REALTOR® and Tech Svcs

So you think you know Tulsa’s market, huh?

Number of Properties For Sale

Of all residential property types (e.g. house/SFR, duplex, etc.), there are 8,862 properties for sale. Of these 8,862 properties for sale, the lowest priced property is $1,000 and the highest priced property is listed at $10,000,000.

Number of Houses/SFR For Sale

Most of us are looking to buy a house/SFR (Single Family Residence). Excluding all other property types (duplex, quadplex, townhouse, etc.), there are 8,070 properties for sale.

Lowest Priced

There’s one property for sale, listed at the low, low price of $1,000. It’s actually going to be auctioned on Tuesday, August 31, 2010 (5 days after today), and the opening bid is $1,000. I’m sure it will sell for more than one thousand dollars. Here’s a link to the listing at 528 South 38th West Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74127: http://www.tulsarealtors.com/ResidentialDetails.aspx?MLS=1024512

After that $1,000 property, the next lowest priced properties are listed at $5,000 each. There are 7 of these $5,000 houses: 4 in Tulsa, 1 in Owasso, 1 Factory Built house in Tahlequah, and 1 in Chouteau. They are all either set for auction or houses that are worthless and they’re really only selling the land.

Highest Priced

The highest priced home is listed for sale at $10,000,000 (in Tulsa). The second highest is listed at $5,000,000 (in Tahlequah).

Here’s a link to the $10 million listing at 7219 South Evanston Avenue, Tulsa, OK 74136: http://www.tulsarealtors.com/ResidentialDetails.aspx?MLS=1007708

And a picture:

7219 S Evanston Ave, Tulsa, OK 74136

The $5 million listing is at 23701 East 730 Road, Tahlequah, OK 74464: http://www.tulsarealtors.com/ResidentialDetails.aspx?MLS=1015521 It’s 400 acres with a modest home, additional buildings, and irrigation rights on the river. It’s not a movie star palace like the $10,000,000 house above.

Did you have a clue about the number of homes for sale or about the lowest/highest priced properties?

Do you have any questions about other Tulsa-area housing market stats? Just ask me!

Did you know?

http://www.facebook.com/family/

Facebook Family Search

The Good:

• Cool / Fun
• Explore / Find
• Forgot the first name? Search by last name.
• Are those tattoos or really last names? (j/k)
• Basically, it’s like the regular Facebook search (http://www.facebook.com/search/) but you can search by last name only instead of full name (first, middle, last, maiden, etc).

The Bad:

• Let me just say that if you don’t want to be found, you shouldn’t be on Facebook…at all. At the least, everything should be so private that you’re talking to yourself.
• Thus, it’s not really bad; it’s just Facebook.

Have fun exploring your own family name… and those of others!

Facebook Family Search

Tip: Once you search, you’ll see the URL like this: http://www.facebook.com/family/LASTNAME/1

• Instead of clicking the “next page” arrow 4 times to get to page 5, just change the “1″ in the URL to a “5″.
• Maybe it’ll speed up your browsing!

ActiveRain.com (AR) is a national networking and blogging site for real estate professionals. My beef with the way this company is run is that there is a monthly fee for non-members to see your AR blog (I think about $20 per month, or higher for additional features). The peer-to-peer interaction is unmatched because of those in the network and AR’s points model.

ActiveRain points are awarded for every blog post, comment, and other actions. The more points, the more likely you’ll get featured on the AR front page and in the AR newsletter and the almighty rankings within your territory. The goal is to have the most points in your area so that when people search AR, they’ll find you first and you’ll get business from it.

Even though I don’t pay the monthly fee (ridiculous), it’s nice to be featured…

I’ve earned the 111th most points of those AR members who joined in May 2010: http://activerain.com/social/roster/2010/5

And…

I’m 5th in AR points for those who joined on May 12, 2010: http://activerain.com/social/roster/2010/5/12

And…

Within the Owasso region, I’m sure I’ll get to the top soon. :) Currently, I’m 4th, nearly 3rd.

Be encouraged; social networking IS for you! How do I know who you are? It doesn’t matter. It’s for you.

