So here’s my rules for following people or following them back.  If they follow me, and I check their stream (the line of status updates that they have created) and the entire thing is just them tweeting out their latest blog post or promoting something of theirs I will not follow them back.  I don’t want to be a spam receptacle.  If I see that they actually have conversations then I will follow them back.  I like to talk to other people on Twitter, and the fact that they are joining in the conversation makes me think that they will likely talk to me too.

So my number one Twitter tip to get followers and to become a Pro at Twitter is to just jump into the conversation.  If someone posts a status update, comment on it (if you have something relevant to say).  If you see a conversation between two of your friends, and you want to talk about it, jump on in!  If someone wanted their conversation private they would move it to a Direct Message, or off Twitter all together, so they won’t mind you adding to the conversation. 

So a few of my friends were bummed about EVO Conference ending and started joking that they were going to have their own little conference to keep EVO alive called the Cupcake Conference (or #cupcakeconf for Twitter users).  One thing led to another, and another, and more and more people wanted to come to Cupcake Conference that now it’s a fully legit thing that we are doing here in Utah.  Hosted by the wonderful @sahans and the Grand America Hotel.  Seriously!  A conference springing out of thin air all because of Twitter!

So jump into the conversation today!  The possibilities are literally endless… well… unless it’s over 140 characters…

It finally hit today and so I checked it out.  It really is what they say for the most part.  You can still drill down and set individual settings, like the one I explained about last week to hide your friends.  Hiding your friends from even your friends now is under “Basic Directory Information” now though.  The super duper simplified privacy settings now are much easier to understand to the everyday user, so that is a win for Facebook.  It cracks me up though that they “recommend” EVERYONE see your status, photos and posts.  Those are probably the things I most want the whole world not to see.  My recommendations are to click the Friends Only button or customize exactly what you want the rest of the world to see from the “customize settings” link near the bottom.

The more Facebook tries to get this right, the further in the hole it seems like they are falling.  Just knowing that they think everyone would want their status, posts and photos viewed by the whole world leads me to believe that they aren’t too concerned about privacy themselves, and are therefore having a hard time figuring out what the rest of the world wants with regards to privacy on the information they put on the web.  Part of me says… If you don’t want other people to find it, then don’t put it on the internet.  The other part of me also says, I really only want people that I actually know in person to have the knowledge that I’m going to have a Girls Night Party at my house this week (which I’m not, but am ALWAYS up for!)

What do you think of all of this Facebook privacy hullabaloo?

• To do this you go into your privacy settings (accessible from “account” at the top right of your screen). 
• Next open up “Friends, Tags and Connections. 
• Click on who is able to access it and click “Customize”. 
• Now select “only me” from the make this visible area.

Now your friends will be hidden from even the people you are friends with. 

The next meaning of the title is to hide the lame things your friends do.    Yes, we’ve all seen Farmville, Mafia Wars, etc etc.  As soon as one of my friends starts playing these games I hide the game immediately.  You can do this by clicking on the little “hide” that pops up in the top right of the update.  You then have the choice to hide the appliation (ie Mafia Wars) or hide the person altogether.  Now if you are going to hide the person altogether, then why are you even still friends with them?  Unfriend them and move on with your life. 

So what is the feature really anyway?  Say you are on yelp.com and you “like” a restaurant from the site.  Then your friend visits yelp.com.  Your friend can see that you “liked” Old Spaghetti Factory.  Also if you are a Facebook Fan of (which is now just called “liking”) Weezer, then when you go to Pandora’s website it will start playing songs by Weezer. 

The thought behind this is that they just want to make the web a more personal place for you, where you can share the things you like with your friends, also to help make websites more about you.  It’s just like what Amazon does when you visit.  They show you the things you’ve recently looked at or purchased, and recommend other items based on that information.  So while the information it’s sharing isn’t a super big deal, you still may want to permanently opt out of it. 

To opt out go into your Facebook account and go to Account at the top right, and then Privacy Settings.  Click on Applications and Websites, and then click Edit next to the last item on the list called “Instant Personalization Pilot Program”.  Simply uncheck the box and you are good to go.

