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Social Media Meetups We’d Like to See

July 9, 2013 By Carol Stephen 4 Comments

Social Media Meetups We’d Like to See

Have you signed up to get email from Meetup.com? If so, then you get a few emails from them every day, showing you some meetups that you’d supposedly be interested in. “20-somethings partying the night away” and “Hikers Who Speak Tagalog” could very well be in the same email.

What’s a Gal to Do? Create her own meetup, of course! Here are some of mine. Feel free to create your own, and then send me an email!

Tweeters Without Washing Machines or Change

#MismatchedSockExchange

We could meet at a public laundromat or any place where we could get change. We could take turns watching each other’s laundry, folding, telling our worst laundry stories, and tweeting. Hashtag: #MismatchedSockExchange

Not a 20-Something

Let’s be frank. We’re tired of Millennials. Let’s get together and not talk about Millennials. They’re not invited. If anyone can figure out how, we’ll make a video about something non-Millennial-related and post it on YouTube. No one will watch it, but still.

Seriously Old School

Do people tell you you’re a Luddite?

Do people tell you you’re “old school” or a Luddite? No, me neither! Do you still have an aol account that you cling to like a security blanket? Do you think Twitter is only for talking about food? Perfect. You have found your people. And when people show up to this meetup, thinking it’s about social media, their phones are taken away, and they get a lecture about the evils of social media.

iCanHazCheeseBurger Meme Lovers

Because how can there be too many pictures of cute cats? Or jokes? Or stories about cats? And yes! You can bring your cats if they have their own carriers. We’ll each share our favorite icanhazcheeseburger meme. And make our own memes.

Overposters Anonymous

When you can’t sleep, you post. You post closeups of your face, your tattoos, your kids, your kids’ butts, you post when you’re drunk and when you’re high. You go to a lot of restaurants and you post pictures of food, perfectly lit. Sometimes you Instagram said pictures. Sometimes you post from Instagram to Facebook or to Twitter. You know who you are. You disrespect underposters.

Those Who Put Tape Over Their Webcam Viewers

Is this you? I didn’t think so. Could be, though. Really? That’s not you? It seems like it could be you. Ok. It’s not you. But you do think there are aliens living among us, right? Thought so.

Is There a Meetup You’d Like to See?

Let me know in the comments! Thanks!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: anonymous, Facebook, hashtag, Instagram, meetup, Millennials, old school, overposter, Social Media, Twitter, underposter, YouTube

Follow Friday: 8 Best Practices

July 2, 2013 By Carol Stephen 9 Comments

Friday Follow: Best Practices

What is Friday Follow?

Every Friday, people on Twitter recommend their friends to their other friends, using the #Friday Follow or #FF hashtag. If you have someone you like, you can tell your other friends about that person, and connect good friends. This practice has been going on for years. However, some #FFs have become more spammy recently, as described in this fabu-tastic article from The Onion.

Some Avoid Friday Follow

Your #FFs Are Boring!

Many people now pull the covers over their heads and go back to sleep just to avoid Friday mornings. Why? Millions of tweets go out with that all-too-familiar #FF hashtag and the much-maligned list of @ThisPerson @ThatPerson that fills tweet after tweet. To make matters worse, people retweet those #FFs! If you’d like to optimize your time on #FollowFriday, here are some ideas for you.

Don’t Tweet Big Lists of #FFs

People like to have a reason to follow other people. So if you stuff as many of your followers into a tweet as possible, that can be very off putting. And people may decide to unfollow you, if they categorize you as a spammer.

Don’t Retweet #FFs

If you happen to be recommended, do not retweet the entire list and add to the spam. Just thank the person who recommended you (and delete everyone else on the list, please!).

Choose Your Top Engagers

Give People a Reason to Follow!

There may be only a few people who really engage with you every week. Pick four or five of them. Now tell us why you follow them. Be as specific as possible. I like recommending one person per tweet. Then, next Friday, pick different people to recommend.

