Who’s Talkin About Your Business?

Many say that the art of good conversation is listening. We say that the golden rule of conversing online is also listening. But to who? how do you know what’s worth paying attention to, or where to go to listen in? The Internet is a little larger than your local post office, so standing about eavesdropping probably wouldn’t do you much good – where to turn when you want to find out what people are saying about you, your business, or your products?

If you want to find out what’s being said by people online, you generally have 3 options:

1. study page after page of Google search results;
2. check every social media site, searching each conversation;
3. visit WhosTalkin.com

WhosTalkin? is a social media search tool which allows visitors to quickly search popular social media sites, hang-outs, and platforms for keyword mentions. It’s a simple, quick, and easy tool to find which conversations are happening right now about the products, companies, or events you are intersted in.

Type in the term you want to check out, click search, and WhosTalkin will treat you to a list of results that feature mentions of your chosen term. WhosTalkin scopes out Twitter, Technorati, MySpace, Facebook, and LinkedIn, along with most popular social networks – so it’s a pretty powerful way of getting to grips with the recent buzz around certain terms in no time.

WhosTalkin seems to have huge promise. Recent sites and services have shown good promise, but we usually end up searching various sites to try to get a feel for whats being said around the Web. WhosTalkin does the leg work for you and seems to do a very good job of it. An RSS feed is on the cards for subscribers in the future, and then I can see this tool becoming an invaluable resource for anyone who cares if people are talking about their business (that’s you, right?).

Throw in the ability to save searches, review trends, and get a feel for how old a conversation thread is, and we might be seeing the birth of a future superstar.

I can see a lot of situations where this tool will prove it’s worth: Last-minute checks for sales leads or potential clients; Check out what people are saying about you and your business; Scope your competitors web presence; Identify conversations that are happening now for you to join about your products or business; Search out conversations about your hobbies and passions; Find like-minded people; See who’s talking about Britney Spears (or is that just me?).

When things are made this easy, there really is no excuse for not keeping your finger on the pulse. Start listening in on Who’s Talking about you and your business, it’s the perfect way to start engaging in conversation with your potential customers. Of course, if no-one is talking about your business, chances are no-one cares. Either that or you’re just plain boring.