I’m really glad to see Twitter introduce the listing system to try and bring about some sort of categorization and order to the whole process.

However, before we all get carried away too far by the introduction of this feature I think there’s something we should all note – especially if you have thousands of followers – it will take many days (or weeks) to sort through your banks of followers, and I think many will opt for listing those who they take notice of – the rest will remain in the bank of followers until their Tweets identify them as a ’should be included in xx list’.

It’s clearly shown as a BETA VERSION! – You could can get your account all sorted and sub categorized – but what if Twitter decides to change the plan again? They might! I suspect many will wait and see how it goes for a month or so before using the list feature at all.

In my opinion, for the lists to work effectively and smoothly in the long term, Twitter should have polled the userbase for potential list categories, then, based on the results of the poll they could have drawn up a list of available categories of followers which people could be ‘put into’ – not allowing random naming of lists, although I have to say it’s interesting to see how some view you – as displayed relative to the list or lists they’ve included you in.

The action of creating standard lists would have achieved two things:

1) People wouldn’t have to ‘agonise’ over what to call their lists and how they should be split up

2) Standardisation of lists would have made merging and creation of ‘Superlists’ a possibility.

Over the coming weeks, months and years I have no doubt everything will change again, as ‘the next big idea’ breaks somewhere, just today there’s an announcement of a tie up between Linkedin and Twitter accounts.

The other thing Twitter needs to address is it’s apparent lack of control in the use of it’s API, I don’t have a problem with some automation being included into Twitter accounts. However – automated account setup and totally automated tweeting will be the downfall of a superb platform, people will become fed up with spam accounts, spam tweets and go look for somewhere there’s less ‘noise’.

That would be a shame – so lets hope Twitter gets it under control soon.

The current buzz on the net is Twitter – so we all need to be sure to use it in the best way possible – for the greater benefit of all concerned.

Jim

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In everyday life we can all get very set in our ways and have our own ways of doing things which are almost ’set in stone’. I know I’m as guilty as anyone on this point, for example, there’s no one else in my house who can load the dishwasher properly – although, on consideration, this may be an issue I’ve been hoodwinked into believing!

The point I want to make here is that we all have our moments of inspiration in life, those flashes and insights which all too regularly get wrtten of and discounted by so called experts as not worthy of consideration as, in their opinion they simply won’t work.

In the 21st Century I believe (where at all possible) we all need to follow our gut feelings about doing things differently. True, some things will work and some won’t – but in 5, 10, 20 years time do you want to be thinking ‘what if I had pushed a little more with that idea’ – or even worse, find out someone else had a similar idea and actually made it work!

Just because it’s always been made or done in a specific way doesn’t mean it can’t change, take Sir Stelios Haji-Ioannou and Easyjet or Jeff Bezos and Amazon, two great examples in recent history where industry experts told them ‘it won’t work’ – ‘people won’t buy books or air travel on the internet’ – wrong!!

What inspired this post was when earlier today I was making a cup of mint tea for my wife with a Liptons Pyramid teabag. Now a teabag is pretty much something which hasn’t changed much since it’s invention around the early 1900’s (History of  Tea), so apart from square or circular it’s stayed the same for over 100 years.

Until someone had their ‘eureka’ moment of inspiration, and I’m quite sure Liptons design and manufacturing divsions would have tried to explain why this wouldn’t work – I mean – a pyramid shaped tea bag!

Whatever happened doesn’t really matter, what matters is that when you have a good idea you don’t necessarily accept the ‘expert’ opinion of someone who’s been in that business for years that it can’t be done – their problem is that they can’t see it any other way – no matter how hard they try.

I hope this pushes someones buttons to persevere with a good idea, and if you want to look further at the Liptons Pyramid just click the picture below.

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Jim 

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Since the beginning of 2009 I’ve been busying myself by getting a number of new digital products ready to make available through my Jim’a Publishing website, but along the way, early in the year I got a little sidetracked by the Twitter bug.

This led me to create a new training course for Twitter users (old and new), called Twitter Made Easy, whilst at the same time using this fantastic micro blogging and social media platform to learn and share through.

The result has been nothing short of amazing, I’ve now made many ‘Twitter Friends’ around the world, as well as around the corner. Everyday people and an abundance of experts, all of whom know about a myriad of things that I don’t – so when I need an answer to something outside my field of knowledge, I can usually get an answer in a short time.

Likewise, I’ve been able to answer lots of questions and help others out – which is what I really love to do, helping others whether paid or not, has always been a pleasurable aspect in my life.

What I’ve decided to do with the course of video tutorials is to make them freely available, and hopefully give someone else a ‘leg up’ on to the Twitter ladder and beyond.

I’ve gained a lot through Twitter and I hope this inspires others to ‘give something back’ especially where they may have gained so much in the use of something which they didn’t have to pay for themselves.

You can access the Twitter video tutorials at www.TwitterMadeEasy.Co.Uk where you’ll also find you can download a free book and Twitter Quick Start Guide.

