Jon Negroni

Jon is one of the co-founders of InBetweenDrafts and our resident film editor. He also hosts the podcasts Cinemaholics, Mad Men Men, and Rookie Pirate Radio. He doesn't sleep, essentially.

5 Ways to Build a Great Twitter

Image Courtesy of onlinecollege.org

The other day, I talked about why you need Twitter. Well, today I want to share some practical ways you can ignite (or reignite) your platform on the popular social network.

5. Update All Settings

Before you send out that first Tweet, you need to make sure that all of your settings are updated and customized to your liking. If it’s set to a high privacy setting, I recommend keeping it open unless you have a good reason not to.

Pick a good profile picture and header that best represents who you are. For most people, this means staying away from logos and looking like a human being. Why? Unless you are creating a Twitter for a business, you have no reason to make yourself look like something you’re not.

The best way to brand yourself is to brand yourself as what you actually are: a person. There are exceptions to this, of course, but for most of you, keep it personal.

Also, spend a good amount of time writing your bio. Too long, and people aren’t as likely to read it. Too short, and people won’t know enough about you. Be witty, but informational.

4. Start Following

Most people understand that the only way to find followers (when you’re starting out) is to go on follow binges. What most people don’t understand is that you have to be strategic about this.

First off, stay away from “Verified” users. These are your high-profile celebrities and captains of industry that don’t follow-back because, let’s face it, they have too many followers to follow-back.

Don’t just follow anyone. One of the best strategies I’ve used is to find high-profile users that are similar to me (so for social media management, I would pick Chris Brogan for example) and follow the people who follow them. Simple right?

This helps you in two ways: 1) You’re following people who are aligned to your interests, which is why a smart bio about who you are is really important. 2) These are people who actually do follow other people. In other words, you’re filtering out a lot of spam accounts and people who don’t normally follow others.

Lastly, I recommend you avoid following more than 100-200 people a day. Sure, you can do more than that, but it’s a lot easier to keep up with the people who follow-back, and this allows you time to thank them.

3. Start Unfollowing

Ratios are important. If your news feed is too cluttered, your Twitter experience will suffer. You’re going to want to engage with people who follow you back and normally engage with your content. Keep your ratio pretty tight.

Now, as I’ve said before on this blog, don’t unfollow the people who have actually followed you back. You followed them for a reason. You want them to be engaged with your Tweets, but they will most likely unfollow you in return if they discover your treachery.

There are great tools for unfollowing users that don’t follow back in bulk. My favorite is ManageFlitter, a free website that lets you fast select up to 100 users a day, making your follow/unfollow strategy easy to replicate each day.

2. Use HootSuite

Scheduling your Tweets should absolutely be a part of your strategy, especially since we are all way too busy to consistently Tweet every single day.

What I usually do is schedule 5-7 Tweets in the morning that will spread out through the day. These Tweets are typically articles and links that I find interesting enough to share.

For the rest, I just update like I normally would through mobile. These are usually Tweets about myself, retweets, and replies. To maintain variety, I go by the 70-20-10 rule, which you can check out here.

1. Show some love

The other day, I Tweeted that, “Retweets are currency. Spend them wisely.”

I basically meant that when you retweet someone, you are investing in their content. It helps them because you’re making their content that much more viral, but you are using up your own resources to share what they have to say (the more you retweet, the less value you assign to each retweet because it looks like you will share anything).

If you’re following great people on Twitter, then they will value your retweet or favorite for what it is: you taking the time to invest in their content.

This is how you build an engaging following. Finding out what to Tweet, while important, is not the beat-all to building an audience. You can Tweet something extremely profound, but only an audience that you have formed rapport with will actually see you standing out in their feed.

Yes, you need to use hashtags effectively. Yes, you need to pay attention to trending topics. Honestly, that all develops naturally as you get more experienced with Twitter.

What you need to really focus on is community-building. Show some love and watch it reciprocate. Be relevant, timely, and frugal. Use the methods above, and watch yourself become infatuated with my favorite social network.

Thanks for reading! You can subscribe to this blog by email via the prompt on the left sidebar. Otherwise, be sure to stay connected with me on Twitter (@JonNegroni). I’ll follow you back if you say something witty and awesome.

 

5 Reasons Why You Need Twitter

Image Courtesy of IFB

Twitter is my favorite social network at the moment, so expect this analysis to be pretty biased. Of course, that bias comes from the personal realization that Twitter can be one of your greatest assets for your career.

Unlocking the potential to Twitter is something I was challenged to do two years ago at the behest of one my PR mentors. She relayed that the medium is not just growing in size but also in engagement, and I would surely be left behind if I didn’t get the ball rolling by the time I moved into the professional world.

