30 Blogging Tips, Links and Social Media Resources

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Here is a list of 30 hot tips, links, blogging and social media resources I've found on the web for your reading pleasure.

Best writing tips. The bottom line is that we need to be good writers to be read. I've skimmed the cream of the crop in writing and I've stumbled into Skellie, Terry and George.

1. How to Write Like a Painter
2. Aesthetic Poets and "To Thine Own Self Be True"
3. Your Writing is Killing Your Writing

What's hot right now. The sad thing about Philippine blogosphere is that some of us get off on assigning derogatory labels to our fellow bloggers who don't fit into our pet notions of class and what constitutes accomplished blogging. Here's Janette and Reyna Elena to give you the lowdown on this pesky issue. To make up for the heavy feeling you might have after checking out these links, I reward you with Holly's useful and humorous post on blog commenting.

1. Politics of Blogging
2. Are You Serious Carlo Ople?
3. Blog Comments: Conversation or Junk Mail?

Most viewed in this blog. In case you're slacking off, I'm giving you a recap of what Google Analytics says are the most read posts in this blog in April.

1. The Lost Art of Being Silly
2. CommentLuv Plugin for Blogspot Users
3. The Secret to Earning a Good StumbleUpon Review

Best blogging tips. Skellie, Daniel and Marko all conspire here to help you raise your blog to the next level.

1. 5 Content Strategies That Top Bloggers Use + 3 Things That Set Them Apart
2. Calculus of Blogging: The Whys and Hows of Blogging Success
3. 6 Steps to Make Your Blog Visitors Loyal Commentators

11 SEO power tools and 34 nifty techniques. We can't avoid being our own handyman in our own blog. We have to if we're into blogging for the long haul.

1. 33 Foolproof Headline Writing Strategies
2. 11 Tools for Effective Search Engine Optimization (SEO Tools)
3. A Headline Title Trick to Maximize Social and SEO Traffic - the One-Two Punch


Making heads and tails of the social media. Some useful read to help you manage the surfeit of social media sites you're subscribed to. Plus a valuable post on Friendfeed as the social media aggregator to beat.

1. Eight Forms of Social Media Depression: Are You Suffering?
2. Friendfeed as a Productivity Tool
3. Five Ways To Take Control of Your Personal Brand Today

Twitter: What can I say except that whenever social media is mentioned I snap to attention and burst into melodic tweets. Ahem.

1. The Science of Retweets
2. Twitter is the New Recess
3. How to: Get Twitter Tweets on Your Cell Phone

StumbleUpon. My original Significant Other. I've known it long before I joined blogging. Always has a special place in my heart.

1. How to Get the Most Out of StumbleUpon
2. How to Use StumbleUpon: A Step by Step Guide
3. A Comprehensive Guide to StumbleUpon: How to Build Massive Traffic to Your Website


Facebook: It's currently going after Filipino account users on suspicion that their user names are fake. No mystery there - Filipinos love nicknames with repeating syllables: Tonton, Jayjay, Leklek, and so on. These are not fake names, Mattt. Oh Facebook, you're so clueless. Never mind, we still love you.

1. How to Create and Promote Your Facebook Fan Page
2. 10 Privacy Settings Every Facebook User Should Know
3. 10 Facebook Tips for Power Users

Digg: I can't stand the verbal abuse in Digg. Its comment section is not for the fainthearted. Tread slowly and carry a taser to protect yourself if you can't help lusting the rewards of Digg anointment.

1. Beginner's Guide to Digg
2. How to Play the Odds Game and Win with Digg
3. How to Level the Playing Field with Digg

Over to you, guys. Care to share valuable links and blogging resources you've stumbled into the last few days?

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Tags: blogging tips, writing tips, blogging resources, Twitter how-to, Facebook how-to, Digg how-to, StumbleUpon how-to

The Secret to Earning a Good StumbleUpon Review

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How do you help a clueless Stumbleupon user who's also your friend? Let us try by writing her a letter. Here goes -

Hi, how are you today? Do you have something for me to review today?

