Blazing Minds » Twitter

Star Wars In 3D – Got My 3D Pod Racing Glasses And My Preview Tickets!

Karen — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 16:00:38 +0000

Star Wars in 3D is the buzz racing around the internet at the moment, it was trending on Twitter only the other day and it also seems that lots and lots of people are getting excited about the release of The Phantom Menace on the 10th February, I’m getting excited myself

Ready for my Pod Race (Photo credit: Blazing Minds)

So the other day I popped in to @ApolloCinemas Rhyl and picked up my special Pod Racing 3D glasses, which @SlappyBear seams to have claimed for himself, cheeky little bear, I will probably have to fight him to get them back, now where did I leave my light sabre

Star Wars In 3D – Got My 3D Pod Racing Glasses And My Preview Tickets!

Today, I stopped in at Apollo Cinemas Rhyl to pick up my tickets for the preview showing of Star Wars: The Phantom Menace which is on the 9th February at 8:30 pm, suffice to say I really can’t wait, there are so many scenes that I’m hoping will really look really good in 3D, the trailer showing the Pod Race in 3D looked pretty awesome, so fingers crossed for the rest of the movie.

That’s two premier seats, yes the comfortable leather reclining seats, what can I say you’ve got to have the best

Now the question is! Who is going with me, now I’m not too sure to be honest, I was with my wonderful mum when I picked up the tickets and I said to her, “Are you sure you want to see Star Wars?”, “Yes” was her response, then after getting home she looked at me in a vacant way and said, “Star Wars! I hate Star Wars!”. Seriously mother, come on!!!!!

So now that I have the two tickets I may have to put a call out to my Facebook friends and see if anyone wants to join me for it, what will probably be THE 3D movie release of 2012 We will see, it all depends on what kind of generous mood I’m in

Star Wars: The Phantom Menace 3D Reviewed

Look out on the 10th February for my full-blown review and experience of the first in the series of the Star Wars films to get the 3D conversion treatment and also watch my twitter, @BlazingMinds, on the 9th for tweets of the event itself

But until then, may the force be with you……

‘Star Wars Episode I: The Phantom Menace 3D’: The Darth Maul Glasses You’ve Been Waiting For (news.moviefone.com)
The Pod Racer 3D Glasses Are The Real Phantom Menace (gizmodo.com.au)
Phantom Menace 3-D Featurette Says “We Know You’re Coming Anyway, Fanboys” (screencrave.com)

Star Wars In 3D – Got My 3D Pod Racing Glasses And My Preview Tickets! 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

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.”

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Some Handy Twitter Websites (Twitter Tools)!

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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

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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

Digital Media Being Served Up at Australian Open

Business.com — Mon, 16 Jan 2012 09:40:32 +0000

As the race to crown a new men’s and women’s tennis champion at this year’s edition of the Australian Open is served up beginning Monday, Jan. 16, Mashable is reporting that this year’s event could emerge as the most digitally connected major sporting event in history.

While the event already offers a number of social media options, tournament officials will reportedly man the Australian Open Twitter feed 24/7 right through the finals on Jan. 29.

Fans tuning in will have access to a fan leader board that lists players from top to bottom due to buzz, along with offering a social counterpoint to on-court results.

Mashable spoke to one of the digital team organizers, who noted that the event was the first Grand Slam on Twitter, while interaction with fans has been increasing not only there but also on Facebook.

Fans can also look forward to learning more ins and outs of the event through the Fan Centre leader board, which will continuously list the top 10 male and female players in the event who are being mentioned most on social media, and whose content is attracting the most attention on the Australian Open site.

Other digital goodies for fans to ace this time around include live-streamed in-house video coverage, social prediction games, new mobile Web sites, along with apps for iPhone and Android.

So, does all the social media attention at the big event Down Under in Melbourne this month surprise you? If the answer is yes, you may have double faulted on your knowledge of social media and sporting events going hand-in-hand together.

It is no surprise that such big-time events and social media make for a great partnership. Among the reasons why are:

Wider audience – While not everyone can afford to attend a major sporting event and/or catch the game on television, most individuals have access to the Internet in some shape or form. Social media is a great way to keep fans updated, especially those who are on the go;

Quicker delivery time – Just as the speeds with which tennis balls are served is seemingly always increasing, the need for delivering information is too. With real-time delivery of scores, player comments, chatter among the fans, etc. those using social media oftentimes learn the details sooner than those in the media;

Fan interaction – Another advantage to using social media for such events is that fans get the details right from other fans, providing more passion and more openness as opposed to a sports reporter who is more likely to be calling things right down the middle;

One-on-one feeling – Lastly, more sports stars have taken to sites such as Twitter to engage with the fans. Some networks are even running tweets from the athletes during coverage of an event on television. For instance, one coverage provider of the NHL runs tweets across the bottom of the screen during its televising of games. The bottom line is fans can feel closer to those they enjoy watching play.

