Guesting on Warren Whitlock and Ed Philipp’s “Will Your Brand Survive in the Social Media Age?”

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Will Your Brand Survive in the Social Media Age?

Tonight, I was lucky enough to receive an invitation from Ed Philipp @EdLovesSumo to be on @WarrenWhitlock and his BlogTalkRadio show, TwitcastRadio.com Use the tag #TCR on Twitter to follow the tweets!

For more information about the webinar I presented via Danna Crawford @PowerSellingMom on @VirtualOnline

Virtual Online Learning: Understanding Twitter Lists http://bit.ly/3mDBZ1 #edu

Joining Virtual Online Learning ? Please say “Anita sent you”! Thank you for listening! Feel free to post questions & I will follow up here or ModelSuppliesBlog.com

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies on Twitter – Follow me!

More Articles from Anita Nelson at ModelSupplies
Help! I Don’t Show Up In Twitter Search!

Domestic Violence Takes Many Forms….

TwitBlocking – Shocking New Twitter Trend Brings Me To My Knees

What It’s Like To Be #TwitterSuspended

5 “Get Followed Fast” Finds!
My Twitter Mosaic – Fabulous Tweeps!

Careful What You Tweet
How to Become Instantly RT-able (A Twitter Guide)

Open Your Mind! Expand Your Horizons! – Quick 15 minute show

Open Your Mind! Expand Your Horizons! – Quick 15 minute show.

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Open Your Mind! Expand Your Horizons! – Quick 15 minute show

Most of you know that I am a vegetarian, middle of the road Democrat and against animal

testing for cosmetics. What you may not know is that I am a supporter of the right to bear

arms and, while I do not hunt or eat meat myself, I can see the need for others to do so

and hold no “beef” with them over it. In fact, I have recently begun selling Pella hunting

wear and gear in cooperation with PheasantPhun.com and TeamHuntress.com and am finding a

new appreciation for it!

I believe it is extremely important for us to keep our minds open, live and let live and

not attack one another over our beliefs. There is room for all of us in this world and

plenty of room for varying opinions.

Links to outdoor destination vacations:

PheasantPhun.com

TeamHuntress.com

My Blogs: http://ModelSupplies.WordPress.com

http://ModelSuppliesBlog.com

Skin Care Ingredient info: http://ModelSupplies.info

Thank you so much for listening!
Twitter follows:

@PheasantPhun

@TeamHuntress

@AlphaMares

My Blog: http://ModelSupplies.WordPress.com

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Visit us at eBay or Etsy.com for ingredients: http://Model-Supplies.com or
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Follow me on Twitter: @ModelSupplies I follow back!

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies on Twitter – Follow me!

More Articles from Anita Nelson at ModelSupplies
Help! I Don’t Show Up In Twitter Search!

Domestic Violence Takes Many Forms….

TwitBlocking – Shocking New Twitter Trend Brings Me To My Knees

What It’s Like To Be #TwitterSuspended

5 “Get Followed Fast” Finds!
My Twitter Mosaic – Fabulous Tweeps!

Careful What You Tweet
How to Become Instantly RT-able (A Twitter Guide)

A Twitter Guide – The Art of the DM

Tweet! Tweet! Tweet!

I have done a lot of writing about spam DMs or Direct Messages on Twitter recently and it may sound as if I don’t like to get DMs at all. Nothing could be further from the truth! I just adore DMs and prefer them to email, truth be told. Surprised? Don’t be!

The DM is a private conversation. It is ideal for people who have very little time and/or short attention span with its limited character set. A big “up side” to having limited characters is that it can force someone to get to the point, be concise and stay focused.

I used to write long, rambling emails. I used to enjoy reading them from others, too, but I simply do not have time for that luxury anymore. I spend most of my email time battling spam. It takes more time to sift email now and I do not enjoy sifting. It is my own fault since I should use a separate account for those purposes, but I digress.

TweetVisor makes me so happy, I could sing!

