Be a Dumb Tweet

Dumb Twitter

Are you making your followers feel dumb?

This is one of the most difficult and frustrating parts of Twitter. Not everyone is as smart as you are. Not everyone is good at spelling or grammar. Not everyone has a large vocabulary or a deep understanding of obscure topics. You have to speak to your audience or you will risk losing your audience.

If you are trying to appeal to a wide range of people, the last thing you want to do is make them feel stupid or inferior. You want them to feel like they can talk to you and that they get you. You want to be relatable. To be relatable you have to be accessible. This means not speaking over peoples heads or making lots of unknown references. Keep the inside jokes between you and your friends, because the rest of the twitterverse just feels left out of the loop. And if they are left out of your loop then you will certainly be left out of there’s.

I bring this up because it is something I frequently see and frequently have to remind myself of as well. When you are tweeting you want to make sure that you are speaking in the voice of your brand. But you also need to speak in the voice that your audience wants to hear. So if your audience likes snobby intellectuals then feel free to talk about the disenfranchisement of ethnic minorities post-antibellum america or the hegemony of goth culture. But if you don’t want to sound like a uptight academic then you might want to keep the big words on the smallish scale and remember that not all your followers understand complex vocabulary or references.

Most of your followers will not do you the favor and tell you when you are talking over their head. They will just stop paying attention. So you don’t need to be a dumb tweet but make sure you keep your tweets accessible.

 

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Shameless Twitter: Community Standards

As more and more people use Twitter for promotions the community begins to set standards for behavior. This comes about through a commonality of experience. Once of the concepts of social networks is that they are inherently self monitoring. People want to be in communities where they belong, where they are accepted. That community sets its own standard of conduct based off of community values and behavioral experience. Inside of Twitters micro-verses you will find very specific rules of engagement that you will become familiar with as you involve yourself with the community.  However, Twitter as a macro-community has some of its own rules of engagement.

Some things we hate:

  • Calling someone out on unfollowing you, not cool. Not to mention that they will not likely want to follow you after you announced to the world that you unfollowed them.
  • Forcing people to “validate” themselves by using a captcha before you will let them follow you.
  • Auto DMs. Seriously why are you still doing this? We know they are automated and we are definitely not going to click your link.
  • Eggs – not the nice farm eggs in your fridge, but the arm of eggs that are following you. If you are a real person on Twitter then have a real profile pic.
  • “Please RT” – stop begging for retweets. If your content is good people will retweet it.
  • Asking for more followers. No one cares that you are almost at 8000 followers. Stop asking for people to pander your Twitter account to their friends. That is what #FF is for.
  • Its Wednesday, why are you doing a #FF? It means “Follow Friday” ….so do it on Friday!
  • Uncredited tweets. If you are posting something that someone else wrote, don’t play it off as yours. Give the person a h/t (hat tip) or some kind of credit.
  • Altering trending hashtags to make them sound cool. Some people do this for #FollowFriday, or #FF. You will see alternatives like #FriendlyFriday or #FavFriday. Don’t do this. #FF is a trend for a reason, when you alter a trending hashtag, you are no longer searchable in the trend, and therefore are not participating in it.
  • Pretending to be the Twitter account of someone else. You will be called out on this. No one likes impersonators, unless they are actual comedians!

These are just a few, there are more. Tell me what are some that you know?

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Why Google+ is Bad for Porn

So how is Google+ different than Facebook?  Well, its not really.  Google+ (or Google Plus) is just as stringent on porn as Facebook. They forbid the content. They do not allow links to adult sites or explicit photos. Will they be as bad as Facebook when it comes to deleting accounts? Well time will tell.

Essentially Google+ is the new kid on the block of social networks. They are trying to compete with Facebook and not doing a terribly great job, despite endorsements from some pretty big people. Most of the activity is still happening on Facebook. Why? Because that is where everyone is! and by everyone I mean the 800+ million people around the world.  In many ways people are tied of learning new social networks. How many profiles have we created? Friendster, MySpace, Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, Tumbler…and there are more. Unless it has something that is completely new and unthought of, and circles hardly counts, then it is not likely to be terribly sticky.

But beyond that Google+ is not great for businesses, much less porn. Currently they do not have a business profile option. There is no business page. So the only way you can be on there is as an individual. Then on top of that they won’t let you use a stage name. So forget privacy. Forget anonymity.

