Host of GeekBeat.TV
My passion is technology. I host GeekBeat.TV, a show all about technology, gadgets and exciting research that's shaping our future.
I speak a lot about social media, technology and the future of tech at corporate events and conferences around the country. For more information on having me speak at your event, click here.
12 Days of Twitter :: Day 11
(What the heck are the 12 days of Twitter?)
There’s been a lot of controversy lately about Twitter spam. I’ve already talked about the kind that we don’t have to want. The kind you can get rid of by unfollowing or blocking. Tonight though, I’m writing about something that many people might argue isn’t spam at all. It’s stuff in the gray area, and if it isn’t spam, at the very least, it’s Twitter pollution. You’ve seen it. It’s everywhere. Companies create a contest that encourages people to tweet with a branded hashtag. I’m a capitalist. I’m all about free speech, so I think if a company wants to do that, they should have the right to do it, but my hope is that the Twitter community will say no by not participating.
Twitter is a great place for community, and communities are a great place to do giveaways to promote a product or service. Giveaways are fun for community members, and get lots of attention for companies. If you spend more than five minutes a day on Twitter, I’m guessing you’ve seen multiple tweets with #squarespace and #moonfruit in them lately. The tweets have absolutely nothing to do with the companies Square Space or Moonfruit, though. The included hashtag is purely an effort to enter a contest put on by those companies to win something, and the rules typically specify that you can tweet about anything you want, as long as you include the branded hashtag.
In full disclosure, Square Space is coming on board as a new sponsor of GeekBrief.TV. While I like the service they provide, I don’t agree with any company using hashtag spam to create interest in a contest. If you’re one of the people who doesn’t think it’s specifically spam, I think you’ll agree that it does add clutter and confusion.
Now, I want to be clear on something. I love giveaways! I love the use of Twitter for giveaways. I just think there’s a better way.
I’ve use a service called TwitRand to do giveaways. I let everyone know I’ll be doing a giveaway in the next month (or whatever the time frame is … usually a Drobo). They have to be following me in order to enter, then I let TwitRand randomly pick a follower. I have nothing to do with the outcome, so I can’t be biased in picking a winner, and I don’t have to do any extra work in collecting information from the contest entries. It’s much cleaner and much simpler.
The downside to this option is it doesn’t get people involved. There are ways to get people involved that doesn’t clutter up the space, though. You could ask a trivia question, you could ask people to comment on something and pick the funniest response. You can also use TwitRand to pick a random person that has retweeted a particular phrase or keyword. There are many options that encourage your followers to be active without cluttering up Twitter and confusing people who aren’t clued into what’s going on.
When you’re building a business, the only thing that really matters is your reputation. MoonFuit and SquareSpace are good companies. Their Twitter spam damages them more than it helps. On Twitter, you want your message to be who you really are. Companies will always offer you incentives to be something different, but no amount of money is worth adding and abeding the twitter spammers.
I’d love to hear your thoughts on contests and Twitter. Leave a comment below!
Read More
Introduction to the 12 Days of Twitter
Day 1: The Secret Code: What are all those initials and symbols?
Day 2: Use TweetDeck to Manage Conversations
Day 3: Share Your Funny Anecdotes While They’re Still Funny
Day 4: Follow Responsibly
Day 5: 3 Newbie Mistakes Made by New Tweeters
Day 6: Use Twitter Search to Connect and Find
Day 7: Twitter Mobile
Day 8: Five Awesome Things You Can Do with Twitter
Day 9: Mix It Up!
Day 10: If You’re Not a TweetDeck, You Might Be a Seesmic
Day 12: Schedule Tweets in Advance
12 Days of Twitter :: Day 10
(What the heck are the 12 days of Twitter?)
Since I started the 12 Days of Twitter series, I’ve had conversations that have come up about Seesmic. Given the interest, and yesterday’s announcement from Seesmic, I decided to devote today’s Twitter Tip to them.