Yesterday, you have plied me with 10 posts - all pages coming from your own blog. And they are all about Lindsay Lohan, Sharon Stone, and other Hollywood female stars in their fantastic gowns.

I have nothing against celebrities and high fashion and expensive accessories for women. But my brain is not hardwired for this stuff. Well, maybe, if you come across some actors who can write then maybe I'd give your blog some serious thoughts.

Personal relationships still rule

If I were you, I'd get to know first the people you send your pages to for review. For example, you've not been to my blog to read what I write about. You could have sent me little notes under the door. I'm even up for a longish email if you want to take the scenic route.

You did not.

It's not all about promotion, you see. Don't you get tired hawking your wares? The weather is fine, can we not talk about that first? Get personal with me. Nothing's wrong with that.

I'd be the first to put in a good word about you if I only know you well. Marvelous things can happen if I feel a personal connection with you. Trust me on this.

The key to getting a good StumbleUpon review

True, I have written glowing reviews about nearly everything. Well, here's the thing, 90% of those stuff were not solicited. I wrote those raves without anybody prompting me to. I have received other pages asking for a thumbs up or a review. Guess what. This is fine with me. I don't scrimp on giving a post a good send off.

The difference is this: my other friends do send me only their best posts. Occasionally. That's the magic word: occasionally.

The good news

I'm sure you will notice this. I have simply gone through the pages you've sent me. I could have thumbed them down, wrote something nasty to belittle your taste. But I did not. I want to give you another chance. I want to play it nice.

This also means you're still on my roster of friends in StumbleUpon today.

I can't promise what will happen tomorrow. If you persist to be pushy then I simply have to gently nudge you off the cliff.

Over to you, guys. Do you have a similar experience in StumbleUpon or in another social media?

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Here's my SU profile if you want to add me as a friend.

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Tags: StumbleUpon, social media, blog promotion, StumbleUpon reviews

My Twitter Policy: Unfollow Celebs, Diva Wannabes and Hawkers

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In the name of reciprocation in Twitter, I rid my follow list of some celebrities this afternoon. It's a delicious and liberating feeling and I recommend you should do it too.

You see, you are the company you keep. The people around you defines you. So today, with that in mind, I've unfollowed nearly 150 people in Twitter. So off goes the head of Kevin Rose, Jane Fonda, some famous authors, some noted executives of Web 2.0 companies, and a lot of persistent internet marketers. And yes, Filipino tweeters, too.

There are lots of Twitter apps that will make unfollowing at one go. But not for me. I don't mind swinging the axe myself. It's a good work out. And yes, I'm using FriendOrFollow to check my follows, followers and those I have neglected to follow back.

Why I gave them the boot

1. Ice Queens and Kings. I can only be star-struck for a limited amount of time. Soliloquy belongs to the performing arts. This is Twitter for crying out loud. If I can't have meaningful conversation with you or even delightful banter about ordinary things, I'm out of here.

2. Insufferable. I still can admire you - from a safe distance. When you are ready to release your encyclical for us lesser mortals I will just google it then. See? If you can be cold-blooded about limiting your company to a handful - well, sir, I'd give you a wide berth then.

3. Flatliners. All you do is spout quotations, proverbs, aphorisms. This is sickening. Kindly share what's on your mind. Spice up your tweets with your own thoughts. If you listen hard enough, you're bound to find one worth sharing.

4. Hawkers. All you do is sell, sell, sell. Hey, I will grow rich at my own sweet time, okay? And don't tinker with my happiness or lack thereof. Let me tell you - this is what makes my writing a compulsion. This is the well I scoop blog post ideas from. So don't go near it, okay? And yeah, about your posts, if these are really superb they will not go stale and shrivel from lack of attention. I'll read them when I can - no need to bother me with direct messages.

5. Filipino divas. You're inaccessible. It's as if you're not eating balut, or you've not tasted bagoong (pickled fish), or found yourself pointing with your mouth when asked for directions. Of course, I might change my mind next time we meet online.