Though they are reporting that Google+ Pages for business is being released. However they will not be terribly different than Facebook Pages. Meaning, you will not be able to post adult content, links or anything. So is it a duplicate to Facebook? Not quite, but not far off.

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Twitter Gallery Has No Boobies

When Twitter released their photo gallery it was a feast of boobies! All the photos from third party apps like twitgoo and yfrog were streaming in with naked bodies galore. Of course we wondered how long this was going to last. Posting naked photos is against the Twitter terms of service. But since Twitter was simply aggregating the pictures, we asked if they would put pressure on the apps to crack down on nudity.

On the down-low, I think they did. I ran a test photo on twitgoo of a blowjob and it was deleted in less than 30 seconds.

Officially I have not seen anything that says that, but there has been a change in the Twitter gallery. It is not longer a feast of boobies. It is more like a feast of clothed people in sexy poses. The only two photo apps that I have really seen being aggregated are yfrog and twitgoo. Both of these apps are notorious for deleting adult photos very quickly.  Moby, an app that was previously aggregating in the gallery, is not anymore. When running test photos for them, they remained active.

So we had a few glorious weeks of hundreds of boobie pictures to feast upon in the gallery, but it was just a matter of time before they figured out a way to make the gallery compliant with their terms of service. I guess we will have to go back to consuming boobies one tweeted link at a time.

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New Branding for Fan Pages?

Facebook has been rolling out the “timeline” update on the newsfeed and on profiles. Will fan pages be the next update? It is the logical progression. Since the fan page update at the beginning of 2011, Facebook has been updating the layout of the fan page in conjunction with the profiles. The main goal being consistency in the user experience.

The latest update for the profiles was not only a dramatic visual change but also a UI (user interface) change. It is changing how users are using Facebook. In fact, the new timeline profile is deepening the emotional connection between Facebook and its user. If Facebook updates fan pages as well, it has the potential to have a similar emotional effect.

The cover image will be a great opportunity for branding, with the profile image being the “face” of your engagement. The more graphic display will really encourage fan pages to post more dynamically using significantly more photos. Beyond using more photos, it will encourage businesses to use a more cohesive and truly graphic based brand strategy. The page itself will be like an interactive page from a magazine. It has the potentially to be incredible.

No profiles have gone public yet. Below is a mock up by the New York Agency Skinny of a potential fan page. The branding opportunity is incredible! Of course this means that people will need to strategically implement their fan page design, which means that marketing firms need to embrace social media design. The game is changing…and getting more aesthetically pleasing!

In adult this could be a good thing or a bad thing. It might make your fan page look more porno than the old fan layout. Will this cause more flags on your page? Will adult be more likely to be deleted? Possibly. However it gives a huge opportunity for improved branding. Your page will be an amazing representation of your brand and that will do a lot for growing your network and pushing people to your site.

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Facebook is Giving Away Money!

Facebook moneyIf Facebook gives you money will you place an ad? Despite ads under performing as a whole, most people in the adult entertainment industry have not been able to take advantage of ads due to Facebook restrictions. But some of us can. In fact more of us can than think we can.

The assumption we make is that an ad has to go to a website. Adult websites are not allowed on Facebook, so you cannot link and therefore you cannot ad right? wrong. You don’t have to link your ad to a website. Link your ad back to your fan page. Use the ad as a way to build fans, and then use your page as a way to promote your brand and push people to your site. But do you consider putting an ad for your fan page a worthwhile investment? What if someone gave you a free $50 in ad money?

Early in 2012 Facebook Marketing Solution which includes a partnership with the National Federation of Independent Business and the U.S. Chamber of Commerce, will be launching a $10 million dollar grant program. The purpose is to give every qualified small business on Facebook $50 towards advertising on the site. This is an effort to promote commerce, help small businesses get an advertising boost and help familiarize small business with Facebook Ads. The primary desired result is awareness, additionally they are looking for more fans for the pages, more revenue for the small business and an increase usage of Facebook ads by small business.

This is a huge opportunity for small business to get acquainted with the ad program and get some free marketing money. Because details have not been released we do not know what counts as a qualified business. But if you do not yet have a fan page for your business, now is the time to build it so you if you do qualify for it, can get you money!

 

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Facebook Throwing Us a Bone

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Facebook Recomendation 7 VeilsThough Facebook has been hard on the adult industry, holding us to standards that other pages don’t seem to have to abide by. Many people in the adult industry still want to have access to the 800+ million members on Facebook.  One of the big challenges for pages have been reaching their audience. The best way to reach your target audience is to find, and network with, similar pages. But this has not been easy. Fan pages have finally been given a tool that will help us network with each other.

