Join my webinar tomorrow – “How to Use LinkedIn for Business”

If you’re not quite sure how to start using Twitter for business, just follow this checklist:

• Discover What People are Really Saying About You, Your Brand, etc:  http://twitrratr.com/

• Shorten URLs, Get Statistics, and More: http://bit.ly/

• 8 Traits of a Twitter Champion: http://www.bloggodown.com/2010/02/8-traits-of-a-twitter-champion.html

• 12 Social Media Secrets from the World’s Top Superstars: http://www.socialmediaexaminer.com/12-social-media-secrets-from-worlds -top-superstars/

• 10 Common Social Media Mistakes: http://econsultancy.com/blog/5684-10-common-social-media-mistakes

• 10 Twitter Tools to Help You Track and Perform Better: http://socialmouths.com/blog/2009/12/09/10-twitter-tools-to-track-and- perform/

• 5 Useful Twitter Monitoring Tools: http://www.georgescifo.com/2010/04/5-useful-twitter-monitoring-tools/

• How to Monitor What is Being Said About You Online: http://www.makeuseof.com/tag/monitor-online/

• 10 Tips to Become a Great Business User of Twitter: http://www.searchenginejournal.com/business-twitter/19695/

• How to Use Twitter Lists: http://mashable.com/2009/11/02/twitter-lists-guide/

• 5 Quick Ways to Improve Your Facebook SEO: http://smallbiztrends.com/2010/03/5-quick-ways-to-improve-your-faceboo k-seo.html

• How to Create the Ultimate Facebook Fan Page: http://thenextweb.com/socialmedia/2010/03/24/10-steps-create-facebook- fan-page-brand/

Through the years, the company had managed to sustain itself amongst heftier competitors, but they weren’t thriving and it was clear they needed solutions.  The company had that old-school feel about it, and had the kind of stale bureaucracy that festers over a long period of time.

So there I was, invited by one executive, to make a case for the proposed network upgrade.  About half of the Board were dead set against it and their questions were intended to torpedo the project:

“If we decide to move forward with this project, we will have to be trained on how to use it, right?” one exec asked, as if it mean the kiss of death.

“Yes,” I answered.

“Then that means some staff will have to learn it, too…They are not gonna want to do that!”

“Yes, they will need training,”  I replied while quietly thinking it would be ok to let them go if they didn’t embrace the training.

“And then they’ll have to use it.  On top of everything else they do…”

“Yes, they will have to use it,” I said.  That’s what they get paid to do.

None of the questions focused on the bigger issues like how will this solution improve our operations, how will it boost productivity, and how will it enable us to do what we do even better.

As business owners, we need to push ourselves, our employees and our companies to incessantly explore technology – even if it’s just for the sake of exploration.  Why?  Because it will make your business more competitive.

Companies fail because they stop learning.  People fail because they stop developing new skills.  Comfort breeds complacency, and complacency is the precursor to decline.

We are helping one of our clients develop a new browser.  I strongly encouraged him to by an iPhone and start using – if for no other reason than to understand why/how the world has purchased some 30 million units and downloaded more than a billion items.

The same is true for Twitter (http://twitter.com/).  As business owner, you may not have time to do it faithfully every day, but you should make the time to play with it – if only to see what appeals to the 12 million or so people who have signed up for it.

As an employee, when was the last time you picked up a new tech skill just for the sake of learning something new?  The next time you have 30 minutes free during lunch, hop online and check out Google Docs (http://docs.google.com/) or Zoho Wiki (http://wiki.zoho.com/).  You will become more knowledgeable and more marketable.  You may also discover a new tool for doing your work even better.

Is your business in good shape?  Regardless of answer, poke even deeper into technology.  Gte uncomfortable with it.  You may discover something your competitor hasn’t.

James Kerr is Chief Geek at SuperGeeks.  Follow him on Twitter: SuperGeeks

How Mikeyy Works

It appears to be more of a nuisance than malicious at this point – the attacker is pointing out that Twitter has not fully fixed the issue.

What To Do

1. Stop visiting Twitter profiles on the web, since these are the source -

2. You might want use a 3rd party app like TweetDeck () or Seesmic Desktop for now

3. Disable javascript in your browser settings, or use a Firefox () add-on like no-script, which stops unwanted scripts from running

If you’re affected by Mikeyy, it’s smart to:

1. In your browser settings, clear your cache and cookies

2. Also in your browser settings, turn off javascript

3. Log into Twitter. Go to your Twitter settings and check for anything suspicious, particularly in the URL or location. If there’s anything there, delete it fully and replace with your actual URL and location.

4. Re-enable javascript and check the Design section of your Twitter profile to make sure there are no changes to your profile colors. If there are, delete these too and replace with whatever colors you want.

