I had the following reply on Twitter recently…@mikiesoft How did you double your followers in such a short time?  What’s your secret?

I recently started using Mr. Tweet, which has two advantages.  It suggests which followers YOU should be following in return, AND what influential people SHOULD I be following?

I also look for interesting names and browse through their followers list to see who THEY are following.  I’ve found some good people to follow that way, some I didn’t even know were ON Twitter.

And finally I use an old rule of the internet.  Link Love.  If someone links to your page, link back to them if at all possible.  Use your ethical guidelines and common sense, and avoid those you’re not sure of.

I had 73 followers on Twitter on New Year’s Eve.  I just broke the 200 mark today, using these simple guidelines.  Make it interesting, make it short, and help those you can by sharing your knowledge.

I love using social networking tools like Twitter because it gives me an audience with people I probably wouldn’t interact with otherwise.  I can reach across town or around the world in a single reply.  It can be time intensive, but it grows your personal network of friends.  Who knows?  It might even lead to your next job opportunity or freelance project.

Follow mikiesoft on Twitter!

The Social Media Club states the four areas of their core mission are:
Expand Media Literacy
Share Lessons Learned Among Practitioners
Encourage Adoption of Industry Standards
Promote Ethical Practices through Discussion and Actions

Check their About Page…I like the way the last paragraph reads:

Social Media Club will bring together journalists, publishers, communications professionals, artists, amateur media creators, citizen journalists, teachers, students, tool makers, and other interested collaboraters. Essentially the people who create and consume media who have an interest in seeing the ‘media industry’ evolve for everyone’s benefit. We are more than just USERS, we are the reason the tools exist - we are the people who communicate our thoughts and ideas near and far.Join us and let’s shape the future together!

Their tag line is “if you get it, share it,”  (explained here.)   I’ve always subscribed to the mindset that it’s usually more beneficial to share information than to keep it all to yourself.  Help those around you, and you’re helping yourself as well.  I see examples in action almost daily, so I know it works.

The whole idea of social networking and the huge collective it’s bringing together is pretty exciting.  As a blogger and freelancer, it’s an important bridge toward my future.

Support the Social Media Club and become a member today.

www.socialmediaclub.org

Levine’s NPR profile is pretty impressive, but what really hit home for me was her honesty and humor.  Even better is that listeners and readers like and appreciate these traits, just as I do.  Reporting the real world is hard enough, so it’s refreshing to see journalism with personal insights and a sense of humor.

Thanks Ketzel!  You give hope to the rest of us in the unemployment line!  Good luck with your next gig.  I’ll be listening in for more of that wonderful wit.  Meanwhile, I expect you’ll be tilling and planting the ground you’re holding firm.

Read Ketzel Uprooted @ www.ketzel.com

2008…it’s been quite a year…during the past 12 months I’ve been updating this blog and others, plus…I started community college to study web and information design…amassed 133 followers on Twitter.com, my favorite web app for the year…reconnected with family, close by and distant relatives alike…and taken a couple of cool road trips, Mississippi in March and Corpus Christi/Padre Island in July.

Happy New Year from Mike & DailyRover!

Yes!  Some media devices can accept streaming video from Netflix and deliver movies and television to your Xbox or Roku box, and certain Blu-ray players from LG Electronics and Samsung.

LG is advertising the world’s first network Blu-ray player that streams video from Netflix, with 12,000 titles available in standard resolution, plus it plays standard DVDs in near HD quality; the LG BD300 Blu-ray player.

The Samsung BD-P2550 Blu-ray player not only accepts streaming video from Netflix, but it also streams audio from Pandora, along with a firmware update.  I highly recommend both services, I’ve used them both for years and never had a problem with either one.

The Roku is a stand-alone Netflix player box.  Wired Magazine calls it the top gift of 2008.  I call it pretty cool because it streams over 12,000 movies and TV shows to your TV, including some titles in HD.  All for just $99.  The Roku is also wireless, so it will connect to your home wi-fi network and receive software updates automatically.  Plus you can use the included remote to browse your Netflix video catalog.

TV technology just keeps getting better.  As we move closer to the all-digital-TV-broadcast date next February, there’s more and more choices for consumers.  Personally, I’m glad to see more options in the offering for people like us.  The ol’ entertainment budget just doesn’t go as far today as it used to.

Check out the Blu-ray resource center at Samsung!

Makes sense to me because I pay almost one hundred dollars a month for cable TV and internet access; (bundled services are supposed to be cheaper.)  If I were to subscribe to a video content service such as Netflix, I would only be paying for what I want to watch, and not what the cable company forces me to pay for (that I don’t watch anyway!)

