FollowFriday is coming!

FollowFriday is coming!

 

Every week FollowFriday seems to just creep up on us. Are you ready? Do you know who you want to tweet?

What is FollowFriday?
So what is all this FollowFriday? FollowFriday is a Twitter mega-trend that started in mid-January 2009, with a simple tweet, encouraging people to recommend and follow their fellow Twitter users. This is the epitome of the 'social' in social media, where Twitter-world puts asid sharing info and updates, and makes a mad, free for all 'scratching each other's backs'. Read more about the creation of FollowFriday here.

Why is FollowFriday good?
FollowFriday is the 'pay it forward' of Twitter. Part of the fuel for each user's Twitter energy is gaining 'followers', especially 'followers' that are relevent to your subject and content updates. Growth in Twitter is not a linear, but VIRAL. Our Twitter networks expand in ALL directions. FollowFriday gives us a chance to really focus on expanding the network at least for one day a week. It is also a great 'pat on the back' to the new connections that we make during the week.

Is it Spam?
FollowFriday differs form spammers significantly. Spammers are using follow-baits throughout the week by filling their Twitter posts with names, in the hopes that the recipients will follow them, or give them acknowledgement in their networks. How does FollowFriday differ?
1. FollowFriday is one day a week
2. FollowFriday is based on sincere recommendations and not junk mail
3. FollowFriday is a positive group experience and a recognized trend

How does FollowFriday work?
FollowFriday is as easy as a ReTweet. The main thing is keeping in mind, or keeping a list of the great people you have crossed paths with throughout the week. You can make several FollowFriday tweets. And most of all, make sure to thank others for suggesting you on FollowFriday.

FollowFriday in action
You can easily create a FollowFriday using the following syntax

Example tweet for group: #FF These are great guys to follow @myfriend, @myfriend1, @myfriend2
Example tweet for individual: #FollowFriday Check out my buddy @myfriend

Good luck and see you on FollowFriday

Pimp my Tweet

Pimp my Tweet

 

Twitter lesson: Pimp my Tweet

Keywords, Hashtags, and short URLS

1. Since Twitter is limited to 140 characters, sometimes just the URL alone can fill up the whole space.

Putting up a long URL like this: http://www.theones2watch.com/newwave/1103

Having looked at the article, I am very impressed with this group of up and coming photographers.

- Yet, what would induce me to open the link?

- Moreover, how would somebody not on my follower list reach the link?

2. Short URLs

The first thing you need to do is shorten the URL.

Go to http://www.snipurl.com/ and paste the URL into the main field.

Out comes the 'short' URL http://snipurl.com/nq4mu

3. Keywords

Now with a short URL, you can make the most of your 140 characters, so add keywords.

You can't write a sentence, but use words that make the article meaningful.

For instance you can write: Photographers rising to fashion’s forefront.

You have to HOT keywords here: photographers, fashion

4. Hash tags

Hash tags (symbolized by #) are the grease in the Twitter machine.

By adding these words, you are indexed in the Twitter search mechanism.

So go ahead and hash those keywords: #photographers, #fashion

5. Posting

Now your new, 'pimped-out' Tweet is ready for posting

Shooting #images with passion, #Photographers rising to the forefront of #fashion http://snipurl.com/nq4mu

Postscript

Don't overdue hashtags! Otherwise it looks like you are spamming to get noticed. Keep it simple.

Validation is Twitter Fuel

Validation is Twitter Fuel

 

Validation comes in all forms. You can have your parking validated, your identity, or more importantly...you can receive validation.

There is a great video on YouTube entitled Validation, showing how much more successful and meaningful life is by giving your fellow human being some positive feedback.

Twitter is being powered on the same fuel: validation. Besides the spam approaches to expanding followers like: want more followers, get 16,000 followers in 90 days, follow me etc, you can expand your follower base with simple positive comments.

Retweeting

The easiest validation to someone is the ReTweet. You simple write Retweet (or RT for short) followed by the persons Twitter name (including the '@' sign of course), and their comment, news, or link.

With minimal effort, you have affirmed their input into the world. You have shown them that the risk they took exposing themselves, their opinions, and identity to the Twitter sphere was not only worth it, but is being recognized.

Response to Retweet

When I retweet information, I don't really expect to get responses. I am sharing items that I find interesting, hope others will to, and plan to go back and visit these posts in the future.

So when I get comments back like:

Thanks heaps for your kind retweet love!! :)

This makes me that much more dedicated to retweeting for this person. Its all part of Twitter fuel.

Feedback

Taking a bolder step, you can give some positive feedback on Twitter.

It can be like:

Hey @xxxxxx, you have a great design on your website, and a cool blog

Who can't resist responding to a nice comment like that. And that is where Twitter Fuel comes from!

Twitter Fuel

Positive comment ==> Positive response ==> Positive interaction

Can you make me a website

Can you make me a website

 

I meet many people excited to get into the web. They see what others are doing and want to get in too. So, when they see I have a website, I hear, "I'd like to have a website like yours."

For the individual, a personal website for presenting their professional qualifications and experience (not just showing pictures of the kids) is a great tool, and a better way to present yourself. It can be more presentable and approachable than a resume.

The stumbling blocks are:
- what content to put
- how to build it
- how to maintain it

What content to put
As with any project, I say ask yourself:

"What do you want to accomplish, what are your goals."

With the personal website you can expand on the dry bullet point of your resume to actually SHOW accomplishments, not just mention them. So if I were answering this question, I would say, "I want to clearly present my accomplishments in a visually engaging manner."

How to build it
Building a website still seems like black magic. Somehow it just gets on the web. Or in the days of TV, somehow those little people got into your box. Today you can blindly pay someone who is an expert in the 'black magic' of websites, or you can take a leap and make one yourself.

Two great services now exist for making websites as easy as 'drag and drop'
- Weebly an HTML, javascript based visual system
- Wix a Flash based site

For the experienced web designer, both have their limitations, but with each new release, there are more advanced settings. These tools practically allow anyone to easily put together a website and publish it very quickly, using professional looking templates

How to maintain it
So you have a website, now you have to keep it up to date. You can keep calling your 'black magic' website builder and throwing money. Or with one of the above tools, you can easily go in and add a page, or drag in another paragraph. The control is in your hands.