I try not to write posts about only Twitter, because many people who read my blog are not on Twitter.  But this is one of those I just needed to write. I’ve made a change to the way I follow people back so thought I’d explain:

Old Method

As you may know from my Indispensable Online Tools post, I use Topify to inform me when I have a new Twitter follower.  I rely more on those emails versus looking at the follower list in Twitter.  I also have a filter setup in Gmail so all the new follower notices go into a separate folder, which works really well so they don’t clutter my inbox.

For my personal account, I don’t want to auto-follow, as I don’t think I’m interested in everyone who is necessarily interested in following me (but on @WebinarListings, I do auto-follow).  I feel strongly about reviewing each new person… My thought process is, you never know who you might miss if you don’t look at each one!  The problem is that they pile up really quickly, and keeping up this pace is overwhelming.  At one point last week, I had 600 new followers to review, and was stressed out just thinking about it.

New Method

I resisted changing for a long time, as I really didn’t want to do anything differently just because I now have 7,500 followers, than when I had 75 followers.  But, unfortunately, I just can’t keep up!  So, here’s the new plan…. if we interact, I follow you.  Pretty simple.  After all, that’s what social media is about, right?  Interacting, and building relationships.  Am I upset that I might miss out on great people who follow me and I don’t end up following  them back?  Yes.  Might I follow some people who I have no interest in what they have to say?  Yes.  But, both of those are worth it to streamline this process that has gotten out of control for me!

So, if I’m not following you, and you want  me to, just send a tweet to me at @BostonMarketer.  Not sure?  Look for your face below :-) or check out DoesFollow.

What do you think of this new method?  Do you have any other suggestions to handle the overload? How do YOU manage your new followers?

Twitter Mosaic of some of the new people I’m following:

Lately I feel like I’ve been discovering some REALLY cool online tools that now that I am using them, I can’t imagine not having them! So, I thought I’d put them together into one post.

Followup.cc – This is one of the simplest, but most useful tools!  Basically, instead of having to remember to follow up with people you’ve sent emails to about something, followup.cc will take care of reminding you. All you do is put a date/time code into the bcc field of your email, and it will send you a reminder when you specified.  So, if I want to be reminded to followup with someone in 3 days, I bcc 3d@followup.cc, and in 3 days, it sends me a reminder!  Using this with Gmail is awesome, because with nested conversations, the reminder email comes with the whole prior thread.  I also have a label setup so they’re flagged green when they come in.  I feel such a weight off my shoulders about not having to remember to follow up with people!

Delicious – If you like browser bookmarks, you’ll love Delicious.  I used to use bookmarks, but then could never find anything, as I had way too many, and they weren’t organized in any way (yes, there are folders, but within each folder, it’s just a long list).  Delicious allows you to tag articles with as many keywords you want, so you can easily go back and find things later.  You can also send a link to a keyword to someone to show them all the articles you have on a particular topic.  Very helpful.

Shop Shop (iPhone app) – This is a simple iPhone application that allows you to make lists of things, and easily cross them off.  I used to use “Notes” on my iPhone for this, but Shop Shop lets you cross things off with one click.  I use this for everything… my standard shopping list, remembering what I need to get at CVS, packing up my dog for the weekend, etc.

Zosh (iPhone app) – Ever get a PDF that you need to sign and send back to someone?  You need to open the PDF, print it out, sign it, scan it, and then attach the file in the email.  It’s a bit of a pain.  Zosh lets you open a PDF on your iPhone, add a signature, image, date or other text, save it, and send it back right from the application.  No printing and scanning.  It’s awesome!

Topify (Twitter app) - This is one of my favorite Twitter applications, that no one seems to know about!  There are two Topify features I use… reply to a DM via email and reply to a new follower notice by email to follow the person back. Both are very useful, and allow you to do a lot via email.  Their follower notices are also more comprehensive than Twitter’s.  What I do is have the new follower notices go automatically into a folder, and then review them all at once (ugh, I have over 600 to review now!)

Tweepml (Twitter app) - Twitter’s list function can be a great way to find new people. The confusing part is that when you click “Follow List” on Twitter, you don’t actually follow those people, you are only following the list, so only see the tweets from the people on that list when you CLICK on that list.  If you actually want to follow the people on the list, you can use Tweepml.  You just put in the list name, and all the people come up.  You can then choose to follow everyone, or just certain people.  Click Follow, and you’re done!  Very easy.

