Out With A Bang

‘The more I see, the more I know; the more I know, the less I understand… (P Weller, Changing Man)

So, Twitter lists.

Apologies; this involves a little story.

As the more Addiply-aware of you will have, hopefully, twigged we now have a little thang going on with the good people of TrinityMirror and their far-flung North-East, hyper-local outpost; the JournalLive ‘Your Place’ platform…

http://www.journallive.co.uk/northumberland-sites/

Means that we can now offer an little Amble solicitor the chance to advertise to his local community for a fiver a week rather than take a chance that a Google text ad would ping half-way round the world and back again onto his preferred site in Amble… it’s a simple philosophy that is now open to any SME in rural Northumberland looking to digitally market their wares.

Here you go, peeps… take your pick…

http://www.addiply.com/index.php?option=com_addiply&Itemid=69&r1=1&r2=1

Naturally – given this is the Age of Collaboration; that whilst content may still be king, collaboration is queen, etc… – I’m more than happy to help Helen, David and the TrinityMirror Co ’seed’ some awareness of Addiply; we’re working together.

As we all have to.

So, I therefore start to tart myself round Twitter looking for digitally-minded folk in the region that might ‘get’ what Addiply offers them. Simple, accountable, place-it-yourself advertising for a fiver a week.

@HallMeister, in fairness, finds me. She’s smart that way.

But off we go to @Girl_Geeks_NE and out pops @ElegantIntros

Our Louise runs a posh dating agency out somewhere near Hexham; seeking out the alpha males of Walker, Wallsend and Byker…

http://www.elegantintros.com/

So far, so simple… Ponteland, you sense is posh. OK, place an ad there Louise…

That’s great. But I now want to see who else is out there on Twitter; running a small, digitally-minded business in the North-East. So, I kinda figure that someone, somewhere must have a ‘Twitter list’ of North-East businesses…

And old smarty pants Louise, does…

Like the rest of us, not quite sure why she collected/curated/managed/edited/coralled a list of 165 North-East businesses together under one ‘roof’ – her own, note – but there it is…

@ElegantIntros/north-east-businesses

… which I duly follow.

Now that list is just the kind of list that I was looking for; I don’t know any of them from Adam.. I live at my Mum’s in Norfolk; or at least for as long as she’s in the N&N, I do.

So the chances of me putting together a list of that relevant nature that’s 166-people strong? Nil.

Could do it; but bit like SEO… have neither the time, the energy or the inclination. Not when someone has already done the hard work for me. Louise Northwood, in this instance.

But what’s fascinating in all this is the value that is starting to emerge.

Wittingly or not – and, obviously, she knew what she was doing – but Louise has collected a list of value that, crucially, she controls. And Twitter gave her ‘the kit’ to do it.

She is the gatekeeper to a list of 166 names that I want access to… and Twitter ring-fenced them beneath her brand, @elegantintros

I can’t get to that list without going through Louise, so to speak. Or without Twitter.

I can sift through all 166 little avatars and message them directly; or else I can appeal to the Mistress of the Message and ask Louise to let me in…

Now, for my marketing needs re Addiply and TM’s Northumberland sites, I’d probably pay a micro-payment for access to that list… if a Port & Lemon on the Quayside fails to suffice.

And then Twitter and Louise can divvie up that micro-payment between them.

What’s really interesting is the fact that whereas we thought this new world of ours might be networked – that silos were sooo old-fashioned – here comes Twitter installing glass silos into a network; in that we can now press our Twitchy noses against the glass of Louise’s @elegantintros/north-east-businesses ’silo’ – but we can’t touch.

Not to them en masse… as a group… as a list… as a community.

Not without an invite.

Or, in theory, a micro-payment.

And it’s empowering Louise to be a woman of influence. She’s the one with the ticket to the ball.

For now. Until the next person builds a bigger and a better Twitter-list.

Now I look at other lists. And I look at @DavidCohn – he of SpotUs fame. Top lad.

And I’m following his lists @DigiDave/colleagues cos I strongly suspect that there will be people of value therein; my squidgy nose is pressed up against his glass silo wondering what I have to do to get in… and would I pay to market either myself or my wares to that particular crew…

Possibly; I’d pay five bucks on the door… he’s a smart lad; he probably hangs around with a cool crew; his list is one on which to be seen…. etc, etc.. I could do some business in there; make some good connections with people that Dave has already edited for my benefit.

For that’s what he’s done. He’s subbed out the run-of-the-mill; discarded the flotsam and jetsam and concentrated his efforts and his invites on those that are making the right kind of sounds, not those just making any old noise.

He’s acted as a filter; as an editor.

And in doing that he’s made my own life easier… right, those are the people I need to be talking to… over there.

And for that simple act – of putting a list of his mates together – both @DigiDave and Twitter deserve a reward. And therein may lay the genesis of a business model.

Very interesting.