I always have TweetVisor up, so I can usually see DMs as they come in and reply instantly whenever I am online. TweetVisor shows everything all at once on one page, so I see my public @replies, too. This saves a TON of energy and effort, plus it allows me to be very speedy in my communications. Most of the time, an @reply on Twitter is great for both parties, lending exposure for both parties and the chance for new followers, but sometimes the conversation goes deeper or gets more involved or personal. How do I know when to take it to DM?

• When you send your email address or other private information, take it to DM.

• When you’re in an involved conversation and exchanged multiple messages that really concern no one else, take it to DM.

• When it would be impossible to follow or jump into the conversation, take it to DM.

• When you want to flirt for real, take it to DM. (Caution, you may get blocked! But that’s the same as real life, isn’t it?)

• When the information you’d like to impart is very specifically for that one person, take it to DM.

• When the subject is private information, take it to DM.

• When sending a link someone requests that you have already tweeted within the past 4 hours, send it via DM to avoid being thrown out of search. (see my article about search for more information)

• When you feel the need to use off-color language, in general, take it to DM.

• If you feel the need to say something negative, keep it out of your stream and take it to DM. (Avoid)

• When contacting customer support or Twitter support about a sensitive subject or complaint, don’t be rude and embarrass the company in an @reply, take it to DM.

DMs are like whispers...

Basically, an @reply or tweet is a shout out and a DM is a whisper. Whatever is said in DM is not general knowledge and should never be shared with someone else. You should never post the contents of a DM or tell someone else the contents of a DM. That is a trust violator that is not easily, if ever, overcome. Don’t overuse the DM, either, or your important messages may not be seen due to an onslaught of automatic DMs, frivolous flirtations and True Twit DM messages clogging the column. Master the art of the DM and it will simplify many areas of your electronic life!

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies on Twitter – Follow me!

More Articles from Anita Nelson at ModelSupplies
Help! I Don’t Show Up In Twitter Search!

Domestic Violence Takes Many Forms….

TwitBlocking – Shocking New Twitter Trend Brings Me To My Knees

What It’s Like To Be #TwitterSuspended

5 “Get Followed Fast” Finds!
My Twitter Mosaic – Fabulous Tweeps!

Careful What You Tweet
How to Become Instantly RT-able (A Twitter Guide)

Holiday Shopping – Time to Start Saving for Black Friday and Cyber Monday!

Black Friday Shoppers rush from bargain to great deal~!

Listen up, fellow laid-off unemployed people~! Are you looking for your blessings in disguise? You may have forgotten about this little shopping gem…

It’s time to start saving for Black Friday and Cyber Monday shopping days! Black Friday is a shopping holiday in the United States that falls on the day after Thanksgiving. Cyber Monday is the Monday following the Thanksgiving weekend. Traditionally, Thanksgiving weekend kicks off the holiday shopping season with wonderful sales!

Black Friday is the fourth Friday in November in the USA

For the past 8 years or more, I have stepped aside at the newspaper where I was employed, being “the one who works” on these holidays. As a result, I have missed the opportunity to buy things at great prices all over my community on Black Friday, the date so-called since that is when retailers are said to break even and begin to make a profit for that year. I have also worked through Cyber Mondays because they were only important to me, the date that online retailers hold amazing sales encouraging holiday shoppers. Mondays were deadline days, so I missed the opportunity to optimize my online sales. I stepped aside because I have no children, did not host Thanksgiving and any number of reasons my bosses and co-workers could dream up. Fair? You know it’s not!

Cyber Monday this year will be EPIC for ModelSupplies!

This year will be different! I’ve got numbers to back me up! I will storm the marketplace! Be unbeatable in the grab for the greatest deal and prepare for my own customers like never before! I will be waiting in line at 5 am in front of an electronics store! I have even done my research, well, ok, eBillMe.com did the research FOR me, but here it is!

Based on the amount of people who know about Cyber Monday – very few are planning to do holiday shopping on that day–however most prefer online shopping over Black Friday’s in store shopping.

