I found myself wanting to share a video (below), but then realized that the pathway I took in discovering the video demonstrates the value of having a Twitter presence that’s coordinated with a Website presence.

In calling it a “relay,” I’m inspired by my daughter’s recent field day activities – slapping hands or handing off a baton as runners trade-off each leg of the race.

The first half of the Twitter-Site-Blog-Twitter Relay was run by the publisher; the latter half is in my court. Right now, I’m running the Blog leg.

Here’s the full case history …

I’m starting to Tweet on writing topics @Wordsupply, and @girlgetstrong4 followed me. So, I visited http://www.girlgetstrong.com.

Once there, I found this College Humor short showing an “unplugged” version of Twitter – walking around the city and shouting Tweets instead of texting:

So, I decided to return-follow @girlgetstrong4 and write this post. A Tweet will be the next leg of the relay …

And don’t forget the baton: Dan Gurewitch (@dangurewitch) and College Humor (@collegehumor). Dan has at least one new fan, and the relay race is free.

My goal with Wordsupply is to help folks move the baton. Let me know how you’re running.

Skittles.com splash/home page

Skittles stirred up quite a bit of chatter this week by outsourcing most of its Website to major social networking sites.

In a move that is presumably acceptable to Twitter, YouTube, Wikipedia, Flickr, and Facebook (even though it reminds me of framing external sites within one’s own site, a technique long frowned upon since it traps visitors), Skittles sends visitors to its discussion pages on major sites. The “Chatter” link brings a Twitter search for all entries with “Skittles” mentioned in them; the “Friends” link brings Skittles’ fan page on Facebook.

A small red Skittles dashboard hovers over the external pages, unmovable in Firefox.

I’m impressed with this campaign because with the openness of its trademark rainbow (okay, maybe that’s too generous), Skittles is encompassing (okay, maybe coopting) communities where its consumers live – rather than trying to compete with them.

True, Skittles could build an island where people would discuss Skittles – but do you think people would go there? I assume that earlier versions of the site had some community experiments … assuming those grew slowly, if at all, can we blame Skittles for embracing communities where they’ve grown organically?

The same risk of heckling is there, but it’s housed within external sites. The challenge will be for Skittles to Tweet and engage within the communities it’s embracing. It may find that islands are easier to control, but in the long run, engaging with consumers where they live is bound to increase Skittles’ share of mind.

Whether your site links to an external social network or encompasses it within a Skittles-style dashboard, your firm has to engage these communities on their own turf.

P.S.: Note that Skittles asks for your age before giving access to its dashboard – and you must accept “terms and conditions” that aren’t disclosed through a link or pop-up – just outlined in the window’s text (see the orange box in the screenshot above). Perhaps one term is to allow tracking of one’s Tweets, Facebook activity, and YouTube commenting … only Skittles knows … UPDATE: Once signed in, there’s a link to a privacy policy.

Kudos to Andrew Savikas of O’Reilly Media’s TOC Conference for sharing inspiring videos from Rutgers English Department Chair Richard E. Miller.

Take a moment to view one or all of these videos. View them with thoughts of how your business ideas and research can also spread virally through the convergence of text, audio, video, and the Internet.

What ideas are you promoting as a consultant or author or service provider? How can your customers be better educated and better served through this media rather than a text-based FAQ or paper manual? Wordsupply’s presentation scripts and presentation text can knit your rich media together.

Here is Professor Miller’s two-part presentation:

Learn more about Professor Miller here:
http://english.rutgers.edu/faculty/profiles/millerr.html.