OK, feel free to categorize this post in the filing cabinet of rants because I am writing these words out of utter frustration of watching close friends and relatives turn into full-fledged internet spammers. No, they are not trying to sell me Viagra, but they might as well be! I am talking about friends wasting my time trying to convince me to “Like” their Facebook page, which if I would oblige, would not only be completely spammy, but it would also be completely ineffective. Let’s take a step back…

While I will reference Facebook business pages throughout this post, I am not in any way implying that the very same annoyances and guidelines do not apply to tweets, shares, +1s, or any other kind of social media promotion. They do! And they all have to stop!

There is of course a direct correlation between the number of friends/followers/circles a friend has on the various platforms to the amount of requests he/she receives to promote their friends’ content.

In some cases, the request is a legitimate one. I write, tweet, and post about tech. If we are friends and you have a technology startup or have developed a truly innovative technology, feel free to ask me to “Like” it. I will be happy to in nine out of ten cases.

If, however, you sell jewelry, women’s wigs, nursing ponchos, art, or anything else not related to my interests, please PLEASE do not ask me to “Like” your page, tweet your content and share your products. “Why not? Don’t you call yourself a friend? Why can’t you help me out?” Ahh, the million dollar question I get a hundred times a day.

The answer is yes, I do consider myself a friend and no, I will not do what you are asking because your assumption is that doing so will promote your cause, it won’t!

Here is why I am being such a ____:

 Let’s Think About What you’re Asking for a Second

So why do you want me to like your page or tweet your content? I am assuming it is because I have built an extensive and loyal following or network over the years. I am assuming it is because you want to drive eyeballs to your brand or win some contest by getting all my friends to like your comment or post.

So let’s break this down for a second. You want me to take this network, which I spent years building and spam them by promoting a cause, which is in no way connected to the reason they so loyally follow or read my content?

You, of course realize that when I like that page, it will then show up in the feed of all my friends, that is why you’re asking what you’re asking. Apparently, many of you have yet to figure out that when I like a page, I am not just adding a number to the likes count. I am actively promoting that brand/cause. Now if I spent my time on Facebook sharing and promoting totally random content without any goals, then I would be happy to like away.

If, however, a person either works in the field of online marketing, is trying to build an audience that will turn to him/her for expertise, or is trying to brand himself as a source of information on a certain topic, do they really want to be liking every irrelevant page sent to them by them friends, relatives, and acquaintances? Remember, by liking this page, that person is putting up a billboard on the front of their house that they endorse this product or brand. But is that the reality?

The next time you ask me to like your page, please make sure it is somewhat relevant and if not, please do not be offended when i decline your kind offer, ignore the request, or unfriend you in some extreme cases… I will leave you with the question “Don’t YOU consider yourself a friend? How can YOU ask me to spam my friends?

Thanks. Moving along…

Does it Even Work? What Will you Accomplish?

Let’s play a game. Let’s assume for a second that I am willing to promote anything you ask me to. I am willing to take advantage of my friends and followers to promote your wigs, despite my audience having zero interest in your space. Will it work?

Well, put yourself in the place of my friends. I share my articles about tech and on occasion (ok, a little more than that), I share pictures of the food I am about to inhale. You have gotten used to it by now. Five posts about tech, one post about food…

Then one day, you are minding your own business reading your Facebook feed and low and behold, Hillel Fuld liked a new and upcoming jewelry designer. What will you do? Click on the page? Like it? Or, will you ignore it knowing it is either spam (the real kind, as in my account was hacked) or me trying to promote something for a friend or family member? I don’t know about you, but I am ignoring that crap.

But, wait, there’s more. Ever hear the story of the Boy that Cried Wolf? Great. Then you know what happens when I share post after post promoting something I am being asked to. When the time comes for me to promote my own cause, my own blog posts, or my own company, you know who won’t be clicking, right?

So, not only are you not achieving your goals by asking me to like your irrelevant page, you are actually directly causing harm to my goals and preventing me from achieving them. Did I say thank you yet?

In conclusion, nothing good has ever come out of spamming your friends and family asking for likes or tweets. You might win that contest in the short-term but you are actively contributing to the deterioration of your friends’ ability to generate clicks, traffic, as well as integrity.

More importantly though, you are taking an active role in undermining the fundamental principle of social media and online marketing. Is that what you were aiming to achieve? If not, stop asking me to like your completely irrelevant Facebook page or tweet your completely irrelevant blog post. Thank you in advance.

OK, maybe the title is a little dramatic, not EVERY single human being needs a blog, but if you are reading these words right now, then yes, you need a blog. I’ll explain.

If you are reading this blog, chances are you are someone who works or hangs out on the Web. OK, if you just dialed into the internet with your AOL connection and just happened to stumble upon this post from a Yahoo search, then no, this post is not for you.

If, however, you are part of the other 99% of people between the ages of 15-50 who realize the Web is where all the cool kids are hanging out, then start a blog. Right now.

Here’s why:

Your Business Card/Resume

Yes, people still give out business cards and still send CVs, but it won’t be long before that stops. Your blog is going to become who you are very soon, and in my case, it has been years since I gave anyone a business card. If we meet and you are interested in learning more about me, twenty seconds on this blog, or this blog, or this blog, will give you everything you need to know.

I write about technology, but you should write about whatever topic interests you and excites you. Whatever you do, start the blog for the right reason, which is passion. I have heard many people say “But I am not passionate about anything”. I’m sorry, but I refuse to believe that. Every person has some topic that gets them going. Whether it’s tech, fashion, movies, food, gossip, or any other topic, there is something that interests you in the world. Forget how competitive the niche that you choose is, offer your own unique angle on the topic and start writing.

“But I don’t write well!”. Then there is yet another reason to start a blog. There is no need to share it right away. Write for yourself, improve your writing skills and articulate your thoughts. I did that five years ago with absolutely no plans of monetizing the site, branding myself, or driving traffic. I just had thoughts on mobile, so I decided to jot them down.

If you follow me online, you know the result. I now guest post for sites like Mashable, Gigaom, Business Insider, and many more. All my social media activity started five or so years ago when, one day, I just decided to start writing my thoughts down. Do it, you will thank me later.

