Twitter Resources

By Tim Priebe on March 3, 2010 at 2:09 pm in Link Roundup, Social Networking

PrintUnlike some other social networking sites, Twitter does not have third party applications on their website. Instead, they allow those to be hosted on other websites, and let those tie directly into Twitter. Here are a few of those Twitter resources I’ve found useful

TweetBeep.com

tweetbeep

If you are familiar with Google Alerts, then you’ll understand TweetBeep.com, which bills itself as Google Alerts for Twitter. Basically, you can enter search terms, and TweetBeep.com will email you tweets that match the search when they show up on Twitter.

TwitBacks.com

twitbacks

If you’re not a graphic designer yourself, TwitBacks.com is a good resource for getting a background image for your Twitter account that’s more customized than the backgrounds Twitter offers by default. They have over 80 backgrounds, and you can customize them online with your social networking links, a longer biography than Twitter allows, and even add a picture of yourself or your logo.

SocialOomph.com

socialoomph

If you’re looking to schedule tweets, automatically follow those who follow you or automatically send direct messages to new followers, SocialOomph.com is the choice for you.

Twitter Feed

twitterfeed

Tweeting about your latest blog entry is made automatic with Twitter Feed. Just enter in any RSS feed address, customize the settings if necessary, and every time you blog it will be pushed automatically out to Twitter. Of course, other RSS feeds will work as well.

Twitter Grader

twittergrader

Wanting to see how well you’re using Twitter? Twitter Grader is an automated tool from the guys that brought you Website Grader. While this type of tool should be taken with a grain of salt, it is neat to see how you rank compared to others in your town.

Your Twitter Karma

twitterkarma

Your Twitter Karma will give you a list of all the people who you’re following or who are following you, and will let you filter the list. A good tool if you want to see who’s following you that you’re not following, or vice versa. It was extremely useful when they would let you bulk unfollow people you were following who weren’t following you, but apparently Twitter asked them to remove that feature. Also, it’s a bit slow and the site is as ugly as sin, but it’s useful otherwise.

Know of some other great Twitter resources you’ve found useful? Please let us know!

Pros and Cons to new Facebook layout

By Tim Priebe on February 22, 2010 at 5:04 pm in Social Networking

Over the last month or so, Facebook has been rolling out their redesigned site, with many key elements changing in an overall layout overhaul. I asked some of the T&S staff to let me know what they thought of the new Facebook layout, now that they’ve had some time to use it. Here are their thoughts:

Elyssa Dolinger

I think it’s usable, but I always hate how they change things without asking. Yeah, they’re not going to listen to me, but I’d at least like to be asked. I miss my little bar at the bottom! I know it’s on the side but there is so much stuff over there it’s cluttered. I also wish there was just a little bit better definition between sections, color-wise. It all gets mucked together which means I gloss over the link I’m looking for.

fb-1The thing that I actually really DO like in this change of layout is the little notifications next to the Facebook logo on the top left of the page. The three subtle icons representing friend requests, messages, and notifications get these little red flags on them when you have some. It’ll even have a tiny number in there telling you how many you have so you can know what you’re getting into before you commit to clicking.

Sean Sanders

fb-2I feel like the new layout is more organized. Having the bar on the bottom made it less noticeable than it is now. Also, I like seeing all the categories broken down on the side. It just seems a lot easier to get to different places now. That’s about all I’ve noticed that’s really different.

Amber Hanks

I really like the new design of Facebook. I think the simplified look works better. It took a little getting used to though. I also like that the friend requests and messages are more dynamic. I also like how notifications show up in the left sidebar when you’re logged in.

Unfortunately, chat still appears to be buggy when you have several chats going. It will say people are offline for just a second, and messages won’t go through. Then a moment later, they’re back online again. It’s too bad they didn’t fix some of those things.

fb-4

Emily Spirek

My initial reaction of the new layout was the opposite of most. Although Facebook has made some questionable updates in the past, I don’t understand why so many people disliked this one. I think the overall intention was a good one, but there still needs to be some improvements.

