Twitip

When I start reviewing Twitter accounts it can quite often be the case that businesses who aren’t used to working in the social media environment are using Twitter as just another outreach to their marketing content. You can tell these accounts as generally all they contain are updates generated by the feed from their news page or if they have one, their blog. (more…)

If you want to know what’s hot, what’s not, and what the freshest news seems to be, Twitter might be the place to be on the cutting edge. However, just how reliable is the news you see on Twitter?

Just like you can’t believe everything you read in the newspapers or magazines, or believe everything you see on television, Twitter has its good points and bad points when it comes to breaking news. Twitter is populated with journalists, writers, photographers, and a plethora of celebrities. Sometimes false rumors can make the rounds, such as the reported death of Jeff Goldbum back in July, and sometimes breaking news hits the nail on the head, as in the case of the Iranian election. (more…)

Okay, so hopefully everyone’s gotten used to the new design and layout around here by now! Honestly, we’re really loving it. We did “tone down” the graph paper background a bit, after some feedback from readers that said it was a bit too dizzying. Hope everyone agrees that things look great here now!

So this post is to outline the newest way we’re accepting articles from you. A few things have changed, and there have been a few submissions that don’t quite seem to be working properly, so I wanted to put this out there to help out some. (more…)

By Nathan Hangen of Making It Social. Follow him @nhangen.

If you don’t know what you are doing, measuring your brand online is like sticking a finger in the air and trying to gauge the direction of the wind. It just isn’t as easy as it looks. However, once you understand the tools required to make it happen, brand monitoring becomes 2nd nature. The trick then, is knowing what to monitor and how to do it.

In the past, people relied on Google alerts to send notifications of brand mentions, which usually came in the form of links. Although this is a great way to measure trackbacks and general sentiment, I don’t feel that it offers a complete picture. Not only that, but the results are delayed, meaning that if you get trashed on a forum or in a blog post, then you won’t be able to react until it’s too late. This is why Twitter is changing the way the game is played.

With Twitter, you can track your brand mentions in real time, using a variety of excellent tools. You can track via keyword or hashtag along with the standard mention/RT tracking on the homepage. If you have Twitter integrated onto your blog, then you can add even more firepower to your arsenal by using Tweetbacks and RT’s as comments, which might flesh out an otherwise empty post footer.

The beauty of Twitter tracking tools is that they tell a much greater story than Google does.
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By Jade Craven – Follow her @jadecraven.

Twitter recently introduced a new feature called lists to many users. This isn’t available to everyone – I’ve heard many reports of people who are unable to see anybodies lists. Basically, it allows you to organize the people you follow into several different categories. These can be made private and can be followed by others.

This is an awesome for those who are using the web interface as you can choose the groups you want to read at any time.

However, there are some considerations you need to make before embracing this feature.

1. People may be offended by not being included on a list.

Some of my friends created lists like ‘awesome friends’ and ‘top bloggers.’ They used these terms as generalist lists but some people took offense at not being included on a list.

This is very similar to the follow/unfollow situations that happened before people started to embrace groups on other clients.

So, what can you do to avoid offending?

• Have a disclaimer on your twitter landing page

• Make your list private

• Organize lists by geographic region – ie, Melbourne bloggers.

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Okay, so I know this isn’t really a Twitter-related post, but it’s got to do with blogging, and that’s just as close as can be.

Darren and I launched ProBlogger.com last week, and have since found ourselves with over 1300 new members. We’re quite pleased with the number of course, but even better than that is the quality of people who are really spending time in there. For as little as $1.95/month, you can become one of them!

People are helping each other, promoting each other, critiquing and supporting each other. It’s fantastic, and I can’t wait to watch this community grow. I’m proud to be the Community Manager for the new project, and I’d love to see you join up and take part in the magic we’re building!

