By: Mark Ivey
Twitter is all the rage now; I wish I had a nickel for every time a client mentioned it. Succeeding in it is another matter, though, and at first it can be hellishly confusing.
When I first started, and was following dozens of people, I felt like I was in a busy sports bar during the Super Bowl. I remember thinking: I don’t know these people. I don’t know what they’re talking about. I must be in the wrong place.
It helps to know the rules and a little about the culture before you jump in. It’s not rocket science but it does take a little study and work.
1) Plan: First, think about why you’re even on Twitter.
Know what you want out of Twitter. Are you there for networking, building a brand, driving traffic to your blog? Determining this early will help guide your strategy and improve your odds.
2) Package yourself: First you need to pick out a Twitter ID. Consider your name first (I use @markivey); alternatively, you could use another name with your company, role or skills (example: @mediaphyte). You want something that will build your brand and/or illustrate your expertise.
And don’t skimp on your profile; make it sound engaging, and choose some nice wallpaper—this part is all about personal packaging (you can also customize your own wallpaper, using your company’s logo if you want). Study other Twitter examples because you need to get it right.
3) Follow the right people: Twitter is about following and being followed (more on connecting/conversing later) You can use the basic Twitter search or, better, one of the tools I recently reviewed like Twellow in my blog (www.ioncorporation.com/blog, date: Feb 6). These search engines can make life much easier for you by identifying the right people to follow.
Start with the influencers and industry experts in your industry. Find people with common interests and/or just people you want to track because they’re interesting. Check out some of the really big names here. Look for interesting directories and specialized lists; for instance, here’s 10 journalists worth following. And don't forget your colleagues--you may have people all over your company tweeting. As one example, here's a partial list of employees tweeting at Cisco.
4) Learn the lingo: Before you jump in and start tweeting, get up to speed on the lingo and abbreviations. Some common terms*:
• "tweet": is a message.
• @ ID : A message with the @ sign preceeding the Twitter ID is a reply message; so if you want to send me a message, start with @markivey. (Note that your entire network can view this message).
• DM ID: Putting a DM in front of someone’s ID is a private message (you can only send private messages to people who follow you).
• RT: a retweet. If you find a post particularly interesting, you can copy and paste it and retweet it, as long as you give credit (tools like Tweetdeck have a RT button). (this is one of Twitter's most interesting features, and how some Tweets go viral).
5) Manage efficiently: The last task is to download a "client" to manage your tweets and traffic. Twitter.com is ok for starters but you’ll soon want to move on to a better platform. These include clients like Twhirl and TwitterFox, which have built in search features, URL shorteners (which you’ll need) and nice interfaces to view and respond to your Tweets. Twitterfox is a Firefox extension, while Twirl is a downloaded application.
My favorite, though, is Tweetdeck.
What I love about Tweetdeck is you can arrange the people you follow into separate, manageable categories. I currently have four categories: "social media" (people who follow social media); "individuals" (business contacts, other influencers in other areas); Favorites; and "all."
But you can set up categories for almost anything--influencers in your industry; friends/family/close contacts, sports/hobbies; special lists, like journalists or even by twitterers in your geographical area. Just add a new "pane" for each group.
You can also set up search features in separate categories to hunt for certain keywords, like your company name, personal ID or an issue or event (ex: China or World Series) . I have searches set up for "Twitter tools" and "Twitter tips." The default search is search.twitter.com and Twitscoop, which reports on hot trends and keywords in Twitter.
One warning: Tweetdeck is a memory hog. It can also be addictive. Plan to set aside designated times, say 20 min. 3 times a day, to check it or you may wind up sitting there watching it for hours.
One way to become more efficient is to integrate Twitter into Outlook with a tool like Outwit. You can update your Twitter status and follow your friends without having to open any other applications.
Outwit allows you to schedule your Tweets to be delivered every minute to an hour, and dump them into a separate folder. This way you can check them at your leisure. You can also easily categorize them by name and save them, something you can’t do with Tweetdeck. One downside: your email box can quickly get overloaded (as if you need more email).
* Resources: there are hundreds of terms thrown around in the Twitter universe, some of the downright goofy. For instance, Twittish means "took skittish to twitter". Check out this glossary for more.