Your Voice

Whatever topic you choose to write about, as I mentioned, make sure it is something you are passionate about. The number of other sites that write about that topic should not be a concern for you. This blog that you are going to start right after reading this post, is yours. It is your voice, and there can be ten million other sites writing about the same topic, but none of them have your voice.

While the competition out there should not be something you take into consideration when starting your blog, your consistency should. If you are going to do this, and YOU ARE going to do this, you need to go all in. You need to be prepared to take this seriously because again, this is going to be your future home on the worldwide web. So  updating your new and awesome blog once a month, or even once a week, ain’t gonna cut it.

I know this sounds scary but it is not. I write two to three blog posts a day for the past three years and I realize not everyone is as passionate about anything as I am about tech, but even if you post a video, which takes 20 seconds, or a 100 word post, which will take you 10 minutes, the key is consistency.

If you want a concrete number, I would say aim for a post a day. Why? Because then people know to come by every day and see what you shared with them today. Because then, your content database will grow so much by the end of one year that your SEO will already start driving you traffic.

I will give you one example. Over a year ago, I wrote this post. Now, a year later, that post is on the first page of Google results for the word “Instagram”. The traffic is astronomical. That is one of many examples of posts I wrote that drive me traffic long after they were written.

Write as many posts as you can and you never know what post will drive you thousands of readers even a whole year later.

Your Branding

At the risk of sounding egotistical, I think my case is important for anyone who is looking to brand themselves online. And by the way, again, if you are anywhere near the internet, you should want to brand yourself online, at least to a minimal level that when someone searches for you, they immediately know who you are.

Like I said, I started blogging one day five years ago, for no apparent reason, besides the fact that I had what to say on topics of mobile technology and the Web. Now, after five years of consistent blogging, I am widely and (ridiculously) considered an expert on topics of mobile and web. I do think I know a thing or two about these topics, this is not false modesty here, but I never had any official training on these highly technical subjects. All I did was write a blog.

Yet, I have been quoted on CNN, TechCrunch, Mashable, TheNextWeb, and many more as an “expert”. I  have interviewed industry shakers such as Scoble, Mossberg, Kawasaki, Gary, and so many others. I even have my favorite childhood actress reading my content regularly.

At the end of the day, all this happened from that one ordinary day, in which I just decided to start blogging. It used to take thousands of dollars and a marketing agency who specialized in branding to single-handedly create a brand,  now it is free and it takes ten minutes a day.

Just Do it!

As I write this post, I realize I have so much more to say about this topic. I also realize that my point here is somewhat controversial and many will think I am nuts, but I truly believe that a blog is an incredible medium and platform for any human being to build themselves up and communicate with an audience. If you are going to take my advice and start a blog, you can use WordPress to author it if you plan on taking it very seriously. If, however, you want to be able to jot down your thoughts with no bells and whistles, Tumblr might be for you.

The one thing I will say is that you can ignore this entire post if you plan on taking the “Facebook approach” to blogging. What I mean is that many view Twitter and blogging like Facebook, that they go in once in a while, check out what’s up, and leave till the next time. While blogging does not take long, most of the time, it requires a certain level of dedication and consistency, as does Twitter.

If you are going to attack this project with the dedication it deserves, you won’t see the results in a week, month, or even a few months. I would say, for the sake of giving some sort of concrete prediction, that if you go at this for a whole year, every day, or at least 5 times a week, you will start seeing serious traffic and begin bearing the fruit of your labor. Now, go get blogging!

This post is long overdue, firstly because I have neglected this site for way too long due to most of my content going here, here, here, and here. More importantly though, this post is overdue because as social media becomes more and more mainstream every day, with some help from Google, more people take the leap and join services like Twitter and Google+.

Every time another friend joins Twitter, I notice they all make the same basic mistakes and I end up spending extended periods of time explaining to them what they did wrong when they ask me why they are not getting millions of followers. I figured, why not get it in writing and send people the link from now on.

Well, if you are new to Twitter, I highly recommend you read this complete Twitter guide I have written on how to get started. It includes tips on what to do, what not to do, who to follow, as well as a comprehensive list of terms you need to know. Now back to our topic…

To be honest, I am well aware that I am going to get yelled at that there is no right way to tweet and that is fine. Everyone is more than welcome to use the platform as they see fit, I am just giving my opinion on how to succeed on Twitter and how to fail miserably. Take it or leave it.

I’m Begging you Not to Beg

I have been building up my Twitter network for close to four years now with close to 100,000 tweets, 21,786 followers, and have been placed on over 1,700 lists. That took me four years of blogging, tweeting, retweeting, and most importantly, replying. Let’s assume for a second that me following you is going to advance your goal of getting a lot of followers for a second, which it won’t, why is that something I should do?

You just joined Twitter, you have no content, and you offer no value to the people I have built a trusting relationship with for four years. Why should I tell them to follow you? Better yet, why should I follow you myself? How about you invest the time that others have invested, interact, engage, and contribute, which will help you build your network organically? Yes, it takes longer, but not only is it the right way of going about this, it will also benefit you in the end because those followers will be people who are truly interested in what you have to say and not people who just clicked the Follow button because someone asked them to.

Spamming Will Get you Nowhere

If you decided to join Twitter, chances are you heard that your favorite celebrity is tweeting day and night and you figured you could get them to interact with you. If that is the case and your Twitter strategy, close this post, then go disable your Twitter account. If you are still reading, chances are you realize why that is a ridiculous and childish way to approach this. You know what else is ridiculous? Using spammy tools to increase followers, sending Auto DMs thanking people for following you and directing them to your Facebook page, and sending the same pitch in 100 consecutive tweets to influencers who you think will drive traffic to your business.

@aplusk i have a great Mobile Company for traffic, transit And parking solutions. I will like to send You some information. You like tech!

— Nacho Viale (@nachoviale) January 18, 2012

Twitter takes time if you want to see real results. Repeat that sentence to yourself f̶i̶v̶e̶ ten times. You are going to have to forget everything you heard about Ashton Kutcher and his 700 bazillion followers and do the leg work. That means follow relevant people, create a complete and interesting bio with a profile picture, and start tweeting interesting content. Then reply to people and once you’re done with that, reply some more.

