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Twitter On TV, Give me a break!

- by Timothy Caron

Recently while watching a few of my favorite shows on Fox, I thought I was still at my computer. I don’t know about you but when I shut my pc off for the day to relax, I do not want to see “Tweets” on my tv screen.

In a recent article on Popwatch.ew.com by Annie Barrett she really hit the nail on the head. Read the insert below. Read the rest of this entry »

Does Twitter Build Relationships that Draw us Closer?

- by Timothy Caron

In a recent article from the New York Times there is a lot of talk about the latest digital fad — “ambient awareness.” Being aware of hundreds or even thousands of other people’s lives, while still not knowing any of them.

So what is Ambient Awareness?

Kevin Thomspon (who has had a great deal of online teaching experience) states,

ambient awareness is ‘social presence,’ the connections with and awareness of connections within a group. This awareness creates a feeling of intimacy and community.

If we dig a little deeper into this type of awareness we find that Twitter is not just a community, but as Harold Rheingold puts it,

it’s an ecology in which communities can emerge. That’s where the tweets comes in: idle talk about news, weather, and sports is a kind of social glue that can adhere the networks of trust and norms of reciprocity from which community and social capital can grow.

Connecting on Twitter

We recently did a search for the term “Ambient Awareness” on Wikipedia and did not find anything for the exact phrase but did find something rather interesting in regards to “Ambient Intelligence” (which refers to electronic environments) when you read a little further in the definition we find that the electronic environments are not that far from a human environment, at least in regards to Twitter.

Here are some parallels to try and help you understand what I’m trying to get at.

Say for example you have a computer chip and that chip consists of many connections to different parts of your computer. This is called “networked integration.”

Twitter works in very much the same way, if we connect with our followers we in essence are building connections. And this is what Twitter should be used for.

The content that we put on twitter allows others to form an opinion about us, which makes it more personal, which then in turn allows us the opportunity to learn how to adapt or become more aware of the nature and demeanor of each person we come in contact with.

This starts the process of building relationships. When that relationship has been built, then we are better able to help or provide the information our followers are looking for.

So in answer to the question, Does Twitter Build Relationships that Draw us Closer?
Absolutely!

If it didn’t draw us closer you would not be reading this post right now. Case in point.

But think of this…
As you communicate your thoughts and ideas to your followers, think about how they perceive you and start tailoring your tweets that would engage your followers to respond to you. Without that response, there is no connection.

Think about this,
What would happen if you never spoke to the girl or boy next door, your teacher, your parents or even your doctor, would they ever get to know you or even build a relationship with you.

What’s your take?
I’d love to hear your comments.

Until next time, be on guard with Twitterwatchdog.

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Follow Skeeter Hansen @SkeeterHansen

Follow Your Pal Al Ferretti @AlFerretti

Twitjump is a website that off-the-bat says it is the “Ultimate Twitter Toolbox.” That is hard to tell since they are in beta mode, but I thought I would share a little bit about it and perhaps you might want to sign up to get a spot to try this new site out. Of course, I am sure once it is officially opening, there will be a follow-up article here, but hey, most people like new sites if it might make their Twitter experience more efficient, right?

The site offers a few services like:

• Targeted keyword to follow others
• Multi- account administration
• Custom smart search
• Ability to test keywords
• Mass-unfollowing options
• Auto-DM blocking options
• Spam filters

Twitjump also offers real-time stats so you can check your tweet progress. This is definitely a big boast for a site in beta. I already signed up and hope to receive a beta invitation. I am almost certain the site plans to have some paid services as they say:

Bloggers, consultants, thought leaders, networkers – TwitJump has affordable solutions to help you too! Take all your favorite 3rd party apps, combine them together and you have TwitJump!

No matter, any Twitter application is worth looking into first.

Have you heard of TwitJump? If so, did you sign up to be a beta user? What do you think of it? What services would you usually recommend that can offer the same services as TwitJump?

Don’t forget to Follow Nile on Twitter @blondishnet

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personal and professional Twitter experience. Just enter your name and email address

now.

Follow Skeeter Hansen @SkeeterHansen

Follow Your Pal Al Ferretti @AlFerretti

Social Media is often turned over to techies or juniors in the marketing dept.

-Follow @Lois Geller on Twitter

It seems like many of our clients have enlisted newbies in the organization to handle social media.

Probably they do this because young people understand the new technology, text messaging, so they’d be a likely pick.

The challenge with this is that these interns and juniors often aren’t aware of the company’s brand and how to get it across to clients and prospects. They are usually not salespeople, either.

Probably the most effective people I meet on Tweeter are people who know how to naturally develop relationships. People who ask questions, and jump in to help people who ask for it.

You build relationships on Twitter the same way you build friendships, by giving information first, by noticing something about someone, “Oh, you’re from Saskatoon?” and finding those things in common that we enjoy in each other.

I’d be interested in your thought’s, so don’t forget to leave me a comment.

Luis Geller’s websites include: Joy of Direct Marketing and The Guts Of A Burglar

Get instant Twitter Watchdog Secrets, Tips and Tools that will help maximize both your personal and professional Twitter experience. Just enter your name and email address now.

Follow Skeeter Hansen @SkeeterHansen

Follow Your Pal Al Ferretti @AlFerretti

Twitterwatchdog Features Kakie Fitzsimmons

Kakie Fitzsimmons

Kakie Fitzsimmons is an experienced marketing leader who has double digit years progressively increasing roles throughout her career. She has a proven entrepreneurial ability to monetize ideas which demonstrates her capability of wearing many hats. As Marketing VP and Co-Founder of Farmer’s Hat Productions™ she is a woman lead by a spirit of dedication, to helping others achieve success.

In this call Kakie talks about…
1) What are the main reasons why she uses Twitter
2) What aspects of Twitter she love’s
3) What applications or tools she uses and a whole host of other concepts she utilizes on Twitter

Enjoy the show.

Follow Kakie on Twitter: @kakief
Other Websites: Minnesota Interactive Marketing Association and Bur Bur and Friends children’s book website.

Get instant Twitter Watchdog Secrets, Tips and Tools that will help maximize both your personal and professional Twitter experience. Just enter your name and email address now.

Follow Skeeter Hansen @SkeeterHansen

Follow Your Pal Al Ferretti @AlFerretti

Twitterology: Quality not Quantity

Recently I realized that Twitter Grader moved me down the influence rankings, and the primary reason? I do not follow as many people as the other ranked tweeters! My heart skipped a beat and for a crazy moment I thought: “Go get more followers!” Then I came to my senses! The value of my followers is the quality not the quantity!

As a small business owner you want quality followers that will become loyal, share your knowledge, re-tweet you, refer peeps to you and eventually become customers. In order to do that it, it is important to you:

1-brand your page about what you do and who you work with

2-look to follow people that will be interested

3-take the time to read profiles before you follow someone

4-be willing to engage, interact and support their success as well!

So I did the above,and those rankings climbed! Now you might not care about being graded ( twitter grader ), but if you are about how you run your business you care about the quality of your followers! In addition, I can track about $100 in sales from Twitter-daily! THAT’s Twitterology!

You can follow me Ann Evanston on Twitter!