A Valid Twitter HTML Widget.
I was a bit surprised when I found out the (now older and difficult, if not impossible, to find anywhere on Twitter) Twitter HTML widget didn't validate. They've got an empty <ul> (e.g. without any <li>'s) in their code, and that makes the W3 HTML validator cranky.
The fix (in bold below) is simple enough:
<ul id="twitter_update_list"><li style="display: none;"></li></ul>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/javascripts/blogger.js"></script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://twitter.com/statuses/user_timeline/YOUR_USER_NAME.json?callback=twitterCallback2&count=5"></script>That's it! Easy peasy, Mac-n-Cheesey. Just make sure to also replace "YOUR_USER_NAME" with your actual Twitter username. And keep in mind that this is clay... I didn't do anything fancy to any of the resulting HTML, there's no CSS to style the return all prettified and whatnot. I leave that up to you.
If you want to talk about this Twitter HTML widget fix, please feel free to leave a comment here on the blog. You can also follow me on Twitter to talk about it, or just say "Hi".
Image by halfbrown.
You Don’t “Get” Twitter? Neither Did I, Until…
A lot of people don't "get" Twitter. I know I didn't when I first signed up, which is why I tweeted a handful of times and then forgot about the account for over a year. It felt so pointless to me at first, and 140 characters to get a thought out there seemed like nothing when compared to the open-endedness of of a blog post (which, when I first signed up, I had been doing with some regularity for about 5 years). That's probably why a large percentage of people who try out Twitter end up quitting within the first month of signing up. Oh sure, there's not official number on that (Twitter is notoriously quiet about their actual numbers), but the guesstimates by people more in the know than I am all seem to point to that as a fact.
So why did it take me so long to finally get to using Twitter regularly and falling in love with it? Well, after reading more about how people were using it, lurking a whole lot, and doing some thinking about the Twitter phenomenon I finally "got" it, and I'll try to explain Twitter to you as I understand (and use) it: Twitter is a social networking tool. That's it. I'll break that down, because people are always talking about social networking as if we all took that class in 8th grade and are intimately familiar with the concept.
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social:
For all intents and purposes, "social" means "people". Specifically social means people who want to interact with other people (whether they know them or not), and there's a million reasons why they want to interact with them. Maybe it's a new mother reaching out to other first-time moms, or a small business trying to get it's message out there. It could be the iPhone app developer releasing his latest version to the iTunes app store or even the intern in a big company who's trying to keep sane working for her third new boss this week (and it's only Tuesday). Each of these people has a story they want to share.
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networking:
If social means people, then "networking" means "connecting with" those people. And by connecting I mean engaging. Interacting. Mixing it up, if you will. Twitter's like a dance we're all attending, and in order to cut a rug we've got to cross the room to ask that pretty girl to dance. If you're not networking, you'll never "get" Twitter. And I don't mean networking in the job-fair-at-the-airport-hotel sense of the word. I'm talking about putting yourself out there and making a connection with people. Whether it's one person or 1,500, you're making a connection, and possibly a friend. Maybe even a difference.
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tool:
The real tool in this scenario is whatever you use to connect to Twitter. It could be the "What's happening?" form field we all put our 140 characters into and then press the "update" button. It could even be Tweetdeck, or Hoot Suite, or your Blackberry. Whatever you're using to make those connections, that's your tool. That's what's getting you out there, and without it you wouldn't be able to do any of the social networking mentioned above.
No one can make you make the connections with other people, and that's what I see as the stumbling block for most people who give up on Twitter. My suggestion on getting started the right way? Do a search on Twitter for your city's name, or maybe even a hobby you're into. Start browsing through the people who are talking about those things, or any other topic you're interested in. Take a look at the profiles of the people who are talking and see who already "gets" Twitter (read: they're talking to other people), and follow them. Start up a conversation. Ask them a question. Interact with them, because that's what Twitter is about. Finding a connection with someone and interacting with them.
