From This Website to Twitter to Facebook

What follows is a rather technical look at how I get my website to automatically post its updates to Twitter and Facebook. There's also a side feature that allows me to post select comments to shared items on Google Reader as well.

I set this up as a proof of concept for tools that can be incorporated into a social media strategy.

I've used TwitterFeed previously to implement a solution for @DrexelDigest. The Drexel Digest is a weekday eNewsletter sent out to students, faculty, staff and others at Drexel University. It contains short entries about different events or announcements for the entire campus. As part of the implementation of a custom-designed Content Management System I helped implement, we created an RSS as an output for each issue.

This RSS feed I used with TwitterFeed to automatically populate the @DrexelDigest Twitter account. The #drexel hashtag is auto populated and the feed is configured to post a new entry each hour. This ensures that followers do not get flooded with new entries and receive content updates throughout the day.

Yahoo Pipes wasn't necessary for what @DrexelDigest needed, but I discovered it is a powerful tool. With it, you can easily combine multiple, disparate RSS feeds into a single uniform format that can be output as its own RSS feed and then later processed by another system. For my purposes, it merges the RSS feed from my blog posts with my Google Reader shares feed (and performs some specific operations on each feed to format it as I want it). That resulting feed then goes into TwitterFeed where it is processed for social media (Twitter and Facebook).

If I get the time, I might draft a proposal to utilize Yahoo Pipes as a stop-gap solution to Drexel as it continues to migrate pages into SiteCore CMS, which is a very feature rich application for businesses that manage many websites. The same solution could be hard-coded, but I prefer the layer of abstraction that Yahoo Pipes brings to the table.

What you'll need to do what I did

I'd start with some tech savvy. You don't need to be a programmer, but you need to be able to think about how data flows through a system. A programming background helps, but you can get through most of it with trial-and-error and some simple Google searching.

• Yahoo Pipes  - This performs the logical operations. Disparate data sources go in, a single RSS feed comes out.
• TwitterFeed account - This posts content from the single RSS feed from Yahoo Pipes to Twitter and Facebook.
• Twitter Account  - If you want to post to a Twitter account and don't have one, consider yourself a twit; though it's optional if you want to post to Facebook only
• Facebook Account - If you want to post to a Facebook account and don't have one, hit yourself with a book; though it's optional if you want to post to Twitter only.

RSS Feeds for Source Data - Any RSS feed will do, but for my purposes I use the RSS feeds for my sites, this blog feed from CraigEisenberger.com as well as my Journal and Writings feeds from CraigEisenberger.net. I also pull in the RSS feed from my Google Reader account. Your choice of RSS feeds will determine the logical operations you'll need to perform in Yahoo Pipes and may impact your decisions for configuring Twitterfeed.

Yahoo Pipes

In the age of Google it seems odd to go to Yahoo for anything. But this is one thing they do really well and I've yet to see Google come out with a tool like this. (Thought if I missed it, just ping me with a link).

(To view a larger image, click this link)

This seemingly mess of random windows linked by wavy blue lines is the driving force that prepares my posts (like this) and Google Reader comments to become Tweets and Facebook updates. The upper section is the Google Reader Operation.

This site's RSS feed

The single "Fetch Feed" going to a "Union" box (totally unnecessary, but there was something else there and I didn't feel like removing it) is the feed for this site. In the "Fetch Feed" box is the full RSS address of this blog. The "Union" would combine this feed with any number of other feeds. The "Regex" box between this "Union" and the "Union" that joins the result of my Google Reader processing serves to append the text 'New Post: ' in front of every blog entry. If you check out my Twitter account, you might see the output of such a procedure. "Regex" works with regular Pearl expressions and the '^' command is to append in the front. If you notice in the left of that box, the rule is applied to 'item.title.' This is a property of the RSS feed. In the gray bar on the bottom, you can click on any box and get a readout of what the output for that box is.

Each field is noted and you can expand it to see the actual results. If you look closely, you can see that the output of this already includes the 'New Post:' text.

Google Reader Comments RSS

The processing of my Google Reader comments is a little more difficult. First the feed comes in through the "Fetch Feed" box, where some of the items of that feed are renamed in the "Rename" box. I know that the CE and CE22 fields are present to render the fields they rename meaningless. I made this several months ago before I started the practice of documenting work on my personal IT projects, so I don't know why it's the case, but as nothing is broken, I will not attempt to fix this. Though I might use a test account and play with that if the spirit moves me.

