Just to get the self-promotion out of the way. Follow me on Twitter.
Today, I experienced three different aspects of Twitter, each one that I absolutely enjoy. Lets call it Shout Outs, Props and the Dozens.
The Shout Outs:
Our community is highly intelligent and giving.
Darren Rowse, who I met at SXSW, and runs a pretty popular blog called ProBlogger, tweeted that he was under the weather, and asked for submissions. In about 20 minutes he had 73. They are all posted here:
@CleverUserName - A tale of resurrection
@jdevalk – PageRank sculpting – Siloing and more
@ajvchuk - Yep these are my Twitter friends….
@frankmartin – Focus Groups – Part 4
@mjkeliher – The Shankman FTW: Facebook failing as favorite Web hub
@ninjapoodles - Life In The Slow Lane–WITH CHICKENS
@travelrants – Tips for a healthy and Safe holiday
@johnhood – Cats, Jelly Babies, FeedBurner and an iPhone wallpaper!
@spyjournal – Windows Home Server and SBS2003
@eMom - Facing the Empty Nest of My Blog and My Brand
@jdrohn74 – Ways To Knock Your Competitors Cold
@joetech – How to Replace a Broken Screen on a Casio Exilim Z60 Camera
@ColinWalker - Social media – when real life gets in the way
@Vultoor – Gata, Blogovat s-a incheiat (Romanian)
@45n5 – Affiliate Rapping
@markcoruk - We are on Reuters
@myrnaweinreich – Breath With Eckhark & Oprah On ‘A New Earth’ Chapter 4
@cmiddlebrook - 6 Months in Business – How Am I Doing?
@theunguru – What Tool Do You Use For Reading Newsgroups?
@ianternet – I dont do any sort of video blogging
@MartyJ – Query Types – Figuring out Keyword Intent
@sduffyphotos – How To: Multi-Shot Panoramic HDR Photos
@Wingnut – SEO helps everyone
@splitbrain – My Photography Equipment
@mrscrumley - Highlight Number 2: Atlanta Children’s Museum
@radix33 - Being Reciprocal
@deege – 15 beer factoids that will make you look smart
@shaicoggins – Sigma EX 30mm f1.4 DC HSM
@cdhinton – Mac vs PC
@PSPrint_Trish – Let Sleeping Husbands and Cats Lie
@CaseStevens – How To Write Great Email Follow Up Series
@micah – #1 Rule of Running From Zombies…Dont Look Back
@moneycoach – Good Friday: economics and cruxifixions
@deborahcarraro - The Everything Outside Nature Challenge
@megfowler – nine things
@DebNg - 35 Accessories Made from Recycled Materials
@remarkablogger – What Twitter Does for Me
@chris24 – Why Turning Off Comments Would Suck
@TwisterMc – Ubuntu is one Geeky OS
@MWGblog – Podcasting – It’s a Community Not an Industry
@sorenj – Even at the risk of being heroes….
@ikaronet - How To Replace Cable Television With Internet TV For Free: A Real Evidence
@trib - Real commitment or lipstick on a pig?
@amypalko – 4×4 Sources of Writing Inspiration: Unpopulated Places
@TomRoyce – Why Banks Need To Work Hard Communicating With Potential Foreclosures to Avoid Serious Damage To Homes
@uberaffiliate – The Mindset Of A Millionaire
@theotherdrummer – How to manage less by reducing more
@blantonious – Successful Social Media Marketing Requires Personal Involvement
@jenniferchait - 60 Eco-Friendly Ways to Celebrate Spring
@EverywhereTrip - The Great Ocean Road
@digitalfilipino – Creating Valuable Free Prizes to Boost Success Chances
@andrea_r – 25 New and different ways to use WordPressMU
@idesignstudios – 6 Phases of the Web Design & Development Process
@GrantGriffiths – The Pros and Cons of Working from Home — Revisited
@soultravelers3 – Kid’s View of Florence!
@waltw - Pairing Coffee and Cigars: Science or Serendipity?
@cashflowco – Are You Ready, World Math Day is Coming?
@GorillaSushi – New Media Attention Whore
@queenofkaos – Are You a Perpetual Student? WHAM Podcast #6
@sijt – Be the Jerry Springer of Blogging!
@aroberts – Best broadband deals in the UK Market
@fsechzer - How To Buy A Home Without A Real Estate Agent
@AGoodHusband – When a Husband Gets Praise and Compliments
@MenwithPens – 13.2 Easy Ways to Build a Thriving Blog Community
@mrinal_desai – Who is Your Chauffeur?
@Rachelskirts - Best Egg Hunt Ever
@tomjohnson1492 - 10 Alternate Tests for Evaluating Technical Writing Job Candidates — A List for Hiring Managers
@daveatkins – Marketing and Politics
@rachelpulido01 – Talk about Tuesday – Goals
@ScrapNancy – Why did you loan me money if you think I’m that dumb?
@RoadHog - Earthlings — A Discourse on Compassion
@palinode – five years and two months
@carterfsmith – Dear John, Where’s the Beef?
If you dont follow Darren on Twitter, please do. If you dont read his blog, you are missing one of the great blogs out there.
