Yes, today Klout changed their algorithm for calculating your Klout score

I think #Klout blew up again. Thoughts? #ToolsChat

October 26, 2011 10:14 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@BrandFlair

John D. Boyle

@sbhsbh My #Klout has been tanking quite a bit the past couple of months. I'm not doing anything different either. Must be algorithms?

October 25, 2011 10:48 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@staceysoleil

Stacey Soleil ☀

And even the well-known Klout gamers like Mark Davidson are up in arms (or is that just a game?).

@tec4_cleveland I went from an 80 Klout score on Saturday to... I think I'm sitting on a 60 score today. http://t.co/o7HAnp0w

October 26, 2011 10:12 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@markdavidson

Mark Davidson

But really, does anybody really care about your Klout score? We’ve already seen how easy it is to game the Klout system. Is your Klout score really helping you get more work, a better job, or a hotter date? And even if it has, if Klout adjusts the algorithm in a way that improves the scoring (even if the net result is most people see a dip in the number), won’t you still essentially stack up the same in a comparison?

The whole hoopla reminded me of a song by Chicago, that if written today, might go something like this:

Does Anybody Really Know What My Klout Is?

As I was walking down the street one day, a man came up to me
and asked me what the Klout was that was on my Mac, yeah, and I said-
Does anybody really know what my Klout is? Does anybody really care?
If so, I can’t imagine why we’ve all got time enough to cry.

And I was walking down the street one day. A pretty lady looked at me
and said her diamond Klout score had dropped cold dead and I said,
Does anybody really know what your Klout is? Does anybody really care?
If so, I can’t imagine why we’ve all got time enough to cry.

And I was walking down the street one day (people running everywhere).
Being pushed and shoved (don’t know where to go)
by people trying to beat the Klout (don’t know where I am)
oh, no I just don’t know (can’t see past the next step),
I don’t know (don’t have the Klout to influence the last Tweeter),
I don’t know, (have no K+ in my topic areas),
And I said, yes I said (just run around, run around and think why)-
Does anybody really know what their Klout is? Does anybody really care?
If so, I can’t imagine why we’ve all got Klout enough to die. Everybody’s running.

What’s your take on the Klout changes? Personally, my Klout score dropped from 59 to 49. And personally, I don’t care.

Related posts:

1. Follow Friday: #CoWorkers Follow Friday has been a long-standing meme on Twitter where...
2. The Origin of Follow Friday Follow Friday is a popular Twitter meme that has been...
3. Social Media and Knowledge Management Social media is often cast as being at odds with...

Every month a terrific group of bright minds meets in Los Angeles to share, challenge, drink and discuss how we can live an enlightened life. The gathering is known as Mindshare, and if you live anywhere within driving distance of downtown LA, I highly recommend it.

This past Thursday, Mindshare hosted a preview screening of Tiffany Shlain’s new film: Connected.

Connected takes on what it means to be connected in the 21st century. How does technology factor in? Why do we connected? Is our growing interdependence the next step in human evolution?  Shlain went in with this vision, but as so often is the case, life gets in the way. In her case, it was the cancerous brain tumor in her father, and her own high-risk pregnancy that caused her to tweak her vision for the film in a personal way.

The end result wasn’t revolutionary or mind-bending. The key premise is that we are evolving as a species, specifically by becoming more interdependent. To continue to grow, we must connect with each other — rely on others — and build stronger connections not only between the two hemispheres of our own brain, but between each other. The ideas are not ground-breaking. But Shlain tells the story in a way that is both personal and memorable.

Connected is currently playing in Los Angeles at the Arclight in Hollywood. If you get a chance, check it out.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. Social Media and Knowledge Management Social media is often cast as being at odds with...
2. What is Memolane? It’s been said that everything you do or say on...
3. Happy 5th Birthday, Twitter It’s been five years since Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey officially...

Follow Friday

As much as possible, I’ll let them speak for themselves through their own tweets, and only comment where I warranted. Oh, and if you’re so inclined, you can follow me on Twitter, too.

∆ Facebook Places Is More Popular Than Foursquare in the UK http://t.co/VLpiz9l via @Sprout_Insights

August 26, 2011 12:03 pm via twitterfeedReplyRetweetFavorite

@staceysoleil

Stacey Soleil ☀

Stacey is a social media maven. She’s founder of #CoWorking and very active in the SoCal social media scene.

