Keeping The Twitter Stream Safe (And Raising $$$ For A Good Cause)

As Twitter has grown in popularity, people are often trying to poke holes in the service and question its true meaning and value, trying to position those of us who tweet regularly as nothing more than a bunch of time wasting twits. Regardless of which side of the Twitter fence you straddle, one thing that has been indisputable is Twitter's effectiveness at rallying a community around a charitable cause. Tens of thousands of dollars, if not more, have been raised for a wide range of great causes, from individuals in need such as David Armano's efforts to aid a single mother, to larger scale organizations such as Charity Water. Beth Kanter, a frequent speaker on social media for non-profits, has a great overview of some of the more successful Twitter charity campaigns at her blog.

HUMOR ME WITH YOUR SUPPORT

My own efforts to support some good causes have leveraged my attempts at humor at the Social Networking Rehab Blog, where I have created video public service announcements in support of the Frozen Pea Fund to aid cancer research as well as to help Laura Fitton and her holiday "wellwishes" campaign. Naturally, when Dave Delaney contacted me about another humorous way to leverage Twitter for a good cause, I didn't hesitate to give him the shirt off my back (for him to hold while I posed as "Sasselhoff").

CALENDAR GUYS

Yes, with tongues firmly in cheek and hands held out for donations, we present the "18 Hottest Men On Twitter" Calendar to raise funds for a great cause, Donors Choose. Thanks to the cooperation of Zazzle.com, more than 40% of the proceeds of the calendar sales will go directly to support Donors Choose, a charity that connects directly with classrooms in need, providing project based support to our children in public schools. For $15.95 you can chuckle at me and 17 other chuckleheads and support a worthy cause. Please click here and buy a few today!

As Mr. July 2010, I am honored to join @saulcolt, @leelefever, @avinashkaushik, @scottmonty, @baratunde, @chrisbrogan, @keithburtis, @bobgoyetche, @jchutchins, @jasonfalls, @davedelaney, @geoffsmith, @cc_chapman, @mitchjoel, @julien, @stevenfisher, and @chrispirillo. Check us out!

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All The World IS A Stage!

When William Shakespeare (or Sir Francis Bacon, if you prefer) wrote the words, "All the world's a stage..." I doubt he imagined just how prescient a statement that would be. Whereas the Bard and his Troupe would have to venture from Stratford-upon-Avon to broaden their performance reach, today one need only post to the Internet and indeed, all the world IS a stage!

CASTING A WIDE "NET"

For years I have given public presentations for business and for fun. The fun part has always been presenting to students, whether it was a classroom full of my own kids' peers at "Career Day" or whether it is at the University of Miami Business School where I have been a volunteer guest speaker in the "Starting New Ventures" class for the past four years, I have always enjoyed speaking in front of small groups of 25 - 100 or so folks. Today, there is no reason to limit your presentations to the lucky few who get to see you live. Today there are no shortages of ways to record and share your live event (look what Laura Fitton is doing with MediaCasters.TV and Jeff Pulver with his Pulver.TV to interactively extend live events beyond the span of those in physical attendance). These are exciting times that would likely bedazzle even the Bard himself!

I recently presented at the University of Miami on a Social Media For Business panel with Alex De Carvalho and Carlos Granier-Phelps that was hosted by the MIT Enterprise Forum. There were about 50 students, alumni and others in attendance, all of whom had paid $25 for the evening (including drinks and hor d'oeuvres - a good thing since my presentations ALWAYS seem better after the audience has had a few drinks - ok, not so much at the elementary school "Career Day.")

SLIDESHARE AND SHARE ALIKE

A few days after the MIT event, the presentation came up in a Twitter conversation and Francine Hardaway asked me if I had posted my presentation to Slideshare. While I had heard of Slideshare, I had never really checked it out. I told Francine I would post my slides, and I did. (I had to jigger with it a bit to add links for the embedded videos and record a narration to fill in the gaps from my "live" presentation, but it wasn't too much trouble). Within hours, the presentation that I had given to an audience of 50 had been seen by more than a few hundred, and the number of views and downloads continues to grow.

What a great concept! Why limit your thoughts and views to the circle around you? Why not share your slides, and thus your thoughts and ideas, with anyone and everyone who may take an interest. Slideshare is full of wonderful, intriguing and inspiring personal and professional presentations on just about any imaginable topic. Not only is it a great way to ensure that all the world is your stage, but it is a great resource for information, ideas and inspiration when it is your turn to get up in front of a crowd.

I intend to continue to post any presentations I give, and encourage you to do the same. In fact, if you have used Slideshare before, tell us about it and give the link to your presentation in the comments below!

Here is the presentation I prepared for the MIT Enterprise Forum:

| View | Upload your own

"Stage" Photo Credit: Boguslaw Mazur - Fotolia.com

Update: The person we hired using the "Work's A Beach"Recruitment Video in the presentation is J.C. Hutchins. You can read about how he got his job from Twitter here.

Gone Fishin' (in the Twitter Stream)

I remember fishing with my Grandfather. City boys we, our idea of fishing was standing on the pier with a Popeil's Pocket Fisherman, using store bought frozen shrimp as bait. We had more than our share of stories about "the one that got away"... but we also had many successful hauls of the hook. The pier was always there, and anytime we wanted we could grab the rod, toss a line in and see what we might be able to reel in.

WHY TWITTER IS LIKE FISHING...

So what does "goin' fishin'" have to do with Twitter? Because, dropping by the Twitter stream is a lot like tossing a baited line in the water, never quite sure what, if anything, you may catch.

Everyone has their favorite analogy for the Twitter experience. In a previous blog post I have said "Twitter is like the chocolate conveyor belt in I LOVE LUCY. Lots of great treats flying by...you pluck the ones that look sweet!"

Laura "Pistachio" Fitton calls Twitter "her village."

Now I am going to add the fishing analogy:

As my own Village in Twitter has grown, I find that my visits to my Twitter stream are very much like little digital fishing trips. When I stop by Twitter, at any given moment there are lots of interesting fish swimming by. I set my bait (in 140 characters or less) and drop a line in (in the form of a Tweet!) Sometimes the fish bite right away, and I feel the line get taut with a quick series of "@sass" replies. Sometimes I catch a big one and my tweet sets off a veritable meme. But many times the bait sinks without making a ripple, and try as I might, the conversation passes me by, and I spend my time in the Twitter stream reading and writing tweets, seemingly without a nibble.

When fishing, often you reel in the line and find your bait is gone, yet you didn't even feel a tug. Of course, that means there is a happy fish somewhere that just got fed. Twitter is the same. When you post a Tweet, just because you don't get a response it doesn't mean someone hasn't read and consumed your contribution. Just because you don't get a response it doesn't mean someone hasn't read or even been influenced by your words. Every tweet feeds the Twitter ecosystem. Don't judge the experience by how many fish you catch. Just relax, and enjoy the fishing!

As in fishing, there is a lot of luck, timing and serendipity in your Twitter experience.

If you are on Twitter, please follow me at www.twitter.com/sass and lets try to hook each other with interesting, pithy tweets.

If you are not on Twitter, this post must seem like a mess of confusing mixed metaphors. Sign up for Twitter, and hopefully in time you will understand.

In either case, enjoy this old Pocket Fisherman commercial I found!

New Pocket Fisherman

Posted Aug 08, 2006

Ronco's Pocket Fisherman is easily the best fishing invention of the century.