The question here is, “Why Twitter?” Well, there are many reasons, and I suspect that a good number of people who read this will have a personal Twitter profile stashed away somewhere with maybe a dozen Tweets or so that they have put out.

I am writing primarily to those people, who will hopefully take their profile out of the dustbin and begin unlocking their Twitter. Now is definitely the best time!

5. It’s where everyone is. 

It should be obvious to many that Twitter is hugely popular, especially among professionals and celebrities. It’s not just because it is now the third largest social network in terms of size. Twitter is rivaled by none with how open and ongoing it is.

What other social network has millions of people hinging on the brief words of a celebrity or opinion leader?

For you, this means that you have the opportunity to expand your connections to people that are relevant to you. I personally go out of my way to follow people who are just like me: new professionals in the public relations and social media world.

What that does is allow me to expand my base of connections and have a large following of people that actually want to read what I have to say. Unlike Facebook and LinkedIn, you are actually encouraged to connect with people you’ve never met, giving you the chance to build an audience on your own terms.

4. It’s where the conversation is.

Twitter is one of the most effective tools for staying up-to-date on news, whether they be general or pinpointed to your interests and career. Measuring opinion on trending topics is also extremely valuable for many professionals, especially in press release writing.

Another way to put it: Twitter is fantastic for listening and observing. Just make sure you are strategic in who or what you decide to follow.

3. It makes you a better writer. 

Habitually using 140 characters to share something valuable helps you develop a skill for saying a lot more in fewer words. This is an invaluable skill for almost anyone, even non-writers. This is because Twitter forces you to think before speaking.

2. It’s always challenging.

A great thing about Twitter is that there is always someone who is ahead of you in terms of follower-size and engagement (unless you’re Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber).

The fun of constantly striving for more and better results keeps you challenged and engaged. It’s probably what makes the medium so addicting, but that is absolutely a good thing.

Why?

Because you should never be done learning. You should never stop challenging yourself to do better. Twitter is a great platform for reminding yourself of that.

1. The potential is limitless.

Mastering Twitter takes hard work. No one I know personally has done it, but plenty people I know have unlocked at least some of its potential.

What that looks like: a Tweet from you, gone viral, can create a lasting impact on a huge audience. Something that you’ve said is being digested and respected by countless people.

Once you’ve unlocked Twitter, you have proven to yourself and the relevant people around you that you are, in fact, capable of cultivating a living, breathing community. You’ve gotten your name out there. Having that in your repertoire can help you accelerate your career in so many ways that it is tiresome just to think about it.

I Tweeted yesterday that, “There are no keys to success. Just doors.” Well, Twitter can create a lot of doors to success for you, and it’s yours for the taking.

So now the question is not, “Why Twitter?” It’s now “How do I unlock Twitter?” I’ll help you answer that question next time.

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking the “follow” button in the top-left corner.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me) 

10 Ways to Be Less Annoying on Social Media

Annoying Facebook Girl Meme

We all have those people on our Facebook or Twitter that annoy us to death with their irrelevant photos and emotional status updates. Truth is, we can all be pretty obnoxious once in a while.

While I’m not in the business of changing human behavior, I do believe there are a few habits we can all take to heart. Here are a few simple ways to be slightly less vexatious:

*Note, this list is based on the opinions of myself and 5 other people. Obviously, this is all subjective, so take this advice with a grain of salt.*

10. Keep it short (Facebook)

This isn’t a problem for Twitter, obviously, but just because a Facebook post can be forever long, doesn’t it mean it needs to be. A few words can have far more impact than paragraphs of them (we just don’t like to because it actually takes more effort to write less).

9. Post less (Facebook and Twitter)

People are easily annoyed. Seeing two statuses on the same page of 10 or 11 is annoying.  Exceptions are when you post photos and maybe do a quick status afterwards. Otherwise, you come off like you are talking to yourself, and no one finds that pleasant.

Twitter is a different beast. You can certainly get away with 3 tweets within a few minutes of each other, but when people see you taking up most of their feed, they will most likely unfollow you.

8. Be less Personal (Facebook and Twitter)

I don’t mind if someone posts the occasional passive-aggressive status update. If that helps you vent, by all means go for it. You cross irksome territory, however, when these posts come to be expected from you.

A good rule of thumb is to abstain from making your status or tweet personal, unless you’re actually writing on someone’s wall or tweeting at them. This is because constant emotional posts come off as desperation for attention.

If you’re looking for help or support, contact someone directly rather than broadcasting it.

