Mack Collier, as usual, put out a helpful post today on how to write great blog comments and rightfully so, I wrote a comment (hopefully a great one) – but after submitting my thoughts and reading again, I began thinking; the focal point of this post is not only on how to leave great comments, but to really read and understand what the author is writing about. Doing so helps you understand and provide further value in your own thoughts. But, what if, the problem lies there, with the readers. Not those who read the entire post but those who are…
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For those immersed in Twitter, there’s usually a weekly hot topic that has the community abuzz and last week was no different. Ashton Kutcher threw down a challenge to CNN to see who can hit 1 million followers first. This seemed to not only be the crowning moment for Ashton, as he won the ‘race’, but for Twitter and it’s increased mainstream popularity.
The following day, Ashton was on the Oprah show (via Skype) and talked Twitter, along with guest Evan Williams (Twitter CEO). That episode, along with Oprah‘s joining and promotion of Twitter, has skyrocketed Twitter’s name. It may seem like a great time to be on Twitter but there has definitely been mixed emotions about this mainstream recognition.
Ultimately, I see people on two sides of this debate – the Optimists and the Detractors. (more…)
We utilize these social media tools on a daily basis. For what? To build and grow our networks and relationships within. To showcase our abilities on blogs and to bring that value into conversations with other people looking to grow from our knowledge. We look to learn ourselves, from people we connect with and the content we read. Hell, some of us want our egos stroked a bit in the process. But sometimes, just sometimes – there’s something we experience that isn’t really expected: (more…)
Simple thing, really. Hi. How are you? I’m a marketing nerd that loves basketball, the gym and Twitter. Wanna exchange numbers? Let’s hang out! OK, that may be the dumbed down version but you get the point. We’re introduced to new people almost every day, in personal or more formal situations. We hope there’s an initial connection and then build off of that with two-way conversations. (more…)
How to Tweet You Way Out of a Job – it’s been going around Twitter all day so if you haven’t seen it, take a quick read. I’ll wait.
Ok – so, basically what happened was a fortunate job hunter, @theconnor, landed a job at Cisco and apparently felt the need to blurt out some rather interesting comments about the position/company – sadly (ironically) a Cisco employee saw the tweet and responded accordingly. It’s pretty easy to get caught up in Twitter and feel like you’re talking to your college buds over a beer but transparency isn’t really at question here, its common sense.
If you’re using these tools, realize that as much research that we do when finding out information about a company or hiring manager, the company is doing just the same, if not more. This even goes for roles you don’t land and openly badmouth the company for not hiring you. That can have the same backlash, as a potential employer could see that and be completely turned off from even wanting to talk to you.
Some quick thoughts but just remember to be wary of your surroundings and realize that in social media, whatever you tweet out or write about is for ALL eyes to see and the damage isn’t easily reversed.
Just ask yourself, would you say it to the face of your potential/current employer? No? Ok, good.
If you’re rolling around on Twitter every Friday, you’ve probably noticed a trend that started a couple months ago – #followfriday. People recommend favorite Twitterers to their community, thus creating a chain and viral effect on Fridays. It’s a great way to meet new fun folks and has even gone a step further with people creating starter packs for new users. One thing that’s missing, being 140 characters, is that there isn’t always depth on why you should follow those people.
So, what I decided to do was start a little weekly series of Follow Fridays but with a little twist – I’m going to juice it up a bit and suggest great folks to follow, not just for their value on Twitter, but for what they bring to their respective blogging communities. Here you have this Friday the 13th’s Follow Fridays: (more…)
One of the things that we social media/tech heads preach, is to educate; educate those about Twitter that don’t get it, clients/companies who need help understanding the new media space and how it can build community and enhance their current marketing strategy, or our readers through how-to articles on how to better utilize Google Reader or Firefox. (more…)
I’ll save the buildup and get right into what started this post at 1:30 a.m. this morning. There was a lot chatter yesterday on Twitter about a new ‘service’ that basically asks this question:
So you’re looking to get a massive following on twitter?
The site is TweeterGetter and apparently Gary McCaffrey guarantees that you’ll get 16,000 (give or take however many thousand) followers in 30 days. It doesn’t require you to follow anyone back as you can just sit back, relax and enjoy the thousands of followers you’ll be getting, of whom you have had absolutely no real interaction with.
I’m sure you can sense my disdain for this service and the negative thinking that it promotes. The thought of ‘auto-piloting’ the follow process and building a humongous following has SPAM written all over it. Gary, and the unfortunate that have taken part in this, fail to realize the value of building relationships vs. just having a large follower count. (more…)
I had a quick chat yesterday with Marc Meyer and was struck by his tweet:
If I hear another company say, we’re “doing social media”
“Doing social media” is something a lot of us hear far too many times and honestly, makes it sound like a cheap date that you pick up in a dimly lit alley. (more…)
It’s that time folks – time to choose the winner of my recent book giveaway for Rohit Bhargava‘s, Personality Not Included.
As mentioned, I would be choosing the winner through random selection via Random.org. There were a lot of great people that participated in the contest but the winning copy of PNI goes to Eric! I’ll be emailing you to congratulate and ask for your mailing address (don’t worry, I won’t stalk you). (more…)
