Posts tagged with 'twitter'
Increasingly, I’m getting mentions from people with whom I’m not familiar, asking to click on links to their work. I see this happening to my friends, too, so I thought I’d collect and share my responses to one Twitter user on why this doesn’t work that well.
This isn’t a criticism of anyone’s projects– I’m sure they’re fabulous! — but rather an offer of help on how to get people to look at stuff.
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.@gbedard1 ok, time for some free advice. People pay thousands for this (or they just buy my book, haha), so take notes: |
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.@gbedard1 I don’t have a relationship to you or your work, so randomly tweeting me isn’t going to make me click your link |
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.@gbedard1 when I check out who you are, I see you’re randomly tweeting a lot of ppl, so now you kinda look like a spammer. oh noes! |
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.@gbedard1 Twitter isn’t a shortcut to popularity. It’s a means to build relationships. |
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.@gbedard1 So start getting to know the ppl whose attention you want, and let them get to know you. *Then* pitch them shamelessly. :) /end |
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UPDATE: I got a little swipe about my ego being too big to click on links. Granted, my ego is ginormous (ask anyone who knows me intimately offline), but for once, it doesn’t have much to do with the situation at hand. I’m just explaining here how important the relationship mechanism is for sharing information– it’s called “social” media for a reason. Tee hee.
In case you’ll be at SXSW Interactive this weekend, and in case you want to see me and some pretty amazing folks doing some killer speaking and workshopping… Monday is the Day o’ DZ:
- Monday, 9:30am. Hyatt TX Ballroom 1.
The best donuts you’ve ever had in your life will be served!
People Power: Leveraging Personal Stories to Build Influence.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_IAP7037
With: Twanna Hines, Jean Russell, Cheryl Contee and Andrea Miller.
Now, social is personal. From finance site Mint.com’s anti-immigration blog post gaffe to YourTango CEO Andrea Miller’s “How to Date an Indian (Advice for the Non-Indian),” social media fuses personal with public in a way never seen before. Whether sharing taste in hiphop, dating preferences, provocative political ideas, or insider information about a soon-to-be-launched business, social media strategically develops personal and professional reputations. Stories can build audiences, grow support for campaigns and change mainstream ideas about social issues. They can also alienate various communities, compromise business information confidentiality or damage brands. If social media has shown us anything, it’s that stories still matter. This panel will be a concrete conversation on how successful online personalities have managed their personal and professional lives using social media: telling authentic stories about our experiences, and using those stories to build powerful, engaged communities.
- Monday, 11:30am. SXSW Bookstore — ACC Ballroom Foyer D
Book signing! I’ll be there till 12pm.
http://schedule.sxsw.com/events/event_OE00561
- Monday, 12:30pm. Icehauers, 83 Rainey St.
Twitter for Good at SXSW and Beyond
http://claire.us.com/twitter-for-good-at-sxsw-and-beyond/
The lovely Claire Diaz Ortiz, who leads philanthropy and social innovation at Twitter, is hosting this lunchtime discussion and workshop to answer the question: “What 1 THING could Twitter, Inc. do to better help non-profits, causes, and anyone trying to make a difference in the world using the platform?” More details at Claire’s blog post.
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!
I had a perfect storm of a project recently, and decided to write it up as a case study in how to manage a short-term social media campaign. I’ll discuss tools, tactics and metrics — hope you find it useful!
At the beginning of December, Aspen Baker, the executive director of Exhale, wrote me an email. “I’m looking for a social media coordinator and web person for a short-term project,” she said. “Interested?” I’ve always been a fan of Aspen’s work at Exhale — they’re a nonprofit organization which provides the first and only nonjudgmental national, multilingual after-abortion talkline. One of the things I love most about Exhale, which I learned largely through their campaign, is their advocacy of “pro-voice” in dealing with abortion. Every woman’s voice deserves to be heard; women (in numerous political contexts) don’t need to be talked at, shamed, have numbers and percentages thrown at them as much as they need to be listened to, and told that they are loved.
[read the rest of this post » ]
Note: This how-to became quite popular, and I wanted to be clear that it is available for reposting and reuse for other campaigns, so long as you respect the Creative Commons license (Attribution non-commercial share-alike).
