Archive for July 2009

Michael is my much older brother. I’m such a nice little sister, ain’t I?

Anyway, we have about four more weeks before school begins. I love the Pajama Diaries (I’d so buy the book if it existed. Jill Kaplan (which happens to be my maiden name) is a mom who works in a home office as a freelance designer.

I can relate to many of the strips especially this one. We didn’t put our younger two kids into programs all summer, just the first month. So it’s been an adventure having them home. Though I have the advantage of being able to turn off my cochlear implant for instant silence, I prefer the silence with the cochlear implant on plus it lets me listen for doorbells and potential crying.

• Travel Etiquette: I enjoy reading about different culture rules and norms. Now if I could travel and put them to use… One fact I learned: when offering or taking a business card from an Asian (I’ve heard this from someone from Korea, China and Thailand), use both hands not one.
• Pump up your Twitter background with clickablenow: You’ll need to add a plugin or take some steps with your browser to add the clickable links. I tested it with Chrome and Firefox. Thanks to @mashable for mentioning the service and @clickablenow for the free service.
• Domparison: Comparing domain name prices.
• 25 Book Blogs: I always tell authors to seek out blogs that cover their topics. This will get you started. Blogcritics also reviews many different topics of books.
• UK government gets guide to Twitter: Here’s the Cabinet Office blog entry with the links to the guide’s various versions.
• Business.Gov: A Recommended Resource For Future And Current Small Business Owners

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Manuals Online: Can’t find your manual? The User Manual Site may have it — it has 300,000+ manuals for over 5000 brands. You can always go to the manufacturer’s web site for manuals, too.
• 50 Greatest Trailers of All Time: Not captioned, of course.
• Computer hardware poster: One poster my daughter won’t have on her wall
• There, I Fixed It: In honor of my brother who thinks he can fix anything.

You can get a new game for $2.99 daily. The catch: Must download and install the Big Fish Games toolbar. The tool bar provides special offers — not just the Daily Deal and it keeps you updated on new and popular games.

Toolbar system requirements: Windows 2000, XP, or Vista operating system, dial-up or high-speed Internet connection, Microsoft Internet Explorer version 6.x, 7.x, or 8.x, Mozilla Firefox version 3.x

I had been thinking about when is prime time on Twitter and a post from Lisa Angelettie pushed me to think harder. We all want others to hear our questions or what we have to say. So we wonder when’s a good time to tweet for the best response.

My experience — and I am just one person who uses Twitter my way — shows that I receive great or many responses at all times of the day. But I do pay attention to time when it comes to weekends and weekday mornings.

Weekend Tweeting

On weekends, I post lightweight stuff because fewer people respond. So I used one weekend as an opportunity to ask people how to help a 10-year-old who dreads reading. Patty Bennett brilliantly suggested audio books. I asked son what he thought of that idea. His response? A hard head shaking. (Phooey.)

Joel Brodie told me about a kid, the same age as my son, who loves Bone. My guy does, too. But I still have to push him to read it and sometimes he needs to read specific books. I ordered the whole set (cheaper to do that than to buy the ones he doesn’t have yet). But what happens after he finishes that?

Weekday Morning Tweeting

Anyway, back on track. On weekday mornings, I also keep it light yet business-focused than personal. US time zones vary and people all begin work at different times.

Other Situations

In reviewing my @replies, I find I’ve gotten great responses throughout the day, but mainly 11:00am CST through 8:00pm CST.

The response rate also depends on who follows you. If you only have 100 followers, you might find a pattern. Someone with 2000+ followers has many high quality people who can catch a tweet any time of the day.

Do you participate in Twitter chats? The chats give you another great opportunity to join a conversation where your chances of getting noticed go up lots — unless you’re a lousy tweeter. If you need responses, tweet the request a couple of times throughout the day.

Also, remember to post the request on your blog and other networks like LinkedIn Answers. When you @reply someone, it won’t matter as much when you post those.

Most of us tend to check our @replies and time doesn’t matter unless it’s an urgent request. I went out of town last weekend and didn’t use Twitter at all. I read all of the @merylkevans tweets.

I try to check in Twitter a few times a day spending no more than a few minutes in each sitting (unless it’s a Twitter chat). I browse latest tweets, look at my following list and search for keywords. So not all of my Twitter action relies on the latest timeline.

Twitter knows no boundaries and time zones. Someone knowledgeable is always around at the time you send a tweet.

Is there such a thing as prime time on Twitter? Why or why not?

