Me, Her, the Boy and a Dog

The other day I was talking to a “real world” friend about a cool new Web site I discovered. Actually, I didn’t discover it, a “Twitter” friend did. I was asked by the real world friend, “How did you hear about the site?” I replied, “My friend on Twitter told me about it.” To which they responded, “Your friend … on … Twitter? Have you ever met this person or is this one of your cyber dork ‘friends’?” At first I was a little offended; I’m a geek, not a dork - geeks are smarter than dorks. Outside of that, I started thinking; with the advent and proliferation of social media like Facebook, MySpace, Twitter, Plaxo, etc., what exactly is considered a “friend” these days?

What is a Friend?
Before social media, I had three general classifications of friends; friends, good friends, best friends. Friends were people whose company I enjoyed from time to time and would talk with. Good friends were people I sought out to do things with and were among the first people I’d call if I needed something. Best friends, as with most people, was a very private club. These are the people that you could call at 2 a.m., when the bars closed looking for a sober ride home and they’d come, no questions asked. And that was about it when it came to friends. I also had acquaintences and co-workers, but the former were a step below friends and the latter could sometimes be any level of friends. Today, I’m finding that my antiquated organizational system may need a face(book)lift.

Social Media Friends

The concept behind friendship is changing. I still have friends, good friends and best friends, but I also have “friends” on Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, as well as VTHokiefans.com, TechHoops.com, VT.Fanfoc.us and Techsideline.com; all Virginia Tech sports sites. Most of my “friends” on Facebook and MySpace are people I have met at some point in my life. But some of my other “friends” I have only seen in pictures and “talked” with them online. I even have friends and family who are luddites and refuse to get involved with nefarious online social networking/media tools … something about the downfall of civilization and moral values. Whatever. Go back to reading your “newspaper.” I also have friends that I haven’t seen or spoken to in years, but when we do, pick up where we left off.

Well, My Friends…

My point is that the definition of a “friend” doesn’t have to be some predetermined, inflexible concept - it can be whatever is important to you. Friendship shouldn’t be restricted to someone else’s beliefs. If you consider someone in your life a friend, end of story. Let others think what they want. Just use your common sense and don’t let your online friends completely replace your human friends. I’m not a sociologist, but I would imagine that complete isolation isn’t a good thing. Think Laslow from the 1985 Val Kilmer film Real Genius. If you don’t get that reference and haven’t seen the movie, I might have to reconsider whether you are really my friend. :)

*This post is about Twitter, a microblogging tool. If you don’t know what Twitter is, click here for an explanation.

Twitter is no longer an exclusively techie/dork medium. Real estate agents, TV stations, newspapers, and even Britney Spears are using Twitter. Depending on your social media savyness, it can take anywhere from a few hours to a few weeks to really get the hang of Twitter. And from what I can tell, media outlets, at least locally, are a little slower to harness the power of the Twitterverse.

I’m not trying to be critical, because I applaud them for even using Twitter. We can only hope that the “how” to effectively use Twitter will come soon.

In Roanoke, Va., the 70th ranked TV market in the country, only three of the four major network affiliates have Twitter accounts. WSLS, the NBC affiliate, only recently created an account, but has done an admirable job of posting timely and regular news updates. WSET, the ABC affiliate has been posting for much longer, but I have a beef about how they use Twitter, but I’ll get to that a little later. WDBJ7, which is my preferred local news source even though I used to anchor and report for WSLS, has a Twitter account, but has only posted one update. Lastly (in almost ever sense of the word), the WFXR, the Fox affiliate, does not have Twitter, much less its own news department - they pay the NBC station to produce the Fox 10 p.m. newscast.

Oh, and my favorite local news anchor (sorry Jay!) Natasha Ryan has a Twitter account. From what I can tell, only her and WSET reporter and weekend anchor Margaret Clevenstine are the only local on-air personalities with active Twitter accounts. Both are relatively new to Twitter. Natasha just started hers and Maggie has been on since July, but hasn’t posted a new update since Sept. 7. Booo!

Look, there’s not one right way to use Twitter and I suppose that certain Twitter patterns appeal to different people. But, the way I see it - Twitter is a “what’s happening now” service. And in that regard, WSET fails in my opinion. See the picture below which is a screen shot of what appears on my Twitter home page, which displays all of the Tweets from the Tweeple I follow. This is not what I want to see.

Clearly it appears that they have some automated system, probably something akin to TwitterFeed (or some poor intern) that blasts all of their news stories at one time. Uh, no. If I want all of your news at once at a predicable time, I would WATCH your news. I’m looking for you to post news AS it happens. That is the point of using Twitter.

