Twitter Tip Tuesday NO Junkies Please!

Where do you go when you need to fill your information bucket? When you have questions about places, how tos, and or the newest social media happenings? I'm sure you go straight to facebook right?

Here's a quick fill in exercise. Seek and so you shall ______? 

I remember being pretty naive about twitter, but with facebook seemingly changing weekly these days, I see twitter becoming even more popular. I've heard several grumblings about facebook's new changes. If you haven't heard about the changes yet, I'm sure you can ask someone who is constantly inviting you to play farmville. They'll get you caught up to speed or you can just get on twitter and search for the information yourself. I'd advise the latter (there's a pic below), you're more likely to get better articles than consulting a know-it-all, #imjustsayin ;)

Some pretty interesting feedback about all the new changes and I have already seen a small migration away from facebook. Some realize twitter has never been better positioned to reach more of the masses (credit facebook). That's obviously in my humble opinion. It will be interesting after all is forgotten in a week or two about all the facebook changes to see if this has some long term side effects either way. I do understand one thing, CHANGE is constant, especially when referring to facebook these days.

Here's a snapshot below of what some people are saying about the new facebook changes a long with some links to related articles.

When people ask about twitter, I like to think of it more as a Google meets facebook. You still have plenty of social interaction and can immediately connect with people from all of the world,  in  your city, and everywhere in between. When you need answers, where do you turn? For some, Google would be tops on that list. For me, large scale conversation and articles I go straight to twitter. If you suffer from S.A.D.D. (Socialmedia Attention Deficit Disorder) like me, I have just the site for you to search your brains out. Tweetgrid is one of my favorite sites to search twitter. I LOVE this site to be able to search up to 9 streams at 1 time. That's a POWER tool right there!! Time Leveraged twitter search baby!! It's quite the twitter fix and will lead to overuse!

For the newbie, I think a site like this can only accelerate one's learning curve. You can also perform most of the basic tweet functions right on tweetgrid's dashboard and even more. This tool is beyond cool! Power tweeting and search all right on 1 screen. Warning!! It May be tougher for the visually impaired. You'll see what I mean.

Be mindful of how much time you spend on tweetgrid. You can TRUTHfully spend hours searching the world only to realize a few hours went by as quick as it took you to read this article. You've been warned. Let me know if you find what you're looking for.

Danny Fortes is a social media enthusiast, network marketer, blogger, and currently a Poke the Box reader. You can connect with him on twitter @xdannyfortes or leave a comment below. He needs a fix ;)

When Good Intentions Go BAD! #Creep

People need to understand that when we give our information to all of these companies and platforms, that information is in public hands. I can't speak for other people. When I USE this information I'm looking to develop strategic relationships and to show how this information can be used to connect with like-minded people in social media. If I can help someone in New York find customers right outside their front door, is that information not valuable for people especially business owners? 


If you know me, you know I spend a little bit of time on social media. And for a while now I have been blown away by some of the tools that are out there on social media. On earlier posts, it's no secret, I believe twitter is the most POWERful tool. Twitter is also the platform that I LOVE the most. You can meet and greet tons of people and "search" for people related to your interest, professions, and passions.

I have learned about sooo many interesting and useful tools on social media that it's nuts! I couldn't believe the things one could do and people to identify in social media. I have been currently brainstorming and using certain tools to use in an e-book that I'm currently working on (I may have to somewhat rethink parts of it). 

Before twitter revamped their policies, you could find who, where, and what people were tweeting about on your street! If you're neighbor's kids were tweeting from their smartphone you could know what they were going to be doing that night and with who they were hangin with.


I have had a relationship with a few people on twitter that I wanted to test my theories of social media precision marketing. I wanted to use all the public platforms to perform searches based on info that they posted. From there I was able to find more information than I bargained for. Knowing this individual was in the service industry, I wanted to show her a few platforms she could use to directly engage with customers profile of her 'best customer.' I had asked this individual to DM on twitter on a previous post or if I could look her up on Facebook. I was denied. I think, certain things should be kept off social media. Besides, twitter is too short for what I need to get out sometimes :)


Knowing I could have used another platform, I just thought someone would find it flattering if I sent a card and asked to DM on twitter. BOY! WAS I WRONG! Here's the card I sent. This is the other side Here's what I will share, most people know twitter is searchable. Here is someone who I previously asked where they worked in NY and there could be a chance that I could stop by. She willingly gave me this info, but did not want to DM me. Is it me or am I just missing something? Here's why I had sent the card. Knowing New York has tons of foot traffic and she is in the personal services industry (read her profile). I wanted to show her that I had learned tons of stuff that she could use and apply in her business. I figured I could help her "BLOW HER BUSINESS UP," with social media. Unfortunately, one persons message can be heard 10 different ways by 10 different people. I guess after her stream of tweets, flowers are definitely out of the question. Had I been able to stop by the bar where she is employed, because I do know people on that side of city. Would I be a creep? Knowing she posts this information regularly. SMH!


