I have just added a poll to my frontpage to see what most people who visit my site think about following people back on twitter.  In my opinion, there are three kinds of people on twitter:

1.  Celebrity - These are the ones who don't follow anyone back and just want people to follow them.  Well, they follow some people - but don't even care who is reading their tweets. EX:

Clearly- this person has a lot of followers, but does not follow very many back.

This guy follows more people and has less followers, but it does not make sense to me why he has so many updates.  He clearly is not talking to his followers.

This person is following more people than the other two and updating a lot, but why do this many people want to read tweets from someone who isn't talking to them???

2.  Friendly - The second group of people on twitter are the ones that try to follow as many people that follow them as they can, so that they can meet people and have conversations.  EX:

 

This person obviously is not following everyone back, but you can tell that he tries.  Realistically, at the point when you have this many followers- it would almost be impossible to follow them all.  You can see that he talks with people and has real conversations back and forth.  

This Lady has no problem following people and talking to people.  That is what twitter is about.  She is friendly and I have watched her quadruple her followers in the last month and I know she puts a lot of hours into talking with her followers on a daily basis.  She is not on twitter just to get a bunch of followers and a high score on some website.

Yes, this is me!! I am in this group.  I follow as many people back as I can because I am here to chat with other people and not chat with myself.  The best way that I know to have fun on twitter is to go out and talk to people.

3.  Wacky - The third group of twitter people are the ones that are here to flow feeds, spam, negativity or garbage.  These people do not want to have conversations and they hope that by just having a twitter account that someone will notice them or listen to what they are saying.  I don't understand this group of people at all.  EX:

 

Look at the amount of updates and they are following one person!!! Crazy.

 

This one is even more strange.  No avatar, has followers and I have never seen so many updates!!!

 

This one is following noone and I don't get how they even have followers!! hmm.

 

So, I know that everyone has a different belief about what twitter is for them.  Personally, I don't see the reason for following anyone that is not following me back.  Unless both people are following each other, you can not DM and that means you have a communication barrier.  I send 5 times as many DM's as I do @replies.  I do not see the value in having a follower that you do not have the ability to talk to.  I want to know the people who are following me.  Yes, I do have too many followers now to know, but at least if I follow them all back - I can learn something about them if I want to and chat with them if something comes up.  I am no expert on twitter, but people do ask me all the time about how to get followers and my answer is - you have to follow everyone back!!!

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This is my video response on youtube to another person Owen (@Ohdoctah) who was talking about people who follow a lot of people and then unfollow them after they follow, so that they look like they have a ton of followers!! That is a bad idea to say the least.  I am not trying to trash anyone with this blog, I am just using real accounts to make my points.

     I am declaring that I officially love twitter.  Because of my newly developed passion for this social networking site, I have been playing around with different twitter apps.  I am playing with so many lately, that I have to put my notes somewhere just to remember them.  There are so many that I am going to take them 10 at a time and separate my blogs that way.  They are just going to be in order of how I notated them, not in order of how I like them or how they come up in searches.

     I may write some blogs for newcomers to twitter in the future, so do not take this list as a good reference if you are just getting started on twitter.  Instead, get your twitter account going and once you are familiar, come back here and try new things.  Everyone is different, so one thing may work for someone really well, while another app may just be a waist of time.  Play around like I have and enjoy!!!

1.  The first app to try with twitter is, TweetDeck.  

I think this app expands the twitter experience.  You can follow a conversation better, keep up with your replies and direct messages.  From inside the app you can view 12seconds.tv feeds and twitscoop - which are 2 additional apps.  You can move your columns around in the order that you choose.  The only problem for me was that it is a desktop app and not in your webbrowser, so you have to download some other stuff first and have it open on a separate screen because it is a space hog.  Here are some additional features:

I would ask people that you tweet with if they use tweetdeck and how they like it?  These are the best people to help you find your way with this app.

2.  Next is Twitscoop.

 

This is a very cool visually stimulating list of what is being talked about on twitter in real time.  As the clock clicks, the buzz words get bigger and smaller as they are mentioned or replaced.  Then on the right, is a list of hot topics that are being discussed, linked to and search for.