If

As time and technology progresses, new ways of finding, communicating with, and advertising to people come out of the labs and become mainstream.

I’ve heard real estate agents say they feel social networks like Facebook were developed just for them. It’s true!

If you are a single person selling yourself as a business (e.g. real estate agent, loan officer, etc.), you have the blessing/curse of FULL CONTROL over your social media presence. You can add profiles and pages, update your photos and videos, and edit your content as you choose (keeping in compliance with licensing rules and contract provisions, of course).

If you are part of a business entity, you might have a franchising or branding department that’s assigned to your company’s online presence (and, thus, you don’t have full control over the organization’s presence). Often, we may wish the company handled things “this way” or “that way”, but we do have control over our own ways.

But there’s no blaming others if you have FULL CONTROL! It’s up to you to get out there and BE SOCIAL! (Of course, I’m glad to help if you want it: tech.cliffpaulick.com)

Then

Consider social networking a great opportunity, not a great burden or source of confusion. Years ago, you needed to get a fax number, an email address, a cell phone, or some other piece of technology to be truly productive and professional. Then times said you needed a smart phone to replace your dumb phone. Now is the time of managing huge networks of human connections with ease–truly managing connections, not just having them.

The technology is here; the network grew itself; and you have access to it. And the network has access to you.

Else

If, for no other reason, you should have a publicly-accessible online presence if you’re a business person because…

1. Because you can. What an opportunity!
2. Because you should. Be found where people look!
3. Because you must. If you don’t, your clients may lack trust in you personally and/or professionally!

It’s important to run with social media one hurdle at a time. You shouldn’t take on more than you can manage. Start small but keep moving and shaking. As you progress, you’ll expand your knowledge, comfort level, and think of more creative ways to be yourself!

$$$

Now to answer the question everyone’s been wanting an answer for: “Do my social media efforts turn into dollars?”

In one word, “branding“. The purpose of branding is three-fold (I just made these up):

1. Be recognized
2. By being different
3. To be remembered.

Inconsistent branding is bad. Conflicting branding is worse. But there’s no excuse for no branding.

Social media is not just for pleasure; it’s also for business…and it’s fun! If you’re not having fun setting up your Facebook Page and writing comments, notes, and the like, your audience won’t have fun either. You don’t have to be your network’s entertainer, but you don’t want to be kicked out of your own network because it is that easy… Social networking is a two-way street. That’s the heart of it all!

Social media, branding, connecting, and whatever else you want to lump in can turn into dollars because:

Facebook grew to 500 million active users (Image: TheSparkReport.com)

1. Prospective clients are on Facebook (see the Facebook statistics). Facebook’s growth has been consistent and is now so large that it’s not going away or dying down. In this world, people are skeptical of other people, fearing the worst but hoping for the best. Therefore, to avoid possible dissatisfaction, potential clients are on the web searching for people, places, and reviews. The Internet is not called the “Information Superhighway” for nothing. The Internet is social so you should be too!
2. Prospective clients are looking for someone to trust. Social networks are inherently built on connecting, finding shared connections, and creating new relationships.
   1. When Joe (prospective home buyer) knows Linda (an employee), and Linda knows Cliff (her go-to REALTOR®), then Joe may connect with Cliff because of something called “Transitive Trust” (www.thefacebookera.com).
   2. I’m Cliff, and I’d like my new connection with Joe to turn into a business relationship. However, I’ll develop the relationship regardless because that’s where service shines and may-be-clients turn into lifelong-clients. And they turn into friends!
3. If people search online and cannot find you and learn that you’re in business, they may not otherwise know about you, or they may not otherwise consider your services. Essentially, if someone is expecting to find you but cannot, how can they trust you to be a true professional and trust you to provide them with satisfactory service? There’s no transitive trust if they cannot find you!
4. If people can find you, you may earn some trust and, therefore, business! Trust is harder to get than it is to lose. But how can you provide your excellent service and develop your intro-trust into a true relationship if they don’t give you the chance in the first place–simply because you weren’t trustworthy enough to be found?
5. In other words, social media turns into dollars… but it’s mostly passive. If done right, it can build and grow into a critical mass over time. Top of mind is a HUGE trophy! But there can only be one #1, right? NO! Be #1 in YOUR network! That’s the gold that social media offers.

