Written by LCT

Hey SEOmoz Blog readers! Please be advised – this is NOT an SEO tech-fiend blog. This evening, I want to draw your attention to another SEOmoz tool. If you have ever wondered just how we found all the great people that make SEOmoz so awesome, here is a blog on how to read a resume for the tech-world, which, as you know, is very popular these days. There are also some tips for those of you tech-savvy peeps applying for jobs and wondering how to make your resumes sparkle!

So, to set the mood, let’s imagine it’s summer, graduates are graduating, selling their extra long sheet sets, and ironing their one good, clean, crisp white shirt. Hiring season has begun! The evidence is in the résumés we’re receiving for our open Software Engineering positions. With recruiting efforts in full-swing, the pool is deep as it is wide. As we begin to review and sift through the seemingly endless stacks, we find that the we are comparing new CS grads to seasoned engineers. Knowing who makes a better candidate with even this distinction is not as black and white as one might think. While one candidate might have everything you need, the other just seems cooler and capable of learning more than the other candidate already knows. What to do? Google?

Yes, you Google. And yes the web is rich with “how to write a successful résumé” forums, and even paid sites, but a search for “how to read a successful résumé” yields scrawny results, particularly in the tech world. I would send you to those sites, however pebbles are more interesting.

So here we are again, trying to make the web a better place with yet another resource! Luckily, I was able to sit down with Kate Matsudaira and pick her brain on recruiting techniques. Below are practices Kate uses to sift through résumés, and, tips for those that are in the process of writing their résumé.

For skimmers, the TIPS in blue are for those writing their résumé, and the numbered sections are for those who are reading them. Hawt Points and Red flags are in, well, red.

How do you know who is interview worthy?

1.  Reading and Deciphering

The most important question to ask yourself when reading a resume is: is it easy to distill information about this candidate? Candidates can certainly brag about themselves, but knowing when you are looking at something that is actually good and not a messy mud puddle can be hard to discern. Here are some hawt points and the way in which to read into them:

Hawt Points

• Objective. Sometimes software engineers want to be project managers. Know who actually wants the job you’re offering.

• Experience. Where have they been and do you like where they have been? Have they included dates of employment? How many jobs have they held in the last year? Relevant experience?

• Skills, Languages & Technologies. Are they versed in the capacities listed in the requirement section of your job post? Are they too expert sounding in too many languages? Did they list MS Office Suite?

• Projects. Do they include the duration of the projects they have listed, as well as people they probably worked with on these projects?

• Education. Did they go to an exceptional school? Complete their degree? If they didn’t, what was their GPA? Honors, awards, scholarships? Achievements?

• Outside of Work. Do they list their interests and activities? Do they appear to exhibit a sense of passion for the work you are asking of them?

TIP: The simpler the better. The recruiter’s job is hard enough, how about making it easier on them? Spell checking shows that you pay at least a little attention to detail, as does pretty formatting. But remember to hit the main points: Jobs, Education, Skills, and if it seems applicable, projects (including the duration of the projects), and accomplishments (such as graduating with honors or that you won 1st place at theGoogle Code Jam.)

2. Record of Promotion

If the candidate has moved up the ladder, successfully filling multiple roles while at one company, that’s probably something worth noting. Here’s a an example:

TIP: If you are creating your résumé and want to know what to show off, let the world know that you have an interest in yourself, and are genuinely, well, awesome! Show you have been promoted. Recruiters like that stuff. It also shows that people like you and what you do. Even if it was merely a change in job title and not an increase in pay.

3.  Know the Good Companies from the Bad

This might seem obvious, but successful companies usually have strong employees behind them. How did they get those strong employees? Well, they are all American Gladiators… or they have a rigorous hiring process.

Sexy 80’s American Gladiators Photo Source

If a candidate has worked somewhere you know hires only REALLY good people, they are probably worth checking out.

Also, don’t forget about the little guys! They might be small and new – but they tried! Not sure? Sometimes their mission statements, or job postings showcase the type of employees they hire. We do, and so do lots of other people out there. Next time you are looking at a resume, check out the companies your candidates worked for and see what THEY looked for in a candidate. You can also look at their current employees in similar roles on LinkedIn to get a feel for the caliber of talent they were looking for.

TIP: You will probably be Googled, so you might want to take that Facebook photo down. You know which one I am talking about. Oh, and set up a LinkedIn account and start networking! (If you build it, they will come.) Be sure to fill in as much information as possible, and start networking with people you meet in interviews, it lets the recruiter know you are interested (and helps them remember you (*wink*).

