Does Your Twitter Bio Measure Up?

I’m always the experimenter. This week was no different, as I found myself modifying my Twitter profile—again.

Did you know that it pays to have a solid Twitter bio? Being too abstract and not enough concrete can cause a prospective follower to not follow after they read something like “I think I’m funny” or “I like PR.” Many times I find myself helping Drew filter through the number of people following AxiomPR to see if we might follow back, and the first thing we look for is a compelling bio. Some Twitterers don’t have bios and therefore take a risk in relying solely on their tweets to carry them. If you can do this effectively, more power to you! Knowing I can’t, I have to allow my bio to do some of the talking.

Your social media profile is forever out there in Web 2.0 world; that is, until you modify it. Search metatags will pick it up and put it up on Google numbers, and broadcast discrepancies. Somehow at one time you were a fireman who loved sliding down a pole, and now a modified profile suggests you’ve become a budding entrepreneur. Who are you really?!

It’s never a good idea to play a guessing game with those people following you on Twitter, but I’ve been guilty of it a couple times now. In creating a Twitter bio, there’s one major thing we will learn about ourselves: if we’re interesting. Social media separates the phony from the tried and true genuine article.

So… what did I come up with? Something that entirely suits me now and far into the future, or at least I think so:

Media relations and kulture consultant. Budding entrepreneur. Determined to make a difference in society. Food junkie.

Let’s examine this:
I’m very much love in with searching out online and print opportunities for clients both at Axiom and part of my freelance consultancy, Quac Kulture. I definitely am on the track to becoming an entrepreneur or at least exuding the passion to be one. I most certainly want to impact the community in which I live; not just take up space. And… I love sitting down at a good restaurant and digesting the best of the best a city serves up. Viola!

When things weren’t so concrete and I tried to rely on my creative spin within my Twitter bio (back when I was trying to be funny), I averaged about one person following me per day, even though I maintained similar tweets. With my new Twitter bio, I’ve seen more followers pop up in my Gmail than when I first started out. I’m finally me.

Is your Twitter bio really you, or are you having an identity crisis?

5 Reasons Why I'm Not Following you on Twitter

5. You are following 2,000 people and have about 75 followers.
It is an easy mistake to make, but that doesn't make it excusable. I know you want more followers, but spamming 2,000 people is no way to build up your Twitter brand. For 5 tips on gaining more followers, see our post here.

4. You don't have a profile picture.
Put up something. I don't care if it is a picture of your dog. Just do it.

3. You don't have a bio.
Why would I follow you if I have no idea who you are? It doesn't have to be a serious bio, but you should fill it out.

2. You have less than 5 tweets and no @ replys.
Before you start following anyone, you should put out at least five tweets (4 of those 5 shouldn't be about setting up Twitter either). If you do that, odds are people will start following you before you follow them. Your homepage should also have at least a few @ replies on it. Twitter is a conversational tool. Use it as so.

1. 90% of your links are to your blog or selling a service.
As I have said many times, content is king. I have no problem when people link to their blog or their website. It is when it consumes the majority of your tweets that it goes overboard. As Drew quoted the Beatles a few posts below "In the end, the love you take is equal to the love you make." Live by this on Twitter.


What do YOU think?

A Bright Idea

Terrible pun, I know. With students spending more and more time online, Brightstorm goes to where they are. Brightstorm launched to the public today and offers up short, entertaining educational videos to students. It is backed by young entertaining teachers in a format that won't bore students.

While this site is great for students to check out on their own, I can't help but think that teachers might integrate some of these videos into the classroom. Most of them are short and can deliver content in an amusing way. Browse the site and check out a few of their videos.


My favorite video that I've seen from the site has to be Hamlet in 60 seconds.

Saturday Open Thread

This may become a weekly feature, but I wanted to pose a question and get your feedback in the comments. The question is....

What will Twitter look like in 5 years?

Leave your thoughts in the comments and invite others to chime in!

Free Dr. Pepper?