“I have heard of “Cyber Monday” as the start of the holiday online shopping season”

M–54%

F–51%

18-24 yr olds 35%

25-34 yr olds 61%

35-44 yr olds 58%

“I plan to do most of my holiday shopping on “Cyber Monday””

M-12%

F-10%

18-24 yr olds 12%

25-34 yr olds 15%

35-44 yr olds 16%

“I prefer to avoid shopping on “Black Friday” in favor of shopping online”

M-51%

F–46%

18-24 yr old 37%

25-34 yr old 50%

35-44 yr old 51%

Black Friday and Cyber Monday are all about Deals and Discounts…

“I will shop for deals or look for coupons. “

Male

Strongly Disagree–2%

Neither Agree or Disagree–20%

Strongly Agree–32%

Female

Strongly Disagree–2%

Neither Agree or Disagree–12%

Strongly Agree–46%

Poll by http://www.ebillme.com

This year Black Friday is Nov. 27, 2009 and Cyber Monday is Nov. 30, 2009.

So there you have it! I guess I will spend more time getting my online store in shape and ready for sales for Cyber Monday! (But I am still going to go out for my first Black Friday!) Either way, it’s time to start saving for that weekend now!

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies

Resources:

http://www.ebillme.com

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Black_Friday_%28shopping%29 s

http://tgiblackfriday.com/

http://shop.ebillme.com/occasions/black-friday/deals/

http://shop.ebillme.com/occasions/black-friday/coupons/

http://shop.ebillme.com/occasions/black-friday/tips/

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies on Twitter – Follow me!

More Articles from Anita Nelson at ModelSupplies
Help! I Don’t Show Up In Twitter Search!

Domestic Violence Takes Many Forms….

TwitBlocking – Shocking New Twitter Trend Brings Me To My Knees

What It’s Like To Be #TwitterSuspended

5 “Get Followed Fast” Finds!
My Twitter Mosaic – Fabulous Tweeps!

Careful What You Tweet
How to Become Instantly RT-able (A Twitter Guide)

Best Week EVER! 140 Conference, Foo Fighters & Halloween!

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Best Week EVER~! – Quick 15 minute show

This week, Jeff Pulver held the #140conf in LA and some of my very dear friends were there,

such as: @CiaoBella50 @LoriMoreno @MayhemStudios @HennArtOnline @AdventureGirl @3Lunches

@BethFrysztak and so many more!

@HeatherMeeker @HennaArtOnline & @LoriMoreno were on the cover story of LA Weekly!

Featured Blog

CiaoBella50’s #140conf Picture Blog!

Friday night, the Foo Fighters – my favorite band – held a 3 HOUR online concert for their

fans!

See the replay!

http://www.livestream.com/foofighters

Last night for Halloween,  I “dressed up” my Twitter profile as Mae West and tweeted Mae’s quotes all night! If you have never done something like that, I HIGHLY recommend it for next year! It was a COMPLETE BLAST~!!!

Mae West was my "Twostume"

And I’ve been getting a lot of requests for custom wholesale – an oxymoron! LOL So have to

pull the plug on that one for now in small quantities since that is NOT wholesale, but

custom only – it should have a higher price!

And the doctors I ask about skin care are Dr. Perricone and Dr. Murad, mainly. Dr. François

Marceau did some testing on a rabbit’s ear in Canada – I am against animal testing for

cosmetics – and he is afraid DMAE causes fibroblasts – which are formed during the genysis

of collagen tissue, by the way, but hypothesizes that DMAE may cause thickening of the

skin. I have been using DMAE for 7 years and have nothing but fantastic things to say! Of

course I am not documented, so I am documenting that fact today! The article:

Anti-wrinkle compound causes pathological reaction in skin cells

Please note they are promoting other skin care lines on this page!

More info: http://ModelSupplies.info

Thank you so much for listening!
Twitter follows:

@CiaoBella50

@LoriMoreno

@JeffPulver

@FooFighters

@Donnette

More fun today!

Saw Leo LaPorte & Patrick Today!

Funniest Top 10 Twitter Post Yet!

My Blog: http://ModelSupplies.WordPress.com

I’m taking classes for marketing! Join me! And please tell Danna that Anita sent you!

http://VirtualOnlineLearning.com

Regular show Features: Facial Exercise of the week, Twitter follow shout outs & Weekly

Featured blog.