4.  School is Cool

Obviously, if you are hiring for a tech position and the candidate went to a top computer science program and earned advanced degrees in Computer Science, Linguistics, Physics, Mathematics…. they are probably pretty dang smart. But don’t overlook those that have high GPAs from the lesser-known schools! A degree is still an accomplishment – especially if they graduated Cum Laude with a GPA higher than 3.7, honors, or additional degrees. Those folks are extremely interview-worthy and these are impressive achievements; it shows they worked hard and take pride in their work. Isn’t that what you want in a candidate?

TIP: Wondering if you should include your GPA on your résumé? If you received below a 3.5 GPA, then you may not want to showcase it on your résumé. But above a 3.5? Heck ya! Show your stuff and pump it up with activities, honors, awards, and personal achievements. That is an accomplishment and there are people who pay attention to these details.

At SEOmoz, we have interviewed candidates with otherwise unimpressive resumes because the candidate’s achievements at school or in their personal lives warranted a phone screen. Their dedication was simply too impressive to pass up!

As an aside, school is way cool, but it isn’t necessarily everything a candidate has to offer. If you take all of those hawt points listed above, and they exceed your expectations without even looking at their education, bring them in! Did you know that SEOmoz’s own CEO dropped out of college? Some people are just really smart, motivated and super dedicated, and that says a lot about character.

5.  Trophies, Patents, Awards and Certificates

Not everyone receives a fancy award or honor, so those are good to look at, especially fellowships, grants and scholarships. If someone else is willing to pay them for something amazing they did, you might find them worthy of a few peanuts, too.

It also shows that the candidate is willing to go that extra mile to prove they have mad skills. And that’s what you should be looking for, right? Ask yourself, “What do they do outside of work?” Are they involved withStartup Incubator as a finalist or member, have they participated in industry events such as Google Summer of Code, Startup Weekend, or have they attended conferences, or presented at conferences. (pssst….hiddenTIPS are in this paragraph!)

TIP: Get yourself awarded? No seriously, if you are amazing, then apply for a grant, or enter a contest! It’s not just for mom, it’s for your future (barf!) Show passion and achievement outside of what you get paid to do. “It’s more about the achieving nature of the person than the achievement.” Kate Matsudaira.

6.  Projects and Mad Skills

Instead of being impressed by a long list of known technologies, an example of how the candidate has used them is way more impressive. Let’s pretend we are looking for someone with experience in building a house using a hammer, screwdriver, nails and screws. A better resume would list how they used the tools (hammer, screwdriver, nails and screws), is a manner such as this: “My last project was building a house. For this project I used a hammer, a screwdriver, nails and screws.” Savvy?

Also, the cover letter is the best place to discover if a candidate is looking to work vs. looking to fulfill a passion. If the developer is truly passionate about being a developer, then he/she’s probably working on side projects or learning a new language. These are things to look for in an application. If an interviewee told us they created a webpage especially for their interview, it wouldn’t be the first time, and there hasn’t been a time we didn’t consider them for the position. What scientist doesn’t like proof?

TIP: Flaunt it if you got it! In a meeting with Andrew Maguire, founder of InternMatch, he referenced a really interesting write up on an innovative way to draw attention to your mad skills. The concept: Kill the Cover Letter. Although this relates to interns looking for internships, it’s really not a bad idea all across the board. You can always write up a traditional cover letter and refer them to your nifty digital “cover letter”. Then you would really be cool, especially if there are multiple Tweets and Likes proving it. It’s a socially driven world, get with it!

7.  Lesser Known and Used Ideas and Strategies

If you don’t use a platform like Jobvite, take advantage of Survey Monkey. Have them answer all the generic make-it or break-it questions you have before contacting them. You can also ask them questions that are geared toward the kind of culture you are trying to maintain, or even create. You know, weed out the pen sniffers and the too secretive, secret Santas.

Creepy Secret Santa Photo Source

When you find yourself completely stumped on a candidate, it’s better to err on the side of giving them a chance. In fact, at SEOmoz, we worry about missing good people while only depending on their resumes as a filter. This is when the survey comes in handy. You can format it to do the 1st interview for you, and control your interview process. Here are some of the questions from our survey:

1. Where do you want to be in 5 years? How would working at SEOmoz help you meet those goals?
2. What project do you consider your greatest success and why?
3. Tell us about a mistake you made recently that you learned a lot from.
4. What do you love best about being a software engineer?
5. Why did you apply to SEOmoz? Is there a particular product/feature/technology you want to work on?
6. Why do you think you’d be a great fit at SEOmoz?
7. Please provide a link to a page you consider to be the funniest on the internet.