Follow Other People’s Suggestions

If someone recommends you in a list of people to follow, check out some of their friends. Following friends of friends is a good way to extend your reach on Twitter. Notice who has good recommendations and whose recommendations are, well, bogus.

Tell People When You Follow

I like to thank the person who is the connection, like so: “Thank you, @PersonA, for the #FF! Also followed your friend @PersonB.” This often results in @PersonB thanking and following back. And @PersonA will notice that you read their tweet, too.

Recommend On Other Days

Why not do a #FollowMonday or #FollowRightNow hashtag? It’s unexpected, won’t add to the spam, and is much more likely to be well-received by your followers. You could slip one of these in between your other tweets (maybe do one per day), instead of #FollowFriday.

Go the Extra Mile

If you want extra bonus points and gold stars, you could tell everyone to follow, “like” on Facebook, and also follow on Pinterest, along with shortened URLs. This gives the person getting the recommendation a warm, fuzzy feeling.

Create a Friday Follow List

Put the people you really like onto a list, and then recommend that people check out or subscribe to the list. This requires a little more work from you, but will pay off in the long run.

What Are Your Friday Follow Recommendations?

Did I forget anything? Please leave a comment! Thanks!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Friday Follow, Spam, Twitter, unfollowing

Six Reasons Twitter Might Not Be for You

June 7, 2013 By Carol Stephen 9 Comments

Six Reasons Twitter Might Not Be for You

I’m a huge fan of Twitter. I mean, really huge fan. I’ve met many friends through Twitter, love Tweetchats, and get much of my news through Twitter. Despite my love of Twitter, I sometimes tell people that they don’t have to be on Twitter. When I do, I can see them visibly relax. “I don’t have to be on Twitter?” they ask. “Well, no. Why would you think you have to be?” “Oh, whew!” they usually say. “I’ve just been hearing so much about Twitter lately.” So if you’re one of those people who feels obligated, here are some reasons that Twitter might not be the right place for you.

Your Clients Aren’t on Twitter

Have you ever asked your clients what their favorite social media platform is? How about starting with a quick survey or phone call asking a few of them? Survey Monkey has free surveys, and you could do a random sampling of a few of your clients to see what platforms they use. If your potential clients are not on Twitter, why feel obligated?

You Can’t Speak Your Mind

Twitter May Not Be for You

If you’re in banking, or the medical field, you may need to be compliant on all social media and not just on Twitter. The banking and medical fields have been slower than other businesses to adopt social media, and that may be because major financial or banking corporations have not allowed their employees to use social media because of the extra workload for their compliance departments. That does not seem to be changing very quickly. If that’s the case, you may not want to fight that battle–at least not just yet.

TMA (Too Many Acronyms)

Twitter has its own specific language and acronyms. Tweets do not give you a lot of real estate to speak your mind. Tweets are usually a headline, maybe a link, and a hashtag. That’s it. So if you really dislike that form of communication, maybe the language of Facebook or LinkedIn would be better for you.

Twitter Won’t Get You Business

I hear this prejudice all the time from people who are not on Twitter. If you really believe this, then what are you doing on Twitter?

Twitter is Just People Talking about Food

What’s Stopping You from Tweeting?

Really? Again, usually people who have never been on Twitter say this. They’re the same people who said they’d never use a phone for texting and now can’t get in touch with their own kids unless they text those kids.

You Have Nothing to Say

If you really have nothing to say (and I seriously doubt that!), and dislike being social, then Twitter might not be right for you.

What’s Stopping You?

Is there some other reason you don’t want to tweet? Leave me a comment, below! You don’t have to tweet about it, promise!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: acronyms, Clients, Social Media, Survey Monkey, Twetchats, Twitter

Who Has the Most Fake Twitter Followers?

