Internet marketer Matt Barak pushed out a press release via PRWeb about him scoring 99.9% on TwitterGrader. Only problem is that one’s TwitterGrader scores are, rather fluid and don’t really mean you’re in the “Twitter elite”, but Matt put up the press release regardless:

What’s better than soaring to the top of a popular social networking site? How about skyrocketing to the summit of two of them? That’s the envious position The Powerful Promoter, Matt Bacak, found himself in last month when he entered the Twitter elite. Proving just how powerful his Internet marketing promotional strategies are, Bacak not only became a top three Atlanta Twitterer, but he currently outranks 99.9% of all members of the site. Internet marketers who would like to follow The Powerful Promoter’s tweets and improve their own promotional efforts can do so online at http://twitter.com/mattbacak.

[From The Powerful Promoter Promotes Himself Straight to the Top of Twitter - Matt Bacak Achieves Another Social Networking Milestone]

So here is his Twitter grade: Matt Bacak and yes he is marked as in the “Twitter elite for Atlanta, GA“, see there are lots of folks there too, not to mention I also have a 99.9% grade and am in the Twitter elite for Vancouver, BC so what’s the deal here?

Did Matt blow it tooting his own horn or not?

Sorta.

The chatter and sentiment on Digg is less than charitable, but really we’re all edge cases in this regard. We understand that what you get from TwitterGrader is more like a fun little thing not to be taken seriously. We’re all thinking this guy is an idiot. None of us have heard of him (I’ve @ replied to him and haven’t gotten a ping back, so I guess he’s not monitoring-bad call there) and we shaking our heads.

However think about his potential clients, folks who aren’t into social media, etc, they’ll go, oooh aaaahhh. Not to mention we’re all talking about it, like they say there’s no such thing as bad PR.

I think this is another case of the divide between the savvy and the tactically smart (or lucky). We know that the release is BS. That one’s rise to the pantheon of twitter, if there is such a place, isn’t something that gets handed down from on high. The rest of the world doesn’t though. I’m simultaneously grateful, bewildered, and cognizant of the fact that I have about 2650 Twitter followers. I’m flattered that people follow me, I don’t think I say very many profound things, but I know that if I send something out it has a broad audience.

And I as much as I catch myself lacking humility about the number of followers I have, I figure I’m still a small fish. Lots of people have more followers. Lots of people with fewer followers have a lot more interesting things to say than I.

So Matt put out a press release that potential clients will eat up, he looks like an internet marketing god to them while the echo chamber laughs (and maybe out of a small about of jealousy). I’m wondering if Matt might just be laughing all the way to the bank.

Last night there was a Tazzu dinner in Yaletown where the big even of the night was going to be Tanya (Netchick) drawing the winner of her $500 cash prize for donating to her Team Diabetes run.

Tanya had the lovely Monica Hamburg do the draw (since she didn’t have any entries in, unlike John Chow with 52 and myself with 7) and she pulled Marketwire!

The funny thing is that everyone wanted to know who would be next and it Gus … who works at Marketwire and helped to get the sponsorship for Tanya!

Marketwire showed how cool they are by putting the money back in. It doesn’t end there because one of Tanya’s teammates Christine is about $1000 shy of her goal, so Tanya gave the money to her and is encouraging us to help her as well (yes, Tanya has indeed met her goal, hence the $500 give-away).

Nice. Great work everyone.

So Tanya are you going to live stream your run?

Read Tanya’s post: (Tanya aka NetChick) This Chick’s Life- » Marketwire wins… And so does Team Diabetes!

You can see my whole Flickr set from the evening below (I was borrowing a Nikon P6000 point-n-shoot from work last night):

AbeBooks is an online marketplace for books, with over 110 million primarily used, rare and out-of-print books listed for sale by thousands of independent booksellers from around the world. A true Internet success story, AbeBooks.com has been selling books online since 1996, and is a private company based in Victoria, with affiliates in Germany and the United States. Internet Retailer magazine ranked AbeBooks at No. 73 among North American online retailers in June 2008.

[From Four months in the works - Amazon acquires AbeBooks - Techvibes Blog]

Yes, there is some sadness about a Victoria company being absorbed by a (huge) American one, but you know I’m also feeling pretty damn proud of knowing that another home-grown eBiz has found this kind of success.

