of HootSuite 5 – My Initial Reactions

• Redesigned Interface – I like the aesthetics of the new release much better.  To be clear, I’m accessing HootSuite 5 from Google Chrome, so I’m not sure how it operates from other browsers.  Amanda L. Sage also seems to be a fan of the new design and themes and speed:
  
  

  Mike Bowers also has an interesting take on the new design:
  
  I agree with both points.  With Amanda, it is nice to have the ability to customize the look and feel of the dashboard.  I think that some aspects of the functionality are faster and some are still a bit clunky.  I’ll attribute that to the usual bugs that happen in early releases of a new version of software, coupled by exploration into HTML5.  From a product standpoint, HootSuite has always been good with releasing fixes fairly quickly.

• Site Analytics – It’s going to take me a few more days to wrap my head completely around where HootSuite5 is heading with these updated features.  I will say this, though: the addition of Google Analytics seems to be a win for me, simply from a convenience standpoint.  Integration was also a two-click breeze and the display dashboard is pleasing.  I’ve not yet played with the Tweet overlay, but it’s in the foreground of my immediate radar of experimentation.
  
• GeoSearch – This feature does require an HTML5-ready browser, but I can see some relevant applications of geo-sourcing conversations and mentions of specific keywords.  This could be a helpful feature in a variety of front-end research projects for strategy development or even marketing campaign planning, especially for companies at the local level with franchises, dealers, retail locations and even small business.  For the league JetSetters (you know who you are), what will be interesting to see is how traveling users apply this feature using mobile devices.  The HootSuite iPhone app has become one of my mobile weapons of choice.
• Drag & Drop Upload – This works beautifully from what I’ve experience thus far and was voted a favorite feature by my friend, Christian Adams.  Drag-and-drop functionality simply makes things easier and less time-consuming.  Enough said.  Well done, HootSuite5.
• Enhanced FaceBook – This is one of my personal favorites thus far.  From a consumption angle, the new display is much more pleasing.  At some points, it changes my display when I submit a status update, but at this point, I can’t say for certain what triggers that change.  I’ll be digging into this more as well.
  
• New ReTweets – I’m not much of a fan about how the ReTweet function works as is on Hootsuite5, in that it automatically sends the message without allowing me to add my own text into the message.  However, the savvy Traci Knoppe shared a work-around that she has discovered.  It works nicely!
  
• Localization – This is not new to social media aggregators in the same category.  In fact, Tweetdeck has had this functionality for months.  While it’s a great idea, it does typically require a more specialized user to take advantage of this feature.  As is, I can see it being applicable in terms of individuals tasked with global and international business development, or even in the European market where folks speaking a different language may only be a short train ride away.  In the US, not so much. Also, I want to be able to change my geographic location.  For instance, talking with Mike Brown today, I learned that Twitter was abuzz with talks of a new social media club in Kansas City, MO.  From a research standpoint, I might want to then search for the terms “Social Media Club” and geo-target that search to the appropriate zip code (per Mike’s suggestion).  Do you see where I’m going with this?
• Instaload – I’m not entirely sure I notice a difference on this just yet and need some more time to play.  That said, the real issue in my mind is with Twitter itself.  It seems that recently, I’ve been receiving the ever-popular “Twitter API is down” message across the top of my columns.  What’s that all about, Twitter?
• Themes – I like that I can now personalize my dashboard with themes.  Users can pick from any of the three current options available!  Hmmmm. One suggestion would be to release additional themes or give users the ability to brand the application to their business or even their own personal liking.  Jason Velliquette, for instance, fancies seeing HootSuite5 “Zoolander inspired themes!” Who knows?  Maybe custom HootSuite5 themes will provide an additional quick and easy market opportunity for freelance designers.  It did for Twitter backgrounds.

This is round one for me.  If you are using HootSuite5, I’d love to hear your thoughts and feedback on feature sets, design, and anything else you are experiencing.

What’s your take?