Based on Twtrland, a service I would recommend using regularly, close to 80% of all my tweets are replies. If you follow me on Twitter, you know that for me not to respond to you, you have to say something extremely unintelligent or annoying. I respond to everyone, whether they have 10 followers or 500,000 followers. Is that scalable? Yes, I have been doing it for years and I get over 300 replies a day. You can handle it too.

Trolls Trump Spammers

Honestly, the only thing worse than spammers are trolls. In case you are a normal person and have no idea what an internet troll is, first of all, I am jealous of you, and second of all, let me explain. I cannot explain the psychology behind trolls because every atom in my body tells me never to behave that way, but unfortunately, I have seen way too much trolling lately, I just had to include it.

So what is a troll? A person who has the mistaken impression that if they comment on a blog post and call you a derogatory name or use profanity to express their utter disagreement with your content, that you will engage them and help them get exposure. I must admit, I have to learn from the big guys how not to let trolls get to me. I have yet to succeed. Of course, these trolls do not stick to blogs, they send you nasty comments on Twitter, hoping you will respond in an extreme manner, which will then generate curiosity among your followers, thereby increasing their audience.

Not only does this not work due to technical reasons, it will not in any way help you reach your ultimate goal of building a loyal and captured audience. At best, you will get a few followers that will unfollow you in a matter of days when they notice your pattern of trolling people across the Web. So to summarize in four words… Don’t be a troll!

Final Thoughts

For the sake of keeping this post short (oh, that’s another thing, keep things short and to the point on Twitter), I am going to stop here, but don’t think for a second that there are not other things you need to learn along the way, there are. Many. Try to bring value, offer your own unique content or at least your own take on other’s content. Don’t tweet the same format every single time “New Blog post:<Title>” for example.

But if you take away one thing from this post, remember this. Social media, and Twitter included, is nothing more than a platform to help you communicate. Communicate, not broadcast. What you would do in a real life conversation, you should do on Twitter and more importantly, what you would never do in a real life conversation, please, for the sake of your followers, the platform as a whole, and for yourself, don’t do on Twitter.

OK, this is just getting ridiculous and I waited long enough to write this post. Technology moves fast, I get it, but there’s fast, and then there’s the pace at which the world of social media has been moving over the past few months.

To be honest, it is in no one’s best interest to keep this up, not the companies behind the various platforms, not the advertisers who use these platforms to promote their brand, and most definitely not the users of these platforms.

Allow me to take a few steps back and make a disclaimer. I am fully aware that I am what’s known as an “Early adopter” and I feel the compulsive and illogical need to try every new toy. When I say toy, I don’t mean a new phone or gadget, that goes without saying. I am referring to the new type of toy, a.k.a “social app”, a.k.a “social network”.

I have not tried them all because that would literally be impossible assuming eating and performing other bodily functions are still a priority in my life. I have, however, tried every single social app/platform that has gotten even a hint of traction among the tech community. Let’s take a look at what I am talking about here.

Facebook, Twitter, Linkedin, Google+, those are the no-brainers. Then we have Foursquare (should be part of the no-brainers?) Path, Instagram (Apple’s App of the year for 2011 by the way), Oink, Stamped, WhatsApp (well, it is kind of a social network if you think about it), Dapsem, Batch, Mobli, Color and Chime in.

Those are just the ones that come to my mind and by the time I finish this post, the list of social networks I have joined in the past year will have doubled in my head, but let’s leave it at these.

Mind you, when (almost) every single one of the above networks launched, it was named “The next big thing” by at least one if not all of the top tech blogs. I know, I know, just because TechCrunch says it is a hot app and the company raised $40 million does not mean I have to try it. Well, actually, ii kind of does. Put aside the fact that as a “tech enthusiast”, I don’t exactly like the thought of waking up one day to discover that everyone who is anyone is on some new network I never heard of and I am missing all the fun.

There is that other thing called work. I work in this space, the mobile, social, Web space, that is. I have to stay up to date, and besides, if we have learned anything from the tech industry in the last few years, it is that early adopters set the trends that the “normal folks” then follow. It happens nearly every time.

So many people, including myself, have asked me (I mean I ask myself this question daily), how the heck I am supposed to keep up with all these networks? I mean, the world of apps is moving just as fast but that is different. An exciting app is released, I try it, like it or don’t, then close it and either delete it or use it again in a few months time. Social networks require time, energy, thought, and dedication if you want to succeed.

The answer is, I don’t keep up. I fall behind daily. Now, I know what you’re saying to yourself (again, I am kind of a prophet.), “who cares if you fall behind? What harm does that cause you or anyone else?” Good question, I thought you’d never ask!

Well, since the basic premise of social networking (I hate that phrase more than words can describe) is relationships and engagement, I need to be able to tell someone on Twitter that their recent Instagram photo was awesome or that they need to get more sleep based on their recent Path activity. Well, I don’t need to, but that is the name of the game in this space.

So what are we going to do? Are we (and by we, I mean us psycho social media and technology junkies) doomed? Are we setting ourselves up for failure? Well, possibly, but in reality, there is a simple solution to all of this.

If you got this far in the post, then you are a loyal reader and you deserve to be rewarded as such, so here is a million dollar secret. If you create the app I am about to describe, you WILL make it big and I won’t even ask for a cut of it.

Someone needs to create the all-in-one social app. What do I mean? Well, almost every one of the networks mentioned above has an API, which means other apps can tap into its network. That is how I post pictures on Foursquare from Instagram and share a thought on Twitter from Path. On this front, Google+ is falling behind, but the full Google+ API will be out momentarily…

Why is there not one app that will enable me to upload all the content types Path supports, which includes photos, videos, text, music, location, people (tagging), and current status? Once I choose what to upload, I then decide which network to share it with! But it has to have all of them integrated.

I mean some things are relevant for my Facebook friends, and others are relevant for my Twitter followers. Some things I only want to share on Instagram, and others only on Path. When I “Oink” something (yes, that is the name of the app. I can’t make this stuff up), why not be able to share it with my Stamped community or my Linkedin connections? It just makes so much sense.

Now, it is true that many if not all of these platforms are competing with one another, but let’s say it as it is. Facebook and possibly Twitter aside, each and every one of these networks are losing more than they are gaining by not joining forces with the other networks.

