Stop those hotlinking SOBs with .htaccess.
Is your bandwidth meter spinning like a top, but your page views just aren't where you think they should be for all that "traffic"? It's possible that you, my friend, are a victim of bandwidth theft due to hotlinking. Hotlinkers are dirty SOBs who steal your bandwidth by streaming your graphics, videos and/or music files onto their web site(s) directly from yours. Luckily daddy has a relatively simple solution to fix all the badness for you.
While there are a few options you have when you want to deal with hotlinkers, I'm going to demonstrate the easiest and often best suited solution: displaying an alternate graphic instead of the one that the hotlinkers are stealing from your web site. If you'd like more options or want to do something different feel free to leave a comment below and I'll answer as best as I can.
Now for the fun stuff. In the root of your blog's web space, find and download (or create, if necessary) the .htaccess file. After you have a local version, copy and paste the following (and we'll get into why some of the text is in bold in a moment) into the very beginning of the file:
If you don't copy+paste the text above into the beginning of your .htaccess file you may run into problems if you break something that already exists, so please use caution. Also, don't let all the mumbo-jumbo scare you off. It's pretty simple stuff. In fact, there are only six lines, and I'll walk you through what each one does.
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# HOTLINK STOPPERThis line is just a comment (delineated by the # at the beginning of the line) to let you know what this section of your
.htaccessfile is for. You can comment out any line by prepending it with a # symbol. -
RewriteEngine OnTurns on the rewrite engine in Apache. Without this, none of the rest of the changes are necessary. Or possible.
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RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^$Sets a condition for the rewrite engine to ignore anyone with a blank referer. Don't worry about the
!^$, it's a regular expression, or "regex", and it works when looking for a blank referer. And yes, that's spelled correctly... for Internet purposes, anyhow. If you're interested in the details, read up on how a referrer came to be a referer. -
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?example\.com/ [NC]Sets a condition for the rewrite engine to ignore anyone that doesn't have the domain
example\.comin their referer. Replace theexampleportion with your blog's domain name, but make sure that if you've got a .org blog that you keep the backslash in from of the period, otherwise the regex will break. -
RewriteCond %{HTTP_REFERER} !^http://(.+\.)?bloglines\.com/ [NC]Sets a condition for the rewrite engine to ignore bloglines.com. This line is optional, but I kept it in this example since Bloglines is a pretty popular RSS reader, and you're probably going to want your readers who use it to see the pictures on your server.
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RewriteRule .*\.(jpe?g|gif)$ http://yourothersite.com/hotlink.jpg [R,NC,L]Here's where the fun begins. This line sets up a rule that will server any graphic (in this case a .jpg or .gif file) that is not ruled out from the conditions above to the file
http://yourothersite.com/hotlink.jpg, thereby circumventing those damned, dirtyapeshotlinkers. To add more file types, just add a pipe ("|") character aftergifand the extension (like apng) and you're good to go.A word of caution: do not use a graphic that is on the domain that you are trying to dissuade hotlinkers from using as you'll cause an infinite loop and in some cases may actually take down your own web server. I've seen it happen, and it ain't pretty. I suggest you set up a free blog account somewhere, such as wordpress.com, and add your hotlink graphic there.
That's pretty much it. All you have to do now is upload your new hotlink.jpg graphic and your .htaccess file and you're good to go. If you've done everything right then the days of your bandwidth being stolen by hotlinkers should be coming to a close.
A 6-Pack of Mac OS X Terminal Tricks.
I've been a proud Apple Switcher since 2006, but it took me a while to take all of my (not so) secret Windows knowledge and learn all new tips and tricks on the Mac. Being able to become as efficient in the world of Apple as I was with Windows didn't take as long as I thought, but it did have its bumpy parts.
Because of that, and my natural tendency to share knowledge, I've compiled a list of fun tips and tricks in Terminal (i.e. command-line stuff) that I've learned over the last few years. By no means did I discover these on my own... they are a compilation of OSX tips that I’ve found online or from friends with much more Mac knowledge that I.
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Show all files, even system files, in Finder:
Open Terminal and type "
defaults write com.apple.Finder AppleShowAllFiles YES".Hold down the Option key and click on the Finder icon in the Dock and press Relaunch. You may have to wait a second or two for the relaunch option to display.
