Posts Tagged ‘twitter’

The Top Twenty Silly Tweets

Posted on: July 16th, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 1 Comment

The proliferation of “personal brands” (a.k.a. internet famous) and celebrities offers a bounty of bizarre tweets and online statements. Here’s a compilation of my favorite gaffes!

1) Don’t they know who I am?

2) I have too many friends. Will you join my fan page?

3) “You need to nurture your rising star.”

4) it makes me sad, the more I have success the more people don’t like me….

5) I love how some dudes hate me for dating their fantasy girl, as if they were going to if I hadn’t.

6) I don’t get it either. Who pushes out more interesting links AND interacts more than me on Twitter?

7) That’s bad for my personal brand…

8) Enough about me, what do you think about me?

9) I find it hard to take Twitter advice from someone with < 500 followers.

10) I seem to get two kinds of Twitter followers: People who want me, and people who want to be me.

11) Google me!

12) I really don’t understand why I am not insanely famous.

13) New rule: If your email starts off with “I want to pick your brain,” my reply starts off with “at $400 per hour.”

14) I charge $22,000 a day.

15) I deserve all the respect and support I can get.

16) I’m going to take my talent to South Beach.

17) These companies beg me to come, I’m not going anymore to these drinking “PR” fests.

18) Why is that people always try to understand estimate my intelligents?!

19) Hey @Twitter, just so you understand the basis of our relationship. It’s all about me.

20) Passion is your personal branding fuel.

Popularity: 1% [?]

Tweet to Your Own Drummer

Posted on: January 5th, 2010 by Geoff Livingston 33 Comments

Tango Drummer

There’s so much focus on the “right way” to Tweet, one could get lost figuring out the social network for oneself or their company. While generally helpful, there are so many right ways for Twitter I feel sorry for the newcomer, who must delineate amongst the many disparate unofficial Rules of 140 Etiquette.

Which brings to mind the old cliché, “Rules are made to be broken.”

Proper methodology be damned. Really, what matters? Be true to yourself. An authentic, genuine and valuable presence will ring through the clutter of proper tweets following so called rules. Noise is noise. Authentic conversation and real personality always seem to stand out in my feed.

I laughed when I read popular tweeter Ed Shahzade‘s amusing comment that a Twitter hiatus was in poor form. By whose rules? I don’t value quantity, instead quality matters more.

To me, showing full-on presence and transparency to the point of the great soap debate (bar or shower gel?) seems ludicrous. I know no one cares about a routine dentist’s appointment, yet another visit to the gym, or the choice between petunias or roses (unless you’re a florist or known gardener). And frankly, beyond TMI, it’s boring for you, too.

After three years on Twitter, I know what works for me, and that’s what I do. For me, it’s better to show up early when I am fresh and rested. It’s public, so it’s often (but not always) a work thing. My goal: To provide valuable information and links, and converse with those who want to engage with me. And yes, I show some personal stuff, but to a reasonable point… For me. Your level of reason and comfort will surely be different than mine.

Don’t let your comfort level, goals and presence on Twitter (and other social networks) find their basis in someone else’s values. They should be defined by that most important person – You (or your organization). That’s who I want to talk with. Tweet to your own drummer.

Popularity: 17% [?]

The El Show Episode 13 – Do Twitter Lists Matter?

Posted on: November 3rd, 2009 by Geoff Livingston 2 Comments

Warning: There’s significant profanity in this podcast.

trenelcopy

On episode 13, we discussed Twitter and its new Lists feature. Because there’s a lot of conjecture about the new Twitter Lists feature, Richard and I put on our professional hats and broke it down. Then we asked, why are we so obsessed with Twitter. We also had Google chatter. Here’s a breakdown:

Download or listen to the El Show Episode 13 today!

Popularity: 25% [?]

What 100K Twitter Followers Gets You

Posted on: November 3rd, 2009 by Geoff Livingston 83 Comments

#BlogPotomac Keynotes @kanter and @shelisrael at the White House

Everyone always seems fascinated with Twitter follower counts. Friend Beth Kanter was recently added to the official Twitter recommended list, which in turn added more than 100,000 new followers to her account. We decided to see what kind of impact the new following brought with it.

We did this by retweeting a link to the above photo featuring her and fellow BlogPotomac Keynote Shel Israel. Before Beth’s tweet, the photo had approximately 140 views. After she tweeted it, the photo garnered another 260 views, ten of which you could assume came from prior tweets and links.

So unofficially, Beth’s then 120,000 followers produced a click through rate of 0.2 percent. Now on my feed of 7,500 followers a popular photo like the above if it’s not retweeted (as this one was when I dropped it) usually gets about 50 click throughs, or approximately 0.7 percent. In this case if you include RTs, I accounted for roughly 150 views or 2 percent (sounds like email click throughs).

So the lessons learned? Generally speaking, with more casual followers you lose engagement and influence power.

While the actual number of click throughs increased with numbers. if the following isn’t organically or naturally cultivated then people care much less about your tweets, and are not as likely to click through. Influence wanes without relationships. Social media is still relational. It’s better to cultivate a rabid community than a massive following.

I’ve seen this same phenomena on large client Twitter accounts as well as heard it from other folks with 100k Twitter followings. Bigger is not necessarily better.

P.S. See Beth’s post on how she came to be listed, and the impact it’s had on her.

Popularity: 54% [?]

Hopenhagen Tries to Seal the Deal

Posted on: October 29th, 2009 by Geoff Livingston No Comments
hopenhagen.jpg

Cross-published on the Live Earth blog.

More than 190 countries will gather at the UN Climate Change Conference this December 7-18 in Copenhagen to determine the environmental fate of our planet (see the Guardian’s ongoing coverage for baseline facts). With less than 40 days remaining before the Copenhagen conference, a new effort –Hopenhagen — seeks to unite citizens across the world in political action.

The Hopenhagen site features a petition, which will be delivered to the conference. The goal: Get participating countries to seal the deal and sign an effective climate pact. More than 340,000 people have already signed the petition.

There is a mandatory Hopenhagen Facebook fan page. In one of the more interesting Facebook applications I have seen in a while, the Hopenhagen app seeks to create word of mouth engagement by giving people a Passport to Hopenhagen. To get passport points one must agree to tell friends or participate in sustainable activities (all of which are conveniently posted to your wall).

I like this app because it shows people some of the activities they can engage in to make their own contribution to the environment. Gaming and education will become an increasingly important part of the sustainability and general environmental movement. Most citizens don’t understand how their own carbon footprint affects energy demand. So more and more applications like this one and sites like Chevron’s willyoujoinus.com will endeavor to educate the general public and change citizen behavior.

Self described as a movement, Hopenhagen was created with the support of numerous corporate partners. The site lists other environmental campaigns such as 350 that interested parties can engage in.

Hopenhagen is also on Twitter. Get on board today and spread the hope!

Popularity: 20% [?]

District of Corruption Episode 14: Doing An About Facebook

Posted on: April 8th, 2008 by Geoff Livingston No Comments

On today’s District of Corruption podcast (with co-host Aaron Brazell) we talked about:

You can download the 30 minute podcast here.

Popularity: 20% [?]