I’m a cynical guy. I’m aware of this and attempt to keep it in check. But my cynicism got a good tweaking from a short article in Business Week. Seems some pollyannic thinking had seeped in to my social media subconscious.

Celebs, of varying types of celebrity, are getting paid for Tweets. Some of these are ghost Tweets (insert Etrade baby feigned shocked face here), actually written for the celeb by someone else. Is there no shame?

Examples (from the article):

“Want to know how Old Navy makes your butt look scary good? Ask a Kardashian ” ~Khloe Kardashian

“They say boys will be boys, some longer than others. This weekend, see Grown Ups, now playing! Get tix here” ~ Michael Ian Black

“Hey ladies, who might be PMSing like I am, or just hungry dudes, I heard @Arbys you get a free JR Deluxe TODAY!!!” ~ Jenny McCArthy

“these homies know the deal” ~Snoop Dog for Sienna minivans

“looks like I need to invest in a fleet of Sienna minivans” ~Mark Cuban also for Toyota

According to the article, Kim Kardashian collects somewhere in the vicinity of 10K per Tweet. If Khloe gets anywhere near the same fee, she could buy a lifetime supply of Old Navy apparel. Heck, I’d settle for $100.

For some reason I was a little surprised at how blatant and contrived this is, assuming the examples are typical. However, I’m more surprised that I was, at any level, surprised. I let my cynical guard down for a moment. What was I thinking?

I don’t hold it against these people. This sort of sales & marketing is woven in to the fabric of our daily life. If someone buys a pair of Old Navy jeans because they believe Khloe Kardashian thinks it’s its cool, or buys a Sienna minivan because Snoop says so, then more congratulations to those companies. Silly or not, it ain’t breakin’ no laws. (though I am disappointed in Cuban)

The service profiled in this particular article is advertising agency Ad.ly. And in case you were wondering, this is where Punky Brewster ended up.

Because it is some times interesting or funny, I do follow some celebs on Twitter. I will continue to do so (try William Shatner). I am going to increase the level of cynicism and move them all to a special column in Tweetdeck.

Many people are quick to point out that Twitter is simply the latest, greatest thing. Well, uh, yeah. Don’t large hordes of people gather around the latest and the greatest? Sounds perfect for people who need to do some marketing.

The book title says this book is about marketing but regardless of role or title, anyone involved with business will benefit from the content. In the world of social media the lines between marketing, sales, customer service, and PR are blurring. This is certainly the case with new media apps such as Twitter.

The thought of all you could be doing with this trendy tool is quickly overwhelming. It’s hard to know where to start. Getting advice from an experienced user, whether from a book or a blog, can save a lot of time.

I consider myself relatively savvy when it comes to social media. I’ve been blogging and using Twitter for some time now. Nevertheless, I learned a few things myself and made note of a number of websites and applications I didn’t know about. Kyle offers solid advice and helpful tips throughout the book (though thanks to the way they do these books it gets a bit redundant).

I confess. I’d rather read a book than a blog. I like the way they smell; the way they feel. But I have to say, if you’re a business owner reading a book about Twitter then you’re a bit behind. But don’t give up. Better late than never.

Twitter will eventually be passe. It will pass out of favor or we’ll move on to a new technology. Most of the concepts in this book are applicable to much of the social media realm and will transfer to whatever new tool emerges next.

DISCLAIMER: So as no one is mislead and the FTC is fully satisfied be it known that I was sent the copy of the book at no charge in exchange for a review. However, the positive review of the book is my genuine, if not enthusiastic, opinion.

Now, what was I doing?

Though it’s happening less and less, I still frequently hear “I don’t get it,” with regards to the Twitter phenomenon. I think Twitter is here to stay. No doubt it will evolve but it ain’t going anywhere.

Almost every day people are coming up with new uses for social media’s newest heavyweight. Now it seems that comedians are using Twitter for more than joke material.