This one is a life saver for me. I hate not being able to see all files, so this is a must in my Mac machines.
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Show full file paths in Finder:
Open Terminal and type "
defaults write com.apple.finder _FXShowPosixPathInTitle -bool YES".Another must-have! There are so many useful reasons to see the full file path in Finder, I don't get why it's not on by default.
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Change the default (PNG) file format for screenshots:
Open Terminal and type "
defaults write com.apple.screencapture type EXTENSION", whereEXTENSIONcan be any of the following: BMP, GIF, JPEG-2000, JPEG, PDF, PICT, PNG, PSD, SGI, TGA, or TIFF.Don't get me wrong, I love PNGs, but sometimes you want a JPG and don't want to crack open Photoshop or some other graphics tool to do it.
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Securely delete files from a drive:
Open Terminal and type "
diskutil secureErase freespace 3 /Volumes/DRIVE" whereDRIVEis the drive you want to securely delete.If you’re not comfortable using the command line, perhaps you should skip this one... it can be a dangerous tool in the wrong hands.
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Create your own audio book with your Mac's default voice synth:
Open Terminal and type "
say -o AUDIOBOOK.aiff -f FILE.txt", whereFILE.txtis the path to a text file you want read.My kids love this one because they think there's a robot inside my MacBook Pro that is reading to them.
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Force Apple Mail to show plaintext vs. HTML email:
Open Terminal and type "
defaults write com.apple.mail PreferPlainText -bool TRUE".I love HTML, but HTML email is, more often than not, a huge annoyance. I turn it off whenever possible.
I hope you've enjoyed these Mac OSX tips and tricks. If you have any that you feel are a must-have, or if you know of another way of doing any of the above, please let me know in the comments for this post.
What is it: #FridayFollow or #FollowFriday?
No matter if you call it Friday Follow or Follow Friday, at the end of each work week you'll find thousands (if not millions) of people using hashtags to give digital shout outs to their friends and fans on Twitter.
The Friday Follow tradition is great for finding new and interesting tweeters. And since the #FridayFollow hashtags are posted by other tweeps who know them, they're usually great introductions. If you like one person on Twitter, you'll often like someone they follow. But you don't have to limit yourself to only checking out the #FridayFollow recommendations from people you follow, you can do a Twitter search for the common #FridayFollow hashtags to see everyone's #FF.
A #FridayFollow can come in many different forms, but they generally look like this (an example of recommending yours truly):
If you crack open the Twitter search site and do a search, or if you click on one of the links I've provided below, you'll see a lot of love being shared with other folks on Twitter. (Especially on a Friday) Oh, and keep in mind that as with most Twitter-related searches, none of the search terms below are case sensitive.
Some people do one #FF per tweet and say something specific about the person they're recommending, some post one tweet with a #FF and link to a bunch of people, and some people (like me) mix it up. Once you get through your first few Friday's on Twitter you'll get the hang of it.
You can follow me on Twitter at @halfbrown and check out all of my #FridayFollow tweeps.
10 Twitter Tools to Take Your Tweets to the Top.
Are you frustrated that your Twitter profile is getting overrun with spam accounts instead of real (and interesting) followers? Do you want to make connections with actual people instead of getting the same teeth-whitening spam tweets in your Twitter stream? If so, you're going to need the right combination of Twitter tools to get rid of spammers and find followers with similar interests.
Even though Twitter has between 75-85 million accounts, only about 20% of them are considered active Twitter users, which means there are 12-15 million active people using Twitter. Further more, close to 80% of all Twitter accounts have less than 10 tweets and less than 10 followers under their belts. No wonder it's so difficult to find an actual person on Twitter!
The good news is that those of us who are active on Twitter (you can follow me at @halfbrown) are not only friendly and helpful (for the most part), but we want to meet more people like you! In this blog post I'm going to show you some of the Twitter tools I've used to find not only real people who tweet, but who also share the same interests as me. I'm also going to show you how to use these Twitter tools.