Of course, the problem with such an app is that new platforms are introduced daily and to stay relevant the developer of this all in one social app would have to stay up all night every night in order to keep the app up to date. The way I see it, either this developer and his team drive themselves nuts over keeping this app up to date, or millions of people like myself and (let’s be honest, you too if you are reading this post) lose their sanity by trying to tread water in the wild waters of social media. I think we have a clear winner. So, someone please make that app pronto!

Of course the other possible solution to this social media headache is to forget it all, and actually live my life instead of tweeting about it, but c’mon, that is just crazy talk!

Twitter, as a company, has made its share of mistakes over the years. These include implementing its own retweeting system that makes it significantly more difficult to see how many people retweeted you and who they are (not to mention the fact that when I use the Twitter retweet, I can’t add my two cents to the original tweet, it all kind of defeats the purpose), the Twitter URL shortening service, which seems to break more links than it shortens, or many others. But the good news was that with all these issues, I always had Tweetdeck to fall back on. Then Twitter bought Tweetdeck.

Wait, let’s back up a little for those of you who are not familiar. Twitter, as I am sure most of you know, is a microblogging service that allows you to share short updates of 140 characters with your followers. You can also add links to external articles, photos, videos, etc. Except, contrary to what all the hype might lead you to believe, Twitter is just the foundation for an entire ecosystem of applications that use the Twitter API (not going to explain that term, feel free to read more about what an API is), it is not the end, just a means.

So there is an entire world of Twitter developers out there from Windows applications such as Tweetdeck and Seesmic, Web apps like Hootsuite and Twimbow, iPhone apps like Echofon and Tweetlogix, and Android apps like Twicca and Twidroyd. Other platforms also have their share of Twitter apps including Ovi (Gravity), Windows Phone, Playbook, and the list goes on. There are of course apps that are available cross platform and the leading name in that category is Tweetdeck.

I have been using Tweetdeck for years, since pretty much day one, and I have recommended it to hundreds of people. Not only is Tweetdeck the best Twitter client on PC and Mac in my opinion, but the team and especially Richard Barley, who was the Community Manager till recently, is super responsive and professional.

Like I said, then Twitter bought Tweetdeck, which at the time was good news since, as I mentioned, I love the team and thought they deserved the acquisition. Many commented over the past few months that Tweetdeck updates, which were a frequent thing until recently, had slowed down. All that did not matter as far as I was concerned because Tweetdeck still blew its competition out of the water. Until now.

Tweetdeck recently rolled out a new Tweetdeck for Mac and PC, which came on the same day that Twitter released a new Web UI and a new app for iOS. The interesting thing about the new Tweetdeck is that it is native, as in a regular application like Office, Skype, or any other software you download to your computer. Until now, it is was an Adobe Air application, which is a pretty buggy and resource hogging technology. So, I was optimistic.

Then I tried the new Tweetdeck and all that changed. The interface is different, the options are gone, the customization abilities are missing, and overall, the experience is far inferior to its predecessor and even other competing applications. That makes me sad, especially knowing that this is the only choice moving forward and the old version will no longer receive updates or support. I used the new Tweetdeck for a few minutes then went back to my old version and have not looked back since.

The following are four ways that Twitter is effectively killing off Tweetdeck as the industry leader in Twitter applications:

 1: No More Old School Retweets

With the new Tweetdeck, there is no more retweeting someone the way people used to in the good old days. Not to get too technical here, but in the old Tweetdeck, you can press Retweet and a tweet is automatically generated with the letters RT and the person’s name before their tweet. In the new Tweetdeck, you can only use the native retweet option, which as I mentioned above, is problematic, to say the least.

There is also a “Quote tweet” option, which essentially adds quotation marks around the original tweet for you to add your two cents. Now, essentially the quoting option accomplishes the same thing as a retweet does, and some might say I am arguing semantics here, but this, to me, is a classic case of “If it ain’t broken, don’t fix it”. Retweeting is one of the things that made Twitter to enjoyable and viral from day one, I just don’t see why Twitter felt the need to go and change the way people retweet each other. Do you?

2: More Clicks, So Many More Clicks

Using the new Tweetdeck, it’s as if Twitter gets paid per clicks. The most basic functionality, that required one, maybe two clicks in the old Tweetdeck, now require for or five, sometimes, even more. Retweeting someone for example was one click to prepare the tweet and then Send in the old Tweetdeck, now requires anywhere between four and five clicks depending on whether you want to retweet or quote.

Adding or removing someone from a list is the same story, only a whole lot worse. There is no option anywhere on the UI of the new Tweetdeck to add someone to a list, unless I am missing it, in which case, we have another problem… You have to click the person’s profile, click Lists, and… yea, even this doesn’t work. It seems Twitter forgot to add list support in the new Tweetdeck… Which brings me to my next point…

3: Screen Real Estate

One of the best parts of the old Tweetdeck was the fact that you were able to see all your feeds at first glance without even clicking once. I had seven columns open at any given time on my 24′ display. Why seven? Well, I have my Twitter account and I manage the Twitter account of Appboy and inneractive, that’s three. Then I have my direct messages column and three columns for my favorite Twitter lists. I follow over 8,000 people so Twitter lists make it possible to stay on top of the relevant updates and people without getting lost in all the noise.

In the new Tweetdeck, you can have a max of four columns on your screen with the fifth column displaying a huge arrow to scroll right and see the rest of your columns. To that I say, why?? An entire column for an arrow? That prime real estate could have been utilized by Robert Scoble’s Twitter list of tech influencers and instead it is populated by an arrow? That is what’s called a design flaw that is a deal breaker.

4: Follower Count on Tweets

With the old Tweetdeck, you could configure that under every tweet, the app would display that person’s follower count. It was a useful and unique feature to have. It is gone in the new Tweetdeck. Why was it useful? Not because you should judge a person by their follower count, that is just crazy talk. The reality is that with so much spam being sent daily on Twitter, you need an effective way to separate the real people from the bots.

A profile picture is one way and nine out of ten times, a profile without a picture is a bot. Follower count is also an accurate tool. If someone follows a thousand people and has zero followers, there is something very wrong. Generally speaking, there is a correlation between follower count and the amount of time a person spends on Twitter.

