What's Your Twitter Follow Philosophy?

You can also "Block" stalkers
if you notice any unusual interactions.

There are various trains of thoughts and philosophies regarding whom to follow and whom not to follow on Twitter. These are called "Follow Philosophies."

Here are just a few FPs (Follow Philosophies):

• Follow people and wait for a few weeks to see if they follow you back. If they don't, unfollow them.
• Follow everyone who follows you out of sheer courtesy.
• Follow those people who belong to your niche.
• Follow them if you like their faces.
• Follow them if you like their bios.
• Follow them if you like their sites.
• Follow them if you like their tweets.
  

...and the list goes on.

Twellow
Twellow is a cool application that lets you put into practice your FP. It taps into your Twitter account and neatly lays out all your Twitter associations by category. You can see the people linked to you through twitter. You can see their pictures, their profiles, their twitter page links, their followers, their URLs, their locations, their social links and their latest tweets.

Follow Indicator

There is one feature that I love on Twellow. It is the follow status indicator (that's what I call it). This little indicator will show you a rounded rectangular loop made by two arrows. If you are following someone and they aren't following you (non-mutuals), only half of the loop will be green. The remaining half will be red, indicating a one way association. If the entire loop is green it indicates a two way association (mutuals), meaning that the person you are following is following you back. This is an important visual cue that helps you sort out those who are not following you back and put your FP into practice.

Above this loop is a green "Remove" button, which you can use to remove someone from your following list with one click. The result will be reflected on your twitter page.

Cleaning the Clutter
I recently began to sort out my following. I logged into Twellow with my Twitter username and ID and began to look at the follow status indicator. I saw a bunch of one sided associations. I clicked on the "More Info" button to see some more details, and removed many from my list accordingly. Yes, I kept some important people who did not follow me back such as Dr. Wayne Dyer, and some other prominent personalities. However, I removed most celebrities without any hesitation. After all, they may have hired some ghostwriter to write their tweets.

I'm not done yet. It may take some time before I sort out all my following. Those whom I can't unfollow...what's the harm in letting them hang around?

Security

What's the harm? This brings me to an important issue- Security. You can "Protect" your tweets if you do not want anyone to read them, except for the ones you approve. Just go to the "Settings" option on the top right of your Twitter page and the rest is self explanatory. You can also "Block" stalkers if you notice any unusual interactions. Just go to your followers list and do the needful.

Spam

Another cool feature of Twellow is that you can browse through different categories and follow people from your niche. However, I must warn you about one of the side effects of doing this- Spam! But then, off course, you can block them by going to your Twitter follower list.

So, whatever your FP may be, it is much convenient to implement it at Twellow than at Twitter.

Happy Following!

3 Questions to Ask When Your Blog Puts You to Sleep

I believe that blogging should come naturally.

The In Thing
Blogging seems to be the in thing. Everyone wants to own a blog, whether they are students, entrepreneurs, parents or grandparents. Why not? Blogging has become as easy and entertaining as picking up your guitar and strumming on it. It can be a hobby- something that keeps you occupied for hours (beware though!).

The Rut
No matter how much on the blogging edge you are, there are times you fall off the edge and into a rut. You may begin to be in need of new things to write. At times such as these, your own blog posts may put you to sleep.

If you are pushing yourself too hard to write your blog posts,
you will soon tire yourself and your readers.

How to Get Out of the Rut
How do you go about maintaining your enthusiasm to keep on writing? Well, the truth is that YOU DON'T HAVE TO! I believe that blogging should come naturally. If you are pushing yourself too hard to write your blog posts, you will soon tire yourself and your readers.

Anyway, we are all human! So, should you find yourself gasping for new content, here are 3 QUESTIONS you can ask yourself:

Your talent must dictate your niche

THE 3 QUESTIONS
Question #1: What is the Aim of My Blog?
If you are blogging aimlessly, and just for the heck of it, you will soon fall asleep on your laptop.