Here’s what I like:

  1. The dashboard with a more central location of everything you need.
  2. “Live Feed” changed to “Most Recent”…not a huge deal, just think it makes more sense.
  3. I love icons, mainly b/c they simplify everything and look cool. I like the addition of Friend Requests, Messages and Notifications in the top left.

fb-3Here’s what I’d like to see:

  1. Home, Profile and Account on the same side as the new icons I just mentioned, and turn those into icons as well.
  2. I’m not sure if they were refraining from total shock by keeping chat in the same location, but I don’t understand why the Friends Online needs to be in 2 separate locations. On the left sidebar where it says “See All”, it’s awkward how a pop up appears across the screen. I feel like the random choices of online friends is a waste of space. Either put the whole list in the left sidebar or stick with the original chat in the bottom right.

That’s all I see so far, overall I think it was a smart move by Facebook.

Losing control is good

By Tim Priebe on December 25, 2009 at 6:30 am in Video

Merry Christmas! During the past year, a lot of business owners come to me concerned about not having control over blog comments, social media comments, etc. What they don’t get is the fact that they don’t have control is what makes it more useful and genuine. In the video below, Reddit founder Alexis Ohanian discusses that viewpoint at a conference in less than five minutes using a real-life example.

Facebook’s latest feature

By Tim Priebe on September 22, 2009 at 6:53 am in How-To, Social Networking, Video

Facebook just added a new feature where you can link to other people in comments. See how this works, and where it doesn’t work.

The Beginner’s Guide To Twitter

By Tim Priebe on July 30, 2009 at 6:30 am in Social Networking

Twitter bird winkingThinking about starting a Twitter account? Want a quick overview of Twitter and its lingo and customs? Then this is for you!

What is Twitter?

Simply put, Twitter is like instant messenger on broadcast. People who sign up for Twitter can subscribe to multiple people’s updates, and those updates will then appear in chronological order on their home page.

From a business standpoint, there are several advantages to having a Twitter account. If you can create an account people are willing to subscribe to, your updates will appear on their home page. So you can market directly to them without spending anything but your time.

Another advantage is being able to establish relationships and maintain them easily online. You can “meet” people on Twitter, then eventually meet them in real life and already have an established relationship. You can also follow people you met in real life, but would otherwis be in contact with on a regular basis. And you can help others by answering questions.

Twitter Lingo

Twitter home page

There are many terms that are unique to Twitter. To get you up to date, here’s the definition of many of those terms.

Tweet - This can be either a verb or a noun. A tweet is an update or micro-blog that you sent out. To tweet is to write and send out that update.

Tweeter - Someone who uses Twitter.

Follow - To subscribe to someone’s updates, so that they will appear on your home page.

@Reply - A tweet that is publicly broadcast, but directed to a specific person. You write one by simply putting @username anywhere in the message, generally at the beginning. i.e. @tandswebdesign Do you design business cards as well?

Direct Message - A private message, only viewable by the intended recipient. You can only send direct messages to people that are following you.

Retweet - Rebroadcasting a tweet someone else posted. Generally done in the form: RT @username: Original message. i.e. RT @amber_hanks: http://twitpic.com/9jbjy - I hate ie6

Hash Tag - A way to track topics on Twitter. You add a #, followed by a keyword of some sort. i.e. Thanks to everyone who came to the Marketing Rxpo. We had a great time, and loved talking with everyone! #edmondrxpo

Other Twitter Customs

Twitter Fail WhaleWhen mentioning other Twitter users in posts, use their @username so they will be linked to. i.e. Going out on a date with my lovely wife, @priebechick, tonight

On Fridays, there’s an event called Follow Friday. The convention is to use the hash tag #followfriday, and to mention several people worth following on Twitter. i.e. My 1st #FollowFriday! Check out @divainteriors, @shawnJroberts, @sastubblefield, @WhitneyFleming, @moniqueterrell, @rhukill & @fallonbrooks

The Fail Whale is the screen shown when Twitter servers are over capacity, and Twitter is temporarily unavailable. Generally, immediately clicking the refresh button on your browser will clear up the problem.