Wednesday, March 31, 2010
Is Twitter Useful for Vision Mapping
By: Darlene Siddons
Twitter has taken the internet with a storm, everywhere you look, everywhere you search everyone is sending twits and is twittering. The question is, is this worth the time and effort to get involved in? The answer to this question is, yes.
l. Twitter is a free social networking site where you post what they call tweets, it gives you the ability to keep in touch with hundreds maybe thousands of people on a daily and sometimes hourly basis with current events and information. Twitter is also called a micro-blogging service that allows users to post short messages of text of not more than 140 characters or about 25 words and share them with your "followers". Tweets can be posted via the web site, text messages from a cell phone or any of the various third-party applications designed to work with Twitter.
2. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search. Twitter offers many ways to post updates, from the web in the update box, from your phone, from your mobile web browser using Twitter.com. After you click the follow button on someone's profile, you're following them. The follow button will change to a box that says "Following" with a drop down option to remove a person if you want to. See a list of people you're following by clicking on the following link on your profile or your home page's sidebar.
3. All you need to use Twitter is an internet connection or a mobile phone. To get an idea of what other people are saying or doing on Twitter you can search by keyword or just check out the trending topics to what's hot on Twitter right now. If you've registered your phone with Twitter, you can set up text preferences for a person as well; Twitter sends you an email when someone new follows you.
4. What does it mean to follow someone on Twitter? Following someone simply means receiving their Twitter updates. When you follow someone, every time they post a new message, it will appear in your Twitter home page. Twitter offers other ways to follow people too: you can get updates from certain people on your phone. When you create an account, you can search for people by name or user name, import friends from other networks, or invite friends via email. Once you've found your friends or business associates, follow them to start getting their updates. New messages are added to your home page as people post them, so you always get the updates in real time. When you log in, you can see what the latest updates are.
5. Everyone can view your Twitter profile as it is public by default, if you're hesitant to have strangers read your updates, you can protect your profile by selecting approved followers and keep your updates out of search. There are spammers on Twitter and it is encouraged for you to block them, and every one on Twitter will thank you for that. It is good to know that Twitter Support keeps an eye on block reports to see who is getting in trouble on Twitter.
6. Miscellaneous Twitter trivia: Oprah is now on Twitter and it is said she is posting her own Twitters; Ashton Kutcher became the first Twitter user to have one million followers; Twitter users can gather, meet and socialize while raising money for charity; it has been said that if they hear the word 'Twitter' one more time they are going to go virtual postal and the same goes for Tweet, Tweetted, Twittering and Tweeter; Britney Spears and many of your favorite celebrities are active Twitter members; why is there a star at the end of updates?. The star is a way for you to mark an update as favorite.
7. As in any social setting there are certain common courtesies and Twittiquete one should keep in mind; and on Twitter it is no different, some people take the "What are you doing?" question a little too literal, and also fill the site with 20 updates a day. Learn the etiquette on Twitter and be a fun and interesting Twitterer and find out how much great information is out there and what your favorite followers are doing without being obnoxious.
8. Last but not least, Twitter is great for marketing and finding information that is useful for your personal empowerment and/or improvement, this can include building your business and the use of vision mapping to manifest the business you intend to improve and/or develop into what you want for it to be. Vision mapping is a great visualization tool to manifest your hearts desires and the tool to use for this is Vision Map Videos, it is said that if you watch your video once a day for 30 days you will see every area of your life and/or business being created the way you visualize it.
If you haven't joined the Twitter micro-blogging world, now is the time to start, but do beware, it can be addictive.
Twitter has taken the internet with a storm, everywhere you look, everywhere you search everyone is sending twits and is twittering. The question is, is this worth the time and effort to get involved in? The answer to this question is, yes.
l. Twitter is a free social networking site where you post what they call tweets, it gives you the ability to keep in touch with hundreds maybe thousands of people on a daily and sometimes hourly basis with current events and information. Twitter is also called a micro-blogging service that allows users to post short messages of text of not more than 140 characters or about 25 words and share them with your "followers". Tweets can be posted via the web site, text messages from a cell phone or any of the various third-party applications designed to work with Twitter.
