Entries from January 2008 ↓

So my friend Sprit over at Blonde by Design says anyway.  Here’s a bit of the story:

“Ann, PreppyDude and I have talked about this and all agree, EVERYONE is ready for a stress break, to let their hair down and a have a little fun.  Thus, I suggested we have a TTOA (Twitter Tits of America) day.  This day was started last March amongst friends when Duane, Paul, Ann, Cat ,DougE and I were busy chatting away with each other on twitter and trying to figure it all out.  It was purely an action out of silliness.  I think Dude was having a bad hair day, Paul made a smartass comment and well, I happened to have a picture - or two - I could crop my head out of, producing the fine art of avatar cleavage.  Granted, Paul could care less about my cleavage, but others got a chuckle & appreciation out of it.  It was done out of silliness and friends goofing around.”

 I’m not encouraging folks to bare it all on Friday’s either, but in the spirit of fun it’s intended.  To be a distraction from the serious that sometimes pervades our lives.  Twitter has brought not just light hearted conversation as of late, but cancer, death, and other losses.  These things can weigh us down, sap our energies. Sprite is suggesting that some folks bring just plain fun to the scene on Twitter.

Let there be bussoms! 

To: Evan Williams & Biz StoneRE: Fix it before we nix it

I am a huge fan. You are two good guys. Twitter is the most addictive thing I’ve experienced since I quit smoking in 1987, and it’s so much better for my health. I have built a multinational circle of friends because of Twitter. We care about each other even if many times we have never met.

Yes, I’m a fan too, and I’ll back Shel up on this letter. Get it working guys, and get it working right. Great product, but sadly the least reliable lately of the online tools I use.

Shel has four key points he suggests working on, but I’ll focus on just two:
1. Monetization
2. A Blog

Good grief Ev and Biz, you two are very personable and outgoing, why not share the Twitter love and actually interact with your fans. I know you guys actually use Twitter, and do engage folks, and even do interviews, but being more accessible can’t hurt.

As for the money side of things, well we saw hints of injected ads, but I’ve not seen hide nor hair of those lately. What about charging for premium features? Wait, Shel mentions that in his letter too.What do I suggest, since I’m sure you’re asking? Groups, Streams, and/or channels. Heck, the ability to have Twitter bots would be great. These would repeat Tweets back out to a group. Consider opening the cap up too for those that go pro. Heck, for $20/year, I’m in.

Enough of me ranting and piling on with Shel. What are your thoughts folks? Drop me a comment or send me a tweet; I’m @tojosan.

Good news, a Social Media Club of St. Louis is forming up.  The new site is here. Please go visit and sign up.

There is a vote up for when the first meeting should be.  So far Feb 9th is leading the pack. As a reminder, Feb 8th is the St. Louis Bloggers Meetup.

Let’s get social!

In an excellent article, Christopher S. Penn shares strong thoughts about getting through the upcoming economic downturn. It’s part of his Awaken Your Superhero series; a read I highly recommend.

A strong focus of this particular article is about networking. Here’s a great excerpt.

Having a strong personal network is more important than ever. Not just a strong network, but a large one, one in which you participate and try to help as many people as you can and ask them to do the same. With so many social networks and digital communities, this is easier than ever. A strong network will provide you with information you’ll need to make decisions, and will also provide you with leads if you need a job, etc. as long as you bring as much or more value to the people in your network. The key is to get building as fast as possible. Reconnect with old friends, establish new friends. Attend conferences and other meetups, such as PodCamp, BarCamp, MacCamp, etc. that are free or low cost. Look for opportunities to help others.

I definitely agree with him. My current and growing network of online contacts has brought me not only casual friends, but folks that have actually helped me deal with personal issues as well as technical. They’ve provided me off the cuff advice as well as the practical kind. Most powerfully, they came together recently to raise over $8000 dollars for the family of a young lady who died in a car accident. She was a contact of many of us.

Do you just have to network online? No! You can begin your networking with your next door neighbor, or the guys and gals at church, and even, yes, with people at work. One way to network at work is to honestly listen and be interested in projects and people even if they can’t contribute to your work or projects. They’ll remember that.

Do go and check out Christopher’s full article here, and after that, get out and network!

Spring break looms ahead and with it the opportunity for vacation.  For my wife and I, this will be our first opportunity for a real vacation without a kid along.  So where are we choosing to go?  It seems this time it’s Austin, Texas.

And honestly as to why? A memorial perhaps? Or relatives? Maybe a famous museum or amusement park? NO!  It’s all about social media hookups.

My wife and I have gotten to know a special lady via Flickr, one of our favorite social media sites.  Simis  hooked up with us there about a year ago. It started with sharing pictures, and just a casual visit to each other’s stream, but not long after, we became support buddies for the 365 days project. Over the course of that year, we became much better friends.  This happened at first through sharing pictures, with them being more personal as time went on. It then evolved in to one on one chatting and email exchanges.  Now we are up to greeting cards and exchanging things.

So off to Austin we are planning to go, but lo and behold, I’ve acquired other social media friends there. Not only will we be visiting with Simis, but I think we’ll have more folks to schmooze with than on any vacation we’ve had in the past.

I’m stoked!  In the spirit of that, I’m asking folks to pile on and let me know if they’ll be available during the time from March 22nd through about March 28. Those of you on Twitter and Utterz know how to drop me a line, so please do.  For the rest of you folks, if you’re in Austin, sign your name, drop me an email, or find me on Twitter, @tojosan, and leave me a DM.Hats off to Austin!

So I’ve been getting good feedback, and in summary,  ”SELF HOST YOUR BLOG!”So there it is for you.  I’ve been using tojosan.com to point to my blogger.com blog, and that’s worked well.  However, lots of folks pushed for me to go to Wordpress.  Well, I took the plunge and went with a Wordpress.com hosted blog, this one of course.  I’ve got a couple of other blogs hosted, but this is going to be the one I focus on primarily. What I really need is great feedback on where to host.  I’m not technically challenged, so having a reliable host is more important than one with one step install. Will you follow me there? And to what host?  And do I have to get the most expensive?Many thanks in advance, and leave lots of advice or DM me on Twitter, @tojosan, or drop me a gmail.