Now, I worked in TV for a number of years and for the most part, there are still a lot of zealots running the show, so the transition and adoption of new means of communcations are slow to make their way to the newsroom. Which, is really mind boggling considering that these tools such as blog and microblogs are completely free and can be used with Mobile devices. If you can send and receive text messages, you can post and receive Tweets. It just takes some time to educate your staff and management - something I would be HAPPY to do for WSET and any other company that wants to learn more about Twitter.

Yes, I know, I can sign up for text alerts from virtually any news outlet and that’s cool, but I only get those after the stories have been filed and someone has posted them to the Web site which then triggers the alert to come to my phone. But imagine if a reporter is on the scene of major event, but is waiting for the live truck and the news director can’t be reached to authorize a break-in-programming live event? How cool would it be to read a reporter’s accounts of the news event as it happens?

For example: Let’s say we have a standoff (which I have covered as a photo journalist), but the reporter is just standing there while the photog (videographer) is rolling endless minutes of tape waiting for something to happen.

@tv-reporter: Camera is rolling and the SWAT team is getting into position, but police won’t say if or when they will go in.

@tv-reporter: Gunman is yelling out of his window. Wants the police to back off. Threatening to shoot anyone that comes in.

@tv-reporter: Lots of activity. Feels like something is about to happen - stay tuned!

@tv-reporter: They’re going in! Camera is still rolling! Loud explosion from the flash-bang grenade. No shots - suspect in custody!

Now, this brings up a whole other issue, but one that the media has dealt with before: what if the bad guys are Twittering, too? Highly doubtful, at least now it is. Who knows in 5-10 years?

The bottom line is, this is a free tool that media outlets should be taking advantage of. Every reporter should have a Twitter account and giving viewers and readers behind the scenes information about the news they are covering, especially TV because we only get :30 to :90 worth of news per story and that’s not enough to tell the whole story.

The age of media convergeance is upon us. Newspapers like the Roanoke Times send reporters out in the field with video cameras to post video and interviews on the Web site. TV stations are having their anchors write print-style news for the station’s Web site, though they should really be using blogs at this point - especially Twitter.

Friday afternoon marked the completion of my first week back to the 9-to-5 world, though these days it’s more like 8-8:30 a.m. to 4:30-5 p.m., depending on your lunch break. Anyhow, I’m still getting settled and trying to get a feel for where I will fit in with my new team.

My primary responsibility is as chief Web editor (a.k.a. uber Web geek) for three Web sites run by my department. However, my job description also calls upon my search engine optimization and marketing experience, as well as my social media skills (i.e. Twitter, blogging, Facebook, etc.). It really is the perfect job for me in that it allows me to utilize all of my professional skills.

Because social media is part of the gig, I am on Twitter and Facebook throughout the day. I monitor my social and professional networks throughout the day and the majority, if not all, of my profiles are public, so finding out what I’m up to is not at all difficult. But I was a little taken aback when I saw a Facebook friend request from my new boss. Then came the Twitter follow. Yikes! My boss is following me on Facebook and Twitter … this could get interesting.

I am quite sure that he is clearly social media savvy, did due diligence (i.e. he Googled me) before he decided to bring me on board. So, I’m sure he realized that I am very active in my social media groups, which of course are public, and that’s one of the reasons I have achieved a certain level of respectability in my professional circles. Not only do I offer SEO advice on sites like Twitter, I also seek feedback when I am faced with a challenge that I cannot overcome alone.

During my interview, I was asked how I would go about finding a solution for a problem I was unable to figure out. My first response was - “I have experienced the power and reach of Twitter, so I would start there.” OK, maybe I didn’t say those exact words, but it was something close. :)

The point of this blog is that my new boss is now following me on Twitter and Facebook. I do not generally post negative or controversial comments on either, but there is still that fear that something I will post - even if it is on my own time - will potentially bother my new supervisor. He seems like a pretty open-minded and accepting guy, but you just never know.

The social media age is creating an entirely new set of issues for employers and employees alike. While free speech is still protected, your job is not necessarily protected depending on what speech you are freely throwing out there. Cases in point: the Philadelphia Eagles fired a seasonal employee after he blasted the team on Facebook for letting one of his favorite players go; a would-be Cisco new-hire was lambasted by the Twitterverse and other social media outlets after he was offered a job and then Twittered about a “fatty paycheck” and “hating the work.” No word on whether he was fired, but a Cisco rep found the Twit (er, Tweet) and replied with:

Who is the hiring manager. I’m sure they would love to know that you will hate the work. We here at Cisco are versed in the web.

I have no intentions of calling my current employer names and nor do I hate the work (or get a “fatty” paycheck for that matter), so I’d like to think that I’m safe. However, I’d be lying if I said I don’t put just a little more thought into what I post on my accounts. That’s not to say I’m not going to keep posting what I think, but I will give it a little extra thought to make sure that I’m not putting my livelihood at risk.

