I rarely participate in follow Friday. If I do participate I usually only tweet one or two people and I give a description of why I gave that user a #ff. It also takes a little time because I have to pick the tweep and figure out what to say about them. I have been looking for a way to get more people to add value back to the weekly tradition. I think Klout’s new +K ability can do it because it helps narrow down a specific reason to follow someone.

Klout is a service that gives people a rank based on their social networking and sphere of influence. It’s designed to be able to easily find people that are knowledgeable  in certain topics. Until now Klout has been entirely based on a computer’s analysis. Klout made recent changes to add human input to scores. They call this new ability +K. To use it you have to have a Klout account, which is as easy as signing in with Facebook or Twitter. You get 5 +K to give away each day. When you look at users there is a list of topics that Klout thinks they have influence in. You can choose any topic and give it a +K, similar to a Facebook like.

Ok, so how is this going to save #FF? This Friday I plan to incorporate +K into my #ff tweet. I will choose who I want to give the #followfriday and look them up on Klout. Then I’ll look at their list of topics and pick one I think sutis them best. I’ll give them the +K for that topic and tweet it out with and #ff added to the tweet. I have’t decided if I will modify the tweet in any way or just add the #ff. I would appreciate feedback on that.

Can Klout really save follow Friday? I don’t know if it can or not. I know that at least this will reduce a #ff tweet to one person per tweet, restrict the total amount of #ff to 5, and provide context as to why I chose them. The fact I gave them one of my 5 +K should also add further validation that this person is worthy to be followed.

Do you think Klout +K can help follow Friday (plz click link to vote in Facebook poll)?  Maybe it will add the value back to #followfriday or maybe it won’t do anything, we’ll see. I challenge you to give it a shot this Friday and see what happens.

Originally posted on PenguinSpark

Old style retweet

If you’re new to Twitter you may know be familiar with the concept of “old style retweets” (now often referred to as “retweet with comment” vs “new style retweets”. Here’s a quick rundown on the history of the retweet (RT).

When Twitter began there was no retweet built into the service. There was also no way to “like” or forward tweets you want to share. The Twitter community recognized this and immediately started “retweeting” things tweets they like. They wanted to give credit to the author so the idea to let people know they were “retweeting” something someone else had tweeted came about. Since Twitter is 140 characters retweeting got shortened to simply “RT”. Users would simply repost a tweet and put the RT at the front, followed by the original Tweeters @name and their tweet.

This method filled the need and worked well for a while. The problem arises when someone wants to retweet something that someone else has already retweeted. Do you add a second RT? Do you cut out the original RT and use your own? And finally, how can you track these? Sure they show up in your mentions but trying to track the individual tweet by sorting through mentions is cumbersome.

Twitter decided to officially adopt retweets. The new version eliminated the RT and the persons @name in front. Instead Twitter chose to display the original tweet on your timeline, complete with the original Tweeters avatar and all. The only thing that indicates who retweeted is their name followed by a little recycle looking arrow circle or a small version of their avatar overlaid on the corner of the original Tweeters, depending on the Twitter app you’re using. The new style retweet made it easier to track retweets since it was actually forwarding the original tweet and not reposting it.

The Twitter community went up in arms at the time. They claimed it was confusing because people would see tweets from people they weren’t following and it would confuse them. There were also complaints that this new style retweet could be abused to spam peoples timelines. While these were somewhat valid complaints the truth is both “old style” and “new style” retweets can be somewhat abused, and I’m going to tell you how.

Original style retweets take what someone else said and puts your name and avatar on it. New style retweets push someone elses account through your timeline. So deciding which to use comes down to two things: do you want to promote your account or do you want to promote another account?

Lets say you have your personal account and then decide to start a business account. You ask followers to follow it but you just can’t get the community built fast enough. So you decide to tweet from your business account and then retweet it from your personal account. This exposes your business account to people that aren’t following it and the hope is they will click out of curiosity and follow. Or someone that always intended to follow was too lazy to do it, and now it’s easy for them.

Successfully Hijacked Tweet

Now lets say you read a tweet that you believe has viral potential. Maybe you want to steal some thunder from the orignal tweeter and get a slice of the viral wave. Using old style retweets, or “retweet with comment”, allows you to do what I refer to as tweetjacking. The hope is your followers retweet it using the new style or “natural” retweet. This allows you to use someone elses content to get yourself put in front of people that aren’t following you.