3.  Twellow.

This is a very useful tool for finding people to follow that have certain interests, professions, talents, bios.  There used to be a  way to search for people on twitter based on their profile entries, but that feature is no longer available.  The twitter search feature is a good way to search real time tweets.  Twitscoop shows you what is popular and twellow will help you find people from their bio information.  Any twitter user can go to the twellow site and add additional catagories or change the catagories that come up when they are searched.  Definitely try twellow.

4.  Twitter Grader.

Ok, honestly - I don't really like this app.  I have seen people that were obvious spammers have very high grades.  The reason why I put it on the list is that every new tweeter will see references in their twitstream to twittergrades.  So, I am showing you what is out there and you can check it out for yourself.  It is a good starting place because it will tell you some people to follow and give you advice for raising your grade.  So, check it out and see how high you can get your grade.

5.  Qwitter

What ever you do, don't ever sign up for this service.  You will see people talking about it.  You may even have someone tell you that you qwit them and they want to know why.  No matter how curious you are to why someone stopped following you, don't use qwitter.  If you can't stop yourself and you do it anyway, don't DM someone or @reply to them and ask them why they stopped following you.

Reason:  Think of twitter like a big mall, lots of people that don't know each other hanging out in the same place - If someone walks out, are you going to follow them out and ask why?  If they want to they can come back in anytime, who cares.

If you saw someone walk out of a movie-would you ask why?  OMG, like you care - so if you are doing something cool they will come back.  If, they accidentally followed/unfollowed - it is better to not know.  If you never sign up for qwitter, then you never know.  Now, if you have a business and you want to make sure that your twitter account is being handled appropriately, then qwitter is for you.

 

 

6. SocialToo

This is a great service, but there are some things you may want to do and some things you should Not do.

 Please check out all of the cool things you can do with SocialToo that integrates with twitter, identica.ca and Facebook.  There are so many functions that you should check them out for yourself.    The cool ones that I like are the Auto Follow and Auto-Unfollow.  So that you can stay connected to the people that are connected to you.  The thing that You can do there, that I do not recommend for any reason, is the Direct Message to New Followers.  Please do not do this.  If you see that people send these to you and you want to send one too, don't.  A welcome DM will not benefit you in any way.  It will annoy people and all they will do is delete it.  If you want to say hi to people, just say hi, do not auto chat ever!!!

Here is a screenshot of some of the things you can do with socialtoo, and you can have multiple accounts within your one socialtoo account.

7. Twittervision

The reason I am putting this on my list is because when you first start using twitter, you may have to explain what it is to a lot of people.  The more you like twitter, the more you are on it and the more you have to tell people in your life about it.  They will not understand you, just like I am sure you didn't understand at first.  So, twittervision is one of those tools that may help explaining twitter with a visual map of tweets around the world.

It is just neat to see the map moving around with tweets!!! Check it out.

8.  Twalala

This is a good companion for the people who get easily annoyed by the tweet stream.  The people who like to read every little thing and want it to be meaningful.  You can filter certain words, phrases or hashtags and make them invisible to you.  You can even mute certain people for as long as you want to if you just need a break.

 

9.  Twubble

This is possibly the easiest way to follow new people.  You just go down the list and click follow if someone looks interesting to you.  You enter your account info and then they recommend people you are not following.  This will not work if you are following more than like 500 people.  Well, it will work, but you may already be following the people on the list and it won't tell you if you already are.  It is worth checking out if you are following like 20 people and is faster than other apps.

 

10. FriendorFollow

You have to check out this website/app.  It is possibly the most visually stimulating and cool because it adds the avatar of each person that is following you, you are following and the friends(which is both).  It is sooo pretty.  If you have a lot of friends, the pics take a long time to load, but it is soo neat to look at.  With this list you can easily follow the people who are following you and see who you are following that isn't following you back.  The only warning I have is when you use apps like this to unfollow, you may not know exactly who you are unfollowing cause people change their profile pics often.  You may see a new pic, without a name to recognize someone by and they might wonder why you unfollowed them!!! So be careful.

 

See isn't that a pretty page!!!  

Well, I hope this was helpful for all the newbies out there.  Welcome to twitter, welcome to my blog and join my community here on my site and leave a comment below to tell me what other apps I should put in the next 10 blog!!!

