Streamlining social media- my "big 3" tools

I'll be honest... I tweet, A LOT.

None of my tweets are automated. I pick and schedule every one myself. Yes, I schedule; and you should too, because the world and the internet run 24/7. I've come to enjoy the interactions with such a wide variety of people that social media allows me to have. For a while I felt like I was chocking on social sites, that the return wasn't there and that I was wasting my time. As it turns out, I wasn't wasting my time, I was just wasting time. I've since found a few gems that have helped me cut a ton of time out of my social media routine, and I hope that in sharing them with you, you can streamline your social media interactions as well!

Organization is key; if you have things fed into you, you'll have more time to find and create great content, and more importantly, to listen to what people post. Here are a few of my organizational tools that I think you can use to help you as well!

Social Media dashboard- Hootsuite (pro)
Hootsuite is a great way to keep everything organized. It allows me to see my home feed, mentions, retweets and direct messages all on one screen. If you run multiple twitter, facebook, facebook fan pages or linked in accounts, Hootsuite can't be beat. I run 4 twitter accounts, a facebook, fan page, linked in and ping.fm through my hootsuite, and having it all in one space is indispensable.

One of the greatest innovations in Hootsuite is the "Publisher" tab; It allows me to see when all of my content is scheduled for, and make adjustments as needed. I can filter it by one account or all of my accounts, and it is a HUGE time saver. I strongly suggest going pro; it allows you more than 5 linked accounts, analytics, and bulk scheduling for less than 6 bucks a month.

RSS reader: Google Reader

One of my biggest time expenses was trolling the internet for great content. I realized that over and over again, I went to the same 100 or so sites to get stuff to post. Visiting 100 sites a day, and all of the sidetracking that goes a long with it takes a hell of a long time. I found that feeding those sites' RSS feeds into google reader had cut hours out of the amount of time that I've spent on social media. 

I have a 45 minute train commute to work each day, and thank to the wonders of mobile wi-fi, I've got an internet connection the whole way. I used to just play a game, or listen to music, now I use that "dead" time looking over content, starring what I want to post and spend less "live" time looking for content.

One of the things that has made this so easy for me is Hootsuite's chrome extension; I'm now 2 clicks away from sharing content found through google reader.

Follower Management: SocialBro

SocialBro is a new addition for me; it has however made finding new followers, unfollowing those that don't follow back, and figuring out when to tweet pretty simple. I used to rely on #followfriday recommendations and Retweets of good content to find my new followers; with SocialBro, I can say" find all the people on twitter that have 1000-10,000 followers, a follower/follow ratio of no more than 2 that have tweeted in the last 3 days" and boom, there they are. I can target in on tons of indicators as I deem important, browse the profiles of those that come up, and meet a ton of new, interesting people. 

SocialBro is in Beta right now, but the potential is there for this to be a wonderful addition to any social media toolbox!

Those are my big 3 right now; What do you use to make social media more manageable? If you've got suggestions, I've got time to check them out now that I've freed up all of this time!

A "halfway there update on the "Johnny Mac" sign

We started this sign about 2 months ago, and although things have progressed slowly because it's been so busy, things have started rolling really quickly.

The sign is an HDU (high density urethane) wall sign; We use HDU because it is lighter than mahogany, flatter than mohogany, easier to shape and doesn't wick in water, so down the road it looks better, longer because it won't check, warp or crack.  In David's conversation with the client, he stated he wanted a carved 1959 corvette on there, as well as the flags- the rest was up to us. David got to work on a quick thumbnail sketch, and we hit the ground running!

I love the way this man sketches.

After a few layout and color tweaks, here is the rendering.

And a close-up view of the sign.

David got to programming the CNC router, And soon we had a roughed out shape.

Bob, our master carver with more that 20 years of experience, put his tools to work, refining and rolling over the banner and flag edges, and carving a corvette out of that big block of foam in the middle. You can see the reference photo at the top of this pic.

Bob's ability to turn foam into detail is amazing.

Once the car was where we all wanted it, the sign went off to paint for 2 coats of primer and 2 coats of Lava Grey. David hand stippled the background himself, and then the detail painting could begin.

