Archive for the ‘Life’ Category
What is a Tweetup –
Last Updated on Sunday, 1 November 2009 02:30 Written by Mike Saturday, 31 October 2009 11:00
A tweetup is a Twitter meetup. Every city has them, they are pretty much ubiquitous. There is no escaping them. The @ nametags everywhere. The sometimes awkward conversations that take place when you have more than 140 characters in which to say what is on your mind. Tweetups take a great service like Twitter and turn it into something bigger, something even more social.
Bigger? Why is it bigger? Because you are able to meet people you have only met online. IRL or in real life you can talk about whatever with the people you associate with on twitter. You can also meet new contacts to enhance your career, and maybe even have a few drinks.
This casual observer believes that using more than 140 characters to talk to people is what makes tweetups so popular. Just imagine you can say something without cropping it short, and get a reply in less than six and a half minutes. Amazing concept to socialize without the constraints of a text box or @ reply.
If you are thinking of attending a tweetup, by all means do it. You won’t know what it is like until you attend one. I have attended several, and always come away with a feeling of accomplishment. If anything you will at least have some new found friends to tweet with on a regular basis.
That is what social networking is all about isn’t it. Meeting people, networking, business, pleasure, laughs, new places. Get out there and try one out. You will love it I swear!
Twitter People – What kind of people use twitter
Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 October 2009 10:28 Written by Mike Wednesday, 28 October 2009 04:38
This question is often asked by people after hearing about twitter for the first time. There is no simple answer to this. There are plenty of self-absorbed marketing types, oodles of celebrities, sports players, and musicians. There are also people from all walks of life. Demographic studies show that more users are women, from the 18-34 age group. Primarily African American, with incomes under 30K/year.
Graph of Twitter Users
Being a 42 yo Caucasian I don’t see that, but then again I am not looking for that either. I have on a few occasions noticed this demographic within our company JobShouts twitter stream.
Twitter is real time information. In fact it is so loaded with information, Google and Bing decided to index and attempt to make some sense out of the continuous flood of information being shared. In the world of real time search, what happened a week ago on twitter, may as well have happened during the civil war. Anything shared in real time grows old moments after it happens with the exception of Michael Jackson and planes on the Hudson.
Basically this all boils down to one thing. It all depends on what twitter means to you. It could be a way to keep up with friends while you are on the go. It can also be a source for news. It can be a great networking tool, or a little black book. The possibilities are endless.
With so many people on the twitter bandwagon, it can mean many things to almost as many type of people.
I think that is one of twitter’s main attractors, for those seeking knowledge or to gain more from the human/social experience. That is what twitter is to me. What is it to you?
Exposing Me – My online personal brand
Last Updated on Wednesday, 28 October 2009 10:24 Written by Mike Thursday, 15 October 2009 07:58
Izeafest is still fresh in my head. One of the things that I took away from this conference was what one of the 5 minutes of fame speakers had to say. I don’t remember his name but he spoke of owning you. Own your name, by signing up for 25 digital/social profile accounts. The reason for this? When someone searches for you, or your ‘brand’ they should find nothing but you.
Googling This routinely tells me what the interwebz is saying about me. I found me, my blog owns the number 1 spot. my linkedin profile is right there at number 2. Not too bad, but what was missing was Myspace, twitter and facebook. Odd since I have had them for a while. Then I started looking at why they were missing. Twitter was easy, I had left off my last name in the name field. Facebook, privacy settings are suspected, now I am exposed on FB. Myspace again privacy settings, not too sure I want to be found there anyway not like its a bad thing, but myspace is mostly about music for me.
The next step is beginning to setup accounts at other services, Delicious, Flickr, Youtube, Technorati, Slowly building these into the michaelquale brand. Link as many of these accounts as you can to your blog, or facebook, or twitter. Whichever network you are most active on. In order to win it, you have to OWN IT and BRING IT!
Staying positive being who you are, what you are good at, and giving back to the community and to those you seek to work with or gain knowledge from. Society is changing. Who we are is being defined in our online presence. Peers connect with and share vast amounts of information daily. Are you part of that exchange? Can you become an influencer, or will you just watch from the sidelines.
Tags: Branding, building a web presence, social networking | Posted under Best of the Web, Facebook, Life | View Comments