Jan Shimano Posts that she did not bother with Twitter and Facebook till recently.
" There has been a lot of chatter going on lately about how the viral nature of Twitter and Facebook can actually increase a person's profits substantially. For the longest time I took very little notice of these two websites, but as so many people I knew were telling me that they had opened their accounts, I had to take a serious look at them.
It didn't take me long to find out that both of these sites were enormously popular. I had thought that most of the people using these social networking sites were teens, but I was in for a surprise when I saw how many serious and well-known business people had a Facebook and a Twitter page."
I think there are still people not using Twitter and Facebook. I f you do business on the Internet you constantly need to adapt and change for the whole article click More
http://creatuempresaonline.blogspot.com/2008/12/twitter-and-facebook-why-should-i.html
Friday, December 26, 2008
When to Use Twitter
I was reading a blog post in Onlinesapiens Blog
It said not having a blog means you are not a player. If you lack that personal publishing presence, that means you don’t have a voice on the modern web. It’s a position of web marketing weakness.
If you are using social media to participate and build a reputation, you need to back it up with some substance. And though some may disagree, my take is that substance frequently requires more that 140 characters.
Twitter is not enough!!!
Start by researching and saving online your bookmarks. Then create a blog where you can add your content and reflections. Only then you should start tweeting.
When I first read the post I agreed but then I thought about the man that was writing a book on twitter one tweet a day. I think it is up to each of us to use the tools available and make them work to our desires and needs.
Twitter in the Fourth Quarter
Here is a glance at some of the more interesting findings.
- Twitter is dominated by newer users - 70% of Twitter users joined in 2008
- An estimated 5-10 thousand new accounts are opened per day
- 35% of Twitter users have 10 or fewer followers
- 9% of Twitter users follow no one at all
- There is a strong correlation between the number of followers you have and the number of people you follow
There is a strong correlation between the number of followers you have and the number of people you follow
If you want the complete report go to FULL REPORT
Twitter New People Search (Again)
Friends, family, or colleagues on Twitter, you can now find them. Now Twitter re-launched people search, which lets you search the service by username or first, last name to find other users. The feature had been taken down earlier this year when Twitter was experiencing downtime issues.
In addition to helping you find people, or simply see whether or not you’re the most popular Ann, Adam, or Susan on the service, the search interface integrates Twitter’s invite tool that lets you email your friends about Twitter.
Part of that tool is an address book import which will show you which of your contacts are already on Twitter so you can follow them. That feature’s also not new, but when included with Twitter’s now prominent people search, it could give yet another viral boost to the service.
Best of all, all of these features, at press time, are loading extremely fast, lending more credibility to the notion that Twitter’s performance issues are behind it. You can check out people search from here or from the new “Find People” link that has been added to Twitter’s main navigation menu.
Thursday, December 25, 2008
UK Goverment Officials use Twitter
Government ministers Tom Watson and David Lammy are among MPs who have signed up to a portal of parliamentarians' Twitter feeds
Tweetminster was launched on 18 December 2008, with four MPs: Cabinet Office minister Watson, the Labour MP Andy Reed, Grant Shapps of the Conservative Party and Liberal Democrat Jo Swinson, who mentioned the service on its launch day in the Commons.
Three more MPs have since joined: Liberal Democrat Lynne Featherstone, Labour MP Kerry McCarthy and higher education minister David Lammy.
Looks like a good way to get feedback without long discusions
Rate, Tag And Categorize Your Twitter Friends with TwitTangle
Another Twitter application launches. TwitTangle, a service that takes information about your followers from the Twitter API and enables you to put a layer on top by rating and tagging them, and also lets you categorize them in groups.
Like most Twitter apps, TwitTangle requires you to enter your credentials in order to use the service, so that’s up to you. If you do, you’ll find that the look and feel closely resembles that of the Twitter web version, with some added functionality but without the ability to see replies or direct messages. You can filter tweets by period or by tag. Of course, you need to tag all your friends first, so that’s quite a drag if you follow lots of people. Once you’ve taken the time to rate your friends (from ‘Just friends’ to ‘I love them’), you can view a custom timeline that takes your ratings into consideration and shows the updates of your best rated friends first.
Most useful is the Groups feature, which users have long been waiting for Twitter to implement themselves (for the record, they do offer this functionality for the Japanese version), but it’s not nearly enough to justify using TwitTangle daily, particularly because the basic features that make Twitter a good two-way communication channel are not in there. Also, there are no RSS feeds, nor a search function.
Definitely needs more work.