Twitter Gadget (Twitter app) - Because it’s easy to get sucked into Twitter, I try to take a “get in, get out” approach.  I open Tweetdeck, do what I need to do (make posts, reply to people, RT things, etc) and then I shut it down.  If I leave it open, I find myself clicking back to see what’s going on, and get sucked right back in.  Twitter Gadget runs right in the sidebar of Gmail, and is a simple interface.  Because it’s simple and not very advanced, I can use it quickly to tweet something I think of, or check to see if I have any replies, but manage to stay mentally more out of twitter.

What are your indispensable online tools?  Please share them in the comments below!

Today, I heard Seth Godin speak in Boston, promoting his new book Linchpin: Are You Indispensable?. He’s an unbelievable public speaker, marketer, entrepreneur and author.  He’s the founder of the “permission marketing” concept.  Below are my tweets from the day (most of the quotes below are directly from Seth; my favorites are in bold).  You can see more from the hashtags: #sethbos, #sethgodin and #linchpin.

What revolutions do is that they create opportunities about things that are seemingly impossible

Is all you did during the revolution was to increase Twitter followers to 10,000?

If the system is changing and everyone has access to the machine (internet), you need to do something different.

The value in being creative is making a new map

Once you graduate from school, you can say “I successfully graduated from school”. You need to do more

We don’t need human wikipedias, we need people who solve problems.

Permission marketing = Personal relevant messages are better than spam.

Human beings like to do what other human beings are doing. We like to be in sync (clapping exercise)

In this new market, there are many pockets of “in sync”

People think buying a book is the same as reading a book. Ha ha

Doing something remarkable gets people to “remark” on it. Ppl need to TALK about you.

Krispy kreme was “remarkable” because they sold dozen for price of 4. Ppl brought them to work so everyone talked about it!

Messages spread to Tribes (Connect to one another in same way such as a mission)

You don’t have to have charisma to be a leader. You get charisma from being a leader (I disagree)

Little mismatch socks is not a sock company. They just mastered “being in the conversation”

9:51:26 AM: What learn in B-school? How get ppl to do what u want and how fund it. NOT how to figure out what YOU want.

9:52:56 AM: More ppl are killed by deer in the US than sharks. But sharks R a visceral fear for us. Another visceral fear is being laughed at.

10:00:27 AM: Forgot my real camera so this is the best I can do!  http://moby.to/o3ap18

10:00:48 AM: The risk of failing has never been lower in the history of mankind  (LOVE this)

10:03:57 AM: Do you get invited to meetings because you’re going to make things happen? Make yourself indispensible.

10:04:43 AM: Key thought for today so far. Be REMARKABLE. Do something ppl will talk about

10:07:52 AM: Challenge the lizard brain (status quo, visceral reaction)

10:08:37 AM: Think about who your tribe is… If you don’t show up tomorrow, who would miss you?

10:14:52 AM: Little mismatch socks is not a sock company. They just mastered “being in the conversation”

10:22:00 AM: Do you have to be a visionary and someone who makes things happen? NO: you can find ppl to execute your ideas

10:24:20 AM: Another pic  http://moby.to/v0h93z

10:28:12 AM: Access to information is no longer scarce. (we don’t need to go to library anymore)

10:28:59 AM: Parents who home school ON TOP of regular school will set their kids apart (aren’t kids busy enough already???)

10:31:54 AM: Seth defines freelance work diff from entrepreneurship. Hmmmm. How? Is see freelance as a type of entrepreneurship.

10:34:10 AM: This idea that “my boss won’t let me” is BS. you’re asking wrong question. Need to make a SMALL success first.

10:35:41 AM: What is company politics? Conflicts, fear and power between people

10:46:56 AM: If you’re doing something and the market isn’t noticing, it’s not the market’s fault. It’s yours.

10:47:36 AM: RT @LBKinson “Every once in a while you meet an American Airlines’ employee who *does* care.”

10:49:38 AM: Everyone is motivated by diff things. If you’re going to lead you need to figure out what that is for each person.

10:52:06 AM: Talking about a newsletter he started that showed what ppl in co are doing. Everyone wanted to be in the NL. (Sounds like blogging)

10:55:20 AM: How do you know if it’s lizard brain speaking?   when lizard says no, do it. Lizard always sounds same (same voice)

10:57:12 AM: Make the lizard your friend. If you don’t listen to it, it will go away.

