Blazing Minds » Twitter

Taking the Twitter Plunge (If You Haven’t Already)

Deborah Anderson — Mon, 30 Jan 2012 13:55:33 +0000

Ok, I admit it. I haven’t tweeted. Take a couple parts guilt feelings, a part procrastination, a part “where-do-I-start” and a dash of OCD/perfectionism and you get a social media nut who isn’t tweeting. Why? Simply because I love people so much that I want to thank each and every one and realize the more days that pass, the more people there are that I haven’t thanked, and how far back do I go with the thanks and should I thank yesterday’s tweeps first, or a month ago?… Ok, do you get the picture? I told you it was crazy, so consider yourself having been fore-warned!

And, to top it off. While I sit back, chasing my tail, wondering where to start, my Klout score plummets, and plummets, and plummets… OK, don’t go looking, now. Seriously, I am embarrassed! So, I fell down on the playground and skinned my knee. Not like I can’t stand up, brush myself off, and go on skipping rope in the playground called “Life,” in the sandbox called “Twitter.”

Now, I really appreciate all of you gusto-grabbing people who are able to just pull out the stops and Tweet (or blog, or Facebook status, or whatever the case may be). I applaud you and I send you congratulatory warm virtual hugs. If you know me, you know that I am not patronizing you, I mean it!

For those of you who may have “issues,” whatever they may be (fear of people, momentary lapses of memory, spending too much time with your pets or your cars, etc.). Hey, join the club! I don’t think any of us is perfect. But, you know what, I am going to take the plunge. I am going to send out personal tweets starting today and realize that you can’t change the past. Not only that, but who said you have to be perfect?! Enjoy your humanity and make a few boo boos. We all do! So, what are you waiting for? You ready to take the plunge (or re-plunge) with me? If so, see you on Twitter!

P.S. To all of you who have “Thanks” coming, in appreciation for your mentions and shout outs, to you I send a special, global “Thank you.”

Twitter to Censor Content in Certain Countries (mashable.com)
How to use Twitter to market your company (premierlinedirect.co.uk)

Taking the Twitter Plunge (If You Haven’t Already) is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Just Retweet Helps You Spread Your Tweets Even Further

Karen — Sun, 29 Jan 2012 16:50:27 +0000

Lets face it there are so many sites out there these days that offer you the chance to increase your followers and the majority of these sites can fall foul of the Twitter Spammers, but when I heard about Just Retweet, I had to check it out for myself, the title just made me think, “Now that sounds interesting”

First of all Just Retweet is quite basic and there isn’t any of all that pop and circumstance of promising you the world in the TwitterVerse, it’s just there to help spread your tweets to the ever-growing Twitter users.

JustRetweet is a Web site that drives a lot of traffic to your Twitter account and your blog when your tweet gets retweeted and goes viral. There’s no question that Twitter drives website traffic. This is particularly true when one of your updates blog post, Website, etc.is retweeted within the industry. And the effect is two-fold: You not only get a good dose of traffic to your site, but will also likely gain new Twitter followers as a result.

How To Get Yourself Started Using Just Retweet

It’s really easy, just stop by Just ReTweet and do the following:

Log in with your Twitter account via Twitter Oauth, you’ll get 100 tasty credits for doing that.

Go in to your settings in Just Retweet and update your details, that’s another 25 credits.

Enter a Tweet that you want others to ReTweet and use your credits to pay for it.

Add your website.

Add your websites RSS feed.

Go and ReTweet some of the great articles and visit some of the websites, all of which will gain you credits.

So now your listed now what?

What I personally like to do is find some blog posts on my blog, that could may be do with a little viral retweeting and I add those to the section for my ReTweets, simply add the tweet with the URL shortened by your favourite URL shortner and your away, don;t add the RT USERNAME as this will automatically done for you.

You can also visit the Exchange ReTweets section where you can also earn credits for ReTweeting fellow tweeters tweets, but don’t just RT everything, tweet out what you think your followers will find interesting and valuable, you don’t want to be deemed a spammer for ReTweeting just for the sake of it, do you!

Don’t Just ReTweet, Visit The Blogs!

If you do see a ReTweet that is offering a few credits, then don’t just ReTweet it! I usually take the time to visit the link to the post as well, mainly when I see it’s from a Tweeter I trust,comment on the blog while you are there as well, this shows that you have some appreciation for the work that the blogger has put in to their post

Making Twitter Friends

You will also see that there are options to follow other Tweeters, such as the section on the main page for “Featured Users”

Ideal for finding new like-minded Tweeters and following them will earn you credits, you will also find a “Twitter Followers” section to earn credits for follows. But always remember the golden rules when following anyone:

Check out the Twitter profile first before following.

Don’t follow just for the sake of credits

Never, never CHURN on Twitter (following and dropping in quick succession, it’s the right way to get banned from Twitter!)

If you follow these simple rules, then you shouldn’t (hopefully) get those annoying spammers etc in your Twitter DMs.

My Thoughts On Just Retweet

I’ve used Just ReTweet for a while now and I can honestly say that so far I’m impressed, there seems to be a better bunch of tweeters using it compared to the likes of Twiends. But where Just Retweet excels is the viral power of getting your tweets ReTweeted and for me, since using Just ReTweet, my RTs have gone a lot further than they previously did.