2. These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search. Twitter offers many ways to post updates, from the web in the update box, from your phone, from your mobile web browser using Twitter.com. After you click the follow button on someone's profile, you're following them. The follow button will change to a box that says "Following" with a drop down option to remove a person if you want to. See a list of people you're following by clicking on the following link on your profile or your home page's sidebar.
3. All you need to use Twitter is an internet connection or a mobile phone. To get an idea of what other people are saying or doing on Twitter you can search by keyword or just check out the trending topics to what's hot on Twitter right now. If you've registered your phone with Twitter, you can set up text preferences for a person as well; Twitter sends you an email when someone new follows you.
4. What does it mean to follow someone on Twitter? Following someone simply means receiving their Twitter updates. When you follow someone, every time they post a new message, it will appear in your Twitter home page. Twitter offers other ways to follow people too: you can get updates from certain people on your phone. When you create an account, you can search for people by name or user name, import friends from other networks, or invite friends via email. Once you've found your friends or business associates, follow them to start getting their updates. New messages are added to your home page as people post them, so you always get the updates in real time. When you log in, you can see what the latest updates are.
5. Everyone can view your Twitter profile as it is public by default, if you're hesitant to have strangers read your updates, you can protect your profile by selecting approved followers and keep your updates out of search. There are spammers on Twitter and it is encouraged for you to block them, and every one on Twitter will thank you for that. It is good to know that Twitter Support keeps an eye on block reports to see who is getting in trouble on Twitter.
6. Miscellaneous Twitter trivia: Oprah is now on Twitter and it is said she is posting her own Twitters; Ashton Kutcher became the first Twitter user to have one million followers; Twitter users can gather, meet and socialize while raising money for charity; it has been said that if they hear the word 'Twitter' one more time they are going to go virtual postal and the same goes for Tweet, Tweetted, Twittering and Tweeter; Britney Spears and many of your favorite celebrities are active Twitter members; why is there a star at the end of updates?. The star is a way for you to mark an update as favorite.
7. As in any social setting there are certain common courtesies and Twittiquete one should keep in mind; and on Twitter it is no different, some people take the "What are you doing?" question a little too literal, and also fill the site with 20 updates a day. Learn the etiquette on Twitter and be a fun and interesting Twitterer and find out how much great information is out there and what your favorite followers are doing without being obnoxious.
8. Last but not least, Twitter is great for marketing and finding information that is useful for your personal empowerment and/or improvement, this can include building your business and the use of vision mapping to manifest the business you intend to improve and/or develop into what you want for it to be. Vision mapping is a great visualization tool to manifest your hearts desires and the tool to use for this is Vision Map Videos, it is said that if you watch your video once a day for 30 days you will see every area of your life and/or business being created the way you visualize it.
If you haven't joined the Twitter micro-blogging world, now is the time to start, but do beware, it can be addictive.
Quick Tips To Get Started Using Twitter For Your Job Search
By: Michelle Dumas
Do you Tweet? If not, maybe you should.
Perhaps it would be misleading to say that as a job searcher you MUST be on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or other social and business networking sites. But, assuming that you use social media in appropriate and professional ways, being connected and networking in these ways can only help. And, few people would argue that you shouldn't seize on any edge that you can give yourself in a job market that is widely being called the most competitive in a quarter-century.
Twitter, for those unfamiliar, is a service that allows you to communicate and stay connected with your colleagues, current and former co-workers, friends, family, and other contacts through the exchange of quick, simple answers (140 characters or less) to the question, "What are you doing now?" While the premise is simple-so simple that you might at first question how "Tweeting" (Twitter-speak for posting an update to Twitter) could be helpful in your job search-I would urge you to take another look. Twitter has become vastly popular and you might be surprised at how many of your colleagues, friends, and even top experts in your field or profession are on Twitter.
If you are actively involved with managing your career or conducting a job search, here are just a few benefits that will justify the time you spend setting up your free Twitter account and learning how to use it:
1) Twitter can be a great tool to help you build, enhance, and promote your personal brand. Briefly, your personal brand (as it relates to your career) is what differentiates you and makes you and your contributions uniquely valuable in the workplace. As a job searcher, you can use Twitter to make your followers aware of your expertise, post links to interesting news stories about your industry, or post tips related to your profession. All of these are brand-building activities that will make you memorable to your contacts, boost your credibility, and help set you apart as a leader in your field.
