Social Media Reading - 061809 Part Two

• Borders and Walls are Man-Made - This is a really great post about not letting fear stifle what you really want to do. About a week ago, I started this new social media blog. And, fear is the biggest thing that has kept me from starting it sooner. I don't think that I am as witty as other people that are talking about social media, and I don't feel that I have as much experience. But, I felt like I had something to say, and it was time to start saying it.
• If Google ranked your posts on Twitter, would it change how you tweet? - I'm relatively new to tweeting, so I can't say that it would change the way that I tweet or not. The people that are on Twitter to make money and/or raise their SEO of their sales / marketing web sites, probably would change how they tweet.
  

Tips and Tricks

• 15 Fascinating Ways to Track Your Twitter Trends - I use a combination of tools to monitor Twitter. The primary reason I use two different set of tools is because my work's IT department won't let us install desktop applications. At home, I use Seesmic Desktop for most of what I do, except for favorites (that I use Hootsuite). At work, I use tweetgrid if I'm trying to follow Hashtags, and Hootsuite to follow Twitter. Some of the links on this page are more about finding out what's "popular" vs. actually tracking your brand.
• Five Missing Features of Twitter - I agree with most of these, especially the retweet button. One of the reasons I find trying to use the twitter homepage is its lack of a retweet function. It is interesting though how because the twitter platform is so basic, that so many other pieces of software / web sites have popped up to be more feature-rich. I love that level of innovation and wonder if it would have come about if Twitter had been more feature-rich to begin with?
  
• How engaged are your followers on Twitter? - How many followers to do you have on Twitter, and are they engaged? Two great ways to check how engaged your followers are - clicks and retweets.