Lara Kulpa | TwiTip

So you’ve always been able to “Twitter Stalk” someone by just going to their Twitter page (example: www.twitter.com/personyoustalk) but now there’s an easier way, via your cell phone.

Twitter’s launched this with the idea that you can get Twitter updates from your favorite companies, as many tend to tweet out offers that are only available to the Twitterati. However now you can utilize “Fast Follow” by texting “follow USERNAME” to 40404. You’ll then start receiving all of updates from that user via texts on your phone.

Personally, I do use the mobile interface for Twitter, but really only for DMs (direct messages). It’s kind of like text messaging to me that way. Not sure I’ll ever use “Fast Follow” but it’s nice that it’s so much more easily available to those of us without super computers for phones!

PS – Currently, “Fast Follow” is only available in the US, but they say they’re working on implementing it for other countries.

Lara Kulpa
@larakulpa

Did Twitter Kill the Video Star?

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Today’s post comes from Jenni Izzo, a Drexel University graduate turned Central Florida PR professional with a social media obsession. Follow her at @jenniizzo.

It appears that MTV’s attempt at reviving itself with a Twitter Jockey (an updated version of a VJ) has fallen short. After a month of Twitter-focused challenges to find the most appropriate individual for the job (measured by MTV’s own TweetLevel), the network announced the top five contestants in their “Follow Me: The Search for MTV’s First TJ” competition – and people are angry. (more…)

Lara Kulpa
@larakulpa

Top 20 Twitip Twitter Tips of All Time!

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Yes, today I’m obsessed with the letter “T”.

I was looking through the site stats this morning and decided to see what the most popular posts were here at Twitip. It’s an interesting list, with the number one post having over 384,000 views! (Number 20 on the list has just over 23,000!)

Check them out, which one’s your favorite?

Lara Kulpa
@larakulpa

Create a Custom List of Tweets with TwitBlend

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Today’s post comes from Pongrob Saisuwan of TwitBlend. He’s showing us how to use the service. You can follow Pongrob at @twitblend.

There’s so many auto-generated list of tweets out there but the results are mostly spam. So why not make it ourselves?

With a service called TwitBlend you can easily create your own “collection of tweets” or “tweet list” yourself and it’s very easy to use!

This is what I got from spending two minutes on TwitBlend, The Foursquare Cling (more…)

Lara Kulpa
@larakulpa

How To Incorporate Twitter Into Your Event

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[Hey everyone - our submission form has been acting up, so if you have submitted a guest post and have had troubles, please email it to me at lara@twitip.com - Thanks!]

Today’s post comes from Jenni Izzo, a Drexel University graduate turned PR Account Coordinator with a social media obsession. You can follow Jenni at @jenniizzo.

Whether large or small, Twitter can enhance your event in a number of ways. Take a hint from MTV, who recently used a live Twitter Tracker for their 2010 Movie Awards. They encouraged those in the audience, as well as those at home, to get in on the action by tweeting their thoughts, reactions and questions. Throughout the night, tweets containing “MTV” hit over 400 per minute. But, even if you aren’t planning a star-studded event, you can still use the following tips to create a tweet-worthy event. (more…)

Lara Kulpa
@larakulpa

Twitter Puts The Kibosh On Automatic Ads

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I first saw the news on Twitter, with a link from @blogherald to their post Twitter Kills “Pay Per Tweet” Companies (The Twitterverse Rejoices).

It looks like Twitter has finally made up its mind regarding third party tweet ad services (like Be-A-Magpie, BeTweeted and the infamous Sponsored Tweets via IZEA) and the verdict is “no ads for you!”

Then I head over to Sponsored Tweets and check out what they’ve got to say: Changes Coming to Sponsored Tweets

We are going to make some changes to the way Sponsored Tweets works. We will no longer be publishing directly to your account through the Twitter API. Instead you will have to write the tweet yourself in whatever Twitter client you see fit.

Yes, it will be a more manual process. Yes, we liked the old way better too. But we want to comply with Twitters guidelines and be a good ecosystem partner. We have always made adjustments to our system to remain in compliance. Twitter has allotted 30 days to make this change, we will try to get it out as soon as we can. Until then it is business as usual.

Seems some people are thrilled, and some are absolutely irate. Basically, Twitter seems to not be telling us what we can and can’t post, but rather HOW we post it.

… we will not allow any third party to inject paid tweets into a timeline on any service that leverages the Twitter API. We are updating our Terms of Service to articulate clearly what we mean by this statement, and we encourage you to read the updated API Terms of Service to be released shortly. (Twitter Blog)

So it’s not that you can’t, it’s just that by doing things this way, it makes it more annoying for you and they’re hoping you give up entirely.

They claim it’s for the “long term health of the Twitter ecosystem”. Some feel that it’s simply because they don’t want anyone making money until they do.

What are your thoughts?

Lara Kulpa
@larakulpa

Poll & Discussion: Is Twitter Still Awesome?

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Just curious – I’m wondering how many of you still find Twitter to be as interesting and awesome as you used to find it.

For newer Twits, it may very well be. For those of us who were “early adopters”, we’ve got clearly different experiences. I remember Twitter before every television show and celebrity and news station had a Twitter account. Before every business went to crazy lengths to get followers. And before it became a place over-run with teenagers Tweeting about crazy sexual stuff. I remember when it was truly a networking place between colleagues, old and new. It was fun to go and see what some of the people I look up to in my field were reading or writing or talking about.

My personal feeling? There’s lots of clutter in Twitter these days. People who follow you in hopes of you following them back so they can increase their follower count, only to unfollow you if you don’t reciprocate, or once they’ve got you following them.

What do you think? Vote, and then discuss your answer in the comments!

Lara Kulpa
@larakulpa

Bringing Reader Questions Back To TwiTip

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Image via Wikipedia

Okay so last year I ran a few posts featuring reader questions I’d received through the contact form. It was great because I’d post the question and then the readers would comment to help answer them.

Here are a few I think worked out well last year:

Answer A Reader Question: Promoting Local Events on Twitter
Answer A Reader Question: Multiple Twitter Users In Business Answer A Reader Question: My Twitter Account Was Phished!
Answer A Reader Question: Top Tips
Answer A Reader Question: Twitter Bullies
Answer A Reader Question: Twitter Etiquette?

Since it seemed to be a pretty popular type of post (from both sides), AND because Twitter and social media relies heavily on helping people, I’d like to bring that back as a regular feature, so send in your questions!