Something is technically wrong.

Thanks for noticing - we’re going to fix it up and have things back to normal soon.

That’s what I see when I go to Twitter.com now, and often for the last few hours.

That is, when I’m not seeing the message:
Oops! This link appears to be broken.

That’s a Chrome message, though.  Curious whether it was a browser issue, I tried Internet Explorer, and got this message:
Cannot find “http://www.twitter.com/” and
DNS Error - Server cannot be found.

It’s enough to make me want to log in to IM and ask, “Is The Twitter broken?”  I did, too.I would have Tweeted the question to my tweeps, but it’s like the old George Carlin joke, “Honk if your horn is broken.”  In this case it’s, “Tweet if Twitter is broken.”

Icons
I’m trying to figure out the different icons on the Twitter error screen.

Here’s a miniature version of it.

One might assume the icons would represent something so let’s look at them one at a time.

The Bird
The bird is the easiest one to figure out.  This is Twitter, after all, and we expect to see birds.  Chirp, chirp.

Notice the round shadow, apparently his feathers cast no shadow.

The Robot
Next is this robot guy.

I can guess he’s the fix-it guy and is going to make things better.

Honestly, I don’t find this little guy all that inspiring.  What do you think? 

The Robot Hand
This is a big reason The Robot is not very inspiring.  His hand seems to be missing in the picture above.

Fortunately, we have found the hand.  Maybe that’s why Twitter is broken.

The Clouds
I’m guessing the clouds are here to represent the sky, so the bird can have something to fly in, when he’s ready to fly.

When I go to status.twitter.com, I find that they apparently are having some issues:
Unscheduled downtime
41 minutes ago
We are investigating the problem and will update status shortly.
Update: We have found the problem and are working to correct.
Update: We have corrected a fatal software error. The site is back up.

Although it says it’s back up, I can only get on intermittently.  At least there’s no white whale, I am calling in Ishmael for the next time I see it…

--- Update 30 minutes later ---

Ahhhhh, there’s the whale!

Call out Ishmael!

Twitter is over capacity.
Too many tweets! Please wait a moment and try again.

Let’s see this become a Trending Topic!

Why you should #Follow these people

Rather than just send blind #FollowFriday or #FF recommendations, I thought I would take a tip from @sharonhayes and make a post about my favorite people.  This is my expanded Blog version of:

@concertreviewer #FollowFriday #FF @2tammytodd @metiche76 @joshuadenney @sharonhayes

Tammy Todd
First on my list is @2tammytodd

Tammy is a writer and reporter who writes for several online publications.  She can get away with this because she’s an expert in several topics.

She writes full time; it’s not only her passion, it’s her living.  Her most commonly read column is published in at examiner.com and is called NY Bargain Entertainment Examiner.  Tammy Todd is a freelance writer and comic who writes about the NYC scene. When it comes to bargain entertainment, Tammy can show you how to have fun in the Big Apple without the big price tag.

Quoting from her Twitter bio:  Writer/Reporter. My beat: NYC entertainment and Sports. Writing novel about being Native (Apache). Foodie, news/political junkie, into volunteering and music.

Why follow:  As a writer, Tammy expresses herself well.  She is talkative and is happy to engage her fans on Twitter.  She re-tweets interesting content.  As an expert on several topics, she is knowledgeable and can participate in diverse conversations.

Alycia Sevier-Johnson
Next on my list:  @metiche76

Alycia Sevier-Johnson (everyone calls her “Alice”) is a friend who goes to concerts with me and is fun to share music with on Twitter.

Passionate about music of all eras and of concerts, Alice is easy to talk to about your favorite band.

According to her Twitter bio, she is a “30 something blip-aholic and music fanatic.”

You can also find Alice on MySpace and Alice’s Blip.fm station, where you can listen to her music mix.

Why follow:  Alice is open and honest.  She re-tweets content about music and concerts, and will play music just for you on her music channel if you’re her friend!

Joshua Denney
Get to know @joshuadenney

Joshua does a lot of things online; and probably has the most diverse list of interests of any of my friends.  Despite this variety of interests, he still seems to be someone who needs a reason for everything he does.  So when he does something, it’s easy to trust that he has a true motive behind it.

He makes Web sites and knows a lot about online media.

From his Twitter bio:
I make music, manage talent, design things, write stuff, instill confidence, connect people and think a lot. I am also EXTREMELY funny.

Why follow:  Joshua is a willing-to-help kind of guy who wants to see other people succeed.  Unlike most Web developers you’ll meet on Twitter, he’ll remember your from day to day; that’s because he’s here for the community, not just himself.

Learn more about Joshua Denney here.

