Social Media

So you’ve started using the twitter social networking site and you’re tweeting regularly. Suddenly you’re deluged with different kinds of twitter messages from people you’ve added back  and you don’t know what they all mean? It’s not as confusing as it seems. There are actually only so many types you’ll meet on twitter, and it will help if you know what they are:

Multi Level Marketers – you will know them immediately by the DM’s about making money or looking for “investors.” Run, don’t walk.

Parents at home — A lot of jokes about the trials of having small children.

Pet people – Animal lovers, bond together! Speak in the voice of your pet! Make jokes about “my human”  or “the two-legged creature!” Twitter can be a pet paradise where animals finally get their voice.

Newswire services — often focused on a region or topic. These are usually great until you read about some appalling violent crime that you didn’t know about and you wish that you still didn’t, and it happened in your area, not in Dallas, which doesn’t have anything to do with us here and anyway,  anything can happen in Dallas.

Publically PR people — usually sane and witty. For whatever reason, they don’t generally tweet about work. Though some will blog about it.

Privately PR people – this is those celebrity tweeters that are actually written by a ghost writer. You won’t be able to recognize them, generally, unless you pay close attention. But if someone says he’s the Dalai Lama, be aware –it’s possible that the Lama takes time off from meditating to tweet, but it’s more likely  some freelancer in LA who’s got a publicity gig. Or it’s a complete fake, that’s happened too.  If he DM’s you and wants to offer you a great way to make money, again, run don’t walk.

Writers — often looking for an agent, working on a novel, or slumming as copywriters. Or already wrote a book and trying to promote it.  Or they’re a really  sucessful writer and they’re tweeting because their agent said they have to. In that case they’re not really “into” it. Yet. But they will be. Soon. They promise.

Professionals who are networking — could be teachers, engineers, headhunters (oh I mean corporate recruiters, sorry) or anyone who can derive professional benefit from meeting others in their field.  Or other fields.

High Techies — their tweets make zero sense to me, because I don’t know how to “code.” However, they are some of the best tweeters to know, because they can help you when you’re buying a computer or fixing up your WordPress site.  Just explain first that you don’t know the lingo.

Drunks – Unlike the high-techies, these tweets half make sense and often use bad language. They can be funny but you might want to be careful about following if you have children who are big enough to read your tweetdeck board, as I do.

People with a Political Ax to Grind — there aren’t as many of these as you’d expect, but they’re out there. Take it with a grain of salt — much political writing isn’t very well thought out, but when you take a few seconds to write a tweet, it’s even more casually constructed. Perhaps they didn’t mean it. They’re probably nice people.  Really. Even if you don’t agree with them. But if it goes on too long, yes, you may want to unfollow.

Exhibitionists with really cool lives, whose twitter job is to make you worry about why they’re always in some foreign country on the beach, and you’re at work, and they just go from one exciting adventure to another. If you need proof that life is not fair, this is it.

There are probably more types, but there are the main ones I’ve seen. Twitter gives you the world at your feet — the good, the bad, the ugly, and those who won’t be quiet. Feel free to add any other types you’ve met in the “comments” section … I’d love to hear if there’s someone I’ve missed!

Top picks of the week:

Inkognegro writes about abandonment, about being a father and being a son, and about learning about your father after he’s gone in a post that lays it all on the line …Emily at the Balcom Ad Agency blog writes about how she feels about her tattoos …

Battling Episcopalians

Newly installed Bishop  Edwin F. Gulick Jr. has sent a letter to Fort Worth Episcopalian Clergy who have stated their intention to leave the American Episcopal church with Bishop Iker, asking them to reaffirm their desire to defect to the Provence of the Southern Cone which is headquartered in South America. For more on the rather bizzare legal battle about who actually is the REAL Episcopal Diocese of Fort Worth, see a post by Virtue Online (written by conservatives). The more-liberal Episcopal Life Online blog last covered the story in November 2008.

Arts and Leisure:

Dave at Dallas photoworks has done some creatively colorful flower photography out at the Colony

Fort Worth Hole in the Wall goes to the Swiss Pastry Shop and by the time you’re halfway through the review you’ll want to go, too … Austin checks out Berri Blu, a healthy yogurt place on Camp Bowie.

Fort Worth South began it’s Fridays on the Green concert series, according to Fortworthology, and Ellerbie’s Fine Foods has opened this week …Julie at Silversmyth is designing a cute silver mouse pendant … with more to come soon.

The Amon Carter Museum blog reminds us that it was June 6, 1944 when Amon Carter handed over the deed to the land for Big Bend national park, after he and the Star-Telegram spearheaded the drive to purchase the land.

Education:

The Extra Credit blog reports:  A high school senior from Mansfield won a national contest to decorate a fiberglass cow.

