Miley Cyrus News

Sunday, August 31, 2008

11 Tweets for the "Mercenaries 2: World in Flames" release today, August 31, 2008

1. inmostlight: Ahh, the good ol' Mercenaries fun of capturing a high-value target alive and extracting him in the midst of chaos. · View Tweet

2. clubside: Mercenaries 2 is out and I'm playing on the Xbox 360, first mission already showing the true glee of destruction! · View Tweet

3. rickyp: About to start mercenaries 2. Excited? Yes!!! · View Tweet

4. upside27: wow the AI on mercenaries 2 is completly retarded. nonetheless the game is still fun......so far · View Tweet

5. seanmay: just rented Mercenaries 2. I hope my 360 can keep it together long enough to play it · View Tweet

6. inmostlight: picked up Mercenaries 2. Time to overthrow Venezuela! · View Tweet

7. quatoria: Mercenaries 2 is excellent. Peter Stormare was born to play a violent tattoed psychopath. "Hello, mister AK!" · View Tweet

8. patmcnally: I do believe that I'm going to pick up mercenaries 2 this morning. All this talk of co-op + massive explosions has me sold. · View Tweet

9. curtico: cannot get enough of Mercenaries 2! This game is a blast! · View Tweet

10. quatoria: 10 hours till Mercenaries 2. Nothing's as much fun as bloody handed war profiteering, baby! · View Tweet

11. danerdy1: i don't know why, but the Mercenaries 2 tv jingle is stuck in my head. my wife gets annoyed at it. "i'm a mercenary," oh sorry. · View Tweet

Search for more "Mercenaries 2: World in Flames" tweets on search.twitter.com

Saturday, August 30, 2008

15 Tweets during Clemson v Alabama College Football Game - August 30, 2008

1. Twisted_Lisa: It's okay to be married to an alabama fan when they lose....when they win...not so much. · View Tweet

2. tnballoonguy: has a wife who's watching Alabama football. She's yelling at the TV. Someone save me! · View Tweet

3. joshuasteven: so we were evacuated today-now we are experiencing the alabama game with the larimore family in gulf shores...its all good. · View Tweet

4. ElizabethHolmes: Clemson and Alabama kick off. Does it matter? It. Really. Matters. · View Tweet

5. DarnellClayton: Watching Clemson vs. Alabama. I'm not into college football, but tonight I am rooting for Alabama. · View Tweet

6. lnjaber79: Eating red hot from Jenkins - sick as a dog - watching the Alabama game - missing Chad. · View Tweet

7. DEVORA_XL: THANK YOU GOD!! i get 2 watch the alabama/clemson game. hallelujah! no hurricane talk for 2-3hrs straight · View Tweet

8. RobbieDenson: I am confused within myself over Clemson or Alabama?????? · View Tweet

9. mattdeuel: It might just be me, but I think Brent Musburger really likes saying the word Alabama!? · View Tweet

10. WideAwake1: Would you want to be Clemson in the locker room at half time? · View Tweet

11. treykelly: Gotta admit, I've never loved Alabama more than I do right now. Honestly, I would vote for Saban for president if I could. · View Tweet

12. AshleyBrooke: I am loving this clemson game...they are gettin murdered · View Tweet

13. ccolmn: hmmm.......i imagine there are a few Clemson fans that may be searching for life jackets about now......the tide is rolling · View Tweet

14. hotglass57: we finished painting the dining room and are making good progress on the art. Clemson is getting creamed right now · View Tweet

15. chrisroberts: quote of the night so far: "alabama came for a fist fight. clemson came for a school dance." · View Tweet


Search for more Clemson v Alabama Tweets on search.twitter.com

One week ago today: the birth of Twitalytics

It's hard to believe that only a week has passed since the launch of Twitalytics. So much has been accomplished and learned in so short a period of time. Let's review. Since Saturday, Aug 24 2008 we have tweeted 230 times or about 33 times a day if you're doing the math beating the original expectation of tweeting at least once an hour. A more important metric is that each tweet had to surpass a certain level of "information-richness." In other words, we can't just tweet anything. It has to communicate something of value to the Twitter audience. It must add to the dialogue, not to the cacophony. (ooh, that's good ... have to use that line again).