Big names I will remain hopelessly star-struck with

I've reserved fifty slots for tweeters who I don't mind even though they don't follow back. Let me give you an example. The_real_shaq because even if I'm not sold on his basketball prowess, I find his random acts of shaqness a hoot. And there's Dooce because I simply must have the lowdown about her daughter, dogs, husband. I also want to know what's up with the Mormons these days. And there's this sublime writer I consider my mentor. Will not tell you his name - but if you know me, you can already guess who he is.

And yes, I've followed Ashton Kutcher or @aplusk this morning at the prompting of @yatotchronicles . We both agreed that indeed the honor of being the first one to get one million followers should be a real human being and not CNN. By the way, Ashton won his bet against CNN. It was a fun race, but for a good cause, too. Ashton will be donating 10,000 mosquito nets late April for World Malaria Day.

Tell us your Twitter pet peeves

Over to you, guys. What will make you hit the unfollow button with uncharacteristic glee? Any famous tweeter you unfollowed lately? If you're shy in revealing his/her name in your comment, feel free to tweet @jan_geronimo instead. That's me, of course.

Did you enjoy this post? Please subscribe via email or feed so you will not miss future updates. This is free.

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Tags: Twitter, Ashton Kutcher, Shaq, Dooce, FriendOrFollow, twitter pet peeves

Blogging Tip: How To Build Your Personal Brand

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If you suppress your inner snark in your own blog in a noble attempt to be the voice of reason, calm, poise, and what-not there's a danger this two-headed beast might surface elsewhere. This is what happened to me two days ago

First, let me start by summing up how I think I conduct myself in this blog. As your host, I strive hard to write in a friendly tone. I believe setting the right tone in your blog encourages the readers to leave helpful comments. In instances when they are critical of your views, the tone of your post generally influences readers to temper their objections with reason and fairness.

Value of Blog Commenting in Personal Branding

It's been said too that once you go out and participate in other blogs' discussion you strengthen or sully your personal brand the way you write your comments. I forget this great lady blogger who said this, but it was she coined this phrase: your comments are your little passports. What you dropped as comments can reinforce what you've carefully built as your personal brand or destroy it in a flash.

Now back to the story. You might have heard about the venerable Hongkong journalist Chip Tsao who summarily insulted the Philippines as a nation of servants in an article he passed as off as satire. Online buddy Mizdi sent me a tweet about her post tackling the slight against overseas Filipino workers.

Danger: Tangent Ahead

I was passing my time in Twitter during that time, building up my followers list. Which meant I was trying hard to keep up with internet marketers who followed me. In real life, these are people who knock on your door and try to sell you something. In real life, of course you can slam the door in their face and feel better for it. Today, they are in Twitter and other social media in full force.

They are the good guys now, doing their legwork in the internet. Usually, they have dollar signs as user names so you will not miss the message. They are dying to make you filthy rich. You only have to watch this video, or read that sales pitch in their blogs. And you're all set to help unlock the secrets in getting your first million.

And then there are internet marketers who will make you a renaissance man if you so much as let them breathe down your neck. You know the type - the ones who will make you reach your full potentiality as a human being.

This is my frame of mind when I arrived at Mizdi's blog - excited to get my millions and almost sold on making myself a better man. And then I read Mizdi's post on Mr. Chip Tsao's tirades against overseas Filipino workers . Pfft goes my dream. Come to think of it, just throw in a little pompadour and I may have blossomed to be Donald Trump in a few months. I might have also achieved the stature of Steven Spielberg, but alas to an Asian brother named Chip Tsao I'm just a bloke from a long illustrious line of nannies. The Philippines is a nation of servants, he said.

Here comes Mr. Snark

Naturally, I wrote my comments on Mizdi's post with righteous indignation and solemnly advised Mr. Tsao to stick his satire in a place where the sun never shines.

And this is not the first time. Previously, I had brandished a palapa (dried coconut frond) in the air and warned Mr. Tsao not to come within spitting distance of this blogger or else I'd flog him with it. You can find my comments against Mr. Tsao's racist remarks in Elmot's post on the apology issued by the Hong Kong magazine which published Mr. Tsao's article. It had also taken down the article.

