Yesterday, there was a XING Cross Table Dinner hosted by Joachim Rumohr at Hotel Mazza with the usual three courses for everyone taking part. These events are organized so that everyone gets their three courses at different tables, each with five people at them: the Culinary equivalent of Business Speed-Dating.

Usually, the conversations begin with a round of Introductions to participants at each table. At these events however, you get an entirely different audience to the one you find at 'normal' Community-Events like Web Meetings, User Group-Meetings and so on. It striking how much they speak. The people sit there without their Notebooks and Mobiles, and actually talk to each other. What more can you say ;-) I think some people even sit there without using their own Hashtag...

What do Comm-Press do?
We create Social Media Websites with Drupal.
What is Social Media?
Things like Twitter, and so on...
Good God, nobody need that!

Which is true- no-one needs it. Or do they?

Social Media = Twitter and Associates ?

Social Media can really bring people's emotions to boiling point. In lectures with titles like: "Social Media - Hot Air or Potentially Enormous?", this controversial topic is hotly debated by those taking part in the discussion. There are 'Hip' companies who claim that they are making Social Media happen. And then there are PR-people, who feel threatened by it and fear losing their jobs. So what exactly is this infamous "Social Media"? Wikipedia defines it as nothing more than User Generated Content. Web 2.0 as well. "The People" no longer have to read what's put out by businesses or published in newspapers, they can join the network and have their own say. Its that simple.

But what does this mean for us? Do we actually need Twitter?

I only started dabbling with Twitter about a year and a half ago. Initially, I was very skeptical. The information gain - like learning that a Politician had just seen three frogs in their garden - didn't really open me up to it. But no matter. I set up an account anyway. Of course I too had a few "Hi, I'm here now!" postings cut off, but it didn't hold me back for very long. Gradually, I began to follow one or two things. Initially, it was all just to be polite if someone started to follow me, but later, I discovered that there are interesting people who Twitter about interesting things. News about Drupal. New Modules. Whatever...

Since then, I haven't become an excessive Twitterer - with my two Accounts I only maintain a network of about a hundred followers. So what has Twitter changed for me?

Before I got involved, every morning at the office I'd call in and look at my two News sites -Spiegel.de and Heise.de, and read what was of interest to me. Eventually, three months later, what I 've discovered has surprised me; I see that I've hardly ever visited the News pages. Now, I look at Twitter and FaceBook instead. Facebook occasionally irritates me with its Apps, but that's about all...

It isn't of course necessary to spend the entire day with Twitter and their associates. I never spent an entire day on Spiegel online etc. So what's the difference between them? Social Networking inspires confidence - "Trust". Generally, with a Twitter-Message from a set - a Status Message known as a "Tweet" - you receive a few keywords and a Link. So my "TimeLine" is - a list of Status Messages from my Network - its nothing more than a series of annotated Links. I scan through it, if there's something that interests me - I follow the link to the page, if it doesn't interest me - I don't follow it - not bad! The thing that makes Twitter special is the preparation and compilation of its content. Basically, it's nothing more than an RSS-Feed.

Trust and Dynamics in Networks

I follow individual people and specific topics- using what are called "Hashtags". Hashtags are keywords, that, via Twitter, automatically link to a Search for the same keywords when you put a "#" in front of them. If there's a subject I find one or two interesting Tweets about, I look at the Twitterer and follow them if I'm interested in their content or I like their style. At events like, for example, the Drupal Dev Days, there have been a few new Twitterers I've "got to know", so I've followed them or they've followed me.

In contrast to News magazines, I find my Timeline via Links with people I'm interested in. I trust their recommendations. If an individual Twitterer consistently misses my subjects, I simply "un-follow" them. Good word, isn't it? ;-)

Through other channels, such as, for example, XING, you can check out who the person behind the account actually is in the real world. You can network there too. The result is a progressively deeper integration, which is a vital component of the Trust needed for an actual meeting or even a business collaboration.

Specialization through Networking

During the third round of Introductions, I suddenly realized our network had begun to specialize. I hadn't been aware of it previously.

Not so long ago, we'd have had to answer the question "Do you make this?" by responding "Yes". We certainly do!
Inwardly, when asked this type of question, we quickly run through the following: OK - in this area, we know we don't look so good. OK - the job will therefore actually take us a bit longer. OK - we'll just need to schedule the timing, to be sure we can actually finish it in the given time frame.

We generally then allow three times the time period when we evaluate the job. This stretches us to our limits, so afterwards, we expand, in the belief this will allow us to serve more customers. So we have to broaden out even further... The jobs then all taken a little bit longer. Forget about it - we've got it about right.

Through our active participation in Community-Events of all types, we're constantly meeting and hearing about new people. Now and then something that come up surprises us, and makes us aware of what other people are involved in. Its a totally different world. We've sniffed at Search-Engine-Marketing-Strategies - but we're mere novices. Certainly not all White-Head, but it generates a lot of Traffic... ;-)

In the Hosting field, we've just come out with our own Gaming Platform - one of our strongest Traffic sites - as well as a Special-Hoster. The site was previously on a Multihost-Server. This didn't do the site or the Server any great favors. In Munich we spoke to Jochen Lillich - a Drupal High-Visibility Hosting Provider. Who is also interested in: Keywords for Freestyle-Consulting with Clouded Hosting, Virtualization and Resilience through Redundancy. These can make Platforms run six times faster. Even more precise measurements are sure to follow in the near future. For the time being however, we're pleased everything works so well, as it gives us more time to spend on our own business interests: creating Social Media sites based on Drupal.

So this closes the circle back to the round of Introductions.

With Jochen, our contact first began through Twitter, he was a participant in the session on Drupaletics in Essen and, of course, XING. The end result was a partnership, not a competition, but a Win-Win-Situation for two vertically-aligned and established Drupal-Providers. This is exactly what Robert Douglass recommended in his talk about New Business Perspectives with Drupal: move away from "We-host-design-develop-support-and -take-care-of-everything-for-you" model.

And Finally

Have I forgotten anything?
Sure: to post this all on Twitter...

A few pictures of the award to the XING AG at the Cross Table Dinner Event called "Land of Ideas", from the Company for your creative and innovative ideas, 365 days of the year.