Day 6 – November 19, 2009 (Thu): Add Friends and Acquaintances – and Start Replying

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By on November 19, 2009

Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 25 Followers: 12 Listed: 0

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 5 – November 18, 2009 (Wed): Start Following

twitter_power_joel_comm_150I remember my friend Mark telling me to only add a few follows at a time in order to keep track of things. So I started by adding several of the folks I know from the Rochester Social Media Club. I had only recently relearned of their existence, (see “Back to the Future” posted November 12, 2009). At this point, I’m wondering if Joel Comm must have been merely appeasing his publisher when he came up with this whole 30-day idea. Fortunately, I’m much too busy at work to care.

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.

Find out today’s results on Day 7 – November 20, 2009 (Fri): Start Catching Big Followers

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Day 5 – November 18, 2009 (Wed): Start Following

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By on November 18, 2009

Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 12 Followers: 10 Listed: 0

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day – 4 November 17, 2009 (Tue): Writing your First Tweets

twitter_power_joel_comm_150This was the perfect day to start following (for real). The Buffalo Bills unexpected fired coach Dick Jauron and everyone simply wanted to know the inside scoop. I had been aware of Darryl Talley’s presence on Twitter (the newspaper earlier reported he tweeted he wanted to see major changes on One Bills Drive. By fortuitous coincidence, @mikemcbride9, who accidentally followed my FiduciaryNews.com twitter account, followed many Buffalo fans, including Hall of Fame running back ex-Buffalo Bill @thurmanthomas. Not much in terms of follow backs (except for a couple of Carosas from yesterday, but I did get to watch some breaking news on Twitter.

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.

Find out today’s results on Day 6 – November 19, 2009 (Thu): Add Friends and Acquaintances – and Start Replying

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Day – 4 November 17, 2009 (Tue): Writing your First Tweets

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By on November 17, 2009

Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 8 Followers: 8 Listed: 0

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 3 – November 16, 2009 (Mon): Read Around

twitter_power_joel_comm_150Here’s my first tweet:

RT @erichnwise: RT @MightyMovie Those are my principles, and if you don’t like them… well, I have others. Groucho Marx #quotes #movies 7:35 PM Nov 14th from CoTweet

You’ll notice several things about this tweet:

  • It’s not really my own, but a retweet. Worse, it’s a retweet of a retweet.
  • I actually tweeted this from CoTweet.
  • Finally, the official first tweet was on day 1.

After this RT, I didn’t begin tweeting in earnest, however, until Day 4. Here’s the first tweet on that day:

@mikemcbride9 Wow! That must have been me tweeting about the #Buffalo #Bills from that site (with a Chicagoan). It was a bad game (wotznew?) 11:06 AM Nov 17th from web in reply to mikemcbride9

Notice once more how I’ve gotten ahead of myself. Don’t blame me for this one, though. I popped on my news Twitter during a morning break to find Mike had followed me on FiduciaryNews.com and I wanted to redirect him to a more appropriate account. I figured Mike didn’t really care about fiduciary news. I also discovered I should avoid even casual tweets to those who do care about fiduciary news. From now on, it’s DM only for them.

I also decided to jump the gun and I followed any “Carosa” I could find in the twitterverse.

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.

Find out today’s results on Day 5 – November 18, 2009 (Wed): Start Following

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Day 3 – November 16, 2009 (Mon): Read Around

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By on November 16, 2009

Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 0 Followers: 0 Listed: 0

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 2 – November 15, 2009 (Sun): Create Your Background Image

twitter_power_joel_comm_150I discovered I didn’t like reading tweets about people’s eating or sleeping habits. The more informative conversations piqued my curiosity. Anybody offering what appeared as front-line commentary stood out.

But I got bored reading around, so I connected with all the Twitter accounts that are related to my business (1) and my wife’s business (apparently 5). The other two were (1) @erichnwise, who helped me set up my first Twitter account and (2) @ levarburton because Twitter said I should when I set up the account (I ditched the other celebs, but – hey – I’m a Star Trek Fan).

I ended without a clue as to what I should Tweet.

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.

Find out today’s results on Day – 4 November 17, 2009 (Tue): Writing your First Tweets

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Day 2 – November 15, 2009 (Sun): Create Your Background Image

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By on November 15, 2009

Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow:   0  Followers:  0  Listed: 0

Missed yesterday? Go here to read what happened on Day 1 – November 14, 2009 (Sat): Sign Up and Settle In

twitter_power_joel_comm_150In his book twitter power, Joel Comm says to create a background image on day 2. In reality, I created it on day one. I wanted to choose something to acknowledge the respect for my forebears as well as my gazing into the future. Without a degree in graphic arts, I simply spliced two pictures together: One I took of my grandfather’s house in Fontecchio, Italy and the other a star field. I did not add the usual verbiage only because I didn’t know what to say. Perhaps later.