Because Twitter limits messages to 140 characters, many services exist to shorten URLs from something like http://www.tandswebdesign.com/blog/2009/07/bocce-ball-on-fun-friday/ to http://tr.im/tdlI. Those include sites like http://tr.im, http://bit.ly and http://tinyurl.com.

If you have any Twitter questions, be sure to ask. We’d be happy to help!

P.S. Feel free to follow me on Twitter, or to follow T&S Web Design.

Follow our staff and partners on Twitter

By Tim Priebe on July 11, 2009 at 12:00 pm in Social Networking

Twitter BirdIn the spirit of Twitter’s own Follow Friday, here are the links to follow our staff on Twitter:

And here are just a few businesses and people we partner with or just recommend:

Learn from Half Price Books’ Social Network Marketing

By Tim Priebe on July 7, 2009 at 7:00 am in Reviews, Social Networking

Twitter bird hiding behind Facebook LogoA new Half Price books opened up recently here in Oklahoma City, and this past weekend my dad and I went to check it out. Great store. I grew up in Dallas and frequently visited the original Half Price Books while there.

$50 later and back at home, I decided to look up Half Price books on all the social networks. They’re doing a great job with their Facebook page, and I became a fan of them there. Then, after some searching, I found their Twitter account. Wow. Did they set it up with the intention of failing?

Edit: While the tips in this blog entry still apply, Half Price Books has contacted me directly to let me know that they did not set up the Twitter account and have already had Twitter suspend the account. They may not be responding on Twitter, but they replied to my blog with a blog comment, then with an email, all in less than 36 hours after the blog went online!

Let’s take a look at both the great things they’ve done with the Facebook page, and the terrible job they’ve done with the Twitter account.

Twitter

Half Price Books' Twitter page1. They’re not promoting it on their website.

In the spirit of full disclosure, we at T&S are not yet promoting our Twitter account on our website. But we should be. And so should Half Price Books.

2. They haven’t entered in a name.

Companies need to enter in their company name, not just their username. Initially, I searched for “Half Price Books.” That got me nowhere. I tried a few variations, before finally just typing in http://twitter.com/halfpricebooks. So they need to make their account easier to find. This will also help in search engines, as currently the Twitter account does not show up in searches for “Half Price Books.” (Note: I only checked the first 15 pages of results.)

3. They aren’t using it.

Here’s a blindingly obvious one. Twitter is a great method for communication. Half Price Books’ news page on their website has plenty of available content they could be reusing on their Twitter account. But I’m not visiting their website on a daily basis, and neither are you. The average consumer is much more likely to visit Twitter on a daily basis than they are the Half Price Books website. That’s not conjecture, it’s based on hard data.

4. People are talking about them on Twitter, and they aren’t responding.

At the time of this blog entry’s writing, a Twitter search for “Half Price Books” revealed 34 mentions of them within the past 24 hours. And only two results for @halfpricebooks, because people don’t know it’s there. (One of those two is a tweet I wrote.) Most of the tweets are praise, which they should be thanking those customers for. And what kind of statement is it making when they’re not responding to criticism?

Facebook

Half Price Books' Facebook page1. They’re letting people know it’s out there.

They’ve linked to the page on their main website. What a concept! It’s on the front page, it’s prominent, and people are obviously clicking on it, because they have over 14,000 fans. And I’ll tell you a secret: They didn’t have to get a Facebook ad, they just used a website they already had. (I have no clue if they’ve also purchased Facebook advertising.)

2. They have a username.

They’re keeping up to date on Facebook developments, and have obtained a username for their page. This definitely hasn’t hurt their search engine placement in Google, as their Facebook page is on the first page of Google results for “Half Price Books.”

3. They’re actually using it to communicate.

At the time of this blog entry’s writing, they had five entries over the last month or so. They could probably use it slightly more often, but they’re definitely making use of it while not spamming fans. As with Twitter, more people are visiting Facebook than Half Price Books’ website, so this is a great communication tool for them.

So what’s the overall lesson we can take back to the social network marketing our businesses do? Simply put, utilize what’s out there. Remember, these tools are free, aside from time spent, and are even better than your own website at keeping in contact with current and potential customers. You still need your own website to provide in depth details about your business to those who are interested, but making use of the social networking tools that are out there is a no-brainer.