Forkly App Matches Your Tastes To Nearby Restaurants & Bars http://t.co/pfkdIJ7 RT @mashable

August 26, 2011 9:35 am via Mashable FollowReplyRetweetFavorite

@sbeasla

Sukhraj Suki Beasla

Suki is a SoCal foodie with social media prowess.

With all the hoopla over #SteveJobs stepping down from #Apple We thought this HS yearbook photo would create some smiles http://ow.ly/6cXwY

August 25, 2011 3:00 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@Snakkle

Snakkle

Snakkle is not just a weird name, it’s the official Twitter channel for Snakkle.com – a site that specializes in cataloging photos of celebrities before they were famous. Silly fun.

Brian Temba: Chris Botti and Brian Temba http://t.co/JqQqI3W

August 24, 2011 3:52 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@Smandi8

Mandisa Makalima

Mandisa is a publicist in South Africa.

Limiting Social Media in Britain? - NYTimes.com http://t.co/pdTsIXS

August 26, 2011 6:47 am via bitlyReplyRetweetFavorite

@sbhsbh

Steve Hughes

Steve Hughes is based in New Jersey and tweets about social media, sports, and SEO (among other things). I don’t know if he visits tanning salons.

Want a FUN way 2 form new connections? http://t.co/InaLwdc #youcandosocial

August 26, 2011 12:02 pm via SocialOomphReplyRetweetFavorite

@kimgarst

Kim Garst ツ

Kim Garst runs SocialMediaBranding.com in Tampa, Florida.

I just bought 200 shares in (e)REPOGHOST on Empire Avenue http://t.co/dXqP0ML

August 26, 2011 7:14 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@SuryaRay

Surya Ray

Surya lives in New Delhi and is active on Empire Avenue.

Buffer Finds Tweet Scheduling Can Increase Clicks by 200% http://t.co/dXA9U8h

August 26, 2011 10:36 am via FacebookReplyRetweetFavorite

@DniseSonnenberg

Denise Sonnenberg

Denise is a social media consultant and also active in the SoCal social media scene. And I’ve hiked with she and her husband!

Olympic Coach Drobnick Talks About The State of Curling – Part 2 in our Series | Sin Sity Spiel http://j.mp/qHBUkN

August 26, 2011 11:51 am via BufferReplyRetweetFavorite

@cindyronzoni

Cindy Ronzoni

Until I met Cindy (she’s active in the local social media and WordPress community here in So Cal), I had no idea that people in Orange County were into any form of curling that didn’t involve irons.

A shipment of Nielsen-Massey Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Extract & Madagascar Bourbon Vanilla Bean Paste has arrived at Villa Cucina!

August 25, 2011 2:51 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@VillaCucina

Christina Morgan

Villa Cucina is the official Twitter account of one of my favorite little stores in downtown San Clemente. It’s maintained by Christina Morgan.

Two guys, a table and free advice... need we say more? #FreeAdvice @EmmettLoverde #WebSeries - http://t.co/vToaCzX

August 26, 2011 12:30 pm via VisibliReplyRetweetFavorite

@MingleMediaTV

MingleMedia TV

MingleMediaTV hosts both live and produced web TV programming.

Education Tech: Skype’s Vision for a More Connected Classroom http://t.co/n7cdRW5

August 26, 2011 12:24 pm via HootSuiteReplyRetweetFavorite

@Gabriella51

Gabriella

Gabriella needs to change her Twitter font color!

Old fashioned = any company that doesn't have free WIFI for customers & vendors.

August 25, 2011 10:25 am via Twitter for BlackBerry®ReplyRetweetFavorite

@juliefogg

Julie Fogg

Julie tweets about VoIP, call centers, Avaya and the “Immersive Internet.”

Do you balance work and life (family/spouse/kids) well? Willing to share any advice? #li

August 25, 2011 12:06 pm via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@alisonstripling

Alison Stripling

Alison consults with businesses needing help with social media.

New Poll: Items for College http://t.co/y4KNuNc Vote on The Explorer blog or on Facebook! #HigherEd #CollegeLife

August 25, 2011 10:51 am via Tweet ButtonReplyRetweetFavorite

@campusexplorer

Campus Explorer

CampusExplorer tweets news, advice and tips for preparing for college.

