As of this blog post I am following 166 people in Twitter. I see a lot of information on Twitter every day (but not nearly as much as someone like Guy Kawasaki who is following 7,882 people or Chris Brogan who’s following 5,020 people) and it’s interesting to see the different things people talk about. The “Twitter in Plain English” video does a great job talking about how Twitter connects people and provides an outlet to let people learn about you through little glimpses into your life.

What I’ve noticed, however, is that the most interesting Tweets don’t just answer the “what are you doing” question. Some people who use Twitter only answer that question and quite honestly it’s not as interesting as the people who provide a broader view of themselves. Twitter can be a lot more than that for you but you have to think about it in that way. Some people have made that transition, but a lot still haven’t. That being said, here are five other questions you anc answer with Twitter to make your Tweets a lot more interesting.

1. What did you learn? This might be breaking news or an interesting blog post you just read or maybe a poignant thought you heard. Tweet this little nugget of information and be sure to include a link if you have one. Use TinyURL.com to shorten the URL and keep you within the 140 character limit.
2. What made you laugh? You can learn a lot about a person by what they find funny. When is the last time you linked to something that made you laugh?
3. What do you need an answer to? Twitter can be a great place to find an answer to a need you have. Just last night I saw that Dave Delaney was having some technical issues with his blog and he asked for help from his Twitter friends. Within minutes Cal Evans discovered the blog wasn’t the issue. It was the server and Dave knew he needed to contact his host provider. That’s just a great little example of Twitter connecting people to answer a question. One thing to note here, rhetorical questions probably won’t get a response but specific questions often will.
4. What are you thankful for? This is also tells you a lot about the person and can also inspire you to be a little more thankful in your own life.
5. What ticks you off? Some of the most interesting Tweets are during a moment of frustration. These are usually funny but I’ve seen them get pretty serious too. One funny one I saw once was from a commuter here in Nashville who said, “Dear I-24, you are not a parking lot. Let’s get moving!!!”

The bottom line is that you want to round out your Tweets to answer more than just what you are doing. People will discover you’re a more interesting person and will get to know you better as well.

I know, I know…I don’t usually show video here except on Fridays but this one is worth the exception. I’m not an SEO (Search Engine Optimization) guy but this rap actually has some really good tips about what you need to do when you’re building a site.

I’m not a web designer or developer so some of this didn’t mean anything to me but as a social media marketer this had some valuable information and a few good reminders. Whether you build sites or just have people around you who do, this is worth the free SEO tutorial…fo’ shizzle.

Here are the lyrics:
Your site design is the first thing people see
it should be reflective of you and the industry
easy to look at with a nice navigation
when you can’t find what you want it causes frustration
a clear Call to action to increase the temptation
use appealing graphics they create motivation
if you have animation
use with moderation
cause search engines can’t index the information
display the logos of all your associations
highlight your contact info that’s an obligation
create a clean design you can use some decoration
but to try to prevent any client hesitation
every page that they click should provide and explanation
should be easy to understand like having a conversation
when you design the style go ahead and use your imagination
but make sure you use correct color combinations
do some investigation, look at other organizations
but don’t duplicate or you might face a litigation
design done, congratulations but it’s time to start construction
follow these instructions when you move into production
your photoshop functions then slice that design
do your layout with divs make sure that it’s aligned
please don’t use tables even though they work fine
when it come to indexing they give searches a hard time
make it easy for the spiders to crawl what you provide
remove font type, font color and font size
no background colors, keep your coding real neat,
tag your look and feel on a separate style sheet
better results with xml and css
now you making progress, a lil closer to success
describe your doctype so the browser can relate
make sure you do it great or it won’t validate
check in all browsers, I do it directly
gotta make sure that it renders correctly
some use IE, some others use Flock
some use AOL, I use Firefox
title everything including links and images
don’t use italics, use emphasis
don’t use bold, please use strong
if you use bold that’s old and wrong
when you use CSS, you page will load quicker
client satisfied like they eating on a snicker
they stuck on your page like you made it with a sticker
and then they convert now that’s the real kicker
make you a lil richer, your site a lil slicker
design and code right man I hope you get the picture
what I’m telling you is true man it should be a scripture
if it’s built right you’ll be the pick of the litter
everyone will want to follow you like twitter
competition will get bitter and you’ll shine like glitter
if you trying to grow your company will get bigger
design and code right man can you get with it

Being busy with work is great (particularly when you’re self employed as I am) but when you’re trying to keep a blog up it gets tough to maintain sometimes. Last week there were some things I wanted to mention but didn’t take the time to, so here are three things I’ve been meaning to post over the last several days…

Thank you PRSA Nashville. Last week I had the opportunity to be on their panel discussion about social media and it was a lot of fun. It was interesting to hear what some companies are doing in social networking but there were also traces of the old thinking when one person commented that her organization doesn’t allow blogging. I got the sense that she was not a fan of that particular policy but she’s not in a position to do much about it. I would name the organization here…but that would give them further reason to dislike blogs, so I won’t. It was a good reminder that there’s still a lot of understanding needed for all the social media but what I’m seeing now is that even the staunchest of holdouts from a year ago are finally realizing that the new media isn’t a fad and is actually changing media as a whole.