In summary, be social. Social media is young. Your presence and network will grow, but it will remain manageable. It turns into dollars, but it’s passive. Basically, “It’s passive until it’s not.” However, it’s also active (not passive) because your social activity online brings your social network closer while, at the same time, growing. You don’t want to have Facebook just to get clients who were previously strangers. You want to serve your family and friends too, don’t you? I like to call this “low-hanging fruit”. Grab the low-hanging fruit. It’s right in front of you. (But also go after the fruit at the top of the tree and bring it lower. Again, be social.)

Be yourself. You’re the best one for the job! My strongest opinion about all this online socializing is that you should at least have a presence with some basic information (picture required). The goal is to at least be able to be found if someone wants to look you up. Being found is like a rite of passage to get a web-savvy client (trust me, I know). If you can’t be found online and on Facebook, there’s a reflex assumption about you that extends to your professional competence.

FYI: In case you were wondering, Facebook was founded in February 2004 and currently has over 500 million active users as of the morning of July 21, 2010, as seen in the graph above. 500 million users divided by 5.5 years equals an average of 90.9 million users added per year. Oh, and if Facebook were a country, it would now be the 3rd largest in the world (the U.S. would be 4th). Click to see some Facebook data visualizations. Wow!

P.S. If you’re a bad person and don’t deserve the world’s trust, please don’t get social. Get Jesus, then get social.

P.P.S. If you need some help with any of this, just let me know: tech.cliffpaulick.com

Do something new today. Be social!

If you’re like me, you know of thousands of great sites. It’s almost like the Internet is frustratingly awesome…but only almost…

Sometimes I find sites that are so good that I just HAVE to share them. Socialnomics.net is SOOOOO good… and cool… and to the point… … … It’s AWESOME!!!

Here’s a recent post that really sums up how social media is important and scary and necessary: “3 Reasons Why CEOs Hate Social Media”

Here are the Headlines from “3 Reasons Why CEOs Hate Social Media“

Hate:

#1 I Want Control

#2 Lack of Understanding = Fear

#3 Fear of it Being a Fad

Love:

#1 Unfiltered Feedback

#2 Authenticity

#3 Low Cost (Six Sigma)

Social Media ROI: Socialnomics

This is, hands down, an amazing video. Do watch it. It’s better than the above article.

Here are some social media ROI examples that go along with the video: http://socialnomics.net/2009/11/12/social-media-roi-examples-video/

Cliff’s Notes

Social media might feel old to those who used to have a MySpace page, but it’s really still young and new. Social media isn’t going away. It may change and evolve and improve, but it’s not going away.

People live in community. People learn, grow in, and trust their communities. If you’re not in your client’s community, they’re not truly your client.

Search engines = you go to the information.

Social media = information comes to you.

(paraphrase from a Socialnomics.net principle)

Be social. Go get ‘em!

Recently, I witnessed a very sad occurance while driving. It left me scarred. Curious?

Well, shortly before turning into my neighborhood, I watched–to my horror–the car in front of me just through out a large, plastic QuikTrip cup out of its window. It hurt so bad to watch it, and it was worse that there wasn’t anything I could do about it.

So I searched the web and was pleased to discover the Oklahoma Department of Transportation’s (ODOT) Beautification Office web page. Even better, I found the Litter Hotline and Car Litter Bags page. Success!

I wanted to report that little red car’s license plate and have ODOT’s goons go knock down that person’s door! Nevertheless, that’s not how the litter reporting program is designed…and I can’t say that’s a bad idea.

Litter Hotline

Statewide toll-free phone number: 1-888-5-LITTER (or 1-888-554-8837)

You report the litter violation (license plate; vehicle description; date, time, and location; and type of litter), and then ODOT sends them a nice postcard reminding them that littering is bad.

I suggest you visit ODOT’s Litter Hotline and Car Litter Bags page for more information about the Litter Hotline and to find out about getting free dashboard litter bags and bumper stickers!

