2011-02-07

My Twitter follow back policy

I started on twitter back in April 2007 - and it has since grown into the beast that it is today - not that that's a bad thing, but one has to set guidelines these days with follow-backs.

I used to feel, and still do feel as though some respect should be given to someone who follows you on Twitter. I also have a sense that if I am following you and you don't follow back, it exudes an air of arrogance - an I will explain this when I explain my follow back policy:

If you follow me I will follow you back if:


  1. You are a real person and not an artificial life form.
  2. You are not trying to sell anything. 
  3. Your account passes my bull shit detection. Examples:
    1. You have 0-2 tweets in total but yet you follow 200+ people including me. How on earth did you decide to follow me? 
    2. You have nonsense tweets to start, and have an avatar of a "hot chick". I have seen far too many scams from so-called "software" devs trying to "feed their family" writing bullshit crap ware like tweet-tornado.
    3. Your profile is about something I just tweeted about. I once tweeted about the bible being bullshit and this person started @ mentioning me. I looked down the persons tweets and it was obviously a bot and the person once in a while came to respond to @ mentions to them. Their lame bot message? It was a variation of the current one : "I'm trying to get people to follow @the140bible for some biblical tweets, are you interested?" Instead she said something like "Have you heard of the @the140bible? check it out" Just because I mentioned the bible in one of my tweets.
    4. I click on your link and it takes me to bullshit. The photo I used for this blog post is a screenshot of a person that just has followed me this morning. Their web link takes me to this SEO bullshit. (figure 2)
  4. You have something interesting to say (offer). This one has a huge grey area. I am not interested in tweets that have nothing but links, thats an obvious feed for a blog. If I see you personally interact as well, this is a huge plus. I admittedly place a feed to this blog in twitterfeed, and I sometimes go a while without posting. anything but @GetGlue updates. But if you scroll down long enough you'll see some interaction with other people or you will see what I believe Twitter was meant for in the first place, and thats short, messages - micro blogging - thats highly interactive. 
(Figure 2. Russian SEO Bullshit)
So, there you have it. I get 3 -5 followers per day and I can't always give each immediate attention, but if you are real, and have something meaningful to say, you will be followed back.

-C

Ahhh Monetization

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Last.fm <no-reply@last.fm>
Date: Mon, Feb 7, 2011 at 11:59
Subject: Changes to our radio service
To: Chris1051 <dogstar1288@gmail.com>


Last.fm
Dear Chris1051,
We want to share with you an important update about our radio service:

From February 15 you will need to be a subscriber to listen to Last.fm Radio stations on devices, including your Last.fm Android app.

No other features are affected by this change.

In taking this decision, we have given a lot of thought to how this impacts some of our early adopters and long-time users like you. We truly appreciate what you have meant to our growth and success, and offer you the following as a token of our thanks;

A free 3 month subscription to Last.fm
This will start automatically on February 15th 2011. As a result you will continue to be able to use Last.fm as you do today until the end of your subscription.  If you'd like to see the other benefits of your free subscription, please visit the subscription page.

We appreciate you may have questions about this announcement, so visit our blog to read more about these changes and offer feedback.

We value your support and hope you continue to enjoy using Last.fm.
You can visit your profile at http://www.last.fm/user/Chris1051

– Team Last.fm


Last.fm Ltd, Karen House, 1–11 Baches Street, London, UK, N1 6DL

2011-02-03

Thievery

At work we have been having a little burglary problem. There was an "office creeper" who would get his jollies off by breaking into our suite at 7 AM and look for shit to steal. He went through a colleague's m&m candy jar and through everyone's office, before he was caught by our office admin who happens to come in at 7 AM each morning. It is scary - at the same time pretty damn annoying. The guy probably used a coat hanger to get in. Since then we have upgraded the security on all doors, started locking everything up in cabinets as well as changed the code on the cipher. Still everyone feels uneasy. I was told yesterday that the 3rd floor got broken into on Tuesday night. Several laptops were stolen among other things. Nashville Metro crime lab was on hand to process the scene. On the 5th floor - oddly enough there are several Metro Police who use that office space. The burglary took place after hours though.

Well today when arriving to work I was chatting to one of the building owners and they told me that the police were reviewing the cctv video of Tuesday night. One of the officers saw me on the video walking out. Of course, off I go, the gadget guru, with my backpack, and another laptop case, as well as a cup of coffee, and my water jug. So I have my hands full. Fortunately the building owner recognized me and told them: "No. That's just Chris." haha

Apparently though - these thieving thugs (yes there were three) had been stealing shit before, during and after I exited the building. I was even asked if I saw anything or could identify anyone. Of course my mind was on the hellish commute home - or I may have been thinking about bills, etc etc so I was miles away. I felt shitty for not having a good enough memory to help them out.

I understand times are desperate, but I can only imagine this kind of shit is going to continue. back in 2009 one of my bosses had a lot of stuff stolen from his Explorer in the parking garage. Vanderbilt Police caught his dumb ass on West End with all the stolen property. The idiot was a meth head and was desperate for a fix. The dude broke his window and took the stuff in broad daylight.

Oh well, I definitely think twice now about working late. As a kid walking to school in Tacoma, I had to maintain situational awareness more often. I had to learn that skill the hard way. You have to not appear scared, or the thugs will pounce. Thats just one of my conscious raising lessons. People will never stop stealing shit, we just have to learn to deal with them.  

Art time

I love art time with my daughter. She is already a talented artist at 6. I have always liked to draw but she draws at a level I have never been able to attain - at the age of 6. We draw animals, (mostly dogs) and I usually color them. Being away from home from 7 am until nearly 7 pm for five days a week, its a special treat to come home and spend some quality time with her.  I hope (with permission) I'll be able to post some of her drawings here. Keep an eye out


Buy this track


Juno - Kukka Kedolla

The awakening

Breathing new life into a blog left for dead. I am anxious to revive SR. With the help of a new app from google android.

Stay tuned.