Here are some detailed posts and links to help you decide if this community’s right for you:

• ProBlogger.COMmunity Home
• ProBlogger.com is Live! JOIN with 1200+ Bloggers to Improve Your Blog
• 6 Reasons to Join the ProBlogger Community
• Follow ProBlogger.COMmunity on Twitter @probloggercom

If you’ve joined already, thank you – Please let everyone know what you think so far in the comments!

I just had to post about this because it’s really a neat concept I think. (And no, posting about it doesn’t get me any extra entries or benefits in any way.)

I got an email from a Mount Royal University student named Peter (PJ Hamilton) telling me about this TwitterLotto project he came up with:

I recently released a marketing experiment called “The Twitter Lotto”. Basically it converts publicity and advertising into prize. If you don’t mind blogging about it, I would really appreciate it as I am just a university student. If not, no worries I’m just trying to get any little exposure I can find!

To be entered to win, you simply have to follow @twterlotto on Twitter. That’s it. You don’t have to write a post, or retweet (RT) anything if you don’t want to.

As visits to the site’s home page accumulate, the jackpot prize goes up. At the time of this writing, it’s at $23 and change. He started at zero.

The prize winner will be drawn on December 25, 2009 and after validating that it’s a real person who actively uses Twitter, they will be awarded the jackpot.

According to the About:

The idea. What was originally suppose to be a simple school marketing project evolved into what you see before you today.I wanted to create something unique, interesting, creative and beneficial to not only myself, but everyone.

I personally think the kid’s pretty smart. He’s using a school project to make something that IS unique, doesn’t involve gambling or charging for entries, and can actually result in a great case study as well as a nice chunk of prize money!

Take a look, follow him. What can it hurt?

What do you think about the idea itself? Is this potentially a great new marketing trick or just wishful thinking? Share in the comments!

We recently received notification about TweetPortal from Andrew McQuinn, who’s part of the new portal’s team.

Seems like a great “one stop” if you’re a news junkie and want to see all your legitimate news in one place.

My only (minor) gripe off the start is the blended AdWords sections in the content boxes. Having it before the “more ____” links looks too much like trickery to me, and I think that sites that are providing value to their users should be using less tactics like this. It’s a trust thing I guess. I realize that blended ads work in blogs and other sites with lengthy content, and I don’t begrudge them the right to earn a buck, but don’t be so clearly trying to garner clicks with AdSense – sell some real ads.

You can follow them @tweetportal, too.

Check it out and let us know what you think in the comments!

With the recent rash of people falling victim to phishing scams on Twitter, in comes this question by a reader regarding her account being compromised.

Hi there. My twitter account was a victim of phishing. Twitter suspended my account because of it. I have sent them a request to lift my suspension but haven’t heard from them the last 5 days since I lodged the request. Any tips on how I can get them to respond to my request?

Please keep in mind that telling her to avoid clicking links or entering their info into a random site is pretty much a moot point at this time. I think she’s pretty aware of that by now. What would you do in this situation, though?

By CarolAnn Bailey-Lloyd. Follow her @CarolAnnB.

What’s the buzz about “Web 2.0″?

While some individuals have strong opinions on what it actually encompasses, there’s much to learn about Web 2.0 technologies and tools that are, whether you know it or not, affecting your everyday surfing experience on the World Wide Web.

As the Internet continues to explode with the revolution of second-generation web services, web development, and design applications, we have arrived center stage of the culmination of today’s innovators, entrepreneurs, and visionaries who have transformed the way we travel the Internet highways and byways; and the spatial views that we encounter and in the ways we interact.

How?

Web 2.0 has triumphantly made its strong debut via online social networking communities and book marking sites like YouTube, Twitter, FaceBook, MySpace, Imeem, Digg, Delicious, StumbleUpon, WordPress, TypePad, Blogger, and Google Reader, among other progressive stars on the Information Highway. The Netopia of creative Weblogs, social networks, multimedia sharing sites, RSS feeders, and keyword tags has dynamically altered the way we retrieve and share information. (more…)