From there, a new RSS feed is created. The item.Comment , previously renamed as item.gr:annotation.content.content is the field of my personal Google Reader RSS feed account that contains the comments a I enter when I elect to "Share with Note." Instead of me making a note in Google Reader, then opening up Twitter and/or Facebook to post the same comment with a link, I let this pipe handle the posting for me. The "Create RSS" performs its namesake function and builds an RSS feed where the key content is my Google Reader comment, the link to the original content and the item publication date (used for sorting in the "Sort" operation prior to creating the output.

Now because I don't want all my Google Reader comments being published and because I maintain both @C_Eisenberger for professional stuff and @Cregavitch for personal stuff (I might post my reasoning behind that decision later), I wanted to create a filtering system. The filter has three options: 1 post to neighter source, 2. post to @C_Eisenberger exclusively and 3. Post to @Cregvitch exclusively. I don't forsee a need to post to both but implementing that wouldn't be too difficult.

The "Filter" function looks for specific text within my Google Reader comment, named item.title at its current state in the pipe. If I make a normal Google Reader comment, neither Twitter feed is updated. If I put *C (C=.com and the * would not normally appear, so no chance of a false positive). in my Google Reader comment, the item passes this filter and is appended to the output feed for this Pipe (which serves as the input to Twitterfeed).

The value of the Google Reader comment sharing is that it enables me to share selected news articles and blog posts that I read with different audiences (personal and professional) with my thoughts on the matter without leaving Google Reader. If you are in a business capacity where you want to Tweet industry news stories with comments about your firm's perspective, this is a solution I can work with you to design. Sure you can do it yourself by following these somewhat vague instructions, or you can let me take a crack at it and build you an optimized solution.

Pipe Output

After the "Filter" process my decision as to where to post, the resulting feed is joined with the feed from this site in a "Union." The feed are then sorted based on publication date, which makes sure there is some order to the process. Finally the resulting feed is placed in the "Pipe Output" where it is made available for downstream applications, in this case Twitterfeed, but really any source could be used.

TwitterFeed

The configuration is simple in three steps.

Step 1

Create a name for your feed and put in the URL. The URL will be URL of the pipe output. You get that after saving and running your pipe in Yahoo Pipes.

If you click on the "Advanced Settings" tab, you can set the frequency for when to check for new posts and how many updates to post at a time. I check hourly and only post one at a time to space out my Tweets so that I don't spam my friends if I decide to go share-happy on Google Reader.

TwitterFeed also has a bit.ly API, meaning you can link in your bit.ly link shortener account with TwitterFeed so the links created will be shortened. This helps cut down on Twitter characters, but is more useful because it provides metrics on the number of people that click through to whatever it is you link too. Not something I really concern myself with for personal applications, but I did it as a proof of concept for businesses looking to implement this as a solution to a larger social media strategy.

You can also append prefix and suffixes to each post. I suppose I could have put "New Post:" here if it weren't for the fact that I didn't want that appearing in front of my Google Reader comments. Normally these are used for #hashtags. There are some other options. Not important for me, but useful tools in creating a customized solution.

Step 2: Configure Publishing Services

Here you can add accounts from Twitter, Facebook, Hellotxt and Statusnet. At the time of this post I've yet to use the latter two. Maybe I'll explore them if I get free time. You can have multiple accounts from different sources. For mine I use both the @C_Eisenberger Twitter account as well as my Facebook profile. It will update both at the same time. A side note, TwitterFeed creates two unique bit.ly links for the Twitter and Facebook post. This is useful if you want to have a more granular metric analysis, i.e. compare the number of click throughs from Facebook and Twitter.

You may have to log into Facebook and Twitter and set the application specific settings. I'm pretty sure there is an option to post to either a personal account or a page account for Facebook. If you're interested in using this as a solution, I can double check and get back to you on request.

Step 3: Done

This just recaps your configuration settings. After this, you're good to go.

Twitter and Facebook

With everything configured, this will be updated automatically. For me, new blog posts have "New Post: Title of post <bit.ly link to post>" while my Google Reader comments appear as "Witty, insightful and possibly sarcastic comment to shared Google Reader post/article <bit.ly link to post/article>."

The one limitation of the Facebook posting is that TwitterFeed doesn't post the link with a graphic and description; it's just a generic link in the text. I'll keep an eye out if this changes, but at present I do not have a work-around.

Conclusion

For a social media strategy that involves processing industry content (or any content), converting it to an easy-to-digest format for Twitter/Facebook and that can automate already existing processes (creating a website or making a Google Reader comment) than a custom solution based on this proof of concept might be right for you. Contact me for more information.

Keep your head in the clouds

The Monroe Doctrine. Kremenchuk, Ukraine. Privateering. Gottlieb Muffat. 3938 Chapront. Slime Blower. Bantry Blues. Ecopa Arena. Spiny river snail. KATNA1. Kotatsu.

