Hello, my name is Janet, and I’m a Tweetaholic. I’ll admit, I have two Twitter personas going much of the day. I’ve figured out a way to have my Smub Twitter account open in my browser, while my personal Twitter account is open in TweetDeck.

So many people wonder what all the fuss is about Twitter, but I’m hooked. I turn there for news, information and updates from friends and colleagues. Because most of the people I follow have very interesting things to say.

That’s the thing about Twitter (or any other social medium, actually), you have to ‘give to get.’ That’s one of the reasons I find Smub a very cool tool for Twitter. I believe it adds context when I Tweet something that asks for action on the part of my readers.

Here’s what I mean - would you rather follow a URL that is Tweeted cryptically, like this:

Or one where the URL is fairly descriptive, like this:

I love being able to add just that little bit of value to my fellow Twitterers, by sharing information that’s descriptive and either understandable or compelling… depending on your point of view.

And the thing is, it’s falling-off-a-log simple to do. You simply type smub.it/ to the left of the http:// in the browser window, name it, tag it (if you want to) and select to share it like this:

Smub even lets you log in and log out of your Twitter account, right from where you are. I logged out of my personal account to Tweet this particular post (which is EXCELLENT, by the way, thank you, Liz Strauss!) using my Smub Twitter account. Smub and Twitter are a delightful combination of simple, quick, sharable tools that add value for the reader and creater alike…

Seth Godin, marketing coach for millions, has posted a primer on what makes “viral marketing” on his blog today. In it, he observed:

Something being viral is not, in an of itself, viral marketing. Who cares that 32,000,000 people saw your stupid video? It didn’t market you or your business in a tangible, useful way.

Marketers are obsessed with free media, and, as is often the case, we blow it in our rush to get our share. We create content that is hampered or selfish or boring. Or we create something completely viral that doesn’t do any marketing at all.

As the work of getting your brand (whether personal or business) in front of people becomes more important, we believe that branding every link you ever send can be a great way to enhance your marketing efforts.

Most people copy and paste to retweet, or simply forward emails they think interesting, engaging or funny. Your Smubbed links are highly likely to be forwarded or retweeted right along their way. In one simple step, you’re creating the opportunity to extend and market your brand by simply Smubbing web content of interest to you.

I’m sitting in my home office in Portland, Oregon, watching the snow gracefully fall in front of the window. Its been snowing here all week, an odd occurrance. We’re not exactly set up for snow events, so weird things happen:

• The local news starts at 4:00 a.m. and goes ’til 10:00 a.m., then returns at 4:00 p.m. ’til 7:30 p.m.
• School districts cancel classes two days in advance, then hope the snow hits
• Or, school districts open for the day, but close two hours later…
• Stores are overrun with people stocking up on bread and milk

It seems no one here knows how to handle the snow. Few of us (unless we’re skiers) have snow tires or chains, and very few of us grew up understanding how to drive in the snow. (No one wants me out on the streets this week!)

So what’s happening all over town, all over the NorthWest, and in other areas (I’m imagining in Las Vegas and Southern California), people unused to the snow have a reprieve from “normalcy.”

• We stock up on bread and milk, and get the urge to bake… (http://smub.it/jlj/crunchcookies)

Smub to Great Cookie Recipe

• We set up informal networks to share information about weather conditions around town… like Portland’s #pdxtst (Portland Twitter storm trackers) (http://smub.it/jlj/pdxtst)

Smub of #pdxtst Tweets

• …And we do an awful lot of picture taking and sharing… (http://smub.it/jlj/flickr)

Smub shortcut to Flickr photostream

And we share and share and share… on our blogs, on Facebook, via Twitter, in email and on the phone.

Perhaps it’s the holiday season, perhaps it’s the snow. But people are connecting and sharing experiences like never before. It’s a joy to watch and participate.

I like to Smub in the snow… you?

I was delighted yesterday to make my first Smub and find that our engineering team had unveiled one of my favorite new features - counting “hits.”

Smub counts click-thrus as"hits"

As you can see in the right-hand column, you can track the number of clicks on your Smubs whether you share them in email, via Facebook, Twitter, text them, or read them over the phone.

