Archive for Twitter
TweepSearch – how to find cool people on Twitter
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Are you wondering how to find people on Twitter that live and work near you?
Want to find people you have things in common with?
I recently discovered this cool program called TweepSearch (thanks to Marilyn for telling me about it). TweepSearch is a great tool for searching peoples bio and location. For instance if I want to find people in San Franisco that like to knit I would enter san Francisco, knit in the search box and TweepSearch would come up with a whole list of San Francisco knitters, pretty cool huh?
This is a great tool for businesses on Twitter to find people in their community with similar interests.
Damon Cortesi is the genius behind this program.
IVAA Summit Rocked!
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This past week I attended the IVAA Summit in Phoenix, Arizona. IVAA stands for International Virtual Assistant Association. Even though I am no longer offering Virtual Assistant (VA) services I still attended for two reasons: 1. I was speaking at the conference; 2. To see many of my VA colleagues whose friendship and support brought me (and my business) to where I am today (my virtual friends).
The name of my presentation was Is Your Business THRIVING, or Just Surviving? I presented with Yvonne Weld. Yvonne and I co-authored a book a few years ago titled Managing Your Thriving Business For Success.
I want to give a big shout out to Yvonne Weld. Without Yvonne our presentation would have never happened. Yvonne was the one who took all of our scribbled notes and put them in to a beautifully organized power point presentation. Five minutes before our talk Yvonne said, “where are your notes?”. At this point my heart sank… oops I did not print my notes. Thank goodness Yvonne was there with her notes that she let me borrow a few times throughout the talk. Yvonne was great in front of the crowd, she knows her stuff. I also want to thank all the wonderful VAs who came to listen to our talk. It’s a little intimidating when you know you are standing in front of the top VAs in the industry. You all rock and I sincerely appreciate your support!
The gist of our talk was about finding your passion again. Do what you love! We addressed burn out, talked about trying to find work/life balance when working from home, exposed the myths of passive income (income is not passive – there is no free lunch!), discussed how running a multi-VA business does not always equal a six-figure business, and discussed the importance of setting goals, keeping your eye on the goal and finding an accountability partner or coach. Thank you to everyone who participated in the discussion and shared their real stories.
Thank you to the summit committee for your seamless organization of the whole event. The food was fantastic, the venue was great, the schedule flowed, and the presenters were inspiring. You women are superstars!
If you are an overworked business owner or entrepreneur who wants to take your business to the next level… you may want to consider hiring a VA. It will change your life! I know a few Virtual Assistant Rock Stars if you need any referrals.
PS. I just have to say I loved the Twitter backchannel going on during #IVAA10. Thanks for all the supportive tweets during our talk especially @CandyTX because Candy always tells it like it is… I’m so thankful I got the Candy seal of approval. It’s a legit one. Thanks Candy! 
And now I am getting prepared to attend the Social Media Success Summit. I can’t wait!
Social Media is Romantic!
Posted by: | CommentsCongratulations Heather!
Social Media is romantic! Today, my friend Heather was proposed to via Twitter!
and she said yes!
Congratulations to Heather & the Boy!
A toast to you!
Tweets Archived in the US Library of Congress
Posted by: | CommentsIf you found out your tweets (information you posted on Twitter) were going to be archived in the US Library of Congress how would you feel about that?
Guess what? I just read in the Huffington Post that your tweets are going to be archived in the Library of Congress!
I know the first time I heard the news reference Twitter I was like “OMG they are talking about Twitter on mainstream TV…” now you can hardly hear any news without the mention of Twitter.
The US Library of Congress announced a major new acquisition: it will be obtaining all public tweets dating back to March 2006.
You can read more about it here:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/14/library-of-congress-twitt_n_537330.html
Here is a list of memorable tweets listed in the article:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/04/08/tweets-in-the-news-10-mem_n_529441.html
What are your thoughts?
Expect to see an emphasis on the scholarly and research implications of the acquisition,” wrote Library of Congress blogger Matt Raymond. “I’m no Ph.D., but it boggles my mind to think what we might be able to learn about ourselves and the world around us from this wealth of data. And I’m certain we’ll learn things that none of us now can even possibly conceive.
Just think they might be studying your tweets!
How Does the Auto Retweet Thing on Twitter Work?
