Archive for the ‘Twitter’ Category
Every day, tens of thousands of new users sign up for a Twitter account. If you’re new to Twitter, you want to make sure you don’t shoot yourself in the foot, looking like a complete Twitter Noob. That’s why you need to avoid these 7 mistakes.
1. You only update once a week—Building a successful Twitter presence requires consistently providing quality content to your followers. Remember, it’s called “social media.” It’s all about establishing solid relationships. You can’t expect to build relationships or credibility by Tweeting rarely.
2. Every Tweet is a pitch for your company—Just because you’re using Twitter to further your business doesn’t mean every Tweet should be an advertisement for your company. Self-promotional Tweets add no value to your followers and it’s completely the opposite of the concept of social networking.
3. You don’t have an avatar—Seriously, nothing screams “Noob!” like the default brown Twitter avatar.
4. Every Tweet says “Please RT”—Asking for a ReTweet on every post completely negates the purpose behind “Please RT.” Only ask for RTs when it’s for something truly important. Otherwise, people will begin to completely ignore your requests and eventually you.
5. You don’t interact with anybody—I’ve already said it a couple of times in this post, but I’ll say it again: It’s called “social networking.” Sending out a bunch of one way Tweets will get you nowhere fast. You need to spend time networking with others, interacting with your followers, and laying the groundwork for useful relationships.
6. Your bio is non-descriptive—Many times, the bio in someone’s profile is what convinces me if I should follow them or not. So, make sure your bio describes who you are and what you do. Include relevant keywords that your target audience would look for.
7. Auto responding to new followers—Sending out a canned auto reply every time someone new follows you is impersonal and a little spammy (especially if your auto response is a pitch for your products and services). If you don’t have the time to personally send a short DM or @ Tweet to your new followers, then instead focus on getting to know them over time.
What other mistakes to Twitter noobs make? Add your favorites in the comments.
Related Posts:-
How to Stop Wasting Time and Start Being Successful with Social Media
10 Reasons You Should Use Twitter
19 Handy Twitter Mashups and Tools
How to Build Strong Relationships on Twitter
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Keep Track of Breaking News- One of my favorite things about Twitter is it keeps me up to date with all the news that’s important to me. I’m not just talking about world news that you can find on CNN or anywhere else. I mean industry news that often flies under the radar. By following the right people, I always have the latest niche news I can’t find anywhere else.
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Monitor Your Reputation- If you’re using twitter for professional purposes, it can be an effective tool for online reputation management. Track your name to keep tabs on what people are saying about you at any given time. This information can be useful for fixing in-house problems, and it can also help you eliminate any untrue rumors that might be spreading around.
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Fast Answers- If nobody is around to answer your question or you just want a fresh perspective on a topic, Twitter is one of the best ways to get a fast response. Simply pose your question to the community, and within minutes, you’ll have an array of responses from your followers. It could even spark a larger discussion that gets you some attention.
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Gain Exposure for Your Website- Perhaps the most obvious benefit of Twitter is generating traffic to your website. When you’re connected with followers who care about you, they’ll help spread your content by ReTweeting it to their friends. Just be careful that you don’t overdo the self-promotion as that will drive your followers away. Use Twitter responsibly, and you’ll experience more traffic to your blog and website.
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Stay in Touch- Whether it’s a business contact from across the country or a friend from down the street, connecting with them on Twitter is an easy way to stay in touch. You’ll always know what they’re up to, and you can engage in brief discussions through DM or @ messages. Even if it’s someone you see all the time, you might get to experience a whole new side of them by following them on Twitter.
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Meet New People- But you don’t have to follow just the people you know. You can also make valuable new contacts with Twitter. It doesn’t matter if you’re looking for people to work for your company or you just want to interact with others who like the same music as you, you can find all the new contacts you need through Twitter. Take the time to look through their profile, website links, and past Tweets to determine if it’s someone you’d be interested in following.
