There are plenty of ways to monetize your website and blog, so is there something similar for your Twitter account? Everything has a price, so what is a tweet worth? Twitter is incredibly popular and has enjoyed much success over the last few years. Part of its appeal is not only its API but also the fact that the platform is friendly to third-party applications. This allows strides in development and enhancement of anyone’s Twitter experience.

Back in the early days of Twitter, it was possible to tweet about how great you thought a third-party application actually was. You weren’t typically compensated for any good press you threw at any particular product and tweeting in such a way was entirely up to your discretion. This was fine back in the day, when we all had relatively few followers and there weren’t that many applications to even talk about. Today, things are different.

An interesting business model has begun emerging on Twitter these days that makes it very possible to monetize your tweets. This means that tweets can be quite valuable. Though it is possible to earn a little money, or gain rewards for your efforts, many people using Twitter think that this new business model is a way of spamming your followers. The way it works is an advertiser will contact you to tweet about their product in exchange for some type of compensation.

The basic premise behind Twitter allows a single tweet to become many in a matter of minutes. And the more followers that you have, the more people will receive your message. This makes any tweet you make quite valuable for any interested advertiser. In advertising, word of mouth is one of the most effective modes of advertising, so by employing Twitterers to tweet about a given product is essentially sponsored word of mouth advertising. The power of negotiation is definitely on your side when it comes to what your tweets are worth.

Though you can be compensated quite lucratively for your tweets, especially if you have a significant amount of followers, it can backfire on you. So are your tweets really worth it to you? Remember, if you tweet for money it may affect your follower’s trust in your future tweets. So, before you take payment for tweeting, consider whether or not the information your are twittering about is legitimate or a scam. Your credibility on Twitter may be questioned once you accept money to tweet about certain products or information.

It is also important to remember that a tweet is worth more than just money. Tweets can be invaluable bits of information, which is why many companies have their own Twitter accounts now. Businesses use Twitter as a platform to not only gain followers and promote brand recognition for their products and services, but to maintain and improve the status quo. Twitter can become an invaluable avenue of communication between the public and the company, which is essential to growth and success.

Women have made strides in today’s society – there are females in every profession and it is no longer assumed that we will marry and have babies right out of high school. But a few things haven’t changed, like the number of women who are tech-savvy and up on all the latest Internet communities. (We’ll save the reasons for this relatively unchanged phenomenon for another discussion!) For whatever reason, many of us are missing out on this exciting social platform on which we can exchange information, invest in interesting conversations, and have a little fun at the same time.

It seems that many of us may outwardly mock the use of Twitter and poke fun at our friends for using it, but deep down really- we want to try it out. But, where do you start? For those of you with just the tiniest inkling of curiosity, here is a guide to the basics of Twitter. Go ahead and try it out – it’s guaranteed to get you on the same page as your male counterparts! Of course you can find some of this information in the “help” section of Twitter, but what fun is reading the instructions? Read on for some basic information to get you started tweeting today.

First things first, right? You must sign up to take advantage of the features that Twitter has to offer. Signing up is pretty simple, you just go to the Twitter website and fill out the required information. If you’ve signed up for anything online before, this will be a snap. The most difficult part of signing up may be coming up with a user name – just relax and get creative! Your user name, or Twitter address, will appear similar to your email address. A Twitter address appears as “@yourname.”

You’ll also need to provide your profile. It is helpful to note that if you have a website you may want to include it so that you don’t come off as a potential spammer. Additionally, if you don’t feel comfortable putting certain details in your profile, you don’t have to. Don’t worry; it’s up to you as to how much information you provide in your profile.

Once you’ve signed up for Twitter, it’s time to get started. On Twitter, members communicate by tweeting, but what exactly is a tweet? Tweets are simply the messages that you send and receive on Twitter. It’s really quite easy to send a tweet. Simply type your message into the “What’s happening?” section and keep it under 140 characters. Short and to the point is the way to go on Twitter.

Once you know how to tweet, you’ll also need to know how to follow. If you find something particularly interesting on Twitter, you just opt to follow them. People can also choose to follow you, if they so desire. Once you have added people to your list that you’d like to follow, any messages they post will appear in your Twitter stream – this is just like your email inbox. It’s also possible to send direct messages. These look a little different than regular tweets. Direct messages are often marked as private tweets that will not appear on any main Twitter stream.

Though this guide is in no way exhaustive, it should show you other ladies just enough to get started on Twitter. The days of pretending that Twitter is totally silly are gone! – you know you want to tweet about every mundane experience you have throughout the day! Go ahead, get started today.

Today is Thanksgiving and the majority of US residents will be going through the customary means of connecting with family and friends; to engage in the time honored tradition of stuffing themselves with turkey and many glorious side dishes. Stories will be shared, bonds will be created and in many cases thanks will be made.

