(Caveat: this is mostly geared towards personal users of Twitter. Not business users.)

(Caveat x 2: Yes, a previous post of mine was similar to this topic. And I didn’t hear from you, so I’m asking again. My blog, my rules. Right?)

I want to understand your Twitter rules. I want to know what you consider proper Twetiquette, or if you think Twetiquette is for jerks. I want to know what your criteria are for initial following, and eventual unfollowing (or not).

Oh, and I want to know why you think you’re interesting enough to follow. Or, for that matter, if you don’t care if you’re interesting enough to follow, because that’s not the purpose of your use of Twitter.

Do you pay attention to your following/followers count? Does your heart sink when a follower drops off, or soar when someone begins following you? (Yes, I want to know if Twitter makes your heart soar.)

Here’s mine:

I use Twitter because I enjoy it. I’ve met some very smart, very cool people via Twitter that I’m almost positive I wouldn’t have met otherwise. I’ve gotten involved in the social media enthusiast community in the Minneapolis/Saint Paul area, almost all due to networking with other like-minded folks on Twitter. (Last week, I heard a best-selling author speak, got a free book and coffee mug, spent two hours surrounded by local geeks and was introduced to a funky clothing/dogwear product line… and it all started with Twitter.)

I think Twetiquette is a joke… for the most part. The bottomest of all bottom lines is that I follow who I want to follow, and vice versa. If someone is not using Twitter the way you want them to use Twitter – *gasp* – you can unfollow them. Better yet, block them so they fall of your Twittersphere for good.

Admittedly, I watch my following/follower count. I won’t unfollow someone interesting if my follower count drops too low for my nonexistent standards (which I’m not sure I even have), but I am careful about who I choose to follow back. Frankly, I don’t follow anyone who is entirely unoriginal. And likewise, I try to make sure I stay relevant and occasionally innovative, so I don’t bore the few people who made the social investment in following me.

Except when I feel like writing blog posts about things everyone has been talking about on hundreds of blogs for more than a year. Then I throw innovation and originality to the dogs for my own selfish desire to really understand what the people in my Twitterverse really think of all Twetiquette business.

After only a month and a half of working for SHH, I’m inspired by the efforts of the people both within this organization and volunteers, donors and other constituents. Each person I’ve encountered dedicates extensive time and energy to support our mission to end hunger through community partnerships.

Whether we’re personally affected or not, thousands of our neighbors in the community will struggle to find food this week. And the saddest, yet most motivating fact is that hunger is a solvable problem. SHH’s volunteers, corporate and individual donors make a tremendous impact – but we have a long way to go.

Consider donating today to Second Harvest Heartland or other local food bank, food shelf or other charity. Times are tough for all of us, but even tougher for some.

Things you can do this week:

Come to City Pages’ Iron Fork tomorrow night – Proceeds benefit Second Harvest Heartland, or join us for the Taste of the NFL on Monday – meet your favorite Vikings players and help support our mission.

Courtesy of Wordle

Mary Parker Follett

My instant reaction was that of frustration with another seemingly redundant social network. While the Social Media Breakfast is breakfast, and is a big group, that isn’t to say that the same group of people can’t come together for happy hours (like the Solera meetup) and other smaller events.

Personally, I’d be happier with an umbrella network. Once place to go to check upcoming social media events, whether they be breakfasts, smaller meetings that spin off from breakfasts, or completely separate happy hours – but with the same people. I don’t at all disagree with the fact that happy hours can accomplish something different than the big SMB meetups. I just don’t think there need to be another network to organize these events.

There seem to be different opinions on the issue. What’s yours?

While it would be easy for me to stick around, I’ve never been one to sit still for long. A new adventure is upon me, and although I will miss a lot of things about Vibrant, it’s time for me to force myself to grow.

I’ve been offered the E-communications and Marketing Manager position at Second Harvest Heartland – a non-profit organization for hunger relief in the Midwest. I’ll be helping Second Harvest to establish a presence in the social media world, in addition to managing other aspects of e-marketing within the organization. I can’t wait to start helping get the word out about Second Harvest and the generous, charitable individuals who work and volunteer there.

My last day at Vibrant will not be without tears, but I have the highest of hopes for my future at Second Harvest.

“Do not be too timid and squeamish about your actions. All life is an experiment. The more experiments you make the better. What if they are a little course, and you may get your coat soiled or torn? What if you do fail, and get fairly rolled in the dirt once or twice. Up again, you shall never be so afraid of a tumble.”

“Sometimes a scream is better than a thesis.”