One of the big things I see the possibility for is using Twitter to replace bulk texting services. When Twitter is free why would you pay to send a text to a 100 people (or 10 thousand)? It seems the only current obstacle is getting people educated about the application. I know I would like to see one of the sport clubs my daughter is involved with start doing this.

What about schools using it to announce cancellations? Traffic updates would be helpful as well. What new practical uses can you see for Twitter?

Very helpful.  I shall dutifully comply.

Friend of mine works for the Indiana division of the Salvation Army.  This weekend is their annual radiothon fundraiser.  They partner with WIBC to do the most good for Indiana kids.

Couple of things you can do.

1.  Follow @radiothon on Twitter

2.  Visit the website and donate.

Also, you are no doubt familiar with the Salvation Army’s famous Red Kettle and the unmistaken sound of their bellringers.  Now you can get involved by putting a Red Kettle on your blog or website.  (Do as I say, not as I do.)

After clearing all read tweets, REPLIES for instance, they return whenever I close and reopen Tweetdeck.  Why do they not stay cleared?

I do like being able to create groups though I am still working on the best use of this feature.  I do not find it easy to manage.

Is there a way to stop following someone via the TweetDeck controls?

I would also like to be able to make the thing much smaller.

Birds of a Feather Twitter Together

Social-Networking Service Connects Followers, Not Friends, on PCs and Mobile Phones

By KATHERINE BOEHRET

If you’ve heard of Twitter but don’t exactly know what it is or how it works, you’re in good company. In the past two months a bunch of my friends, ranging in age from early 20s to late 30s, have asked me about Twitter — or Tweeter, as one person accidentally called it.

To clear things up, I’ve put together a basic Twitter guide that explains how to use it, Twitter lingo, privacy options, mobile applications that can be used with the service and problems that it has. Let’s get started.

Twitter limits social-networking updates to 140 characters or less. The service is surprisingly useful, but leaves room for improvement.

What is it? In short, Twitter is a free social-networking tool that keeps people connected with one another and with sources of information. Twitter users submit updates about whatever they’re currently doing, and these updates cannot exceed 140 text-based characters.

Lingo: Twitter is the name of the service. The term twittering describes the activity of updating a Twitter account. A tweet is an individual Twitter update. Twitterers are people who use the service.

Followers, not Friends: Social-networking sites like Facebook and MySpace use the term “friend” to refer to people who are connected with one another, but Twitterers can simply follow one another’s messages by finding a person’s username and selecting a “Follow” option. This alerts the person that you’re following them, and they can reciprocally choose to follow you, or not.

Why use it? While some people primarily use Twitter to post updates about their activities or comments on the news, I use the service more as a follower, allowing me to see quick snippets of news as it occurs. Most tweets are written by real people, while others, such as updates from news organizations that you’ve selected, are automatically generated. Many tweets include the addresses of Web sites with relevant articles that tell readers more on a topic.

Where is it? Twitter works on your Web browser at Twitter.com, where user updates appear in a simple list form as they are submitted. After you’ve signed up and started following other people, those people’s updates, or tweets, will appear when you log onto Twitter.com using a username and password.

Twitter also works on mobile phones, where the 140-character limit allows messages to be sent and received via SMS text messaging. Tweets can also be sent and received via email. Users with smartphones like BlackBerrys or iPhones can use one of the many popular mobile applications for accessing Twitter, which offer much richer options than simple SMS does; I’ll get into these later.

Privacy: Unlike other social-networking sites such as Facebook, Twitter isn’t focused on holding and sharing personal information about its members. Indeed, the service operates with a majority (80%, according to the company) of users opting to keep their updates public, that is, follow-able by anyone, without permission. This openness encourages people to follow one another or to see who others are already following, and then follow the same people.

However, users can opt to protect their updates, meaning they must grant permission for others to follow them. If you’d like to sign up for Twitter, but aren’t comfortable putting your first and/or last name on the site, you don’t have to; instead, just tell others your username.

