Benefits of Using Twitter
Over the past few months I have been using Twitter more and more. The more I use it, the more I realise that it is so much more than just another social networking tool.
Many people just use it as a way to communicate with others, and for others it is fast becoming an important tool for business. I am beginning to rely on Twitter more and more for everyday life, from news, to business, to asking advice on what camera to buy!
Here is what I use Twitter for:
News
Previously my first stop would be a news site to get the latest headlines. Now, I am a follower of numerous news agencies and I can get all their headlines in one place.
Employment
When my freelance works starts to slow down, I simply tweet that I am looking for more freelance work. Generally I get at least one or two leads which then turn into work. Normally at least a handful of people are looking for some kind of work.
Networking
Since I began using Twitter I have made a lot of contacts who have helped me build my freelance work, as well as give me general advice about whatever I need. I now know many people who I can turn to if I need developers, marketers, sales people, and so on. All I have to do is ask!
Purchasing
When I was in the market for a digital SLR camera I asked Twitter what a good entry level camera was. I got a few responses back which helped me along the way to choosing my product. I do this with any big purchase now because chances are someone on Twitter is using it and will give you some honest feedback.
Friends
On top of everything else, I have a few friends that I communicate with via Twitter. I managed to find a few people I have not spoken to in about 10 years on Twitter!
Marketing
I recently ran the BuddyPress Theme Contest and spreading the word via Twitter was an important factor in generating traffic to the website. Looking over the stats, at least 50% of the hits were from Twitter.
What do you use Twitter for?
My Digital Footprint
I am planning to head back to Australia in a few months and will be applying for jobs in the IT industry. I have been updating my CV with all my qualifications and all that sort of stuff to make me look good to a potential employer.
I was wondering what they might find if they Googled me and how it might influence their decision. I think this would be a fairly standard practice in this day and age and rightly so.
I decided to type “Daniel Felice” into Google and here are some of the results in the order of ranking (and that are of actually me):
- Daniel Felice | Creating Something from Nothing
- Daniel Felice (danielfelice) on Twitter
- Profiled – Social Media Portal – Profiled – Daniel Felice ..
- Free Buddypress Themes | Daniel Felice | Creating Something from …
- Explore With Me | Travel Blogs | Social Network — Daniel Felice …
- CLICKBLOG.org – blog – Daniel Felice
- NameSeek – The Australian Domain Name Aftermarket
- Daniel Felice Stats & Rankings (danielfelice) | Twitterholic.com
They are all the results that relate to me on the first 3 pages – and I don’t think anyone would look beyond page 3, if that far.
There isn’t anything too incriminating there so I think I am safe – but I wonder to what extend an employer would base Google results in weighing up potential employees. Could someone’s digital footprint cost them a job?
Anything that is put up on the internet is there for years and years to come and these results will increasingly influence potential job offers so be careful what you do on the internet. I don’t mean lewd videos and dirty photos, it could be more general things like comments on social networking websites or photos of nights out.
What is your digital footprint?
25% Off WordPress Themes!
I have decided to give anyone who signs up for a subscription at Elegant Themes $5 back!
For just $19.95 a year you will get unlimited access to some of the best premium WordPress themes available – and there are over 20 to choose from. All themes come widget ready, up to date to the latest version of WordPress, coded in xhtml 1.0 and CSS. What is best of all – all themes actually work in the latest versions of FireFox, Internet Explorer, Safari and Opera web browsers.
All you have to do is go to Elegant Themes using THIS LINK and sign up for a yearly subscription at $19.95. Once you do that, let me know via the comments below and I will give you back $5!
A Bit Quiet…
I have been a bit quiet lately – not much blogging has been happening! This is because I have been flat out with a few freelance projects, and getting organised for my 40 day tour of Europe before I head back home to Australia after spending the last 3 years in Ireland.
It is a busy time, and I will be flat out until at least September the way things are going. I will head off on holidays in a few weeks, and then leave Ireland for Australia via Europe in August.
Before I go I want to redevelop Explore With Me. It needs a total revamp and I have some good ideas which I think will work well – and we have a travel company that has sponsored 25% of our tour so we want it to look good as it will get some good traffic in August.
When I do blog is all seems to be about BuddyPress. That is because my life seems to be revolving around it at the moment. Between Explore With Me and my freelance work, that is all I seem to be doing. I have not really had the chance to concentrate on making money online through my websites so there is not much to blog about there – but FYI I am making a few dollars here and there.
It’ll be back to normal soon – I promise!
WordPress 2.8 is Out
WordPress 2.8 was released yesterday. I have just upgraded a few of my blogs and some of the improvements are great. I have listed a few of the changes below.