But don’t take my word for it, give it a go yourself, it’s free, so how can you go wrong!

Related posts:

Easy Retweet – Gaining More ReTweets, Followers and More

Why I ReTweet (RT) on Twitter

Working Out The Most Popular Time For Your Tweets

Just Retweet Helps You Spread Your Tweets Even Further is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Why I Choose Not To Auto #FollowBack On Twitter

Karen — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 15:20:14 +0000

It’s a dilemma that a lot of Twitter users seem to have these days, should they follow everyone back that follows them or should they just follow those that they like, or should they just not bother with following anyone back at all!

A lot of Tweeter do opt for auto following everyone back that follows them and for me this is something that I don’t do and really don’t believe in, yes there are those that say it helps with your follower numbers, but surely the amount of followers and those that you follow shouldn’t really matter or should it?

Why I Choose Not To Auto FollowBack On Twitter

From past experience in the early days of my account, I did follow everyone back, but this did lead to those many accounts that will follow you and as soon as you do they unfollow, just to increase their numbers, also you have no end of SPAM coming through on your DMs via the majority of the “TeamFollowBack” tweeters and when you have the option to Tweet on your smart phone, it can be a complete annoyance.

So after learning from this I chose to not auto follow and by doing this my experience of twitter has improved with more interesting tweets coming through in my timeline and being able to communicate better with my followers, it’s also shown that you do not have to follow everyone to gain followers!

You Should Still Follow Other Interesting Tweeters

Now I’m not saying you should never follow back anyone on Twitter, I’m just saying drop the auto follow systems, as you will most probably get stacks of followers that only want to spam you, my advice is to check your Twitter Connect Timelime to see who has recently followed you then check them out, read their Twitter Bio , view their tweets and see if they are interesting for you to follow.

It’s not a written Twitter rule that you have to follow everyone back and you will find that the genuine Tweeters that enjoy your tweets and do find them interesting will keep following you even if you don’t follow back and if you want to show them you appreciation you can either follow them back or add them to a special Twitter List, so you can keep an eye on their tweets without over filling your timeline.

But What About Those That Follow And Unfollow So Quickly?

As long as you aren’t Auto Following on Twitter these shouldn’t really be a problem as they really won’t make much of a difference to you, but if you do want to know who has unfollowed you then you could use a Twitter Tool such as, Who UnFollowed Me, to check them out. This is quite a handy Twitter Tool and one I’ve used on many occasions, you could also try UnTweeps and ManageFlitter to organize your unfollowers.

So How Do I Get Twitter Followers?

Ah, the ultimate question! For me, I follow like-minded tweeters who have interesting or funny tweets and friends, such as bloggers and friends that I meet in the “real world”. Reply and RT tweets that you find interesting or funny and join in Twitter conversations, let people know you are in the Twitterverse, add your Twitter to your emails, website or even mention it to people.

Tweet some thing interesting to the world, use hash tags (but don’t over do them), all this helps to improve your Twitter followers outlook on your Tweets.

Add your Twitter to some of the Twitter Directories such as WeFollow or Twello, this will open you up to other Tweeters that are looking for fellow local and/or like-minded tweeters to follow and make friends with.

So Now It’s Over To You!

That’s it for me on this article, so now it’s your turn, what’s your opinion on Auto Follow Back on Twitter? Do you do it? Have you done it in the past? Let me know I’d love to hear your thoughts

Learn More About Twitter In The TwitterTwit eBook

TwitterTwit.zip

Related articles

TweetAdder: Simply the Fastest Way to Manage Twitter Accounts (famousbloggers.net)

FAQs about using Twitter for business (marketing.yell.com)

How to use Twitter to market your company (premierlinedirect.co.uk)

Related posts:

Some Handy Twitter Websites! (Twitter Tools) Part 2

Inactive Twitter Users, The Options For Unfollowing Them

The Twitter Follow Experiment!

Why I Choose Not To Auto #FollowBack On Twitter is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

How To Write a Twitter Bio That Gains You More Followers

Karen — Sun, 01 Jan 2012 13:00:37 +0000

I’ve written so many articles about using Twitter for Social Networking and I have mentioned briefly about the bio on your Twitter profile, so now, I thought it was about time I went into this a bit more.

Your Twitter bio is possible one of the most important things that people will check when they view your Twitter page and leaving this blank is a complete No No! And yet again filling it with spammy words just to get followers is another NO NO, as most tweeters will know what your doing it..

Since originally writing this article I have updated it and extended it a little with some more useful tips

So what should you put in your Twitter bio, well, make it informative, but not personal, as an example mine reads:

Owner and Famous Blogger of Blazing Minds, lover of tech, life & people who make her laugh. A Twitter celebrity in the making. http://blazingminds.co.uk

As you can see, it says what I do and a few of the things I like, you may of noticed that I’ve also added my URL into the bio, this helps when your Twitter bio is listed on other sites that may not mention your URL. What you shouldn’t be putting is things like:

Website seo, blogging tips, thesis, blogs, blog design

This is just spammy and it shows that the tweeter knows that people will search through the bio looking for those keywords to follow them, yes it is OK to add a few keywords, but add them in a sentence, not just a list of words!