Here are some things that your blog (or your blog posts) can do;
- Inspire (I love to do this)
- Entertain (I use my cartoons to entertain)
- Educate
- Provide solutions
- Share what you have learned
- Earn an income (I believe that this is a bye product of blogging)

If you think you do not possess that gift,

you have not yet explored your inner self.

Question #2: What am I good at?
Your blog is a good platform to display your talents. Everyone has that unique gift that they can show to the world. Your talent must dictate your niche. If you think you do not possess that gift, you have not yet explored your inner self.

Here are some talents that your blog can reflect:
- Writing (that's my gift)
- Photography
- Blogging
- Marketing
- Cartooning (that's my gift)
- Parenting
- Educating (that's my gift and my main source of income)

(This list can go on...)

Note: I did not mention "making money" in the talent list. This is because if you are doing what you do best, you WILL make money.

Question #3: How Can I Benefit from Blogging?

Draw your zeal from the benefits of blogging. Realizing the benefits will keep you in a positive frame of mind and prevent you from snoozing over your blog posts.

Three main benefits for blogging are:

- Being able to express yourself (this definitely is a stress buster)

- Gaining online exposure to what you have to say or sell

- Building a community of like minded people from around the world

So gear up! Allow your readers to enjoy some lighter moments! Brighten up someone's day; give someone some answers; make someone smile! 

- ContentScoop

Jack of All Niches, Master of...?

The Information Highway

The Internet is an information highway. Just when you think you are gaining speed, someone whizzes by you at break neck speed, giving you a complex about how slow you are. Just when you think you are getting there, you are given to understand that you are far from your destination.

If you are not organized at how to get your information,
you may get tossed around like a ping pong ball.

The Place To Be
Nevertheless, the internet is the place to be. Be careful though; there is bucket loads of information being shoved down your throat; more than you can ever swallow or digest. If you are not organized at how to get your information, you may get tossed around like a ping pong ball. So, what niche are you targeting?

There are tons of people teaching you how to do things; many of them selling their wares. Why not? The internet is a place for everyone- the occasional surfer, the online addict, the marketomonger, the moneymaniac, the tecnofreak and the bloggogeek.  

what is the use if I am the jack of all niches
but a master of none?

Where do I stand?

Where do I stand amidst all this online brouhaha? What niche am I targeting? I want to be a blogger, a writer, a marketeer, a money maker, an adviser, a cartoonist, a journalist and a SEO expert. I could possible work myself up to be a jack of all the above mentioned niches. However, what is the use if I am the jack of all niches but a master of none?

HOW TO CHOOSE MY NICHE...

What niche am I targeting? Here are some questions that helped me decide on my niche:

1. What do I enjoy doing?

I am a writer, and this is what I do the best. So I will stick to being a writer whether I successfully manage to promote my blog or not; whether I make money or not; whether my blog and social networks are followed or not.

So whichever niche you choose, choose one that you enjoy going about, be it blogging or making money or writing; something that you will enjoy doing a few years from now.

2. What can I offer to the world?

I believe that I have the ability to give people what they want to read. Now, yes, my posts span a wide range of topics. However, I see to it that what I write is useful to others.

Now most people would love to read about making money. Sorry, I'm not an expert at that right now. I can pretend to be a money making guru, but I'm comfortable with what I genuinely have to offer to the world.

Think of what you have to offer to the world. It could be something as simple as sharing about your daily experiences.

3. Who will my friends be?

I have just begun to "tweet." Now, there are people who follow me (thankfully) on twitter everyday. However, I do not follow all of them (regretfully; I hope they understand), unless they are writers or bloggers (I need them).

Once you choose your niche, you must build your network wisely. It would do you good to choose friends associated with your particular niche.

What niche am I targeting? If you ever have to answer that question, ask yourself the above 3 questions first. 

-ContentScoop
September 03, 2009