#BATHH is an acronym for “Big Ass Twitter Happy Hour” (yes, cuss word included, we’re in the South, yous guys!) held monthly in Austin and free for all to attend. There are no sponsors and no one trying to sell you anything, just a room full of people that want to get offline and put faces to names of people they’ve met online.

Follow all attendees with one click:

If you attended this month or simply want to connect with other people in Austin on Twitter, simply CLICK HERE to follow everyone that went to the July #BATHH! We do this because some people are bad with names or maybe the mojitos were extra good last week.

Sidenote: if you attended and your name is not on the list, there is a very good chance that I couldn’t read the writing at the check in table, so let us know in comments and we’ll add you!

Want pictures from July’s event?

We were delighted to have the very talented @MitchAhrens as our volunteer roving photographer this month and he’s put up his first batch of shots from last week (despite power outages from the storm), click here to see what’s up so far! If you like what he’s done, please consider hiring him for your next party, event, or if you don’t have any of those, just send dolla bills, y’all!

When is the next #BATHH?

For those of you that are calendar obsessed like me, mark your calendars for August 19th at Union Park next to Katz’ Deli. We’ll be releasing the invitation this weekend or early next week, so stay tuned!

Looking for your thoughts

If you want to be quoted in an upcoming article about #BATHH, please email austinlabs@gmail.com or leave your thoughts in comments. Tell us why you like #BATHH, or tell us about your first one, or even tell us what volunteering at check in has done for you- anything good or bad (bad? how could that be?!) is welcomed.

And, as always, if you have any ideas on how to improve this free, organic event, we’re always looking for cool ideas, give us a shout!

To get ready, and so you know someone in advance of the party, or simply to get ready so you know more people in advance of the party, CLICK HERE to follow everyone on Twitter that has already RSVPd yes to #BATHH.

If you haven’t RSVPd yet, it’s free and you should. Right now! It’s easy, just click here.

We’d like your feedback- does following people in advance of the happy hour help you or is it a waste of our time? We hope you’ll opine in comments below!

The same person in the same breath said, “3000 people get my updates and information every day, guaranteed.” If you’re a company and you’re thinking, “wow, I should call that dude because he can get my brand message out there like crazy,” you should stop right where you are. Pull up a chair, because I’m about to tell you why that is complete bologna (no offense to the bologna creators out there).

What this guru/expert/maven is claiming is that he has an expansive reach in social media, but the dirty little secret is that my 4,948 Twitter followers, 1,812 Facebook friends and 596 professional connections on LinkedIn does not mean that my reach (although expansive) is 7,356. Add on that the nearly 300,000 blog readers I touch every month in the various blogs I contribute to. My reach isn’t technically 307,356. The gurus are adding up numbers from all of their networks to determine their “reach” and “guaranteeing” they can reach that many people and badda bing, badda boom, magic is made!

Why those fudged numbers are bull:

Once a user of any social network surpasses about 50 connections, it is near impossible for them to read every single thing that every single connection says. Given that Facebook users average roughly 100 friends each, you get the picture that not all messages from all users are read.

These numbers are also bologna because of check in frequency. How can you possibly guarantee to reach 3000 users per day when not every user checks in every single day? Of even the most dedicated and tech savvy Twitter users (as defined by those who have downloaded TweetDeck for example), only 92% log in every day. The average user probably visits a tenth of that amount.

The trend is away from live constant contact where every reader reads every update to a more loose, “I’ll read the public timeline of updates for the few minutes that I am physically logged into the social network on the days that I feel like it.” In other words, no one reads the entire public timeline anymore, that is so 2007.

Guaranteed reach is a myth.

We consult with companies every day and the first thing we hear is, “how do I get 400,000 followers on Twitter?” to which we have to ask of course about what their goals are, where that arbitrary number came from, etc. Conference speakers who have never developed a strategy in their life yet are professional “keynote speakers about social media” are telling people to “hurry up and get mass followers which equals reach” yet misunderstand the fundamentals of reach.

To drive home my point, I want you to think about television advertising. Just because 3 million people watched the season premier of that show you like doesn’t mean that (a) 2.5 million didn’t fast forward through the DVR, (b) leave the room during commercials, (c) mute the commercials, or (d) any other infinite variable that means someone didn’t watch. But the tv ad sales guy will tell you that he can get you in front of 3 million people. Communications professionals know there is a margin to count on but the reality of 3 million is as unrealistic as the “guru” guaranteeing reach.

“Guru” guy can’t guarantee how many people will look just as he can’t guarantee how many of those people will share his message, and how fewer will take action at the point of sale. It’s just like the picture above… in a noisy crowd of people, with a good strategy, you’ll hit your target… but the rest of the crowd isn’t listening and your strategy should take that into account because the “guru’s” strategy misses this basic fundamental of Marketing 101.

photo source

Take for example a highly respected industry blog out of London. After lurking for many months in my feed reader, I finally was drawn to an article of theirs that I wanted to engage in comments, but then the frustration began. After my comment went to moderation, I was prompted to go to my email, open a message to verify my email address, and finally, copy and paste a url into a new browser tab/window. Then, I was verified as a secure, worthwhile commenter.

