If so, I want to tell you about something that I have seen on facebook for a while now. I have mentioned it to a few people but I don’t think I was explaining it very well.

If you’re using tools to automate posting of your blog feed to facebook, it’s being lumped together with everyone else who does it. I doctored this screenshot up a little because I didn’t want it to seem like I’m calling anyone out. Most of what you see above showed up in my facebook news feed yesterday.

I’m not judging anyone that does this, I just want to inform you if you are, you may not be getting the amount of clickthroughs you expect because on the news feed, they are being lumped together with everyone who uses NetworkedBlogs or whatever tool you use. It’s not just blog posts, I have seen this with others who use automation tools to link twitter to their facebook profile/fan page.

I have seen this time and time again. The screenshot it says “47 more posts from Networked Blogs”. I never click on the link to expand and I’m betting most facebook users don’t.

You might want to think about removing the automation and posting the links to your new blog posts by hand. It might seem like a lot of work but it’s well worth it so your posts don’t get lost in someone’s news feed. That’s what I have been doing for a while now.

What I have found is using social media on automatic doesn’t work, it’s all about human interaction. If that makes any sense. Anyone disagree? Anyone agree?

Meet Prince, our new kitty cat. She is nine years old and she belongs to my sister. A couple of weeks ago my sister asked me if we would take her and give her a good home. Although I completely disagree with the reasons and would only ask someone to take care of my pets permanently if I were dead (don’t worry, I told my sister all of this)…how could I say no to an unwanted pet who is a member of the family?

It's been a little bumpy but after a little over a week, she is getting adjusted.

We always thought she was a sweet cat when we would visit my sister. Her only fault is that she likes to chew cords so we have to be careful.

She has six toes on each foot and I'm still getting used to her "thumb" flexing when she asks you to pet her with her paw in the air.

Clone is totally interested and I hope to get a picture of them together…well kind of together. She doesn’t want him near her. He persists and she kind of just lets it go after a little while. When Charley, our dog, gets near her, she hisses just like she does to Clone. Even with all of this, she seems to have relaxed little by little since she arrived a little over a week ago.

Since we lost Cinder and Roswell, it’s been void of female pets around here and I have to admit, it’s nice to have a female around again. I know Curtis feels the same way. We’re hoping that Clone and her will be able to get along and hopefully they will become his buddies.

We bought a bunch of cord covers and I already told my sister she’s paying for those. Deep down, I know they miss each other and it was really hard at first for Prince, we’re really hoping it will work out and she can stay with us permanently (we always said it’s contingent on Clone’s reaction since he’s our Prozac kitty). As for the cost of caring for Prince, my sister has promised to cover all of her expenses for the rest of her life and I’m going to hold her to that!

And I had to get a picture of Charley, this was when he was watching Prince, he has been completely interested in her. He's going to be 8 years old next month and I just can't believe how gray he has gotten!

Have you ever commented on a blog or asked a question and forgot to return to see if the blogger has replied to you? Often a blogger will have a checkbox option for you to select but if it’s a popular blog and they receive a lot of comments, your inbox may start getting inundated. Thus, why I never check the box on WordPress blogs that ask me if I want to receive follow up comments via email.

Earlier, I tweeted the following tweet:

And when I receive that email notification, I almost always return to the scene of the crime (the original post), so the blogger will receive another click-through. And sometimes I will even reply to their reply.

After the above tweet, I received a bunch of replies and retweets and a DM asking for help. So I thought I would throw this post together really quick.

I’m assuming you know how to install a WordPress plugin, if not see the bottom of this post for a link on how to install one. Install the Comment Reply Notification plugin and browse over to it in the Settings left sidebar.

Make sure you have this option selected. Your readers will only receive an email if the writer of the post or an administrator (most likely you) replies.

To further configure the email the commenter will receive, you’ll want to change the Edit Notification Message box up. I add in my email address to let them know who to reply to. I have not dug deep into the plugin code to see where I can change the reply-to email and have not seen it as completely necessary.
Be sure to leave most of what’s set up in the Edit Notification Message field for you, you want the commenter to be able to click back to their original comment easily. I have noticed some bloggers even take out their comment, denoted by [cc_content] so that the reader has to click back to their blog to see the response. That’s fine but at least leave the link to the original post. (The markup legend is below the Edit Notification Message field, I didn’t include it in the screenshot.)

Testing this plugin? If you reply to your own comment, it won’t work & you won’t receive a notification via email. I have a subdomain set up for both of my blogs where I test my sites so I played around there. I had to create another account with a separate email address and login to it and reply to my own comment that way. The plugin seems smart enough to know that you just replied to yourself.