Here’s to AbeBooks!

Incensed opposition parties are threatening to topple Stephen Harper’s Conservative minority and have begun informally exploring the idea of cobbling together a governing coalition. The Liberals are taking the taking the prospect so seriously that some MPs are privately discussing ways to dump Leader Stéphane Dion without waiting for their party’s scheduled May 2 leadership vote. Sources say former prime minister Jean Chretien has been approached for advice on how to massage Mr. Dion’s early exit. Sources say NDP Leader Jack Layton has cancelled a trip to Vancouver to take part in the opposition talks that went on through much of Thursday.

link: globeandmail.com: Confidence vote: Opposition parties say they will vote no

My thinking is: Are they nuts?!?

Okay, the Conservatives haven’t taken the bull by the horns to deal with the economy, and that seems preternaturally stupid, but I don’t think the electorate would be terribly enthused with another election so soon.

While this would make for a record five times I’ve voted this fall, I don’t think a coalition government would last very long (not with Dion or Layton at the helm and if the Bloc had any power most of Canada would call for a recall of the buggers).

This might be political brinksmanship at its worst. With a snap election I don’t think many people will vote (voting in winter, umm yeah no) or give the other parties a resounding victory. I see either a slim Conservative majority or a weaker minority government.

Today, as Americans celebrate Thanksgiving, and the entire world is gripped with the horror of Mumbai, let us all take a moment to reflect on Elizabeth’s prayer.

If nothing else, taking the time to reflect on the blessings we all enjoy.

As many of you know, my dad was diagnosed with colon cancer at 45 (very young), and the rule of thumb right now is to start getting checked 10 years before the blood relative’s diagnosis (yes, I was overdue).

So Sunday I started my fast and cleans for the procedure yesterday afternoon (hence why I wasn’t at work). Like many will tell you it’s the prep that is unpleasant, the procedure is cake.

Yesterday I got to see what the inside of my colon looks like (pink and fleshy) and I also got to see why I need to get checked regularly: they found something.

That something was a small polyp. A quick snip and they removed it for analysis. From the size and looks of it, I was told that it will probably be benign, however it was there.

Because it was there, and polyps are one of those indicators, I’ll be back for another check in a while. Don’t know how often. I’ll find out in three weeks (also when I’ll find out if the polyp is really benign). I’m guessing probably about every three years or less.

So there it is. I’m in that class of people who are outside the bell curve for when to get checked, but … well I’m glad I did.

Scary? Yeah, of course it is.

So guys, if you have a family history, get checked. If you don’t ask your doctor for the signs to watch for.

Really.

No, Kris, I didn’t bring pictures back of my insides.

Flickr photos at www.flickr.com/photos/tris/

Crafty Firefox user Alex customized his own Firefox Portable installation to tightly integrate with Google Apps. He calls his creation “FoxGLove,” and uses it as his own Google-powered productivity portal instead of Microsoft Outlook. Along with his pick of add-ons that enhance and integrate Google Apps in Firefox, Alex tricked out this portable Firefox version with a Chrome-like theme, custom homepages (that auto-load in tabs), web site favicons, and even slapped the FoxGLove name and icon onto the whole shebang. Best part? You can download and try it out right now without disturbing your current Firefox setup. Download FoxGLove below to give it a spin on your own desktop, and get the rundown of what comes with it.

link: Exclusive Lifehacker Download: FoxGLove Standalone Google Apps Portal

Okay, pity it’s only for Windows (crap the good stuff comes out after I switch to a Mac, figures), but as Gina says it is very much like Chrome.

This is pretty much what I predicted would happen after Chrome was released. Call it the “Chrome effect”, I think we’re now seeing browsers a little differently. Make and tune your browser so it runs apps in the cloud like an app on your machine.

While I’d like to see Chrome for the Mac, I think I’d almost rather see just the Chrome engine used in more web-based apps. I see that area where Adobe’s AIR is really getting some serious traction.

Look at all the apps for Twitter. Yes, I know they are using an API to make calls to Twitter, but someone could create an app that just uses the web connection (no API limits there) to make things like we see in Twitter clients.

