Paul Walsh, the Irish Opportunist

I’m sitting in Le Pain Quotidien cafe wondering what I can work on until my cinema date at 8pm arrives and a wonderful tweet comes in from my good friend Jackie Danicki, inspiring this wee blog post. It’s obviously in response to someone complaining about how some people protect their twitter updates. Below is what Jackie said (because they’re protected, I asked if it was ok to quote her).

Astonished at how entitled some people feel to see others’ Twitter updates. I use Twitter for my uses; you use it for yours.

Protected updates mean I can converse with a small, intimate, trustworthy group. Would you crash a private conversation in a pub or home?

Just very puzzled as to why some people are so concerned with how others use Twitter. It’s none of your business. Move on.

This reminds me when I tweeted back in the early days that twitter was turning into a conversational tool. To which some replied ‘I think that’s stupid’. Why? Probably because they used it as one-way communication messages at the time (i.e different to how I used it).

I can understand why Jackie protects her updates, she’s a private person and only wants to communicate with people she knows and trusts. What’s wrong with that?

Not everyone will know this, but in December 2006, I broke news of Sam Sethi being fired from TechCrunch - I was on a skype call with Sam as the emails came in from Arrington. You could say that I’ve been closer to this entire debacle than anyone else over the past few years.

The pair have been battling it out publically since 2006. Actually, that’s not entirely true as Sam doesn’t blog. Mike has been taking shots at Sam with numerous character assassinations - he even published Sam’s legal proceedings against him on TechCrunch.

After all this time, Sam has finally brought his argument to a close by proving his side of the story via his lawyers. I’ve been sitting on this news as my buddy Dennis from ZDNet was given the exclusive. Arrington’s response was to do nothing, assuming he wasn’t affected by non-US legislation. Naive at best. Even Arrington’s latest post title says it all “Update On Sam Sethi Litigation: We Decline To Participate” - “participate” is an interesting word to use when talking about a legal proceeding against you. Arrington will be unable to visit the UK without the fear of being arrested - that’s a shame as I actually like him and looked forward to seeing him at FOWA later in the year.

I’d like to add a few points that you won’t read elsewhere on the Web however;

1. Contrary to what Rob Scoble told everyone at the time, he did meet with the Blognation legal team to discuss joining the blog network.
2. Blognation did secure a deal for funding (which would have paid all its estranged bloggers). The publication of Sam’s term sheet on TechCrunch was directly responsible for the Chair of said VC instructing his team to pull out of the deal. So, if it wasn’t for the TechCrunch post, all of Blognation’s staff would have been paid and the network might still be in existence today - competing with TechCrunch. Personally I thought Blognation was a fantastic brand with brilliant potential. I’d love to see it return and give TechCrunch Europe a run for its money. I’d subscribe!

There’s more to come, but again, I’m not allowed to share it with you at this time.

I sent a tweet this morning to say I was going to do a ‘#followfriday’ for the very first time. A number of people asked me what that meant, so I’ve decided to write a short post to explain.

#followfriday is a way of recommending people you follow, to other users on Twitter. The idea is that those being recommended will gain new followers.

I feel so strongly about my recommendations that I’ve decided to write why I’m recommending them as potential people for you to follow.

People I recommend and why

@Sheetalmmehta (London)

Helping companies to go global, Innovation, Social entrepreneurship, Technology, Investment…

Sheetal is one of the most inspiring people I have ever met. Sheetal is the UK Dealmaker for the UK Trade & Investment. She sits on several advisory panels including Shelter, UNIFEM (United Nations Development Fund for Women), Digital Diaspora Network for Africa, and the LSE Alumni Mentoring Committee. Her volunteer work is extensive and she is currently writing a book on Social Venture Capital. One of her most notable accomplishments is her new foundation that enables developing communities to access cutting-edge technology based on a social enterprise model.