Each of the sites below have helped me get over 800 followers, the majority of which are real people who actually tweet, share links, and engage in conversations with each other. Any fool can get 20,000 followers that are mostly spam or inactive accounts, but growing a list of real followers is another story. The Twitter tools I point out below will help you get there.
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monitter.com:
One of the hardest part about starting out on Twitter is finding people you share common interests with. One of the best Twitter tools I've found to search for kindred spirits is monitter.com. Monitter allows you to search for up to 3 keywords (or phrases) at a time and with geo-location matching, to boot. A lot of the great Seattle-area people I've followed or met online came from searching on monitter.com. FYI: I get the best results by using a variety of keywords and hashtags and sticking within 30 miles of the closest major city near me, Seattle.
To do your own search, go to monitter.com, go to the upper-left area of the site and choose a distance. Then go to the 3 columns in the center of the page, and in the dark gray box replace the default search term with your own and click the "Enter" key on your keyboard. Repeat for the last 2 columns if you want to search more. Word of caution: the search is essentially in real-time, so if you use a really common search term, expect that you'll see a lot of scrolling!
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tweetcloud.com:
A big part of deciding whether or not I want to follow a person comes from what they tweet about. Their bio can say anything they want it to, but the real litmus test for what a person is all about comes from their tweet cloud. A tweet cloud is a representation of words or phrases that they use most often when tweeting, and tweetcloud.com is one of the easiest and simplest Twitter tools that shows this info to you. If they have a lot of user names in their tweet cloud then I know they're an active conversationalist. If all their tweet cloud contains are spammy references or non-interesting keywords then I know I'm not going to want to follow them.
To see someone's tweet cloud, just go to tweetcloud.com, click on the "user" tab near the top left-hand section of the page, enter their Twitter user name, and click the "search" button.
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friendorfollow.com:
Friendorfollow.com is one of the better Twitter tools you can use to sort through your list of followers and separate the wheat from the chaff. I've found that if I follow someone and engage in conversations with them online, the majority of the time they will follow you back, especially if they actively participate in the conversations. Some people, however, just aren't very social (strange, considering the very nature of social networking), and if I follow them and we never connect then I don't usually keep following them. I figure if I make an effort to try to get to know them and they aren't interested then why should I bother?
To start things off go to friendorfollow.com, enter your user name, and press the "submit" button. Once the page comes up with your information you'll have 3 tabs to choose from: "following" (people you follow but don't follow you back), "fans" (people who follow you but you don't follow back), and "friends" (people who follow you and you follow them back). If you're looking for someone specific keep in mind that the people listed on the page are in alpha-numeric order.
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mrtweet.com:
For a simple way of finding people to follow you can use mrtweet.com to do some of the leg work for you. Like other Twitter tools it recommends users to you, but it also lists tweeps that it thinks are your influential followers and suggests some of their users to you as well. Added bonus: You can even have friends and followers recommend your profile to others.
Open up mrtweet.com in your browser and click on the "Sign in with Twitter" button. Like a lot of other Twitter tools, MrTweet uses the OAuth method of connecting to you account, so if you're already logged in you won't have to enter your user name or password, which is always a plus from a security standpoint. You will have to authorize MrTweet to have access, but I've never had any problems so you'll be safe. Once you're signed in you'll want to follow the numbered steps to make use of this Twitter tool. Keep in mind that if you're a new user or need an update that it could take some time before MrTweet will be able to show you any useful information.
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@Twitter_Tips:
If you only follow one Twitter-related account, this is the one. @Twitter_Tips tweets all kinds of great information about Twitter. Topics include things like hash tags, retweeting, recommendations on Twitter tools, apps for tweeting, and anything else relating to the Twitterverse. Do yourself a favor... go to @Twitter_Tips and follow them today.
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twitip.com:
As a blog on all things Twitter-related, TwiTip.com is a great resource outside of the Twitter.com domain itself. TwiTip not only has posts about using Twitter for yourself, but also has articles on using Twitter as a tool for businesses, reviews of Twitter apps, and more. It also has advanced Twitter topics like how to follow Twitter lists in an RSS reader and how to schedule your tweets.
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twitter.grader.com:
As far as basic statistics go, the Twitter Grader is one of the better tools you can use to rank yourself against other tweeps. Based on the Twitter Grader algorithm. With it's simple interface and narrow focus on a few pieces of information, it's a great place for beginners to start tracking their ranking.
