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Not me!

Really.

I mean, I totally love Twitter and enjoy seeing what other folks are up to all day with the Firefox plugin TwitterFox. It’s rad because I can quickly see it just by turning my attention (not even my whole head) for a split second and then, it’s over. Or, I can reply with a snarky “me” (yes, I’m a snark in real life) comment or whatever.

Generally, I only comment on other people’s Tweets throughout the day, though they have to be important. I mean, I’m picky. Really. John Reese was in a car accident in Greece! Worth a Tweet? I think so. “Hope you’re OK.” Simple. He had to make a “get the heck off the road fast move,” says he. And on with my day.

But I usually reserve my Tweets for blog posts or something cool like being interviewed by Early to Rise (which I was for the second time last week, BTW). And I don’t spend a lot of time messing with Twitter, really, because I have too much work to do.

Here’s the thing, though, and it really fries my bananas…

Some people Tweet about every stupid thing under the sun. I mean, I really don’t give a hoot what you ate for breakfast unless it’s something totally, incredibly funny or awesome. I mean, if you’re in Kawabunga and eat a tarantula or some monkey brains… Hey, that’s worth a Tweet.

But if you had cereal. Keep it to yourself, K?

So, don’t be a Twitter Whore. (I didn’t make that up, but the Friday Traffic Report had a cute video about that that I went to watch at: http://www.jackhumphrey.com/fridaytrafficreport/blog-marketing-videos/how-not-to-use-twitter-to-generate-traffic/. (Whew! Hey, Jack… That’s one long-ass URL, BTW)

Totally cracked me up, and then it dawned on me that people like that make me nuts. If you don’t have something really, really cool to Tweet about… tell your mom or your cat or someone who really wants to know this stuff, K?

Popularity: 38% [?]

Do you Twitter?

I don’t mean, do you chirp like a bird or talk inanely until your lips fall off? I mean, do you belong to Twitter?

Well…

Why not? It seems kind of silly to be “following” the activity of people, but I follow some pretty cool people, like Brad Fallon and his “Free Line Report” and Paul Colligan, podcasting journalist. So, when I go to Twitter, I can see just what’s up.

I get a Twitter from Brad daily, and if you’re interested in Web 2.0, the Free Line report is pretty cool. Takes just a minute to watch and keeps you up on the 2.0 news.

Paul Colligan posts to Twitter about a gazillion times a day. I try to stop by the stuff I’m really into, and keep the other stuff for later. There are just so many hours in the day!

I keep one open for education, usually first thing in the morning. It’s a “Tellman” thing. He says, “One hour of education; one hour of implementation.” It really works, and because of that bit of encouragement, I learn something new about our online world of glittery gems at least once per day.

But anyway, Twitter is so cool that some guy named James Buck, a graduate student in journalism from the University of California-Berkeley was arrested last month in Mahalla, Egypt while covering an anti-government protest. He just had enough time to Twitter “arrested” and his Twitter followers both here and in Egypt contacted the U. S. consulate to help him. How cool is that? James was freed and his one-word “Tweet” of “Free” was the next message he sent along. CNN even reported on it.

So, see? Twitter is useful.

And with folks following you and reading your blog and such, and some signing up for your list, it’s the best of all worlds.

Plus, it’s the quickest micro-blog on the planet.

Who doesn’t need more time?

Popularity: 58% [?]

That’s a real tongue-in-cheek kind of headline, you see.

Last week, Ken McArthur wrote to his list to say that he’d just become friends with John Reese in Facebook, but that John only had a handful of friends. In my mind, that meant that John hadn’t yet discovered the joys of Facebook, which is a pretty cool place to hang and find people with like minds. I have 58 friends, which is nada, but way more than John Reese had and now, time for Pat to feel superior. LOL

As if.

John has about 650 friends as of this posting.

Man, wish I could get 640 or so friends in a couple of days. How cool is that?