Netflix starts at 4.99 a month with benefits like quick 2-day turnaround on DVD rentals by mail.  They also have video streaming with great quality, with thousands of TV and movie titles to choose from.

Plus streaming video is available from most of these online services, with the option of downloading to your PC, Mac or DVR.  In researching this post, I have learned that streaming video is available to supply content to your Xbox or Roku box, and even some Blu-ray players from LG Electronics and Samsung.

Circuit City sales are expected from Dec. 26 until supplies last.  Watch for deep discounts as fall inventory is liquidated on digital cameras, LCD and HD TV’s, and laptops.  www.circuitcity.com

Home Depot sales are expected from Dec. 26 to Dec. 31 nationwide and online.  Watch for discounts on General Electric appliances and Dirt Devil products.  www.homedepot.com

Macy’s sales are expected from Dec. 26 to mid-January nationwide and online.  Watch for discounts as high as 75 percent off on fall items like appliances, bedding and jewelry.  www.macys.com

Sears sales are expected from Dec. 26 to Jan. 3rd.  Up to 70 percent off on home appliances and fine jewelry.  Some treadmills will be discounted up to 40 percent off.  www.sears.com

Target sales are expected from Dec. 26 until supplies last.  Save 75 percent off on women’s designer clothing by Jonathan Saunders, as the new GO fashions come in for 2009.  www.target.com

Walmart sales are expected from Dec. 26 until supplies last.  Clearance prices could reach as high as 80 percent off, as stores sell off their 2008 inventory.  www.walmart.com

Some do-it-yourself gift suggestions:

Get those family photos organized into a digital photo album, a customized DVD, or put them online.  There’s plenty of photo websites that give you personal storage space and even offer tools to organize and edit photos.  Try flickr.com, shutterfly.com, snapfish.com and kodakgallery.com.

It’s easy to create a digital scrapbook too; there’s plenty of software available from Canon and HP, and some programs are even included with a new printer, so check to see if you may already own digital scrapbook software.  Try canon.com and hp.com for software, and these other online resources: cropmom.com, scrapblog.com and scrapo.com.

We all love photographs but don’t overlook video.  With today’s software, it’s possible to make and edit your own movies, or even create a multimedia DVD of your videos and pictures.  Try onetruemedia.com or smilebox.com

Publish or print your own book.  There’s a number of self-publishing websites where you can create your own book.  Or make it a gift to the author or novelist in your family.  Try blurb.com.

Create your own coupons to give the gift of yourself, or at least your time.  Try gurl.com.

Create your own wrapping paper; scan the kid’s artwork or doodles into your favorite art program and print and wrap.  There’s also gift wrap websites like papergiftwrap.com.

Speaking of weird, all the early wintry weather is making it very hard to travel, so that’s challenging any last minute shoppers.  Consumers are also sticking to their budgets, according to recent surveys, so that’s really hitting retailers where it hurts.

Judging from all the blogs I’ve read and news reports coming in, the 24-hour trend is still catching on, so you can expect Macy’s, Walmart and Toys R Us to follow suit this week by staying open extended hours.

Be on the lookout for discount coupons too, many of which can be downloaded and printed right off a store’s website.  That’s what Toys R Us are doing.  Their stores are offering Deals Of The Day on today’s specials right on up to Christmas Eve on December 24th.  Look for these printable coupons under their Deals Of The Day on the company’s website www.toysrus.com

I ordered 3 of the SanDisk Cruzer 8GB USB Flash Drives because of the great sale price of $11.70 each.  However, the shipping cost of 17.85 raised my order total from 35.10 (the cost of the 3 drives) to the grand total of 52.95.  So the unit price for each drive came out to 17.65, quite a difference from the advertised sale price of 11.70.  Still a great deal, but if I had paid closer attention, I would have seen this in the shopping cart at the end of my order.  But I was in a holiday shopping rush and overlooked it.

Plus, my order finally arrived after waiting for two weeks, because there was a typo on my original package, so the post office returned it to the shipper.  The company did replace the order, and emailed a status update.

That’s why I say be careful when shopping online.  A good deal may not be so good, once you factor in shipping costs.  In the case of amazon.com, not only is the shipping cost higher for third-party sales, but tracking information is not available for your package.

As in my case, careful attention to each click to your final shopping cart at the end of the order should eliminate any chance of errors.  I should add that I’ve purchased many items through amazon.com, and their customer service has always been outstanding.  I will shop them again, but with a wary eye for third party vendors.