Learning About Movable Type On Twitter

This quality I think really sets us apart from our competitors and is the kind of attitude that I think will draw people to our products.

Most importantly, however, in drawing people to our products is our community. I will admit that, in the past couple of years, we stretched ourselves so thin that we lost sight of our greatest asset: our users. We were so heads down building products that we neglected to make our users feel heard and listened to.

But that is all changing with a reawakening of our Movable Type user and developer community through Movable Type Open Source, the recently launched TypePad Community Advisory Board, and of course of new Media Services division which is devoted to helping bloggers succeed.

BR: We actively monitor a number of channels users use to express themselves, from Google, to Tweetscan, to Technorati, to you-name-it. This all comes back to what we are trying to do with our community because at the end of the day what motivates at Six Apart is helping people. When we see a new site launched using one of our tools, nothing gives me (and all of us) a greater sense of pride because we know that we helped someone.

And when a user is expressing frustration with one of our tools, we want to help—not just because we want them to have a positive experience, but because we are constantly striving to make our tools better.

Maybe one day our tools will be so perfect we will transcend the need to monitor Twitter for users talking about our products. On the other hand, if that day ever comes, then there is no doubt that we will have failed to push our products hard enough to stay ahead of the curve of what users want and need.

BR: I use Tweetscan and Summarize. I find most Twitter search tools work equally well, but I switch between tools just to see how those product evolve.

I actually don't have many suggestions for these tools, not because they can be made better, but because they do what I need them to do.

BR: Well, this interview comes to mind.

Bottom line the most important thing is the process of reaching out and connecting with people because at the end of the day, that is what really matters.

BR: I monitor inbound links to movabletype.org and movabletype.com using Google Blog Search. I monitor our support forums, and even our internal help ticket system we use with customers.

But strangely enough one of the greatest resources I have are the people out there that I have made a connection with who IM and email me links they find. Believe it or not, not everything is found via Google—sometimes it is an actual human! Hard to believe, I know...

BR: We are not a metrics-obsessed company. Sure we have them, and I look at them, but I tend not to stress out about it. Each of us at Six Apart is empowered and encouraged to focus on what we love and what we do well—that is one of the reasons we all love working here, but it is also one of the reasons I think we are so successful.

BR: I can certainly appreciate the feeling one might get from feeling input overload. Part of the trick is admitting to yourself that you can't, by yourself, sift through it all and then coming to peace with that. Even if you can only do it an hour a week, that is OK, especially if that means for that hour you managed to forge a connection with a new person, friend or customer.

The hope, of course, is that by connecting to one person, you in a sense also connect to their friends and their friends' friends. That is what social networking is all about.

BR: There is nothing I like more than the surprise people express when I contact them. "Oh my god, you actually read my Twitter messages!?!?" I think people have a deeply rooted need to be heard, so when you take the time to sit down with anyone, regardless of the medium, look them in the eyes and say, "you have my undivided attention, what can I do for you?" you are fulfilling an important human need we all share. And I love giving that to people.

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