Visit us at eBay or Etsy.com for ingredients: http://Model-Supplies.com or
http://eModelSupplies.com

Follow me on Twitter: @ModelSupplies I follow back!

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies on Twitter – Follow me!

More Articles from Anita Nelson at ModelSupplies
Help! I Don’t Show Up In Twitter Search!

Domestic Violence Takes Many Forms….

TwitBlocking – Shocking New Twitter Trend Brings Me To My Knees

What It’s Like To Be #TwitterSuspended

5 “Get Followed Fast” Finds!
My Twitter Mosaic – Fabulous Tweeps!

Careful What You Tweet
How to Become Instantly RT-able (A Twitter Guide)

Charity Turns Away Help

They say there’s a first time for everything, but I didn’t see this one coming. It’s no big deal to me, but I think it could hurt charities if they think the way North Shore Animal League did recently. This is an animal rescue charity that has long been dear to me and I have stuffed envelopes with cash and mailed them off to this cause during even the toughest of times for my family. I have made donations to them for well over 10 years.

As you probably know, I have an eBay store and very often, well, almost always have items listed for charity. The items vary, and the percentages are anywhere from 10% – 100% of the auction winnings. While most of my items are in the $10-$15 range, this adds up over time and I believe most of the charities I have chosen are grateful. I have even gotten a few “Thank you” emails! Very nice!

Most of my items are beauty related and I even have my own skin care line, but I try to offer a variety of items. I have recently begun listing an item for sexual health called “Healthy Sense Potent Passion”

Healthy Sense Potent Passion with Horny Goat Weed

and was looking for my favorite charities at the same time as listing. I was just thrilled to see my old favorite charity, North Shore Animal League! I chose them for this listing, thinking how cute it would be for animal magnetism and wondering if I should up the anty for North Shore, perhaps throw in an extra bottle or do incentives. Maybe when I relist it, have to get going now… Well, good thing I didn’t. North Shore Animal League didn’t think my listing was cute at all. They canceled it. eBay sent a notice:

“The nonprofit organization designated within your listing (North Shore Animal League America) has notified eBay that they do not wish to be affiliated with this listing; therefore, we have ended your item.”

North Shore said nothing to me at all. This is a supplement for sexual health. It is not presented as it could be. I relisted the item with a new charity, Prostate Cancer Foundation , and if they do not object to my item and me, I will relist it with incentives of additional bottles. I understand that this may not have been the ideal item to list for North Shore Animal League, but I would have probably changed it to Hyaluronic Acid powder next time out. I am not required to list for charities, but it is a wonderful thing I can do that Danna Crawford, aka @PowerSellingMom showed me how to do it with eBay Giving Works! I was THRILLED to discover that I could help charities without shelling out actual cash. I always have more product than cash as a seller! (If you’d like to learn from @PowerSellingMom join Virtual Online Learning Group and tell ’em Anita sent you! Lifetime Membership goes up November 1st~!)

I think it’s a little silly for North Shore to burn bridges in this economy. Would it really harm their PR campaign if I donated to them with this item? Have you ever heard of them before this post? What do you think?

Update:

By contrast & to put the positive spin back into my post! Here is a Thank you email from Susan G. Komen for the Cure:

Thank you for selling items on eBay and for choosing Susan G. Komen for the Cure as the beneficiary of your gift.  Our important work is made possible only because of the very generous support of individuals like you throughout the world.

With survivors and activists in 122 Affiliates representing almost every community and city in the country, Susan G. Komen for the Cure is the most progressive grassroots organization fighting breast cancer today. I encourage you to get involved in your area.  Please visit our website at www.komen.org or call our National Toll-Free Helpline at 1-877-GO KOMEN to find a Komen Affiliate near you and for answers to your questions about breast health and breast cancer.

Together we will end breast cancer forever by empowering people, ensuring quality care for all and energizing science to find the cures.

View your special thank you card by clicking the link below.