@Mikeyfletch (London)

Technology journalist, Events, Networking

Mike is an established business & lifestyle journalist. He’s launched three magazines on behalf of UK publishing house Haymarket Media Group & specialises in marketing, media & live events. He is Contributing Editor for Visit London and also owns a part-share in digital networking company Net.works. Mike is also one of the best connected, if not the best connected person in the entire UK events industry.

@PatPhelan (Cork)

Technology with a bias towards mobile, Connector, Innovation

Pat is the founder and President of Cubic Telecom, a well known disruptor in telephony circles and one of the leading voices of Voice 2.0. Pat has developed a number of unique products for the USA, UK and Irish markets including MAXroam, and is a board member of Global Roaming, a NASDAQ listed company (OTCBB:GRDB). Pat has a genuine passion for connecting people and has been responsible for connecting me with some truely amazing people.

@JackieDanicki (San Francisco)

Marketing (true expert in the use of new tools, techniques and trends such as social and Web 2.0), Connector, Writer

Jackie is an extremely direct person who always speaks her mind. She’s an incredibly insightful marketer which is difficult to come by. Almost every marketer and PR expert think they know how to make best use of Web 2.0 tools and techniques. Jackie does - which is why she’s the Director of Marketing at Qik; one of the most innovative mobile products companies in the world. Like Pat, Jackie has a genuine passion for connecting people and has been responsible for connecting me with some truely amazing people.

@Jobsworth (London)

Technology, Social Enterprise, Innovation, Writer, OpenSource,

JP has  spent most of his life working in the space where finance meets technology, for a number of very large firms. Since 2006 he has worked for BT, as part of BT Design, where he is Head of Innovation and Strategy. He has a passion for how work is changing: the paradigms created by globalisation, disintermediation and the web; the implications of virtualisation, service orientation and commoditisation.  JP is an inspiring speaker and writer, who I admire most for his passion for how technology can be put to good use for the benefit of society.

If you decide to follow any of these great people, or you do already, please feel free to retweet my message - they all deserve to be heard by as many people as possible.

You can also leave a comment with the people you recommend on Twitter.

I announced the registration page for OpenSoho June this morning and as a result of all the retweets from Computer Weekly, The Telegraph and others, my announcement had a potential reach of approximately 15,000 people. This can only help to demonstrate the power of twitter for marketing events, products and services. With this in mind, I decided to tweet this fun statistic in the hope someone would also retweet that, and they did, Milo from the Telegraph retweeted it. Oh the joy of it all.

In April 2008 I wrote some twitter tips to help new users better understand how to use the social network - my post includes how to make your messages more prone to being retweeted by others as I did above. Why not check them out.

When Google first announced that it had acquired Jaiku, my first question was, ‘why?’. Why buy the second best in the market?! I’m a firm believer in going after the best and only the best. Some would argue that Jaiku is more feature-rich and easier to use than Twitter. However, I was never attracted to it because none of my followers/friends were on there. ‘Better’ doesn’t necessarily equal ‘better features’. In Twitter’s case, it’s main benefit was ‘people’ (i.e. users).

When Google launched Latitude I thanked my contacts at the company for educating the marketing as clearly, their product doesn’t actual solve a problem. I’ll write more about that later. By launching latitude without any Jaiku integration, it proves they were unable to make use of the software. Perhaps they knew they were flogging a dead horse. Anyway, it’s a little late to go after Twitter - they should have put in an offer when (all) of my friends were mocking me for using the service - when it was still very early and mainly used as a one-way broadcast medium.

Unsurprisingly, Twitter turned down Googles offer and according to TechCrunch, it looks like Apple is now making a move.

So, who’s going to buy Twitter? Apple, Google, Microsoft or one of the main operators (carriers)?

I’m hoping Twitter remains independent but there’s only so long they can hold back from a gazillon dollars.

Follow me on Twitter.

The tools that Twitter endorse are few and far between. So, when it’s revealed that it plans to “officially endorse” ExecTweets, and to encourage more brands to create customised Twitter homepages, it deserves to get my full attention.

