Six Things I Discovered From My Twitter Experiment

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3251106353_5e938c592f_o_Twitter_Logo_Bug-Eyed_Bird_250Have you ever read a book that offered a great idea and wondered if it really worked? That’s precisely what I felt after I read Twitter Power by @Joel Comm (here’s the book review). In the book the author outlines a 30-day plan for “dominating Twitter.” So from November 14, 2009 through December 13, 2009 I conducted an experiment. In the process, I discovered these six critical facts about my Twitter use. Has your own Twitter experience revealed similar eye-openers?

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Great Idea. Great Design. But Will It Fly?

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twitter_power_joel_comm_150I’ve got this great idea. Joel Comm outlines a 30-day plan for “dominating Twitter” in his book Twitter Power (here’s the book review). Wouldn’t it offer a great experiment to actually follow his plan for thirty days, blog it live and see what happens. Well, that’s precisely what I intend to share with you.

Does Joel Comm’s 30-day plan really work? Or, was it merely a hook his publisher wanted him to use to bait readers into buying the book? All those with the slightest bit of scientific curiosity will want to know.

My prediction: I’m a skeptic. If I get 100 followers I’ll be happy but not impressed. If I get 1,000 followers I’ll be impressed but not sold. If I get 10,000 followers, not only will I be sold, but I’m sure Joel Comm will sell a heck of a lot more books (and much, much more).

Here’s Day 1 – November 14, 2009 (Sat): Sign Up and Settle In

How many followers do you think I’ll have after 30 days? Click here to enter your guess on my Survey Monkey survey “Chris Carosa’s 30-Day Plan to Dominate Twitter Experiment.” There’s no prize, but the fan who guesses the closest correct number the earliest will “win” and I’ll mention you if you want me to.

Get It While It’s Hot! – A Review of Joel Comm’s twitter power

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twitter_power_joel_comm_250There’s nothing like piping hot pizza right out of the oven. The juicy smell of the tangy tomato sauce makes your mouth melt, while the tasty texture of the toppings delightfully dissolve as they pass through your smacking lips. Yep. There’s nothing like a piping hot pizza right out of the oven.

So it is with twitter power, Joel Comm’s aptly named best-selling guide to all things Twitter. It’s hot. It’s less than a year old. And it’s fast going out of date. Still, it delivers beyond what it promises and you simply must read it if you’re about to embark on a journey through Twitterville. How do I know this?

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A Spoonful of MSG – A Review of Seth Godin’s Tribes

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Somewhere in the middle of Tribes, Seth Godin writes of the blog msg150.com (under the heading “Three Hungry Men and a Tribe,” pages 62-63 in my 2008 Portfolio (Penguin Group) 10th edition). As the author puts it, “This blog is obsessively chronicling every restaurant in a sixteen-block square of Seattle.” Leaving aside the unnecessary use of the passive, let’s focus on the meat of this particular reference. It turns out, most of the restaurants covered by msg150.com carry Asian cuisine. And you know what they say: Chinese food fills you up quickly, but, a half hour later, you’re hungry again.”

I can think of no better epitaph for the book Tribes, the eleventh book by the bestselling author of Purple Cow and The Dip.

Tribes CoverNow, don’t get me wrong. I’m not here to disparage the book. Far from it. I consider Tribes a must read for reasons I hope to make clear. More to the point, I’m not going to begrudge someone born five days before me, possibly even in the same hospital. Quite simply, I’m merely going to follow his instructions (“Fear of Failure is Overrated,” pp 46-48) and offer some constructive criticism.

First, if you’re new to the whole Web 2.0 and social media thing, Tribes represents perhaps the easiest entrée into the embracing concept behind this innovative world. It’s easy to read. I finished it in just a few hours despite the many interruptions and distractions of a relatively free Saturday (let’s see, that would include one Boy Scout Training class, Saturday Mass and my daughter’s high school drama production). The book contains very little jargon – or at least very little of the kind of jargon that might scare neophytes away.

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