Head over to http://twitter.grader.com/, enter your user name and click on "Grade". You'll see a grade between 0 and 100 in a box on the right-hand side. Anything less than a 90 usually indicates a new or not very active user.
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twittercounter.com:
With a nice graph showing a few different stats so you can see where the peaks and valleys are as well as the ability to compare yourself against 2 others at the same time, Twitter Counter is a great next-step up from basic stats. This tool has 3 different tabs: "Followers", "Following", and "Tweets". Clicking on each of these tabs will bring up a new graph that'll let you gauge how each of those stats is changing over time.
Point your browser to twittercounter.com and click on the "Add yourself" button. Like other Twitter tools it uses OAuth to connect. Once it does you can set up a profile so you can start looking at your stats whenever you like.
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twitalyzer.com:
In my opinion TwitAlyzer is one of the better advanced Twitter statistics websites out there today. With a clean interface using infographics, numeric indicators, and even up/down arrows to quickly see how your numbers are changing for the many data points they calculate for your profile, TwitAlyzer makes sorting through data a breeeze. To me, this Twitter tool is an indispensable resource for anyone who really wants to get into the nuts and bolts of tweaking your profile for peak performance. One thing to remember, however, is that if it's your first time using TwitAlyzer or if it's been a while since you've updated it could take a little time for them to gather all of the necessary information to show you your stats. Believe me... it's well worth the wait.
Using TwitAlyzer is a breeze. Go to twitalyzer.com, enter your user name, and click on the "Twitalyze!" button. You'll be able to see some basic data, but if you sign in using their OAuth connection you'll get 9 more reports to sift through.
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twittervalue.com:
Finishing out the list is one of those Twitter tools that's just for fun. It evaluates your account and puts a dollar value on it. Don't expect anyone to actually pay you this money for your account, but do have fun with it by checking out your value and then your friends, followers, and celebrities who are on Twitter.
That's it, 10 Twitter tools to help you manage your tweets and tweeps. These are just the tip of the iceberg, too, but they should help you find great followers, get rid of the inactive or non-participating ones, and get you up-and-running quickly and easily.
3 Secrets of the Twitterati.
The Urban Dictionary defines the Twitterati as:
Twitterati: The Tweet elite, whose feeds attract thousands of followers and whose 140-character spews capture the attention of the rapt who doggedly monitor them.Maybe it's not the most glowing definition going, but the point is clear: There are people out there whose tweets hold more interest (and probably influence) than others. I'm not just talking about celebrities or the otherwise famous -- it's obvious why those folks have so many followers -- and I’m also not talking about friend whores or spammers who just add people indiscriminately. I'm talking about the people with actual, real followers. Lots of them. The people I'm talking about are the ones who have a true connection with their followers and make a real impact on them.
It's called social media for a reason, isn't it?
Even though the members of the Twitterati are different people, the same things are being done, more or less, by all of the them. Everyone's voice is different, most have different areas of expertise or special knowledge, and they usually have a unique viewpoint. Still, you can find 3 common elements in all of their tweets if you take a step back and look at the big picture.
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Engage:
Possibly the most important of the 3 E’s, engaging with their followers is what sets the Twitterati apart, and really puts the social in "social networking". To build a list of Twitter followers isn't enough; anyone can get 20,000 followers if you only care about quantity and not quality. The power Twitter users get real people to follow them and learn who they are, find out their interests, talk directly with them, and find ways to get (and stay) connected with their followers as much as possible.
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Expose:
In order to have any appreciable effect on anyone, you have to let them in, even if just a little bit. Show them the real you. Being yourself, opening up, and exposing your strengths as well as your weaknesses helps build a bond between you and your followers. Exposing yourself to your Twitter followers builds trust. And without trust you're no better than a super-tweeting robot.
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Enlighten:
Last but certainly not least is what the most Twitterati do to keep their followers once they get them. The Twitter elite retain their followers by consistently tweeting relevant links, new tips and tricks, inside information on a particular topic, and any other reliable data their followers will find interesting through a tweet. This is the part where they teach a man to fish instead of giving him one.