We have also blogged seven times and this post will be number eight. An average of one a day ... our desired goal.

Another important metric to us is the number of people who follow us and the ratio of people who followed us organically vs the number of people who follow us simply because we followed them first. Roughly 15% of our current list of 97 followers found us organically.

On the blog, we've tried a number of different experiments to see what seems to work. Our most recent post of 25 little known facts about Sarah Palin has performed best so far. That's a format we're likely to repeat again.

SEO. A search for 'twitalytics' on Google now returns about 130 pages from their index that match on the word. Of those all but one are hits referring to something we tweeted or blogged. From a marketing and branding perspective, it is important that we completely own the word. So far we do.

What hasn't worked? We went out of the gate following 2000 people with nothing to show. Very few tweets, no blog, no bio. In hindsight, that was a huge mistake. When someone gets a "follow" notice, they are likely to check out who is following them before they return the follow. If you have nothing to show, you are not likely to get followed. We are now refollowing a small handful to see if the follow rate increases now that we have much more to show for our efforts.

Congratulations Twitalytics on a great first week. Keep up the momentum!!

Friday, August 29, 2008

Twitter Meme: 25 Little Known Facts about Sarah Palin

1. tibbon: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin wants to save the Fail Whales. · View Tweet

2. darbydarnit: in the @dpkpr spirit, little known fact: sarah palin likes double mooseburgers with a side of moose mousse · View Tweet

3. barakmich: Little Known Fact: The Governator wasn't looking for Sarah Connor, he was looking for Sarah Palin · View Tweet

4. kidmarmite: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin let the dogs out. · View Tweet

5. Attitude: Little known fact: Sarah Palin has never lost a sock in the wash. Evildoers can no longer hide. · View Tweet

6. RedheadWriting: Little known fact: When Sarah Palin yells "Who's my daddy?!" at the RNC next week, McCain will raise his hand. · View Tweet

7. steezydeezy: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin and Chuck Norris together in one room would create a black hole! · View Tweet

8. lepas: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin destroyed the periodic table of elements.; the only element she recognizes is the element of surprise. · View Tweet

9. jtoeman: Little Known Fact: during the beijing olympics, Sarah Palin wore a Michael Phelps bodysuit just to add more gold medals to her collection · View Tweet

10. RedheadWriting: Little known fact: Nobody makes Sarah Palin bleed her own blood. · View Tweet

11. sueradd: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin cured Lance Armstrong's cancer. · View Tweet

12. egratto: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin wants more cowbell. · View Tweet

13. JonHenke: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin is reading every one of these LKF Tweets. And taking names. Don't make her mad. · View Tweet

14. portentint: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin was Jane Fonda's stunt double in Barbarella. · View Tweet

15. guan: Little known fact: Sarah Palin's Comcast connection is not capped · View Tweet

16. jppettinger: little known fact: Sarah Palin is Chuck Norris' mother. · View Tweet

17. egratto: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin was so disappointed to miss Burning Man this year for that silly, silly announcement event. · View Tweet

18. gilliatt: Little known fact: Sarah Connor learned everything from Sarah Palin. · View Tweet

19. dpkpr: Little known fact: Sarah Palin still feels guilty about eating the passengers who died in a plane crash atop an Alaskan mountain to survive. · View Tweet

20. guan: Little known fact: Sarah Palin made the lights go out in Georgia · View Tweet

21. myklroventine: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin knows when to hold 'em, know when to fold 'em, knows when to walk away and knows when to run. · View Tweet

22. johnnycho: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin is the one you hear coughing in every live classical music recording ever made. · View Tweet

23. AllAxisAjay: Little known fact: Sarah Palin is the walrus, goo goo g'joob. [sic] · View Tweet

24. miketrap: Little Known Fact: Sarah Palin put the "bop" in the "Bop-shoo-bop-shubop." · View Tweet

25. davidparmet: Little Known Fact about Sarah Palin - her Second Life avatar has spikes · View Tweet

