OKC Twitterers

Wrote up a short article for NewsOK.com today about Twitter.

To Twitter or not to Twitter seems to be the question of the day for anyone who spends time on the web and is considering dipping their toes in the social media waters.
So what's all the hubbub about this site that limits users to 140 characters for each update about "what they are doing"?
I posed the question to the Twitter community on Tuesday afternoon asking folks who follow me (@mkokc) to tell me why they use the site.
Here are some of the responses, smart and smart-alecky alike.
* chrismartintv: "I use it to communicate with potential clients, users in connected fields of work, report interesting news and Tweet random tidbits."
* badcox: "Original reason: to learn the technology; now, to connect with friends, co-workers and brag about my son."
* youngblood: "To pick up chicks."
* akurys: "To find out what peers in my career field are up to, keep up with trends/news, solicit suggestions for books/movies/places to eat!"
* puckchk: "I use it mainly to get updates from various sports teams,scores,etc that i can't get anywhere else. News updates."
* bscarter: "I like to connect with folks, and it's more personal than a simple blog, more expansive than Facebook."
* vshanekempton: "To tap into the rudimentary telepathic output of my chosen community. Voice=currency,both social and economic,in the information age."
* rfast: "As a new bird, I'm learning tons on the social media front/the art of concise but meaningful convo. & its impact personally & professionally."
* mattgalloway: "What kind of guru would I'd be if I didn't."
* m_wible: "I use it b/c it's a great tool for networking & job searching, but also b/c it keeps me up to date with news & I've met cool ppl!"
* billhandy: "I use it to be a better professor."
* smartgoat: "Because it's the simplest of all the social networks: Say whatever you want, follow people you find interesting."
* WhitneyFleming: "I love the "viral" aspect to this awesome marketing tool and how quickly tweets spread."
* LoriRasmussen: "Story ideas, social networking with other journalists and PR pros."
* programwitch: "Why I use Twitter? To connect and inform. Use it to make friends, pass along ideas, ask questions and promote my blogs & podcast."
* jonfisher: "Twitter allows me to tap into the flood of real-time-web information. It's also allowed me to rapidly grow my professional network."
* JLanie: "I use Twitter to quickly/effectively communicate with friends, family & keep up w/ my favorite people and organizations."
* patrickallmond: "It allows me to ask a question and get it answered fast. It also allows me to share my content far and wide - fast."
* johnjac: "I hope the be interview by NewsOK one day, that is why I use twitter ;-)"
* BradHP: "Main use for Twitter is to connect with other comic creators, promote my work, and hopefully jumpstart my writing career."
* kristen_okla: "I use Twitter to listen to and learn f/ new ppl and smart conversations, network w/ new ppl. I've met some amazing ppl here."
* normanregional: "Norman Regional twitters to keep our community informed. We hope to reach all generations & provide local, useful health information."
* andreamyers: "It's an easy, fun way to express myself, meet cool people I might not meet otherwise and stay in the know about all kinds of things."
* LeaTerry: "I use Twitter to find story ideas, and to find credible people to interview for my articles."
* L0rdHelmet: "To be part of the conversation in real time. To get the news from those that are actually there, and because it's fun!"
* danielle_walker: "To share and glean new ideas and perspectives, and to connect with people."
* MyJRNY: "I use Twitter to turn acquaintances into friends, increase my awareness of real-time OKC happenings, and laugh. (people are funny)"
* tamarin2087: "I Twitter because it is faster and easier than blogging. I rarely have a paragraph to share. Just want to point out a link."
* B2design: "I use Twitter to keep up on what's happening in real time. It's an incredible communication tool (and highly addictive!)"
* FreshPeel: "I use Twitter to stay on top of news & trends and to connect with people."
* garyhail: "1.To see what others in our industry are doing. 2. As a news update source. 3. To promote our products. 4. Personal Growth."
* ginamstudio: "Because it's a great way for groups (etsy) to quickly network, it's easy to follow cool people who are fun to talk to, it's entertaining."

