What I Meant To Say

Image via CrunchBase

Why is it that you always think of the perfect thing to say after the fact?  Last night was no exception.  I taught an overview of Twitter and all the good things came to me after the class had left.  I’m left feeling as if I let them down by not passing along this info.  I had so much in my head, so much I had planned to show and talk about but somehow there is never enough time.

So here is a list of things I hope I pointed out but in case I didn’t:

• Your follower/following ratio – this ratio should not be horribly lopsided.  5 followers but following 500 isn’t good.  More than likely that person is just in it for the numbers (so folks just want to have the most followers but aren’t really using Twitter correctly).
• Before you follow – view their profile.  Is their bio filled out?  Who are they following?  What is their follower/following ratio?  Read some of their tweets, all of them help you to decide is this person really someone I want to follow.
• Twitter vs. Facebook – Twitter is more informational.  Facebook is more fun.  Each has it’s place and they can connect (have Twitter update your status on Facebook) but I don’t get the same level of information on Facebook as I do on Twitter.
• To understand Twitter you need to use Twitter.  Not that the concept is so hard to grasp just that it can have so many applications depending on what you want from it.
• I did say this but feel I should elaborate – Twitter is what you get out of it.  I use it to stay on top of trends (professionally or just what’s going on in the world), I use it to stay informed (following BBCnews, BreakingNews, NyTimes as well as several experts in the social media arena), I use it to connect to others in my profession, I use it for note taking (I’ve live blogged a photography class I attend at the library just using Twitter.  Because I hashtagged my Tweets I was able to go back later and put all my notes into a cohesive blog post).
• Use Twitter for what you want but be real.  If you want to connect with other like minded folks, Twitter is great for that.  If you want to promote your business, non-profit, favorite charity, etc. it is also great for that.  Just beware.  Don’t be an institution.  People want to follow real people no matter whether is it a Mom who is looking to connect to other stay at home Moms or it is a Fortune 500 company trying to connect with their customers.  Let your personality shine through on your tweets.  Don’t be stuffy.  Also don’t make it all about you – engage a conversation with your customers.  Make yourself approachable.  Twitter is just another doorway into your business – good customer service extends to the web as well.
• Protecting your tweets isn’t always a good thing.  If you are out on the social web the point is to share.  I understand about wanting to be in control of what you share with others.  Protecting your tweets just puts another layer between you and the people/customers who may want to follow you.  This also keeps your tweets out of searches.  So if I search for dog grooming and your are a dog groomer with protected tweets I’m not going to see you and you may miss an opportunity for business.  What are you protecting?  Think twice before you protect your tweets.
• Be patient.  Give it a try.  Twitter wasn’t built in a day.  You need to try it on, take it out for a test drive, kick the tires a little bit before you decide.  The social web has a web site for everyone – Twitter maybe for you or it may not.  But at least give it a try.

Who Moved My FriendFeed?

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By now most folks who use Friendfeed know that it was acquired by Facebook yesterday.  If you visit Friendfeed today you’ll see lots of gloom and doom predictions, rats leaving the sinking ship and so on.  Ah, human nature is amazing to behold in action.  Move someone’s cheese and they just can’t handle it.

I’m not saying you have to like Facebook, I’m not saying you have to stay if you don’t feel like it but let’s wait and see if all that you are sure is going to happen, happens.  I remember when I first started at Friendfeed everyone was predicting the fall of Twitter – everyone is moving over here they won’t use Twitter.  I even blogged about this and letting the dust settle before I made any rash decisions or predictions.

I maybe one of the few at Friendfeed that love both sites and use them differently.  I don’t know what is going to happen (and neither do any of you who aren’t employeed by Facebook).  So let’s just sit back, see what happens and for once not assume the worst.  If you have to leave based on some princple then go but do it quietly please.

I guess my quote on my Momentile profile says it all – “Embrace change because it’s going to happen anyway.“   If you have been around the interwebs for any time at all you should know by now that things change, sites get bought out, new ones become the golden child and tried but true ones fade away.  It will be an interesting next couple of months to see just what happens to Friendfeed and who stays or goes.  Maybe I should have gone into psychiatry – manking and the way they thing/react is indeed very interesting to study.