Mr. Chip Tsao had since apologized. I wish there's a metric for this but I'd like to know which tipped the balance for this development. Is it the threat to Mr. Tsao's pale little ass or is it the imagined whack from a lowly palapa that did the trick? I will never know, but I can live with that.

So, you see, dear Petit, I'm not exactly a nice person. I can also be snarky and can be counted upon to parade around the blogosphere with something sticking up my ass, if that's not too gross a description for you.

Be True to Yourself

In balance, I may have soiled my little passport with my candid but unfortunate comments, but hey, read my lips: so what!

Truth to tell, however, I feel I'm just being true to myself. If there's one thing to take away from this post it is to embrace your authentic self. I have vague feelings about this, but since discovering Terry Heath I have since felt braver in being foolish. Terry says:

Embrace all the varied and wonderful things that make you unique and unleash that on the world, even if you feel foolish. Your right people will find you if you’re not hiding behind something else, something that isn’t really you. Then sit back and don’t worry about what will come; the right things will come along with the right people. Just let your creative spirit go skipping down the halls, if that’s what it needs to do.

This will serve me well in my writing and blog commenting. Conventional wisdom has it I put my best foot forward. Up to a point. To show your vulnerability as a human being is not so bad. And that includes baring your fangs when the occasion calls for it.

But since you're here in my esteemed presence, notwithstanding my Mr. Goody Two-Shoes airs, I urge you to be your usual agreeable self. Biting each others head off here is still not allowed. Of course I can be arbitrary about this as this is my blog. If you feel much put upon and need to vent please go satisfy your blood lust in some dark alley, okay?

Now, over to you, guys. Two questions for you: How do strengthen your personal brand? And how do you rein in your inner snark to keep your online reputation intact?

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Tags: blogging tip, Twitter, personal branding, blog commenting

How Do You Protect Yourself From Your Online Friends?

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This is a little story about how an unwieldy stimulus package can drive away your treasured online buddy.

I had this twitter app that emails me at several hours interval every day a summary of my direct messages in Twitter, the last 20 tweets, a list of new followers with their bio, Facebook updates, and list of persons who unfollowed me in twitter.

A reader of this blog has unfollowed me in Twitter. It struck me as odd. We had emailed each other before discussing our posts and interaction with readers. I felt a connection with her because she's a real charmer and what she writes about resonates with me.

I know, hundreds of thousands have lost their jobs worldwide. And there seems no assurance tomorrow or the day after will be any different.

And I have just lost only one blog reader. Get a grip, I have told myself. A dear online buddy told me the same thing and advised me to grow another layer of skin, the thicker the better.

If any other individual unfollowed me in Twitter I will not mind at all. The twittersphere is one thriving democracy. Everyone can do as he pleases.

Back to the story. Hours later, I've stumbled upon the probable reason why I fell out of grace. I had used an offending phrase which might have driven her nuts. Apparently, she's launched a crusade against the ill-advised use of the phrase "stimulus package." And I was a deer caught in the cross-hairs of her crossbow. This is how I've used the offensive phrase in my post If Tweet Be Told I Love Tweeter:

For somebody who has aspirations to uber blogging (I do, I do), I find Twitter a blessing. In this time of want and depressed economic realities, Twitter experience has become - excuse me, Mr. Barack Obama - the ultimate stimulus package. For the creative mind at least. And this makes me very happy.

Truth to tell, she's got a great catch on the day she wrote her post - all stupid uses of the phrase with a lot of her other pet peeves.She had them all fingerprinted and lined up the wall for the usual mug shots.

Reading on, I realized she has this abiding love for the language. That's an admirable trait in itself. I should not feel particularly singled out. In the first place, she didn't even link to my offending use of the language to make me feel stupid in the eyes of her other readers.

My only beef is that I just wish she had called me out on the comment section of this blog. Here. So I can defend my position and choice of words. I maybe careless with my use of the language, but I can always listen especially from an online buddy. This old dog can still learn new tricks, I earnestly believe that.

Of course, I've also considered the possibility that I tweeted too much. And she wanted out. As simple as that.

I'm not fishing for sympathy here. I have already done any sane man will do under this circumstance: scamper under the safety of the table and whine, tail between my legs. And I'm fine with this.