8.  The moral of the story…

The suggestions listed above are derived from implemented practices here at SEOmoz. While we would like to say that our process is flawless, it is in fact organic. Depending on your recruiter, these tips could really scale down the otherwise arduous task of locating that awesome fit! An interesting outcome in utilizing these practices, especially the survey, is that you’re uncovering a personality that may or may not fit, or may not fit in the cover letter or resume format, and therefore on your team!

A Few Red Flags:

When reviewing resumes there are lots of things to look for in a resume, but there are also some things that may make you raise your eyebrows. Below are some of the things that can raise doubts in our mind (so if you are writing a resume be sure to avoid them). Of course, never let one or more of these prevent you from talking to a candidate, since good people do write bad resumes; however some of them may warrant additional questions and investigation.

The never – ending resume.

No one cares about your high school job unless you just graduated or are still in high school.

TIP: If you have a lot of work experience, only include the most relevant if not the most recent positions.

The Expert at everything.

What did Anonymous say? Oh yeah, “An expert is someone who knows more and more about less and less, until eventually he knows everything about nothing.”

TIP: If you suggest that you’re an expert at everything you do, you have nothing to learn. Often times, the experts are not who recruiters are looking for. They tend to be, well, know- it-all’s.

The job jumper

Unless you are a time bender like Hiro Nakamura, no one should have 20 jobs in 3 years.

TIP: Um, don’t be a job jumper. You’re not only wasting your employer’s time, but your time. Obviously you’re not happy with what you are doing, so find something new.

The endless list of accomplishments (liars, freeloaders, scrubs):

Unless you actually saved a litter of puppies from certain death on your way to work while juggling 10 cups of coffee – don’t say you did. It’s lame, and if someone else helped you with that project, it’s good karma to extend those kudos.

TIP: Figure out what you have to offer. If you feel like you don’t have anything to show for yourself, express it as a goal in your cover letter. If you do have a ridiculous amount of accomplishments within a very limited time span, chances are we won’t consider you, because it’s next to impossible.

Bonus: My girlfriend just got fucked at the car dealership, so I’m going to share a dealer secret

Written by damnyouautocorrect

We just blew the dust off of our Google Analytics traffic monitor and realized since we launched Damn You Autocorrect back in October, the site has gotten over 300 million page views! That’s crazy! So thanks to everyone for reading!

And now, thanks to the analytics, here are the 15 most viewed autocorrect fails sent in to Damn You Autocorrect since the site launch. Can you can guess what the #1 most popular submission has been so far?

#15: Worst Day Of The Week

#14: Special Delivery

#13: That Time Of The Month

#12: Stain Remover

#11: We Need To Talk

#10: iPhone and Relationship Advice Don’t Mix

#9: Chew On This

#8: Now That’s A Bad Date

#7: Shocking News

#6: The Accident

#5: Dinner For One

#4: Coming Out

#3: First Date

#2: The Big D

And now, the #1 Most Popular DYAC: The Worst Possible Thing To Text To Mom

Bonus:Why I like France (Bar diagram)

Why I like America (Bar diagram)

source

Written by line25

Twitter continues to grow its userbase at a crazy pace of over 460,000 new users each day. I found that as this means an increase of followers and conversations, it also increases the noise a lot. Fortunately, lots of tools out there help us to cut through the noise and get to the most useful bits and pieces. Here are 10 of my favourite tools to use Twitter more efficiently:

Buffer – Never Flood Your Followers

One important part I found is to never overwhelm my followers. With Buffer, I can put Tweets into my “Buffer” and the App spreads them out over the whole day. With the handy browser extensions (Chrome, Safari or Firefox) I can add Tweets to it from anywhere on the web. This makes it very easy to become a great source of content for my followers and jump in to chat with them.

Best bit: What I like best is that for every Tweet Buffered, I will get detailed stats on clicks, retweets and reach to know more about what my followers like.

Tweriod – Tweet only when others listen

After spreading out Tweets with Buffer, it might come in handy to know the best publishing times for your tweets. In comes Tweriod, which provides you with 2 very simple graphs on when your followers are most likely to see tweets. It shows you both the best times of the day and the best days during the week to send out your tweets. You can even extract this report as a pdf.

