Written by Brett Nelson

Listen up, budding Masters Of The Universe, and all those who dream of walking their path to wealth, power and spacious summer homes.

At many business schools, boot-camp week–where the unwashed get a taste of debits, credits and such–starts in less than a month. After that, and just beneath the throb of your hangover (a B-school accessory), you will detect another inexorable rhythm–a faint ticking to be precise. This is the tell-tale heart to your two-year, $100,000 investment. The relentless reminder that you better get to learnin’ (or at least networking), lest you end up working for, and maybe getting laid off by, one of your classmates one day.

Image by Patricia Drury via Flickr

Now for the good–or totally vexing–news, depending how you take it: After all the spreadsheets and cost-of-capital calculations, after all the case studies and Power Point presentations, after all the tuition money is gone and it’s just you and your pedigree, contacts and gumption, guess what?

You get to start over again–in the real world.

As anyone who employs people and writes checks will confirm, turning $1 into a $1.10 is a real bitch. Turning that $1.10 into $1.25, even tougher. I had to laugh the other day when a former colleague, now a partner at a boutique digital-marketing firm, sent me the following text out of the blue: “Generating positive cash flow is one of the hardest f—ing things in the world.” And then some, Matt.

For all the wonderful instruction at places like Harvard, Wharton and my alma mater, the Stern School of Business at NYU, b-schoolers should remember that making money involves so much more than columns in a spreadsheet and the ever-shifting assumptions behind them.

With that in mind, here’s a supplemental, 10-step curriculum:

1. If It Ain’t Broke, Still Fix It

One of the hardest decisions business owners have to make is turning their backs on cash when it’s flowing. But that’s exactly what you must have the courage to do sometimes to protect your franchise. Think about all those aggressive mortgage underwriters who scooped up fees by the shovelful during the housing bubble, when they should have been tightening their lending criteria. Or USA Inc., which ran deficits for years–because, well, our creditors didn’t seem to mind–and now faces a staggering $60 trillion fiscal hole (including the present value of all future obligations to its entitlement programs).

2. If You Don’t End Up Working At Goldman Sachs, Forget What You Learned About Finance

Image via Wikipedia

This one comes courtesy of one of my classmates, now finance chief for the unit of a large manufacturing firm, who would rather remain anonymous:

“In a 12-year finance career with large respected companies (General Electric, Honeywell, BASF), I can count on two hands the number of IRR (internal rate of return), DCF (discounted cash flow) and NPV (net present value) analyses I have completed, and I am pretty sure that I analyzed exponentially more balance sheets in a classroom than I ever have in a boardroom. It is obviously important to be fluent in the language of finance, but as for the finance majors I hire (graduate and undergrad alike), I spend the first year or two retraining them.

“A career in corporate finance is nothing like what is taught in school,” he adds. “The job is largely to be the conscience of the business–expecting and demanding explanation for decisions and acting as an internal chief operating officer well versed in most topics (products, customers, manufacturing process, supply chain, etc). I am sure a career at Goldman or a hedge fund is different, but my guess is that life at most large companies lines up pretty close to my experience.”

Image by dynamosquito via Flickr

3. Take Your Financial Models With An Indiana-Jones-Sized Boulder Of Salt

Another biz-school mate, now a health care consultant, chimed in with this stern admonition:

“Too often people in business rely upon a model demonstrating projections out 15 – 30 years.” I was astounded: Fifteen to thirty, I confirmed? In school we worked in more modest 3-to-5-year increments, with an understanding that anything beyond that was magical thinking. “Believe it or not,” he went on, “I have seen some done out that far for deals [acquisitions] and often for public-private partnerships.”

Find me an industry (save for perhaps utilities) where the assumptions you make today apply for three years, let alone 30. No, really, find me one.

4. Overpromise And Try To Deliver

Under-promising and over-delivering may work on conference calls with Wall Street analysts who need earnings projections for their valuation models. (GE made an art out of that game for years under Jack Welch.) But that strategy won’t always cut it when chasing new business to meet growth targets (or just payroll). Sometimes you will have to bite off more than your models–and your gut–say you can chew just to win the business. It’s an uncomfortable sensation at best, and a reputation-damaging maneuver at worst if you don’t come through. Get ready–and no tears.

