[This is part of a series of posts — see the Introduction if you haven’t already.]
If a lone wolf howls in the jungle, does anybody hear?
The signal to noise problem works in reverse as well. I currently have just over 400 followers. Most of them found and followed me for some reason. There are probably less than 10% of them that followed me after I followed them. I would like to think that most of them followed me because the saw something in my profile or the tweet stream that they enjoyed. However, I know that a large number of them followed me just so that I’d follow them back. Still, there should be some that are looking for my updates once in a while. Yet it appears that my tweets are getting lost in the noise.
I see very little traffic to my blogs and web sites when I tweet about them. Also, I have asked technical questions about WordPress and other stuff, most of which is unanswered. It’s not that people are ignoring me — well, not completely 8=). It’s just that the chances of people seeing my stuff is too low.
I joined Twitter for a number of reasons. Generating a bit of traffic was one of them and, so far, I’ve not seen the kind of traffic that I’m hoping for. Perhaps I need a bigger following for this to happen. I had expected that maybe 1% of my followers might see and follow a link I post to my sites. Of those, I would hope for a couple of RT’s and more traffic. I have no way of knowing whether people follow my links to other sites (and I really am not concerned enough to use the tools to track that). But I do know that I have very little response to tweets about my own stuff.
Sometimes it’s just too noisy for the LoneWolf’s howls to break through.
Tags: being heard, frustrations, Twitter
[This is part of a series of posts — see the Introduction if you haven’t already.]
Oh, the noise, noise, noise, noise! If there’s one thing I hate, oh the noise, noise, noise, noise! — The Grinch
This leads to another thing I hate about Twitter — the signal to noise ratio. When looking through the Twitter stream there are things that I want to see (signal) and things that I don’t (noise). What is considered signal and what is noise will vary from user to user. In fact, my definition will change depending on what I’m doing or what kind of mood I’m in at the time.
With the increasing number of tweets that are going by the noise becomes overwhelming and it is harder to pick out the signal. There are people that I want to follow more closely and others that I just want to see from time to time. While TweetDeck has the wonderful groups feature that could help with that, it will only pick out the tweets from the last 200. It also leaves those tweets in the main stream, turning them into noise when I look to see if anything interesting shows up outside of my groups. DestroyTwitter doesn’t have a group feature at all.
There are several things that show up as noise for me but, as always, YMMV.
- Blip.fm — While I don’t have a problem with blip itself, if I wanted to know what song you’re listening to I’d be signed in to blip! I don’t mind when you share a particularly inspiring song once in a blue moon or if a song reminds you of something special that you want to share, but not every song please!
- mega tweets — Two or three tweets in a row is okay once in a while. More than that and I say take it to your blog. Don’t have a blog? Set up a free one at WordPress.com or Blogger.com. If you have this much desire to write then blogging is for you! Then you can tweet about the post rather than filling up the stream.
- bare links — Tell us what it’s about! Make us want to see it. Nuff said.
- shortened urls — This one is a necessary evil and I’m not sure it really constitutes noise, but it would be nice to have some idea of where you’re sending me. A link expander would be nice to have. I know that this is on the feature request list for TweetDeck but I’m not sure if it will come to pass any time soon.
- #followfriday lists — A tweet with as many names crammed in with a #followfriday tag is uninspiring. Keep each tweet to a couple names at the most with a hint of what you like about them. “Good for a laugh …” or “Lots of great CSS tips …” A simple list just fills up space in the stream
There is obviously other things that make up the noise in Twitter.
They’ll blow their flu-flubas. They’ll bang their tartinkas. They’ll blow their who-hubas. They’ll bang their gardinkas! — The Grinch
Tags: frustrations, signal to noise ratio, Twitter
[This is part of a series of posts — see the Introduction if you haven’t already.]
I want it all! And I want it now! — Queen
The one thing that I hate most about Twitter is that it is transient. The stream of data that flows through Twitter is constantly changing, constantly renewing. When I first started out using Twitter I followed a few people and I could see their updates from a couple days ago when ever I checked my Twitter stream.
As I followed more people I switched to TweetDeck. TweetDeck loads up the latest 200 updates from the people you follow. When I was following up to 100 people I could still see updates from the past 12 hours or so if I scrolled through the list.
Now, however, I’m following close to 500 people. Now 200 updates usually doesn’t cover 1/2 an hours worth. I’ve switched to DestroyTwitter because it allows me to restrict the number of updates that are loaded at a time (I currently set it to 40) since I’ve given up trying to read through 200 at a time. Even so, by the time I’ve read 40 updates (skimmed most of them) there are another 5 to 10 waiting. I can barely keep up with it now.