Search for more "little known facts" on search.twitter.com

Wednesday, August 27, 2008

Tweetlog for Tuesday, August 26, 2008

  • Bob Casey: "John McCain says he's a maverick. But he's voted with Bush over 90% of the time. That's not a maverick. That's a sidekick!"
  • Twitterland reactions to Mark Warner - falls short of expectations
  • Getting "trout" AIM spam? You're not alone. It's an AIM bot called TheGreatHatsby. http://tinyurl.com/po57y
  • Charles Barkley interviewed by CNN: expresses interest in running for Governor of Alabama - reassures viewers that he can't screw up Alabama
  • The Onion launches "Decider" - a local entertainment site with event information and restaurant reviews first in Chicago, more cities coming
  • Twitterland reactions to Dennis Kucinich - he wow'ed the crowd
  • Washington, DC appears much quieter than usual. Did all the pols disappear? Oh wait, #DNC08 almost forgot.
  • Twitter speak: "tweep" - your Twitter peeps (friends)
  • Four person arrested in plot to assassinate Barack Obama during his acceptance speech at Invesco Field on Thursday night
  • FAA computer problems causing flight delays throughout the United States. Radar systems are in tact, contact with aircraft not lost.
  • Hoax alert: Tomorrow, August 27 - Mars will *not* appear as large as a second moon. This hoax has been making the rounds since 2003.
  • Panic releases upgrade of Coda - its Web development product - to version 1.5http://is.gd/1hvZ
  • Mozilla Labs announced Ubiquity today -- a new solution to bring together dis-jointed Web services http://is.gd/1Wns
  • Retweet @dannysullivan: nice, map of all the olympics medalilists http://tinyurl.com/65k2b2
  • The Huffington Post is twittering live from #DNC08 ... http://is.gd/1Wdv
  • Tornado warning issued for Bladen County in North Carolina.
  • Overheard on Twitter from @rm: Stunning idea for a bumper sticker: "My other Twitter is a Tumblr." http://is.gd/1W9i [funny]
  • Elizabeth Edwards, wife of John Edwards, taking heat from some Democrats for trying to keep hubby's affair a private matter.
  • Speaking of hijackings, a new type of spam claims to have "hijacked your baby" and demands $50,000 (US dollars? -- it didn't say)
  • A Sudanese plane bound for Khartoum was hijacked shortly after take-off from Nyala. It landed in Libya after first trying to land in Cairo.
  • Another free game is pulled for copyright violations. Tetris type app for iPhone know as Tris has been pulled.
  • Gorgeous weather reports coming from across the country: Denver, Chicago, Wash DC and everything in between. Sorry SC
  • Tweetonians tuning into Mur Lafferty @mightmur speaking on http://www.wunc.org
  • TechCrunch article about Dexter ad ripping off Wired magazine cover generating plenty of Twitter feed spam
  • Facebook app Scrabulous removed world-wide (except in India where Scrabulous was created)
  • Former Portland Trail Blazer Kevin Duckworth dies in Oregon. He was 44.
  • Tuesday's #DNC08 schedule posted: http://is.gd/1VKx
  • From Birmingham, AL: Tanker crash closes westbound lanes of I-20
  • South Carolina is under a tornado watch as Hurricane Fay moves northeast
  • Zimbabwe's President Robert Mugabe was heckled as he opened a new session of Parliament
  • Hurricane Gustav to hit Haiti any minute now packing winds near 90 mph. Then moving west past Cuba.
  • Tweetlog for Monday, August 25, 2008 http://is.gd/1UVi
  • Twitterland reactions to Michelle Obama - very impressive
  • Tuesday, August 26, 2008

    Understanding Twitter behaviors

    Twitter is an Internet phenomenon. Perhaps it's nothing more than another branch of the Web's ongoing evolution but there are many of us whose lives are being changed in small ways by it. In one compact interface, it's possible to accomplish things that normally requires several other technologies. That is a disruptive change.

    Over the course of my upcoming blog posts, I'll examine what motivates users to interact in this way, what can be accomplished in Twitter as an alternative to existing technologies and what new capabilities are made possible that didn't exist prior to Twitter. I'll also share some thoughts about what Twitter could become with the addition of a few feature enhancements.

