I follow a few hundred local Cape Codders on Twitter to give me a sense of what is happening in my geographical region (something I can’t get via the web/newspaper). By and large most of the Twitter streams that I see are a good mix of personal notes, self promotion and other random subjects. What I also see from watching this stream pass me by daily are trends of behavior that cause me to go out of my way to unfollow the offending users.
Which led me to create this quick list of 11 easy ways to piss your Twitter followers off and possibly cause them to stop following you no matter how interesting or popular you may be.
1. Blah, Blah, Blah
This one might be met with some backlash from the true hardcore Tweeters out there that believe in a constant stream of useless updates. But a tidal wave of information every day all day drowns out the streams from other infrequent posters. These tweeps, albeit less prolific than you are still important to me, and it makes me very angry to have their voices drowned out. If I open Twhirl and all I see if you, all the time. You’re gone.
2. Are You Alive?
Crazy I know given my disdain for too-frequent Teeters but if you’re not posting at least daily (hell weekly) then maybe you should be running a blog instead. [insert you're doing it wrong internet meme photo here] You also run the risk of being pruned by people who think you’re either dead or missing in action.
3. Me Me Me!
If the only tweets you post are quick blurbs with a link to your latest garbage blog article then the value of your stream is dramatically less. Unless you’re running a news organization (you’re not) your followers will want to see more than just shameless self promotion even if it’s good stuff (and trust me, it isn’t).
4. Hello & Goodbye
I have a hard time really faulting anyone for this because I know what it’s like to be busy, and try to maintain a reliable Twitter stream all day but it’s annoying enough it’s worthy of being pointed out. If you post 5 tweets in 5 minutes and then nothing the rest of the day, most of your followers will miss your updates, completely. The very nature of Twitter is about what is happening right now, and if stuff only happens to you 5 minutes once a day (or so it would appear to your followers) you won’t be part of the conversation. Use a Tweet scheduler if you only have 1 chunk of time a day to use Twitter.
5. What? @replies
@josiahcole see you tomorrow – This does not help your followers who may have missed our original tweets that explained said meeting. Even though you may not be able to direct message the person in question because they don’t follow you back (how dare they!), you should take effort to make sure your replies at least make sense to everyone else not in the know.
6. #toomany #hashtags
Hashtags (or poor man’s search as I call it) are great and all, and everyone is very proud that you figured out how they worked (yay you!). But every tweet you post does not need to contain them.
7. http://bit.ly/nSukw
I’ll openly admit I’ve been guilty of this a few times in the past, but that’s exactly the point. Most of your tweets with URLS should contain some explanatory text, otherwise with URL shorteners your followers are clicking completely blind. For those hilarious web videos that need no explanation just rock the URL, but make sure it’s something that doesn’t happen often, so your trusting followers know what to expect (awesomeness).
8. I didn’t want to know
This has a variable built into it that can eliminate some potential violators from this list. If your followers do not know you (that well) personally, you shouldn’t really be telling people how you slept on the couch last night or how big your latest bowel movement was. They probably don’t care. It is OK to slip in the occasional person nugget, but like URL posts keep them to a minimum. If you only follow, and are followed by your inner circle of friends than by all means continue tweeting about your cats.
9. Is this a robot?
You probably saw this one coming but along with #8, if your followers can’t discern any real personality behind your tweets, they probably won’t stick around too long. Try to sprinkle in some personal flavor along with your self-promotion.
10. Hi, Hi, Hi
This is not so much a daily tweet faux pas as it is a general Twitter guideline. I know your inner marketer is dieing to DM every new follower but you must resist the temptation. Not only is this annoying if all the DM says is “thanks for following me”, it makes you seem too eager to your shiny new follower who doesn’t know you’re a skeezy social marketer .. yet. Keep the illusion alive by not DMing-on-follow at least until they can start reading your tweets.
11. I have no taste
Another general Twitter guideline that’s worthy of a mention. Some people employ scripts to do this and others simply do it as a social networking habit but if you follow everyone who follows you it makes your ‘follows’ worth nothing (and also means you should probably be on MySpace). I follow only those that I’m interested in and while I’m generally flattered when anyone chooses to follow my drivel it would be silly for me to simply reciprocate every time (it’s not you, it’s me). I value my decision to follow and you should too.
