Thoughts From The Cake Scraps

It has been some time since I last posted on Twitter.  I have only used it for a few months but I feel like I can safely split Twitter into 4 types of Twitter users.  The User, The Contributor, The Talker, The Streamer.

The Streamer is the Twitter user that feels like they need to post every update in their life.  They use it like a combination of an Away Message and an IM to the world.  The problem is that, on the whole, most people don’t care.  And if they do, they probably already are in contact with you in some other way.  The other defining characteristic of The Streamer is the frequency of updates.  If The Streamer would only post once or twice a day then the Tweets could be interesting, even if they are just about general life.  The problem arises when this is done with an annoyingly large frequency.  Of course the threshold of annoyance will be different for different people so you will have to self-define that limit.

The Talker is the Twitter user that shares every link they come across if they can justify sharing it with a single follower and often times even when they can’t.  They retweet as often as possible.  Again, as is the case with The Streamer, each user will have their own threshold for how many retweets are too much.  The Talker will also have conversations on Twitter that really should be done in a Direct Message or some other communication channel.

The Contributor is that perfect blend of everything.  The Contributor shares only a few links, but great links.  The Contributor will share helpful tips.  The Contributor will share an interesting event in their life.  But really, they only share the cream of the crop and will direct their tweets with DMs and @replies rather than full on blasts to all their followers.

The User is person that is following a ridiculously large amount of people.  They are the user that only follows you hoping that you are a brainless sheep and will follow back even though you have no interest in what the person has to say.

Of course these are generalizations and things like TweetDeck help manage these sorts of things, but it would be nice just to have people use common sense.  It makes it better for everyone involved.

People can’t read what you tweet if you are tweeting 20 times a day because they don’t have the time for that.  Then multiply those 20 tweets by 50 followers and you start to see just how silly and, ultimately, less useful these people make Twitter.

Which Twitter user are you?

This has been a Thought From The Cake Scraps.  If these posts interest you, follow @TheCakeScraps!

Diamonds are not the only thing that is forever anymore. It is no secret that Google will dig deep and find things on a person that the person has long since forgot about. Individuals that are active on the internet are pumping out a HUGE amount of information that is then on electronic record.

It could be a post in a blog, a comment on a blog, a Tweet, a Facebook wall post, a resume on your college club site, etc. The list of places that your name might show up grows almost every day.

I was most recently reminded of this by an interesting site, Cursebird, that tracks curse words used in Tweets. It even gives a real-time stream. Not only that, but you can search by user and it gives you all the tweets that the person used a curse in and ‘rates’ them based on which and how many curses they use.  If you check it out, @TheCakeScraps has no results.

While you may know all of this, and it may all seem pretty common sense, it doesn’t hurt to be reminded every once in a while. I will leave you with the short – but great – post from Seth’s Blog:

A friend advertised on Craigslist for a housekeeper.

Three interesting resumes came to the top. She googled each person’s name.

The first search turned up a MySpace page. There was a picture of the applicant, drinking beer from a funnel. Under hobbies, the first entry was, “binge drinking.”

The second search turned up a personal blog (a good one, actually). The most recent entry said something like, “I am applying for some menial jobs that are below me, and I’m annoyed by it. I’ll certainly quit the minute I sell a few paintings.”

And the third? There were only six matches, and the sixth was from the local police department, indicating that the applicant had been arrested for shoplifting two years earlier.

Three for three.

Google never forgets.

Of course, you don’t have to be a drunk, a thief or a bitter failure for this to backfire. Everything you do now ends up in your permanent record. The best plan is to overload Google with a long tail of good stuff and to always act as if you’re on Candid Camera, because you are.

What are your thoughts on the legacy you leave on the internet?

This has been a Thought From The Cake Scraps.

What do you see when you look at this picture?  Do you see a game of Jenga nearly complete?  Do you see a tower of block about to fall?  Do you see the next block that you would take out and add on top?  It all depends on your perception.

Many people will just see the picture as a game of Jenga.  Passive.  Just a picture.  That may be true, but what it represents is opportunity.  Yes, there is risk in taking the next block out.  But – as they say in a casino – you cannot win if you don’t play.

The economy is in an interesting state right now.  Things are a little wobbly.  But the interesting part is that we can change it.  All this is is economics.  As business pull back and cut ad spend that means that if you were to buy what they are leaving behind it will not only cost you less, but you will gain market share.

This won’t work with all businesses and all products.  Some things just won’t sell with things as they are.  Then go somewhere else.  Wal-Mart is growing.  McDonalds is growing.  Thrift stores are growing.  It is easy to just dismiss these things as obvious.  Resist the temptation.  What they are really doing is providing a service that people are seeking out right now.  Yes, in this case it is value, but it doesn’t have to be.

Really think about how your business can fit a need for the modern customer.  If Lands’ End had never expanded into apparel, would they still be around?  BMG is canning its mail-order membership.  I just got my “Final Mailing” because they are getting out and moving into a discount model rather than a mail-order model.  (On a side note, did you know that if you forgot to decline the ‘Featured Selection’ you could just write “Return To Sender” on the box and they have to ship it back and don’t charge you!)

The point is that people still have needs.  Visualize how you can help morph your current business to fit a need.  It may be as simple as shifting your marketing to promote value.  Or if you are doing that maybe you have to highlight the value and some other feature that the product has.

Winners and losers are being determined as you read this.  Which side is your company on?

This has been a Thought From The Cake Scraps.