Before you cut my head off, I am well aware of the amount of spammy tools that builds up follower count without the need for any engagement on the part of the user. When a person uses those tools, I will discover it in a matter of seconds by looking at their tweets, but when someone has a totally unproportional follower/following count, I am not even clicking through to see their tweets. Like I said, it was a useful feature in the old Tweetdeck. Any particular reason Twitter had to kill it?

Here is the thing, there are so many more issues with the new Tweetdeck to add to this list, but do I really need to go on when you  have a perfectly fine old Tweetdeck to resort to? Yes, the lack of Facebook, LinkedIn, and Foursquare support in the new Tweetdeck is a problem, but I didn’t even get that far when basic functions that I do a hundred times a day are not possible in the new Tweetdeck.

Combine all that with the fact that Twitter rolled out a new Web UI on the same day as the new Tweetdeck came out and you have one less reason to ever open Tweetdeck.

Sad but true, and something we see far too often when big companies buy small ones. Unless things reverse themselves, Tweetdeck is on its way down and with all the problems with the new Tweetdeck, it is taking the fast road too…

Truth be told, I kinda love putting these posts together, it helps me feel productive by seeing exactly how many posts I have written in the last week or month. The fact that people keep telling me they love them and use them as a resource to catch up on all the technology news they missed, well that is just the icing on the cake.

Anyway, here you go, folks, some of the most exciting tech news of the past ten days as told through the posts I have written on various sites:

Google

Android Dominates the Market… IN MOBILE MALWARE!: Many doubt the reliability of these numbers, but if they are even partially accurate, Google better get their Android act together.

Google Music Launches With the Cloud, Social, and Artists in Mind: Should iTunes be worried? Well, no, because software doesn’t have emotions, but that aside, Google Music looks pretty promising.

Google Updates iOS App and Brings the Mojo Back to iPad Search: Pretty sure this is the nicest Google iPad app out there. What a UI!

Apple

8 Valuable Lessons Steve Jobs Left as Part of His Legacy: This is my first book review ever and I wrote it just as I started reading Steve Jobs’ biography for the second time. Nope, not kidding…

Dominos Launches iPad App/Campaign, Fulfills Every Kid’s Dream: This app will amaze you, watch the video.

Mind-Controlled Siri: Maybe A Hoax, but Kinda Makes You Wonder: Real or Fake?

Seven of Steve Jobs’ and Steve Wozniak’s Craziest Pranks: Wow, Jobs and Wozniak were quite the trouble makers… I guess you gotta be to change the world they way they did!

Amazon

It Was Inevitable: A Side by Side Video of iPad vs Kindle Fire (and a surprise): The Kindle Fire is spreading like wild fire (pun very much intended) but the question everyone is asking is, how does it compare to the beloved iPad? Watch this video to find out.

You Knew it Was Coming! The Nook Tablet vs Kindle Fire Drop Test (VIDEO): Oh, come ON! You know you love to watch drop tests!

Samsung

New Samsung Ad Takes on Apple Fanboys and It’s Hilarious: Great advertising work by Samsung but wasn’t it once illegal to directly attack your competition in ads?

Microsoft

Windows Phone Marketplace Has Experts Modestly Optimistic: While many industry experts are putting their eggs in the Microsoft basket, the world’s largest software company has its work cut out for it if it is going to make an impact on the mobile space the way it did on the PC market.

Rovio

Angry Birds Are Everywhere, Even on The Simpsons: The Angry Birds phenomenon, as I like to call it, has gotten so ridiculous lately, these birds are EVERYWHERE.

 Angry Birds Comes to Life: OK, games, toys, cakes, pizzas, that is all fine. But Angry Birds in real life? Really?

Facebook

HUGE! Facebook and Skype Join Forces (Again) to Make the World Even Smaller: This is pretty big news as far as global communication ad video calls are concerned.

 Random

The Power of Words: A Video Every Human Needs to Watch: One of the most powerful videos ever, highly recommended.

So I just finished reading the biography of Steve Jobs and to say I loved every word of it would be an understatement. I wrote a review of the book and if you can only read one post, this one or that one, read my review. Of course, what made the book so amazing was not just my love for technology or Apple products, nor was it my admiration for Steve Jobs, it was the story of a man filled with contradictions who ended up revolutionizing anywhere between seven and nine industries, depending who you ask.

One of the more entertaining parts of the book was the story of Jobs’ childhood, his complete boredom with the material being taught in school, and his need to entertain himself by using practical jokes and pranks. Of course, when he later met Steve Wozniak who would become his partner in the founding of Apple Computers, they shared a deep love for pranks and sometimes took it one (or two) steps too far.

Some of the pranks they pulled had me laughing out loud, so I just  had to share them with you. Here goes:

1: Bicycle Locks

In elementary school, Jobs somehow, don’t ask me how, got every kid in the school to give him the combination of their bicycle locks. He then proceeded to switch all the locks and put people’s chains on their friends’ bikes.

When school was out, no one was able to open their bikes to go home. People stayed till late that night to get it all sorted out. Steve Jobs never was very concerned about how people would feel about his actions, but this takes that to a new level as these were his friends.

2: Bring Your Pet To School Day

Pretty sure I laughed out loud when I read about this prank. Jobs created signs and hung them up all over school announcing “Bring your pet to school day”. Of course, there was never supposed to be such a day as far as the school was concerned, but that did not stop Jobs.

Well, the students all came to school with their pets and as Jobs describes it ” It was crazy, with dogs chasing cats all over, and the teachers were beside themselves.”  I would have liked to be a fly on the wall of that school.

3: Exploding Teachers

Remember when I said he might have taken it too far? Well in 3rd grade, the pranks became a bit more dangerous. “One time we set off an explosive under the chair of our teacher, Mrs. Thurman. We gave her a nervous twitch.”  Yea, not cool, Steve, not cool at all.

4: TV Noise Generator

If I had to choose Steve Jobs’ all time funniest prank, this would be it. “Wozniak and Jobs designed a pocket device that could emit TV signals. Wozniak would take it to a room where a group of people were watching TV, and secretly press the button so that the screen would get fuzzy with static. When someone got up and whacked the set, Wozniak would let go of the button and the picture would clear up.

