A web development/programming blog providing info, tips, and tricks on programming languages, scripting, Linux, MySQL and more
How to Post to Twitter from a Linux Shell
Jun 18th
I had a little downtime today at work and decided to write a shell script that I could use to tweet from the shell of my Linux server. The reason is that Twitter is one of many social networking sites that is blocked at my workplace. However, I do have access to my server and found a great one-liner on commandlinefu.com to update twitter via curl. I decided to expand on this a bit and wrote a shell script that offers a bit more than merely posting a tweet. Check out my shell script to post to Twitter here.
Twitter has lost its novelty!
Jun 6th
I logged into Twitter last night and this was the tweet that I saw from a good friend of mine:
Twitter has lost its novelty
I wondered to myself whether or not he may be right. It’s hard for me to accept that Twitter is just a passing fad as I doubt that it is. It’s definitely not new anymore and the novelty aspect of it may have worn off a bit, at least for some. The quote that best sums up Twitter is in a post I have linked to before. In fact, it is the post that prompted my Twitter Experiment, titled How Not to Promote Your Blog: Top 10 Broken Blog Promotion Strategies. In that post, author Kevin Geary states (about Twitter) “Free and easy asks for abuse.” Many of the casual users of Twitter joined because to them it was just a passing fad, everyone else was using it. And hey, It’s FREE! People liked the idea, liked the concept, and tweeted fairly regularly…at least to start. Like a flower without water, their Twitter activity withered and died and the account sits dormant.
Read the rest of this entry »
Is Twitter the RSS Killer?
Jun 5th
As I start to use Twitter more and more I have noticed something that got me thinking. As a web designer/developper/blogger, I try to keep up with the ever-changing landscape of the internet. My biggest leap came a few months ago when I hitched a ride on the train to Tweet Town. I signed up for Twitter obviously knowing what it was. What I didn’t know was the potential that lies therein.
Twitter creates duplicate content
I am constantly reading articles and posts online from other bloggers and site owners sharing their expertise (and lack thereof on occasion). I have my favorite sites that I subscribe to via RSS and am always on the lookout for new source of information. As I begin becoming a regular Twit, I find myself following all these same individuals, and more, on Twitter. And there’s the rub. Most bloggers (myself included) obviously use Twitter to reach a larger audience to promote their posts. If I subscribe to a blog’s RSS feed and follower that author on Twitter, I get the feed in my Mozilla Thunderbird and I see the tweet on Twitter about the post: double whammy. As I noticed this, I wondered:
“Do I really need to subscribe to a feed and follow the author?”
The Power of Reading – The Twitter Experiment Update
Jun 3rd
I have officially begun my Twitter Experiment where I will attempt to increase blog traffic from, and by effectively using, Twitter. (read more about what prompted it here)
Last night I made my first “non-selfish” Tweet.
Reading @problogger How Listening to a Waiter can Jack your Profits up 33% – http://is.gd/MFXh
Using Twitter to Effectively Grow Your Blog Traffic – Confessions of a Twitter Spammer
May 31st
This post comes in response to two articles I have read recently: Tech blogging, missing something? at ChristopherMarkSmith.com and the other is How Not to Promote Your Blog: Top 10 Broken Blog Promotion Strategies at ProBlogger.net. In Chris’s article he makes the following point in regards to social media:
The market for using these new types of technologies is still growing and is rather fresh for most companies. Many businesses do not use the social media and web apps at all to market or make their businesses run more efficiently, mostly because no one is laying it out for them in a fun and easy way.
