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Category: tweet

Places, Everyone! GOOGLE Places, That Is


Tuesday June 14, 2011

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Were you ever in a school play, pageant, band, or orchestra? It could have been grammar school, middle school, college, Summer Stock, regional community theatre, or Broadway…do you remember the “director” calling out: “Places, everyone!”  In grammar school it was the Benedictine (O.S.B.) nuns who tried to control me and in high school it was Mr. Van Vleck who taught drama.  I am pretty sure I annoyed him.

Today I saw a Tweet that said something like this: “Google Places just got better!” I was intrigued and I thought I need to write a post about whatever is new at GOOGLE Places, because I keep trying to stress to our clients the importance of GOOGLE Places.  Suddenly, I thought maybe I can get everyone’s attention by calling out “Places, Everyone!” GOOGLE Places, that is.

This is what is new with GOOGLE Places.

‘Starting today [June 13, 2011], Google Maps search results in the U.S. and Great Britain will include some of the phrases which are most frequently used to describe those places. These phrases come from sources all across the web, such as reviews, web pages and other online references, and they can help people quickly identify the characteristics that make a particular place unique. It’s like an opportunity to ask the business owner or its patrons “What’s good here?” or “What do most people get here?” ‘

I also learned that if you want to stay on top of all things about GOOGLE Places, then you can:

  1. Subscribe to the GOOGLE Places Blog
  2. Follow GOOGLE Places on Twitter @GooglePlaces
  3. And if you have even more free time you can review GOOGLES’ Blog Directory and subscribe to other GOOGLE Blogs.

Have you claimed your GOOGLE place? If so, do you update it regularly to keep it interesting?

google places

 

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twitter nest

Twitter announced NewTwitter on September 14, 2010. They referred to it as a Better Twitter and they said it would be “rolled out” or coming soon to a nest near you. Yesterday, ten days into the roll out I received a message on my Twitter page: “Welcome to #NewTwitter!” I was shocked because after all, I only have 263 followers and I only follow 94 people. Come to think about it, maybe Twitter felt I was a good risk…couldn’t screw up too much or impact too many users, not like @corybooker or @chrisbrogan.

While I like most of what I have seen with the new Twitter I do feel that my quiet little nest is now home to Cuckoo Birds. Do you know about Cuckoo Birds? Many of the cuckoo bird species will not build their own nest, but instead lay their eggs in the nest of another bird species and let the other species raise their young!

What does this have to do with Twitter?  Well, with #OldTwitter if you RT something it is your image that appears in your followers’ Twitter stream; however, with the #NewTwitter it is the original tweeter’s profile avatar which appears in your stream. For example: I follow @johnschannel. He RT’d something from @shamelesshussy and instead of seeing John’s familiar avatar in my stream (which I will read and take note of) I see @shamelesshussy avatar which is a kitten. Imagine a kitten in my Twitter nest.  To tell you the truth, I don’t have time to figure out if I want to read this Tweet now that it does not have John’s avatar. I have to read the small print to know he RT’d it.

So that is why I think my Twitter nest is home to Cuckoo Birds, strangers who have been left there for me to nurture.

 

I would love your input!!! Let me know what you think of #newtwitter.
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You’ve seen the Digg button on most blogs but how often have you seen a tweet button?

Twitter has been growing since it was developed and is more of a social trend to be on twitter more than anything else. Now you can allow your business or personal blog posts to be tweeted.

Here is how it works, Tweet Meme allows you to tweet a specific page or a specific blog post and provides the code for it (very friendly). What it does not show you is how to add it on a blogger template.

Here is how you can modify your blogger template to include a tweet button how we have here (look on the top right).

1) Locate the following line: <BlogDateHeader>
2) Place the following code:
<div style=”float:right;”>
<script type=”text/javascript”>
tweetmeme_url = ‘STEP-3‘;
</script>
<script type=”text/javascript” src=”http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js”> </script></div>
</script>

3) change STEP-3 to <$BlogItemUrl$>
 
A bit of HTML or blogger template experience may be required.