Once he had the unsuspecting viewers hopping up and down at his will, he would make things harder. He would keep the picture fuzzy until someone touched the antenna. Eventually he would make people think they had to hold the antenna while standing on one foot or touching the top of the set. ” Genius, pure genius.

5: A Bomb!

In 12th grade Jobs built an electronic metronome that made a “tick tick” sound and resembled the noise a bomb makes, or at least the way it is portrayed in the movies.So he took the labels off some big batteries, taped them together, and put it in a school locker; he rigged it to start ticking faster when the locker opened. He was later called to the principal’s office and confronted by the police.

The principal had been summoned when the device was found, bravely ran onto the football field clutching it to his chest, and pulled the wires off. Woz tried and failed to suppress his laughter. He actually got sent to the juvenile detention center, where he spent the night. It was a memorable experience. He taught the other prisoners how to disconnect the wires leading to the ceiling fans and connect them to the bars so people got shocked when touching them. Oh man, why didn’t I think of that?

6: You got the Job!

When Jobs eventually returned to Apple after he was ousted, he did not agree to take the title of CEO, but rather iCEO, the I standing for interim. Kind of ironic though. Anyway, the board spent months searching for the next Apple CEO but to no avail.

 ”At one point Jobs and Ellison pulled a prank on a clueless computer consultant who was campaigning for the job; they sent him an email saying that he had been selected, which caused both amusement and embarrassment when stories appeared in the papers that they were just toying with him.” OK, that is just wrong on so many levels…

7: Blue Box

While some of the above pranks were mean and too far, this prank, as Jobs described it, paved the way for the forming of Wozniak and Steve’s working relationship, that would eventually lead to the forming of Apple, and the rest is history.Woz and Jobs created what was known as the Blue Box, which when connected to a telephone would enable you to make calls for free, anywhere in the world. It would become the first thing Jobs and Woz would commercialize, if you can call it that.

In any case, they used the box to make many prank calls with the funniest one to the Vatican asking to speak to the Pope and identifying himself as Henry Kissinger. Of course, they never got through to the pope, but the creation of this box involved breaking into librairies,  replicating the tones that routed signals on the AT&T network, and creating the world’s first digital tone generator. It is kind of ironic that the Blue Box story came to an end when one of the units were stolen from Jobs and Wozniak at gun point, which terrified them and made them move on.

There you have it, seven of the best pranks pulled by the famous duo, Steve Jobs and Steve Wozniak. Hope you enjoyed, I know I did. Now go read the book and thank me later. Enjoy this interesting video of Jobs from back in the day.

It has been quite a crazy month in and out of the tech industry and while I usually try to post these articles on a weekly basis, clearly, that did not work too well in the last couple of weeks. But since many (many) people seem to depend on these posts to get up to date, I am forcing myself to get back into the swing of things.

Here goes, the top tech news of the month written by yours truly! (Sheesh, I write a lot.)

Apple

Here you have yet another indication of just how much the iPad changed the world: You are going to want to watch this video

iPhone 4 VS iPhone 4S Speed Test (VIDEO): Worth the Upgrade? I am still on the fence, how about you?

A New Mobile Trend is Born: Retail Giants Creating Shopping Apps: THIS should be interesting…

It’s Here! All iPhone 4S Video Reviews in One Place! Now, To Upgrade or Not to Upgrade? So torn…

First iPhone 4S Commercial Airs: You might use Android, but no one competes with Apple on the advertising thing.

Apple’s 3 New iPhone 4S Commercials: Jobs Would be Proud: Three more 4S ads for your viewing pleasure

Apple Will Revolutionize Yet Another Industry This Week: Retail Shopping: Home computing, digital music, mobile, tablets, digital content, and now… Shopping!

4 of the Prettiest iOS Apps that Deserve an Award for their Design: If you have an iOS device, and have not tried these apps, you have not experienced iOS.

5 Interesting Social iPhone Apps Released in the Past Month: These are some interesting apps right here.

Apple to Sell 28 Million iPhone 4S Devices this Quarter, but Not Because of the Phone: And people were disappointed…

Adobe

R.I.P Mobile Flash: Can We Say it Now? Steve Jobs was Right. Again! Interesting turn of events.

How Steve Jobs Actually Prolonged the Life Of Mobile Flash and Delayed its Death: R.I.P Mobile Flash, see ya!

Google

Google Brings the Mobile Web, Search, and Native Apps One Step Closer: Google never ceases to amaze.

The Next Generation of NFC is Born: Android Beam: Yes, the future is here. Beam me up, Scottie.

Android Passes iOS in App Downloads, but Does It Even Matter? Spoiler: NO! It is heating up, can you feel it?

Amazon

Amazon Steps it up with 5 Million Kindle Fires Ordered and its Very Own Siri: I’ll have whatever Amazon is drinking, thank you very much.

Facebook

If Only Facebook on the Web Was as User Friendly as Facebook on the iPad is: Facebook for iPad at last!! Was worth the wait.

RIM

RIM Introduces BBX and Releases Playbook OS 2.0, Which Runs Android Apps (VIDEO): Could BlackBerry be back?

Nokia

All New Nokia Phones Running Windows Phone Mango 7.5: This new Nokia Lumia 800 that everyone is talking about, is high up on my list.

Nokia’s Back! Hate to Say it but We Told You So! (Infographic): Is Nokia back? Well not yet, but they are making all the right moves.

Nokia Interviews inneractive on Mobile Advertising and App Monetization: I am proud of this interview.

Rovio

Angry Birds Reaches 500 Million Downloads: 200,000 Years of Game Play (VIDEO): These numbers are downright ridiculous.

Twitter

Louis CK Talks about Mobile and Social Media in the Twitter Generation (VIDEO): If you watch one video today, watch this!

Tweetlogix is the iPhone Twitter App of All iPhone Twitter Apps: Best. Twitter. App. Ever

Appsfire

Appsfire is Killing it in the Mobile Space: Like mobile technology? Keep your eye on this startup!

inneractive

inneractive Named One of Globes’ Ten Most Promising Israeli Startups: Boom! In case  you don’t know, inneractive is where I work and this award made my year.

Appboy

The New Appboy.com is Live! Now here is a company operating outside of the box. Watch this space.

