ThePodcastSisters

Twitter Hall Of Fame

As you know, you'll find Anna and I on Twitter.

I've seen a steady increase of entrepreneurs, media companies and corporates start to join the Twitter community over the recent months.

Twitter has become a place to research, build friendships and even promote your business. But I don't recommend jumping in to the Twitterverse without doing a little research first.

Yes you can microblog and each microblog post is only 140 characters maximum. But remember that each Tweet that you make is indexed in Google and will come up in Google searches and Google Alerts- so be careful what you Tweet.

As part of your research, why not take a look at this article from InsideCRM called the 'Twitter Hall of Shame' which shares 50 notable Tweets covering information from business to political Tweets, and from marriage proposals to wine tasting parties on Twitter.

And if you are on Twitter, don't be shy about connecting to Anna and I.

What stories do you have to share about the difference Twitter and microblogging has made to you?

Attribution: Thanks to Fiona King of InsideCRM for sharing the 'Twitter Hall of Shame' article with me.

Show #50 - The Indian Takeaway

This week's Podcast Sisters Podcast, sees the long awaited return of all three sisters from our travels and illnesses.

We discuss the Heather's recent trip to India and Krishna's connecting through social media to her relatives in India which recently brought them together for a family reunion.

Anna our social media quiz master also checks out Krishna and Heather's knowledge of social media in India - listen carefully as there are lots of great statistics in this section.

We also share a new online forum where you can post your feedback or questions about the show - Krishna has set up a room for The Podcast Sisters on FriendFeed.com - come on over and let us know what you think about this week's episode. FriendFeed.com is free to join and 'd highly recommend that you register your name there even if you are not ready to jump in to this social media community.

And we need your help - we've decided to follow the theme of food for next week's show - last week was about Fish and Chips, this week is the Indian Takeaway - and Heather suggested next week is all about chocolate cakes. So we'd love your ideas on how we can connect chocolate cakes to social media.

Resources For The Show

Club Penguin

FriendFeed

LinkedIn

We'd love to hear from you - what thoughts, feedback or suggestions do you have for future content? Or perhaps you have suggestions for subjects you would like us to cover?

You can post your comments here or mouse on over to our Podcast Sisters Friend Feed room.

Or you can join us over at the Podcast Sisters Facebook group to discuss this week's show.

You can also send us an email perhaps attaching an audio file with your comments to podcast.sisters@googlemail.com.

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3Dcamp Non-Conference: 24 May 2008, Limerick, Ireland

If you are in Ireland and interested in the opportunities that 3D technologies present, then you won't want to miss the firthcoming FREE non-conference 3Dcamp, taking place on the 24 May 2008 in Limerick.

3Dcamp is a themed non-conference which will focus on virtual worlds (Second Life, the Metaverse), mirror worlds (Google Earth and Virtual Earth), mapping mashups, GPS, Location based Services (LBSs), haptics (eg. Wiimote hacks), 3D modelling (Blender, Sketchup) and all things 3D.

Register to attend 3Dcamp here - and do let me know if you are planning to attend as I hope to get there too.

Free Teleseminar 12 May 2008: Social Media For Solopreneurs

I'm afraid it's been a bit quiet over here on The Podcast Sisters recently as Anna and Heather have been travelling and then Anna has been ill.

If you are missing our voices and views about social media, then you might want to hop on my call this week for Biz Growth Live, where I am in conversation with Peggy Murrah and Chris Muccio about social media for solopreneurs and how it can help you attract more clients.

You can find out more about the call which is a FREE teleseminar masterclass taking place at 1pm ET/6pm Ireland and the UK on Monday 12 May 2008 here.

If you already receive my newsletter you will have the details of the call in number so you don't need to register again.

Hope to hear you on the call soon.

Galba - A True Gentleman, Thank You for a Wonderful Life

People often talk about friends you make on-line are not the same as those you make in the "real" world. Maybe true, yet today I read the news that one of my on-line friends had passed away and it affected me deeply...just showing how real these friendships can be in the "virtual" world. This is how I described it on my blog  just showing that the friends you make on line can be as important as the friends you see each day.....

" I was shocked to see the news that Galba Bright had passed away - one less truly inspirational gentleman in this world, one that I will miss from my virtual life.

As many of you know, it was only a few weeks ago that I spoke to Galba for the podcast - we talked so much that I had to turn it into 2 shows! (Part 1 and Part 2) Galba had this ability to connect with people at the emotional level, he shared openly, he touched your heart with his love of people and of the world. Galba made me smile, made me laugh and I remember coming off the phone feeling privileged to have spoken to him, to have been touched by the Galba magic!

Social media means that Galba  - and his thoughts on emotional intelligence - will remain as part of his wonderful legacy. My thoughts go out to his family....