Now, my problem is that I rarely see the people who I followed in the beginning. If they’re not tweeting as I’m dipping in to the stream I miss it. Some of the people that I’m following will tweet 5 or 10 tweets in a row, further obscuring the other interesting tweets that I’m looking for.
This is not so much a problem with Twitter as it is with me. I’m having to learn to miss out on stuff because I can’t possibly see it all. It is a hard thing to learn!
Tags: frustrations, the stream, Twitter
“Oh no, not another Twitter bashing post.” I know that is what some of you are thinking right now. In fact, most of the people who decided not to read this post probably thought the same thing.
So before I get going let me reassure you that I do not hate Twitter. In fact, I really, really like it.
“Now he’s going to tell us what he likes about it in a negative way — been there, seen that, got the t-shirt!”
Well, no I’m not. I’m actually going to tell you the things that I hate about Twitter. That doesn’t mean that I hate Twitter or even think that Twitter is doing anything wrong. This is just about the things that I wish were different although I know that they can’t be.
Now, I’ve come back after working on the draft of this post and found that it is just too long for a single post, so I’m going to split it up to make things more manageable. If that hasn’t scared you off yet, here are the links to the other 4 posts in this series.
- Lost in the Stream talks about the pitfalls of trying to follow too many people at once.
- Signal to Noise is a discussion of what the noise level on Twitter does in my attempts to follow.
- Alone in the Crowd follows on the idea of signals being lost from the other perspective — i.e. my tweets not being seen.
- What’s Next? is the final post and looks at what solutions I am planning to try to deal with these issues.
I’m looking forward to hearing what your experiences are with Twitter and what solutions that you’ve been able to come up with for the problems you’ve encountered.
Tags: frustrations, Twitter
Some writers have a way of picking you up and sweeping you along on a journey — sometimes up and sometimes down but always interesting. Max Lucado is one of those writers.
Max has a way of engaging you with his words. He paints pictures that invite you in to investigate. He pulls you inside the story so that you can see the truth in it. His words inspire, encourage and build you up even as he exposes your weaknesses and failures.
There are currently over 75 books that Max has authored, including some for children. He is a pastor in Texas and has radio and web ministries as well. I subscribe to the UpWords newsletter which is a weekly excerpt from one of his books.
When God Whispers Your Name
And so may I introduce you to this book? It’s a book of hope. A book whose sole aim is to encourage. For the last year I’ve harvested thoughts from a landscape of fields. And though their size and flavors are varied, their purpose is singular: to provide you, the reader, with a word of hope. I thought you could use it…
And so as I wrote, I thought about you. You aren’t evil. You aren’t hardhearted, (hardheaded occasionally, but not hardhearted). You really want to do what is right. But sometimes life turns south. Occasionally we need a reminder.
Not a sermon.
A reminder.
A reminder that God knows your name.
And that is what this book is. A collection of reminders that God does know our name. He has it written on his hand. These reminders come in the form of stories of Max’s family or pets. They come in the form of stories from the bible and historical figures. They come from pure parables. In each short read we are taken on a journey to see the beauty of the love of God, the God who whispers our name.
Tags: book review, Max Lucado
Image by Jeff Bucchino, "The Wizard of Draws"
I recently submitted a guest post article over on TwiTip. This is the first time I’ve ever guest posted and TwiTip is a pretty major blog, so I was quite excited at the opportunity. But the question remains, what good is guest posting for my blog(s)? I just thought I would touch base and let you know what I’ve learned about guest posting so far.
Results
Now that the initial excitement has wound down, I’d have to say that the guest post was very positive for me. While I haven’t seen any increase in traffic to any of my blogs as a result of the post itself, I have found that several people followed me on Twitter after reading the article. I have gained some valuable network connections through this, including 2nd and even 3rd degree connections. With the information and contacts of those initial contacts, I now have a following of just under 400 and I’m following a little over 400 myself. Dealing with the firehose of information coming via that is another topic all together.
I have seen a slight increase in traffic to the blogs from Twitter so the increase in followers has helped there. The guest post has obviously had a 2nd degree effect on my traffic.
With the increase in Twitter, I’ve also made some progress brand-wise. More people know about LoneWolf (aka LoneWolfMuskoka) through this experience and most have seen that I have something of value to offer (or if they didn’t see that, at least they didn’t complain about it 8=). With my name associated to TwiTip I have an increase in credibility. I have been able to ride a little of the wave that Darren Rowse has created and I’m thankful that he has allowed so many of us to share and grow with him.
