Tag Archives: twitter


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A Look Back: My First Twitter 10

Friend and colleague Jeffrey Levy, in conversation the other day, said he went back to the beginning….of his days on Twitter that is, to see who he first started following. So, I did the same. It caused me to reflect on my own Twitter activity. Therefore, without further ado, my first Twitter 10: (take-aways listed afterwards)

1.    @misslacey123: Lacey is the one who got me on Twitter. We are both Mizzou J-School alums who have re-located to the great DC. She mentioned it one day as her and her colleagues at PBS were starting to explore it. At first, I was a little skeptical. But obviously, Twitter’s functionality grew on me!

2.    @bbravo: I’ve been a long-time fan of Britt’s Have Fun * Do Good blog and last fall joined in with her on the Changebloggers movement. So, I wasn’t too surprised to see that I started following Britt on Twitter from the get-go.

3.    @NetSquared: NetSquared is a great resource for all socially-inclined organizations as they are “remixing the Web for social change through social tools.”

4.    @osocio: This blog was the very first blog that I became a fan of and would read just about every day. Mark and his team do an excellent, excellent job at showcasing social advertising from around the world. Upon discovery of this blog, I talked about it all the time, showed it to my graduate classes, recruited others to check it out. And, this is back when Osocio went by Houtlust!

5.    @TechSoup: TechSoup is a leader when it comes to non-profits and Technology. They and its members are a wealth of resources. When I first joined Twitter, I wanted to connect with the non-profit community. Since then, its expanded into the social change community, which also umbrellas the non-profit community.

6.    @mikekujawski: I saw very early on that Mike was leading the way for social marketing amongst public sector organizations up in Canada and immediately admired his work and became inspired. This is because I could relate. He is a member of the “new wave” of social marketeers who are willing to go the distance for social good. Mike is one of the first, out of many, that I would continue to identify, encourage and admire.

7.    @elliotthoffman–Elliot is an acquaintance from way back in high school. We were both in one of my good friends weddings and we both happen to enjoy technology. Reminded me of take-away #4, to follow-up and reconnect with those you haven’t checked in with lately.

8.    @_FakeSteveJobs–Not quite sure what made me start following FakeSteveJobs, maybe I was hoping, along with others, that maybe, just maybe, it really was the RealSteveJobs. Having been outed and no updates since August 2007, I have now “unfollowed” this account.

9.    @cnnbrk–One of my best friends I made in grad school was a CNN fanatic. She knew any breaking story before the rest of us and in the midst of class would update us with important information. Then, she showed me her secret: CNN email alerts. Becoming quite the fan-atic myself, I found them on Twitter. Given its friendly banter with @aplusk earlier this year, @cnnbrk is continues to stay relevant.

10.  @penguinasana–Megan is the online community manager for TechSoup, so it was a natural decision to follow her given my interest in NetSquared and TechSoup. Admitedly though, I haven’t engaged in as much conversation as I’d like. So, Megan, if you’re listening, I look forward to connecting with you and the TechSoup team more. =)

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This exercise provided me with 4 key take-aways:

1.  Remind yourself. Make sure you go through who you are following and who is following you to remind  you of your friends, potential friends and fellow people who you might have things in common with. Notice I did not say, “Remind yourself of your audience.” Your followers should not be your audience, but more of an active hive that you leave and return to with information, resources, questions, and more.

2.  Double check your stream for active participants. Since some people sign up for Twitter and then never use it or use it just to “push out” information, your list might need a slight refresh.

3.  Evaluate your own use of Twitter. When you first started, you might have been more in an “experimental” phase or started for a different reason than why you currently use Twitter. Looking back at your intial follows/followers can provide some good reflective insight for thought.

4.  Follow-up with people and connect in conversation. At one point you connected. It could be a former colleague, friend or co-worker. If you haven’t chatted it up in a while, get those DM’s and @ replies to work. You never know what new projects they may be working on, new interests you may have in common or opportunities for collaboration that might develop. Plus, life is too short and time is too precious, especially in the social media space.

