Social Media Platoon > Twitter
01.23.09 |
Why Haven’t You Customized Your Twitter Background
As more and more people get on Twitter, you really have to do something to make it stand out. In this post I want to show you how to “pimp” your Twitter background. I bet you already tried to have your own customized Twitter background, but you could not get the images and the text placed correctly on the screen, and the outcome was a jumbled mess. Take a minute and check out my new Twitter profile (and Follow me if you aren’t already). I worked with a designer friend of mine, and she helped me knock out a really slick one. I am sure you see how much more interesting it can be (and market yourself in the process), let’s start with the measurements. The width between the left browser edge and the left edge of the white Twitter posts area is around 245 pixels. On the other hand, the width between the right browser edge and the right edge of the white Twitter posting area is 250 pixels. So when creating the design of your new background, you should leave five pixels dead space on both sides of the white Twitter posting area. These are the general standard measures accepted by majority of Twitter background designers: Image width: 1255 pixels I assume you are trying to build a personal brand via Twitter. Therefore your custom Twitter background should represent your logo, your photo, and a little bit about yourself. Try to include something about your free market and conservative beliefs to help promote the movement. Starting the Background Design Photoshop, Fireworks, or even the free Paint program that comes with Windows, it does not matter. All you need to do is to create a new graphic that is 1255 x 555. This is going to be the background image for your Twitter profile. You need to leave Twitter post area empty. If you know how to use a guide, then create a vertical guide at 450 pixels and another vertical guide at 1005 pixels. The space between these two represent the Twitter post area. If you don’t know how to use a guide, just draw two imaginary vertical guides and leave the are between them blank. You need to locate your photo, your logo, and any other information you want to include out of this zone so that it will not clash with the Twitter post area. You may try a few times for the best result, so you should be patient. Done? Now save your graphic as either a GIF or JPG file. Make sure that the file size is less than 800K. This is the maximum size allowed by Twitter for a background image. Now you just have to upload your new background. Note: You may have to change the design colors to match your new design. |
01.03.09 |
Free Form or Focused?
I’ve been mulling over a question for a few weeks. “Which Social Media strategy provides the best community value – Free Form or Focused?” Dictionary.com defines “Community” in part as “A social, religious, occupational, or other group sharing common characteristics or interests and perceived or perceiving itself as distinct in some respect from the larger society within which it exists.” Social Media taps directly into that definition as it helps us find, evaluate and associate with those who share our passions. FaceBook, StumbleUpon, the soon-to-be-out-of-Beta RootsHQ and most Social Media tools allow users to create groups around a topic to build community. But how do I define my group to be of greatest value to the greatest number of people? Too narrow a definition and l have no members. Too broad and my community is so big it stops being a meaningful community. It’s a tricky proposition. It may seem you’ve perfectly defined your community and your results may still prove disappointing. Top Conservatives on Twitter (TCOT) is an excellent example. The group seems to be meaningfully defined: Conservatives on Twitter. The challenge is found in how “Conservative” is defined for group purposes. Facing a similar challenge to define “Conservative bloggers”, The Tennessee ConserVOLiance opted for “political Conservatives blogging primarily politics”. This excluded Conservatives mainly blogging something other than politics. It reduced group size but provided a precise identity and mission for members and visitors. TCOT chose a broader definition of “all Conservatives on Twitter”. This expanded the group but reduced value to the community as members must sift through a lot of tweets to get to what they became members to find. Groups provide value to both founders and members. Why I join a community may not be the same reason it was created. I like TCOT because it connects me with individual political activists. But I dislike having to eliminate non-politics tweeting Conservatives and, more recently, Conservative organizations, to find them. I prefer a more focused community and find myself less involved at TCOT than I might be because I do. Others may be delighted to find so many Conservatives offering