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Posts Tagged ‘Tweet’

How to Really Gain Free Followers on Twitter

June 11th, 2010 by Admin | 8 Comments | Filed in Social Media & Media

Most people on Twitter want more followers. Followers are the people we communicate to or with and no one wants to talk to a blank wall.

There are good ways and scams, or unsuccessful ways to gain followers, even quickly. Unfortunately good people, especially those new to Twitter fall for the scams.

Like an adolescent experiencing a sudden acne breakout, Twitter goes through eruptions of Tweets that promise more Twitter followers.

These followers can come at a cost or be free, except that one must tweet the ads of the site that promises these followers.

What’s the Catch?

There are several catches to these schemes. How many catches varies by site and the reason(s) why a person who subscribes to the site wants followers in the first place.

Let’s assume that you want more people to follow you as this will give you a larger group of people to share your ideas and products to. Assuming that you have ideas worth sharing that people do and will benefit from this is a good goal. The people with the most followers on Twitter, including celebrities make it interesting and even fun for people to follow them.

This goal means that you want real, live and active followers. It is impossible to rally share with a robot, spammer or fake twitter account, because no one is reading Tweets.

Many of the schemes that promise Twitter followers involve fake or faux followers. These are accounts that are set up by one person or a group that exist for the purpose of following and spamming people with sales messages for products that they promote via tweets that are paid advertisements or affiliate sales messages. A site can promise you 100+ of these followers since all of these Twitter ID’s actually are set up, owned and run by the creator of the site. This may enhance one’s follower count, but will quickly downgrade your Twitter experience as these fake accounts spam you.

Another Scam that Can End Up With Great Results for All

Other sites and schemes offer lists of people who follow back. These reciprocal followers are also called Mutuals. The idea is that since Mutuals reciprocate and follow back, by following them one quickly gains followers.

I am well known as a Mutual who follows back. My Twitter ID, @judyrey is on most of these lists. If you think following people who follow you back works for you – and basically I highly recommend it—then this will work as a way to meet some interesting and often interactive Twitter people. Beware that some of these site also include spammer accounts that are setup to follow back but basically belong in the robot group mentioned above.

When a Twitter member follows me, or someone else who generally reciprocates with a follow, we both get a new follower who can become a friend and ally over time. An initial follow is a “Hello!”, not really a great commitment as anyone can easily unfollow.

The scam part happens when people follow a mutual with the mistaken idea that they will soon unfollow and somehow keep their new follower. This is a kind of bait and switch scam.

I do not know of any Twitter Mutuals who do not eventually unfollow people who unfollow them. Many unfollow and even block these scammers– and if they are spammers report them to @spam.

Along the line of Mutuals there are sites where a person can sign up to follow the people listed on the site and then become listed on the site oneself. This is not actual reciprocity of following but reciprocity of the number of people one follows from the site.

Since Twitter is a free site and service many people join, follow people and then disappear for days, months or even forever without closing their accounts. If these people have set their accounts to automatically follow back they can end up making the follow back lists and sites as Mutuals.

TIP:

If you are really interested in live people with active accounts then always look to see the date or time of a person’s last Tweet before you follow initiate a follow. By only initiating follows for people who have tweeted within the past day strengthens your odds of relating to an active Twitter account. Of course, the content of what the person Tweeted is also a factor in selecting people to follow.

Real Live Followers are Not Slaves

No one can give real live people to you as followers, nor can you buy them. This idea is nonsense unless slavery exists.

Of course, I suppose people could be paid to follow other people, but who hires an audience? Why would you want this?

Actual followers—people who want to see your Tweets and follow your links to articles and images — are real people just like you. And, just like you they deserve to be treated politely with respect. Probably, like you, they are worth the time to follow and to some degree get to know.

The best and easiest way to gain more followers is to reach out and follow people. Since you can always unfollow anyone, there is no risk to this. However, you probably want to change your settings so people only sent those thank you’s for the follow to your Direct Messages (DMs) and not your email also.

Use Wefollow.com and lists to discover interesting people to follow. If you follow people you especially like check out their lists to find interesting people to follow. Also follow people they recommend on Follow Friday. Many of these people will follow you back.