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. July 26th: 60% off on The Blackwell Legacy

Mon. July 27th: 60% off on The Shivah

Tue. July 28th: 50% off on Puzznic

Wed. July 29th: 50% off on Summer Session

Thu. July 30th: 50% off on College Romance:Rise Of The Little Brother

Fri. July 31st: 50% off on SPIRITED HEART

Sat. August 1st: 50% off on Scary Forest

• What Happens to Your HARO Response: “HARO?” you ask. See helpareporter.com. I read every submission I get. I can’t respond to them all, but I do let those quoted know when the article is live.
• ScreenJelly and Jing: Capture up to three (five for Jing) minutes of screen action and share. Both are free apps.
• What Language Is This? 5 Online Tools to Identify Almost Every Unknown Language and 18 Great Sites to Learn a New Language: I recommend LiveMocha. Disclaimer: I helped them with some of their web content.
• Plagiarism Checkers: 5 Free Websites to Catch Copycats: When I received my first editing assignment with a publication, the writer was lousy. In fact, calling him a writer is an insult to writers. And it turned out he plagiarized all of his articles. How was I to know considering the poor quality of his articles? I hope I never run into that again.
• 10 Ways to Jump Start Your Social Media Thinking: Love that Jason suggested imaging audience is blind or deaf. I’ve gotten pitches with links to caption-less videos and audio. Not hard to find out why these don’t work for me.

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• Which Crazy Writer Are You? Me wolf. No, really. Me Tom Wolfe. Ah, the life of a wall flower. You get to hang out with the most interesting people – radio DJs, hot rodders, hippies, Hell’s Angels, Wall Street tycoons, frat boys – and are completely happy putting them into the spotlight. You’re completely happy hanging back with your martini and your little notebook, jotting down all your little observations, in sight but out of mind. [Link: Jane Friedman]
• Cute as Hell Pet Community: cute as heck pets. Here’s my doghter.
• Oddee has lots of fascinatingly odd posts especially misspelled tattoos (what a place to misspell words) and the 15 ugliest products ever, which looks accurate. Odd… lots of chairs made the list.
• 43 Weird Things Said in Job Interviews: Ouch. Wonder if any one of these actually got the job aside from the meth lab one?

Passport To Perfume takes you around the world as Sophia, a young adventure-seeker, perfume maker and shop owner in the 1940s. You’ll manage a perfume shop, create scents, select from elegant perfume bottle inventory and sell your creations to customers. There are 48 ingredients to mix and match, 5 exotic hidden object locations to explore and 16 perfume bottles.

Sounds like Chocolatier does perfume. I’m gonna give it a look.

Playfirst is having a special. You can buy Passport to Perfume with PlayPass and receive The Great Chocolate Chase FREE!

If I see one more person tweet, “Get more followers fast, go to www.whatever.com,” I’ll … I’ll … stop following him or her! Like bloggers want lots of readers, Twitter users want lots of people following them. Human nature does that. C’mon, admit it — no one talks on social networks for himself or herself. They want readers, lots and lots of readers.

I admit that in my first days on Twitter, once or twice, I’ve said, “Hey, only 25 more until I reach 1000 followers.” Oh, how I wish I could take that back. We emulate what others do and many make such proclamations. No longer do I pay attention to my numbers because I believe in quality over quantity when it comes to Twitter followers. The exception to the numbers don’t matter rule is to make sure they don’t look lopsided, which often reeks of spam or low quality twittering.

Great Twitter Numbers Don’t Equal Great Tweeter

Someone who has fewer than 50 following/followers was complaining about her numbers. Her biggest problem? Expecting and wanting high numbers in an instant. People who boost their numbers in a short time don’t have high quality conversations happening on their side. Fine with me. That’s their choice.

I still review the Twitter stream of a person with 4000+ numbers knowing people can pump up their numbers and not be the kind of tweeters I want to read. Two of my new followers have balanced numbers beyond 5000. Yet, I pass on reciprocating. (It’s OK not to follow everyone back. I mean it!) Their tweets contained fewer than five words, lots of RT, lots of links or a mix and nothing of value.

I study more than a couple of tweets as I know we all have personal tweets or ones with little value from time to time. A page or two of a person’s tweets should be enough to help you decide if you want to connect.

Bad Tweet Types

When a bad tweet appears in my stream, I go look at the rest of that person’s tweets to see if I made a mistake in following them. It happens.

So, what makes for a bothersome tweet?