THE INTRO
For background on the #dearjohn campaign, check out these posts from Sady Doyle and Amanda Marcotte.
If you’re not on Twitter, but you’d like a helping hand through the sign-up process, go here.
If you’re new to Twitter, and want an introduction to basic concepts– retweets, hashtags, and mentions, oh my!– go here.
THE GOODS
One of the more attractive social media tactics when it comes to creating a stir is to use hashtags. Hashtags, in the case of campaigns and politics, can be useful to:
- collect all the tweets about a particular topic in one place;
- put pressure on public figures to respond to a topic (because of the above);
What’s a hashtag? It’s an agreed-upon keyword preceded by the pound sign that’s added to your tweet. In this case, we’re using #dearjohn. No special skill is required–just type it into your tweet, or copy and paste it.
Tweets with the #dearjohn hashtag should convey one or more of the following:
- A sense of urgency about sexual assault and reproductive rights.
- A personal story–storytelling is what gets to people, not isolated facts and figures.
- Deep conviction. You don’t have to tell your story to be authentic, but your words should be your own.
UPDATE: Check out Sady’s newer post for content ideas and guidelines.
Consider also monitoring the #dearjohn hashtag (how to do that is explained below) and retweeting posts that you agree with. Amplifying powerful messages and diverse voices goes a long way towards building critical mass.
It’s also helpful to include the Twitter handles of people that you want to hear your message. House representatives who are sponsoring the bill should be considered first–start with @SpeakerBoehner himself. A list of the rest of the co-sponsors–all 173 of them!– can be found here (click on “Co-sponsors” under Representative Christopher Smith). You can use GovLuv to find the Twitter handles of the representative you wish to mention. Consider also sending messages of thanks to representatives who are speaking out and standing up for women in this fight. UPDATE: Amaditalks on Tumblr compiled the whole list here.
You might also think about starting (or joining an existing) an act.ly petition to collect #dearjohn tweeters in yet another online location.
A word about decency/politeness: You don’t have to be nice in your tweets when confronting folks that support HR3. But calling names, making false or libelous accusations, etc., only hurts the rest of the movement. Be outraged, but keep your head on straight.
A word about trolls: If you’re new to this kind of thing, you might not have had much experience with trolling behavior. Basically, a troll is someone who actually isn’t interested in having a productive discussion, and only posts extremely inflammatory comments to derail the entire conversation. Ignore them. Block them. Do not, repeat, do not respond in any way, shape or form–do not even tell them that you’re blocking them. Trolls are vampires: they are emboldened and strengthened by any response to their antics, and you will inevitably be weakened. I know it’s hard to ignore them. But trust me, it is the only way.
To see the running log of all #dearjohn posts, you can do a few things:
- Keep coming back to this post and clicking on #dearjohn
- Look at the top of your Twitter page–there’s a search box. Enter #dearjohn into it, and when you see the search results, you’ll notice a button at the top right of the results–”Save this search.” Click that. Then, to find it again, look at the top of your Timeline for the “Searches” link. Click on it, and you’ll be shown a list of your saved searches.
- For more advanced options, you can perform an advanced Twitter search here: https://search.twitter.com/advanced
I’ll continue to update this post as the movement builds and evolves. Have a tip for me? Feel free to @me on Twitter, or drop a line.
(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!
[read the rest of this post » ]
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 admit it: I’m a complete pushover for slapstick humor. And today’s meme on Twitter, #unseenprequels*, has me in stitches. The idea: take a movie and slightly alter the title to come up with its prequel, which no one would have ever, ever paid to see. Hilarity ensues.