2) Twitter is an extraordinary networking tool. Remember that networking is all about building relationships. Twitter helps you stay in contact with people in your network in a quick and easy way that was never before possible. It will allow you to keep your contacts up-to-date on your job search, it is a great way to learn about unadvertised job openings, and it is often an easy way to get referrals to people you should talk to. Of course, it is important to remember that networking is also about providing reciprocal help, and Twitter allows you a fast, easy way to let people in your network know about job openings you've heard about, or give other help or advice to your contacts when they need it.
3) Twitter provides you with a way to connect almost instantly with recruiters and other hiring authorities in your field. More and more recruiters are using Twitter and other social media tools to find candidates for job postings. Some companies are actively encouraging their employees to Tweet about (or discuss on LinkedIn or Facebook) job openings that they are trying to fill. If you are regularly Tweeting about your job search and posting other on-brand Twitter posts, it is just a matter of time before you start uncovering and being referred for attractive job or business opportunities.
Are you convinced? Even for the time-challenged professional (does that describe nearly all of us?), Twitter is easy to use. You don't even need to be sitting at your computer as Twitter is mobile and can easily be used on your iPhone, Blackberry, or cell phone.
When you are ready to get started, here are some quick tips:
1. Sign up for your free Twitter account and fill out your profile. Remember that you will be using your account for networking and professional purposes, so use discretion and only include information or a photo that you would be comfortable sharing with recruiters, your colleagues, and the world. If you have a reason to keep your business and personal life separate, you should create separate accounts.
2. Search for and "follow" people that you know. Twitter provides easy tools and instructions for doing this. Consider friends, family, current and former co-workers, industry contacts, people you went to college with, etc. Once you are following these people, look through their contacts and selectively follow some of their contacts. Even if you don't know someone, if you have a reason to do so, follow them. This is a way to build new relationships.
3. As you begin to build your list of people you are following, many will begin to follow you. When you are getting started, try to post Tweets daily-perhaps twice daily. Besides just answering the basic question "What are you doing now?" (always keeping in mind that your Tweets should be appropriate and follow basic rules of etiquette) try to regularly post useful, on-brand information and links.
4. When your contacts Tweet, respond if you can answer a question or have useful information or tips for them. Twitter gives you two ways to do this: direct messages and replies. Be selective about which method you use. A direct message will only be seen by the person you are responding to. A reply will go to everyone that follows you.
5. Search Twitter for keywords. This is a good way to find out what is going on and being discussed on topics of interest to you among people that you aren't already following. You may also find interesting people that you will want to follow. The place to do that is search.twitter.com
5. Do you have a Facebook account, a LinkedIn profile, a blog, or another website? There are options to link them all and post status updates simultaneously to all of them. This can be a great timesaver, so it is worth taking the time to learn how to link them. You could also consider including your Twitter user name in your email signature files or on business cards. Doing so will quickly build your following, and the larger your following, the more beneficial Twitter will be to your job search and career.
Do you Tweet? If not, maybe you should.
Perhaps it would be misleading to say that as a job searcher you MUST be on Twitter, LinkedIn, Facebook, or other social and business networking sites. But, assuming that you use social media in appropriate and professional ways, being connected and networking in these ways can only help. And, few people would argue that you shouldn't seize on any edge that you can give yourself in a job market that is widely being called the most competitive in a quarter-century.
Twitter, for those unfamiliar, is a service that allows you to communicate and stay connected with your colleagues, current and former co-workers, friends, family, and other contacts through the exchange of quick, simple answers (140 characters or less) to the question, "What are you doing now?" While the premise is simple-so simple that you might at first question how "Tweeting" (Twitter-speak for posting an update to Twitter) could be helpful in your job search-I would urge you to take another look. Twitter has become vastly popular and you might be surprised at how many of your colleagues, friends, and even top experts in your field or profession are on Twitter.