10:59:49 AM: The day before vacation you get more done than in whole week before. Why? We dont procrastinate and put things off.

11:01:19 AM: If all you’re going to do is make change happen, you can compress your day. (don’t go to meetings, Seth says!)

11:02:26 AM: Think of the idea through the lense of “will ppl give me permission to talk to them” without it feeling like spam

11:04:19 AM: If the ppl who you’re trying to reach, have a place (or community) they go, your idea has more of a shot than if they don’t.

11:11:30 AM: “I think college marketing is the biggest scam ever. There’s no evidence that it really should cost what you pay for it”

11:15:42 AM: It inconceivable to me that google, Twitter and Facebook will be the 3 legs of the stool

11:16:39 AM: You can’t have a business book without an x axis :-)

11:20:31 AM: I don’t know the inside of your brain. I’ve never been in there. (ha ha, and a good lesson for relationships)

11:22:03 AM: Get in the habit of overcoming the trivial fears. That’s ignoring your lizard brain.

11:23:21 AM: Do you ever get tired of blogging? No.  All blogging is to me, is to write down what I’m noticing. (LOVE this)

11:24:51 AM: Ever see a plumber who has plumber’s block? Or a talker who has talker block? No! So? No writer’s block. It’s part of who you are.

11:25:37 AM: Freelancers get paid when they work. Entreprenuers get paid when they sleep. They have a system that works when they’re not there.

11:26:35 AM: Job of entrepreneur is to ask difficult questions, make diff decisions and hire ppl

11:35:22 AM: What should you say to ppl who push traditional ideas? Which people? My parents! (ha ha!)

What do you think? He’s pretty amazing, huh? For those who were there, is there anything I missed?

Now that Tweetdeck is integrating more social networks (LinkedIn, Facebook, Google Buzz, Foursquare, MySpace), I’m guessing there will be a name change soon. Ideas? Take this poll!

Click here for the results so far.

This week I was in  NYC for the 140 Characters Conference, which is a conference about the “State of Now.” It’s my 2nd year here (recap from last year), and a lot has changed for me in the past year. Below are the top 30 highlights for me from the conference. The schedule is here if you want more information on the speakers, and there are videos of each of the session on the site too.

If you’re looking for more tweets from the conference, take a look at my post LiveBlog from #140Conf.

