Hey Guy’s and Gal’s,

Oops! Twitter is down, but wait, it's only something Technically wrong

It’s been a while since we’ve heard anything main stream about Twitter, but over the past few weeks, since the rollout of the new app, “Twitter Places” Twitter has found, more times than not, that trying to keep up with “The Jones” or trying to “Stay Ahead of The Curve” has put another twist in the mix.

And that twist is “Servability” ok, maybe that’s not quite the right word, but lately, at least from a users perspective, when they go to Twitter to post a tweet or reply to a friends tweet, they get the “Oops something is technically wrong message”.

Now I don’t know about you, but being a business owner, the “Oops!” just doesn’t cut it, when you’re up against a schedule and your time is very important.

You can have all the Twitter Tools, Tips and resources to help make your marketing efforts work together for the benefit of yourself and your followers, but if Twitter is down, then all the other apps are too.

So, what do you do when Twitter is down, and the “Fail Whale” swims into your harbor?

I know many of you have more than one marketing avenue in the mix, so what do you do when you have all these social media networks all tied together and one of those sites goes down?

What do you have in your arsenal that is tried, tested and approved to never let you down?

Until next time.
Have a wonderful day,
Tim

Rumors are flying around that Twitter is testing new features and settings
that would embed photo’s and video’s in your Twitter Stream.

The new feature/setting is said to be called Tweet Media. Certainly this
would really change the twitter user experience all for the good in my humble opinion.

Besides viewing photo’s and video’s by who you’re following, it’s been reported that users
we’ll have an option to view everyone’s photo’s and video’s.

Standby for more details as we receive them…

Please post your comments and what you know or would like to see with regards
to photo’s and video’s being embedded in your twitter stream..

Come rain or shine, every Friday people unite together on Twitter to share who they recommend others to Follow. It’s pretty cool and exciting to see all of the people thinking of you and mentioning your name.

While we see people using Follow Friday with good intentions, the problem is that most people do not know how to use it effectively.

So before I share some helpful tips on how to be Successful with #FollowFriday #FF,
let’s talk about how NOT to use follow Friday.

I have noticed for many months that a lot of people tend to just tweet a whole bunch of people to follow with with no reason as to why. That is an example of how to NOT use Follow Friday on Twitter. Why is that you may ask? Simply said, your followers probably do not see a reason as to WHY they should follow a bunch of people without knowing anything about them. Additionally, it can add to the noise of your twitter stream. The good news is that I have solutions for you…

Here are 3 tips on how to be successful with Follow Friday on Twitter

Tip #1: Simply recommend one person at a time for #FollowFriday or #FF. Then write a reason why people should follow the person on Twitter. Here is an example using #followfriday or #FF. “Meet @BobBurg Author of a great book called the Go Giver, I highly recommend. #FF.”

People that are truly interested will checkout Bob and are likely to follow him too. If you are effective (by providing value) with #followfriday, your followers will appreciate your act of kindness and in many cases return the favor back to you as well. I continue to have a lot of success by using Follow Friday this way.

Tip #2 is to list a small amount of people together and list their commonalities or how they may be able to help your folllowers. For Example “Checkout @Tony_Horton and @JillianMichaels to get in the best shape of your life. #FF

Tip #3: Try to leave at least 15-20 characters in your tweet so that others have space to Retweet your message. Retweeting is one of the true powers to going viral on Twitter and it opens the flood gates of opportunity for you. (more on that in a future post)

The great thing is that you can take advantage of these tips every day of the week not just on Friday’s.

I would like to hear what works best for you. Leave us a reply below…

@alferretti

@skeeterhansen

Discover how to use Twitter to your advantage with a Proven Training and Marketing System to help you.

Are you taking advantage of the Twitter lists feature?

If not, here are three cool options that can make your twitter life easier.

1. You can create up to 20 different list with 500 people on each list.
2. Create different lists to sort and group people for easy reference.
3. View other people’s list and follow the top people from their list.

Creating a new Twitter List is a simple process.
In this short video, Skeeter Hansen shows you how to take advantage of the twitter lists feature.

Listorious (Listorious) is a third-party site that maintains a categorized directory of Twitter lists. You can search or browse through lists by category, and find the most popular lists.

How are you using the new twitter lists feature?
(please leave us your comments)

PS Feel free to add @alferretti and @skeeterhansen to your list.

Watching out for you, one tweet at a time -TwitterWatchDog

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

Over the past year Twitter watchdog has reported various phishing scams that are happening on Twitter.

Today, we found another phishing scam and wanted to make sure you are aware of it.
This scam promotes getting more followers.

Beware of Tweets that say the following:
* FREE MORE TWITTER FOLLOWERS!
* CHECK out this site, im a member of it, gets you more followers.
* WANT MORE TWITTER FOLLOWERS?
* Get more followers for free!

