Short story version for tonight.

• Tuesday afternoon having chest pains.
• Wife takes me to emergency room.
• Blood work. Xray. Questions (dozens).
• Late late admission.
• Late night blood work.
• Early morning blood work.
• IV.
• Stress test – involves imaging w/thalium, treadmill, more imaging.
• Wait. Wait. Wait. (no water, no food) Wait.
• Hours later doctor comes. “the tests are negative” “if it’s not heart problems, what is it?”
• Me: How would I know?
• Lunch arrives moments after I sign discharge papers. I eat half of it anyway.
• Home.

I could tell you stories though about how wonderful the staff was. There might be some cool things I could tell you about the procedures or the equipment. Heck, there’s always the wheel chair rides.

Love though, that’s what I’ll talk about. The pure outpouring I received from friends via Twitter. I couldn’t get on my computer but I had my Blackberry and Twitterberry. Therefore I had my tweeps.

Offers of prayers, positive thoughts, and more came over the ether. Wow. My wife and I were blown away. Folks offered to come to the hospital even.

To compare? I called coworker last night when I found out I was going to be admitted and left message at work. No one called at all today.

I challenge those of you who think Twitter is just about reporting bowel movements and breakfast to honestly put some effort into building relationships and come back and tell me that you can’t do more than that online.

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• Would you know if your heart was in trouble? (cnn.com)

Social networking is closing the digital divide. You don’t have to be a digital phenom to communicate w/ others anymore.

by The Cubicle Chick.

Danyelle, aka @TheCubicleChick, you already know is one of recent Twitter additions. She’s also one of the most outgoing and outward facing folks in my circle. She’s spot on about not having to be a phenom. She’s only been in the game a short while and already running a successful blog.

Do check out her blog, The Cubicle Chick, and I recommend you follow @TheCubicleChick on Twitter.

Listen to the 2 minute audio above. It’s great advice.

Most folks joining Twitter or Facebook today, they’re advised to follow a bunch of folks. Likely these aren’t folks they are not only direct contacts with in the physical world, but not even a friend of a friend.

This sounds like fun until that newbie drowns in the messages, messages with no meaning. Sure, they might make one or two friends out of that mess, but likely they’ll initially just be frustrated.

In the end, the recommendation to follow a bunch of strangers is just bad advice. There’s no relationship building going on. It’s like trying to make instant bake success.

So what works? Organic one relationship at a time growth of contacts. Instead of focusing on stratospheric numbers, focus on one new contact at a time.

How to do this?  Best advice I’ve received is to watch who your friends engage with. Listen in on those conversations. See what those folks who do interact have to say and how they say it.  If you see something you enjoy, friend that person.

New contacts you add, be sure to let them know how you found them. Be sure to mention the shared connection, and considering adding a note about one of the new friends messages. It lets them know you’ve been listening.

In summary, build your network one valued connection at a time. Give them your best. Your network will grow fast enough.

That leaves an inescapable conclusion. Nobody has a million followers on Twitter. And being on the suggested user list doesn’t add value to a Twitter account, regardless of whether you’re a regular guy like me, or one of the biggest brands in the world.

So says Anil Dash on his blog post, Nobody Has A Million Twitter Followers.

Anil tackles the topic of whether a million followers translates to a million people who actually follow what you say and act upon it. He challenges that only a small percent are likely engaged.

Go read the article. He’s giving away $25 Amazon gift certificates for a suggestion on using the wealth of data he’s collected and for someone to program that solution.

Cheers,

Todd aka tojosan

SMILE

Brag and boast time.  Take a few minutes out to share the best of your 2009.

In the comments brag on yourself or someone else you know. Tell us who, what, and how it made you feel.  Be sure to include links to your blog post or pics or both if you have them.

I’d like to share a couple of my own.

1) My wife reached a weight loss goal of 100 lbs.

2) My brother, battling ALS, is a continuous source of inspiration to me.

3) My daughter-in-law who continued raising three daughters with our son being deployed part of that time and working to the bone a good part of the rest.

4) My friend Karen Goodman who embraced social networking and social media with remarkable gusto and made it a successful and integrated part of her business.

5) A contractor, James, who completed a run of bathroom upgrades that took us multiple visits, many hours, and a bit of patience. He worked out so well I intend to recommend him to everyone.

How about you and your family and friends? Share something great with us!

Remember when you got your license and your parents took an ad out in the paper?

Warning, Todd Jordan got his license today. Keep an eye out.

That’s fairly close to what my parents had listed in the local paper anyway. Well this is payback time.  My mother is going online!

Charter is running an Internet connection out to her house this week. I’ll be delivering her first computer within the week as well and making it ready for her burst into the Internet scene.

Consider this fair warning.  There’ll be another person out there who hasn’t heard of Twitter, won’t understand Facebook and who will be dodging spammers and Nigerian scams with nay a bit of experience.

You’ve been warned. Keep your eyes open and shore up your net bumpers. Together we might make it through the upcoming year.  At the end, hopefully I’ll be writing the blog post, “2010: The Year Mom Conquered The Internet.”

Find me on Twitter. Find me on Facebook.

Seth Godin rocks the blog again with Opt in and opt out. He’s talking of course about how opt in or out should trend in favor of the consumer, be it their safety, well being or finances.  Seth is focused of course on examples like your 401 K, opt in. Why right? Or business choices that are often opt out, but would be better as opt ins.

Let’s look at an Internet example along Twitter lists is going to be a fun feature, but right now it’s not opt anything. If you’re added to a list, or add someone to a list, that’s just the way it is. This will be a problem.