Perhaps my best piece of advice regarding gaining more followers, is to be your true self—the person you intrinsically are “meant” to be. Be authentic.

If you make a mistake, acknowledge it (I call myself the Tpyo Queen), but move on. Do not try to please others to gain followers.

As an artist I basically deal with art and inspiration, but verge off to other things that interest me, including social media, resulting in this blog. Tweet about what interest you, what you want to share to encourage, entertain, inform, inspire or even enlighten your followers. Some of this will be ReTweeted (RT) and will also gain you followers.

The Best Real Free Followers

The best real free followers are the people who actually read your Tweets and benefit from following you. This can involve interaction, but not always.

I am the kind of follower I would like most to have. I guess this is sort of a way to do onto others…As a follower, I lurk my Twitter stream, do read and follow links, but may not RT or comment on everyone I find that benefits or interests me. I RT based on whether the information will benefit my followers, not based on whether it will benefit the person who originated the tweet. However, except for news sources, I tend to basically RT the people who follow me.

Followers like me are free to gain. These followers are free to come, free to go, free to stay, interact and become friends. These are the best free followers.

Some people believe that having more people follow them than they follow somehow proves they are important. I figure that since I am interesting, and an artist founding a 21st Century theory of Post Conceptual Art, anyone who finds me interesting is probably pretty smart and interesting—thus someone I could learn from so I remain relevant and interesting myself. I am much happier swimming freely, even among bigger fish in an ocean, than being the biggest minnow in a teacup.

Happy, safe and fulfilling tweeting!

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Are you Spamming People’s DMs – & Don’t Know It?

May 28th, 2010 by Admin | 10 Comments | Filed in Social Media & Media

Many good Twitter members are sending Direct Messages (DMs) with links to sites and businesses other than their own, but do not realize it.  Are you one of them?

Due to Twitter API permissions there are sites that you may have visited once or innocently signed up for – and are no longer even using – that can continue to use your information to send out their links and info in DMs that come from your Twitter account.

Cautionary Advice

Before I tell you how to easily fix it please pause for a strong moment of cautionary advice. While the majority of the companies that use your account do so by gaining your permission in some way, this is also a tactic that phishers use. There are two steps that you can take to stay safe and help keep the people who follow you safe:

1. NEVER click on a link sent to you in a DM—unless you were expecting that link.

Example A : One of my trusted Twitter friends send me a link in a DM and tells me via phone, a tweet in the stream, an email, even in person to expect this specific link, which is identified in the DM tweet. This is a link I will open.

Example B: Same trusted Twitter friend send a link that looks really interesting, but that I was not informed to expect. I DM back and ask if the link is truly from them and do not click on that link until I have an affirmative reply.

2. ALWAYS inform anyone you send a DM with a link that you are sending such a DM.

Example: If you follow me you have occasionally seen this kind of a Tweet in my public timeline “@FictionalTwitterMember just sent you a DM with a link”

If your followers know that you will always inform then of any links you send in a DM, should you fall prey to a phisher, your followers will know not to click on any links that come to them your DMs unless you first tell them about it.

The Fix

Log into your Twitter account and go to Settings. In settings Click on Connections.

Notice that every site listed has access to read and WRITE to your account. It is the WRITE part that is a problem. That means that the site has the opportunity to post to your account.

Many good sites and services do not take advantage of the Write opportunity to send links in your DMs or send their messages in your tweets. That Write factor is necessary so that the can gather and use your information exactly how you wish it to be used, including to simply verify your account so you can leave a comment or post a photo. I continue to grant access to about seven sites and services that I use, such as the sites of @wefollow, @mashable and @MrTweet, which is a good networking service that only tweets in the stream with one time permission for that event. I use buzzom.com to unfollow non followers who I’m not finding interesting (manually—I do not use bots on Twitter) and they are honorable (hence this unsolicited plug).

Other sites, such as True Twit Validation, Blip.fm continue to send links to their service via DMs that seem to be sent by you to your followers. This kind of thing happens to some really good Twitter members who sign in or sign up and think since they are not actively using the service they are done. Not true.