Google Maps has street level views in Nashville now. Google announced last week that Nashville is one of thirteen new cities with the street view. I wasn’t familiar with what Google Maps is doing to get actual images from the street level for major cities around the country until an episode of The New Mediology when Nathan told me about it. Since then I’ve wondered when Nashville was going to get it, and wouldn’t you know it just launched last week. It’s very cool. [HT to Rex Hammock for this.]

Adobe launched a free, online version of Photoshop last week called Photoshop Express. I’ve heard mixed reviews about Photoshop Express but haven’t yet had a chance to play with it. My guess is the people who didn’t use Photoshop previously will like it whereas all the designers who are familiar with the software will recognize any limitations it may have. Adobe is positioning it as a lighter-weight version of Photoshop so you have to expect it won’t do everything the software does but you sure can’t beat the price. [HT to Steve Nesmith for sending me an email about this a few days ago.]

This is probably one of the coolest books I’ve ever seen. It would be a really cool conversation piece as well as something fun to have around the office to spur a little creativity if you’re mind gets stuck. I like things that are well designed but obviously well planned too.

Here’s the link for the feed readers: ABC in 3D

You may not know it but you have some control over the way your blog’s RSS feed displays. You can allow your feed to show a summary (which usually consists of the first paragraph or introductory sentences in your post) or the full post. Most blogs default with the full post display but I was asked recently if I thought the summary option is a good idea based on the premise that if people can only read an introductory paragraph from the post then it will drive traffic to the blog.

My advice is to never just do the summary and here’s why…

• The summary option assumes people care enough to click out of their feed reader to go to you blog. Many feed readers are scanning headlines and if they see something that catches their interest, they want to read it then and there. That’s a primary reason for having a feed reader to begin with…the person chose to bring the content to them rather than go to every blog to read the posts. iGoogle wasn’t the most popular Google property in 2007 for nothing. Increasingly, people want their online information consolidated, convenient, and quick. Don’t make it hard on them because they will likely keep moving through their feeds and never click over to read your post.
• The summary option assumes that unique visitors to the blog are a more important statistic than the RSS readers. Personally, I believe the richest statistic you can measure for your blog is your RSS subscriber base. Those readers have elected to pull your content into their feed reader. They are your new opt-in list so treat them special and don’t make life harder on them. You need them more than they need you.
• The summary option isn’t a common practice with 99% of blogs. If for no other reason, don’t do this because you’ll be the one blogger who forces people to click over to your blog to read the posts and it’s just counter cultural (in blog culture that is.) If you do the summary, the best case scenario is that people will ignore it an move on. The worst case is they’ll think you’re controlling and egotistical…and they still won’t read it and will move on.

The bottom line is that anything you may gain in some new traffic to the blog will be a much bigger loss in people’s attention and your influence because you’re creating a hurdle they have to get over if they want to read your posts. It’s just not a good idea. You have more to lose than gain.

In the latest episode of The New Mediology, Nathan and I talked about banner ads and the prevailing attitudes from consumers about them. We cited some stats about the types of banner ads that are considered better than others, but in the end there are actually very few circumstances when a banner ad is going to be a good use of your marketing money.

I have actually changed my view on banner ads a little bit over the last year. I used to be completely against banner ads but have actually found there are a few cases when it’s worth the money. The only times I’ve seen banner ads bring positive results for my clients (both in brand recognition and direct sales) is in the cases where a blogger reviewed the client’s product positively and then we went back and advertised on the same blog a few weeks later…so that has become the exception to my previous ban on banner ads.

As always, you can download The New Mediology in iTunes or listen online.

This is a little different kind of blog post for me because I’m just coming right out to promote something to you that benefits me directly. This Thursday I’m launching the first of what I hope will be many new media marketing teleseminars at 8pm EST on March 27. The teleseminar is a culmination of what I teach to marketing departments and in one on one consulting combined with the things I practice myself when I’m developing new media marketing campaigns or marketing for myself and my business.