And, in addition to being able to count the hits, you can sort by number of hits (or by date, alphabetically, or by tag):

Smub will sort number of hits

So at the simplest level, you’ll be able to see which Smubs are your most popular. And you can even test whether Smubs in Twitter are more clicked on than Smubs on your Facebook page. Or whether a Smub in an email worked to get people clicking…

Which of your Smubs are the most viral? Now you’ll know - and you just might be surprised!

Ryan Thomas Lodermeier, who’s currently living in Luxembourg, shot this cool Smub photo somewhere close to where he lives. I thought it was great. He has a photo blog with other shots he’s captured during his travels - his black and white shots are especially compelling, I think.

Recent research findings by eROI, our friends in Portland, found that most kids get their first personal email address at about age 13. About 25% of them got one primarily so they could shop online. And 82% got one so they could communicate with family, while 52% got one to communicate with friends.

36% of those surveyed said they use email alerts for keeping up on MySpace and Facebook. These emails are an important part of how they interact with the networks they join.

But the study clearly shows that the preferred methodology for communication is texting.

eROI report - text messaging is king

We’re not surprised at this finding. Anyone who knows a kid (or a mom with kids) in college is clearly aware that texting is the usual way of communicating with them. One thing I do hope eROI asks next time is about Wall-to-Wall communications… I know that’s one way my friends chat with me on Facebook.

One of the principles in the development of Smub is to make it incredibly simple to share URLs via text (or SMS), IM, email and the social networks (MySpace and Facebook) that students and a growing number of businesses use.

As students enter the workforce, it’ll be interesting to see exactly how the tools we use will need to adapt to their communications preferences.

What if you could shortcut your way around the complexity and richness of the web with the simplicity of using one word? We’re testing this premise here at Smub.

We believe people are yearning for more simplicity in their lives. (When was the last time you yearned for more complexity? Here’s a pretty good solution for you then. Enjoy!)

So in conversations at the office yesterday, we got into discussing the real value we all find in using Smub, and it kind of all came down to one word access to anything online.

Here’s how we think about it, and we would be terribly interested in your thoughts:

I went over to Chris Brogan’s excellent blog on community and social media this morning. He had a guest post from Theresa Wu on what Generation Y expects from work. Since we’re marketing to Gen Y here at Smub, I thought the rest of the team would like to read it, too.

We all use the Smub Toolbar, which looks like this:

Smub toolbar - one word, go!

From the toolbar, I was able to create my Smub of the article, and I named it GenY. (Okay, perhaps GenY isn’t exactly one word, but when you read it or text it to someone, it comes across as a perfectly memorable URL.) And it beats the heck out of this:

http://www.chrisbrogan.com/guest-post-generation-y-in-the-workplace-explained/

I can let Heather know she needs to check out this article by simply saying “Check out geny. It’s a great article.”

I’ve mentioned before that I can use my Smub toolbar to gain access to other people’s Smubs. Once I know any Smub user has shared a Smub, all I have to do is go to my toolbar and type in their “handle,” and any one word will take me to their shared page.

For example… my friend Matt has a Smub account. (As an aside, he also has a blog called “The Monk and The Riddle of The Red Rubber Ball.” You can bet I Smubbed that down to “matt.”)

In my toolbar, I choose “Goto…” (vs. “Create) and type in “Matt” and “auto,” and up pops a BusinessWeek article on the automakers he found interesting in November, just when the brouhaha started.

Get your friends' Smubs from your toolbar

And the word “auto” does a heck of a lot better job communicating a place Matt cares for me to see than this:

http://www.businessweek.com/magazine/content/08_48/b4110000545461.htm?chan=top+news_top+news+index+-+temp_top+story

Ironically (via Twitter), I found that Matt and I both have “geny” Smubs…

Guess where his goes? http://smub.it/matt/geny … Wanna see mine? http://smub.it/janet/geny

(Anyone can ‘consume’ a Smub, just by typing into your browser window, even with out a Smub account or toolbar.)

And sometimes, one word - even if it’s “GenY” or “geny” - is all it takes to get you where you want to go.

What do you think? Compelling? Interesting? Too much fuss? Let us know.

I’ve got an iPhone that I use for pretty mundane purposes. I am, though, enjoying it more these days because I seem to be an innate “sharer” and have found Smub to be a perfect tool to help me share information with even my sister, who texts me more than anything… Although Smubs work from IM, SMS or any browser from any Smartphone.

