Twitter, Internet Future Trends…
I’d like to “give credit where credit is due“. This is a set English phrase that basically means that you should reward, or at least recognize, the people who do a good job at something. You guys are great. After reading many of the comments, I realized I’m dealing with a very “special and unique” group of people. I’m sure you already know that it’s not easy to get a high quality group of people together anywhere.
The comments on many English sites are simply ridiculous. Someone might post something like “I really need practice my English speak, can help me?” This kind of thing is just a waste of space and makes the website look retarded. I don’t think this kind of person is evil or anything, but let’s just say Add and I are very happy that we’re dealing with a higher level audience. So anyway, to make this story somewhat short, even though it’s already getting long, I really respect this group and value your opinions. We’re all living in different parts of the world and it’s cool we can share our ideas.
I’ll be honest. I know almost nothing about Twitter and don’t really use it. I do plan to do it more but I’d like your help. (Here is our China232 Twitter Page by the way). I know the basic idea of Twitter and I read in the news that it’s growing like crazy all over the world. I’m just not quite sure how to use it well for this site. I know some of you must be pretty familiar with Twitter so I’m totally open to hearing some ideas about how you think we could use Twitter to make this site better and cooler for you. Also, any advice on how to get a bigger fan following? I see these “Tweet and Retweet” buttons scattered all over the net and I don’t really know how I should use them. For some weird reason I think I like the logo of that blue bird and the word “tweet”. The whole things sounds like a hilarious idea I’d like to explore.
Add and I really want to keep up with the times and not “rest on our laurels“. If a company, or anyone, “rests on their laurels” it means that they stop being creative and just keep doing the same old thing they’ve always done in the past. It’s easy to fall into that trap and we really want to avoid it. An example of us resting on our laurels would be something like us not noticing that the internet is changing and that we need to pay attention to how to make our content easy to use on Iphones, Androids, and stuff like that. We need to pick the right things to focus on since it’s just the two of us working, but your comments will certainly help us make the right choices. At the end of the day, we just want to make a more useful site for you guys. Of course I hope you tell your friends or whatever, but I know begging won’t work. The product should “speak for itself”. That’s another kind of cool saying that I don’t think needs any explaining.
Add and I had a meeting at Starbucks yesterday and we talked about all this stuff. By the way, can you imagine the actual meeting between us two brothers? Even I have a hard time imagining it and I was there! Anyway, the point is we both agreed that the only smart thing for us to do is to just focus on making this site better, newer, cooler, and more useful for you guys.
I’m looking forward to your comments as usual. Also, I’ll be writing more and more blogs again about whatever I can think of. I’ll try to mix up the topics and throw in at least a couple of new phrases while I write. Hope it helps.
Andy
March 24th, 2011 at 12:55 pm
well I have to say that twitter for me is not friendly at all, may be because I’m 35 I’ve considered facebook more for everyone but twitter and all the vocabulary around that is impossible to get it for me. If you have some ideas to share about the best use of twitter I’ll be open to hear them.
March 24th, 2011 at 1:03 pm
Hi Laura,
It sounds like we’re in the same boat with Twitter. I’m curious about what you mean by you are 35. Anyway, I’ll let you know some secrets when I finally figure this whole thing out.
March 24th, 2011 at 2:22 pm
Hello there,
To begin with, I must say that I love you guys, the blog, the podcasts. Last year, I had to walk to work and I had the chance to brush up on my English and learn a lot from you.
I’m a very active user of Twitter. I’m already following you there (my username:iraloiola). I believe you can use it for increasing your audience by promoting the website. How can you do that? Every time you have something new to show, like a blog post or any free podcast that is available to anybody, post them there. So people can help you spread the word, since you’ve done an awesome work.
Or you can even retweet stuff other people are posting and you may find it interesting. So it’s good to follow people with the same interests. Like me, for instance, I follow many many teachers and students of English, since I focus on language learning. I’m also a teacher, ou rather, used to be one.
Anyway, count on me! i’m not an expert, but I sure can help you out!
Take care,
March 24th, 2011 at 2:36 pm
Hey guys, I think that the main idea of Twitter is just to make quick comments among your contacts, it’s more usefull to make conversations, it’s like a chat room but with saved comments whitch stay in the page if you let them… you can follow people without asking for their friendship, talk to them throught comments or opinions… It’s pretty good to talk about current subjects like Tv shows, news, etc….
Here in Chile it’s very used by TV channels and Tv shows, they use it to ask for people’s opinions about anything.
I think you can use it for advertising your webpage, answer some questions or talk about some daily subjects…. Whatever, I’m not very familiar with that tool but I guess I have an idea what is it about.
And Laura, being 35 like you say it’s not an impediment to search for new things in life…
Bye guys…
March 24th, 2011 at 3:24 pm
Thanks for the answers guys. It makes sense. One thing I’m kind of worried about is spam. I really don’t want anyone to feel like I’m just promoting my stuff and that’s all I care about.