Example: I’m a blogger that writes about blogging tips, blog design, thesis and many more interesting blog related articles

If you want people to follow you on twitter show them that you are worth their time and let them see from your bio that you are not just another one of those bots that is only there for the numbers. By showing that you’re a human being with a well formed and interesting Twitter Bio people will have an inkling of your Twitter streams content.

Try the following tips in your Twitter Bio:

Tell Tweeters what you do

Show a side of your personality

Add something a little personal, but not something no one should know!

Never include politics, religion or sexuality

Have fun, but be informative and most of all be HUMAN

So there you have it a few little tips, that I hope will help.

If you have any Twitter tips on what you think your should add in the bio then let us all know

Related articles

How to Write a Twitter Bio to Get Followers (shoutmeloud.com)

Three Ideas For Creative Links In Your Guest Post (BasicBlogTips.com)

Related posts:

The Blazing Minds Twitter Now Has Over 4,000 Followers

Using Tweetdeck to Discover Your New Twitter Followers

An update for my fellow Twitter followers!

How To Write a Twitter Bio That Gains You More Followers is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Here We Go Again with a Twitter Redesign

Business.com — Sat, 10 Dec 2011 09:52:15 +0000

Remember the old adage “If it Ain’t Broke, Don’t Fix It?” that so many of us grew up with and carry to this day?

It seems social networking site Twitter, which has been on the social networking scene for around six years, is giving that saying a run for its money these days, having recently announced its second major change in less than a year.

According to a spokesperson with the company, “It’s not just a visual redesign but a conceptual redesign to make Twitter more accessible to the next billion users.”

With Twitter reportedly presently having anywhere from 100 million to 300 million users, plans are to continue growing the company, which still trails rival Facebook by a wide margin in terms of users and mass appeal.

Slated to be dispersed globally over the coming weeks, the changes will include a new section for everyone’s Twitter account known as “Stories,” allowing users access to Twitter content they may find useful.

Up to now, Twitter has been mainly viewed as a short chat platform for friends, individuals wanting to share their daily travails with others, and a place to go and obtain news updates.

What’s the Plan?

With the hashtag #letsfly, Twitter announced on its company blog some of the planned enhancements. They include:

A more simplified design;

An update to TweetDeck to be in tandem with the new Twitter version;

Updated versions of the enhancements on mobile.twitter.com, Twitter for iPhone and Twitter for Android.

As the blog noted, “What we’re announcing today is just the beginning. We now have a framework in place that we will quickly build and iterate upon to help users connect with whatever is meaningful to them.”

Maybe most importantly of all from a financial standpoint is the fact that Twitter will now permit advertisers to have much great access on the social site. Brand pages already noticeable on Facebook, and those recently showing up on Google+, are slated to become a regular feature on Twitter in the months ahead.

According to Twitter, those businesses seeking branded pages will have the ability to “control the message” visitors view when initially arriving on one’s profile page by promoting a Tweet to the top of one’s page timeline.

Twitter pointed out that the page and promoted tweet come at no charge and will be publicly accessible. Businesses will also have the option of customizing those pages, providing their own logo, colors and whatever message they look to provide to the service.

Lastly, developers will have the ability to embed tweets on various Web sites through copying and pasting a line of code.

Bridging Gap of Awareness and Engagement

According to Twitter’s CEO, Dick Costolo, the changes are in essence a move to “Bridge the gap between the awareness of Twitter and the engagement on Twitter.”

For those who visit Twitter but may have found it hard to use, perhaps these changes will in fact make things easier.

Then again, too much redesigning and doing it too often may lead some to look elsewhere for conversing with friends, family, co-workers, business associates and more.

In the words of Costolo, “We are going to offer simplicity in a world of complexity.”

Time will tell if those words are agreed upon by Twitter users worldwide.

Photo credit: blog.blogsthatfollow.com

No related posts.
Here We Go Again with a Twitter Redesign is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Why I am using Tweetdeck for my Tweeting

Techwork — Wed, 26 Oct 2011 06:47:08 +0000

First let me introduce you to Tweetdeck

If you are a blogger you properly also have a Twitter account where you promote yourself or maybe even multiple accounts. After a while it can be a lot of work to keep up with those accounts and tweets and the default www.twitter.com solution does not add much support for multiple accounts and a lot more than that. That is where Tweet Deck comes to the rescue. It is a little application you install on your PC. When it is installed you can configure multiple Twitter accounts and configure different kind of views for your twitter stream.

Get the full picture with Tweetdeck

On the picture below you can see I have configured 3 columns in my Tweetdeck.
The first one is called All Friends and simply just shows tweet from all people I follow. The second column is showing tweets only from bloggers that are on my customized list called “Favorites-Bloggers”.

This is a great way to see what the people I admire the most are tweeting and still have the possibility to follow all the people I follow in the left column. The last column I have configured is “Mentions”. This column shows every time someone has mentioned my Tweetname in a tweet. I is the same you can see on your normal twitter account but here you can see it without moving away from your normal twitter stream.

Support for other social networks

Not only does Tweetdeck support multiple Twitter accounts it does also support other social networks. It makes it possible to add e.g. your Facebook account to Tweetdeck as well.