Digesting the news

With storms, speaking engagements, spring break and life getting in the way, it's been a few days since I blogged.

And then came Monday, with the news of closing of the Ann Arbor News and the shrinking of other papers in the Booth chain to three-day print publications.

Add that to the death of the P-I and the ripples from the Rocky and my brain has been considering the dark cloud.

You see, I nearly was the sports editor of the Ann Arbor News.

And in another "For Want of a Nail"* alternate timeline, I would have been the one facing a life of no income, three kids and a punch in the gut.

I still alive and thinking.

More soon ...

FOOTNOTES
* - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/For_Want_of_a_Nail

Who goes there: Your online brand and identity

All this deep social media thinking has me wondering about the best way to manage, wrangle, control and cajole my online life.

While many folks have connected to me through Twitter*, I've been trying hard to create some brand consistency across the web. That's why I started this blog and gotten a separate new gmail address - themkokc@gmail.com

But, of course, at last count, I think I have five different gmail address, plus a yahoo mail account, plus a work account. All of those e-mail addresses have their own address books.** My pal Sam Sims wondered aloud this past week if contact forms online will soon have spots for social media usernames. I'm hoping for a big hairy Google solution.***

And, as I try to build up my following on Twitter, I realize I've let my LinkedIn profile go dry for weeks. I also need to get a better account for YouTube, Yelp, Vimeo, UStream and the list goes on.

The key, and something I have tried to preach during the recent SM Speech World Tour, is that honesty is the best policy when it comes to online identity. I hold with that, but there is also the problem.

So many possible portals puts pressure on a user to keep things fresh because each site offers a possible interaction.**** And any possible interaction is a possible life-affecting***** interaction.

What I would advise is sitting down one day (I'll probably do it this weekend) and get all of your social ducks in a row. Make sure you are signed up for everything. Have a consistent username across all platforms and make sure your web is good and tight, everything linking to everything overall.

Why do this?

* First, it shows that you are on top of the tech. You should be able to sign up for new sites as they come and integrate them into your personal social media branding plan, instead of catching up with sites that people mention over a cocktail at Rococo.

* Check out wikipedia or some of the big social media news sites to get good lists of these sites.

* Figure out what the strengths of each is for you and that will help you figure out the best way for you to use it professionally.

* Use sites the applications out there which enable you to post across multiple sites (last.fm, etc.) and it will save you time.

* Include Google reader and your rss solution in this mix.

* Even if you don't do anything on a site, at least you have squatted on your online ID.

FOOTNOTES
* - @mkokc, ranked No. 16 in Oklahoma City. Take that @bbjsports!
** - Somewhere David Allen's head just exploded.
*** - What else is new?
**** - Hey, didn't I meet you on www.fansofbillnyethescienceguy.com?
***** - I looked it up a couple times and still don't know if that shouldn't be effecting.

Riding the flood

Resolved: Follow all of the innovations about social media and web tools out there on the World Wild Web.

Result: Fat chance, buster.

With the pace of change happening so fast in and around the media world, I felt like needed to do my best to keep track of everything that could effect my business, my life and my potential business. So every morning, I checked the revelant sites, kept my eyes out of tweets and retweets about news, set up Google alerts and skimmed YouTube and the rest.*

What I found out is that there is a flood out there. Even if you narrow you focus on one product, like my fondness for Twitter, it is so hot that the flow rushes past me like the mighty Mississip'. The folks at Mashable can't catch everything, but don't feel overwhelmed.

Instead of getting discouraged by this, I'm encouraged by the tech-tsunami.** It shows that even in the face of a economic kick in the head, Americans in garages, basements, backrooms and bars*** are still wringing Grade A New New Things out of existing products and birthing new ones faster than the octomom.

I could wake up tomorrow morning with the new Twitter home page**** and wake up Tuesday with 12 new ways to ninjafy it. People who crack the codes are that much faster and smarter than me.