So, I'm curious and would like to hear your opinion. How do you deal with online flak? And how do you protect yourself from your online buddies?

Why Shacking Up with Twitter Injects Life to Your Blog

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My regular readers I suspect must be puzzled by my increasing fascination with Twitter. Am I falling out of love with my blog and shacking up with social media heartthrob that is Twitter?

Am I turning into an internet fop? Others may perhaps suggest another term: social media whore. Oh boy, am I becoming a streetwalker in Twitterverse? Sheesh. Of course not.

Tapping Into the Power of Twitter and Other Social Media

Frankly my dear, internet conversation is not taking place in the confines of a blog anymore. It has left in a huff and set up camp in Twitter. Or Facebook. What's a blog author got to do?

Well, put on your party dress and let's go to Twitter. There's the party. Others dismiss Twitter as the new office water cooler that will soon outlive the buzz it is currently generating. Yeah, right - you wish it were so. It's your right to be in a state of denial. Guess what, Twitter is where the movers and shakers in every field gather. It's where conversations are taking place. It's a nice place to be seen and develop friendships and alliances.

It used to be you write a post and encourage reader interaction by asking questions, by keeping your writing conversational, by keeping them a little incomplete so readers will be encouraged to comment. And of course the old tactic of commenting on high traffic sites, article writing, and guest posting.

And they still work. And I still do it - except guest posting and article writing - because they are effective tools in getting readers for your blog. But there's another way of doing it and it is where Twitter comes in.

Twitter is the new power tool - the coolest contraption among the social media giants.

And yet there are still some misgivings about Twitter of course. Let me address some of them.

1. Twitter is so random - an endless stream of tweets going nowhere. You're following the wrong people. If your interest is in writing like I do it's best you follow fellow writers, or journalists, or people in the performing arts. Even bloggers from other niches who you hold in high esteem can help you to be a well rounded blog author. Those are the right people to connect to. Doing so makes the stream of tweets you see very relevant to your interest.

And nobody can spam you if you don't allow it. Just unfollow people who rub you the wrong way. Or block them as the case maybe.

Personally, I cast a wider net. Because I need to build up a wide base of followers who can hear what I have to say. But I'm not obsessed with numbers. I'm trimming my list as I add people to it. This evening, I'm axing a guy who tweets nothing but tips on how to get on the good side of women. I'm not a prude or anything, but I find it extremely vexing to hear all these ruses to get into a woman's pants. Every single frigging day. Is he a bot or something? Or an unimaginative paid hack?

2. It's not driving traffic to my site. Complete waste of time. Come on - you may have been tweeting nothing but links to your latest blog post. That guarantees you'd be ignored and written off as a spammer in no time. Take time to develop relationships first. Know who you follow and your followers as well. Be useful first. What expertise can you share that will help your own followers? Even a helpful link that points to a probable solution to their problem can help develop trust and likability in Twitter.

Likability delivers result. As it is in your blog, so it is in Twitter and in the other social media. Maybe your ideas are not outstanding. In fact they maybe average, but if you're helpful and take the time to develop friendships first then you have a better chance at getting noticed.

People have to like you first before you get yourself heard. Just like in a party. In no time, you will find yourself followers who tweet links to your post as soon as you hit the publish button. Because they like you and what you're doing.

Helping your fellow users do not literally mean having a hand in actually solving their problems. It can be as simple as retweeting another person's concerns. He needs work or a part-time job - by all means, spread the word. Retweet it among your followers. Here's a guide to RT or retweeting.

A fellow blogger needs a favorable review for his latest masterpiece and he sends you a DM (direct message) in Twitter. Reply immediately and see what you can do. Maybe you're pressed for time and can't write a proper review. But you can always give the post a simple thumbs up or a snappy but encouraging comment in his blog.

3. I'm not getting noticed. I have no use for it. Review your recent tweets. What are they about? Is it generally about what you're eating at the moment? Or a partial inventory of what constitutes your boring day at the office?

I say you're being too literal. The homepage of Twitter encourages you to say "what you are doing?" in 140 letters, but you're not limited to that. Be creative. Relax. Share what's on your mind with candor. And joke a little, for Pete's sake. It shows you're a likable fellow.

