Sunday, October 14, 2012

10 links and 10,000 tweets

Hey there,

So the last time I blogged about a Twitter milestone was when I hit 6,000 tweets. That was back on May 25, 2012.

4,000 tweets (aka 4 months & 18 days later), here we are. That's about 170 days, which averages about 24 tweets a day, or 1 tweet an hour. And I think that's enough for perspective.

Obviously, this isn't constant, there are days where I rarely tweet, and then there are days where I'm at a live event or participating in a twitter chat. Regardless, here we are...5 digit tweet land. So I thought I'd share some relevant pieces, found via Google, of course.

The first was 10 things I learned from 10,000 tweets, a blog post at Hyder Media.
Hyder Media is foun­ded and run by inter­net mar­ke­ting and SEO con­sul­tant Kenny Hyder. Kenny has been hel­ping busi­nes­ses with their online and SEO stra­te­gies since 2004.
My favorite point is the one he ends with "Twitter has no value". He goes on to clarify that Twitter has no value in and of itself, but rather the value is in the relationships built and in the conversations had.  And I definitely recommend checking out the rest of the list.

The next result was Map of 10,000 Tweets Shows New York City at Work, at Mashable from this past January.
What does where we tweet say about how we live and work? That’s one of the questions Oakland-based programmer Eric Fischer hoped to answer with his latest mapping project.
This one's pretty neat, and I'd just have to say check out the piece by Joann Pan.

The third link in the results was Twitter: 10,000 tweets per second near end of Super Bowl, also from this past year.
How active was social network Twitter during Super Bowl XLVI? The company revealed during the final three minutes of the game between the New York Giants and New England Patriots, an average of 10,000 tweets were sent every second.
I'm not personally a sports fan, but this was definitely fascinating.

The fourth result which popped up was actually a tweet from this past week:
So there's that. Congrats to Mike and looking forward to seeing what his work brings to the Twitter table!!

The fifth piece which popped up was from a fellow blogger, blogging about her own 10,000 tweet milestone, 10,000 Tweets and Counting.
On Thursday, March 22, 2012 at 5:08 p.m., I logged my 10,000th Tweet. I'm not a compulsive-tell-you-my-every-move kind of Twitterer. I'm an entrepreneur who tweets to promote my company, services, and my clients.
It's a lovely post.

The next relevant result was actually the seventh. The sixth was about Twitter, but 10,000 words. So link seven was an Infographic of 10,000 tweets, from another fellow blogger.
Not only have I been blogging for 8 years today. I reached another milestone just now. Since November 2007 I have tweeted 10,000 times and to celebrate this occasion I have produced this little infographic of my Twitter history.
Might have to do an infographic myself.

On to relevant link number seven, The 10,000th Tweet Contest, which was exactly what it sounds like.
I just celebrated my 3rd birthday on Twitter [they actually send you a Tweet saying Happy TweetDay to let you know]. In that time, I have penned 9,969 Tweets. I should hit 10,000 about Monday or Tuesday.
And now for something completely different, the next result was a YouTube video.


The next link was a post on What is the ROI for 10,000 Tweets on Twitter?
If you are involved in SEO, Social Media Marketing or any form of Internet (or traditional) Marketing whatsoever, you are probably always trying to calculate the Return on Investment for your efforts and expenses.
And so we come up on the final one. The tenth result was actually another piece about the super bowl thing, so I decided to skip that one and share this, What Does 10,000 Tweets Mean.
I’m not sure how this ranks in terms of an “accomplishment” but I recently posted my 10,000th tweet on Twitter.
A very relevant post, asking a question I've pondered myself, as I write this.  And here it is:



What does 10,000 tweets mean to you? Have you gotten there? Are you close? What's next?

Please share any thoughts, especially if you've done a blog post yourself about this,

- JR

Monday, October 08, 2012

15 minutes of fame & Trisha Paytas

Hey there,

So I'm sure you're familiar with the saying about 15 minutes of fame. I think YouTube requires revisiting the thought behind that, as it redefines exactly what it means to be famous.

In fact, this post is meant to be finished completely, text and videos, which will take about 20 minutes. I say videos, because I want to introduce you to somebody on YouTube, and I think it'd be hard to get to know her from just one video. So there goes the 15 minutes.

