Third party applications allow you to connect many applications such as Hootsuite, Facebook and more to enhance your experience and make it easier to read and send tweets. Here’s an example of the screen you see when you are prompted to authorize a third party application:

In a post from Twitter in May of 2011 titled Mission: Permission, the popular social network stressed the need for more control for their users. Here’s an excerpt from their original post:

More Control: Beginning today, we’re giving you more control over what information you share with third-party applications. Apps that you use to access your direct messages will ask for your permission again. By the middle of June June 30, applications that do not need access to your direct messages will no longer have it, and you can continue to use these apps as usual.

Not even a year later, they flip-flopped and issued a statement to third-party developers to stop building conventional Twitter client applications. Claiming a desire for “more consistency” for their end users, Twitter began seeking to take back control in all contexts. Left in the dust are all of those services that Twitter users have come to know and love. The services that made Twitter bearable in the early stages when the Twitter interface was cumbersome and a challenge for any newcomers.  Many of these third party services were instrumental in popularizing Twitter, but serves as a good lesson of building anything that is controlled by a single entity.  Given that 90% of all Twitter users leverage Twitter’s own client, rather than a Seesmic or Tweetdeck, Twitter claims maintaining consistency and controlling the ecosystem makes usage and adoption of the service less “confusing” for their end users.  Ryan Sarver of Twitter’s platform team wrote:

We need to move to a less fragmented world, where every user can experience Twitter in a consistent way. This is already happening organically–the number and market share of consumer client apps that are not owned or operated by Twitter has been shrinking,” wrote Sarver. “Developers ask us if they should build client apps that mimic or reproduce the mainstream Twitter consumer client experience. The answer is no.

Essentially, Twitter swiftly and solidly shut the door on the developer community. There was an outcry among the community, with many feeling that this step was aggressive and hostile and the only thing that seemed consistent here was Twitter’s continued efforts to alienate third-party developers that have worked tirelessly to make the platform what it is now. Twitter’s behavior has magnified the uncertainty of building businesses linked to these huge social networking sites. It’s a huge risk for any company to delve into the API-based business model, which places a company at the mercy of a platform provider.

Twitter issued that death knell for third-party developers about three and a half months ago. Many speculated on what the next victim of Twitter termination would be – url shorteners like bit.ly and image and video hosts such as yfrog, Instagram and the like.

After many changes to their third party authorizations and applications since the initial relationship in 2009, changes announced today have resulted in a disconnect between Twitter and LinkedIn.  As of today, you will no longer be able to send updates from Twitter to LinkedIn. Here is the email that was released to members today, citing limitations with the third-party applications yet again as the source of the issue:

LinkedIn and Twitter have worked together since 2009 to enable you to share your professional conversations on both platforms. Twitter recently evolved its strategy and this will result in a change to the way Tweets appear in third-party applications. Starting today Tweets will no longer be displayed on LinkedIn.

We know that sharing updates from LinkedIn to Twitter is a valuable service for our members. Moving forward, you will still be able to share updates with your Twitter audience by posting them on LinkedIn.

How can I continue to share updates on both LinkedIn and Twitter? Simply start your conversation on LinkedIn. Compose your update, check the box with the Twitter icon, and click “Share.” This will automatically push your update to both your LinkedIn connections and your Twitter followers just as before.

What changes can I expect to see on LinkedIn? Any conversation you start on Twitter will no longer be automatically shared with your LinkedIn network, even if you synced your LinkedIn and Twitter accounts.

If you would like more information about what this means for your synced LinkedIn and Twitter accounts, please visit our related Help Center topics.

Thank you,
The LinkedIn Team

This change could increase the use of LinkedIn by business users that leverage social media for their communications and for connecting with other professionals. It could actually decrease the number of tweets on Twitter as many end users are still more comfortable with the format, layout and familiarity of one of the oldest social networking sites around, LinkedIn. With the exception of the recent security issue that leaked over 6.5 million passwords, LinkedIn is a much more stable social network historically than Twitter, though Twitter has faired better over the past year, if you ignore the blip they experienced last week.

We are still partial to leveraging Hootsuite because of the ease of use it provides in managing multiple social media accounts with multiple users. The analytics are useful as well and they are a very reliable service. Feel free to leave your thoughts in the comment section. Would you want to give up your third-party application? Which do you prefer to use – Twitter or a third-party application such as Hootsuite, Tweetdeck or another?

Sara Paxton is a forward thinking leader helping clients recognize the impact of new technology on their business models. Sara joined Evans Media Group in 2007 with thirteen years of experience in client services, sales process engineering, and informational technology. Sara’s role as Partner and Chief Technology Officer includes advising the Evans Media Group team on all aspects of technology-driven market change. She currently leads Evans Media Group’s advanced technology focus. In the last three years, she has been instrumental in migrating traditional Evans Media Group clients into the online and social networking space.