Tweetdeck for smartphones

Tweetdeck is also available for iPhone and Android smartphone, but it is not a part of this review. Tweetdeck is also available as an extension for the Google Chrome browser I you prefer that.

Additional configuration:

Another great thing about Tweetdeck is that it gives you some extra configuration options. Here are my 3 favorite tweaks for Tweetdeck:

Show the numbers of followers on all users below their picture.

Use Autocomplete for usernames when you write a tweet.

Play an alert sound notification when someone mentions you in a tweet.

All the above is available under settings and can add extra value to your TweetDeck experience.

That was all for me today. Now I would like to activate your guys a bit. Let me hear how you Tweet? Do you use Tweetdeck or another program for your Tweets? If you have not yet tried TweetDeck you should go ahead and download it.

No related posts.
Why I am using Tweetdeck for my Tweeting is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Introducing The New Blazing Minds Logo Designed By TheraisaK

Karen — Sat, 15 Oct 2011 16:56:56 +0000

Ok folks you may have seen the new logo already, specially on my Twitter (@BlazingMinds), but I thought it was time to introduce you all to the new Blazing Minds logo that has been designed by TheraisaK.

Why Get A New Logo?

Since starting Blazing Minds over three years ago, I have used the same image and thought it was about time that I had my own custom logo that everyone will see and hopefully come to love.

So I got in touch with TheraisaK, who also designed the new @SlappyBear logo as well, asked her to design a logo for Blazing Minds, that kept in the spirit of the red-haired avatar that everyone was used to and the result is something that I personally think is brilliant.

I must say a big, big thanks to Theraisa for the brilliant work that she has done on not only the Blazing Minds, but also on the Slappy Bear Logo as well. I think both look far better than what I originally had

Introducing The New Blazing Minds Logo

What Has Been Said About The New Blazing Minds Logo On Twitter

@BlazingMinds liking the New Blazing Logo! ;-)
October 13, 2011 11:22 pm via Twitter for iPhone ReplyRetweetFavorite
@limey59music
limey59music

@BlazingMinds love your new avatar!
October 14, 2011 3:49 pm via TweetDeck ReplyRetweetFavorite
@CommentLuv
Andy Bailey

@BlazingMinds Karen so cute your new avatar! :)
October 14, 2011 6:33 pm via TweetDeck ReplyRetweetFavorite
@sweetsfoods
sweetsfoods

@BlazingMinds wow karen, new twitter avatar? nice! blog redesign next?
October 15, 2011 1:48 pm via TweetDeck ReplyRetweetFavorite
@ronniedare
ronleyba

So what do you think of the new Blazing Minds Logo? Please let me know as I would love to hear what you think

Related articles

Ladies And Gentlemen Introducing The New Slappy Bear Logo (slappybear.co.uk)

Blazing Minds Blog Interview (generalsarge.com)

No related posts.
Introducing The New Blazing Minds Logo Designed By TheraisaK is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Easy Retweet – Gaining More ReTweets, Followers and More

Karen — Tue, 11 Oct 2011 11:16:40 +0000

Most of you who read my blog will have read several of the Twitter Tips that I post every now and again, such as gaining followers, finding who unfollowed you and even ways of helping your influence by getting more ReTweets.

Recently I stumbled across the website Easy Retweet, which not only allows you to get other to ReTweet your tweets, but it also help in gaining Twitter Followers as well!

Using Easy Retweet To Gain ReTweets And Followers Is So Easy

Simply sign up with your Twitter account via Twitter Oauth and then fill in your bio and then you are away, you will get free credits for signing up with EasyRetweet and you can use these in several ways to promote your tweets, Twitter and even your website!

Your RT Messages

In this section you can add your own messages that you want to be ReTweeted, remember to add the links with your favourite URL shortener, select how many credits you are offering for your RT, how many credits you wish the ReTweets to run for and what the least amount of followers a tweeter should have to be able to RT your tweets . These can all be edited again later.

Now your Message will go in to the list of tweets that members can tweets for you.

Browse ReTweets

Simply put, this is where you can earn credits for tweeting other members Tweets, my advice here is, don’t just tweet everything, select those tweets that you think your followers would be interested in or are in the niche that your Twitter followers may be in.

Blog ReTweets

Nice little touch this, you can add your blogs RSS feed to Easy Retweet and then when new posts are published, members can have the option of tweeting your blog post for the amount of credits that you have on offer for each blog post ReTweeted.

Browse Websites

Another methods of earning credits for your account, click on the websites and a window will open with the website, wait a while and you will then be told that you have earned credits and you can close the window, a great way for you to earn credits and good for getting a few more hits to your website.

Get Twitter Followers

This is the section where you can not only follower others for credits, but you can also set up how many credits you will offer to new followers of your Twitter, but also where your earned credits are stored, either in your RT account or your Follow account. So if one is running low you can switch to gain more credits in that specific account.

Don’t just follow everyone, check out the tweeters first and see if you like what they are tweeting, then follow them through Easy Retweet to gain yourself some credits

You can also buy credits via PayPal if you so wish.