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Be Several Places at Once- Let’s face it–you can’t be everywhere at once. You can’t always afford to fly out to that conference across the country, but you can keep up with it through Twitter. People often Tweet live updates from various events, meaning you can be in several places at once.
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Build Your Authority- If you’re using Twitter to discuss a particular niche, you can build your authority by writing high quality Tweets. A few ways to build your authority on Twitter are to send out links to useful resources, provide useful tips to your followers, give insight into relevant topics, answer questions, and engage in discussions with your followers.
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Learn New Tips from Others- In addition to sharing tips, you can also learn new ones from others. That’s one of the things about Twitter that hooked me . So many of the people I’m following provide useful information based on their unique experiences. There really is a wealth of knowledge out there if you know who to follow.
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It’s Entertaining- Lastly, Twitter is just fun. Come on, what isn’t awesome about following updates from the Big Aristotle (aka Shaq.) But it’s not just about Shaq. You can get involved in some great conversations with your friends, and you’re bound to see some hilarious Tweets that make your day a little better.
Posted By Thomson Chemmanoor
Twitter mashups and tools put a unique spin on the way we use Twitter. By “mashing” information from Twitter with other applications, you get an unmatchable user experience that can be both fun and useful. Enjoy these top 19 Twitter mashups.
1) Twitter Burner – Tweetburner is a twitter mashup that allows you to create tiny URLs and also allow you to track how many times they where clicked on it. Ideal for someone who lets out a lot of links on twitter.
2) Twalala – Get ready to take control of your twitterstream. twalala is a client for Twitter that allows you to control what you see, and more importantly, what you don’t see in your twitterstream. Using twalala, you can filter tweets out of your stream by keywords and phrases or mute individuals who get a bit too chatty. Finally, Twitter with a mute button.
3) Twitspy lets you see what people are posting on Twitter in realtime by spying on the Twitter public timeline. Twitspy also tracks website links within tweets.
4) Twitter stats – In your Tweets, Graphin’ Your Stats! Weekly Stats. Graph your Twitter Stats including. Tweets per hour; Tweets per month; Tweet timeline;
5) Twittervision is a web mashup combining Twitter with Google Maps to create a real time display of tweets across a map.
6) mail2twitter is a free service that allows you to post tweets through e-mail, and the most important, from any email-enabled mobile device.
7) The TwitterCounter -Add a daily updating TwitterCounter to your blog so everybody can see how popular you are
Twit Pic, Share photos with your friends on twitter with twitpic. No signup required, just login using your twitter account.
9) Twittercal – It’s a free service that connects your Twitter account to your Google Calendar. Add events in a snap from your favorite Twitter client.
10) Geotwitter - This mashup uses the Google Maps API and Twitter API. The most recent updates are fetched from the public timeline and mapped once every minute. If you have any comments suggestions or ideas feel free to leave a note on our blog.
11) TwitterFox is a Firefox extension that notifies you of your friends’ tweets of Twitter. (previously known as TwitterNotifier)
12) TwittyTunes is a FoxyTunes companion Firefox extension – it allows you to post your currently playing songs to Twitter with a click.
13) Twitbin – Send and receive messages to all your fellow twitterholics, right from your firefox browser.
14) TwitterBar – allows you to post to Twitter from Firefox’s address bar. A small unobtrusive grey icon sits to the right of your address bar; clicking on it will post your tweet, and you can hover your mouse over it to see how many characters you have left.
15) StockTwits is an open, community-powered investment idea and information service for financial investors.
16) Twitterholic – Provides a list of the 100 best twitterers based on their followers, the people they follow and the number of their updates
17) TwitterFeed – Feed your blog to twitter, post RSS to twitter.
18) TwitterBuzz shows you what people using Twitter, a microblogging service, are linking to.
