This article was written for ThinkDoBeCreate by Christopher Shepard of WebHost Gear, a site that provides hosting information and

So you’ve done everything you can think of to launch your website, and share it with the entire World Wide Web. You registered a domain name. You paid for web site hosting with the hosting provider of your choice. You uploaded the contents of your website to your web server. You’ve done all this, yet you still can’t see the results of all your hard work! When you ask around you’re told that it has to do with something called “DNS propagation”. What the heck is “DNS propagation” and what does it have to do with not being able to see your web site?

To understand what DNS propagation is, you first need to understand how DNS works. DNS stands for “Domain Name System”. When you first set up a web site with a web host, they create what is called a “Master DNS Record” within their DNS servers. Your domain name registrar—the company that paid to register ownership of your domain name—then indicates your web host’s DNS server as the master authority of your domain name.

No matter where you host your website, the network your site is on has its own DNS server. In fact, it is standard for most web hosts to have two or more DNS servers. These servers then act as the authority for your domain; your Internet service provider makes a couple of entries in their DNS server: one is for your domain name that basically says: “YOU ARE HERE!” Technically, this is called an “A” record—“A” stands for “address”. The other entry is called the Mail Exchanger (MX) record, which designates a mail server that will receive emails for your chosen domain name.

There are hundreds of thousands of DNS servers located worldwide. Each DNS server is sort of like an address book for the Internet. They have information about your domain name, which acts as your address for the Web. Remember though that no single DNS server has all of the domain names for the entire Internet. They only have the names they are responsible for. Some DNS servers do nothing but store domain names. Other DNS servers provide “look up” services for computers to look up domain names. Still other DNS servers do both jobs.

There are a few bits of important information kept on a DNS server about your domain name. All of this information taken together as a whole is called the “DNS Record”. In the DNS Record, computers can find other bits of information, also called records, regarding your domain name. For DNS propagation, the only part we need to understand is the part that stores the ‘A’ record.

When an visitor types in a domain name, the computer then accesses the registration database to ask about the DNS authority for your web site (the DNS servers of your site assigned by your web host). Then they visit these DNS servers for the IP Address for your domain name (it’s sort of like the street address for a building, also assigned by the web hosting provider), retrieves all the information from that IP address, and delivers it to the visitor in the form of the web site.

The problem with this set up, though, is that to speed up the rate at which a customer can view the World Wide Web, every Internet Server Provider (ISP) will cache their DNS records. What that means is that an ISP makes their own copy of the master domain records, and will read from those locally saved copies, instead of looking them up over Internet every time someone wants to look at a website. This actually makes web surfing faster by speeding up the time it takes for your web browser to look up a domain name and get the record, and reduces the amount of overall traffic on the web, thereby giving the web the ability to load faster.

The drawback to this caching method, and why it can take so long for a website to be viewable to everyone, is that each ISP that caches its DNS records only updates those records every couple of days. The time between updates isn’t set to any particular standard. Each individual ISP can set the update time to be anywhere from a few days to a few hours. This slow update of the cached records is called propagation. It’s so named because after you register your web site, the web site’s DNS information is then propagated across every DNS server on the Internet. When this process is finally complete, everyone is able to visit and see your new web site. Since the cache time is different for every DNS server, DNS changes can take from 36 to up to 72 hours to be totally updated.

So the next time you set up a new website and you don’t see it right away after you upload everything, or you’re not receiving emails sent to the email addresses tied to your website, don’t panic—your website wasn’t killed on sight and neither is your mail server. The information is just currently being sent, copied, and cached to every possible DNS server in the world, and the world is big. Wait up to three or four days—it usually doesn’t take longer than that. Push website launch dates back a couple of days, in order to give time for DNS propagation to complete.

This post assumes that you are already a web designer
and know basic HTML and CSS.

In This Post:

• Links to free Wordpress themes
• Installing a theme
• How to create a custom index page
• The Wordpress loop
• Using Custom Fields
• Create unique page and category templates
• How to add social sharing icons and links
• Recommended plugins for contact forms, multiple thumbnails, & tables
• Resources for other Wordpress tips & tricks

Getting Started

1. Grab a domain and hosting. I recommend this* web hosting (their name is actually “this*”).
2. Download the latest release of Wordpress and upload it to your hosting server.
   Note: If your host uses cpanel, you probably have access to Fantastico or Simple Scripts which allows you to easily install Wordpress. Check for this first because it will be much faster to install this way.

Free Wordpress Themes

I highly recommend finding a free theme that is similar in layout to your ideal design. That way you don’t have to completely learn how to code a Wordpress site, but rather modify the design to your liking. If nothing else, viewing the free theme galleries may inspire you to consider a theme function that you hadn’t thought about before.