The Night Before Twitmas
By David Niall Wilson
http://blog.twitter.com/2008/12/night-before-twitmas.html
‘Twas the night before Twitmas, when all through the house,
Not an interface stirring, not even a mouse;
The E-cards were printed with Holiday Flair,
And a Blip.FM Christmas tune hung in the air;
The rugrats were down for the count in their beds
While visions of Playstations danced in their heads;
And ma with her zinfandel, I with cognac,
Had just settled down to build, box, wrap and stack;
When on both of our speakers, there arose such a clatter,
We refreshed our screens to see what was the matter.
To open new windows I sprang in a flash,
Double-clicked Tweetdeck and awaited a crash.
My home page awash in ani-gif Snow,
Gave a holiday luster to the pages below.
When what to my tired bloodshot eyes did appear,
But an @tweet from Santa all filled with good cheer.
A 140 character message so slick,
That I knew in an instant it came from St. Nick.
More rapid than fingers can fly, the tweets came,
And he messaged his reindeer @ each one by name,
“@Dasher! @ Dancer! @ Prancer @Vixen!
@ Comet! @Cupid! @ Donder @Blitzen!
To the Twitter Elite! To the folks at Twitwall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As bits in a torrent with DSL fly,
When they hook up and download with only one try,
So up to the top of the Twitter Trends flew,
Those Twittering Reindeer, and St. Nicholas too.
And quickly I favorited each one as proof,
Of the pokes and the prods of each Qwertying hoof.
Then I started to type a reply when I found,
That the program had closed and the OS shut down.
I turned to the fireplace and sat back in shock,
For despite ADT, the deadbolt, and the lock,
The man of the hour had invaded our space,
And he stood there, arms crossed, with a smile on his face.
He had widgets and gadgets and software and more,
And he spilled it all out of his bag to the floor,
Then he unplugged the monitors, Wi-Fi and cable,
And stacked them all neatly on Ma’s coffee table.
He waved his fat arms and the phosphors, they flew,
And he showed us a new thing that Santa can do,
While all we could do was to sit, and to stare,
He opened up Facebook right there in the air!
He filled in the profiles, our children and friends
And the others neglected by retweets and sends.
He clicked on the X in the far upper right,
And he winked, and it all disappeared from our sight.
Then laying his finger aside of his nose,
He turned to our chimney, and up it he rose.
We heard music and laughter, we rose and we hugged,
Then we glanced at the Internet cables, and shrugged,
For the moment the lolcats and e-mail and Spore,
By their silence gave Christmas a little bit more,
Of the spirit of family, magic and cheer,
That we expect from this time of the year.
We stepped to the window and watched the night sky,
As the sleigh, and the reindeer, and Santa flew by…
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Twitmas to all, and to all a good-night.”
‘Twas the night before Twitmas, when all through the house,
Not an interface stirring, not even a mouse;
The E-cards were printed with Holiday Flair,
And a Blip.FM Christmas tune hung in the air;
The rugrats were down for the count in their beds
While visions of Playstations danced in their heads;
And ma with her zinfandel, I with cognac,
Had just settled down to build, box, wrap and stack;
When on both of our speakers, there arose such a clatter,
We refreshed our screens to see what was the matter.
To open new windows I sprang in a flash,
Double-clicked Tweetdeck and awaited a crash.
My home page awash in ani-gif Snow,
Gave a holiday luster to the pages below.
When what to my tired bloodshot eyes did appear,
But an @tweet from Santa all filled with good cheer.
A 140 character message so slick,
That I knew in an instant it came from St. Nick.
More rapid than fingers can fly, the tweets came,
And he messaged his reindeer @ each one by name,
“@Dasher! @ Dancer! @ Prancer @Vixen!
@ Comet! @Cupid! @ Donder @Blitzen!
To the Twitter Elite! To the folks at Twitwall!
Now dash away! dash away! dash away all!”
As bits in a torrent with DSL fly,
When they hook up and download with only one try,
So up to the top of the Twitter Trends flew,
Those Twittering Reindeer, and St. Nicholas too.
And quickly I favorited each one as proof,
Of the pokes and the prods of each Qwertying hoof.
Then I started to type a reply when I found,
That the program had closed and the OS shut down.
I turned to the fireplace and sat back in shock,
For despite ADT, the deadbolt, and the lock,
The man of the hour had invaded our space,
And he stood there, arms crossed, with a smile on his face.
He had widgets and gadgets and software and more,
And he spilled it all out of his bag to the floor,
Then he unplugged the monitors, Wi-Fi and cable,
And stacked them all neatly on Ma’s coffee table.
He waved his fat arms and the phosphors, they flew,
And he showed us a new thing that Santa can do,
While all we could do was to sit, and to stare,
He opened up Facebook right there in the air!
