Yesterday marked  the first “Pegasus Tweet up”, a meetup of people from the popular social networking website, Twitter. The Jamaica Pegasus, located in Kingston, hosted a little over 100 people who were eager to witness the tweetup which was postponed due to the unrest in Kingston.

“Tweeps” finally had the opportunity to match handles/usernames with faces.  The Pegasus Tweet up, arguably is the largest and probably the only formal tweetup in Jamaica to date. The Jamaica Pegasus who organised the event, ensured that everyone was adequately entertained and provided an open bar and a buffett with a wide array of food.

I finally had  the opportunity to get more acquainted with friends like @Jamaipanese, @stunnerj et al , who I’ve known online for years but never had the opportunity to meet until last night.  What was supposed to be a good night for me ended up being a great night, as I won the gate prize. I had no idea there would be a prize draw for a round trip to London via British Airways.

I was most impressed with the Pegasus. I had no idea that, on top of the splendour, they’d offer something as cool as a trip to London for their first tweetup. I was even more surprised that I won; the only thing I have ever won was a Key Ring courtesy of Stunner. Haha! He did say to me, over a year ago, “it’s never too late to start winning”.

Events of these nature, show that companies such as the Jamaica Pegasus are keen on customer satisfaction. I mean how many companies in Jamaica follow consumer trends?  Good Job, Jamaica Pegasus, You’ve taken a bold initiative and have shown how useful social media can be for companies to connect with existing and potential customers. Hopefully other Jamaican companies will follow suit and host events just as good as yours. It may be hard for some to both catch up with social media and host similar events. Pegasus has set the precedence.

What is a tweetup?

A tweetup is an event where people who Twitter come together to meet in person. Normally we connect with our friends online after we have met them. At a tweetup you meet the people you might only otherwise know virtually. Like finally putting a name to a face, a tweetup is a great opportunity to really connect with the people in your network and share just a little more than 140 characters at a time.

Excerpt from: http://socialhat.com/what-is-a-tweetup/

Images courtesy of: http://stunner101.blogspot.com/

I mean, It’s just a few things that grind my gears, here goes:

Cryptic Tweets: People who only tweet strange, enigmatic thoughts that no one ever gets. Do you think you’re cool?

IM Conversations: Yes, It’s your twitter account, you do with it what you want, but there are unwritten rules and something called “netiquette”.  Twitter was never meant to be used as  a chat-room ( ipso facto, the 140 character limit).  Some people constantly @ each other talking about things no one can relate to, because it was never meant for twitter. Blackberry Messenger, Windows Live Messenger, Yahoo Chat and a myriad of others are there if you need to have prolonged conversations with a friend, UTILIZE them because nobody cares about your extremely mundane conversations.  Then you wonder why you have 50 followers; that last bit is a precursor to annoyance #3.

That annoying, “Please follow me” phrase: Please, don’t beg someone to follow you on Twitter, It’s really pathetic.  If you are genuinely interesting or actually have some substantial tweets then people will follow you, albeit  maybe not that person you’d want to follow you, but that’s fine; different strokes for different folks, but people will follow you.

Retweeting/replying done wrong: I remember when “retweeting” made its debut on Twitter.  The users created it, until twitter decided to formalize it. I remember how people originally used it.  People retweeted your tweet for many reasons, maybe because they liked it, because it was a tweet that was particularly helpful etc.  In recent time many Jamaicans have flocked to twitter and as simple as it is, not many people know how to use the re-tweet/reply function.  They are distinctly different.  A brief tutorial:

The tweet above is how i see most people reply to to tweets. They “retweet” the original tweeter’s tweet and put their response in front. Occasionally this is fine, especially when you want to save people from clicking the “in reply to” option, but most people, i find don’t know any better, so they always do it thinking it’s the only way to respond to a tweet, but it’s not.

Now this is the right way to respond to someone’s tweet. It’s really easy. Just find the tweet you’re referring to on whatever client you’re using whether it be Tweetdeck, Seesmic, or even Twitter web use the reply function and twitter will automatically reference the tweet automagically.  When the person who you replied to receives your response they’ll know what tweet you’re referring to because they’ll see the “in reply to username” as highlighted above which avoids the “what are you talking about” tweet.  It’s a really easy concept to grasp, So if @waynjonesjnr is to click ” in reply to Waynejonesjnr he’ll promptly see that i was referring to his tweet about cigarette smoking women.