-Emerson

Now that I have a better understanding of social media/networking and its role in my personal and professional life, I’m dealing with a bit of a juxtaposition in e-personalities. I’ve considered completely deleting my Facebook account to recreate a more professional, more grown up version… sans the pictures and videos and other college history that follows me there. But I haven’t – mostly because I use Facebook differently than I use other tools I’ve become active using lately. I keep in touch with college friends, high school friends, even middle school friends through Facebook. Most of the things I am talking about on, say, Twitter – are not going to be relevant to these people. And likewise, most of the wall posts, status updates and so on that populate my Facebook account, are neither going to be interesting nor relevant to my other social media contacts and friends. When these contacts want to connect on Facebook, I’ve found myself adding them to my Limited Profile list. I don’t want to lose the opportunity to make another connection, but I also don’t necessarily want new contacts and friends having full access to the less professional parts of my college life.

I guess I’m wondering if any other people are keeping Facebook (or other tool) separate from others. Are you experiencing multiple e-personalities? If not, have you had this problem in the past – but found a way to merge the two (apart from the Limited Profile list)?

At its most basic, Twitter is a microblogging tool. For me, and for most others it seems, the best part about it is the comradery and discussions that happen between you and the people with whom you form relationships. There aren’t a lot of people in my life, besides those I’ve met through Twitter and associated networking events (SMB, Minnebar, etc.), who really understand social media (as much as anyone can) – or even just Twitter as medium. (And I love social media, so I need these people!) If I only used Twitter as a microblogging service and not a tool to network with my fellow geeks, I wouldn’t love it nearly as much, if at all.

I remember sitting in Peter Fleck and Rick Mahn’s Twitter discussion session at Minnebar earlier this year, and the concept of “rules” came up in conversation. A few people actually got relatively emotional about the idea of etiquette, do’s and don’ts for Twitter usage. The general perception seemed to be that the beauty in social media lies in its newness and our freedom to use it however we choose. If we only follow one person for every 10 followers, per the rules, then who would we be missing out on? And if we only use Twitter to tell people what we’re doing, how can we be sure we won’t bore other people, or even ourselves?

In the same way, how does it benefit you to impose your personal rules on others? If someone isn’t using Twitter the way you use it (or want the people you’re following to use it), then you have complete freedom to pay no attention to that individual or anything they’re saying.

I love the networking aspect, but that doesn’t mean everyone else does. I follow most of my followers (within reason), but that doesn’t mean everyone else does either.

As far as I’m concerned, there’s no need to take personal offense or responsibility for the way other people are using these new tools. I’m no expert though, so other opinions and discussion are welcomed.

I am curious to hear some different perspectives.

After attempting to logically refute the points of an angry, out-of-touch slew of commenters, I realized it wasn’t worth the effort. And when I was told I’m “what’s wrong with America” and death was wished up on me and my children (who don’t exist yet), I decided to abandon my mission completely. (I’m not sure what they thought they were accomplishing choosing angry attacks over logical rebuttals.)

Here’s the thing. At no point did I argue the law. I understand some drivers are distracted by a single raindrop or snowflake, and when those people are texting behind the wheel, I’m afraid too. What the law doesn’t take into account, though, is those of us who are no more distracted by texting than we are by skipping tracks on our iPods, or avoiding elderly drivers going 40 mph in a 70 mph speed limit zone (who, by the way, have not yet been banned by the government). I realize there’s no way to differentiate in texting-while-driving abilities, and a decision needs to be made to allow or ban it completely, but I’m not sure I agree this was the right choice.

Although it may anger the Minnesotans “intimidated by a rising culture of electronically connected multitaskers,” (Greg @ Metblogs) the law isn’t going to inspire change in my behavior. But don’t worry, anti-texter-dexters of Minnesota, if by some slim chance this law is ever enforced well enough for me to be caught, I will give the officer my sweetest Minnesota nice smile and tell them you told me so.

I’ve come to realize, however, that I am too obsessed with social media and other aspects of the web to ever be completely anonymous online. So I’m on a mission to establish the opposite. Complete non-anonymousy. What? Okay, so I don’t want to be famous or anything. Really, I just want to recreate my long lost hub for friends, family, and fellow geeks and other web fanatics. Somewhere outside of Facebook walls, Twitter, Ning and the rest of my fellow Minneapolis bloggers’ comment sections. (Although those outlets are mostly what I’ll be talking about here.)

So here I am. And I promise, I’ll do my best to offer some occasional entertainment and spark some controversy, although there may be some intermittent jabber including personal takes on politics, local venues and other topics like restaurant reviews… for which I promise I’m not being compensated. (Yet.)