Archive for the ‘Twitter tips’ Category:
Six ways Twitter can make money
A web 2.0-sized boatload of buzz has surrounded Twitter, the addictive service that allows its users to answer one simple question: what are you doing? The service has made appearances in everything from your friend’s blog to the New York Times, and everyone seems jazzed about how fun tweeting is. While we’re all having a good time, however, its creators, Obvious, keep hinting at how many practical uses they have up their sleeve for Twitter. Even though they haven’t revealed any of their cards just yet, the rest of us are left wondering: how is such a seemingly frivolous service going to make money?
As a user who has taken the Twitter pill hook, line and sinker, I’ve been mulling this question for some time now. I came up with a few strategies, but then I figured: why not run them by the Twitter crew themselves? The least they could say was ‘no comment,’ but fortunately Evan Williams, one of Obvious and Twitter’s founders, responded with a few of his own. Read on for my attempts at making Twitter some money (I’m waiting for my job offer Ev), as well as some choice words and ideas of his own from Evan.
- Twitter Pro – This is one obvious move. Twitter Pro could be a paid service that offers more features, unlimited tweets vs. a ‘standard’ account that receive a daily/weekly limit. It could also include a mobile phone/Windows Mobile/BlackBerry client with more robust tweeting/following tools that use the web to transmit tweets, avoiding those nasty SMS charges. It could also allow tweeting pics and videos from around the web with a Tumblr-like K.I.S.S. philosophy.
- Merchandise – A while back (though I admittedly can’t find a link right now), Evan said merch was a big revenue generator for Blogger, and Twitter has worlds more buzz surrounding it right now. Heck, they even rolled out a small batch of shirts for SXSW, over which users seemed to be pretty excited. As ready as we may be to plunk down some cash for the privilege of using a t-shirt to tell people where we waste most of our time, Ev directly replied to this one: “RE: merchandise – It was, at one time, a noticeable part of Blogger’s revenue, but that’s when Blogger was just me, scraping by; my guess is it wouldn’t make a blip in Twitter’s costs today. Unless we figured out how to be a trendy new apparel brand.” Sorry everyone, but it sounds like apparel isn’t exactly on their list of features to roll out in the next update.
- Twitter for Business a l? Google Apps – Customized, secure software that businesses can run on their own intranet. BlackBerry and WinMo clients are a more apparent option here. Obviously, this could become tremendously useful if Twitter built in some hooks that work like Stikkit and Google Calendar, allowing employees to easily tweet appointments and tasks to a centralized PIM system, and automatically be subscribed to their team’s tweets without any extra effort on their part.
- Twitter Forums, ad-supported – Finally, an innovation brought to the aging discussion forum format. Sort of a Twitter approach to Yahoo! Answers, allowing users to post questions and follow threads they’re interested in, with the Twitter format forcing everyone to keep things simple and on-topic. Instead of ads, this could also possibly be just for Pro customers. One of the catches here is that Twitter users only see tweets from people they are following. When submitting a question to a Twitter Forum, you would be able to see all replies to the question, even the ones from users you’ve never met and aren’t following.
Evan didn’t let me have all the fun with brainstorming, however, and he offered two of his own ideas which I would assume are a good bet the company is working on, since he shared them with this lowly blogger:
Two more-straightforward ideas: 1) Ads on the site. We have a little AdSense on there now, but we haven’t really tried. As the traffic grows, some tasteful sponsorships might be sellable. 2) Charging companies who are using it for marketing or other commercial purposes. If an organization finds Twitter to be a valuable communication tool with their customers/constituents/etc — especially if we’re sending lots of SMS’s for them, which cost us money — it seems viable to make an offering around that.
So there you have it: six ways Twitter can make money, two of which are straight from the lion’s mouth. Judging from the sheer magnitude of buzz surrounding the recently-incorporated company, I wouldn’t be surprised if these six are but a drop in the bucket. There’s good news for those who fear change, however: no matter which way Twitter decides to start paying their exponentially growing bandwidth bills, Evan assured me that: “Our top concern when it comes to monetization will be to do so in a way that does not negatively impact users.” Good show guys; your users will appreciate being able to spend their time tweeting about how they’re spending their time, with the least amount of distraction.