People who do blast #FF’s- On twitter it’s tradition to recommend tweeters  that you like for other people to follow. This is called “Follow Friday, or #FF for short. Follow Fridays are done by putting the #FF hashtag in front of the tweets followed by the people you want other people to follow. e.g: #FF @nigel_thomas @ryanmattis, @waynejonesjnr, @rtrowe, @iamsbee (btw, these are all cool people, you should follow them), but i find this way of “mass #FF’ing”  annoying and ineffective, instead i find it a lot more substantial to write a blurb about the person(s) you want other people to follow instead. e.g: #FF @ryanmattis Fellow techie, blogger and full-time pessimist. You’ll find that people appreciate this method as opposed to the “blast method” that i mentioned above, they’re also more likely to get followed; Quality over quantity i say.

Finally, Tweeting in CAPS: Anybody who’s an internet fanatic or even someone who occasionally uses the internet knows that when you type in caps it signifies that you’re screaming/shouting or showing your disgust for something. Typing/tweeting: “I’M SO LOVING MY BREAKFAST RIGHT NOW”  in caps  is wrong, tweeting using caps indefinitely is annoying and not to mention noobish, come on, get with it. Read more about Online etiquette here

Unfortunately many people i follow on twitter are guilty of my peeves; hoping they’ll all read this and apply it to their day-to-day tweeting so that me and everyone else can have a more pleasant twitter experience. *crosses fingers*

Click Admin Dashboard

I was using Google Analytics at the time, and i more or less stuck with them because, well it’s Google and also because it was free ( And still is). Problem was, Google Analytics is so tedious to use i barely understood what was going on so i more or less developed some level of apathy for website analytics. But on Sun Feb 14 2010 i signed up for Clicky; i subsequently  started to abandon GA and started using Clicky more frequently. Only recently i decided to sign up for a pro account and i have not looked back since.

My favorite Clicky feature is probably something called “Spy”– Spy is a live view of visitors interacting with your web site.

Click Spy showing a world map and where visitors are viewing your website from wherever they are in the world.

If you’re a website or blog owner you will definitely  not regret using Clicky. I’ve grown to love web statistics and it has caused me to take my blog a bit more seriously. Don’t lose out like i did for so long, try it before you knock it!

For almost a week i have been battling with Digicel’s Customer care agents for some explanation as to why i am without my  BlackBerry Internet Service ( BIS, which i pay for monthly) .  Apparently the problem eludes them and i guess they do not consider it prudent to inform their “valued” customers about this issue.  Maybe the $800 rebate i received  was good enough compensation and that would be enough to prevent me from needing to inquiry  further about  my service…or lack thereof.

BIS, which is provisioned through my mobile phone service provider, in this case Digicel, though Research In Motion (RIM) (Blackberry’s developer) actually runs the service is having no issues; which I’m sure if they were it would be reported, thus the problem must lie solely with Digicel.

Throughout the week I’ve been going through the mundane process of speaking to customer care agents, who apparently are robots who are all seemingly trained to repeat the same thing to its customers.  After speaking to so many agents one would want to think that I’m now competent/qualified  enough to be one as I’ve memorized what they all  conveniently repeat to me.

Tonight after speaking to one particular customer care agent, i said to him. “after being so greatly inconvenienced by you, i don’t see any good reason to stay with Digicel, because as it is you now cannot tell me when or IF i will ever have service” The agent in question, rudely responded with, and I’m paraphrasing, “at the end of the day it’s your choice, and we really can’t insist that you stay”.  I’m sure that wouldn’t have been the response if i was dealing with another mobile phone provider who would gladly want to keep their customer. ( Thank God for choices!)

Coincidentally, this evening i read an article in the Gleaner’s Flair Magazine, the cover story was on Jospeh Oates, Claro’s new Marketing manager.  He said “…To get consumers to switch brand loyalty, they must feel that you are looking out for them every time”. I guess now more than ever i have a good reason to switch as i have the option of choosing a network who actually “values” their customers or who can at least give the impression that they do.

Digicel, the Bigger, Better Network..or not.

How different is it if you insult someone via twitter in contrast to insulting them in person? The medium may be different and unconventional, but the effect can be just the same ( hurtful). Therefore i think it’s wrong for people to say “It’s just twitter”. Like it or not twitter is apart of our generation and it has amassed quite a following in a short period of time ( Over 10 million people). So whether you choose to acknowledge it to be substantial or not it’s still there and behind many tweets are real people and prospective friendships to be made.

I’ve been fortunate enough to meet many great people  exclusively through twitter and i have developed timeless friendships with just as much. Some of these people I can name without a moment’s hesitation @aundra, @eddiane, @franarexic, @iamsbee, @MarcGrandmaison, @Zaineysmummy, @jamaipanese @MissBrownin et al.

So, the next time you say “It’s just twitter” remember that behind every username ( robots etc aside) is a REAL person with REAL feelings and anything you say to them there has the potential to help or hurt just as much as it would if you said it to their face.