Here's @linksmonkey: Intermission: "Off to attend a funeral. Expecting a 10 minute eulogy followed by 30 minutes of rebuttal."

And here's @dooce: Me: "Leta, you finished your cereal, and I didn't even have to threaten you!" Leta: "It's because I'm five now. It's what we do."

Unless you're Oscar Wilde personified don't limit yourself to tweeting about quotations and proverbs. If I'm really interested I'd go straight to the site in question and not bother with what you've dug up. Don't be afraid to be original because it's your passport to getting noticed.

Last night, I retweeted a particularly lovely quote. A lady named @jansimpson sent me a tweet debunking the quote and explained why. I was floored, but not offended. And we exchanged tweets about the subject. In the end, I accepted her version of the quote because I felt she improved upon it.

@jansimpson says: Hopefulness doesn't need a lamp with a bulb to burn out-hopefulness has an internal heater.

Of course, I retweeted her revised version. That to me is meaningful conversation. Not every tweet is about you, your post, or the particular brand or product you're selling. It's about making human connection with another fellow we like. In real life, we go to the market to buy say fish or meat. We don't go about this mundane task by buying from the first person that we notice. We go straight to the fish vendor who we personally know and trust. And so it is with Twitter. Both of us maybe coming from opposite ends of the hemisphere but if I have a personal connection with you remarkable things can happen afterward. Maybe I gain a reader to my blog. Or better yet - a friend. Or future creative collaboration may not be a little far off.

4. I'm a serious blogger - would rather trust Google and other resource-rich sites to give heft and substance to my writing. I have no beef against Google. I find it still relevant. All I'm saying is Twitter is fast coming up as the best alternative search engine. Google's powerful machines are still churning out relevant search results, but I'm increasingly getting seduced by Twitter's potentiality as a search engine. Top users in every field, the geeks, and virtually all the leading lights in every profession are in Twitter and this collective wealth of personal recommendations I'm lusting after.

Say for example, I need to come up with video blogging to spice up my blog. Who do I trust more? Google's algorithm? I'd rather hear out first Robert Scoble/@sobleizer and other known video bloggers who are all in Twitter.

I'm in a serious dilemma with my writing. Do I ask the impersonal Google? No, I'd hear out what Brian Clark has to say first. If he's caught up with something else at the moment, then I go to @joannayoung who I have a personal connection with in Twitter.

The benefit of this is I get a real shot at following up on my concerns in real time. In Google and other traditional search engines,you may find the results relevant, but nothing beats a personal recommendation from a person you trust and respect.

5. Why waste time and ideas on a site you do not own. Post it on your blog where there's a likelihood that it will make you a tidy sum. I use Twitter as a listening post, a tool that amplifies my presence and voice. My activities there - holding virtual pow-wows with like-minded persons, helping people with retweets and links to precious resources I found in the internet, bonding with friends and developing relationships with other people - are but an extension of my blog. It's my five senses all right, but not necessarily all of me.

It's not a waste of time expending nuggets of wisdom or a germ of a wonderful idea in 140 letters. I can always take them home with me to this blog and snip off the ragged edges and hone them till they shine. Twitter is a good sounding board, but it is in your blog where the real work takes place. It's wasted on you, of course, if you're just kicking around useful ideas like pebbles in twitterverse road and then go out to complain it has been a waste of time.

This may be a hosted blog, but in it still resides my bloody entrails and my soul. Twitter is a party I go to, but this blog is my home and where I go to touch base with what is essentially me.

Recommended reading: Why It's Worth Sticking with Twitter

Here's a guide on how to brand yourself on Twitter.

Tags: Twitter, social media

If Tweet Be Told I Love Twitter

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@dr.Annpetit sent me a tweet: "How come you have many tweets?"

Knowing Ann, she means well. It's not a question uttered in clenched teeth, both-hands-on-the-hips kind of question. She's just making conversation. She's not my mom after all. And she has her hands full in her real role as a doctor in her part of the world. I can understand her puzzlement at my odd behavior.