Twitter Phishing Attack in Progress – Do Not Click Unknown Links
If you get a direct message on Twitter looking like this:
Lol. this you?? http://divinelink.net/?rid=http://twitter.verify.bzpharma.net/login
Do not click on the link!
The attack appears to be utilizing the SmartName domain parking service, which allows redirects to third-party sites. The DMs appear in the form of a legit URL, followed by something to the effect of ?rid=http://twitter.verify.bzpharma.net/login in the URL. Those URLs redirect to the latter URL, which is a phished site that looks like the Twitter login page.
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How Much Time Do You Spend on Twitter?
It’s time for another poll. This time I would like to know how much time do you spend on Twitter each day. Did you ever check how much time did you spend tweeting and reading tweets, checking all these links people post and reading your new follower’s profiles? Time goes by really fast when you do something fun.
Note: There is a poll embedded within this post, please visit the site to participate in this post’s poll.
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7 Best Ways to Share Videos on Twitter
Just like there’s a big competition between photo sharing sites for Twitter, there’s also a good competition in video sharing. Even tho’ there’s yet to be a single video sharing site for Twitter that has managed to attract the same number of users as TwitPic, these sites are clearly gaining in popularity. Hopefully we will get Twitter video sharing services integrated in our favorite desktop clients soon. I’ll give you a quick list of 7 best ways to tweet video. Some of these even support photo and video sharing, allow webcam recordings, and track video mentions across Twitter.
- TwitVid.io is really simple to use. Log in with your Twitter credentials, choose a video file and post. Works pretty much the same as TwitPic.
- Twiddeo is a powerful but simple service that let’s you do one thing very well: Twitter updates with Video. Upload from the web, your cameraphone and record from your webcam.
- TwitC is a great tool for sharing photos, videos, and a myriad of different file types with Twitter, it’s a multipurpose hosting service for Twitter.
- TwitLENS is another tool that handles both video and photo sharing. What I like about it is that it supports Twitter OAuth for secure login.
- TweeTube allows you to share webcam videos, YouTube videos, photos and website URLs. The site looks neat.
- 12seconds helps you update your friends and family with short video clips that you record with your webcam, mobile phone, or upload. It uses Twitter OAuth for secure login too.
- TwitVid.com is almost the same as TwitVid.io.
Do we need this many video options for Twitter? Well, probably not, but the competition is always good. Which one do you prefer?
Related posts:
- Top 7 Photo Sharing Tools for Twitter
- A Better Way to Share Photos on Twitter
- Twitter Phishing Attack in Progress – Do Not Click Unknown Links
Real Twitter Insights Gained Through Personal Observation
Guest post by Ryan from AdMazing. Check out his blog, and follow him @admazing.
The Twitter invasion is here. True, Twitter has been here for a while now, but the hype is finally topping the scales. Everybody who’s anybody has entered the exciting world of microblogging and is expanding their network. Many are professing to be that expert or guru in order to increase their follower block. Outrageous “get rich quick” schemes are becoming commonplace. Spammers have found a new haven.
Or have they?
True, Twitter is a groundbreaking communication technology that is here to stay. But from personal observation, far too many tweeters are missing the point.
At the turn of the century, many people were so intrigued with the rise of the Internet that they granted it the status of mysterious, almost magical. The possibilities seemed limitless. Open up any kind of online store, become a millionaire. Easily.
And then…the bubble popped.
Don’t get me wrong–I believe Twitter definitely has the potential to grow with stability and avoid the bubble-popping madness that followed the rise of the Internet age. But for that to happen, Tweeters must recognize that Twitter has no inherent fairy dust. The same business rules apply that have always applied. Don’t just be there to be heard. Interact. Provide real value. Help others (and that entails more than simply mentioning it in your bio).
