My #FollowFriday for March 27th, 2009

March 27, 2009 By Tommy 3 Comments

So, before I get to this week’s suggestions, I need to do a little catching up. I’ve been known to forget #FollowFriday regularly, so I’ve only got a few, but here they are – along with date and reason:

February 20th: @markfox – I’ve only met Mark once, though we’ve said we’re going to arrange another meeting soon. I gave him my first reccomendation for two reasons: A) He’d recently lost his job and thought I could make him smile with it, and B) Though he doesn’t blog regulary, he DOES have a “bowling” category… Which rocks. It also helped that he was local.

February 27th (Ok, 28th): @kingstonist – Harvey and I had been working like crazy on the new Kingstonist site, and he’d held out from joining Twitter for so long that I HAD to give him the plug once he singed up. If you haven’t checked out the K’ist yet, you should.

March 20th: @sarahamil and @gongshowj – My first DOUBLE reccomendation! Not something you’ll see often, I’d imagine. Sara and Jeremy regularly make the trip in for the monthly LNMG meetups. Sara drives – Jeremy drinks. It seems to work. It’s great to see them make the trip in, even through snow and ice, for a drink and some chat. I threatened Sara that I’d start a #unfollowsara meme. Sorry Sara – I lied.

So – that brings me to this week’s picks… And I’m back to a single – but with a twist! My wife’s been sick the last week or so, and I thought it might be nice to let her do the picking… So this week’s choice is:

March 27th: @lilyjmills – The story of my wife, Lily and I is actually pretty “small world”-ish. At PAB08, I was talking with someone about my wife and how she grew up in Simcoe, Ontario. Lily, at the next table over, asked me to repeat what I’d said as she grew up there too. Well, moments later, we discover that Lily actually grew up practically next door to my wife, knew her (and her family) and was close friends with my sister-in-law. It was surreal.

So that’s it! Follow all five of them to complete the collection!

Filed Under: Twitter

Meet @limestonetweets

March 23, 2009 By Tommy 3 Comments

So, slowly but surely, new online media stuff in Kingston is starting to grab hold. There are still [mostly] monthly meetups taking place to talk web technology and social networking, there are radio stations, newspapers and hockey teams on Twitter, and there’s a killer blog that’s starting to gain momentum. The last, oh, 6 months or so have seen an EXPLOSIVE amount of locals on Twitter, likely in a growth rate that rival’s the main site, and I thought it was time to do something with it.

So about 2 months ago, sitting alone in a hotel room, I created @limestonetweets. It’s a twitter account devoted entirely to the local Tweet scene and those involved in it. Beyond that, though, it’s been an experiment for me on multiple fronts:

  1. @limestonetweets is a directory, more than it is a soap box. The account follows(*) only people in (and around) Kingston, making it a perfect “first stop” for people in the city to find, and connect with, other locals. Sure, I use it occasionally to gather feedback, or announce a meetup, but it’s “following” list is a directory first and foremost.
  2. It’s also a chat room. Any DM sent to the account is broadcasted to the world – giving locals a chance to announce where they are to the whole community at once, and allowing for completely impromptu meetups to happen. Yes, similar COULD happen using something like BrightKite… but that’s not where the masses are.
  3. The account has also served as the test of my own abilities to manage multiple accounts. Verdict? Still out. For a while, I was really good at followbacks – that’s been tricky recently, but doable.
  4. It’s also been interesting to watch how the account has shifted from me working like mad to find locals, to other people finding it through friends. I spent hours combing the Twitterverse in serach of people from Kingston Ontario – as apposed to the Kingstons in Nova Scotia, Jamaica or the UK – to follow. These days? Not so much.
It’s a fun little experiment, though, and I think it’s proving useful.  I’m hopeful that in time, it’ll connect more people together and help the community in Kingston grow. That said, if you know someone I’m not yet following with it (I just cleared out a backlog) send me a personal @ or DM – or send a message @limestonetweets.
* More specifically, the software I’m using for the DM chat room stuff auto-follows, and I periodically go in and pull anyone not in the area. It’s toally a judgement call, but I err, usually, on the side of acceptance. I do, though, sometimes go through it’s list of followers, and see who they’re following, and who’s following them, to find other locals.
As an aside, hello blogosphere – It’s been too long.
Filed Under: Local, Projects, Twitter

Getting Back To Local

February 8, 2009 By Tommy 1 Comment

So, a little over a year ago now… Almost a year and a half ago, actually, I started up a little project I called the Limestone New Media Group. When I got it started, I was about the only guy in town on Twitter but I’d heard a few other people were listening to podcasts. I figured that 3 or 4 people had to only be the tip of the iceburg, and that we should probably all get together for a beer, coffee or lunch. While it did take a few months more before anything other than a 1-on-1 meetup happened, they did eventually happen. And they happened regularly… For a while.