I was out of the shop for 3 days with a bad back, so I was amazed at the progress when I came in this morning. The Vette was completely painted!

The level of detail is incredible; I ws amazed to see that we captured all of the iconic elements of this car.

Those fins- so beautiful! See the steering wheel through the windshield glare?

Down to the nubs on the tires. 

We were even able to get his vanity plate on there, just to make it even more personal!

The depth of this carving is incredible! Even that shadow looks true to life!

A few coats of finish paint and some gold leaf are all that's needed to get this sign ready for installation- I'm getting really excited, and I can't wait to show you the final results!

It's not you... it's your dividend.

I've taken to playing Empire Avenue lately, and it's a pretty cool social media stock simulation. You buy and sell shares of people, their dividends are based on their social media  activity, and their share price on how popular their stock is. The game has one (other highly influential users say more) major flaw: the underlying social network that surrounds the game.

Most people's social media experience consists of the time they spent on myspace, the time they spend on facebook, and the limited interaction that they have on twitter with people they probably already know. The one thing that these 3 social media sites have created is a "follow back" phenomena. Myspace and Facebook was automatic; you and I became friends, and you can see all of my information and I yours. Twitter lends itself to an attitude of "well, if he isn't going to follow me, I'm not going to follow him." There are tens of sites dedicated to finding out who doesn't follow you so that you can "dump" them.

In addition to the stock simulation, Empire Ave added a social aspect to the game as well; there are communities, you can post "shout outs" on people's wall, and send messages to their inbox. These are all actions that are reminiscent of the social networks we're used to, so it's easy to see how "The Ave" could be confused for a facebook companion. Here's the thing: It's NOT a social network. It's a stock simulation, and the social aspects that surround it are bad for the game; it would have more fidelity without them.

The real stock market is not a "follow back" scenario. If I buy proctor and gamble, they're not going to come down and buy 10 grand worth of signs from me.In fact, I'm pretty sure that's illegal on quite a few different levels. Instead, when I buy their stock, I buy based solely on one premise:

At that moment, while I'm purchasing their stock, they are the single best place that I can put my money.


In this game, the more money you have, the more you can invest; make wise investments and you've got more money to invest in more wise investments, and soon you're snowballing your way to riches, and supporting those that are working their butts off creating those wise investments. If I put that money into someone who isn't the place that has the best return, I'm investing with emotion, a strategy that is wrapped in failure a thousand times over. If you're dividend's ROI is .65% and I buy you instead of someone who has a ROI of 1.45%, I've done myself, my investors, and further on down the line I've artificaillay inflated your stock with unearned value, undermining the game itself.

I know people don't invest nearly as much time as I do in social media, and there are only so many Chris Voss' and Chris Pirillo's who can be active 24/7 with their superhuman abilities to not sleep. That's where the gap in dividend and share price comes from- the more active you are, the higher they both will be. You are not going to have a 200(e) share price with the 5 posts you make to facebook daily and 3 posts you make to twitter every other day; It takes a lot of work. I have an unusually high 500+ tweets sent this week; Chris Voss has TWO THOUSAND. I'm realistic enough to know that the chances of me leapfrogging over Mr V are very slim.

It's painful to be dumped.  In real life, on twitter, or in Empire Ave. I've had people leave me shout outs asking why I didn't buy their stock back, or angry messages asking why I dumped their stock, and my response is the same every time- "I'm not saying goodbye forever, I just found an investment that can make my shareholders more money. If things pick up, I'll be back!"

Empire Avenue isn't a social network. I'm not looking to add to the 75 tweets, 25 facebook posts and myriad other actions that are involved in providing a good dividend for my investors every day; I'm looking to play the game for what it is. If you're looking for a way to connect with all of the people you might like (and how you tell that based on share price is beyond me,) buy one share of them and befriend them on all of the social networks that are listed right on their portfolio. That way, the amount of impact that their taking a week off of social media could make won't make nary a dent in your portfolio. Keep that one share in everyone, or once you've met and connected with your fill on the other social networks, close your account;  that way when someone who is actually playing the simulation for what it was meant to be doesn't buy you back, you won't be nearly as let down.

