Tuesday, May 26, 2009

I Know I'm Slow, but Twitter Search Rocks!

Ok, I'm slow. I'll never tweet about being a genius, but no matter how dense this post makes me seem, I had to publish. I'm still new to Twitter, but I figured out today that the search tool rocks! I'm banking that there are a few of my Twitter challenged brothers and sisters out there that might appreciate this clue that I just got.

So back to the point. Twitter search... This is the little form field next to the mini magnifying glass located about half way down the right side of your Twitter page. Don't ask me why I never used it before now, but today was the day. I typed in "Malibu Boats", who I work for, and there they were. Tweets... a bunch of them. And most contained references to Malibu Boats. a few of the results were a little off, but not many. I even found this tweet from 10 days ago.

TylerThurston I love malibu boats! http://twitpic.com/5b1b5 Thanks @TylerThurston!

I know I'm little late, but I replied. What a powerful statement about Malibu Boats and without my Twitter Search epiphany I would have missed it completely. I'm searching everyday from now on. I'm also searching any related terms I can think of like "wakeboard boats", "wakeboards" and "wakeboarding" all in search of more friends for @malibuboats. Check out Twitter's Advanced Search for even more tailored results. @kamimauzy [kah-mi-mah-zee] out!

Tags: | | | | | |

Monday, May 25, 2009

What Does RT Mean on Twitter? Re-Tweet (Total World Domination)

Learned what RT means on Twitter yesterday. Re-Tweet. Essentially you type "RT" prior to a Tweet that you are re-posting from another Twitter feed. Make sure to include the owner's Twitter handle after "RT". (Ex. @kamimauzy) Here's a Tweet I re-posted (re-tweeted) from the Malibu Boats Twitter feed today in honor of Memorial Day.

RT @malibuboats Remembering Marine Corps Cpl Joshua D Pickard, 20, killed by a sniper Dec 19, 2006 near Fallouja. http://ping.fm/8e68o

Josh is a hero in our area and I thought it was appropriate for me to re-tweet (RT) this sentiment to my Twitter friends (followers).

There's a lot of power in re-tweeting (RT). Your followers don't always follow the same Tweeters that you do. That means they may not have seen whatever amazing 140-character micro-blog post that you did. I follow Malibu Boats on Twitter so I saw the Josh Pickard post, but chances are most of my Twitter friends (followers) did not. So I re-tweeted it. (Secret: I Twitter on behalf of Malibu Boats, cause I work there. So I cheated on this example, just a little.)

If you post something on Twitter that you want people to re-tweet (RT) add something like this to the end of your post, "RT plz".

Thanks to everyone for the amazing response to #savehashtags. We still need your help http://tr.im/savehtags (RT plz)

Check out that link. Hash tags is a cool thing and they need help. If you want to learn about Twitter hash (#) tags too check out my earlier blog post.

Of course not everyone will re-tweet, but depending on the content of your post, you may be surprised. In my limited experience, the posts that tend to be re-tweeted the most are free of cheap advertisements and marketing crap. Most the re-tweets I see in great numbers are genuine, normally, helpful pieces of information.

Now that we know the technical meaning of "RT", let's think about the implications that a simple Twitter tag like this can have on the "big picture". If I post a Tweet to my 108 Twitter friends (followers), then 108 people have the opportunity to read my tweet and learn about me. Cool! But if that same post is re-tweeted by one of my Twitter friends (followers), say @lizasperling who re-tweets (RT) a lot of good info, then all of her friends (followers) could also see my tweet. You may be saying to yourself, "big deal!" But do the math. @lizasperling has approximately 2,223 followers. That makes my tweet visible to an additional 2,223. I just expanded my friend (follower) network by more than 22 times.

Another one of my Twitter friends (followers) is @thebrandbuilder who has over 10,000 followers. Then there's @johncmaxwell who has nearly 18,000 followers. Those are just 3 of my twitter friends (followers). Realistically, I would have to post something really really good to have discerning tweeters like Liza Sperling, Oliver Blanchard and John C. Maxwell re-tweet (RT). It could happen, but I think you get the point. With just 3 re-tweets (RT) of my inspired 140-character hypothetical post it could be in front of more than 30,000 tweeters in a matter of seconds. Think about that!

Lesson I'm learning: tweet often and tweet well. Think of others. Try to help. I'm looking forward to an RT.