Best way to test this plugin? Reply to a commenter (maybe someone you know personally or someone you know on twitter) and ask them if they received the reply notification. You can even ask them to forward the email to you so you can see it.

Some links that you may also find helpful:

• How to install a WordPress plugin
• Comment Reply Notification plugin on WordPress
• Comment Reply Notification plugin developer site

Do you have a smartphone but it doesn’t have apps? Or have an iPhone or an Android and want to post pictures to facebook and/or twitter without having to use an app?

There have been times where I wanted to post a picture to both twitter and my facebook fan page (or personal page) using my iPhone but I didn’t have time to bring up both a facebook and twitter app. I know there are apps out there that post to both but I don’t like them all that much. I like to use twitpic for my twitter pictures and those other apps don’t support twitpic. If the twitter picture service you use allows you to post via email, you can still do what I’m showing you below.

This is all done via email and it’s very easy to set up and once you get the hang of it, it will save you so much time. I found this very useful when I participated in the Susan G. Komen Tampa 3-Day for the Cure last October and I will be using this technique once again when I participate in a NASA Tweetup at the Kennedy Space Center in Cape Canaveral, Florida for the final launch of space shuttle Endeavour STS-134 (squeee!) this week. I was thrilled and shocked when I was picked out of 4,000 registrants for 1 of 150 slots.

• I’ll show you how to obtain the posting email address for your fan page & your personal account.
• I’ll show you how to obain the posting email address for your twitpic account.
• Then, I’ll show you how to easily set it up so it takes just seconds to post to both facebook & twitter.

First things first, you must be the admin of the facebook fan page you want to post to for this to work.

Make sure you’re logged into facebook and browse to your facebook fan page (or use your unique URL to do directly to it). On the far right is a link called “Edit Page”, click on that and it will bring you to the page below. Then, click on the Mobile link on the left sidebar. (For the browser screenshots on this post, click on the image to get a larger view.)

Take note of the email address that appears on this page. This is email address you will email photos or status updates to. DO NOT share this email address with anyone. If you click on the Learn More link to the right, you can refresh the email address and change it at anytime. Save this email address to your contacts as something you will remember. You can click on Learn More and have facebook email it to your phone.

The above screenshot is how you obtain the email address for your personal profile. Go to the Facebook Mobile page while logged into your account and you’ll see a similar page. I have noticed that they move around the sections so your Upload via Email information may be on another part of the page.

Again, take note of the email address that appears on this page. DO NOT share this email address with anyone. If you click on the Send my upload email button, facebook will email it to your phone. Also, save this email address in your contacts in your phone so you easily remember it.

Now onto, twitpic or whatever image service you use for Twitter (I’m sure yfrog or whatever other service you may use will have this option as well). I only prefer it because this is what I have been using from the beginning. Login to your twitpic account using twitter and then go to Settings and your twitpic email address will appear. Again, DON’T share this email address with anyone and save it in your contacts.

The below screenshots are from my iPhone but the last couple will apply to anyone that has access to sending email on your phone.

Go to Photos and select the icon in the top right corner

Choose Photo and Select Share

Select Email

Select Facebook Email (or however you have it named in your contacts)

Select twitpic Email (or however you have it named in your contacts). Add any emails for where you want to post, if you want to post to both your facebook personal profile and your fan page, you can do that.

Subject line is the caption in facebook & also the text of your tweet on twitter (keep it short because you're limited to 140 characters on twitter). For twitpic, it's also the caption. Include @mentions and hashtags if you wish.

The image should be in the body of your email message and it’s okay if you have some text like a signature, it will not appear in your tweet or image. Make sure to hit the send button.

*A note for facebook emails, if you include an empty body and just text in the subject line, that’s a facebook status. I don’t know of a way to email text to twitter so it displays in your public timeline as a tweet but there are ways to text tweets, direct messages and @replies, just visit the Twitter mobile page.

And here’s an example of an image I uploaded to facebook and twitter last month using the methods I outlined above.

I hope you found this post useful!

We love shopping at Sam’s Club so when I had the opportunity to attend the Grilling Expo several weeks ago and post about my shop, I jumped at the chance! I remember when this location first opened near us, we were so excited, okay my husband was even more excited than me!

When we arrived we noticed they had a temporary garden center in the parking lot, there were a few items we’re interested in including the palms.

We looked around at the chest freezers, dining furniture and even at software. I like to explore Sam’s Club because there are always some great deals. I really like this high dining table!