1. The half life of a tweet is 4 minutes, and falling – wow! ~@johnborthwick
2. Children are learning and soaking in things all the time. “My fear is that school will break them of that habit” ~@chrislehmann
3. Sometimes, the teacher is the one adult in a kids life who make a difference. Never forget our teachers. ~@chrislehmann
4. People can tweet their prayers, I print them, and put them in the wall ~@thekotel (I LOVE this idea!!)
5. Even the mere act of writing the prayer can change someone’s life ~@thekotel
6. Why are you doing so much social media? Because it works. ~@jeffreyhayzlett
7. People don’t take pictures, they capture memories, moments. That’s what Twitter is like ~@jeffreyhayzlett
8. Every tweet you send out is sharing a part of yourself ~@jeffreyhayzlett
9. Even if there’s a new way of selling, the basics of communication and rules of engagement are the same@Donny_Deutsch
10. Don’t forget the brand. Always reflect your brand value in everything you do. Don’t let the technology get in the way. @Donny_Deutsch
11. Any selling that’s self-serving will fail @Donny_Deutsch
12. Worry more about being impressed rather than impressing. Women say that about men in dating a lot ~@AndreaSyrtash (she said that, I didn’t!)
13. I respond to everyone who writes me, because they took the time to write me ~@AndreaSyrtash (I wish everyone did that, but they don’t)
14. You can’t have intimacy without vulnerability. In dating and in Twitter. Ask questions, admit you’re wrong. ~@AndreaSyrtash
15. People want to be challenged, not changed. ~@AndreaSyrtash
16. The more you can engage people, the more they get engaged ~@AndreaSyrtash
17. There’s a core “goodness” in Twitter… they want to do good ~@AnnCurry
18. We thought Twitter was really dumb when we first saw it ~@SomeEcards (but now it’s a major part of their business)
19. Risks of engaging and being able to communicate in a more human way, are not as problematic as not engaging. ~@jnjcomm #pharma
20. Sometimes you’re at a game and want to tell people. Other times, you’re at dinner & there’s no need to push that to Twitter ~@jwYES!! (talking about Gowalla)
21. It’s not a game, it’s a utility to help people learn about places. The game is just the tool to do that. ~@dens
22. A “ghost” tweeter? that sounds like the basis for a new album right there. ~@mchammer
23. You’re only a stranger once ~@lizstrauss
24. Monitoring aggregates the data. Listening is a 1:1 thing. ~@lizstrauss
25. Bring your community in, open your heart, and listen. Align your goals together. ~@lizstrauss
26. If they help you build it, not only will they come, but they’ll bring they’re friends back to help you build it too ~@lizstrauss
27. Journalism is NOT dying, it’s changing ~@msholman (I couldn’t agree more… so sick of hearing that phrase)
28. 5 tips to grow your business on twitter ~@SmallBizLady
    • Know your target customer — make sure your stream communicates consistently with that customer
      • On Twitter you have to give to get. You should use a 4:1 ratio of promoting others to promoting yourself.
    • Participate in twitter chat (#smallbizchat) – end small business failure by learning how to avoid the failure
    • Use @replies… don’t just RT, tell them why you liked content
    • Auto-DM’s are OK. Don’t tell me to go to site or FB, but tell them why I should care (I don’t agree with this!)
    • If you use Twitter the right way, it can grown your business
      • Twitter has leveled the playing field.  You can have power on Twitter if you use it the right way. You have to communicate consistently
29. 5 reasons why small businesses fail: ~@SmallBizLady
    • People don’t realize what running a biz is going to be like
    • People don’t save enough money before you start your bis. Need no paycheck for 1-2 yrs
    • They don’t focus on target market
    • No network; Network = net worth — twitter is great for that
    • Financials/budget – know your financials
30. Comments exploded. No one was talking to the host, they were talking to each other. ~Media Roundtable Panel

If you’re interested in following the people above, you can follow my list here, or follow everyone on the list here.

What did I miss?  What were your highlights from the conference?

This week I was in  NYC for the 140 Characters Conference, which is a conference about the “State of Now.” It’s my 2nd year here (recap from last year), and a lot has changed for me in the past year. Below is a stream of all my tweets from the conference. The schedule is here if you want more information on the speakers, and there are videos of each of the session on the site too.

If you’re looking for a shorter summary of my highlights from the conference, see my post Top 30 Highlights From the #140Conf

DAY #1 Morning

9:00:13 AM: Politicians who use social media to get elected and not on an ongoing basis will not get elected using SM again ~@jeffpulver

Up next @jayrosen_nyu ” I teach journalism at NYU, direct the Studio 20 prog there, critique the press and try to grok new media.”

9:10:45 AM: I’m known in NY as a “cultural jew”. Wondering where this is going @jayrosen_nyu. Oh, speaking at 92Y is like my barmitzvah

9:12:34 AM: The scale on which we live changes, that’s what brings journalists into the news picture

9:13:34 AM: Know @jeffreyhayzlett? Go to his book signing! Info attached http://yfrog.com/efxwdwj

Up next @johnborthwick from betaworks. Evolution of the realtime web

9:24:26 AM: Real businesses ae doing business on facebook. 70% of groupon’s business is driven from FB

9:43:55 AM: The half life of a tweet is 4 minutes, and falling – wow!

9:44:15 AM: 740K bit.ly links clicked on in the last 8 minutes

9:44:32 AM: barak obama is the most mentioned individ in the tweet streams and the underlying pages

10:00:31 AM: the most used hashtag ever was about michael jackson

10:00:44 AM: Really really really need coffee. Not cool that we had to dump coffee at the door :-(

Up next… Dan Harple (@dharple) – Executive Chairman, GyPSii, Evolution of Location and Places

10:02:02 AM: Interesting choice to print the “yearbook” given such a digital crowd

10:12:02 AM: Click a button — what’s happening around me?Tweets, news, etc.- Gypsii app. It’s about who you are, who you know & where you are.