Image via Wikipedia

5. If You Don’t Know Who The Sucker Is, It’s You

Yet another B-school colleague of mine, who probably plays too much poker, recalled this adage, a favorite around the halls of Forbes . “People are happy to take your money by pulling you off your home court,” he says. “Don’t let them. Deploy capital in ways that you understand not only intellectually, but also viscerally. Stick to home games–that’s where your instincts will flourish.”

6. If No One “Owns” A Project, It Won’t Get Done

Most people don’t put in long hours for their health, or to make shareholders wealthy, or because their families drive them nuts and they’d rather grind it out in the office. (Okay, sometimes that last part is true.) They do it because their job demands it, and with any luck they take a lot of pride in doing it well.

Which is why all projects need champions. Not the kind who beats his chest and spews happy mission statements. The kind who’s backside is on the line if things don’t pan out. More importantly, the kind who has the authority and resources to make decisions that other people have to follow, else their backsides are on the line.

It’s not that people are lazy or incompetent (they may well be, but that’s a hiring issue). It’s that, over time, you get what you incentivize–or don’t.

7. Be Clear

They actually do tell you this one in b-school, but not in so many words and not vehemently enough. The clearer you are, the more thoroughly you probably understand what you’re talking about, and the more capable and trustworthy you will seem to customers, colleagues and employees.

Image via Wikipedia

Being clear has immense ramifications–on productivity, customer satisfaction and employee morale. If your Power Point deck contains the word “ideate,” cut, and do not paste. In fact, eliminate all jargon from everything you do. (If you think the word “utilize” is a smarter version of “use,” please, please read The Most Annoying Business Jargon.) This applies to electronic exchanges as well. The simplest, most straight forward emails can, and will, get twisted beyond meaningful comprehension. If the message is mission-critical, communicate face-to-face, or by phone, as best you can.

8. Business Involves People

People are a pain. They whine, mess up and have all sorts of problems. That’s why every now and again you should ask how they’re doing–and actually listen to the answer. It doesn’t cost a cent and helps lift spirits and build trust. (For more on bucking up the troops, check out 10 Ways To Boost Morale On A Budget.)

9. Read Forbes

Consider the source, but here are just two justifications for following this advice: Amid Turbulence, The Flight Plan That Sets Forbes Apart and What Makes A Good Business Story?

Image via Wikipedia

10. Entrepreneurship Better Be A Labor Of Love (At Least At First)

Some final words of warning–and encouragement–from a fourth classmate, who runs his own small clothing company: “Unless you have a partner, family member or some other person who has to give you capital, your [entrepreneurial] experience may amount to a salmon swimming upstream in a 2-inch deep river.” Inviting.

That said, he adds: “Three years after graduation, I have to say my life is beautifully enhanced by my MBA. Kind of like when you need it, ideas descend in a timely, light and resonant fashion to help me cut to the chase.”

I’ll second that.

Have any valuable insights on business school, or on what it takes to turn a profit in the real world? Jot a comment on this post.

And if you run a small business with real growth potential, or if you know someone who does, please nominate a contender for Forbes’ List Of Most Promising Private Companies.

For now, class dismissed.

Bonus: Am I doing this right?

Written by the99percent

Illustration: Oscar Ramos Orozco

Failure. Fear of it is universal, experiencing it is inevitable, and running from it is dependably routine. As a culture we can’t seem to shake the negativity of the term – even though most success stories have a shared foundation in some kind of accidental realization, wrong-footed first attempt, or outright error. Here, we pool our favorite videos and articles on the subject as a gentle reminder that our only real failure is to live life without it.1. Kathryn Schulz: On Being Wrong
This brief TED talk by “Wrongologist” and author Kathryn Schulz cleverly covers the inescapable error of the human mind – and the beautiful results of its imperfection.

2. Sir James Dyson: Failure Doesn’t Suck
The US’s bestselling vacuum isn’t just a perfect example of rethinking the norm, it’s the happy result of failure – 5,126 of them. The relentless inventor behind the company comes clean in this interview, attributing his comfy relationship with getting it wrong to finally getting it right.

You once described the inventor’s life as “one of failure.” How so?
I made 5,127 prototypes of my vacuum before I got it right. There were 5,126 failures. But I learned from each one. That’s how I came up with a solution. So I don’t mind failure. I’ve always thought that schoolchildren should be marked by the number of failures they’ve had. The child who tries strange things and experiences lots of failures to get there is probably more creative.