7. Be varied (Facebook)

 Posting about the same thing all of the time wears on people. Just think about the frustration of seeing someone constantly posting photos of their kids.

There’s absolutely nothing wrong with sharing your life with people, especially something exciting like marriage, a new baby, or even a new relationship. Just try to post other things as well. After all, too much of anything is unbearable.

This is also true for funny things you share. E-cards and statuses that have obviously been ripped off of other websites are fun every once in a while but get old fast.

6. Cut back on invites (Facebook)

If you really want someone to play a game or try an app you really love on Facebook, message them about it instead and talk about it. Blanket invites do nothing but bother people, and it makes me personally dislike whatever I’m being asked to try.

Event invites are similar. Be strategic about who you invite. Would they really want to go to this event? Yes, this is harder than just sending out 1000 invites all at once, but just think about how many annoying situations you are preventing when you take the extra minute to filter your invites.

5. Talk about yourself less (Twitter)

You can definitely get away with this on Facebook, but Twitter is very different. Follow the 70-20-10 rule:

70% of your tweets: sharing links, relevant info or retweeting.

20% of your tweets: starting real conversations and communicating with others.

10% of your tweets: talk about yourself.

4. Have a reason behind messaging someone (Facebook)

Please don’t message someone, “Hi.”

If you want to catch up, put some more effort into it. “Hey man/girl, we haven’t talked in a while! How’s your new job?”

3. Have a better reason behind DMing someone (Twitter)

I hate direct messages on Twitter. I’ve gotten to the point where I don’t even read them. This is because people only use them to sell something. “Go to my website for blah blah blah!” “Did you know your SEO is blah blah blah?”

Listen, if you really want people to discover something that is beneficial to them, be more creative. Mentions are a big step forward. “Hey @JonNegroni! Thanks for the follow. I checked out your site and it’s great. Hope you’ve liked mine as well!

See, that’ll actually get me to pay attention because you’re coming off as a human, not an annoying spam-bot.

2. Don’t unfollow people after they’ve followed you (Twitter)

Nothing is more annoying than when someone unfollows you after you’ve positively responded to their initial follow. It’s just rude. If you want to grow your Twitter base and maintain a good ratio, stick to unfollowing the people who’ve ignored you.

1. Don’t announce that you’re about to unfriend a lot of people (Facebook)

Some might disagree with this, but hear me out.

What you’re saying: “Soooo I cleaned up my friends list today! If you can see this, congrats on making the cut!”

What you’re really saying: “Be grateful we’re still friends. I can get rid of you like that.”

See, this can really come off as snobby when you announce to everyone on Facebook that they just won some arbitrary competition for your friendship that some of them might not even care about. You’re basically announcing that your friendship is pretty conditional, which may be true, but it’s not smart to just broadcast that.

If you’re going to make a cut to your friends list, keep it on the DL. It’s much classier, and the best part is you’re going to avoid hurting someone’s feelings accidentally.

Hope this list helped! While I may be frequently guilty of breaking the above standards, I am confident that we are a step closer to being less annoying online. Cheers.

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking the “follow” button in the top-left corner.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me) 

1 Skill You Must Have

Image Courtesy of The Guardian

Most skills we develop past college have to do with very tangible, observational traits. You get better at writing more effectively and transcribing large concepts into simpler concepts. Sharp criticism and experience enable you to have a more creative eye. Just being in a workplace and dealing with people 40 hours a week grooms you for management.

These skills are great, and you’ll find that they develop nicely over time. That said, there is also a skill that is a little trickier to cultivate.

Broad thinking.

In my industry, being able to identify every possible outcome of a situation is something I constantly call upon. It’s not just intuition, it’s knowledge and cohesive thinking. The ideal is that you are able to  constantly stay 10 steps ahead of everyone else, meaning you can solve almost any problem.

This skill is probably the most important asset you have if you want to reach the highest echelons of your industry. Why? For one thing, it prevents you from making needless mistakes. Also, being able to predict trends makes you desirable to your superiors.

How do you develop broad thinking? There are a lot of different ways depending on what you do for a living. For me, reading is your best friend. I digest a large amount of news each day. The benefit is that you gain a large perspective of the world and are able to think much more broadly than someone who is out of the loop.

Gaining insights is another great way to bolster your wisdom on any given subject. While you may not be able to memorize all of the information you’re bringing in, chances are higher that the stories and anecdotes you are appreciating will benefit you in the long-run.

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking the “follow” button in the top-left corner.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me) 

Review: ‘Catfish: The TV Show’

Image courtesy of sidereel.com

A few years ago, I saw the trailer for Catfish (the movie) and was always amused by the concept, though I never did get around to seeing the actual film. Lucky for me, the makers of the documentary developed Catfish: The TV Show on MTV, and I want to let you know if it’s worth looking into.