No matter what happens on The Ave, just try to remember...
It's not personal, it's just business.


I hope all your days are green, and all your Divs are monsters.
Kevin Bergin
(e)KevinB

Get your money out of PayPal, QUICK. AnonSec is coming for it

AnonSec (the combined efforts of hacktivist groups Lulzsec and Anonymous) has its sights aimed on Paypal. The two groups, considered responsible for nearly every major hack you've heard about in the last year or two- CIA, senate, Playstation Network, RSA, British National Health System, and the Sun's hack just last week, should probably not be taken lightly.

This letter was released earlier today.

Dear PayPal, its customers, and our friends around the globe, 

This is an official communiqué from Anonymous and Lulz Security in the name of AntiSec. 

In recent weeks, we've found ourselves outraged at the FBI's willingness to arrest and threaten those who are involved in ethical, modern cyber operations. Law enforcement continues to push its ridiculous rules upon us - Anonymous "suspects" may face a fine of up to 500,000 USD with the addition of 15 years' jailtime, all for taking part in a historical activist movement. Many of the already-apprehended Anons are being charged with taking part in DDoS attacks against corrupt and greedy organizations, such as PayPal.  

What the FBI needs to learn is that there is a vast difference between adding one's voice to a chorus and digital sit-in with Low Orbit Ion Cannon, and controlling a large botnet of infected computers. And yet both of these are punishable with exactly the same fine and sentence. 

In addition to this horrific law enforcement incompetence, PayPal continues to withhold funds from WikiLeaks, a beacon of truth in these dark times. By simply standing up for ourselves and uniting the people, PayPal still sees it fit to wash its hands of any blame, and instead encourages and assists law enforcement to hunt down participants in the AntiSec movement. 

Quite simply, we, the people, are disgusted with these injustices. We will not sit down and let ourselves be trampled upon by any corporation or government. We are not scared of you, and that is something for you to be scared of. We are not the terrorists here: you are.
We encourage anyone using PayPal to immediately close their accounts and consider an alternative. The first step to being truly free is not putting one's trust into a company that freezes accounts when it feels like, or when it is pressured by the U.S. government. PayPal's willingness to fold to legislation should be proof enough that they don't deserve the customers they get. They do not deserve your business, and they do not deserve your respect. 

Join us in our latest operation against PayPal - tweet pictures of your account closure, tell us on IRC, spread the word. Anonymous has become a powerful channel of information, and unlike the governments of the world, we are here to fight for you. 

Always. 

Signed, your allies,
Lulz Security (unvanned)  

Anonymous (unknown) 

AntiSec (untouchable)

Knowing that these guys usually act once they speak, especially where WikiLeaks is concerned, considering that they took down Mastercard and Visa's sites for refusing to process donations to the dubious document distributor, here's my suggestion.

Transfer your balance out of PayPal, and into your bank account as soon as possible
Unlink all of your credit cards from PayPal- once these guys get your credit card info, it might as well be considered public domain.
Change your password to something alphanumeric, and don't save it anywhere on your computer.

Nothing may come of this, but I feel better knowing that I gave you the heads up.

Social OVERLOAD

Do you ever feel like there's no time to be productive, because your entire life is eaten up by social media and networking? That's where I'm at right now. I recently found out about Empire Avenue, and it's such a cool concept that I jumped right into it without thinking about how I was going to allocate time for it. With the release of Google Plus, I started thinking about how much of my day goes into social media, and how ineffective it really is.

When you add up the time spent on twitter, tumblr, facebook, linkedin, empire avenue, google plus, youtube, flickr and the half dozen other social networking sites I frequent, with the time spent blogging here, on tweetsforacure.com and the 2 other concepts that I've got in the works, that's all time that isn't being spent creating. Hell, I'm not even blogging about design! I'm no social media expert, I'm a designer. Social Media shouldn't be consuming this much of my life! So I'm putting my foot down and coming up with a social networking plan that compliments my work, instead of consuming it. Here's how I've decided to manage the myriad sites that demand my attention- by focusing on the sites that create positive interactions.

