Using Twitter lists is the best way to organize the people you follow on Twitter. Before Twitter launched this feature, the only way to organize your contacts was via a 3rd party desktop application like Tweetdeck or Seesmic. Now you can create a list on Twitter and access that list on any desktop application, so you don’t need to keep recreating them.

So what are you using lists for? Many people on Twitter seem to be creating lists for the sake of creating lists; e.g. “Awesome people” and “Interesting to follow”. But did you know that you could use Twitter lists to further your professional and personal goals? Here are several creative ways to use Twitter lists.

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Google Buzz is the latest hot topic in social media. Whether it will ultimately be a hit or a flop, many blogs are already incorporating the button into each post, just like Tweetmeme’s retweet button and Facebook’s sharecount button.

There are several plugins and methods you can use to add the Google Buzz button to your Wordpress blog, at least until Google comes out with an official button. Here are the best methods I’ve found for adding Google Buzz as a share count button, a sidebar widget, and a social share chicklet:

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For people who still haven’t joined Twitter, it can seem confusing, overwhelming, or downright ridiculous. I know many people who still haven’t joined only because they find the lingo confusing. What do all those symbols and weird words starting with “tw” mean?

There are online glossaries like Twictionary and Twittonary that track the terminology that has developed on Twitter, but nobody really speaks like that on Twitter. If they did, would you actually want to follow them? I certainly wouldn’t. This isn’t meant to be a megalist of “The Thousand Twitter Terms You Should Know.” These are the most common Twitter terms; the only terms you’ll need to know in order to make sense of Twitter, so it can be a fun experience instead of a confusing one.  Read the rest of this entry

Want to encourage your visitors to follow your company or blog on Twitter? Here by popular demand is a wide selection of “Follow Us” twitter badges for your website, based on the popular “Follow Me” twitter badges.

Just save the image of your choice, add it to your website or blog, and link it to your Twitter profile. If you have any suggestions, or requests for color or a different Twitter badge size, please comment below and I will add them as soon as I can.

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Have you noticed an increase in tweets and Facebook updates having to do with checking in, or becoming a mayor of something? Has this caused you to stare at their updates in utter confusion? If so, your friends have joined FourSquare, a location-based social network to help you connect with friends using GPS via your mobile device.

Although it’s not the first location-based service to exist, visits to the site have increased 50% between December ’09 and January ’10, and increased 200% since November. So what has made FourSquare so popular? Hopefully the following walkthrough will end your confusion:

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Social media is quite a hot topic right now. Companies are putting their marketing dollars into social media instead of traditional direct marketing tactics. The media and celebrities are on a tweeting frenzy. Everyone and their mother (literally) are on Facebook. “Social Media experts” have sprung up left and right, claiming to know how to get thousands of followers in just days (they’re called autofollow scripts, get over yourselves).

Although social media is changing the face of marketing, there are some of us that need to be reminded to stop taking things so seriously. So here are some of the funniest videos about social media, some ridiculing the “experts,” some mocking the social media addicts, and some just taking things to an extreme… on the altar. But it’s all in good fun.

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There are literally hundreds of URL Shorteners to choose from. TinyURL was the first URL shortener to gain popularity, and because of Twitter, demand for URL shorteners has grown exponentially. There’s bit.ly, snipurl.com, owl.ly, cli.gs, su.pr, is.gd, badurl.com, tr.im, short.to, 6url.com, just.as, tiny.cc, kl.am, adjix.com, notlong.com, xr.com, and that’s just to name a few.

Who has time to sort through all of these links? Stating the obvious, these sites all pretty much do the same thing: shorten links. But there are some features that make bit.ly a step above the rest (and if you want to follow along, I suggest registering for a bit.ly account first): Read the rest of this entry

If you’re new to Twitter (yes, many people still are new), getting followers can seem like rocket science. Twitter has evolved since a year ago, when everyone followed everyone back. Now social media is a glamorous affair, with celebrities, companies, and CEO’s joining the party. Now there are tens of millions of people on Twitter, and they’re more picky about who they follow back.

The biggest influence in the decision is interests and how much you have in common. When you follow someone, they’ll get an email notification from which they can click on your profile to see if they should follow you back. The decision is often made within seconds, so it’s important that your interests jump off the page. Read the rest of this entry

The ability to link Facebook statuses and tweets is great for lazy people, Tweetdeck fans, and social media aficionados boasting “Look at me, see what I can do!”  Ok, that’s a bit harsh. Yes, logging into various social networks to speak your mind may be a bit inconvenient. But it doesn’t mean that the best solution is to say the same exact thing everywhere.