Less is more. If you are not sure about any service of site listed under Connections revoke the access. This will only affect the access from that service. You can always sign in again to it at a later time.

Why this Blog?

This blog was prompted by a number of followers who replied a DM from me that said something like, “Please stop sending me links in DMs. I never open them.” Some days, I just delete all the DMs with links (without reading them) but other times I fire off message like the one above.

What surprises me is that I get DMs in response that apologizes as people discover that their accounts are sending DMs with links.

My purpose here is simply to be helpful to my Twitter followers. I feel I have a relationship and responsibility to my followers who look at my stuff—just as I have a relationship as an artist to viewers and collectors of my art. I want you to live a more inspired, safer life where you are more of your authentic best self.

As an artist and inspirational write and speaker, I have no personal interest or ties to any of the social media apps or sites other than as a fan or member. Twitter is one of my favorite social media sites where I can share my art and the new Post Conceptual Art theory I am founding, plus make art, artists and fine art museums and non-profit spaces more relevant in people’s lives.

If you use a free service or site that shows up in your connections that you would recommend to others please add it to the comments below. I will check them out (due to spammers and phishers) and do my best to include the safe ones in the comments. This helps provide the Twitter community with a list that is freely open to all and can be used safely.

Thanks, and happy and safe Tweeting!

[Note: for more on DMs see: How to Deal with Thank You's in Twitter DMs – both Sending and Receiving ]

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5 Steps to Successfully Getting a Link Clicked on via Twitter or Facebook

April 29th, 2010 by Admin | 1 Comment | Filed in Social Media & Media

Following and sending links on Social Media, especially Twitter and Facebook is a part of our daily routine that enriches our lives.

It is important to me to continue a two-way conversation (and on Twitter I do follow back followers and converse), which includes enticing others to read and my blogs that include artwork and writings and finding other good blogs, articles and images, which is just as much if not more fun for me. I am forever curious, and a born communicator who is first and foremost an artist but also a writer and speaker

There are five simple steps to for success with links.

What works and what doesn’t for a link.

It is fairly easy to successfully share information via links, yet I am finding too many people do not fully understand how to successfully accomplish having their links viewed and also on Twitter RTed.

1. The Destination of the Link:

The first priority for any link is the article or image is what you are linking to.

Make the blog, article or image worthwhile for those who follow you.. Give value not junk, which may get you unfollowed or unfriended even if it is not spam. Think of your Twitter, Facebook, MySpace or other Social Media interactive messages as a kind of TV or radio channel that you are producing. While you can, and probably should be a bit personal, think of the viewer and make your messages interesting.

This also goes for anything you ReTweet or resend. Never resend anything only for the sake of the sender. Think only of your audience’s benefit.

2. The Link Itself.

A. Make sure that your link actually goes to where you think it goes.

Recently I have followed far too many links from good people to what promised to be good information that did not actually lead to that information.

Example One: I followed a link to an article that went directly to Bloomberg .com where I guess it had been the lead article a short time before. Now, there was a new lead article, which had nothing to do with the art article I wanted to read. I had to search using keywords to find my article on Bloomberg.  NEVER link to an article simply by using the dot com address!

Generally you can find the actual link to any article on a news site of blog by double clicking the title of the article. The page may seem to remain the same but the URL in your browser will change to a unique address. Shorten that address and use it as a link.

Example Two: This happens frequently. Someone sends Twitter link to a post on someone’s Facebook Fan page. This is a really bad idea. Although I am a member of Facebook, if I am not signed in, I have to do so to read the link. About half the time it may not be worth the time and effort. Plus, not everyone is a member of Facebook. Finally, Facebook continues to experience downtime and busy outages. I hit one today re a link that Facebook informed me would be up and running again shortly. And the Twitter sender had only just posted it.

B. Post the information to a blog or image hosting site and then link from Twitter, Facebook and other sites to that. If you want to upload the blog or image to Facebook, do it, but link to your blog from a site like Twitter.

Always check that a link works before you send it in a message.