Seesmic has two free products – Seesmic Desktop, and Seesmic Browser, which was released yesterday. I mentioned Seesmic briefly in my post about TweetDeck. From that, you know I use and love TweetDeck. Before TweetDeck added multiple account support though, Seesmic was what I used to deal with multiple twitter accounts. I’m ultimately a TweetDeck girl, but whenever I suggest someone use TweetDeck, and they say it’s too much for them, I recommend Seesmic instead.
After many, many conversations, I get the impression the two applications appeal to completely different types of people. If you like TweetDeck, Seesmic might not meet your needs. If you like Seesmic, TweetDeck might come across as information overload. Both companies are doing a great job at appealing to their kind of user. I gave a run down of TweetDeck earlier. Today’s all about Seesmic, so let’s take a look at what they have to offer.
Seesmic Desktop
Seesmic Desktop uses columns for your Friends, Replies and Direct Messages. It’s fairly simple, while still offering the ability to include saved searches, rearrange your columns, and view the application in single or multiple columns.
Those of you who want simple and small can choose the Single Column view in the bottom left corner. You can also click the three arrows above Home to shrink your navigation menu.
When you’re ready to reply to someone or send a Direct Message, hover over their icon and hit the @ symbol to reply publicly, or the Mail icon to reply privately.
It also has Userlists, which are customized groups. You can group your personal friends in one userlist, your family members in another one and your co-workers in a third. Click the “+” icon in the left column beside “Userlists”, and name your group. To add people to a group, hover over their icon, click on the Gears icon and choose “Add to Userlist”.
Seesmic Browser
Yesterday, Seesmic released a new browser option. You don’t have to download a separate application. At first glance, it looks pretty similar to Seesmic Desktop with the Timeline and Mentions columns, but the single view button changes everything. Click that and you get a list of your messages in small rows down the page. Leena Rao from TechCrunch points out, that it looks very similar to the Gmail interface. I love that they’re thinking different. They’ve taken an interface and a format so many of us love and they applied it to Twitter.
Just like Gmail, you’ll see a star beside the person’s name. This will add the tweet to your Favorites list, but I’ve been using it to mark tweets I need to respond to later. Once unstarred, it’ll be taken off your Favorites list.
You can click the message to see the person’s picture and respond. The other cool thing is Messages, where your DMs are kept. Your private conversations are threaded, so when someone sends you a Direct Message and you respond, you’ll see the entire conversation in one place…very nice!
I imagine they’ll be updating Seesmic Browser and adding a few more features in the near future. The Single Column feature on Browser is a huge plus for me, and one that I will encourage me to use Seesmic more often.
Read More
Introduction to the 12 Days of Twitter
Day 1: The Secret Code: What are all those initials and symbols?
Day 2: Use TweetDeck to Manage Conversations
Day 3: Share Your Funny Anecdotes While They’re Still Funny
Day 4: Follow Responsibly
Day 5: 3 Newbie Mistakes Made by New Tweeters
Day 6: Use Twitter Search to Connect and Find
Day 7: Twitter Mobile
Day 8: Five Awesome Things You Can Do with Twitter
Day 9: Mix It Up!
Day 11: Twitter for Prizes and Profit
Day 12: Schedule Tweets in Advance
12 Days of Twitter :: Day 9
(What the heck are the 12 days of Twitter?)
As Twitter quickly takes over the world, small and large businesses are seeing the need to have a presence on Twitter. Although it’s easy to see the need to be on Twitter, it can be difficult for both businesses and individuals to immediately understand what, when and how to tweet. People ask me all the time if they should get personal on Twitter, so let’s talk about that on today’s Twitter Tip.
The first thing to remember with any tip I give, is that it only matters if you are trying to build a network or audience. If you are just tweeting and don’t care if anyone follows you, then make your own rules!