Given the popularity of the Australian Open – the 2010 event achieved the largest ever single-day day/night attendance record for any Grand Slam tournament of 77,043 and an overall attendance of 653,860 – this year’s event is sure to serve up a social media winner.

Photo credit: acclaimimages.com

Related posts:

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Digital Media Being Served Up at Australian Open 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

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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

Blazing Minds Top Posts For 2011

Karen — Fri, 30 Dec 2011 11:05:49 +0000

Its been a fantastic year for the Blazing Minds blog and over the past 12 months the blog has grown in its popularity with more commentators stopping by, some amazing guest bloggers producing some very interesting and informative posts and recently a loss of the blog due to it becoming so popular that I had to upgrade its hosting, big thanks to Tim @EvoHosting for sorting that one out for me

So as we are nearly at the end of the year I thought its time to bring you a tasty Infographic of the Blazing Minds Top Posts For 2011, thanks to @DragonBlogger for the inspiration on this and for the advice on how to get this working on my blog

BLAZINGMINDS.CO.UK’S TOP POSTS OF 2011

Top Posts of 2011

How To Write a Twitter Bio That Gains You More Followers

Stargate Universe Cancelled, But, The Fans Are Not Happy!

How To Find Out Who Unfollowed You on Twitter

How To Select All Your Facebook Friends When Inviting Them to a Page or Group etc

How To Remove Loads of Direct Messages on Twitter!

How To Select All Your Facebook Friends in one go (UPDATED)

iPhone vs. iPad: Which is best for you to buy?

HOW TO: Find The Missing iTunes Plus Upgrade Option on iTunes

HOW TO: Remove Orange Safeguard From Your Mobile Phone!

Twiends a Tool to Help Increase Twitter Followers for Free

The Top 10 Songs To Wake Up To

10 Blogging Apps for the iPad

Carrot and Tomato Soup Recipe, Something to Keep You Warm

HOW TO: Find The Missing Complete My Album Option On iTunes

What Do Teenagers Waste Their Money On?

Getting Your Music Released – Tunecore Vs CD Baby

The Top 10 Things Every Man Should Own

Is This 3D Cinema’s Last Stand?

My 3 Favourite Glee Characters

How To Market Your Blog

Most Popular Browsers & Top Traffic Sources

Most Popular Keywords

Top Demographics

So there we go folks that’s 2011 in a nutshell, if you want an infographic for your website then stop by Shareaholic for yours, but remember you may need to do a little tweaking to get it to work on your WordPress blog

Thanks for supporting Blazing Minds for the last 3 years or so and here’s to loads more blogging in 2012, look out for tomorrow’s post, the Top Commentators of 2011

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How To Share and Translate The Posts on Blazing Minds

Blazing Minds Top Posts For 2011 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

Social Profiles – How to Maximize SEO Value

kimathic — Sun, 04 Dec 2011 08:00:43 +0000

Image via Wikipedia

Social media combined with SEO is vital for building a successful online brand. The following are some tips for maximizing SEO benefits from your social profiles.

Link between profiles

Linking between your social profiles encourages web users to interact extensively with your brand and your company. The more you engage them, the more likely it is for them to convert.

In addition, interlinking your social profiles offers you the opportunity of connecting with your audience on several platforms, thus enabling you to reach more people online. If someone follows you on Twitter, you could also invite them to connect on LinkedIn or to like your page on Facebook. Any of these profiles might have a greater impact on their online lives. Therefore, linking social profiles ensures that every message is spread in several platforms.

In social media marketing, you need to remember that the ultimate goal is to drive traffic from your social profiles to your site, and not the other way round. Your website needs to be aimed at converting visitors, not making them friends, followers or fans.

Promote your content

Content marketing is vital for SEO campaigns. It is not enough to just create good content. No matter how informative, unique, useful or inspiring your content is, it is useless if no one reads it. This is social networks are very important for marketing. Fresh content encourages people to engage more with your social profiles. Sharing content on social networks create links pointing to your website. Search engines use these links to establish the value of your content. When content is shared in different social networks, it gets more valuable and is likely to rank better.

However, you don’t have to display full posts on your social profiles. A small image and summary is adequate for grabbing your audience’s attention. If they are interested, they will have a reason to visit your site or blog to read the full post.

Optimize and customize profiles

Search engines rank social profiles just like they do other web pages. Therefore, you need make sure that your social profiles are well optimized and customized. Make sure you target relevant keywords for your profile titles. In addition, your info sessions and biography should target relevant keywords.

It is also vital to ensure that there is consistency in all your social profiles. All your company biographies and product descriptions need to send the same message. This will avoid confusion when people see your profiles in different social networks.