    For this first segment, let's look at the ever-present question Twitter asks of us:

    What are you doing?

    A couple of years ago, when Twitter was first demo-ed for me, I laughed out loud. Why on earth would anyone go out of their way to write something that no one would ever read? (Kind of like this blog post.) And if anyone did happen to read it, they surely wouldn't care. (I'm pretty sure I felt the same way about blogs when I first heard of them as well so I don't exactly have a great track record for seeing the possibilities when a technology first comes onto the scene.) Once value can be demonstrated, I'm generally a quick study.

    Answering the question "what are you doing" and posting it for the world to see, or even just the group of people who follow me, didn't exactly rise to the level of demonstrable value for me. Consider the things I might have written on any given day:
    • I'm showering
    • I'm doing my morning walk
    • I'm getting coffee at Starbuck's
    • I'm driving to work
    • I'm at my desk
    • I'm dreading the project I have to begin
    • I'm going to get lunch
    • I'm back at my desk
    • I'm wishing some people in my office wouldn't laugh so loud
    • I'm looking forward to the end of the work day
    • I'm leaving work
    • I'm going to pick up my daughter from soccer practice
    • I'm meeting a friend for dinner and a drink
    • I'm writing in my blog

    Folks, that was my day. Pretty routine and uneventful stuff if you ask me. Very meaningful to me, but I don't expect others to give a damn. Fourteen completely mundane statements of absolutely no consequence to anyone but me. And there you have what I'll refer to as the first Twitter archetype.

    Twitter archetype #1 -- "status"
    Posting a comment with no intended recipient and no expectation of a response.

    I don't know about you, but where I grew up, we called this talking to yourself. Just picture yourself out for a stroll on a busy street, or in a shopping mall or perhaps in a restaurant. Anywhere that you're surrounded by people. And then suddenly, you speak out loud so everyone can hear you: "I have to go do my laundy." That may sound funny to you (it does to me) but that is exactly what is happening over and over again on Twitter.

    The real value that comes from posting your status is very much like writing in a journal or a daily planner. What you write there is primarily intended for your own personal use. Once it gets written, it becomes real and it lives on beyond the moment you wrote it. Type #1 tweets are reminders, instructions to yourself, opportunities to vent and express your thoughts, feelings and opinions. Typically the writer doesn't care who is listening -- the post isn't meant for anyone. It just feels good to write it, and sometimes it feels better to write it publicly.

    Often though, someone is listening. And sometimes they respond. I'll call this Twitter archetype #2 -- "copy that." It is a simple gesture that lets the writer know they were heard. I'll pick up at this point with my next post.

    Wanna know what I'm doing? I'm going to sleep.

    Monday, August 25, 2008

    Tweetlog for Monday, August 25, 2008

    • Twitterland reactions to Ted Kennedy tribute - very touching
    • Twitterland reactions to Caroline Kennedy - boring
    • Twitterland reactions to Jesse Jackson - glowing
    • Twitterland reactions to Jimmy Carter -- many were distracted by his creepy left eye
    • Twitterland reaction to Nancy Pelosi not kind
    • Retweet @dannysullivan: after nearly four years in the making, google suggest finally comes to the google home page http://snurl.com/3jqhe
    • Chat and IM tool Adium releases ver 1.3 with chat support for Facebook.
    • Tweeters enjoying new FriendFeed beta release
    • Latin American pop star Daddy Yankee endorses John McCain for president
    • US stocks tumble following disapointing housing report. DJIA down 2.1%
    • Twitter speak: "fail whale" = Twitter is down
    • Manchester United beats Portsmouth 1-0
    • Usage of hashtags for group twittering on the rise. How? Include your group name in the Tweet. e.g. #groupname - use any name, then search!
    • Seattle based travel site TripHub.com closes its doors
    • 2008 Tennis US Open begins today at Billie Jean King National Tennis Stadium in Queens, NY
    • Tropical Storm Gustav now blowing in the Caribbean. Forecasters say it could reach hurricane strength. Heading toward Haiti/Dominican Rep.
    • Tweetrush.com goes live providing Twitter usage stats. Initial observations are positive.
    • Tyson Foods to donate 100 pounds of food to Austin area food bank for every comment received on its blog.
    • Rave reviews for "Playing for Keeps" - A superhero novel by Mur Lafferty. Solid five star reviews at Amazon (sold out).
    • New Yorkers are buzzing about RideTheCity.com -- a new Google Maps mash-up that aims to provide safe bike driving directions
    • The Democratic National Convention (#DNC08) officially begins tonigh at 5:00pm EST
    • Southeastern United States under severe weather watch and tornado alerts
    • Barenaked Ladies frontman Ed Robertson and three others survive plane crash in southeastern Ontario
    • It's raining sideways in Georgia.
    • From the journal "Science" by way of NY Times: Researchers at the Swiss Univ of Lausanne find we can smell danger - alarm pheromones we emit
    • Online real estate search site Trulia releases mobile version.

