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J Angelo Racoma

Research: Twitter to Blame for Economic Woes

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According to deathbyemail.com, research by a Harvard economist indicates that Twitter may be to blame for the recent economic woes being experienced worldwide.

Professor Martin Schmeldon of Harvard Business School recently released research findings that suggest excessive Twitter use may have caused the current economic downturn.

“We see the rapid rise of Twitter usage in 2008 correlating very strongly with a tremendous decrease in American productivity,” said Schmeldon. “Our regression analysis on the data suggests a causal relationship that may actually be larger than the impact of the much-touted subprime collateral debt refinancing triggers.”

We here at Performancing believe otherwise. Twitter definitely helps increase productivity. Where else do we get story leads? And Twitter is part of our social media marketing. (And guess where I found this nifty little piece of economic analysis).

And besides, my econometrics professor back in my undergraduate days had always stressed the point that correlation does not mean causality. This makes me think: it’s also possible that the supposed correlation also goes the other way around. Maybe with the Dow going down, people are flocking more and more to Twitter (to find other sources of income, perhaps?).

Is it April 1st yet?

Say What You Want in Three Sentences

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How long should email responses be? How long should blog posts be? With some microblogging services, we already have a pre-defined length by which we must subscribe to. Twitter, for instance, gives you a space of only 140 characters. SMS messages, of course, are limited to 160 characters (not counting concatenated or “multi-part” messages).

What about email, then? With todays diminishing attention spans–not to mention those of us who have attention disorders, like myself at times–it probably pays to keep it short and simple when communicating. Be direct to the point, but without losing the essence of your message, and without discarding important details.

If Sentenc.es would have it their way, emails should be three sentences long.

Treat all email responses like SMS text messages, using a set number of letters per response. Since it’s too hard to count letters, we count sentences instead.

three.sentenc.es is a personal policy that all email responses regardless of recipient or subject will be three sentences or less. It’s that simple.

Or two. Or four. Or five. I guess it depends on your preference, but I think the point is that it involves much discipline to keep messages concise, and to the point. Otherwise, rambling on and on might cause your reader to lose focus himself, and lose track of the important things you are bringing forth in that piece of communication.

But do you stand to lose details if your emails are too short? How about blog posts? Will a two-paragraph, 100-word blog post be more effective than a 250-word one with bullet points and headings? I guess it depends on how you write it.

This blog post comes to a grand total of 20 sentences, excluding the block-quoted text. Have I made my point?

Rediscovering Twitter Through Search

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I’ve recently had a very exciting Twitter-related epiphany. I used to stay in this walled-in garden that is my home page, where I banter about with my followed people, and those who send me direct replies. These days, I’m more actively seeking out relevant discussions elsewhere, through Twitter’s search functionality. More particularly, I’ve rediscovered Twitter through TweetDeck, as I find the multi-column display really useful–I can display different search results from my various areas of interest, be they social media (quite an active topic), literature, WordPress, premium themes and the like.

Through this, I get to get relevant updates from folks I don’t necessarily know. And I’m able to make new connections with those I share interests with. While I would consider myself a shy person–not particularly reaching out to people I don’t really know–I think getting introduced to people this way makes for a great way to expand my network and perhaps build up authority. And it’s part of my job, too, which makes it all the more great.

Somehow I feel silly I’m doing this only now.

Do you use Twitter the same way?

What Makes a Good WordPress Theme? Tell Us And Win a Free Premium Themes Club Account

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Premium Themes Club has launched, in partnership between Splashpress Media and R.Bhavesh of CSSAce.com.

Premium Themes Club exemplifies an exciting new idea in sharing premium WordPress themes with the community. You don’t have to spend money each time you want to try out a new theme. But rather, by being part of the Club, you get access to a wide array of expertly-crafted WordPress themes for your blog. You can download and re-download to your heart’s content. There’s no limit to what you can do with Club themes, as these are lightweight but powerful designs that can be adapted to any need, whether it’s a blog, online magazine, or even a corporate website.

As part of the launch, PTC is offering Performancing readers the chance to get free Club memberships (worth $150 per year). Simply answer this question on your own blog:

What Makes a Good WordPress Theme? Why?

It’s up to you what you want to answer. Is it browser compatibility? Is it being lightweight? Is it stand-out graphics? Is it the sidebar layout? Typeface? It’s up to you. Just be sure to answer why, as that would help the folks at the Club develop better themes.

We’ll then give the first 10 good answers free Club memberships. By “good” I mean something with substance, and at least an explanation why that particular aspect of a WordPress theme is the most important one.

The only catch is that you’ll need to post your answer on your own blog (do remember to link to premiumthemesclub.com), and then leave a comment on this particular post. It’s up to you how you want to write your answer, and what title to use, of course.

The Club already has about 30+ premium themes available for download (these are also available for individual purchase). Aside from Club membership, the Club also offers an opportunity to earn, through the affiliate program. Do check out updates at premiumthemesclub.com or follow @premiumclub on Twitter.

Folks connected with Splashpress and CSSAce are, of course, ineligible. As are Hive members already given free access.

Should I Use My Real Name on Twitter?

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On Twitter, I use my usual username/nickname @jangelo, but at one point, I decided to change the “real name” assigned to the account as “Zorpox the Conqueror.” I really thought hard before deciding on this move, but my main reason was privacy.

Sure, “jangelo” is obviously me, or at least to those who know I use the handle. It’s not unique, but apparently, I’m the most searchable “jangelo” around–I get emails addressed to different folks whose names start with “J” and whose surnames are Angelo, after all.