I haven’t got time to write about this right now, so why not read what Milo has to say at The Telegraph - where I picked up the story.

Follow me on Twitter
Follow Milo on Twitter

Robert Loch and I are hosting a fireside chat with Sarah Lacy on November 7th. Rob and Paul Carr will conduct the interview, so it’s likely to be very entertaining to say the least. We’re also hosting an after party. More about the event here.

Leave a comment here and explain why you should get a ticket and we’ll give a free pass to each of the 3 replies we deem most deserving - I’ve no idea what ‘most deserving’ means right now, so feel free to suggest something. We’ll announce the winners on October 26 30th.

Good luck

There is nobody better placed to speak on this subject than Sarah Lacy. Over the last 5 years she has had unrivaled access to the founders of the companies that have shaped the Web 2.0 scene.

Now, for one afternoon only, she is London to share what she knows. Robert Loch and I are hosting a fireside chat with Sarah - an event not to be missed.

Friday, November 07, 2008, Soho, London

• 4.00pm Registration
• 4.30pm Fireside chat and audience Q&A with Sarah Lacy
• 5.30pm Networking and drinks
• 6.30pm Close

(Tickets are £25 - this includes drinks and a copy of Sarah’s book which you can collect at the event. We anticipate that tickets will be sold out quickly so book now to avoid disappointment.) Register now.

About Sarah

Sarah Lacy has reported on startups and venture capital in Silicon Valley for nearly a decade. Her first book, Once You’re Lucky, Twice You’re Good: The Rebirth of Silicon Valley and Rise of Web 2.0, was published to critical acclaim in the US in May. According to Wired Magazine, “No other recent chronicle delivers such intimate, behind-the-scenes glimpses into Silicon Valley startup life.” The UK edition, The Stories of Facebook, Youtube, and Myspace: The People, the Hype and the Deals Behind the Giants of Web 2.0 will debut on November 3.

Lacy is a well -known fixture on the Valley scene. In addition to proper journalism awards, Nick Denton of Gawker called her “the hottest reporter in the tech world– ever,” TechCult called Lacy one of the 100 most famous people on the Web, and Playboy voted her one of the eight sexiest bloggers in the world.

Lacy also writes Valley Girl, a biweekly column for BusinessWeek and co-hosts Tech Ticker on Yahoo! Finance. She lives with her husband in San Francisco.

REGISTER NOW

This event is sponsored by Fidelity Ventures:

www.fidelity.com

Fidelity Ventures provides the expertise, resources and connections entrepreneurs need to take their business further, faster. With the ability to tap into Fidelity’s vast global network, Fidelity Ventures has proven a powerful partner for companies just entering the market as well as those ready for the next phase of growth. From identifying and delivering revenue opportunities, to offering insight on sales and marketing strategies and going global, Fidelity Ventures fully commits the talents, passion and energy of its people to the success of companies across industries.

Here’s a fun Web site that displays a person’s reach on Twitter. I scored 1,117,492. I’m not entirely sure what that means but I’m guessing from the wording on the site that it’s two layers down from me; my followers and their followers.

Either leave a comment or @ me on Twitter with your reach

My last post focused on the negative side of a good tool called Qwitter. My motivation was driven by the urge to provide a little insight to how it ‘could’ be used in the wrong way. It wasn’t my intention to slate the product. So, there are good reasons to use Qwitter, but at least digest my post and remember not to make too many assumptions when people unfollow you.

Now onto a more positive post to balance it out. TweetDeck is my desktop client of choice for Twitter. As you can see from the screen shot above, you can separate your main friends’ feed, replies, groups and direct messages (DMs). I haven’t shown my main feed because I didn’t want to show who wasn’t amongst my ‘Toilet Cleaners group.

The ability to group people is what I love most about this application. Some people create groups for family, friends and colleagues etc. I only have the need for one group, which contains about 25 people; people who I consider as either friends or very interesting people.