Hugs.

 

 

 

 

 

     Here are the next 10 Twitter Apps that are worth trying and a description to go along with each one.  Thank you for all the hits on the last list and because it was so popular, of course I will keep writing them and taking your recommendations along the way.  They will be given 10 at a time still, but this time numbered from 10 to 1, just like a top ten.  The order will of course mean that number 1 is better in some way.  For the purposes of this blog it means that I personally enjoyed the application for my uses, but it doesn't mean that it would necessarily be a better app for you.

     Have fun with the apps and let them help you with your twitter addiction as they have for me!!!

10. TWEETSCAN

 I put this on the list because this is a great app for people who have a business, service or a product.  You can set it up to get an email or RSS alert everytime your brand, username, or any phrase you want to "Scan" for is mentioned on 10 different microblogging platforms.  It is useful to see comments or replies that don't make it to you, sometimes this is intentional and sometimes it is accidental.  You can scan up to 5 phrases and get daily or weekly updates.  This is a free service and it can be stopped at any time.

Funny note - if you have as many followers as I do, sometimes they talk about you and they don't want you to know!!!  It is like eavesdropping, but of course I don't personally use tweetscan because I don't have a product that I need to keep tabs on.  This is a very effective customer service tool, I love it when companies find me from my tweets and address issues that I am having!!

 

9. TwitterSearch

To a lot of people this is obvious.  On the other hand, there may be brand new people that have not seen TwitterSearch.  I am surprised by how many people ask me about searching for items on twitter and then tell me that they never saw the Search link at the bottom of their home page.  EX:

This is the first place to go if you want to search for a topic, word, phrase or username.  This search will only show you the latest tweets using your search requirements.  It is a helpful search, but also can be limited.  You can not search bios, interests, professions, locations and other things that you would choose to find interesting people to follow.  But, the good thing is that people are tweeting all kinds of things, so if you have a specific question, you might find someone with the answer right away!!

8.  Twistori

I had to add this one to the list because the developers deserve it for making a very cool looking and fun app!!!  It has 6 words and you can pick which one you want and it scrolls random tweets that start with the word.  Here are the words:

Then this is what it looks like!!! 

This is a cool thing to do when you finished all the other 2,389 things you HAVE to do!!!  Or you could use it as a tool to help you explain twitter to friends who don't understand what it is.  Well, this might confuse them more - just go there and play sometime, it is fun!!!  And you can get it as a screensaver if you have a MAC OS X!!!

7.  Tweetburner

 This is a great app.  It takes some time to set it up and use it and then wait for the results, but if you do all of that - Wow!!!  The results will make it worth your time!!!

Once you sign in to Tweetburner, you can post a tinyurl to your twitter account and then track how many clicks that link got.  EX:

(This actually went up after the screen shot!!!)  This is a great tool for the tweeple who post a lot of links.  Personally, I try to link as little as possible, but it is totally necessary.  People will ask you for links if you don't post them when referring to a site.   In 2009, I am going to try to Twurl my links more so that I can see how popular they are, without this- you may never know!!!

6.TwitterCounter

Ok, this is cool if you are paying attention to how many followers you have and want to see a chart.

It will only start tracking you from the first time someone searches your username.  My results have only been tracked for 10 days, but it still gives you a prediction for tomorrow and next month.    It tells you how many new followers you have added since yesterday and your average growth per day.  Good news, they say that next month I will have 16,793 followers - that means I will be the top twitterer in my City!!!  This also tells you your Twitter Rank and I am #330 as the time of this blog.  Those numbers don't mean anything though, what matters is making connections on Twitter.

5.  Twitterholic

If you ever wanted to know who has the most followers on Twitter, just go to twitterholic.com.  You can see the top 1,000 ranking with their location and link to their website.  There are other stats there too and of course you can see how you measure up to the rest of the twitterverse. EX:

4.  twitpic

You have probably seen twitpic links and sometimes even seen images in your twitter stream.  It is really easy to post pictures for your followers to see.  There are even apps to send photos from your cell phone or other twitter clients.

Just go to twitpic.com and upload a photo and it will post it right to your twitter timeline in a tinyurl like this.