Posted by: | CommentsRetweet (RT): a retweet is what you do on Twitter when you want to share what someone else has said. When someone retweets what you say/tweet it’s usually a compliment to you, it means they like what you had to say, think what you say is useful or think others might be interested in what you said. It’s nice to thank people who retweet your stuff. Being retweeted makes people feel listened to, acknowledged and appreciated.
Here is a more official definition/explanation of a retweet by Webopedia.com:
Retweet: Abbreviated as RT, Retweet is used on the Twitter Web site
(a free social messaging tool), to show you are tweeting content that has been posted by another user.
I don’t know about you but I always forget to check the Twitter automatic retweet thing. I usually tweet from TweetDeck so if someone retweets using the auto-RT thing I don’t even know my tweet has been re-tweeted.
I’m talking about the retweet link you see when you hover your mouse over the right bottom corner of a tweet. (image of Twitter feed from @fun_master’s tweet stream)
If you log on to your account from Twitter.com, on the right you will see the word Retweets (located under the words: Home, @username, Direct Messages, Favorites). Click on Retweets.
Now you will see 3 tabs: Retweets By Others, Retweets By You, Your Tweets, Retweeted. Click on the tab Your Tweets, Retweeted. SURPRISE people have been retweeting your tweets and you may have never known! You can tell who has retweeted your tweet by looking at or clicking on the little picture below the retweet. If you are one of the people who has retweeted my tweets and I have not thanked you, well now you know why. 
If you are not a Twitter user please ignore this post, I know I totally overused the words tweet and retweet. WAIT if you are not using Twitter WHY are you not on Twitter? Especially if you are an entrepreneur or business owner you really should be on Twitter! How else are you going to interact with your clients and potential clients? What if people are talking about you or your business on Twitter? Don’t you want to be part of the conversation?
Okay I digressed… If you want to know who is retweeting your tweets using the auto-RT thingy then follow the steps above.
Happy Tweeting!
Auto DMs on Twitter Annoy Me
Posted by: | CommentsIt is late, I am tired and I should probably be in bed instead of blogging. I made the mistake of checking Twitter before turning off my computer and found one more AutoDM that pushed me over the edge and forced me to stay up past my bedtime to write this rant post.
What is an AutoDM?
A Direct Message (DM) is a private message sent via Twitter.
An AutoDM is an automated Direct Message you receive on Twitter after you follow someone. That someone has used a program to automatically send you a DM when you follow them. The DM usually says something like:
Thanks for the follow… check out my blog.
Thanks for the follow… buy this.
Hi nice to meet you please send me an @ message and introduce yourself.
Thanks for the follow… check out my Website
Thanks for the follow, I’m following you back and look forward to reading your tweets.
The problem is AutoDMs kind of ruin the whole point of Twitter for me. Twitter is for starting conversations, sharing information and building relationships.
If you send me an AutoDM it feels impersonal and like you are trying to sell me something. It just feels icky. If you really want me to check out your blog, buy your stuff, look at your Website or introduce myself to you why don’t you start by introducing yourself to me with an @ message.
A lot of people I know use AutoDMs and I’m not trying to ruffle any feathers but I wanted to let you know how I feel about AutoDMs.
How do you feel about receiving AutoDMs? I’ve actually been unfollowing people that send me AutoDMs lately.
Apparently I am not the only one who dislikes AutoDMs…
After a quick Google search of the word AutoDM I found the following blog posts:
The Ten Commandments of Twitter
Hate AutoDM’s on Twitter? I do. Here’s how to block them
The Twitter AutoDM: Useful or Hurting Your Cause?
There are ways to block AutoDMs. I’ll save that for another post.
Good night!
Should I Set Up a Twitter or Facebook Account for My Business?
Posted by: | CommentsYes! If you are a business owner you really do need a Twitter and Facebook Fan Page for your business. It’s important for businesses to be involved in social networking.
Photo by Matt Hamm.
According to Mashable:
“the study by Chadwick Martin Bailey and iModerate Research Technologies found that consumers are 67% more likely to buy from the brands they follow on Twitter, and 51% more likely to buy from a brand they follow on Facebook (
). Moreover, they’re 79% more likely to recommend their Twitter (
) follows to a friend, and 60% more likely to do the same on Facebook”
Read the whole article here on Mashable.