A growing number of consumers and potential clients prefer to see and hear about a product or service than read its copy, and digital video allows a brand to cater to this audience. Astonishingly, it reaches 180 million unique viewers every month according to comScore, but is still a relatively new medium—30 percent more Americans view online video content on a daily average than only a year ago, which equates to more than 4 out of every 5 internet users.

The rise of video sharing Web sites like YouTube enhances the reach of a brand’s network. These portals already provide an established audience, but brands must consistently deliver fresh and engaging content. Combined with articulated search engine marketing techniques—optimized titles, descriptions and links with key search terms—site ranking and traffic witness a sustainable surge. Furthermore, Google possesses the ability to recognize keywords in voiceover content via YouTube technology, which quickly amplifies site optimization.

Advertisers are also implementing digital video into their campaigns. Additional research from comScore states that a synergetic relationship is created when coupled with traditional television placement. Although online video ads are just as beneficial as televised, each is more powerful as a part of the media mix than on its own. However, businesses and brands must determine whether to shorten 30- and 60-second TV ads to 15 seconds for Web. An added benefit to YouTube is that they allows consumers to skip an ad, but an advertiser is only charged when they view it, unlike the TV ads that are sped through with recent DVR technology.

As the digital video platform continually evolves and as the attention span of today’s average consumer diminishes, expect to see digital video from online sites like YouTube move from a supporting role to a vital part of the mix. Digital video lends credence, quickly delivers its message, provides urgency and creates a long-term relationship with customers and Web site visitors. Whether as a part of a free viral initiative or a paid advertising campaign, digital video is a cost efficient and effective choice for capturing a young and middle-aged target audience.

Tyler Cook is a graduate of the University of Kansas, William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications (Lawrence, KS) – BSJ, emphasis in strategic communication; minor in film. His charming personality aside, Tyler is serious about doing the right things in life and in business.

Many brands are already making a push with the new platform by offering a mobile version of their domain. However, the combination of enhanced phone technologies and consumer demand is forcing both big and small shops with mobile service offerings to deliver mobile sites that incorporate more than general details and a store locator. A seamless mobile brand experience is imperative—consumers want personalization, social integration, product reviews, deals and ease of navigation and checkout. Compuware research states that 57 percent of consumers will not recommend a brand with a mobile site that is poorly designed and 40 percent will visit the competitor’s site. Numbers like these are causing top brands to develop a systematic matrix to sustain engagement.

Lowe’s is making effective use of the platform through the use of the QR code on product packaging. Scanning the code inside the store delivers details or specs of an item, but scanning the code at home provides installation information.

For instance, MTV wants to create a demand among fans for its show brands throughout the week, not only during the particular time when they are airing. Combining mobile with other platforms creates the ability to consistently engage the fan base and make the show available in some fashion at all times and in all places.

Many big brands are also investing in mobile advertising as a part of a cross-media campaign, which will garner 15.2 percent of global digital dollars within the next four years according to Berg Insight. Additionally, Nielsen’s State of the Media: Consumer Usage Report states that 51 percent of consumers do not mind ad placement on the mobile Web if content is offered for free.  They can expect more social integration into mobile advertising and marketing initiatives this year. Researched and done correctly, this can produce impressive results for brands.

McDonald’s is taking advantage of mobile marketing to promote new products and drive more traffic into its stores. A new breakfast item is advertised on a news article most likely read in the morning. Consumers read and click the ad to visit the mobile landing page and learn more, and are then directed to the nearest location via the phone’s GPS technology.

This app is beneficial for McDonald’s, but for brands looking to make the initial jump, there is a constant debate in regard to a mobile site versus an application. Brands should develop the site catering to users not yet part of their customer base and apps for those who are loyal to the brand, as well as leveraging the tools for building the relationship with their customers.

The challenge in this new arena is in delivering experiences with the numerous touch points, as well as measuring success of the campaign. The key is for brand marketers to not simply place existing content on the mobile Web, but to discover the most useful information for each platform. Leveraging metrics such as most popular content, most shares, clicks and redeemed campaigns provide great information for any follow up campaigns. Identifying trends among markets, demographics, frequency and the time period in which the the content was consumed is key in becoming successful and creating an advantage. Many brands have realized the significant opportunities, jumped on board and found success. The key for any business today is to set themselves apart from their direct competitors, and to start building a competitive advantage.

In this era, consumers can research, shop and purchase on the go, and it is necessary for both brands and retailers to realize they may lose customer acquisition and retention if they are not providing some sort of mobile commerce. Customers visiting a store, but comparison shopping on their phone are causing retailers to make use of the platform and offer a strong experience. Mobile delivers at the moment of truth—it influences customer behavior at the very moment of purchase and changes the value proposition for brands, thus timing and usefulness are everything. Mobile is bringing about a whole new wave of shopping cart abandonment as a result.