For starters, this review is based on the first three episodes of the series, which you can watch on Hulu Plus if you have it.

The premise is pretty basic. In the movie, Nev fell for a girl he met online, but when he met her, he had been “catfished.”

Catfishing is when you make a fake persona online and forge a relationship with someone under these false pretenses. The girl Nev fell for wasn’t the young, beautiful girl she claimed to be. Instead she was an older mother with kids.

Remarkably, Nev and this girl, Angela, actually became friends. It’s this positive unveiling of reality that prompted Nev and filmmaker Max Joseph to create Catfish: The TV Show, which focuses on the online relationship stories of other people who went through what Nev experienced.

Image courtesy of slate.com

So, for each episode, Nev responds to a request from someone who went through what he did. In every scenario thus far, the person has been in an online relationship with someone they haven’t met for a prolonged amount of time (one scenario is a 10 year relationship). They want Nev to help them meet the person they’ve been talking to online in order to see if they are who they say they are.

The runtime for each episode is about 45 minutes, which probably sounds like a lot of time for such little content. Well, the show manages to stay entertaining, despite each episode only focusing on one couple, thanks to the natural chemistry Nev has with Max and the other people in the show.

Image courtesy of turner.com

The formula is pretty much the same for each episode. Nev meets the person who requested their help, he does some quick research into who the person is, points out holes or issues with what he finds, brings the couple together, helps each person deal with the backlash (there’s always a big reason why they haven’t met of course), and sees where the two are at some time later.

My favorite part of the show is how they research the elusive person. Because of Skype and Facetime, it’s basically inexcusable (at least to the audience) that these couples haven’t used webcams to meet. That means the other person is always hiding something.

The fun of the show is discovering what that something is and seeing how it plays out for the couple. Sometimes the “secret” is outrageous and totally takes you by surprise. Other times it is more somber and based in more subtle examples of human nature. The variation in each situation is definitely entertaining.

Image Courtesy of crushable.com

Let’s get one thing straight: I am not a fan of reality TV aside from anything with Gordon Ramsey in it, so take my stamp of approval for what it is. One of the reasons it sets itself apart is because the main premise is creating reality for people who have been hiding behind their phones and Facebook.

The show isn’t looking to break any new ground, but it is instead highlighting the peculiarities and craziness that online relationships bring out in everyday people. You’ll most likely find a lot of these characters extremely gullible, but you’ll actually feel for them.

I do like this show and think it’s worth watching, especially if you’re into reality programming and great characters. Nev is the real standout, proving to be one of the most genuine, interesting guys you’ll find on TV, especially MTV.

Image courtesy of mtv.com

You believe that he is sincerely trying to help these people find happiness, and though he claims the show is about the stories of other people, you learn more about him in each episode. Give this show a shot.

 

App Review: Learn How to Do Almost Anything with Snapguide

Image Courtesy of crisp4u.com

Snapguide is one of those “Why didn’t I think of that?” apps that almost anyone will find extremely useful. The concept is simple: create and digest how-to guides on almost anything you can possibly think of with your iPhone, iPad, or iTouch. For my review, I experimented with the iPad version of the app.

iphonehacks.com

Thanks to the versatility of Apple’s iOs camera, a group of entrepreneurs from Yahoo and Google figured out that it would be extremely profitable to create an app where people can post how-to guides on a vast array of topics by using pictures taken by their phones along with captions. After all, how-to guides are something people search for constantly.

The result is Snapguide, an addicting new way to discover new, inspiring ideas that are explained step by step with visuals and captions. Topics range from inspiring recipes with food, making a clock out of a record with arts and crafts, to making better self-portraits of yourself with style.

There’s no shortage of guides to check out, and I was consistently impressed by the unique and fun ideas I came across. Snapguide functions as its own social network, and allows users to like, share, and save their guides. You can even follow people if you like their guides enough, and logging in is easy thanks to the app’s integration with Facebook and Twitter.

As most of you know, my biggest rule for a good app experience is simplicity. Simplicity fuels the cohesive and smooth experience our generation is clamoring for, and Snapguide delivers a finished product I found no fault with, though I can only say that for the iPad version since I, alas, have no iPhone.

Image Courtesy of ipadinsights.com

I can’t help but compare Snapguide to Pinterest. Better yet, Snapguide is a lot like Instagram. Let me explain.