Best bit: Apart from the graphs for when your followers are online the most, you also receive a graph on when your most mentions happen to adjust your tweeting further.

TweetWally – Turn Tweets into Blogposts

This App comes in super handy to find some inspiration for blogposts. It allows you to collect tweets from your followers and turn them into a TweetWall, that beautifully displays this content. Interestingly, you can also use it to find out who is interacting with you the most by searching for your username. Especially if you boast a large following this might come in handy.

Best bit: Different to Storify, which you might have come across, TweetWally offers you the chance to continually edit and customize the tweets.

StrawberryJ.am – Read only what’s most discussed

Sometimes we can spend a long time in front of our Twitterstream before we find the pieces of content that are actually interesting and worth clicking on. Here is where StrawberryApp helps you out a great deal. The App takes in all Tweets from your followers and orders them by most mentioned. This immediately gives you a picture of which news is most discussed and relevant.

Best bit: Instead of having to check another site each morning you can simply receive your top news as updates straight to your inbox via email.

ChittyChat – A Chat room for your Twitter friends

Another App I discovered recently is ChittyChat. It is a very helpful little App, which allows you to take chats you are having with friends on Twitter into a private chatroom. All you do is send a tweet to the people you want to chat with and include the username @chitty_chat. Immediately everyone receives a link to a private chatroom where you can start typing away.

Best bit: The beauty here is that you don’t have to sign up or in for anything. You simply send out a tweet and that’s it.

BackTweets – Who is tweeting your posts?

Always wanted to find out who the people are that are tweeting about an article that you have written? BackTweets is a wonderful tool, that offers you to simply drop in a link and get in return every username that has tweeted about this post in the past. The process again, couldn’t be any simpler, without any signups or signins, you can start searching for results right away.

Best bit: The App guarantees you to find all mentions of the post from Twitter, making it superior to Topsy, Twitter Search or TweetMeMe.

Tweepi – Get rid of unwanted followers

I found that as we spend more and more time on Twitter, we don’t always know what or which person will interest us in the long run. With Tweepi, you can easily scan through your following and get rid of those, that add little value to your stream. It shows you people that are not following you, that have turned inactive or that are simply cluttering your stream with too many tweets.

Best bit: Gladly the App also works the other way round, showing you which people you haven’t followed back and you can easily reciprocate the following.

TwitSprout – Full analytics for your Twitter account

Twitsprout is a Twitter analytics tool, that displays all the most important metrics from your account for you. You will see the development of your follower count, as well as how many people have mentioned or retweeted you over time. The great part is that you will see all the graphs in overlay, so you can compare whether you are growing organically.

Best bit: The design of the App is definitely worth mentioning. Your results are all neatly displayed on one page and you could even use it as an infographic.

Proxlet – Mute Twitter noise

Another very interesting solution to deal with Twitter noise is coming from Proxlet. Instead of unfollowing, the App allows you to simply mute these Apps from your stream. This can be helpful if you only want to stop seeing some tweets temporarily. On top of muting individual followers, you can also mute spammy Apps or hashtags, which crowd your stream.

Best bit: The App filters your stream not only on Twitter.com, but is also available for other clients, such as Tweetdeck, Twitter for iPhone or Twitdroyd.

Twilert – Google Alerts for Twitter

Twilert basically does what it says. If you want to monitor a certain keyword to see what’s going on with a brand, competitor or topic of interest, Twilert can be very handy. You simply set up a few of these terms and every day you will receive a digest email with all Tweets mentioning them. I found this to be a great way to monitor what people talk about in relation to what I am doing.

Best bit: Twilert’s search terms are very customizable and go so far as even setting the sentiment of certain tweets being mentioned to show up only.

Using these Apps has helped me greatly in the past to be more productive, yet still be very active on Twitter. I believe there is a fear of over-automate and forgetting about the social element on Twitter. So I tried to pick those, which optimize your patterns, rather than turning you into an auto-bot.

How about you? Do you think any of these Apps could be helpful for you?

Bonus:This guy took the belt from his waist…

The Post has been taking down.

Bonus: stapling your homework is so yesterday …

Written by juliewillyoumarry.me

Julie’s Proposal Reaction from jim babb on Vimeo.