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What about you? Who were your first First Twitter 10? Did they surprise you? And better yet–do we happen to have any of the same ten in common?

flickr credit: holeymoon

Twitter Bios: Experts Versus Beer

What you say in your Twitter bio makes a difference. You get 160 characters to describe yourself, share an outlook on life or to define your work. If you’re curious what others say, you are not alone.

Through some fancy Google search queries, the folks at Twitter Truth were able to discover that the following words were mentioned in Twitter bios:

“Twitter” =14,300x 

SEO’ = 4,980x

Beer’ = 20,300x

‘Expert’ = 4,060x

‘Democrat’ = 311x

‘Republican’ = 872x

‘Liberal’ = 1,130x

‘Conservative’ = 2,280x

‘News’ = 49,100x

‘PR’ = 8,420x

‘New Media’ = 8,190x

Now, if you are a job seeker, over 1,000 people were identified as having the word “recruiter” in their bio. Now that might make ya go hmm…and in case you’re wondering who they are, I was hoping you’d ask: 1,000+ Recruiters on Twitter.

Expert Versus Beer

What I found interesting, was that over 4,000 tweeps use the word “expert” in their bio while over 20,000 tweeps use the word beer. So, the question I ask you is, would you rather hang with the expert or with the beer? 😉 That’s what I thought.

Some Twitter Bio Tips:

1. Be real.

2. Be you.

3. Tell us what you do, or

4. Tell us what you love.

5. Be funny, but not obnoxious.

More Resources:

5 Tips to Optimize Your Twitter Profile

Joel Heffner Offers 6 More Great Tips I’d Agree With

Why Your Twitter Bio is Important

Chad Norman’s Personal (Compelling) Case Study of Optimizing Bios

What others Twitter bio tips might you suggest?

Social Marketing Bulletin–List of Change, Local Public Health and More

It’s been awhile since the last Social Marketing Bulletin, but all the more reason to get on with the show. The Bulletin includes items that encompass social change, social marketing and social media:

1. FEATURED: “I Know. I Took the Test.” I chose this initiative because it encompasses social change, social marketing and social media, as well as public health, non-profits, and government 2.0. What is it? The cross-collorative effort to recognize National HIV Testing Day on June 27th from AIDS.gov, the CDC, the White House’s Act Against AIDS campaign and other work by sister agencies including healthfinder.gov and womenshealth.gov. I’m excited to participate and observe this effort evolve as it is agencies walking the walk and reaching across agency lines to serve the people. (disclosure: I work with healthfinder.gov and am doing work to support this effort. However, I’d still feature it as I believe AIDS.gov is doing amazing work and blazing trails for fellow HHS agencies and public health!)

2.  SOCIAL CHANGE: Beth Kanter, Geoff Livingston and Shannon Whitley announced the launch of the “List of Change.” The list is a compilation of social change blogs and currently is over 75+. If yours isn’t added yet, feel free to join the rest of us changebloggers and help spread the word!

3.  PUBLIC HEALTH: Friend and colleague Andre Blackman recently posted an excellent interview/case study on how folks in Salt Lake City are utilizing social media for public health. Highlights include discussion on the YouTube video they created in-house with a flip camera, iMovie and a $0 budget, as well as their integrated approach.

4. GOVERNMENT 2.0: Related, I am part of the Program Committee for Tim O’Reilly’s Gov’t 2.0 Expo and Showcase in September. (This is a volunteer role.) At this event, anyone can submit a proposal to present. I am rallying anyone (especially public health agencies) at all levels of government to submit entries. I also know that the committee is looking forward to hearing from a more diverse collection of proposals from near and far, as well as more local and state agencies.

5.  GOVERNMENT 2.0: Sunlight Labs recently put together an in-depth evaluation and suggested re-design for the U.S. Supreme Court. Reading through the blog and studying the before-and-after designs, there are many take-aways in communicating online. Some themes I noticed were one: 1) Simplify. 2) Provide graphics and images to paint your story, and 3) Design, think and write from the consumer’s perspective, not the organization’s.

6.  SOCIAL MEDIA: A new Twitter study was announced from Pace University and Participatory Media Network. One conclusion from this study was that “Only 22% of 18-24 yr. olds are on Twitter.” Interestingly, another Twitter study from the Harvard Business Review came out which found that the Top 10% of Twitter users produce 90% of Twitter activity. Makes ya go hmmm…Still not sure what Twitter is? Just out Mashable’s Top 7 Twitter Tutorials on YouTube.