So there it is… someone telling you that you are in a video or picture or something in your Direct Messages… you are tempted.  Really?  Who could have a video of me out there on the web?  Did they get it from my facebook page? YouTube?  So you click.  Rule of thumb #1 – Never click any link that you aren’t sure what it is.  This works for Twitter as well as Facebook, MySpace, Email, Instant Messenger… etc etc etc.  I’ve even been known to confirm with my own sister that sent me a link having to do with our current conversation if she really sent me a link.  You can’t be too paranoid about this kind of thing.  Even if it isn’t a phishing attack that is only trying to get information, it could be something much much worse.  Like a link to an actual virus.  Best advice is to just confirm with the person who sent you the link if it’s legit or not.

So now that you’ve clicked it is asking you for your username and password.  You think in your head… Hmmm that’s weird.  (FIRST STOP RIGHT THERE!  If you think it’s odd, then don’t continue!).  The brief fleeting odd feeling goes away as you think, “oh I must have gotten logged out somehow”.  So you enter you username and password.  Rule of Thumb #2 - NEVER EVER enter your information from ANYTHNG from a link that you have clicked on.  Open a new browser and go to the main website yourself.  ie if the link send you to a Twitter login screen, open a NEW browser and navigate to twitter.com yourself.  Then you know it’s safe to enter your username and password.

So now that you’ve given the phishers the information they wanted to gather from you and your account is compromised… it’s time for you to fix it.  Rule of Thumb #3 – Change your info ASAP.  If you gave them your password change it!  And change it quick, because they will use it!  If you gave them information that is far more damaging like your Social Security number or your bank account, notify the appropriate people BEFORE anything happens.  Then monitor your credit score like a hawk. 

So be smart and safe out there… and stop sending me phising DM’s please… Thank you!

On your main twitter page click on “new list”

Next name your list something like “family” or “funny”, whatever will best describe your list.

Then click on your “following” link and start going through all of the people you follow.  Select the list looking icon and add that person to your list!  Now whenever you want to read tweets from friends and family only, you can easily sort through all of the people you follow.  Happy tweeting!

Step One: Create a Twitter account. Simply go to the website http://www.twitter.com and click “Get Started – Join”. There are only a few questions, and you will need to provide an email address to be associated with the account.

Step Two: Tweet! There will be a square that asks “What are you doing?”. This is where you can post your “tweets”. It can be anything you want it to be… such as a tip, something fun that is going on… maybe something not fun that is going on. It is limited to 140 characters so be brief, but have fun with it.

Step Three: Follow People. Now you can start searching for fun people to follow. At the top of the page there is a link to “find people”. You can search for celebrities, companies, friends, etc! Some of the people that I follow are Palm Inc, Windows, Gizmodo, PC Magazine, Guy Fieri (from the food network), Bobby Flay (also food network), then some “mom” people I have found searching around. I love being “connected” to news from different companies, and being able to keep up on all the current tech! Search for anyone that you would be interested in following… and of course follow me @tech4mommies.

Step Four: Learn the lingo.  @____ is a twitter username.  Like @tech4mommies is my Twitter username.  Whenever you want to reference someone on twitter that is how you do it.  If you want them to know you are talking to them or you want to reply to a tweet the @____ needs to be the very first part of your tweet.  #_____ is a tag you can use when referencing a specific item.  Like when I talk about the Palm Pre I use #palmpre.  Friday’s many people will post #ff or #forwardfriday which is when you post different usernames that you enjoy following so other people can follow them too.  Next is RT which is short for Retweet.  That means either the user is reposting someone else’s tweet or they are requesting for you to repost their tweet.  DM stands for Direct Message.  If you want to send a more private message to a specifiic user start the message with a capital D and then the username (without the @ symbol).  Now that you have the lingo down..

Step Five: Download a Twitter desktop program.  I use TweetDeck.  What is great about this program is I have 4 columns.  First column is for facebook updates, it will give me all of my facebook friends updates, without having to go to the facebook website.  Second column is everyone’s tweets that I follow.  Third column is for any replies I get to my tweets, and fourth column is my direct messages.  It’s a great way to organize the information that comes through on twitter, so it is easier for everyone to understand. 

Step Six: Customize, if you are feeling up to it.  Going through the settings and you can add some bio information, a picture of yourself, etc.  Go crazy, or keep the custom defaults, it’s your site! 

Step Seven: HAVE FUN!  Get involved in conversations, ask questions, and basically enjoy the world of microblogging!