All that’s stopping people is the idea and inspiration to do it, and I think Chrome did that for a lot of people.

What’s next?

Screenshot from Lifehacker post.

© Tris Hussey, 2008. If you are not viewing this post through the A View from the Isle feed then this content has been republished without permission.

In the week after Labor Day I chatted with a couple visiting from Baltimore. They were in Victoria for just one night, having planned their trip according to the boilerplate stuff peddled by our tourism industry (that Victoria is a “quaint” and “British” town). Now that they had arrived, however, they realized there was a lot more to see (but their vacation plans were already set: Whistler next, and then a wedding in Vancouver, with no way to book additional time in Victoria). I asked them what they thought the city’s number one industry was. “Fishing?” the man volunteered. Inwardly I wanted to scream, “Are you nuts?,” but I just said, “Nope, try again.” “Tourism?” she ventured. Wrong again. High tech, I said. That kind of staggered them (fortunately they were sitting down). But it’s true — tourism was eclipsed by high tech in 2006/07 (tourism revenue: $1.2b; high tech $1.8b).

link: » Will Victoria grow its start-up muscle? Yule Heibel’s Post Studio © 2003-2008

But if that’s true, then why is it so hard to have a start up there? Why is it so hard to get tech events together there?

Having lived there for a year and been in the neighborhood since 2000 I have two possible answers: scale and Vancouver.

Let’s look at scale first because it’s the most obvious. The tech community in Victoria is pretty small (compared to Vancouver that is) and given that for any social group a percentage of people never come to events and few can make it to all events, the potential pool of people to come to events is just smaller.

This doesn’t mean that DemoCampVictoria hasn’t been a success, it has, it’s just harder to get and maintain that critical mass to keep going.

Again scale can relate to funding, fewer people to tap into, even though UVic is right there with tons of young minds eager to be tapped into.

Together both of these lead and relate directory to the second, and more compelling reason, Vancouver.

Vancouver’s tech scene is huge, well-established, and tremendously social. The core groups (pods?) work together, relax together, and have fun together. I think I’d be hard pressed to not have at least one tech event that I could attend every week.

Vancouver gets the attention, it has the money, it has the draw. Victoria? It’s on a freaking island. Boulder might be a small city surrounded by reality, but Victoria is small city surrounded by ocean. To get to Victoria you can’t just hop in your car and drive over, as you can with Denver and Boulder, you have to take a float plane or ferry. Which ever choice you make, it’s time consuming and expensive.

It becomes tough, not to mention expensive to get to Victoria on a whim. I would have loved to be at the last DemoCampVictoria, but going would have meant about $100 in ferry fares plus finding a place to stay.

Couple this with the fact that a lot of Victoria companies don’t toot their own horn enough you have the “perfect storm” of reasons why Victoria isn’t getting the due it deserves.

Solutions? Well building a bridge has been talked about for years, but that’s about as popular as allowing smoking in hospital maternity wards. I think the only thing that can be done if for the Victoria tech community to really start making noise about itself and not mention Vancouver in the discussion.

Van who? Where is that? We live in Victoria…

Being the curious sort I finally logged in and messed around with it. I searched for “Tris Hussey” and “Tris”. The first came up with the usual results, the second the same. Of course on the second I knocked out all references to buffers or government agencies.

Mike Arrington doesn’t like it at all and a lot SEO types are more that a tad nervous about this. Personally I think it could be cool. Coming back to searches I’ve done without having to sift through results that I think are wrong, that seems smart to me. Scoble thinks so as well:

These features rock. They let me add notes to entries in Google. They let me tell the search engine which entries are better for me and they help Google’s business BIG TIME. See, truth is Google is too perfect lately. Eye track research shows that most of us aren’t going past the first link. That is a HUGE change from five years ago when we didn’t trust Google that much so we’d look down the first page looking at all the links and we’d probably even click on the second page to see what’s there.

link: Scobleizer — Tech geek blogger » Blog Archive Mike Arrington is wrong about Google search «

Now, what I’m wondering, and I’d suspect this to be the case, is if Google is gathering all the “doesn’t apply” clicks on a term to help guide better results. Granted, that is playing with fire in a big way.

