Today wraps up my twitter series. Over the past five days, we have discussed the following topics: Twitter – What is it?, How to Get Started and Use it, Definitions and Best Practices, and txt Messages and Twitter., and Twitter Tools.

The goal of this post is to share a few other things one can do with twitter.

Facebook Status Updates:

So many people use http://www.facebook.com. It is a great social networking tool! I may blog on it at a later date. But what I see by so many people is that they login to Facebook and update their status messages. Why not have twitter do that for you? Over the past couple of days, I have hopefully showed how easy it is to use twitter.

So, how do I setup Facebook to use my twitter account?

1. Install the Twitter application in your Facebook account: Twitter App For Facebook.
2. There will be a link Want Twitter to update your Facebook status? Click here!

That’s all ya have to do. There may be a slight delay while getting it setup. Now, when you tweet, your status on Facebook is updated.

By the way, if you are not already my friend on facebook, feel free to add me now.

TwitPic

Huh? What is TwitPic? TwitPic lets you share photos on Twitter. It is easy to use.

1. Visit http://twitpic.com
2. Login with your twitter username and password.
3. Click on Upload Photo
4. Select a picture you wish to share and click upload.
5. Once the picture is uploaded, it will provide a place to write your Tweet and post it.

Here is an example: Last night during our Halloween get together, I used my iPhone (most of the applications have built in functionality to use TwitPic) to post some pictures.

http://twitpic.com/j8za – Here is the scariest thing you will see tonight! Any night for that matter!

Notice the URL that TwitPic generated when I upload my beautiful picture

Badges/ Widgets

If you have a blog, you may want to consider using this. It’s a neat way to let visitors to your blog know what you’re up to at the moment: Display your latest Twitters there with a customized badge (aka, "widget"). Visit http://twitter.com/badges to get started. You can see an example of this on my blog. If viewing this through rss, visit http://ChrisReeder.com and look on the right side at section called “What I’m Doing…”

TwitterCounter.com

While we are talking blogs, twittercounter.com allows you to display you twitter Follower Count? It is easy.

1. Visit http://twittercounter.com
2. Type you twitter username in the box next to “Check Twitter Account @
3. Click the Show button
4. This will show your follower counts. There is a link near the bottom right to allow the adding for a Counter preview with a link for “Add TwitterCounter to your site”.
5. This will provide html (code) you can copy and  paste into your blog’s widget or HTML.

FriendOrFollow.com

FriendOrFollow.com helps you manage your Twitter contacts. Submit your Twitter username to find out who you’re following that’s not following you back, and who’s following you that you’re not following back. It’s that easy.

TweetBeep.com

This is a really cool site. http://TweetBeep.com can send emails alerts of twitter conversations that mention you, your products, your company, your church, your city, your website, or anything else! And it is a FREE marketing tool.

QurlyQ.com or/and TinyUrl.com

Remember that twitter only allows posts of 140 characters or less. What if I want to share one of these websites with someone through twitter?

http://3.141592653589793238462643383279502884197169399375105820974944592.com/

or

http://www.thelongestdomainnameintheworldandthensomeandthensomemoreandmore.com/

Either of those sites would use most if not all of the characters. Use one of these two sites to shrink the urls.

http://qurlyq.com/1m

or

http://tinyurl.com/in0l

Way shorter!

Twubble

If you are new to twitter, this site is a must! Visit http://www.crazybob.org/twubble/ and find some friends. It searches your friends and picks out people who you may like to follow.

ESV Bible Daily

Simply follow http://twitter.com/esvdaily for a verse of the day.

Fox News

Follow http://twitter.com/foxnews for the latest news!

Daily Weather

Visit http://www.accuweather.com/twitter/ and select your city. Then follow the twitter user for daily weather updates.

PicoBuzz

http://picobuzz.com shows the “buzz words” on twitter. Interesting stuff! Amazing… I was expecting to see Chris Reeder up there with McCain and Obama.

Twitter Fan Wiki

http://twitter.pbwiki.com is one awesome site to find just about anything about twitter.

I know this is not a complete list, but it does show some really useful sites. If you have any other sites that you like to use, please leave a comment on this post so others can try them, as well.