Thanks for Spreading the Word – Twitter & Raising Funds for LFPL

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For those who don’t understand how things like Twitter, Facebook, Friendfeed and blogs can help you get your message (be it an individual or a company/organization) let me give you a perfect example from yesterday.

Steve Lawson posted a blog entry on See Also trying to raise money to help the Louisville Free Public Library.  Folks who subscribe to his RSS feed I’m sure saw this post, as well as those who searched and stumbled upon it that way but I love how we all jumped on this and spread the news.

My original Tweet:

mlibrarianusLet’s Flood Them With Cash: I know the economic times pull on everyone’s purse strings.  What I̵.. http://bit.ly/yFnHq

Then my followers retweeted (thanks to them all for helping to spread the word):

eclasperRT @AtYourLibrary: RT @mlibrarianus: Louisville Free Public Lib is under more than 3 ft of water – donate today http://twurl.nl/uumkmn

thesheckRT @mlibrarianus: Louisville Free Public Lib is under more than 3 ft of water – donate today if you can http://twurl.nl/uumkmn #libraries

AtYourLibraryRT @mlibrarianus: Louisville Free Public Lib is under more than 3 ft of water – donate today if you can http://twurl.nl/uumkmn

prattlibraryRT @mlibrarianus Louisville Free PL in desperate need – is under more than 3 ft of water – donate today if you can: http://twurl.nl/uumkm

Grants_PrattRT @mlibrarianus Louisville Free PL in desperate need – is under more than 3 ft of water – donate today if you can: http://twurl.nl/uumkm

JobCenter_PrattRT @mlibrarianus Louisville Free PL in desperate need – is under more than 3 ft of water – donate today if you can: http://twurl.nl/uumkmn

calimaeLouisville Free Public Library is under more than 3 ft of water – donate today if you can http://twurl.nl/uumkmn (via @mlibrarianus)

TuphlosRT @TaraLSF RT @mlibrarianus Support Your Library – keep Louisville Free Public Library in mind. They are under water – need your help

TaraLSFRT @mlibrarianus Support Your Library – keep Louisville Free Public Library in mind. They are under water – need your help to recover h …

My followers added their own original Tweets or retweeted other to spread the word:

gregschwartz http://twitpic.com/cujvz – Today’s first pic

TaraLSFRT @amandamcneil How to donate to the Louisville Library ($1mil in damages): http://bit.ly/yrkVm

TaraLSFRT @yo_bj RT: @TheRepoRat: Help Louisville Free Public Library, devastated by flash flooding: http://bit.ly/tJea7

mlibrarianus#fb New blog post Let’s Flood Them With Cash: I know the economic times pull on everyone&.. http://bit.ly/yFnHq

cjburnsRT @czamm: Louisville Free Public Library needs your help http://icanhaz.com/LFPLNYH – LSW raising funds

librarianbydayLouisville Free Public Library Needs Your Help http://bit.ly/tJea7

mir_bRT @gregschwartz Watching the h2o being poured out of our servers. Depressing. and http://twitpic.com/cujvz – Today’s first pic #lfplflood

mir_bRT @czamm Louisville Free Public Library needs your help http://icanhaz.com/LFPLNYH (LSW fundraiser) #lfplflood

cindiRT @czamm Louisville Free Public Library needs your help http://icanhaz.com/LFPLNYH

ellbeeceeRT @czamm Louisville Free Public Library needs your help http://icanhaz.com/LFPLNYH (LSW fundraiser)

mir_bLouisville Free Public Library, hang in there. #lfplflood

gregschwartzWatching the h2o being poured out of our servers. Depressing.

joshuamneffRT @czamm Louisville Free Public Library needs your help http://icanhaz.com/LFPLNYH

TaraLSFRT @Jill_HW Flood devastation at Louisville (KY) Free Public Library from @gregschwartz http://twitpic.com/cujvz

Jill_HWFlood devastation at Louisville (KY) Free Public Library from @gregschwartz http://twitpic.com/cujvz

libraryfutureRT @cpellegr The LSW is helping out the Louisville Free Public Library: http://tinyurl.com/lc42u8 Spread the word.

laurabottsHelp the flooded Louisville Free Public Library: http://tinyurl.com/lc42u8

beccalovesbooksReading about the Louisville Free Public Library and their damage from the rain. I wish there were something I could physically do to help!

jambinaRT @cpellegr: The LSW is helping out the Louisville Free Public Library: http://tinyurl.com/lc42u8 Spread the word.

lisacarlucciRT @libraryfuture @cpellegr The LSW is helping out the Louisville Free Public Library: http://tinyurl.com/lc42u8 Spread the word!