Please keep our streets clean!

Think about your own Internet usage. Once you boot your computer and open the web, where do you go, if even for a second?

Let’s just say, “You’re not alone if you’re on Facebook!”

Google’s DoubleClick Ad Planner ranks popular websites’ traffic. You can search for a specific domain or click to see the Ad Planner top 1,000 sites:

DoubleClick Ad Planner Search Box

In order to make the June 2010 list, a site needed to have at least 3.8 million “Unique Visitors (users)”.

June 2010′s Top 20 Most-Visited Sites on the Web:

1. facebook.com
2. youtube.com
3. yahoo.com
4. live.com
5. wikipedia.org
6. msn.com
7. microsoft.com
8. baidu.com
9. qq.com
10. mozilla.com
11. adobe.com
12. wordpress.com
13. sina.com.cn
14. bing.com
15. twitter.com
16. ask.com
17. amazon.com
18. taobao.com
19. apple.com
20. ebay.com

If you live in the U.S., like me, you probably haven’t visited all of the sites because several are mostly used in other countries, like China and Japan.

Facebook

You can compare your Internet usage to the list and see if your behavior relates. If you’re going to promote yourself or your business online, you need to make sure that your promotion and SEO (Search Engine Optimization) efforts are directed to the places your potential and current customers already visit. Of course, there are other ways your online presence (and advertisements) reach customers at different sites (e.g. Google AdWords ads) that, in total, is of great benefit. However, I’d like to especially highlight Facebook.com. Currently, it’s #1, and this isn’t a recent trophy.

Here’s an example thought process you might have:

1. Facebook’s traffic is #1.
2. Facebook Ads can be targeted like a sniper rifle!
   1. By location:
      1. National
      2. Regional
      3. Hyper-local
   2. By interest:
      1. Also connected to Page ABC, Group DEF, Event GHI, or Application XYZ (examples)
      2. Not connected to a certain Page, Group, Event, or Application (opposite of above)
      3. Like/Interest in fill in the blank
   3. By characteristics:
      1. By gender, age, educational level, sexual orientation, relationship status, and languages
      2. On people’s birthdays
3. Facebook Ads provide a lot of information about your potential clients (i.e. statistics).
4. Facebook is growing consistently, even outside of the Facebook.com domain.
5. Whether I love or hate Facebook, I should have a personal/business presence on Facebook.
6. Who can help me learn Facebook so I can enjoy using it and achieve more effectiveness?
   1. Hire Cliff ► tech.cliffpaulick.com

Once you’re on Facebook, improve your Facebook presence. Then get a Facebook advertisement to attract attention to you/r business. You don’t have to spend a lot of money and you don’t have to spend money forever, but set $25-100+ aside just to try it out.

In addition to the cost of any ads, I can help you with your Facebook profile and page, Facebook ad, other social networking sites, your website, your blog, your _________, and tying them all together. I’ll tell you it takes time, but it’s not worth doing if you’re not going to do it right. The good news is that it’s not all hard; you can do things in steps; and you must do it over time. Flash-in-the-pan popularity/presence is not the goal for someone with a long-term horizon. Just let me know how I can help: tech.cliffpaulick.com

What Do People Want? What Do You Want? (Categories)