Perhaps this explains the sudden surge of my tweets lately: Hard choices of life and death in a third world setting confront Dr. Ann daily. I am not.

So why do I have many tweets?By the way, my twitter stats are in the hundreds only - puny by Twitter standards. But let's take a closer look anyway.

Because I am happy. I am connecting with new found online buddies in Twitter. We share common interests. We point to interesting links we found useful in the internet. We laugh at amusing pictures and videos. We do it in real time. Sometimes time constraints only allow me to just mine useful information that will become fodder for my writing tips for this blog. A quickie dip into twitterverse and an even quicker and immediate pull-out.

For somebody who has aspirations to uber blogging (I do, I do), I find Twitter a blessing. In this time of want and depressed economic realities, Twitter experience has become - excuse me, Mr. Barack Obama - the ultimate stimulus package. For the creative mind at least. And this makes me very happy.

Because I am lonely. When I'm having the blues I don't need to tweet. I can just stay there and listen. And chill out. And once in a while, I read a tweet which says, "Anybody home?" to no one in particular.

And I suddenly feel I'm not alone. Loneliness does not exist specifically to torment me. It's a human condition common to us all. And in an odd sort of way, I feel a little lighter and strive to pull myself together.

Because I want to connect in a more fundamental way. Twitter delivers that promise. This blog is still the heart of my online existence, but Twitter - sweet Twitter - effectively becomes the five senses that connect me to what's out there in the digital wilderness. A listening post like no other.

Now, let me ask you - where do you find the mother lode of blog post ideas that powers your blogging? Care to share?

If you like this post and want to hang out with me in Twitter click this.

Recommended Reading: Make your blog go viral with Twitter retweets

Tags: Twitter, social media, writing tips

Finding the Right Balance Between Social Media and Productivity

The social media can spread the good news about you, bring you traffic to your blog and the brand you painstakingly cultivate. Alas, they can also make you less productive.

Atop my to-do list is to build a fair number of future posts for this blog. It's like saving for the rainy days when inspiration ebbs. Or when life wrests you away to deal with real life problems and other emergencies.

But of late, I find myself becoming sucked in a black hole called Twitter. My reasons for going there are unassailable:

1. I'm on a treasure hunt for valuable links I can take back to this blog - seedlings of future post ideas.

2. I'm networking - connecting with prospective readers and online friends.

3. I'm taking the pulse of what's out there - news, new trends, emerging technologies that might impact on my writing.

4. Of course, I'm also striking a pose and somewhat liking it.

Twittergrader after all gave me a report card of 95.5. Another Twitter application Twitterholic ranked me 65th among users in the Philippines.

Should I be happy? No. I'm practically scrambling to beat my posting deadline, a clear case of blogging hand-to-mouth. It's taking me a lot harder to get into my writing groove. My attention span is shot. I'm even beginning to think there is a sliver of truth to the notion that online interaction is rewiring how we think and make decisions.

Gosh, can it be this technology overload is turning my brain into a flat pancake? You know the symptoms. You pick up a reasonably good book to read, but you can't concentrate. You keep throwing anxious looks at your desktop or your blackberry. Can't keep pace with what the author's driving at. His multi-layered subtleties don't send delicious chills down your spine anymore. You're impatient - how you wish he'd get to the point and give you the lowdown, preferably in bullet points.

Facebook and other social bookmarking sites

I rarely check to see what's up with Facebook lately. I used to like it a lot because interaction in Facebook is a little laid back. You can almost describe it as pastoral. I can play games, check messages, approve the occasional friend request and move out. That's the lovely part. Then it happened. I got poked a lot. What's with these people? Send me a message instead. I hate to be prodded and poked like so much sidewalk merchandise. And I don't need to hunt for Easter eggs. That and getting friend recommendations of half-naked punks - what am I now a casting couch or something?

It's good that whenever I twit this gets published as well in Facebook. Whenever I hit the stumble button this gets shown in Friendfeed and Twitter as well. Good. Efficient use of technology and all that But it's weird - like I shouted something and this echoes and reechoes in the vast Grand Canyons of the internet.