If you read this, come over to Facebook and be my friend… Here’s my URL: http://profile.to/patmarcello/

Zo… Now, I’m not only one of John’s 658 friends but a fan.

And I just got to post Blogging4Boomers on his “Click Here to Promote Your Sites & Services” page. Har. Nathan Anderson is just below me. Another very cool thing, eh?

Wow.

Facebook.

I’ve made some very cool friends there, and the perks are pretty neat. Where else can a friend invite you to their awesome conference? Where else can you be friends with such smart people?

Hmm…

My Space, maybe?

Popularity: 64% [?]

Over at Search Engine Watch, Marty Weintraub posted about the “diehard members of social communities who want to keep marketers at bay.” There are? Whoa.

I’ve been doing StumbleUpon posts for more than a year now for Tellman’s stuff and my own. I never had anything like that happen. But here’s the thing… If it’s so bad for marketers to post at StumbleUpon, why then, is there a category for marketing? Doesn’t make sense, does it?

I was told to “gtfo” at reddit once. But that’s pretty mild compared to the stuff that Weintraub talks about. The post was about a sale I had for people to join Blogging4BoomersinBusiness.com and the headline was a bit spammy, I suppose. “Get $20 off today only” Well… I should have seen that one coming, right?

But I’m still of the opinion that if you post to social bookmarking sites with some meat in what you’ve written, and not just sales pitch, you won’t run into trouble. Or, maybe I’m asking for it by making this post. Weintraub says that he fell into bad graces with StumbleUpon long-time users because he posted in a search blog about how much he “loves” StumbleUpon.

Heavens!

Well, it is more serious than you may think. He had to call in the local FBI.

My advice to you is that if you’re in Internet marketing and you want to use StumbleUpon, only do it as Don Crowther says for your “best” stuff. Don’t bookmark every post you make, unless it’s got some real meat to it. Otherwise, you are spamming and that just sucks. Nobody, not even we marketers like spam.

Use the social networking and bookmarking sites wisely and you can do very well in terms of getting traffic and of building a relationship with a market.

Popularity: 45% [?]

Have you seen Don Crowther’s Stomper video about Web 2.0?

If you’re not convinced that social bookmarking and networking is important, that it’s not a significant change in the DNA of the Web, then you need to watch this…

http://www.stompernet.net/goingnatural2/

I love it!

Man, not only can you learn about Web 2.0, but a lot about making videos that people want to watch. These are the best videos I’ve ever seen online.

It could be that I lead a sheltered life, but I don’t think so. This is the kind of quality we see inside StomperNet and the type of quality information. Man, I wish I had an affiliate link. Andy, you reading this?

Popularity: 53% [?]

So, I was over at Sphinn checking to see what’s going on in the world of Web 2.0, and I found a post on Cornwallseo.com about how the world of social media sites is so complicated that people should actually pay a consultant to crack the mystery of getting onto page one.

New media. New Web. New jobs. Interesting.

I never found the social networking sites to be all that complicated, but becoming part of the community definitely takes time. You could spend hours every day just working at Web 2.0., and I can definitely see where a consultant could be beneficial.

Hmm…

Wonder what a “social media consultant” would charge. And then, is this an adjunct of SEO or a whole new world? I’m not sure. I know I find the concept fascinating. Facebook would be easier with a guide, as would MySpace and Squidoo, and people have used those venues to make some serious jing. I mean, think about it, hardly anyone even know what Squidoo was a year ago.

No doubt, if you want to get right to the quick of things, hiring a social media consultant would be a very expedient, and if you’re busy making tons of money, how much time is there to waste?

Wow. I’d like to get that busy. Sure, I’ll hire a social media consultant. Where do I sign up?

I guess until I get so rich and busy I’ll just keep stumbling, digging, plugging, etc. But here’s the thing…

If I’m right about how important these sites will become in the future, it will be very worthwhile to become an expert. Looking for a new career or specialty? Start early.

Popularity: 59% [?]