Archive for October, 2009

Once upon a time, Wordpress was one of many little blogging platforms a person could choose to use. Today, it’s the top dog in the world of blogging. What allowed it to crush the competition and to become such a powerful force online?

Part of it was the simple fact that it’s a good product. It works and it works well.

There was something else at play, too, though. It was a collection of coders and fans who developed a massive array of plug-ins and widgets to increase the utility and functionality of Wordpress.

Today, Twitter is following the Wordpress success plan. They’ve made their API available and now we’re seeing the creation of dozens of tool designed to make Twitter user easier and more productive.

Do you need the tools to use Twitter? No. You don’t need Askiment to run Wordpress, either. Those extras, however, make the tools more functional and a lot more attractive.

Twitter continues to grow. That’s definitely being encouraged by some great third-party tool developments.

Do you ever follow those people on Twitter who don’t have photos? I’ll be honest: Unless I know the individual associated with the profile personally, I don’t.

That’s not because I hate that little default graphic Twitter supplies (although I do). It’s mainly because experience has shown me that 99% of the accounts that don’t have a picture belong to spammers and robot accounts–not the kind of “people” I need in my social network.

So, if you don’t have a picture for your Twitter profile, I’m not following you. And I’m not alone.

You look suspicious. You don’t appear to be invested in participating. You bear a strange resemblance to a spambot. That’s not your best look.

If you don’t have a picture up yet, get one there now. If, for some reason, you don’t have a little picture of yourself, find a stock photo of a cottonwood tree on a summer day or a cute puppy or something. Just put something in that space.

Let us know that you’re a real person. Please.

There are different ways to get Twitter followers. You can follow everyone and their house pets yourself, hoping that enough of them will reciprocate to boost your follower total through the stratosphere.
You can make a concerted effort to promote your Twitter URL at every turn, hoping to find new followers from the population that visits your website or blog.

There is another way to do it, however. The third route, by the way, is the one that works the best.

If you Tweet quality, you’ll get followers. Good followers. The kind who want to listen to what you say and who are willing to follow your advice.

When you’re Tweeting the “good stuff”, people notice. They re-Tweet you. They recommend you. They respond to you. And every time one those things happens, more people become aware of you and the fact that you’re doing something special on Twitter.

Want to get a nice big collection of rabid followers who can actually produce results? Start bringing your “A” game to the Twittersphere. When you’re dropping great Tweets, people will find you. There’s a magnetic thing about quality that makes it happen. Every time.