- New Theme Installer routines
- Add CodePress syntax highlighting to Theme and Plugin editors
- Add Documentation(function) lookup to Theme and Plugin editors
- Use “Custom Header” for menu text and revise Default theme to reflect change
- Separate Comments into a separate postbox, from Discussion postbox, on the Edit Post screen
- Make tags accessible without Javascript on the edit screen
- Don’t ask for confirmation when marking a comment as spam
- Don’t notify post author of own comments
- Fix comment paging for static front page
- Allow the dashboard widgets to be arranged in up to four columns as set via the Screen Options tab
- Make titles into links in Dashboard Right Now module (this was in 2.7.1)
- Improved Admin icons (grey-to-transparent shadows)
- Update Blue Admin Color Scheme
- Press This improvements UI, quoting fixes, plus ability for Contributors to use Press This
- Add a Cancel Upload button and a Delete link to Administration > Media > Add New
- Add column “Rating” in Administration > Links > Edit
- Improve installer to help people entering wrong email addresses
- Improved Widget user interface
- Allow editing of all plugin files (Ticket 6732)
- Improved Plugin search (this was in 2.7.1) on Administration > Plugins > Add New
- Per Page option for plugins
- Move “Install a plugin in .zip format” to new Upload tab under Administration > Plugins > Add New
- Show absolute date instead of relative date for scheduled posts
- Fix tags suggest for post quick edit and bulk edit
- Permalink editor changes and fix for pages
- Autosave post/page when pressing Control/Command+S
- Add toggle all button to the Gallery tab in the uploader
- Support more than one gallery on the same page
- Add per page option to Screen Options for comments, posts, pages, media, categories, and tags
- Overhaul of LiveJournal importer (also add define WP_IMPORTING)
- Import category descriptions for Administration > Tools > Import > WordPress
- Show Tools menu for all users so they can access Turbo
- Check for new version when visiting Administration > Tools > Upgrade
- In upgrade process, provide better explanation for database upgrade message
- Fix most popular link category list
- Add description field for Tags in Administration > Posts > Tags
- WAI-ARIA landmark roles to added to WordPress Default theme
- “Choose a city in the same timezone as you” for Timezone in Administration > Settings > General
- Remove My Hacks option from Administration > Settings > Miscellaneous
- Hide email addresses from low privilege users on Administration > Comments
- Allow case-insensitive logins
- Login and Registration pages noindex followed
- Give login screen proper iPhone viewport
- Enforce unique email addresses in Add/Edit users
- Make user_nicenames unique during registration
- Add “Send this password to the new user by email” option to Administration > Users > Add New
- Don’t set user’s Website url to http:// in Administration > Users > Add New
- Add password strength meter to Add User and Edit User
- Hide things that need to be available to screen readers via offscreen positioning
- Use invisible class for hiding labels and legends
- Use a semantic class name for text targeted to screen readers
Photo Album Plugin for BuddyPress
Rather than wait for BuddyPress version 2, Manoj Kumar has developed a Photo Album plugin for BuddyPress that is currently receiving high praise on the BuddyPress forums. The offical BuddyPress photo album isn’t scheduled to be ready until late 2009, however for those of you who don’t want to wait this should fill the gap for the next few months.
The plugin is currently in Beta however updates seem to be happening on a regular basis and with your testing it will hopefully be stable soon.
I am yet to test the plugin, however I will be installing it on the new version of Explore With Me in the coming weeks.
How this plugin will react to the official BP plugin that will be released in late 2009, who knows. But BP developer Andy Peatling has mentioned on the forums that there should be any issues. To me that suggests that he might build upon this plugin and implement it as the official BP Album, but we’ll have to wait and see.
Vote for the Best BuddyPress Theme
As of today, all submissions to the BuddyPress Theme Contest have been uploaded to Free BuddyPress Themes and voting as begun.
Voting will be open for the next 2 weeks which after the winners will be annouced.
Thanks for everyone who entered the theme contest – there weren’t as many entries as we had have hoped, which just proved that not everyone can design a BuddyPress Theme!
What Do You Want?
Checking over my traffic stats for the past few months, I have noticed 95% of you come here looking for BuddyPress. BuddyPress and WordPress MU have been dominating my search engine referrals for a while now so I just want to ask you all, what exactly are you looking for when you come here?
Do you want BuddyPress themes? Plugins? Reviews? News? Thoughts? Comments? Complaints?
Tell me what you want, and I’ll try and give it to you!
An Interview with…Me!
Last week I was asked to answer a few questions for SocialMediaPortal.com in regards to my work on Explore With Me. The Social Media Portal (SMP) is a resource that maps global social media, social networks and user generated content (UGC).
A few times a week they profile various people who deal with social media, and as of today you can see their interview with me!
News in 30 Seconds
Just a quick post!
- BuddyPress – Help shape the future of BuddyPress and vote on what you would like to see in future versions of the social networking plugin for WordPress MU. It only takes a second and gives you the chance to tell Andy and the BuddyPress gang what features you would like in the future. Vote here
- WordPress – WordPress 2.8 Beta 2 is out and ready for you to test. I have not yet played with the 2.8, however I am hearing very good things about it. Remember – the quicker you test and post feedback the quicker it will be released! Download Beta 2 here
