I’m thinking about this because my Twitter anniversary came and went without me noticing – until it was pointed out by an alert follower. So I thought I’d check into it.

Just like birthdays, it might be yet another reminder of how quickly time goes by, the older you get. But with any luck, you can look back at your Twitter year and think, “Wow, I learned a lot.” Or, better yet, “Well, that was fun!”
So…how long have been tweeting? Has it been fun? Leave a comment and let us know. And keep on keepin’ on.

It’s a Google-coded technology that allows real-time RSS updating for your blog.

Here’s a cheesy demo of “PuSH” with some helpfully contrived metaphors:

Joseph Scott has released a new PuSHPress plugin to bring the benefits of this technology to your Wordpress blog. See the documentation here

To install, just go to the area for adding new plugins in your dashboard, search by keyword “PuSHpress” and install. You might need to update to the newest version of Wordpress, but you should probably do that anyway.

So, good content or bad, folks will get a chance to read it faster. With any luck, it won’t be analagous to the food being terrible, but the portions being too small.

What do you think?

Now what?

You probably would like some visitors, comments – activity in general. Your blog doesn’t live in a vacuum, right? Or, at least, it won’t for very long unless you just like to hear yourself type. One important step is to register with blog directories, such as the one hosted by Technorati. Simply sign up for an account there, create a profile just like you would at any social networking site then file a “blog claim.” You’ll see this option as you set up your account. You will be able to furnish a description of your blog along with keywords and categories that will help readers find you.

Technorati will tell you it will take some time to investigate your blog claim – don’t worry, they won’t send a claims adjuster to your office or anything like that. You will, however, receive an email with your Secret Squirrel instructions. You’ll be given a “token code,” which you will put into a blog post. Then hit “publish.” When you tell it to go ahead, Technorati will crawl your site, find the code, and verify you are a human blogger who actually owns that blog. That’s it.

Yes, you will have a weird bit of code in your post. Mine is: 7E3NX6A3VE53  You can get rid of it when you get confirmation. Or just write about your experience and help other people with this handy household tip.

Don’t you love learning together?

What is your blog, and what is it all about? When did you start it and why? Tell us in the comments for this post.

UPDATE: Technorati will tell you it will take “some time” to complete your claim, and they’re not kidding. I posted the above the same day I initiated my own claim and only received notification that it was complete on Feb. 22 – almost a month later. Was it worth it? We’ll see.

It’s so simple, but not intuitive. To the best of my knowledge this works with Wordpress 2.7 and newer versions.

In the dashboard, go to “Media,” then click “Add New.” From there, you can browse for the file on your computer – no need to upload the .pdf into your server’s root directory or anything, like silly me tried to do.

After you’ve hit “upload,” you should see the Media Library, with your new file at the top. Click the title of your new file, and you’ll be able to see the “file URL.” It’s where your file lives now. Highlight the address and copy it to the clipboard.

Then, in your post or page, whatever you’re working on, you can make a link from text or a photo to your pdf’s new place of business. In visual mode, simply highlight the text you want to use to refer viewers to your pdf and click “Insert/edit link” or use the keyboard shortcut of Alt+Shift+A. Enter that saved pdf location into “Link URL.” In “Target” you can choose whether the pdf opens in a new window, or the same one.

Voila!

In html mode,  it will look something like this (the following is from my hubby’s stone masonry company blog, where I wanted to be able to allow folks to see his print brochure in pdf format. I linked the pdf’s URL to a photo of the front panel of the brochure. You can see it live here:

<a href=”http://elementalstoneandwaterworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/01/GreenBrochurea.pdf”><img style=”border: 0pt none; float:left; padding-top: 10px; padding-right:10px; padding-bottom:10px” title=”Brochure front panel” src=”http://elementalstoneandwaterworks.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/BrochureFrontPanelJPG.jpg” alt=”Brochure Front Panel” width=”214″ height=”479″ /></a>

Paul Simon sang that there are 50 ways to leave your lover. What if I told you that you could leave 50 (or 500) of your deadbeat followees in one fell swoop? Now that’s how I spell relief.

One of the fun things about Twitter is how simple and bare bones it really is, challenging folks to come up with third party applications to make it more functional. Dossy is the blogging nom de plume of one such enterprising soul. He created something called Twitter Karma.

I had found tools for everything I needed to do with Twitter – minus one: I wanted to see all those nonrequiting you-know-whats listed post-office wanted-poster style all in one place. And with this app, that’s what you get.

Go here: http://dossy.org/twitter/karma/

Sign in with your Twitter creds, then hit “Whack!” It’s gratifying already, hmm?

You’ll see EVERYBODY’s mug at one time, with arrows indicating “You follow them” or “They follow you.” Filter your results by selecting Only Following on the pull-down menu. Then you’ll see all the dead wood in one place.

If you’re feeling really bitter, just click Check All then Bulk Unfollow and let the hammer fall. But keep in mind there are some Twitter accounts you might appreciate keeping around even though it would be impractical for them to follow you. For me, it was Mashable, although I’m sure they’ll start following me when they get wind of my social media warrior princess status. (I’m still not wearing the costume – but maybe if it would help).

Alright, so for all my trash talking, I found that somehow I had neglected to follow some people. No one’s perfect. Go back to the top, pull down Only Followers and say your mea culpas. Maybe spring for some roses, a nice bottle of wine perhaps. Just do a quick scan to make sure you’re not following any porn purveyors – unless, of course, that’s the kind of image you’re going for. I’m not going to tell you what to do.

I did this for a client who had 607 only following, 609 mutual friends, and 132 only followers. Now the karmic scales are in harmonious balance, with 772 followers to 753 following. Time to go looking for new love. With the bit of targeted, automated Tweeting, it should’nt be too hard.

How’s your Karma? Let me know how you like this app.