7.  EVENTS: Next week will be the “Games for Health” Conference on June 11 and 12 in Boston. I can’t attend, but will be sure to be following along on Twitter as my latest blog crush is the blog healthGAMERS. Other events coming up this summer include the Social Marketing in Public Health Conference later in June and CDC Health Marketing Conference in August. For more events, check out SB’s eventst page.

8. SOCIAL MARKETING: The number of “social marketeers” on Twitter continues to expand. Social marketing and behavior change folks and thought leaders I’ve identified include: @nedra (Nedra Weinreich), @chiefmaven (Craig Lefebvre), @sm1guru (Mike Newton-Ward), @stephendann (Stephen Dann), @ssuggs (Suzanne Suggs), @socMKT (Dr. Stephan Dahl), @socialmktgNW (McCann Erickson’s Social Marketing Shop), @jimgrizzell (Jim Grizzel), @mikekujawski (Mike Kujawski), and @JimMintz (Jim Mintz). Great to have more people joining us here!

9.  SOCIAL MARKETING: Worldways, a social marketing agency based in Colordo, is revving up with its new blog We Take Sides. Don’t you love that title? I think it’s great positioning because it places them as a leader, who isn’t scared about saying and doing what they believe in.

What did you catch this week in the world of social change, social marketing and social media that you think deserves a shout out?

Is Anyone Listening to Social Media Anymore?

I feel my current observations beg this question.

Many are discovering the joys of social media, and as more people are pushing out their materials, whether opportunists or conversationalists, I feel like there is more and more pushing happening, than actual listening, are better yet, engaging.

3 Points of Evidence

  • The Anti-Fan Movement: The brilliant Geoff Livingston alluded to this very issue himself when he recently recently wrote, “Twitter’s incredible growth has caused incredible follower populations and corporate/personal marketing activity. It’s also causing a backlash.”  In his full post, he also alludes to three other bloggers who also allude to this same phenomenon. Thus, Livingston decided to take action and therefore installed the “Geoff Livingston Anti-Fan Page.” According Livingston, the anti-fan movement is for those that “…are tired of follower packs, friend counts, and clamours for social media popularity. (and Livingston is not alone in his thoughts…)
  • Mark Drapeau (aka @cheeky_geeky) shares this observation based on his post, “SXSW? Forget It,” where he reminds us that we biologically can only remember so much mentality. And thus, alluding that the #SXSW tweets alone are so saturated with information by more people using Twitter that it’s hard to follow the backchannel conversation. Drapeau greatly reminds us of the important piece of information that we can’t remember ALL that information.  He also reiterated one of my favorite quotes: “It’s not information overload, but filter failure.”
  • Reverse Networking Effect: This article discusses the “reverse networking effect,” that in sum, describes the process that when new people join, others are motivated to leave. I find this true in myself when it comes to Twitter followers. I used to be so excited to get connected, engage and learn from a new person, and now, follow invites are often pushers, those trying to sell or get me to subscribe that I find myself becoming disheartened to some degree. I strongly encourage reading the article as it gives some good brain food to chew on.

What’s Your Observation?

Okay, I shared with you mine, and some other people’s opinions, what about yours? Do you feel people are still connecting online? Still engaging in that personal, authentic and communal spirit?

flickr photo credit: Orange_Beard

For Twitter Success, Just Add Meaning.

With Dr. Mark Drapeau’s ReadWriteWeb Goverati article yesterday, it seems that the beast is awakening and out of this slumber is arising more Twitter accounts, and thus more friends to meet and conversations to maintain.

As a new Twitter member, one may be wondering a series of questions that I hope this post offers a “quick guide” to successful Twitter use and community, with the key ingredient reiterated at the end.

“What is Twitter?”

Twitter is a micro-blogging social media tool that asks the question, “What are you doing?” Individuals, who have logged in and registered for the free service, answer the question within 140 characters or within multiple updates and then ‘update’ their status. Twitter works by individuals agreeing to ‘follow’ a certain Twitter account. Once following this account, the person then gets the account’s updates. It is a great medium that lends itself to both one-to-one communications, as well as one-to-many communications. In the past six months, Twitter has gone from 600k accounts, to 2.9 million accounts.