input on a wide range of matters in a more free-form fashion. Yet surely some who would have been vibrant, contributing members at TCOT move on completely for exactly this reason. They lose the value in TCOT’s community and TCOT loses the value of their involvement as well. For those of us finding and founding new communities, it’s a good object lesson. Think through the scope of your community. Take time to discuss it with peers. See how similar groups dealt with the issue. Make sure you’re comfortable with the community definition on the front end, whether you’re a finder or a founder. You’re going to be living with it for a while. If it’s true “An ounce of prevention is worth a pound of cure”, time spent defining your community will pay off later in reduced “medical” care. Blue Collar Muse |
12.29.08 |
#dontgo Movement Launches #diggcons
A little over a month ago I noticed that Joe Carter was looking to work with someone or a group to enhance and take the #diggcons project to a new level. Joe had originally offered the project to #TCOT, but according to him his offer was never answered for one reason or another. I contacted Joe letting him know that the #dontgo Movement was quietly working on a social news network and we would gladly move the project under the #diggcons label. Joe was quick to get Read the rest of this entry » |
It’s Monday morning, Christmas has come and gone, New Years Day is just around the corner, and December is coming to a close. I can’t imagine a better time to announce the launch of a fantastic addition to the #12.22.08 |
Micro-Giving via Twitter
Allen Fuller and I had a great conversation last week about micro-giving via Twitter. We both believe we’re only seeing the beginning of a new fundraising wave. Our conversation centered around Justin Hart’s experiment with Tweet for Chuck, a Twitter based fundraising hub that has easily raised several thousand dollars for Chuck Devore’s campaign. The Tweet for Chuck Twitter campaign didn’t raise Read the rest of this entry » |
12.15.08 |
Twitter Tutorial: Making Twitter #Right For You
So, as we’ve mentioned before, we love twitter around here. I’ve used it to singlehandedly build my personal brand as well as network with a lot of key people, both here in my home town (Nashville) and abroad! But, with all of those tweets flying through cyberspace, it’s hard to keep track of everything that’s being talked about, especially if you’ve got as many followers as I have over the past year. The main way twitter users tag information for easy searching is the use of a hashtag. The #hashtag (a word preceded by a # symbol) is a marker that is recognized both by twitter and it’s many applications (TweetDeck will actually automatically open a search list if you click on a hashtag). But if you aren’t able (or are still unfamiliar) with TweetDeck, manually checking search results can be a real pain. What’s the easiest way to keep track of everything? Well, an RSS subscription would be the best way, but if you’re still trying to get used to everything… webbish, then you’ll need something that will translate the information into a familiar medium. Email, perhaps? Step 1: Search for your hashtag on http://search.twitter.com.  The Twitter Search Page Step 2: Look in the upper right corner of the page – you’re looking for the “Feed for this Query” button!  The Search Results Page Step 3: Copy that URL: You’ll need it in a second!  The URL Bar Step 4: Head over to http://www.rssfwd.com and enter that url into the URL Bar.  The RSSFWD Site Step 5: You’ll preview the feed on the next screen.  The Feed Preview Step 6: Enter your email address (and maybe even a password – one rare site where you don’t *have* to give one).  Enter your info! Step 7: If the feed you want to track gets a LOT of traction, then Go with a weekly or daily digest. If it gets enough to manage in an email, select Real-Time and then hit the subscribe button!  Choose how often you want to get emails! Step 8: And that’s it! If you want to change your email preferences, you can either edit the feed or delete it entirely! I know it’s hard to keep up with all of the technologies, but we here at the Social Platoon love to bridge the gap between the new and the familiar. Of course, if this seems too much, just subscribe to the RSS Feed in your favorite reader, but that’s a whole different post entirely! (PS: this works for any URL that has an RSS Feed as well!) |
12.10.08 |
Importance of Technology in New Campaigns