Lists exploded onto the scene and people are frantically working to make their own. I’m already on 53 lists and it’s growing fast. There is no management screen. Listees not only can’t remove themselves, they can’t see at a glance which lists they are on.

No opt-in, no opt-out and no way to easily manage; Lists are going to experience back lash if these options don’t show soon.

Where do you stand? Should lists be opt-in, opt-out, and perhaps even opt-in/out at the list level?

Please take time to click through and read Seth Godin’s inspiring post.

My friend Liz wrote a great post on Twitter Lists 101 Etiquette.

Realtors use Twitter. Shocked? You shouldn’t be.  Real Estate Agents are voracious consumers of new communications technology. Proving that out, several agents turned out for Twitter training given by Karen Goodman (Arch City Homes blogger and premier realtor), and me. The class was offered by Keller Williams Realty.

Agents were aware of Twitter and it being a social network.  A few of the real estate agents were already members, as well as being Facebook members. Universally though, they were using only the basic web sites and none was using Twitter on a regular basis.

Training took Twitter from the ‘what is it’ level up to installing Tweetdeck on personal computers.  The questions focused primarily on privacy and distribution. People were worried about being spammed and spamming others.

Here’s a few of the questions and how Karen and I chose to answer them.

• If someone starts following me do I start seeing their posts?
  • No.  It does mean they’ll begin seeing of your Twitter messages
• Do my Twitter messages also post on Facebook and LinkedIn?
  • Not automatically. There are add-ons and tools that allow cross-posting; those are all optional and can be controlled.
• Someone I’m following starts spamming, talking about porn, etc. What can I do?
  • Unfollow them. Visit their Twitter profile page and unfollow them.
  • They don’t stop copying you? Visit their Twitter profile page and block them.
• How do I find people I know?
  • Using Find People on the Twitter home page.
  • Email or call that person. Most reliable choice. Avoid’s picking someone else with the same name.
  • Check that person’s web site for Twitter and other social network information.
• How do avoid being sucked into too much Twitter use?
  • Time control – only open Twitter at regularly scheduled times. Much like you’d handle email inbox review.
  • Browsing control – unless you have plenty of time, only check your replies and direct messages.

These may seem like basics to many of you, but these are questions anyone in business should be asking.  Approaching Twitter and other social networks with a plan, even if it’s a ‘don’t do this’ plan is better than winging it as a business user.

We also discussed what’s appropriate in terms of content.  Realtors online seem to line up on two sides; those that broadcast listings, and those that never talk shop.  Karen explained how becoming a local area expert is more valuable than spewing out listings.  Expertise shared equates to trust building and from there to clients.

Attendees were quite involved, asking good questions, and wanting to understand how Twitter connects, and how it could be used. A great follow up class would be on mixing up social networking to find what works best for each individual.

If you’d like to have a Twitter class at your work, please contact me – todd at toddrjordan.com, @tojosan on Twitter, or by phone (636) 486-4723.

Realtor shout out to attendees from Keller Williams Realty:

@patislay

@jbbutler03

@karenprinster

@Nancygkw

.

Tweetup at Pujols 5 West Port Plaza

Karen Goodman, aka @KarenStL, and I will be presenting a class on Twitter for Real Estate Agents. Introducing them first to what Twitter is followed by hands on.  Hands on will cover not only how to send a tweet, that’s a Twitter message, but also installing a client on their personal computer.

Key topics:

• What is Twitter?
• Signing Up
• Sending a tweet
• Replies and Direct Messages

Hands on will cover how to find and install a few of the popular Twitter clients. Tweetdeck will be the primary client used in the demonstrations, and will be the first client recommended and offered to install.

Training is open to all St. Louis area real estate agents.  If possible, please RSVP to Karen Goodman, 314-677-6538 office, or karen – at – archcityhomes.com. It is this Wed, October 28 from 1:30-3:00 pm at the Keller Williams office in Kirkwood. Agents from any brokerage are welcome to attend, but registration is required for non-KW agents.

Block – Dirty word in Twitter land

Chances are you don’t block many of your followers and you aren’t alone. Blocking is looked upon as a dirty word. Bringing it up results in confused looks up to outrage. Judgmental, big ego, and more labels may be assigned to you for admitting you block more than the occasional spammer. But let’s take a look at who folks block.

Blocking – Not just for Spammers

Spammers aren’t the only ones you might want to block. Spammers covers those users (or robots) sending out a steady stream of noise. There are a few other types to block:

• Multi-Level-Marketers aka MLM – enough said
• Get Rich Quick – preys on those looking for easy street
• Get Followers Quick – looking to find those that seek the fast path to many followers
• See my video/pictures/site – usually adult oriented. Fake profiles to snag in the easily tempted.

But how do you go about finding and stopping them?

Twitter Block Tools – Spammers Eat Dirt

Manually blocking followers is work. Consider one of these useful tools for blocking.

• Twittfilter – http://www.twittfilter.com/
• TwitBlock http://www.twitblock.org/

So still think those who block have big egos? Or it’s too much work?

Twitter Friends Block Spammers

My friends block spammers and the like as well. Here’s just a few:

• @gloriabell
• @creativereason – Yessiree. I block all that I see follow me.
• @PhilGerb – woot! Blocking in the USA (Channeling the spirit of John Cougar)!
• @levitanl – I block them all!
• @Allisoncds – Holla! Block & report here!
• @MilliGFunk
• @deborah91473
• and more…

What’s keeping you?!