May 28, 2013 By Carol Stephen 24 Comments

Ghost Followers

If you pay attention to numbers, then you might be interested in knowing about those with the most followers on Twitter. The top three at the moment are @justinbieber, @ladygaga, and @katyperry. Justin Bieber tops the charts with 39,548,681 followers, Lady Gaga has about 37,000,000 followers, and Katy Perry trails with 35,000,000. So if you’re a newbie on Twitter, you might be thinking that even getting 100 followers could be a massive understaking.

Note: before I go any farther, I’m not singling these celebrities out. Buying followers has become common practice, but it’s good to be informed.

A Long, Long Road

Let’s see…who do I know on Twitter, you’re thinking to yourself…uhh…your cousin, maybe? Oh, and your friend from the gym and those people you met in that networking group that one time (that’s 6 right there!). So getting to 40 million–how is that even possible?

Invisible Friends

Does Justin Bieber Have Invisible Friends?

Would you feel better if you realized that many large accounts have invisible friends? That’s right, and they had to buy them, too! It’s not like when you were a kid and you had friends who talked to you who then disappeared back into the wallpaper. These are fake accounts bought and paid for by these Twitter “superstars.”

It’s Not Really a Lie

If all three of these big celebrities are not telling the truth about their followers, what else might they be exaggerating? When Justin Bieber asks if you want to be his boyfriend cause he’ll “take you places you ain’t never been before,” should you belieb him or would you end up eating cold burritos on the side of the road? And did Katy Perry really kiss a girl or did they just shake hands? When asked about her fake followers, Lady Gaga just kept a poker face. Don’t worry: I’ll stop soon.

Ways to Check Follower Counts

Sites like Gizmodo, Status Bakers, and Status People’s Fake Follower Check have pointed out that for these celebrities and many others, somewhere from 47-50% of followers are fake.

Recently there have been a few articles on sites like Mashable about people buying fake followers. In fact, recently I’ve noticed many more accounts following me who offer followers for sale. Many accounts who offer fake followers do not have many followers themselves. They don’t care much about speling or “punkshuation,” either! You can check fake followers by using Fake Follower Check. Just login using your Twitter account if you want to know whether your favorite celebrity has fake followers.

Feeling Insecure?

If you’re having self-esteem issues because you don’t yet have 40 million or even one million followers, just remember: it’s not how many followers you have, it’s how you use them. And if you truly want to connect, then follow me. I won’t pay you, but I love you anyway.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Fake, Followers, Justin Bieber, JustinBieber, Katy Perry, KatyPerry, Lady Gaga, LadyGaga, Numbers, Twitter

Social Media: Different Platform, Different Language

May 21, 2013 By Carol Stephen 34 Comments

Social Media: Different Platform, Different Language

Recently, talking to social media “experts,” I’ve run across some very different opinions about how to use social media. One “expert” admitted she only checks her Twitter account once a week. Another admitted that he pushes his Facebook posts through to Twitter. And a third says she uses the exact same material at the exact same time across all platforms. So do some of these practices seem not very social? Here are some of my reasons for using different language on each platform.

Each Platform is its Own Country

Let’s talk LinkedIn. To me, LinkedIn is the land of complete sentences, good punctuation, no slang, and professionalism. The demographic is more business-oriented and less casual. I probably would not share a BBQ sauce recipe on LinkedIn as I might on Pinterest or Twitter. Nor would I use a bunch of hashtags or acronyms there. Facebook, similar to LinkedIn, is about connecting, but the language is different again. Although Facebook recently adopted hashtags from Twitter, I still wouldn’t use them there, since many people don’t fully understand them. The language of Pinterest is more casual, but still not as casual as Twitter. And so on.

One Post Across All Platforms Seems Lazy

Using one post across all platforms seems lazy

If I see someone using the same post across multiple platforms, what runs through my mind is this person isn’t taking the time to fully engage on any platform. So I’m not likely to engage with this person. They give the impression of being too busy to interact and of someone who only wants to broadcast.

Why Follow Different Platforms if Posts Are the Same?

