Alert Blog Reviews

Would the last person to leave Yahoo, please turn off all the lights? You may think I’m mocking the gradual decline of the tech company, but I’m not. Not this time. Apparently, in a measure of frugality, Yahoo is sending home all but its most essential employees for the Christmas break. According to AP : It’s the first time that Yahoo has required most of its 13,200 employees to use vacation time or unpaid leave during the holidays. Only employees performing essential duties will be working from Dec. 25 through Jan. 1. You can expect more spam in your search results, viagra offers in your Yahoo mail, and porn on Flickr during this time. OK, maybe not that last one.

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Yahoo’s Employees Home for the Holidays

Yahoo’s taking ad targeting to a whole new level with its new Ad Interest Manager . Now advertisers aren’t the only ones who can target you—you can target yourself, too! The new AIM system enables users to select their interests and block ads outside of those interest areas. According to the press release , the tool: Provides a central point where Yahoo! visitors can assert even greater control over their online experience. Gives visitors an unparalleled view into the information used to deliver interest-based advertising. Shows the visitor both Yahoo!’s educated guesses about their interests and a summary of observations, along with other information they have provided. Provides a list of specific interest categories that Yahoo! has placed a user into and lets people turn those categories off. Allows people who don’t want to see interest-based ads to turn them off entirely. As the quote indicates, the system gives you a list of ad categories Yahoo believes you’re interested in, based on your activity on the site, including search history, and properties including Yahoo Answers, Flickr and Yahoo Groups. You can then switch off each individual category. Switch off seven categories, and the system prompts you, asking if you want to switch off all behavioral targeting. Overall, this is a smart move—allowing users to target ads to themselves insures greater value for advertisers. But the system will only work as well as its implementation—both the targeting and the promotion of the system must be good enough for the system to gain widespread use. Yahoo will have to use fairly prominent, probably front-page, promotion to not only show that are they behind this system, but to make their every day users aware of the improvements. What do you think? Will you use the AIM targeting system? As a user or an advertiser, are you excited about this?

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Yahoo Lets Users Customize Ads

As you may, or may not, know, I’m somewhat of a photography addict . I don’t claim to be a professional–just addicted! Anyway, I had my trusty Nikon D80 at PubCon and snapped over 100 photos. You can see all of my PubCon Las Vegas photos here . In the meantime, here’s a selection of my favorites: Matt Cutts knows Bing is getting closer behind Google. Look what I found on my way to the MGM Grand Tweetup! Brett Tabke hosts another excellent PubCon The Trackur party was a big hit! Just about every session room was packed!

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PubCon 2009 in Photos

by Chris Allison ( @neboweb ) Social Media Strategist at NeboWeb . I’ll cut to the chase. Twitter isn’t a fad. It’s not going away. Let me tell you why: They Have Industry Recognition Industry giants can be intimidating for any new business, especially on the web. Since Twitter’s inception, we’ve seen multiple companies make offers to acquire the young service, and we’ve seen multiple companies get turned down. A lot of people were thinking, “Hey, why didn’t they take the money and run?” I know I was. But, it seems the folks at Twitter had bigger and better things on their mind. Besides fighting off the temptation to give into lucrative acquisition offers, Twitter has had to face the looming threat that all startups face: what happens when Google decides to do what you’re doing? Yikes. This question has gotten even scarier for social startups – what happens when Facebook decides to do what you’re doing? Double yikes. But, Twitter has stood the test of time and managed to fight off the major industry players. Facebook users can update their Twitter accounts with a simple application, fan pages have a built in utility to update Twitter accounts, and Google and Bing are now showing Tweets in their search results . Win. Win. Win. Win. There Is No Replacement Besides fighting off internet giants like Facebook and Google, you would suspect that Twitter would also be facing heavy competition from copy cat services. After all, making a micro blogging platform isn’t that difficult, but, then again, the platform itself isn’t Twitter’s main advantage over competitors. Those trying to duplicate Twitter’s service would be faced with overcoming Twitter’s first mover advantage, their piles of funding, and their existing relationships (see paragraph above). With all of these advantages, it’s no surprise there hasn’t been much real competition from similar services. Simply put, if Twitter were Myspace, there is no Facebook. The Mobile Web Is Here So, maybe Twitter isn’t falling to competition any time soon. That doesn’t mean people won’t just quit using it. What’s to keep Twitter from becoming just another Second Life? The answer is mobile. There are three reasons why mobile is important to Twitter’s success: Mobile is easy. Instead of using an isolated desktop application or piece of software that limits use to specific times and places, mobile presents an easier, less cumbersome way for people to use Twitter: on the go, anywhere, anytime. Mobile is real. Because Twitter can be used and viewed on the go, its content is more than just tech talk floating in cyberspace. It’s real updates about things beyond the monitor: Mobile brings the value of conferences, speeches, concerts, accidents, crimes, parades, inaugurations and more to the folks who weren’t there. Mobile is the direction the internet is headed. E-marketer estimates US penetration will near 100% by 2013. And, it’s not just talking and texting anymore. The mobile web is here . Unlike Second Life, Twitter doesn’t propose an alternate reality. It proposes a simple way to better understand our current reality. Tweets ranging from “what I had for breakfast” to “Michael Jackson died” give followers world-wide a better grasp on the activities and thoughts of real people. Twitter isn’t for everyone. Some people just aren’t interested in real-time news, objects of local interest, or the status updates of friends and family, but an increasing number of people are. With their sealed market position and a platform that makes mobile usage easy and compelling, Twitter isn’t going anywhere soon. If you’ve been waiting for the fad to fade, get ready for a long wait. Image via xotoko on Flickr © 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips . 3 Reasons Twitter Is Not A Fad