Now don't get me wrong, I still have a few tricks under my sleeve as well and I feel lucky that I can grab a ride on the big floating log of first-adapter-ness and pluck out some of the choice debris of innovation during the deluge.***** I'm thinking of ways to refine my thoughts on how all of these gears fit together and have even come up with my own trademark phrases that I will roll out in the next few weeks (knock on wood).

Until them, I'm happy to be in the middle of the muddy mess, like Huck Finn and Jim and the cast of Land of the Lost.

Dry land is pretty boring these days. Might as well go with the monster flow.


FOOTNOTES
* - Just @freshpeel alone can keep you busy for days.
** - I tried technami, but it sounded weird.
*** - Most likely McNellie's.
**** - Any day now, Biz.
***** - Wow, extend a metaphor much?

Phone home: BlackBerry vs. iPhone.

I need a new phone. And I need to decide whether or not I will give into the iPhone temptation.

Right now I have a broken down ol' BlackBerry that I love. It's become a permanant fixture in my hand and keeps me up to date with just about everything I need to know.

But it does have it's limitations.*

So, what's next? My ball-and-chain contract with AT&T doesn't expire for a few months, so I am going to be faced with the Sophie's Choice of phone purchasing.

The addition of the Kindle app to iPhone may have pushed me over the edge.
The better Twitter app, of course, may win the day.

Of course, I'd like to go ahead and get something ASAP on eBay, but those Capitalists won't accept my $5 bids for a new BlackBerry Pearl.**

If you want to sway me, now's the time.

Comments, as always, are welcome.


FOOTNOTES
* - No camera, broken trackwheel, no room for new applications, wonky keyboard and fear of running water.
** - Or a trade for a mint-in-box Star Trek: The Next Generation Guinan figure.

Big love from Bill and 'guru fatigue'

Can't say enough about the talk with @Billhandy's* class at Oklahoma State on Tuesday. It was a home run and I was glad to do it.

Bill gave me lots of love on his blog here - which was pretty humbling. But I think there is something to "guru fatigue".

I had a similar conversation with Shelley @cadamy as well as with others about there being an overabundance of folks online who offer themselves up as social media wonks, when all they've really done is since up for everything under the sun and retweet links back to lists on other guru's blogs.

The title of Bill's post calling me a guru is entirely ironic. I don't want anyone to think I have anything on the web down cold**. The pace of developments and change is too much for most people to keep track of, let alone have a handle on implementing in any sane way. While I probably consume mass quantities of Mashable, TechCrunch and ReadWriteWeb more than I should, that still only gives a small glimpse at the mashups that are happening all over the place.

My contention, just like my contention was when I decided to go to SW Missouri instead of the Missouri J-School is that the work is the thing. It's that hardline Lutheran work ethic that still thickens my blood like Crisco.

The reason I have guru fatigue is because I think you need to get your hands dirty trying to figure out the tools that work and how they work and why they work before you can act like you have any sense of what you are talking about.

I'm all for sitting on panels, but the reason for me to do it is not to bring down tablets, but to talk about building communities, to brag on our business and the smart people who work around me*** and to pick the brains of the people in the audience.

Despite what my wife says, I am interested in listening to people**** and found it very interesting when the kids from our Newsroom 101 crowd said they started every day on their Facebook page.

Bottom line, here was my advice for the students at OSU and for anyone in earshot.
--> Consume as much info as possible.
--> Throw away your phone book.
--> Don't use Internet Explorer.
--> Find your niche.
--> Work your brains out.

End of sermon.


FOOTNOTES
* - Use of apostrophe's on Twitter. Discuss.
** - Except for finding Chinese bootlegs of old American Idol episodes.
*** - Not to self, blog post just listing people I am lucky to work with. (@nicktank, @jayspear, @mikesherman)
**** - Well, some people.

Heading to Stillwater

The mkokc World Tour kicks off today with a talk at Oklahoma State and @billhandy's social media class.
Should be fun. Have a decent Powerpoint ready.
Thinking more and more about the web as Mayberry USA.
Report back soon.