If you want your brand (either personal or corporate) to have a significant and growing presence on Twitter, send occassional direct messages that aren’t automated. Retweet interesting tweets. Thank others for their retweets. Be human, and don’t profess to be the all-knowing expert or guru that everyone else is professing to be. And for pete’s sake, don’t promise people you’ll help them earn $20,000 from one tweet or help them double their followers in an hour.
Speaking of increasing followers, don’t get caught up in the hype. Most of those 20,000 followers other people have are either spammers or “experts” seeking nothing more than to increase their own pool of followers. You want an audience, not followers. Quality will trump quantity every time. Look for those who have a few hundred followers or less. Those are the people who will actually read and appreciate your tweets and will be much more likely to retweet them.
Just like any successful business practice, a successful Twitter campaign is focused on relationships, reciprocity, and respect. The rules really haven’t changed.
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Optimize Your Twitter Bio to Get More Followers
What’s the first thing you look at when you check someones profile? Most of us read the bio first and that is one of the decisive factors when deciding whether to follow or not follow that person. If your bio is not filled out or is not very descriptive, you are missing out on potential followers. Unlike the 140-character limit for tweets, Twitter gives you 160 characters for your bio. Use them all! In this post I will focus only on the bio section of your Twitter profile.
Will having a bio and website link in your Twitter profile really make a difference in the number of followers you have? The answer is yes. I’ve found an interesting research post on whether having a Twitter bio will get you more followers. You can read it here. Statistics in this report show that Twitter profiles that contain a bio will attract eight times as many followers as one without a bio.
While writing a good bio in 160 characters can be quite a challenge, keep in mind that you don’t have to tell us everything about you. Focus on a few critical keywords that really describe you. These keywords will also be used when people run a search on Twitter. Think about it as SEO (search engine optimization) for Twitter. Just as you would when optimizing a website for search engines, when you write your Twitter bio think about what kind of followers you want to attract.
My recommendations when writing a Twitter bio:
Be you and be real, and tell us what you do and what you like. Do not rush, take time to create the best bio you can. Describe yourself, mention your hobbies or interests. And finally, think about your niche and what kind of followers you want to attract – so select your keywords wisely.
If you haven’t taken the time to write a proper Twitter bio, now is a good time to do so. And for the love of god, please do not tell us that you are an expert or guru. Really, just don’t.
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Top 6 Twitter Tips and Tutorials for Beginners
Twitter is getting so huge and gaining new users by the minute, so I thought I would make a list of the most read posts on my blog from the last few months. These could be very handy for new Twitter users and may as well help more seasoned tweeters too. Below you will find a recap of the most read and retweeted Twitter tips and tutorials of this blog for the quarter 3 of 2009.
- 20 Twitter Directories to Find More Friends and Followers – Join these and you are bound to get many followers.
- How to get the most out of Twitter search – Tips on using Twitter’s powerful search engine.
- 10 tips to get more Twitter followers – Find out how to get followers and not scare them away.
- Top 7 Photo Sharing Tools for Twitter – Find out where to share photos on Twitter.
- Optimize Your Twitter Bio to Get More Followers – Even the 160 characters short bio is important.
- General Twitter tips for starters – A must read for every beginner.
For more Twitter tips follow me on Twitter and subscribe to my RSS feed.
Related posts:
- A Better Way to Share Photos on Twitter
- 7 Best Ways to Share Videos on Twitter
- Top 7 Photo Sharing Tools for Twitter
How to Avoid Being Filtered from Twitter Search
If you use Twitter search, you probably noticed that all tweets do not show up. That is because Twitter started filtering out certain tweets from Twitter search. And there are not many worse things than your tweets not showing up in the search results, especially if you use Twitter for business. Being filtered out is not good for your social presence either.
What kind of tweets are being filtered you ask? Recurring tweets, meaning if you post same sentence a few times in a row it will only show up once among the search results. Tweets from people who are often blocked by others. And of course, tweets sent from accounts marked as spam will also be filtered. And believe me people use Twitter search a lot, I do on a daily basis. Being filtered out, you will have a hard time connecting with other people.
