It was inevitable that people wouldn’t just want to use Twitter — they’d want to know as much as possible about everyone’s tweets! Flowing Data has provided links to some fascinating visualizations and mashups of Twitter data and user relationships.

Today’s buzz concepts “engage the audience” and “create conversations” can present a challenge to some companies who are unsure how to involve their customers in defining their brand. Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty meets that challenge by affirming that beauty is not what Madison Avenue tells women that it is. Dove’s definition of “Real Beauty” includes every woman regardless of her height, weight or figure.

Dove’s Campaign for Real Beauty starts with a seemingly easy premise: Reach out to the widest possible audience with a proposition that speaks to their concerns. Self-esteem building for all women was the key message, with Dove selecting 6 women from all walks of life to embrace the variety of ways beauty can be represented. Beauty industry stereotypes are criticized as harmful to a woman’s well-being. Dove’s multi-channel campaign spans the media spectrum including videos, public transportation signage, town hall meetings, panel discussions and online forums. At each point the “Real Beauty” message resonates to all women. Dove expanded the campaign to reach out to pre-teen and teen girls; making the message of esteem building a universal campaign theme.

The key to the Dove campaign’s success was that Dove reached out to the widest possible audience. They created an atmosphere of inclusiveness, which by its very definition, encourages participants to share and identify with the “real beauty” concept. Through this initiative, using Dove products becomes part of an overall experience that simultaneously brings attention to the Dove brand and to the idea of real beauty, that’s inclusive for all women. The Dove initiative continues to build momentum with its own website, campaignforrealbeauty.com, and focuses on multiple engagement opportunities on and offline to encourage self-esteem in women of all ages, body types and walks of life.

Some organizations who have not yet taken the Web 2.0 plunge worry they will “lose control” if their site visitors offer opinions, reviews or complaints. Granted social networking is not for everyone, but some companies are intentionally creating themed social networks that will help them better understand their customers’ needs.

The Word of Mouth Marketing Association (WOMMA.org) recently reported that Del Monte used customer input from its online pet owner community, I Love My Dog, to help create a new dog treat product. The Wall Street Journal reported the full story that discusses how Del Monte purposely created their 400 member community consisting of hand picked dog owners who could help them with product feedback.

If you’re looking for new ways to dialogue with your customers, consider creating a branded social network site using applications such as KickApps, Ning, or CrowdVine. Some groups use these apps for short-term events such as conferences. Or you can start a brand new social network and ask your customers to help you create your next hit product! Need more information? Download this PDF 9 Steps To A Successful Online Community or view these YouTube videos on CrowdVine’s conference networking and social networking applications.

Flickr is being used to market everything from real estate to political candidates. Optimization and active community participation can raise your popularity on Flickr and help drive more traffic to your site. Use these quick tips to optimize your Flickr photos:

• Add keyword rich headlines, descriptions and tags to your photos. You can even write paragraphs of optimized content to associate with your photos.
• Use quotation marks around keyword phrases such as “toy trains” when tagging to be found for an exact phrase.
• Start a Flickr Group or join one. There are many interesting groups including Moon Photos, 100 Year Old Photos and the popular Flickr Meetup Groups (this link is from the Scottish Meet Ups).
• Use the “Organize” drop down at the top of your photo stream page to batch organize your photos. You can drag and drop photos onto a Yahoo Map to geotag them according to where they were taken.
• Place your Flickr pictures on your website and link to your Flickr photo streams.
• Check Flickr’s FAQ section for tips and the Flickr Services page to take advantage of Flickr tools and resources.
• Learn more about Flickr’s “interestingness” method for ranking photos, and work to make your photos stand out from the pack.
• Submit your Flickr images to social networking websites. Stumble Upon drives a lot of image traffic and you can also upload your Flickr photos to the Slideroll slideshow creator.

I recommend Barry Schwartz’s post on Search Engine Land, “New School” Search Engine Optimization, if you want more information on image optimization and optimizing content for social media sites.

In a NY Times article, Brad Stone and Matt Richtel explore the issue of “sock puppets” — people who post online commentary under assumed identities (recent example: “Rahodeb“). The good news is that online conversations don’t have to become unethical. You can create a positive press campaign and get your message out in a number of ways:

• Company blogs: Encourage blogging throughout your organization. Establishing a corporate blogging policy is a good first step.

• E-Newsletters: Ask your readers to comment on your company blog.

• Press releases: Use (search engine-optimized) press releases to announce blogs and other customer-centric initiatives.

• Podcasts: PR Web’s Podcast service is easy to use; it submits your podcasts to iTunes and podcast directories, providing even more ways for users to find them.

• Social networking sites: Monitor relevant sites to identify customer concerns and brand evangelists, and help create goodwill by establishing two-way communications that address concerns and show apprecation for brand enthusiasm. Branded social-networking sites (Carspace.com - Edmunds, Nike, etc.) are becoming more popular. Web Crossing Neighbors (or free alternative Ning.com) can help you create your own space.

Starting a positive press campaign today will help you create conversations that can have a lasting impact on your reputation.

Bernhard Warner sez in The Times Online he was recently persuaded to favor Facebook as his main biz-networking site. The process began when a colleague shot him this clue: that “LinkedIn is over!”

Warner makes some good points in Facebook’s favor, including its more personal focus:

Facebook tells me things about my contacts I never knew before - engagements, new babies, a jubilant note that my friend’s wife’s cancer has gone into remission. I can also see holiday snaps, the books people are reading, music they’ve just listened to, the places they’ve traveled, the social causes they are dedicated to. Even the simple stream of consciousness updates - “I’m stressed,” “Hooray! I’m on holiday!”, “Where the hell is the sun?! It’s summer!” - speak volumes about these people, revealing far more than a business lunch.

I agree. One of the downsides of today’s office situation - where more of us are working in home offices or variations of Starbucks cubes, and there’s little slack time - is the lack of personal interaction with our colleagues. LinkedIn really isn’t the place for such kibitzing, and things like Twitter (which BusinessWeek calls “All Trivia, All the Time”,) may be too ephemeral to be taken seriously.

Then there’s the popularity factor - Facebook is growing quickly. In May, FB had 89% more visitors than in May 2006.

Guess I’ll have to get clued in, myself (in my copious free time, of course), and work on my own Facebook identity.