Overall Thoughts Of Easy Retweet

I have noticed an increase in website traffic since using this handy Twitter tool and followers have increased, of cause you will still get those follow and then unfollow you in a matter of minutes or hours, but this is inevitable with this sort of system.

But for gaining ReTweets from some new tweeters is really handy and I have noticed that there has been an increase of blog views coming in from Twitter.

So Easy Retweet is a handy Twitter Tool and if used wisely it can help in several ways, but as with all Twitter Tools like this, you should not over do following as this can cause Twitter to get a little unhappy with you

Related posts:

Just Retweet Helps You Spread Your Tweets Even Further

Twiends a Tool to Help Increase Twitter Followers [Twiends Review]

The Blazing Minds Twitter Now Has Over 4,000 Followers

Easy Retweet – Gaining More ReTweets, Followers and More is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Inactive Twitter Users, The Options For Unfollowing Them

Karen — Thu, 29 Sep 2011 21:20:45 +0000

Inactive Twitter Users, What Do You Do With Them!

One of the most popular blog posts here on Blazing Minds happens to be “How To Find Out Who Unfollowed You On Twitter” and in that post I talk about using a Twitter Tool to find those tweeters that may have followed you and then unfollowed you. But what about those inactive Twitter users that you may have followed, but they don’t do anything.

Yes I know I’ve posted about this in “How To Unfollow Non Tweeting Tweeters On Twitter” but I thought it may be a good idea to give you some further options and some other Twitter Tools that do the same thing and to see if they are all correct.

Are You Unfollowing Someone Who IS Tweeting?

So I took 3 Twitter Websites to test the theory that sometimes you could be unfollowing loads of inactive twitter users for not tweeting, when in fact, they are tweeting. By removing them could in turn do a slight be of damage to your Klout score and your reputation!

JustUnFollow

Now this seems to be a very popular Twitter Tool for many tweeters, not only can you UnFollow your non-followers you can also check your Fans, All Followers and Inactive Followers.

You are limited to 50 unfollows a day, unless you opt for a premium upgrade, but hey 50s not too bad.

The only slight issue I have with JustUnFollow when it comes to finding those inactive tweeters users is the way that after only a few are displayed, you have to keep clicking more to load more up, which can be a little annoying, but besides that it’s not too bad.

After loading up a few I checked to see if the tweeters were indeed inactive and out of 50, 48 were in fact inactive, so good there then.

Then it’s just a case of unfollowing those that you aren’t bothered about, if there are some you want to keep following, such as celebs or SEO experts etc., then don’t unfollow them.

ManageFlitter

After connecting you Twitter to ManageFlitter and your Twitter followers etc have been scanned you will land on the main page showing those that are not following back, so just click on the left hand button that says “Inactive”, you will then see the count of how many Tweeters are inactive and you will get 100 Tweeters per page.

Hover over a Tweeter will give you information about them such as Tweets per day, when they setup a Twitter account, total tweets, friends and followers.

It’s then up to you to select the Tweeters you want to unfollow and then hit the unfollow button, you can also select “expand” to show 100 mini avatars of the Tweeters so you can highlight them all via your mouse.

Again I tested a range of the tweeters that the Twitter App found and it didn’t make any mistakes with 49 out of the 50 wither inactive for more than a month or never tweeted at all.

Tweepi

I have to admit that I do use Tweepi quite a lot, not just for checking out those inactive Tweeters users, but also for checking out new potential followers that are interesting enough for me to add to my Twitter List and occasional follow back.

Now the problem here with Tweepi, when it comes to inactive followers, is the way that the Tweeters are loaded and listed.

Tweepi loads up 20 at a time, though if you tweet about Tweepi it will load 40, but this is still an issue to find inactive Twitter users, as it will only list those loaded, so you may have to sift through several pages to see them all.

But besides this little set back, Tweepi does have a selection of columns that you can add or remove, to enable you to make your decision to unfollow them or not, but it is time-consuming.

Yet again this Twitter App did do extremely well with a 50 out of 50 when it came to checking those inactive Twitter Users.

A Final Word About Choosing To Remove Your Inactive Twitter Followers.

It all comes down to a personal choice of your side when it comes to unfollowing, some may just keep following just for the sake of building a massive amount of followers, but this in turn, can dilute your Twitter influence, also making your Twitter stream extremely busy!

Some may just only follow close friends, some choose to add others to Twitter lists and some put their Twitter on auto follow, following everyone who follows, no matter the language they speak or the SPAM that they may be getting.

So as I said earlier, it’s all personal choice, so these Twitter Apps are just a guideline on what you can use to help control your Twitter account that little bit more easily.

A Note To UnFollowing And Churning!

Don’t unfollow too many Tweeters in one go and don’t follow someone and as soon as they follow back, unfollow them, this can easily get you banned from Twitter and lets face it, you don’t want that do you!

No related posts.
Inactive Twitter Users, The Options For Unfollowing Them is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

What is the probability of Google or Facebook buying Twitter?

Guest Author — Sun, 18 Sep 2011 10:10:28 +0000

Facebook and Google, both are trying very hard to pin down the popular micro blogging site Twitter. Twitter currently holds 300 million users and is still not match for Facebook’s 750 million users. In spite of the fact; both Google and Facebook are leaving no stone unturned to actually buy it.

