Twitter Local Search Directory

Localtweeps (beta) was created to help localize the Twittersphere. By mapping twitter profiles and content to geography, Localtweeps encourages local connections and local information sharing. It will help you find local tweeps (Twitterers), get found locally and share geographic trends on Twitter.

Get listed and put yourself and your city on the local Twitter map!

Internet success is about networking, traffic and building “know, like and trust” relationships. If your internet focus is on your locale and local businesses, you
need to avail yourself of all the search and other resources that also focus on
local business and your community. Twitter is a great tool for this and Localtweeps facilitates effective use of Twitter information on a local/geographic basis.

I use Twitter ( @SeniorTweet ) and I recommend you do too. Lots of new friends even if you don’t use it for business purposes. It’s another way of staying informed about what’s on people’s minds both locally and around the country and the world.

Til next time, Happy Blogging!

- Val Spangler, Mister Senior Blogger
Senior Writer Blog
@SeniorTweet on Twitter.com
Business Twitter Uses
Twitter Search Tools
Boomer Extra Income

The elite meet in the Twitterverse!

Meet new friends on Twitter- Friends from around the country and around the world- people you’d never meet otherwise - expand your universe- follow people of your choosing- great fun! You’ll also find networking and business benefits you never would have imagined. Twitter is one of the fastest growing services on the internet. Catch the wave!

Thanks for your contribution - participation increases the value of the blog for everyone.

From bliss hit to wonder - today I was doing my daily searching and lo and behold there
was a site with a poem I had written at the top of a post. Now it had appropriate
attribution this site as you can see from the graphic below. However, after the initial
bliss hit of seeing one’s work out there in the world for all (some?) to see a few after
thoughts raised a few questions for me to ponder. Take a look …

Proper Attribution?

How I would have liked to see my name (Val Spangler) as well as my blog url in the
attribution under the image! However, I could have (and will in the future) take the
precaustionary step of including my name in the image itself. So what did I learn from
this little bliss hit?

1. Integrate your name into the image if you are going to present your poetry
   as I did in my original post.

2. If you do use an image, make sure to put your keywords into your tags
   that are in the poem to facilitate search engine pickup for SEO.

3. If you just put your poetry into a “block quote” format, you get the
   SEO benefit but that makes it easier for copying without attribution.

4. Ask yourself about the trade-offs re including your name in your blog
   URL vs. having a too lengthy domain name.

What do you think about what “appropriate use” and “proper attribution”
mean in the contexts of blogs and websites?

Let me assure you I still enjoyed seeing my little “twitty ditty” on another’s
blog post. What was also curious was to see that the contributor didn’t even
have a Twitter ID (at least through a cursory search). I see this quite
frequently where people are writing about Twitter without even having
experienced it. (Their and the public’s loss!)

If you come up with your own “twitty ditty” please share it here or on my
http://140terse.com blog dedicated to such “cultural” sharing.

Finally, when using other’s work product/content, please do your best to provide
proper attribution. That effort will be rewarded in the long run.

Thanks for listening - I’d love to hear your thoughts.

- Val Spangler, Mister Senior Blogger
@SeniorTweet on Twitter.com
Senior Writer Blog
Business Twitter Uses
Comics Cartoons and Creativity

Expand your universe!

Meet new friends on Twitter - Friends from around the country and around the world - people you’d never meet otherwise - expand your universe - follow people of your own choosing. Great fun! You’ll also find networking and business benefits you never would have imagined. Twitter is one of the fastest growing social media services on the internet. Catch the wave!

Got this notice in my email this morning:

EzineArticles Announces Formation of the EzineArticles Racing Team

There are several interesting aspects to this announcement that I will get into in a
moment… but first, for those unfamiliar with EzineArticles, a little background.

EzineArticles.com is an article directory for writers, blog/ezine publishers and for
internet users looking for more organized information on any particular subject.
It is also a matching service — bringing real-world experts and ezine publishers
together. For those of us who publish blogs (or ezines), it is a resource for article
content. For writers and niche experts, EzineArticles.com provides an opportunity
to get your articles published/disemminated across a much wider audience than is
possible on your own.

Now to the “why” of this development.

Varooom ROI?

As Christopher Knight, CEO, explained in the press conference, “Internet marketing
is all about driving traffic to your site. Making a big splash to an audience as big as
pro auto racing is a great way to stand out from the crowd and bring people to our
site.” The company and its CEO are showing considerable chutzpah and more than
a bit of humor in this venture.

First, “driving traffic” and race car driving provide lots of material for writers and
media PR people to create a “buzz” with. I don’t know the percentages of racing
fans and internet participation. However, racing is BIG! Lots of fans…and, I am
sure, many (most?) have not heard about Ezine Articles or its role in internet
marketing.Regardless of their present internet participation, seeing the Articles
car #404 on the track is bound to stimulate their curiousity. More people visiting
the EzineArticles website means more eyeballs and more eyeballs means more
advertising dollars and more opportunities to monetize that traffic for the company.

