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Saturday, September 5, 2009

Trying to make a better use of twitter / #FollowFriday

I had heard about Mr. Tweet from @BuzzEdition a week ago and wondered if I should try it. Seemed reasonable enough but being suspicious of providing sites with information about me or my list of friends, I moved on. The way I did FollowFriday was actually thoughtful and not a random address book blast. Each entry was put together for a reason. I saved them up during the week and would release them on Friday.

Early in the week, I saw more evidence of Mr. Tweet and took the chance. Since all my information is public anyway for all the easy money spammers, porn-pushers, and weight loss miracle workers to see, why not let Mr. Tweet see what I have. I used Mr. Tweet to make a couple of choice recommendations. Seemed alright.

Content to carry on my #FollowFriday tradition, I was vetting my groups at the time when my social media Svengali @ShellyKramer mentioned MrTweet once more. So there has to be a reason to use Mr. Tweet instead. Forgoing the torrent of tweets, MrTweet got the test drive for my weekly channeling of props.
A smaller and simpler channeling.

Turns out, I found more interesting people using MrTweet.com than I would have otherwise. MrTweet.com suggested meaningful follows based on the affinity with my current followers and their mentions. Nice algorithms cranking away under the hood somewhere. Not quite as personal as I would like to get a recommendation, but quite accurate so far.

After choosing to follow someone through MrTweet, I could have sent an automated message to the effect of "I saw you on MrTweet and look forward to your tweets..." I didn't use this feature since automated messages seems dull to me. If it does turn out that the person I followed says something I like, I'll just reply. Really, twitter is best when the tweets are real and have their own personality.

Mr. Tweet recommendations for week ending September 4, 2009

@Robert_deMaine to @MrTweet 'is a phenomenal cellist and 2nd most interesting man in the world after th...' http://bit.ly/2FYJK

@lady_southpaw to @MrTweet 'she interacts with her fans well. She is passionate about composing music p...' http://bit.ly/g2icm

@lizzwinstead to @MrTweet 'she has the most cutting wit that exposes the truth in the pure b.s. surroun...' http://bit.ly/47SBKD

@mattstevensloop to @MrTweet 'he is constantly experimenting with acoustic guitar and lets you see the p...' http://bit.ly/AIdHH

@amissvillemusic to @MrTweet 'they are friendly folk that deserve a listen. Meredith and Dave work very ...' http://bit.ly/n66M

@drpants to @MrTweet 'they sound good even on Ustream and have meaningful conversations on twitter. A g...' http://bit.ly/hqxQ9

@onbeer to @MrTweet 'I can drink vicariously through his tweets. He knows beer the hard way, 12 oz. at...' http://bit.ly/22cTzC

@ShellyKramer to @MrTweet 'she knows social media! Her tweets have meaning. And, she gets it right! ' http://bit.ly/64CQU

All the above being true about FollowFriday, there was just one single #FF entry this week that begged tweeting. It was prepared in the same thoughtful way as all my previous posts.

#ff EXTRA STYLE POINTS FOR THE PROFILE PIC @invisiblepilot, @dulcedementia, @madlyv, @akaMonty, @Philbrook, @kim,

Favorite Quotes

"Every morning in Africa, a gazelle wakes up. It knows it must outrun the fastest lion or it will be killed. Every morning in Africa, a lion wakes up. It knows it must run faster than the slowest gazelle or it will starve. It doesn't matter whether you're a lion or a gazelle -- when the sun comes up, you'd better be running." Roger Bannister

"If music be the food of love, then play on." William Shakespeare (Twelth Night)

"Mathematics is music for the mind. Music is mathematics for the soul." (Stanley Jordan)


"Every man must decide whether he will walk in the light of creative altruism or in the darkness of destructive selfishness." Martin Luther King, Jr.

"Courage is the discovery that you may not win, and trying when you know you can lose." Tom Krause (contributed by Jules Blight)