“How can I/We use Twitter?”

The list below outlines 13 different functions that both individuals and organizations can use Twitter’s platform to accomplish:

1.    Inquiry Response
2.    Reputation Management
3.    Promotion
4.    Event Planning
5.    Brand Equity
6.    Marketing
7.    Fundraising
8.    Reminders
9.    Emergency and Disaster Response
10.    Provide information, news and tips
11.    Research
12.    Conversation Tracking through Hashtags (i.e. #WAD08, #healthcomm)
13.    Social Networking

“Now what?”

  1. Find YOUR Voice. We all have different perspectives and a variety of experiences, and as I @cdorobek reiterate, we make each other better. Whether your Twitter handle is your real name or a nickname, it doesn’t matter, what matters…is getting started and getting involved.
  2. Add Value. Twitter’s capabilities are great. But for them to stick and for you to get the most out of it, you must find value not just in the technology, but in the conversations and those you connect with. Thus, respond, connect and engage.
  3. Create Meaning. This one stretches beyond Twitter, but into social media strategy in general. So, you create a blog, a wiki, a thingy-maggig, people aren’t going to use it unless it adds meaning to their lives.

“How do I connect?”

  1. For Government folks, check out GovTwit. And, have you signed up for Government 2.0 Camp yet? Are registered on Govloop?
  2. For Health folks, check out this top 100 health Twitter-ers list. (Also, be sure to check out next week’s DC Social Media Club event about Health 2.0 or there’s DC HealthCamp in late February, the Health 2.0 Conference).
  3. For others, check out Twitter packs, Twitter Search and the JustTweetIt directory.

“Where can I learn more?”

  1. Ogilvy’s Twitter Blog Posts Series
  2. Twit Tip Blog by Problogger, (@problogger)
  3. Government Micro-Blogging Information
  4. Twitter Support
  5. Twitter Wiki

In sum, just add meaning. This may seem easier said than done, so I want to help. What are your other Twitter questions? I can already think of a few (tools, metrics, etc.) Feel free to comment, and I will offer more in the comments. Finally, I too am on Twitter: @socialbttrfly. Feel free to follow, and I look forward to creating meaning together.

Words of the Year for 2008: What’s Yours?

One of the NY Times 2008 Buzzwords

2008 was a big and busy year, can you imagine having to choose just ONE word to describe it? Just ONE?!? Some of our favorite sources share what their “Words of the Year” are below:

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New OxFord American Dictionary: hypermiling. According to the Web site, Hypermiling was coined in 2004 by Wayne Gerdes and means “to attempt to maximize gas mileage by making fuel-conserving adjustments to one’s car and one’s driving techniques.” In 2008, with the soaring gas prices, many of found ourselves “hypermiling” or just miling…by running/walking on our two legs to work!

Merriam-Webster: Bailout. Does this one even need describing? According to the Web site, “bail out” is defined in Merriam-Webster’s Collegiate® Dictionary, Eleventh Edition as “a rescue from financial distress.” In 2008, the word received the highest intensity of lookups on Merriam-Webster Online over the shortest period of time. Other contender’s in Merriam-Webster’s top ten include: vet, socialism, maverick, rogue, misogyny, turmoil, trepidation, bipartisan, and precipice…All so positive sounding, don’t you think?

The New York Times. The Times, on the other hand, has chosen it’s set of “buzzwords” for 2008. These words include “Obamanation,” “Frugalista,” “Staycation,” “DigitalCliff,” “Fail,” and many others.

Webster’s New World Dictionary: Overshare. With popular votes taken and input from their editors, overshare was this year’s choice. According to the Web site, “overshare” is a verb that means to divulge excessive personal information, as in a blog or broadcast interview, prompting reactions ranging from alarmed discomfort to approval. In 2008, with information-mania and the economic problems as well, overshare can have stand for a plethora of meanings and correlations.

Global Language Monitor: Change. The other two in the top three were bailout and Obamamania.