Take my search for “Tris”. I was looking for me, the person, but someone else might actually be looking for tris the buffer. They should be able to get the results they want too.

I suspect, then, that what will really happen is Google will analyze all the data and do some checking. Yep searching for tris should yield me the person and the buffer (even if I personally don’t want to see it), but if someone has been doing a little black or gray SEO hacking, well getting some of those sites, pages, and results out of the way might be a good thing.

I guess playing by the rules all along is a good thing.

I did another test, just to show that Google is still working “correctly” even when you’re logged in I did a search for Sheila Christie (my girlfriend) and got the results I expected:

I am proud to say, and again showing how simply you can optimize a WP blog for the keywords you want, that Sheila’s blog (SheilaChristie.com) is already in the top 10 results and it hasn’t even been up that long.

I guess I don’t see what the fuss is. I can now taylor my search results to my liking and make notes on the ones I like.

Seems smart to me.

Have any of you tried it and played around with the results?

Yesterday Dave Olson and Raincity threw down the gauntlet at VANOC to allow them and other independent and unaccredited journalists to be allowed to attend media events.

The philosophy behind this desire to be included stems from their experience covering the last several games and providing alternative points of view on the games and the cultures of the host cities/countries.

In brief, we’d like to have a conversation about how to allow fans and amateur media makers to document their Olympic experience while keeping out of the way of the IOC IP lawyers. As a company and as individuals, we’ve produced extensive, non-accredited coverage of Beijing 2008, Torino 2006, SLC 2002, and Nagano 1998. With the next games literally in our neighborhood, we’ll be hosting an independent, international media centre at our Gastown loft office. As part of this, we’ll organize events like photo walks and aggregate fan-made content for the enjoyment of a worldwide audience. We’d like to work with you to do this for mutual benefit. As you likely know, Vancouver is a hub of innovative journalism with companies like ourselves, Now Public, and others plus renowned conferences like Northern Voice. Raincity Studios/Bryght is also an “official weblog service provider.” My colleagues Robert Scales and Kris Krug were published in the academic paper “Pathway: Critiques and Discourse In Olympic Research,” participated in the 9th International Symposium on Olympic Studies in Beijing and will be presenting about the experiences at the noted SXSW Interactive conference in 2009. Among my colleagues and myself, we’ve posted thousands of photos, dozens of audio and video podcasts along with hundreds of blog posts, updates etc. from several Olympics. Additionally, we’ve cooperated with mainstream media and published Olympic-related coverage in the LA Times, BBC online, plus outlets in Poland, Brazil, Shanghai, and so on.

link: Open Letter to VANOC Media Relations and Press Operations from Social Media Makers | Raincity Studios

Will VANOC step up to the plate where other host cities and Olympic Committees have not?

That’s an open and excellent question. I for one would welcome social media participation at the games. I think we’d all be the richer for it.

On the other hand I think I’d be declaring Twitter, email, and RSS bankruptcy on a daily basis.

This week I joined Media2O Productions as a social media and web person (my official title is in flux, I like Social Media Concierge myself) working on some pretty cool projects in the consumer electronics space. I’ll probably also be doing some blogging, etc.

Stay tuned for some fun stuff to come.

NowPublic has this clear and concise comment on what it means to us:

The CRTC just dealt a devastating blow to anyone invovled in Canadian new media as well as anyone who uses the web in this country. Their latest ruling will have negative consquences for new media start ups in Canada because it confers even more advantage to big established media at the expense of small media.
link: CRTC rules against Canadian web customers

In their press release, SaveOurNet breaks the news and gives us ways to take action CRTC sides with Big Telecom and Fails Online Consumers | SaveOurNet.ca, while Gillian Shaw of the Sun let us know later in the day that the CRTC will be having hearing this summer and is taking submissions:

The CRTC is asking for submissions and the questions it is considering relate to: — Changes in bandwidth consumption that may lead to network congestion — Internet traffic management practices based on technical solutions or business models that are currently available or may be developed in the future — The impact of such practices on end-users The CRTC also said it will be trying to establish “the criteria to be used in the event that specific traffic management practices need to be authorized.” Comments have to go to the CRTC by Feb. 16. Fill in the CRTC’s online form at available through http://support.crtc.gc.ca/crtcsubmissionmu/forms/main.aspx?lang=e write to the Secretary General, CRTC, Ottawa, Ontario, K1A 0N2 or fax 819-994-0218.
link: Digital Life

As I said earlier this week,we need to not only inform the CRTC of our stance, but our MPs as well, because in a minority government every bit of pressure from the other parties helps.