We always hear about privacy issues on line. We probably don't explore or attend to the issues at hand enough. I will say this; from my point of view, what you post is public info. Social platforms have in their hands a lot of our information. Don't believe me? If you tweet, post on facebook, yelp, tumble, stumble, checkin, like, flickr, watch tube, or just sign up. You can be found. Pretty quickly too I might add. It's really not hard. Worse, if you tell the world you're going out of town or going to work in these tough economic times. Don't be surprised if something you possess is taken from you or worse your house gets broken into. Social media tools have just made it a lot easier. It's a good thing most of the people using it are using it with good intentions. Think about this. How many times have you gotten something that was a marketing message that didn't have a return address? Is that so uncommon? Guarantee if you look up my address you'll find it with ease. 


Personally, I like to see the good in people although I know there are some not so good people in this world.  If anything, I hope that you can learn something from my situation and obvious misunderstanding. People will say good things about me, others will say bad things about me. It's not the attention I wanted. But people are talking! The Truth is, that's the world of social media we live in.


Danny Fortes 

Danny Fortes is searchable just like everyone else in the social media universe. This is one situation and result he had not anticipated.  :)

Priceless Passion! Where's Yours?

When I hear so much about passion and purpose I sometimes struggle with finding my clear cut direction it makes me wonder if there's something wrong with me. The struggle can be so tough... dreams may get crushed before they ever get started. That's how I was feeling before I WATCHED a guy on video that I had heard so much about, but never took the time and initiative to learn about. This guy is passion personified and runs on controllable high octane emotion. But before I tell you who he is I would like to share a story with you.

When I was immersing myself in this whole personal growth thing. I had heard about this guy and his book. The 1st gentleman who told me about said to me,"It's an incredible book. The Guy is amazing."I had never heard about the author at the time. I do remember asking a few other people about it afterwards and I do remember getting a so so response from someone else. Here's what kills me. If the 2nd guy knew what the hell he was talking about I could be so much further along in this Internet marketing thing it's ridiculous! I wish I could even remember who that person was because obviously that guy is and idiot. Does that would make me one too? It's my own fault for not knowing then what I know now. For the life of me I can't figure out how just the story behind how a D/F student as a youth goes on to help his dad's liquor store blossom into millions by hosting a wine show over the Internet. Then he begins to sell wine over the Internet and begins to build what is called by some a media empire. By now you have to know who I'm talking about and if you don't just watch this video so you can get a glimpse of him.

If you thought Gary Vaynerchuk was high energy in that clip, I can't wait to show you my 2 favorite videos later this week. This was the elementary school version. Wait till you get the frat boyGary Vee the speaker.  Unbelievably motivating; I take no shit & NO excuses Gary Vee! His stuff has got me soo jacked, he had me rethinking how to deliver my messages (not that mine are of importance... yet). But seriously I LOVE this guy because obviously we have the uptight corporate mugs on video everyday with zero personality. But guess what? We, or at least I, don't remember them when they're done speaking. With Gary Vee, he speaks with so much POWER & TRUTH you feel shockwaves coming through your computer screen. The book I was alluding to earlier was Crush It! And Boy does he do it daily! The value of pursuing your passion is just so huge in his message you will never forget this guys name! EVER! Seriously, you might leave this blog just to go scurry for the videos I'm talkin about. If you find them good for you because it's not so hard. If not I guess you have to stay tuned in this week & til next time. WARNING the next video will be 10 mins short! Clear your schedule!

How's that for a passionate cliffhanger? Seriously share this!

Twitter Tuesday: Follow Whoever You Want!

Social media is the place where we can share and broadcast our message with people all over the world with people who have the same interests or should I say like-minded people who you follow and follow you. For some who do not fully understand twitter, is the reason why I decided to write twitter tip Tuesday in the 1st place. Besides, it just rolls off the tongue.