19) Twitter Map – Provides users with the ability to update their locations on a Google Map and send a tweet with it
These great Twitter mashups and tools represent some of the best ways twitter data can be used to create a great twittering experience. Please feel free to leave your thoughts on these mashups and tools in the comments on our Web Design and Marketing blog.
- Reply to Your Followers- One of the greatest things about Twitter is the interactivity. That’s why it’s so important to engage with your followers. Just sending a flurry of one way Tweets won’t help you build strong relationships. You have to take part in community discussions, and you need to respond thoughtfully to your followers with @ messages and DMs. Not only does this help you build quality relationships on Twitter, but it also works to improve your follower retention. See, your followers will be less likely to drop you if they know you and they chat with you on a regular basis.
- Don’t Follow Random People- Following an overabundance of people with varied interests will make it difficult for you build strong relationships on Twitter. Sure, variety is the spice of life, but it doesn’t tend to work so well on this microblog. Here’s why– the constant updates on Twitter can become frustrating if you aren’t truly interested in what they have to say. That’s why most people have very specific reasons for following somebody. Usually, it’s because they’re interested in the same niche as the person they’re following. So, by building a community that shares a common interest, you’ll be able to connect with your followers more effectively.
- Stop Selling Yourself- If you’re using Twitter for business purposes, you limit your chances of truly connecting with others when you constantly promote yourself. Instead, focus on adding something of value to the community. Send out useful links to sites other than your own; provide insight into important industry topics; and give quality information without any sales pitch attached. Think of it this way– would you follow someone who pimps their products in every single Tweet and who never interacts with their followers? Of course you wouldn’t; so, don’t be “that guy.”
- Learn about Your Followers- If you have people constantly adding you, it can be difficult to keep up with them all. However, it’s important to take the time to learn about the people who follow you. This doesn’t just mean following their updates. To truly learn about them, you need to read their profile and click on their website link. The more you know about your followers, the better equipped you’ll be to truly connect with them on a personal basis. Also, by showing your followers that you’ve taken the time to learn more about them, they’ll begin to pay more attention to you, thus creating a stronger relationship.
It’s interesting to see the way that Twitter is used by various users. It should then be no surprise to find that people are snatching up almost every profile name of celebrities, politicians, musicians, athletes, and even fictional characters. What follows is a list of some of of these profiles. There are funny profile pictures, funny bio’s, funny Twits, and funny profile background pictures. Enjoy.
Click on a category or scroll the list.
- Name brettfavre
- Location Green Bay and Kiln
- Bio What I’m thinking when I’m not saying it.
- Sample Twit “I wish I was on the couch, watching monday night football.”
- Name Roger Clemens
- Location New York
- Bio I am the greatest pitcher in baseball history. The Rocket. The Texas Con Man. Fat Billy. Do you know where I can find some STEROIDS?
- Sample Twit “About to inject Miley Cyrus, I mean MYSELF with steroids.”
- Name Vladimir Putin
- Location Ленингра́д
- Bio KGB and some other stuff…
- Sample Twit “just added @oskarlafontaine remember him, but don’t remember where i met him last time…probably cuba.”
- Name Mao Zedong
- Location Beijing
- Bio I’m living in The Chairman Mao Memorial Hall. Welcome!!!
- Sample Twit “30 more days to go before The Games. The whole nation is going crazy. I love chaos!!!”
- Name Osama bin Laden
- Location Afghanistan
- Bio Leader, al-Qaeda
- Sample Twit “Door-tag from UPS Ground says hazardous materials can’t be delivered — curse the infidels! Off to UPS depot…”
- Name KimJongil
- Location Pyongyang, North Korea
- Bio i like bugs bunny and cognac
- Sample Twit “Off the terrorist list for the second time. w00t!”
- Name Condoleezza Rice
- Location Global
- Bio Aspiring NFL Chairman or Concert Pianist
- Sample Twit “Counting my frequent flyer miles. Huzzah!”
- Name Rudolph Giuliani
- Sample Twit “I’m considering referencing 911 on the campaign trail. Would you be more likely to vote for me if I continuously reference terrorism?”