Byron Acohido with the USA Today Technology Live reported this phishing scam titled:

Tweets promising free Twitter followers is a phishing scam

A cyber gang continues to flood Twitter with an intensifying phishing scam that has allowed the bad guys to grab control of thousands of valid Twitter accounts.

“This is an extremely viral campaign that’s spreading rapidly,” says Patrick Walsh, chief technology officer at network security firm eSoft.

The criminals are sending out microblog postings — Tweets — from legit Twitter accounts suggesting that people click to a web service that will instantly get them 50 to 100 more followers. Visitors to the web page are asked to type in their Twitter logon and password to use the service for free.

Of course the information gets routed to the bad guys. They then use an automated program to instantly log on to the victim’s Twitter account and blast out a similar Tweet once every few hours. The shortened links carried in these postings are constantly tweaked to avoid being blocked or filtered.

“This is by far the biggest type of attack like this that we’ve seen, in terms of how many people are getting affected and getting their accounts hacked,” says Lee Graves, eSoft threat communications specialist.

For the moment, the gang appears to be intent on amassing thousands of valid Twitter account logons. To cash in, the gang can later access the accounts and blast out spam for worthless drugs or antivirus subscriptions. Or they could Tweet out links to infected web pages designed to turn over full control of a visitor’s PC to the bad guys.

Read more on this story here

Just remember, it’s not about the quantity of followers, it’s about the quality of followers. Don’t fall for this scam. People having success on Twitter are doing it by engaging, building relationships and providing value. Not by getting a mass amount of random followers all for the sakes of larger numbers whom they can broadcast to. Don’t get scammed.

Help your followers by retweeting this post!

Watching out for you, one tweet at a time. -Twitter Watchdog

@alferretti

@skeeterhansen

Happy Friday~

It’s Al.

Today I’m going to share some short but sweet info to where you can find out what’s going on at Twitter. So lets jump right in…

1. (Twitter Blog) The Official Twitter blog Click here

2. (Twitter Media) Knowledge and tools to help you use Twitter to transform media, entertainment and journalism

3. (Twitter Updates) Updates on the status of the Twitter Service.

4. (Twitter Developers) For Developers. Create cool applications that integrate with Twitter.

5. (Twitter Jobs) Learn more about working at Twitter including available open positions

6. (Twitter Widgets and Buttons) Get the Twitter Goodies. Twitter Widgets: Put your updates anywhere or create at live stream for an event. Compatible with Facebook, Myspace, Blogger, etc. Twitter Buttons: Promote your Twitter account by adding good looking buttons to your website or blog.

On a side note: Feel free to tweet this post to your followers so they can have access to the info and links as well.

Watching out for you, one tweet at a time. -Twitter Watchdog

@alferretti

@skeeterhansen

Come rain or shine, every Friday people join together on Twitter to share who they recommend others to Follow. It’s pretty cool and exciting to see all of the people thinking of you and mentioning your name.

While we see people using Follow Friday with good intentions, the problem is that most people do not know how to use it effectively.

So before I share some helpful tips on how to be Successful with #FollowFriday #FF,
let’s talk about how NOT to use follow Friday.

I have noticed for many months that a lot of people tend to just tweet a whole bunch of people to follow with with no reason as to why. That is an example of how to NOT use Follow Friday on Twitter. Why is that you may ask? Simply said, your followers do not see a reason as to WHY they should follow a bunch of people without knowing anything about them. Additionally, it can add to the noise of your twitter stream. The good news is that I have solutions for you…

Here are 3 tips on how to use Follow Friday effectively on Twitter

Tip #1: Simply recommend one person at a time for #FollowFriday or #FF. Then write a reason why people should follow the person on Twitter. Here is an example using #followfriday or #FF. “Meet Pam Moore @PamMktgNut she’s not only a marketing nut, she’s authentic and a great connector. #FF.”

People that are truly interested will checkout Pam and are likely to follow her too. If you are effective (by providing value) with #followfriday, your followers will appreciate your act of kindness and in many cases return the favor back to you as well. I continue to have a lot of success by using Follow Friday this way and know others that do too.

Tip #2 is to list a small amount of people together and list their commonalities or how they may be able to help your folllowers. For Example “Meet Kathy @Ibal and Tammy @TammyRedmon who are passionate about helping others to succeed. #FF Or Meet Ann @thetripchicks world class travel leader. She can help you get going on your next vacation trip. #FF

Tip #3: Try to leave at least 15-20 characters in your tweet so that others have space to Retweet your message. Retweeting is one of the true powers to going viral on Twitter and it opens the flood gates of opportunity for you.

The great thing is that you can take advantage of these tips every day of the week not just on Friday’s.
Be creative and have fun with it~

I would like to hear what works best for you. Leave us your comments below…

@alferretti

@skeeterhansen

Discover how to be highly effective onTwitter in your business with a Complete Training and Marketing System