Getting ready to go live @ 8p ET/5pPT #LifeAfterKids join me for open chat nite: http://t.co/hXIVFzZ

August 25, 2011 4:46 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@DvinMsM

Marla Schulman

#LifeAfterKids LIVE at 8pm/ ET Come chat with me http://t.co/mAKpQYr

August 25, 2011 4:55 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@LifeAfterKidsTV

Marla Schulman

Marla Schulman hosts a couple of webcam shows, proving Seth Godin right — we can all be creators!

As you can see, there’s a heavy focus on social media (not surprisingly). If you’re looking to connect with people that can help you sort out what works and what doesn’t, give them a follow.

Want to be followed by me? Leave me a comment with your Twitter handle or retweet this post!

Related posts:

1. The Origin of Follow Friday Follow Friday is a popular Twitter meme that has been...
2. Social Media and Knowledge Management Social media is often cast as being at odds with...
3. Why Face to Face Still Matters in Social Media Last month, I shared how face-to-face meetings still matter. You...

I first heard about the milestone when I received (along with a million others) the following email from Reid Hoffman, co-founder and chairman of LinkedIn:

Dear Jeff,

I want to personally thank you because you were one of LinkedIn’s first million members (member number 548570 in fact!*). In any technology adoption lifecycle, there are the early adopters, those who help lead the way. That was you.

We hit a big milestone at LinkedIn this week when our 100 millionth member joined the site.

When we founded LinkedIn, our vision was to help the world’s professionals be more successful and productive. Today, with your help, LinkedIn is changing the lives of millions of members by helping them connect with others, find jobs, get insights, start a business, and much more.

We are grateful for your support and look forward to helping you accomplish much more in the years to come. I hope that you are having a great year.

Honestly, I have not been a very active LinkedIn user until recently, and I am still learning the ropes. But if you haven’t checked it out, it’s probably time for a fresh look. That’s why I’ve signed up for Neal Schaffer‘s upcoming LinkedIn Workshop on April 19th at SMMOC Labs.

Neal is an recognized LinkedIn expert and author of Understanding, Leveraging and Maximizing LinkedIn. He held a similar workshop back in the fall and got rave reviews. It’s a hands-on workshop — bring your laptop and be prepared to take specific steps that will help you get more value from LinkedIn. Join me there, and feel free to connect with me on LinkedIn.

So What Does 100 Million Members Look Like?

Here is a great infographic that illustrates what 100,000,000 members looks like.

Related posts:

1. Social Media and Knowledge Management Social media is often cast as being at odds with...
2. Why Face to Face Still Matters in Social Media Last month, I shared how face-to-face meetings still matter. You...

At the time, Twitter was a side project at Odeo (which it has grown to eclipse). I dug back into the archives and found my first blog post about Twitter, from February 15, 2007.

At the time, Twitter was officially described as “…a community of friends and strangers from around the world sending updates about moments in their lives.  Friends near or far can use Twitter to remain somewhat close while far away.  Curious people can make friends.  Bloggers can use it as a mini-blogging tool. Developers can use the API to make Twitter tools of their own. Possibilities are endless!”

I had been using Twitter since the fall of 2006, but actually (and unfortunately) closed my account in 2008  (losing over a thousand tweets and thousands of followers). Eight months later, I was ready to give Twitter another try. As you can see from this Birthday video, I’m not alone.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Incidentally, you can see a full list of all the people from that video with links to follow (if you’re so inclined) here.

Twitter has grown and evolved over the past five years. How long have you been using Twitter? How has it changed how you connect with your world?

Related posts:

1. Twitter Basics: Dealing with Spammers As Twitter grows in popularity, it’s inevitable that some people...
2. The Origin of Follow Friday Follow Friday is a popular Twitter meme that has been...

Social Media in the Real OC

Scott Stratton at LinkedOC

Here in Orange County we are fortunate to have a thriving social media community, supported by a number of regular, live events. Bryan Elliot’s LinkedOC leverages LinkedIn and holds monthly networking events with great speakers such as Scott Stratton and Seth Godin. These are big events, but you meet a number of interesting people who are building their tribe. LinkedOC lies somewhere between a social media group and an old school networking meeting.