If you are actively involved with managing your career or conducting a job search, here are just a few benefits that will justify the time you spend setting up your free Twitter account and learning how to use it:
1) Twitter can be a great tool to help you build, enhance, and promote your personal brand. Briefly, your personal brand (as it relates to your career) is what differentiates you and makes you and your contributions uniquely valuable in the workplace. As a job searcher, you can use Twitter to make your followers aware of your expertise, post links to interesting news stories about your industry, or post tips related to your profession. All of these are brand-building activities that will make you memorable to your contacts, boost your credibility, and help set you apart as a leader in your field.
2) Twitter is an extraordinary networking tool. Remember that networking is all about building relationships. Twitter helps you stay in contact with people in your network in a quick and easy way that was never before possible. It will allow you to keep your contacts up-to-date on your job search, it is a great way to learn about unadvertised job openings, and it is often an easy way to get referrals to people you should talk to. Of course, it is important to remember that networking is also about providing reciprocal help, and Twitter allows you a fast, easy way to let people in your network know about job openings you've heard about, or give other help or advice to your contacts when they need it.
3) Twitter provides you with a way to connect almost instantly with recruiters and other hiring authorities in your field. More and more recruiters are using Twitter and other social media tools to find candidates for job postings. Some companies are actively encouraging their employees to Tweet about (or discuss on LinkedIn or Facebook) job openings that they are trying to fill. If you are regularly Tweeting about your job search and posting other on-brand Twitter posts, it is just a matter of time before you start uncovering and being referred for attractive job or business opportunities.
Are you convinced? Even for the time-challenged professional (does that describe nearly all of us?), Twitter is easy to use. You don't even need to be sitting at your computer as Twitter is mobile and can easily be used on your iPhone, Blackberry, or cell phone.
When you are ready to get started, here are some quick tips:
1. Sign up for your free Twitter account and fill out your profile. Remember that you will be using your account for networking and professional purposes, so use discretion and only include information or a photo that you would be comfortable sharing with recruiters, your colleagues, and the world. If you have a reason to keep your business and personal life separate, you should create separate accounts.
2. Search for and "follow" people that you know. Twitter provides easy tools and instructions for doing this. Consider friends, family, current and former co-workers, industry contacts, people you went to college with, etc. Once you are following these people, look through their contacts and selectively follow some of their contacts. Even if you don't know someone, if you have a reason to do so, follow them. This is a way to build new relationships.
3. As you begin to build your list of people you are following, many will begin to follow you. When you are getting started, try to post Tweets daily-perhaps twice daily. Besides just answering the basic question "What are you doing now?" (always keeping in mind that your Tweets should be appropriate and follow basic rules of etiquette) try to regularly post useful, on-brand information and links.
4. When your contacts Tweet, respond if you can answer a question or have useful information or tips for them. Twitter gives you two ways to do this: direct messages and replies. Be selective about which method you use. A direct message will only be seen by the person you are responding to. A reply will go to everyone that follows you.
5. Search Twitter for keywords. This is a good way to find out what is going on and being discussed on topics of interest to you among people that you aren't already following. You may also find interesting people that you will want to follow. The place to do that is search.twitter.com
5. Do you have a Facebook account, a LinkedIn profile, a blog, or another website? There are options to link them all and post status updates simultaneously to all of them. This can be a great timesaver, so it is worth taking the time to learn how to link them. You could also consider including your Twitter user name in your email signature files or on business cards. Doing so will quickly build your following, and the larger your following, the more beneficial Twitter will be to your job search and career.
World’s Top Search Engines
By: search both
Search engines are the most important source of new web site visitors. Almost 50 percent of site visits begin at the search engine and a lot of traffic is generated. Search engines are the path makers between the web pages and the web users. Any new visitor to a particular website comes through a search engines whether it is Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine. About 80 percent of people, going online planning to shop for something or subscribe for any of the services start with any of the major search engine. Some of the major search engines serving World Wide Web are as follows:
Google
Google is the most prominent one all across the globe and its empire is still expanding. It is believed to be the most trusted source of information similar to any of the government agency. More than a dozen domains by Google we are able to perform each and every daily task, business related queries or any nook and comer of our life. Google has an omnipresent existence.