In May of this year, Dr. Pepper offered a challenge to Gun's N' Roses: a free can of Dr. Pepper to everyone in America (except former GNR members) if Gun's N' Roses released their album "Chinese Democracy" before the end of 2008. Sounds like a great PR idea, right? The album has been in the works since 1991 with little sign that it would be coming out this year.

“It took a little patience to perfect Dr Pepper’s special mix of 23 ingredients, which our fans have come to know and love,” Dr Pepper director of marketing Jaxie Alt says. “So we completely understand and empathize with Axl’s quest for perfection — for something more than the average album. We know once it’s released, people will refer to it as ‘Dr Pepper for the ears’ because it will be such a refreshing blend of rich, bold sounds - an instant classic.”

This PR stunt garnered a lot of attention and seemed like a brilliant move for Dr. Pepper...until today. Guns N' Roses announced that "Chinese Democracy" will be coming out Nov. 23rd exclusively through Best Buy.

So where is the free Dr. Pepper? 300 million Americans are waiting...

Twitter Virus Coming?

This is a question I have been wondering since I joined the Twitter community. Almost all links are shortened using a site like tinyURL.com. What is to stop someone from getting a few followers and linking to a virus, not too unlike viruses that have floated around Facebook. I posed this question on Twitter with the responses below. What are your thoughts?

Twitter Terminology (Twerminology)

While being an active Twitter user (follow me here) I have been exposed to a whole new set of terms on Twitter. Below is a list of the most common phrases that I have run into. Feel free to leave other terms I missed in the comments.

Tweeps - People on Twitter
Tweeples - Plural form of Tweeps
Tweets - Posts on Twitter
Twitosphere - Everything on Twitter
Tworld - The world of Twitter
Twittertude - To have a bad attitude on Twitter

And my favorite....

Twis - To dis someone over Twitter

The Top 50 Tweeples

Sarah Evans is compiling a list of the Top 50 People to Follow on Twitter. You can give your input here.

The contest has generated a lot of chatter on Twitter so far with over 600 participants and over 1,000 people nominated. Peter Shankman of HARO and Mashable have promoted it.

Looking for someone to nominate? Look here.

An Epic Fail Whale

While watching the presidential debate on Friday, I was also following along with the conversation on Twitter. As expected, most people on Twitter were following the debate and giving their play-by-play commentary. With so many people on Twitter, I hoped Twitter would have beefed up their servers for the heavy amount of traffic they were going to receive during the debate. I knew better though. I predicted a 'fail whale' and it did indeed happen:




The 'fail whale' came out during the debate. While it wasn't long lasted, it was still an epic fail. Imagine if you were watching the Super Bowl and your TV reception kept going in and out, you wouldn't stay with that cable company much longer would you? Twitter needs a business model, a revenue stream, and more reliable servers.



The VP debate is this Thursday. Let's hope Twitter can handle it. I wouldn't bet on it though.

Does Twitter Have a Tipping Point?

I think so. At least somewhat. I've slowly been building followers for Axiom. Since I hit 200 people following me, I've noticed a lot more people adding me each day. Also, I am more likely to get @axiompr replies to my Tweets. Interesting thought, but obviously with more people following you, the more credibility you are perceived as having.

See the trend for yourself here.

Word of the Week

There are numerous phrases/words used online that a lot of people have no clue what they mean. I assume most people on blogs know the basics: lol, g2g, brb, omg. But what about some of the other phrases?

Each week, we will feature a word of the week. Today that word is...(insert drumroll)..:

FTW or For The Win

Definition/use: For The Win or FTW is used to give support to a person or product. If you are comparing computers, you might post "Macs FTW!" in a message board.

History:
I believe the origin comes from soccer or more so futbol from Europe. It is a phrase that you commonly hear in sports. Think of a tied-up Lakers game with Kobe taking a shot at the buzzer. The announcer will probably say "Kobe, for the win!"

There you go. Surf the web. Give the phrase a try. If you have kids, you can freak them out by using it. Have fun.

Axiom FTW!