The past few months, though, have seen a real steep decline in the “real-world” gatherings of local people… And that saddens me. The local meetups were something that brought together three things I enjoy: Kingston, the web and meeting people. The meetups, from day one, were always planned to be social, for-fun gatherings and I think most people who attended had a good time. So a few friends of mine, and I, are going to start to get them going again.

I regularly say that one of the things I find most rewarding in this new digital web media space is building connections between two people. Watching partnerships, ideas, friendships and even relationships bloom as a result of a simple introduction tweet, email or phone call is a lot of fun. It’s even more fun when you can do that on a larger scale. So a few weeks ago I created the @limestonetweets account. It’s serving, right now, as a directory of local Twitterers, but will likely be used for announcements and such as time goes on. It’s my hope that it will help unite more people and build some connections between folks with similar interests.

But back to the meetups. I mentioned we’re getting them going again, and we are: The firs local meetup/tweetup/gathering will be helpd tomorrow, February 9th, at 7:00pm, at The Merchant Taphouse. This keeps it on it’s original schedule of the second monday of the month, and at our regular location. Come out for dinner, come out for drinks, or come out just to say hello! We’ll be there. I’ll be in a bright shirt, and the sig with the LNMG logo will be on the table. (We’re usually in and around to the left). If you can, give me an RSVP (here, twitter, email, wherever) so that I can hold a big enough table.

See you tomorrow!

[wpcf]

Filed Under: Events, LNMG, Local

New Project – Could use your help!

February 6, 2009 By Tommy 5 Comments

So… this blog’s been quiet for a while, eh? I’ll work on that – I promise. Actually… I have been working on that… But more on that next week. Right now, late on a Friday night, I wanted to take a quick second to introduce you to a new little project of mine.

As someone who has played with the idea of being a freelance web developer for some time now, I’ve always gotten bothered by a simple little part: The hourly rate. Now, the status quo is that a better developer charges more then a crappy developer. A developer with a better reputation, and a more experienced history gets to charge more that a new developer entering the field. I’m fine with that – it makes sense to me. What has always bothered me is that so many people charge a 1-hour minimum. I know a lot of folks who will bill a full hour for a 30, 15 or even 5 minut job. And I’ve always thought that was a little silly.

So this past Monday I launched Wordpress Development project I’m calling Wordpress By The Minute which, as you might expect, breaks that minumum 1-hour charge mold.

The idea is simple and the pricing model is simple… But getting the ball rolling has been rough. So – I’d like to ask for your help. If you could post this idea (with a trackback) or tweet it a few times, I’d be highly appreciative. And of course, if you know anyone looking for work done, hand them my name? I have some testimonials on the site now, and will be building that list as time goes on. It’s an idea that I think has legs – if it could only find some ground to grab hold of.

Thanks for your help.

Filed Under: Projects, WPBTM, WordPress

Sit… Stay… Read… Good!

October 20, 2008 By Tommy 9 Comments

So – for those following me on Twitter, you know that I’ve been given a fancy new (But secret) job. Those of you reading the blog alone… well… probably don’t. But you do now!

For the past couple of weeks I have been SUPER excited. Not long after my last post, I got a call from a friend in the new media space that I’d seen a couple of times at events. We actually had a nice long talk about a few different topics at PAB this year and have kept in touch (fairly) regularly since. He called to ask about having me help him out on a couple of projects of his and I ended the call with the biggest smile on my face I think I’d ever had. And the closer I got to my start date, the more excited I became.

My New Gig

I am totally thrilled to finally announce that as of today I’m joining Marko to help out with both pets.ca and photography.ca!

I don’t have an “official” title over there yet… Though I’ll come up with one soon enough… But I’ll be helping out with both the website development and makeover, as well as online community building and development. It’s very much a hybrid of what I was doing with the team at TalkShoe, mixed with what I was doing on the side and the fit couldn’t be better. My first tasks will be with the pet site, and we’re going to expand my roles from there.

Sharing Pages

Part of the reason that I’m so excited about this role is that Marko and I see very eye-to-eye on a lot of things. We’ve spent a great number of hours since our initial call a few weeks ago talking about the site, where it is, where it’s been and where it’s going – and we’re both looking at the same possibilities. It seems that every time him or I have a question for the other, we almost already know the answer before we ask it because the answer is generally exactly what we would hope it to be.

The site already has a vibrant community on it’s message boards, so that’s where I’m starting. My first role is to work with the community – and Marko, of course – to develop a new look, feel and style for the site.

So that’s my new role! I’ve turned down the other offer that had me breaking out in a sweat, and am smiles all over to be starting this one. Marko’s a fantastic, community-focused, down to earth guy and I couldn’t be happier to work with him.

Filed Under: Projects, Social Media
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