Wow, there you have it, folks. Might be a good idea to go back to weekly posts, this is kinda long. Anyway, I hope you made it this far and if you did, you deserve this seriously hilarious video.

If I had a dime for every person who said to me “I don’t do Twitter. Why do I need to announce to the world what I am eating or when I go to the bathroom”? Now, I am not sure how or when Twitter got the reputation of being a service for pointless and insignificant status updates, but if anyone deserves that title, it is Facebook. The amount of content, relationships, and engagement I have gathered on Twitter over the years, or even on a daily basis, is absolutely unprecedented anywhere else on or off the Web.

Now, I will admit, a person just joining Twitter might become a little overwhelmed with all the @, #, and abbreviations (RT, DM, etc), and I have written a pretty comprehensive guide called Everything you Need to Know about Twitter and Tweeting. Having said that, I think Twitter and possibly the social web in general can be summed up in one short sentence. “Act on Twitter like you would act in real life”. Or more precisely “Do not do on Twitter what you would not do in real life”.

Of course, that is the fundamental principle, but you still need to learn how to use the tools and get to know the lingo, but if you let this rule be your guiding light in your journey on the social Web, I can promise you that you will be ok.

I have seen this happen time and time again. Someone hears some ridiculously outrageous story about Twitter and decides to join. They then spend the next few months spamming celebrities on Twitter with the hope that they will get a response. Well, if that is what you are after, there are better ways to get the attention of some top dogs on Twitter. If, however, you understand that Twitter can serve you loyally as much more than a service in which you can talk to your favorite actor, and you care to invest your time building up your network organically, start by thinking how you act in real life when engaging people.

Here are five examples of behavior you would see in real life and should definitely be adopting when engaging on Twitter or any other social network:

 1: Who Are You Talking To?

Which one of us has not been stuck in an awkward situation in which you wanted to introduce someone you are talking to but you did not know their name? One of the things we do subconsciously when talking to someone in real life is we try to find out as much information as we can before and during the encounter. A name is just the first thing. Yet, somehow, on Twitter, people overlook this point and that is unfortunate.

Before talking to someone, and I realize this might not be scaleable if you talk to hundreds of people every day like I do, take a look at their bio. What is their real name? Where do they live? What do they do? Not only is this a courteous thing to do, but it will surely help you in your online dialog with that person. Address someone with their real name and you will increase the chances of getting a reply by tens of percentages. Talk to them about their interests, their occupation, the place in which they are residing, or anything else they chose to share in their profile, or as some would call it in real life, be nice!

2: Give People a Reason to Talk to You!

You know those people who just stand there when you and a few of your friends are having a conversation? How annoying are they? Yes, I realize some people are less outgoing than others, but dude, say something! Anything! You have to have an opinion of some sort! The same goes for Twitter. Don’t just be another person in the crowd and hope to achieve results. If I had to choose one single word to summarize how one should conduct themselves on Twitter, it would most definitely be “Value”.

Provide value of some sort. Give people a reason to engage with you. That value can be in the form of answering technical questions, sharing interesting quotes (but also replying to people), writing engaging content, or just telling funny jokes. If you don’t offer value of some sort, you are that person just standing there among the circle of friends and making things kinda awkward.

I have heard several people make the claim that they don’t have anything to share. They don’t have any passions. I refuse to believe that, everyone has something that excites them. If you don’t know what excites you, you need to get out more. No, but seriously, dig deep and discover what interests you and become that person on Twitter.

3: Spamming is Attacking!

So far, we addressed personal Twitter accounts, but what about companies or individuals trying to sell something on Twitter? Guess what! The same principle applies. I just came across this Seth Godin post that sums up the art of engagement perfectly. I have often said that the person manning a company’s Twitter account has for all intents and purposes replaced the representative of that company in its retail store. The person tweeting on behalf of a company is the face of that company and should behave accordingly.

Now imagine this scenario. You walk into a shoe store to possibly make a purchase. The salesman jumps in front of you as you take your first step into the store. He holds up a pair of shoes in front of your face and yells “Buy these”! I don’t know about you, but before I turned right around and walked out of that store, I would ask that salesperson three questions:

A: Do you even know me or what I like? How on earth do you know I would like those shoes?

B: Why the heck are you being so aggressive? Your shoes must not be all that good if you need to sell them so hard!

C: Does this method ever really work for you? How many shoes have you sold this way?

Those are the three questions I want to ask Twitter spammers every time I see one of their tweets. Too bad, most of them are not even human, but are bots put into action by some human who clearly did not know the first thing about human psychology! You want to sell on Twitter? No problem! Start by being human, the rest will follow…

4: Ignoring Someone is Rude!

Yes, I know what some of you are thinking. “I cannot possibly answer everyone who writes me on Twitter”. OK, I’ll bite. I have close to 21k followers, and get over 200 replies a day (on a slow day). I work a full time job and then some, and I, with the exception of bots, spammers, and tweets that do not deserve a response, answer everyone. At least, I try, and the fact that over 80% of my 85k tweets are replies, seems to imply I am on the right track.

When was the last time a person approached you in real life, asked you a question, and you looked them in the eye and completely ignored them? Now, it is true that Twitter is a little different and people might not be as insulted if you do not reply to them, but if someone directly asks you a question, why not reply? Newsflash: Sending tweets is free and the 140 character limit will ensure you do not waste too much time on a tweet back to that person.

Is replying to every single tweet too difficult for you? Here, I will make it easier. Someone writes you, look at their bio and tweets. Are they for real? Are they decent hard working people? If so, pretty sure you can spare twenty seconds to answer their question, even if you are Kevin Rose (To name someone who I have talked to countless times over the years and never once received a response from).

5: Is This Something You Would Say in a Face to Face Conversation?

Twitter presents many dilemmas on a daily basis, I wrote about them here. One of the main questions (number 4 on the list) many people on Twitter struggle with, is how much to share. How much information is too much information or in today’s language “TMI”.

In my humble opinion, a good way to measure whether something is appropriate to share is, would you share it with someone you were talking to in real life? Well, that depends who the person is, right? OK, I’ll play that game. While some of your Twitter followers might already know you if they are following for a long time, others might be reading this tweet and forming their impression of you based on its content. In fact, let’s not forget that tweets are public and tomorrow your boss, mother, wife, etc might decide to see what kind of information you are sharing on Twitter.

