Using Twitter

I first started Twittering on my iPhone some months ago after downloading the excellent Tweetie app. My first impression of Twitter was very good. With Tweetie’s excellent interface and a full range of Twitter options (like geo-tagging and URL shortening), I found myself twittering throughout the day. What made the experience even sweeter was using the iPhone 3GS camera to effortlessly attach photos to my tweets. I can honestly say that mobile twittering is great fun.

Then, I decided to use Twitter Tools to bring my tweets to my website to provide even more fresh content for my blog. Most webmasters know that having fresh, original content is not just a sure way to keep readers interested, but also a necessary element for increasing search engine traffic (SEO). With the plug-in installed, the integration was seamless and my tweets from around town were being instantly updated to the sidebar of my website.

A Change of Heart

Everything was working great, but lurking in the back of my head was the thought that all my micro-blogging content was now owned by Twitter. Original content, in any size or form, is the only real gold for bloggers and most web developers. So using free hosting services, like Blogger or Blogspot, is rarely ever a good idea, especially if you plan to work long-term at a website or plan to monetize it. Using this same train of thought, I began to feel that I should fully own my micro-blogging content.

Even though micro-blogging (or mobile-blogging) generally produces very short posts with seemingly little SEO value, given enough time, things can really add up. There are many Twitter users who have amassed thousands of tweets and have many followers as a result. But at the end of the day, those users don’t own the content they’ve generated, and Internet audiences tend to be fickle. What happens when Twitter takes a nosedive in popularity, or the service changes in a way that makes you want to stop using it?

Having full control and ownership over your content is important, and for me, is more valuable than the convenience of using Twitter or its ability to channel viewers to my website. I know that this is not the case for everyone, so please do not interpret my opinions as simply bashing the service. Website owners who already generate an abundance of fresh content, or those who have a giant social network to tap into, could probably use Twitter without worrying too much about long-term consequences. But for the rest of us, I think it’s wise to own and host nearly everything that you create – even if it’s just 140 characters at a time.

Micro-Blogging With WordPress

Fortunately, I’ve found an alternative to using Twitter. The WordPress app for the iPhone is what I now use to micro-blog when I’m mobile. The current version is simple, but slick, and allows you to quickly create or edit posts and use the camera to attach photos. The end result is very similar to what twittering was like, however I am no longer under any character limit restrictions!

On the website end, I use a WordPress plug-in to publish my mobile-posts to the sidebar of my site. This plug-in keeps my mobile-posts from appearing in the main content section, which makes it almost like running another blog altogether. The plug-in allows for various customizations and is treated as a drag-and-drop widget.

Getting off of Twitter has been a decision based on what I think will benefit my site the most in the long run. Twitter’s fad-like popularity is what webmasters are often counting on to bring new visitors to their sites, but jumping on this bandwagon means that you are handing over your content to Twitter. There are pros and cons to consider with this arrangement, and in my case I’ll be giving Twitter a rest until I am more convinced that it possesses real staying power and can benefit my web properties moving forward.

A couple weeks ago, I walked into a coffee shop during the evening hours. There was no one else in line, so I didn’t feel particularly rushed and I took a moment to ask the girl behind the counter what would be a good alternative to my regular cup of organic dark roast coffee.

She called out an exhaustive list of specialties and flavored drinks, but nothing really caught my attention. Then, she mentioned the macha latte, which I was sort of familiar with from my favorite summertime drink, the macha chillo. After serving up a cup, I gave it a sip and was immediately impressed by its sweet, creamy taste with a slight hint of bitterness.

Macha is green tea powder, and for the latte, it is mixed with hot water and whisked in a bowl until it is completely dissolved. Then, the mixture is slowly added to hot milk and often sweetened with honey, sugar or vanilla syrup.

One thing that I have noticed from ordering this drink, now from several different coffee shops, is the inconsistency in which it’s prepared (at least around here). Some places will serve it unsweetened and bitter, whilst others will sweeten it without asking – sometimes over doing it! Also, like all good lattes, the macha latte should be served frothy with the powder completely mixed in – but already, I’ve had a few of them that were prepared too fast. These ill-prepared concoctions looked and tasted like green milk, so I guess it is best to stick to places that have proven to make it right. Unfortunately, getting the drink served right often comes down to the individual server that is making it, which makes the macha latte a bit of a hit-and-miss affair.

What’s your favorite coffee alternative?

Sometimes you’ll hear me mention that Aibal is a Do Follow blog. But what does that mean exactly?

A Do Follow blog allows commenters to drop a link pointing back to their own website when they comment on mine. In addition, a Do follow blog permits such backlinking to be fully recognized by the major search engines such as Google, Yahoo and MSN Bing. This benefits the target website, as search engines are able to identify the connection (link) between my site and theirs, which helps promote their site on these services (SEO).

The way this works – and bear with me for this is a gross simplification – is that all modern search engines count the amount of links pointing to a particular website to gauge its importance. There are many other factors besides this, but generally speaking, the more links that point to a particular website, the more traffic that site will receive from the various search engines.

The alternative to Do Follow blogs are sites that have No Follow links in their comments section. This style of linking forbids search engines from recognizing (following) the links posted by commenters. Using No Follow links, blog visitors can still see and click on a commenter’s link, but the search engines will ignore them.

Currently, the vast majority of blogs out there are set to No Follow by default, as this prevents spammers from promoting their shady websites on unmoderated blogs. Unfortunately, legit bloggers aren’t able to fully promote their websites when commenting on these sites.

The best solution, if you’re a blogger and want to support the community, is to set your blog to Do Follow and implement a decent captcha filter in addition to an automated spam filter like Akismet.

If you’re thinking of joining the Do Follow movement, you can request to get your site added to one the of various Do Follow lists out there. This will ensure a rush of eager comments to your site. But be warned, it will almost certainly attract spammers!

*UPDATE* After many months featuring do follow commenting, I’ve reluctantly had to go back to no follow links. The amount of poorly written and spammy comments was too much to moderate. If I can find a way to moderate comments more efficiently, I would consider going back to Do Follow. Hit me up if you have any idea.

Have you ever walked home from work, went into a deli, bought a sandwich, felt good about the sandwich, walked into the guitar shop next to the deli, and bought a guitar? That’s kind of what happened today. And by ‘kind of’ I mean ‘exactly’. I assure you, this isn’t a regular habit of mine – certainly not on my budget – but the funny chain of events played out exactly as I described.

What did I get? Being just a novice player, I went with a no-frills Godin Exit-22, which has a lovely mahogany body with a clear finish. The guitar feels great in my hands and is certainly a step up from my el-cheapo Epiphone Gibson that has not aged gracefully.

In its price range, The Godin Exit-22 is considered a decent bargain, as its materials are from Canada and it’s assembled in the States. Most guitars these days come from countries with much cheaper labor costs, and as such, their quality cannot always be guaranteed. It feels nice to buy something domestic, and hopefully this Godin will last me for years to come.

Do you play guitar, or another instrument? Are you happy with what you own, or are you always wishing to add or upgrade your equipment?