10 Tips For Managing Twitter As Your Usage Increases

By Tim Priebe on July 1, 2009 at 1:44 pm in Social Networking

Twitter ButtonJust came across 10 Tips For Managing Twitter As Your Usage Increases. This article has some great tips, some of which I’ve been doing for awhile now, some of which I recently started doing, and some of which I’m going to start doing.

Here are a few items the article mentions that are quick and easy to do:

1. Use Your Real Name In The Name Field, Not Your Username

9. Stop Your Automated Direct Message Tweets To New Followers

Obviously, the actual blog post goes into more detail, so I would suggest you check it out.

Become a fan of T&S on Facebook to win business cards

By Tim Priebe on June 14, 2009 at 11:25 pm in Social Networking

picture-1As you probably know, this past Friday, Facebook launched user names. While we’ve previously told you how to find your public Facebook link, that’s no longer an issue at all. Now you can have a link like http://facebook.com/timjpriebe

While it’s open currently to both individual accounts and to pages, the pages have to have at least 1,000 fans. The T&S Facebook Page is a few short, and we’d love you to become a fan to help us make up the difference.

But let’s make it worth your while. Become a fan AND comment on our new Print Material Portfolio linked to on our page, and you’ll be entered to get free business card design and 1,000 cards. Contest closes June 20, 2009.

Note: Current fans can still be entered by just commenting on the Print Material Portfolio.

Pikchur: Good for uploading pictures to social networks, or good for nothing?

By Tim Priebe on April 14, 2009 at 8:54 pm in Reviews, Social Networking

Piktchur homepageHere at T&S, we love tools that let us update multiple social networking and social media websites in one fell swoop. We’re big fans of ping.fm, a website that updates your statuses across multiple sites. So when we heard about Pikchur, a website that would allow you to update multiple websites with your pictures at once, we were eager to try it out. I was the willing volunteer.

Pikchur currently supports Twitter, Tumblr, Jaiku, Facebook, FriendFeed, Identi.ca, Plurk, Brightkite, Totspot Rejaw, Koornk and Flickr. I was immediately disappointed that it didn’t have MySpace in the list. I’m not a huge MySpace fan, but I try to keep my pictures there as up to date as my Facebook page.

I went ahead and signed up for Twitter, Facebook, FriendFeed and Flickr, and started uploading pictures. The first major drawback I found was that I could only upload one image file at a time. What a pain! I had 15 pictures to upload, and if I was a more casual social networking user, I probably would have bailed at that point.

pikchur_logoThe upload process did let me put in the location, although it turns out it didn’t share that information with the other websites. By default, Pikchur stores your pictures themselves, with a gallery and pages you can view them on. So here’s how it interacted with each of the social networks:

Twitter

Tim's Twitter homepage after using PikchurPikchur posted a tweet for every single picture I uploaded, with a link back to Pikchur’s website to view. A batch upload option with just one tweet would have been nice here. I’m sure this was annoying for those following me on Twitter.

Facebook

Here, Pikchur created its own Pikchur album. I did not put a description in when I uploaded the pictures, so Pikchur posted some annoying message for other people to visit Pikchur and use them. I had to go in, delete all the descriptions for each picture, then rename the album.

FriendFeed

FriendFeed got the same treatment Twitter did, with a status update with a link for every single picture. Annoying.

Flickr

picture-3Flickr had the same results as Facebook, down to the annoying “Send pics 2 Flickr from your mobile device, and view full size @  pikchur.com/wp7″ for the description. I had to delete the descriptions and put the pictures in a set.

So there’s two gripes I have with Pikchur right now. First, they need to not automatically put their plug in where my description goes. Second, and more importantly, they need to allow for multiple files to be uploaded at once. This would create a set on Pikchur, Facebook, Flickr and similar sites. On FriendFeed, Twitter and other related sites, it would result in only one link sent out, not one per picture.

Until they at least add multi-file upload support, I won’t be using Pikchur any more.

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