The Twitter story

Twitter is an online social networking and micro blogging service. It allows its users to send and read text based tweets of up to 140 characters. Twitter was officially released in the July of 2006. Even after six years of its launch, all three of its founders, Jack Dorsey, Biz Stone and Evan Williams, are still involved with the site’s development.
This has helped twitter to stay focused without losing sight of its original goals or without coming under the pressure of commercialization. But due to its astounding success others have definitely come under the pressure.

Why Google wants Twitter?

Google is the reigning king of internet based searches. Whether it is text based search through its search engine or video based search through YouTube. And now Google wants complete access to twitter’s data. Google argument goes that it needs data from twitter to upgrade its real time information offering. As a part of the strategy, Google has been indexing tweets to add a real time element in its search experience since 2009.
But the fact of the matter is that Google can’t live with its universal information disseminator tag when people are using twitter to make real time updates. Millions of users rather prefer to check their twitter account rather than Google news to check for latest updates, that too right from the horse’s mouth.

Why Facebook wants Twitter?

Evan Williams, Twitter’s co founder and former chief executive, once said that Twitter is an information network and Facebook is a social network. Facebook refuses to accept this simple difference; in its stubbornness to accept change, it has taken things to the hilt. It was rumored two years ago that Facebook was interested in buying Twitter. Facebook is still not the medium of choice when it comes to making update in real time and that pinches it lot. To counter that, it even introduced a twitter style update box but the realities are still the same.

The tweet from Twitter

Twitter executives have refused to comment on these recent takeover rumors and buying bids. But in the past the creators of Twitter have made it clear that it is not up for grabs.
Experts believe that Web is currently divided between two sections. One is the information web that is run by Google. The other is the social web, which is still heavily dominated by Facebook. Twitter makes up the mid ground between both these universes. Both the Giants believe that to truly capture the market; they have to takeover twitter or come up with something even better.
The other big player Microsoft is also keeping its cards close to its chest. In this storm of bids, which are now running into billions of dollars? It would be difficult for twitter to resist. Facebook and Google are eagerly waiting to make an offer that Twitter can’t refuse.

About the author: Rebecca is a blogger by profession. She loves writing on technology, gizmos and lifestyle. Beside this she loves cooking and travelling. These days she is busy with her new article on adapting to green architecture lifestyle.

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What is the probability of Google or Facebook buying Twitter? is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Simplifying Twitter – Making It Easier And Quicker For Everyone

Roberta — Wed, 14 Sep 2011 07:46:37 +0000

Twitter has gone through some changes and additions this year. With a new look supporting a sleeker design and a new version of the home page, increasing the city base to include an additional 70 cities and countries within the Local trends feature, promoting tweets in users’ timelines (though you would only see them if you followed the brand) and finally a return to simplicity by hinting at a unification of Twitter’s various interfaces.

With respect to promoting tweets what you have is promoted tweets from companies that are similar to the companies you already follow. Since you’d be seeing those brands’ tweets anyway, the only difference you’d notice was that some of those tweets were “sticky,” meaning they would stay at the top of your timeline until you read them. What was just announced was by Dicl Costolo ““You’ll start to see promoted tweets from companies you don’t follow.”” this means that everyone would start to see promoted tweets in their timeline, regardless of how they were accessing Twitter. It did not matter whether you’re on the company’s mobile client, Twitter.com, or a third-party service like TweetDeck. Ads would be there for everyone.

Twitter CEO Dick Costolo also mentioned that going forward was “simplifying the interface”. “We want Twitter to be dead-simple between different clients — you’ll see interfaces become more consistent,” he said. The plan is to unify the controls and functionality across web, mobile, tablet, etc. One Twitter to rule them all. A part of that means creating #newnewtwitter to replace #newtwitter.

At the same time, Twitter is also focusing on a way to show information that users may find important, but may not match a social graph. Costolo noted that during the recent Arab Spring uprisings, people were coming to Twitter to look for information, but would have to do so via a hashtag, and that was cumbersome to most. “We want to figure out an interface that captures the roar of the crowd, as well as the volume,” he said.

It’s also important to note that 40 percent of Twitter’s “active” users don’t actually Tweet. Getting the most out of Twitter isn’t only about tweeting: as per twitter stats 40 percent of active users simply sign in to listen to what’s happening in their world. Simplifying the interface will help users to get more engaged by retweeting and replying at first, instead of explicitly Tweeting.

However there is still no mention of a date when we may see #newnewtwitter.

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Simplifying Twitter – Making It Easier And Quicker For Everyone is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

FourSquare – Love It or Hate It, It Can Save You Some Money!

Karen — Sat, 03 Sep 2011 08:37:33 +0000

FourSquare is one of those sites that people to love or hate and even though some may think it’s a complete waste of time, think again!

I first started using FourSquare when I saw some fellow friends on twitter mentioning where they were, so I stopped by, signed up and didn’t do much about it after that.

Some time later when I got my BlackBerry Curve I started delving in to FourSquare a bit more often and even though the Curve 8520 doesn’t have GPS, FourSquare still tries to find locations via cell towers.

