Twitter is still the hot social media tool, despite not being “for everyone.” At AHA, we participated in a social media teleseminar yesterday with Peter Shankman and Chris Brogan (you can check out the tweets at #broman). It was very interesting and engaging and, as always with Peter and/or Chris, we learned something. 

After the call we discussed the value of different social media tools and when we got around to Twitter, it was very interesting. We have clients that wouldn’t benefit from being active on Twitter, but we think it’s important for them to be aware of it and to monitor it to make sure they know what is being said about their organization.

We have read several interesting articles and blog posts recently on stats and information about the use of Twitter. Rohit Bhargava has a good blog post that highlights a recent report by social media analytics provider Sysomos. It gives a good overview of how people use Twitter. Emarkter.com also has an interesting article up that talks about how advertisers and consumers view Twitter. According to the article, research data gleaned that only 8% of those surveyed say it is an effective promotional tool. While I do think that right now the value of Twitter is a little overstated, I am not sure that this survey showcases how effective using Twitter can be for certain campaigns.

On the call yesterday with Chris (@chrisbrogan) and Peter (@skydiver), they put forward some valuable ideas about the use of social media in general and Twitter specifically. One of the key points that hit home here at AHA was that social media has changed an organization’s approach from where do I advertise to where do I listen? That’s a big change in how the world works and one that I think will only continue to grow and evolve. Organizations in all industries need to begin participating.

Today’s blog post is a list of a few of the social media tools we like to monitor for ourselves and for our clients. These may help you navigate through the social media sites and weed through the hundreds of different tools in the area to figure out ways to increase business and/or open conversations with your customers/stakeholders.

Mashable – The Social Media Guide – is the world’s largest blog focused exclusively on Web 2.0 and social networking news. If you can only review one blog in the social media area, this one will keep you up-to-date with the latest and greatest.

Peter Shankman, the founder of The Geek Factory in New York, has developed an email/Twitter service called Help A Reporter Out (HARO). The email outreach is distributed three times a day, Monday – Friday, and offers 15 – 25 inquiries from reporters around North America looking for assistance with their stories. Go to his website and click on “Looking For Help A Reporter?” on the top right-hand corner to get on his email list. We saw Shankman speak at the Ragan Social Media Conference in Vegas last month. He is very interesting, engaging and really funny. HARO has changed things in how communicators connect with journalists – and it’s FREE! Shankman is also worth a look if you are searching for a keynote that is not typical.

Checkusernames.com is very useful. Simply type in your organization’s name in the “Check User Name” box and find out if your name (or your product’s name) is being used on various social media sites on the Internet. Over 100 social media sites are listed. This check leads into the topic of “brandjacking.” This is when a third party takes over another organization’s name or brand on social media sites and communicates with others for their own purposes.