And if you or someone you know don't know who to start with, feel free to follow me on Twitter. I'm easy to talk to. 
Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/sepblog/ / CC BY 2.0
The “Half Plus Seven” rule.
Have you ever heard of the "Half plus seven" rule? It's a relationship "rule" that describes a set of parameters for age differences in a relationship to make it "socially acceptable" (quotes added for ironic effect).
The saying has been around for a while... Wikipedia references it, and Urban Dictionary has an entry for "Half Plus Seven", too. If you're feeling particularly angsty (is that even a word?!) about the half plus seven rule, don't fret. Your friends at XKCD discuss the relative size of half plus seven dating pools for you. Fear not, little camper.
Is an age gap any wider than half plus seven really that uncomfortable to people? I guess I see things a bit differently since one of my best friends is happily married to a younger woman, and add to that the fact that I've known many couples in a (ahem) May-December romance that works out great, so it doesn't bother me at all.
It's funny that most of the vitriol that I've read online regarding this subject concerns older men and younger women together; but the idea of a Cougar or a MILF seems (more?) acceptable. That seems like some sort of reverse discrimination if you ask me.
I believe that the most important issue is whether or not a couple is happy, if they communicate well, and they genuinely care for each other. I don't care if a 40-year old woman is dating a 23-year old man, or if a 60-year old man is married to a 37-year old woman; which also happens to be the cut-off for a 60-year old according to the half plus seven rule.
Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/simply_steff/ / CC BY 2.0
10 Essential Twitter Etiquette Tips.
Yes, Virginia, there is such a thing as Twitter etiquette, and whether you're a complete newbie or a Twitter addict, there's a good chance you're making a few mistakes (socially speaking). Every online community has unwritten rules of usage and/or proper behavior, and using proper etiquette on Twitter will keep you from being blocked, booed, or banned.
Instead of learning things the hard way like I did, you can check out this list of 10 tips on Twitter etiquette that I've come up with during my time on the service. A lot of them are common sense and apply to other areas of life, too (much less other social networking sites). I hope you find them useful. You can follow me on Twitter at http://twitter.com/halfbrown.
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Don't plagiarize:
If you see an interesting tweet, regardless of whether or not it's from someone you're following or a random post you found online, don't try to pass it off as your own, that's bad Twitter etiquette. Like most web-based communities, Twitter self-polices itself very well, and naughty boys and girls are made examples of swiftly and surely.
Make things easier on yourself and retweet (you may have seen it written as "RT" on Twitter) your find for proper attribution. Not only will the original poster be thankful, but it also helps make you part of the community.
Not sure how to RT? Don't worry, I can show you how to properly retweet on Twitter.
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Easy on the tweets:
Unless you're churning out consistently interesting links, useful information, or insights into your soul, you should keep your tweet stream to a sane amount every day. Believe me, no one wants to hear about the 5 times you went to the bathroom or learn that the reason why you're going so much is because of the big lunch you had at the mobile burrito truck (there's a reason they're called a "roach coach", kids).
Something along the lines of a half dozen or so tweets is probably good if they're of the "blah blah blah, pay attention to me" variety, but there's no hard/fast rule about this. If you're pumping out 30-40 interesting tweets a day you're not going to have much, if anything, to worry about.
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Too many links, whether sausage or website, aren't good for you:
It's very tempting to add more than one URL when posting, but try not to. Any more than 1 link, maybe 2, is begging for confusion in your 140 characters (and for the love of Pete, use a URL shortener like Bitly). If you have multiple links you should think about splitting them up into multiple tweets.
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Let us know you're joking:
Written communication like tweets, IM's, and email can't convey the subtle inflections that the spoken word can. If you're trying to be humorous make sure to let people know it by adding a smiley face ":)", an "LOL", or a well placed "j/k". Remember that the written word always reads about 3 times more harsh to others than it does to you and re-tool your content appropriately.