Quoting from their blog, “The team’s choice of car number 404, a reference to the
Internet error code for “Page Not Found,” speaks volumes about EzineArticles’
tongue-in-cheek approach to sponsorship.” Whether that choice turns out to
be an ironic one remains to be seen. Pro racing is a big gamble for any group
involved, It is high risk in many respects. Whether the risk of this investment
pays off, again, remains to be seen. For writers like yours truly, it will be an
interesting “trip” to follow. However, for you poor readers, I am sure you will have
to put up with more than your desired share of puns, analogies and poor efforts
at humor in the process.

The bottom line question - great ROI or “crash and burn”?

Stay ‘tuned”! - see, it starts already …

Val Spangler, Mister Senior Blogger and @SeniorTweet on Twitter.
Senior Tweet Blog
Senior Writer Blog
Blog Success for Boomers
Boomer Extra Income
Blog Success for Seniors
Senior Extra Income

Effective use of social media sites for traffic development can be a tremendous boon
to sole practitioner bloggers or a tremendous bane to them. Organization, tools and a
system followed with discipline are essential to accomplishing positive results and a
good ROI. That’s just to get the traffic. The work to get the sales is beyond that.

Today, we are just talking generally about developing a strategy for effective use of
social media. We will go into this strategy more in posts to follow. That strategy must
follow from a clear picture and plan for your mission. What are you and your writing
about? What do you want to accomplish? Know your purpose. Know your strategy.
Then go about developing an implementation plan.

On Wednesday of this week (021109), I am launching a blog called Twitter Uses.
This blog will examine the different ways individuals and businesses are utilizing
the Web 2.0 social networking site - Twitter

I am not going to go into any detail here today but I can assure you that my
research has my head spinning with the possibilities. Not only do you see the
specifics of the uses, you get a glimpse into the thinking underlying the uses and
what needs it satisfies as well as the value they add to the person or business.

It is amazing what can be accomplished through the judicious and consistent use
of those 140 character limited “tweets”. I must admit I was skeptical when I first
heard about Twitter and it took me a while to get to know how to use it and how
to observe the proper “Twittiquette” in doing so. Yes, there is some unusual
Twitter vocabulary and Twitter “shorthand” to get the most message out of the
140 characters. I know - I tend to be a bit wordy in my writing - so tweeting has
been good practice for me. One gets very careful with one’s words with a 140
character limit.

You just have to realize that the size of the message, or its format for that
matter, are not what’s important - it is the connection, the relationship being
built, the value of the link or message being delivered and the long term value
of the network being established. And, it is not just the two networks being
connected by that one tweet or the ongoing relationship - it is also the network
of networks and viral nature of these mini-messages in the context of these
networks.

I do go on - will stop here by just again inviting you to the launch on Wednesday.

The wave you don't want to miss!

Twitter Uses - http://twitteruses.com

I repeat - in surfer parlance, “Dude, this is the wave you don’t want to miss!”

Tomorrow, I’ll give you a few examples of these twitter uses to show you the
power and variety available for both business and personal purposes.

- Val Spangler, Mister Senior Blogger.

You'll be glad you did!

Twitter Bird eating out of my hand - soon!

Spent much of this last week getting familiar with Twitter. Learned a lot and a lot
to learn. Too soon to tell whether there is much benefit to the time, energy and
thought that goes into Twittering or Tweeting. Part of the process is just learning
the lingo. I found my way to twictionary. That helped.

However, as you may know, when you Tweet (post) on Twitter, you are confined
to 140 characters for your tweet. That gives rise to a whole shorthand of
abbreviations. More to learn. Now, you may think that I am down on Twitter.
Nothing could be farther from the truth. I think it is fascinating and has the
potential for being the engine for a whole new world of communication and
collaboration.

Because of my personal bio and the tweets I have posted, it is fairly clear to
others that a primary interest of mine is in how to use Twitter to make extra
income and to learn how to show others how to use it for the same purpose.

However, too much selling or promoting is surefire way to be unsuccessful.
You have to write, share and respond in such a way that other tweeters
will grow to know, like and trust you. Developing a reputation for honesty
is critical. Distinguishing your personality from the crowd is also of great
importance. I’ve found that Twitter is a good place to let your hair down
- even, as in my case, you are bald.

Twitter is one of the fastest growing social networking sites. A raft of
tools is available to increase the ease of use and reduce the time necessary
to make effective use of the social networking potential. The jury is still
out on the ROI but that is a very individual matter because Twitter is
a very personal community and each user brings a different set of needs
and purposes to the community.

As we go along in this blog, I will be sharing my experiences with you
and, I hope, you will be sharing your thoughts, feelings and experiences
with the rest of us as well.

I’m excited about the potential in a lot of respects but cautious about the
time demands. Time will tell. When it does, I’ll let you know what I am finding
out.To start with I am installing a TwitterCounter plugin to let you know
how many “followers” I have attracted to my SeniorTweet page. (292 total
so far).

There’s a lot to write about - let me know what you think about it and
what you would like to know about Twitter. Just realize it may be a while
before the Twitter Bird is eating out of my hand.

- Val Spangler, Mister Senior Blogger.

Follow SeniorTweet