Politics, etc:

Fort Worth Can Do continues its exploration of urban gas drilling,referring to a New York Times story on methane emissions and cattle about how dairy farmers are cleaning up their act. Why, they ask, can’t Chesapeake energy do the same?

Fort Worth is becoming more bike friendly than Dallas, according to Bike Friendly Oak Cliff blog in Dallas.

Social Media and PR:

Richie Escovedo has a post that comprises a #chat group on twitter. That means he’s posted an entire tagged thread on his blog using a site called Scribd... it happens to cover Public Relations types taking the PRSA exam. An interesting idea to get tweeted information to non-twitter uses, which there are, of course, a lot of. Now if I could just have a thread for experienced teachers to tell those of us currently looking for a first job how to handle that, it would be great.

Seth Godin speaks about my greatest blogging fear when he writes a post called:  You’re boring.

This is something I’ve been worrying about. It’s good to be a fluid writer, but what if I have nothing to say? If there’s no there there, so to speak,  it doesn’t matter if I’m a stylistic genius, there’s still no point in people reading what I’ve written.

In the context of daily blogging, what’s a person to do to keep from being boring and losing readers? Some just have a gift. Others have to work at it. I have found the following to be helpful in considering whether blog posts will resonate and generate hits or not:

1. Posts about activities that people could do, such as attending a concert, are always more attractive.

2. Posts that offer information about a skill or institution that people may be trying to research, such as how to start tomatoes inside or visit the botanic garden, are more likely to be read.

3. Posts that are written in great emotion, whether fear, anger, or love, are more attractive and interesting.

4. Posts that focus on others or offer service to others (profiles, our Fort Worth on the Web posts, reviews) are attention-getters as well. They are helpful particularly  if they save readers legwork. If I check a place out, you  don’t have to take a risk. It all comes down to this: what will the readers take away when they go?

This morning I’m going to preview the annual Fort Worth Hidden Gardens tour organized by Historic Fort Worth. I’ll enjoy the tour, and then I’ll write a review so you’ll know what it’s all about.

Congratulations to Lydia Ondrusek of Richardson, Texas, who won the drawing of a lovely sterling necklace from Fort Worth’s Silversmyth jewelry workshop. Now on to our weekly roundup of the best in blogging on Fort Worth:

Arts & Leisure
Amon Carter museum recommends a walking tour of the outside art in the cultural district, complete with a link to a map of the tour. Log Cabin Village blog has a video of the completion of the Howard Cabin. Fort Worth Modern blog has a nice post on “Conjoined” the large outdoor sculpture of two trees blowing into each other visible from the street on the lawn of the museum facing University Drive …

Fort Worth Hole in the Wall talks about planned restaurant “Gradys” and what a North Texas menu consists of. …  Rob at How to Make Coffee has a report on worldwide coffee consumption …

Kevin at Fortworthology takes a walk through a brand new bungalow in the Fairmont District by Joe Frank Homes … According to the Joe Frank website, “JPF Homes Inc. intends to build a neighborhood of bungalow style houses centered around a landscaped commons area to promote community interaction.” Julie at Silversmyth visited a casting facility which is producing newly-designed sterling silver rings for sale through her website and at arts fairs …  Kevin at 5ks and Cabernets found a barber who cuts black hair in Austin …

Business
Richie Escovedo spent a significant amount of time at the Dallas Inbound Marketing Summit May 27-28, and no small about of time on his blog, covering various breakout sessions and posting the videos.

This week we add the Balcom ad agency blog to our list. I’ll include three of their posts to get “caught up” with recent offerings. “My blackberry is my brain,” writes Emily. Chip says that the new open sourced Google Wave, which I’ve never heard of, is a web-based app which will change the way we use computers to communicate. And, although it’s technically past the last week, I wanted to include Kayla’s post on the importance of teaching music in schools.

Politics
Fort Worth Can Do talks about a new SMU report which says natural gas extraction in the Barnett Shale will significantly increase air pollution. … Austin at Fort Worth Real Estate is still miffed about the money being spent on the new post office when so much office space is vacant these days.

National Blogs Talking about Fort Worth

Frank Reed, who is actually from North Carolina, spent two days at the Dallas Inbound Marketing Seminar and wrote “Internet Marketing, Texas Style” for Biznology. On the subject of rail transit for DFW, Fare Enough blog asks from Austin, Texas, “would a public/private partnership for DFW rail be a good or bad thing? This is in response to a story on Metro Rail magazine noting “Dallas, Fort Worth exploring Public/Private Partnership for rail expansion” And in the area of local history we find out from NPR where General Worth, whom our town was named after, was buried. It seems New York City is the answer. Should we ask for him back?

Fiinally …  got something that bothers you or interests you about Fort Worth?  A burning  idea for a guest blog?Let me know at editor (a) fwrenaissance.com.