Author Bio

Charles Mburugu often writes about social media, technology and blogging tips. Currently, he is writing for Flash templates.

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No related posts.
Social Profiles – How to Maximize SEO Value 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

Roll Up! Roll Up! It’s The Last Day For You To ….

Karen — Wed, 30 Nov 2011 00:38:09 +0000

Yes indeed folks today is the last day for you to get your mits on what has become the the buzz phrase around the world via the blogging community for the crazy low price, yes folks I’m talking about CommentLuv Premium!

So at 8am on December 1st you will no longer be able to get CommentLuv Premium at the crazy low price that it currently is, so my advice is “grab it while you can”! As when the price goes up you’ll have really missed out on this amazing deal!

Not only will the price go up, but you’ll miss out on the amazing bonuses that are currently available on this special discount!

Surely You Cant Be Serious, The Bonus Will Go!

I am and don’t call me Shirley

As a lot of you know that read and comment on Blazing Minds, I myself have CommentLuv Premium running on the blog and since having it running it’s been a brilliant addition to the blog with it’s social sharing options, the ability to let commentators getDoFollow, add their Twitter name and get up to 10 of their most recent posts added to their comment.

Still Not Sure? Tick … Tick …. Tick

By using CommentLuv Premium on your blog you’ll get Anti-SPAM, to help protect you from those spammers that just don’t care about you and your blog as well as the other plugins in one, 8 in 1 plugins actually

For me updating to CommentLuv Premium was a no brainer, it was the next logical step for my blogging and it’s proved itself a vital part of not only my blog but along with the mass of other bloggers that are also using the WordPress plugin on their blogs, just see for yourself with the Global CommentLuv Enabled Blog Search and check out some awesome blogs.

Time Keeps Flowing Like A River!

Yes it does, so you only have until 8am December 1st to grab CommentLuv Premium at it’s low price, so hurry up and join me and 400,000 happy users of CommentLuv

No related posts.
Roll Up! Roll Up! It’s The Last Day For You To …. 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

Social Media Themed Party

AndreaB — Mon, 14 Nov 2011 09:59:09 +0000

All of you web wanderers who think you’ve seen it all, let me tell you about something completely different. Last month my oldest friend, Jacob, turned 25 so I decided to throw him a party to remember. Jacob is sweet and friendly, but he’s also super shy. Despite this shyness, he’s a real social media junkie. In an attempt to bring him out of the web world and assimilated more into real society, I decided to combine both elements and throw him the ultimate social media birthday bash.

The Guest List

I made a list of the friends we had in common and set about rounding up some invitations. I decided to go with quirky invites and scored a great deal by ordering from Storkie. I mailed those to the locals and turned to the Internet to contact people Jacob knew online. From his Facebook page, I sent a general invitation to everyone on his friend list. I knew most were unable to attend so I asked them to send a photo and a short birthday greeting of 25 words or less similar to what they might say to Jacob on Facebook or Twitter.

Décor and Favors

To keep the party relaxed and fun, I chose to go minimalist with the decorations and favors. Along with balloons and streamers, I downloaded images associated with social media sites and had them printed into banners and posters at a local print company. I also ordered an affordable bulk lot of various-sized t-shirts printed with a Facebook status update block containing the words “Happy Birthday” for each guest to wear. To make things even more social media oriented, I ordered a bunch of pin-back buttons that said “friend request” and had everyone wear those as well. The focal point was an enormous poster upon which I had pasted each message Jacob’s online friends had sent to me. Beside the messages, I pasted thumbnail-sized versions of the photos they sent and when I was finished, the whole thing looked like a wall full of Twitter updates

The Food

A caterer friend agreed to handle all the food for the party and when she arrived with a car full of goodies, I was truly impressed. She prepared delicious sandwiches with exotic ingredients and then cut them into rounded squares. With food safe paint, she airbrushed each one with a blue background and added a social media icon in white: A lower case “f” for Facebook, a lower case “t” for Twitter and even the MySpace icon with a three-figure shape. The food was awesome but the cake was a true masterpiece. It was a traditional rectangle with images of Jacob’s Facebook page complete with a profile photo and friend updates. Surrounding this were two dozen bright blue cupcakes with a Twitter bird fashioned from fondant.

The Gifts

I imagined coming up with appropriate gift ideas might be a challenge, but it was easier than I thought. I found several websites which sold Facebook and Twitter items and then I sent the links to everyone on the guest list. Some of the gifts Jacob received included one pair each of Twitter and Facebook sneakers; a few social media icon coffee mugs; several throw pillows featuring Facebook, MySpace and Twitter icons; and a Twitter keychain. One person got him a watch with social media icons in the number positions and another bought him a desk-top gumball machine that tweets.