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3 Reasons Twitter Is Not A Fad

By Kalvin “Dr. Kal” Chinyere, M.D. of Dr. Kal’s Weight Loss Tips . Follow him @DrKal . TwitPic is an excellent application that further boosts Twitter’s usefulness. However, so many people use TwitPic incorrectly. Tweeters use TwitPic to tweet pictures of their children at Disney World or pictures of their grandmother at her 100th Birthday Party. C’mon! Your kids are not that cute, and your grandmother??? I don’t even want to see a picture of Halle Berry when she’s 100 years old. Using TwitPic as if it were Flickr is similar to using your iPhone as if it were an iPod. You are missing out on all of its capabilities. Below are 10 ways to use TwitPic to improve the quality of your life and the lives of those around you. How to Use TwitPic Weight Loss Pictures: Use TwitPic to chronicle your weight loss. Every Wednesday is Weigh-In Wednesday. Have someone take a picture of you and Tweet It! Sharing pictures of yourself will motivate you and your followers. Funny Pictures: Use TwitPic to spread laughter across the Twitterverse. If you see something funny, take a picture and Tweet It! Laughter decreases stress and this will lengthen the lives of your followers and help them lose weight. Drunk Pictures: Use TwitPic to improve your vision. You are out on the town and you have been drinking heavily. You meet someone who you find extremely attractive. Before you get into a cab with the attractive stranger, take a picture of them and Tweet It! Have your followers review the picture. There is nothing wrong with waking up to Ugly Betty, as long as you were not thinking you went home with America Ferrera. Food Pictures: Use TwitPic to get food advice. You are on a diet and you are unsure if you should eat something. Take a picture and Tweet It! One of your followers may convince you not to eat it. They may also just give you the nutritional information so you can log it properly. Blind Date Pictures: Use TwitPic to set up better blind dates. You are considering setting up one of your friends on a blind date. Before you take the plunge, take a picture and Tweet It! Make sure you send it to your followers that know your friend. Let the Twitterverse decide if you should continue with this “hook up.” Cheat Day Pictures: Use Twitter for memories. You are on a diet and it is time to eat your weekly Cheat Meal. Before you devour your food, take a picture and Tweet It! The picture will serve as a positive reminder for the rest of the week. If the food really looks good, send it to @FoodPorn also. Five-Second Rule Pictures: Use TwitPic to destroy the five-second rule. Your food just fell on the floor. You are thinking about enacting the five-second rule. Stop it. You are an adult. Instead, take a picture and Tweet It! Let the Twitterverse decide if the number of hairs and dirt particles exceed the eating threshold. Rash Pictures: Use TwitPic for medical diagnosis. You have a rash, but you don’t have health insurance. Don’t cry. Instead, take a picture of your skin disfigurement and Tweet It! There are thousands of physicians on Twitter, including myself. If we cannot diagnose your rash, at least your picture will serve as a warning to anyone considering dating you. Sanity Pictures: Use TwitPic to prove your sanity. You just saw Big Foot, the Loch Ness Monster, Notorious B.I.G., Elvis, Tupac, Santa Claus, or Pauly Shore. Take a picture and Tweet It! Now when you tell the story, your followers will not have you put in a Twitter Straight Jacket. Neighbor Pictures: Use TwitPic to bond with your neighbors. You just saw your neighbor “making out” with someone who is not their spouse. Take a picture, but DON’T Tweet It! Instead, use the picture to extort money from them. If they refuse, Tweet It! Hopefully, you now understand how to unleash the full power of TwitPic and you will save the pictures of you kissing your dog for Flickr. These are the ways I use TwitPic. If you have better methods, leave them in the comments. I’ll steal them, claim them as my own, and use them in my next post. Photo by Shermeee © 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips . 10 Better Ways To Use TwitPic

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10 Better Ways To Use TwitPic