Bonus: Argument Against Planking

Written by happyplace

We’ve been using Google Plus all week and we can already foresee wasting a huge portion of our lives on it until we’re forcibly herded into the next social networking breakthrough. The one stumble we had was dividing our friends up into Google Plus’s suggested "circles" of family, friends, and coworkers. We believe life isn’t lived by drawing such lines in the sand, so we came up with our own set of 21 suggested circles for dividing up your friends on Google Plus. We’ll continue adding to this list, so tell us in the comments which ones we missed.

Bonus:This kid had lost his dad in the crowd, and freaked out until he saw the Flash and Wonder Woman. He went up to the Flash to ask for help, because he knows him

Written by Darren Rovell

Late last night, I hit 100,000 followers on Twitter. In honor of the milestone, I’m taking a shot and imparting all I’ve learned in my 853 days using the platform.

1. Twitter is for everyone. A person in any profession can help his or her career if he or she utilizes it correctly.

2. Only follow your friends if they have something you want to hear. Facebook is for friendships.

3. For the rest of eternity, no one is going to believe you if you said you were hacked, even if you were. Sorry.

4. Please don’t link your Foursquare and Twitter accounts. Your Twitter followers signed up for your Twitter content, not the fact that you just became the mayor of Starbucks.

5. Rome wasn’t built in a day and neither was your Twitter account. Developing a strong following takes time and effort.

6. Always credit your source if you find content worth sharing. Think like a journalist when you’re passing along quality info.

7. Don’t ask to be followed. Twitter is a meritocracy. Earn it.

8. Don’t tweet out inspirational quotes unless that’s the purpose of your account. By now everyone has heard “Carpe Diem, seize the day.” -Horace

9. Don’t tweet that you are bored. Now I am too.

10. If you follow someone, don’t be offended if they don’t follow you back. Not everyone plays for “Team Followback.” Earn their follow from strong, periodic @replies if you feel that you have something to offer.

11. Don’t be tempted by the speed of Twitter. Take a breath before each tweet and ask, “If I was a follower, would I want to read this?” If not, delete it.

12. Unless you are a pro athlete, don’t tell me that you are at the gym. I get it, you work out.

13. Proofread your tweets. The amount of typos in 140 characters is mind blowing.

14. Find your Twitter niche, but don’t be afraid to branch out a little. Most followers enjoy a little variety every now and then.

15. Quantity of tweets is fine as long as it’s quality. I average more than 40 tweets a day.

16. Unless you are 14 years old, don’t make your account private. No strangers will want to request to follow you.

17. Do not use a default Twitter background. Instead, use an image or photo that complements your interests or personality.

18. Follow Friday’s are perhaps the emptiest tweets on all of Twitter, unless you tell me why they deserve my follow.

19. Want to give your recommendation more oomph? Do it on Tuesday; nobody is expecting it.

20. Just because you are getting slammed doesn’t mean you should blame Twitter. Learn to absorb the hate and get a thicker skin, it’s useful in life.

21. If you’re RTing (retweeting) someone with comment, it’s OK to shorten up their original tweet in order to keep it under 140. Just don’t alter the original person’s intended message.

22. Don’t harbor on the fact that you lost one follower. Rejoice in the fact that you gained two.

23. Athletes & celebs blame Twitter when “sharing” goes wrong. It’s not the sharing of information that’s the issue, it’s what you share.

24. Never ask for a RT (Retweet) for your birthday (or for any reason).

25. Never fulfill a birthday RT request.

26. Your avatar should intrigue/humor viewers. Change it up. But whatever you do, no animated GIFs! (Graphics Interchange Format)

27. Make good use of your Twitter bio space. “Mother, Sister, Daughter, Lover of Life” does absolutely nothing to spark someone’s interest.

28. Don’t get offended if someone unfollows you. Instead, use it as a learning experience. Perhaps your tweets need some tweaking. Everyone is entitled to a trial run before purchasing your product.

29. People love screengrabs. Those that are experts at capturing the perfect TV shot (like @bubbaprog and @jose3030) do well on Twitter.

30. Know when something has reached a critical mass. Look around to see if your entire timeline has tweeted the same quote. Hold back.

31. Know why people follow you. If you’re a foodie, don’t send 20 Florida Marlins tweets on a single night.

32. Instead of complaining about spam bots offering you free iPads, take 3 seconds and report them as spam. Help solve the problem.

33. Check out your followers. If someone’s bio looks interesting, follow them.

34. Go through who you’re following every few months. Weed out the bad, the non-existent & those you feel don’t suit your interests.