Honestly, these aren't even secrets. They're common sense and common knowledge. Unfortunately we all seem to lose our way sometimes and forget these things. If you make a point to talk to people, be yourself, and teach them things, you'll build a strong base of friends and supporters.
10 “Gotta Have” WordPress Plugins for Your Blog.
One of the quickest ways to make blogging easier on yourself is to use WordPress plugins. From automating tasks like backing up your blog articles to guarding your site from spam, plugins enhance your website and help you maintain a top notch blog. Luckily for us all, WordPress makes installing and using plugins as simple as a few button clicks.
There are literally thousands of plugins available, but the ones I've listed are ones I use over and over for many reasons. Some are optional depending on your level of blogging or code expertise (and will be noted in the descriptions below), but most of these plugins can be used on any blog to immediately improve things. If you have any questions, comments, or suggestions on plugins please leave me a comment below!
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Akismet:
Akismet is a spam control plugin. Installed by default on all WordPress blogs, Akismet shouldn't even be a question. It's ridiculously accurate in separating spam from real comments and it just works.
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All in One SEO Pack:
If you're looking to increase the search engine friendliness of your site, start with this plugin. Coupled with some smart markup (read: HTML) and decent content, your blog will start seeing the love it deserves from Google, Bing, and other search engines. There are some great customization options available, too.
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Exec-PHP:
In a nutshell, this WordPress plugin lets you add PHP code inside of posts. If you're even slightly tech-minded, or if you want to add more functionality to your posts, the Exec-PHP plugin is a no brainer. If you don't plan on using PHP I wouldn't worry about this plugin; but if you do this is a must have.
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FD Feedburner Plugin:
Get your RSS feed out there with more panache with a Feedburner account (easily logged into with your iGoogle account). This plugin replaces the default feed and uses the Feedburner feed instead. Once you've set up your Feedburner account you can customize it with a ton of options that will help spread your blog around and gather interest to your site.
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Google Analytics for WordPress:
This plugin automagically puts your Google Analytics code on each page/post as appropriate. It's a great way to get some basic stats and easily integrates with your website. There are plenty of free analytics packages out there, but this one is really simple to get started with and monitor.
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Google XML Sitemaps:
When you update your blog this plugin makes all the necessary updates so Google can parse your site more easily. Highly recommended, especially in conjunction with the "All in One SEO Pack" above!
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Permalinks Moved Permanently:
If you ever rethink how you've categorized posts or decide to update posts on the back-end, there's a good chance that you'll eventually run into a problem with broken permalinks. This plugin is a great go-between that helps you out while you're finding the broken links because it tries to find the update permalink and send them to the right page, all seamlessly.
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PS Disable Auto Formatting:
The PS Disable Auto Formatting plugin lets you get rid of the automated formatting that exists in WordPress posts. Take control of your blog's posts and sculpt the markup as you wish. There are a few minor things to update and/or remember when using this one, but if you want to control your HTML in a post it's a great plugin to have.
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WordPress Database Backup:
Don't get caught with your pants down! If your WordPress ever gets corrupted or if you get hacked, make sure you have a backup with this plugin. It can be configured to automatically backup your content so you can repair if/when necessary.
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WordPress Gravatars:
So you've read my Gravatar post and want to hook up your blog readers, have you? Just install the WordPress Gravatars plugin and you'll be on your way. This plugin makes it really easy to have your commenters feel like a part of the blog.
One more thing to note: To make sure your WordPress blog runs as efficiently as possible, be careful how many plugins you install and use. Too many plugins can actually slow things down on your website.
Is the Apple iPad a Game Changer?
I've got a new post on my Posterous site regarding the newly-announced Apple iPad with the initial details of the Apple iPad and some quick thoughts on it. The short version: The Apple iPad is everything I thought it would be and more. And at a lower price, too! I'm pretty sure I'll be getting one since they look so damned useful.
The new iPad looks like the perfect mix of netbook size and laptop capability, and IMHO it's got the potential to be a real game changer in several areas.
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Netbooks:
I've predicted the demise of netbooks before, and even if Apple haters completely ignore the iPad, I'm still convinced that the future of netbooks is coming. Soon.
