This Week We Are The World

This week we are the world. The world was all a twitter with tweets about the death of three American icons. These were three people from three generations.

On Tuesday our blogger honored Ed McMahon, who passed at age 86. McMahon was a gentleman that we welcomed into our homes for more than 30 years as Johnny Carson's sidekick among other roles.

Yesterday, our blogger honored Michael Jackson, who passed at age 50. This iconic legend who most of us have watched for the past 40 years, from a little boy to a grown man, always surprised us with his talent and creativity, among other things.

I will not let the week go by without honoring Farrah Fawcett, who passed at age 62. For those of us who are Farrah's peers by age, we remember her smile and her gorgeous hair. All the women wanted hair like Farrah and all the men wanted the women in their lives to have hair like Farrah. She was a fine actress and you would know this if you saw some of her more serious movies. Now she will be remembered as a brave woman who was willing to share with all of us her struggle with cancer to the end.

In this world filled with technology...twitter, plurk, tagged, YouTube, my space, facebook, emails, blogs...today is Saturday and it is just a day to remember that in January 1985 Michael Jackson collaborated with Lionel Richie and produced with Quincy Jones a song that touched us all. We are the World! (United Support of Artists for Africa) We listened intently, we bought the album and together we tried to help save a continent, most particularly Ethiopia.


As this day closes, I will remember that Dennis and I played this album with our children when they were quite young. The album is still in our home carefully preserved for whatever reason. Maybe because it made us think, hope and assure ourselves that we are all part of this world and this week We Are The World making a choice.

Enjoy this remarkable YouTube video of the studio recording of We Are The World. I'd would love to hear from you!



....change can only come...when we stand together as one!

Twitter tweet or retweet button on Blogger template

You've seen the Digg button on most blogs but how often have you seen a tweet button?

Twitter has been growing since it was developed and is more of a social trend to be on twitter more than anything else. Now you can allow your business or personal blog posts to be tweeted.

Here is how it works, Website http://tweetmeme.com/, allows you to tweet a specific page or a specific blog post and provides the code for it (very friendly). What it does not show you is how to add it on a blogger template.

Here is how you can modify your blogger template to include a tweet button how we have here (look on the top right).

1) Locate the following line: <BlogDateHeader>
2) Place the following code:
<div style="float:right;">
<script type="text/javascript">
tweetmeme_url = 'STEP-3';
</script>
<script type="text/javascript" src="http://tweetmeme.com/i/scripts/button.js"> </script></div>
</script>

3) change STEP-3 to <$BlogItemUrl$>
 
A bit of HTML or blogger template experience may be required.

Contact Webconsuls to get a FREE quote on a custom personal or business blog.

Live Tweeting The Earthquake From San Clemente

4.7 Magnitude Earthquake Rocks The Greater Los Angeles Area, to all newbies to our state we don't really get worked up untill they hit magnitude 6 or 7. Not to worry, the buildings here are build to withstand these little rollers like we felt last night.

Here is the rub, Today Monday May 18 we have a 1 in 20 chance of having a larger quake.

Let's all take this time to review the above video, posted by me to this blog 2 years ago and still true today.

Where did Lisa and I go after the quake to see where and how big? Twitter, where size and location information was being shared 1 hour before the ticker tape scrolled across the screen on survivor.

Send a Direct Message via twitter to @safeandwell with contact info, how and where you are. The Red Cross will enter you on the Safe & Well site. http://disastersafe.redcross.org

Stay Safe & Well

Twitter A Rapidly Evolving Tech Meme

How Twitter's spectacular growth is being driven by unexpected uses

Serendipity the effect by which one accidentally discovers something fortunate, especially while looking for something else entirely.

What is Twitter? Is it a status update? Is it a Social Network? Or is it a search engine akin to the Minority Report? I guess you could say it is all of these things and more, but you will not get "Twitter" unless you use it.

A meme (pronounced /mi:m/ - like theme) is a unit or element of cultural ideas, symbols or practices; such units or elements transmit from one mind to another through speech, gestures, rituals, or other imitable phenomena. The etymology of the term relates to the Greek word mimema for mimic. Memes act as cultural analogues to genes in that they self-replicate and respond to selective pressures.

Ok Great Darin, now we know what a meme is, and we have heard about twitter on tv, but seriously, how do you use it?

1) If I find a good link, movie, app, picture I tweet it.
2) If I need help on a project that I am not an expert in, I tweet it,
3) If I want to find out more on a current event (Like TED or SXSW) I search and follow those that are live "onsite"
4) If I am at a current event, and I want to keep track of old friends like http://twitter.com/Roebot, or find new like minded folks, I set up a feed of the twitter search in reader,
5) If I want to know what the hive mind is buzzing about, I check out http://twitter.com/trendingtopics

These are just a few of the ways that I am using Twitter, I hope they give you a reason to play with this "Tool / Meme" so that you can find some serendipitous uses for it that you can share back with us.

Do You Follow Me?
http://twitter.com/DarinRMcClure
I hope you do.

If you would like to check out more of our blog posts on Twitter Click Here

Following Twitter Posts Can Be Exhausting

It is Saturday, March 7, 2009, and I have a lot of work to do. And because I have so much to do this will be a very short blog post. I am sure you are relieved. This morning when I thought about what to write about, it occurred to me I could remind you that tonight most of you will have to remember to move your clocks forward one hour. Thankfully, living in Arizona I can scratch this task off of my list as most of Arizona does not participate in daylight saving time. Yeah! I won't be losing an hour of sleep tonight, unless I decide to read every-one's Twitter posts or tweets. Following Twitter posts can be exhausting and for the most part a waste of time.

Do I have a Twitter account? Yes. Why? Because one of my team members "hinted" it would be a good idea. Have I ever tweeted? No! Why? Because I don't have time and I am sure my 20 Twitter "followers" (notice Twitter calls them "followers", not "friends" like on facebook) could care less about what I am doing or thinking at any given moment.

So today I will just offer an observation: Twitter has been around since 2006. But, of late, it seems that one cannot just watch the news on TV or follow a news website for headlines, you must also follow the Twitter account for the newscasters. In 140 characters we are suppose to understand the essence of the tweet. Great! So let's see: you have the television on and you better be watching the television while sitting at your PC or with your laptop in your lap or with your Blackberry or iPhone in your hand. God forbid you would miss an important "tweet".

Now most politicians are tweeting. Hmmm...I am amazed they have time to tweet, given our current state of affairs. Priorities!

I have one final thought before I get to work for our clients and prepare the paperwork for my personal income tax return: Have you ever looked up the meaning of "twitter"? As a noun the #1 definition for the word "twitter" is "a trembling agitation." By the way, an agitator is "one who stirs up public feeling on controversial issues". Imagine if Twitter's inventors chose to call Twitter "agitator"? Twitter sounds so much more innocuous, we tend to think of that cute little beloved "Tweety Bird". So, today, twitter away or tweet with your followers...I have work to do.