N.B You can apply this to any other service that facilities human-to-human socialization online ( i.e facebook, tagged etc)

For those who are not familiar with twitter, Commoncraft.com has put together a brief video with an explanation, embedded below is the video:

Doing the slightly mundane task of going through my tweets ( For the unfamiliar a tweet, for me anyway is materializing your thoughts in 140 characters or less and broadcasting it for the world to see) expecting to see much inanity at this hour, but out of nowhere i saw this tweet from a friend of mine. “Ok guys Renée is having labour contractions! We’re going IN!”

That tweet, albeit in 140 characters or less provokes so much emotion, for me and ESPECIALLY for the person who is actually experiencing  it. It really let’s you appreciate how different the world is now and how much we should appreciate it because 10-20 years ago him letting literally millions of people know instantaneously what was happening would be impossible, it also had me thinking. With the plethora of children born each day, each month and each year the thought of a child making it’s way into the world would become somewhat of a familiar feeling to all of us, but it can never be this way for experiences of this nature i.e having your first child, Sex, Graduating from High School, your first job etc you can never truly appreciate until you EXPERIENCE IT. That to me is a GREAT thing, for no matter how many articles you read how many experiences people relate to you or how many videos you watch you can never really Comprehend or Appreciate as i call it “The Simple joys” of life until you experience it.

The world can be good, and so can the people in it. Congratulations on becoming a Dad Samuel, enjoy everything that comes with it, all the best to you and your wife.

Simple but seemingly complex and unique feeling for us all.

The initial way of loading the leaked Blackberry Messenger 5 onto your blackberry was through the Desktop Manager (DM) but the Over the Air Method (OTA) followed soon after. I tried both DM and OTA , the latter being the successful way for me. A lot of people have asked me for help so i thought it prudent to just do a blog post, so the lowdown:

• BBM 5 is leaked therefore it’s possible that it may screw up your blackberry, So Ensure you do a backup through Desktop Manager

• If you have very little knowledge about your blackberry, it’s best you wait until the official release and not get caught up in the hype of having the leaked version

• BBM 5 DOES work on blackberries not running  OS 5.0, it also runs on Berries running the 5.0 OS.

• BBM 5 is compatible with MOST blackberries excluding the pearls and earlier versions, it’s compatible with the curve, bold, tour,storm etc.

So less talking and more links ( Courtesy of Blackberry News) – these are links to the OTA method, just visit them from your blackberry browser

BBM5 for OS 4.5 (83xx)

BBM5 for OS 4.6 (9000)

BBM5 for OS 4.6.1 (8900)

BBM5 for OS 4.7 (95xx)

BBM5 for OS 4.7.1 (9630)

BBM5 for OS 5.0

BBM5 for OS 5.1.0

The 4.7.1 OTA will work on 8900/9000 OS 5.0

Disclaimer: I will not be held responsible for any damage done to your blackberry, you do this at your own risk.

I’m willing to help anyone who asks through the installation and troubleshooting just drop me a comment on this post. And please remember to backup your Blackberry, there’s a strong possibility that you might just lose your BBM, and may need to do a fresh installation of your OS.

Last Pass - I don’t do passwords, i honestly don’t. I really suck at remembering them too, couple that with my unfortunate hacking experience a few years ago and you have me being an extremely paranoid security person. I don’t know any of my passwords.  Every password for every website i use is randomly generated by a password generator provided by lastpass; they’re usually something like 8Au#r9US7Br^H 6-10 characters long, in some cases even 15 characters long. Passwords are encrypted client side and sent to the lastpass servers already encrypted. Military security type of thing. My #1 online essential tool. Heck i love the damn thing so much i’m a premium user. $12 a year isn’t bad:)

SmrtGuard- Nobody likes losing there cellphone, more so the information on the cellphone. Me? I’m safe. In the unlikely event of me losing my cell phone or worse it being stolen i can remotely wipe everything off it, track it, and my information is always backed up by them which i can restore conveniently at any time. Damn lifesaver if i say so myself:) Yet again another online essential tool for only $4 USD monthly.

Xmarks- I’m always juggling my laptop and my desktop. Love both dearly, but it gets tedious sometimes sharing information between the two. But syncing bookmarks between them is a synch. Xmarks does that well. Now it feels like i’m using one browser. Sure there is del.icio.us i use it, but xmarks always comes in handy:)

Dropbox - Last but not least Dropbox. Syncing files between computers. You never know how good it is until you actually try it. Then there are those odd times when you mistakenly forget an essential file. Log into dropbox and download that badboy, a lifesaver!

I can tell you though that it makes Twitterberry look like child’s play. As soon as i get the go ahead i’ll review it in it’s enterity, but for now i’ll continue enjoying it:)