If I see the same post in two or more platforms, why would I want to follow on all those platforms when I could get the same content by following in just one place? If you’d like to recycle your content, why not just wait a couple of days (people have a short memory on social media), then post that content in a different place? As long as the content isn’t “stale,” you can still use it again.

Do You Use the Same Language Everywhere You’re Social?

I’m very curious about this. I know people want to save time, but does saving time for ourselves make us less accessible to our potential audience? What do you think?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Facebook, hashtag, Language, LinkedIn, Media, Platform, Social, Twitter

Twitter By The Numbers

May 14, 2013 By Carol Stephen 18 Comments

Numbers Matter in Twitter

Maybe you weren’t good with numbers in school. Maybe numbers were boring to you and now you’re happier letting someone else deal with the “math” of your life. There are just a few numbers that you might want to consider when you delve into Twitter a little deeper. You could use some of these numbers to help you track your progress on Twitter.

Ratio of Followers to Following

Twitter by the Numbers

Like your cholesterol’s HDL versus LDL ratio, it’s important to shoot for a “good ratio.” On Twitter, that means roughly one follower to one following. Celebrities or superstars may have a huge number of followers and follow very few people. Some people won’t follow those with low numbers of followers (something to keep in mind if you’re going to run out and follow 2,000 accounts when only 17 people follow you). Decide if you want to follow a million people without many of them following you back. What do you get out of following all those celebrities, anyway? You could cut them loose and just put them on a list. For me, the most important thing when deciding to follow is good content and conversation.

Number of Tweets

You might want to look at an account’s number of tweets to decide if they would be a good fit. I am fairly chatty (which is prolific) on Twitter, so someone with only a few tweets may not be the best fit for me. If the account has only 23 followers, I will probably dominate their Twitstream, since I tweet 20+ times a day and that’s on a slow day. However, some newbies find that they really like the chatty nature of Twitter. But if you’re not going to have conversations on Twitter, you might not want to follow people with huge numbers of tweets. First check how many tweets a user averages before following them if too many tweets is a concern to you.

Number of Listings

The number of times you’ve been listed by others is a good indication of Twitter success in my book. So although this isn’t your usual key performance indicator, it’s one that is more important than followers, especially since followers can be bought. Being listed is a real badge of honor because it means that someone took the time to create a list and then put you on it. Take a look at my friend, @TerriNakamura’s listings, for example. She has been listed over 3,500 times. To me, that’s a real sign of success on Twitter.

Total Number of Followers

The total number of followers isn’t the most important number to many social media experts. Partly that has to do with how easy it is to plunk down some cash and buy followers. There are ways to tell if someone bought Twitter followers. And if you think big accounts are all truthful, Gizmodo has a great article about celebrities and their fake followers. In fact, selling followers on Twitter has become a huge business lately.

Which Numbers Impress You?

Are you impressed by large numbers of followers? Why or why not?

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Followers, Following, Listings, Numbers, Ratio, Twitter

Twitter: Four Reasons You Don’t Get Retweeted

April 23, 2013 By Carol Stephen 9 Comments

You just got on Twitter and you spend a lot of time retweeting other people’s stuff. In fact, it seems like all you do is retweet other people’s stuff. But they don’t retweet your stuff! Is there something wrong with what you’re doing? Here are a few factors to consider about why that person on the other end–who you just retweeted (one hundred times!)–might not retweet you.

Their Audience is Not Your Audience

You sell hub caps and you’re in Australia. They sell umbrellas and they’re in Canada. Their audience is expecting tweets about umbrellas, rain, raincoats, bad weather, and galoshes. They are not expecting tweets about hub caps, or anything car-related. So is it any wonder that that person is not willing to retweet your tweets? They don’t want to alienate their audience by sending tweets about hub caps.

That Other Guy Has 100 Times Your Followers

You have 80 followers, and that guy you expect to retweet your stuff has 8000 followers. He has spent a considerable amount of time building a following (if his followers are legitimate). There are some telltale signs that those followers might be fake, but let’s assume that they’re real followers for now. So if you have 80 followers, why would someone with 8000 followers want to retweet one of your tweets each time you retweet one of theirs? They probably don’t!