The article itself (The Twitter Numbers Game) had a good run of comments — 36 so far (8 of which were replies by me). It generated some good conversation in its own right and was tweeted several times on Twitter.
It was also a boost to me personally. I enjoyed the challenge of writing a post for another target audience and there is a lot of satisfaction in knowing that I did a pretty good job. It has helped me shape my writing and given me a good confidence boost.
Conclusion
I will definitely be doing more guest posting in the future. There are many opportunities out there that will help me to become a better writer and raise my credibility as a blogger at the same time.
I will also look into getting others to guest post in my blogs. I would like to get some high profile guest bloggers, but I would also like to have beginners as well. Hopefully my blogs will grow to the point where a beginner could see benefits similar to what I’ve experienced with TwiTip.
Thanks for sharing this journey with me. I hope that you are learning as much as I am!
Shalom
LoneWolf
Update
Check out a wonderful summary of guest posting over at Tumblemoose Writing Services. I really enjoyed his post (which is more of a parable).
Tags: blogging, Guest Posts
Trust.
This is what God asks of us. “Trust me,” he says to us. When we look into our circumstances and we don’t see a way out he calls, “Trust me.” When our future is so bright that we need to wear shades he whispers, “Trust me.”
Trust.
Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego knew all about trusting God. They were captured as young boys and dragged far from their homeland, their families (what was left of them) and their life. They were forced to learn a new language and culture, forced to serve a foreign king. Yet they committed themselves to remain faithful to God — no matter the cost.
In Daniel 3 we see their story. You’ve probably heard it many times. “Bow down to the golden image,” they were told. “Bow down or die in the blazing, fiery furnace.” Yet they stood when all around them caved. They obeyed the one true God above the king. The king was enraged and warned them of their impending punishment. What did they say?
O Nebuchadnezzar, we do not need to defend ourselves before you in this matter. If we are thrown into the blazing furnace, the God we serve is able to save us from it, and he will rescue us from your hand, O king. But even if he does not, we want you to know, O king, that we will not serve your gods or worship the image of gold you have set up. [Daniel 3:16-18]
If you read further you find that the king flew off the handle at this point. He was so enraged that he ordered the furnace to be seven times hotter than normal — so hot that the men bringing our faithful heroes to their doom were killed by the heat. And yet, they were unharmed. They didn’t even smell of smoke.
This story inspires us to trust God. But there is one important phrase that I’ve been learning to understand recently — “But even if he does not…”
This is where the rubber meets the road when it comes to trust. God is able to deliver, but what if he chooses not to? How are we to trust him knowing that he may choose not to do that which we want from him?
God does not want us to trust him for something — rather he wants us to simply trust him. Period. End of statement.
“I trust God to get me through …” must become “I trust God.”
“I trust God because he gave me …” must turn to “I trust God.”
We know that God is able to do the things that we desire. He did deliver Shadrach, Meshach and Abednego. They did come out of the fire unharmed.
“But even if he does not …”
Trust.
Tags: Jesus Christ, trust
The Twitter Numbers Game is at TwiTip
You know that feeling when you try something new — and it works! Well, I’m feeling that right now.
A few weeks back I started writing a post about Twitter following and decided to use it as my first guest post at another blog. I submitted it to Darren Rowse at TwiTip. Yesterday the article was posted and I’ve been wallowing in the feedback.
Getting the comments from others and tweets on Twitter about the article has been very encouraging. It has helped me to expand my audience somewhat and increase my exposure (and my brand) on the web.
Thank you Darren and TwiTip for this wonderful opportunity! I will be writing more about Guest Posting in the future and I’ll definitely be guest posting more often.
The article is The Twitter Numbers Game is an exploration of some of the Twitter follow/unfollow mysteries and stats if you want to check it out.
Shalom
LoneWolf
Tags: follow, numbers, Statistics, Twitter, unfollow
As I mentioned in a previous article, I’ve been coming to grips with Twitter in recent weeks. While I haven’t got things completely figured out yet, I do have some points that I think I can lay on the table about what people can expect when they follow me. I got this idea from a post on Wil Wheaton’s blog.
Following on Twitter
Following on Twitter
What to Expect When You Follow Me
Follow Me
I don’t fully understand why people follow me, but I know that there are several reasons that are possible:
- They are my friends on the outside.
- They have seen my tweets and like something they saw.
- They have seen me following and/or followed by someone else they admire.
- They just follow every user they come across hoping to get followed back so they can sell me something.
The honest truth is I don’t really care why people follow me. I tweet what I tweet and I hope that it is entertaining, informative and/or thought provoking. If you like it then keep following me. If you don’t then I won’t be hurt if you drop me like 3rd period french.