He filled in the profiles, our children and friends
And the others neglected by retweets and sends.
He clicked on the X in the far upper right,
And he winked, and it all disappeared from our sight.
Then laying his finger aside of his nose,
He turned to our chimney, and up it he rose.
We heard music and laughter, we rose and we hugged,
Then we glanced at the Internet cables, and shrugged,
For the moment the lolcats and e-mail and Spore,
By their silence gave Christmas a little bit more,
Of the spirit of family, magic and cheer,
That we expect from this time of the year.
We stepped to the window and watched the night sky,
As the sleigh, and the reindeer, and Santa flew by…
But I heard him exclaim, ere he drove out of sight,
“Happy Twitmas to all, and to all a good-night.”
Colleen Graffy, Deputy Assistant Secretary of State for Public Diplomacy, a fan.of Twitter
In a Washington Post op-ed, Graffy (pictured here on a trip to Estonia) explains how she is using Twitter to advance U.S. public diplomacy:
Twitter is just one more tool through which we can connect, and by linking my messages to video and photos, I can inform whole new audiences about U.S. views and ideas in a format with which they feel comfortable. Twitter blends the personal with the professional:
When You look at Graffy's Twitter: it's basically mind-bullets from a harried senior State Department official. ("Back from the gym, off to the office"; "FYI: Bed, Bath and Beyond Coupons don't really ever expire"; "catching flight to Santa Barbara for Christmas--thx 4 your replies on article, will catch up when I land.")
Twitter can be a great tool: think here of the tweet-by-tweet accounts of the Mumbai terror attacks.
Fund Raising With Twitter
Laura Fitton of Pistachio Consulting started a new kind of fundraising drive: an effort to raise $25,000 for a nonprofit called charity: water, This charity works to bring clean, safe water to developing countries. Laura chose Twitter as her way to raise $25000.00. She was aware of the economy being difficult for many people, she didn't want to ask for large amounts of money "I asked for $25,000," she says, "which would be just $2 for each reader I have on Twitter."
In four days, @wellwishes had raised over $5,000. Average pledge size has been $8.50, the median is $2. And the beneficiary has taken notice. "I see micro-giving as the next stage of online fund raising," says Scott Harrison, founder and president of charity: water. "The idea of thousands of $2 gifts adding up to wells in Africa that impact thousands of lives is something everybody can get behind."
Obama's campain looked similar , but @wellwishes is a whole new model because it incorporates convenient, tiny donations made right on Twitter. Using payment service from a company called Tipjoy, it's both simple and social to give. Your pledge shows up on Twitter as "p $2 @wellwishes for charity: water to save lives" (This is shorthand for "pay $2 to the Charity organization whose user name on Twitter is wellwishes.") And that message goes -- instantly -- to all of the people who follow you on Twitter.
Laura Fitton (her Twitter user name is Pistachio) kicked off the campaign with an announcement of the experiment:
p $2 @wellwishes just to practice my hand at using micropayments on @tipjoy
In a later Tweet, she made her appeal:
I want something TOTALLY insane for Christmas: 12,500 people each to donate $2 for clean water @wellwishes.
And many did. Okay, these are pledges, not donations. But just as poor people pay their micro-loans, so micro-donors make good on their pledges -- so far, an astonishing 86% have come through.
And then there's the fact that the request gets personalized as people pass it on. Some add just a phrase: "very cool". Others say the same thing, but with more characters: "small bits via Twitter + big audience = better world".
The message is as important as the medium --- using Twitter/Tipjoy, everyone who participates is both a donor and a broadcaster.
What is great about this system is that for a couple of dollars you are helping people make a difference in the world. I hope this trend continues.
In four days, @wellwishes had raised over $5,000. Average pledge size has been $8.50, the median is $2. And the beneficiary has taken notice. "I see micro-giving as the next stage of online fund raising," says Scott Harrison, founder and president of charity: water. "The idea of thousands of $2 gifts adding up to wells in Africa that impact thousands of lives is something everybody can get behind."
Obama's campain looked similar , but @wellwishes is a whole new model because it incorporates convenient, tiny donations made right on Twitter. Using payment service from a company called Tipjoy, it's both simple and social to give. Your pledge shows up on Twitter as "p $2 @wellwishes for charity: water to save lives" (This is shorthand for "pay $2 to the Charity organization whose user name on Twitter is wellwishes.") And that message goes -- instantly -- to all of the people who follow you on Twitter.
Laura Fitton (her Twitter user name is Pistachio) kicked off the campaign with an announcement of the experiment:
p $2 @wellwishes just to practice my hand at using micropayments on @tipjoy
In a later Tweet, she made her appeal:
I want something TOTALLY insane for Christmas: 12,500 people each to donate $2 for clean water @wellwishes.