BillDrew4RT @cjburns: RT @czamm: Louisville Free Public Library needs your help http://icanhaz.com/LFPLNYH – LSW raising funds

millerlibrarianRT @libraryfuture RT @cpellegr The LSW is helping out the Louisville Free Public Library: http://tinyurl.com/lc42u8 Spread the word.

kenleyneufeldFwd: Let’s raise $5k for Louisville Public Library in the name of the LSW – http://bit.ly/DTj2K (via… [pic] http://ff.im/-6cMjG

kenleyneufeldFor you non-librarian types, the Louisville PL was flooded yesterday. Help out with a small/large donation at http://bit.ly/DTj2K

cclibrarian#Librarian Feeds reading:Louisville: Can A Plague of Locusts Be Far Behind? http://bit.ly/DkyU7

baldgeekinmdRT @cpellegr The LSW is helping out the Louisville Free Public Library: http://tinyurl.com/lc42u8 Spread the word.

HoCo_Library Help out! Louisville Public Library hit hard by rain and flood. To read more and to donate http://bit.ly/3kb2NN

Jill_HWLet’s raise $5,000 for Louisville Public Library in the name of the LSW – http://tinyurl.com/lc42u8

codslapHelp the Louisville free Public Lib. They had a huge flood. http://bit.ly/3vaf6V Let’s see if we can meet the LSW donation goal of $5,000.

http://twitpic.com/cvorn – My (former?) officegregschwartz

And others I don’t even know got into the act

wfplnews WFPL The Edit: LFPL Closed All Week: The Louisville Free Public Library’s main branch downtown wil.. http://bit.ly/bFral

wfplnews WFPL The Edit: Eat A Pie For The Library: @michellej at Consuming Louisville has started taking ma.. http://bit.ly/oQWxa

AriThatcher Help the Louisville Free Public Library recover from flood damage http://bit.ly/S8edr

Jen_Cook RT @TeresaMedeiros: Book drive 2 help out Louisville Free Public Library-flooded yesterday-massive damage. http://bit.ly/GkZNK

RainyDayBooks RT Help the Louisville Free Public Library out. http://bit.ly/3vaf6V . You don’t know what you’ve lost until it’s gone.

Achilles_healin @joshuamneff Donated, sir. … RT @czamm Louisville Free Public Library needs your help http://icanhaz.com/LFPLNYH

Steve reported today that $600 has already been raised (less than 24 hours after posting his blog entry).  Thank you to all who helped spread the word and more importantly to those who contributed to a very worthy cause.

What I Learned From Michael Jackson’s Death

Image by [ Zenat El3ain ]™ via Flickr

I hate to jump on the band wagon.  I’m not just posting this to see my blog stats rise all based on the demise of a celebrity.  I guess this is my Friday rant/vent session.  But it is also a reminder of what I learned today.

First of all, my condolances go out to both Farrah Fawcett and Michael Jackson’s family and friends.  Losing someone you care about is never easy whether it’s anticipated or not.   I can’t imagine how it must feel.   What should be a private moment to mourn you loss being scrutinized and put under media/public attention.

The media frustrates me with the way they run everything into the ground.  These people haven’t even been dead 24 hours.  In Farrah’s case we know what caused her death but in Michael’s case they are just speculating.  Until  all the reports are in no one in the media can say anything with surety.  MOVE ON there is other news to be covered, I don’t need to hear the same 5 sentences repeated a myriad of different ways.  I trust that you will give me the news when you have confirmation – in the meantime report something else instead of rehashing speculations.  But the most frustrating part is those who are not in the know, who are not even privy to the sources the media has trying to comment, judge or even condemn someone.