Then the pic gets added to the twitpic timeline and map (unless you want it to stay private - you will have to set that when you upload the pic).

Then you also have a timeline at twitpic to show you what pics you have posted.

 

3.   Twistory.net

Now this is a very cool app!!!  You can add your backlog feed to your calendar (Google, Thunderbird, iCal and more).  That way you can see what your patterns are. Like days, times, and how many tweets - great for people who have to track it for work or time management.  So cool!!!

 

You sign into twistory, then your calendar and Look!!!

It really is awesome, see - I didn't tweet at all on Thursday!! Must have been a holiday - he he!!! lol

2.  Tweetgrid

This is the coolest way to search for multiple things at a time.  If you can concentrate and do that!!!  My husband can, for me I have to choose less modules.

But, you can pick all kinds of grids, up to 9 at a time or just look at the trending topics!!!

1.  Mr.Tweet

Mr. Tweet is #1 because they work really hard to find really cool people for you to follow.  They have excellent customer service and follow-up techniques.  Just follow them and they will send you a link to your own twitter assistant.  Thank you Mr.Tweet for all you do!!

 

Wow, that was fun!!  Ok, so when this blog gets 1,000 hits - I will do my next Top 10!!!  Comment with new suggestions and additions.  

Hugs T.S.

 

 

This was a really fun project.  When I got 1,000 followers on www.twitter.com - I told them that I would put Santa Hats on their profile pics if they wanted!!!  Here are a few of the funny Santa Hat pics!!!

 

http://www.twitter.com/cutiebootycakes

http://www.twitter.com/phyllismufson

http://www.twitter.com/MarkusvonRoder

http://www.twitter.com/datingpapers

 

Ok, so those were some of the different pics that I messed around with and emailed back to the owner.  Here are a couple that were requested and some not requested, but thought they would either be appreciated or maybe funny!!! lol

http://www.twitter.com/ShyTrbleMaker

 

http://www.twitter.com/rikmeistr

 

http://www.twitter.com/angelashupe

http://www.twitter.com/carlincomm

 

This was just a fun experiment!!  I thought I would share it with someone, since I spent a lot of time on the pics!!!  I hope you enjoy.  I am trying to think of a way to make the Santa Hat kind of like a mark of our tribe.  The problem is, that in a few weeks they will no longer be necessary.  So, I have to think of some other way to mark our Tribe's pics on our profiles.  Let me know if you have any ideas, you can just leave a comment here on this blog!!!  Last, here is the pic that started all of this and really is the least creative and I spent the least amount of time on it, because it was for me.  I feel more creative when doing things for others.

http://www.twitter.com/netgendesign

 

So, comment here and try to leave a pic or link to your Santa Hat Pic and be part of our Tribe!!!  

P.S.  I am a new blogger, so I am sure this is a very strange format.  Suggestions are really really welcome.  And, I don't know if you can leave a pic in a comment, but I am checking on that cause one commenter had a pic already?

T.S. Elliott

It seems like there are a lot of profiles with the hats now, it is really catching on!!! You should show your holiday spirit too and be part of our Tribe.

 

 

 

     I thought I would take some time and write about something I know a lot about and have a lot experience doing:

Working with Groups. 

Of course I have worked with groups of people in a therapeutic setting before and I am going to compare this with the reasons I believe people use Social Media in much of the same way.  They just are not consciously aware of the reasons groups appeal to them.  Along with therapeutic groups and social networking groups (online and offline), people also form other types of groups like sports, religious, hobbies, clubs, and can be either intimate, formal, casual.  The list goes on and on- that could be another blog.  I want to focus on why understanding Therapeutic groups can help you figure out what groups to join or start.  This can be meaningful information for finding local groups, but for the purposes of this writing I am referring to online Social Networking Communities or Sites like Facebook, Ning, Twitter, MySpace and so on.  This  information is for individuals as well as business owners or PR professionals trying to use social networking sites to "advertise" or get "brand awareness".

So, please read this and do more research about any terms you are not familiar with...A closed group is one that has a designated membership that meets at a prearranged time and place.  Online Social Networking Communities are the opposite of a closed group, but they still need to provide individuals with the same security that a closed group offers. 