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Kindle:
Is it even a question that Apple is positioning the iPad to be a Kindle killer? With the iBook app and current (or future) deals with publishers of books (and textbooks?), newspapers, and magazines, the iPad has much more to offer the digital bibliophile than the Kindle.
I wonder what the future of the Mac Air and the iPod Touch are, considering how the iPad sits between the two. Is there still room for either when the iPad is essentially Mac Air-Lite or an iPod Touch++? The Air and the Touch both have features the iPad doesn't, but who knows what people will flock to? Time will tell.
Future enhancements like a camera, Flash capability, multi-tasking, phone capability, and maybe even a radio tuner would be great, but even as it is now this looks like a really smart jump in the right direction for ultra-portable computing. Apple has really knocked it out of the park with the launch of the iPad. I have to admit that I'm saddened that there's no multi-tasking out the door and the display is only 4:3 instead of 16:9, but it's only version 1.0 and I can live with that for now. And if the rumors of multi-tasking being in the iPhone 4 OS are true then hey... no worries.
Oh, and once they do get a camera on the iPad I can start padcasting.
I'll be using the iPad as my home blogging tool and general Internet goofing around machine. I can write, update my blog, and whatnot on one small machine and that's all I need it for. Personally I'm leaning toward the 64GB WiFi model, which is a steal at $699USD. Before the announcement today I didn't think a 3G model would be available, but I figured the 32GB Apple iPad would be around $899, so I'm very pleasantly surprised by the price. (I can use the $200 I'll be saving on the extra 32GB of storage and accessories like the cover and keyboard stand.) The least expensive model is the 16GB WiFi for only $499. Apple has really aggressively priced this to gain users. More info on iPad tech specs at the Apple site.
#Hashtag 101 – What They Are & What They Do.
When used in a tweet, a hashtag is a word, or words, which have been prepended with a hash symbol (#) to assist in organizing information about them. For example, if you wanted to create a hashtag out of the word "Twitter", you'd type it as "#Twitter" (no, they aren't case-sensitive). See how simple it is? With the addition of one character, a new hashtag is born.
By using hashtags, a tweet is given additional metadata that can flow inline with the 140 characters used in it and increase it's searchability by people interested in the topic. But it's not all fun-and-games. Adding too many hashtags isn't helpful, and it's actually kind of spammy. While there's no upper-limit on how many you can use, a ballpark number would be 3-4 hashtags per tweet (plus or minus a couple).
So what does all that mean for the average user? Well, simply put, if you want to gain attention to a particular topic or if you want to make it easier for others to find the things you're tweeting about, adding a hashtag would be the way to go. Hashtags are also calculated into Twitter's trending topics, which are the most active topics of discussion occurring at any given time. The more of a particular tag that are tweeted, the more likely it is to become a trending topic.
If you're interested in finding out more about hashtags and which ones are currently trending topics you can do it in two relatively easy places:
Use Twitter itself. Trends are located on Twitter search (below the search field). If you're logged into Twitter, there's also a "Trending Topics" area on the sidebar, directly underneath the "Lists" area. And... if you're one of the lucky ones, Twitter has recently pushed a new "location-based trends " test to approximately 1% of it's users in the same place as the existing trends within the Twitter sidebar.
A third-party site that's been set up to actively monitor and display hashtags. There are plenty of resources online, and I've got a few examples of ones I've previously used below:
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hashtags.org:
A great starting point for finding trending topics, hashtags.org provides a simple interface to search for tags. Make sure to follow @hashtags to have your hashtags tracked.
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wthashtag.com:
This site uses a wiki to track trending topics and allows viewers to add a definition to the tags. WTHashtag.com lists active tags, categories, and even has it's own search bar that you can install.
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monitter.com:
monitter.com lets you select up to 3 hashtags to watch in real-time. It also has an option to let you choose the distance from a certain area (10-100 km or miles from a specific city, state, zip code, etc.) and only see the hashtags from that area. I like to use monitter.com to find local folks who are interested in the same things that I am based on their keywords or hashtags.
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whatthetrend.com:
Another website that shows hashtags in real-time, whatthetrend.com has a nice, clean page that displays the trending topics in a simple list format. Another great feature is that the hashtags are not only defined, but they can be redefined if necessary.