I’m not saying there’s not benefits and non abusive ways to use both. I’m just pointing out that both can be used in a spammy way. So while people complained their timelines could get spammed they should have complained adding a new style the creates synergy between the two in relation to spamming. Have you seen any other abuse of retweets I didn’t cover?

Originally posted on PenguinSpark

I present Empire Avenue. Empire avenue is essentially a basic stock trading game but it stands out by making you the stock, and so anyone else that plays the game.

Your stock price is based on activity in your social networks. Facebook, Twitter, Facebook pages, YouTube, Flickr, your blogs, and last but not least: Empire avenue itself. That’s correct, Empire Avenue is a game based on your social networks, and is a social network itself. The first day I joined I met someone that lived not far from me. He promoted my account and got me into Team Zen which is an active community on EA. I had a noticeable bump in blog traffic and people started actually following my YouTube channel.

The more activity you do on your social networks the larger your stock dividend payouts are. Dividends go to your share holders so the larger your dividend the more people will buy you. The more people that buy you the more your stock price goes up, just like real life stock!

As you earn more ea (the currency in Empire Avenue) you have the option to buy upgrades that allow you to purchase more stock in people, join more communities, or advertise yourself. These upgrades can also be purchased outright with cash. What makes this setup awesome is that you can play the entire game with EA’s. Most games like this tend to put a curtain over cool things to entice you to pay $ for it but Empire Avenue gives you the opportunity to enjoy everything without putting a single $ into it.

At first it seemed like a fun gimicky concept that would keep me entertained for a week. But then I realized something: I had a burning desire to increase my stock price. I looked at the scores for each of my networks and focused on what I needed to do.

My Twitter score was the highest of the bunch so I continued to do what I do there. My Facebook score was lower than I thought it would be so I knew I needed to pick up slack there. Since then I have increased my Facebook score to be larger than my Twitter score. I also started uploading vids to YouTube and pics to Flickr for that little extra oomph. I found I am more dedicated to blogging because it has a significant impact on dividends, and a good post can reverberate into your other networks.

So what I started with is a fun game that depends on actual people. What I ended with is a light weight social media analytics service, with a built in social network, that also has a fun element to help push me along. I definitely recommend giving Empire Avenue a shot. What’s your social media stock worth?

Sign up with this link and we both get 2,000 extra EA.

Originally posted on PenguinSpark

Gust of wind up to 60mph will today will be fun at work… I guess I’ve lived long enough. – Declan Sullivan

This looks like something we see on Twitter every day. A statement from someone about their work conditions and their response to it. These tweets aren’t likely to get retweeted and the only replies will be from people that know him or have an interest in wind gusts.

In 2009 Pear Analytics issued a study concluding that 40% of tweets are pointless babble.  I would have to say tweets about your job fall under pointless babble. No one really cares why your job sucks.

This raises the question: If a tweet is deemed as worthless babble, does that mean the tweet is entirely worthless?

Upon arriving at work Declan tweeted:

Holy f*** holy f*** this is terrifying.

And that was the last thing Declan Sullivan ever tweeted. Declan was videoing football practice for the University of Notre Dame from atop a camera tower when it collapsed and sent him into a fatal fall.

All of a sudden these tweets that I considered worthless have much more meaning. The Indiana Department of Labor agrees as well.

On January 11, 2011 Indiana OSHA subpoenaed Twitter for access to Declan’s tweets stating in paragraph 5 of the subpoena:

The Twitter information could contain information that may prove that the University of Notre Dame employers required Mr. Sullivan to be on the lift during knowingly hazardous conditions and that the employer acted with plain indifference to the conditions and the law.

While our tweets may not be important our lives our. So go ahead, tweet about that tuna sandwich you had for lunch, the person that pissed you off in the breakroom, and other things we agree are completely worthless. Because in the end, what’s worthless may be worth more.

Originally posted on PenguinSpark

Originally posted on PenguinSpark

1. Foursquare

If you don’t already have a Foursquare account get one. You don’t have to use it anywhere else but a conference is the best place to start. All you have to do is check in at the conference then look at who else is checked in. Go through the list and add invite all these people. This exposes you to them and creates an opportunity for them to look at your twitter profile.

2. Hashtags

Every conference has a hashtag if it has tweeters. It is usually the name or truncated version. For example: Nardisgras is #Nardigras & 140 Conference is #140conf. Find out what it is and create a twitter search on your smart phone (if you don’t have a smart phone get one). Save the twitter search and look at it every now and then. Respond to what other people have tweeted and retweet anything interesting. You also need to send out tweets with the hashtag in them. Share the experience of whatever you’re doing. If a speakers says something you really like quote it, if you see an awesome gadget on the floor take a picture and tweet it. Remember to put the conference #hashtag on everything!

