It’s no secret that the protests in Iran would be as hidden as the genocide still happening in Sudan if not for a free tool with a silly name: Twitter.  As hard-liner Mahmoud Ahmadinejad claimed a contested re-election victory in Iran, hundreds of thousands of people insisting that the election was rigged took to the streets.  When the government tried to shut down internet access, the people took to their cell phones to broadcast the injustices.

Even with limited internet access beyond cell phones,  You Tube was flooded with Iranian videos sharing the truth of what was happening.  We are in a new era where transparency is rampantly exposing the secrets and dirty tricks of hierarchies.

The statistics of how support for Iranian democracy through the interwebs skyrocketed on June 17th revealed that we had hit a tipping point. The Los Angeles Times has declared Twitter to be ‘Tyranny’s New Nightmare.”

The 21st Century, social media and social networks have had their Tiananmen Square moment.  The symbolism of Iranian’s tweeting and You Tubing what the government wanted to hide resembled the individual man who stood up the tanks in Tiananmen Square during their 1989 crackdown on democracy.

Old hard line systems are crashing faster and harder than ever as communication and relationships move faster on the interwebs.  If the Onion Article, Twitter Creator on Iran: ‘I Never Intended For Twitter to be Useful,’ is true, then Twitter is a massive failure and it’s time to rebuild that wall in Berlin.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Everyone loves to be influenced whether they admit it or not.  (And they love to buy and hate to be sold.) The fashion, music, entertainment and online industries thrive on this principal.  You, my friend, are a social influencer no matter whether it’s to a large or small degree.

Don’t you love to recommend cool music and movies to your friends?  Don’t you know at least one person who likes to know where celebrities vacation and what kinds of clothes they wear?  Don’t you remember how obvious this was when you were a teenager?  You still do it, you just have more self control now that you’re a mature adult.

Like it or not, if you’re in a human body you are an influencer and a marketer. If you choose to capitalize on this you may even become an expert used in influencer marketing.

The way you dress, the language you use, the city you live in, where you spend your time and money and many other factors reflect what you consume, how you think and what you do.

When you get excited about these things and talk to your friends about them you are marketing them and marketing yourself.  If you know about cool things first and your friends appreciate you turning them on to those things then you feel cool.

Marketing 101 theory is that people love to buy from people they trust and love.  In other words, people who’s opinions they think are valuable.

This value varies depending on your personal experience of the influencer who’s sharing or promoting a product or service to you. How you’re influenced by friends is the same deal as how you’re influenced by Madison Avenue, though your friends have more sway with you since you already like and trust them.

The main reasons that we like to be influenced are that we like to feel understood, appreciated and special.  We’re influenced greatly by messages that make us feel connected to a person, tribe, idea, product or service that we think is cool.

This is the basis of consumerism – people put themselves into debt and create a ton of stress for themselves by buying tons of stuff they don’t need with money they don’t have (credit cards, mortgages and car loans) to impress people they don’t know (and may not even like) but whom they think are worth trying to impress.

Psychological disorder, social brain washing or a marketers wet dream …or all of the above? – you decide.

I’m not judging this, just explaining it.  Look, this blog even has the word influence in the the title so you know I’m into it.

Now I invite you to pay attention to how you are influenced and how you influence others and comment here.  Do you agree with me or think I’m nuts.  Just post something to exert your influence a little and let me know you’re alive and reading this.

More and more individuals and businesses are starting to catch on to the power of social media for brand building, customer relations, connecting with peers to learn and share with, etc.  One of the reasons that it can be more powerful than traditional media is that it facilitates a two way (or more) authentic conversation.  This is one of many benefits and values to building communities around your company.

When I’m asked to explain the value of Twitter I find it hard to do so in less than 15 minutes.  Newbies ask how it’s like Facebook and their minds automatically throw them in the same category while they are very different animals.  Twitter is a much faster and direct business tool than Facebook while operating on a very different platform.

Since a picture is worth a thousand words and a video is worth even more, I’ve added this video to the blog to help you learn how to get the most from this powerful tool. Yes, it’s even longer than 15 minutes, but it is well worth your time and will deepen your understanding of how you can benefit from using Twitter for your business.  Sarah Milstein of O’Reilly Media created this great presentation.

Click here to view the embedded video.