Because I’m in the industry and I’m aware that this measure is taken to prevent security threats, I was only barely irritated. But I wondered how a non tech savvy person would react. Would they understand that they really did need to take that extra step for their comment to be seen? Would they be turned off by such a complicated procedure (I mean, if this is how complicated it is to comment on your blog, how complicated would it be to work with you if I hired you)?

How NOT to lose commenters on your blog

The reason commenting gets complicated is that businesses focus on security and/or lead capturing over valuable interactions. If your blog focuses on the value of each commenter and treats them naturally like you would in real life, you’ll keep more commenters than you lose. The cornerstone of community building is sincere interactions, so if you met someone on the street, would you shake their hand and then ask them to create a secret handshake before you were willing to speak with them?!? Of course not, so why do that on your blog?

Use an auto-captcha if you’re concerned with security and if you want all commenters to subscribe to your newsletter, simply add a line under all comments above the submit button to that effect, but don’t make commenters jump through hoops or you’ll lose them in the three seconds it takes them to evaluate whether or not the process is too complicated.

CC Licensed image courtesy of Katie Krueger via Flickr.com.

But Google has yet to create a competitive social network. Sources point to a current social network project under Google’s belt called “GoogleMe” and rumors have been substantiated. With news of their launch, tech reporters across the globe are predicting its demise and some have gone so far as to map out Google’s continual failed attempts. For example:

What can you learn from Google?

There are many lessons to take away from Google’s attempts, but here are four to get your mind churning.

1. They’re still gigantic despite failure. These failures haven’t put Google out of business and they are still growing in size and stature. Google has the financial luxury of experimenting and they continue to do so. If you are a corporation that has an eye on innovation, especially tech innovation, you can take some risks and not necessarily go belly up. If you have the financial means and social capital to try new things, depending on your innovation methods, there might be room for you to take some risks.

2. They let others lay the track, they just put the railroad on the track. Google has bought countless companies to form their social network. Are you trying to reinvent the wheel with your company or are you partnering with others to fill in the blanks you can’t fill yourself? Are you hiring a graphic designer for your professional identity or are you opening up Photoshop and trying to figure out what layers and compression rates are? Are you hiring a digital communications company or are you opening up Twitter and saying, “I’m eating a bagel” then wondering why the leads aren’t pouring in (ahem)?

3. Most people have forgotten or never knew about their failures. The tech savvy know of some of Google’s moves, but those who don’t study this day in and day out likely have never even heard of most of the companies in the chart above. Why? Because Google has the social capital and high visibility rate with consumers to try things behind the scenes. Your company may be experimenting with a new customer service theory or a new lead management system, and your employees will know, so it feels like everyone in the world knows, but chances are, your clients never will.

4. Poor reputation due to lack of follow through. Google’s downfall is that through their failures, they have earned a reputation the tech industry as dabblers and that they lack follow through. Follow through is critical when you’re providing services that people rely on for their business. If Google magically closed their doors tomorrow, I would lose all of my email, many documents and a blog I run for a nonprofit. Experimentation can only go so far… any company that dabbles and never finishes anything isn’t truly innovative.

There IS room for innovation

If you or your company has the means and ability to complete a project, there is room for innovation. But if we look at Google as an example, they took tiny pieces out of all companies they bought and either used them or put their competition out of business. The bottom line however, is that companies and individual entrepreneurs must have a certain level of social capital with consumers to innovate and make an impact.

CC Licensed image courtesy of missha via Flickr.com.

June was a blast, and we’ll be at Union Park on 6th again, so mark your calendar for July 22nd for this month’s #BATHH and please, bring a friend from work or a neighbor to show them that people on Twitter and other social networks are normal, fun and very Austin-y… all walks of life are welcome!

RSVP, y’all!

RSVP here now and tell your friends- ask anyone, #BATHH is the most fun happy hour in Austin!

Have you ever gone to a real estate blog or website and seen the same old tired picture of a Realtor and a buyer in front of a house? You know, that picture of the lady in red giving a young couple the keys to their new house where everyone looks happy?

Yeah, us too. There’s a way to avoid being part of the trap of using repetitive images AND avoid using Google to search for images that lead you to the red shirt lady. An added benefit to not stealing pictures from Google is that lawyers won’t send you letters for your content theft. Yay!

Enough jibber jabber, here’s how:

1. Go to Flickr.com. But relax, you don’t need an account for this process. Tell Flickr what you’re looking for. We’ll try “Austin skyline.”

2. To the right of the “search” button, click words “Advanced Search” in blue.

3. It will take you to a new page with no pictures but a ton of options. Don’t worry about all of the options you’re given, just scroll to the very bottom and where you see the words “creative commons,” select all three buttons/options that are given to you, then click the blue “search” button.

4. That will take you to a variety of pictures to choose from and because they’re “creative commons licensed” and you’ve even told it you only want images that are okay to be used commercially, you’ve found only images that are okay to use on your blog for free. No royalties, no money, and no aggressive lawyers emailing you. Hooray!