Do you think it would look like spam or junk if I “tweeted” some of my old free podcasts for example?
I’m just looking to get more followers, who actually would benefit, and expose more of the world to our stuff.
I’m basically looking for many creative ways on how to find this “high level” English learning audience. Potential “China232 fans” are a unique and difficult group to find because I know our stuff is not easy for average learners. With that said, I still want to keep these standards and “teach to the top of the class”. I want to push and motivate the people who really want to learn English and improve their lives.
Thanks again!
March 24th, 2011 at 4:39 pm
Hi china232, u r doing will here in the blog. I prefer to summit my comment here rather than face book, i don’t know why!
Anyway i would like to share the same idea about some guys might post FQ not just in learning english but i u can see it in every where. Sometimes i just leave a linek to help them finding the answer whiteout comment i think this is the best way to ignore them politely.
About twitter,facebooke..etc i think it excellent method for you to increase your fan and to get traffic into your site ur blog and as u know when u get more traffic u will get more subscribers and that’s lead to increase ur business.
Thank u guys
Abdulmajed
March 24th, 2011 at 5:18 pm
Hi, I think the blog is going fine, but the idea of twitter is the opposite fo the blog´s. It´s to write less and being more dynamic. I know that we can not talk about some subject in 140 letters but you can share your thoughts and quiz in english learning to your followers. See, Denis
March 24th, 2011 at 6:21 pm
hi first off i must say you are doing a great job i really enjoy reading your blog i can’t help you with that becouse i have recently regestered for it but i don’t know how to use it but i can help you with new ideas for writting i personally would like to know more about your daily routins ,your intersting memories ,your personal things which you can say to all or your students who made a big progress with you and what they did everyday
March 24th, 2011 at 7:09 pm
I just did a tweet about my favorite cartoon! If you want to know what it is, you’ll have to follow me… It’s hilarious, I can guarantee that.
Anyway, I just watched a little documentary on the history of Twitter. It’s not bad. Check it out: http://www.bloomberg.com/video/67515946/
March 24th, 2011 at 7:56 pm
Hi,
my comment might not be to the point, but I really want to thank you for your blog. It’s just amazing, new phrases you introduce in each post and your writing style on the whole. It’s quite simple, colloquial and juicy. I come across lots of useful expressions while reading – like ‘to be open to something’, ‘throw in’ etc. – and I can see how they function in speech…That’s fantastic! You’re doing a great job, guys, thanks a lot!
March 25th, 2011 at 5:38 am
Hi, Andy! The folks told you tons of advices what you probably might write on your twitter page. I’d join them. The only thing i’d like to say is that publishing your site link in every tweet is not necessary. Just put it in a short self-introduction as you already made. I mean it on your question how to make it not look like a spam. And yeah, about tweeting some old free podcast it’s a good idea, just start from the beginning. Also you’d save place for your text message if you used so called URL shortener (bit.ly for ex)
Hope it helps. Your’s truly
March 25th, 2011 at 6:09 am
@nidorana
Glad you are liking and learning from the writing style. It’s nice to read that kind of thing to remind me that I’m doing something worthwhile.
@Alexander
Great tips! Now that you mention it, I feel embarrassed that I kept putting the link in the tweet. I’ll stop. It does look like spam and obviously i didn’t know what I was doing.
March 25th, 2011 at 6:56 am
Hey, guys!
Thanks for writing to me. Well, since I never have been on Twitter, I am not quite sure about its function. But I think you could create a username which can imply your blog or website or something related to your jobs. It may help.
Take care,
Juno
March 25th, 2011 at 7:48 am
@Andy while i was walking to work i minded another good point at twitter. When you start posting your old free fun podcast with your hilarious comments, all your followers will begin retweeting those thereby increasing your fan base
best wishes, keep it up
March 26th, 2011 at 4:03 am
Hey, folks!
Thanks a lot for the teachings. I’m learning more and more because you. Now I can write a bit more, but before I couldn’t write more than a couple of words. A large door is open throught English language. Thanks once more!
March 26th, 2011 at 11:27 am
@Alexander
Thanks for the tips. It’s funny you mentioned you got the idea while walking. It happens to me all the time too. Unfortunately, by the time I get home, I usually forget what the hell I was thinking about.
@Ronaldo
Cool to hear that your language skills are picking up. Keep it up buddy!
January 30th, 2012 at 8:11 pm
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May 16th, 2012 at 11:50 pm
Enjoyed reading through this, very good stuff, thanks . “Shared joys make a friend, not shared sufferings.” by Friedrich Wilhelm Nietzsche.
June 13th, 2012 at 8:09 pm
Little Dave says I salivate over your writing!.!!