MC Hammer at the 140 characters conference in NY talks about behaviour, & ups the value of the likes of Twitter for staying in the feedback loop, and monetizing his brand by staying in control of access:

MC Hammer: The behaviours have shifted right now. 140 characters 24 months ago was very trivial some of the conversations..why would you tweet this, why would you tweet that, all those things; and then they started to grasp the understanding of the business implications and how we could effect our customer relations, how we could effect mobilizing an audience – so studying the behaviour..so that’s what excites me right now.

Q: How are you using social media?

MC Hammer: Very strategically. I’m using it to shape behaviour, to stay in the feedback loop, to have a firm understanding of the totality of me as both humanising my brand as a person and the extended relationship between me and my audience…transparency is the key going forward. You as the brand control that access rather than a third person who monetizes seeing you where you are, sending their photographers, taking it and saying wow you are on TMZ.

See the full 15 minute conversation.

PS: Hammer says MySpace is now ‘old school’. He goes on to mention the value of the ‘total stream’ of tweets which give a picture of the business and the personal over many months. And references a recent lunch meeting with a guy from Salesforce.com and musician Neil Young to how to maximise the use of Twitter for artists.

His tip for interacting with people with a negative mindset on Twitter? Use the ‘block’ function. (He gets a round of applause fromthe audience when he says if he wants negativitity for his barnd or business he needs only turn on his TV).

Conversely he highlights people ‘doing good & doing well’ as an under-served market.