Loved these dog toys! It was $10 for 4 toys.

Oh my goodness, my new favorite seasoning. I sampled bread and salmon with this seasoning. I also had a cherry pie blossom and Tyson’s chicken wings. Samples work…I always buy at least one thing I sample when we visit Sam’s Club.

This was our shopping cart before we checked out.

When we came home with the dog toys, Charley was really interested! I let him pick which one he wanted to play with.

I think he’s happy!

For all of the pictures and more information about my shopping experience, check it out below.

Disclosure: For the shop and this post, I was compensated as part of a social shopper insights study for Collective Bias. This post was written by me & are my own opinions.

This giveaway is now closed. Thanks to everyone who entered and congratulations to G. Baily!

Crocs has a new line of shoes called Crocs Tone. It’s a line for women and are just like original Crocs, they lightweight and are odor-resisting. This line comes in 4 stylish models. And the new Crocs Tone shoe is a toning shoe!

And here’s a short video about this new collection:

I think these are sooo cute!
To celebrate Crocs’ new line, Crocs has launched a Facebook application that aims to change the negative tone of current headlines. It’s funny and cute…and positive.

So now, do you want to win your own pair of Crocs Tone shoes? If you’re the winner, you will get to choose from one of four styles, your favorite color and size!

Mandatory Entry: Visit the Crocs Change the Tone facebook app and tweet or share on facebook one of the positive spin headlines using the hashtag #changethetone. Come back here and leave a link to your tweet or facebook share. (How to get the URL of a tweet – pretty much works the same for facebook.) The link must be left in order for your entry to be validated. (1 entry)

The mandatory entry must be done otherwise the bonus entries will not count.

Bonus Entries (leave a separate comment for each entry, if the entry type is worth 2, leave two comments such as like WEJ on fb #1, follow WEJ on fb #2, etc. If you’re already a fan or follower, just say so in your comment):

• ‘Like’ Whatever Julie on facebook and leave your name in your comment. You can leave first name and last initial if you don’t want to leave your full name. (2 entries)
• Subscribe to this blog via email. Be sure to fill in the email address you’re subscribing with and verify the subscription. (3 entries)
• Follow Crocs on twitter and leave your twitter handle in your comment. (1 entry)
• ‘Like’ Crocs on facebook and leave your name in your comment below. You can leave first name and last initial if you don’t want to leave your full name. (1 entry)
• ‘Like’ The Little Kitchen on facebook and leave your name in your comment. You can leave first name and last initial if you don’t want to leave your full name. (1 entry)
• ‘Like’ this giveaway via facebook. Use the like button at the top or bottom of this post. Leave a comment here saying so. (1 entry)
• Subscribe to this blog via RSS reader. (1 entry)
• Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway. Leave your twitter handle & a link to your tweet  (1 entry per day)
  ‘I just entered in a Crocs Change the Tone #Giveaway via @thelittlekitchn http://bit.ly/eMYMLl’
• Leave a comment on any non-giveaway post and leave a comment here saying so. (1 entry per day)

This giveaway is open to U.S. residents only. Leave a separate comment on this post for EACH entry, if you leave only one comment listing multiple entry types, you will only receive one entry. This makes it much easier for me and to make it so that all of your entries count. All entries will be checked and verified. You must enter a valid email address (so I have a way of contacting you), otherwise you forfeit the prize and another winner will be chosen. You have until 11:59pm EST on Wednesday, March 9, 2011 to enter. A random winner from all valid entries will be chosen.

Disclosure: I received no compensation for this post, all opinions are my own. I received the same product the winner will receive. The giveaway item is being provided by Crocs.

If you use Twitter, sometimes after following someone, you receive an Automatic Direct Message (DM) thanking you for following them.

They look something like this:

Okay, these don’t work…they suck.  I don’t click on the link and I’m very likely to unfollow you. So why do people send auto DMs?  Can someone please tell me why?

I see tweets like this more than just weekly:

Aghhh! My eyes!! Another Auto DM! Please stop the madness!!!

February 14, 2011 9:59 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@TheNoviceChef

Jessica Segarra

I tweet all the time about how much I detest auto DMs.  So do you send auto DMs?  If you do, please STOP!

This is my reflection of a tweep when I get an auto DM:

• You don’t know how to use twitter.
• You don’t know how to use twitter.
• You don’t know how to use twitter.
• You don’t get social media.

I once received an DM after I followed someone saying something nice about my food blog. This would have served better as a tweet. DMs are reserved for sharing email addresses or something that you do not want to appear on your public timeline.