35. If you get retweeted, don’t automatically expect new followers. People evaluate your feed before following, so it’s not an automatic process.

36. Twitter Search may be the most valuable search engine on the Internet. Use it.

37. Always put your comment before the RT. Commenting after the original tweet makes it difficult to distinguish your comment from the original.

38. Twitter is the ultimate on-the-go tool. Find an app you can tweet most comfortably with & learn the heck out of it.

39. Don’t tweet and drive. Unless you are very good at it.

40. Twitter isn’t a Monday to Friday site. It flows straight through the weekend.

41. Don’t ask your followers what’s going on with a certain topic. Follow the right people & use Twitter’s search box.

42. Double-check your links to make sure they work prior to tweeting. If you do happen to screw up a tweet, don’t follow up with a “Whoops, here’s the correct link” tweet. Just remove the old and tweet the new.

43. Have a friend who bashes the fact that you’re on Twitter? Log them in for a week & show them how it works. In no other walk of life have people bashed something so fervently that they haven’t tried.

44. Friend didn’t adhere to Tip 43? People who don’t use Twitter don’t get it. They’ll mock you, but it’s their loss. Keep doing your thing.

45. Want to partake in a funny movie-related trending topic? Tweet one, not ten.

46. Good follow partaking in #AnnoyingHashtag? Some Twitter apps have a temporary “Hide” or “Mute” feature. (Your secret is safe with me.)

47. Often referred to as a “Master Tweet,” never, ever RT yourself.

48. When sharing a link, try to add a little flavor to it. Your followers want content from a person, not a robot.

49. Ask your followers for good accounts to follow. Twitter can suggest everyone they want to, but the best follows will come from your followers.

50. Create lists to sort your interests. It will come in handy when you want a specific group’s most recent tweets.

51. Don’t announce when you’ve unfollowed someone. Egos run rampant enough on Twitter, so just quietly unfollow and move on.

52. Don’t obsess about missing something in your timeline. Obsess about furthering the dialogue.

53. See a tweet with content that you’d like to check out later? Many Twitter apps have an “E-mail Tweet” option. Maximize efficiency by using your inbox as your personal “to-do” list. Also, “Favorite” a tweet for later.

54. Avoid using underscores and long, jumbled number sequences in your Twitter handle. People should be able to recite your handle from memory.

55. Don’t RT something with comment that is better suited for an @reply or DM. Wasting your followers’ time is a no-no.

56. Stop tweeting how much your Twitter account is valued at. The only thing your account is worth at that point is an unfollow.

57. Don’t tweet about something amazing you just saw without including a pic. That’s the ultimate Twitter tease right there.

58. People don’t care what you’re doing, they care what you’re seeing.

59. If you are going to tweet a long quote, use Twitlonger. Don’t continue a quote through three tweets. It becomes very fragmented since most people are following a lot of people.

60. Short tweets stand out. Try saying something poignant in 50 characters. It has a great chance of getting RT’d.

61. If you’re a journalist, take it easy on the pre-promotion. Reading that you are going to be on in Grand Rapids is annoying. Now if you say something good after you’re done in Grand Rapids, tweet it out.

62. Don’t go too long without checking your @mentions. Twitter isn’t a one-way street and you should take in valuable feedback.

63. Just because this isn’t face-to-face communication doesn’t mean you should disrespect people. There are real humans behind the computers.

64. Only change your Twitter handle if you’re absolutely convinced that it will be a smart move in the long haul (i.e., fewer characters, easier to remember, etc.). Your handle becomes your identity. Change your background/avatar/bio if you’re looking to switch things up.

65. Don’t give your followers a play-by-play or box score of a sporting event. If they are interested, they are watching.

66. Go easy on the Instagrams. Yes, your iPhone takes pretty good pics and there’s an app to age them. It doesn’t make you a professional photographer.

67. Show your gratitude when a company goes above and beyond for you. If you are impressed, let your followers know.

68. When mentioning a person or brand, use their Twitter handle if they use the service.

69. Unless replying to a specific Tweet, don’t start your entry with an @mention because only those who follow that person / brand will see it (unless that is your intention).

70. If including a photo with your message, make sure it is crisp and represents the subject matter correctly.

71. All photos should have the correct orientation, don’t make someone rotate their head when you could take the time to rotate the photo.

72. If you have 200,000 followers and you follow no one, you aren’t getting the full Twitter experience. Twitter isn’t a megaphone, it’s a telephone.