C. Shortening the Link

Assuming you hope to not only get people to click on your link, but also click on subsequent links, use your link shortener wisely. Currently I use bit,ly. I have also happily used ow.ly and gd.com. These shorteners have an advantage. If a person finds another article on my site—or someone else’s site that I’ve linked to, the reader can easily Tweet or message that new location. I am not going to “out” any shorteners, but some make this impossible. Personally, I want to encourage the dialogue, whether it is from my blogs or someone else’s.

3. The Tweet or Message that Announces or promotes the link

Indicate what the link is about. We assume it is something really interesting, informative or entertaining that your friends or followers could want to see.

If the article or blog has a title, use it!

Tell what the picture or artwork is about and who it is by.

If the article is from a news source indicate the source if possible.

Bad Examples:

”Look at this (then the link)”

“Please look at this and tell me what you think (then the link)”.

“New blog post (then the link)”

“Cool photo I took yesterday! (then the link)”

Good Examples:

New blog: Why You Need to Do Something or Other to Live Better (then the link)”

“Pres. Obama to Do Something or Other Important NYT : (then the link)”

“Photo of me with my friends at the beach (then the link)”

“Art by JaneDoe Artist at QWERTY Gallery (then the link)”

Note that the link can also be placed in the middle of a message, if you have more to say after it.

4. Link Etiquette

Phishers and wicked people who wish to send vial attacks use shortened links in emails, including those on Facebook and other forms of private messages such as twitter’s DMs. One of the kindest things that you can do for your friends, followers, fans and anyone you email is to never, ever send a shortened link in one of these types of private messages.

The exception may be a Twitter DM, but in that case always pre-inform the recipient through the Twitter stream that you just actually sent them a link in a DM. That pre-announcement in the stream is something that phishers will not do.

Personally, I announce regularly that I do not send or click on any shortened links in private special messages, including even newsletters.

This is important because anyone, even me can make a foolish mistake, especially when tired or feeling under the weather or harried and click on a link that will be regretted.. It happened to a very web savvy friend of mine with a PhD, and so it can happen to me or you too.

Since phishers scheme to take over known and trusted accounts my friend though the message came from someone she actually knew and trusted. Just one tiny mistake and an account will send out phishing messages as emails and DMs to the people who trust you. This is why I want everyone who trusts me to know that if they get a shortened link from me—do not click on it—instead email me back to see if I actually sent it. I strongly advise you to exclusively use long links in private messages!

5. The Next Link

One link sort of leads to another. If you want people to check out your next link take care with the one at hand. Social Media is an ongoing conversation, not a one time kamikaze hit that takes a person to a squeeze page; that is for spammers, not you. The best way to promote your nest links and be a trusted and significant presence in the conversation is to take care with each link that it easily conveys the viewer to the destination of the material which is expected and worthwhile.

Acknowledgements

I wrote this article because of too many recent actual experiences with links that failed to go where they were supposed to that were sent by good people spreading interesting or important information. Some of the information in this article I first learned from Chris Brogan (@chrisbrogan )and Guy Kawasaki (@guykawasaki), who are Social Media masters. If you are on Twitter or Facebook, I strongly suggest you follow them and also learn more about social media from their You Tube channels. Plus, Guy heads up Alltop and probably is the all time link maven for interesting material! They did not suggest or pay me to make this recommendation,. I make it because I know if you follow them my experience on Social Media will be even better.

Happy linking!

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Twitter Hope: Happy, Fulfilled and Safe

January 5th, 2010 by Admin | 1 Comment | Filed in Inspirational Stuff, Social Media & Media

If you are on Twitter you know I, @judyrey,  usually begin and end my day Tweeting my hope that  followers (and readers) are “happy, fulfilled and safe.”

On an almost daily basis that message is ReTweeted. It moves people, and that makes me happy because it is sincere and my real hope.

What do I mean by it?

First, as some Twitter members have mentioned, it is a blessing. I was and continue to be inspired to send it. I actually prayed before the first time I Tweeted it, asking for a message and blessing for all followers.

I cannot come up with a better greeting of sign off Tweet or message as I sometimes use it on Facebook.

The English word “happy” translates to “blessed” or “barak “, which is also a Hebrew name you may recognize.

I begin with the heartfelt hope that my Twitter and sometimes Facebook friends are blessed.