Tyler Cook is a graduate of the University of Kansas, William Allen White School of Journalism and Mass Communications (Lawrence, KS) – BSJ, emphasis in strategic communication; minor in film. His charming personality aside, Tyler is serious about doing the right things in life and in business.

SendPress claims to simply be a better way to send email, allowing you to easily create, send, manage and track your email right from WordPress.Rather than having another account and set of analytics to track – it’s all within your WordPress dashboard. Built as a plugin that you can download right from the Plugins section of WordPress, it allows you to create customized, brand centric HTML emails and manage your subscribers, email lists, reports and analytics all in the same place.

Here are some of the features we love:

• Built for WordPress – It’s WordPress coupled with Enterpise level email features.
• Consistent rendering – Emails look good in Gmail, on the iPhone, in Android, Outlook, Yahoo, etc. Tested with Litmus and built to be rock solid.
• For all skill levels - SendPress is designed to be lightweight and user friendly for anyone from beginner to advanced developer alike.
• Super quick setup – Once installed you can be sending emails in a matter of minutes. Set your from email, name and use the simple template designer to style your emails.
• Email analytics – Track each email’s results with all the statistics you’d expect from a professional provider. Opens, Clicks, Bounces and more.

We are looking forward to when they integrate Google analytics, list segments, and auto responders, and excited to see it is built on WordPress version 3.3+, MySQL 5 and PHP 5.

The theme styler is easy to use even if you aren’t skilled with WordPress or email marketing providers such as iContact, Constant Contact or our favorite third party email marketing service, Mail Chimp. It’s easier than most 3rd party applications to add a sign up widget to your wordpress site,either in a sidebar or as part of a widget. The default template is standardized, and what you see in a typical third party application, but just as MailChimp or another provider, you can customize it with your brand logos, colors and content as you see fit.

 When logged into your WordPress dashboard, you can manage your lists and subscribers, including importing and exporting new subscribers and lists of subscribers, as well as making updates to current subscribers.

One of the best features of SendPress is the ability to track each email’s results, including Opens, Clicks, Bounces and more, which is where many other current WordPress newsletter plugins fall short. You can access this information in your dashboard through the reports that SendPress produces. It also displays your sent emails and a queue for any that you have scheduled for future send dates.

SendPress is doing an excellent job of streamlining effective email marketing for enterprise customers as well as for small businesses that have thriving WordPress websites. Be sure to check out their plugin in the WordPress plugins directory and give them a great rating if this unique new tool works well for you and your WordPress website.

Sara Paxton is a forward thinking leader helping clients recognize the impact of new technology on their business models. Sara joined Evans Media Group in 2007 with thirteen years of experience in client services, sales process engineering, and informational technology. Sara’s role as Partner and Chief Technology Officer includes advising the Evans Media Group team on all aspects of technology-driven market change. She currently leads Evans Media Group’s advanced technology focus. In the last three years, she has been instrumental in migrating traditional Evans Media Group clients into the online and social networking space.

Market share is the golden ring we all chase in business. Having 5 or 20 percent  more or less than a closest competitor is what keeps a lot of business owners awake at night. Google can sleep well. With recent figures showing the search giant’s market share at 96.9 percent of mobile search and 66.7 percent of desktop search, the figures codify what we’ve been telling clients for years .. don’t worry as much about trying to scurry around and make sure you rank with the also-rans … concentrate on the 800lb Gorilla that is Google.

As President and Chief Marketing Officer of Evans Media Group, Paul Evans brings creative leadership and a understanding of how marketing and solid business principle work together to make clients successful. Paul has more than 20 years of marketing, sales, and client relations experience. His unique approach to designing brands, creating experiences, and masterful storytelling is what sets Evans Media Group and their clients apart from competitors. Paul founded Evans Media Group in 2002.

Sports programming is also moving swiftly into this realm, with mega-events such as the Olympics, March Madness and the World Cup reaching tens of millions of viewers through live streaming.

As online video strengthens its hold, content owners are getting more sophisticated about how they syndicate their content online, whether by building social network interaction into their players, populating clips across sites such as YouTube and Hulu, or employing the services of ad networks and content specialists to maximize exposure to media.

Technology companies are also seizing an opportunity to market devices that take advantage of the consumer’s desire to merge the online and TV viewing experiences. These trends are creating an environment in which online video will continue to thrive well into the future.

Check out our video reel. Evans Media Group Video Reel

• Industry specific

• No long term contracts

• All commitments have a 30 day opt out

• Non-disclosure agreements

• Flexibility in fee structure for weekly, bi-weekly or monthly invoicing

• Option to transition to an internal employee once the ramp up period has occurred, including training and on-going support for 30 days after the end of the commitment

• Option to leverage our network to find a suitable candidate to transition the social media management and monitoring after the ramp up period has occurred.