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hashtags.org:
Do You Want a Custom Blog Comment Avatar?
If you're looking to spice up your blog comments a bit, sign up for a (free) Gravatar account. Many websites have an option to display the avatar of your choosing wherever you comment on a blog (based on the email address you use to comment), and it's a great way to add a little something extra when you post. Gravatar plugins are available for most (if not all) major blog software platforms, so there's a heck of a good chance you'll be seeing your new Gravatar the first time you make a new comment.
Setting up a new Gravatar account is easy. Just follow these steps:
Go to http://en.gravatar.com/site/signup/ and enter your email address.
Check your email for the activation email sent by Gravatar.com. Click on the link in the email. (Be careful of line-wrapping if you choose to copy+paste the URL instead!)
Enter the username you want to use, as well as a password. When you choose an available username and click "Signup" your account should be created.
Now you just have to select a picture to associate with the email you signed up with. Follow the directions listed on Gravatar.com.
That's it. Everything else is hands-off for you. And the next time you are on a Gravatar-enabled website and leave a comment with your selected email address, your Gravatar will show up in the comments. Enjoy!
Update: Diana Adams also has great post on Gravatars at Bit Rebels.
Image copyright http://Gravatar.com/
How I Use Twitter Lists.
Twitter lists are a great way to help organize your tweeps into categories, or lists, that you define. Getting started with Twitter lists is easy, but how you use them every day is another story. There are probably as many ways to use them as there are people who use Twitter, but today I'm going to focus on showing you how I use lists.
I've broken down how I use Twitter lists into 4 sections, and I'll go into detail with each of them below.
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Filtering people into lists:
When Twitter lists made their first appearance, I decided to use mine like an email filter. I took a look at the people I was following at the time and started setting up categories based on a few general topics or interests and grouped together everyone who was an easy fit into one or more of my new lists.
These lists allow me to view tweets based on what different people tweet about, generally speaking. For local tweeps talking about local events I check out my NW Tweeps 01 list. If I'm looking to join a conversation regarding development, design, or blogging I go to my Dev Design Blog list. You get the idea.
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Finding new & interesting people to follow:
I used to follow a bunch of other people's Twitter lists, but in the end it didn't work out for me. I found it difficult to sort through all of the different tweets on all of the different lists and make any sense of things as they were. There were too many of one kind of tweet and not enough of others and that made it a big time-killer. My solution? Use other people's lists as a starting point to find new people to follow instead of following their entire set of lists.
Now when I'm looking at someone else's list I look for who the most active tweeters are, see if they look like someone I might be interested in following based on my very exacting criteria (/sarcasm), and then follow them if they do. Lather, rinse, repeat.
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Creating secret societies known only by me:
I'm a nice guy. I don't want to hurt anyone's feelings. But if I'm being honest... I have a favorites list. There are people whose tweets have a higher priority than others do for me, personally, and it's the one list that goes beyond topics or interests like the other lists because it's filled with personal friends, influential tweeters, and the like.
Creating a private Twitter list allows you to keep your cards close to your chest and still be in the game. Whether you're looking to keep your close friends behind the door like I use it, peruse Santa's list of naughty girls (or boys if you prefer) without your co-workers seeing it, or even if you just want to follow the whole "... and keep your enemies closer..." maxim, private lists are the way to go.
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Read but don't necessarily follow:
Sometimes I find that I don't want to follow someone anymore, for various reasons; but I also don't want to unfollow and forget about them either. Or maybe I've never followed a particular tweeter at all, but I want to keep tabs on what they're tweeting because they look like they might be interesting but I'm not 100% sure. Either way, their addition to one of my Twitter lists is essentially a reminder service for me. One list where I do this a lot is my Movies Comedy Music Etc. list.
There are a lot of celebrity accounts on that list, as well as improv groups, theaters, etc., and for the most part I don't need (or want) to catch up with all of them every day. In that case I can use the list to drop by whenever it's convenient for me and see what the latest news is for each of them.
And there we go, my personal Twitter list usage guide. If you've found any of this interesting or you have any questions regarding something specific, feel free to leave me a comment and I'll get back to you ASAP.