The two themes I combined for my site were:

• Satorii - the main base structure for my site
• OmegaX 1.0.3 – the base structure for footer sidebar and copyright area

The mother of all design resources, Smashing Magazine, has compiled several lists of free and amazing Wordpress themes. Some of them are:

• 100 Amazing Free Wordpress Themes for 2009
• 100 Excellent Free WordPress Themes
• 40 Free High-Quality WordPress Themes
• 83 Beautiful Wordpress Themes You (Probably) Haven’t Seen
• 30 Free High Quality Wordpress Themes

Installing a Theme

To install your chosen theme, upload the ENTIRE theme folder to this path on your web server: wp-content/themes

Create a Custom Index Page

Especially if you are using Wordpress for a website where blogging is a secondary function, you should customize the index page.

You can design and create a plain HTML and CSS document just as you would for any other website. However, once that is done, you will need to break it up into the header, main index, and footer php files.

Nick La at Web Designer Wall has a great article showing how this is done. Find it here.

If you have not set up a testing server, such as Mr. La describes in this post, you will be editing those pieces from the Editor on your online Wordpress home. This is done by going to Appearance>Editor, and then clicking on the files and copying/pasting the parts you want to replace. Be careful not to delete the <php> scripts!

Correct Image Linking

If you are doing your editing online, then the images you have included in your header/index/footer files will need to have their file paths updated. Here’s how:

• Upload your “images” folder into the main theme folder.
• For each image used, correct the file path as follows:

  <img src="<?php bloginfo('template_directory')?>/images/logo.png" />

• If this is not working, double-check that you have the backslash after the php code – “/images”

The Wordpress Loop

The Wordpress Loop is the essence of Wordpress blogs. It is the php script set that actually displays the posts. The HTML and PHP designated within the loop will be used for each post. To really understand the loop, here is the documentation page on the Wordpress Codex.

There can be multiple loops per page. This is necessary when you want to retrieve different types of posts or post information.

<?php if (have_posts()) : ?>
     <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
               <!-- do stuff ... -->
               <?php endwhile; ?>
<?php endif; ?>

The “do stuff” area is where you place any HTML or PHP you want to be shown for each post.

You can limit the query of the posts to a specific category or custom field name, as explained next.

Custom Fields

Custom fields allow even greater, well, customization of each post. You can add things like thumbnails, meta data, or even CSS stylesheets. These are designated when you write a new post and only apply to that post.

ThinkDoBeCreate uses custom fields on the home page to pull the latest blog post and link to the client spotlight. The benefit of using custom fields is that these areas are updated immediately without having to manually edit those links every time I have a new post.

This post from Perishable Press was a great help when I set out to learn about custom fields.

The custom fields have to be used inside the loop. I will show you the code for my blog link on the home, then we’ll break it down.

<div id="blog">
<?php query_posts('showposts=1&cat=4'); ?>
<?php if (have_posts()) : ?> <?php while (have_posts()) : the_post(); ?>
<a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>"><img src="<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'blog', true); ?>" alt="<?php the_title(); ?>" /></a>
<?php endwhile; endif; ?>
</div>

• The <div> is of course just the designated area where this post should show up.
• The second line,

  <?php query_posts('showposts=1&cat=4'); ?>

  means to limit the loop’s display of posts to showing one post in category 4

• The third line begins the basic loop.
• The fourth line is where we bring in our custom field. In this instance, I am using the custom field designation to pull a thumbnail. I want this thumbnail to be linked the corresponding post. So,

  <a href="<?php the_permalink() ?>">

  provides the link to the appropriate post. Then, for the img src,

  <img src="<?php echo get_post_meta($post->ID, 'blog', true); ?>"

  means that it should come from the custom field ‘blog’.

• The fifth and sixth line close the loop and the div.

Designate Custom Field Within A Post

When you are writing a new post, the area “Custom Fields” below the writing WYSIWYG area is where you need to go. For the example above, you would type “blog” for the name, and put the URL of the uploaded image file for the value.

Done!

Create Unique Page & Category Templates

Now that you understand creating a custom index page, and how to use the loop, you may want to present more customized page and category templates.

Page Templates

These are useful for applying unique CSS to specific pages, or to display distinct features such as a slideshow.

First, you need to copy the theme file “page.php” and rename it to your desired template name, such as “portfolio.php”. At the very top of your new file, put the following code:

<?php
/*
Template Name: Portfolio
*/
?>

You can then modify other areas inside the loop to make this page unique. To use this template for your page, you will have the option to select it when you add a new page. This are appears to the right of the WYSIWYG writing area in a drop-down menu.

Category Templates

My theme makes heavy use of category templates. There is one for my blog posts, one for clients, and one for my overall portfolio. Within the portfolio category is a breakdown into identity, illustration, interactive, and print.