73. Don’t always use Twitter’s “Retweet” button. If you find something worth retweeting, use “RT” & get the credit you deserve for finding it.

74. Get hate-tweets? It probably means you’re doing something right. Chances are the hater has less than 200 followers anyway.

75. Following athletes/celebrities is usually pointless. Twitter is about good tweets; not hearing an NBA star say, “What’s good, fellas?!” Make a list if you want to follow them, but don’t invite them into your timeline.

76. Run a company? Don’t have your employees sign the tweets with their personal signature. Followers don’t care & you’re just wasting characters. Unless it’s “BO” on the White House feed.

77. Have a good tweet at 3:17AM? If you’re not the first to tweet the Vancouver riot kissing couple, hold on to it. Chances are you’ll get more eyeballs at 10:00AM.

78. Use a real location in your bio, not a state of mind or something pretentious like “On the move.”

79. Have 3 good tweets to send out that aren’t time sensitive? Schedule them at different times (you can use platforms like Tap 11) so each one gets the proper attention.

80. Network! Twitter allows you to connect with just about anyone. Reach out… You’d be surprised how quickly you can hit it off.

81. Don’t plainly RT someone; add your touch to the tweet – even if it’s just a word or two.

82. Choosing a new Twitter name? Again, keep it short. Do the talking in your bio (i.e. @JoeSmithWCQR should be @JoeSmith).

83. When someone visits your account, your tweets are your resume. Fill it up with @mentions and you’re missing out on potential new followers.

84. Stop forming your tweets as hypothetical letters to inanimate objects. “Dear Sun: I am very hot today. Shine away. Sincerely, Me.” This was creative about a year ago.

85. If you have a critical mass of followers, use amount of retweets and mentions on certain topics to gauge what’s generally hot and what’s generally not.

86. Keep the smiley faces & CAPS to a bare minimum. I’m sure you’re happy, but you’re not that HAPPY.

87. Funny tweets speak for themselves. There’s no need to add “lol” in a retweet.

88. Stay away from song lyrics, even if it describes your mood perfectly.

89. Don’t overdo it with the #hashtags. A few key words is fine, but the run-on sentence hash tag has been done.

90. If any athlete/celebrity ever says anything good, it will be retweeted quickly.

91. Don’t be afraid to follow, and tweet out, strangers. There are smart people outside of your circle of friends.

92. Never RT a list of Follow Friday’s that someone included you in. If you’re really that excited about it, mark it as a Favorite and spare your followers.

93. If you’re with a group of people who also happen to have Twitter, refrain from going on a tweet-tagging spree. Instead, take a picture and tag your friends on Facebook.

94. If you’re using Twitter primarily via text, you’re selling yourself short. Depending on your notifications setup, you’ll be either bombarded or behind. Also, good luck fixing errant tweets. It’s time to invest in a smart-phone.

95. If you experience Twitter writer’s block, just take a break. You don’t have a daily quota to meet, so there’s no need to force it. Your followers will be pleased with consistent, quality content.

96. Get people who surround you on a daily basis on Twitter. Believe me, it’s a marriage tip too.

97. Don’t tweet during important life occasions. Savor the moment; Twitter will be there for you when it’s all done.

98. Klout Score > Follower Count. Check out Klout.com and see where you rank.

99. I don’t care how ugly you think you are, set an avatar. Nobody wants to follow a colored egg. It only means your future on Twitter is “cooked.”

100. Spend time with people you know in real life because who are you going to talk to when Twitter gets over capacity?

People ask me if I do what I do on Twitter by myself. The answer is no. For almost a year now, my trusty sidekick Eli Langer (@EliFromBrooklyn) has helped me and I’ve recently brought in a bigger team to include the likes of Tyler Burns (@BurnSTYLEr), Meredith Kenyon (@merrr14) and Nick Begley (@NickBegley). I am very grateful for their help.

 

Bonus: A fine summary

Written by fastcompany

“Can you call my phone?”

How many times have you been asked this question in the last year? Losing your phone, whether between your couch cushions or (like most Apple employees) at a bar, is a common headache. But finding your phone is another story, one that usually requires a bit of serendipity or the kindheartedness of a good Samaritan.

Today, mobile-security startup Lookout, which specializes in Android smartphone protection, released an infographic on the lost-phone phenomenon–namely, the 10 worst places to lose your phone, and the top U.S. cities for smartphone loss or theft.