Sincerely,

Hala Moddelmog

President and CEO

To be fair, I have listed all types of products for them, and I’m not sure if I listed the above product, but something tells me they would be just as grateful. It is something for charities to think about. There is a scene in “Gone With The Wind” where the “harlot” gives money to Scarlette’s gentle, sweet sister-in-law and she accepts their money, much to Scarlette’s surprise. Sometimes allowing others to give is a gift in itself.

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies on Twitter – Follow me!

More Articles from Anita Nelson at ModelSupplies
Help! I Don’t Show Up In Twitter Search!

Domestic Violence Takes Many Forms….

TwitBlocking – Shocking New Twitter Trend Brings Me To My Knees

What It’s Like To Be #TwitterSuspended

5 “Get Followed Fast” Finds!
My Twitter Mosaic – Fabulous Tweeps!

Careful What You Tweet
How to Become Instantly RT-able (A Twitter Guide)

Healthy Sense Potent Passion

What Would You Do To Be A Twitter Trending Topic?

What @officialtila REALLY Thinks of Her Fans – October 5th, 2009

Twitter Trending Topics

A trending topic on Twitter occurs when so many tweople tweet about a certain word, phrase or #hashtag that it becomes a top trending topic. It is not easy to become a trend on Twitter since the population explosion, Michael Jackson’s death and armies of bots compete with different keywords for the ten slots all the time. Yes, your heart will sink if you see your favorite star’s name along with “RIP” in trending topics. Twitter now offers the fastest news this blogger knows in existence via trending topic. It is THE place to check first for news and normally is filled with links to stories about that topic.

@officialtila on TwitterCounter.com

Is it valuable Public Relations to be a Twitter trending topic? You bet your background, it is! In fact, some tweeps have sunken to new lows to trend. This morning, I caught a tweet to @officialtila begging her to stop talking about suicide since children were up and on their way to school. I am happily writing this from the standpoint that I have no idea who Tila Tequila is! I read this morning that she has a show on MTV – you know, that cable TV station that used to play music, but now only retains the name Music Television? Her page is Verified, background nude, and her Bio promises “Follow me for a fun time! xox”. Not today. No fun today, boys and girls.

@officialtila page

This morning Tila was busy threatening her followers that she was going to kill herself, manipulating them to create hap dash #hashtags in the lamest attempt to get a trending topic EVER. She threatened suicide. Apparently, this wasn’t even the first time! I felt sorry for her – AT FIRST, but I kept reading. This is one of the most self-absorbed, careless, reckless, self-important “stars” I have ever seen! She has adolescents as fans and followers, engaging them in considering suicide for her and themselves. Counting off the ways to perform the act and pronouncing which ways were “painful”.

Tila tries for trending in the worst way.

Likely angry that she couldn’t become a trend, she began to say that Twitter blocked her from trending. I doubt Twitter is blocking her in fact, I’m surprised they have not pulled her down for her avatar or background picture. That’s star treatment. Personally, I didn’t see that many tweets about her – for or against her suicide to pull a trend. She just didn’t get it and became furious at her lack of trending, ranting at whomever spoke to her, and finally, telling everyone that she is tired of working so hard to give up 50% to taxes to support them!

Does Tila pay your way? Do you follow her?

Does Tila put food on YOUR table?

Other things Tila said:

• Accused people of being racist, while she talked about “certain demographics”
• Said @lilduval turned his back on her – what is he supposed to do, exactly?
• Ripped on @cthagod when he got her to stop her suicidal ranting from what I can tell. Oh yes, she deleted MOST of what she said to him because of the inflammatory nature, but we’ve got your back:

This doesn't sound like nice, normal conversation.

She ends this pathetic grab for attention by actually lecturing to her followers as if they are the ones with the problem! She quotes Russell Simmons to prove she did not make racist remarks, while it could certainly be proven that she did. At the end, she is “an educator, a bringer of light, lecturing mankind for the greater good”. Get real! Take responsibility for yourself, Tila!

Does this sound racist to you?

She said things that were quite possibly legally actionable to other tweeps, such as “Ur gonna get shot” which could be construed as a threat.