It's kind of the blessing and the curse of social media. It's easier than ever to share content, and connect with strangers, but because we've become so inundated with stimulus, it seems like we put more weight in snap judgments and tend to assume more than we might normally.

Case in point, there have been more than several occasions someone has shared a link to a news article that I unfortunately assumed to be recent, due to the fact that they just posted it, and I'd never heard the news before. Only after sharing and re-reading do I see the date in small print that it originally posted months, even years ago.

Oops. And that's just one, mostly harmless example I'd say, that only affects the context of information.

What happens when we make that kind of judgement about people, based on a YouTube clip?

This leads me to sharing with you the clip that I saw a friend post on Facebook, which I would recommend you watch in full, and continue reading the rest of the blog as is. If you find you just can't (which some have), then go ahead and pause it. I won't (and can't) make you watch it:


Regardless of what party you do or don't belong to, how much you believe the U.S. government does or doesn't work, I would hazard a guess that there are probably several assumptions you've made about Trisha as a person. Unfortunately, the info with the video gives little clues to provide context, but thankfully (or not) there are comments.

Let me save you some time. Amongst the pile of knee-jerk reactions, plenty of which are certainly rude and disrespectful (because that's a sure-fire way to get someone to listen to what you have to say), there were a handful that suggested that maybe this video shouldn't be taken as seriously as many seem to have.

Because, just in case that little voice in your head wasn't yelling loud enough, Trisha is an artist; she's an actor to be specific, surprise!! Here's a clip of her sharing what happened with a recent audition.



If you go to her Facebook page, she's even had a number of fans who've posted in support of her, due to the reaction to the first video:
Bethany More Oh my gosh....you guys are seriously idiots if you think this is anything but a joke...
Russell Sullivan You're a genius, Trisha! And yes, you remind me of Andy Kaufman, with the whole is she for real/uncomfortable/pushing buttons style of fearless comedy...Sacha Baron Cohen vibe. The comments from dummies add to the delicious hysteria. LOVE YOU...and that's coming from a 51-year old gay man.
Daniel Carroll its a skit you idiots. thsi is what she does. anyone who actually pays attetion knows this is a skit. every one of you raging like this proves who the real ignorant people are.
If you're familiar with Andy Kaufman, then you probably have a better understanding of her as an artist than I did before I looked it up.

But I digress. I still needed...no, I wanted more context. And in this age of Google and DIY and social media, people might put there lives out there for the world to see, but it's still up to each of us to take the effort and get to know that person. Unfortunately, it seems we are so overwhelmed, that instead of taking the extra time to inform ourselves, we tend to think we've seen everything we need to before jumping back into the stream of our Facebook and Twitter feed just to get distracted by the next meme, viral video, infographic, or any of the numerous shiny things that grab our attention online.

Anyway, I came across this video, which is the third and final one of hers I will share. And to my acting friends, just take it for what it is, and don't pay attention to the "you know"s and "like"s.


Personally, it's probably one of my favorite vlog posts. It's pretty raw...and brave. It's somewhat self-depreciating, feeling down not just about superficial things, but simultaneously feeling down for being so superficial. And it's a moment I think many people can relate to, getting stuck in our head about something completely asinine and silly, but it still having a profound emotional impact.

Which leads me to where I personally connected with her. And appreciated her. Beyond her fans, seeing the people who've reached out to her, who look to her for support because she's shared her own experiences...well that's where I think the power lies in social media.

But what now, how will you resolve this with the first video you saw? I would say this, skit or not (although I lean towards skit), this is where the arts administrator in me kicks in: I think she nails it with her call to action at the end.

"Go Vote, go get educated, and inform yourselves"

I'm going to leave it at that. Whatever you think about her as a person, as a character, at the end of the first video, that is all she is asking anyone who watches it to do.

And from the reaction people seem to have from the first video, I would wager a guess that the good majority of them were motivated to do just that.

With regard to the 15 minutes reference in the title, I brought it up as something that doesn't apply to Trisha, or any others paving their own path via YouTube and other social media platforms. I just wanted to make that clear, I do not think the video is a 15 minutes of fame example, but I think Trisha is an example of why, depending on what fame means today, the 15 minutes paradigm is no longer as relevant as it used to be.

Case in point, now I don't watch TV regularly, but for those who do, if you think she looks familiar, there's a good reason. If you check out her resume and appearances, there's a good chance you've actually seen her already.

JR