While categories will display on a unique page by default, you may want to futher customize how posts in a specific category appear. For instance, I do not want the date published with my portfolio pieces, but I do want it on my blog posts. I also added the custom field of “Client” to my portfolio pieces, but obviously don’t want it on my blog posts.

1. First, find the category number. To do this, go to Posts>Categories, and then hover your cursor over the name of the category you want to work with. The category number will be displayed at the end of the URL which will display in your browser’s status bar at the bottom of the window.
2. Then, resave the file category.php as “category-3.php” where “3″ corresponds to the category page you are customizing. Just saving it this way automatically tells Wordpress to use this template when the category 3 page is viewed without you having to designate it anywhere else.
3. Now you can edit the category-3.php page any way you like.

Add Social Sharing Icons/Links

Links to social sites, such as facebook and twitter, are almost a necessity these days. Luckily, it’s really easy to insert your own set of custom icons with the appropriate linking syntax in your posts so your guests can easily share your awesomeness with all their friends!

Places to Find Icons

• Icon Finder – icon search engine
• Smashing Magazine – all posts SM has tagged “icon”
• Web Design Ledger – several free social media icon sets

Insert Icons For Every Individual Post

• Download or create your desired icons and upload to your theme’s “images” folder.
• Go to: Appearance>Editor and open single.php, which is the default template for displaying a single post.
• Create a div to hold your icons. You will likely want to place it either directly before or directly after the line:

  <?php the_content() ?>

• Each sharing site has a slightly different way to direct sharing links. Here is an example for my Twitter sharing icon:

  <a title="Click to Tweet This!" href="http://twitter.com/home?status=Enjoyed:
  &lt;?php the_permalink(); ?&gt;" target="_blank">
  <img src="&lt;?php bloginfo('template_directory')?&gt;/images/ticon.png" alt="" /></a>

• This code means that when your designated Twitter icon is clicked, it will open a new window/tab to twitter.com and input “Enjoyed: http://yoursite.com/blog-post-title” into the status field.
• To customize this code, you can change “Enjoyed:” to a different phrase. You would also change the image name to your own image name.
• For more sharing codes, visit this great article by anidan.design. Note: Her article is for text links, not image links.

Recommended Plugins

Plugins are the lifeblood of Wordpress sites. They are third-party scripts that add amazing extra functionality. They are easy to implement, and usually require little extra work on your part to activate them.

• Contact Form 7 – definitely one of  the best contact form plugin around. Allows for great customization of the look and feel of the form. Form fields are handled in the backend of the plugin and are inserted into posts via a shortcode customized to each form. Great documentation for total customization can be found on the main plugin site.
• WP Post Thumbnail - lets you pre-define 3 thumbnail sizes which you then upload via the interface located below the WYSIWYG area of each post and then crop to the correct size. The thumbnail is then attached to a custom field which can be called anywhere in your theme. I use this plugin to easily grab and crop my thumbnails for use in my featured slider, blog, and client spotlight areas on my home page.
• WP-Table Reloaded – also called using a shortcode and managed in the plugin backend. Easily customize via CSS. Supports row highlighting. Great documentation included on the plugin homepage. I use this plugin for the table on my services page.

Other Articles On Wordpress Tips & Tricks

• Custom Field Hacks – by Smashing Magazine
• 55+ Tips, Tricks & Hacks – by wpbeginner
• Hacks and Recipes from Web Designer Wall
• Stupid Wordpress Tricks – by Perishable Press
• 24 Tutorials & Tricks - by Spry Studios
• 20 Incredibly Useful Plugins – by nettuts+

The gift I’m most pleased with was the custom wine label. Orginally, I was going to design a card, but Dan is an amateur wine enthusiast so it inspired me to do the label. The following is a close-up of the label design, and then the bottle with some other packages I wrapped for him.

Next up, a just-for-fun gift: A sock puppet!

And finally, a photo of the whole grouping – definitely the most effort I’ve ever put into packaging anything!

On Friday, April 10, 2009, Evan Williams, CEO of Twitter, was a guest speaker at the University of Nebraska–Lincoln College of Journalism and Mass Communications.  I couldn’t help but notice his bright green socks, and his verbosity (unexpected given his primary medium).  This is my account of his talk, mostly summarized but quoted where appropriate.  I conclude this post with media that has emerged since that time.

BUT FIRST: Evan’s Tweet to me, confirming his UNL appearance!

From Clarks, NE to Twitter

Evan Williams (@ev) is native Nebraskan. Williams grew up in the town of Clarks, NE (population 361), and graduated high school from Columbus, NE (population 21,399). He attended the University of Nebraska-Lincoln from 1990-92.  He said he became impatient, and had no real plan but wanted to start a company. So, he left during his sophomore year and went to Florida.  In 1993, he came back to Nebraska and started internet publishing with his dad.  During this time, he “got the vision” to do something big on the internet.