Enjoy and share 

Jim

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We all know about how effective lists are in enabling us to get things done, but what if you could combine the effectiveness of lists with the convenience of pushing a few buttons on your computer?

I’ve just recently come across one of the best tools I’ve ever encountered for time management, not only does it ‘force’ you into action with a real countdown timer – it will provide printouts of all your results on demand!

Time saving elements also include the ability to assign specific tasks to days of the week and have them remain as tasks on that day each week until you delete them, thus saving the time of adding those to your usual daily ‘to do’ list. You’ll just drag and drop the timer for that task into the days workspace when you start up Action Machine Pro.

Here’s a video to show you how the software works:

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When I’m surfing the net I’m always on the lookout for simple and easy ways to get an insight into what people are actually doing on the internet, and even better if that information is available on a country by country basis.

The gadget I’m looking at in this post is made available courtesy of Forrester’s Social Technographics® which classifies consumers into six overlapping levels of participation, creatives, collectors, critics, joiners, spectators and inactives. This slide show breaks them done with explanations of each – to view it you’ll probably need to select the ‘Full Screen’ option to the left of the bottom center controls.

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View more presentations from jbernoff.

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Now you know about the categories of individuals included you can play with the gadget below – you may well find some surprising results – I found I’m in a grouping of only 4% within the UK!  Enjoy …

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The statistics on Social Media trends and it’s effects on society are quite staggering, we get daily snippets about ‘the big’ sites like Twitter, Facebook and all the others – but when you see a presentation like the video below it just makes you go WOW!

Also, it’s important to give credit where it’s due, proving the power of Social Media and Twitter yet again, I discovered it due to my Twitter friend @eo-creative who runs a local graphic design consultancy who re-tweeted @darrenmonroe, but because it’s so good I wanted to embed the YouTube video here.  After all, that’s why people use You Tube, so their  content gets embedded in other peoples blogs and websites – mission accomplished this time!

Just site back for about 4 minutes and be prepared to hit the pause button a few times to absorb the information …

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Hope you enjoy it as much as I did

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Recently there has been another spate of phishing attacks on various website accounts, the same rules apply when you’re logging into most accounts, either as a result of an email, or a link on a website or for example a Twitter message or dm.

You must be sure when face with a login page that you’re actually on the right site, the most common method used by scammers trying to take over your account or steal your account details is to make you believe it the real site and will go to great lengths to convince you of that fact.

One of the PayPal phishing attacks I have seen in the past had every link pointing to the right place, so for most people even when they clicked on ‘Help’ or some other link, they were taken to the genuine PayPal page, it was only by paying attention to the url displayed in the address bar, and the actual address that changed in the bottom left of the browser window which really identified the destination the click would lead to.

What should you do if you think any account you own has been compromised?

• CHANGE YOUR PASSWORDS IMMEDIATELY
• USE AT LEAST 8 DIGITS AND INCLUDE SYMBOLS IF YOU CAN
• INFORM THE SITE OWNERS OF WHAT HAPPENED AND SEND THEM THE LINK IN QUESTION

I’ve created a short video which shows what happened in a recent Twitter Phishing scam, where many accounts were hacked and used to sent out more of the same messages.

It shows how to check and where to look and applies when you’re on any website:

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Hi folks,

I just want to share what is the best analytical tool I’ve yet seen on Twitter.

There are many questions we all have asked in our minds about our Twitter followers – but to be honest, once it gets to a certain level, it’s quite difficult to really analyze in great depth, unless you have many, many hours to spend trying to work it all out.

Key questions you need answered are things like the geographical breakdown of your followers, occupation, gender, user activity, and so much more!

Well, someones  gone and given it to us – for free!

It’s called Twitter Analyzer, I’ve made this quick video for you to preview it’s main features;

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 YouTube: Download

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The mornings mail prompted me to write this post to warn others about this scam as these companies send out thousands of these ‘invitations’ every day.

There are companies all over the world who prey on the fact that a large number of domain name owners are unaware of how the domain name registration system works, so when an official looking bill comes in they just glance at it and see how much they need to pay. Companies small or large, are just as susceptible to this ploy as individuals – so please read on and look the pictures of the letters I’ve included here.

This is usually what happens:

• You / your web designer register a domain name

• You are the registered owner of the domain – if you’re not YOU SHOULD BE. Check with your web designer.

I’ve seen sorry situations when someone falls out with their web designer and tries to get control of their domain name to move somewhere else, some will impose large ‘transfer fees’ and make it very difficult to move – be warned – it’s yours and should have your name as the registered owner. I’ll show you how and where to check in a minute

• Your website is up and running – everyone is happy!

• The ‘other’ domain registration company gets your details by scanning registrations, where they can find out all about you – and what domains you own.