According to Lookout’s data, the No. 1 city for cellphone loss, based on the percentage of its population, is Miami. No doubt that season of the Jersey Shore factored into the outcome. (Who could’ve possibly been sober in the MIA during the weeks the MVP were present?) New York City comes in second, followed by Los Angeles, and Phoenix. Philly, Dallas, and Chicago are all in the bottom half.

As for the top 10 worst places to lose your phone, based on chance of recovery, a restaurant or bar isn’t such a horrible place, coming in at No. 9 (chance of recovery is fairly high, at 80% to 95%). The car roof comes in at No. 8, with a 25% to 75% chance of recovery. Unsurprisingly, public transit makes up a big part of the top 10. Airport security, buses and subways, airplanes, taxis–all these areas are prime spots to lose your phone.

The worst location to have your phone go missing is the swimming pool, which has a 50% to 75% chance of recovery–but your sopping-wet phone, even if retrieved, has less than a 5% chance of ever working again.

Check out the infographic below.

Bonus: I received a scam ‘Paypal Verification’ email this morning. After a little backtracing I was surprised to find the ftp password to be ‘password’. I made some alterations.

Written by howtogeek

If you have a lot of time and information invested in Facebook, it’s not easy moving to a new social network. Here are a few tips on moving your information from your Facebook account to your shiny new Google+ account.

Moving social networks isn’t the easiest thing to do, but luckily there are a few tools we can use to migrate pictures, videos, and friends. Wall posts and messages don’t make sense to migrate between networks so we are going to leave those out.

Export Facebook Information

Start by downloading all of your Facebook information. To do that, log into Facebook and go to account settings in the upper right corner.

On the settings tab click “learn more” next to “download your information.”

Enter your password and click continue; you will be sent an email once your download is ready.

Once you receive the email, click the link to download a zip of all of your files.

Extract the files and open the index.html file to verify all your information is there.

Import Photos

Google+ uses Picasa web albums to share pictures. To get started you need to download Picasa from the link below.

Once installed, open Picasa and add the Facebook photos folder you just downloaded to picasa.

Set Picasa to scan the folders once, and then let it do the import.

Once the pictures have finished importing into Picasa, find the albums and select Sync to Web on the right.

A pop-up window will open and ask you to sign in to web albums. Log in with your Google+ account and a second popup will ask you to verify your upload settings. Click change settings and modify the settings to you liking. Make sure you check the box to “use the above settings” otherwise you will be asked every time.

We’d recommend setting your new album visibility to private by default. You will be able to change the sharing settings from Google+ later, and this prevents you from making any embarrassing photos public.

Now go back to Picasa and click sync; your photos will be uploaded in the background.

Share Your Photos on Google+

After your pictures have uploaded, log into Google+ and click on photos in the top banner.

Navigate to your albums on the left.

Open the album you just uploaded and click share album at the top.

The share album button will automatically make your album public and post a link to it in your stream.

If you don’t want the album to be public, you can remove the Public circle and instead add some of your own. This will still make a post in your stream, but it will only be visible to those you have shared it with.

It is possible for someone you shared an album with to re-share that with the public so make sure you only share with people you know and trust.

If you don’t want the album posted to your stream, you can also click the edit button from the main album page which will change the sharing settings without posting the album in your stream.

Import Your Videos

Importing videos is a lot less automated than pictures. To import your Facebook videos browse to your Facebook export you downloaded earlier and there will be a videos folder.

Log into your Google+ account and click on your profile -> videos.

Click upload new videos on the right and drag the videos from your computer to your browser.

Once the videos are done uploading you can name, create, and share the album from Google+.

Import Your Facebook Friends

Go to login.yahoo.com and sign in with your Facebook account or a yahoo account if you already have one.

Confirm access and sign in with your facebook account and then go to address.yahoo.com. Click tools and import from the dropdown.

Select Facebook from the provided options.

After you confirm access to your contacts, the import will happen automatically.

Next export your contacts to a .csv file with the tools menu.

Export your contacts to Microsoft Outlook, confirm the capcha and save the file.

Now login to Gmail, click contacts -> more actions -> import.

Browse to the .csv file you just downloaded and select it for importing.

Specify a new group to import the contacts into, if you chose that option, and the contacts should import without any problems.

Go back to Google+ and your newly imported contacts will show up under find and invite.

Add friends to circles and send invites to them if they aren’t already using Google+.

Download Picasa

Bonus: Lurk around Myspace a bit, you’ll get what I mean.