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Do You Know These 70 People? You Should: They’re Making Social Media More Social!

4 Dec

Photo by Kimson Doan on Unsplash

It’s one of the easiest click-bait tricks in the book: Declare that something popular is dead or dying.

Twitter’s been the victim of this “hack” for years: For example, in 2014, The Atlantic published a eulogy for “the beloved social publishing platform.” A year later, Umair Haque, the director of the London-based Havas Media Lab, published a blog post on Medium declaring its impending doom. And three weeks ago, Gareth Daine, founder of Content Sleuth, wondered aloud (or on LinkedIn, anyway): Is Twitter dead?

The reasons for these pronouncements have varied, but in that most recent case, the cause of death was “a distinct lack of engagement on the vast majority of posts I see.” Daine was specifically referencing posts by so-called “influencers” with substantial follower counts, which, in my opinion, was totally missing the point. Continue reading →

These 65 People Are Top Influencers Who Bring Real Value to Twitter

12 Dec
Photo credit: William White/Unsplash.com

Photo credit: William White/Unsplash.com

The New York Times recently published a rather naïve opinion piece by a guy named Cal Newport that said you should quit social media because there’s no value there and it can only hurt your career.

This article followed one by Andrew Sullivan in New York magazine, in which he lamented his constant need to publish and post, and have a presence on social media, and how that was making him feel disconnected and inhuman.

Casual observers might have looked at these two articles and had their assumptions confirmed: Social media is a waste of time. But it’s not true. Continue reading →

Want to Build Stronger Online Relationships? It’s Really Not That Hard. #CMAD

29 Jan

CMAD videoIf you didn’t know, this past Monday (January 25) was Community Manager Appreciation Day (or CMAD, for short). It was a chance for people and companies to celebrate folks like me — social media managers and others who work so hard every day to grow our businesses and organizations by building stronger relationships with customers, clients, and others using blogs, Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Instagram, and other social channels (and offline means as well). And to learn from each other as well.

As part of the day, a social media company called Zoomph reached out and asked me to share a quick tip for building stronger online relationships. I was happy to do so. That video is below. Continue reading →

Sharing the Love: 50 Reasons Why Social Media Is Awesome

13 Feb

social-media-loveIt’s no exaggeration to say that using social media has changed my life.

It’s helped me to build my professional and personal networks (often blurring those lines); introduced me to new music, places, and foods; helped me score free stuff; and allowed me to be a louder advocate for the brands, sports teams, and people I like.

Heck, I’ve even scored a few dates.

So you shouldn’t be surprised when I say I love social media. That’s right, love.

Sure, like anything, social media isn’t perfect; there is plenty about Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, LinkedIn, et al that drives me nuts. But the truth is, as I’ve said before, if you don’t like social media, then you must not be using it.

With that in mind, I thought I’d share a list of 50 reasons why social media is so lovable. Here they are, in no particular order. Continue reading →

Stop Doing This on Social Media. You’re Driving Me Nuts!

11 Feb
Photo credit: Martin Lieberman / Instagram

Photo credit: Martin Lieberman / Instagram

When you use social media as much as I do — and admittedly, it’s probably a bit too much — there are bound to be a few things you don’t like about it.

To wit: Not too long ago, my friend Christoph Trappe compiled a great list of his top Twitter pet peeves, many of which I agree with. That got me thinking about some of my own. In an effort to not be repetitive or redundant with Christoph (or my own previously published thoughts regarding unfriending), I decided to expand my purview to cover the social networks I’m most active on: Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, and Instagram. (And Vine too, mostly because I’m not a fan.)

Yes, there’s plenty about social media I love (come back in a couple days to see that list). But for today, we’ll stick to my pet peeves.

Here they are, in no particular order. Continue reading →

The 2015 Happiness Project

5 Jan

balloon-smiley-faceIn 2014, I was happy, and I’m committed to being happy in 2015 too.

So in an effort to demonstrate that every day has at least one thing to smile about (even the so-called bad days), I’ve decided to steal an idea from my friend Christoph Trappe, who spent the entire year last year posting happy thoughts, memories, or moments in one running blog post that he updated daily. It was a great way to show gratitude and remember what made each day so special for him.

That idea, like so many other good ideas, came from Twitter — specifically, a fellow tweeter named Krista, who did a similar thing in 2013. So you might say I’m now continuing the chain. Maybe next year somebody else will follow my lead.