In truth, most everyone is blessed just by being alive, but my intent is that each friend feels or is experiencing being blessed. That recognition puts a person in the position of gratitude and abundance.

All of humankind’s major faiths teach that when we feel we have rather than lack, we will be blessed with more. It is a primary lesson of Job, the earliest book in the Bible.

When I use the word “fulfilled” I refer to being on your unique path in life. I am sure that each person has special gifts and ways to give to the world. When we are in the moment, in the now — what athletes call “in the flow” we are most fully alive and on our path.

For me  being fulfilled involves living inspired, which is easy to say and type but on a moment to moment basis very difficult. Yet, we all have experienced those moments. This is what I pray for my friends and loved ones to be do and have always.

The word “safe” has many ramifications. For me, the major way that I feel safe is when I am fulfilled and feel close to The Divine (always substitute your own name for The Divine when I use the term). Safe means safe from feel, worry, lack, pain and other unwanted negative emotions, etc.

My wish and prayer for your safety also means safe from disease, injury, famine, exposure to extreme elements, and intolerance. We need to be safe from intolerance to fulfill our purposes and share our Divine gifts with the world.

It blesses and fulfills me to wish and pray that my friends and loved ones, including collectors, readers of my blogs (you!), articles and books, be, do and have a happy, fulfilled and safe day and life.

I must admit that expressing that wish, and living where I can safely express it, makes me happy and fulfilled too.

I hope wherever you are, whatever you’re doing, that you’re happy, fulfilled and safe!

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Nominate @persiankiwi for a Free Iran

October 30th, 2009 by Admin | 1 Comment | Filed in Inspirational Stuff, Social Media & Media

The Open Web Awards are currently accepting nominations. This is the third year for the awards, which are presented by Mashable and Motorola. From the categories it is clear that the awards began to celebrate and promote web innovation, especially in social media.

One category is Tweet of the Year

Three years ago it was unlikely, if not impossible to foresee some of the ways that people would use social media. Twitter was still being promoted as a place where one could go to let friend’s know you are enjoying a cup of coffee. Some people continue to use it as such.

But a large and growing number of people now rely on Twitter to meet new and interesting people, plus get or announce real time news and events.

One of those people was an Iranian known as @persiankiwi.

@persiankiwi came to be one of the people, perhaps the person who represented the unsung heroes who risked their welfare and lives to bring us reports, via Tweetcasts of the Iran Freedom protests. This Twitter member became so well respected and known that he/she merits a page on Wikipedia .

@persiankiwi’s follow count continues to grow along with his Twitter legend since his last tweet at 11:36 AM June 24 th . He is already included on 23 lists as I write this, although the list function is still in Beta testing stage.

@persiankiwi’s poignant second to last tweet deserves to win for Best Tweet of the Year – but there’s a catch that disqualifies him.

According to the Social rules: “The nominee must be publicly available.”

In other words, anyone who wins the award, or representatives of a company, has to be able to accept the award, which is generally a good rule as it excludes criminals, spammers, and fictional characters. Three years ago this was a good rule.

However, unlike the Nobel prizes, The Academy Awards, Grammys, Emmys, and many other notable awards, the rule also excludes political prisoners and those who became deceased during the year.

That rule means that nominations for any of the any of the brave Iranians who risked their lives for freedom by peaceable means by posting Tweets, videos, pictures, blogs and messages to Social Media and web sites.

NEW!  Until November 11, 2009 we only knew that @persiankiwi was arrested by the unconstitutional Iranain dictatorship forces on  June 24, 2009. Due to this article and campaign, on November 11, 2009 @judyrey received compelling evidence that @persiankiwi is alive and supports this nomination and effort.

We know that as things stand, even if “The Kiwi” as many of us called him might not be allowed to travel to the USA, where is would be an instant media darling as he reported first hand on the repressive and brutal dictatorship in Iran. However, @persiankiwi seems to be available to come to the USA, unless prevented by the Iranian government to now all the nomination criteria are met!

We can bring good publicity to the awards, social media, the ongoing cause on and beyond social media of real freedom, democracy and religious tolerance in Iran, plus be a tribute to @persiakiwi and those brave Iranian members of social media and the peaceful Green movement.