10:12:25 AM: Location is just another data point in the real time ecosystem

Up next… Real-Time News Gathering – @acarvin (NPR), Eric Kuhn @CNN, @NYT_JenPreston (NYT), Ryan Osborn (@todayshow)

10:13:10 AM: When did you realize that social media made something different in your business

10:13:26 AM: For news orgs, Twitter lists prove to be valuable; share info on the ground as they were learning it ~@NYT_JenPreston

10:13:44 AM: Not a great idea to auto-location tag tweets as a reporter :-)

Up next… Chris Lehmann (@chrislehmann) – Principal of the Science Leadership Academy
Social Media + Education

When did you realize that social media made something different in your business

Technology needs to just be ubiquitous.

Children are learning and soaking in things all the time. “My fear is that school will break them of that habit” ~@chrislehmann

Best speaker so far is @chrislehmann. Inspiring

Sometimes, the teacher is the one adult in a kids life who make a difference. Never forget our teachers.

Kids got to remember, but they need to remember that they learned to think in my class

Empower the kids, it’s about them empower the kids, it’s about them

Up next… The Story Behind @TheKotel, Alon Nir

People can tweet there prayers, I print them, and put them in the wall ~@thekotel (I LOVE this idea!!)

Do you read the prayers? Are DM’s accepted too? @thekotel

Even the mere act of writing the prayer can change someone’s life

OMG, he actually has an automated prayer spooler (rigged up sewing machine)

Iphone app too.. missed the name – probably called The Kotel?

This is UNBELIEVABLE. What an incredible use of technology. Taking online to offline spiritual world.

I may need to live on the salary of a kitchen assistant, but it enriches my life. alon@tweetyourprayers.com

Up next… Jeffrey Hayzlett (@JeffreyHayzlett) – CMO, Kodak

Why are you doing so much social media? Because it works. ~jeffreyhayzlett

We want to change the way people relate, and I can’t think of a better way to do that other than twitter

I tweet to connect with people. It’s changing the way we have relationships.

People don’t take pictures, they capture memories, moments. That’s what Twitter is like

Every tweet you send out is sharing a part of yourself

Up next… Donny Deutsch (@Donny_Deutsch) – Television Host & Chairman, Deutsch Inc. – Yea!

even if there’s a new way of selling, the basics of communication and rules of engagement are the same

Don’t forget the brand. Always reflect your brand value in everything you do. Don’t let the technology get in the way.

Any selling that’s self-serving will fail

Any great piece of marketing speaks to humanity

Up next… Ivanka Trump (@IvankaTrump) – EVP of Development and Acquisitions, The Trump Oganization

“I’m a blatant promoter.” ~@jeffreyhayzlett (love hearing that vs. “i don’t mean to be promotional, BUT… “

Up next… (@AndreaSyrtash) – Author of ‘He’s Just Not Your TypePrincipals of Effective Relationships – in love and in social media

While you’re at lunch, take a min to enter the @WebinarListingssweeps for $125 iTunes gift card http://bit.ly/WLsweepsT

Up next… (@AndreaSyrtash) -Author of ‘He’s Just Not Your TypePrincipals of Effective Relationships – in love and in social media

Worry more about being impressed rather than impressing. Women say that about men in dating a lot (she said that, I didn’t!)

I respond to everyone who writes me, because they took the time to write me (I wish everyone did that, but they don’t)

You can’t have intimacy without vulnerability. In dating and in Twitter. Ask questions, admit you’re wrong.

People want to be challenged, not changed.

“People want the 2nd screen experience” – online while they’re watching tv. It’s been around for years (“living room experience”)

People in backchannels aren’t necessarily talkign to the speakers, they’re talking amongst the audience

The more you can engage people, the more they get engaged

Up next… Ann Curry (@AnnCurry) – News Anchor on NBC’s Today Show and host of Dateline NBC

Haitian resident crying on stage “Lives have been saved because of Twitter”. Wow.

OK, up to date on all my off-line tweets when i couldn’t get online!

There’s a core “goodness” in Twitter… they want to do good ~@anncurry

DAY #1 Afternoon

Up next…The real time web and brands @someecards @jbell99 @CatchUpLady @AmericanExpress @JNJComm @rje7- great brands!