Twitter Page Personalization: Each user has a Twitter page showing all of his or her updates, or tweets. (Mine is twitter.com/kabster728, and you can follow me.) This page also shows the number of people a user follows, how many people follow her and how many total updates she has posted.

Twitterers can customize their Twitter page by uploading a photo to be used as the background. The icon representing each user can also be personalized, and this is important because it appears beside that person’s tweets on Twitter.com, where followers recognize and appreciate its familiarity. Some people, including me, use pictures of themselves as their icons, while others use random shots.

Apps/Clients: Twitter works on any browser, and will also work on a mobile browser. If you have a mobile device like the BlackBerry or iPhone, you can jazz up the experience by downloading a third-party app like TwitterFon, TwitterBerry, Tweetie or Twitteriffic. Twittervision, another mobile app, plots points on maps to show where tweets originated. Desktop clients also abound, including Twhirl and TweetDeck. Twitterfeed will set your blog to automatically post content to Twitter.

@Replies, Direct Messages: Each tweet that appears in your Twitter feed can be replied to using a shortcut arrow that appears beside the tweet, and these responses to tweets are called @Replies. So if JoeSchmo tweets to say he saw the new James Bond movie and hated it, you can reply to this with a tweet of your own that says, “@JoeSchmo I still adore Daniel Craig.” These @Replies appear for everyone to see, and must start with @ plus the username of whomever you’re responding to.

Direct Messages differ from @Replies because they can be sent only between people who are following one another. These messages aren’t posted publicly. They appear on your Twitter.com page in a right-side section labeled Direct Messages and will also be sent to your mobile device if you have one registered with Twitter.

Favorites: If you read a tweet that you really like, you can save it as a favorite by selecting a small star beside the tweet, thus adding it to a Favorites section on your homepage. Anyone can see anyone else’s Favorites, regardless of whether or not they’re following one another.

Problems: Twitter’s bare-bones approach gets to the point quickly, displaying tweets in a simple, quick-read format. But the site is lacking in many areas. It used to enable searching for people on Twitter, but that capability is currently down. Now, to search for friends on Twitter, you must upload your email contacts from a Web-based mail service. The company says it plans to have people-search working again by the end of the year. Meanwhile, search.twitter.com enables keyword or location searches.

Twitter lacks the ability to sort tweets according to what the user wants. If I just want to see tweets from real people and not those that are automatically generated, I’m out of luck. Same goes if I want to keep certain friends’ tweets in a prominent place on my homepage; Twitter has no way of doing this.

Twitter users aren’t notified when someone responds to their tweet with an @Reply. I recently happened to look at @Replies on my Twitter homepage and found three from people who follow me (I don’t follow them).

If you’re adding a Web address to a tweet and the characters in the URL take up too much space, Twitter will automatically use TinyURL behind the scenes to shrink your long link into a shorter one when you post your tweet. But this works only if you have enough remaining characters in your tweet to fit the long version of your link. A built-in TinyURL converter on the page would help immensely.

Twitter says it’s working to make @Replies more effective. It also says it plans to do more with filtering and sorting, so that the Twitter interface is more useful. In the meantime, Twitter does a good job of giving people simplified news about others and the world around them. If you’re often in a rush, Twitter can be a great resource for fast information.

—Edited by Walter S. Mossberg

Copyright 2008 Dow Jones & Company, Inc. All Rights Reserved

Thanks to Lorraine I’m trying out TweetDeck. I’ve been using Twhirl so I will have to relearn some buttons but that’s a small thing. We’ll see how this goes.

Now i just need to setup multiple monitors so I can keep an eye on everyone.  Is there a name for the social media junkie version of a day trader?

Twitter should be about crafting your own experience. Not unlike a real, live social situation, conversations ebb and flow on Twitter. Sometimes you’ll find yourself at the party, drifting in and out of smaller groups. Some you go back to with frequency, others you don’t. It’s purely a matter of personal choice, and it’s about making the evening’s experience as rich as it can be for you, based on your own tastes in conversation.The Fallacy of Qwitter, Nov 2008

You should read the whole article.