Tomorrow will bring about new pleasures, many of you will venture off into the crowds in search of the unbelievable deals that have been baited to you all week. You will stand in line for hours, you will battle with fellow shoppers and you will spend in excess – all the while fueled off the buzz of getting the greatest deals.

Many of us will by pass this hassle and forgo the brick and mortal nuisances for the solitary engagements of our computers. And why not, there will be no crowds to deal with, there will be no hardcore shoppers to battle with and most importantly there will be no endless lines to stand in.

But how does one know if they are being safe online, especially if you are new to this experience? Normally when you surf the net and find a deal that is to good to be true, you pass it up and file it into your mental “this is scam box”. But times will be different tomorrow – the crazy deals will be out there and so will the scammers.

Sound how do you stay safe why maintaining an edge of efficiency?

1. Stay Branded - If you want to be safe stick to the big guys such as Apple, Overstock.com, Best Buy, Amazon etc. If you are unsure about a particular website don’t purchase from them until you have validated them through other means. Check seller reviews on third party’s such sites as Resellerrating.com, Shopping.Yahoo.com and Google Products.

2. Do Your Research Today – Use the social networks such as Twitter and Facebook to find deals – as well as comparative sites such as Nextag and Epinions. This way you have ample time to research competitors, find the best deals and most importantly find the legitimate sellers.

3. Put together a list – After you have completed your research why not plan your attack; many websites will have outstanding deals but many of them will also be in limited supply. Creating a list will ensure you tackle your objectives in an orderly fashion to have greater successful outcomes.

4. Check your URLs – Before you input your personal information into a web form, check the address first to be sure it is secure. If have ventured from the big brands and are somewhat certain the site you are on is safe – double check by looking at the URL in the browser to ensure it has an ‘https’ at the beginning instead on an ‘http’ . Website’s that pass information via ‘http’ are not secure and this greatly enhances your risk having your personal information stolen.

5. Avoid Links in Emails- With the holiday season comes the advent of huge quantities of spam and phishing schemes- designed specifically to take your hard earned cash. Many of these scams work by having the user click on a link in an official looking email , that takes you to a legitimate looking website.

Don’t fall for this! If you get an email from Best Buy- type the best buy address into your website browser manually – ensuring that the URL has the domain name bestbuy.com in it. Once you are there navigate around the site a bit to be sure that you are in the correct place. Many phishing sites only have a couple legitimate looking pages – if you are on a false site you should be able to notice this rather quickly.

Be Safe and Happy Holidays to all of you!!

TweekDeck, the popular Twitter desktop application announced yesterday that it will be adding a new feature to bring in your LinkedIn Network.

With this new feature users will be able to view LinkedIn updates by Status, Q&A, Applications, Groups, Connections, Profile and Recommendations.

In addition users will be able to send updates, make comments and view others’ profiles.

Over the life time of the product, TweetDeck has slowly transformed from a free Twitter manager into a social media cornucopia of sorts. Allowing its users to now manage Facebook and MySpace accounts with only a few clicks.

Additional Twitter features allow the user to record and view video, manage multiple twitter accounts, shorten URLs, block spammers, create groups, follow twitter trends, search twitter, and much more.

So if you have had enough of trying to manage multiple accounts through traditional means, I would highly recommend trying this product – it’s free , platform independent and simple to use.

Source : TweetDeck

There are many great sites to learn about typography on the internet. You can research and find many great resources.
Websitetips.com offers many tutorials, books, and articles on typography. You will get a section of annotated links in order to find even more articles and tutorials related to typography.

Training-classes.com offers a wide variety of seminars and classes. It is broken down into different areas of typography. You can choose which area is more suited to your needs.

There are many great resources on ilovetypography.com. You will find a very wide variety on this site including fonts, typography guides, and so much more. This is rated a great site from many web designers out there.

Lynda.com offers InDesign CS2. This is said to be one of the world’s best when it comes to learning typography. It is a program that allows you to work at your own pace. You start of with the basics of character and formatting paragraphs. Then you really begin to get into style and typographic principles. The program allows you to work with real world designs and examples. There are large amounts of training videos to help people out. This site offers some free learning, but the big program that is self paced you must pay for.

Training.sessions.edu offers typography and design classes online. There is a tuition required for this. You can gain immediate access and work at your own pace. The classes last for 3 months. You get a good supply of class material and feedback from instructors. The site gives an in depth biography of the instructor, and a wonderful outline of the course, which is very descriptive.

Worldwidelearn.com gives a list of colleges and other places that offer graphic design and topography. You can choose from many different online tutorials and courses. There are also many how-to readings, tips, and tricks. You have the ability to train for a new career from online schools that offer certificates.