3:11:59 PM: Amex card “members” are already part of a community, so Twitter is a natural fit

3:23:09 PM: “We thought Twitter was really dumb when we first saw it” ~@someecards

3:23:21 PM: Risks of engaging and being able to communicate in a more human way,are not as problematic as not engaging. ~@jnjcomm #pharma

3:24:08 PM: It’s exciting to see that people are using our products every day,and sharing their experiences ~@rje7

Up next… Jessica Gottlieb (@JessicaGottlieb) – Wife, Mom, Blogger

3:52:27 PM: This is a magical place, and you never know how it will pay off @jessicagottlieb

Up next… Where Am I? How location changes everything @redshane @jw @dens (wow, didn’t know how young he was!) @cc_chapman

3:55:17 PM: Sometimes you’re at a game and want to tell ppl.Other times, you’re at dinner, & there’s no need to push that to Twitter ~@jw YES!!

3:58:36 PM: It’s not a game, it’s a utility to help ppl learn about places. The game is just the tool to do that. ~@dens

4:08:50 PM: Is sharing our location data not going to be an issue in a couple of years!

4:38:07 PM: A “ghost” tweeter? that sounds like the basis for a new album right there. ~@mchammer

4:38:31 PM: You can’t take care of telling Twitter that you’re going to buy new shoes? ~@MChammer

Day #2 Morning

10:53:00 AM: “You’re only a stranger once” ~@lizstrauss

10:53:37 AM: Monitoring aggregates the data. Listening is a 1:1 thing.

10:54:06 AM: Bring your community in, open your heart, and listen. Align your goals together.

10:54:51 AM: If they help you build it, not only will they come, but they’ll bring they’re friends back to help you build it too

10:55:27 AM: Wow, I haven’t had anyone sign a yearbook in years! (many more than I’d like to admit)

10:56:40 AM: cool…. @hashtagart - creates art using the tweets from or other hashtags

Up next… Mo Krochmal (@Krochmal) – Professor, Hofstra The State of Now in Journalism Higher Ed Students Look to The Future

10:59:04 AM: “Panel is ‘estrogen based’ ~@krochmal Nice!! :-)

11:01:12 AM: Ning, you’re really naughty. Don’t let the free thing go ~@krochmal

11:02:38 AM: From student — Future of social media — Embrace change, Twitter isn’t going nowhere, Journalism isn’t dead

11:03:11 AM: No need to be worried @kmcneil27, you were great

11:05:43 AM: “Journalism is NOT dying, it’s changing” ~@msholman (I couldn’t agree more… so sick of hearing that phrase)

11:08:09 AM: Cool twitter name…. @SMEnginaction

Up next…. Melinda Emerson (@SmallBizLady) – Host of #SmallBizChat. author, speaker, smallbiz coachtwitter and Small Business

12:08:05 PM: 5 tips to grow your business on twitter: 1) Know your target customer — make sure your stream communicates consistently with that cust #140

12:08:28 PM: On Twitter you have to give to get. You should use a 4:1 ratio of promoting others to promoting yourself.

12:09:05 PM: 2) participate in twitter chat (#smallbizchat) – end small bus failure by learnign how to avoid the failure

12:09:32 PM: 3) Use @replies… don’t just RT, tell them why you liked content

12:09:59 PM: 4) Auto-DM’s are OK. Don’t tell me to go to site or FB, but tell them why I should care

12:10:12 PM: If you use Twitter the right way, it can grown your business

12:10:39 PM: Twitter has leveled the playing field. You can have more power than @garyvee and @chrisbrogan if you harness it the right way

12:11:06 PM: You can have power on Twitter if you use it the right way. You have to communicate consistently

12:11:25 PM: Today is 1 year anniversary of #smallbizchat – tonight at 8pm

12:12:03 PM: 5 reasons why small businesses fail: 1) ppl don’t realize what running a biz is going to be like

12:12:29 PM: 2) Ppl don’t save enough money before you start your bis. Need no paycheck for 1-2 yrs

12:13:03 PM: 4) No network; Network = net worth — twitter is great for that

12:13:18 PM: 5) Financials/budget – know your financials

12:13:34 PM: 3) They don’t focus on target market

12:14:48 PM: Get your music people. Get your own personal theme song to keep yourself motivated

12:15:09 PM: Wow, @smallbizlady kicked butt. Awesome!

Up Next… Media Roundtable @benjamenwalker @ffishkin @mattbish @nickbilton

12:20:45 PM: Radio and Twitter have a lot in common

12:22:13 PM: Comments exploded. No one was talking to the host,they were talking to each other.

