Blellow: A new microblog for freelancers and creatives

A new site called Blellow just launched at SXSW, and got many people digging on its Twitter-like micro networking functionality. I am one of the peeps digging. Blellows members answer the question "What are you working on?" and in doing so they organically engage in potential creative collaborations with groups or other members. Check out this video below for a good overview:

Twitter phenom based on simplicity

In this insighful article, Mashable! makes the argument that it's Twitter's micro-sized feature set + good API that makes it such a word of mouth phenom. I completely agree. Think about it:  If Twitter had more fixed, robust features, there would be less impetus for developers to write applications, and for these developers/users to blog about it. Ultimately, the simplicity of Twitter is the basis for all its free PR and advertising. 

Taking this thought even one step further, I love how a social platform like Twitter actually helped prove the point that conversational and SM is the "it" form of marketing right now. I mean, there are a ton of other web services and micro platforms, but the conversation about Twitter (and it's good API) is really what make it stand out from the crowd.

Oh, and in case you haven't really been engaging with Twitter much because you don't feel like dealing with what all the hash symbols are all about, check out this wiki.

Zeroing in on your brand

I've had a lull in my postings lately because I've been in rebrand mode, for myself that is.  After becoming a 24-hour expert of just about any capability in the online marketing world, I finally just realized last week with the help of a friend (thanks Boni!) where my real interests lie.  I'm a brand communications expert, in every platform. 

You may be wondering HOW this applies to you. If at all...

I'm calling this out because I've noticed many people tweaking their titles to social media expert, and I'm just realizing that getting too far up in one platform may not be a good idea. I mean, if that's really what you do--if you actually ARE Chris Brogan or are implementing social campaigns with Federated Media's social tool kit or something, then you should claim expertise in SM. But personally, when I actually sat down to define my skillset, I realized that I had more than one niche capability. I've got experience in pitching traditional (print, TV, CRM) and new media (internet, social, mobile) communication campaigns. The overall goal across all these mediums is brand building. Hence, my new blog tagline: Brand Building by all Means Possible. 

So I found this little personal rebrand moment interesting because there is value in sitting down and rethinking your elevator pitch every now and then. If you need help in this process, check out Dan Schawbel's Personal Branding site. 

Also, on a sales and business dev level, this point is huge because in this new world of brand conversations, it doesn't make sense to initiate a conversation without a very clear understanding of the brand tenets. So in order to market a brand in the current ecosystem, you have to put the company/product before the customer. It will pay off in the long run when the conversations have a basis in a fundamental truth.