twitter Archives

How to Find Nearby Tweets

Are you using Twitter to find nearby tweets? It can be a powerful way to connect with your community online. Twitter doesn’t make it easy to find people nearby. I’ve got a few ways to find others:

Your Local Media and Public Service/Works

Go look for the newspapers, tv stations, radio stations, police departments, schools, chamber of commerce and other civic organizations that serve your local region. Look by towns, cities, counties, zip codes, and any other geographic organizations. Look through who is following them, and who the brand is following. See what lists that organization has been added to, and who else is on lists that they are on.

Twitter Nearby Tweets

Twitter has it’s own way to search for nearby tweets. The easiest way is to to see Twitter’s Advanced Search.

I find this tool to be a bit buggy, and is best used if you are not logged in to Twitter while using it. It seems to also work better based upon a zip code than a city and state name. By default, it searches a 15 mile radius. You can look in the address bar for “15” and modify it to fit your needs.

Hootsuite Nearby Tweets

To use HootSuite to help you see tweets in your area, you’ll need to first add the HootSuite Hootlet. You can use the free version of HootSuite or use my link for a free 30 day pro trial. It has a lot of great features:

Once you have that added, go to http://maps.google.com to find nearby tweets.

There are lots of other tools that aim to help you find nearby tweets. These are the easiest ways to find your local community and get started.

April 10, 2014

Courtney Engle Robertson

Social Media

HootSuite, local, nearby tweets, social media, social media marketing, twitter
Your Ultimate Website Checklist – WordCamp Lancaster PA 2014
I spoke today at WordCamp Lancaster PA. Due to some internet wifi issues and an 800×600 VGA screen, half of the presentation didn’t happen. Instead, here’s a screencast of the presentation :).

Here’s the notes of the talk:
[slideshare id=31623205&doc=websitechecklist-140225091106-phpapp01]

Having attended and assisted at many WordCamps, I chose to speak on the rest of what needs to be configured in your site beyond the look and content.

Beginner tracks are great, but have left me bored.

Developer tracks can be over my head, but I attend to stimulate my mind into the deeper waters.

However, between rookie and expert needs more coverage. Hence, today’s talk focuses on:
- Configuring JetPack Site Stats, Google Analytics, Webmaster Tools, and Bing Webmaster tools
- Measuring traffic with Facebook Insights, Twitter and Pinterest Analytics, and AddThis
- Ensuring your website looks and works well on mobile, including click-to-call and click-to-navigate
- Setting up Yoast’s WordPress SEO plugin for maximum value
- Preparing your content for Rich Snippets, Schema, and social media previews like Facebook or Pinterest Rich Pins
- Measuring your website performance and securing your site.
- Backing up your content, media, themes, and everything
I’ll upload the video of today’s talk.

40.042272-76.306692
Also on:
March 1, 2014

Courtney Engle Robertson

WordPress

Facebook, Google Analytics, Joost de Valk, lancaster pa, Pinterest, Rich Snippets, social media, twitter, WordCamp, WordPress SEO
Twitter Custom Timelines
Have you ever wanted to show a series of specific tweets on your website? Twitter has introduced custom timelines to do just that via it’s Tweetdeck dashboard.

How to Create a Twitter Custom Timeline in Tweetdeck

Before you can add tweets to a custom timeline, you’ll need to create a timeline to add these tweets to. Click “A” to access the administration options.

Describe your new timeline. Remember that these are visible to others viewing your Twitter profile as well as intended to be embedded on your own website.

Adding Tweets to Custom Timelines

To add a tweet to your custom timeline, simply click on the + sign and select “add to custom timeline”

Or click and drag the tweet to the appropriate column:

How to Share Twitter Custom Timelines

To share your Twitter Custom Timeline, click on the options for that timeline. Then click the “share” link at the bottom and choose if you want to embed this, tweet a link for others to view it, or view it yourself on Twitter.

Use Twitter Custom Timelines Creatively

Now that you can make the these curated tweets appear, it’s time to put them to work for you. You can use this in a variety of ways.
- Christopher Penn shared that he is using them as testimonials of a few things, such as his newsletter or public speaking.
- Consider using custom timelines to document a developing news story
- Showcase content you have shared at a conference, like the notes of others presentations that you’ve tweeted.
What ideas do you have? Can you imagine a new way to share a Twitter Custom Timeline
November 19, 2013

Courtney Engle Robertson

Social Media

Social Networking, Storify, Timeline, tweetdeck, twitter, Twitter Custom Timeline
Google+ Cover Photo Changes
The new Google+ profile layout changes cover photos slightly. No longer are users presented with the bottom 1/4 of the photo, but now displays the entire image. The dimensions are still large at 2120×1192 pixels, but now the full image displays. A great tutorial can be found at http://googlepluscoverphoto.blogspot.com/2013/03/Google-Plus-New-Cover-Photo-Size-Free-Templates-Download.html.

I took my cover photo a step further by turning it into an animated gif (a photo that moves).

Here it is in motion:

Create an Animated Gif for your Google+ Cover Photo
1. Create a presentation in PowerPoint or Keynote
2. Export the presentation as a Quicktime .mov file
3. Convert the Quicktime presentation into an animated gif (I like GifBrewery)
4. Upload to Google+
5. For more help, watch the tutorial
November 15, 2013

Courtney Engle Robertson

Social Media

Facebook, Google, Graphics Interchange Format, Quicktime, Search Engines, Searching, twitter