Social Networks
Twitter: Yeah, I'm probably not changing anything on twitter. It's my baby. I love how fast it moves, and the thousands of potential interactions a day.
Facebook: REALLY funny stuff that I know my IRL friends will appreciate, and lovey dovey stuff about my daughter and the woman I love so that my IRL friends can throw internet eggs at me.
Tumblr and LinkedIn: Buhbye. Don't have time. Don't see the value in the interactions they create.
Empire Avenue: I'm going to use it strictly as a social stock market simulation. I'm going to ignore most of the social aspect until things free up.
Dribbble: is going to get occasional cuts of jobs that I'm super excited about. If there's no benefit in it outside of a designer pat on the back, it'll get the axe.
Forrst: probably my favorite new design related social network.If the community continues to grow, I can see losing all interactions on dribbble and having everything on forrst.
Behance: Is probably useless because of signdesignguy.com
Flickr: is still going to get pictures of all of my completed work.

Blogs

Blogs are kind of a tough thing for me to cut. I like the freedom that comes from purging and untangling my mental spaghetti. I'm going to streamline things so that less time is spent in all the wrong places and creating no interaction.

The elephant NOT in the room:

Google Plus: I was REALLY excited when G+ came out. Now I'm realizing that adding another social network is just not efficient. I'm hoping that thinks work out so that I can replace facebook with G+, but until most of my network makes the switch, I'm sticking with big F.

So potentially I'm looking at cutting out up to 4 social networks. I'm hoping that the quality gained in decreased quantity is worth the effort and missed interactions.What are you doing to manage the social melee? Do you have any tips for me that might help me navigate this huge social world?

The Mystery Material...

Hi Guys! I need your help identifying a vinyl that I found a small swatch of lying around the shop - it's pretty incredible, and if it's still around, I need to get some more!

It's a metallic gold, but not a metallic gold like you normally think of. It's got luminescence and shine, similar to signgold's Satin surface gold. It's from 3M, "specially formulated for Gerber Scientific", it comes on a white liner, and has a grey back so it's only for 1st surface applications. I initially thought it was signgold, but it's MUCH thicker- like 5+ mil, and is much easier to work with than SG- it doesn't get chewed up by the plotter. Pictures are probably worth a couple of thousand words here, so take a look!

Incredibly luminous

Lots of small metal flake

Silver / Gray backer 

Scotchcal 220 liner- this MAY be a red herring, I'm not sure.

I've never seen a "Standard" Metallic that shimmers like this does! I just recently relettered our shop door, and used burnished gold vinyl on it; our logo has incised letters, so I had tried to use clear to create the bevels- I wasn't happy with the effect the clear gave me.

When I replaced the clear with this "Mystery Material", it was exactly the effect I was looking for! It's got a very similar look to the beveled letters you see in reverse glass gilding.

Any ideas on what this might be? Hook me up with what it is, and I'll do my best to hook you up- I've got a really cool project in the works!

Beautiful signs from around our shop

We took today to get the shop completely clean. No work was done, our sole job was to completely clean the shop; after 40 years in business and 9 in this location, we were guaranteed to find some gems hidden beneath the dust of a few years of neglect. We did, and I wanted to share them with you! I've got to start with this, because this eagle BLEW me away when Ted pulled it out of the rack!

Hand Carved Mahogany Eagle

So much depth and detail. Just beautiful, but somehow feels incomplete.

I don't know what's up with the arrows, but I love the border!

Another example of a hand carved pictoral

And Here's the whole sign- Beautiful!

Hand carved coat of arms, with a chip-carved background. This is one piece of wood!

I think this was my favorite find; Hand carved quarterboards from one to seven. The variety is incredible to see. There's simple shapes with just paint (Two, Five) simple(ish- those ends are incredible) shapes with gold leaf (Three,Four,  Seven) The ends on Six are just out of this world- I can't imagine where the design for them came from; but the shape on One is just classic, understated perfection. Those banner furls are carved down to give the sign a 3D look that is mind blowing in person. I think you'll probably see a more detailed post on these and the eagle really soon!

Hand carved quarterboards- simple and ornate!

Would you hang any of these in front of your house? Which one?