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Get to know your followers:
You'll have a much bigger impact on your followers if you can find out what makes them tick, learn their (online) personalities, and deliver the content, information, or entertainment they want. The only way you'll do this is by listening to what they have to say in their tweets, their blog posts, etc.
By all means jump into the pool with the rest of the Twitter community, but once you're in the water wade in the shallow end for a while until you get a good feel for how the rest of the folks are swimming. You don't want to belly flop your first time out.
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Know when (and when not) to DM:
Direct messages are a great way to send someone information you don't want publicly available like a phone number or private email address. DM's tend to feel more personal, too, so be sure to not abuse your followers with too many messages. No one wants a stalker. And resist the urge to use an auto-DMing service since they're really easy to detect and it's usually thought of as spammy, and is a huge no-no in the realm of Twitter etiquette.
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One message = one tweet:
Your followers are more than likely going to be hit with a lot of tweets during the course of a day from the group of people they follow. Don't unnecessarily add to the mix by re-posting the same tweet multiple times in a short period of time. It's rude, it's spammy, and it's a waste of everyone's time.
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Keep private things on the DL:
Throwing a naughty little soirée with some friends? Making plans for a special date with your significant other? Maybe you're organizing a get together for after-work drinks with your co-workers to talk trash about the new HR Director? Great! But don't spill too many details on Twitter, otherwise you just might open the door for a real buzzkill by having unwelcome party crashers show up. Tweetups are one thing, but make sure you want to actually have an open invitation out there before you tweet about it.
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Would you want your grandma to read your tweet?:
Even if you have a protected profile, you still have followers who read your tweets, and those people can copy+paste what you write in an email. Never post anything you wouldn't want a beloved family member, your boss, or a local sheriff to read.
Examples of things to keep on the QT are embarrassingly graphic details of your love life, the who's who of your KOS list (those of you who PVP in online games know what I'm talkin' 'bout), or especially what you think of your boss or your job. Things posted online live forever, and there's no way to take them back. Ever.
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Not everyone will read (or follow) this list of Twitter etiquette tips:
You should know by now that the Internet is chock-a-block full of idiots, naysayers, and contrarians. Don't get spun up by their posts and then sucked into a flame war because they're a nut looking to get a rise out of someone. Either ignore them or block them. Problem solved, and you don't look like just as big an idiot for falling prey to their brand of crazy.
That's it. Ten simple rules to make your life on Twitter easier. For the most part you can consider these Twitter etiquette tips more of a guideline than actual rules of the road and of course they can be fudged a bit every now and again, but be careful when doing so. The last thing you want is to be That Guy (or girl) and find yourself in the hot seat by something you do or say.
"Better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak out and remove all doubt."
Abraham Lincoln
Happy Twittering!
Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/carrotcreative/ / CC BY 2.0
How to (Properly) Retweet on Twitter.
A "retweet" on Twitter, sometimes called an "RT", is the most common form of promoting content written by someone else and sharing it with your followers. Any great link, information, or insight is potentially retweetable, and there are a few courtesies and conventions on how to do it properly.
There are many reasons for you to retweet compelling content, not to mention creating retweetable material of your own. Examples include attracting more followers, increasing your personal relevance among your followers (depending on the content of the original tweet itself), and even being placed on a one or more Twitter lists. I've personally seen all 3 of those examples happen to my @halfbrown account after posting content on Twitter. Increased followers and popularity is all about great content (unless you're a celebrity, in which case your existence alone on Twitter can get you followers), and retweeting that content helps everybody.
There are two common ways to properly retweet, and each method is detailed below:
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Using the Twitter RT:
Twitter added their own retweet functionality in late 2009 to mixed reviews, and love it (or at least have a "glass half full" view of it) or hate it, it looks like it's here to stay. To retweet using the Twitter-supplied way, simply mouseover the tweet you want to RT and look in the bottom right-hand side of the tweet. You should see 2 options, "Reply" And "Retweet". (See the graphic below for an example.)