Recommendations

It use to be that you could suggest your page to your friends. It was a button at the bottom of your left nav menu. You clicked “suggest page” and you could send suggestions to all your friends. At one point this was a great way to spread the word very quickly about your page. If you were able to get someone who was influential on Twitter to suggest your page you could get literally hundreds of new fans over night! But then Facebook changed their notification system. So instead of seeing your page suggestions, they were buried in the Facebook matrix. This essentially left page suggestions completely impotent.

From that point the only way you could suggest a page was to post on your fan page and ask your friends to spread the word about you. Does this work? Yes, well sometimes. A lot of people don’t know how to “share” a post, or they are just not interested in doing PR for your fan page. Though the suggest a page is not being brought back, Facebook mainframe is now going to actually help fan pages network with each other.

When you use facebook as your page you will now see 2 rows of recommended pages. The first row are generally recommended pages, based off of other pages you like. Then below that is another set of recommendations. These show pages that your fans like. Giving you the opportunity for your page to like pages that your fans like.

This is a big boost for adult. The best way to find your fans is to engage with the pages they like.  The recommendations will help us to find the pages our fans like as well as suggesting other similar pages.

 

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The New Facebook “Timeline” Profile

Pretty soon you will notice that Facebook has a new profile. It is called the “Timeline” profile. Essentially it is showcasing your photos, comments, posts and updates from your entire time on Facebook. You can browse back to your very first days on Facebook. Though I am still concerned that it is too “me” centric, I have to admit that the layout is beautiful and that it prompted me to take a walk down memory lane.

1. The Cover

This is a giant picture at the top of your profile. It can be anything you want as kind of sets the theme to your profile. In essence this photo is supposed to be a personal expression of you. This is the first thing people see when they come to your “timeline”.

2. Views

Underneath your cover is your “views” this was previously your info section, or a hybrid thereof. This is where you’ll find your info, photos, likes, apps and other stuff all on one header bar.

3. Activity Log

This is a section that is only available to you. This is where you can edit the privacy settings on your posts and pictures, even ones previously posted. This will let you see all your activity on Facebook since the dawn of time.

4. Stories

This are shows your top stories. Your photos, updates, posts and shares from all time that are considered top news. You can view top stories from any period of time by clicking a time period on the timeline at the top right of your profile.

5. Star or Hide

You can star or hide any post at any time. If you click the star on a story it will expand it to full screen. If you click the pencil, you have the ability to hide or delete it off your profile.

6. Life Events Menu

Above the area for status updates is your life events menu. This is where you can add or edit you significant life events. You can even set up when they happened so they are properly archived in your timeline. For instance, never put in your marriage? Well, now you can add it in and add the date that you were married.

7. Info

Your info area is now much more extensive as far as your familial connections. You can add your entire family tree from aunts, uncles and cousins to in-laws!

New Facebook Timeline Profile

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Facebook Removing a Feature You Never Knew About

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Facebook TattooThe use of Facebook in adult entertainment is always a big question. But many people persist in using Facebook for branding purposes. So for those of you us who persist, there are some updates happening that might affect the way you use your fan page.

Facebook is removing yet another feature from Fan Pages. As of Sept 30th, you will no longer have the ability to update your fans via email. I am sure many of you didn’t even know that you could update your fans via email, well if you are just learning about this now you have about 2 more days before it is being removed.

So why is it being removed? For the exact reason why you are wondering why you have never received a page update. Well, it is likely that you have and did not know it. When Facebook updated their email service, they created their version of a spam box. It is a file on your email called “Other” this is where Facebook puts any email that it thinks is likely spam or unwanted. Of course this means any email from a fan page. They only way around emails not being filtered into this other box was to go into your email, open up a message and then move it to your “messages” box. Of course non of us ever did that. In fact, most of us never even go into the other box.

Since all fan page emails get shoved into other as soon as it is sent, Facebook has decided to remove the option entirely. Often times when a big update goes through, like Facebook email, certain things don’t function the way they were anticipated. Though Facebook wants people to use their network as a primary email address, most people are not. Very few people look at Facebook as a way to communicate with people not on the social network, and they definitely do not view it as a replacement for their primary email address. So the spam filter is under utilized and generally ignored.

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