See, Twitter and re-tweeting (RT) is the doorway to total World domination. Ha... like anyone would want that. @kamimauzy [kah-mi-mah-zee] out!

Tags: | | | | | | |

# Sign on Twitter What's it for? Kristine Wirth Knew.

I have been on and off Twitter for a while, but still wasn't quite sure what the # sign meant when it was placed in front of certain words. I finally Googled it today and found a blog post from Kristine Wirth. She explained it perfectly!

Here's part of what she wrote. Thanks, Kristine. I learn something new everyday thanks to people like you.

The hash mark (#) before a word in a post allows you to tag that post for that word. However, in order to get tracked via a hash tag, you need to opt-in and follow http://twitter.com/hashtags. Once you’re following Hashtags, every time you make a post in Twitter and tag it with a hash mark like so: #iPhone, it will then show up as a real-time post on http://www.Hashtags.org.

If you then visit Hashtags.org, you can click on any tag and it will show you all of the posts that have been tagged with that keyword.


Read more of Kristine's post at http://kristinewirth.com/that-mysterious-sign-in-twitterwhat-does-it-mean/. Thanks for the info Kristine.

Tags: | | | |

Saturday, May 23, 2009

Enjoy the Small Stuff

Enjoy every victory no matter how small. DJ found candy in a pile of old Easter eggs. He enjoyed! I'm learning.
Enjoy every victory no matter how small. DJ found candy in a pile of old Easter eggs. He enjoyed! I'm learning.

Friday, May 22, 2009

Psychedelic Bat Man

A new twist on an old favorite! Psychedelic Bat Man! Thanks for the shirt Mandy. Matty wore it to school today.
A new twist on an old favorite! Psychedelic Bat Man! Thanks for the shirt Mandy. Matty wore it to school today.

Thursday, May 21, 2009

Catching Shit

This title makes me cringe a little. I have two little ones at home and I try not to cuss, let alone type a word like this into a blog post, but I had to title it this way. Today I caught some shit. No, this is not colorful language, a metaphor or an exaggeration. I literally caught shit today. I know it sounds bad, but it did teach me something.

I'm sure you're scratching you head wondering how the heck I'm going to spin shit into a learning experience... told you this blog was crazy. Well here goes...

I was giving my 15-month-old a bath. Most of you with children know where this is going. I normally time my youngest son's baths to avoid bathtub B.M.s. Well today he was being a really good, he loves bathes and he has yet to poop in the tub on my watch. Only my mother-in-law had had the privilege until today.

So I was letting him play in the tub, in his bath seat, and then I noticed he was struggling to get up. I normally don't let him walk around in the tub, but I thought to myself come on, "let him play Amy." He won't, you know. So I got him up out of the chair and let him walk around playing with the fire duck faucet cover and splash in the water. I happen to be messing with my phone trying to get a picture of my cute little Danny, when I saw it; a brown protrusion that wasn't there a minute ago. There it was hanging. What else could I do. I didn't want to have to clean it out of the tub. So... I caught. I literally caught shit from my son.

This kind of stuff happens to all parents at one time or another, but it got me thinking. I need to clean my son and my tub, but aside from that. This event made me think that I don't usually put myself in this position. I normally never give my son a bath when there is a possibility of poopage. I'm so scared of catching shit, I limit him.

I do the same thing with my social media marketing. I limit myself. I feel like I need to restrict the personal info I share and screen everything I post. I need to keep everyone at arms length and always throw some Marketing spin in there. I also worry about cluing the competition in on some advantages by sharing how I bolster public relations and marketing using social media. But by trying to be so careful it becomes work. It's not fun that way and it's not me.

Let's face if worst comes to worst and I end posting something too telling, I'll catch shit, just like today. But you know what? It wasn't that bad. Caught it, flushed it, washed the baby, washed my hands, and it was over. Took all of about 5 minutes. It was stinky and gross, but it was a small price to pay for the fun my little guy was having.

I feel that way about all of this. I could continue to carefully pick and choose my posts until I suck all of the fun out of blogging, tweeting and facebooking. The closer I get to that the less I post. Or, I can let my stinky brown protrusion hang out. Ok, I have taken this comparison too far. You get the point.

I'm going to let it all hang out here. I hope to post useful content, but I may post some crap from time to time. That's ok. It's going to be honest and real. I want you to know me. I hope to learn from you and I hope I can help you learn. And I want to have some fun socializing on this medium. I'm crazy about it... Kamimauzy out!

Tags: | | | | |