This list is intentionally a random assortment of topics most people don’t know about. I present it for your consideration in how you would go about learning more about any of these topics. Chances are that your first reaction doesn’t involve flipping through a dictionary, encyclopedia or atlas. The Internet has become an extension of our minds, hence my headline that plays on the concept of cloud computing.

I've decided to write on the topic after my friend Jameson made a posting about creating an external brain. But I've thought of the externalization of information for some time by interacting with my current boss, who holds the title of Vice President in a university marketing and communications office. A subset of my assigned tasks involve drafting news media releases, creating distribution lists and pitching the releases to reporters. Juxtaposing our philosophies on information dissemination, I was pushing our releases on Digg.com while he still required we still fax releases. He is aware of the changing trend and dropped some of more archaic practices. But today when he questions me about my pitching, the difference in our way of perceiving and recalling information becomes acutely apparent.

He wants to know names and publications of where I sent the release; he wants to know when I sent it and what my pitch letter said. When I reply that I can forward him all the details, he appears upset but doesn't say anything. I can tell he doesn't like that I don't have the information off the top of my head. I'm upset that he doesn't realize the information isn't important if it exists in a file. Objectively, I hold the opinion that both of us are correct (subjectively I'm right and he needs to further embrace the modern era). It is simply a difference in the way we think. I was born into a world that didn't know a time without personal computers. I was raised on the Internet and as I matured, so did it.

He was raised in an era of journalists being important, of news media vetting sources. There was no cable news in his youth, no talking heads. There was a respectable air to all news media and everyone acted with respect, class and honor. Having been a reporter and seeing the mangled mess news media has formed into, I do envy him for this. But the sad truth is that to conduct effective marketing and public relations in the new environment, one has to adapt their strategy. Part of that involves standardization of processes. By maintaining records, we can start to recycle distribution lists for similar stories. Now we don't have to think about who would be good to send a business or engineering story to because we've already thought about it once and recorded that thought. Now we can play it back to the new employee, the co-op student or even a communications person in another department.

But I recognize the value in having a good memory. There are times when I have to research but he can pull a name from his mind faster. And I see that those older than myself respect this more. I realize that to better understand the divide would actually take academic research and that would mean a Ph.D. Maybe one of these days. Until then, a blog post here or there to keep the wits sharp (or more accurately to store this information away in my external brain so I can rediscover it later).

As I move forward, I’ll keep part of my head in the cloud and I’ll try to enable others to do the same.

People Who Shaped Me

For my inaugural post on a website advertising my personal brand, I feel obligated to make it clear that I am a product of many individuals who shaped my way of thinking.

• Dr. John P. Degenhart, small-business owner of the Degenhart Chiropractic Health Center, was a mentor and like a father to me in the absence of mine. His constant support helped me through high school and college. It was nice that he and his wife were able to attend my undergraduate commencement ceremony in 2008. I look forward to showing him that his investment in my future is fruitful.
• Sondra Cappuccio, a communications professor at Drexel back in 2004-05, helped me through a difficult time. It was in talking with her that I decided to change majors from software engineering to communications. She showed me that it was better to do something I excelled at an enjoyed than spend time doing something I did average without enthusiasm. She also flat out told me that I would need at least a master’s degree to go places in life. Well I have my masters, so now I’m making my opportunities. The one lesson from her that sticks with me is that the media doesn’t tell people what to think, however it does tell them what to think about.
• Dr. Anthony Glascock, the head of the anthropology department at Drexel, shaped the way I view the world. Cultural anthropology and the study of people in general is largely about patterns. Social scientists spend time putting people into groups and categories, distilling human behavior into factors and motivations. It provided a framework for understanding the motivations behind human actions and also some witty things to say at parties.
• Dr. Elliot Schreiber, clinical professor of marketing and executive director of the LeBow College of Business Center for Corporate Reputation Management, offered me a foundation for brand management. The most important lesson was the simplest one of definition. Logos and slogans are symbols of a brand, but the brand itself is a societal perception of an entity. There are attributes one associates with brands and the art of brand management is identifying those attributes and understanding how to influence people’s perceptions and attitudes about those attributes.
• Steven Berens, a professor of management at Drexel, was someone whose life is an example of the things I would like to do in life. A self-described “Double Dragon,” having also received a bachelor’s and master’s degree from Drexel, I felt a level of admiration and respect for him. He does consulting work on the side, something I hope to do myself as my experience continues to grow. He taught me a framework with which to build strategy. The approach is straightforward, though not initially intuitive.

These are just a select few of the people who have helped me along the way. I'll draft a more extensive list when I publish my memoirs many years from now.

It should go without saying that my mother helped me the most by always pushing me to succeed, but giving me the independence to create my own definition of success.