From Blogger to Twitter

Williams worked on his first big project, Blogger, for four years before selling it to Google in early 2003.  He then moved on to for Odeo, and dealed in podcasting and experimental web to mobile texting.  Twitter emerged as a side project, with about a dozen users.  Williams described the beginning as low volume, and very social.

Naming Twitter

Williams described the naming of Twitter as “fortunate.”  It was selected from a list devised during a brainstorming session with the other employees.  He noted that naming was very important, even saying, “I obsess about it.”  Originally the vowels were omitted, producing “twttr.”  Williams said they eventually “bought the vowels,” so to speak.  “The sound captured the word,” and it was good.

140 Character Limit

Williams said initially he didn’t fully understand the practicality of the 140 character limit.  Originally designed for sms, the limit needed to provide room for “username: (msg).” Williams says the limit provides the “power of constraint,” driving creativity and breaking the pressure for profound thoughts.

In The Beginning

Twitter officially hit the scene in July of 2006, but, as Williams said, “no one really knew that.” The problem was partially the design of the UI (user interfacte). Williams cited common perception as, “OK I get it…what is the point?” He also said the site is “easy to trivialize,” for “Why would you have the audacity to publish? No one cares.”  Another negative idea was, “Blogging was filling up the internet.” From those beginnings, Twitter has evolved to include everything from the “most personal, to CNN headlines, to Starbucks, to celebs.”

Audience Question/Answer

Q: Who is your favorite follow?
A: My wife – she’s super funny and makes me giggle.

Q: How do you deal with impersonators?
A: Parody is ok, like the “FakeSteveJobs.” We try to stop impersonation, because don’t want the users tricked.

Q: Are their plans to for Twitter to release TweetDeck like app? (my question)
A: No, but we encourage others to modify and create with our API.

Q: About the Google acquiring Twitter rumor…
A: “No Comment” – We’re just starting to build the company. No clear reason for doing it now, but Google is attractive since ½ dozen Twitter employees formerly worked there.

Q: Do you have ideas for after Twitter?
A: Lots of ideas! Originally thought would just get Twitter started, but became CEO 6 months ago. It’s the most interesting idea, and possibly biggest, and he wants to create as big of impact as possible. However, he wants someone to reinvent e-mail, and has ideas himself, but no time.

Q: Do you have a solution to attract a younger audience?
A: Williams talked about having a different business model than other sites, such as Facebook which is primarily two-way communication, and highly a photosharing site. Twitter, however, is one-to-many communication in real-time. This is why the different audience.

Q: How do you feel about the rumor Facebook redesign was jealousy over Twitter?
A: “No comment” – “But yes, I have heard that”

Q: Twitter and Journalism
A: Williams talked to the effect that social media makes it harder for reporters to break news when the person can now do it just as easily themselves. Those using Twitter as a source use it as to find leads & snoop for hints, such as US Weekly following all the celebs on Twitter.

Q: What is Twitter’s revenue source?
A: “Investing funds to build long-term value” – Did say not making money right now, because focus is to “enhance and deliver.”

Q: When will you allow your child to start Twittering?
A: As soon as they have a name, then probably get an account.

Q: Twitter and the Speed of Life
A: Twitter is a tool and a cause. A goal is to make Twitter a filter for relevant information. Yes, it may increase the speed, but it is useful.

Video From NewsNetNebraska

• Click here to see Williams describe Twitter’s creation.
• Click here to see Williams talk about the name “Twitter.”
• Click Here to see Williams explain the 140 character limit.

Links About aplusk/Oprah Twitter-Storm

• I was here before Oprah!
• Oprah Fail Whale
• Birth of #blameoprah
• One of many “welcome to twitter thanks to oprah” tweets
• Oprah/aplusk Twitter Royalty Duel
• My Oprah 1 Million Prediction
• Oprah follower count at press time: 415,650

Click here for Part 1:

• What is Twitter?
• Why Use Twitter?
• What to Tweet
• How to Follow
• Tweet Etiquette – RT, @reply, DM

Part 2:

• Sharing Tweets Elsewhere – Widgets, RSS
• Twitter Management Apps
• Twitter Terminology
• Linking in Tweets
• Bonus Twips

Sharing Tweets Elsewhere

Widgets, RSS

OK! You’re all set up with your very own Twitter account! You’re having fun tweeting and reading other people’s tweets! Great! …Now what?

Perhaps you would like to share your tweets with people outside of twitter.  Embedded twitter feeds are becoming commonplace on many websites.  There are two main, basic ways to do this, both of which require some knowledge of html.

The first is by snagging one of Twitter’s own widgets.  These can be accessed by clicking here, or through the Apps link at the bottom of your Twitter home page.  There is both a dynamic Flash version or javascript/html version.  Simple copy/paste the code Twitter gives where you would like to place the widget on your website, blog, or other social profile!