Here are some tips instead of sending auto DMs:

• Send a tweet saying thanks for the follow.
• Just interact with other tweeps, reply to tweets that sound interesting to you or just answer questions.

Now, can we please stop the Auto DMs? Do you have other tips for people who currently use auto DMs – what can they do instead?

Here are some great Tanga.com deals for doglovers! These deals end Thursday, February 10, 2011 at 9:59 PM EST

2 Pack of 50 Doggie Bags w/ Free Shipping only $4.99

Pugs Not Drugs T-Shirt $4.99 (Shipping is $1.99)

PediPaws $4.99 (Shipping $3.99)

Fido Friendly Magazine use coupon code: FIDO $5.99 per year

Cesar’s Way Magazine use coupon code: DOGS $6.99 per year

Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links.

I constantly see the tweet or facebook questions, ‘what are your favorite iPhone apps’? And since a bunch of my friends are getting the new Verizon iPhone, I thought I would put this post together.

In no particular order, these are my top five iPhone apps because these I use them A LOT. I have a bunch of apps but these are definitely my favorites.

Echofon – Free or Pro $4.99 (currently on sale for $1.99)
I’m addicted to twitter and I use FOUR different Twitter apps on my phone. My hands down favorite is Echofon. They have a free version as well as a Pro version that regularly costs $4.99 (I have the Pro version because I manage more than just my personal twitter account). I plan on writing a post about all four Twitter apps some day…

I definitely like it because it’s one of the only apps that shows whether another tweep is following you or not.

Also, it has an easy interface to view tweets that go back in forth like a conversation. And the same goes for direct messages. And push notifications when you get an @ reply or direct message has finally started working the last few updates.

The Weather Channel – Free
Inputting a zip code or city/state gets you the current conditions, weather map & video as well as hourly conditions for the next 12 hours as well as a 10 day forecast. I like that you can bookmark different cities. I use this app every morning to figure out what to wear and figure out if I should bring a sweater or jacket with me.

Words with Friends – Free (with ads) or $2.99
Yeah, I’m addicted to Words. If you want to play, my username is snoopyclone. Love that you play your turn whenever you can and it tosses it over to the other player. When it’s your turn again, you’ll receive an alert. You can start games with random players or search via username. There is also a chat function so you can IM the person you’re playing with. Just some advice on that, the usernames are case sensitive. I started a game with someone I thought was my friend but I had the case wrong, it wasn’t her and they told me, I think you have the wrong person.

Hipstamatic – $1.99 (with in app purchases)
Love this photography app, you can add different film and change them up. The app gives you the feel of using an old fashioned 35mm camera and makes your photos look like they are vintage. It comes loaded with different types of film but you can buy different film packs within the app. You can view the images you take in the app and they are also saved in your Camera Roll. Like the pictures of my kitty, Clone?

Instagram – Free
And lastly, a social networking app where you share photos. You can find and follow your friends from facebook or twitter. I really like it because you can also share the images via flickr, tumblr, facebook and twitter. When you share the images through flickr and tumblr, it actually posts the image to these sites. When you share via facebook and twitter, it posts a link to the instagram image. I’m thelittlekitchen if you want to follow me.

My favorite instagram user that I’m following is dogandboy. He or she shares awesome images of their son and their dogs, which are Shiba Inus. I love them!

So, now it’s your turn. What are your favorite iPhone apps? I want to hear what you like…I’m always looking for new apps to download and play with it.

I just wanted to share this Facebook campaign with you. It’s HomeAgain using a way to get the word out about their pet recovery service and raising money for shelter pets. Personally, both my dog and cat are microchipped with HomeAgain microchips. I think it’s so important to have more than one way to protect yourself and your pets in case they are lost.

Between now and February 14th, HomeAgain will donate $0.25 to the Petfinder Foundation for each heart shared on facebook (up to $5000). There are 4 different Snoopy hearts you can share, see them below.

PS and by the way, I love Snoopy…I think it’s so neat that HomeAgain is using the Snoopy character to advertise their pet recovery service.

And another note that I always share with others, when you have your pet(s) microchipped, always, always register the microchip. When we microchipped our dog and cat at our vet office, they gave us a form and a tag with the microchip ID on it. You can mail in the form or go online, once you register your pet, keep the information updated. It happens all too often, a pet is found at a shelter, they scan and find a microchip but the owner never registered it.

Disclosure: I received nothing in return for this post. I’m a HomeAgain customer and a fan of Petfinder.com so I wanted to share this with other petlovers.