The 27, maybe 31 Community Twitter Conversations

We've set up our own universe of community managers, architects and evangelists at aptly enough @communitygurus on Twitter.

In scanning the tweets today, I've married up measurement icon KD Paine's great rundown of 27 different types of social media conversations with what community pages are currently tweeting about on Twitter.

We've listed our quick examples and skunkworks analyses on what corporations and communities are good and bad at on Twitter below:

1)      Acknowledge receipt of information @oraclecommunity Rajesh left a comment for 'Sujatha Rao' http://ff.im/-2xJTx

2)      Advertise something @JohnatDell Dell Design Studio adds >120 options. Think of it as personalizing your laptop w/ a work-of-art tatoo. http://bitly.com/lHnLt

3)      Answer a question  @forumnokia How to put video on iPod/iPhone/PSP/Zune/Zen/Sansa Fuze……: This guide is shared to help people put any video on .. http://tinyurl.com/cds7wr

4)      Ask a question @splendiahotels  thank you! Last question before liberating you: What's good to know before traveling to the UAE? And what do you think of it? #splendia

5)      Augment a previous post @sega @AxlSurette no rule against someone winning 2x but statistically unlikely. Trying to keep rules light so legal dept doesn't get involved. :)

6)      Call for action  @underarmour Find Your Ideal Under Armour Running Shoe: http://run.underarmour.com/...

7)      Disclose personal information @shipyardbrewing Just added myself to the http://wefollow.com twitter directory under: #beer #Maine #brewery

8)      Distribute media @Four_Seasons "Our product was not a commodity; it was a unique prestige-value buy." Issy Sharp #quote http://cli.gs/PTU8vE

9)      Express agreement @sprintusers @phwelo Let's just hope it's sometime in May and doesn't slip. Will be a lot of peeved #sprint customers.

10)   Express criticism @innocentdrinks @phill_dolby Hello Phill. No change in how we make our rinks since the Coke deal. None whatsoever. I sense paranoid minds at work.

11)   Express support @LLBeanPR Thanks Jason :) RT @jaycrimes: LL Bean is my new rage. Who knew that backpack, gadget and water bottle shopping could be so ridiculous.

12)   Express surprise @etsy  @ekkstephenson Wow, great find. I love this one in the same shop http://bit.ly/AptWy

13)   Give a heads-up @PGATOUR It's early, but Anthony Kim, who shot 42 on the front yesterday, is having a much better start. He's 3 under through 5 holes.

14)   Respond to criticism @Zappos_Service @mchl It usually takes 72 hrs to process, but I've updated and refunded your account. If you check, you should see the new status :]

15)   Give a shout-out    @ZagatBuzz  RT @BabsiS: Awesome pieces of food art! Cute and creative :) http://tinyurl.com/d4bo3x (expand) #art #food #oddity

16)   Make a joke @wienermobile @stina5000 We always relish the warm San Diego weather! Bunderful photo -- if you're on Flickr please add it to our group: http://is.gd/oTff

17)   Make a suggestion @lovemyphilly Whatever party you might throw, your guests will snatch these up - http://ow.ly/4z7m

18)   Make an observation @fijiwater  One of the best FIJI Water pics I've seen! RT @tabbitapse: http://twitpic.com/3wlqd

19)   Offer a greeting  @lithiumtech RT @Manjeera Welcome to the 'new' Lithosphere! - Lithosphere Community - http://tinyurl.com/cnx8bh.

20)   Offer an opinion - @crowdspring Fantastic post - I highly recommend for all startups - "10 lessons from a failed startup" - http://is.gd/vw78 (via @rosskimbarovsky)

21)   Putting out a wanted ad @lululemon We're hiring a PR Manager @lululemon Check the link out if this sounds like your dream job! http://ow.ly/4LHz

22)   Rally support @mazdaforums  POST A PIC OF YOUR MAZDA5 - Ongoing Thread :D http://www.mazdas247.com/fo...

23)   Recruit people @fairmonthotels Remember this? http://bit.ly/53P3I Have a wicked reward (hotel trifecta) lined up for 1 lucky Tweeter once we hit 3K followers. Want a hint?

24)   Show dismay @tripadvisor @brianyerkes In absolute violation of rules to solicit like this; steep penalties would follow. Not recommended! http://tinyurl.com/czf7fv

25)   Solicit comments @EA Feedback time: Now that we've done a couple, what do you think about giveaways? Too much feed spam? Lot's of fun for the whole family?

26)   Solicit help @aetelevision What kind of exclusive content would you like to see in the #A&E Insider?

27)   Start a poll  greenegoddess VOTE PLEASE ~ PieceMakers Mosaic Challenge http://piecemakersmosaics.b... Thanks for your Support!!!

Some analysis of the above:

i) What businesses/communities like to do the most on Twitter- I would say about half the communities and a much higher amount of media pages are using Twitter as strictly a broadcast tool, extending their content into a new space - consequently they are really good and prolific at #2,#6, #8, #13 and #23 above. Very broadcasty, not likely fully optimizing their presence on Twitter but for the effort, likely providing some level of utility.

ii) What businesses and communities are surprisingly good at on Twitter are #3, #11, #15 and #17. They are more than happy to shine a light on some of their fans or be responsive to how people are using their products or services. It's heartening to see such engaged brands, however admittedly - the content usually revolves around their particular brand issues/features not customer issues/topics of conversations at large.

iii) What businesses and communities are particularly bad at on Twitter : are #4, #7, #10, #16, #25 and #27. Group this into a bucket of communities that are very "business-like" on Twitter and don't let their personality show. They don't show their fun side, their vulnerable side, their inquisitive side or their engaging side, making themselves decidedly less human and not creating sufficient intimacy with oftentimes thousands of their most passionate fans.

KD Paine once challenged me (and anybody else) to find conversations that existed in social media outside of the 27 that her firm tracks for people. Although I could see how they may fall into different camps, the following 4 don't do so neatly:

28) Making a referral - perhaps a subset of #11 and #15, communities oftentimes make an explicit recommendation in favor of complementary brands or people on twitter that go beyond mere expressions of support or giving a shout out

29) Providing customer service - although part of #3 and #17, this is sometimes less focused on answering a customer's question or going out of their way to make a helpful suggestion but actually getting involved and solving a customer's problem

30) Education - although related #5 and #8 - brands on Twitter are doing a good job of linking out to content that provides helpful step by step interaction on how to use their stuff and less focused on providing answers to specific questions

31) Providing Top of Mind for What's Happening - related to #7 and 13 and #19, this type of corporate tweet provides a stream of consciousness for what's going on inside the community or company whether it's of interest to the audience or not (i.e. myself and CEO stuck on a tarmac) that provides 20% info and 80% context and make's it feel like there is "living pulse" to the author of the community conversation

So what do think KD, should we add these to the list (strangely, I think you'll say no because your company has been tabbing and tracking conversations for the 27 types of conversation for what, the last 10 years and a change like this would start to ruin your history *smile ).

One final thing on the number 31, congrats to Baskin Robbins last week for conducting 31¢ Scoop Night in support the fire service community & fallen firefighters, I was happy to wait in line for 10 minutes, grab a double scoop chocolate chip (I know, not that exotic) and support the cause. As a well-engaged brand, they are also on  on Twitter (@baskinrobbins) and Facebook.