The second option is through various third party RSS feed options.  I highly recommend widgetbox because it is free and simple to use and customize.  Another option is described on ThinkVitamin’s blog.  This method pulls a twitter search feed of specific hashtags (described later).

While there are many other options, these should give you a good start!

Twitter Management Apps

If you visited the Apps page from the link in the previous section, I’m sure you noticed the wide-range just in that short list!  If you are truly a Twitter power-user, you must install TweetDeck.  This management app allows you to see several views at once, including the main feed, your @replies, your direct messages, and other windows of your choice.  Most useful to me is the creation of groups to track my niche tweeps.

If you find that you are spending a lot of time trying to figure out who to follow back when someone follows you, sign-up for the online app TweetLater.  Among other things, TweetLater allows you to (as the name implies) schedule tweets for later posting, but also what they call Vetting Followers.  By setting your account to auto-follow but also vet followers, TweetLater will hold your new followers for 72 hours for your review to either follow, ignore, or block.

If you spend many tweets posting links, give HootSuite a spin.  Not only does HootSuite provide custom short-urls, but each url is statistically tracked.  HootSuite also gives the option to schedule tweets, and has a nice interface for tweeting instantly or seeing all tweets.

Twitter Terminology

Here’s a short list of the most popular terms I’ve seen, thanks to the Twitter Wiki:

• Failwhale- the whale held up by birds and string that shows that Twitter has crashed.  In danger of extinction, but still seen from time to time.
• Hash Tag - the “#” sign which allows Twitters users to group their tweet with a particular event or conversation.  The hash tag makes it easier to search that particular conversation on TwitterSearch. The hash tag is used like this: #pbwiki
• Twittcrastination – avoiding action while Twittering, procrastination enabled by Twitter use
• Tweeple – Twitter people, Twitter members, Twitter users
• Tweeps – Twitterites that follow each other from one social media/network to another.
• Tweeter – A user of Twitter (compare: Twitterer).
• TweetIn – When a group of twitterers agree to get together at a set time to twitter
• TweetUp – When twitterers meet in person in one’s home nest.
• Twitterati – The glamorous A-List twitterer’s everyone wants to follow.
• Twitterrific – a really good Twitter thing
• Twoogle – Twitter as the human Google. Pose a question, get near-instantaneous results.
• Tword – Words formed by appending “Tw” to the original word

Linking in Tweets

Due to the nature of the 140 character limit, don’t even try to copy/paste a full link! Instead, see this list of 20 URL shorteners.  The one’s I’ve seen used most are:

• TinyURL – has bookmarklet for quick shortening!
• owl.ly – is part of previously mentioned HootSuite and includes stats and bookmarklet
• bit.ly – has bookmarklet
• tr.im – bookmarklet and stats
• is.gd - bookmarklet via instructions page

Bonus Twips

Remember the link to the name is different than the link to the article!

• @chadengle: Easy Twitter Search in Firefox
• @ eDulcinea: Essential Twitter Advice, Apps and Tools
• @briancray: 7 Websites To Check Your Influence On Twitter
• @smashingmag: 50 Twitter Tools and Tutorials For Designers and Developers (All else will find this useful too!)
• @minervity: 12 Useful Web Based Twitter Tools
• @mayhemstudios: Resource Superlist For Twitter Folks
• Another Huge list of Twitter Tools

If you missed Part 1, catch up here!

And don’t forget to add me, @5t3ph, on Twitter!

All of my resources were collected since I joined Twitter from fellow Tweeple, and are credited by way of @link to their profile.  I encourage you to also follow these fine Tweeple!

This Post is Part 1:

• What is Twitter?
• Why Use Twitter?
• What to Tweet
• How to Follow
• Tweet Etiquette: @reply, RT, DM

Read Part 2 Here:

• Sharing Tweets Elsewhere – Widgets,RSS
• Twitter Management Apps
• Twitter Terminology
• Linking in Tweets
• Bonus Twips

What is ?

According to Twitter’s very own FAQ, “Twitter is a service for friends, family, and co–workers to communicate and stay connected through the exchange of quick, frequent messages.  People write short updates, often called “tweets” of 140 characters or fewer.  These messages are posted to your profile or your blog, sent to your followers, and are searchable on Twitter search.”

For those familiar with Facebook and MySpace, Twitter is like posting only status updates.  It’s also considered a micro-blogging system because each tweet is like a micro-blog post.  You could also compare Twitter to SMS (short message service/cellular texting), but in an online format (although your followers can opt to receive tweets as texts).

Twitter is most recognizable by the blue twitter “t.”  Avid twitterers also often make or use custom twitter birds to highlight their twitter streams on their blogs or websites.

Why Use Twitter?

Unlike other social media networks like Facebook or MySpace, Twitter has evolved into a more professional space.  Many companies have started to use Twitter for PR, customer relations, and a quick response to consumer questions.