Galba sleep tight, we will miss you hugely and thank you for leaving such wonderful emotional footprints all over the world"

As many of you know, it was only a few weeks ago that I spoke to Galba for the podcast - we talked so much that I had to turn it into 2 shows! (Part 1 and Part 2) Galba had this ability to connect with people at the emotional level, he shared openly, he touched your heart with his love of people and of the world. Galba made me smile, made me laugh and I remember coming off the phone feeling privileged to have spoken to him, to have been touched by the Galba magic!

Social media means that Galba  - and his thoughts on emotional intelligence - will remain as part of his wonderful legacy. My thoughts go out to his family....

Galba sleep tight, we will miss you hugely and thank you for leaving such wonderful emotional footprints all over the world"

How to Find Friends on Twitter

Twitter has become an important social media tool to me. It is a resource for support and ideas. One of the questions that I get asked is "How do you find people to follow?"
Normally I would say click on your friends profile...see who they are following and start following them. However, there is another tool that you can use called Twubble

What this package does is look at your profile and suggest people to follow, it is a great way to find new friends. It is as easy as a click of one button

Guess Who is Now on Twitter?

....only the UK Prime Minister! Clearly I don't think Gordon Brown is twittering at Downing Street but no matter it shows how microblogging is gaining momentum as a communication tool.
At the moment the stream is only delivering news feeds...however, I am impressed that Downing Street is experimenting with social media. It illustrates that Twitter is growing in importance for engaging with consumers of your story!
If you want to hear more about how to use Twitter as small business owners, listen to the following shows
How we are using Twitter
What is Twitter?

Ego Surf To Check The Health Of Your Personal Brand Online

One of the strategies I advise my clients is to ensure that they "ego surf" - in other words check what others will find when and if someone looks for them in the search engines.

I recommend that you check this each month and make sure that you check your name and your company name both with and without the "" around your name.

A great reason fo doing so is you just never know what you might find when checking the visibility of your personal brand online.

Today I checked against my name and to my suprise there was a wonderful testimonial posted by someone about the assistance I had given them about branding, blogging and social media.

Many times people may link back to you if you have a business blog and it's easy to check incoming links especially if you are blogging using Wordpress.org as the links are clearly there for you to check in the Wordpress dashboard.

In this particular case the person had linked to my profile on LinkedIn a social netowrking site used by professionals. I'd never have known that they had written such a great testimonial which has in fact led to another business opportunity if I had not checked my search results in Google.

So if you are worried that Googling yourself is vanity, get over it! You just may be suprised with the wonderful testimonials about you online. Go go one "Google Yourself" today - it may give you a great boost and is far better than a chocolate Easter Egg - and will have much longer lasting results!

Business Gets LinkedIn

LinkedIn is a social networking site but I tend to see it more as a business networking site. Before Facebook I used LinkedIn more but recently I have been taking more notice of the site as they have started to add more functionality to the site. In the past I saw this site as fairly static and a place more fro recruiters and marketers, however the site is now following the trend of making it more personal and a way of linking your web contacts and information.

The latest functionality to be added as reported by CNet

"Professional networking site LinkedIn has launched the beta version of its business directory, called LinkedIn Company Profiles, with data provided by BusinessWeek and Capital IQ supplementing LinkedIn's member information. Over 150,000 companies and organizations are indexed in the directory, working it into a Hoovers-esque database that ties into LinkedIn's social features.

A LinkedIn Company Profiles page includes a number of basic statistics pulled from BusinessWeek's database, such as company size and history. But for the most part, the rest of the business' page consists of information from employees of that company who have LinkedIn profiles, like a list of "new hires" (LinkedIn members who have recently added a current affiliation with that company) and recent promotions, other businesses that have seen people hired from that company, and demographic tidbits like median age and education information."

We will be discussing LinkedIn on this weeks The Podcast Sisters show and explaining how we are using it in our businesses both as a marketing and a productivity tool.

Eileen Brown Launches Connecting Women in Technology

I was delighted a couple of months ago to interview Eileen Brown for The Engaging Brand podcast (Show 135  - Blogging Within Microsoft)- she "blogs and evangelises about technology". Eileen is passionate about the use of technology and is a wonderfully inspiring speaker.

I was delighted to see that she has announced a Connecting Women in Technology initiative. She says

"“Connecting Women in Technology is all about communication: within companies like our Women@Microsoft group, across companies, across boundaries, across geographies. 

There will be sessions on how women’s networks can change the community, encouraging women to return to work after a career break, and Eileen Brown from Microsoft will explain how a chat with another women in IT over a glass of wine sparked the idea and started this snowball rolling.  There will be time to network with other women, share your thoughts and challenges and discover how women in other companies overcome these issues.  We will host a panel discussion with representatives from each company where you can ask or text in your questions for the panel during the afternoon”."

I would encourage people to keep an eye on this initiative and join in connecting women with technology. I will see over the next few weeks Eileen will come on the show and talk to us more about the aims and ambitions of this announcement.