A few tips to not get filtered from Twitter search
- Don’t spam. That one’s easy.
- Don’t post the same thing every few seconds. If you want to promote your website or whatever, better do it over a couple of hours. It’s also annoying to see your product or blog linked five times in a row.
- Don’t retweet spammers. You’ll have to learn how to spot spammers. Check out people’s profiles, watch their tweets.
- Mix the words. If you really have to tweet about the same thing many times in a short period of time, you can mix the words to avoid filtering.
Oh, there’s one more thing you can do. Check if your profile is showing up in Twitter search. Go to Twitter search and type in your username without the @. Or better yet, type in from:yourusername. Make sure your last tweets are shown. That’s about it. If you have any more ideas, post them below in the comments.
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Twitter Etiquette: 7 Common Sense Rules for Twitter
With Twitter going mainstream and gaining masses of newcomers on a daily basis, I see more and more senseless messages floating around. To be completely honest, it’s not only the new guys, but some seasoned twitters as well. People say “Social media is 90% common sense”. In regard to that, the “rules” I will list in this post, you have probably already figured out on your own, I hope. Apparently not all did, tho’.
In this article I will try to explain you some basic principles that you use when you socialize. Think about what you tweet – on the other side is a person and not a Twitter account. Unfortunately, some people on Twitter and online in general, do things they would not do in person. For instance, when I search on Twitter for a specific topic, I get so many spam like tweets that have nothing to do with the subject. By doing that, you waste your and other people’s time.
The following is a list of 7 common sense rules you should use on Twitter
- Get rid of useless ReTweets. Remember #followfriday recommendations? They used to be cool, but these days all you see is people retweeting list of names that has no meaning. I usually ignore these huge RTs. Sometimes people greet multiple friends at once – OK I understand this – but why do ten people have to retweet this?
- Don’t be pushy. Don’t know how to exactly explain or name this one, but I will try my best. Sometimes people try to promote their product, which is fine by me, but they take wrong approach. I have seen they send their tweets (with the link to their product) to many users at once, usually those who have many followers, with the tweet containing no real information what the link is about. It is annoying and most of us just ignore such tweets.
- Be nice. I think this one is self explanatory. People enjoy pleasant conversations. Say hi sometimes or thank or reply to a question – not every tweet has to contain a link to your website. If you only post information your followers will feel like you don’t care about them. Also, don’t ignore it when people tweet you, take time and reply to them.
- Do not repeat yourself. I know you want your blog or product be seen by everyone, but if you repeatedly tweet that link to your followers, they might just ignore or unfollow you. Try to limit that to a few times a day.
- People have names. It feels good if people actually address you by your real name sometimes and gives you a feeling you interact with a human being. You don’t have to do it every time, but once in a while is nice.
- And they have short memory. Since Twitter lacks threaded conversations, it is sometimes difficult to know what a certain tweet was a response to. Try to include some sort of indication what question you are referring to. I sometimes RT the message in my reply to make it obvious to what I was replying.
- Give credit and share. If you find something you like, share it and tell where it comes from. If someone tweets something interesting that you want to retweet, thank him and mention him in your retweet. Again, I know this is hard to do every time, especially if you follow many people, but once in a while is nice.
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How Much Is Your Twitter Account Worth?
Ever wondered how much your Twitter account is worth? Tweeter Value can put a price tag on your Twitter account. It is more for fun than for anything else. But we all like a bit of fun, don’t we?
What exactly does Tweeter Value do? It puts a theoretical value on a Twitter account, and that’s it. Keep in mind that buying and selling Twitter accounts is against Twitter Terms of Service, so don’t get any ideas. It’s meant to be used for fun.
How does it work? It uses an algorithm to estimate how much Twitter account could be worth. Many things are taken into consideration, including: followers, following and tweets.
And how much is your Twitter profile worth?
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