Colin Alsheimer » twitter

Help Me Choose a New Twitter Name!

Colin — Fri, 04 Feb 2011 15:51:03 +0000

For those who don’t know, I’m starting a new gig soon. As part of that process, I also need to pick a new Twitter name, since @LevelTen_Colin just won’t cut it anymore.

Lessons Learned

Skip to the bottom if you just want to vote!

Over two years ago, when I first created the account the idea was to help create an official presence for LevelTen on social media channels, where there wasn’t one previously. The goals were to increase awareness of the agency locally, as well as provide a valuable source for traffic and fresh links for SEO. At the time, the plan was to maintain two accounts, my personal (@calsheimer) and my professional (@LevelTen_Colin). As the lines between personal & professional blurred, it became more difficult and impractical to maintain the two separately. @calsheimer was thrown by the wayside in favor of the company branded account.

Looking back on that decision today, I readily admit it may have been a mistake. While I believe it helped accomplish the business goals, it did become problematic. Besides the situation I currently find myself in, having my personal brand intertwined with my professional (especially when my primary social handle included the name of the company I worked for) became limiting.

In the future, I’d advocate more for leaving personal social media accounts alone, instead replacing with proper social media training and policy so that employees can become corporate advocates without having to create new accounts.

Choose Wisely

With that lesson learned, it’s time to pick a new account name! I’ve received quite a few suggestions from friends, which I’ve included in the poll below. Which one is your favorite?

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14 Day Social Media Challenge

Colin — Fri, 15 Jan 2010 04:27:57 +0000

My Twitter stream is flooded.

And not in the you-follow-too-many-people kind of way. It’s more like a too-much-of-the-same-content kind of way. Every day my stream gets inundated with the same content from the same dozen sources, and I think we can do better.

There are hundreds of blogs that are just waiting to be discovered. Some have, and just haven’t found an audience yet. Most will have better content then many of the top blogs on the Internet. They’ll teach, provoke thought, and encourage the discussions that this industry needs to move forward.

That’s why I’m starting this challenge.

The Challenge:

I challenge you to find 10-15 blogs that are not ranked in the top 150 on AdAge’s Power 150 List, or within Technorati’s top 100.

The Rules:

For 14 days, when you tweet blog posts, it can only be from those blogs. (the only exception being your employer’s or personal blog)
Before starting the challenge, you must blog about your list.
When you tweet posts from your chosen blogs, include the hashtag #smchallenge.
Optional: At the end of the 14 days, write a follow-up post about some new post or blog that you found inspiring or enlightening.

As the tweets come in, I’ll compile digests of the blogs that people are finding (and enjoying). I’ll also create a Twitter list for those of you who participate in the Social Media Challenge.

The major point of this exercise is to find and promote blog content that may be a bit obscure, but just as deserving. Abide by that guideline, and you’ll do well in the challenge.

Do we have a deal?

My Ten Twelve:*

I’m starting on Monday – are you?

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*I added 2 more!

[Whoever Buys Us Pizza]‘s January Tweetup – (It’s for @agardina’s Birthday)

Colin — Tue, 12 Jan 2010 03:27:48 +0000

We know you like pizza. You also probably like celebrating. And networking. So, we’re combining the 3 for a tweetup at Bryan Street Tavern. We’ll be eating some of the best pizza in the city, networking, hanging out, and wishing Alyssa Gardina a happy birthday! To add to the awesomeness (or awesomesauce as Lauren Fernandez might say), we’ve reserved a room just for this event.

The Details

Where: Bryan Street Tavern (4315 Bryan Street between Peak and Carroll near the AT&T Building)
When: January 26th, 7pm – whenever we feel like leaving
Why: It’s Alyssa’s birthday, and we enjoy “drinking related activities”.
Details: We need a sponsor!

What can you expect?

Mostly, a lot of fun. Part networking event, part party, and part happy hour, this can be anything you want it to be. Just be sure to wish Alyssa a happy birthday! (I’ll try to get her to wear a hat.)

What’s the deal with the name?

Here’s the deal – Bryan Street Tavern has some of the best pizza in town, and we’d love to bring a sponsor on board to cover the cost of a few pizzas for the event. (And if you wanted to cover drinks too… all the more power to you!) Plus, if you sponsor the event, Colin and Alyssa will each wear your shirt. For the entire event. Think about it – everyone at the event’s going to have an iPhone, a camera or a Flip – and the social media accounts to post it on!

So, if you’re interested in reaching a diverse group of some of Dallas’ premiere social influencers for your product or service, contact me.

The Tweetup will be named for your company, we’ll work out a hashtag of your choosing, and you can even give a brief demo of your product / service at the event. It’ll be flexible.

Final Words

Until we secure a sponsor, I’m going to hold off on creating a Twtvite for the event.

If you’re interested in attending, leave a comment or a retweet below.

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6 Ways Twitter Lists Fall Short

Colin — Mon, 02 Nov 2009 03:09:24 +0000

Last week, just about everyone on Twitter finally received the much talked about Lists feature. After the initial rush of newness, I found the feature to be lacking in several key areas. Here are the six ways that Twitter Lists just fall a bit short.

1. You can't collaborate

Creating my own Twitter list is great. It helps me categorize my favorite Twitter users, and share that with my network. But wouldn't it be great if we could collaborate? What I'd really like to do is get together with some of my friends to create the ultimate Twitter list. Could you imagine the power behind a Best Twitter Users list created by Robert Scoble, Chris Brogan, Steve Rubel, and Gary Vaynerchuck? It would be epic. Content curation at its finest.

And sure they could get together to create this list in other ways, but it just wouldn't be the same.

2. Tedious & time intensive

To date, I've created exactly two Twitter Lists. And I think that's all I'll create. Unless Twitter makes list creation more user friendly.

I follow a lot of Twitter users. 3,741, to be exact. And I like a whole heck of a lot of you, and would love to include as many of you in a list as I can.

To do that, however, I have to add each and every one of you, one by one.

That, my friends, is not fun.

What about a bulk uploader? Or an input box that allows me to add multiple users at once. If Twitter needs inspiration, look at the TweepML interface. They make it easy (and fun) to create and share Twitter Lists.

3. Too much duplication

Thus far, I've see a lot of duplication. For example, if I want to find the definitive list for Dallas Twitter Users, how do I find that? Just about every major Twitter User in Dallas has created their own Dallas list. How do I find the one that's the best?

Which brings me to my next point…

4. Not easy to see top lists

I want to see the lists that contain those users who create the best content.

I could go to Twitter Users like Chris Brogan or Gary Vanyerchuck to see who they follow. In fact, that might be a great strategy. But what about that obscure Twitter User who has made a fantastic list. How do I find that? I might dig for a few days, but would you?

5. Not sharable

Right now, the best way it seems to share a Twitter list is through the basic link to the list. What if Twitter promoted a few featured lists, much like their featured users? Or they offered trending stats for popular lists?

6. No integration with Twitter clients (yet)

I've heard rumors that most of the major Twitter clients will support lists soon, and I hope they do. I've got a killer list of my favorite Twitter Users in my Seesmic Desktop. I'd love to be able to share that list with everyone, but, see point #2 above. It would take just too long. I'm hoping the major desktop clients allow you to export (and import?) your favorite lists into the Twitter system.

Moving Forward

While I appreciate Twitter's effort at innovation, I'm not sure if lists will ultimately satisfy my thirst. By themselves, they only offer marginal value to end users. If, however, issues are addressed and the lists are developed beyond their current state, then maybe it will end up being a good feature for Twitter.

In the meantime though, I've got my two lists (one, two), and I'm thankful to everyone who's got me on theirs.

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