Is your business on Twitter & Facebook yet? Have you joined in the conversation? If you need some help getting started with social media → Virtual Simplicity is here to help! Contact us if you are ready to jump on the social networking band wagon!
Have You Been Phished?
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Please be careful what you click on in Twitter, Facebook and all social networking sites!
If you receive a DM on Twitter saying something like “haha is this you?” with a link or other strange DMs please do not click on the link.
If you do click on the link please do not give them your Twitter Log In info, even if it looks like a Twitter page (it’s probalbly not).
This is how people get in to your account and send out those icky DMs to all your followers. This is called phishing, the mean person or program on the other end tricked you in to thinking you are just relogging in to Twitter but really you are not, you are giving someone else your log in info.
This can happen on Twitter, Facebook, eBay, PayPal, you name it… always check the url at the top of your browser, if something feels suspicious it probably is. If you do click on a link and you are asked to log in to Twitter again… don’t. Close your browser, re-open it, and start all over entering Twitter.com.
Scott Stratten explains phishing much more eloquently. Please read here.
If you are going to participate in social networking, it is uber important that you know how to protect yourself and your followers.
If your account did get phished you can easily stop the problem by quickly changing your password.
Thank you!
3/1/10 Update: There is a new phishing scam going on today. If you receive a DM that says: “Some1 wrote something about u on his blog” IGNORE it or DELETE it but please do not click on the link.
Twitter Lists
Posted by: | CommentsTwitter Lists: Lists made by individual Twitter users to categorize people they are following. If you are wondering how to use Twitter Lists you can read about it here on Mashable.
Have you ever taken a look at the Twitter lists you are on? You might want to. I find it fascinating how people categorize me. These lists are a great way to tell what people think of me. I may think I am putting one image out to the world but the world may be seeing a whole other image. Or maybe the world sees me as I see me. Anyway, it’s late and I’m babbling but still go check and see what lists you on. You may be surprised.
Here are the names of some of the lists I am on:
business tech, in genius local, business services, sf bay area deals, social media, face to face, marin, virtual-assistant, web-social-media, social media, social media, owning pink,virtual assistants, i forgot why (my personal favorite), social media marketing pr, bay area, marincal, clover spreadshirt com (what?), random, imagineers, marketeers, travel, awesome people (I like this), pink sisters, marin sonoma, travelers, social media, bayarea, pinkies, ijfriends, travelers, to do bay area, oakland essentials, awesome tweets, san francisco, marin county sf bay area, virtual support, local friends foodies, business divas, va rock stars, sflocal, experts, writers, twitter crushes, good vibrations, our gang, mini cooper, local media, movers n shakers, san francisco bay area, marinareapeeps, gay marriage…
If you want to remove yourself from a list. I think this trick still works: Remove Yourself From a Twitter List
I’d love to hear some of the funny lists you are on.
Squeeky Clean Social Media
Posted by: | CommentsI was talking with Dusty, the owner of The Bath Nook (my favorite soap product in the world) and we were talking about fun things we could do with social media.
Dusty came up with the idea to do a combined contest on Facebook. She offered to give away some of her fantastic products to the Virtual Simplicity Facebook Fans. She’s giving away a bar of soap and a small bottle of lotion in my very favorite scent: Oatmeal!
The contest is open until 1/30/10 at 12noon PST. At that point, I will do a drawing using the randomizer and post the winner. Winner will have 3 days to get mailing address to me.
If you would like a chance to sample this amazing soap and lotion here is how to enter the contest.You only need to pick one option below to enter or you can enter more than once by doing each of the following. You must leave a separate comment for each entry. ***MAKE SURE TO LEAVE A COMMENT BELOW TO BE ENTERED IN CONTEST.***
1. Become a fan of the Virtual Simplicity Facebook Fan Page and then come back here, leave a comment and let me know you are a fan.
2. Become of a fan of The Bath Nook Facebook Fan Page and then come back here, leave a comment and let me know.
3. Tweet about this contest linking back to this post. Leave a comment here letting me know you tweeted about it. Here is a convenient tiny url you can use to tweet about the contest: http://bit.ly/6MGCC0
4. Link to this contest from your Facebook page and leave a comment here letting me know.
Thank you and I look forward to sharing this wonderful product with you.
Sally
PS. At this time we can only ship to US addresses. Sorry to my friends from all the other wonderful countries.