• Search Engines / Information: You want to be found on all of them, not just Google
  • Google doesn’t rank itself, but we all know it’s near/at the top.
  • Microsoft, Yahoo, and Ask are other very popular search engines.
  • Wikipedia was ranked #5 overall. It’s not a search engine that any site can be on, but it signifies people’s continual search for easy-to-access, in-depth information (even if not always 100% flawless, but nobody’s perfect ;).
• Media: You should have your own (especially video)
  • YouTube‘s #2 ranking signifies the importance of video.
  • Flickr at #26 and PhotoBucket at #27 signify the importance of photos.
• Blogging: You should have your own
  • WordPress.com is #12 and Blogger.com is #49, signifying people’s writing and reading of blogs across all topics. Having a blog of your own helps others relate to you and see your personality.
• Shopping: Know your audience’s trends, even if you don’t sell here
  • Amazon, Apple, and eBay are all Top 20 sites.
• Social Networks: You want to be found here and use them effectively
  • According to June 2010′s traffic, the rankings (in order) are Facebook (#1), Twitter (#15), MySpace (#25), and LinkedIn (#46).
  • Twitter’s “Unique Visitors (users)” was 18% of Facebook’s, 50% greater than MySpace’s, and 260% greater than LinkedIn’s.
• Real Estate (U.S.-only traffic from July 2010): (I included this only because I’m a real estate agent and I serve real estate clients.) If you have real estate to display or advertise, make sure it can be found at the most visited sites (and choose me as your REALTOR® ;)!
  • REALTOR.com (ranked #823) had 4.2 million “Unique Visitors (users)”
  • Zillow.com (ranked #836) had 4.2 million
  • RealEstate.Yahoo.com (included in Yahoo’s rankings) had 3.9 million
  • Trulia.com had 3.2 million
  • Homes.com had 1.6 million
  • Just for the Tulsa REALTORS®:
    • TulsaREALTORS.com had 11K (11 thousand)
    • TulsaWorld.com had 290K
    • ActiveRain had 840K
  • The top FSBO-specific sites combined have less than 1 million unique visitors… ForSaleByOwner.com (290K), Owners.com (150K), HomesByOwner.com (93K), FizBer.com (92K), FSBO.com (47K), ForSaleByOwnerBuyersGuide.com (33K), ByOwner.com (9.4K), and others

Note: I searched for specific sites individually. I did not reference a real estate websites list. But I was as accurate and thorough as Google’s DoubleClick Ad Planner query tool would easily allow.

Are You Surprised?

How do these traffic rankings compare to your usage? Is there a site you’re surprised didn’t rank higher? Let me know by making a comment.

In Conclusion

Get on good at Facebook and Twitter. Get a Facebook ad. (FYI: Twitter does not currently show advertisements.)

Make sure you can be found by the search engines.

Add some video to your online presence, whether at YouTube, Facebook, Vimeo, or all of them.

If you have a blog, write in it–all the time or occasionally are both better than never.

If you sell stuff, try to sell where people visit. (In case you were wondering, CraigsList.org is #37.)

I Can Help

• Advise
• Train
• Set up
• Optimize
• Install
• Record
• Edit
• Explain
• WITH ANYTHING! :)

tech.cliffpaulick.com

Technorati is a search engine specifically designed to keep up with blogs. If you have a blog, you should submit your blog’s information to Technorati to improve your search engine results. Many SEO ranking and indexing sites analyze your blog’s ranking on Technorati, which means it is important.

In order to have your blog be followed/indexed by Technorati, you need to follow these steps:

1. Create an account on Technorati.com.
2. Login to Technorati.com.
3. Under your profile, you’ll see a section called “My claimed blogs”. Type in your blog’s URL and click the “Claim” button.
4. At the next page, specify your blog’s detailed information. The more (accurate) information you enter, the better.
5. Then you’ll receive a notice that your claim has been entered.
6. Return to your profile and revisit the section “My claimed blogs”. If it doesn’t show up there, wait a few minutes and refresh the page until it does.
7. Make note (copy/paste) of your blog’s Claim Token (e.g. DW5AZAFX778N).
8. Then, write a blog post with your Claim Token mentioned in it. Do not exclude this blog post from your blog’s feed (if your blog has that option).
9. Publish your post.
10. Make sure your feed includes your Claim Token.
11. Return to the “My claimed blogs” section of your Technorati profile and click “Check Claim”.
12. Finally, you’ll see a confirmation dialogue that says Technorati may take “quite some time for evaluation.”

You’ll receive an email (probably within a few hours) that goes something like this:

Subject: Technorati Claim Complete

Email: This is an automatically-generated email.

Congratulations, your claim is now complete! Please allow 24 to 48 hours for Authority and recent posts to begin showing for your site now that it has been successfully claimed. Once they are there, we will update your site’s Authority once per day.