 

     There are many types of Therapeutic groups, I will list only 10 that I have personally been a facilitator for, again the list is much longer than this one:

1. Drug and Alcohol Abuse
2. Grief and Loss
3. Abuse Victims
4.  Runaway Teens
5. Relaxation
6. Dealing with Brain Injury
7. Parents of Children with Developmental Disabilities
8. AIDS Awareness
9. Teen Pregnancy
10. Anger Management

This is a very short list due to the fact that people can be "grouped" together in so many different ways and most people fit into several categories on any given time on any given day.  So, just use that as a brief reference when thinking about a group coming together for a common goal.

     If you have ever participated in a group, then you have your own frame of reference for determining why you joined such a group and what the experience was like.  Being the leader of so many groups, I have to go back further to days in school to remember what it was like to be a member of a group.  

     Is there any value in group work?  Of course, that is why so many Psychologists, Clinical Social Workers, Therapists, Counselors, Teachers, Speakers, The Military and Organizations use groups to get work done.

 

Self Discovery must be used if you want people to be in a group with you.  Who are you, what is your business, who are your customers, what is your goal???

So, what can a business or individual gain by being in or forming a group?  Whatever you want.  It's not about your group, it is about you.  You have to ask yourself questions and be honest.  

1. Are you a leader or a member?  If you have never been a leader, do you want to be?  Could you lead a group effectively?  Does your personal interest involve being around people or by yourself?  The list goes on, but you get what I mean - don't start something or get involved with something that you will not be good at or even like once you have started.
2. In what way are you willing to serve a group?  Groups are not about you, that is the point - even if you are the leader.  If you only care about yourself and your own self interests, leave everyone else alone.  I will have to write another blog about the problems with joining a group that you do not want to give value to.
3. Are there groups that could benefit you already open for you to join?  Once you know how you can serve others, then figure out if there are already groups available that meet your needs or if you should create your own.  Do your research.  I recently worked with a client that wanted to invest their entire budget to create a website and online community that was identical to about 30 other sites that I found in the first hour of research.  This means, the market was already flooded - so get a new group to create!!!  Seriously, if you are going to make a group similar to another one online, at least make it unique in some way.
4. So, what kind of group do you want to organize?  For your individual benefit and the benefit of your business - do not try to drag people away from the groups they already belong to.  This is a very bad marketing ploy.  I am not a traditional marketer and have never been trained as such, but serving a group has nothing to do with persuasion and deceit.   Do your research and create the group you want in the beginning.  Do not start a group, get members and then change everything as your mood changes.  Define your membership qualifications and your group goals as well as expectations.
5.  If you started a group, where would you start?  If you want to start a social media group, then who will you invite?  Do you have any connections or experience in the field you are concentrating on?  This is very important.  If you have no knowledge in an area and you want to start a group to gain knowledge, then you have to already know people to invite.  You can not create something out of thin air and expect others to do all of the contributing.  This isn't social networking and it certainly is not a functioning group.  Your group will fail, (just like the thousands of others on the web) if the leader has nothing of value to offer and the members do not have a common bond.
6. Once you start a group, how will you keep it alive?  "What you feed will grow-what you starve dies" (That is in quotes because it is one of my favorite quotes.  I don't know where it came from, I just say it all the time).  Are your colleagues or members as interested in your group as you are?  Are you getting support from the participants?  What sources and resources could you use to help your group members grow and have their needs met?  Do you listen to questions, complaints, concerns of your members and make accommodations?
7. Finally, how would you determine if a group that you are leading or participating in is productive or nonproductive?  Some people expect too much too soon.  Some people never accept that something they have created has weakness.  Decide before you join or start a group, what you think is a realistic measure of a groups success.

For your personal success or that of your business, clients or brand - look at your group behavior, expectations, strengths and weaknesses and do not duplicate what you see others doing.  To be a successful leader, you have to offer something of value.  If you have followers, friends or connections remember, they are following you.  Be Valuable if you want people to Value you.

I am not a professional blogger, so please forgive any spelling, grammatical or formatting errors.  I would love any blogging advice.  I only have experience writing reports and essays.  This is a very different platform, but I will focus on quantity and quality as time permits.  I spend most of my time teaching clients effective "communication" techniques.