12:23:45 PM: “I don’t want to live in a world with no negative comments”

12:28:04 PM: Porn was at the forefront of social media way before Twitter. Communicating with the community

12:32:08 PM: Does that sell papers or give it away? We don’t see content, it’s the experience (talking about newspapers). Hmm…

12:43:43 PM: Like crack, the only way to get someone into comics, is to give them a sample

12:53:53 PM: Hysterical! RT @Story_Jon: If they are “Futurists” shouldn’t they have known to take an earlier flight?

Up next… Augmented Twitter: A convo w Three Futurists – 2 panelists missing b/c of volcano (s/h skyped!!!) @TishShute

12:55:43 PM: Frog concepts, an AR app

12:56:39 PM: We’re in a place where the LBS apps and social media appls are all running in parallel. Will tie in better eventually

12:58:03 PM: AR is real time and interactive

1:00:51 PM: YES!! He was most inspired by the @kotel - the act of taking a tweet and having to do an action

Most people who know me, follow my blog or talk to me on Twitter know that I’m not a big fan of cross-posting, where people post updates in one social network and have it automatically post to other social networks. If you missed my post, check it out “To Cross-Post or Not to Cross-Post.”  So you won’t be surprised to know my opinion is the same when it comes to Foursquare,  a location-based service where people “check-in” at places they go to.

With Foursquare, you can set your preferences in a few ways: so it automatically tweets or posts an update to Facebook (called “updates” throughout this post), so it updates when you become a Mayor/earn a badge (doesn’t update very frequently) or so all your activity stays solely on Foursquare.  For people who are out and about a lot, they may check-in up to 10-20 times a day. So that means if they have their settings set such that each Foursquare check-in updates, 10-20 tweets and Facebook updates per day appear!

My hypothesis was that the majority of people on Twitter and Facebook do NOT like seeing Foursquare updates on Twitter/Facebook.  I don’t.  If I wanted to know where someone is, I would probably connect with them on Foursquare, so I can see where they are in that application, and I don’t need to clutter twitter with constant messages such as “I’m at Starbucks” or “I’m at Trader Joe’s.”  I occasionally like seeing if people are at a special location (i.e. Fenway) or become a mayor or earn a badge, but not for every check-in. To prove or disprove my hypothesis, I ran a poll — results are below:

As you can see, the poll doesn’t exactly support my hypothesis.  But, when looking at the comments, I could easily reclassify 5 (or even more) of the Other votes based on the comments to be “Dislikes”, which brings Dislikes up to 58%.  It makes the point I was trying to make, but not by as much of a landslide as I was expecting.

So, the question is… as someone who posts ALL (or close to all) of you check-ins to Facebook/Twitter,  why do you do it?  What do you get out of it?  Do you not get the same benefit from just checking in on Foursquare and letting your connections know your status there? Knowing that 25% of people dislike it, will that change actions?  And, for people who like seem the stream of check-ins, why do you like it?  Do you not find it to clutter your Twitter and Facebook stream?

I’m pleased to announce, that in addition to my Marketing and Social Media consulting business, I have now launched a new venture called WebinarListings.  Through hosting a few of my own Webinars (online seminars), I noticed that there was no central website for hosts to promote their webinars, or for people to find out about them.  So, I created one!  Today is the beta launch of my site, and it will eventually be FULL of a variety of Webinars for all interest areas (business, health, technology, etc), in any part of the world. Right now it happens to be focused on marketing, social media, technology because that is where my connections are, but that will soon change. Webinars are a great way to learn new things right from your computer AND are free most of the time.

So, if you’re interested, I invite you to check out the site, and connect with me in any way you choose (many options below!), especially by signing up for the weekly newsletter.  During the beta period, the more traffic and registrations/followers I build, the more interest hosts will have to list their webinars with me… so I’m counting on you! If you hear of any Webinars being put on, please pass them my way so I can contact the host. And feel free to tweet, blog, facebook update, talk, or spread the word in any way.

I’m also running an introduction promotion for this week only (through the 14th) — use promo code “intro50″ for your Featured Webinar listing and get 50% off your Webinar.

I’m really excited about this, as it is really putting to use the skills I have in social media, marketing and Webinars. I’m looking forward to seeing where this takes me!

WebinarListings contact info:

Let me know what you think!  I’ll take all the feedback I can get.

I asked one simple question of my followers on Twitter, and got 20 responses.  Here are their answers.