What did you think?
If you like the idea of posting a Blog article talking about why you should follow someone for #FollowFriday or #FF recommendations, instead of blindly listing them, post a comment and let me know!  If this is popular enough, I may do this every week.

Thank Sharon Hayes for this idea
Follow @sharonhayes for giving me the idea for this post.  It’s like a VAT - a Value Added Tweet.  Thanks Sharon Hayes!

Name Sharon Hayes
Location Canada
Web http://www.hayes.net
Bio Entrepreneur, Motivator, Domains Domainate.com, Email Marketing Listcast.com, @reply 4 follow ♥ music news tech fitness coffee green REI travel sushi smiles

Why follow:  Inspiring, real person.

 

Please follow me
If you are not already one of my followers, please follow me.  I am @concertreviewer

Why follow:
I write for examiner.com as a concert reviewer.  Find my professional column here.  I talk about music, concert events, and writing.  I help promote bands in the Los Angeles area.  I will Follow Back if you show me you’re a real person and not a spamming social marketer, and will re-tweet your content if I find it interesting or amusing.

#3words : 3 Words Hash Tags on Twitter

Recently I’ve seen a slew of #3words- hashtag conversations on Twitter.  These are amusing conversations about the topic listed in the hashtag.  (If you aren’t familiar with hashtags and how they are used on Twitter, I recommend you read the hashtags page at Twitter Fan Wiki.)

Technorati Tags: twitter

For example, some #3words- hashtag conversations have been so popular that they show up on the Trending Topics list.  #3breakupwords and #3wordsaftersex are two that appear as of the time of this writing.

To search these topics, click the link on the Trending Topics list, click the hash tag when it shows up on any Twitter stream, or enter the hashtag in the Twitter search box and click the Search button.

People come up with a three-word phrase that matches the topic at hand.  The goal is to be so fall-out-of-your-chair funny that people RT (Re-Tweet) the message.  Scrolling down the list, I can find three funny ones right away.  I like them enough to repeat them here:

• I’m not done
• I’ll try tomorrow
• Maybe next time

Once you have read enough to feel up to participating, send yours by typing the hashtag first, followed by your 3-word message, and then click Update.

Your message will appear on your follower’s pages, and on the hashtag list when someone does a search for that term.  Plus, if someone RTs your comment, more people will see it.

To learn about new hashtag conversations, visit hashtags.org and do a search for a term.  Enter a hashtag in the search box, and then click search.

To can see a list of all hashtags, click Tags, and then click directory.  Click a number or letter at the top, and then flip through the pages at the bottom.  As of the time of this writing, most good #3word conversations are on pages 45-48.

One thing I find personally amusing is misspelled hashtags, or hashtags where the author was trying to get “clever.”  There are many, many examples, but I will list some of my favorites here (click on any search terms below the screenshots to see!):

#3wordzaftersex #3wordzduringsex #3worfsaftersex #3workaftersex
#3workdslibshate #3worksyouusedaily #3worldsaftersex
#3worsaftersex #3worsafterwork #3worsdaftersex #3worsdsduringsex
#3worsduringsex

 
#3wordsafterse #3wordsaftersechs #3wordsaftersect #3wordsafterses
#3wordsaftersew

Yosean is Sean Arenas, the Los Angeles Concerts Examiner for examiner.com.

Practice what you Preach on Twitter

I’m constantly amused by the SEO marketers, affiliate marketers, Internet marketers, and other related fields who preach programs to gain tens of thousands of followers.  I’m especially amused when they don’t have that number of followers themselves.

I also can’t figure out people who have confusing bios – maybe it’s an “in” joke with their friends.

Witness Stewart Harding.  If Stewart had a surefire way to get tens of thousands of new Twitter followers, you would think that he would have tens of thousands of followers.  Let’s say at least ten thousand followers.  Certainly you would not expect him to have 2,143 followers.  When I see this, it tells me that his plan to get me tens of thousands of followers must not work well, or he would have used it himself.  You know the whole, “I’m not just the president, I’m a client” thing; where’s his proof of results?  This is like a bald man being the president of the hair club for men.

Here’s someone who knows how to get thousands of followers, but they have only 204 followers.

Somehow it doesn’t feel like strong “truth in advertising.”  The most confusing ting is I can’t figure out what to expect from this person.  Is their location Virginia?  North Carolina?  Pennsylvania?  Maryland?  South Carolina?  Where is she local to?  And the Bio is confusing also.

Take an account like @concertreviewer.

No claims to bring you more followers, no promise to grow your global enterprise, no suggestions on how to get tens of thousands of followers.  Just a statement about writing for examiner.com about concerts, and an e-mail address to contact if you are in a band.