If you’re doing social media networking on twitter, do you ever have anxiety about tweeting wrong? They say you there’s no right and wrong on twitter, but the truth is, there are some signs that you haven’t quite got it yet … some of these signs would be:

1. You never stop promoting your website or ebook long enough to tell anyone even so much as what you had for lunch.

2. You use an automatic tweeting service to send a set of pre-designated tweets of pithy inspirational quotes every 15 minutes for the next ten years.

3. You’re a robot.

4. You have no followers, no avatar, your handle is a set of random numbers and letters and you’ve been blocked by Twitter Control.

5. You have 50 followers, an avatar of a sexy girl, your handle is a girl’s name with a four digit number after it,  and you’ve been blocked by Twitter Control. 

5. All your followers are MLM people.

5. Someone misinterprets your tweet to be flirtatious and sends you inappropriate DM’s with inappropriate suggestions.

6. Someone misinterprets your tweet to be flirtatious and sends you inappropriate suggestions publicly.

7. All your followers are men.

8. All your followers are women (though there are no recorded occassions of this).

9. @David_N_Wilson has listed you on the Tweeple Blog as a #dillweed.

7. You write an how to tweet post on your blog and inadvertently criticize someone of whom you actually value their twendship. And they ask you about it. But you ask for their forgiveness in advance, because you believe it’s better to appologize than ask permission. Really.

If you’ve been using twitter, you may be irritated when people send you auto-DM’s trying to sell stuff. Though most would say this stuff is just garbage, I decided to try to make something useful — a blog post — out of some DM’s I received this week, headlined and with my unsent commentary underneath.

Get followers faster than a speeding bullet:

DM: Thanks for the Follow! Would you Like to Know How to get 16’000 Followers in 90 Days and Make Money doing it?

(Well, at least he didn’t advertise a geometric progression of gaining followers. I still don’t believe this guy.)

Playing on Looking for Lonely Women:

DM: (This was from this cutie-pie-guy type avatar) Hi, Let me get to know you. @Reply me with your favorite RE investing method …

(Not sure what RE investing is or what this guy is after but either way I’m not interested … )

1000′s per day Online

DM: Learn First Hand How to Make $1000′s Per Day Online From Two 26 Year-Old Internet Millionaires!” We Can Teach ANYONE To Succeed

(If they can teach anyone to make 1,000′s a day online money isn’t going to be worth very much, for very long. The only people they’re really planning to help get rich is themselves.)

No Effort Required

DM: Want to know how to make money on Ad clicks with no effort, check this out.

(I’d love to make money with no effort but since I’ve never seen anyone make money without trying, except by inheriting, I don’t believe this one either.)

This one didn’t grate until I received it 4 or 5 times:

DM: Hey, thanks for the follow. I’m looking for four serious entrepreneurs. click here:

(Sorry, I am not an entrepreneur and if I was, I’d be in the garage or on the phone developing stuff, not messing around on Twitter. )

I’m Not Sure What You Mean, But Since You Mentioned Making Money I’m Suspicious

DM: Hello,Tweets is fun if you start getting lots of followers.You could earn some small money while having fun too .Just check this out, it is simple to set up and I can even do it for you

(ah, so it’s a pay-per-tweet scheme.)

Shades of Benjamin Franklin

DM: Thx, Let’s enjoy life & share success the Healthy, Wealthy & Wise Way.

To finish the rhyme: Early to be and early to rise makes a man healthy and wealth and wise. Nothing about Twitter in that rhyme, over 200 years old.

What do you do with these? I deal with these DM’s on Tweetdeck. Tweetdeck has an easy “other actions” button on DM’s. One of the other actions is “unfollow.” Now you know. You can add everyone who adds you, and just unfollow those who send these kinds of DM’s. Save time (but not money.) But you aren’t on twitter for money, are you?

Generally, if I’m following you on Twitter, I stay following you. I’m now following over 1,000 people, and I no longer believe I can read everyone’s tweets, so actually, at this point adding more people doesn’t really cost me anything.  It actually just increases the pool of potential tweets I read on the half hour or so each day that I’m on. However, there are ways you can tweet and DM that can get an “unfollow” response from me. Here are some of the biggest:

1. DM me a message about how I can make $5000 a month with only one hour’s work a day, or how I can be healthy, wealthy, or wise by reading an ebook, or promising to show me how to have over 10,000 followers … forget it. That’s the end of our “relationship.” In fact, if you ever send me an auto-DM it’s over. 

2. Talk too much about your sexual interests that I do not share.

3. That goes for your political views as well.

4. Repeatly send out messages that are just a bunch of technical jargon I don’t understand, so that I finally recognize your avatar as “that one that never makes any sense.” At that point, you’re not gaining anything from being on my thread anyway, so I might as well drop.