On my blogs and other blogs and forums I contribute to, I don’t mind disclosing my full name. But I feel that a microblogging service like Twitter is something more personal. Or at least to me, that is. It’s more accessible, and it’s easier to just post haphazardly, without a second’s hesitation, and without the need to edit (unlike my blog posts, in which I spend quite some time editing and editing before hitting publish). So basically, this move is to protect myself from my own stupidity or carelessness.

I could, perhaps, just protect my updates, so that just my approved followers can read them, but in my opinion, that limits the reach of my Twitter account severely. So perhaps my method is an in-between solution.

Or am I just lulling myself with a false sense of privacy? And am I just defeating the purpose of making my profile publicly accessible after all?

Do you use your real name on Twitter? Or do you at least use an identifiable brand or nickname?

Would You Want To See Meta Data on Everything? Here’s A Minority Report-like Approach to New Media!

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At the recent Technology, Entertainment, Design (TED) conference, Pattie Maes of the MIT Media Labs (yes, the same folks that conceptualized the OLPC) demonstrated what is lauded to be the future of wearable computing. It’s just a prototype–an ugly one, at that!–but what it presents is the potential to interact with just about any object by interfacing with the Internet. You don’t have to be in front of a computer, because the device is wearable. And you don’t need a screen or other input device, because the thing projects images onto any surface, and you interact with it using hand gestures.

Seeing it would probably remind you of Tom Cruise in Minority Report (and I’d love to look like Tom).

Developed by Pranav Mistry, and called Sixth Sense, the device “enables new interactions between the real world and the world of data.” It’s sort of like having your smartphone and browsing for reviews, user profiles or other interesting information, but without the inconvenience of having to hold it in your hand, type in some information, and scrolling through a number of search results.

So for instance, you can be buying groceries, and you see product reviews and prices right on the surface of the thing you’re buying. Or even more interesting, you could be talking to someone, and information about that person appears right on the surface of his/her shirt–latest blog posts, photos, tag clouds, interests. It’s meta data on just about anything.

And the current prototype supposedly only costs $350 to build!

I would reckon this kind of new media is still a long way from being in wide use. And of course, there are a multitude of privacy and other concerns that this brings about. How would you like your music, food and other preferences displayed on your chest when you talk to someone?

But I think this is the kind of innovation that would really be able to use the rich mine of information that the Internet provides into something really intuitively useful for the everyman. Imagine being able to take snapshots by just framing a scene with your fingers! Imagine dialing a phone number on the palm of hour hand! Now that’s convenience.

Do You Still Read Print Newspapers?

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You may have read claims that the print newspaper publishing industry is dead or dying, with the popularity of online media, and ease-of-access that these provide. However, in some parts of the world, the newspaper industry is just beginning to grow. A recent TIME article featured the case of Asian countries, which are considered fertile grounds for the newspaper publishing business.

Fueled by a growing literacy rate and press reforms in some parts of the continent, Asia is enjoying what may be the world’s last great newspaper boom. Eight of the world’s 10 biggest paid-for daily newspapers are printed in Asia …

This growth is fueled by different reasons. In some cases, the middle-class populace is growing, and is followed by an increasing literacy rate. In others, readers appreciate getting their daily dose of news and opinion other than daily propaganda by recently-fallen (or even still-established) repressive regimes. In yet others–particularly those countries whose populations are ageing–it boils down to preference.

So the idea that the newspaper industry is doomed is perhaps a geocentric perspective. Maybe in more developed countries, users have a preference for paperless media. There are other parts of the globe, though, where the old fashioned paper-and-ink newspaper still rules.

Being what can be considered a newer-generation reader, what I’m interested in is how to interface the traditional newspaper with new media. Normally, a newspaper would have its online equivalent. But the more novel approaches to spreading the news, so to speak, are plenty. For one, newspapers can tweet updates. They can also send SMS updates to subscribers. Or how about adding comment areas after each article, as space for user feedback?

Most of you who read Performancing probably read your news online, too. I think I shall put up a poll soon. Do you still read print media? And the more interesting question: Why or why not?

The Tweet to Beat: $3 Per Twitter Follower

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Tim Ferriss of The 4-hour Workweek fame has writen about an interesting way to raise money from Twitter, and it’s quite a novel approach, I think. When I first read the title (as tweeted by a handful of users I follow), I thought it was just another one of those Twitter monetization schemes. But on further reading, I realized it was not. The gist is that for every new follower that @timferriss gets for the next couple of weeks, $3 will be donated to US public school classrooms.

For every new Twitter follower in the next two weeks, I will donate $1 to DonorsChoose.org, and an anonymous supporter will match $2, for a total of $3 to U.S. public school classrooms per follower. For now, the matching limit is tentatively capped at 50,000 new followers, though I’m open to increasing it later. 50,000 new followers would mean $150,000 to U.S. public school education, and I hope to double or triple this total with a few twists.

The goal is directly helping 25,000 U.S. public school students in low-income and high-need areas in two weeks. This timeline is half the time dedicated to LitLiberation. My current follower count is, at the time of this writing, 22,782, so we’ll round down and begin the count at 22,500.

$1 multiplied by thousands of potential new followers might mean Tim would definitely be shelling out some dough, but that cost is offset by giving Tim’s Twitter account extra leverage, in that thousands more get to read his updates (unless many of these new followers unfollow after the two weeks are over). And then, of course, it’s for a good cause.