Free stock photography websites are very popular these days, and there are literally hundreds if not thousands to choose from. Besides selection, quality, and featureset the one factor that is critical in evaluating these websites is the image licensing or terms of use.
It doesn’t matter how many images, or what quality the images being offered are if you can’t use them in your personal or commercial work (the way you want.)
What we found from analyzing the terms of each of these sites is that most; allow unrestricted use for personal works, restrict or do not allow redistribution, do not allow the use of the image to sell the item depicted, and do not allow the user to take credit for the image. The most important point to take into account is their policy towards commercial use.
Without further adieu, I present to you a list of 10 free stock photography websites (gathered and ranked by Google) with a quick reporting of their respective image licensing terms to help you decide which one is best for your creative work.
* In digital format on websites, multimedia presentations, broadcast film and video, cell phones.
* In printed promotional materials, magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, flyers, CD/DVD covers, etc.
* Along with your corporate identity on business cards, letterhead, etc.
* To decorate your home, your office or any public place.
You may not use the Image
* For pornographic, unlawful or other immoral purposes, for spreading hate or discrimination, or to defame or victimise other people, sociteties, cultures.
* To endorse products and services if it depicts a person.
* In a way that can give a bad name to SXC or the person(s) depicted on the Image.
* As part of a trademark, service mark or logo.
* SELLING AND REDISTRIBUTION OF THE IMAGE (INDIVIDUALLY OR ALONG WITH OTHER IMAGES) IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! DO NOT SHARE THE IMAGE WITH OTHERS!
* Every FreeStockPhotos.com photograph must retain the domain name FreeStockPhotos.com when used on the Internet, in a web page, in publications, or in any product, advertising, or packaging. This credit, however, may be cropped out or digitally removed from the photograph if it is included in readable type either near the photos, in the text or in the credits. Films and videos are considered publications for our purposes.
* FreeStockPhotos.com images may be used for both personal and commercial applications. Any publication or product they appear in may be sold or distributed in any way an unlimited number of times as long as the photographs alone are not offered as single, stock, art, or news photography. Photos must appear as part of a page with text or product with text, not alone.
* A limit of 10 images may be used in any one publication, web site, or product without charge.
* to Share — to copy, distribute and transmit the work
* to Remix — to adapt the work
* Under the following conditions:
* Attribution — You must attribute the work in the manner specified by the author or licensor (but not in any way that suggests that they endorse you or your use of the work).
Attribute this work:
Information
What does “Attribute this work” mean?
The page you came from contained embedded licensing metadata, including how the creator wishes to be attributed for re-use. You can use the HTML here to cite the work. Doing so will also include metadata on your page so that others can find the original work as well.
* Noncommercial — You may not use this work for commercial purposes.
* Share Alike — If you alter, transform, or build upon this work, you may distribute the resulting work only under the same or similar license to this one.
* A link (or textural credit in non-web applications) to this site is required where an image is used. Acceptable credits include ‘image: www.freeimages.co.uk’ or a hyperlink to the URL ‘http://www.freeimages.co.uk’. The credit shall be located in a suitably readable font on the same page as the image; Alternatively you may credit ‘size-isnt-everything.co.uk’ if you prefer. See Link to Us for banners, buttons and more information on linking from a website. View an example of how to link here
* When images are used in printed material or non internet-connected electronic media, a credit is needed on each page (or a facing page) where an image is used. The credit can either be at the bottom of the page or near the image i.e. in a caption. Many designers find the credit is less intrusive when it is printed sideways or at the edge of the page near the gutter.
* Images may also be used in other forms of digital and video media (games, demos, presentations, interactive systems, films etc.) a credit is required either where the image is used, or at the start of the presentation/film or on a ‘welcome screen’.
* If you use a free version of a photo you must credit FreeDigitalPhotos.net
* If you purchase the photo you do not need to credit FreeDigitalPhotos.net
* Photos may be used for personal, educational and corporate use
* Photos may be used in products that are sold, but only where the photos are used for illustration or decoration
* Photos may not be used on products where the image is the sole reason someone would buy the product – for example greetings cards, mugs, calendars, T-shirts and so on
* You may use any of files downloaded from Free-StockPhotos.com free of charge or obligation for any commercial or personal design work (Please pay attention to point 3,6,7,8 regarding commercial/personal work).