Grabbing A Special Via FourSquare

One thing that I did start noticing after a while were there seemed to be a lot more “specials” appearing at some of the places that I was visiting, some for being the mayor and others for the amount of times you have visited.

As an example, our local cinema, @ApolloCinemas Rhyl, had a refurbish and they listed themselves on FourSquare and as it happened they also set up two specials for those that visit the cinema and “check in” with their mobile phone via an app.

The “Mayorship” gives you a BOGOF offer (Buy One Get One Free) so this has been great for me recently after becoming the Mayor, giving me the chance to get some reviews up here on Blazing Minds of some of the latest movies and saving me a bit of my hard-earned cash.

Another one of their specials is for every third check-in you get free popcorn and a drink, yet another saving for any movie goer

But Wait There’s More!

Another favourite place of mine is Wetherspoon and by becoming mayor of your local Wetherspoon you will get 20% off your meals (excluding drinks), so yet another saving

There are so many places springing up on FourSquare now that there are bound to be some specials near you in your town that you can take advantage of and in the ending saving you a little cash to spend on something else to pamper yourself with

Don’t Become A Nuisance With Your FourSquare Check-Ins!

This is one thing that I guarantee will lose you followers on Twitter when you are using FourSquare, don’t keep telling everyone where you are at every single shop or venue as this will really annoy those that are following you and some may even block you on Twitter.

The best thing to do, is if you are going to be checking in often is to do the following:

When you find the venue etc and click Check-In, un-tick the “Twitter” box or even the “Tell My Friends” box, this will mark you as “off the grid” but you will still be able to earn your mayorship’s etc without overly annoying your followers.

Also remember that it doesn’t matter how many time you check-in to one place in a day, it will not count towards your rewards, only one check-in to a place a day is counted.

Keeping Your Specials

It’s simple really if you visit somewhere often in the week, then check-in and with a little luck you can stay as the mayor, giving you the places special.

If you lose your mayorship to someone else it may take you around a week to get it back, but that’s all the fun of it really

So To Cap It All Off!

Don’t keep telling your followers where you are.

Only Check-in to the same place once a day, checking in several times in one day doesn’t help.

Have fun and don’t take it all too seriously

So there you go, as you can see there is a little more to FourSquare than you first may have thought

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No related posts.
FourSquare – Love It or Hate It, It Can Save You Some Money! is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Twitter For Beginners A Few Tips For Those Just Starting Out

jadeevans — Fri, 02 Sep 2011 08:28:30 +0000

Twitter may seem like a straightforward social platform, but it isn’t always easy to get people to pay attention to you. Lady Gaga may have more than 10 million followers -by now, its probably much more than that, but Lady Gaga is not the average Twitter user. Here are a few ways to dig deeper into Twitter and understand it a bit better as a first-time tweeter.

from gurutwitter

Twitter has quite a few different capabilities that a lot of people don’t know about. Did you know that you can search by #hashtag? For example, the ‘trending’ hashtags today on Twitter are:

#WarriorMovieSneakPreview

#ThingsHoodratsLove

#WaysToGetOffThePhone

#WaysToPissMeOff

That first hashtag is actually sponsored – meaning a business paid for it to be promoted. Sometimes people will use a certain hashtag for a certain event or place say, for example, #London. And if you feel like drilling down further with your Twitter searching, you can use other search terms (some different from standard search engine operators) including using emoticons! If you wanted to find someone tweeting right now about how they are not a fan of the Yankees, you could search “Hurricane ” and would find people who were declaring at the moment that they were not happy about a hurricane.

Once you actually get followers and are twittering your behind off, there are some things that you still need to keep in mind if you don’t want your following to run away.

Don’t re-tweet all the time

People want to hear what you have to say. You re-tweeting that funny thing that your friend tweeted is not your thoughts. It’s an inside joke, at the most. And it isn’t funny to everyone else. If you re-tweet, at least add your own touch to it, don’t just straight re-tweet. It’s annoying. People will unfollow you.

Get involved

Twitter is not just about you. You are not the center of the twitter-verse. Don’t rant and rave and ignore everyone else. Respond, interact, ask questions. Be social. Twitter is, after all, a social platform. Don’t be the wallflower or the drunk guy rambling in center stage with everyone laughing at him. Neither extreme will work for you.

If you keep these two things in mind, and do your best to walk the line between being involved and being self centered when it comes to what you say, you should be ok. Remember, people do search by hash tags, so don’t be afraid to use them, or make up your own. But don’t forget that there are #nospacesinhashtags.

Jade Evans is a freelance writer who works frequently with uShip, an online shipping marketplace that helps businesses find anything from couriers to cross country movers.

No related posts.
Twitter For Beginners A Few Tips For Those Just Starting Out is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Getting the Most out of Twitter for Personal Use

Lesley DeSantis — Sat, 27 Aug 2011 08:10:44 +0000

Image via CrunchBase

Twitter is one of the most popular and easy to use social networking websites available today. The micro-blogging site is very simple – users “tweet” messages limited to 140 characters to other users known as followers.

A message feed displays the tweets of the users you follow, which can be organized into lists displaying only tweets from certain people. When signing up to Twitter, a profile can be made either public (where tweets are able to be viewed by anyone) or private (where followers can be either accepted or rejected).