I have had this question twice this week about following others or who to follow and the etiquette of the "followback." Well, that all depends. I like to follow authors, marketers, internet marketers, bloggers, seo guys and gals, friends, and interesting people. For obvious reasons ;0) The TRUTH is that's a lot of different interests. There are some people who just follow their friends or their sports. They literally just treat twitter like a newsfeed. Which is fine too. People follow you or me because of something we said, something in our profile, something we like to do, or they just plain "like" us!! If someone follows me I like to read their profile and decide for myself if I want to follow them or not. If there's a local landscaper in my area and they decide to follow me because I tweeted that I'm cutting the lawn. I'm not going to followback the landscaper. I was cutting some one's grass once and don't have a lawn of my own. So what would be the benefit? The landscaper certainly doesn't know this but he's trying to establish new relationships. I can't blame him for trying.

On the other hand I like to keep up with what's going on with the New England Patriots. What benefit would they get out of following little ole me? *shrug*  So I don't take it personal if I don't get followed back by one of the premier franchises in professional sports. Oftentimes I just may be following someone as an informational resource and to quickly stream  through lots of information. If people like my tweets and we engage with one another, than that's fantastic too.


I know as I rule of thumb, it's been said that you don't want to be following more than 1.5 times the people who follow you. It's so you don't look like a twitter whore just following to be following and not contributing to the 'conversation.' I'm just as guilty of this sometimes. I come across so many people in marketing, internet marketing, blogging, and social media marketing that I tend to follow simply out of interest. Not to mention I LOVE to read a ton of books and follow what people are saying. It's the easiest way for me to connect with others on the things we're passionate about. There's so much stuff of interest out there or like my friend Patrick says, "stuffocation." I know I'm never going to get to it all, but there are always things that do catch my eye from time to time.


One way to gain more followers is to send a tweet to a person of influence. This is POWERful! From time to time if I send out a tweet to let's say someone like Darren Hardy. I do notice a spike in my followers that day especially if he sends a @reply back to me (a tweet to a particular person everyone can read). And by the way, Darren Hardy is pretty awesome about connecting with his fans!!!


Team followback is pretty interesting. If you like to get followers, just generally follow anyone w/that hashtag and they will follow you back. The problem I find is that I see lots of not just the mundane but also cursing, pornography, and all kinds of things I had ZERO interest in, for whatever reason. The good thing is if you have the time to play around and navigate through all the noise you can connect with some of the coolest people you will ever meet. Trust me on that one.


When I need specific information I can just search through their content on their blog. So there is a method to the madness for me that's for sure and I do try to monitor those numbers. But understand it's not on the list of my priorities when I'm on twitter. And as we stand right now, I'm above that 1.5 ratio so to speak! Time to go drop some people I'm following!

Danny is a outgoing guy who has a passion for social media and all things marketing. His goal is to make a living at it someday. If you like what you read... send some people with similar interests. I'm not hard to find ;)

Twitter Tip Tuesday, The Question?

They say the most POWERful thing you can do  when engaging is to ask a question. Twitter does that. Right at the top it says,"What's Happening?" That's why there's also a lot of confusion to the non-twitter users and the dynamic of social engagement. That's why it's perceived as the mundane of people just talking about what they're doing at work and what music they're listening to. There is someone in the twitterverse who is ALWAYS interested in what you're doing and what you're tweeting.

As you know I LOVE to read books. Especially in the areas of marketing and personal growth. And when I read a very good book I like to tweet certain quotes like most tweeple do because at the moment it's readily on your mind. Those profound parts of a book that makes you say, I have to tweet that! You can always find quotes from Malcolm Gladwell readers on a daily basis and from all over the world and that's the TRUTH (iI had to get that in). He's that popular. If you haven't read Outliers or The Tipping Point you're completely missin out. The aha moments we have to share with the world! Other people around the world are having those aha moments simultaneously and twitter is the easiest place to connect with those others doing or saying the same thing. It's a constant conversation. I don't know about you, but I can bet most of my friends do not read or do the same things that I'm doing these days. That's starting to feel more and more like a good thing. Especially all the new people I have met at Barnes & Noble most recently.


Truly connecting with like minded people is easy to do. People have so many different interests you can spend a couple hours a day on twitter and wonder where the time went. Discussions can range from the Red Sox, NFL lockout, the debt ceiling, and all the way to Antarctica. The only thing that is limited on twitter tends to be our own thoughts. So if you don't know what to tweet, check out the #trends on the right hand side and that's what most people are talking about right now. The creativity is there to explore and thousands of people to meet whether they're in your city of Phoenix or out of the country in Brazil. It is it's own universe... and feel free to jump into any conversation and ask a question. Just keep it to 140 characters or less.


You can always connect with me on twitter @dfortes99