Here’s the plan: For the next year, at the end of every day, I’m going to write down something that made me happy, whether that’s something I did, something I ate, something somebody said, a music lyric or line of movie dialogue that resonated with me, a tweet, or something else. It’s just that simple. Doesn’t have to be a big thing, just something that made me smile.

With apologies (and all due respect) to Gretchen Rubin, I’m calling this blog post my “2015 Happiness Project.” Think of it as a digital “rememberlutions jar,” a way to make sure I’m doing everything on my 2015 to-do list, or, in a way, an abbreviated version of the journals I used to keep when I was in high school. And please, check back here often to see what’s making me smile all year long.

Here we go. Continue reading →

I Tweet for Myself. Here Are 5 Reasons Why You Should Too.

10 Jul

twitter-maskYesterday, I tweeted that I’d rather someone not have a Twitter handle than have someone else tweet generic stuff for them.

Suffice it to say, the reaction was interesting. I got responses that ranged from “a good [social media] specialist can tweet like the person without making it seem generic,” to, more amusingly, “Wouldn’t that put a lot of social media specialists out of a job?”

I replied that yes, good social media specialists may be able to do a decent job of ghost tweeting. But more often than not, they just tweet headlines and links, and maybe an occasional “thanks,” and that makes the real person look bad, like he/she doesn’t care. Ideally, people would just tweet for themselves. After all, it’s really not that hard.

And I meant that. People should be tweeting for themselves. This “ghost tweeting” stuff is for the birds. (Pun intended.) Continue reading →

5 More People from Twitter Who I’d Like to Meet Offline

15 Mar

twitter-logo-circleI love Twitter the most when it’s people talking to people, not marketers promoting their products and services, or people autosharing their Foursquare check-ins or Instagram photos, or readers generically sharing an article headline.

Just good ole person-to-person conversation.

When people on Twitter let you in, and show you that they’re about more than their job, and they actually show a personality, then you want to learn more about them and everything they want to share.

Even better, you begin to feel like you actually know these people, even if you don’t.

Because a simple “Follow Friday” tweet wouldn’t suffice, last week I shared a list of five people I follow on Twitter who I’ve never been in the same room with but I feel like I kinda sorta know, and who I would love to meet offline.

Here’s another five, in no particular order:

Continue reading →

5 People from Twitter I’d Like to Meet Offline

8 Mar

twitter_logoIf you use Twitter the right way — that is, you use it to engage with other people, not just to share headlines or Foursquare check-ins — then you provide a window into who you are.

That’s why, if you’re active on this social network, you often find you think you know people really well when you’ve never actually met them in real life.

I have that “problem” all the time: I forget that I don’t really know some of the people I interact with on an almost-daily basis.

But that’s a good thing, I think (thus the quotation marks around “problem”). I wish more people used Twitter in a way that made it seem equally personal.

I wanted to find a way to recognize some of the people I enjoy following, but I didn’t think a simple Follow Friday tweet would do it. So I thought I’d start a regular feature here on my blog, a list of a few people on Twitter who I feel I kinda already know and would love to meet offline.

You won’t find celebrities or politicians or other big names here, even though, sure, I’d love to meet Cory Booker, Bill Maher, Alec Baldwin, the writers of Modern Family, and others like them. I’m keeping this list limited just to regular people, ones with whom I’ve never been in the same room.

Here are the first five, in no particular order: Continue reading →

22 Important Lessons I’ve Learned about Twitter

22 Jan

twitter_homepage

Twitter is so much more than just a social network.

It’s a news service, a networking party, an instant messaging platform, a marketing channel, a photo album, a customer service tool, a personal journal, and a performance venue, all in one.

That’s just one thing I’ve learned from my three-plus years of being a tweeter.

I’ve also learned that the more you give to Twitter, the more you can gain from it: relationships, job opportunities, laughs, support, discounts and deals, insight, information, and connections. Lots and lots of connections.

If you use Twitter well, and you keep at it, people will find you and want to connect. It’s worked for me, and last week, I made my 2,000th connection — or rather, she connected with me. So for that, let me recognize and say thank you to Heshie Segal, who was follower number 2,000. Hooray!

Why do 2,000 people follow me? I’m just some random guy who tweets a lot. If you have that same question, then maybe you can understand why I consider that many followers to be a bit of an accomplishment.

So on the occasion of having reached this milestone, I thought I’d share with you some of the things I’ve learned from my years of tweeting. Here are 22 easily tweetable lessons … things that may help you reach a similar milestone:

Continue reading →

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