For all its benefits the social media have the power to make your productivity toast. I find it gobbling up large chunks of time that would otherwise have been put to better use: like actually living. And writing.

Over to you now, friends. How do you deal with these online temptations? What system do you have in place that guarantees productivity and optimum social media presence?

I'm all ears for your suggestions. And of course you can join me in Twitter later. :) Let's spook some people there, okay?

Recommended Post: 50+ Writer Uses for Twitter
Related Post: My Twitter Friends Mosaic

Tags: Twitter, friendfeed, stumbleupon, facebook, productivity

Hotshot On The Web, A Nobody At Home

Is it not remarkable you're making progress on your way to being an internet hotshot while at home you're still the same old you? The folks at home do not regard you any differently. Well, get over it.

This post is inspired by Diane who commented on my sister's incredulous remarks, "He's (meaning me) got a blog? What's a blog?" This is Diane's engaging anecdote:

A small group of my very close friends were together a few months ago and one of them said, "Do you guys read Diane's blog? I read it all the time, it's great." Another woman said, "I don't know how that works." I started to explain that you don't have to know how it works, you just go to the web address and read it. Then she said, "What's a blog?" :-) It's interesting to me how the human race can be all over the board as far as technology. We have people who are ultra tech savvy and then people who are living off the land and have no computer at all.

Diane, we have two computers at home. But it is to my sister's credit she'd rather chat up her beloved potted flowers than swap pleasantries with total strangers in Facebook. Sorry, Matt Zuckerberg, that's just the way it is.

My other sister - the brainiest in the family - has this ability to startle passersby. No, she's not arguing with her husband. She's just being herself - shaking her broom at the mango trees that ring her house - dressing down the hapless trees as if they were belligerent children. Just because they have the gall to make her household chores more difficult. She would have made a fine Dooce this side of Asia, but she will have to be dragged to the computer - to any contraption that requires plugging into the wall socket in fact. Her only concession to technology is receiving a mobile call, which means I press the answer button on my mobile and pass it on to her. Owning one is not her cup of tea.

I find it odd that I keep baring myself before this contraption called the computer and telling it stories as if it were a friend in the flesh. But at least the minute I hit the publish button my readers gleefully sprint to be the first commenter - at least I think so. Even my one-liners get retwitted in Twitter sometimes. At home, I have to work just as hard to get myself heard at the dinner table. It doesn't matter to them Robert Scoble followed me in Twitter, or that Steve Pavlina friended me on Facebook. Or that Chris Brogan included my blog in his Rockstar links.

It doesn't matter. I still have to take out the garbage. I still get the honors of opening tin cans and uncooperative lid jars. Family and friends both have uncanny ability to make you grounded. You're still you - obscure and unheralded. That's maybe for the best.

So what stories do you have about blogging and your family, relatives and friends' strange ideas about it?

Tags: blogging

My Twitter Friends Mosaic

These are my friends in Twitter. They are only a little over 100 so I'm posting them here. This post is totally inspired by my online friend Jaypee who posted his Twitter follower mosaic in his cool blog. Thanks Jaypee.

You can get your own twitter mosaic here.

You can also buy from the site a t-shirt with your twitter name and the first 100 followers only for only $21.95.

Twitter is such a cool micro-blogging tool. Through it, I have harassed enough misguided souls to drive by here in my blog and take a peek. Okay, maybe a dozen or two. That's a lot to me anyhow.

Through Twitter, primarily on Chris Brogan's happy tweets, I have discovered writer extraordinaire Ann of Annarchy. Thanks, Mr. Brogan. And there's short fiction writer Kathleen Maher. Well, I discovered her in Blog Catalog but it's in Twitter that I'm trying my darn best to keep in flight formation with Ms. Maher.

And there's my Pinoy Blog Idol Jhez who tried to sign me up with Plurk. I prefer melodious tweeting, however, to watching my karma. It's great he's on Twitter as well (Jhez is omnipresent in everything social media) so it's not as if had snubbed him after all.

Lots of interesting stories in Twitter. And colorful characters, too. Sign up, if you haven't already. You can follow me at Twitter here.