    Sunday, August 24, 2008

    The Day's Recap: Closing ceremonies at Olympics, plane crashes and tornados in Denver

    Beijing Olympics -- closing ceremonies, results
    • USA Men's Basketball (The Redeem Team) won the gold beating Spain in the final.
    • We're congratulating Mike "Coach K" Krzyzewski for leading the men's b-ball team to gold and Doug Collins who was cheated out of gold in '72. Kobe Bryant got kudos for his clutch 4th quarter performance.
    • Bob Costas interviewed IOC President Jacques Rogge
    • Beijing Olympics became the most watched event in US history. 211million viewers on NBC Universal over 16 days.
    • Two things stood out at the Olympics closing ceremonies: Jimmy Page playing "Whole Lotta Love" and everyone wanted to know why the drummers in the closing ceremonies wore bicycle helmets.
    Democratic National Convention
    • As DNC attendees arrived in Denver, the chatter started building but much of it was folks stressing over where they're supposed to be or what they were supposed to be doing.
    • Much was said about the altercation between protesters and Fox news crew.
    • Michelle Obama arrived in Denver
    • Tornados touched down near the DNC
    What we're watching:
    • The House Bunny. Most thought it was very funny. Tropic Thunder, Dark Knight IMAX.
    • Hawaii beat Mexico in Little League World Series 12-3

    What we're doing:
    • We went shopping at Wal-Mart and Target. It's back-to-school shopping time again.
    • Many tweets about the perfect weather
    • Folks broadcasting themselves on ustream.tv
    Plane Crashes:
    • One person died, two seriously hurt when a light aircraft crashed onto the 7th hole of a golf course near Rand Airport in South Africa.
    • In Moab, Utah, a small plane crashed killing all 10 people aboard shortly after take-off on Friday evening 22-Aug
    • Kyrgyzstan: A passenger plane bound for Iran crashed on take-off in Bishkek, the nation's capital with about 100 people aboard
    Other news:
    • Pakistan’s former President Pervez Musharraf got more attention/praise a week after his resignation
    • Two teens were injured in Clearwater, FL when their personal watercraft exploded. Their injuries were not life threatening.
    • A 2 year old girl was found with her father (who was taken into custody) in Citrus County (Tampa, FL) hours after South Carolina issued an Amber alert announcing her disappearance.
    • New Zealand golfer Danny Lee won the US Amateur championship at Pinehurst, NC. He is the youngest player to do so in 108 years.
    • Sales of iPhones are expected to begin in Russia by October.
    • From the UK: More than 160 significant incidents of confidential data misplaced by councils, govt and businesses
    • Nine climbers went missing, and three more hurt after avalanche strikes near Mont Blanc in French Alps
    • West Australian Liberal Party promised more schools and better pay during campaign launch in Perth today.

    Mining data for fun, for profit and for the greater good

    Marshall Kirkpatrick of ReadWriteWeb.com posted an interesting article today titled: "Four Ad-Free Ways that Mined Data Can Make Money."

    This subject strikes close to home for us at Twitalytics and is timely given our second day of operations. Mining data ... specifically mining user sentiment and the pulse of Twitteropia is our mission.