"Ur gonna get shot"

Much of her “episode” appears to be deleted, but we can turn to search for the next 14 days or so to read it, can’t we? Tila’s Twitter Search – Yes, we can, trending topic or not. Tila, put the Twitter down. It’s not your best moment. It did make me write this article, but I still don’t know who you are and worse, I no longer care to find out. Here’s what people are saying to Tila on Twitter. Do you still follow her? Where are you going?

Does it all come down to conceit?

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies on Twitter – Follow me!

More Articles from Anita Nelson at ModelSupplies
Help! I Don’t Show Up In Twitter Search!

Domestic Violence Takes Many Forms….

TwitBlocking – Shocking New Twitter Trend Brings Me To My Knees

What It’s Like To Be #TwitterSuspended

5 “Get Followed Fast” Finds!
My Twitter Mosaic – Fabulous Tweeps!

Careful What You Tweet
How to Become Instantly RT-able (A Twitter Guide)

The Night Blip fm Died

23 years ago, I wrote a 3 page letter to my present day husband comprised entirely of lyrics. Thinking he would read it as I wrote it, changing tunes with each phrase, I handed my masterpiece over to him with such pride. He played guitar, so of course he could appreciate it…  Maybe not as much fun to read as it was to write it!

My Hubby

You might think someone like me would immediately abandon ship from Twitter to Blip.fm as soon as the introduction was made. Limitless music to pour through is a type of heaven for someone like me who majored in Musical Theater and even tried unsuccessfully to change her major to Music (they liked me, they really liked me, but I could not sight read on piano well enough, alas). By the time I checked out Blip.fm, I was fully ensconced in my Twitter world. I used TONS of restraint not to “blip” all the time since many Twitter users considered it “spam” to play song after song. I denied my passion for a very long time, stopping in to blip only a song or two…

On Friday (night!), September 25^th, 2009, that would all change. Perhaps it changed for MANY, MANY people all at once? It was a Friday night filled with fun, twittering and blipping! The excitement was almost palpable as we “passed each other in the halls” nodding our virtual approval of songs and tweets when we couldn’t slow down long enough to actually reply. Blip.fm was so busy I could hardly add a song to my playlist! The songs came whizzing by making their own music! Here’s another one from

@krystynchong

@KrystynChong ~smiles~ that’s a GOOD one! Tweets zooming just as fast!  Here I am!

@CiaoBella50

@MomsofAmerica

@FijiLomalagi

@RiWrites

@CiaoBella50 @MomsofAmerica @FijiLomalagi @RiWrites! Ready for our pajama party!” –

@LoriMoreno

(@LoriMoreno‘s idea) It wasn’t long before most of that group was in Twitter Jail ~ which calls for Thin Lizzy – “JailBreak”, of course! Speeding to blip JailBreak, @CiaoBella50 and I met briefly in a DM, both trying to rip the song out, neither being successful. I told Bella I couldn’t get my blips to show up in my tweets! <~ what a fun sentence THAT was! Wonder what’s wrong? I continued to blip new jail songs, but none would come through to Twitter. Then something odd happened at Blip.fm…it slowed down and my Firefox browser began to crash.

It was all I could do to squeeze out a tweet, cramming @CiaoBella50 @RiWrites @MomsofAmerica @FijiLomalagi into our tweets. Changing the names of the convicted to their Twitter jail account names seamlessly, rock on!

@DJKevyK

Happened upon a Blip by @DJKevyK that seemed to be someone talking in French – cool, interesting, funny, I thought.

@mayhemstudios

That took me off on an A.D.D. tangent and I began to wonder why I never talk to @MayhemStudios anymore – of course, “it’s so funny…..how we don’t talk…. Anymore” Well, I had to blip THAT song to him! I sped off to my search page in slow motion since Firefox was crashing, searched out the song, marveled that this must be a “one hit wonder” since I didn’t know who did the song, proceeded to blip it and got an internal server error!

Blip.fm Fatal Error

Reboot!

Progress...

Blip.fm was CRASHING????

Boot Language

How could this BE?????