Click on the image you want and it will open in a page all on its own. Right click on the image and click “save as” and put it wherever you like on your computer. It’s now yours.

5. Although it’s not required, we recommend as a courtesy (in case the rules ever change or someone is picky) to attribute your photo use at the end of every article. In the picture above, you can see who the photographer is by name, and you see the URL at the top of your browser for that picture, so here’s how to give credit:

“CC Licensed image courtesy of Rafael Marquez via Flickr.com.”

The words “Rafael Marquez” should be a link to the specific picture. We recommend putting this credit in a smaller font or italics to separate it from the body of your article. For an example, see the credit at the bottom of this very article.

Homework

Get to know what Creative Commons are. Click here to learn what all of the symbols mean and what you can use when it comes to web content and avoid all those stinky lawyers (umm, unless YOU are a lawyer in which case we mean the OTHER stinky lawyers)!

CC Licensed image of polaroids courtesy of Sylvio Tanaka via Flickr.com.

Each month, we host what we’ve lovingly named the “Big Ass Twitter Happy Hour” (BATHH) where people come from the internet to meet offline. No one is selling anything, there are no speakers or sponsors, everyone just comes together to mingle and get to know each other and it’s a brilliant networking opportunity because it is a passive happy hour.

It’s so passive that not everyone signs in or wears a nametag (which is actually required to get into this free yet private event). That said, last month, we were able to wrangle nearly 150 people at the sign in table (which is lovingly run by volunteers) and if you want a great group of people to follow in Twitter, click here to follow all attendees that signed in, with ONE CLICK!

What about the upcoming #BATHH?

Want to join us for the next #BATHH? It’s on June 17th starting at 6:30pm at Union Park, RSVP here with your Twitter or Facebook account and feel free to bring guests even if they’re not online yet.

The event is run by several volunteers who will be helping you sign in and find your way around, and we encourage you to follow them in advance, so please do so now by clicking their names below:

Sign in table:

• 6:00-7:00 @justthisguy, @caitstuff & @cmj519
• 7:00-8:00 @bigmikeinaustin & @prwoman1
• 8:00-9:00 @sejose24 & @willsmom

Hosts (that’s us): @LaniAR & @BennRosales

Today, Twitter unveiled a new design for their homepage that they’re testing out, with an emphasis on dynamic content that highlights the information flow. Their last homepage redesign was a stagnant page that put a new emphasis on search, but this new homepage is more three dimensional and acts kind of like a taste test for non users that can peek in on what Twitter is like before they sign up.

Here’s what it looks like in action (10 second video):

According to Twitter, “All of our recent changes embrace the notion that Twitter is not just for status updates anymore. It’s a network where information is exchanged and consumed at a rapid clip every second of the day. With so much being shared, we know that there’s something of value for everyone. People who internalize the value of Twitter understand the power of this simple medium. But it hasn’t been easy to make that value transparent or obvious for curious folks coming to Twitter for the first time.”

My assessment:

This is all well and good- data, value, buzz word, buzz word, blah, blah, blah. My feeling is that the new Twitter homepage is beautiful and it adheres to the theories of Web 2.0, but I think it’s so busy feeling with the rapid pace of updates and the scrolling trends that a new user who is timid (which let’s face it, is the majority) may become overwhelmed. Is this what Twitter’s like? Will I have 823493208 strangers yelling about Just Bieber when I log on? Am I supposed to know what trending topic “CLRN” means?

I think you’ll hear over the coming weeks that new users got scared and turned away. It’s already intimidating enough and it’s not typically my personality to be all Debbie Downer about things, but I think if Twitter did some concentrated focus groups on people not yet on Twitter, they’ll find this dynamic content to be too intimidating, despite its sexy, shiny, masterful, gorgeous design, it misses the point- to market to those not yet on Twitter, not inundate them.

It’s time for this month’s Twitter happy hour and we want you to invite your friends that are coming to SXSW, your coworkers or your neighbors- let’s show people that we’re normal and not living in our mom’s basement playing WoW all day and night (well, at least not most of us). RSVP HERE to the March Twitter Happy Hour on March 11th by using your Twitter or Facebook account- bring a friend!

Last month’s Twitter Happy Hour was a hit and even though it was cold and rainy, nearly 300 Austinites showed up and had a blast!

This time around, we might have a drink ticket or two to throw your way, but as always, it’s a cash bar- let’s support Frank’s, an independent business that offers cold beer and hot dogs (and they are DELISH!).

Call for volunteers

So far, we have help for the organizing but need help at the sign in table:
5:30-6:30
6:30-7:30
7:30-8:30
8:30-9:30

All volunteers have to do is get people badged, signed in, marked up, drink ticketed and introduced to the landscape. Must have a good smile and good handwriting (please, please, please) and willing to meet new people. Email austinlabs at gmail.com if you’re interested in volunteering (this post will be updated as volunteers sign up).

Thanks and we’ll see everyone on the 11th!