Does your boss or co-workers following you via Twitter, Facebook or other social media sites? Do you have any horror stories or funny anectdotes to share?

Today I got a Facebook e-mail from a good friend and colleague, someone I trust. The message simply read “Look at this!” and had a link to fbstarter.com (see image below, but do not go to this Web site). I clicked on the link and it came up with a page that looked exactly like the Facebook login page, but the address bar still says fbstarter.com. This is clearly a phishing scam designed to obtain your user name and password.

If you receive this message from a friend, their account has probably been hacked. Or, if you believe your account has been hacked, visit Facebook’s Security page to learn what steps you need to take to fix the problem.

Facebook Security page: http://www.facebook.com/help.php?page=797#

Repeat: DO NOT visit this site or enter your information - they will steal your login information and hijack your account.

Since joining Twitter in January 2008, I have posted more than 4,100 Tweets, received more than 500 “follow” notification e-mails and currently have 360 followers. At first, I did my best to weed out (i.e. block) the accounts using Twitter for the wrong reasons such as spamming, shameless self promotion or agressively pushing an agenda. But, with about 10 new follows a day, it became a bit time consuming to go through and block all the bots and jokers that started following me.

With so many new followers every day, why isn’t my “followers” list a little bigger? Well, that’s because Twitter appears to be doing a great job of suspending the suspicious accounts. For example, yesterday I got hit with four new followers whose user names all followed a similar pattern - a woman’s first name, a middle initial and a year. (See the image on the right.)

Though I have no information or research to back it up, my theory is that these Twitter spammers (Twammers) are targeting males by using women’s names and years - presumably birth years - to appeal to an age group that I might consider potential dating material. I believe these accounts are automatically generated and then use an API script to search for a specific demographic within the Twitterverse.

What I cannot understand is how anyone with half a brain could consider these accounts to be credible and return the follow. Any time you have a Twitter account with a disproportionate ratio of following/followers, that should be a red flag. If very few people are following a user, but they are following several hundred, be cautious. There are some accounts, such as CNN, that have a million-plus followers, but don’t follow very many in return. That’s acceptable in my book. Not ideal, but acceptable.

What other signs should you look for before you follow someone that has followed you on Twitter? Excellent question! Assuming you aren’t one of those people that likes to rack up the “followers” total on your profile, and you actually care about credibility and your online reputation; just using a little common sense will point you in the right direction. Here are just a few things that I look for:

Do they have a picture?

If the picture is of some busty woman in a bikini or provacative pose, that’s a huge red flag and grounds for immediate blockage. I prefer to see a face so that I at least feel like I might have the opportunity to communicate with a human and not some corporate mouthpiece. I do follow some Twitter accounts with logos or other non-personal images, but those are generally trusted accounts like CNET, CNN, LighterFootstep, etc.

What does their bio say about them?

This is probably the third thing I look at, right after their user name and profile picture. I want to know if they are real. If their profile is related to my interests and seems genuine, then I am more likely to reciprocate the follow. If there is no bio, 99 percent of the time I will not follow them. Take the time and tell me about yourself (in 160 characters or less) and you will likely get more followers.

What do they Tweet about?

Content, content, content. It’s the Twitter equivalent to real estate’s location, location, location. What are they Tweeting about? Are they pushing links all the time with masked URLs from tinyurl.com, snurl.com and digg.com? If so, that’s a red flag for me. I get enough e-mail spam - I don’t want it showing up on my Twitter stream. Are they interesting, funny or posting informational content? If so, I am more likely to follow. If every other post is “People are dumb,” I would likely include that person in the aforementioned generalization and not follow them.

Also, if someone posts inflammatory or offensive content, I will “unfollow” them. I actually stopped following someone for their derrogatory and ignorant comments about President Barack Obama. I respect people’s right to free speech and the fact that everyone has their own opinion, but I also value my right to not listen. That being said, I don’t unfollow people for posting opinions with which I disagree, but if there is a pattern of offensive posts, you are going to get the unfollow.

How many posts?

This criteria is related to the previous two items in that I want to see how many Tweets this person has under their belt. If I visit a new follower’s profile and they’re following 500+ people, have two followers and only 1 update, that’s a pretty good sign that this is not a legit account. I have had legit newbies follow me and when I see their profile I see they are following 20 people, have 12 followers and a few posts. I will give that Twitterer the benefit of the doubt and see how they do. I am all about encouraging the use of social media, but only for the purposes of good, silliness, frivolity, tomfoolery and of course networking and knowledge sharing.

