Does your message fit the environment?

I know I've been plugging Virtual Vantage Points a lot lately. It's only scratching the surface of its potential. The tool isn't limited to "lets see what the liberals are saying and put it next to what the conservatives are saying." VVP can also look at what the same people are saying in different venues and show how and why that makes a difference. Here's how.

Jeremiah Owyang mentioned yesterday some conversations have shifted to Twitter and away from blogs. I don't know him personally, but I know Jeremiah is a big name in social media - along with people like Robert Scoble, Jason Calacanis, Brian Solis, and Shel Israel. Virtual Vantage Points might look at those five as a community of leaders in social media and run their blogs through a cloud generator to see what cues they're giving the rest of the industry. It might look something like this:

better Blog blogger bloggers blogging blogs brand building Business Chris Communications communities community companies company connect control conversation conversations corporate Council customer customers different email engage Facebook fact friends future global Google great important industry information Jaiku learn LinkingBlogs Marc market marketing Media message network networks news online Part participate participation people person place point post Pownce press process public publicrelations question reach relations relationships release releases right SAP search Service Services share show social socialmedia story Technology tools traditional Twitter video web why work world

But what if VVP looked at their Twitter streams? Since conversations are moving there, shouldn't we be paying attention to that as well? Here's what you see:

Art ask bill blicio blog blue book breakfast bub bullshit California Check Coltrane com Community conference consider Dave davewiner Davis definitely dinner Doc email enterprise events Facebook famous far free friends fun getting great group Guitar heart hey Holiday Hotel hours jazz Joe leweb life LinkedIn long look love Lunch Marc mean Miles mkrigsman move Music musicians night note Orchant Paris Pass passed people personal philgomes phone play player playing post product ready right Seattle seems seesmic Shashib shells shopping Social speaker Steve susanreynolds table talk TechMeme thank Turre Twitter Wants week Winer wonderful WOW writing yeah year yes

I see a lot less work (though it's still here), and a lot more play. I see saucier language. I see who this group is talking to most at this moment. I see that this group is using Twitter for something distinctively different than say, Seth Godin, who uses Twitter almost exclusively to promote posts on his blog. Of course, this has something to do with the microblogging format, but you can convey a longer point by using more than one tweet.

So what does this mean? Maybe it means I'm more likely to engage Jeremiah Owyang in a discussion about Miles Davis than I am about Facebook. (And that's definitely fine with me.) Maybe it means if I want to engage him on something work related I can start the discussion on Twitter but then move the discussion elsewhere. Most of all, it appears that I'm gaining new insight into this group's priorities outside of the office, and I'm learning more about what's relevant to this crowd. And relevance is critical to building relationships.

And to think, I don't have anything to pitch these guys. What a shame. ;)