Message From jl

Hi Everyone!

WELCOME to all of our new subscribers, this week! We truly appreciate you! "Trade Journal Subscribers are THE BEST!"

They claim the economy is starting to recover. That would be nice for online businesses.

Since September is the beginning of the best sales season and, since people will continue to be more cautious where they spend their money, if you haven't joined iCop yet, now's the time to get on in here!

www.i-cop.org/index2.htm

I guess I lied to you, last week. I said I might give you my two cents on marketing, but I've lost interest for now. We'll give it another shot, next week.

This week, I thought I'd bring you up to date on my mind-numbing experience with Twitter. I CAN say one thing that covers both marketing and Twitter ...

I originally did most of iCop's promotion with article marketing. But, that doesn't work the same way, today.

Now, articles COULD be promoted on Twitter, Facebook, etc. That would be one good use for Twitter. I'm having a hard time finding many uses for it.

But, I haven't tried article marketing on Twitter, yet. Since, according to statistics, only 15% of Twitter users even look at it every day, you'd have to have a huge pile of followers for it to work.

If you had 25,000 followers, only 3750 would read your "tweet" and even if ALL of those read your article, you couldn't get it in front of the tens of thousands you can get it in front of by submitting to ezine publishers.

I could be wrong, after only two weeks of participation, BUT ...

Twitter may be one of the most fascinating projects in what sane people can be convinced to do I've ever seen.

My mentor, Maxine, says: “The Earth is the lunatic asylum of the universe.”

I believe her. We don't really know WHAT is sane or insane!

Now, for you Twitter lovers, this isn't necessarily a bash. It's simply MY experience with Twitter - so far.

Twitter's just a big chat room - but not nearly as much fun. It's rare for interaction to actually happen on Twitter - no one “chats.”

Everyone talks AT everyone else. Typical for our society today: everyone determined to have their say, and everyone else determined not to listen.

A FEW folks use it for what it was intended. They'll tweet, “Good morning” and “Goodnight” and everything they do in between. Believe it, or not, that actually becomes refreshing, after a while!

The rest all seems VERY serious - sending quotations as if none of us has ever had an original thought. Most of them are bland, pabulum-like thoughts believed to be inspirational.

Read enough of that stuff and you suddenly want to post something such as, “Rome did not create a great empire by having meetings - they did it by killing all those who opposed them.”

“They” say you should post helpful tips. I should do that? Like what? “Put your contact information on your website?” HO-HUM!

“They” say you should ask a question. I've seen questions asked, and I wait for an answer that never comes.

But, that brings us to who sees what. Many responses are a complete mystery since you probably didn't see what elicited the response. It all has to do with whether you are on the lists of both the questioner and the responder.

So, you suddenly see something like, “That's lovely. I wish I had thought of that.” What? WHAT? Wish you had thought of WHAT?

You'll never know.

“They” say you should recommend things. No one could possibly have time to read everything recommended as outside reading, so you pick and choose based on what you know about the person recommending it. Even then, it may be just any ol' thing to make a tweet.

“They” say to tweet links to free stuff. This in the hope folks will be so grateful, they'll Re-Tweet (RT) it, and you'll get more followers.

And, as near as I can tell, ALL of this is just marking time until we dare send a tweet resembling something like a sales message - or a link to our own websites.

The more people you follow, the more tweets you have to read. The twittering turns into one of those bird conventions where every bird within a hundred miles is twittering at the same time.

All singing - nobody listening.

Then, there's that 140 character limit per message. I'm not much of a small-talker. Only time I'm short is when I'm interrogating someone.

AND, of course we have the hard-core marketers. I only follow one or two so I can see what they're doing.

I saw Marlon Sanders send a sales message four times in twelve minutes - some "cleverly" disguised as a request for help, i.e., “See if this works in your browser ...” (Wish I had an icon of a finger sticking down a throat.)

A few minutes later, he wrote, “Does anybody else dislike the automated quotes people are dropping into their Twitter? Do we REALLY need noise?”

WTF! I had to sit on my hands to keep from firing back, “Isn't NOISE 4 sales pitches in 12 minutes?”

Now, there's one more thing ... Don't think you can just join Twitter and that's it. Oh, no - you'll need to get all the things that will support your habit - and get you invested. You'll need:

• A Follow Me button
• A ReTweet button
  
• Tweetdeck
  
• Twitblock (to get rid of spam and crap)
• A URL shortener and tracker
• Tweet Later
• A Twitter background
• Mr. Tweet
• Group Tweet
• Twitzer
• Twitter Feed
• Tweet Stats
• And, on and on and on

Nah, I'm not even going to bother to link them.

I have the ability to suspend disbelief, so I can sit all day long entertaining myself simply imagining what might be in this world. Reading people who are straining for something to say - just on the off-chance they might pick up a customer - is boring in the extreme.

According to statistics, 60% of Twitter users quit within the first month. I completely understand that.

"They" say Twitter is whatever you make of it. Well, I'm having a difficult time taking the whole thing very seriously. But, then, maybe that's my role - to keep seeing the humor in it!

Wouldn't dare point it out ON Twitter, though! Too many of those hawks are WAY too serious - about themselves and the whole thing.

A few iCop members are more casual and laid-back. A few more of those and Twitter might actually be fun!

62 Ways to Use Twitter for Business (For when you don't have anything else to do.):

tinyurl.com/naohcn

Overwhelming, isn't it? When the hell does anyone WORK?

Twitter Privacy

I've been giving this a great deal of thought. I asked several people what they thought about the article below regarding social networks leaking users' data to tracking sites.

tinyurl.com/lha6en

I received MANY different responses. I asked both opinionated people and laid-back people. No one could agree.

In a nut shell - they apparently use identifiable numbers for each user - at least on Facebook. I don't see that on Twitter and Twitter doesn't take squat for information, anyway.

In any event, many folks are incensed by this. One person even wrote to me,

------------
I can't believe you twitter!

I am shocked, jl. SHOCKED!

Especially YOU, who stands so tough on privacy issues.

Please re-think your strategy. As the leader of our fine organization, don't you think you should lead our friends as far away from these sites as possible, rather than into their greedy, privacy invading marketing embrace?
------------

I wrote last week - I'm not paranoid about privacy - except for children. I publish things about it for its value to readers - not because I'm up in arms over it. Some are more concerned than others. And, that's okay. BUT ...

Our privacy has ALWAYS been abused in the same way. Your State Dept. of Motor Vehicles and your electric and insurance companies have been selling your information for years!

Now, our phones have been tapped by the U.S. government - we have to give our Social Security number to even visit a doctor (That's NOW - NOT "when the government takes over") - Google will show pictures of your HOUSE, for cripe's sake!

Honey, we're followed around night and DAY. And, none of those things are done for the fairly innocuous purpose of marketing.

However, if you use ANY social network - or, before you do - be sure to read:

tinyurl.com/lphg2q
AND
tinyurl.com/ldz3c8

It isn't a great mental leap to figure out what NOT to post.

Don't . post . stupid . stuff!

Have a fabulous week and ... keep on keepin' on!

  jl

P.S. Do YOU have the iCop seal on ALL your web sites? Scammers abound in a depressed economy. You will need the credibility of your iCop membership NOW, more than ever!

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Online Business Trade Journal™ is published solely by dr. jl scott, Director of the International Council of Online Professionals (iCop) and may not reflect the opinion of all iCop members.

Material in the "Leaving You With a Smile" column may be copyrighted by unknown persons.

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Copyright © 2009 jl scott, ph.d., Director
International Council of Online Professionals (iCop™)
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