At first you may not see your site listed in the Technorati Blog Directory for all of the categories you’ve selected. As you write blog posts around those topics, you should see your Topical Authority in those categories begin to rise.

It’s that easy. Now, just keep doing your part by keeping up with writing your blog posts!

How long did it take you, other than writing a post that contains your Claim Token? I hope it went well! :)

What a great tool from HGTV!

HGTV’s Designers’ Portfolio

Get Inspired

Searched for: Kitchens, Contemporary, Brown, Any Designer

Searched for: Bedrooms, English Country, Pink, Any Designer

Searched for: Any Room, Any Style, Black, Christopher J. Grubb

Searched for: Bedrooms, Transitional, Red, Any Designer

Searched for: Living Rooms, Transitional, Green, Any Designer

What Will You Think of Next?

I hope you enjoy this site as much as I did. Maybe you’ll reference it when looking for some color or theme inspiration on your next project…

Who is this Written for?

Having spoken to several real estate pros about social networking, blogging, and such, it seems Facebook has a greater mindshare than Twitter. Often, they say they’ve never heard of Twitter or at least they have no idea what it is. IMHO (In my humble opinion), I think that Twitter is MUCH easier than Facebook. Plus, if you have Facebook, you can just connect your Twitter account to Facebook and you don’t have to really manage another social network. So… this is written for those who need it… you would know by now if you don’t need to read it…

What is Twitter?

Twitter.com – The website where it all happens

• Microblogging: What you’re reading is a blog. Twitter is a microblogging service. Each tweet (i.e. “post”) can only be 140 characters–not 140 words–or less.
• What to Write: Share status updates, comment on things happening right now, give a quick thought or tip, and more
• Symantics: “@” someone, “#” topic/keyword, “RT” retweet. Those are the basics.
• Results of Twitter’s Popularity: URL shortening services really took off (e.g. tinyurl.com, bit.ly, ow.ly, etc.) because of the limited space in a tweet. Facebook created status updates and many people linked their Twitter accounts to this. Uh, this blog post, since Twitter’s still around and growing…

Why Should I Have A Twitter Account?

My favorite distinction between Twitter and other social networks is the Twitter lingo, such as tweet, tweeps, reportwitters, and a dictionary’s worth more fun words (or see The (official) Twitter Glossary). In case you didn’t click to the dictionary, I’ll use the word “tweeps” to refer to your friends, potential clients, favorite celebrities, and other connections you could have (or already have) on Twitter.

Although Facebook is king right now (and may be forever), Twitter still has a place in our online lives for several reasons (in no specific order):

1. Due to its 140 character limitation, the words you choose to use must be succinct. It’s never wordy, so it’s quick.
2. There may be some tweeps that have a Twitter account (the definition of tweeps) without a Facebook account (see, no fun, well-known word… Facebookers? yeah but nah…). Or they may have both and write different things at each place (i.e. not have their accounts linked). Or they may have a different set of connections on their Twitter network than on their Facebook network.
3. Twitter is used heavily by celebrities, brands, and news networks. Personally, I think famous people like it because of the 140 character restriction–they aren’t allowed to say too much. That’s what a blog or website is for. News networks like CNN use the world’s tweets in their news programs. The tweets just keep flowing in, they’re never wordy, and they don’t have to keep clicking to open each message (like email).
4. In my own words, Facebook is a full-featured social network, allowing pictures, applications, and much, much more. Twitter’s limitations is its appeal–text only (although you can link to pictures and anything else).
5. Twitter was the first major social network that was SMS text message capable–text only, less than the 160 character text message limitation, and free. Twitter’s U.S. short code is 40404. See the Twitter Mobile Support page for more information. Once you have a Twitter account, you can also visit http://mobile.twitter.com on your mobile phone’s browser, or you can download a Twitter app.
6. There are a lot of ways to integrate your Twitter feed all over the web, whether on your website, your Facebook Profile, your Facebook Page, or anywhere else, since your tweets have an RSS feed.

I Want A Twitter Account. Now What?