I use Twitter because I’ve found many other graphic designers/social media gurus/marketing and advertising experts that are more than willing to connect with me, answering questions and providing feedback on my latest projects.  It’s instant, reliable, and hugely helpful in so many ways!

Fellow Tweeple Have Said:

@falkencreative: I find Twitter useful because it gives me the opportunity to feel better connected to other designers and developers in the industry, and to build relationships with others that have similar interests. There are all sorts of people to follow, with a wide variety of talents, so there is a great opportunity to learn new things and keep up with recent trends. Of course, Twitter is also useful for building my personal brand online, driving traffic to my site and finding potential clients.

@joshuawithers I love twitter because it enforces the truth that we’re all just human; celebrity or not

@ kst8er76 I luv Tw because I can pick who to follow and learn a great deal about different subjects All in once place.randomly. It is beautiful.

@janmaran: as a marketer, I want to grok social media, not just read about it. Need 2experience. Have found info, friends, inspiration, laughs, ideas

@oaknd1: I use twitter to extend the number of designers I know. There aren’t a lot around me. I use it to interact with real, interesting people.

What to Tweet

Unlike normal blogs which can be absurdly wordy, Twitter forces you to get to the point in 140 characters or less.  Of course, you can tweet as often as you like, so you may still pass on large amounts of information.

Tweets may consist of personal info (lunch, romance, grocery list), helpful tips (recipes, fix-it ideas), niche resources (design links, stock suggestions), professional (job listings, networking), advertising (promote services, latest blog posts) citizen journalism (ex: article on Hudson River Tweets) and everything in between!

From my observations, the three keys to tweet success are:

• Interaction – Keep the conversation open to response, and always respond to those who respond to you!
• Information – Provide tips and link resources and items related to your field of expertise, or that a wide audience can find useful/relevant/interesting/entertaining.
• Frequency – No one likes a lazy Tweeter! If you are going to obtain and maintain followers, you must tweet often to retain interest.  If your followers are following many people, your single tweet will quite likely get lost in the mix within seconds.

How to Follow

1. Use Twitter search to find people near your area or with similar interests.  Or, check out your favorite blogs and websites; chances are good they will have a link to their twitter stream!
2. Once you are on the profile page of someone you would like to follow, simple click the “follow” link below their display picture.
3. DONE!

I also recommend this video tweeted by @mayhemstudios: How To Turn Twitter Followers Into Friends

Tweet Etiquette:@reply,RT,DM

First of all, you may be wondering what each of those strange things are!  All will be explained…

@reply
In tweets, placing an “@” before the screenname of ther person you are responding to creates a link to their name.  It also means they can easily view your tweet via their @Replies tab from their home page.  @replies are used to directly respond to another person in regards to their tweet, or to initiate and manage conversations between each other.

RT – retweet
This abbreviation, which may also appear “r/t,” is ALWAYS to be placed before an @reply of a person you are copying and reposting a tweet from.  RT’s are the easiest and fastest way for information to fly across the Twitterverse!  Many consider it an honor to have their tweets RT’ed because it means someone thought their tweet was good enough to pass on to others.

Example:
@5t3ph: Check out this cool link! www.something.com
@SomeoneElse: RT @5t3ph Check out this cool link! www.something.com

See this post tweeted by @mayhemstudios about more RT Etiquette.

DM – Direct Messages
From your home page you also have a Direct Message tab.  DM’s are only seen by you and your recipient, similar to e-mail.  However, the 140 character limit is still imposed.

A huge debate (twibate?) is on whether Auto-DMS, which are offered by many 3rd party twitter applications, are a good or bad thing.  My advice on Auto-DMs is to consider your audience and goals: If you are a service brand, then your followers know you might try to sell them something, so an Auto-DM may be appropriate.  In all other cases, Auto-DMs are usually just considered impersonal, defeating the purpose of honest twitter interactions.

See this post tweeted by @mayhemstudios about How to Promote on Twitter

Continue to Twitter for Beginners: Part 2!

This post will explore:

• Pros and Cons of Getting Involved
• How to Choose a Social Media Network
• LifeStreaming
• Tips for Efficiency from Eric Brantner

Pros

• Quick connection to all your online acquaintances
• View and participate in conversations stretching worldwide
• Share pictures, videos, music, & words in an instant with the world, or your own VIPs
• Maintain connections with friends and relatives in a way e-mail can’t match
• Connect with professionals without changing from your PJ

Cons

• Can absorb a huge amount of time due to addictive nature
• May attract unwanted attention from “sketchy people”
• …aaaaand that’s about it

Choosing a Social Media

In choosing a social media environment, consider your goals.  Do they include:

1. Sharing pictures and/or videos

2. Sharing your ideas & knowledge

3. Connecting with friends and family

4. Connecting with professionals

5. Getting hired

6. Self-promotion(Marketing/Advertising)

The following lists relate to where you can primarily do these things.  Of course, there are many more that I’m not specifically mentioning, and many can fit in multiple categories.  However, I believe this will give you a good start on your Social Media search!