Next we look at @2tammytodd. 

Again, no claims to gain thousands of followers and earn money on Twitter, but a statement about what to expect if you follow her.

Also notice that she has more followers than either of the people who claim to know secrets about getting thousands of followers.

Now we see the profile of @joshuadenney.

Again, thousands of followers without telling you how to get them yourself.  His bio tells you all about him, although it’s hard to tell how much of it is honest.  There is that last sentence to consider.

I have recently gone on an UnFollow Frenzy (which I used to do only on #UnFollowFriday) and have removed many, many SEO marketers and affiliate marketers.  I’m much more happy now to not have their spam stream, and if they UnFollow Back, I’m OK with that too.  They weren’t going to be interested in my message.

The point here is:  Be honest with your profile.  If you tell me you know the secret to get 90,000 followers in 90 days (an actual claim I’ve seen), you had better have more than 90,000 followers.  If you follow three times as many people as you have following you, I probably don’t want your secret to getting new followers.

LA Concerts Examiner: Trent Reznor – social marketing and sc

Info on Nine Inch Nails and Jane's Addiction concert tour. Trent Reznor on ticket scalpers. Trent Reznor on social marketing.

read more | digg story

LA Concert Examiner – Sean Arenas

I recently applied to be the Los Angeles Concert Examiner at examiner.com.

Fortunately I had a very nice referrer, @2tammytodd.  She is the NY Bargain Entertainment Examiner and has many articles to her name.  Check out her page if you’re going to be in the area and are looking for some things to do that aren’t hideously expensive!

I showed them my credentials:

• Your Concert Reviewer (yourconcertreviewer.com, my concert review Blog)
• TSI Show (tsishow.com, the technical support comedy series I write and produce)
• You Park Rudely (youparkrudely.com, where I post pictures of rudely parked cars)

(well OK, I didn’t show them the last one…)

Apparently my credentials and my reference were good enough as I am now the official LA Concert Examiner.

I posted my first article last night.  It’s about the NINJA2009 tour, Trent Reznor, ticket scalpers, and how Trent uses social media to connect with fans.  I also give away some presale codes that are active in 5 minutes, check it out!

The Do Not Call Service is Broken

4/30/2009 at 7:45pm, the next in a series of calls from 407-658-4336 and other related numbers comes through.

This is a follow up to my previous post about still receiving telemarketing calls despite being on DNC.

We’ve been registered with the Do Not Call registry for several years.  In general, I suppose we’re very pleased with it – but it’s hard to tell.  How many calls did it stop?  I don’t know.  I can only tell you about the calls that it did not stop.

Here’s a few others (all this year):
561-649-9574 - car warranty going to expire
305-382-1991 - lower credit card rates
561-784-9844 - car warranty
850-432-3928

Each time, I report them to the Do Not Call registry at https://donotcall.gov/.  The theory here is that you register your phone number, and 31 days later you shouldn’t get any more calls.  If you do, you report them.  I’ve been reporting these Florida companies (or “this Florida company,” I suspect it’s one company that just gets phone numbers in different area codes) for years, but DNC hasn’t stopped them.

Do you know why?  I think that it’s not DNC’s job to stop them.  DNC just maintains a list of people who don’t want to get soliciting phone calls, and phone soliciting companies are supposed to get a copy of that list once a month, and not call people on the list.  That’s why 31 days after you sign up, you shouldn’t get calls.

But what about companies that don’t look at that list?  How is it that I get 1-2 calls a month from Florida to sell me a car warranty, new credit card, etc.?  Not only that, but they use an automated dialer which asks me to wait until a person gets on the phone – which is explicitly against the Call Abandonment (and Safe Harbor) rule.

So I e-mail DNC and tell them I keep getting calls and ask them to do something about it.  They reply with text stating that 31 days after I register, the calls should stop, and if they don’t, report them at their site.

I replied and said that I’ve already done that many times, as I had stated in my original e-mail, and that I’ve looked on the Internet and many other people have also reported the same numbers to DNC.  So, it needs to stop.

They replied again with even more quoted paragraphs and rules, including several links (many of which were broken).  They then end the e-mail stating that if I am still receiving calls from telemarketers, that I should contact my state attorney general.  So, I go to http://www.ag.ca.gov/ and he’s got a button for Do Not Call.  It leads to the DNC site.  So, I click his Contact Link.  At http://ag.ca.gov/contact.php I see a link for filing a complaint about Do Not Call, which leads to the DNC site.

So basically they are agencies who just point fingers at each other and tell me they aren’t the ones who can help.

How do you stop getting telemarketing calls?