Just click on the "Retweet" link and a confirmation saying "Retweet to your followers?" will appear. If change your mind on the retweet, simply click the "X" to close the confirmation, otherwise click the "Yes" button to retweet it. When you click "Yes" the tweet is sent out to your stream like your other tweets, but shows up as being from the original tweeter user (their profile's avatar is used, etc.) with text at the bottom showing it as retweeted by you.
The up side to using the Twitter RT method is ease-of-use and automated attribution of the original poster. The down side of using it is that you can't add any additional comments. I like to use this method of retweeting when I don't have anything to add to the mix and just want to quickly pass the info along to my Twitter followers.
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Creating a manual RT:
Before Twitter added their retweet functionality the only way to RT was to do it by hand. It's a little more complicated than the Twitter RT method, but it gives you more control over what's shown and how it displays. The basics are simple:
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Find a compelling tweet to send to your followers:
Chances are good that if you have real followers who like what you usually have to say, they'll be interested in most things you'd want to retweet.
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Copy+paste the content of the tweet into your status update field:
Sometimes you'll need to strategically trim a few words to get under the 140 character limit. Just try to stay as true to the original content as possible and no one should mind. If you have room left over, feel free to add your own commentary or maybe a relevant hashtag. The former will help increase your engagement with the original tweeter, and the latter will expose you to a few more folks searching for that hashtag who otherwise may not have found you.
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Retweeting etiquette calls for crediting the original tweeter:
This usually in the form of an "@" which, when prepended to a Twitter username, auto-links to that person's Twitter page. Prepend the previous step with the following: "RT @username ", where "username" is replaced with the username of the person who originally tweeted the content. Make sure to add a space after the username so the original poster will get properly linked and credited!
The upside to using the manual RT method is the control you have of the content (adding hashtags, comments, etc.). The downside of using it is the potential for broken or missing attribution of the original tweeter and sometimes having to change the original content to conform to the 140 character Twitter limit. I like to engage with my followers and the original tweeters, so I prefer to use this method.
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Find a compelling tweet to send to your followers:
Regardless of which method you use, as long as you’re retweeting quality content and you give credit where credit is due, a good retweet has a lot of value to you, your followers, and the person you're retweeting.
Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/creativecommons/ / CC BY 2.0
Most New Years Predictions are Wrong. Here are Mine for 2010.
With the year well underway I'm sure you've noticed, like I have, the immense number of tweets, blog posts, and other web-chatter with New Year trends and predictions in the world of tech for 2010. Everyone has an opinion on what's going to happen, as if the spirit of Nostradamus insinuated itself into the Web and imbued everyone who has an Internet presence his legendary powers of precognition.
Some quick background before I continue: I've been cleaning out my garage over the last few days and happened upon a very large stack of magazines, clippings, and website printouts from as far back as 1999 and began sorting through all of it. Of a, oh, 36" high stack of assorted papers and old magazines I only kept about a half inch worth of stuff. (Most of which, incidentally, are funny Dilbert strips, hard copies of emails long since deleted and/or lost in their digital state, and a very small amount of still relevant information like a recipe for a great rib roast) My how the hot topics of the day go by the wayside after 8-10 years of stewing in a box next to my old high school yearbooks.
Anyhow, something I noticed in sorting through the big tall stack of tech-related stuff were the prediction issues of the magazines: who's hot, what's going to happen, and where the big events will take place in the culture and business of technology. Not surprisingly the number of correct predictions totaled approximately .5%. (This is not a scientifically accurate calculation, but is probably pretty F-ing close) Those are really terrible stats. Hell, you've got a better chance at winning a hand at Blackjack in a Vegas casino (if you're counting cards, and if they catch you they'll break your legs) than you do by following someone's advice on what's going to be what.
How could a multi-billion dollar industry, chock-o-block full of smart, creative, and well-connected teams of journalists hailing from so very many respected institutions of higher learning fail in accurately gauging the next wave of movers and shakers? I don't know the answer to that. If I did I'd probably be some sort of high-falutin' media consultant making six figures a year.
