It was a funny morning, I logged on to find that one of my posts had been thumbed down by someone who called me a ‘Millenial Attention Seeker’ and an ‘Internet Marketer’! (Shock, Horror!)

Interesting considering that it came from someone too scared to use their real name or any id at all on StumbleUpon.

The sooner social media sites use verified identities the better.

If Paypal can do it, I can’t really see why it would be so hard for Twitter and co to follow suit.

The morning improved once I logged into Plurk.

After saying G’day to my friends there, I found that Andex had shared the video below from Perpetuum Jazzile, a Slovenian Jazz Choir.

The video was recorded at at Vokal Xtravaganzza 2008.

The arrangement is by Tomaž Kozlevcar.

From Perpetuum Jazzile’s website!

Perpetuum Jazzile is Slovenia’s only jazz choir, conducted Tomaž Kozlev?ar who is also its art director. It thrills its audience with a colourful programme, extraordinary singing and unique joy.

From Wikipedia:

Founded as the Gaudeamus Chamber Choir in 1983 by Marko Tiran, Perpetuum Jazzile has been directed since 2001 by Tomaž Kozlevcar, the renowned music producer, arranger and vocalist.

I’ve been amazed by vocal percussionist Sašo Vrabic each time I’ve played this video today!

Thanks to Andex, and Perpetuum Jazzile for a great day!

hought police!)

I’ve been wondering about how many followers I “need” on different sites lately.

I guess that I could just as easily ask ‘how long is a piece of string?’

If you are on a social media site for interaction, and getting to know people, the answer may be as many as you can comfortably handle.

In the case of networking for business, the answer would be similar, though a larger number could be expected.

As far as marketing is concerned, I can see the advantage in having a large following, though it would be wise to remember that your list of followers is not the same as an email marketing list.

Using email marketing with a firm like Aweber for example requires a ‘double optin’ process. People on Myspace, Plurk, Stumbleupon etc joined a social networking site, not your list.

Above: ‘Social Image’ from SpeckyBoy.com!

I maintain relatively small, (intentionally I might add), groups of friends on different sites.

Since starting this blog, and getting involved in social media a few years ago, I’ve found that if I write something that interests my friends, they tell their other friends, and I benefit…

Social networking has also been responsible for business opportunities that have come my way, particularly Share2Grow.

What do you think? Is social media all about numbers?

Am I wrong in thinking that keeping my immediate network relatively compact is the way to go?

Care to debate the issue?

Need Social Icons for your blog or website? Try SpeckyBoy.com!

Sometimes, amidst all the noise about online privacy, spam on social networking sites, bullying on Bebo and Myspace etc, you stumble across a social media good news story!

That recently happened to me.

Written by Caroline Overington, the story covers her teen years with her friend Julie, how they grew close at school, and were separated by Julie’s death.

Caroline shares how she met Julie’s sister Debra on Facebook, and shared something precious that Debra and her mother never knew existed.

You can read the story here on Australian IT News

Follow Friday ideas, on a Monday?

One of the things that’s grown on this blog over the past few weeks is my Follow Friday post.

I highlight people that I follow on Twitter, and include a paragraph or two about why I think that they are worth following.

These people may, or may not be movers and shakers on Twitter.

This is in direct contrast to the habit of making a list of usernames and sending them around with #ff appended to the tweet.

I may be old fashioned, but I like interaction on social media sites.

Finding 8 Ways to Avoid Overwhelming Your Followers’ Twitter Stream on Web Worker Daily reinforced my ideas.

It’s no fun when you are on the end of a flood of tweets from a someone who sends quotes every minute or two, or worse, a series of sales messages.

I recommend that you have a read of the article! It’s good food for thought.

In microblogging terms, I’d sum the the post up in the following sentence:

Tweet others as you would like them to tweet YOU!

In other words, it’s a rephrasing of the Golden Rule: Do unto others, as you’d have them do unto you!

Like the original golden rule, the benefits far outweigh the costs.

Feel free to follow me on Twitter and/or Friendfeed.

If you would like me to follow you in turn though, remember:

No Bio + No Name + No Photo = No Follow in return!

Have a great week!

Related Links:

An Extended Follow Friday
Follow Friday July 03 2009
Follow Friday June 26 2009