I trust you learned something during this series on twitter. If you are not currently subscribed to this blog to get all the latest updates, please consider doing so by rss.

Over the past three days, we have discuss the following topics: Twitter – What is it?, How to Get Started and Use it, and Definitions and Best Practices.

So, the question of the day is… Can I use txt messaging on my phone to send and receive tweets?

Yes you can!

Twitter allows its users to tweet by using txt messages; both sending & receiving tweets, replies and direct messages.

So, how do I set it up?

1. Login to twitter.com using your credentials.
2. Click Settings link, and then select the Devices tab. (see picture to right)
3. Enter your cell phone number in the box preceded with a “+” and country code. (example: +12125551212)
4. Select the check box to allow twitter to send txt messages to your phone and then click Save.
5. This will send a verification code in a txt message to your phone.
6. When the code arrives on your phone, txt the verification code to 40404 (Twitter).
7. All done.

What other options do I need to be aware of?

After your phone is setup, the device tab will look like the one to the right (my cell number blacked out for obvious reasons).

To use txt messaging to update twitter, send your text messages to 40404. Don’t forget that twitter has a 140 character limit.

Using this screen, you can turn the device updates on and off. ONE BIG SETTING is located on this screen. Notice the check box to turn off updates during these hours. This will automatically turn off the txt updates during the time of the day (or night) you select. This will prevent being awakened by a txt message in the middle of the night because someone tweets at 2:30 AM. (right Dean?)

Twitter allows more than an all or nothing setting for receiving txt messages. It allows filtering by individual followings (is that a word?).

It allows the ability to turn txt messages on and off at a person level. You can find & control this information by clicking on the link to see the people you follow.

Then simply turn device updates “On” for the people you desire to receive txt message updates on.

Don’t forget, standard txt message charges apply through your cell phone carrier. Twitter sending the txt messages does not cost anything. Be careful, if you follow a lot of people and they twitter a lot… the quantity of txt messages can add up quick.

Tomorrow’s post will be the final installment of this series (maybe). Stay tuned…

“Like a swallow, like a crane, so I twitter…” – Isaiah 38:14a (save your emails, I already know this is not referring to twitter.com)

Over the past two days, we have learned what twitter is and how to use it.

Today, we are going to look at a few best practices. I think it is best to start with a few definitions.

Tweet

A tweet is a post or status update on Twitter

Reply

A reply is when you respond a tweet in reference to another tweet

Example: chrisreeder tweets
http://StupidProgrammer.com is the greatest blog on the web!

Your reply would be:
@chrisreeder, no it’s not: http://ChrisReeder.com is!

Notice the @ to reference the username you are replying to on twitter.

Direct Message

You can send messages private so only you and the recipient can see them. The way you do this is to start the tweet with a “d” followed by the username of the person you are sending the private message.

Example:
d jayson_r Hey man, you got lunch plans?

Notice that on direct messages, the @ sign is not used.

RULE: In order to send a direct message, the person you send the direct message must be following you. If you are following them but they are not following you, it will not work. FYI: You can Reply to anyone.

ReTweet

This is simply tweeting something that someone else tweeted and giving them credit for it.

Examples:
Retweeting @lukefine: at Athens with it dept birthday crew.
or
rt @DanielDulaney: NEW BLOG POST/// Urgent Prayer Request    www.danieldulaney.wordpress.com

Favorites

Favorites allow the ability to mark a tweet with a yellow star so you can find it easy in the future. You can click the favorites link on the right side of twitter to display them.

Following & Followers

Yes… You guess it! This is list of people that you are following and a list of those that are following you.

Let’s say that someone starts following you and you don’t want them to do that. You can block them from being able to follow you. To do this, click on the followers link to see all your followers. Scroll until you find the person.

Then simply click the block button. Then that person will be blocked from following you.

Security

Don’t tweet your phone numbers, credit card numbers, social security numbers, etc that you wouldn’t want just anyone in the world to have.

The data on twitter makes up a part of a public timeline. Check it out at http://twitter.com/public_timeline

You can setup your account to not be listed in the public timeline. Will cover in next section.

The Settings section of your account is often overlooked. Let’s take a look at each setting.