5. Delete unwanted Tweets containing Mikeyy

6. As an extra precaution, reset your Twitter password.

7. Log out of your account.

8. Since there are claims that Mikeyy may re-activate on login at Twitter.com, you may wish to continue using Twitter via a desktop client like TweetDeck or Seesmic Desktop, rather than on the web.

For more info, check the blog Twittercism

This comes from Diana Freedman at www.ustandout.com:

I’ve become an active Twitter user over the past few weeks (follow me @dianafreedman). If you’re not on Twitter yet, I recommend that you stop reading this article and sign up for a Twitter account. In case you don’t know, Twitter is a cross between blogging and instant messages. And if you need to be convinced, here are my top 12 reasons to be on Twitter:

1. Mingle with the influential

I never would have talked about houseplants with the CEO of Zappos.com if it wasn’t for Twitter. It’s a great place to connect with CEOs, top bloggers, and even celebrities. It takes a bit of effort (and having a decent following yourself doesn’t hurt) to get replies, direct messages, and better yet follows from the most-followed individuals, but by following them you can keep up to on what these individuals are reading and talking about.

2. Promote your content

Once you establish a following, you can tweet (post a message) updates/new posts on twitter and are very likely to get clicks. I’ve found that my click-through rate on Twitter is pretty decent, and if you post about something viral in nature, people might retweet (repost your message), exposing your link to all of their followers as well. Use a service like snipurl to track how many clicks your tweet links are getting.

3. Stay aware of hot topics

To keep in touch with what’s hot, whether it’s celebrity gossip or industry buzz, follow people with similar interests as you and industry professionals. You can find them using search tools like Twellow. The people with the most followers are the ones who will probably have the most interesting links and news to share. You can also see which twitter topics generate the most discussion by browsing Twitter Search.

4. Direct traffic

Twitter can be used to bring attention to a new product, a friend’s post, a book you loved, a hilarious YouTube video, and so on. Even if you need votes or are trying to get votes for something, post the link and ask nicely, and your followers will vote if they agree with you.

5. Update from anywhere

Twitter is something you can carry with you wherever you go. If you see something weird on the street, an advertisement that impressed you, want to report a severe traffic jam, whatever, wherever, you can tweet it right from your cell phone. Just set up your SMS Twitter number to text your tweet, so you don’t even have to use the internet. You can also choose to receive texts when your tweeple tweet or DM you, but if you have a ton of contacts you might want to stay away notifications.

6. Forces you to be a better writer

The 140 character limit forces you to be concise. Brevity makes it easy to absorb a message. That’s why you rarely see tag lines longer than 5-8 words. After a month of using Twitter, you’ll be surprised how easy it is to fit an entire stream of thought into two lines of text.

7. Helps build web presence

Being on Twitter will help you built your network and establish trust amongst your followers. You’ll gain exposure for yourself, you blog, and your website. To really succeed at building your web presence, I recommend customizing your Twitter background (I’ll be adding free templates and backgrounds here soon!).

8. Real-time updates, rapid responses

On Twitter, you can reach out to your followers immediately. And if you have a question, just ask it, and many times you’ll get a quick response. I love getting quick opinions and recommendations from my followers, and many people on Twitter tend to go out of their way to research something for you. If this happens, be sure to return the favor.

9. Twitter’s there in case of emergency

When the terrorist attacks hit Mumbai, the news spread on Twitter before it even hit CNN. There was another situation where a student Twittered his way out of an Egyptian jail. These scenario might be extreme, but Twitter is a way to reach tons of people fast, especially if you’ve established a large following and it’s retweeted. In case of emergency, your followers will be there for you, as strange as that might sound.

10. Time management tool

I wouldn’t recommend just using your Twitter as a to-do list because your followers will quickly get bored with you. But if you’re on a tight schedule, Twitter about it and encourage your followers to get on your case if you haven’t finished by your deadline. It’ll be motivating to get your stuff done if you can show off to your followers that you met your goal.

11. It’s downright fun

Twitter’s fun, which is as good a reason as any to join. You can see a new side of your friends, share interesting articles and videos, and learn some really cool stuff. And it’s fun to tweet back and forth, and see people retweet your tweets.

12. Not too time-consuming

It takes less time to post a link on Twitter than it does to bookmark it on StumbleUpon or Digg. It also takes less time to build a meaningful network. And because of the 140 word limit, you’re not pressured to write a lot (like you would when blogging), and it won’t take too long to read through the latest Tweets. If you become obsessed (like many people do), then Twitter can become time consuming. But it’s easy and fast to become active on Twitter.

1. Upload iPhone app “TwitterFon”.

2. Press on icon that looks like tablet with a pen. (for new tweet)

3. Select camera icon.

4. You can either take new photo or choose existing one from your
iPhone.

5. Voila!

P.S. TwitterFon also allows you to post tweets from your iPhone easily.