Here are some reasons to consider unmerging your status updates and tweets: Read the rest of this entry

Social icons are important for both encouraging users to share your content and promoting your presence on social networks. So here is a large selection of social icons in different colors to fit the color scheme or your website or blog:

They are available in 20×20, 40×40, and 60×60. Right click and save each icon individually, or click on an icon to download the entire icon pack (.zip file). If you have any color or size requests, leave a comment and I will add them as soon as I can.

If you use one of these images, donations or links back to this site are much appreciated! Read the rest of this entry

Signing up for a new Twitter account is a sort of funny experience. After being asked to import contacts from Gmail and follow a bunch of people from a randomly generated list, you’re presented with nothing but a 140-character text box. Ok… so I’m supposed to say… what exactly?

You’d think writing 140 characters wouldn’t be so hard. On one hand, you’re thinking about Twitter as a micro-blog, so you must need to fit some serious insightfulness into a sentence or two. Or, you’re wondering if you should write updates about your daily life, and thinking “but do people really care if I’m watching TV? Making a sandwich? Doing laundry?” Read the rest of this entry

Twitter is a social media phenomenon that can seem rather underwhelming the first time you log in. You’re presented with a 140-character limit text box and a way to find friends via your email address books. That’s about it. But Twitter is a powerful tool you can use to network and become highly visible in your niche.

I use Twitter every day (@dianafreedman), and here are the twelve Twitter tools I consider the most useful: Read the rest of this entry

If you’re not on Twitter yet, I recommend that you stop reading this article and sign up for a Twitter account. Twitter is a microblogging platform, where you’re limited to updates of 140 characters. You broadcast these short messages to your “followers” (the equivalent of a friend or connection), who can be friends, coworkers, peers in your industry, or even celebrities, politicians, and other public figures. 

If you need to be convinced, here are the top 12 reasons to be on Twitter: Read the rest of this entry

Want to easily track what people are saying about you, your company, a product, or any topic across the web’s social media sphere in real-time? Now it’s possible, and there are several tools out there that make it much more interesting than a basic Google search.

It’s undoubtedly valuable to immerse yourself in the chatter. Not only can you see what people are saying about you, your company, or your blog, but also you can see what topics are hot in people’s minds all over the world. This can clue you in on what to be aware of, and even what to write your own articles about.

Here are my top four picks for stand out keyword trackers: Read the rest of this entry

This article was originally written as a guest post on The Internet Marketing Blog for Today. Thanks to the blog owner Erwin Tan for hosting!

Starting a niche blog is both exciting and overwhelming. Once you post a few articles, that “if you build it, they will come” mentality sets in, and you start checking your stats every 5 minutes. And then you realize that maybe “if you build it AND promote it, they will come.” So you spend hours submitting your articles to social media sites like StumbleUpon, Digg, Delicious, Twitter, Facebook, Myspace, BlogCatalog, commenting on blogs, replying in forums, and so on. Now you’re checking your stats every 30 seconds.

There are some bloggers out there screaming, “This is how I did it! Just follow these steps, and you’ll get a thousand visitors a day!” But for most bloggers, this is not how it works. It takes dedication, passion, and time. But most of all, it takes content that’s going to get people’s attention enough for them to stick around, bookmark it, and tell a few people about it. Here are some tips to creating quality content worthy of social media marketing. Read the rest of this entry

Since Web 2.0 exploded, I’ve noticed that there aren’t many websites you can’t sign into anymore. Want to review that hotel you stayed in? Sign in! Want to rate the digital camera you bought? Sign in! Want to discuss Obama’s experience (or lack thereof)? Sign in! It’s the age of the digitally social, and we’re all invited to sign in.

Frankly, it gets confusing. You forget if you’ve already signed up at a site you last visited a year ago. Your passwords become muddled in a memory of account numbers, pins, and everything else in your hectic life. And when you finally do sign in, you’re encouraged to find your friends, even though you’re already friends with your friends on ten other sites. And sometimes it’s so frustrating that you just give up. That’s where Facebook Connect comes in. Read the rest of this entry

Since starting this blog, I’ve joined several social networking sites. Some for bloggers, some for bookmarking, and some for “twittering.” Most of these sites allow you to upload an avatar, usually a 90×90 image you can use to represent yourself.

I used to be really paranoid about putting my picture anywhere online, except for Facebook where I have complete control over privacy settings. I always used a little blonde Simpsons-style avatar. But now I’m attaching my real name to my blog, and I want to establish my web presence across all the different social media sites. So I uploaded a real picture of me taken last week to all the different sites. It also appears on U Stand Out whenever I make a comment. Read the rest of this entry