- Name Bill Clinton
- Location NYC but always on AR time
- Bio PISSED OFF!
- Sample Twit “John Edwards…why did you cheat on your wife that has cancer, you’re a dog! If Hillary gets sick, that’s it, no more Hoochies! FAMILY FIRST”
- Name George W. Bush
- Sample Twit “i can write boobies on a calculator!”
- Name Dick Cheney
- Location Washington, DC
- Bio Vice President of the United States of America. Hobbies include listening to Toby Keith, shooting stuff, and maintaining a heart healthy diet.
- Sample Twit “Won a baboon on eBay. Condition as-is, but I’m going to use the little guy for parts anyway. Never know when the ticker might blow a valve.”
- Name Stephen Colbert
- Location USA!
- Bio Just been polishing my Peabodys and Emmys, working on my books, and uncovering the truth!
- Sample Twit “There’s nothing wrong with stretching the Truth. We stretch taffy, and that just makes it more delicious.”
- Name David Letterman
- Location New York City
- Bio Hi, my name is Dave and I’m running for president.
- Sample Twit “Just got back from seeing Regis at the hospital. We compared scars. Pretty similar, of course..I had the quintuple bypass so I win.”
- Name Albert Einstein
- Location Beyond
- Bio Looks like we got a regular Albert Einstein on our hands here.
- Sample Twit “When you kiss a pretty girl an hour seems like a second. When you sit on a red-hot cinder a second seems like an hour. That’s relativity.”
- Name Lindsay Lohan
- Location Hollywood, CA
- Bio Yes, it’s really me.
- Sample Twit “@molls – you should stop taking xanax and switch to cocaine.”
- Name Adam Sandler
- Sample Twit “If peeing your pants is cool, consider me Miles Davis!”
- Name David Hasselhoff
- Location Hollywood, California
- Bio Star of stage, screen, and song. You love me.
- Sample Twit “Deciding which leather jacket to wear”
- Name MacGyver
- Location Mission City
- Bio Call me Mac….but don’t ask me about my first name!
- Sample Twit “I want to blow something up! It’s a boring weekend. Give me some hair spray and a lighter!!!!”
- Name Fry
- Sample Twit “Wow, Bender started snoring like a construction robot, not just a bending robot. This sucks.”
- Name Bender
- Location 41.927429,-87.707366
- Bio Follow me, jerk! I may not be the real Bender, but that doesn’t mean I’m not great!
- Sample Twit “Man, this economy IS getting rough; the Floozie Bots aren’t raking in nearly as much cash. I might have to switch to Duff!”
- Name Homer J Simpson
- Location Springfield
- Bio I work at a nuclear power plant. Married with two kids and a baby.
- Sample Twit “Homer got a donut
Homer not angry anymore.”
- Name Lisa Simpson
- Location Springfield
- Bio The smart daughter of Homer and Marge Simpson. Maybe I was adopted?
- Sample Twit “I’m glad Mom named me instead of Homer who wanted to name me Bartzina!”
- Name Ralph Wiggum
- Location Springfield, USA
- Bio My cat’s breath smells like cat food.
- Sample Twit “I ate too much plastic candy.”
- Name Peter Grffin
- Location My house?
- Bio if i had job i would not know it
- Sample Twit “alright, should be going to sleep, we got some bad stuff coming out at night, don’t wanna see them”
- Name Stewie Griffin
- Location Quahog
- Bio I am Stewie Griffin, YOU WILL BOW TO ME!
- Sample Twit “Aha! So they do make bigger diapers! That deceitful woman told me I’d have to learn to use the toilet!”
- Name Lost
- Sample Twit “4 8 15 16 23 42″
- Name Sawyer
- Sample Twit “Checking out Kate’s ass”
- Name Chewbacca
- Location Rome, Italy
- Bio hnnnhrrhhh awwgggghhh wrrhwrwwhw!