Although the brave and usually peaceful Iranian freedom protesters used many forms of social media well, it was the moment by moment Tweetcasts that upstaged and usurped the reporting of traditional media, such as CNN, BBC and NYT.

While You Tube videos are and were riveting and incredible, there is not one specific videographer who stands out. There are several shot from various angles of most of the important events. There is not one single You Tube video or Flickr picture that can be successfully attributed to any individual. What is impressive and newsworthy is that there are such a grand amount of visual materials uploaded despite the ongoing peril of injury, imprisonment, torture and even death for such activity.

There are two tweets that memorably stand out

One inspired a new large scale work of art that I am creating. Immediately after it was tweeted by an Iranian protector many people RTed it, or translated it into many of the world’s languages.

I call it the “Tweet heard around the World”. Unfortunately, I have no idea who originally tweeted it.

My own Art Tweet, using a Twitter character I created and a painting that uses strokes that are the original letters of the Bibles book of Esther, which is set in Persia is below. It is part of a large scale art piece and group of works about Social Media and the Iran Protests for Freedom that I am creating.

“Tweet Heard ‘Round the World” (detail) by Judy Rey Wasserman

Although by the Social Media Award rules we could nominate my artistic rendition of this tweet, the honor of representing the cause of Iran’s freedom needs to go to a brave Iranian not me, even though for a while my Twitter Profile sported the information that I lived in Tehran. In reality I am the American artist who is the founder of Post Conceptual Art, including the branch known as UnGraven Image.

(more…)

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Celebrating National Day of Prayer on Twitter

May 7th, 2009 by Admin | 2 Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Thursday, May 7, 2009 is National Prayer Day in the USA .

Prayer is understood to be communication with the Divine. Most major religions in the world involve prayer in some way in there teachings and rituals.

Prayer is an immediate, present time communication.

Twitter has become the Internet’s number one place for immediate present time communication.

Twitter members have created and celebrated real time events through hash tag gatherings, such as New Year’s Eve, #jourchat and #pillow on World Pillow Fight Day [See TwitterWhack! World Pillow Fight Day –Twitter as Interactive Conceptual Art ]] hash tag “parties “ such as the one held this past New Year’s Eve.

On the National Day of Prayer Twitter members of all faiths are able to gather together through the ongoing #pray4 to Tweet their requests and pray for others’ requests. #pray4 is open to all members. It can be easily found by entering the term “#pray4” in Search.

Tweets began going out and being ReTweeted on May 5 th, asking that members Tweet one heartfelt request to #pray4 on Thursday, May 7 th , 2009 and also asking that members visit #pray4 to pray.

Although on any other day a Tweet to a particular member announcing that one is praying for the belongs as a DM as a whispered, private aside, far more than it belongs in the stream, Perhaps on this day of prayer it is fitting to Tweet these in the stream. An example of such a message could be “@TwitterFriend I just prayed for your request at #pray4.”

Let’s remember that this day is a celebration of our religious freedom, our diversity and friendship that goes far beyond tolerance. These ideals that are part of the Constitution of the USA, and also are held by many other countries world wide are also echoed in Twitter’s Terms of Service agreement.

Light of Hope

Light of Hope

Strokes: Psalm

Personally I thank and encourage others to join with me thanking @Ev, @Biz and all the people of Twitter for the opportunity we have on a world wide scale that is unlimited by Twitter to come together to communicate our concerns, hopes, truths, joy and friendship. Please include our Twitter hosts in your prayers on this day. None of these celebrations or events mentioned in this blog were or are created by or promoted by Twitter.  Twitter provides a microblogging site and service, where members create content for the community, which is governed by its TOS.

Most of all though this is a day when we can come together to pray for the US and it’s leaders (whether we agree with them or not), those who serve here and abroad and all Americans, plus people throughout the world that we could all know and enjoy peace and prosperity.