I think just using a little common sense will make your Twitter experience a little more enjoyable. And don’t be afraid to not follow or unfollow someone or something that you don’t feel comfortable with.

Remember Tiny URL? I do. I remember it like it was yesterday … well, it was about six months ago, but in the world of social media six months feels more like decade. I discovered a new URL-shortening tool called bit.ly. I have seen it before and even used it because it’s shortened URL structure was slightly smaller than Tiny URL, but it wasn’t until recently that I discovered additional features that allow you to track how many people click on the links you share and even add a sidebar to make sharing even easier.

Both Tiny URL and bit.ly have browser bar tools that allow you to shorten a URL (Web site) by simply clickling a button in your browser. Bit.ly, however, takes it step further by allowing you to create an account and adding a sidebar that slides out when you click on the browser bar button. From this sidebar, you can send the automatically shortened link via Twitter, Facebook, Gmail or e-mail. Or, you can copy and paste it manually if you are leery about linking your Twitter account.

Once you have an account and are logged in, you can start seeing stats for how many times your followers and/or friends are clicking on the links you share via Facebook, Twitter and e-mail. Cool, I know … but how does this help me?

For starters, it appeases general curiosity. How many people find what I share interesting enough to click on the link? If you aren’t getting any clicks then perhaps you should consider a couple of things:

1) Maybe your followers are not interested in what you have to say.
2) Consider rewording your anchor text (text describing the link) to make it more appealing.

You’ve probably seen the Twitter posts that reads something like…

“OMG! You HAVE to check this out! http://clickhere.dufus”

No way I am clicking on that link. I have no idea what it is and I don’t like surprises (at least not on the Web). I want a heads up about the link I am about to follow. Be more descriptive about the link you are sharing. For example:

“Check out The Lyric theatre in Blacksburg for a cheap movie date! Two tix, large soda & free popcorn (Mondays) for $11! http://bit.ly/uUHYO”

My followers know exactly what they are getting and if they like the “headline” that I have provided, they are more likely to click on the bit.ly link.

There was a time when using a URL condensing tool didn’t really make much sense because in some cases, it actually made the link longer and added more characters to your 140-character limit with Twitter. For example:

http://thelyric.com has 19 characters as does the bit.ly version - http://bit.ly/uUHYO. So, what’s the benefit? Tracking! That’s where bit.ly does a great job of providing incentive to shorten a link even when it doesn’t actually shorten a link.

For SEO folks (search engine optimization) there is the question of whether TIny URL and other link shortener tools pass “link juice” or anchor text value on to the link URL that was condensed. According to some SEOs Google has started following the Tiny URLs and passing anchor text value.

My other concern is that some of these services will eventually shut down and then you are stuck with a plethora of broken links and subsequently an error 404 hell for a Webmaster. Eventually a front runner will emerge from the URL shortener race and will hopefully stick around for awhile so that all our itsy bitsy URLs will remain intact.

For a more thorough explanation of URL shorteners and the various services available, check out Jane Copland’s post at SEOMoz.com. The post is from last September and Jane is no longer at SEOMoz in Seattle, but it’s still a valuable and informative resource.

Earlier this week I saw an article on CNETNews.com about the city of Bozeman, Montana and how it requires job applicants to hand over the user names and passwords to their social networking sites and other internet-based sites like Facebook, MySpace, Google and Yahoo, so the city could do a complete and thorough background check. This practice has been in place with the city of Bozeman for several years … until yesterday.

According to today’s edition of the Bozeman Daily Chronicle, the city has suspended the practice. City Manager Chris Kukulski said the city “appears to have exceeded that which is acceptable to our community.” Kukulski added, “We appreciate the concern many citizens have expressed regarding this practice and apologize for the negative impact this issue is having on the city of Bozeman.”

Sorry, but I have to call B.S. on that statement. The city and its citizens have been aware of this policy and have accepted it for several years. Only since the news went viral and international did the city reconsider. Not because the townsfolk suddenly thought it was a bad idea. The negative publicity over a questionable hiring requirement stirrred this pot and Bozeman wanted to stop the bleeding.

Is it a bad policy? I think so. People should have a certain expectation of privacy when it comes to their social networking and online activities. Requiring applicants to provide their user names and passwords (which is a violation of Facebook and others’ terms of service agreements) is tantamount to requiring applicants to have surveillance cameras installed in their’ residences. It is an invasion of privacy.

I understand and respect the city’s intent, which was to fully vet potential employees to hopefully avoid embarrassing surprises, but they went a bit too far. The city said they have merely suspended the policy - not completely abondoned it pending “a more comprehensive evaluation.”

So, stay tuned. Until then, what are you thoughts?  Was the city doing the right thing or did they overstep their bounds?