There’s a lot of talk about being able to manage our privacy and boundaries on various online social networks, but one thing that’s in part missing from the conversation is reminders to ourselves and others that there should be guidelines on how you treat other people. I feel like there’s this notion out there that we are each an island at the mercy of whatever mercurial whims our friends, colleagues, and family throw our way. But what if we started thinking about “do unto others” –not just as we would have done to ourselves, either–as we also cavort about online?
In that spirit, here’s some simple advice about how to treat others with respect and still have fun online. The number one rule? Ask first.
Mind-blowing concept, I know! But with the ease with which we can refer to and tag each other on different services, we forget that sometimes people don’t want to be referred to or tagged. Just because someone has a public profile, doesn’t mean they want to be quoted at every juncture! Here are some standard questions I use:
Can I post what you just said to Twitter and Facebook? Should I credit you, or should it be anonymous/overheard?
I took a great picture of us–check it out. Can I post it and tag you with it?
I’m checking into Foursquare for this restaurant. Can I say that I’m having dinner with you?
Not only does this tell your friend that you actually care about their privacy (most people like that), but it also helps spread the reminder that they should do the same for you and others.
The more you do it, the more comfortable it’ll be for both you and your friends. Now, onward with your sharing!
(Note: I’d written this for a client as a handout, and finally turned it in a post that’s a little easier to share. If you’d like to download the PDF to print, it’s right here.)
So, you’re ready to sign up for Twitter! Sometimes the signup process can be a bit daunting, so I created this short guide showing you what you need to know. Let’s get started!
Last night, my friend Nancy Goldstein asked me for some help* in tracking clicks and references in Twitter… and I thought, as I was laying out for her what I do, “man, this would be a good blog post.” Before we begin, though, let’s all repeat the first rule of Twitter: it’s not about you. It’s about the conversation. Being obsessive about ego-checking can breed an addictive, greedy ego-monster (not that I know from experience), so it’s important to remember why you’re doing this set up–not just so you can see people referring you, but also so you can monitor what’s happening in conversations that refer to things you care about.
Here are the tips I shared with Nancy:
Backtweets. Enter any URL and see who’s tweeted it, no matter what URL shortener they used. Especially handy if you don’t have access to analytics of a particular site. (RSS feed of results available)
Favstar. See who has favorited your tweets, and also new-style RT’ed your tweets. (RSS feed of results available– handy for seeing a old tweet that was recently favorited).
Advanced Twitter search. The search function at the top of Twitter home page doesn’t seem to have all of the results when referencing users. Go to http://search.twitter.com/ and enter your username preceded by the @ symbol (i.e., @randomdeanna) and hit enter. You should see results of when someone else new-style RT’s something with your username in it. (RSS feed of results available)
Other Twitter searches. I also have saved searches for deannazandt, which brings up both mistaken username mentions (people sometimes forget I’m @randomdeanna), as well links to my website, deannazandt.com. Plus a saved search for “Deanna Zandt,” when people read something I’ve written, but don’t know my twitter handle.
Got (free, easy) tips of your own? Feel free to share them in the comments!
(*UPDATE: Nancy reminded me to share with you that she is “the most selfless, confident, least ego-driven person you’ve ever met and would NEVER dream of checking my RT thread to reassure myself that people like me or are actually reading my work :)” OMG NANCY ME TOO)
I was thrilled to participate in this roundtable on the media reportage vis a vis Iran’s election on GritTV, featuring the fabulous independent filmmaker and educator Simin Farkondeh (who everyone should interview, btw), John MacArthur of Harper’s, and Robert Huesca, a professor of communications at Trinity University.
I’ve got more thoughts on the subject (if ya couldn’t tell by the look on my face at different points in the clip) that I hope to round up later this morningI wrote up here…
(This is part 2 of a chicken-’n'-egg series explaining the usefulness of Twitter. If you get what Twitter is, but need help getting started, you might want to look at “A non-fanatical beginner’s guide to Twitter.“)
I’m tapping away furiously on my Blackberry as a friend arrives to join me for coffee. “Whatcha working on?” he asks.
“Just updating my Twitter,” I say. “Two secs.”
“Twitter, huh? I just don’t get it, I guess.”
“Oh, my. Allow me to get you to ‘get’ it, my friend.”
This is a conversation I have often, and while it might make some diehard Twitterers cringe, I relish this moment to expound and explain this little phenomenon that’s happening around Twitter and services like it. I’ve clearly drunk the Kool-Aid of the micro-blogging revolution, and I’d love to walk you through some of the ways people are enjoying it.
Thanks to a bunch of mainstream media coverage, a lot of folks around me are becoming more interested in participating in the Twitterverse. “All right, all right,” they say. “You’ve convinced me. But how do I get started?” It’s almost like walking into a giant party for the first time: You’re not sure where your friends are, the bar is on the other side of the room, and the bathrooms are anyone’s guess. Allow me to be your party guide.
Sure, sure, you could also just Google “beginner’s guide to Twitter” and read a any number of other guides that have been written. Problem is, I feel like most of them focus on two niches: how to be a fanatical Twitterer, and/or how to be a really obnoxiously popular Twitterer. What I’m aiming for here is more for people who want to experiment a little and connect with other folks on a pretty direct level. We’ll talk later about different ways you can participate, but for now, let’s just get the basics down.
[Following is an email I sent out this morning...]
Good morning from the south side of Brooklyn, all!
Many of you know my commitment and activism around protecting voters from fraud, disenfranchisement and general craziness. In 2004, I traveled to Ohio to volunteer with the Election Protection coalition; this year, I wasn’t able to make it out of town (due to this lovely little addition to the family: meet Izzy Louise).
I’ve instead been working on a digital election protection project that uses a variety of tools to allow people to report on their voting experiences: check out Twitter Vote Report at http://twittervotereport.com/ . There are a couple amazing things about this project:
– you don’t have to use Twitter to report: text messages, phone calls, iPhones, Androids are all in play
– an *amazing* all-volunteer team came together from across the country to build out the coalition, site & tools in under two weeks
“This is a historic moment” is what we’re going to hear all day today, and I could be prouder to have played a part in making new technologies the means to a better end. (For those keeping score at home: I did the logo, design, website buildout, and helped make the maps and other bits look nice.)
Check me out on GRITtv discussing the pros and cons (well, mostly the cons) of electronic voting. Along with me in the segment are Steven Rosenfeld, senior fellow at AlterNet and the author of Count My Vote: A Citizen’s Guide to Voting, Bo Lipari, Executive Director of New Yorkers for Verified Voting, and of course, host with the most, Laura Flanders.