[Judy Rey Wasserman is the Founder and an Artist of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art, which among other things is the first theory of religious art founded in the USA . Being uniquely American, it is fully inclusive for all. Learn more at http://ungravenimage.com ]

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How Using Twitter Increases Intelligence

March 18th, 2009 by Admin | 13 Comments | Filed in Uncategorized

Why being active on Twitter is like can be like playing brain games to increase awareness, perception and intelligence

Among the Social Media sites Twitter stands out as unique for its short 140 Tweets (micro blogs) and totally visual presentation. While other social media sites rush to incorporate video, music, groups, games, and other applications, Twitter execs keep plodding along ignoring possible competition and just being twitter. Twitter is all sight, no sound, no video, and as its screen based so smell or taste – just messages with 140 characters.

According to Wikipedia : “Intelligence (also called intellect ) is an umbrella term used to describe a property of the mind that encompasses many related abilities, such as the capacities to reason, to plan, to solve problems, to think abstractly, to comprehend ideas, to use language, and to learn.”

Recent scientific discoveries in neuroscience have shown that a healthy human brain can continue to grow, by adding more connections and even mass throughout one’s lifetime. People can actually gain intelligence. What makes the difference is how one uses one’s brain on an ongoing basis. Stimulated, challenged and learning brains grow.

Spending time interacting on Twitter on an ongoing basis can foster growth in many kinds of intelligence.

Spatial, Visual and Kinetic Intelligence

Twitter is the most immediately interactive of all the major social media sites. Whether a person uses Twitter straight from the web (my personal favorite) or uses apps to break the streams up, such as TweetDeck , the stream continues to roll by. Blink and one may miss important information or a link, a great joke –or a comment in a fascinating conversation between other members.

Much like forms of instant messaging and chat, people hold real time conversations on Twitter. However, as the stream keeps moving the Twitter member must make quick decisions as whether and what to reply. This means that the type of viewing Twitter requires is not passive, but active and engaged. This is the type of viewing most aware and best suitable for learning.

Messaging back brings in the tactile or kinetic component as the Twitterer must use a keyboard and mouse quickly to message or copy and ReTweet (RT) someone’s message as the stream keeps relentlessly rolling along with new messages. While doing this many Twitters, have a second Twitter screen open to keep an eye out for other messages pertinent to the conversation while quickly composing one’s own reply.

This quick back and forth finding, reviewing and responding to several visual sources of scrolling information promotes greater skill with spatial, visual and kinetic (the typing) information. In a way this visually mirrors actively participating in a sport where one must follow a moving target, ball or player, access the situation and then take action in response.

Enhanced Creativity

Every great artist knows the luxury of rules and limits. Constraints foster creativity, as one seeks to get around them or at least transform them through one’s choices.

The Twitter rule of 140 characters per Tweet fosters creativity. One’s best idea or comment must be condensed to 140 characters and if one is in a conversation this must happen quickly. Plus if the message has a chance of being RTed and going viral, the maximum it can be is 128 characters. This extra shortening leaves space for one’s own Twitter ID, such as mine, @judyrey, plus the letters RT and a space.

The 140 character rule has prompted many creative abbreviations and terms within the Twitter community. For instance, the hashtag (#) sign is used to congregate messages on a topic, such as #pray4 or the most popular one, #TCOT (Top Conservatives On Twitter). Using a site such as http://search.twitter.com or http://tweetchat.com one can follow the separate # conversation much like a chat room.

While Twitter also incorporates texting abbreviations, terms, apps and many hash tag abbreviations are subset of English unique to Twitter, which fosters language learning skills.

Interpersonal and Emotional Intelligence

Twitter is a social site that fosters relationships. Aside from the celebrities and gurus who are followed for obvious reasons, the people who have the most followers often follow back and busily interact and build relationships. Just as in any real village, people who are popular are helpful, interested in other people, fun and busily interacting with others.

In order to explain #TCOT above, I turned to the Twitter stream at about 2 AM EDT on a Sunday evening and asked, “ What does #TCOT actually stand for T C O T? Needed for an apolitical blog article on Twitter & how it can promote intelligence.”

Within a minute I had five replies. When I Direct Messaged the people who replied asking permission to use their account ID’s in this article four immediately replied, while the fifth seemed to have stopped tweeting for the evening. In alphabetical order credit goes to @Bass_ @eMarv @you_count @vanityfairer and @AngelaVCampbell for being helpful, knowledgeable and demonstrating how Twitter helps bring people together and fosters relationships.

