Normal Rockstar

Twitter and Microblogging

Are you a texting fiend? If so, this website is for you. Twitter.com is one of the "new kids on the block" and seems to be making waves in the technology world. By using SMS technology, Twitter allows you to send updates to your "followers" from your phone directly to theirs. One "tweet" (text message) will go out to however many people are signed up to follow you. If you're familiar at all with Facebook.com and how their status update feature works, this is basically the same thing, except it goes directly to peoples' cell phones. In essence, this allows you to do what many are coining "microblogging" - there is a 140 character limit which basically allows you a couple of short sentences per "tweet". But the advantage is you can do from anywhere you are able to send text messages.

You'll notice I've added in the right-hand sidebar a list of my 5 most current "tweets" - you can follow along that way if you'd like. Or you can click on the "Follow Me on Twitter" link on the bottom (or just click here) and that will take you to my Twitter page where you can sign up to follow me there. I'm still getting used to it, but I can see the potential for a tool such as this. Just make sure you cell phone plan includes unlimited text messages - or else turn off the phone notifications before you sign up to follow anyone. That would be a nasty surprise in the mail!

I'm a Believer (in Craigslist)

Yesterday was enough to make me a believer in the potential of Craigslist. If you haven't heard about this website yet, I'm not quite sure what to say - you must be somewhat out of the "technological loop", as more than 25 million people in the US alone visit Craigslist every month. In brief, Craigslist is a website providing local classifieds and forums for 450 cities worldwide. It's not flashy - you don't go because the website looks so cool. You go because you can find what you want quickly and at a good price.

Two examples from yesterday alone:

1. My roommate is moving to Texas and needed to sell his car quickly. He posted his ad for free at 9:15am and within the first 15 minutes had 15 email inquiries. By 11:15am he had the cash - his car sold in two hours!!

2. Erin and I needed a washing machine as we've been using our roommates. We searched for a particular brand in our area in the price range we were looking for. I sent an email, arranged a time last night to go by and look at it, and we brought it home and installed it that night - the seller lived literally 3 minutes from our house.

So... We've been wanting to sell our car too, so I posted it this morning on Craigslist just to see what would happen. I've had one inquiry so far, but  I don't think it was anything serious. I guess we'll just see what happens. If you're interested in a '99 Acura Integra, check out the post - maybe I can sell it through my blog instead!

Choosing a Baby Name: How Googleable Will He/She Be?

My wife and I play this game fairly regularly. Just for the record - we're not pregnant, we're not trying to get pregnant... but - it must be a girl thing! - every so often she'll come home from work and say, "So what do you think of _______ for a girl's name? It's SOOO cute!" To which my non-committal male nature will respond, "It's an option..." (unless I really don't like it - then I'll just say it like it is!)

Well, I came across this post the other day by author and blogger extraordinaire Clive Thompson. I've been somewhat immersing myself in the blogosphere as I've just officially launched my new business - check it out at www.blogsites.biz - and I've been reading one of Clive's books. I checked out his blog and this post jumped out at me. According to a Wall Street Journal article back in the beginning of May, it seems that tech-savvy parents are choosing unusual names for themselves and their children so that they'll be more googleable.

I can TOTALLY see myself googling potential names for our future children. When my parents named me one of their concerns was to choose a name that didn't rhyme with anything, making it impossible for the kids to make fun of my name on the school playground. That was then... now we have reference Google to make sure it's a good name. Crazy how the world changes!

Any name suggestions?

Blogsites.biz Launches Today

Today marks the official launch of Blogsites.biz, a new company that I have taken over. Founded a year ago by my business partner Randy (of Ethos), Blogsites.biz began building and developing blogs on a strictly referral basis with virtually no web presence. In our first year of business we have worked with clients in a wide range of fields - real estate, auto sales, comedy, students, charitable organizations, etc.

I have only been with the company for a couple of months now, and am really enjoying the work. I've been blogging for nearly 3 years now and have really seen in recent years an increase in the value of having a blog. I'm looking forward to helping other people join the blogosphere, showing them (a) how easy it is to maintain a blog, and (b) how valuable it will be for them now and in the future. If you know of anyone we need to talk to, please either drop us a line or stop by Blogsites.biz and leave us a comment.