You can learn a lot about decorative typography from edufire.com. They schedule classes, so if you are interested you need to keep an eye out for the next scheduled time. You can participate in classes, forums, and groups. The site offers tutors and videos to help you along through the courses.

You do have to pay, but thelearningcenter.com offers an advanced typography course. It will give you great descriptions and an in-depth course outline. This really looks like a well-rounded program.

Many places offer typography lessons and classes online. It is good to search with your preferred search engine. The one advantage is that very experienced web designers teach many of these classes. They take what seems to be hard and teach people to apply it to real life situations. Some of these sites offer great stuff for free. Many sites, you pay for actual courses, but that is if you are interested in becoming career ready. The internet has both to offer from many great sites.

There are so many great blogs on the internet. They are often judged on content and design. We can say that everyone has their own opinions to their favorites. Some viewers consider the following the top ten blogs when it comes to blog design.

Ordered List by Steve Smith is ranked number one. It has an attractive look that is wide and horizontal. The colors utilized to include blue, gray, and black , brown , cream and orange – with the use of big fonts. Icons are placed in a very appealing manner. These pages are more color than image. This makes the very easy to load.

With all the marketing that is going on today, many people are diving into the world of SEO. Learning the strategy of SEO can extremely increase someone’s exposure, sales, and overall success. There are seven places that you can learn about SEO listed in this article.

The site www.seo.com offers SEO education, specifically for bloggers. You learn the ins and outs of why SEO needs to be optimized in a different manner to meet a blogger’s needs. This site is laid out into sections. You start at the beginning and learn as you go. They claim that you can learn the SEO strategy in seven days.

Life123.com offers SEO knowledge and training that is targeted to anyone. They explain exactly what SEO is and how it should be used. There is a wide variety of videos and tutorials for you to follow if you desire. They are very thorough in their explanations.

You can get a very in-depth free SEO tutorial through www.seo-guy.com. This site is not so technical that you can’t understand it. It has a very nice layout. There are also forums to help you get the answers to anything that you may not understand.

There is a great site www.learnseoforfree.com, which offers the basics of SEO strategy. This knowledge is offered from a man who has years of SEO experience. He has learned through trial and error. Many people have called him a mentor. He is willing to share all of his secrets and help you learn his strategies.

(update: learnseoforfree.com has been taken over with spam since writing this blog post. I would not recommend this site. Instead I would highly recommend SeoMoz.com for a ton of great tips, free tools and general seo discussion)

You can obtain a free email course from www.gnc-web-creations.com. This class is offered through a Yahoo Group called SEO Techniques. All information is sent to you, and you are able to work at your own pace. You can attend all SEO classes as long as you remain active. If there is a section, you do not understand you can visit it again when it is repeated. The class keeps repeating itself, so you can jump in wherever you want to.

If you are looking for some tips and tricks, you can visit www.seoftw.com. his site runs you through all the little things that many people miss when creating SEO content. It talks a lot about back linking. You can learn about everything pertaining to SEO through the links given on this site.

You can get a free SEO kit from hubspot.com. You actually get quite a bit. The kit includes one SEO video, a PowerPoint SEO webinar, a video combining SEO, Social Media, and Blogging, a video on how to optimize landing pages, and an e-Book on how to be found on major search engines. This seems like a great overall program to learn exactly what you need. You have nothing to lose since it is free.

Many sites out there will offer SEO strategies, classes, secrets, and everything in-between. What is listed in this article is free. There are many SEO classes that you can pay for, but all of these offer great SEO knowledge at no cost to you.

Learning a new computer language like JavaScript requires excellent and thorough resources. New users need to learn the basics and then build on those skills. In a search of available online places to learn JavaScript, there are many suggestions, and many feel that users should check out a few to find the one fits you best.

Here are some of the recommendations for the top internet based places to learn JavaScript for beginners and experts.

This site offers a series of thirty JavaScript primers and additional articles to help teach JavaScript in a relaxed and fun way, which is perfect for beginners. This allows students to work through the series as they build and develop their skills. It also has tutorials on JavaScript applets and script tips.

IBM Developer Works

This site is part of IBM and has training and tutorials covering JavaScript. Their technology library also includes articles that cover individual elements of JavaScript in detail. There is a lot of information and it is a good resource for all skill levels of JavaScript users.

W3 Schools

Although some noted that W3 Schools was a little older than other sites, they did agree that it was a good place for learning the basics of JavaScript. Also, these schools are run by W3C which ensure technology standards so it has up to date information and system upgrades.

Ajaxian offers JavaScript training in different forms. They have public training classes, and it is part of their three day basics course, and they also offer advanced hardcore JavaScript. They have podcasts on a variety of JavaScript topics and also an extensive technology library.

Builder AU

This site is created and maintained by developers so it is a good place to learn all the updated information as well as tricks and tips. They have a large selection of specific articles which tackle different JavaScript topics and elements.