What is interesting is that I have not had any or much of a relationship with these specific Twitter members prior to asking this question. Partially, this is due to the time I asked it. Yet a reply came in from another member I have conversed with asking that I tell her answer to what TCOT is as she has wondered also.

As the information flowed in the stream as I publicly thanked those who replied, members who follow me and were present saw the interaction from my side and were introduced to the IDs of these Tweople.

No one in the Twitter village drives a really fancy vehicle, lives in a mansion, dresses well, or has any real world trappings that can impress someone. It’s impossible to show any of that in the stream. Everyone is reduced to using 140 characters, one avatar (which can be changed, but only one at a time), plus one bio page and URL link; that’s all, there is no visible gold, glitter or bling.

Tweets enter into the stream in an orderly fashion on a first come first served real time way. It is impossible to out shout, shove or bully anyone in the stream. Each tweet is just as loud and has the same space and visual importance as any other. Whatever one’s race, sex or creed, everyone gets a chance and is accorded the same space.

People who have a victim or nasty attitude soon either change their ways or discover that they have few followers and few people who are willing to engage in conversation with them. Their messages are not RTed.

Although there’s no body language and the only Twitter visual aids are each user’s avatar and whatever is used for a background on their Twitter Bio page, after a while people one follows become easier to read. It is a process that takes time. This can be a social learning lesson for those who tend to rush into relationships full steam. On Twitter it’s easy to spot obsessive behavior—even one’s own.

Everyone can easily see who follows who and how many people follow each member. Moreover, every single message tweeted is kept in a log of updates, which is also open to every other Twitter member. Thus, Twitter naturally fosters transparency.

Since the majority of conversations must occur in the stream as Twitter has limits for the number of direct messages allowed we witness each other’s behavior. The people who are successful on Twitter, who use it to foster relationships, including ones for business are opening doing their thing. Anyone can learn how to interact, spot phonies and users by watching and participating on Twitter.

Using TweetDeck type applications means a person may have three or more streams moving simultaneously as one interacts in several conversations on different topics with different members of the Twitter village at the same time. It’s a visual and metal juggling act that top Twitters with many followers who follow back many have learned to do well.

In prior generations men and women hunted for game, watching for movement or searched for food to gather. Visually Twitter supplies some of our natural need or enjoyment for spying out discoveries or even prey.

Visual and Logical Intelligence

Thus just following the Twitter stream forces a person to concentrate, skim relevant information, and make quick appropriate choices as to what links to follow, bookmark for a later time (by using a favorites star) or ignore.

This is the type of information sorting teachers try to instill when explaining how to take outline notes – only on Twitter the information seems more relevant than classroom learning ever did. Increasing one’s recognition of what is important and what is less so is a way to directly increase functional intelligence.

Twitter for Learning

Like a book, Twitter lacks sound, and so mimics a streamed book current life in its stream of ongoing Tweets.

Many of the Tweets contain links to articles that range from fast breaking news to arcane knowledge. Information can be found on health, childrearing, business, investing, the arts, religion, self help, books, and of courses how to use Twitter. At times Hanging out on Twitter can seem like a stroll through a library where links in Tweets are book titles.

Using Twitter to Increase Intelligence is Fun!

Studies in neuroscience continue to indicate the benefits of mental challenges, especially those that involve the perception of vision, socializing and social networks, hand eye coordination exercises, etc.

Twitter can be so much fun and so interesting that it has not been noticed as a brain enhancing tool. Brain enhancement was not the purpose or goal of Twitter’s founders, but Twitter definitely succeeds at it when a member uses it to interact and build community. Community is what sets Twitter apart from other brain enhancing programs on the web as on Twitter one is never alone.

Judy Rey Wasserman is the founder of Post Conceptual UnGraven Image Art theotry at http://ungravenimage.com. Discover how this new way of painting using symbols for strokes can actually change your vision by adding visual memories we noramlly lack to your brain. This in turn has an amzing and freeing effect in realtion to unwanted, negative and reative emotions. See more at http://artofseeingthedivine.com.

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