* Credit for the use of materials downloaded from this site such as a link back to Free-StockPhotos.com is much appreciated. You can copy the following code and paste it on your website:
* You MAY NOT resell or redistribute images downloaded from Free-StockPhotos.com in any other way, modified, unmodified, standalone or combined with another product without prior written (email) consent from us. Using the photos in website templates
, on postcards, mugs etc. doesn’t count as selling or redistribution, however you are not allowed to build a gallery using the photos you downloaded from here.
* Remix — to adapt the work.
* Commercial — to use this work for commercial purposes.
* Without Attribution — to use without attributing the original author.
Under the following conditions:
* Stand alone basis — You can not sell, license, sublicense, rent, transfer or distribute this image exactly as it is without alteration.
* Ownership — You may not claim ownership of this image in its original state.
* Any of the above conditions can be waived if you get permission from the contributor.
* Nothing in this license impairs or restricts the author’s moral rights
Dedicator recognizes that, once placed in the public domain, the Work may be freely reproduced, distributed, transmitted, used, modified, built upon, or otherwise exploited by anyone for any purpose, commercial or non-commercial, and in any way, including by methods that have not yet been invented or conceived.
* In digital format on websites, multimedia presentations, broadcast film and video, cell phones.
* In printed promotional materials, magazines, newspapers, books, brochures, flyers, CD/DVD covers, etc.
* Along with your corporate identity on business cards, letterhead, etc.
* To decorate your home, your office or any public place.
UNAUTHORIZED USAGE
* For pornographic, unlawful or other immoral purposes, for spreading hate or discrimination, or to defame or victimise other people, sociteties, cultures.
* To endorse products and services if it depicts a person.
* In a way that can give a bad name to Pixel Perfect Digital or the person(s) depicted on the Image.
* As part of a trademark, service mark or logo.
* In website templates that You intend to sell or distribute.
* For creating printed reproductions that You intend to sell.
* On “print on demand” items such as t-shirts, postcards, mouse pads, mugs (e.g. on sites like Cafepress), or on any similar mass produced item that would contain the Image in a dominant way.
* SELLING AND REDISTRIBUTION OF THE IMAGE (INDIVIDUALLY OR ALONG WITH OTHER IMAGES) IS STRICTLY FORBIDDEN! DO NOT SHARE THE IMAGE WITH OTHERS!
Copyrights & Author Ownership
Any photos/pictures posted by the author “freephotosbank” are free to use as long as you are using them for a website, book, magazine, etc. You cannot download our photos to sell as is or modified from any source. To use our photos/pictures you must accredit us on the work that you used the photo/picture on/in for the use of them or we will consider it a copyright infringement.
Any photos/pictures posted by other authors remain their property and it is their decision to license the photo to you. We at FreePhotosBank.com do not retain the right to license other photographer’s/author’s material at this time. Please feel free to use our “contact” function within the photographer’s profile to contact them and ask permission.
A report out today by Glen Allsopp at Clickalite shows�the number of times that the Technorati Top 100�blogs that have been dugg�since Digg began.
Glen says, “The top 5 blogs make up 45% of the 8,000 times 79 blogs on the Technorati Top 100 Blogs have hit the Digg Homepage.“�
The top 5 are:
Ars Technica; ~1350
Engadget; ~ 1016
TechCrunch; ~ 533
Think Progress; ~ 405
Huffington Post; ~ 345
It’s well known�that Ars Technica is the most dugg, but I was surprised not to see Gizmodo in the top 5. Remember that Technorati ranks blogs by number of inbound links but these blogs are also some of the most visited as well, so it makes sense that they are the most Dugg. Most eyes = more diggs = more chance of a homepage digg.
For some reason Rube Goldberg popped into my head recently and got me thinking there’s got to be some great video online of Rube’s famous machines and people inspired by them. I hit up YouTube for some action and found quite a nice collection of Goldberg respect.