I don’t send out “thanks for following” DM’s or anything like that. It isn’t personal. Over time we’ll likely be in touch as you reply to something I tweet or vice versa. I do appreciate the follow but I hope that is understood.
Follow You
As for who I follow, that is part of the mix that is evolving. Currently, I will check out the profile of anyone who follows me. If the recent tweets seem like someone who is engaging in the social aspect of Twitter I will follow back. If there is a high content of links to your own sites then I may check out your bio link first. I don’t mind seeing links back to the tweeter’s own site but if that’s all it is then it’s a pretty hard sell for me.
One thing that I’ve seen recently that I’ve decided is that I won’t even check the bio of people who have completely different names compared to their account. For example, “Susan Doe (@maryrae) is now following you on Twitter…” is not going to get a follow. Your Twitter name need not be your real name (mine isn’t) but using 2 different real names is not going to cut it.
I don’t need someone to follow me simply because I follow them either. If your tweets are interesting to me I’ll follow you. I don’t expect anything in return. I know how hard it is to keep up with under 200 so I can’t imagine dealing with 10,000 or more.
Other Follow Sources
I will also follow other people when I see a re-tweet or reply that is interesting. Often, I will see an interesting reply by someone I follow without seeing the original. Thankfully many replies include a link to the original message if the user clicked the Reply button and I can then find the original tweet. I’ve found some good follows that way.
Follow Friday is another good way to find followers. See the tweets from people you enjoy and follow the people they enjoy. You’ll find a lot of good stuff that way.
There are lots of other ways to find people to follow on Twitter, but these are the ones I use (so far).
Unfollowing
A lot of people get upset when someone unfollows them. It doesn’t bother me, so don’t feel bad if you don’t like my tweets — it won’t hurt my feelings or anything. Twitter is only useful if you are getting what you want or need from it and I’m not everyone’s cup of tea. I’m not in it for the numbers although big numbers are still nice to have.
So far I haven’t unfollowed very many people. There are some people whose tweets I skim rather than read but so far I haven’t resorted to filtering or groups. That may come if my group of follows gets much bigger — it is hard to digest sometimes.
The Future
I don’t know how these guidelines will evolve in the future. I’m still learning Twitter and I think Twitter is still evolving. It will be interesting to see how it handles things when it becomes more mainstream.
Shalom
Bill
Tags: expectations, following, follwer, Twitter
The Little Green Monster
The green beast doesn’t strike me very often. I am a fairly mellow guy and while I often see things that others have that I would like I rarely feel envious. There is currently one area where I’ve made an exception — bandwidth.
Bandwidth envy is not pretty, but I hide it well. I say nice things to those who have Gb/second connections for their e-mail and web browsing on 10 year old machines — but on the inside I’m screaming “Why not me?!?”
Living in rural Muskoka has many benefits — privacy, peace, room to grow and play. We are only 10 minutes away from the hustle and bustle of downtown Huntsville yet our nearest neighbour is over 200m away. Everything is great. Everything, that is, except our internet connection.
With the phone line connection that we have, a good connection speed is anything over 30 Kb/second. I have seen 40, but I can count the times that has happened on one hand in 9 years. Generally, my wife’s machine will rarely see better than 26.4. When that is coupled with the fact that we need to disconnect regularly to use the phone, fax or other computers, the access to the internet is abysmal.
Both my wife and I have our offices in the house. We share the same phone line for both computers, the telephone (business and personal lines) and the fax machine. We used to have a second line for the computers but that vanished in some cost cutting measures a few years back. We’ve talked about bringing it back but the extra expense would better server upgrading to broadband when we can.
I am a programmer, web designer and aspiring blogger. I am trying to use social media tools and learning more about internet marketing to grow my business, so I am really struggling with the lack of speed and connection time that this situation brings.
I have waited for 9 years for a provider to get access out this way. Within 2km in all 4 directions broadband access is available via wireless or cable. In fact, my 2nd closest neighbour can access a WiFi tower to the south of us that is blocked by the ridge behind my house.
It seems, based on the coverage maps, that I should be able to get WiFi connection if I build a tower up on the ridge to clear the trees. There was no signal above the house itself (20 feet from the peak) so we’re going to have to wait until spring so that we can set up a tower. If this doesn’t work then I’ll have to resort to satellite which I don’t like for many reasons.
So, I sit here in my office, the green monster looking over my shoulder and snickering as timeout after timeout flashes on my screen. ARGH! [Take a deep breath Bill 8=]
Shalom
Bill
[Update — there may be hope: see Bandwidth Envy — the Saga Continues]
Tags: broadband, dial up, envy, frustration, Internet Access
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