From what information we have most would hazard a guess that Michael Jackson didn’t have the best of childhoods.  I don’t know how the pressure to perform coupled with the every glaring spotlight would have effected you but I am not that strong.  Yes, some people have had hard lives and are able to move on or even go on to really become an inspiration.  But you know what, some people just aren’t that strong.  Some people don’t have the support system or tools in life to get over their issues.  Does that make them any less worthy of our sympathy?  I for one am not going to sit in judgment of them for not being able to overcome.  You know it’s not my job.  I was raised to believe that job feel to someone else and I wasn’t suppose to try and do his job.

However, all of this crazy professional media (and real people via Twitter, Facebook, blogs, Friendfeed and other social media) attention has taught me a reminder.  The next time I see something and start to pass judgement on it, I will think Michael Jackson.  It will be my personal reminder to myself that it is not my place to pass judgement on someone.  I have not walked in their shoes, I have not experienced their life in any way, shape or form, I am not them.  I believe that the universe teaches us lessons for a reason – guess I needed to be reminded of this lesson.  We could all learn from Michael Jackson’s death.  I’m just sorry it took him dying to remind me of my place.

#Follow Any Day

More and more people are getting on board the Twitter train.  One thing that I hear from  people who are either new to Twitter or aren’t sure about it – who do I follow?  A trend that got started is the perfect solution to the answer and it’s known as FollowFriday.   Every Friday you are encouraged to suggest to your Tweeps who you consider follow worthy.  I love this idea and have contributed to it each and every Friday since I’ve learned about it.  Only flaw I’ve seen is there was no real way to know why I should follow one person vs. another.  When I’ve tweeted my #followfriday recommendations I’ve always tried to include what these people have in common.  So in other words I categorized my Tweeps (gee, I do work in a library you know – sorry no Dewey decimal or LOC subject headings just basic tagging here).

My list of who I am following is growing.  I have lots of different groups (library folks, Linux people, business, news, etc).  So I decided to break down my groups and list them here on my blog then you can follow these fine folks any day of the week.  Listed in order as they appear in my Twitter account.

Libraries, Library people and trainers to follow: yalescilib / YaleScienceLibraries HCLDayintheLife / HowardCo Lib Staff HiRecommended/HCL Highly Recommended geekegrrl / Sarah Auger / Brian Auger beccalovesbooks / Becca Johnson weelibrarian / Krista Godfrey vargasruth / Ruth Vargas dbouman / Danny Bouman jdelagardelle / Jody Delagardelle typealibrarian / Jennifer Hrusch glenhorton / Glen Horton chattylibrarian / Joan CanuckLibrarian / Jennifer C FrontierLibrary / Sarah Baldwin kgs / K.G. Schneider SBULibrary / Stony Brook Library Kaess / Katrin Kropf libraryfuture / Joe Murphy cdm014 Lee_Martin skiddjohnson / Suzanne Kidd Johnson LibraryGuy / Craig Anderson infowidget / Amy Harmon Jill_HW / Jill Hurst-Wahl cclibrarian / JMS library_chan / Melissa Houlroyd billcompugeek / Bill Sara_Mooney / Sara Mooney jaimebc / jaime corris hammond sclapp / Sharon Clapp lagina jenother / Jen Spisak pollyalida / polly gspadoni / Gina Spadoni hbraum / Heather Braum calimae / Cindy Bowen ashlieconway / Ashlie Conway Slzimm1 / Stephanie Zimmerman LorreS / Lorre Smith griffey / Jason Griffey walkingpaper / aaron schmidt awd / Aaron W. Dobbs cindi librarysteve rtennant / Roy Tennant stevelawson / Steve Lawson ZenLibrarian / Annette Jones infosciphi / Chadwick Seagraves bckhough / Brenda Hough aarontay ALA_LITA ellbeecee / Laura ashuping / Andrew Shuping caro6302 / Caroline Ramsden james3neal / James Neal webmaster_ref / Brent Ferguson librarygary libkitty / Freya Anderson WebJunction brewinlibrarian / Matt Hamilton erindowney lorireed hblowers / Helene librarianmer / Meredith libraryman / Michael Porter akearns / Amy Kearns askusnow / Maryland AskUsNow! s_francoeur / Stephen Francoeur LibraryJournal / Library Journal talkingbooks / Talking Books tisfortraining joshuamneff / Joshua M. Neff MLx / Marianne Lenox librarianbyday / Bobbi Newman crankylibrarian / Kaia tattp / Valerie Beyers LibraryChica / Stacey Aldrich shifted / Jenny Levine RyanDeschamps / Ryan Deschamps victoriaptersen / Victoria Petersen library_chic / Courtney S. pfanderson / P. F. Anderson cjburns / Christa Burns gregschwartz / Greg Schwartz conniecrosby / Connie Crosby strnglibrarian / Julie Strange rachelrapp / Rachel Rappaport TheLiB / Sarah Houghton-Jan mbreeding / Marshall Breeding mstephens7 / Michael Stephens adegroff jessamyn / jessamyn west msauers / Michael Sauers baldgeekinmd / MC aka baldgeekinmd