You’re Telling the Other Guy to Retweet You

When you have to tell someone to retweet you, it sounds desperate. Not only that, but it’s bossy. And no one likes to be told what to do! Why not let people find your wonderful content about your fabulous hub caps, rather than shout at them to retweet you? We’ve all heard the adage “Good Things Come to Those Who Wait.” And being social on social media does take some patience.

Your Tweets Are Too Long

A tweet is only 140 characters long. Once a person copies and pastes your tweet and adds their own name and maybe a brief comment (one-two words), there’s not a lot of space left! So keep your tweets short, with only one link and maybe a hashtag, and your chances of being retweeted will go up dramatically! For more ideas about being retweeted, see the excellent article “Ten Ways to Be Retweetable.”

Does Retweeting Frustrate You?

Have you been retweeting others in the hopes of being retweeted? Have you found any tips that work? Please leave a comment below! Thanks!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Retweet, Retweeting, Twitter

Four Ways to Identify Spammers on Twitter

November 6, 2012 By Carol Stephen 13 Comments

You may be new to Twitter, or you may have been around for awhile. Spammers have been around for awhile, too, and are getting more clever all the time. Here are some ways to identify people who don’t have the best intentions.

The Person Does Not Know You, Yet Acts Like They Do

A potential spammer may call you out by name in a familiar way and ask you to do something, like click on a link, visit a website, or vote for them in a contest. Never click on links if you don’t know where those links go. If you think a message came from someone you know who doesn’t know what they’re doing, or your friend who has been hacked, you could write back “Have we met?” or “Have you been hacked?” Start with a Direct Message, then send a public message after that (many people don’t check their DMs). If you don’t get an answer back, that’s an answer right there!

You Receive Direct Message Phishing Tweets

Phishing tweets are often Direct Messages (DMs) which sound like this: “I can’t believe this is you!” and then a shortened link. Or “What are you doing in this video?” If it sounds like high school “drama” or something your friend (who may have been hacked) would never say, don’t click on it! Tell your friend to change their password—which may or may not stop the unwanted DMs from appearing.

Bad Typos, Incomplete Sentences, Too Many Followers

If someone follows you and their tweets are filled with bad spelling mistakes and incomplete sentences, that can be an indication of a spammer. Or if their tweets are just filled with @this and @that, at the very least that will be annoying after about 2 minutes. And if they only have 3 tweets, but 100,000 followers, that can definitely be an indication that they bought followers.

Porn or “Adult” Material

Just as with a Twitter account with bad spelling mistakes, an account with a naked person or pornographic image as an avatar is likely to be a spammer. My own opinion is just not to follow back. Unless they actively reach out to me, I ignore them. Just like anyone else, if they sell something I’m not interested in, I simply won’t follow them.

Other Annoying Behavior

Someone may not exactly be Spam, but they may be annoying! For example, they may be plagiarizing your tweets or stealing from you in some other way. There are zombies and ghouls around on Twitter, even when it’s not Halloween!

What isn’t Spam?

If someone advertises their services on Twitter and you don’t like those services, that isn’t Spam. Just unfollow that person. There is no need to block or report them as Spam. Sometimes newbies report as Spam people who are not spammers.

Ways to Block Spam

Follow @Spam on Twitter and report Spam to them.

Go to the Spammer’s profile page and report them as Spam. You do not need to follow them to report an account as Spam.

Slam the door on Spam includes ideas on how to report Spam (NY Times blogpost).

Want to know how Twitter is working behind the scenes to fix Spam? Sure you do!

Do you think Spam is getting worse on Twitter? Why or why not? Please comment!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Spam, Spammers, Twitter

Twitter Background: How to Make It Work

September 8, 2012 By Carol Stephen 13 Comments

Your Twitter background says a lot about you. Even though it’s static you can add beaucoup information.