So, allow me to rephrase my original “rule”. Would you share this information with a stranger who you are meeting for the first time with the knowledge that this will forever be their first impression of you? No? Then you might want to think twice about sharing it on Twitter. This applies to sharing content of a political, explicit, offensive, or private nature. It is your Twitter account and you can do with it as you wish, but just remember, on the Web, our reputation is all we have.

That is all, folks. Those are five ways in which Twitter imitates real life and the post is long enough so I listed five, not ten or twenty. But trust me when I say, I could have gone on forever. Almost anything you do or don’t do on Twitter or the Web, has an equivalent act in real life.

The technology reporting scene on the Web is always full of excitement and drama. Paul Carr makes sure of it. The man is a constant source of entertainment both in his blog posts and on Twitter. The latest TechCrunch story brought out the best in Paul and as soon as Arrington was not permitted to choose his successor as the Editor of TechCrunch, Paul left, just like he promised he would.

As you will see below, Paul did not disappoint with his answers and despite the sarcastic tone of some of his responses, there are lots of gems to learn from. The following are eleven questions I asked Paul and his answers:

1: Who is Paul Carr? What is your background both personal and professional? How did you end up where you are today?

Oh man. Ok. Born in Dunfermline, Scotland in 1979. Degree in law, which I’ve wasted. Founded an email magazine called The Friday Thing at university, which lead to me writing about media-tech for the Guardian. Two failed startups — one in publishing, one a local social network thing before that was a thing. Returned to the Guardian, then TechCrunch. Left TechCrunch, now doing a startup. Written a dozen books along the way. Former drinker. Former mess. Hotel dweller. NSFW.

2: OK let’s just get this out of the way. Was AOL 100% in the wrong for the Arrington story? Should he have been allowed to invest in startups and write about them with disclosure? How would you have dealt with this issue differently?

I’ve written a ton about this, but in brief: AOL were fine with Mike starting CrunchFund. In fact, they put in half the money. I was fine with the fund, but not with the name as I worried that people would (wrongly) assume that other TC writers were involved, and thus conflicted. My preferred solution was for Mike to step down as editor, appoint his own successor and then carry on writing as a guest poster while being a GP at CrunchFund (exactly what MG Siegler is doing now, with AOL’s blessing).

Sadly though, the story became a STORY and Arianna Huffington needed to show she was in charge at AOL (which she is) and therefore at TC (which she wasn’t but is now). All but one of the team at TC stood firm on the position that Mike should be allowed to choose his own successor. Sadly that one person with no spine was the guy who Arianna approached to be her puppet leader. The end. What would I have done differently if I were AOL? No idea. I like Barry Diller’s take on it: “AOL should have said to Arianna — go back to your room”. It was none of her business. And I say that as someone who is, generally speaking, a big AH fan.

3: So a new startup, huh? Obviously, you cannot tell me all about it, but what can you tell me? 

The company name is Not Safe For Work Corporation. It’s going to be based in downtown Vegas. We’re going to have a lot of fun and probably not sell to AOL.

4: So talk to me about this hotel story. How did it start and why do you live in hotels? Give me the background.

My parents are hoteliers so I’ve always spent huge amounts of time in and around hotels. Then four years ago I decided I was tired of London (and of life) and of paying a small fortune every month to survive on cold pizza in a shitty apartment there. Then I realised that for the same as I was paying for my place in London (including local (‘council’) tax, heat, light, power, etc) I could check in to a decent hotel in Manhattan. Four years later, I’m still figuring out how to get better and better deals, still for roughly what I would be paying in London.

5: Now to get a little more tech. What do you think about Apple’s recent announcement of the iPhone 4S in light of the events that followed?

I’m not sure I can talk about the latter in light of the former. I’m pretty sure the iPhone 4S didn’t kill Steve Jobs. Honestly, I don’t care about a new iPhone — i’m sure it’s very pretty and nice and will sell well. Steve Jobs, on the other hand — well, wow. Revolutionised tech, media, entertainment, retail and countless other industries. Inspired a generation of entrepreneurs.

Did it all w/emithout feeling the need to be the nicest human being alive, and still came out of it a saint. Kudos. Again, I don’t think the latest iPhone will be any more his legacy than a particular breed of duck would be God’s.

 6: What phone do you use and why? 

Blackberry. It makes people think I have a job.

7: What are five tech trends you think we can expect to see dominate in the coming years?

Fuck only knows. The possibility I’m most excited about is the Angry Birds franchise expanding into the other stages of grief. Angry Birds was fantastic but I can’t wait for Birds in Denial, Bargaining Birds, Depressed Birds, Accepting birds… Actually, that last one will probably be shit. Just birds that you click on and they shrug.

8: Now that you left TechCrunch and are starting your own thing, where can people expect to read your writing? Will you continue to blog? 

Yeah – http://blog.bringingsomething.com a. Also supposed to be writing for the guardian again, if they send me a contract. Oh, and I’ve written a book about addition for Byliner.com. That’ll be out soon. I think.

9: What are five tips you would give someone getting started in the tech startup world?

1: Never

2: Ever

3: Sell

4: To

5: AOL

10: What do you think about the whole social media buzz and the sites that capitalize on it? Is it here to stay or is it a passing phase?

Who cares what *I* think? I’m just a professional writer, and a recognised expert on the subject. What do thousands of other people think? Let’s ask them on Twitter.

11: So, I usually stick to the ten question format, but I had to ask this. What do you think about some of TechCrunch’s competition such as Mashable, TheNextWeb, RWW, and AllThingsD? Are these competitors? Do you have any favorites?

Mashable is just shit, isn’t it? I mean, real crap. Next Web I’ve never really read, but Europeans seem to like it and their conference is supposed to be very good. RWW is getting better but I still almost never read it. I’m not supposed to like AllThingsD but I do — Kara acts like a snarky little school bully sometimes, but she’s a good reporter, has real sources and is really the only competitor to TC in that list.

Actually, including ATD in that list is a bit mean to Kara. I’d put Business Insider on a list of TC rivals before I included RWW. And what about Om? He’s good too. But Mashable? Jesus. Awful.