All in all, it was a fun and successful party. And, in case anyone is wondering, Jacob did promise to try and broaden his social life to include activities outside of the Internet.

Andrea Boley is a writer and blogger. She is always happy to share her passion for life and experiences through her writing.

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Social Media Themed Party 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

Careful What You Say in Public, It May End Up on Twitter or Other Venues

Business.com — Sat, 12 Nov 2011 22:00:56 +0000

Given the immediacy with which Twitter, Facebook and other social media tools can deliver the news to pretty much all corners of the globe individuals should stop and think for a moment.

Case in point, would you want your impending divorce broadcast from Australia to the U.S. and all points between and beyond?

According to a web developer from the Boston Globe, he had the pleasure of listening to just such an event while parking himself in a local Boston Burger King.

As the story goes, Andy Boyle was enjoying his meal while a nearby couple was discussing plans to end their marriage. So, likely learning from the writers and columnists he works with, Boyle began to tweet out the discussion, which included both video and photos.

The verbal tug-of-war between the couple continued with Boyle providing the following exchanges:

“She thinks it is unfair that he gets to play video games and she has to clean when ‘his mother’ tells her. We agree.

“Why did you even marry me?” he asks. “Because I loved you,” she responds. “Loved me?” We all notice the past tense.

Oh, Boyle also tweets (this was my favorite one) that the husband informed his wife he should decide how she dresses. If that doesn’t constitute a smack over the head with a frying pan, when she’s done doing her cooking chores of course, what does?

After a break in the action, the woman returns and apologizes, with the husband providing a shrug. According to Boyle, the couple exchanges a brief hug and then departs. Whether it is to their home or a divorce attorney appointment, Boyle and the rest of us are left to wonder.

In the meantime, Boyle assures his audience that his efforts were a one-time thing.

“I want my 75 new followers to understand that I don’t regularly live tweet failing marriages at Burger King,” Boyle wrote.

Since the story broke, columnists and those commenting on different social media sites/forums wanting their two cents heard (me too) are split, with some supporting Boyle and others calling for him to literally be tarred and feathered.

My take is that Boyle did nothing wrong, especially given the fact the couple, who he states were probably no more than 21 years of age, were having their show for the ages in a public place. It wasn’t like they were behind closed doors with a marital counselor and Boyle swiped and leaked the footage to the world.

The bottom line is that Boyle evoked his freedom of speech rights that all Americans have, nothing more and nothing less.

As for the photos and video he provided to the world who was interested, well, you can argue that might have been going a step too far.

And for the folks at the Boston area Burger King where this episode took place, perhaps they can become a sponsor for the Maury or Judge Judy shows….

Photo credit: Instagr.am/Andy Boyle

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Careful What You Say in Public, It May End Up on Twitter or Other Venues 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.

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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

Bloggers Arm yourselves with Mobile Internet

BroadbandGenie — Thu, 13 Oct 2011 09:32:49 +0000

While take up of mobile broadband has been strong on the UK, some people still don’t feel they really have a need for it. But if you’re a blogger, it’s safe to say that if you’re not getting online on the move, you’re probably missing out.

Ways To Get Online

There are two key ways to get yourself online on the move, the most common now being via a smartphone. It’s fair to say that the rise and rise of apps has been a massive boon for bloggers, and not only for the social networking opportunities that constant access to the likes of Twitter brings.

Blog sites have been quick to embrace the technology, with the likes of WordPress, Tumblr and Squarespace having dedicated apps so that you can blog on the go. You can also easily take pretty decent snaps with your smartphone, and then get them online straight away.

Modern Smartphones

But, even more simply, today’s smartphones let you get your ideas down – and even get opinions on them – as you have them. It’s fantastic to be able to just get your notes down and online in one easy move, even if you’re on the bus, in a tent, at a show – whatever you blog about you can blog from the scene.

Of course, going the extra mile and getting a mobile broadband deal offers you even more. While a smartphone slips into your pocket and is the ultimate in convenience, it doesn’t take long to lose patience with a tiny QWERTY or onscreen keyboard. For those of us whose blogs are more like novels, getting a mobile broadband USB dongle or Wi-Fi unit is a more preferable option.

A mobile broadband contract brings the full internet experience to you on the move, via a laptop, netbook, tablet – whichever you choose. It can also act as a fantastic back-up to your home broadband – or even a replacement. Just be sure you study each provider’s coverage checker before you decide on a supplier.

No matter what you blog about, you need to be dedicated, passionate, creative, connected and communicative. There’s no doubt that getting broadband on the move gives a massive boost to all of these traits when it comes to blogging – and for very little outlay. You owe it to your blog to at least look into the options.

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Bloggers Arm yourselves with Mobile Internet 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:

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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

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