And many did. Okay, these are pledges, not donations. But just as poor people pay their micro-loans, so micro-donors make good on their pledges -- so far, an astonishing 86% have come through.
And then there's the fact that the request gets personalized as people pass it on. Some add just a phrase: "very cool". Others say the same thing, but with more characters: "small bits via Twitter + big audience = better world".
The message is as important as the medium --- using Twitter/Tipjoy, everyone who participates is both a donor and a broadcaster.
What is great about this system is that for a couple of dollars you are helping people make a difference in the world. I hope this trend continues.
Plane Crash Survivor Sends Tweets
When a Continental Passenger plane skidded off the runway at Denver airport on Saturday, the 155 passengers and crew might have been understandably preoccupied with how they would escape from a plane that was being engulfed by flames. But for software engineer Mike Wilson the first priority was to report on his disrupted travel arrangements to his followers on Twitter.
After the crash he delivered a detailed account of the crash to users of the service - down to the airline's failure to offer him a drink. Here is his Tweets
14 December, 4.06pm Whew! Christmas shopping pretty much done. 100% online except for a couple of gift certs.
20 December, 5.25pm Holy fucking shit, I was just in a plane crash!
5.58pm This was crash No 2 for me. Maybe I should start taking the bus.
8.22pm You have your wits scared out of you, drag your butt out of a flaming ball of wreckage and you can't even get a vodka-tonic. Boo.
11.22pm [From computer at home] Sorry for the radio silence, but my battery died in the middle of all this and I just made it home.
11.57pm Pretty exhausted at this point, so I'm heading off to bed. Good night!
21 December, 8.29am Waiting in the continental club for the "replacement" flight. Noticing I'm a little sore.
5.25pm I'm sitting as close to the exit as possible this time.
7.57pm Touchdown! Crowd goes wild!
Dell Uses Twitter to Make $1,000,000 worth of Sales
Michael Dell should get credit for pioneering the direct sale of PCs to the public. The reality is he was not the first but he did it better than the rest.
When it was reported that Dell had sold a million dollars in sales using Twitter, people take notice. This is a small amount of sales for Dell but in this economy the test project was a success.
"It's not rocket science, but give them credit for jumping on it," said an executive with another PC maker. "Everyone can do the same thing--and they likely will."
"We did it as an experiment," said Dell's Bob Pearson, who heads up communities and conversation for the company. "We wanted to see whether people would sign up." By that measure, it was a success. Pearson said that about 65 Twitter groups had formed in the last half year. "It showed us that there are a certain number people who want alerts about certain types of products."
One thing is proven that online people like to share ideas and take recommendations from thier peers.
When it was reported that Dell had sold a million dollars in sales using Twitter, people take notice. This is a small amount of sales for Dell but in this economy the test project was a success.
"It's not rocket science, but give them credit for jumping on it," said an executive with another PC maker. "Everyone can do the same thing--and they likely will."
"We did it as an experiment," said Dell's Bob Pearson, who heads up communities and conversation for the company. "We wanted to see whether people would sign up." By that measure, it was a success. Pearson said that about 65 Twitter groups had formed in the last half year. "It showed us that there are a certain number people who want alerts about certain types of products."
One thing is proven that online people like to share ideas and take recommendations from thier peers.
Twitter is in Overdrive
Internet marketing company HubSpot show new research conducted has found that between 5,000 and 10,000 people a day are signing up for Twitter daily, in the rapidly expanding world of Twitter everyone is looking at different ways to market in Twitter.
A great product Twitter Power Marketing is being offered for free to readers of How to use Twitter.
You can get your free copy at Twitter Power Marketing
Twitter Adds Search Function "People Search"
A people search function has finally added to Twitter website.
Twitter has taken a while to add this function but what it means is that you can search for someone by their real name.
The first users to use this function reported getting mixed results. names they were not searching for were showing up in the results.
The results showed the search is caps sensitive When you take off the caps, and as long as the person you are looking for is a Tweet, then you should be able to find them no problem.
You can either search for names in the main search bar or go to the new, dedicated 'Who Are You Looking For?' option.
Twitter has taken a while to add this function but what it means is that you can search for someone by their real name.
The first users to use this function reported getting mixed results. names they were not searching for were showing up in the results.
The results showed the search is caps sensitive When you take off the caps, and as long as the person you are looking for is a Tweet, then you should be able to find them no problem.
You can either search for names in the main search bar or go to the new, dedicated 'Who Are You Looking For?' option.
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