Archive for March, 2009
Twitter Has Killed AutoFollow – Whatever March 31st, 2009
I know this is hypocritical, but covering every Twitter cough is ridiculous. Twitter has killed off AutoFollow, we all saw it on Twitter. The end. Can we please stop giving this sort of thing front page coverage on every major blog is a waste of pixels. A great service releases their own news. Do we all need to cover it?
/hypocrisy
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I Am A Member Author Of TechGeist March 31st, 2009
Any long term reader of this blog [more than a month] will be aware that I am a founding member of a blogging network named NextTech. We are proud to launch our new premier platform today yesterday, TechGeist. TechGeist (TG), will be not only an aggregate of our content from the member blogs of the NextTech network, but also a persistent news service. TG will be covering the technology sector a bit like the Leader section of the Economist, if you are familiar.
This does not mean that NextTech is moving away from blogging, in fact the opposite. This is an upgrade of our total content and value production. Between all of our member sites and services, we are delivering more than ever. So, if you would like to get a taste, head over to TechGest now, and give it a read. I think that we are onto to something, and I would hate to have you miss it.
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Twitter Celebrity – A Guide March 30th, 2009
I accidentally raised a little controversy when I added myself as a joke to the #celebrity section of WeFollow. People either told me that I was dreaming (fair!) or that I actually was a celebrity, but only on Twitter. I wondered, what is a Twitter celebrity? After twelve minutes of intense thought, I have come to a conclusion. Here are the rankings for celebrity on Twitter:
The Guide To Twitter Celebrity
Broken down by account type, these assume that you are not a real celebrity in real life, or are at least not a luminary of some sort.
Number Of Followers:
0-200 – Twitter User – You use Twitter, you enjoy it, and that is enough for you. No shame here at all, you simply aren’t looking for a large following, or perhaps have not been able to garner one. Either way, you use Twitter, and you sit contentedly.
200-500 – Twitter Fan – Twitter is important for you, you spend at least some time on it every few hours or so. You are not a complete power user, but you still have some influence. You dream of having a larger following. Every @ you get is still a bit of a thrill.
500-2000 – Twitter Power User – Either through great content production, or through extended following and unfollowing, you have managed to accumulate a good sized following. You enjoy linking your own content and watching the traffic come in. You are aggresivly trying to add to your numbers, and worry about your following/follower ratio.
2000-3000 – Asipiring Twitter Celebrity – At this point, you are almost there. With this number of people tracking your updates, even discounting the spammers, you have some influence. Whenever you post a link, thirty people that show up and you feel like a hotshot. This might be the funnest moment in Twitter. People are beginning to notice you, and you have built a good network of friends. TweetDeck has become your best friend. You still make a habit of responding to every @ that you get, unless you are unconscious or in a foul mood.
3000-5000 – Minor Twitter Celebrity - You have made it! At this point, you have enough followers to truly push some numbers around. If you blog, your Twitter account is now the largest source of traffic that you receive. When you retweet something, people thank you. When you talk to a new person, people respond. Nearly ever tweet you send out, no matter how banal, receives some sort of feedback from somebody. Burn a cigar and laugh to yourself, you made it.
5000-10000 – Twitter Celebrity - Moving past the pee-wee celebrities, you have a giant list of people that have decided that you are interesting. Whatever it is that you did, it worked, and people have envy to your massive weight in the Twittersphere. People ask you to retweet things for them. You ask someone for an interview, and when you mention your Twitter account, they say yes. You are a celebrity because people listen to, and care what you say. You being to ruminate in the shower about your “personal brand.”
10000+ – Twitter God - Nothing against the religious, but at this point, you have reached the Twitter atmosphere. You are the man in the cloud. You shake servers a bit when you link, and you often get three to five retweets for a good link that you post. Several hundred people reach your blog when you post. You have more friends than you can respond to on Twitter. Fair enough you think, I am more important than they. You begin to wonder if you need a logo for yourself, after all, why not?
Add-On’s – Subtractoids – Ways to help or hurt your status in the above list, past simple follower levels:
- If you follow more than 2x as many people as follow you, deduct one level of Twitter Celebrity.
- If 2x more people follow you than you follow, move up one level of Twitter Celebrity.
- If you have more than 3,000 updates, at a + to your ranking. [I am a Twitter Fan+, for example, or whatever]
- If you have less than 1,000 updates, add a minus to your ranking. [I am a Aspiring Twitter Celebrity-, for example].
- If you have no avatar image, retreat back to Twitter User, no matter what.
There you have it! Where do you stand?
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Per requset, you can find me at: Twitter.com/Alex
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Learning To Code – Part Two March 30th, 2009
My last post on learning to code generated a few requests (mostly on Twitter, but thanks for the comments guys) about what book I bought, and how I am going about this. I suppose the first thing I need to expose is my coding background, such that it is: I played with C++ for a month four years ago, and I work at a webdev company, so I am always surrounded by developers. You pick some things up.
