Blogger threatens Crocs at BlogHer

George Smith, Jr., Social Media Specialist for Crocs, Inc., was at BlogHer '09 in Chicago where he was threatened by a "generic mommyblogger" (his words not mine):

…We continue with small talk. She says her name but, while I probably caught it at the time, it slipped out of my memory as the events of the next couple moments transpired. She asked how I was doing at BlogHer. If I was having fun. How it felt to be one of the only men there – all those typical questions that were being asked of me. Then her demeanor changed completely. She mentioned how she didn’t get any shoes at the SocialLuxe lounge. I apologized, saying that we provided what we could but it’s hard because we didn’t know everyone’s shoe size. She nodded but I could tell that wasn’t the answer she wanted to hear. Then she says something that I couldn’t believe.

“Ya know, if you don’t give me shoes – I could totally write something bad about you on my blog.”

Read more

10 Twitter rules to break

Robert Scoble in his blog, Scobleizer, has listed down his 10 rules of Twitter and describes how and why he breaks each one. I've posted the ten rules here as well as my thoughts for each one of them. The ten rules are:

1. Never send more than 140 characters. [Most of the time I am able to keep to the limit of 140 characters. But there are some Tweets that are so interesting that you can't but help putting in your $0.02 or replying to it and the replies are often more than 104 characters.]
2. Never tweet more than 5 times a day. [Why not? This is exhibitionism 2.0. The reason why you are on Twitter is to tell other what you are doing or what's on your mind, etc... (see #7). You're also on Twitter because you want to know what others are doing, on their mind, etc. This is voyeurism 2.0. (see #3 and #4)]
3. Never follow more than 300 people. [What's wrong with following 300 people? Or 400. Or 500. Or 1000. This may come as a surprise to some but other people do have something interesting to say. It's up to me whether I'm going to filter my Tweets and whittle my list down. But if there are 800 people that have something interesting to say, I'm going to follow them.]
4. Never follow anyone who isn't your "real" friend. [I do not know Robert Scoble or Guy Kawasaki or Dave Winer or Victor Cajiao or Casey McKinnon or Jeremiah Owyang but I've heard their podcasts, read their blogs, or heard about them. I find that it's quite an honor that they allow their readers, listeners or fans in to their lives and read their Tweets to know what they are doing or thinking at that moment. It's also a good way to be updated when in comes to recents blogs or podcasts like in Victor Cajiao of the Typical Mac User Podcast.]
5. Don't assume other people are having the same experience you are. [I find this strange thing to say. The reason why I'm following people is precisely because they are having a different experience than I am. That's what makes Twitter addictive. Twitter has also become a broadcast medium for mainstream news. It allows me to pick up breaking news that I otherwise would have to monitor a news site for. To a certain degree, the news that are twittered are filtered to your interests. No more junk news.]
6. Don't post thoughts across multiple Tweets. [This is something that I don't do. I guess this is something for Twitter superstars.]
7. The Twitter question is “what are we doing?” It’s NOT “what do you think about XXXX?” [Twitter has evolved to being more than a platform for people to telling their followers what they are doing at the moment. Whether that's good or that's bad, it all depends on how you look at it.]
8. Follow one person for every 10 who follows you. [Why should I restrict to just follow one out of ten? If all ten has something to say then I'm going to watch out for their Tweets.]
9. If other people are telling you you’re spamming, you should listen to them. [If people consider my Tweets as spam I'll tell them right off to stop following me. I'm not sticking a gun to their head and forcing them to follow me.]
10. Don’t put things into Twitter that aren’t designed for Twitter like photos, audio, etc. [Never done this before. I don't have a need to. Yet.]
    

So there you go, 10 Twitter rules Scoble breaks. Find out how many you can break yourself.

If all the while you've been scratching your head and going "What the feck is he talking about?" then I suggest you read the following:

• Mobile Instant Messaging Meets Social Networking: Twitter - A Beginner's Guide
  
• Chris Brogan's Newbies Guide to Twitter

Learn also how Twitter has evolve from just a "What are you doing?" tool to a blogging or publishing tool:

• Twitter Is A Publication
• Twitter Is Now An Extension Of My Blogging
  
• The Next Email: Why Twitter will change the way business communicates (again).
  

If you've decided to tweet or just want to jump into it, just go to Twitter and register. You can update and receive Tweets on their website or you can download Twitter clients to install on your computer.

When you already have your Twitter account, follow me at http://twitter.com/boink.

Welcome to Twitter.

Get to the point.

A friend of mine sent me a link that is supposed to hold the secret of increasing your website's traffic by using Twitter.

Short attention span. ADHD. Impatient. Call it whatever you wish but simply didn't have the time to read through probably 100 lines of rant. So I asked my friend is she could tell me what the secret was. She said:

When you finish a post, just post a teaser tweet. Then the link to your blog. You can use tinyurl to make it discreet.

The entire thing could be condensed into just three sentences? The heck?!?

I understand there sometimes it's good to explain some things before you go into the meat of the matter. This time, however, it was too much. The whole thing looked like one of those spam email you get about a increasing your sexual potency or something like that.

I hope I'm not this as long-winded as this one in my posts. I'm sincerely trying to learn how to say as many as possible in fewer words.

Oh, by the way, add me on Twitter. It's Boink.