For those of you who do care about building a network or making new friends, what should you tweet about? Obviously, you’ll want to talk about what interests you first and foremost. If you’re Gary Vee and you care about wine, you talk about wine, so it makes sense that Gary tweets about wine. If you’re a good VP of Marketing, hopefully you have a passion for marketing and it would make sense for you to tweet about marketing. I love technology and consumer electronics so I tweet tech and gadget news. Here’s the thing, though…I don’t just tweet links to new episodes of GeekBrief.TV on Twitter. I don’t just post information that I hope people find valuable. I don’t just post This Day in History tidbits. I don’t just post personal anecdotes. Gary Vee is interested in baseball, so he tweets about the Dodgers and the Mets. A VP of Marketing might also be a foodie, and if she is, she should tweet links to pictures of food from her favorite restaurant.
The combination of insight into someone’s life, promotion and valuable information is what works for a lot of us on Twitter (not to mention blogs and web shows), so mix it up!
Where the line becomes blurred for a lot of people is the question of how much personal is too personal. That’s obviously a question only you can answer, but remember future employers or your mother might read your Twitter stream. My best advice is to use the same self control as you do in the real world.
UPDATE: Please see my first comment below for additional thoughts.
Read More
Introduction to the 12 Days of Twitter
Day 1: The Secret Code: What are all those initials and symbols?
Day 2: Use TweetDeck to Manage Conversations
Day 3: Share Your Funny Anecdotes While They’re Still Funny
Day 4: Follow Responsibly
Day 5: 3 Newbie Mistakes Made by New Tweeters
Day 6: Use Twitter Search to Connect and Find
Day 7: Twitter Mobile
Day 8: Five Awesome Things You Can Do with Twitter
Day 10: If You’re Not a TweetDeck, You Might Be a Seesmic
Day 11: Twitter for Prizes and Profit
Day 12: Schedule Tweets in Advance
12 Days of Twitter :: Day 8
(What the heck are the 12 days of Twitter?)
So far on the 12 Days of Twitter series, I’ve blogged about the how-tos and the don’t dos. I’d like to take a break from anything that looks like rules and show you five awesome things you can do with Twitter that might surprise you.
1) Did You Know You Can Automatically Tweet New Blog Posts?
If you’re a WordPress blogger, TwitterTools is my favorite WordPress plugin for Twitter. It gives you the option in each post to automatically post a link to Twitter when you hit the Publish button.
Step 1: Install and activate the Plugin (directions here)
Step 2: Update the settings
It’ll even give you the option of adding your tweets as a post on your blog. Take a look at all the options. It has a lot of potential.
2) Did You Know You Can Track a Package via Twitter?
To receive Direct Message updates on a FedEx, UPS, DHL or USPS package, start by following Twitter user TrackThis. Once they follow you back, you’ll be able to send a DM to TrackThis with your tracking number. Whenever your package reaches a new destination, you’ll get an update.
Step 1: Follow TrackThis
Step 2: Send a Direct Message with the tracking number, followed by a nickname for the package. Example: “D trackthis 09356676312 Kindle”
3) Did You Know You Can Use Twitter to Update Google Calendar?
You can connect your Twitter account and your Google Calendar to add events to your calendar by Direct Message. It’s like having a personal assistant!
Step 1: Follow the instructions at Twittercal.com to get set up
Step 2: Send a Direct Message to gcal to enter a new calendar appointment. Example: “D gcal meeting with John P at Twisted Root on Saturday July 10 at 1:00 PM”
4) Did You Know You Can Use Twitter as an Alarm Clock?
You can use Twitter as a way to get reminders for appointments, phone calls, etc. Start by following Twitter user Timer. Once they follow you back, you’ll be able to send a DM to Timer with your request. When it’s time for your appointment, you’ll get a reminder. It will work best if you turn on SMS updates for Timer so you actually get audibly pinged when you’re away from your computer.
Step 1: Follow Timer
Step 2: Send a Direct Message. Include when you want the reminder (30 minutes from now) and the message for yourself. Example: “D timer 30 Go to Fry’s”
In 30 minutes, you’ll receive a Direct Message with a reminder to “go to Fry’s”.
5) Did You Know You Can Visually See What Your Friends are Doing?