1. Encourages getting loads more followers with such ‘n such site.
2. Shows whole page (sometimes more!) of #followfriday names, quotes or links.
3. Thanks for everything. Thank you for RT. Thank you for following me. Thank you for linking. It’s not the politeness, but the waste of air. Thanking, of course, is OK! Turn it into a direct message (DM) or sum up multiple tweets into one tweet.
4. Claims you can make fast $$$ with this latest scheme!
5. [Links to self back-to-back]
6. Asks you to RT. Most people know how to use RT and they will RT when something is worthy. Telling them only cheapens the RT-ability.
7. Agrees with someone and nothing more. Add a little more thought.

John Reese, the kind of person I thought would abuse Twitter, actually gets it (except the part where he asks you to RT). He shares five reasons why Twitter auto-follow is bad marketing.

And of course, do what you can to avoid overwhelming your followers’ twitter stream.

The Secret to Great Twitter Numbers

The secret? Christina Katz gets it.

thewritermama @merylkevans I get all of my followers the slow and steady way. That’s how you do anything that lasts.

I wouldn’t have followed some people had I known then what I know now. Unless a person reads up on all the Twitter tips before joining, it’s tough to do things right in Twitter from the start. Most of us learn by using Twitter on a regular basis seeing what works and doesn’t work.

The secret? Good content! Seriously.

Bet some of you sit there thinking, “No way. Nuh-uh! You forgot…” Love to hear your thoughts in comments.

Photo credit Billy Alexander

The following games will be discounted next week on Game du Jour, the ‘one-deal-a-day’ website dedicated to indie and casual games:

Sun. July 19th: 60% off on Aveyond: Lord of Twilight

Mon. July 20th: 50% off on 3D Pirate Barrels

Tue. July 21st: 47% off on Kari 3 PRO

Wed. July 22nd: 50% off on Science Girls

Thu. July 23rd: 70% off on Frog Bound

Fri. July 24th: 50% off on Pioneer

Sat. July 25th: 100% off on Blackwell Unbound

• Social media policies and procedures: More companies are getting into social media (internal, external or both) and having a policy can ensure employees understand how to use it right.
• PRWeb news releases tools and tips
  • How to Distribute Effective Release [Link: Writers Inspired]
  • How to Write a Successful News Release
  • How to Format Your News Release
  • How to Write a Bad Travel Story: How many places have you visited that are rustic? Charming? Quaint? [Link: Laura Bly]
• Map of Seven Habits [Link: LPT]
• Kathy Carmichael Story Pitch Generator [Link: Writers Inspired]

And for fun because we’re allowed…

• freeappalert.com/… [Link: Perry Belcher]
• 21 Absolutely Useful And Inspiring Collection Of Most Desirable Freebies [Link: Perry, too] I want to use these icons, but I can’t make up my mind which one.
• Meeting cost ticker: Could this be the solution to stop drawn out meetings?
• Search symbols and their meanings.

I thought this game was custom-made for me. The logo had “ME” on it. Of course, the initials stood for “Magic Encyclopedia” not “Meryl Evans.” Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light follows Magic Encyclopedia, and continues with its hand-drawn adventure with a new story and main character.

Fans of the original will be surprised and delighted by the follow up, which has surpassed the original in terms of size, adventures and puzzles. This one tells the story of Katrina who had a strange (what else?) dream and her brother asks her to look into his professor’s disappearance. She finds herself traveling the world collecting scrolls and gems to figure out what happened to the professor.

The hidden object portion has you looking for pieces of objects to put them back together. Once you collect all the pieces for an object, it enters your inventory for use on one of the scenes and not necessarily the same one where you found its pieces. The last half of Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light contains a lot of narrow, stick-light objects that will frustrate the searcher as they hide so well. Maybe too well. Clicking items don’t always take either.

Also, parts hide in little black holes that you zoom in on when the mouse rolls over these spots. This neat feature is a little bit of a curse, too. Sometimes the spot sits very close to an interactive item and the interactive item keeps lighting up instead of the spot. Those teeny-tiny parts will have you relying on the crystal ball for hints. You have unlimited hints, but must wait for it to fill back up. But sometimes the crystal ball doesn’t cooperate though it looks full.

Mini-games pop up every now and then when you’re trying to access or open something on a scene. Some resemble the puzzles you see in other hidden object games while others bring something new.  You can skip them after so much time passes and the skip button comes to life. The mini-games do challenge enough that I skip a couple after spending too much time on them. I still wanted to figure them out and I knew I could do that later because you can access the mini-games from the main menu and replay any after unlocking them. Love this feature.

The only thing below quality is the font used. The font looks like  the oft-used font that comes with Microsoft Word and other software. It’s as tired and amateur as Comic Sans. Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light delights, charms and challenges with its graphics, audio and game play. Go download and try Magic Encyclopedia: Moon Light.