• Months pass – then a few months before renewal date (so as to sneak in the backdoor before the official company gets in touch)  – ‘The XXX Domain Registration Corporation’ or whatever name they use in your part of the world, (there are several at this scam) send you an official looking renewal notice – ‘Inviting you to renew with them’

• The less wary owners pay up, thinking its a bill, not and ‘invitation’ – WAKE UP – it can cost you TEN times or more what it should be!

• When you have registered and transferred your name to the new company – they will charge you the same high fees very year, and, when you try to move they will charge you high transfer fees etc. etc.

Don’t think ‘Oh that doesn’t mean anything to me, someone else does it – that’s not always the case.

If your your domain has been registered correctly (and I feel ethically) – then YOU as the owner of the domain WILL a letter like this.

It happened to a client of mine a while back, she rang me a said, ‘I sent the cheque off last week for that website name bill that came in’ – there was a pause of silence while I tried to figure out what she was talking about – then the penny dropped! Thankfully she had time to stop the cheque, and as I register domains using 123reg I knew nothing would have happened other than her financial loss, as, when it comes close to renewal they send ‘countdown’ emails, starting about 30 days from renewal date, and they won’t transfer the name out without the registered owners consent. I assume most domain registration companies use a similar system.

However – this is just a friendly word to those who may get a letter like the one pictured here -’inviting’ you to renew your domain with them, just being a really helpful company – save yourself a lot of time, effort and lets not forget – money – bin the letter. You have been warned!

You can check any domain name free by just typing in the name, it will show you who it’s registered to, when it was registered / due for renewal etc.

Click this link to check yours now CLICK HERE TO CHECK A DOMAIN NAME you may be surprised at what you discover others can find out about you 

Here’s the type of envelope to look out for:

This is the type of letter to look for:

Hope you found this useful -  don’t get caught out – please do tell others about this scam.

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You can have the best product or service in the world, you can have a killer sales letter that could sell a pint of whiskey to a tee-totaller, but if you don’t have any prospects seeing your offer, you won’t make a cent.

That’s why marketers spend so much time, effort and money trying to put our offers in front of targeted leads. But to be honest it doesn’t have to be that hard… not when you know which marketing methods work best.

Here are three proven tactics you can start using today…

1: Social Media Marketing

Savvy marketers know that social media marketing is in its infancy – and it’s set to explode in the coming years! Those who set up their social marketing campaigns now are the ones who will benefit the most in the future.

That’s because social media marketing is all about building relationships with others and building networks and contact lists. The sooner you get started building a good reputation in your niche, establishing yourself as an expert and building social media networks, the more you stand to gain when you fully leverage your reputation, content and networks.

So where do you start? With the some of the biggest social media sites, including:

• Web 2.0 content sites, like Squidoo.com. These sites let you page one-page websites around niche topics. Google tends to crawl these pages often and rank them well.

• Social networking sites like Facebook.com. While you should focus on finding or creating niche-specific groups on these general networking sites, be sure to always seek out niche-specific networking sites.

• Social bookmarking sites, like Digg.com. These sites allow users to share content – and they can be a great tool in your viral marketing campaigns.

• and lets not forget Twitter – the greatest phenomenon of recent years – good to build a network on – but be warned – most users don’t like the hard sell, and will soon give you the cold shoulder by ‘unfollowing’ or even worse ‘blocking’ you or reporting you as a spammer.

2: Search Engine Marketing

You can pull in traffic from the search engines in two ways:

• By ranking well for certain keywords and appearing in the organic search engine results.

• By using pay per click marketing to appear in the search engine’s sponsored results (for example, Google AdWords).

You should add both of these tactics to your marketing toolkit. That’s because organic search engine results can provide traffic for months (and even years) after you get your pages indexed. But on the flip side, pay per click marketing allows you to get highly targeted, nearly instant traffic.

3: Buying Ads

Yet another way to get your offers in front of eager prospects is by placing targeted ads. You can do this by online and offline, including:

• Purchasing banner and text ads on highly targeted niche sites.
• Buying ads and solo ads in highly targeted niche ezines.
• Buying blog ads.
• Buying ads in offline publications, including niche magazines and the related topics of daily newspapers.

So – Which One Is Right For You?

This isn’t a matter of choosing the one tactic that provides the best results,  that’s because all three of these tactics are proven, time-tested marketing methods. They shouldn’t be used individually, but rather as part of your overall marketing strategy.

While powerful, these three main advertising methods are just the tip of the marketing iceberg. When you unleash these three alongside other equally powerful marketing methods, you’ll unleash a nearly unstoppable flow of qualified leads.

I’ve set up a deal where I can offer you a free Silver Membership to a brand new site at TrafficGenerationClub which has reports and videos to show you how to increase traffic. This information comes from some of the most successful traffic generators or recent times and normally costs $27.00. You can have Silver Membership on me

PS:- When you sign in you’ll be offered an upgrade – there’s lots of good info free at Silver Level  (shh – not supposed to tell you about that!),  if you want to go ahead and  upgrade that’s your choice of course, just letting you know you don’t have to.

Just Use This Special Link For Access

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