My favorites, in no particular order:
- @Bryce1984 The Lambs That Wouldn’t Shut Up #unseenprequels
- @jchinchar #unseenprequels Some Like It Tepid
- @matthasarms: Apocalypse Soon. #unseenprequels
- @steviedunn: The Day the Earth Continued Spinning #unseenprequels
- @PCTim: #unseenprequels The OK, The not so OK, and the unattractive
- @blogdiva: #unseenprequels Second-Base and The City
- @Alcudiabarfly: #unseenprequels dry-spell in the city
- @stealyourself: Madamoiselle Bovary #UnseenPrequels
- @lizzwinstead: The 5k run/walk Man #unseenprequels
- @jnjoiner: Thursday #unseenprequels
- @LParry: Shaun of the feeling peaky. #unseenprequels
- @KagroX: Still Plenty of Mohicans #unseenprequels
- @drywall: A Bunch of Mohicans #unseenprequels
- @RedGray: #unseenprequels Raiders of the Misplaced Ark
- @islandis: Sex, Lies, and Kinescope. #unseenprequels
- @macphoenix: Undocumented-Immigrant Kane #unseenprequels
- @mcsweater: American History IX #unseenprequels
- @AdamSerwer: The Dark Squire #unseenprequels
- @lizzwinstead: Conception of a Nation #unseenprequels
- @lizzwinstead: Still Going Back and Forth On Some Major Points of Endearments #unseenprequels
- (my own, heh): #unseenprequels Before Harry Met Sally
- UPDATE: via many others, this one clearly wins: @KagroX: Groundhog Day #unseenprequels
UPDATE: More fun titles are posted over at Ben Byrne’s blog!
* Wondering what the deal with the # is? That’s the marker for a “hashtag” on Twitter. It’s how Twitter users easily add or denote a keyword, allowing everyone else to either find or refer to a topic easily. Search for all #unseenprequel tweets!
I’ve been following the NYC public advocate race for the past few weeks, and noticed a while ago that all of the candidates are on Twitter. As I started following each of them, it became clear that they might not understand the full potential of social media and networking, because most of their tweets have been one-way broadcast tweets–posting how they feel about an issue, where they’re speaking that night, etc.
I griped a little yesterday about this, and Elana over at Wellstone Action asked me what advice I’d give candidates running for office. Here’s a quick, handy-dandy list of pointers for candidates, from the position of a voter:
- Talk with me, not to me. Twitter is a media platform for conversation, not broadcast. A rule of thumb that’s used for organizations also applies to candidates: only about 20-30% of your tweets should be about you. The rest should be about what your community cares about. Which leads me to…
- Find out what your community cares about. Read what your followers are tweeting and respond with helpful information. It doesn’t just have to be related to the office you’re running for, either… in fact, it’s better if you mix it up a little. For example, someone you follow tweets about heading to a restaurant you love. Respond and say you go there often, too, and be sure to try the blackened sea bass.
- Stay on top of hot topics. Look for people talking about issues you care about with Twitter search. You can either save them as saved search in your Twitter app (Tweetie, Tweetdeck, Twitterific, etc.), or as an RSS feed for your news reader (Google Reader, Netvibes, etc.) Then respond to those tweets, even if you’re not following each other.
- Give back to the community. Retweeting others’ ideas and suggestions is a great way to show appreciation, and to spead the good word.
- Use your own, authentic voice, not a press release voice. I’m a voter, a human, and I want you to be a human too. Robots don’t do so well in the voting booth.
- If you don’t have time, assign a staff person to monitor and respond to items — just make sure they’re clear that they’re your staff person, and not you. For example, NYC mayoral candidate Reverend Billy Talen has a personal account, as well as his campaign staff’s group account. If your staff person uses your account, ask them to note that they’re a staffer.
In short, act like a normal person who cares about the people around them, because we know you do!
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Note: Bill de Blasio was the only public advocate candidate who responded to my gripe, and he gets extra Twitter points for both that and at least retweeting people once in a while. Go Bill!
It’s been an interesting morning in the wonderful world of social media, hasn’t it? First, Twitter went dark. Then Facebook started acting janky. Then we all sat there and just stared at the blinking cursors on our screens, with their telepathic messages of “get back to work.” But did we? No! Of course not– we went over to FriendFeed to discuss.
Twitter reported its outage being caused by a denial-of-service attack. (Quick explanation: when skilled nerds/hackers write programs to flood a server with tasks and requests, so that the server is overloaded and taken down.) What happens when we come to rely on the social web for all kinds of things, and then those services disappear? Sure, we can all merrily hop over to the next one, but as Allyson Kapin pointed out, to a certain degree, we’d all have to start over on building our networks. Our social capital translates across platforms, sure, but the physical reconnecting of users to users is one big pain in the butt.
[read the rest of this post » ]