A key component of Twitter’s appeal is the use of hash tags. A hash tag is a word or phrase preceded by a pound symbol (#) relating to a certain topic. Using a hash tag creates a link which can be followed to a feed of tweets all with the same tag.

In this way it is possible to view a large list of tweets about the same subject, including those from users you do not follow. There are even “trending topics” relevant to a chosen area which cover the most popular subjects by hash tag usage.

The following tips can help maximize Twitter’s capability as a powerful social media tool for beginner users.

Tip 1: Use Lists to Customize Your Feed

There are many different types of Twitter users.It can be confusing and overly time consuming to have a single feed where celebrities, politicians, friends, family members, and others are all displayed at once. Making lists is easy and helps keep your Twitter feed organized and available for quick reference. Common lists may include “college friends,” “family members,” or “rock musicians.” Usage of lists makes Twitter exceptionally better as an information source.

Tip 2: Make your Tweets Relevant

A large part of the social media experience is connecting with other users who you may not know beyond the computer screen. You could tweet about how you went to the grocery store and bought fruit, but who really cares? Twitter offers a fast paced information marketplace where people can share their opinions at lightning speed. Tweet about issues that are relevant and likely to encourage others to view your entire feed. The use of hash tags is essential for this, as is watching trending topics. Another helpful tip in regards to trends; you can change the geographical location of trending topics from World Wide to anywhere in the world.

Tip 3: A Picture is Worth 1000 Words

Unlike social networking websites like Facebook, Google+, and MySpace, Twitter does not place a large emphasis on users’ photos and pictures. Users are afforded only one picture for their profile – however, this picture is visible next to every tweet. Make sure your picture reflects how you want others to view your online presence. If you are comfortable placing a picture of yourself for other to see then choose a photo that you feel displays your personality or interests. If many of your tweets relate to a certain interest or hobby, use a relevant picture. An aspiring artist may post a small sample of his work leading potential followers to become more interested and seek out more of his/her art.

Twitter is a simple concept with powerful implications. Everyone from your next door neighbor to the President of the United States is using Twitter. It’s fun, informative, and free. These three tips can help you get started on the right foot to getting the most out of the micro-blogging website.

Lesley DeSantis is a content development specialist for Twiends, a Twitter Directory that helps you grow your social network and learn how how get followers on Twitter

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Getting the Most out of Twitter for Personal Use is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

Gadhafi’s Downfall; Warfare in the Internet Age

Business.com — Tue, 23 Aug 2011 10:00:16 +0000

The recent uprisings in the Middle East, the latest of which appears to be bringing change to the people of Libya after four decades of leadership under strongman Muammar Gadhafi, have been a sight to see.

Not only are people worldwide seeing history unveil itself before their eyes on television and in newspapers and magazines, but also on the Internet. Whether it is in their homes, cafes, workplaces or other venues, millions and millions worldwide have used the Internet, specifically social networking, to see the changes in Egypt, Yemen and now Libya.

As of Monday (Aug. 22), Libyan rebels had still not fully gained control of Tripoli, but signs indicated they were moving closer hour by the hour.

While traditional modes of communication like television news were trying to report the goings-on on the hour, a less traditional but equally effective means of spreading the word was reaching countless individuals around the world.

Social networking sites like Twitter were quickly reporting updates from Libya via both reporters and ordinary Libyans.

With the introduction of rebel forces into Tripoli, reports are that online access was being restored to many residents who were without it over the last five months.

According to one tweet: “Welcome to all our brothers & sisters from inside Tripoli on Twitter… Internet returns to them first time in a long time! #Feb17 #Libya.”

The message on Twitter came from the National Front for the Salvation of Libya, an opposition group that has long been opposed to the regime of Gadhafi.

Internet service was, indeed, returning Aug. 22 to Tripoli and other areas of the country.

CNN reporter Matthew Chance also took to Twitter, tweeting from the Rixos Hotel where ongoing fighting continued. “On bright side, am with excellent group of journalists at #Rixos. We are feeling our way around corridors with candles. No power.”

In another tweet, Chance stated, “It’s no fun being stuck in one of #Gadhafi‘s few remaining strongholds. #Rixos gunmen now refusing to let us leave.”

These are but a few of the countless messages that are eking out of the country in Libya’s historic times. If it were not for social networking sites like Twitter, we would not have heard these messages.

While the big question remains what and exactly who will replace Gadhafi once he is gone for good, the power of the Internet is an amazing thing.

In the past, the impending news from the majority of wars and uprisings came to us over time via other modes of communication, sometimes taking hours or even days to reach their targets.

With the Internet accessible in this day and age to millions and millions worldwide, we get the information in mere seconds.

Lindsey Hilsum, an international editor for Britain’s Channel 4, tweeted “Our day in #tripoli was amazing. Came under fire, but saw some of the happiest people ever. Watch on www.channel4.com/news.”

Yes, amazing it is, thanks in no small part to the age of social networking.

Photo credit: upstreamonline.com

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Gadhafi’s Downfall; Warfare in the Internet Age is a post from Blazing Minds Copyright 2008-2011. Please link back when using this source material.

If you enjoy reading my blog, then please support me with a donation and Follow @BlazingMinds on Twitter

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