What I’ve found most interesting after having consulted on new media marketing for over a year now is that the same principles apply to you no matter what your context. What I mean is, the advice I give to a guy just starting a CPA firm or gunsmith business is the same as a well known author or company that generates almost half a billion dollars a year in revenue. So it doesn’t matter if you’ve got a side business you hope will one day become your full-time job or you’re working on the next great American novel or you’re a marketing director in a mid-size company. The fact of the matter is that the world of marketing has changed significantly over the last several years and it’s changing every day. The ease of entry into this kind of marketing is virtually equal for the guy with a $12 marketing budget and the lady with a $12 million marketing budget. There’s a new way to approach marketing in strategy and execution and that’s what I’ll be talking about Thursday. It’s one part new media technology, one part new media marketing, and one part tips and perspective that I’ve learned from now doing it day in and day out. We’ll talk about blogging, podcasting, social networking, online video, and other forms of social media and how all of them are just waiting for you to use them well.

I hope you’ll join me this Thursday…or in a future teleseminar. Here’s the link for more info and to sign up for the teleseminar.

This video really made me laugh. I usually don’t connect the videos of the week to new media marketing but there are a lot of parallels here to the marketing world and the major shifts that have been occurring for the last few years.

I have talked with some traditional advertisers and marketers who are like the patient in this video. They refuse to accept the changes regardless of what reality may be. Be willing to hear the truth even if you think you’re not going to like it.

For the feed readers, here’s the video: May I Be Blunt With You?

Last week I got to hear a former General Motors advertising consultant talk about his work with the company about 20 years. He was with them from the late 70s through the late 90s as I recall. He referenced the phrase, “As goes GM, so goes the country.” I hadn’t heard that before but with a quick Google search I discovered this phrase has been around for many years. GM’s influence on our country and economy isn’t nearly as strong as it once was, though I’m sure people would debate me on that. Whether or not it’s true some interesting news today out of GM sparked my curiosity…

According to MediaBuyerPlanner.com, GM is putting $1.5 billion (yes, billion) into digital marketing. That’s half their annual marketing budget. GM is the third largest advertiser in the country so the speculation will begin as to whether this will trickle down to significantly smaller marketing budgets as other companies see what GM does and follow their lead.

My hunch is that many of the smaller marketing budgets are already there. In fact, the smallest of marketing budgets…like people who have about $100 in annual marketing budgets, have been there for a while. In my observation it’s the big companies that are getting on board last. Making the shift to digital marketing at the corporate level, however is still big news and quite bold of GM to shift a full 50% of their budget to a medium that some people still question as a practical advertising platform and marketing channel.

I commend GM for what they’re doing and I’m sure this news has already been passed around marketing departments and advertising agencies all over the country by now. Who knows, maybe that old saying will turn out to be true after all.

More than likely you saw Office Max’s Elf Yourself promotion during the last two Christmas seasons. If you’re not familiar with it, Office Max created the site to let people upload pictures of themselves or someone they know and put the head on a dancing elf. It was huge. It seemed like everyone I knew and was reading online was talking about it particularly during the Christmas season of 2006. As good as Elf Yourself was, it also had a consequence…it encouraged other companies to try something similar and less remarkable. Case in point: Get Irish Now promoting Irish Springs body wash.

I could spend the bulk of this post talking about how Get Irish Now falls short of Elf Yourself in originality and overall delivery but I think the thing that struck me most is that I found out about Get Irish Now because someone from their PR firm emailed me to let me know. In the email pitch they led with a comparison to Elf Yourself and then went on to compare Get Irish Now to “virtual worlds” and opportunities for people to create their own content online.

Without getting into a really long explanation on this for those who don’t know about virtual worlds like Second Life, neither Elf Yourself nor Get Irish Now are virtual worlds. They’re not even close.

As for the claim that people are really interested in creating content, I agree wholeheartedly but I think the stats that back those claims are more along the lines of social media sites like YouTube or blog or podcasts.

My point here is that if you’re going to pitch yourself to bloggers you really, really, really need to know what you’re talking about and who you’re talking to. If you’re a PR person or just want to pitch yourself, your service, your product, or something else to bloggers you need to know what you’re getting into. For more on this check out what Chris Anderson did several months ago. I also talked about this when another PR firm contacted me in August. In that post I recommended five things to consider when you pitch bloggers and here they are again if you weren’t reading this blog last summer. The full explanations for the points below are on the original post:

• Remember that bloggers are individuals not organizations.
• Be direct. 
• Don’t be a spammer. 
• Bloggers would rather make and break news than react to news.
• Study the individual blogs you hope will work with you.

The bottom line is that pitching your ideas to bloggers is great. I do it too. You just have to remember that you pitch bloggers differently than organizations. Some PR professionals seem to still be learning that.

One final note on Get Irish Now…if you load the site and just wait, meaning you don’t do anything for a minute or two, the guy will come out and harass you. Depending on your sense of humor you’ll either laugh or want to punch him.