Last week, Saul Anuzis, candidate for Chairman of the Republican National Committee, was a guest on Townhall contributor Hugh Hewitt’s radio show discussing, among other things, the role of technology in running campaigns AND winning elections. Saul highlighted the importance of blogging, Twitter, FaceBook and YouTube as the new media for grassroots organization, assimilating information and reaching voters. Saul himself is on the cutting edge in using this new technology, having his own blog and Twitter, Facebook and YouTube accounts. Saul noted that Barack Obama was very successful in using these new forms of media technology in his campaign and had over 60,000 people following him on Twitter. On ScienceDaily, Dr. Paul Haridakis, associate professor of Communication Studies at Kent State University and a long-time scholar in the area of the impact of media on the political landscape in the U.S., writes about the new social media in an article entitled “Social Media And Presidential Election: Impact Of YouTube, MySpace.” He states, “Many people will watch videos and use traditional media like TV to acquire political information about the candidates, but they also are going to the Internet and using social networking sites to see who people they know support. The information gleaned from their social networks may be the information they find most credible and persuasive. They’ll listen to their buddy on his MySpace page, not necessarily the traditional messengers that candidates employ to reach out to the voters, or even the candidates themselves. That exploits the power of social media pretty well,” Haridakis says. “The candidates in this election season have not fully harnessed the power of these tools.” Saul Anuzis wants to “fully harness the power” of these tools into the Republican party and rightly so. As Dr. Haridakis notes, blogs, Twitter, Facebook, YouTube and Internet TV are the new media and will become increasing important and utilized in all new campaigns, and are becoming vital to winning. SGP member apackof2 blogs at Return to Reaganism. |
12.09.08 |
Twitter Is King
As you can see, we all love Twitter here. We have been talking about it since the launchg of Social Media Platoon, and we can’t stop. Some of you may wonder what the big deal with Twitter is, and how it has come to the forefront of movements such as #dontgo, and groups like Top Conservatives On Twitter. Twitter is a Web 2.0 microblogging site. Basically you go there, create an account, and start finding people you know, or who share your same interest. Once you follow people, you begin to see what they are posting, and as people start to follow you, they will see what you are posting. One of the most positice aspects of Twitter is the fact you can spread ideas quickly, and the fact that you can post links brings that point to a higher note. With just a simple phrase, and a simple click of the mouse, your great idea is shows to hundreds, or even thousands of people, who then can spread it to even more people. The simplicity involved in Twitter is amazing, and that is why it is now king of the hill. Twitter can does have it’s downsides too. For example, if your just a basic user like me you have to refresh every so often to see other people’s updates. It can become difficult to get into contact with some people, as the may miss your @, or you may even miss theirs – and even though there is a simple page that you can go to to find these, but even still you can miss it. And don’t forget the fact that when you become popular, the thousands of people following you, and the thousands of people you are following will be sending mass messages in which can easily become very confusing. But these problems, as major as they sound, actually become minor once you get use to the whole function of Twitter, and even start to use programs such as TweetDeck or PeopleBrowser, or even a simple add-on to Firefox, TwitterFox. With these tools, you can manage the people you follow, and essentially break Twitter down to an even more simple level. With Web 2.0 though, we all must consider what will come next. Just as Twitter is king of the hill now, in the next few months, a new site could emerge and take over the top spot. Those of us who are out there trying to spread ideals, movements, groups, etc., must be on the forefront of what will become popular next, and even though we are just now mastering Twitter, we must continue to master each and every Web 2.0 social site out there – old and new – and even create some of our own. This way, we know we ourselves can rise to the top of the hill, and remain there as the leading force in this infinite world wide web. |
12.09.08 |
Can PeopleBrowsr Be the TweetDeck Killer?
As we all know, Twitter is an amazingly popular and powerful social tool. We all saw how Obama and the left mastered the art of using this medium during the election. We also know how passionate people are about Twitter…both users and developers. It seems that every week some killer Twitter-app is released that promises to revolutionize our Twittering experience. By now, most hard core Twitter users probably have been using TweetDeck for quite a while. It let you manage your feeds into different groups and store updates while you are away. I loved it…until I tried PeopleBrowsr.