- Sample Twit “AAAAAaaaahurrrrrrrrrrrrrrrnnnn! WWHheeerrrrRRRRrrrrn”
- Name Han Solo
- Location Free space.
- Bio Don’t get cocky.
- Sample Twit “Sorry I haven’t updated in a while, carbonite kinda restricts the typing fingers. 200 followers! I got more while frozen than I did thawed!”
- Name Luke Skywalker
- Location Yavin 4
- Bio Jedi Master. Husband. Father.
- Sample Twit “Solo wants to chat. I’ll bet Leia’s been giving him jip again.”
- Name Obi-Wan Kenobi
- Location Jedi Temple, Coruscant
- Bio Life is stress.
- Sample Twit “Anakin botched his waffles. Said, “They’re a bit on the dark side.” Ahahaha. Haha. Ha. No, I didn’t think it was funny, either.”
- Name @-_-@ Princess Leia
- Location Aldera City, Alderaan
- Bio @-_-@ Teenage rebel. Interested in hair maintainance and *really* fabulous up-dos. Solo heiress of the Alderaan Organas (daahling).
- Sample Twit “@-_-@ This is like my most desperate hour, evah. Help me de-Nerf my updo R2, you’re my only hope.”
- Name r2d2
- Location Tatooine
- Bio beep boop beep beep squawk wheet
- Sample Twit “*bloop doot deet doot doot…SQUAWK!*”
- Name C3PO
- Location Some dusty hell hole.
- Bio Hello, I am C-3PO, human cyborg relations. How might I serve you?
- Sample Twit “Trying to loose this stupid little droid that just beeps and whistles. Figured I would try stairs seeing as he doesnt have any legs.”
- Name bob
- Location refueling in Wellington, NZ
- Bio put captain solo in the cargo hold
- Sample Twit “Just as I thought, Google Tatooine is somewhat lacking in detail. Put Captain Solo in the cargo hold!”
- Name Darth Vader
- Location Empire, CO
- Bio Evil Orphan Annie™
- Sample Twit “Heard through the Imperial grape vine that Dick Cheney is going as me for Halloween. Funny ’cause I’m planning on going as him.”
- Name Darth Sidious
- Location Coruscant
- Bio Dark Lord of the Sith. Tyrant of the galaxy. Sometimes I feel misunderstood.
- Sample Twit “Dark Lord is back. Now to decide which of the ninkinpoops to choke. As an aside, it sure is hard to type properly with these long nails.”
- Name The Emperor
- Location Coruscant
- Bio Sith Master. Ruler of the Galactic Empire.
- Sample Twit “A note for would-be emperor McCain: Do not trust your young apprentice.”
- Name Admiral Ackbar
- Bio Mon Calamari. Supreme Commander of the Rebel Alliance Fleet.
- Sample Twit “Just received transmission from an old friend. I can get a free Y-wing if I signup for a few free trials and get six friends to do the same.”
- Name Lieutenant Worf
- Sample Twit “Washing my hair and getting ready for my date with @DeannaTroi. Brut or Old Spice?”
- Name Jean-Luc Picard
- Location USS Enterprise, NCC-1701-E
- Bio Starfleet Captain. Donut Fiend.
- Sample Twit “Captain’s Log: What is this Stardate revision stuff? Daylight Savings Time doesn’t work in space!”
- Name Deanna Troi
- Location U.S.S. Enterprise
- Bio I’m in ur mind empathing ur thoughtz.
- Sample Twit “@Will_Riker My mother is coming aboard at our next stop and would like to have dinner with you. Please be punctual. *wink*”
- Name William Riker
- Sample Twit “Running a level 3 diagnostic comb of my beard”
- Name Borat Sagdiyev
- Location Kazakstan..Very Nice!
- Bio I make Sexy Time!
- Sample Twit “Justine..Wow wow wee waa! Sexy Time??”