Visit Twitter 101: How should I get started using Twitter? before or after you sign up. It covers a lot of topics in a short amount of time… that’s kind of their thing…

There’s also a Twitter 101 for businesses. I’m guessing most of you are interested in that topic so check that out too.

Sign Up

Go to http://twitter.com/signup, pick a username (maybe the same one as your Facebook username? — only if it’s 15 characters or shorter), and make your first tweet. Doesn’t it feel good? :)

FYI: You will have to decide if you want your account to be Public or Protected. If you’re going to have a Twitter account at all, I strongly suggest choosing Public. And by Public, they mean everyone, even the search engines.

I Feel So Alone. I Have No Connections.

You’re definitely not alone. As of April 2010, there were more than 105 million users according to “Influence and Passivity in Social Media – HP Labs Research” (also mentioned on Mashable / Social Media). I’d guess only public users are counted. A study from January 2010, titled “Twitter now has 75M users; most asleep at the mouse” talks about Twitter’s continued growth but states many are inactive (i.e. not tweeting). The last line of the article reads, “Moore pointed out in the report that if new Twitter users stick with the microblogging service through just one week, they have a much higher rate of engagement with the site over time.”

My opinion is that “active” = “tweeting” is a flawed assumption. Twitter is for followers too. Many sign up for Twitter and do more listening than talking, and that’s nice too. If nothing else, people use it just to connect, not always to talk to each other, similar to Facebook.

Check out this nice visualization from InformationIsBeautiful.net, with information sourced from sysomos.com/insidetwitter:

Twitter Stats - If the Twitter community were 100 people

Ways to Find Tweeps to Follow

I started off just wanting to share this part of the article, then realized many of the readers may not be really understand Twitter. Hopefully, now you do. So once you have a Twitter account, check out these sites:

• http://twitter.com/invitations/find_on_twitter (a.k.a. “Find People” at the top of your Twitter page once you’re logged in). Click on the “Browse Interests”, “Suggestions For You”, and the other tabs.
• search.twitter.com is quick and easy, but I suggest you check out Twitter’s Advanced Search too.
• TwitDir.com has lists of the Top 100 whatevers on Twitter. For example, Top 100 followed, Top 100 updaters, Top 100 favouriters, etc. You can click to those lists or search by name, location, etc. TwitDir says, “We only index public twitterers!“
• Follow Finder by Google Labs is a neat, simple tool. You can put anyone’s Twitter username in the search box to find suggestions of who to follow. So you could be signed in as @cliffpaulick (me) but search for @LogMeIn (just type in “LogMeIn” without the quotes, and it’s not case-sensitive). Then you could see Follow Finder’s suggestions for who @LogMeIn might be interested in following and choose to follow those people. Since it’s my favorite of all these, here’s a screen shot:

Follow Finder by Google Labs

Be sure to check out Twitter’s Technical Follow Limits and/or Twitter’s Following Rules and Best Practices, but keep in mind there’s no limit to the number of Followers you can have.

Finally, let me share a quote from Twitter, from Twitter’s Following Rules and Best Practices:

So how am I supposed to get followers?

Remember, Twitter isn’t a race to get the most followers. If you follow users that you’re interested in, it’s more likely that legitimate users will find you and read your updates. People follow other users on Twitter to read updates that are interesting to them. Aggressively following and un-following accounts is frustrating to other Twitter users, and degrades the Twitter experience for everyone.

I will share a tip: If you follow someone, often, they’ll follow back. So find some tweeps to follow (see “Ways to Find Users to Follow”)!

What Should I Tweet?

Yes, the content and audience for Twitter is different. Therefore, I suggest NOT to link your Twitter tweets and Facebook status updates. However, do link them if you would otherwise not write anything on your Twitter “wall”. Personally, I sometimes post the same things in both places and sometimes I write differently.

Looking for things to tweet about, check out “What Should You Tweet? — tweeting Tips For Twitter Users” (July 24, 2010).

Visit Klout.com to get analyses of your Twitter and Facebook networks. “Do you have Klout?” You can also find Klout’s analyses for other users, and Klout has some neat apps and features.

Klout @cliffpaulick 2010-08-15

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