It’s basically TweetDeck as an online application, but with the ability to keep tabs on some your other online identities (FriendFeed, flickr, YouTube, LinkedIn, Digg, Seesmic, identi.ca, Photobucket, and upcoming). If you used TweetDeck, you’ll have almost no learning curve…very easy to pick up. There are ten (yes 10!) Twitter panel views you have: Everyone, Following, Followers, TopTwitters, My Archive, My Favorites, Replies, DM, My Groups and My AddressBook. PeopleBrowsr is very powerful and since it has so much functionality you will need to play with it for a few minutes to really comprehend the potential of this tool. The coolest feature so far on PeopleBrowsr though is the ability to create groups. You have the ability to add public or private tags to whichever users you want, in the different social sites that you’re following. If you tag all your #dontgo friends with the “#dontgo” tag, you can then view everyone in that group in a widget of its own. This comes in handy for following certain people or groups more closely. For example, I have the following groups: #dontgo, SEO, marketing, friends, and technology. If your tags are public, others using PeopleBrowsr will see that tag on that person as well – so be aware of that. In my opinion, its a great start for an alpha app. I’d love to see facebook added in to mix, and a few tweeks to the Grouping tools. Other than those small issues, PeopleBrowsr is one heck of a tool to organize your social media accounts. |
12.08.08 |
Don’t Forget the Basics of Networking on “Social Networks”
When you use social networking (whether for personal use, to market your business, or promote a grass roots political movement) it’s extremely critical to keep the focus on relationship building first. People ask how to do this, and the standard advice is to go out and “break the ice” and initiate a conversation. The problem I’m seeing pop up is that many people don’t fully understand how to break the ice in online social networking. I’ve know people that are outstanding networkers in person, but fail at it on the internet. Something happens to people online, where they forget their manners and basic interpersonal skills. Here are 4 basic social networking tips you can use to get to know people without making a nuisance of yourself. 1. Facebook: Comment on a NoteIn Facebook, click on the Notes section and check out what your friends have been posting. Look for topics that interest you and people who you’d like to get to know better. When you find an interesting topic by someone, leave a comment on their note. That will open you up to continued dialog while making you more visible. You can also leave a wall message saying how much you enjoyed that person’s note or comment. 2. Ask a question in your status update.This is a great way to spark dialog and break the ice. I’ve asked about people’s reading habits, favorite social networking sites, and even advice for technical problems. You’d be amazed how many people want to connect and dialog with you. Just write the question and see what happens! 3. Find something to compliment.Look at the feed (activity on the site) and see if new photos or profile updates have come up. Then go to that person’s wall or photo and leave a complimentary comment. Just sign your name, no other information is needed. 4. ReTweet a post on TwitterWhen you’re on Twitter and see something especially useful, type in Retweet @UserName and the original message or link. It will re-broadcast the Tweet to your entire network. It’s a nice act, and nothing breaks the ice better than a little generous promotion of others. Making new contacts on social networking sites is fast and easy. But after you make the contacts, you need to invest time and patience into developing relationships. By using these ice-breaking tips, you can keep the conversation light and your visibility high while you assess the upcoming opportunities. |
12.08.08 |
Tweet for Chuck
The political action came in the form of donations, volunteer GOTV efforts, and last but certainly not least… votes. This is an area that, until now, the center-right movement has struggled with. But that’s all changing thanks to a new, energetic, talented and highly motivated group of eActivists who are ready to take it to a new level. The latest advancement in online activism on the right comes to us Read the rest of this entry » |
Just weeks ago the liberal side of the online political isle had claimed itself king of the internet. The Barack Obama campaign took some of the most brilliant developers the web has seen, and it created a social network unlike any other. Not only did the Obama campaign create a powerful social network, it worked with this network to translate online political success to offline political action.