SocialButterfly’s 2008 Word of the Year: Influence. For better or worse, as a buzzword, an academic concept or in terms of personal reflection, the word influence was spoken of, talked about, measured, desired, hated, calculated or loved. Thus, for me, the term “influence” describes 2008. (Web 2.0 was a close second, but that term has just gotten…grilled well and overdone.)

Twitter. In Twitter style, I asked SB follow-ers what their word for 2008 would be. One the respondents even mentioned that “Twitter” would be their word for the year! With the spike in news (and usage of Twitter) increasing daily, seems to make sense.

What do you think? Do you think these words say “2008?” Look forward to reading in the comments, what you would choose as your 2008 Word of the Year? Or, you can be like the American Dialect Society, and wait until January to reveal. They are taking nominations now. =)

Illustration by Jessica Hische
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Happy Birthday SocialButterfly…and Me!

Today marks SocialButterfly’s 1-year birthday.

This past year was full of surprises, new adventures, and has been such a great whirlwind that I feel much like the kitten in the picture – trying to catch my breathe and “paws.” My anthem for 2008 was “Too Blessed to be Stressed,” and many times, I found myself needing to be reminded of just that.

This past year, I:

  • Moved 4 times, one being from the middle of the Missouri River in Columbia, Missouri to the row houses of Capitol Hill.
  • Have been deliriously happy as a new bride-to-be. After a two-year, long distance relationship, my honey and I are now sharing the same city and enjoying building a new life together. Bless our hearts, we looked at 33 different places in DC before we decided upon our current apartment. Needless to say, I felt like we had earned our real estate licenses!
  • I graduated grad school, finished a fellowship, wrote and presented my thesis paper across the pond, and began a full-time gig doing what I love – social marketing and social media marketing.
  • Worked with a total of about 8 part-time volunteers, including my parents, one of my best friends, and a few people from our community in Arkansas, through a grassroots effort, created and built a fund raiser for Multiple Sclerosis and raised over $70,000 in one night – making my total efforts in four years of MS fund raising a total of $325k+.
  • Made many new friends and colleagues that continue to inspire me through Changebloggers, motivate me through connections on Twitter and online community, support me in my development and run the race with me….so to all you readers and friends, I hope I have done the same for you in return. If not, give me a little kick in the pants, and I’ll get going.

For 2009, who knows what will be next….but I promise you, we’ll be sure to keep it interesting. As a fellow reminder to both myself and my readers, keep perspective, and as a friend of mine once told me, “Keep the main thing, the main thing.”

Not only is it the blog’s birthday this week, but it’s also mine…in case the title through you for a loop. =)

flickr credit: loveberries
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Hookah: An Increasing Issue on the Public Agenda

Hookah3 Today, on SocialBttrfly‘s Twitter feed, womenshealth tweeted the following statistic:

“Hookah smoke has as much or

more nicotine and tar as

many filtered cigarettes.”

Hookah has recently been in the news due to health warnings concerning hookah users and their vulnerability to contracting herpes. A March 18, 2008 article from Colorado State University describes an incident where two students are believed to have contracted oral herpes from hookah activities due to the swapping of saliva that occurs.

However, other health effects are possible. Until I received the above tweet, I was unaware on the dangers of hookah. I have personally never done hookah nor really care to, but I know it is an increasing trend on many college campuses. A March 5, 2008 article in The Daily Orange describes this trend more:

“The sociality of hookah is also evidenced on a national level, with hookah bars beginning to open up in major cities as it becomes a trendy activity among teenagers and 20-somethings. “

Apparently, I am not the only one who is less informed about the health consequences of Hookah. According to a study conducted by the Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH), 79% of hookah smokers believe the flavored tobacco is safer than cigarettes. Type ‘hookah’ in Google news and evidence that the topic is increasing its prominence on the public agenda appears ten-fold.

So my next thought was: Are there any social marketing initiatives or PSAs that currently address this issue?

The only PSA I could find was this one on Youtube. The source I have yet to identify.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bYMnlrS78_k&hl=en]

If you know of more hookah PSAs or social marketing campaigns, please let me know.