Instagram took a niche that was only one aspect of a bigger giant: Facebook’s photos. It took photo sharing and streamlined it into a simpler package, gaining a huge following. Snapguide takes Pinterest’s niche for inspiring ideas such as recipes and crafts and puts it into one place with tons of loyal followers.

That said, I enjoy Snapguide much more than I do Pinterest, mostly because its community is more diverse.

Yes, Pinterest has guys like me in its network, but we are surrounded by a prevalent female audience that posts many things I don’t care about. I like Pinterest, but it’s not quite as male-friendly as Snapguide, which has a lot of guides that guys can love.

I was especially surprised by how male-friendly the style topic was. There were several guides I found that showed better ways to tie my shoes, wear my tie more comfortably, and fold my t-shirts department store style.

An example of the desktop version
An example of the desktop version

The sports and fitness topic is easily my favorite, boasting tons of great guides on working out and staying fit. There are also fun music guides that show you how to play songs you love on guitar or even slap a bass.

I could go on and on, but the main point is that Snapguide has something for everyone.

I can’t recommend this app enough. It comes in handy for so many situations, and is useful when you are just passing time and saving guides for future use, and it’s definitely great when you’re looking for something creative to do in the moment.

My only complaint is that the search function isn’t where it needs to be. I tested it out by searching for keywords I had already seen in a few guides, but it didn’t work. For example, I searched for “tie” and nothing came up. When I typed “thing,” several things popped up, including “Tie Your Shoes…” This disappointed me mostly because it made me realize that deliberately searching for a guide might not be very easy, which would hurt the whole point of the app.

Thankfully, the app excels at guide discovery, which is what I mostly use it for. Get this app!

UPDATE: Just a few hours after posting this review, I was contacted via Twitter by Snapguide developer, Rahul Malik. They actually addressed the problem I was having with the search function so it now works pretty well. I was impressed by the quick response, to be sure.

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking the “follow” button in the top-left corner.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me) 

Are Hulu and Netflix the New ABC and NBC?


Image Courtesy of digitaltrends.com

Or Fox and CBS? Or CW and AMC? Okay, I’m going too far obviously, but my point is that the two streaming giants are making noticeable strides in becoming “real” networks, whatever that means.

Like pretty much every other millennial, I prefer Hulu to broadcast television and Netflix to renting movies. As a result, I’ve noticed Hulu and Netflix have been pushing original series that can only be seen on their platform (in the states at least).

When I first noticed this a couple of years ago, I presumed that they would only be able to afford miniseries with forgettable actors and web series, but they are proving me wrong with the release of these new shows that actually have a lot of recognizable talent.

Hulu, for example, is releasing three big shows this year. The first is an animated comedy series about superheroes who quit their jobs called The Awesomes. If the show has one thing going for it, it’s that Seth Meyers of SNL is the head writer and the teaser is pretty funny.

The next is a show Hulu is doing in partnership with BBC called The Wrong Mans. Family and friends of mine know that I am a huge fan of British television (if you haven’t watched Skins or Misfits, you are missing out), so this one is at the top of my to-do list. This is a dark comedy, of course, about friends who stumble upon a criminal conspiracy. The best part? It has James Corden. Check out the trailer.

They’re also coming out with a documentary about sports mascots. Read that sentence again.

Netflix is being even more ambitious with the release of Season 4 of Arrested Development this spring, which is really catering to their fan base (the connection being that Netflix users watch Arrested Development ALOT, myself included). They are also coming out with 5 other shows to debut this spring, such as Lilyhammers, House of Cards, Hemlock Grove, and Orange is the New Black.

Like I said, Hulu and Netflix are serious about original programming, hence they are pouring huge sums of money into this investment. Even Amazon Instant is joining in on the action with their own programming.

So, what does this mean? Will Hulu, Netflix, and Amazon eclipse the traditional format of broadcast television?

I say follow the money. Right now, the money is behind CBS, Fox, ABC, NBC, etc. Unless streaming platforms gain the lobbying support of investors, major networks won’t go away, and streaming will be the next cable. It’s like how FX, TBS, AMC, and Comedy Central will never actually kill CBS. They’ll just be better.

Keep in mind, however, that the majority of shows being consumed on streaming platforms is produced by cable, with Hulu being the exception, just barely. Though the major networks have American Idol and The Big Bang Theory, streaming and cable have Breaking Bad.

So the future ultimately rests on the tastes of the masses. God help us.

Like what you read? Connect with me further via twitter @JonNegroni. I’ll follow back if you seem like a real person. You can also subscribe to this blog by clicking the “follow” button in the top-left corner.

Don’t forget to check out THE JON REPORT every day, updated at 8am for a list of today’s main headlines as selected by my editorial team (me)