In addition, I choose a picture icon. My good friend Neil has a desire to get back into photography, so he showed up at the book review presentation I performed at the FreeNet group meeting in October at the Pittsford Community Library. He took several pictures. I used an “in-action” pose (hmm, how could it be a “pose” if it was “in-action”) for the “About” page of ChrisCarosa.com. He also had me take a more casual looking mug shot. I decided that made a good Twitter picture and uploaded it.

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.

Find out today’s results on Day 3 – November 16, 2009 (Mon): Read Around

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

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By on November 14, 2009

Start of Day Twitter Stats: Follow: 0 Followers: 0 Listed: 0

What’s this all about?

Here’s what I did. I actually tried to start a new Twitter using my name. “ChristopherCarosa” had too many characters, so I had to go with “ChrisCarosa” as my username. Having read Joel Comm’s book Twitter Power, I carefully filled out all my profile information.

twitter_power_joel_comm_150Name: Chris Carosa

For my name, I kept “Chris Carosa” just to avoid confusing people. As far as I tell in my internet search, Of all the three-hundred thousand Americans, only three of them can be called “Chris Carosa.” I met the other two – when I was a kid. One is another “Christopher” and the other is a “Christine.” They don’t appear to reside on Twitter.

Location: Mendon, New York

Now the location caused me to think a bit. Most web surfers will have never heard of my town. Still, I am proud of my municipality, having once (hopefully ably) served on its Town Board, so I thought I’d identify it. Furthermore, I figured, since I had the room anyway, I’d spell out the full name of the state. I never served in any elective office for New York State (which probably explains why I still have friends), but I nonetheless have an affinity for the Empire State.

Web: https://chriscarosa.com

It turns out this Twitter username limit helped me avoid a major mistake. My web-site (which I added to Twitter) is “ChrisCarosa.com” and if I had used my full name, my Twitter User Name would not have matched my web-site name. Bewilderment averted.

Bio: Author, speaker, entrepreneur who likes connecting with family, friends and the future and loves Western New York.

My one-line bio proved a bit of a challenge. I’m used to a standard elevator pitch for my business, but this Twitter account isn’t about my business. In fact, being in a highly regulated industry, I’m bending over backward to separate my business activities from my social media activities. So I used a variation on a theme (specifically, Joel Comm’s theme of three). It started as a three and three – what I am and who I want to connect to. I added the “and loves Western New York” when I realized searchers might not know Mendon exists in that region of the state.

Lastly, I added the account to TweetDeck and CoTweet (but not SocialOomph, which I’m determining whether I should continue using.

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.

Find out today’s results on Day 2 – November 15, 2009 (Sun): Create Your Background Image

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Great Idea. Great Design. But Will It Fly?

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By on November 13, 2009

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.

Posted in 30-Days to Dominate Twitter Experiment, It's a Nerd's World Tagged , , , , ,

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

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By on November 13, 2009

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?

Continue Reading “Get It While It’s Hot! – A Review of Joel Comm’s twitter power”

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Back to the Future

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By on November 12, 2009

So I says to Mark I says, “Mark, I’ll go but I don’t want to pull in before you. You see, at the risk to confirming stereotypes, I’m a bit of a wallflower when it comes to these things. I could regale an auditorium filled with strangers, but put me in a small reception where I must talk to people face-to-face and I sort of stay to myself, speaking not, unless first spoken to.”

998276_97728952_business_time_royalty_free_stock_xchng_300“When it comes to groups,” I fully confessed, “I have a tough time feeling I really belong.”

Mark reassured me I could arrive after 6:30pm and find him already on hand.

Such was the set-up for attending my first meeting of the Rochester Social Media Club at Label 7 in Pittsford, NY. Funny thing. I discovered something there. Something really surprising.

Continue Reading “Back to the Future”

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It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again

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By on November 11, 2009

A lot of people had Veteran’s Day off. Not me. Not only did our office remain open (we’re open whenever the market’s open), but my day overflowed with meetings and conferences. I spent the bulk of the day at the Rochester Memorial Art Gallery participating in the Social Media Today conference with easily a couple hundred other folks interested in the latest happenings in the Web 2.0 world. Graciously organized by Ana Roca Castro, who did a wonderful job despite forgetting to include bathroom breaks in the agenda, the event exceeded her expectations and deservedly so.

1149116_53175467_Snow_Footprints_royalty_fee_stock_xchng_300

Oddly, it didn’t take long for an eerie feeling of “haven’t I been here before?” to course through my ancient synapses. No, the presentations didn’t tell me things I already knew (quite the contrary). Hmm, how can I describe it? More like teetering on the eager cusp of undiscovered opportunity. (The last time I felt this way occurred nearly 25 years ago in the German House, but that’s a story for another day.)

Continue Reading “It’s Déjà Vu All Over Again”

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