For more information on the effects of smoking Hookah, visit CDC’s online factsheet or Womenshealth.gov’s informational description for more information.
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Yes, I did say this issue was brought to me in a tweet on Twitter by womenshealth, as in womenshealth.gov. For more information regarding the use of Twitter by non-profits, causes and government agencies, Nedra Weinreich of the social marketing blog, Spare Change, wrote an incredible post on this topic that I know you’ll find helpful.

3 of the Latest Reasons Why I Love Twitter

Ok. I’m joining the bandwagon of bloggers who are posting their love for Twitter.

Twitter

Twitter is a micro-blogging social media site that asks the question, “What are you doing?” Users who have logged in and registered for the free service can then answer the question within 140 characters or within multiple updates. Twitter works by people agreeing to ‘follow’ a certain Twitter account. Once following this account, the person then gets the account’s updates.

Users

Twitter also seems to be used by an older demographic according to Quantcast.com, with 24% of its users being between the age of 25-34, followed by 22% of users being 35-44, with 69% having a college education or higher.

Currently, the use of Twitter is greater outside of the United States according to the makers of Twitter. See graph below.

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One advantage to Twitter is that it is gaining in its popularity and recognition of its advances into mobile technology as Twitter has applications for cellphones, PDAs, and with other social media such as blogs, social networking sites and instant messenger, many of which, are free.

Twitter Case Studies

@womenshealth and @Health provide Tweets providing information and health tips that link to their home page. For more case studies that highlight the extent of health uses for Twitter, see Nedra Weinreich’s great post, Twitter for Health.

Thus, here are my top 3, latest and greatest reasons why I love Twitter.

1. Get to know the “day in the life” of CEOs who tweet

As more companies create a Twitter account, @zappos, @Jetblue, @southwest, etc….not only do I enjoy the frequent competitions to give out giveaways to Twitter followers…but you get to know the everyday happenings of those with some pretty cool jobs.

From my observation, the company’s Twitter account is run by the CEO, President or another higher up. As this person updates their tweets, it shows me more about what goes on in the lives of those with great responsibility….something you can’t get any other way, even in a blog.

2. There’s so much Potential

Twitter is constantly expanding. Almost everyday I’m seeing a new use for Twitter or a new Twitter application. Just scanning the Twitter Wiki, there are over 50 cool Twitter applications for Twitter metrics, Twitter mobile applications, multi-platform apps, SecondLife Twitter apps, Twitter for Mac apps, Twitter for Windows apps…. It’s just amazing. And, this is only the beginning.

3. It never gets boring

Twitter and the Twitosphere never gets boring. Twitter, in its natures, Inspires creativity and innovation with what can you do with 140 characters…here are some of the uses I’ve found:

  • Linking to recent blog posts
  • Twittfeed acting as an automatic feed for your blog
  • Linking to favorite news articles
  • Creating a buzz around certain issues to address issues
  • as a fund-raising tool
  • to launch a contest (@zappos told ppl to Twitt their fav. quote to them and the winner would get free shoes!)
  • To meet people in a new area
  • find contacts for new business
  • announce events
  • Twitter questions, tips, facts or ask for help. I.E Question: When did Columbus sail the ocean blue? Help: What blog platform do you recommend?

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So, Join the conversation! =). You can follow me @socialbttrfly

Web 2.0 Wednesday – Super Tuesday Super Cool: When Google Met Twitter

So, I’ll leave the political analysis to those more qualified, but I will point out a super cool social media event that also took place on Super Tuesday: Google Met Twitter.

Google teamed up with Twitter and Twittervision to show on Google maps, people’s comments through Twitter about the elections and Super Tuesday… and, it was live! Every few seconds the map would change and take you halfway across the world to a person’s comment in Malta, then to Australia, then to Southern California. This continued throughout the day. Then, as the night continued, reported live results too.

Talk about relevance!

This is what social media is all about…and can be about when used and optimized to full potential. Many social marketing clients may get nervous when venturing into new territory, and then again, nowadays, anyone can make a MySpace or a Facebook. But, taking the risks, venturing outside the box, adding to the tools in your belt, and you can come up with fun, interactive, attention-getting technology and marketing.

Wanted to share the tidbit.

Click here to check it out (not sure how long Google and Twitter plan on keeping the application live however).