Places for 1:

• YouTube
• Picasa
• Flickr
• Podcasts (watch for future post on this subject!)
• SlideShare

Places for 2:

• Wikis
• Message Boards

Places for 1-4:

• Facebook
• MySpace
• Blogs (See previous post for platforms)
• Niche Social Networks (ex. Ning)
• Online Chat: MSN, Yahoo, Google Talk, AIM, etc.

Places for 2-5:

• Twitter
• LinkedIn – primarily professionals

Sticky #6: Self-Promotion

Marketing and Advertising campaigns can be executed in any of these social media environments.  Disclaimer: I am only an aspiring expert, and make no claim that the following tips will ensure a successful social media campaign.

1. Research your target audience – where are they frequenting?
2. Research how advertising is set up on your selected media – for instance, Facebook offers very demographic targeted ad space
3. Do not just talk AT the consumer! Engage them in the conversation! Leave plenty of room for them to talk to you, whether it be positive or negative.
4. Do not only post messages of self-promotion such as “Look at this thing we have/are doing!”  Also offer freebies, advice, and links to places outside of your brand but relevant to your services.  This helps build trust and interest.
5. Not everyone can have an awesomely viral YouTube ad.  Have fall backs, and soundboards for your consumers to naturally come to and by which you can gauge effectiveness.
6. Strongly consider coupling social media efforts with other promotional materials “offline.”

LifeStreaming

According to WordSpy, Lifestreaming is: “An online record of a person’s daily activities, either via direct video feed or via aggregating the person’s online content such as blog posts, social network updates, and online photos.”  Lifestreaming services are very useful for viewing all of your social media environments in one space.  For example, you can view both your Facebook news feed updates as well as your Twitter tweets.  While you may not be able to update them all from one location, you can publish your lifestream for your various followers to view.  Many even offer RSS subscriptions.

I personally use FriendFeed, but here are two links that review other services:

• ReadWriteWeb LifeStream Primer
• Mashable – 9 Lifestream Services

Tips for Social Networking Efficiency

The following are taken from this article by Eric Brantner.  Please take the time to read his full text!

• Think Twice before Following
• Set a Schedule
• Keep Your Goals in Mind
• Be Consistent

Intro to Blogging
To introduce the topic of blogging, I’m going to rip some definitions straight from Technorati, which, according to the great philosopher Wikipedia, was tracking 112.8 million blogs and over 250 million pieces of tagged social media as of June 2008.

Blogging Definitions:

What’s a weblog?
A weblog, or “blog”, is a personal journal on the Web. Weblogs cover as many different topics, and express as many opinions, as there are people writing them. Some blogs are highly influential and have enormous readership, while others are mainly intended for a close circle of family and friends.

What is a blogger?
A blogger is someone who writes a blog.

What is the blogosphere?
Blogosphere is a word used to describe the online community of bloggers and their writings.

How is a weblog different from a website?
A weblog is a website that is updated frequently, most often displaying its material in journal-like chronological dated entries or posts. Most blogs allow readers to post comments to your post, and link from their blog to your posts using the permanlink URL or address. In a blog, the content can be published and syndicated separate from the formatting using an RSS feed. Readers can then subscribe to the feed to automatically receive updates.

For more Blog FAQ, visit the Technorati page.

Blogging Platforms:

Wordpress
My own blog is clearly run on Wordpress, so speaking from experience, I can highly recommend their service.  Positives include:

• Free
• Lots of great themes
• Great visitor statistics
• Automatic listing in major search engines like Google
• Fantastic tagging system
• WordCamp (which I haven’t been to but think would be amazing!)
• Excellent tech support/FAQs
• Easily host at your own domain

Blogger
The other one I’ve had experience with is Blogger.  It’s easy to use and allows for quite a bit of customization.  Overall, it’s good, just not as polished as Wordpress’s system.

TypePad
TypePad seems to have a similar set-up to Wordpress except it’s a paid service starting at $4.95.

Moveable Type
Moveable Type is a content management system (CMS) that allows you to create and manage not just blogs, but also websites and your own social networks. The blogger license is free.

A quick Google search will pull up many more options, but these are what I find to be the most commonly used.

Micro-Blogging Platforms

Twitter
By far the most heard of, Twitter is making “tweeting” a household verb. Here’s a suggestion: RT @5t3ph Social Media Series http://5t3ph.wordpress.com/3-becoming-a-blogger

Tumblr
Tumblr offers full customization, and it’s a free service.  The Tumblr-powered blogs I’ve seen are quite impressive, but I can’t vouch for support or other resources.