Settings: Account Tab

Name: This is important so people can find you on twitter and shows on your twitter profile.

Username: This is how you are known on twitter. This is how people will access your profile, reply to your tweets, etc. Your profile location is also determined by you username (http://twitter.com/yourusername). You can also change your username if you are not happy with your current one. You will not loose any followers; twitter will keep them for ya.

Email: To allow people to find you by searching on email addresses. This address is also used for alerts from twitter.

Time Zone: duh…

More Info URL: Put your blog or website address in this box. It will display on public profile and create a link back to your blog.

One Line Bio: Brief description of you. This will also display on you public profile and be used to allow people to find you on twitter.

Location: It is important to set this to allow people to find you by searching. This piece of information also displays on your profile.

Language: hum… wonder what that does.

Protect my updates: This is the setting I mentioned up in the security section. If you check this box, you will have to approve anyone that desires to follow you. Or another way to look at it; Only people you approve will be able to follow you. If this is checked, you WILL NOT be on the public timeline.

Settings: Password Tab: is used to change your password. BTW: Always use good passwords. Never use stuff like kids names or wife’s birthday. Apply this rule to any online account you own.

Settings: Devices Tab: We will cover this tomorrow.

Settings: Notices Tab

Auto Nudge: This will txt your phone if you have not written a tweet in the past 24 hours.

@ Replies:

• all @replies: see all of the @replies made by people you follow, whether or not you follow the person to whom the reply is directed. 
• @replies to the people I’m following: see @replies from people you follow directed toward other people that you also follow. This is the default setting.
• no @replies: never see any @replies in your timeline, ever

My personal preference is all @replies. If someone mentions me on twitter, regardless if I follow them… I want to know about it.

The next three are very self explanatory.

New Follower Emails: Email when someone starts following me

Direct Text Emails: Email when I receive a new direct message

Email Newsletter: Email with new twitter news.

Settings: Picture

PLEASE! PLEASE! PLEASE!

Update your picture to something other than the one twitter puts by default (see picture to the right). It does not have to be a picture of you. Put a college mascot, church logo, or something else… just not the default one

Settings: Design

A way to make your public twitter profile more attractive. There are a few themes available. You can also change the background image or change your design colors.

Ok, this has turned into a lengthy post!

I know this is not an exhaustive list of best practices but I hope it helps with understanding. For a more complete list of Q&A and commands, visit http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=26 and http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=75

If you have any specific questions, please feel free to leave me a comment.

Tomorrow’s post will be the next installment of this series. Stay tuned…

Yesterday we learned about: Twitter – What is it?

Today, we learn how to get started and a little how to use it.

How to sign up in 3 Easy Steps:

1. Browse to http://twitter.com
2. Look for the Get Started—Join! button and click it.

   

3. Fill out the information requested and click the “I accept. Create my account” button. Be sure to pick a good username. This will be how you are known on twitter. You may not be able to get your preferred name, but keep trying.

    

Ok… not what?

It’s simple… Let the world know what you are doing.

1. If not already logged in, visit http://twitter.com and login using the user name and password you entered while signing up. 

    

2. Type what you are doing, thinking, experiencing, etc… in the box under “What are you doing?” and click Update.

   

Now that you know how easy it is to update twitter, let’s see how to follow others. (assuming you are already logged in)

1. At the top of you Twitter page is a link “Find People”. Click it, and it will load a new page with a couple of options.

   

2. As you can see from the picture above, you can search for people using twitter by searching your contacts from Hotmail, Yahoo, GMail, AOL, or MSN. Simply enter your credentials and you will get a list if any of your contacts are already on twitter.
3. Another option is by searching for the name of a friend or location such as Florence, SC. (This feature is temporarily disabled, but hopefully be back soon)

   

Ok, so now what… You found someone on twitter. Now, the hard work is done.

When the profile loads, you will see the word “follow”.

Now, simply click on the Follow button.

From this point on, you will receive updates from that person.

You can see all the updates of those you follow after you login on twitter.com.