In response to my laughing with my friends, exclaiming “I broke Blip.fm!”, my husband started yelling at me for breaking Blip.fm! What song was I blipping? He was planning on blipping some tunes! What did I do?! (I decided not to tell him.)

Of course, we are all USED to Twitter #Failwhales and Caterpillars, but I had never seen Blip.fm CRASH! I could still listen, but not blip. I ran around to my friends on Twitter, asking them if they could blip? Before I got any answers confirming from Twitter, other Blippy friends that I also know in Twitter, of course, @drslimpepper

@drslimpepper

@soulboykirk came by my Twitter to say they could no longer blip, either! I began telling them I broke Blip.fm! It had to be me since I am not there often and really started pounding out the blips! A feeling of dread came over me as I gradually realized Blip.fm was seriously and actually DOWN.

@djslimpepper

RT @drslimpepper Oh Blippy how I love you, Oh Blippy how I care, 4 you. Come on back Blippy, we all love you. LOL

Thank goodness it’s back on Saturday, September 26, 2009 at 1:30 pm EST!

I will never toy with you again, Blippy!

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies on Twitter – Follow me!

More Articles from Anita Nelson at ModelSupplies
Help! I Don’t Show Up In Twitter Search!

Domestic Violence Takes Many Forms….

TwitBlocking – Shocking New Twitter Trend Brings Me To My Knees

What It’s Like To Be #TwitterSuspended

5 “Get Followed Fast” Finds!
My Twitter Mosaic – Fabulous Tweeps!

Careful What You Tweet
How to Become Instantly RT-able (A Twitter Guide)

How to Avoid Spam on Twitter – Follow Facts

There seems to be some confusion about spam. If a spammer follows you, it really does not matter all that much. It is when you follow a spammer that you will be subjected to their content-until you unfollow. Spam accounts following you are not gathering information in that way. If they want to gather information, they use Twitter search and even an account you blocked can find information about you and anyone else there. The only information that is not available in Twitter search is protected updates and those who are “gone from search”. (See article) Even an account that you blocked can go to your page and read your updates, unless they are “protected”, but protecting your updates seriously limits your ability to gain followers, so what to do?

Protected tweets do not show in search, but can discourage followers.

Unfollowing a spammer is usually plenty. The only types that need to be blocked are those who repeatedly follow and unfollow you, those with graphic avatars and those who are not even following you, yet send an @reply to you and usually a few others grouped together, containing a link to something you do not care about.

Spam accounts are normally set up in multiples or armies of bot accounts. A bot or robot, in this instance, is a completely automated account set up for the sole purpose of broadcasting a single message or set of messages that do not include networking. Often a bot account will only tweet messages including links to their purpose.

Most spammers are bots programmed with annoying outgoing messages. It could pop up in your @replies now known as @mentions. The only people who see their message are those who follow that account or those whose names are included in @mentions within that tweet or spam sandwich. They tend to target Twitter users with lots of followers, grouping them with friends to gain trust. This type of spammer shoots its message out with no following relationship with you. The only way to stop seeing them is to block.

Don't send us your spam sandwich!

Spam sandwich messages are the worst because they insinuate that you know the sender and try to establish trust by showing you with your friends. Your friends think you believe it’s ok, so they may click on the link. Trust is the fabric of Twitter! The worst of this is that you could be swept up in a “spam cloud” when Twitter is cleaning and accidentally get suspended from Twitter even though you did NOTHING to provoke or cause it! (See article)

If you are following someone with an annoying tendency toward spam, yet they do not send to you directly, simply unfollowing is sufficient.

So, how do you avoid spam on Twitter?

1. Do not follow accounts that will spam you and unfollow if they become spammy.
2. Block accounts with graphic avatars or that include you in a spam sandwich message containing a link to something you don’t care about that is directed at a few people who are not even followed by said spammer. <~ Those are the worst!

Large accounts, such as the accounts of stars, don’t worry about who is following them. They worry about who they follow. That is the only thing they can reasonably control. Since we are “Reciprocals”, we follow a lot more accounts than stars and must approach it differently. The important thing in avoiding spam on Twitter is whom you follow or don’t follow, not who is following you, or the stars would be at constant risk, wouldn’t they?

by Anita Nelson

by Anita Nelson @ModelSupplies on Twitter – Follow me!

