There’s all this talk in the search industry about Bing’s market share vs. Yahoo’s market share, and how users are finally using Bing more than they use Yahoo, etc., etc., etc.
But what I want to know is … when will Bing finally have more Twitter followers than Yahoo??
More importantly, here’s how Twitter followings are like search: They both pale in comparison to Google, which currently has close to five million Twitter followers.
Dear Friends That I Follow on Twitter,
If I unfollow you sometime this year, please don’t be offended. It will probably have nothing to do with our friendship and everything to do with politics.
I respect you and your opinions on politics, candidates, elections, and so forth; I’m just not interested in hearing about them on Twitter. I’m not trying to stop you from bashing or making fun of Obama, Romney, Santorum or any other candidate — you’ve every right to do that. I just don’t want to see/hear it. There’s way too much political noise out there already, and I don’t care to suffer through even more of it on Twitter.
This is not a threat!
I’m seriously not posting this to make anyone quake in their boots about possibly being unfollowed; why should anyone care whether I follow them or not?!? Plus, chances are very good that I’ll follow you again when the election is over, just like I did with many friends in 2008 and 2010.
I’m posting this because, when I did that in both of those years, I got more than a few angry emails/tweets from friends about being unfollowed. I’d like to avoid that this year, or at least be able to say “Hey, I’m sorry, but here’s why…” and point them to this post.
Again, it’s not about you. It’s about politics.
Thanks for understanding. Still friends. But if I unfollow, you know why. And I’ll see you in 2013.
Matt
Twitter is one of my favorite ways to keep track of local news here in the Tri-Cities. And not just news, but it’s also great for keeping in touch with some of the great local people I’ve met through business networking and local events.
A lot of these folks follow me, which is very kind of them (thanks!), but some get a little disjointed when they learn that I’m not following them back.
But actually … I am following them, just not in Twitter’s normal way.
I follow close to 500 local Twitter users via a Tri-Cities Twitter list that I’ve made. Everyday when I launch TweetDeck, the list is right there and I see tweets all day from local friends and businesses … even though I don’t directly follow most of them.
Like yesterday, when the first snowfall of the year arrived, there was my Tri-Cities Twitter list going nuts with tweet after tweet about the weather.
I do this because Twitter is, for me, a business tool. I directly follow a lot of accounts that I need to have in plain view because of my daily news work as Executive News Editor at Search Engine Land (and soon in the same role at Marketing Land, too). So I purposely limit the number of accounts that I follow directly.
Still, I want to be able to see what my Tri-City friends are tweeting about, so I created that Twitter list and it’s been a great way to keep connected to local folks and local businesses.
So hey — if you’re one of my Tri-City friends/contacts and you’re wondering why I don’t follow you, I actually do. Just not in the traditional sense of Twitter following.
I think everyone needs a little Hammer-time every now and then. Looks like I’m gonna be getting some of my own on Twitter.
Less than an hour after I wrote about MC Hammer’s new search engine on Search Engine Land, this arrived in my In box.
Twitter is celebrating its 5th birthday today. What better time than that to take a look at its amazing power.
Is there anything Twitter can’t do? Well, it can do a lot. Check out these stories.
1.) NYC homeless man finds daughter through Twitter
The New York Daily News says on Wednesday he posted his cell phone number, her name and a photo of her at age 16. She called him the next day.
2.) Resolve credit card problems through Twitter
Why wait on endless hold to dispute a credit card fee over the phone when can post your complaint on Twitter and often resolve the problem more quickly and with fewer hassles? Most major banks in the U.S., including Wells Fargo, Bank of America and Citi, have launched customer support accounts on Twitter ā the popular website where people communicate in messages of 140 characters or fewer.
3.) Seattle Police use power of Twitter to get stolen cars back
Social networking for crime-fighting? Seattle Police said they believe Twitter can be effective for solving certain crimes. Starting Wednesday, 911 dispatchers will use the Twitter handle @GetYourCarBack to post bulletins on stolen vehicles.
4.) Mayor Booker Uses Twitter to Aid New Jersey Blizzard Cleanup
After a blizzard started blanketing the Northeast on Dec. 26, an event that earned the Twitter hashtag #snowpocalypse, Booker turned the microblogging site into a public-service tool. Residents of the city, which has a population of around 280,000, swarmed Booker’s account (@CoryBooker) with requests for help, and the mayor responded. He and his staff have bounced around Newark shoveling streets and sending plows to areas where residents said they were still snowed in.
5.) Indonesians beat slow disaster relief by tweeting
Tech-savvy Indonesians are using social network Twitter to beat a slow government in delivering relief to disaster victims, after a tsunami and volcanic eruptions stretched official aid capacity in the sprawling archipelago.
6.) Twitter Can Improve Studentsā Grades
Researchers measured student engagement at the end of the semester, and found that the Twitter group had a significantly greater increase not only in their engagement with the course material, but in the grade point average as well compared to the control group.
7.) UK detectives to nab criminals using Twitter
Detectives in UK will now be trained to use social networking sites like Facebook and Twitter to catch killers and other criminals. Student investigators will be shown how they could trace wanted people on Facebook and Twitter, where they might leave posts revealing valuable clues.
8.) Twitter Could Act as Early Warning System for Epidemics
The microblogging site Twitter could act as an early warning system for epidemics, a team of experts at London’s City University found in a new study published on Tuesday.
9.) Twitter to the rescue for some stranded travelers
Some travelers stranded by the great snowstorm of 2010 discovered a new lifeline for help. When all else fails, Twitter might be the best way to book a seat home. While the airlines’ reservation lines required hours of waiting — if people could get through at all — savvy wired travelers were able to book new reservations, get flight information and track lost luggage. And they could complain, too.
10.) Twitter Predicts Box-Office Sales Better Than a Prediction Market
Two researchers at HP Labs, Sitaram Asur and Bernardo Huberman, have discovered that you can actually use Twitter mentions to predict how well a movie will do in it’s first couple weekends of release. What’s more, the method works even better than the most accurate method currently in use, the Hollywood Stock Exchange (HSX).
11.) Twitter Can Predict the Stock Market
The emotional roller coaster captured on Twitter can predict the ups and downs of the stock market, a new study finds. Measuring how calm the Twitterverse is on a given day can foretell the direction of changes to the Dow Jones Industrial Average three days later with an accuracy of 86.7 percent.
(bodybuilder image courtesy of Shutterstock)
Last month, I was pretty excited when I got an email that said “Jesus is now following you on Twitter.” Now, I’m equally scared by this email.
Was it something I said? Something I did? Yikes.
Should I block this follower?? #scared #goaway
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