5. Make too much use of hashtag threads relating to words on a theme. Once or twice is okay, but when you start doing it incessantly, it starts to grate. Biggest offender this week? #Three hot words.# Ugg. 

6. Brag about prizes your kids won and how, in particular, your kids are actually smarter/stronger/more socially well adjusted than other kids, including, by extension, mine. Friends don’t brag about their kids. And tweeps are supposed to be friends.

Is there any clemency or mercy? Yes, there is. If the rest of your tweets are really good, I might overlook any of these things (except #1). And of course, there are no rules on Twitter. Any of these concepts could be changed or suspended at any moment. Look, I’m sorry, I’m not trying to be a grouch –I’m just saying.

Now you know.

Is the modern market really fixated on “Everyman?” And is that why Chris Brogan is getting all the cool freebies for his blog?

Brogan recently claimed that “I am the new everyman” and that this fact gets him blog trials and freebees. I had to go to work this morning, so I didn’t have time to take issue with this when it first came out, but I’m going to now.

First premise: that marketing is now just looking to the “everyman” image. Marketing to everyman goes pretty far back. Who can forget the plethora of beer commercials and car ads we grew up with? Remember “Baseball, Apple Pie and Chevrolet?” They’ve been searching for Everyman for generations — this is not a new deal.

Second, I don’t really think of Chris as Everyman. He’s obviously quite unusual. From my distant vantage point he appears to be a kind of new world order social media jetsetter, a guy who’s followed by 70,000 people on Twitter and who can show up at any town in the U.S., tweet that he’d like company for dinner, and immediately see some instant friends. He doesn’t go to blogging conferences, he presents at them. He promotes others, yes, but all the while, he is himself at the center of the storm, the axel around which his social media circle revolves, not just another spoke. 

Chris, you are a social media celebrity, not Everyman. The reason people send you things to try out for your blog is:

a. Readership. That includes numbers and demographics. How many of what kind of readers you get when a product is written about on your blog.

b. Writing skill. Association with good writing is always worthwhile for product promotion. And finally a word you like to use:

c. ROI. Return on investment, for non-marketing readers. Sending you a free item to look at for the blog is hugely, hugely cheaper than hiring a PR firm and buying ad space. Especially when you remember that the company gets its product at cost, not at retail.

No, they are not sending you stuff because you’re Everyman. However, your innocent stance about your own stature is somewhat ingenuous … kindof simpleminded … maybe a little Everymanish. But that’s it, the rest of what I’ve seen of you is unique and sophisticated. Go with it.

Kevin at 5ksandcabernets says that runners are nicer in Fort Worth than Austin, but they have better restaurants. Not really surprised, there …

The Amon Carter Blog has some interesting daguerreotypes from the Mexican-American war posted, and a new web portal will be matching donations to the museum if donations are made throught the site on May 20, 2009 … Food and Fort Worth clips from the Fort Worth Business Press on the Kimbell’s new Michelangelo painting, then goes to report on a customer satisfaction survey of fast food. Talk about high-low …Dave at DallasPhotoworks has been kicking around Santa Fe, photographing traditional Indian basket art.

Eva-Marie at Extra Credit Blog reports that Fort Worth High School principals support the current policy of not allowing high school seniors to walk for graduation if they have not passed the TAKS tests required.

Richie Escovedo has put a discourse online about social media tools vs. the social web, and what that all means for PR people.

Fort Worth Can Do seems to be suggesting that the earthquake felt over the weekend might be related to gas drilling. Fortworthology is apparently serious about being on hiatus, until, they say, May 22. It’s better than just disappearing, but not completely reassuring after the sign-off by West and Clear last week. 

Rob (follow him on twitter — @coffeetalkee) reviews the Kaloric Aqua 10-cup coffeemaker … and Log Cabin Village Blog features a podcast on how to make a bucket the old fashioned way. Julie at Silversmyth posts a story about Lampwork beads. Look for a three part series from her this week on organizing your jewelery box, and next week, a our first blog giveaway featuring one of her creations.

Fort Worth DNA seems to have started publishing simultaneously with the demise of West and Clear.  With the tagline “written by the community, for the community” Fort Worth DNA offers an opportunity for local writers to put up their feelings on various topics, and in particular

Yes, I’m serious, you can all write there if you like. You just have to register and post. Getting paid will involve having an Adsense account, entering it in your Fort Worth DNA profile, and getting Adsense clicks to generate revenue. Not quite as easy as rolling off the proverbial log.

I was unable to figure out from my perusal of the site who the publisher is. Some wondered if this was another Panther City Media project.  Possibly.  Nevertheless, I am registering for the site. Not to put up content, necessarily, but to reserve a handle. Just in case. 

Because with the internet, you never know which way things are going to go. You know that, don’t you?