Tweetup Etiquette, Vol. 1

I go to a lot of tweetups. (Find a definition here, as I’m too lazy to bother.) The ecosystem that rapidly takes shape at the average tweetup could sustain years of sociological study. For me, it gives me about 15 minutes of amusement before I duck out to charge my iPhone again.

What I’ve discovered is that most people act a fool at tweetups. And that’s not acceptable, though it is hysterical. This is part of a series of tweetup etiquette nuggets, so I encourage you to print them out and add them to your scrapbook.

No one cares that you’re a Twitter veteran
When you’re at a tweetup, you might end up chatting with someone who is quick to point out how long they have been on Twitter. While it’s true that Twitter sends its longtime users trophies, medallions and rare trinkets, it’s poor form to go boasting about it in public.

This is something I’m guilty of myself. I ninja’d my way onto the Twitter freighter in June 2007. Does my 2.5 years of Twitter “experience” mean much in social situations? No, it doesn’t. And I should be slapped across my smarmy face for thinking such nonsense.

Most people boast about that kind of thing because it’s a seemingly easy way to feel superior. That’s dumb. If I bring it up at all, it’s to illustrate how much the site has changed since then, which I find fascinating.

So, the next time you’re at a tweetup and someone asserts themselves haughtily because of their Twitter tenure, please slap them across the face. And if it’s me, slap me twice. I go for that.

What to Do During Twitter’s Scheduled Maintenance

Twitter will be down tonight as part of its scheduled maintenance. For those of us in Colorado, Twitter will be down from midnight to 2am. If you’re one of those folks who stays up late catching up on tweets (and learning how you can have perfectly white teeth for only a couple bucks), you might be at a loss as to how to spend that time.

Fear not, I’m here for you sleep-deprived zombies. Here are three things you can do during Twitter’s downtime:

Hop over to Yelp and review the last couple of places you had lunch. Businesses love your feedback, and so does Laura L., community manager for Yelp Denver. Be constructive, be fair and please proofread what you write. Which leads to No. 2…

Work on your grammar and spelling. Last week I chatted with Mignon Fogarty, host of the peerless Grammar Girl podcast, and she concurred that Twitter is home to some pretty appalling displays of poor grammar and spelling. Take this time to review your last few pages of updates, and assess how well you’re communicating. Specifically, learn the difference between its and it’s.

Unfriend some people. The Oxford University Press recently named “unfriend” its word of the year. In celebration of this feat, spend a few minutes unfriending, unfollowing and unfanning those users who plague your social media salad with fail sauce. It’s cathartic and will make you more attractive to the opposite sex.

There you go! By the time you’ve done the above, Twitter will be up and running and you can be micro-hilarious all over again. Yay! I would advise you to get some sleep instead of playing on Twitter, but that level of consideration makes me uneasy. I only want the worst for you. Enjoy!

Are Professional Headshots in Social Media a Bad Idea?

I was trolling #journchat last night, periodically weighing in with my usual blend of calculated nonsense when I found something worth blogging about. I think a lot of new grads and job seekers read Socialbyte, so I thought it would be extra intriguing for those peeps.

(For the record, #journchat is a weekly tweetchat centering on media, PR, journalism and social media. Questions are asked, and loads of Twitter peeps respond. It’s a gas, and I recommend checking it out sometime.)

One of the questions put forth was “What can new graduates do to market themselves, esp. online?”

My response was “New grads should leave the headshot at home when marketing themselves online. So hideously formal. Ew.”

A conversation happily ensued with folks weighing in on different aspects of professional portraits and their utility in the social web. Some pointed out that broadcast professionals’ credibility is tied to their faces and that starchy portraiture is the only means of capturing their austere stewardship. Others implied (privately) that a lack of work experience can be somewhat mitigated by a professionally captured photo.

I have never found a use for my professional headshot that didn’t end in ridicule. Largely because I don’t care about being a professional. I’d rather be personable. And I think that’s a better bet for most new grads who are trying to market themselves online. So when it comes to selecting an avatar for any social network (whether it’s Twitter or Gowalla), I would advise against anything too stiff.

Here’s mine. Incidentally, the file name is dorkasaurus.jpg.

I should clarify that some professional shots are totally sweet. The ones that are lively and artistic. Lots of my friends are photographers, and they’re capable of amazing portraits. For the purposes of this post, I’m talking about the suit & tie, studio background, “Did someone say insurance?” kind of photos.

When I see professional headshots on Twitter, I brace myself for a sales pitch. There are exceptions – there are ALWAYS exceptions – but for the most part, a dressy photo trips an alarm in my pointy head.

What do you think? Is it peachy to rock a formal headshot in social media?