- Name Terminator
- Sample Twit “@Cvalenti Possible response: Yes/No Or What? Go Away GIVE ME YOUR ADDRESS Fuck you Fuck You Asshole”
- Name Indiana Jones
- Location Around the Globe
- Bio Archaeologist, Professor of Archaeology at Marshal College, and Obtainer of Rare Antiquities
- Sample Twit “Saw the new documentary for the first time this weekend at Cannes Film Fest…. I Have to say… I still got it!”
- Name Deep Thought
- Location Earth
- Bio 42 is the answer. But what is the question?
- Sample Twit “mmmmmh… maybe 6×7?”
- Name Marvin the Robot
- Sample Twit “here I am, brain the size of the universe”
- Name Aragorn
- Bio Still not King
- Sample Twit “Got a job offer from Sauron. Considering it – Think I would look good on a dragon. Still not King.”
- Name Frodo Baggins
- Location The Shire, MiddleEarth
- Bio Legendary Hobbit from Middle-earth
- Sample Twit “We have now departed from Lothlorien after recieving a gift from Lady Galadriel…she wants me
”
- Name Sméagol Hobbit
- Location Subterranean Lake
- Bio Hello precious
- Sample Twit “Oh twitter! Me loves me loves! It’ll lead me to my precioussssss!”
- Name Tony_Montana
- Location Miami, Florida
- Bio Say Hello To My Little Friend!!
- Sample Twit “The cops didn’t believe me when I said I was a baker, man. It was flour in my trunk, I’m not lying, man.”
- Name The United States
- Location US of A. Heard of it?
- Bio 232 year old warrior-poet.
- Sample Twit “Yeah, hi. Wal*Mart customer service? Yes, I’d like to return this economy. Receipt? Well, uh, it was a gift.”
- Name The Earth
- Location Sol
- Bio What are all of these apes doing on me?
- Sample Twit “I feel like I’m taking on a lot more water than I used to… wonder if that has to do with all that gas inside me… where’s the Pepto?”
- Name Uranus
- Location Outer Sol
- Bio Whoever named me is getting a foot up the ass
- Sample Twit “So you think my name is funny? You suck.”
- Name Santa Claus
- Location North Pole
- Bio I LOVE Christmas all year long. And I hope YOU still believe in Santa
- Sample Twit “My, I have really fallen behind in email. I thought the elves were kidding me when they told me I had 3 months worth of email to read!”
- Name ebenezer scrooge
- Sample Twit “humbug”
- Name thegrinch
- Location In that black place in your he
- Bio I’m kind of a big deal.
- Sample Twit “@santaclaus and what are you doing twittering and driving a sled? is that safe? Nice role model…seriously.”
- Name God
- Location heaven
- Bio Hells yeah, it’s me!
- Sample Twit “Palin follows me. I don’t follow her. She is a good mom, but she is unfit to lead the country. Me as my witness, I am supporting the Dems.”
- Name Satan
- Location Hell
- Bio fallen
- Sample Twit “a big question on my todo list for today.. making google more evil or helping microsoft buy yahoo!?”
- Name Batman
- Location Gotham
- Bio Dark Knight. Superhero.
- Sample Twit “Last night’s patrol was quiet. Tonight should be the same. I keep hearing about a guy flying around in red and gold armor. Must investigate.”
- Name Metallica
- Sample Twit “Shopping for extra-small jockstraps.”
- Name Michael Jackson
- Sample Twit “Heading off to McDonald’s playland”
- Name Master Chief
- Sample Twit “My other car is a warthog.”
- Name Sanjaya Malakar
- Location Burbank CA
- Bio I am a singing wonder
- Sample Twit “devistated…heading home now – thanks for nothin’ america”
I’m sure this list reflects only a small fraction of the phony/fake profiles out there. The not so phony profiles of the two guys that created this list are Schooley02 and Netgeek06. Let us know what you think.
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