Other’s are reviewed here by Aidan Henry of ReadWriteWeb.

Bottom Line:

Your thoughts should live in a world free from mental constraints!  You’ve got knowledge/emotions/tips/etc. so share them with the world!  Become a Blogger and join the Blogosphere!

Volunteer Editors

I would appreciate some volunteer copy-editors for this effort. Knowledge of the subject matter is not required; amateurs opinions would be appreciated as much as professionals! For your help, you will receive credit as an editor in the book, as well as a copy of the paperback.

Suggest Tips & Tricks

If you’re not the copy-editing type, then share your best tips and tricks for any of the subject areas. If your suggestion is chosen for print, you will receive credit and may choose  either the ebook or mini card deck.

The book will be ready for the copy editors by midnight CST tonight. You will have until Friday, Jan. 22, at noon CST to return your proof and/or submit tips & tricks.

Please use the comments to contact me about this opportunity! I appreciate your support!

I also now realize that I failed to mention who was on this trip with me. The 14 Scharfs were who decided to trek to South Africa for a family vacation: Grandpa & Grandpa, my uncle and his wife and 4 kids, my aunt and her daughter, another cousin, and of course my parents and me. We had an amaaazing 2 weeks with a minimal amount of stress, fuss and worry. My family rocks!!

So anyway, back to the story: Saturday, January 2, we drove from the elephant location (Nelspruit) to Joberg so we could catch a fight the next day to Cape Town. That night I was so exhausted I fell asleep shortly after arriving at the hotel at 7pm and slept until about 4am. When I woke then, it was to find the room very hot because their was no electricity. I admit I became quite frightened, but calmed a bit when I realized the cousin I was rooming with was awake too. Then we heard two scary screams. I didn’t think I would sleep again but I did somehow.

I liked Cape Town from the beginning. We had a hotel within a ten minute drive from the waterfront. The waterfront was full of places to shop and fun restaurants. Of course the seafood was great (I even fell in love with calamari) but if you think Nebraskans know how to fix steak, you need to go to South Africa. Oh. My. Goodness. *drools* Even my 80 year old Nebraska cattle rancher grandpa claimed he had the best steak of his life! I would also recommend trying kudu which is a deer/impala/antelope like animal that is served similarly to steak.

While at Cape Town, we also went on a harbor cruise on the Jolly Roger pirate ship. This fine vessel was chosen by my 80 year old Grandma A small dolphin pod surfed in our wake and we saw several seals cracking shells on their bellies. My dad and I are also convinced we saw two great whites beneath the waves (actually quite possible since they offerred shark cage diving not too much farther up the coast).

We left Cape Town and made the short drive to the wine country and Stellenbosch on Jan. 5. On the way we stopped at a winery that also had several hand-raised cheetahs which we were able to pet! After seeing the wild ones on the safari, it was extra cool to be up close and personal.

The main reason for visiting Stellenbosch was because one of my cousins decided to study abroad there next semester. We stayed in the oldest hotel in all of South Africa! After 2 churches burned down on that location between 1642 and 1800, the hotel opened in 1802.

The 6th was spent touring two of the maaaany wineries around Stellenbosch. The first we visited had a castle for their goats, and the next had glass blowing. The countryside was beautifully lined with rows and rows of grapes.

Today, Thursday Jan. 7, the Scharf clan trooped over to check out the University of Stellenbosch. It was a lovely campus and boasts the largest underground library in the southern hemisphere. There was also an on-campus store selling 3 things: student ID photos, flash drives…. and stun guns. Overall though we liked what we saw and are sure she will have a great time!

We departed from South Africa at 1:50pm local time. After an hour delay, we nearly missed our final flight. It was a photo finish to an amazing trip!

Tips For Future South Africa Travellers

• The South African currency is the rand (currently about 7 rand to one dollar).
• Meals average $6-8 fastfood and $10-15 for a great steak or seafood dinner. If you order salad, specifically say if you’d like it before your meal!
• There doesn’t actually seem to be “fast” food. In fact, everything operates much slower than Americans are used to. Expect your food 1-2 hours after ordering.
• Tap water is generally safe. Save a few rand and specify wanting a pitcher of tap water when at restaurants or you may get sparkling in a bottle.
• Absolutely make sure to do a safari!
• “Chips” usually means French Fries.
• Make sure to drink lots of water and wear sunscreen!
• There are many market places to barter for great take-homes.
• You will hear musical hits from United States artists from the 70s to today, all on the same radio station and in even the most modern places.
• Don’t be alarmed at the locals walking between cars stopped at a light. To them its a perfectly acceptable time to try to sell you goods.
• Almost every sign is written in English so you should have little trouble navigating, although if you rent a car you may want to rent a GPS too.
• Visit more than one location and drive between them when possible. South Africa has a rapidly changing, very beautiful landscape.

Stay tuned for the visual story!