Happy 5 Year Anniversary, Twitter!

The world's most popular global social microblogging turned five years old today. Happy Anniversary, Twitter. Were you onboard Twitter (then Twttr) in 2006? It's amazing to think that Twitter is five years old - time flies when you're tweeting away! I'm not sure I remember my first tweet since it's been a few years since I joined Twitter. Like everyone else, I was dumbfounded how it all worked, until I got my feet weet and learned just how fun and useful it was for social networking (and haven't stopped tweeting ever since).

According to Twitter co-founder Jack Dorsey, his first tweet "inviting coworkers" was the first tweet written by a "human." Now six years later we are in the midst of Twitter mania. Based on the stats found on Twitter's blog, they handle an average of 140 million tweets per day. It's mind-boggling to think that when I graduated from college in the mid-90s, that the Internet and email were a new phenomenon. And now social media has literally taken the world by storm.

Remember that your business culture might not be suitable for Twitter - why it's important to track and analyze your tweets to verify that Twitter is an effective social media marketing tool. It doesn't make sense to tweet your time away if you don't see a ROI on  your Twitter marketing.

Do you remember your first tweet, or have you avoided Twitter mania altogether? Don't let Charlie Sheen and his posse scare you away from the benefits of Twitter. If you haven't jumped on the Twitter bandwagon, today might be a good day to start.

 

Why GPS Locations in Twitter Profiles Are a Bad Idea

When I first noticed strange code in my followers' Twitter profiles, I was thrown off and wasn't sure if this was a new techie trend and I somehow missed the memo. After digging around further, I learned they were GPS coordinates (where my followers are geographically located).  It left me scratching my head. It seems like people jumped on the bandwagon, and thought this was a good idea - hey, let's make it easier for people to find us by our GPS coordinates. 

But it's not a good idea for your social media marketing. Before you add your GPS coordinates to your Twitter profile (or any social media profile), consider the following: 

1. It makes you difficult to find on Twitter. When the average person searches for information on Twitter, they don't type in "social media consulting companies, +40.689060 -74.044636." They type in the actual name of the city. The coordinates mess up your SEO and the point behind social media is that you want people to find you and connect with you easily. It also leaves people wondering - where the heck are you located? And no one has time to search for GPS coordinates. 

2.Twitter profiles look strange, and doesn't make you visually appealing or approachable. I would rather connect with John Smith from New York, New York than John Smith with a long string of odd-looking numbers attached to his profile. It doesn't look "friendly." 

3. You could accidentally include the wrong GPS coordinates. It could happen. Instead of Mary Jones from Los Angeles, California you become Mary Smith located in Denmark. Whoops! 

You may think it looks cool and savvy to include GPS coordinates in your Twitter profile, but for social media purposes it's not a good idea. Tell people what you do and how you can help them in your Twitter bio. GPS coordinates will just leave people feeling confused and they might not follow you.

Does Your Social Media Make the Grade? How to Measure Your OnlinePresence

You post on a daily basis, blog your heart out, and are right on target with your social media. However, have you measured your results lately? Is your social media campaign really working for you?
How does your social media presence measure up to other users out there? The following "grading" apps allow you to check-in with your social media. How well does your company come across to the public? How you could improve your key message points via social media?  These tools are an effective way to gauge your online presence - what's working and what areas could stand improvement.
According to Twitter Grader, I scored 93 out of 100 on my Twitter profile - not too shabby. I must be doing something right with my tweets. Another quirky Twitter app is TweetValue. My profile rounded out to be a whopping $503. Google ranks at the top of their stats at over $166 million - go figure.
For Facebook users, check out Facebook Grader. Facebook Grader takes into consideration a little bit of everything. If you don't fill out your profile accurately or don't have a lot of Friends on your list, points are docked.
For publicists and marketers (or anyone who wants to check the relevancy/accuracy of their press releases), add Press Release Grader to your marketing tools. The grader searches for how well keywords are optimized, language and content, inclusion of links, etc. For copywriters such as myself, it's a handy tool to have in their back cyber pockets.
Other helpful tools for website and blog analysis are Website Grader and Blog Grader.  If you don't have time, you can check out all your accounts at once - Social Grader hits the big ones (Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn).
The apps mentioned above are FREE and easy to use. Most of these apps (excluding TweetValue) are created by Hubspot, an excellent resource for social media tools and information and one of many favorites on my bookmark list.