By Firas Steitiyeh – Follow him @steitiyeh It’s known that a brand for a product is like reputation for a human being. There are so many articles, books and people that talk about branding and how it is done properly. A lot of bloggers out there, who are most probably new, just do not care about their Twitter page and how it looks. Considering that you have got a proper brand and theme for your blog (or product) now you need to have a Twitter branded page that matches your current brand. Tip#1: Background Stop using Twitter’s default backgrounds and get yourself a customized background. There are many tutorials on the Internet on how to get yourself a decent Twitter background and if you suck in design (as in my case) I just have my logo repeated all over a solid background. If you’re looking for a top-notch twitter background, there are various providers listed on different posts of Twitip that may be what you’re looking for. Bottom line, never use Twitter’s default background. Tip #2: Avatar I always mention in my articles and discussions about branding, that your avatar should be unified on all of your public profiles including, Facebook, Twitter, Orkut, Flickr, Gravatar, MyBlogLog, FriendFeed, etc… simply, use the same avatar you’re using on the Internet for Twitter, and if you currently use more than one, just try to unify your avatar everywhere. People will reach a level where they will start recognizing you from your avatar, if you use picture1 on Twitter and picture2 on Facebook and for comments you use picture3 they will either think that 3 people share the same name, which happens, or they will have a really hard time knowing it’s you. They also may end-up not reading the comment or your update just because they don’t know it’s you. Tip #3: Design colors Customizing your design colors is a very easy task and an important one as well. You have options where you can customize colors in your Twitter profile; background, text, links, sidebar and sidebar border. Always try to use the colors used within your logo or theme, and make sure to use matching colors. I always use the same background color on both the background photo and design. For cases where a visitor with an unexpected screen resolution lands onto your twitter profile, the background image and the background color will look like one layer! Tip #4: Brand your tweets All of the previous 3 tips are design related tips, but this one which is extremely important is a contextual tip. You might be wondering how could one brand her/his tweets? And no, it’s not about Hashtags. Branding your tweets includes the core topic of your tweets, what your tweets are mainly about, are they personal tweets? Technology tweets? Financial tweets? I think that you should be tweeting about one topic the most; otherwise people will lose trust in you. Remember; Jack of all, master of none. I’m not saying if your main focus is technology not to tweet about movies. No, I just mean to have the major share of your tweets going towards one topic instead of confusing people. This is one part of branding tweets, the other part is the ethics of Twitter which most of you know. The ethics of twittering are many but the most common are: thanking other tweeps for retweeting your tweet, follow back people who are following you (in most cases), keep your tweets family rated (unless you’re in the adult industry), thank other tweeps if they recommended you for a #FollowFriday and do not spam your followers. © 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips . Get a Matching Twitter Brand Related posts: Personal Brand – How to Build Yours In Twitter Why You Should Start Over On Twitter With A BRAND NEW Account Make a Good Impression with a Custom Twitter Background

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Get a Matching Twitter Brand

By Nathan Hangen of Making It Social . Follow him @nhangen . When I look at my Twitterfeed, I see that a lot of people are spending time talking about themselves. I get that…I really do, but let me ask you something. How many people on Twitter do you really pay attention to? Of those, how many of them talk about themselves more than they talk about others? If my guess is right, I’d say that the percentage is less than 25%. So why is it then, that people feel they have to talk about themselves in order to convert you into a reader or a customer? Do the right thing It isn’t because it works, we know that already. No, I’d venture to say that it is because they are mimicking the behavior of others. They see everyone else talking about themselves too so they think it is alright. Either that or they are afraid that people will not notice them unless they broadcast their talents like an ad agency. And it is OK I suppose, unless you want to really make a difference. If social media ROI is your concern, you’ll have problems using this approach. I know it sounds like a contrarian perspective, but if you really want to get people to like you on Twitter, then you need to like them first. Aside from the celebrities, most of the Twitter power users are people that spend time giving away information and ideas. They prop you up and make you feel like your voice matters. This works because people don’t want to hear about you…they want to hear themselves echoed in your words. Even if you don’t mention them by name, they feel connected to you when you share a story that helps them. In my time using Twitter, I’ve found that I gain the most influence, which I measure as RT’s, replies, and brand mentions, by talking with others instead of talking at them. One of the ways I do this is by constantly scanning my feed to find new ideas and inspirational stories. I keep what I call, “a portfolio of game changers,” and I like to tell other people about them. Lend a helping hand I don’t want to sound high and mighty here, but let’s face it…it feels really good to help other people. Oddly enough, when you help people on Twitter, you will often see the most return. This isn’t to say that you should only help others to help yourself or that you can’t talk about yourself at all, but I’m a firm believer in authenticity. Share what is good and hope that your content is strong enough to stand on its own in a similar fashion. You aren’t going to sell a bunch of ebooks on Twitter unless they are good. But, if you are a great designer that people have never heard of before, they’ll notice you a lot quicker when they see you offer to help with a problem or by answering a question of theirs. Listen and learn If you simply take the time to respond to the needs of others, they’ll be there for your time of need. It really is amazing how quickly a true talent can be found when they become a window for ideas, rather than a wall. Use Twitter to engage with the people in your niche and let your blog or website do the talking for you. Take it from Zig Ziglar himself…people like those that listen more than they like those that talk. If you can spend just 50% of your time on Twitter as a helping hand, then I can guarantee that people will start to notice you. At that point, your work needs to do the talking, but you already know that. [Image: Aidan Jones on Flickr ] © 2008 TwiTip Twitter Tips . Twitter – The Art of Influence Related posts: How to Effectively Listen On Twitter How to Make Twitter Less Like Listening to One Side of a Phone Call for Your Followers Personal Brand – How to Build Yours In Twitter

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Twitter – The Art of Influence