Posts Tagged ‘social networking’

Twitter Policy and Philosophy

Tuesday, December 23rd, 2008

Twitter is an amazing tool.  I have been fortunate to connect to some amazing people and great things have developed from the relationships that I have begun on Twitter.

Recently, I have been asked a lot of questions about how I use Twitter, and how I connect with people.  So here is my general Twitter policy and philosophy:

1. Privacy

I will respect your DMs.  Please respect mine.

2. Content and Subject Matter

Your screen time is valuable. I promise to make my tweets as interesting and non-boring as possible.  I am a news junkie and read about a dozen websites and blogs from around the world on a daily basis.  I will regularly post content from sites that I am not affiliated with, because I find the content interesting, and think that you might  too.  I will also periodically post things that I am working on and I will strive to post valuable content over self promotion as much as possible.

I am very interested in many topics and have strong opinions about politics, government and religion.  I will restrain my opinions as much as I can, though I am only human and reserve the right to  jump into any debate if I feel I can add a salient point.  However, I am here to make friends, not to argue with people on a daily basis. When I am asked, I will be honest.

For the record, I am an independent politically, and sometimes will feel obligated to discuss the failings in the current two party system. I am not religious or an atheist.  I have a strong belief in God, however, I feel God belongs in church, not the schools, my doctor’s office or in government.  Conversely, I think government should stay out of churches, doctors’ offices and bedrooms. I think that is fair.  You can find out more about my background on the Rob McNealy Bio page.

3. Responses, Replies, and Pitches

I will do my best to respond to all @ replies and direct messages.  However, due to my limited bandwidth, I may not always get to them, and sometimes, a few will slip by and I may not see them.  Please do not take it personally if I do not respond.

I openly accept all pitches for Startup Story Radio, but please use the Startup Story Radio Contact Form to send them to me.

4. Following/Unfollowing

I am very Libertarian when it comes to following people.  I look at Twitter like a large cocktail party, and the more people at the party the more interesting it is for me.  Therefore, I will periodically follow people based on common interests, mutual followings, and areas of expertise.  I regularly use the search function of Twitter, as well as other available tools to locate people that I may want to follow.

There is a debate in social networking about quality versus quantity of connections, followers and friends.  I think there is quality in quantity and therefore like to grow my online networks.  The more people I can connect with, the greater the content will be and more varied the prospective I learn from.

I reserve the right to unfollow you at anytime, for any reason.  I regularly unfollow people that do not follow me, are rude, or not active on Twitter.  It’s hard to dialogue with you if you aren’t listening.  I also respect your right to unfollow me at anytime.

5. Spam, Self Promotion, and Commercialization

I am not big on Twitter spam.  I will unfollow and or block you if you are DM spamming me or just keep following me to get me to follow you.  I am pretty open to following most people.  If I don’t follow you, there is a reason.

I don’t mind if you promote your content and are reasonably self promoting.  I followed you to get to know you, and your business is part of you.  However,  if you go over the top, I may unfollow you.  If you are close to me, I will tell you ahead of time.

I have no moral issue with you using Twitter advertising services such as Magpie or TwitAd, just as long as you provide valuable content as well.  If you are only on twitter to run ads, I most likely will unfollow you.  Again, I am here to make friends.

This policy is subject to change at anytime.

Oh, and if you’d like to connect with me, I’m @RobMcNealy on Twitter.

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Enterprise Social Networking with George Atha of WordFrame

Monday, November 10th, 2008

In this Podcast Episode

Rob McNealy takes time out at Defrag Conference 2008 to interview George Athannassov of WordFrame about how he got his start in enterprise social media software, as well as technology outsourcing to Bulgaria.

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George Athannassov’s Bio

George AthaGeorge started his first private company in 1993 and since then he is constantly involved in the IT sector. One of his companies – ConsultCommerce has been nominated by ZDNet as the developer of one of the best financial applications on the planet – LoanAmortizer. ConsultCommerce and ITBrix, companies where George is a managing partner have over 20 applications and online services that have over 25,000 customers spread all over the world. Almost all major banks and financial institutions are clients of LoanAmortizer while major government security organizations use TalkSpread.