My favorite event remains Bob Watson’s Social Media Masterminds of Orange County — or simply SMMOC. This group meets nearly every week on Saturday mornings from 9-11am in Costa Mesa, and draws a wide range of people with an interest in social media — from consultants to mommy bloggers and real estate professionals to enthusiasts.

The whiteboard at SMMOC. Click to enlarge.

The agenda is flexible. There is no projector or monitor, but there is wifi in the room. Attendees are free to use the whiteboard to write down discussion topics or share their Twitter handle. Bob is a terrific facilitator, deftly leading the group through two hours of fantastic interaction and learning. There are just three rules: no self-promotion, no acronyms (at least, not without a definition) and there are no dumb questions.

This group is up on the latest happenings in the social media realm, so whether you’re new to social media or an old pro (what defines someone as an old pro in social media??), you will learn and grow from the discussion. But the real value is in the relationships that are made and bonded through the face-to-face interaction.

SMMOC - Everyone participates

I’ve met and developed connections with a number of local social media mavens, mavericks and masterminds through SMMOC, including Bob (The Man) Watson, Mel Aclaro, Carina Zimmer, Scott Schang, Kirsten Wright, fellow San Clemente local Doug McClure, Matthew Gallizzi, Stacey Harmon, Chris Van Dusen, Eric Stegemann,  Michelle Lecours and too many to list here.

There is also a fair amount of crossover between this group and another of my favorite groups, the OC WordPress Meetup. Steve Zehngut and Jeff Turner of Zeek Interactive are sometimes in attendance, as are regulars Loren Nason, Cindy Ronzoni, Ross Teasley and Joan Ganter.

These people have helped me refine how I use social media, encouraged me to improve my blogging and helped me stay on top of the ever-changing social media landscape. My life is richer for the relationships.

Can you develop community and relationships entirely using social media alone? Certainly, but real-world face time strengthens those connections and accelerates the process.

How are face-to-face interactions helping strengthen your social and professional network?

Related posts:

1. Social Media and Knowledge Management Social media is often cast as being at odds with...
2. Face-to-Face Still Matters Earlier today we wrapped up three consecutive days of video...
3. The Origin of Follow Friday Follow Friday is a popular Twitter meme that has been...

A few of my 39 badges

I’ve been using Foursquare since their iPhone app first came out. The promise of Foursquare has yet to be fulfilled (for me), mainly because the demographic is so specific. You’ve got to have a smart phone (which used to be more of an issue than it is today). You and your friends have to care enough to bother checking in. And it helps to be located nearby. All this conspires to make Foursquare well suited for urban environs like NYC or San Francisco, or tech-saavy events like SXSW. Orange County is still a little too sleepy to realize the full potential of Foursquare.

That may be changing.

The most recent update to Foursquare incorporated a leaderboard. You could always compete on Foursquare with your friends for badges or mayorship of the local Starbucks, but the leaderboard brings a whole new level of competition to the “game” of Foursquare.

I upgraded to the new version as soon as it came out  – I’m religious about upgrading. But I didn’t really pay much attention to the new features. The most obvious new feature was the “Specials Nearby” which now shows the number and a list of all specials within a few miles of your current location.

When I checked in, I also noticed it showed my current rank, but I still didn’t pay much attention to that. Then I noticed some unusual check-in behavior. Pete McGowan — one of my friends at PlainJoe Studios — was checking in all over the place. He even checked in from the 15 freeway! Weird, right?

Ranked #7 at the moment

Then I stumbled upon the reason. Clicking on the leaderboard from your profile shows your rank next to all of your Foursquare friends. The gauntlet had been thrown down, and it seemed that — at least for some people — they were determined to sit at the top of that leaderboard.

#1 has over 300 check-in points!

My girlfriend will tell you I check in a lot. She marvels at my consistency, but really it’s just a matter of habit now. I figured I’d rank pretty high, which I do, but when you look at my total check-in points, it’s a fraction of those of my friend Pete.

It’s possible that some people are abusing their check-in powers just to game the system. But it’s also clear that Foursquare has taken the game aspect of their popular app to a whole new level.

Are you on Foursquare? You can find or follow me here.

Related posts:

1. What is Memolane? It’s been said that everything you do or say on...

In addition to opening Memolane up (strategically timed to take advantage of SXSW), they’ve also added integration with Instagram (yay) and MySpace (yawn).

