At most, my attention span holds up for about one hour, after that, good luck to you. This flaw is why I’ve yet to take the time to watch the two hour Google Wave intro video, which hubby has declared a must-watch. Thankfully, this guy has opened my eyes to the world wonder that is Google Wave in just TWO MINUTES.

Watch it and allow your jaw to drop as mine just did. And hey, Google, give dude an invite!

Hat tip: Lifehacker

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I was being asked a bunch of questions about Twitter today (Hi, B!) and found myself saying that the best way to get to know the ins and outs of social media is by testing it out on your own account, on your own time.

And then I thought to myself, “Hey, that makes a lot of sense, Margie. Good one.”

You know, because then when you say something patently offensive or stupid, you’ve done it under your own name and not your employer’s. Even though that can still get you fired.

Like most things, practice makes knowledgeable. So, when you are at the conference table and someone asks you how hashtags work, you’ll know because you’ve used them. When someone, like your boss, says they are confused about what happens when p*rn creepos follow you, or why it matters if one RTs, @s or DMs, you’ll explain it to them with authority – not because you read it on Mashable – because you’ve already done it well (or messed it up).

If you have never been caught up in the World Wide Web, why would your employer trust you with their online reputation?

If you want folks or co-workers to look to you for Geek Guidance you’ve gotta create, play with, and maintain a personal Twitter account; you’ll need to have personally blogged for an extended period of time; you must continuously play around on Facebook and constantly seek to find a purpose for LinkedIn. You’ll need to know how Google rules the world works and “what makes a RSS feed different than an alert.” It takes a lot of work;  a lot of reading; a lot of trial and error.

Agree? Or am I just being snobby?

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The post that leads the most* Google and Bing searchers to this blog is my October 2008 rant, “Twitter is Useless.” In it, I say that if even a handful of your audience is on Twitter then it cannot be called useless; that very essence of public relations is to focus on a message and communicate that message to the intended audience via whatever communication channel that public uses and views as valid.

It’s a post that generates a decent amount of traffic here, and of course, web surfers who disagree with me.  Just this morning I received a comment from “Joe” in Atlanta: Read More…

Team Newman is coming up on three years of marriage, so for Her Nashville‘s  “I Do” issue I explore my thought process for taking my husband’s name and finding a way to keep my own. Spoiler Alert: It had nothing to do with feminism and everything to do with Google. Shocker!

Here’s a snippet:

Third in line after ‘How did he propose’ and ‘Have you set a date’ often comes the nail biter: ‘Will you take his name?’ Read More…

Really, Google?

(sigh)

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Oh, Google Analytics! Because of you, Feedburner and (the new love of my life) StatZen, I am able to obsess over site traffic, referrers, clicks, attention, subcribers and (rejoice!) how folks actually find FlackRabbit!

There are the obvious ways people get here. Like yesterday, when KamiChat re-tweeted my Twitter about her post. Within an hour or two, lots of new and fabulous eyeballs and RSS subscribers landed here (Thanks, sister! Welcome new folks!)

And then there is the way of the Google Keyword.

Here’s my favorite one:

Sure, some folks find FlackRabbit by Googling flack, public relations, Twitter is Useless and the like. But this guy took the road less traveled by. And you know what  they say about that. Welcome, kind Google searcher!

Second keyword runner up is:

"Margie Newman blog pictures Nashville"

No, this one isn’t funny at all, but it is interesting. No worries, Googler. You may find the great and powerful Picalicious here. But hurry! Only 29 days left to soak in the picture-a-day goodness.

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So, you are new to Twitter and wonder where to begin. No worries, as it is with all new and uncharted communications tools there are plenty of blogs ready and willing to tell you exactly what to do. Enter TwiTip, the blog focused solely on helping you making the most of Twitter.

Here’s a sample of two great how-to posts:

10 first steps for beginners – this will walk you through setting up your profile, how not to be an idiot (read: spammer) and how to join in the conversation (this is social media, after all).

10 people beginners should follow – if you want to make the most of Twitter, you’ve got to follow folks; the more you follow, the more followers you get. The more you follow and follow you, the more conversations you have, etc. You can’t expect to get anything out of this communication tool if you don’t communicate …

Now, if you are in PR or Marketing, I suggest you peruse the 50 tweeples to follow list, complied by Sarah Evans. It’s a pretty decent list and should get you started with folks who talk about things you care about AND have a good mastery of Twitter usage.

And don’t forget to follow my favorite Twitter user, Shaq. You can find me here; the hubby here. And the list of all Nashville Twitter users here.

___________________

CAUTION! No matter what you do or how much you use Twitter, please keep in mind that your Twitter account and updates are PUBLIC unless you mark your account as private. Also, if you use your full name on your Twitter accout it will turn up in Google searches of your name.

I take for granted that folks know the power of their digital footprint; clearly they don’t. It’s all on the record folks – so use it wisely.

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