3. Tweetadder

TweetAdder(affiliate link) is an automated Twitter follower/following tool. TweetAdder allows you to search for users in many different ways and then load them into a list to be followed. Use the keyword search ability and search for the hashtag for the conference. Add the search to the automated search list. TweetAdder will slowly follows these users. You can also set TweetAdder to unfollow people that don’t follow you back after the conference is over.

Using these three tools people have the potential to see you in several places. The more places they see you the more likely they are to follow you. When you get home from the conference you can go through your following list and get rid of anyone you don’t like. What else do you do at conferences to gain followers?

Originally posted on PenguinSpark

Here’s a method I use all the time to find and engage people that might like my blog. The first thing I do is consider how potential readers might be looking for information you blog about. The old school method is to make a Google search advertisement sit back and wait for the traffic. If you are strapped for cash and have a little extra time then there is a free way to accomplish the same thing on Twitter.

Create a search on Twitter that narrows things down to single handedly identify people that need what you are writing about. I blog about how to use social media so I have active search’s I use to target people that need help using Facebook, Twitter, and other social media. One search I use is: facebook how do I. This searches for a combination of all 4 words. I created this because someone is more than likely going to tweet something like: “How do I make a list on facebook” or “how do I block farmville on facebook”.

Twitter search in Hootsuite

Then I look through the search until I find a tweet that asks a question that I have a blog post answer for. This person wants to change their facebook url and I have a blog post that explains how to do that. I go to the blog post and copy the URL.

Copy the URL

Once I copy the URL I like to turn it into something I can easily track to see if the person I sent it to or anyone else clicks it. I also like to shorten the link so I get more characters in my tweet. I like to use bit.ly for this.

Copy the shortened bit.ly link

Then I copy the shortened link and go back to Twitter. I click on reply to the person I want to send the post to. Since this tweet is coming out of the blue from someone they don’t know I like to add a message so they hopefully recognize I’m not a robot but an actual person willing to help.

The tweet I'm sending

This is a great way to build up loyal readers. You won’t drive thousands of readers to your blog this way but you are proactively building relationships with people. When you have a relationship with someone they will come back more frequently, subscribe to emails, follow you on Twitter, and promote you to everyone they know.

Are there other ways to find individual people that would be interested in a blog post? Tell me things you have done to actively find people to read your stuff.

thumbnail credit

Originally posted on PenguinSpark

Facebook updates can be a lot longer than 140 characters.

If your facebook status update goes to Twitter and it’s more than 140 characters the whole thing won’t show up. Instead there will be a link that goes to the rest of the comment on Facebook.

If you are using a business page anyone can see the update, even if they don’t have Facebook. But if they don’t have Facebook they can’t interact with you there and might not go back to Twitter and interact.

Another reason you might want your tweets going to Facebook is not everyone will click on the link to go to Facebook. This means fewer people are likely to see your entire message which makes it less effective.

[button style="note" link="http://penguinspark.com/2010/how-to/how-to-make-tweets-facebook-status-updates/"]How to connect Twitter to Facebook[/button]

Originally posted on PenguinSpark

Originally posted on PenguinSpark

After Landon Donovan’s game-winning goal against Algeria, which caused me to fling my key lanyard across the bar in a fit of hysteric and slightly inebriated joy, there were reports that made it sound like the Internet damn near died at that moment. And no, not Prince dead.

You know what was really cool? Other than the supergeeks, like my boss, thinking 2012 was coming early – the way we watch sports has changed. In leaps and bounds.

Admittedly, during USA and other major matches I wasn’t all atwitter, technologically speaking, about the matches. Mostly from the increase in blood pressure.

But for the matches I watched while sitting on my couch or in class, Twitter was like a multinational watch party. Yes, I still fist-pumped in class, but I was able to cheer on Twitter. Without being yelled at by my professor.

Twitter isn’t just changing the way we view the World Cup, but any major cultural event. Award shows, breaking news, LeBron James – no matter where you are, bored at a cheese-tasting with your girlfriend or surrounded by three unfriendly walls and a stapler, you can have a conversation. You can share your excitement, disappointment, shock and hilariously snarky remarks about what just happened.

If you’re lucky, you’re friends will be there on the other end. Ready to pick up on the conversation from whatever situation they are uncomfortably stuck in.

Originally posted on PenguinSpark