realweenie

We Are The Twitterati

By @mizzle, @gingerw, @HouseChick, and @tcar

Recently, our friend Greg Swann referred to some people in RE.net as The Twitterati. Who exactly he was addressing, we don't know. It didn't sound like a compliment. But damn. That's a great name! We're claiming it.

We are The Twitterati. The coolest clique on RE.net.  Are you a member?  Maybe you are, without even knowing it.

If you're in this picture, or can identify everyone in it, you're absolutely Twitterati.

• If you are a master at responding to EVERYTHING in 140 characters or less … You are the Twitterati
• If the first things you do when you sign up for things like blip.fm or dailymugshot is look for the auto-Twitter-notifier …
• If you won't sign up for any social network that DOESN't auto-notify Twitter...
• If your friends call you by your Twitter name IRL (In Real Life)...
• If you've known for forgetting the D at inopportune moments...
• If you've ever been in a Twhirl vs. TweetDeck debate...
• If you secretly look up other people's Twitter Grader, then try to scheme out ways to bump up your grade...

If you make a business decision to purchase 600 bumper stickers with your twitter name ONLY on it because you know SOME people will "get" it … then YOU and those people who "get" it are DEFINITELY the Twitterati.

• If you ever leave a comment on a blog post using your Twitter name and a link to your Twitter profile instead of your name and website … You are the Twitterati.
• If people tweet how excited they were to have met you...
• If you have Twinkle, Halo, Twitterific and Twitter Mobile on your iPhone, and are still wishing for something more ideal...
• If you've ever dropped the F-Bomb on the CEO of Zappos.com via Twitter... (sorry about that)
• If people tweet, wondering where you're at when you haven't tweeted in a few hours...
• If people follow you just to join in on the twittercizing...
• If you've ever worn an @Mizzle tie...

• If you follow @NARSocialMedia on Twitter, and think it's for real, you're NOT Twitterati!
• If you've ever used the term "wiffle bat orgy" or "more cowbell" you are Twitterati...
• If you can never again listen to "It Takes Two" from M.C. Rob Base without laughing...
• If you're married to Mr. HouseChick or Mr. Mizzle...
• If you own both twitternames @mrhousechick and @mrmizzle...
• If you have to write your twitter name under your real name on nametags to have your friends recognize you, you might be Twitterati.
• If you ever replaced your Twitter Icon with something that said e-Twit, you need help … I mean you are the Twitterati.
• If you know the qualifications for e-Twit without having to look it up...
• If people who AREN'T in the real estate business know your Twitter name, and EVER reference you by it …
• If your children have ever called you by your Twitter name …
• If you ever tried to explain Twitter to someone only to give up half-way through the conversation...
• If you've ever declared a Twitter-hiatus and you only lasted 45 minutes in the cold silence of a Twitterless world, you might be Twitterati.
• If you secretly wish for Fail Whale schwag, you might be Twitterati.
• If an item you wear in your Twitter avatar is now a social object...
• If you have jewelry custom made with the @ symbol, you are Twitterati...
• If you've ever been in a blip war...
• If you miss McLovin...
• If you're thinking of lobby-conning Inman Connect New York, just because you want to go to the parties...
• If you've been to an Altos Research After, After Hours Party, you're Twitterati for life.

And finally, if you have been to more than one Altos After After Party, you're not just Twitterati, but Twitterati SUPER elite.

Are you Twitteratti? Tell us why.

Joe Six Pack for president

Hey buddy can you spare a dime?

Thought I would write a few words on this my blog of mass destruction cleverly disguised as a hot dog stand.

Business is slow for me right now.  I know that I am the only Realtor out there who is experiencing a slow down.  Business is always fantastic, for those who have the right attitude.

I feel like a loser because the housing market has contracted a bit locally and I am the agent who ended up with less business this month.  Everyone else is happily going about their business and making a ton of money.  I feel so left out.

It is all about attitude and frankly mine sucks right now.  There I said it.

Maybe if you are not too busy today you could stop by the weenie and give me some words of advice. 

Conventions

This is what the convention looks like to me. I won't say which convention because if I put a tag on this post or a keyword in it the red white and blue elephant who has been following me for days will put it out on twitter.  After 5 days of having my tweets broadcast by the elephant and hearing choppers all day long my last nerve is shot.  With that happy thought in mind, I write on the weenie knowing that my words will be safe from the relentless, but clueless red white and blue elephant, and that the choppers don't seem to be following me on twitter.

Another Splogger

I found another splogger scraping content from the Re-blogosphere.  Stop by, find your content and send out your cease and desist email.  These slime bags should be thrown off the internet.
http://blog.nodebtmortgage.com/

Bullies on the Internet

Yes, hard as it is to imagine there are bullies on the internet. 