1. The first Goldberg video is from Japan, and these machines are cooking Ramen.
2. This one is called “Rube Goldberg – Something for Nothing 1940″ and it’s pretty neat, starring Rube himself I believe.
3. Office Space Rube action here, this one is excellent although a little short. For once the video description is actually lengthy and informative and I shall quote it.
A friend and I decided to spend a night at my workplace assembling a contraption using supplies from the supply room and my basement. We started at 11p.m. on 6/26/05, and finished around 5:30a.m. This is take eight. Six of the eight worked. UPDATE: Thank you for all the views, everyone! A few quick answers:
-Haha, I didn’t get fired, this was done during non-business hours.
-The heavy breathing is me starting to laugh and trying my hardest to stifle it…I was one second away from busting out the whole time.
4. This 2 minute video is a commercial for Honda, and it exceptionally well done (a lot like their cars). It looks a little surreal (although they claim it to be legit), and I’d love to see it in HD but this GooTube video will suffice. The car that reveals at the end is a Honda Accord wagon.
Note: All of this commercial is real. The only thing “artificial” is the unnoticeable edit at the middle of the sequence. Reason for that is this whole course was too long for the studio.
5. More Japanese Goldberg action, it’s 4:23 long.
6. This clip is home made style (the way I like it), and features a 3:17 Rube Goldberg machine complete with Slinky action (talk about free time!)
7. This guy uses multiple pool tables in this Rube Goldberg Billiards/Dominoes video.
8. This next one is supposedly from a film that they want you to rent from Netflix? Errrr anyways it’s a great Rube Golberg video with lots of fire and flare, check it out.
9. Another homemade machine, with the submitter claiming “we didn’t cheat!”. Oh well, it’s a good clip.
10. Last but certainly not least comes the MythBusters and their Rube Golberg masterpiece (which took them a million takes). Explain away Adam…
Top 10 Lists — Josiah on February 7, 2007 at 10:45 pm
Recently DG of Speaking Freely ran a popular story that bubbled up on Digg and del.icio.us about what to do with your PC when you have no Internet connection. I read the article and was generally unimpressed by DG’s ideas for the lonely few who can’t get online.
Here’s what he said in a nut shell:
-Clean out and categorize your bookmarks.
-Delete programs you don’t use.
-Unplug your PC, take the cover off and clean out the dust.
-Write your next blog post.
-Run any maintenance programs you don’t have auto-scheduled.
-Write down your logins and passwords for all your sites, blogs, email accounts, Adsense, affiliate programs, where you purchased your domain names, etc. All that information is the key to your business.
That last one is really long, and the whole list makes me want to stab myself in the eye. Here’s 10 Better things to do with no Interweb (in no particular order)
1. Don’t do any of the things here.
2. Play one of your games. I know, some of them are online only but I’m sure you have a few that you can play in single player or offline practice. Game on.
3. Organize your Porn collection. While this task is very lame in the organizing sense, it usually leads to distraction and the excitement level rises sharply.
4. Create and Edit a Video. No you can’t upload to GooTube but you can shoot, cut and burn some movies while you’re waiting to get back in connection.
5. Listen to Music, Burn Some new CD’s. Yes this is an oldy but a goody but still presents some fun, listen to your tunes, burn some new mixes for the road and see what old music you can discover.
6. Photoshop some Images. Take some family shots and some of your friends passed out drunk and have some fun. You can’t get fresh material from Google Images or Flickr but you can have some local hard disk fun making new images for the Fark forums.
7. Screw around with Linux. You provably have 86 Linux discs burned sitting around from the last 6 months. Take some old hardware or if you dare your own rig and have some Linux fun. Create that media server you always wanted or attach those laser beams to your toaster.
8. Design a new Website. Fire up Photocrap once again or Fireworks if you prefer and create a new layout and design identity for your super popular Kevin Rose uber mega ultra fan site.
9. Watch TV . Yes this is a lazy one but for those with a nice TV card you can just fire up the old boob tube and watch some Family Guy and Stephen Colbert.
10. Hardware Upgrade. This of course depends on your access to new goodies but time spent offline can be spent buying and upgrading essential hardware.
That’s my list, I hope you like it and I hope you spend your offline time wisely.
A report out today by 