As I’ve been playing with Memolane, I’m enjoying the interface. It’s a fantastic way to peruse your digital history. You can check out my Memolane — and feel free to sign-up and add me.

Still not convinced? Check out this video introduction to Memolane.

Click here to view the embedded video.

Related posts:

1. What is Memolane? It’s been said that everything you do or say on...
2. Creating Time-Lapse Videos on an iPhone Time lapse videos have always fascinated me. Maybe it’s the...

It’s been said that everything you do or say on the Internet is there for ever. But even with all the various websites and services we use, it’s still not easy to collect all those tweets, posts, photos and other artifacts in a organized way. Flavors.me does a fair job of aggregating this data, and Facebook is doing more and more aggregation. But neither of these attempt to take a historical look back at your activity. This is where Memolane attempts to fill the gap, creating a digital timeline of your contributions.

Currently in beta, Memolane allows users to configure a variety of popular services and then automatically collects them in a timeline. The services supported include Facebook, Twitter, Flickr, Last.fm, Picasa, RSS feeds, YouTube, Vimeo, Foursquare and TripIt, with support for additional services promised.

The results are pretty amazing. You can scroll back through time and see where you checked in, what you tweeted, what photos you posted and so on. Across the bottom of the screen is a series of vertical lines that represent a granular view of time that lets you quickly scroll through years of data. Slick!

You have control over whether you share this publicly or not, but I noticed some glitches. For instance, if you have photos marked private on Flickr, they still come over into your Memolane timeline. Depending on your Memonlane settings, they may be visible in your “lane” regardless of your Flickr settings. Not great, but then it’s still in beta.

If you’re interested, you can check out my Memolane here.

UPDATE: Beta Invites

Memolane Community Manager Meghan Krane graciously gave me an invite code to share with you (thanks, Meghan!). If you’d like to try Memolane for yourself, sign-up here using the invite code “hester”.

No related posts.

Social media

The subject of this week’s KMers.org tweet chat emphasized this tension: Corporate Social Media vs. Intranets. The implication is that social media and knowledge management are at odds and one is destined to be the solitary victor.

Reality Check.

Social media and knowledge management aren’t at odds at all. In fact, the most successful knowledge management systems embrace social media, but with a business mindset. The smart KM implementations leverage blogs, subscriptions, communities, discussion forums, and member profiles. They tie it together with search in a single working environment. And they look for opportunities to tie in other tools to streamline knowledge sharing — everything from instant messaging (i.e. Sametime) to micro-blogging (i.e. Yammer).

A few of the comments that really stuck out in our discussion today bear this out. We were asked for tips on optimizing the integration between social media applications and intranets. Here are a few notable responses:

Q4: first start with the people...their natural processes or needs...then the tech. Get all the stakeholders to agree, then solve. #KMers

February 22, 2011 10:32 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@TKBeard

Tammy Bearden

Tammy Bearden hits the nail on the head: it all starts with people.

Q4: Use blogs to replace email broadcasts and newsletters. Offer email alerts and RSS feeds for all content. #KMers

February 22, 2011 10:38 am via TweetChatReplyRetweetFavorite

@stangarfield

Stan Garfield

I like Stan Garfield’s advice to meet people where they are, which for many is still the email inbox.I’ve found the ability to subscribe and get email notifications to be an invaluable tool for engaging the workforce. I would even say it’s essential, and we’ve found it to be a tremendous attraction at Fluor.

Q4: Single sign-on & pre-populated profiles are critical. Don't ask people to remember yet another login and password. #KMers

February 22, 2011 10:37 am via TweetChatReplyRetweetFavorite

@BarbaraFillip

Barbara Fillip

Barbara Fillip reminds us to take the member eye view. Remove barriers to participation, where possible. Single sign-on is just one example.

Thanks to Stan Garfield, Liz Williams, Tom Menke, Ryan McClead, Sean Brady, Tammy Bearden, Antoon van het Erve,  Matthew Loxton, Barbara Fillip, and the other participants who shared their knowledge and insight. You can read the entire tweet chat transcript online, as well as check the schedule of upcoming discussions on KMers.org. We gather via Twitter every Tuesday at noon Eastern time. If you’re a KM professional, you should be a part of the discussion.