JavaScript Kit

This site has an extensive list of tutorials that cover a wide range of JavaScript topics. They site is easy to navigate as they list specific problem areas and also have a detailed index of tutorials so users can easily find what they need.

YouTube is not just for funny videos, this site also has a lot of learning tutorials including many on JavaScript. Users commented that this was a good place to find a variety of tutorials for every skill level.

Lynda.com

This is an online training site, and it was mentioned by several people as a very helpful site. Users pay a monthly or annual fee to gain access to over 637 training programs. They also have several free online tutorials that users can go through before committing to a subscription. This looks like a good site for all kinds of computer training.

As with most computer skills, JavaScript is learned and mastered with regular practice and use, so interested people should make time to learn this versatile language.

CSS, Cascading Style Sheets, are an important component of web design. It has many uses and can help you customize your online presence, including blogs and online documents. Sites can run and look better when CSS is used. So it is no surprise that there are many people eager to learn CSS, and many available learning resources. While CSS can be learned in formal classes at a local school, many prefer to learn on their own. Learning CSS online can be done at any time or place, so it is easier to fit into a busy schedule.

In a review of CSS learning resources’, here are the top 5 places to learn CSS, based on users’ comments and recommendations.

W3 Schools

W3 Schools was mentioned several times as a great place to learn CSS. People like that they have tutorials and quizzes to test your knowledge. Users cited their vast library of information and their references and examples. And because it is maintained by W3C, which is the group that is responsible for today’s web standards, it has current, up to date information.

HTML Dog

Another site mentioned as a top place for learning CSS is HTML Dog. This site has designated its training by skill level, Beginner, Intermediate, and Advanced. This makes it a good learning resource for the novice as well as those with some CSS experience. Users also noted HTML Dog’s easy to follow tutorials, important when learning and developing a new skill.

Site Point

Site Point is recommended as a perfect place for the beginner. They teach CSS starting from the beginning, and move through the steps teaching how to create clean and functional CSS. Many suggest starting at this site to learn CSS.

Tizag

Tizag is another site recommended for beginner users of CSS. It is noted for having tutorials that are real life, and a presentation that is relaxed and comfortable. Users stated that the friendly and relaxed tone made it easer to learn the skill.

Tag By Tag

Users liked Tag By Tag because it is a place to get answers to specific CSS questions. Students can select the area of CSS that they need help in and are taken to a guide sheet that can help fix problems. This site is very handy if users have forgotten elements like attributes or style.

In addition to these five sites there are others that are full of CSS learning resources, such as CSS Help Pile, which includes articles on all kinds of CSS tips and tricks. There are also some very nice informative books, such as CSS: The Missing Manual by David Sawyer McFarland, which covers the basics of CSS, and also complex CSS layouts.

And almost everyone suggested that the best place to learn CSS is on your own computer, learning new skills and developing the ones you already have. Like any other ability, regular and diligent practice is one of the best ways to learn and master CSS.

There have been a lot of people who have lost their jobs due to the current state of the US economy. Many have turned to the web to find employment on job sites and popular social media platforms such as Facebook and Twitter. Which has left many to ask “How can I possibly find a job using social media?”. In order to shed some light on the topic we composed a few simple tips that will change the way you look for future jobs using social media.

• The first thing that you want to do is to figure out what are the top 5 companies that you would be interested in working for. This is going to help you to be focused instead of sending a ton of emails and upsetting a lot of people. You want to show the people that you are contacting that you are very eager to work for the company- but not desperate.
• The second thing that you want to do is to use the search engines to find and track the employees who work for the companies. Use corporate groups, corporate pages, and people who are Facebook. You can also do your searches on Twitter. Once you have found one of the people who work for a company, google their name to find out if there is any more information that you can find out about them.
• The third thing that you want to do is to get in contact with that person. This is where finding the person on a social media platform comes in handy. You don’t have to necessarily be friends with someone to get in contact with them.

But keep in mind that they may not want to be bothered about job inquiries. Do your homework about the company and their interests, and then get in contact with them. Don’t bring up a job right away. Have a friendly conversation with them and then, when you feel comfortable, casually bring up the fact that you are interested in a job.
You don’t want the person to think that the only reason that you sent them a message is that you are looking for a job, even though that may be the case.

Remember when you are doing a people search and trying to find out more about the employees of a company, you are going to have a better chance of being hired if you act eager but not too eager. You want to be friendly and casual, you don’t want the person to think that you are using them, and you want it to be a big surprise when you finally ask about a job.

The barriers that used to exist years ago when it comes to job searches and contacting people no longer exist thanks to social media. Take advantage of it, but don’t make the people think that you are taking advantage of them. If you make a bad impression, not only will they shut you out but they may speak badly of you to their superiors.