Web 2.0 or Social Media/Networking: hootsuite / HootSuite Topify FirstDigg / FirstDigg / Urgo TwitZap adamostrow / Adam Ostrow Gripwire / Brett Polonsky mattsingley / matt singley bobrobboy / Bob Robertson-Boyd rww / Richard MacManus socialmedian / Jason Goldberg ashleylomas / Ashley Lomas TheNextWeb / The Next Web kanter / Beth Kanter adamhirsch / Adam Hirsch digitalnatives / Digital Natives jowyang / Jeremiah Owyang mashable / Pete Cashmore SocialMedia411 / Social Media Insider socialmention slqotd / SLQOTD TiffanyStrobel / Tiffany Strobel socialmediaclub / Social Media Club

Open Source related : ranginui / Chris Cormack- Koha joetho / Joe Tho- Koha wizzyrea / Liz Rea- Koha Miromurr / Thomas Brevik- Koha gmcharlt / Galen – Koha magnusenger – Koha corephp / ‘corePHP’ nirak / Karin Dalziel- Linux LinuxVoices galaxiecruzin / Alex B- Linux nengard / Nicole Engard – Koha linuxjournal Linux

Companies or  Web Sites: momentile / Momentile wefollow engadget / Engadget google / A Googler Twitter_Tips / Tips, Tools, Status facebook / Facebook nytimes / The New York Times TwistenFM / Twisten.FM WebReference firefox / Firefox BreakingNewz / Breaking News Grooveshark TalkShoe wordpress / WordPress BreakingNews / BNO News google_us_news / Google News US bbctech / BBC Technology cnnbrk / CNN Breaking News

Where Are YOU on the Ladder of Web 2.0?

A post by (almost)baldgeekinmd on FriendFeed about a site he bookmarked using Delicious gave me a great idea about how to market the “What is Web 2.0?” classes I’m presenting. So where are you on the ladder of participation?

I’m betting that the classes will be full of mostly spectators and a few joiners with a sprinkling of collectors. I figure those that are critics and creators already get it so they won’t be taking the class. I hoping that I can gear the class towards anyone (except the inactives doubt they’d come in the first place). Nice thing about that ladder is there is something Web 2.0 for everyone no matter what level you are on. Now the trick is to appeal to those spectators and get them to move up the ladder at least just one level.

Girl Power

This won’t come as a big surprise to many female librarians I know (and probably an equal amount of male librarians as well) … the Power of Female Blogging.

This statement from the article struck me -

“Today, women are not only the most powerful consumers in the world, we’re also the power users of Web 2.0 and social media technologies,” said Lisa Stone, BlogHer co-founder.

If I looked around my office, my library branch, my system I would agree.  But then my field (IT) is more male than female (although in our office we have 50/50).  The guys in the office haven’t heard of Twitter, don’t blog and only buy computer components.  My main profession (library) that I work for, however, is predominately female (but you boys are coming on strong).  More of us gals have Facebook pages, Twitter, FriendFeed, blog and/or wiki not to mention some serious online shopping.  Population statistics say that females out number men so is Lisa’s statement really all that earth shattering?  Would by sheer numbers females be more powerful consumers and users of the web?

Interesting to know if other professions find that the women in their work place are the power bloggers, power consumers and are leading with the social media.