Related posts:

1. Knowledge Management is Not a Software Solution At Fluor, one of our favorite sayings about knowledge management...
2. APQC 2011 Knowledge Management Conference Knowledge Management (KM) is a phrase that confounds many. Many...

Follow Friday

Follow Friday is a way for Twitter users to recommend other Twitter users to their followers. In essence, when you mention someone in a Follow Friday tweet, you’re saying to all of your followers, “You follow me and like my tweets, so you’ll probably also like the tweets from these people, too.”

How Follow Friday Began

Follow Friday can be traced back to this tweet from Micah Baldwin (@Michah) on January 16, 2009.

I am starting Follow Fridays. Every Friday, suggest a person to follow, and everyone follow him/her. Today its @fancyjeffrey & @w1redone.

January 16, 2009 10:53 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@micah

Micah Baldwin

The concept was simple enough. Suggest a person to follow using the #followfriday hash tag, and your followers should follow them.  Since then, #followfriday has been abbreviated to simply #ff.

If you’ve been active on Twitter for any length of time, you’ve likely seen yourself mentioned in a Follow Friday tweet. This is generally a good thing, because it means someone thought you were worthy of recommending that all of their followers also follow you.

The problem with many Follow Friday tweets is that they include very little context. Ideally, when you see one of these tweets, you should have some idea about why this person is worth following. In some cases, the person doing the recommendation may have a great reputation for only suggesting really good people to follow, and you can simply trust their recommendation.

Other times, the context is self-evident, as in this Follow Friday tweet:

Friday follow! @EastonMtnProd @TheSoCalHiker @RimCountry

February 18, 2011 9:07 am via webReplyRetweetFavorite

@HikingLady

Hiking Lady

It’s pretty clear from the name of the tweeter (@hikinglady) as well as at least one of her follow recommendations (@theSoCalHiker) that these recommendations probably have something to do with hiking. If you’re into hiking (which you probably are if you’re following @hikinglady) then you may well be interested in following these other hikers, too.

What about when you don’t know the tweeter well, and the context of the recommendation is unclear? Should you simply follow their recommendations? What is the proper etiquette for responding to a Follow Friday tweet?

Follow Friday Tweet Etiquette

There are two parts to Follow Friday tweet etiquette: what you do when you receive follow recommendations, and how you make your own #FF recommendations.

First of all, never simply follow everyone who gets suggested unless you have a high level of confidence in the person making the recommendations. Barring that, if it seems like an obvious fit (i.e. the hiking example above), you can make a judgement call. Most of the time, I will take a few moments and actually click to view the user’s twitter profile and recent tweets. I want to make sure their tweets seem to fit the subject and content I would be interested in. And I also ignore any users with the telltale signs of a twitter spammer.

When making your own Follow Friday recommendations, the best way to do it is by adding a little context. At today’s Social Media Masterminds of Orange County  – better known simply as SMMOC — Kirsten Wright (@kirstenwright) suggested that rather then sending a long list of names, send a tweet with just one name and a little context explaining why they are worth following.

If you're going to use #ff, mention one person, and explain WHY you listed them. Not just a spam list of tons of people #smmoc

February 19, 2011 10:09 am via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@kirstenwright

Kirsten Wright

Fellow SMMOC-er Mel Aclaro (@melaclaro) took this concept one step further and suggested that rather than just posting a list of twitter names, write a blog post introducing you to these people and why they are worth following. You can tweet the Follow Friday announcement with a link to your blog. A great suggestion, and one that I’ll be using in the near future.

Creating a Follow Friday Tweet, Step-by-Step

1. Is it Friday? If not, don’t use the #ff hash tag. It’s bad form. Save your Follow Friday tweets for Fridays. If you want, you could use a tweet scheduling service like CoTweet or

Other Twitter Memes

Memes come and go, but Mashable posted a partial list of Twitter memes for every day of the week.

As you grow more comfortable with Twitter, begin using the Follow Friday techniques to share your favorite people and reap the karma you’ve sown.

Related posts:

1. Piping Hot Blackbird Pie “Sing a song of sixpence, A pocket full of rye....
2. Twitter Basics: Dealing with Spammers As Twitter grows in popularity, it’s inevitable that some people...

Growing up, we all sang the familiar song. Thankfully, I’ve never tasted blackbird pie (nor do I desire to). I never even really thought much about what I was singing as a child, otherwise I might have gagged.