Please note: I am *not* a high-falutin' media consultant making six figures a year.
I'm just a dude with a keyboard, a few magazine and RSS feed subscriptions, and a great big bag full of "Here's what I think..." thrown into the mix. I don't have a fancy journalism degree, I don't sit on the board of any public company, and I certainly am not an "insider". Having said that I can't, in good conscience, let this start without giving my own very-likely-to-be-99.5%-chance-of-being-wrong predictions for 2010.
- Social Media gets bigger.
Duh. It seems like everyone is on some kind of social media site these days. There are already reports that your Nana has a Facebook account. No, seriously. @MisterHapa tweeted about it.
OK, maybe not everyone... I guess it's hard for newborns or the recently comatose to sign up. But outside of those groups, or the damned, dirty apes of the world (read: neo-luddites and other tech naysayers), people are jamming themselves into social media sites like sardines in a can; and it's my opinion that it's just going to get tighter in the tin. Every social media site* is going to blow up with more users, or at the very least will continue to receive an insane amount of press.
- Microblogging is dead, long live microblogging.
I think it's safe to say that 2009 could be considered the year that the (mass) media finally picked up on (and halfway figured out) Twitter, rammed it down everyone's throat who didn't know about it (with the aforementioned media outlets seeming, to those folks, like a cutting edge source of tech information), and fostered an environment of "Hey we ought to try that" amongst the pointy-haired bosses of the world.
It's a wonderful thing, this Twitter phenomenon, but I think we all know that 140 characters just ain't enough to make a lasting impact all by it's lonesome. I certainly don't think Twitter or any old/new micro-blogging platform is going away, but I do believe that people, people who have a stake in a company's online presence in particular, are going to course-correct and focus on real content for the long term. And by "real content" I mean the 141+ character variety.
I'm not saying anyone is giving up on microblogging, it's just going to be given it's due attention and integrated into the rest of a media campaign vs. being the flavor of the week with all eyes on it like it's the lightning in a bottle everyone is hoping for.
- Mobile technology, media, and apps get bigger, better, and more penetration.
Hmmm... in retrospect that sounds kinda dirty, but we'll stick with it for now. What we call a smart phone now is going to be morphing over the next 3-7 years to something akin to a Tricorder from Star Trek: The Next Generation. 2010 will be the next big step in this evolution with a new iPhone circa July and another leap by someone else circa November. Droid? Palm? Blackberry? I dunno, folks, I'm just spitballin' here like everyone else.
- Netbook sales will shrink as mobile computing becomes a reality in your pocket.
Much like my mobile prediction previous to this, the more our phones become like our computers, the need for a netbook will dwindle. Tablets (decent ones, that are powerful and affordable) might not come to fruition this year (in a widespread fashion, at least), but the promise of them will be enough to make the idea of buying a netbook seem downright silly by the end of the year, especially with phones doing more and more for us. Personally I can't wait to be able to painlessly edit my code and run a mini server on an iPhone or the rumored iTablet from Apple.
That's it. Be they ever so humble, those are my predictions for 2010. Let's check back in next January to see how I did.
* Except for MySpace. Bonus prediction time, kids: MySpace will continue on a downward spiral into obsolescence until:
It gets carried off like Han in carbonite by some kind of sale to a
suckernew investor, who hopefully will have the resources and matching brain cells to find a way to stop the insanity of the overly-customizable profile pages with red backgrounds & blue text and under-sexed teen anime drawings as background images (not to mention increasing revenues and growing their user base again), orThe powers that be pull their heads out of their asses and focus on the 2 things with the potential to keep 'em coming back: Music and Comedy (in particular: something that will work for both artists and fans, like exclusivity agreements to artists in exchange for revenue sharing or something crazy like that).
Image courtesy of http://www.flickr.com/photos/declanjewell/ / CC BY 2.0