The applications and services developed by the companies George is involved with include but are not limited to working time management and payroll solutions with ManuPlus and AutoPayRoll Applications, Online communication and collaboration – TalkSpread, NewzSpread and iNetMail, business process and revenue management with Cash Control Manager and PMA – Project Management App, financial applications with LoanManager, FloorPlan and LoanAmortizer, QView and QStat for Cisco’s Unified Contact Center, Freight Expert Software and Mobile devices software solutions and many others…

George and ITBrix funded Blogtronix in 2005 and was an active COO of the company till December 2007 when he sold his shares.

George’s and ITBrix’ latest endeavor is WordFrame Community Platform. WordFrame Community provides an out-of-the-box solution that allows teams to create Web communities for information sharing and document collaboration, benefits that help increase individual and team productivity. WordFrame Community is based on Microsoft asp.net 2.0 Framework. It includes IT resources such as community workspaces, blogs, user profiles, e-mail, document management, wiki, audio and video publishing, all secure and easily managed via a feature-rich administration shell. WordFrame Community enables users to locate distributed information quickly and efficiently, as well as connect to and work with others more productively.

George holds a Master’s degree in Finance and Business from the University of Plovdiv and have been managing software development companies since 1995.

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Enterprise Social Networking Software with Puneet Gupta of Connectbeam

Wednesday, November 5th, 2008

In this Podcast Episode

Rob McNealy takes time out at Defrag Conference 2008 to interview Puneet Gupta about enterprise social networking software and his company, Connectbeam.

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Puneet Gupta’s Bio

Puneet GuptaPuneet brings over 16 years of enterprise software experience to Connectbeam. Prior to founding Connectbeam, Puneet served as CEO of CourseCafe, an online social collaboration application company for researchers around the world to collaborate around academic and coursework related research. Prior to CourseCafe, Puneet was Director of Product Marketing at Selectica (NASDAQ: SLTC) – an enterprise sales and solutions pricing software company. During Puneet’s tenure the company grew from 70 employees to over 900, and had one of the top ten IPOs in Nasdaq’s history. Prior to Selectica, Puneet spent several years at Peoplesoft and Oracle Corporation in engineering and product marketing roles where he brought several new products to market. He received the Best Innovative Product of the Year award at Oracle.

Puneet holds a B.S. in Computer Science and Engineering from Ohio State University, Management of Technology from UC Berkeley, and MBA from Columbia University in New York.

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Social Networking for Business and Marketing: Class in Denver August 19!

Monday, August 18th, 2008

This is short notice, but if you’ve got an interest in learning about what social networking can do for you and your business, you need to join me for class tomorrow night!

What: Colorado Free University Class: Social Networking For Business and Marketing

When: Tuesday, August 19th from 6-9pm

Where: CFU Lowry Campus at 7653 East 1st Place, Denver, CO 80230

Fee: $58 Non-Member / $49 Member / $5 materials fee payable in class

Click here to register.  Note:  The CFU website is being updated, so if the page doesn’t load correctly the first time, hit the refresh button on your browser, and that should fix the problem.  Also, the website currently lists Ashley Kingsley as the course instructor.  I’m taking over for Ashley due to an unforeseen scheduling conflict.

If you can’t make it tomorrow, check back from September class dates and times!

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Organizing Your Online Life with Matt Galligan of Socialthing!

Wednesday, July 2nd, 2008

In this Podcast Episode

Rob McNealy interviews Matt Galligan, CEO and Co-Founder of Socialthing, Inc., producer of Socialthing!, a digital life manager that pledges to make your online life easier.

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Matt Galligan’s Bio

Matt GalliganMatt Galligan is the CEO and Co-Founder of Socialthing, Inc., a company that was chosen to be part of the inaugural year of TechStars, a program that provides seed capital and mentorship for startups. Socialthing, Inc. produces Socialthing!, a first-of-its-kind digital life manager that pledges to make your online life easier.

Currently in private beta, Socialthing! created a strong buzz at South by Southwest (SXSW) in 2008, and since then, the Socialthing! team has been working hard on creating, and releasing version 2.0 of their digital life manager.

Matt’s background is in graphic design and user interface, working for MonsterCommerce, now Network Solutions, based out of St. Louis, MO. He got his start in computers and design while working for Evans Services, Inc., a disaster restoration company out of Illinois before he turned 16.

Socialthing!

Socialthing! is a Boulder, Colorado based provider of services and applications that make interacting with web-based content easier and more productive. The company’s first service is a digital life manager designed to offer a single, interactive window into multiple social networks and make interacting with social networks more efficient.

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