Fortunately, there’s a new kind of Blackbird Pie that’s actually quite tasty. I’m referring of course to the fantastic Blackbird Pie plugin for WordPress.

The Blackbird Pie plugin let’s you easily quote a tweet with the links and look of the original tweet, like this:

Four and twenty blackbirds, baked in the most excellent WordPress plugin for sharing tweets: http://t.co/az5d46g

February 20, 2011 7:28 pm via Twitter for MacReplyRetweetFavorite

@jeffhester

Jeff Hester

Blackbird Pie adds an icon to the TinyMCE visual editor. When you are editing your post, click the Blackbird button and you’ll see a screen that let’s you paste in the URL to the tweet you want to share, or search for a tweet.

My original tweet. The URL is highlighted and copied to the clipboard.

Here’s the dialog for inserting a tweet:

The sweet thing about Blackbird Pie is that all the links that would be “live” in the original tweet are live in your post as well, including linked Twitter handles, the client used and any links.

The Twitter API is called only the first time. The generated HTML is stored in a hidden custom field so subsequent loads won’t rely on Twitter uptime.

If you ever have occasion to post a tweet on your WordPress-powered website, Blackbird Pie is a must-have plugin. And it’s also supported on WordPress.com, too!

*Incidentally, some say the 24 blackbirds baked in a pie refers to an actual historical event. Who knew?!

Related posts:

1. Twitter Basics: Dealing with Spammers As Twitter grows in popularity, it’s inevitable that some people...

Here’s how to detect a Twitter spammer and what you can do to help stop them.

Watch your new followers carefully. I get email notifications of new followers. This morning in my inbox I had a number of new followers in quick succession.

That the first tip-off: a cluster of new followers in a very short period of time.

Opening one of the emails, I noticed something unusual. The email shows what tool they used to follow you — TweetDeck, Co-Tweet, etc. — but in this case, “Hazel G” followed me using angulate leafhopper. Hmmm… smells like B.S. to me. Sure enough, the link went to the website of a limo service in NYC.

Looking at the number of tweets (zero), I can tell right from this email that this isn’t a real person at all. No need to check their profile. Click the report Hazel G for spam link to notify Twitter that this non-person is actually controlled by a spammer.

You might not be configured to receive email notifications of new followers. Instead, you can view your followers and see who’s new. A quick look and it’s easy to see more clues that they are a spammer.

In this case, Hazel’s bio offers further clues. First of all, she doesn’t look like the sort of woman who would call herself an “iPhoneSlut” nor does she look like she’s into hip-hop (no offense to middle-aged white women who love hip-hop).  Sometimes I wish the spammers would at least do a little more work creating their fictitious identities. The current results are hilarious. And it gets better. Consider “Ernest”:

Ernest must curse the day her parents have her a guy’s name. Maybe that’s what drove her to become a punk rock, high fashion hippie.

I thought that was strange combination of interests, but apparently it’s much more common than I thought!

What kismet! Elizabeth is also a punk rocking, high fashion hippie who is saving the world. Maybe they were separated at birth (by more than 20 years?).

At any rate, you get the point. It’s not hard to spot a spammer. So what how do you handle them? Report them to Twitter:

This will block them from following you (which could possibly mislead your real followers) and notifies Twitter of abuse. They get enough of these, and Elizabeth’s account gets suspended.

The Bottom Line

What’s the lesson here?

1. Don’t auto-follow people who follow you. Although it takes more curation to vett followers manually, the net result is higher quality communication and less noise. Your goal with Twitter should never be to collect the most followers, but to build relationships with people who matter to you.
2. Report the spammers. If we all do this regularly and consistently, it will improve the Twitterverse for everyone. It only takes a click!

I’ve seen a number of people recently using TrueTwit. This sends new followers a direct message asking them to verify that they are a human via a CAPTCHA. Personally, I find this a nuisance, but I understand why some people resort to such a service.

What tools and techniques do you use to stop Twitter spam?

No related posts.

LinkedIn Labs has introduced InMaps – a visualization of your LinkedIn network. I first heard about InMaps via a Tweet from fellow #SMMOCer Mel Aclaro. LinkedIn wisely made sharing easy, and so a quick search will find plenty of fresh tweets about this as people discover the new feature.