    Twitterdom is full of valuable information and beautiful harmonies hidden amongst a cacophony of noise. The uninitiated to Twitter can not possibly understand the value of wading through so much chaff to get to the wheat. But the question we at Twitalytics ask is simple: is it possible to mine through the layers of stone to find the precious gems and then polish them up in byte size pieces of 14o characters for rapid consumption??

    Rhetorical question. Obviously we think we can.

    But how does one make money on Twitter? This is a work in progress. Those who tweet often may be using the platform as a marketing vehicle to drive traffic to their respective web sites. For now, that is pretty much all we can hope for as well. But one thing remains true on the web. If you create enough value, the money will follow.

    We are confident that our mission of mining tweets for the good stuff will be welcomed as a valuable service by many. We hope you agree.

    PS: We welcome ReadWriteWeb.com as the first member of our blogroll.

    Day One

    August 23, 2008 was the first full day of operation for Twitalytics
    It may be interesting to note that the idea and energy behind this effort was conceived and hatched on the same day. There wasn't any time invested in researching a business plan, or writing a requirements document. It went from idea to execution in less than two hours.

    The idea is a simple one.
    Strive to digest and put a human voice on the stream of Twitter consciousness. No judgement or bias. Just capture what people are finding interesting enough to post tweets about and when it begins to show velocity and interest, quickly represent the stream as a part of the collective consciousness with a single tweet.

    What was accomplished?
    After "marketing" the arrival of Twitalytics by following as many people as possible (the limit turned out to be 2000), an audience of 53 followers emerged. These are people who followed Twitalytics for the simple reason that Twitalytics followed them first. By the end of the day, 18 people blocked our follow. Not too shabby -- a 2.5% follow rate and 0.9% block rate. We also received 2 replies and 6 direct messages.

    The goal was to post an average of one twitalytic per hour. 23 posts were made from about 11am until midnight exceeding that goal by a factor of 2. Let's see if the two an hour average is a more appropriate target or not.

    What was the stream of consciousness posted on day one?

    1. Obama's announcement of Joe Biden as his running mate at 3am in the morning and the fact the first tweet about it didn't come from the Obama camp. Instead, it was @ohioBNN who quoted NaugBlog who cited Drudge Report. Meanwhile, the democratic troops were converging in Denver, CO for the start of the Democratic National Convention 2008 (DNC08).
    2. Later in the day, Obama and Biden spoke in Springfield, IL which ABC aired by pre-empting its television coverage of the American championship of the Little League World Series. Waipio, Hawaii won the game. There was an immediate outpouring for support of the VP choice hugely outnumbering nay-sayers.
    3. Gnomedex 8.0 was in full swing and there was much activity from that conference. The first attention getter of the morning was Sarah Lacey's keynote address. Tweeters were wondering if this would this be a repeat of Sarah Lacey's interview of Mark Zuckerberg at SXSW? It wasn't. The silence was deafening. A few product demonstrations at Gnomedex did make some noise however: Adeona (software you install on your laptop to help aid recovery following loss or theft); Boxee (an xbox media player, available for Mac OS X and Linux. Let's you create and share TV channels); and TweetDeck (an Adobe Air app that let's you monitor Twitter streams. Enables grouping, searching and a view of trending topics on TwitScoop -- a product that your humble author found very appealing and apparently so did one of our followers).
    4. There were many who twittered about receiving text messages from AT&T who encouraged these iPhone users to upgrade their firmware. The announcement that the iPhone 3G would be available in 22 more countries generated some activity.
    5. Tropical Storm Fay hammered Florida by making landfall for a record 4th time before finally leaving at the end of the day and heading for Alabama.
    6. Folks were glued to their TVs watching the Bristol NASCAR race and the Olympics marathon run. They also went to see Tropic Thunder (they loved it) and Death Race (had mixed reviews).
    7. Also of interest on TV was the Rick Sanchez interview of Joe Biden on CNN. This got plenty of attention on Twitter since Rick Sanchez was fielding questions/comments from Twitterland to @ricksanchezcnn.

    A very exciting and educational day one. Tomorrow, we'll share some of the tools we're using.