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Twitter Mafia Judge Bots – How to be Gangsta Spammy

The new Twitter Mafia is True Twit Validation Service. If you follow people on Twitter, you have no doubt received the following message in a Direct Message or DM:

“Xxx  uses TrueTwit validation service. Please follow this link so Xxx can be sure you are a legitimate follower: http://truetwit.com/…”

Usually the person who sends this message to you doesn’t even follow you, so there is no way to reply to them! Here is a person who does not follow you, asking you to prove to them that you are a real person and not a bot! Are we a little carried away with this notion? There are far too many applications built to exploit and take advantage of this fear, including the TwitBlock.org site. (Please see my story on that fiasco!) After all, some bots are useful, too, but aside from that, this mobster tactic plays out just like in real life.

How to be Gangsta Spammy

Create fear: Fear that there is nothing but bots on Twitter and you must defend yourself from them.

Do something big or take advantage of a situation and use it for PR buzz: The recent denial of service attacks on Twitter has served as fodder for these sites.

Offer False Protection: Come into the Twitter community offering protection against bots and spam while really only creating MORE bots and spam!

Create Outsiders: Declare that anyone who does not use your product or service is spammy or a bot and not deserving of a follow!

Shake ‘em Down to reinforce fear: Collect a fee or sign in information, such as Twitter credentials and email addresses.

Create more problems to “protect” people from – next service from True Twit will be how to block True Twit DMs – you see?

True Twit has to go! This is a ridiculous service that offers NO PROTECTION and really no service whatsoever! If you want to do something for your Twitter community, sign up with @Jesse’s  SocialToo.com and use that service to stop auto DMs and list Twitter Ids you suspect are auto-Dming you and contributing to the REAL spam.

Don’t fall prey to this “mob or herd mentality” ~! You don’t need a bot to tell you who is a real person and who is a bot! If you are seriously in doubt, look at the page of the person, and see where their tweets originate. It says right on Twitter’s page “from web” or “from TweetDeck” or “from API”. There are a variety of services people can use to tweet. I use TweetVisor myself, and also an auto-feed for my blog “Twitter Feed” Sometimes I employ “HooteSuite” for a timed tweet. Occasionally, I have a lot of information to share and will use timed tweeting to keep me out of Twitter Jail~! (Twitter Jail is when you exceed the TPH or Tweet per hour, now set at a generous 150 up from 100 to accommodate applications.)

The use of these services does not necessarily mean someone is a bot! It may mean they are not at their computer at that time. If this truly offends you, you decide. Simply unfollow. Really, those are kind of nice, in my opinion, since if no one else is tweeting while you are standing in line at the drugstore reading Twitter, one of those feeds may say something just right, perhaps a joke or a quote to make your day. On the other hand, if you look at someone and all they do is tweet from an API or feed service and you do not like the content for reading and retweeting, then you may well unfollow based on that determining for yourself that this is a fully automated account that does not fit your needs.

Do you honestly believe any bot, like True Twit Validation can better gauge these things for you than you can for yourself? How automated is a person that needs to have a bot discern whether an account is worth following? Do you really believe that you are following a higher quality person because they were led into a mob mentality by this gangsta spammy service? I do not fault anyone who is using the service. It sounds like a good thing: reduce spam on Twitter, but the second you realize it is doing the exact opposite and CREATING spam on Twitter, please GET RID OF IT~! Drive it out of town as if it is running through the streets dumping paper everywhere! Thank you, Follow-Friends!

by Anita Nelson

More Articles from Anita Nelson at ModelSupplies
Help! I Don’t Show Up In Twitter Search!

Domestic Violence Takes Many Forms….

TwitBlocking – Shocking New Twitter Trend Brings Me To My Knees

What It’s Like To Be #TwitterSuspended

5 “Get Followed Fast” Finds!
My Twitter Mosaic – Fabulous Tweeps!

Careful What You Tweet
How to Become Instantly RT-able (A Twitter Guide)

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