I gave InMaps a quick spin and quickly discovered LinkedIn’s not-so-subtle ulterior motive: You can’t create a visualization unless you have at least 50 connections and your profile is at least 75% complete.

I’ll bet you a cold beverage that LinkedIn enjoys an sudden surge in both profile completion and network connections as a result.

For LinkedIn, it’s a brilliant move. By offering something sexy that people want (the groovy diagrams) but requiring them to step up and engage on a deeper level, the entire network wins. And (theoretically) they drive the behavior that they want from their community — people sharing deeper knowledge about their experience and connections.

How can we bring change to our community/organization/business/world? One small incentive at a time.

If you care, you can check out my visualization, create your own, or connect with me on LinkedIn.

No related posts.

One of the wonderful things about an iPad is that you can take your virtual library with you where ever you go. Spare moments become opportunities to catch up on reading. I’ve got three different e-readers: the Apple iBooks app, the Amazon Kindle App and the Google Books app.

iBooks is great for storing and reading PDFs, and I’ve ended up with a collection of user guides and work-related papers there. Google Books is interesting, and free, but I have yet to purchase anything or even seriously read anything with it. So far the Amazon Kindle app has been my favorite. The price of Kindle books tends to be a little cheaper than iBooks for some reason, and the reader works great.

Recent Reads

Over the holidays I managed to burn through three books (all consumed via the Kindle app):

UnMarketing: Stop Marketing, Start Engaging by Scott Stratton is a great read on how to leverage social media as a way to engage and build relationships with your customers. Instead of shouting to them from a soapbox, engage them in a conversation.

Keith Ferrazzi’s Never Eat Alone: And Other Secrets to Success, One Relationship at a Time is a few years old, but the stories and experiences he shares still piqued my interest. Ferrazi came from humble beginnings and went on to do quite well. He chalks it up to the power of connecting to people. Not using them, but building genuine relationships that are mutually beneficial.

The 4-Hour Body was written by Timothy Ferriss, author of the New York Times bestseller The 4-Hour Workweek. It’s designed to be read in sections, picking in choosing based on your own goals and objectives. His views are provocative — he’s a big fan of pharmaceuticals — and I’m still chewing over his ideas.

One of the observations after reading these books on my iPad is that while it’s wonderful to have  a selection of books with me at all times, the experience of working through a book is less satisfying. I mentioned this to my girlfriend (a Kindle fan) and she agreed. You don’t get the tactile satisfaction and immediate appreciation for where you are in the book. Yes, I know that there are visual cues like the little slider at the bottom of the screen, but it doesn’t replicate that feeling you get as the pages ahead become fewer and lighter.

My January Reading List

So this month, I’m going old school and reading physical books. Fortunately, Santa was good to me this Christmas, and my bookshelf is full. Here’s what’s up this month:

An Intimate History of Humanity by Theodore Zeldin. Published in 1994, this book looks at history from a humanistic perspective. Rather than look at history as a series of chronological events, Zeldin looks to history to discover “How some people have acquired an immunity to loneliness,” and “How respect has become more desirable that power.” Interesting premise.

Web Form Design – Filling in the Blanks by Luke Wroblewski is considered by many to be the definitive resource for usability of the all-important point of interaction between human and machine: the web form. Consider that I am using a web form to compose and submit this blog post. You may (hopefully) use the web form below to share a comment. We use web forms for email, discussion forums, chat rooms, documents, banking and shopping. They are — for now — the primary method of interaction on the web. And yet, so few websites do them well. I’m hoping to do my part to change that.

FBML Essentials by Jesse Stay is less of a read and more of a reference guide to FBML — the Facebook Markup Language. You may hear more about Facebook from me in the not-too-distant future.

Guy Kawasaki is a former Apple Fellow and noted entrepreneur and venture capitalist. His book The Art of the Start is a guide for anyone starting anything — whether that be a new product, service, company or club. Since I’m always starting up something, I figured it wouldn’t hurt to learn from a master.

What Would Google Do? is Jeff Jarvis’ treatise on how to do business in the Age of Google. The first few sentences from the book offer a telling glimpse at the premise: “It seems as if no company, executive, or institution truly understands how to survive and prosper in the internet age. Except Google. So, faced with most any challenge today, it makes sense to ask: WWGD? What would Google do?”

My book report will follow. First I have some reading to do!

No related posts.