The Props:
Our community is teaching, learning, sharing and respecting.
Two people that I respect greatly, Chris Brogan and Gary Vaynerchuk, both had inspiring posts today. Each blew me away in different ways. The coolest thing? At the end of the day, Chris gave Gary props on his blog, and Gary returned the favor via Twitter.
If you dont follow Chris or Gary, please do. If you dont read Chris’ blog, or watch Gary’s videos (here or here), you are missing out on two of the nicest, smartest people out there.
The Dozens:
Our community is funny, witty, biting and silly.
Growing up, we played the Dozens. Basically a put down game, the idea was to “one up” the put down you received, by dropping a smarter, funnier, wittier put down. Its been called many things: Capping, Snaps, Getting Clowned, etc. but its the Dozens, dammit.
After another tweet from Jason Calacanis about his attempt to have the most followers on twitter, I finally was annoyed enough to tweet that I would donate $1 for each follower Jason lost to his favorite charity. Man, did I hit a hot button! There was a flurry of tweets, and retweets flying around. Some were really funny. Some were kinda silly.
What was the end result? Jason added about 75 new followers. Makes it even more funny.
If you havent unfollowed Jason, please do. If you do read Jason’s blog or watch him on qik or ustream, you are a lucky, lucky person. And, finally, my dogs are soooo much cuter than his.
(I do have a lot of respect for Jason and what he has accomplished. I just wish he understood the importance of community a bit more. Of course, if you tell him that I said something nice, I promise to send you links to the Tummyblr over and over.)
Twitter is an amazing reflection on people and human nature. You get what you give, and the biggest lesson that I have learned is this:
“Give And You Will Get; Take and You will Get Blogged and Tweeted about.”
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Dear Larry (Thats what I decided to name my blog…LearntoDuck Larry):
About a month ago, I wrote a post listing the top 10 reasons I would not buy an iPhone. In fact, I wrote that post the day the iPhone came out. I was so proud, so happy that I was going to finally withstand the pull of the newest, coolest gadget. I spent the day doing other things, laughing at all the people who waiting in line for the shiny new status symbol.
Then my friends began to fall. First one got sucked into the iPhone Mafia, then another. Then people who I thought were above the iPhone frenzy were made by the Godfather, Steve Jobs. But, I was strong. I was resisting. I was reading my post to remind myself why I wasnt going to buy an iPhone. Why the iPhone mafia would just have to operate without me.
And Friday turned into Saturday. And I was still no iPhone hypocrite. I still had my dignity. I could still giggle at the lines and the shortcomings of the iPhone. But, peer pressure was whispering in my ear. “What will everyone think?” It slyly, seductively seduced me. “You ALWAYS have the latest gadget before everyone else.” Still, I resisted. “I dont need an iPhone. I cant be a hypocrite.” I swore. And Saturday passed with no iPhone.
I began to break down Saturday evening. I started reading reviews. Always a bad sign. I starting looking for hacks. REALLY bad sign. I started looking for accessories. I knew I was doomed. The iPhone Mafia was winning.
I woke up Sunday morning, and almost without thought, I clicked on my MacPro. As my screen came to life, I opened FireFox. “Stop,” I thought to myself. “Read your email first.” As Entourage took its sweet time loading, I switched back to FireFox and started reading more about the iPhone. It was really cool. As I continued to battle the iPhone Mafia, my resolve continued to weaken. “Its only $600,” I reasoned. “It’ll get your exchange email, no problem,” I justified.
“Fine! I will be a damn iPhone hypocrite! I will join the iPhone Mafia. After all, I need to be one of the cool guys at StartupWeekend. I will go at like 2pm. They will be all sold out in Cherry Creek.”
And so, my destiny as a member of the iPhone Mafia and as a certified iPhone hypocrite began. I went to Cherry Creek. “We have dozens in stock!” The ‘geniuses’ exclaimed. “4GB or 8GB?”
“8GB,” I muttered, hoping no one would see my strange mix of shame and excitement. With a swipe of my credit card, the deed was done.
“Hey, Coach! Buy that for me?” Floated up from the crowd behind me. One of the kids I coach in lacrosse was standing behind me with his parents. Clearly, the iPhone Mafia was laughing at me. “Bastards,” I grumbled. Feeling a little like Darth Vader, I said “Hi Luke [his real name], what are you doing here?” The rest of the conversation was a bit of blur. I just wanted to go home and play with my new iPrecious…I mean…iPhone.
It is now over a month since I have owned the iPhone. People have stopped coming up to me in coffee shops and stores to ask to touch and play with it. I have never got it to work with my corporate email, and will be getting a blackberry to handle that. But, I do really enjoy the phone. It does enough of what I need it to, and strangely enough, my inability to send corporate email (I can receive it), has actually made me less of an email junkie. Now I have to decide how important returning the email is because of the effort (phone call or finding a laptop) it takes.
So, I have completely joined the dark side, and now proudly proclaim my membership in the iPhone Mafia (La Costra iPhone Nostra) as the head iPhone hypocrite, and as Michael Corleone so eloquently said in Godfather Part III, “Every Time I Try to Get Out; Shiny Objects Suck Me Back In!” (maybe I’m paraphrasing.)