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The majority of people that I’ve connected with on Twitter have said the #1 social media place that they’ve gained the most business from is……Twitter, hands down. (keep in mind all of them were also on other sites like Facebook, LinkedIn, YouTube, etc) So I started asking why..

One of the common replies is… (and I am paraphrasing here) Twitter provides immediate connections with like minded people who embrace collaboration (win/win) opportunities and are seeking to partner up with one another. Sometimes these connections happen through referrals they might get through the initial connection. Sounds a bit like networking right, well it is but on steroids…

You see, the secret to connecting and networking on Twitter is to harness the power of your tweets. All things being equal, people will do business with, and refer business to, those people they know, like, and trust.

On a side note, have you ever seen someone tweeting they can help you get thousands of followers fast on Twitter?
Or how they can help you fully automate your Twitter stream with push button marketing?
If so, run for the hills….

Here’s 3 reasons why your competitors are more successful on Twitter than you: Read the rest of this entry »

Some Tweeps have asked me questions about what is a Tweetup, how they can start one, the benefits of attending a Tweet up, etc. Today I thought I would share a short but sweet post to answer those questions and provide more insight that can be to your benefit.

A Tweetup is a real world meeting between two or more people who know each other through Twitter.

This is an excellent opportunity to engage, build relationships, and provide value with multiple people at one time in person. Meeting your friends and followers in a group setting will give you the option to share ideas and take your relationships to the next level.
Read the rest of this entry »

BREAKING NEWS: Google LaunchingTwitter-Killer for Gmail

TweetMiner

BACKGROUND

TweetMiner is the brain child of Justin Vincent, @justinvincent on Twitter, who started coding TweetMiner to solve a personal problem he had with other clients. No twitter client offered RSS feed integration or user experience like TweetMiner. He saw the way other Twitter clients handled scheduling and thought it was too tedious and said “there has to be a better way!” Justin is coding this all by himself, while other twitter tools have had millions in venture capital, not here! Justin codes TweetMiner in his spare time.

I was one of the first 200 people to try TweetMiner and fell head over heels in love immediately. I contacted Justin and asked what I could do to help. I’m now assisting him on spreading the TweetMiner buzz and helping add new features.

SPEED AND USER INTERFACE

Signing up was a 10 minute process. After receiving my email confirmation, I associated my twitter account using OAuth withTweetMiner. One of the core strengths of TweetMiner is it’s user interface. Justin has worked hard on making the user flow correct. From the screen shot above you can see how your eye starts in the top left and flows to the right.

You click on the button and then you see your twitter account. Click on your account and then you can see your twitter streams. Clicking the “+” in twitter streams allows you to add a twitter users to follow, twitter search term or the new twitter lists to follow. You can also tell TweetMiner how often you want that stream to refresh. A notification in the form of a pop up window and update count in parenthesis next to the stream will show you when new tweets have arrived. The auto refresh button does that for you for every column automatically once every minute.

Mouse over the avatar of an incoming tweet and you are given a host of options.

These options include:  Reply, Reply All, View Profile, Direct Message, Instant Retweet, Edit and Schedule or Favorite that tweet. The pencil tool is where the power of TweetMiner lies.  With the pencil tool, you can edit a tweet then either schedule it to send in the future or add it to your rolling schedule.

RSS FEEDS & ROLLING SCHEDULES

RSS feed integration and scheduling in TweetMiner is like no other tool. RSS Feeds fit seamlessly into the workflow where you can monitor your own twitter and friends streams, then move over to RSS to content for your followers. You can add RSS feeds from any source, edit, instant retweet schedule or add to your rolling schedule. Rolling schedules is a feature not found in any other Twitter client. Many twitter tools allow you to schedule your tweets, but rolling schedules are different. You tell TweetMiner what hours of the day you would like to tweet, then add tweets, RSS feeds, news searches Retweets…whatever you like, to your rolling schedule or pile of tweets and TweetMiner will just take the next off the pile and tweet it. PR types and brand manager will love the ability to have all their information funnel into one place and schedule content for their brands in minutes, instead of hours.

BE THE SIGNAL NOT THE NOISE

Tweetminer is all about usability and flow. The strength of TweetMiner is in speed of the interface and the ability for you to control the content that is sent to your followers. But let’s not forget, TweetMiner isn’t just for power users or brand managers, new twitter users can find ease of use over the main Twitter web page. The speed of the UI will win you over.

TweetMiner comes in both a web client as well as an Adobe AIR version. TweetMiner has a free version that allows you to try up to 5 twitter accounts and paid version that unlocks additional API and allows you to use your own bit.ly key.

So while other Twitter clients just do the same old thing,  TweetMiner injects many new features that makes it stand out in the crowd. Why not give TweetMiner a try!

Follow Thomas Clifford @tommytrc on Twitter

How to use Twitter the right way with a step by step Training and Support System

For news to travel the world used to take day and even weeks now only takes a tweet. Twitter is making the most radical shift in media and networking in recent years. Twitter is quickly becoming the central real-time hub that serves to enhance every content platform on the web.

How Twitter is Changing the Internet

If you feel like you are getting lost in the shuffle you are not alone. Most people I talk to are trying to use between 6-10 different social sites, I say trying because when you network on multiple social sites at the same time it’s almost impossible to be effective at any of them. It’s no wonder people are lost and confused with how much time they should spend on what site, especially with new social sites popping up everyday.

The question should be, which “one” do I focus on with my time? Twitter is growing fast and many people simply don’t know if they should invest or split their time with another social site. I get asked a few questions over and over again, how can Twitter help me with my business? How does Twitter work? How is Twitter different from other social sites? When used properly you can get more done with greater results in less time from just one central hub social site, “Twitter”. Twitter gives you the ability to locate people looking for what you have to offer.

Let me list a few of the benefits Twitter can offer you or your business:

Read the rest of this entry »

- by James Roughton

LinkedIn is implementing something new for those of us who use Twitter. With the new feature you will now be able to tweet your LinkedIn status to your Twitter followers or automatically post your tweets as your LinkedIn status. With the new features you can communicate both ways.

It is easy to add your Twitter account to LinkedIn. All you have to do is go to “Home” and you will see a Twitter symbol below your “Network Updates.” When you link with Twitter, Twitter will ask you to verify your account name and password. And once your account is verified you will be asked how you would like to share your tweets in LinkedIn status. LinkedIn will ask you which Twitter account you would like to share. This is assuming that you have multiple accounts where you will have a drop down menu. You have several options:

• Yes, share all tweets
• Share only tweets that contain #in or #li – See explanation below.
• Or not to share tweets at all

Here is an excerpt from LinkedIn Twitter discussion on Hashtags: “Hashtags (#) are a way to provide additional context for your tweets. Use #in or #li to publish your Twitter updates to your LinkedIn status. Just make “#in” part of your tweet (for example, “Working on a new blog post about design optimization. #in”), and it will be displayed as your LinkedIn status. These can be added to your tweets at any time and will override your sharing settings. If your tweet is personal and you don’t wish to share it with your professional crowd, just exclude #in or #li.”

There is one important thing that you must do to ensure that you can send tweets from Twitter to LinkedIn. You must check your Twitter account to make sure that it set up as public. To do this log into your Twitter account and go to Twitter settings and make sure that the “Protect my tweets” box is not checked.

In a statement from LinkedIn Co-founder Reid Hoffman and Twitter Co-founder Biz Stone, they conclude that their sites go together like “chocolate and peanut butter.”

This is great new enhancement!

Do you use LinkedIn and/or Twitter for Business?
(please share your insights with us)

You can follow me on Twitter @ jamesroughton or safeday or my website.

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

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