Contact Webconsuls to get a FREE quote on a custom personal or business blog.

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4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks The Greater Los Angeles Area, to all newbies to our state we don’t really get worked up untill they hit magnitude 6 or 7. Not to worry, the buildings here are build to withstand these little rollers like we felt last night.

Here is the rub, Today Monday May 18 we have a 1 in 20 chance of having a larger quake.

Let’s all take this time to review the above video, posted by me to this blog 2 years ago and still true today.

Where did Lisa and I go after the quake to see where and how big? Twitter, where size and location information was being shared 1 hour before the ticker tape scrolled across the screen on survivor.

Send a Direct Message via twitter to @safeandwell with contact info, how and where you are. The Red Cross will enter you on the Safe & Well site. http://disastersafe.redcross.org

Stay Safe & Well

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How Twitter’s spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses

Serendipity the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.

What is Twitter? Is it a status update? Is it a Social Network? Or is it a search engine akin to the Minority Report? I guess you could say it is all of these things and more, but you will not get “Twitter” unless you use it.

A meme (pronounced /mi:m/ – like theme) is a unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices; such units or elements transmit from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word mimema for mimic. Memes act as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures.

Ok Great Darin, now we know what a meme is, and we have heard about twitter on tv, but seriously, how do you use it?

1) If I find a good link, movie, app, picture I tweet it.
2) If I need help on a project that I am not an expert in, I tweet it,
3) If I want to find out more on a current event (Like TED or SXSW) I search and follow those that are live “onsite”
4) If I am at a current event, and I want to keep track of old friends like http://twitter.com/Roebot, or find new like minded folks, I set up a feed of the twitter search in reader,
5) If I want to know what the hive mind is buzzing about, I check out http://twitter.com/trendingtopics

These are just a few of the ways that I am using Twitter, I hope they give you a reason to play with this “Tool / Meme” so that you can find some serendipitous uses for it that you can share back with us.

Do You Follow Me?
I hope you do.

If you would like to check out more of our blog posts on Twitter Click Here

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It is Saturday, March 7, 2009, and I have a lot of work to do. And because I have so much to do this will be a very short blog post. I am sure you are relieved. This morning when I thought about what to write about, it occurred to me I could remind you that tonight most of you will have to remember to move your clocks forward one hour. Thankfully, living in Arizona I can scratch this task off of my list as most of Arizona does not participate in daylight saving time. Yeah! I won’t be losing an hour of sleep tonight, unless I decide to read every-one’s Twitter posts or tweets. Following Twitter posts can be exhausting and for the most part a waste of time.

Do I have a Twitter account? Yes. Why? Because one of my team members “hinted” it would be a good idea. Have I ever tweeted? No! Why? Because I don’t have time and I am sure my 20 Twitter “followers” (notice Twitter calls them “followers,” not “friends” like on Facebook) could care less about what I am doing or thinking at any given moment.

So today I will just offer an observation: Twitter has been around since 2006. But, of late, it seems that one cannot just watch the news on TV or follow a news website for headlines, you must also follow the Twitter account for the newscasters. In 140 characters we are suppose to understand the essence of the tweet. Great! So let’s see: you have the television on and you better be watching the television while sitting at your PC or with your laptop in your lap or with your Blackberry or iPhone in your hand. God forbid you would miss an important “tweet.”

Now most politicians are tweeting. Hmmm…I am amazed they have time to tweet, given our current state of affairs. Priorities!

I have one final thought before I get to work for our clients and prepare the paperwork for my personal income tax return: Have you ever looked up the meaning of “twitter?” As a noun the #1 definition for the word “twitter” is “a trembling agitation.” By the way, an agitator is “one who stirs up public feeling on controversial issues.” Imagine if Twitter’s inventors chose to call Twitter “agitator?” Twitter sounds so much more innocuous, we tend to think of that cute little beloved “Tweety Bird.” So, today, twitter away or tweet with your followers…I have work to do.