Get Fancy with Your Background!

You’ve seen those Twitter profile sidebars with all kinds of graphics on them. If not, go and take a look at a few Twitter profiles, expand them so they’re full-screen, and see what’s there, beyond the basic profile. For example, take a look at @kimgarst’s profile. Do you see the graduated colors? Notice that she has a different picture of herself there than on her main profile picture. She uses the profile background to expand upon her passions. Or look at @FitnessMagazine, with their simple graphic of balloons and their “Mind, Body & Spirit” tagline listed. Pretty snazzy, right?

The Sidebar is Fixed.

The sidebar can have other websites and information listed, but you can’t click on a URL on the sidebar. So it’s possible for someone to see a url, but they’ll have to copy it and put it into a browser window themselves—they can’t click and go directly to that address. Unfortunately, that’s a limitation within Twitter.

Adding Graphics.

If you’re talented with Photoshop or another graphics package, then you may want to add a picture of yourself—or something that inspires you—to the background. For example, if you’re a dog trainer, how about a picture of a giant dog? If you’re a cyclist, a picture of your favorite cycling route or bicycle would work.

Adding a Tagline.

If you have a slogan, adding that to your profile would be a great addition; it’s a way for people to remember you. A tagline — a short statement that combines your mission, purpose and brand — can be an important selling point.

Hire a Graphic Designer.

If you’re beyond a beginner at Twitter, you might be wise to hire help. A graphic designer can help you with a logo, color choices and photos. Having a professional to create your background makes you look polished. And you can use the same image or logo across all your social media platforms, such as Facebook and other sites. That’s leverage!

Most People Are Visual.

Since the majority of people are visual, having a stunning profile background on Twitter (as well as other sites) can cause more people to follow and connect with you. And isn’t that what all of us want on social media?

When customizing your Twitter background have you had any mishaps? Tell me your horror stories.

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Graphics, Social Media, Twitter

4 Clues Twitter Followers Are Purchased

August 9, 2012 By Carol Stephen 32 Comments

So I’ve noticed lately a lot of people with extremely huge numbers on Twitter. By huge numbers, we’re talking about tens of thousands. If we were in a grocery store, and these people were in the produce aisle, they would not be organic. Ok, maybe that metaphor isn’t really going to work. What I mean is, they have no relationship with those tens of thousands of followers. Among my friends who are social media managers (SMMs), we say those people “bought” their followers — they literally plunked down some cash so they could get a thousand or ten thousand followers.

How can you tell if someone bought their followers? Here’s what I’ve noticed.

1. Don’t have lists & not on anyone else’s.

If you’ve been on Twitter awhile, you use lists as shortcuts, a way to organize so you can cluster followers together. For example, your list called “locals” might have people in the same city as you, and so on. So, for someone to have, say…10,000 followers and not be listed anywhere? Suspicious.

2. No engagement.

Unless you’re a celebrity superstar or news channel, you need to have some conversations going to get big numbers. If you read a few tweets in the other person’s timeline, and there’s no engagement, and they’re not a celebrity, how did their numbers get so big? Also suspicious.

3. Huge number of followers, very few tweets.

Building a big following organically (read: not paying for them) takes time. It doesn’t happen overnight. So 10,000 followers and 200 tweets? Very, very suspicious.

4. Twitter start date is too recent.

If the account is only two weeks old, how could they possibly have 25,000 followers? Even a caffeine addict who never sleeps couldn’t add that many followers in two weeks. Extremely suspicious. Especially if their avatar is the Twitter egg.

We all know that having big numbers makes people look popular on Twitter. And sometimes being popular can impress others. But: so what? Who are they trying to impress with those 100,000 followers who have no real relationship with them?

If you’ve come across someone with huge numbers, would you follow them based on their number of followers? Please leave a comment below! Thanks!

Filed Under: Blog Tagged With: Fake, Followers, Purchased, Twitter