That said, I know squat. Even my HTML is shaky, so I am going into this babe-in-the-woods. Everyone starts from scratch sometime, this is my time I suppose. I am only doing this by forcing myself too. I generally work with developers, forgoing all the development. But, I realized that it is hard to talk to developers when you cannot even call a function. They patiently explain what is happening, and you patiently get lost. If I am going to keep working in the internet sector, I need to be able to speak its language, code.
I selected PHP because it seems to be a simple language that we always use. We pay less for PHP developers than ActionScript, so I assume that it is easier. Simple sounds good to start. I purchased a book called “PHP5, Apache, MySQL Web Development,” by “Programmers to Programmers.” You can grab a copy from them here. So far I really enjoy their style and candor. Simple, and to the point.
Day one was a debacle for me, however. I spent several hours trying to get Apache to work on my main Vista box to no avail. Eventually, my friend had to build me a subdomain on this site (hosted by MediaTemple) to play with. It works so far, but I really want to get my own sandbox Apache/MySQL/PHP environment to work with. That will happen soon. I have no great tips to share right now, as I am just starting out, but I promise to keep you all posted as I progress. Life is too short to be bass-awkwards the whole time.
Let’s do this.
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Learning To Code – My New Project March 29th, 2009
I have no good excuse for adding another project to my life, but this one is far past due. I am going to learn how to code. Not a lot, but some. I have no intention of becoming a CS god, that I will leave for the qualified, but I am going to pick up some PHP. You should be proud, I am forcing myself to do this with the help of @guze @chacha102 and @schammy. They will penetrate my thick skull I hope.
I have always worked with developers, but never developed. It seemed so natural, asking why the code was late. “It’s tricky,” they would say. And I had no idea what that meant. Well, after my first afternoon in the saddle, I have had enough errors that I will never (*knock on wood) yell at a developer again. Not that I yelled, but you get my drift. So, to war with PHP. I bought a book, had my friend build me a idiot-proof subdomain (test.alexwilhelm.com) and off I go.
To war, to war. Oh, and if you know how to code, I would love some pointers. Drop me an @ on Twitter or a comment.
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This is my life in the near future:
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Is There A Way To Cheat Twitter? March 27th, 2009
I really don’t think so. Aside from being a celebrity or getting on the suggested user list, I see now quick way to the top. I have explained my strategies in detail, how I go about meeting new people, and the like. But that will never be enough for some people, they always need a cheap way to the top. This is not to say that there are not more and less successful people on Twitter, but can you really game your way up?
Perhaps I am so incredulous as I cannot see the route up the slope. You are limited by the number of people that you can follow. Other people have to choose to follow you. With those restrictions, it seems impossible to cheat your way up the stake. Am I wrong?
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The Legend Of Fail – Success Is Always Around The Corner March 27th, 2009
It has been a great week for me, but given the state of the economy, I bet that for most it was less than supreme. Therefore, as a tribute to life sometimes knocking you out or up, here are some pictures to make you laugh. Don’t forget, for every time you fail, success is always still out of reach. Or maybe it doesn’t go like that, anyway, have some fail:
If you are not smiling now, you are broken inside. Relax, life is still pretty damn good.
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I Visited Twitter HQ – The Outside March 27th, 2009
I am in the sunny sunny land of San Francisco, and so I had to make a little side trip to Mecca, as it were. I looked up Twitter’s HQ address on Crunchbase [a truly great website], and set off while in the city. The building is quite nondescript, and if it wasn’t for the stream of nerdy-esqie people heading in and out I would have missed it. “Look,” said my sister who I am visiting here in California, “a nerd.” We headed over the the door she had spied and I skinned into the lobby.
I noticed a large placard denoting where the different companies were located, saw Twitter, bagged the image, and got the hell out before they would notice. Looking back, I should have just arranged to get a tour. Next time. Here is the image:
twitter headquarters
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You Can Now Find Me At @Alex On Twitter March 26th, 2009
Another housekeeping post, if you are a friend of me on Twitter, my username has now changed over from @alexwilhelm to @alex. User (now) @alextorres was kind enough to sell me the username for a reasonable sum. Apparently there are no regulations against this in the Tiwtter EULA. So, I have the best username possible for me (aside form @a), and @alextorres has a few extra dollars.
Perfect.
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TC50 Tickets Are Live – Get Them While They Are Hot March 26th, 2009
Excellent news for all us technology folks, tickets for the TC50 are now live! I will be there, along with all the big-wigs that I have yet to meet. Good news: tickets are very cheap at the moment, and the prices are just going to ratchet up, so move now. You can get tickets here. You can learn more about the conference here.
In all honesty, the day after the last one ended, I was excited for the next one. I will be liveblogging the whole thing (I will have to buy a new mac for the occasion), and would love to have some familiar faces to bounce ideas with. Come with, it will be a fun time.
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