JoeManna: The people I have conversations with.

acraKA: Relationship building

alliemiami: Making great business connections is simple I start a conversation with someone of interest & it takes off

joewaters: The strength of weak ties.

econwriter5: Useful exchange of info

dmeiselman: An easy way to connect with new people that share an interest. Twitter lets me start relationships I would not have otherwise.

cargillcreative: Learning from others and making new connections…those are two ways I’ve benefited from using Twitter.

JoeCascio: I get connected to smart, friendly, creative people. I make friends. I don’t have to listen to asshats. Does one need more?

Dawn_Migliore: Getting news before it breaks and great links on topics you’re interested in

LevelTen_Colin:  Networking, hands down.

michaelflint: Reach and search.

jensjewellery: Publicity for my Etsy store.

abarcelos: Definitely for two-way valuable interaction, both personally and professionally.

fairminder: Meeting new friends, maintaining friendships and finding clients and colleagues to complete client projects, all on Twitter

rsomers: A radio-like stream of ideas in the background as I work

melwebster: Links to interesting stuff and a good laugh at all of the blatant self-promotion

Notice, not one person said to “find out what people are eating for lunch” (a big misperception of Twitter!).

What are your thoughts on this?  Anything to add to the list?

I have been working really hard over the past few months to keep my email Inbox clean and as close to zero as possible. A few people have asked how I do it, so I thought I’d write about it.  Here’s proof that it works:

I use Gmail, but most of what I’ve written can apply to any advanced email client. Here are my tips:

• Unsubscribe - I can’t say enough about the value of unsubscribing.  I have signed up for so many newsletters over the years, but my interests have changed.  I also do a lot of shopping online, and many sites automatically add you to their email list (or I miss the opt-out button).  Now, as soon as I get something that I find myself automatically going for the delete button, I unsubscribe immediately.  No need to waste my time each time deleting these emails.  Plus, there’s something therapeutic about using the unsubscribe button!
• Filters - Filters allow you to perform a certain action automatically to incoming emails.  I use filters in a few ways:
  • Move emails I don’t need very often automatically to my Archived box -  For example, I receive a lot of emails that are about social events in the Boston area.  Usually I’m too busy to add anything else to my schedule, so I don’t need to clutter my Inbox with them.  Instead, I have them automatically go to Archive, and if I am looking for something to do at night, I know where to look.
  • Filter out emails I want to deal with all at once – For example, all the notices I receive from Twitter telling me I have a new follower… I prefer to go through my new followers all at once and review them.  Getting them out of my Inbox reduces the clutter.
  • Filters are great for Google Buzz, which makes any reply to you, show up in your Inbox. If you dislike this, create a filter to move these to trash automatically.
• Labels (this is a Gmail feature which is very similar to email Folders) – I use labels to categorize emails coming into my Inbox. About 1/2 of the emails I receive are set up to be labeled automatically. For example, each client I’m working with has a its own label, so any email arriving from that client gets automatically labeled.  That way, I can glance quickly at what is high priority and who it is for.  I also use labels to identify news subscriptions I receive, so they’re still in my Inbox, but easily identifiable as lower priority.
• Dedicate time to go thru emails – On a daily basis I try to keep my Inbox volume low.  But, inevitably it piles up a bit throughout the week.  I find that designating time to go through my emails each week and get it back down to zero really helps.  I typically do this on the weekends, but you can do it whenever works for you. The key is to ensure you do this, or 10 will become 20, and 20 will become 30, and so on.
• Add to task list – I used to leave follow-up items in my Inbox, and star them as important.  But, that then just cluttered my Inbox and made it tough to see what else I was receiving.  Now, I take to-do items and put them on my task list, and move the email to the Archive folder.  That allows me to prioritize my to-do’s and keep my Inbox clean.
• Conversations – One of my favorite features in Gmail is the grouped conversations, which groups all emails in the same email stream together.  So, if you send an email, and 10 people reply, it just shows up in your Inbox as ONE email, rather than 10.  All 10 responses are grouped together.  This helps a lot in keeping the visual volume down.
• Mark as read – For any of the news subscription emails I receive, I automatically mark those as read, so they mentally clutter my Inbox less.  They’re still in my Inbox, but don’t feel like they have the same urgency as Unread emails.

(Photo credit: Email)

What do you think?  Do you have any more tips to keep your Inbox in control?