I’m training her to recognize just one word to navigate my personal web, which means that soon I’ll be able to tease her into looking at web sites with a simple voicemail or text.

Making Smub work on my iPhone is a piece of cake. Let’s look at the end result first:

In a text message, the clickable link works from any Smartphone.

To make a Smub from the first place is simple on an iPhone. Here is a series of shots that show you exactly how I make a Smub and share it from any browser window.

1) Type smub.it/ to the left of the http:// in the browser window

Type Smub.it/ to the left of http:// on any Smartphone

2) Your Smub will be made automatically (in this case) once I hit the “Go” on my iPhone (your mileage may vary). From here, I can share it via email, Facebook, MySpace or Twitter automatically.

Share Smubs quickly

3) You can easily go to your account from your smartphone and browse your own Smubs:

Smubs are accessible from any Smartphone

Todd was visiting his sister (I hope I’m getting the familial relations right!) over the Thanksgiving holiday. Her husband is a contractor, and found something at Home Depot that he really needed. He ran down to the store, and didn’t find it on the floor. (Raise your hand if that’s ever happened to you!)

He found somebody to help him (raise your hand if that’s ever happened within 15 minutes of your need!) and between them, they couldn’t figure out exactly which mat he was looking for. So he did the next best thing, he called his wife to ask her.

She went online to the Home Depot site to find the mat, which she did. It probably was a URL that looked kind of like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/ProductDisplay?storeId=10051&langId=-1&catalogId=10053&productId=100607095&N=10000003+90401+500018

Lucky for all of them (especially the store clerk, who’d moved to the computer in the store to surf along with Todd’s sister), Todd was visiting. As she started to try to describe the mat to to the clerk, Todd said, hey, just Smub the page, and he can see exactly what you need from his browser.

She typed smub.it/ to the left of the http://, and was able to create a Smub that probably looked kind of like this:

http://smub.it/janet/mat

And reading that simple URL over the phone to the clerk was all it took to turn what might have taken ten minutes into two.

Okay, so it’s not turning lead into gold; but in this day and age, anything that’ll save time, improve communications and shorten the distance to success is pretty magical.

There’s a personal story behind every Smub. What’s yours?

If we care to be connected online, few of us are reliant on one connection to the web any more. With the ubiquity of smartphones, the transportability of laptops and UMPCs, and the vital resources kept our desktops in homes and work; it can seem impossible to keep (much less share) the information that captures our attention - at a particular moment in time - in one simple, secure, personal space for recall later, from any connection.

“I don’t use my laptop very much any more, I’m not sure I can remember how to get to that page from here…”

“I can’t access any of my personal sites at work, they’re blocked. I’ll have to get it to you when I’m home.”

“Doggone it, I’m at the store, and I don’t have the product number of the very thing I came here for, it’s on my home PC.”

Each time I’ve said or heard that, I’m watching a stall play out. Wait. Wait. Wait. Tick, Tick, Tick… and often, by the time we get to the right connection to continue the action or communication, (if you’re like me) we’ve forgotten it.

Sometimes Personal is Personal

I keep “bookmarks” on every machine I use. And there’s certain information I have on my work PC that I wouldn’t trust having on my iPhone, in case it gets lost. And not everyone is comfortable having their bookmarks displayed - for all to see - on the social bookmarking sites, nor should they be.

But there have been many times I needed access to an email account for a client, when not at my desk.

“Was it http://, or https:// or was it webmail.something….?”

That guessing game takes up a ton of time.

And sometimes we want to share a link of an apartment we’re looking at on Craigslist with just a small circle of folks - without exposing the world to exactly where we are thinking of moving…

How is it that as technology offers simpler access to information online, we seem to lose simplicity itself?

We think we have a pretty simple response in Smub: any Smub can be recalled from any browser.

Period.

Whether you Smub a page on your iPhone, your laptop, your mom’s desktop or any one of your friend’s, you can find it again in your personal Smub bookmarks. Behind your own password, these Smubs can easily be searched by tag, date, or name.

My bookmarks are all available from my iPhone

I’m connected to the information that’s important to me from any place at any time. It’s just that simple.