Yahoo
The second major search engine to receive search queries. Yahoo is specialized receiving more business related queries as it is specialized providing business oriented results. Yahoo uses a combination of web crawlers compiled and indexed results to rank the websites that are registered on their search engine. Services offered by Yahoo are Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Maps and Driving Directions, and Yahoo! Messenger.
MSN
It is believed to be the third most popular internet biggies on the web. MSN messenger is the most successful web application to hit the internet over the last decade. Optimization for MSN is equally important when it comes to website SEO. IT has major emphasis on using on page optimization techniques.
Dogpile
It compiles all the major search engines result in to one. It gives us a piled web results from all the major search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo. Known as meta search, Dogpile powers all the leading search engines together in one search box to deliver the best combined results.
MetaCrawler
MetaCrawler says, “Search the search engines” it means it provides the best results from the combined pool of the world's leading search engines. MetaCrawler uses innovative metasearch technology to search major search engines like Google, Yahoo! Search, MSN Search, Ask Jeeves, About, MIVA, LookSmart and more.
AltaVista
AltaVista is committed to provide advance Internet search with new technologies and features designed to improve the search experience for consumers. It is known for delivering Internet's first Web index, first multilingual search capabilities on the Internet first Internet search engine to launch Image, Audio, and Video search capabilities.
There are other search engines like LookSmart, WebSearch, Ask, LiveSearch and others which are continuously supplying immense information to the internet community.
How about if you are able to get all these major search engines result on a single screen? Searchboth.com is now launching website providing all the major search engine results at the once. One can compare two major search engines displayed results without opening multiple browsers. Yahoo and Google are the default results displayed but one can chose the other search desired search engine.
Search engines are the most important source of new web site visitors. Almost 50 percent of site visits begin at the search engine and a lot of traffic is generated. Search engines are the path makers between the web pages and the web users. Any new visitor to a particular website comes through a search engines whether it is Google, Yahoo, MSN or any other search engine. About 80 percent of people, going online planning to shop for something or subscribe for any of the services start with any of the major search engine. Some of the major search engines serving World Wide Web are as follows:
Google is the most prominent one all across the globe and its empire is still expanding. It is believed to be the most trusted source of information similar to any of the government agency. More than a dozen domains by Google we are able to perform each and every daily task, business related queries or any nook and comer of our life. Google has an omnipresent existence.
Yahoo
The second major search engine to receive search queries. Yahoo is specialized receiving more business related queries as it is specialized providing business oriented results. Yahoo uses a combination of web crawlers compiled and indexed results to rank the websites that are registered on their search engine. Services offered by Yahoo are Yahoo! Mail, Yahoo! Groups, Yahoo! Maps and Driving Directions, and Yahoo! Messenger.
MSN
It is believed to be the third most popular internet biggies on the web. MSN messenger is the most successful web application to hit the internet over the last decade. Optimization for MSN is equally important when it comes to website SEO. IT has major emphasis on using on page optimization techniques.
Dogpile
It compiles all the major search engines result in to one. It gives us a piled web results from all the major search engines like Google, MSN and Yahoo. Known as meta search, Dogpile powers all the leading search engines together in one search box to deliver the best combined results.
MetaCrawler
MetaCrawler says, “Search the search engines” it means it provides the best results from the combined pool of the world's leading search engines. MetaCrawler uses innovative metasearch technology to search major search engines like Google, Yahoo! Search, MSN Search, Ask Jeeves, About, MIVA, LookSmart and more.
AltaVista
AltaVista is committed to provide advance Internet search with new technologies and features designed to improve the search experience for consumers. It is known for delivering Internet's first Web index, first multilingual search capabilities on the Internet first Internet search engine to launch Image, Audio, and Video search capabilities.
There are other search engines like LookSmart, WebSearch, Ask, LiveSearch and others which are continuously supplying immense information to the internet community.
How about if you are able to get all these major search engines result on a single screen? Searchboth.com is now launching website providing all the major search engine results at the once. One can compare two major search engines displayed results without opening multiple browsers. Yahoo and Google are the default results displayed but one can chose the other search desired search engine.
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