When a blog is read and if it is successful the bullies will come, just like the spam and the telemarketers.  Why? Simple, they are jealous.  You know you have made it when you have a couple of bullies, and assorted hecklers hanging out on your blog.

Bullies come onto our blogs for a couple of reasons.  They are jealous and they crave attention, they want to be a part of the conversation.  Keep in mind that blogs that do not get read, don't attract bullies either.

When we engage them we are letting them take over our conversation and giving them power.  When we ignore them they go away, because they are not getting what they want.  We don't have to act as gracious hosts to every conversation that happens on our blogs, we can choose not to participate.   

It is easy to ignore bullies but it seems to be easier for most to engage them and try to win.  You really can't win, you just end up looking as bad as they do.  The stuff we write on the internet stays there forever. I smile when I think of some of the things I have read that were written by some of the arrogant asses out there.  I wonder what their grandchildren will think of them when they find it, or a future employer.  Does their mom know they talk like that?

What we put out there is what we get back.  Take comfort in that thought.  We don't need to fight with bullies, they are doing a fine job of self destructing on their own.

Overcoming Objections

I get calls from people selling stuff.  They find me through my blogs, and call me while I am in my car.  Yesterday this guy called while I was in my car.  He wanted to sell me a sales course on DVD about over coming objections.  Since the caller is also in sales I asked him if he ever took the course and he said he had.  Guess I had a little extra time becasue I was stuck on the freeway and maybe I was in an evil mood.

I let him pitch his product and listened without interrupting  even though it almost killed me . . no it didn't almost kill me it was the semi that decided to switch to my lane but wanted to be where I was instead of ahead of me or behind me.

When he finished his pitch, I started raising my objections.  I asked him why I would want to overcome objections.  He didn't have an answer for me so I asked him how much the DVD's cost.  He said $199.00, I said well I guess for a dollar and 99 cents I could take a chance.  He said that he meant one hundred and ninety nine dollars.  I said you have to be kidding, I buy DVD's all the time and get 50 or so for less that $20.00. 

I told him i didn't want to pay that much for a DVD, I even used the words "I object".  He told me that the $199 is a one time discount price.  I said you have got to be kidding, you mean you charge more than that for a single DVD?  I told him that I need the $199 to pay my cell phone bill because of all the telemarketers.  He didn't know what to say.  I suggested that the training course must not work very well because he was not able to over come any of my objections.  Usually I am the one who hangs up when sales people cold call, but he beat me to it and hung up first.

Yes I am also in sales but I don't cold call.  I know I should care if this total stranger who calls me while I am in my car has a job or not but I don't.   I am still laughing. 

Stop Thief

If you are a real estate or mortgage blogger please check this site to see if it has any of your content on it:
ireference(dot)org

Looks like there was a problem with some "previous blog hosts"  Gee I hope I didn't cause any problems. :)

If any readers out there are getting the impression that I hate plagerism you are correct.  Vendors are always trying to sell me something.  Here is an idea for a great new product.  Splogs use my feed to draw content off of my blog and populate their own blogs with it.  The RSS feed makes content theft easier that ever before.  I can go into "uncommon uses" in feedburner and see where my content is going.  I would love it if I could just click a button and disconnect the feed.

I could change my feed so that it just feeds an excerpt but I don't want to.  Feed excerpts are annoying and I will lose subscribers if I go that route.

How to Have fun with a thief

Just for fun I changed some file names and uploaded some new pictures.  The blog that is stealing my content is proudly displaying this as part of a post.  My own blog still has the real pictures, I just changed the file names.  Hate to give a thief traffic but take a peek:  http://ireference.org/real-estate/minnesota/20071206/sculptures/

This one was fun too:  http://ireference.org/real-estate/minnesota/20071209/writers-block/

Have a great day and don't even think about taking my stuff. :)

Prostitution on the Internet

This is one of those very rare times when I won’t include  a picture with my post.

I do admire the way the Active Rain network supports freedom of speech.  On the other hand I wouldn’t want my local content right out there with posts like this one:Indian Escort

There really isn’t a need for me to say more.  The post has been flagged by members of the network but it will most likely remain on the Rain.

The post was taken down about an hour after I wrote this.  Jonathan Washburn of Active Rain stopped by to say Hah!

Jon, I took a screen print

(Click on print to make it larger)

Thanks for taking it down.  It was posted at 2:30 this morning.  It was up until this post was written.  There has to be a way to monitor the network without inhibiting freedom of speech.  The post was flagged by members the first time I saw it early this morning, yet it remained up.