TwitterForBusyPeople.com gives you a more visual view of your friends on Twitter. If you don’t have time to read all the tweets from everyone, let yourself browse by viewing just the latest tweet from people by hovering over their picture. It’s broken up into people who have tweeted in the last hour, the last day, or more than a day ago.
It’s a pretty awesome way to browse through tweets!
I have to give a shout out to Amit Agarwal from Digital Inspiration. He has even more tips in his very amazing Twitter Guide.
Read More
Introduction to the 12 Days of Twitter
Day 1: The Secret Code: What are all those initials and symbols?
Day 2: Use TweetDeck to Manage Conversations
Day 3: Share Your Funny Anecdotes While They’re Still Funny
Day 4: Follow Responsibly
Day 5: 3 Newbie Mistakes Made by New Tweeters
Day 6: Use Twitter Search to Connect and Find
Day 7: Twitter Mobile
Day 9: Mix it Up!
Day 10: If You’re Not a TweetDeck, You Might Be a Seesmic
Day 11: Twitter for Prizes and Profit
Day 12: Schedule Tweets in Advance
12 Days of Twitter :: Day 7
(What the heck are the 12 days of Twitter?)
We’ve talked about using Twitter with twitter.com and desktop applications. Today, let’s take a look at how you can continue the conversation even when you leave your desk and roam around the world.
SMS
To keep up with your Twitter friends on-the-go, you might want to take advantage of Twitter’s SMS Notifications, and receive a text message when someone you’re following tweets. The great thing about the service is that it’s an a la carte option. Even if you’re following 200 people, you can choose to only get text messages from 1, 7, or all 200 of those people. WARNING: Standard text messaging rates apply.
When you set up your Twitter account, go into Settings, then choose Devices. Here, you can set up your mobile phone number. It’ll give you a code and a number where you want text messages sent. Complete that step to verify your number and begin receiving messages.
If you’re already following a bunch of people, go to your following list at the top of your profile (click on “168 Following”). You’ll see each person you’re following listed with an icon beside their name that looks like a mobile phone. If it’s gray, you will NOT receive SMS alerts from that person. If it’s green, you WILL receive alerts. Click the icon to change the setting.
From here on out, when you follow someone new, you can specify whether you SMS notifications for that person immediately, rather than going back into your following list. Click on “Follow”, then choose “On” or “Off” under Device Updates.
Here are some helpful commands you can use from your mobile phone to turn updates on, off, or stop following someone.
Using SMS for Twitter Notifications
On = turns on ALL notifications on via SMS
On username = turns on notifications for just that user
Off = turns off ALL notifications on via SMS
Off username = turns off notifications for just that user
Stop/Quit = stops all phone notifications
Follow username = follows that user
Leave username = stops following that user
iPhone Apps
There are lots of iPhone apps to help keep you up to date when you can’t access your computer. Using an app means you can skip paying for SMS. There are two I love and use. Tweetie is $2.99. It’s simple and breaks up All Tweets, @Replies and DMs into tabs for easy viewing.
TweetDeck is free and syncs your Groups and Searches between your desktop app and your iPhone. The interface is beautiful, and breaks up your Tweets, @Replies and DMs into different pages rather than tabs.
UPDATE: Since I don’t use other phones, please feel free to comment below on your favorite non-iPhone mobile phone apps!
Read More
Introduction to the 12 Days of Twitter
Day 1: The Secret Code: What are all those initials and symbols?
Day 2: Use TweetDeck to Manage Conversations
Day 3: Share Your Funny Anecdotes While They’re Still Funny
Day 4: Follow Responsibly
Day 5: 3 Newbie Mistakes Made by New Tweeters
Day 6: Use Twitter Search to Connect and Find
Day 7: Twitter Mobile
Day 8: Five Awesome Things You Can Do with Twitter
Day 9: Mix it Up!
Day 10: If You’re Not a TweetDeck, You Might Be a Seesmic
Day 11: Twitter for Prizes and Profit
Day 12: Schedule Tweets in Advance