Last Thursday evening my colleagues Scott Dodds and Erik Langner accompanied me to the debut "Silicon Vallley Tweetup."

A "Tweetup," according to organizer Michael Brito, is: "A geeky term for an in-person networking event (or meet-up) with people who use Twitter." Though he was quick to add:  "But there is no official rule that you have to have a Twitter account to participate."

Michael, a social media strategist at Intel, established the "Silicon Valley Tweetup" earlier this month for two reasons:

1)    As a networking venue for area business professionals who use Twitter

2)    To give back to the community (he has partnered with several non-profit organizations)

The July 23 inaugural Tweetup, held at Rosie McCann's Irish Pub in San Jose's Santana Row, raised $650 for the George Mark Children's House and attracted some 80 "peeps."

I took the opportunity to ask Michael a few Twitter-related questions between beers.

Tom:  When did you start using Twitter?

Michael: I started using Twitter in April 2007. At first, I really didn't understand the dynamics of the tool and took six months off from using it. I jumped back in after a close friend began to "follow me" and haven't turned back since.

Tom: What's changed in how you used it then -- and how you use it today?

Michael: When I first started using Twitter, I used it as a tool to broadcast one-way messages. When I realized that no one was listening, I toned it down and became extremely more conversational.

Tom: Why should businesses pay attention and participate in Twitter?

Michael: Well, not all businesses do have to pay attention to Twitter. The feedback I usually give to others is to first see if there are any conversations going on about their brand, product/service or industry.  If there is, it's a great opportunity for brands to gain intimate customer insight and to create brand affinity within Twitter. Zappos has done it; and Comcast is well on its way to turn around their reputation of listening to their customers.

Tom: What Twitter-related metrics do you track and what do they teach you? 

Michael: There are a lot of tools to use for metrics. I use Twitalyzer. It tracks signal/noise ratio, clout and influence to name a few. Tracking my personal influence does more than stroke the ego.  Since 20 percent of the content I share on Twitter is related to Intel, this allows me to measure reach and influence for that given content. 

Tom: You wrote a "Twitter manifesto" last year. Please tell me more about your "80/20" rule.

Michael: Sure, the Twitter Manifesto is still relevant to me today.  The 80/20 ratio really separates marketing messages from authentic conversations.  80 percent of what I tweet is conversational or industry related. It involves "reweeting," asking/answering questions or uploading personal pictures. 20 percent is Intel related and usually links back to a piece of Intel content.  I use Bit.ly urls to track performance and usually see a 25-35 percent click-through rate -- which is unheard of in the search marketing world. Because those who "follow me" trust me and see me as more human than that of a logo or brand contributes significantly to that level of engagement.

Tom: What are the key elements to a good tweet?

Michael: The tweet has to have some level of humanity associated with it. Meaning, using tools like Twitterfeed are good in some cases, but should be used minimally if a brand is trying to galvanize a community. Links to relevant content should also be included to substantiate any points of view.

Awesome. Thanks, Michael!  Folks who have questions, just post them below and Michael will get back to you if he can.

And in case you missed this month's news, Lithium's new Twitter integration enables companies to stream real-time comments and questions about their brand and products directly into the customer community as well as their own management console. From there, action can be taken. A customer advocate, for example -- based on information about their profile and reputation -- might be given permission by the system to respond to a tweet directly or to start a new thread of discussion based on a tweet. Those responses not only improve the customer experience, but the amplified voice of the company can now bring more people in from the "Twittersphere" to the company's brand.

Yesterday's launch of Lithium Social CRM marks an exciting step forward for our customers -- empowering them to create a powerful network of advocates across the social web. 

Who are these mysterious advocates? They're a unique segment: Loyal enthusiasts who evangelize your brand, products and services wherever they go -- whether they're online or in the "real" world.

A great example in my own interactions with an "advocate" was at a conference last October. A fellow attendee was conducting an interview for her blog with one of those trendy Flip camcorders. That was my first glimpse at one. Afterward, I asked her about the device, which was smaller than my iPhone.

She raved about her Flip -- about how easy it was to use; how it fits in her pocket; how she never left home without it -- and then showed me all of the gadget's cool features. She told me that she blogged about her Flip; wrote a review on Amazon; and recommended the camcorders to her family, friends and acquaintances (like me).

The next day I ordered one from Amazon. And soon I became a Flip advocate, too (I have a weakness for gadgets). I blogged about mine and showed it off around the office (telling people how great it was, etc). I also wrote my own Amazon review. And, like the person who introduced me to it, I also use mine for all of my blog-related videos (like those below).    

Social CRM is all about the value of advocates. For today's post I spoke with our CMO, Sanjay Dholakia, about Lithium Social CRM which he explains allows businesses to build stronger, deeper customer relationships by integrating social customer conversations into existing CRM business processes and systems.

Part 1:  What is Social CRM and how is it different from traditional customer relationship management?

Part 2: What do organizations need to do in order to inject the "social" into their existing CRM initiatives? And once they do, what are the payoffs (for both companies and their customers)?

As I mentioned in my previous post, last week I had the privilege of speaking to a class at Stanford Continuing Studies titled "Web 2.0 and its Business Applications."

Despite being right before the July Fourth holiday, the class was full -- but thankfully, I somehow subdued my usual bout of stage fright and was able to deliver my presentation titled: "Challenges, pitfalls & possibilities of implementing and building an online community."

My conversation focused on things I learned at Intuit, Symantec and Cadence.

The class is lead by Robin Stavisky, founder and managing partner of New Venture Marketing, a high-technology marketing and communications company -- with some help from her teaching assistant, Carla Ivette Yashiro. They summed up my presentation (along with a link to download it) here.  

The class meets every Tuesday from 7-9 p.m. The students range from (suspected) undergraduates to (probable) seasoned professionals -- folks who are either finding themselves responsible for social media initiatives or who are interested in gaining insight into how social media tools can be effectively used in a wide range of scenarios.  

Robin is a fantastic lecturer. I was scheduled to speak at 8 p.m., so I sat in the back for the first hour. What I love about her teaching style is that she uses real-world examples to drive home the topic at hand. You can get a taste for some of the lectures by following her blog.

Forrester's Jeremiah Owyang and Intel social media strategist  Michael Brito (his "Twitter Manifesto" is a must-read) are scheduled to speak next Tuesday evening -- and I think I'll accept Robin's invitation to sit in on that lecture.