Not all failures lead to solutions, though. How do you fail constructively?
We’re taught to do things the right way. But if you want to discover something that other people haven’t, you need to do things the wrong way. Initiate a failure by doing something that’s very silly, unthinkable, naughty, dangerous. Watching why that fails can take you on a completely different path. It’s exciting, actually. To me, solving problems is a bit like a drug. You’re on it, and you can’t get off. I spent seven years on our washing machine [which has two drums, instead of one].

3. Paulo Coelho: On the Fear of Failure
Brazilian lyricist and novelist Paulo Coehlo shares his personal views on confidence in the face of critical response. This comes from a series of awesome videos on failure from Berghs’ Exhibition 2011. We highly recommend the watching the lot of them.

4. Twyla Tharp: Real Change Involves Failure
One of America’s most celebrated living choreographers, Twyla Tharp is also a keen observer of the creative habit – in fact, she wrote the book on it. From Tharp’s point of view, failure is a natural part of the path to innovation. Here’s an excerpt from an excellent interview with the Harvard Business Review:

The business literature nowadays talks a lot about the need for failure in the pursuit of excellence. Do you accept that? 
Of course I do. Sooner or later, all real change involves failure—but not in the sense that many people understand failure. If you do only what you know and do it very, very well, chances are that you won’t fail. You’ll just stagnate, and your work will get less and less interesting, and that’s failure by erosion. True failure is a mark of accomplishment in the sense that something new and different was tried. Ideally, the best way to fail is in private. In my of?ce, the ratio of failure to success on the dances I create is probably something like six to one. I create about six times more material for my dances than I end up using in the ?nal piece. But I need that unused material to get my one success. I have also sometimes failed in public, and that’s very painful. But failing, even in this way, is not useless. It can force you to get yourself together and to produce something new.

5. Seth Godin: How the Lizard Brain Holds Us Back
In this classic talk from the inaugural 99% Conference, author and entrepreneur Seth Godin talks about the lizard brain, the root of the primal doubts that drive us to sabotage creative projects before we ever show them to the world.

6. Jamer Hunt: Six Types of Failure, Only a Few Help You Innovate
Playing devil’s advocate to an upbeat view of failure, educator Jamer Hunt takes a look at the shades of gray, separating the truly beneficial mistakes from those failures that might indicate a darker, deeper flaw – for instance, the BP oil spill.

Abject failure
This is the really dark one. It marks you and you may not ever fully recover from it. People lose their lives, jobs, respect, or livelihoods. Examples: British Petroleum’s Gulf oil spill; mortgage-backed securities.

Structural failure
It cuts — deeply — but it doesn’t permanently cripple your identity or enterprise. Examples: Apple iPhone 4’s antenna; Windows Vista.

Glorious failure 
Going out in a botched but beautiful blaze of glory — catastrophic but exhilarating. Example: Jamaican bobsled team. 

Common failure 
Everyday instances of screwing up that are not too difficult to recover from. The apology was invented for this category. Examples: oversleeping and missing a meeting at work; forgetting to pick up your kids from school; overcooking the tuna. 

Version failure 
Small failures that lead to incremental but meaningful improvements over time. Examples: Linux operating system; evolution. 

Predicted failure 
Failure as an essential part of a process that allows you to see what it is you really need to do more clearly because of the shortcomings. Example: the prototype — only by creating imperfect early versions of it can you learn what’s necessary to refine it.

7. Gillian Welch: On Rolling with the Punches
Sometimes the things we call failures are really just lessons in letting go. In this video, acclaimed musicians Gillian Welch and David Rawlings collaborate with an artist and a specialty printing group to make an album cover, learning to conspire with their changing circumstances along the way.

8. Tim Harford: Trial, Error and the God Complex
Economics writer Tim Harford believes that all great leaps forward emerge through trial and error. In this TED talk, he articulates the challenges of admitting our own fallibility. Rather than striving to be an all-knowing God, he argues that we should strive to make good mistakes.

9. J.K. Rowling: The Fringe Benefits of Failure
In this now-legendary commencement address, the inimitable J.K. Rowling discusses how failure, while certainly not fun, helps us strip away the inessential so that we can focus our energies on what really matters.

—

Carmel Hagen is a brand strategist, writer, and speaker who’s helping creative thinkers launch socially aware companies at COMMON. For thoughts on creativity, social entrepreneurialism and nerd tech, follow Carmel on Twitter here.

Bonus: A more accurate title.

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