I would like to know if use twitter; whether you were already using twitter before this series or because you signed up because of the series. Please leave me a comment on this post with your twitter username (example: http://Twitter.com/chrisreeder)

Tomorrow’s post will be the next installment of this series. Stay tuned…

Well, those who follow this blog have probably seen me mention Twitter a time or two. Well, I wanted to take some time to try my best to explain it.

So… What is Twitter? I thought I would let the twitter world tell us… I posed the question and here are a few of their responses.

@JonathanMoore_ explained it this way

Public Instant messenger chat for the Web through the use of mini-blogging that can be accessed across multiple mediums.

@hydeparkorama said…

Twitter is the sharing of facets of my life real time with those who actually care

@moviepastor well…

This is a PG rated blog so I can’t share what he said.

@davidwike looks at it this way

Twitter keeps me in touch with what is going on in the life of my peeps & allows me to keep them informed via SMS messaging

@michaelharrison states it as…

Sharing life and ideas across the miles via the www.

@kbriankelley says it probably the best…

Blogging meets IM in 140 chars or less for a engaging community experience.

And this video explains it better than I could ever do it…

Can I see an example of the type of information shared on twitter… sure you can:

Visit http://Twitter.com/chrisreeder to see the past couple of days in the life of Chris Reeder.

Tune in tomorrow for the 2nd post in the Twitter series.

I know a lot of you have already seen this and already know about Twitter… If that is you, please hang in there… there are a lot of subscribers and others that read my blog that do not have a clue what it is…

So, what is this twitter thing???

So, if this looks cool to you, go on over to Twitter.com and signup.

Then you can follow me.

If you are reading this and you created or have a twitter account, please leave a comment on this post so I will know about ya and be able to follow you!

I have been reading this blog for some time (one of the best on SQL Server).  Ya need to check out yesterday’s post (a list of Microsoft Whitepapers on SQL 2008).

If you want to learn more about Microsoft SQL Server and SQL coding… I HIGHLY encourage you to check out the SQL Server Code,Tips and Tricks, Performance Tuning blog.

I love the quote from the site… (being a big Yoda fan & SQL Server fan & Geek)

I sense many useless updates in you… Useless updates lead to fragmentation… Fragmentation leads to downtime… Downtime leads to suffering… Fragmentation is the path to the darkside…

DBCC INDEXDEFRAG and DBCC DBREINDEX are the force… May the force be with you”

And how their email address is protected… genius…

“run the code below in Query Analyzer/Management Studio to get my email”

SELECT CONVERT(VARCHAR(31),0×73716C736572766572636F646540676D61696C2E636F6D)

I have known about this for a while, but just recently stumbled upon it again.

Here is a cool site at http://www.databaseanswers.org to assist with data model designs.

They have hundreds of database designs specific for certain types of needs such as…

• Blogs
• Cemeteries
• CD Collection
• Games Store
• Help Desk
• MP3 Music Site
• Tracking Software Problems (naturally I would never need this one…)

163+ data models…

Thanks Chris Craft for first sharing the site with me!

Brian… you must only have 5 people using this thing!!!

Incase you are clueless to what am writing about… WorldMap is a cool tool that Brian Hitney wrote to show a graphical representation of hits/ traffic on a web site. 

He recently updated his map to use MICROSOFT Virtual Earth… kinda cool Brain!!!

The tool also provides useful and not-so-useful facts about the site’s traffic:

Unique IP’s: 7,500
WorldMap Rank: #5
World Domination: 8.8%
IP Distribution for 5,000+ miles away: 18.18%

So, to that 18.18%…

Merci de la visite !
¡Gracias por la visita!
Für den Besuch danke!
방문을 당신을 감사하십시오!
Grazie per la chiamata!
謝謝你的訪問！
Спасибо за визит!
訪問をありがとう!

And for the English speakers:

Thank you for the visit!

Special thanks to Google for the Translations. (Sure hope those BETA translations work…)

I noticed today that MapQuest now has an Aerial View of their maps. If that has been there long… oh well… shows how long it has been sense my last visit to the site.

I decided to pull up my house (similar to a previous post)

Looks good to me!!! Let’s zoom in another click.

Huh… where did my house go??? Hurricane? Tornado? Huh… does not even look like it zoomed in?

Craziness!!! And yes… both of these are from MapQuest!!!