It seems odd to me that a government with such strong business sense would be so anti business and innovation.

Mashable is proud to announce that voting has begun in the 2nd Annual Open Web Awards, a unique opportunity for the most accomplished websites and services to receive international recognition for their achievements. During the nominations round, we received over 43,000 verified nominations. We narrowed down this huge pool to the 10 most-nominated sites and services in each category (where 10th place was a draw, we allowed more than 10 nominees in that category).

link: 2nd Annual Open Web Awards: VOTE NOW!

You can even embed the voting widget in your post…

The one thing I’d really like is to see a list of all the nominess in each categories so I can see who I want to vote for in each group.

You can vote once a day in each category.

Rebecca Bollwitt aka Miss604

Rebecca, for those who don’t know her, is not only a brilliant and savvy tech-social media mavens, but one of Vancouver’s most recognized and well-known bloggers.

The question then is how did she do it? It was a combination of hard work and talent, of course. I live-blogged the session with CoverItLive and you can watch the replay below or the scrollable version farther down the page.

Links to some items I quoted: # State of the Blogosphere - 2008 # Personal Brand - Micah Baldwin # How to Blog - Tony Pierce

link: My Third Tuesday Talk Recap » Vancouver Blog Miss 604 by Rebecca Bollwitt

Raul took some awesome notes and has those in his post:Rebecca Bollwitt (Miss604) on branding: Third Tuesday recap « Random Thoughts of a Student of the Environment

Tanya said that the next Third Tuesday (since it will be in late Dec) will be more informal and more networking, having fun.

Third Tuesday Vancouver: Miss604 Building Your Personal Brand

(11/18/2008)  Powered by: CoveritLive

  

Close

7:22	Tris Hussey:  Here we go .. Rebecca (aka Miss604) Bollwitt is starting to talk about how she built her personal brand.

7:22	Tris Hussey:  Wow Rebecca has been doing this since the Web 1.0 world and even had a Blogspot blog (didn’t we all)

7:24	Tris Hussey:  Right now Rebecca is cover the basics we know like starting your blog, what to write about and why. Yes we’re all passionate about something, and this is why most of us got started.

7:25	Tris Hussey:  Parenthetical note: I forgot how hard this was! Now I know why I like Live Tweeting!

7:26	Tris Hussey:  Going to add twitter streams as soon as I figure out how …

7:27	How many social networks are you a part of? Meh none  ( 0% ) Couple  ( 0% ) A Few  ( 0% ) Lost count  ( 100% )

7:28	[Comment From Tod] Anyone live videophoning this?

7:28	Tris Hussey:  Cross posting from the NowPublic, etc … make sure people know where your home base is

7:28	Tris Hussey:  Live no … sorry Tod

7:30	Tris Hussey:  What makes a successful blog? Personal satisfaction … links …

7:30	Tris Hussey:  How much to post? Technorati’s top 100 publishes 10+ posts a day. Rebecca’s record is 8 posts in one day … heck I’ve done 10-12 easy

7:31	Tris Hussey:  Make sure you respond to all the comments…

7:31	Tris Hussey:  Have a contact form…

7:31	Tris Hussey:  All of this is to build and incr. user engagement…polls, quizes, games, etc.

7:32	johnchowdotcom:  Number 1 reward for blogging according to Technrati is personal satifaction. See! Not everyone blogs for money!

7:32	Tris Hussey:  Tanya’s (Netchick) mid-week social game… www.netchick.net

7:33	Tris Hussey:  Motrin? What Motrin? The Motrin Scandal … yeah this is why you don’t launch on Fridays. Make sure you track and follow the conversation

7:34	Tris Hussey:  LOL Rebecca owns miss604sucks.com … make sure you own even the negative conversation!

7:35	Tris Hussey:  Adding more Twitter ids to the stream @scales and @laravarona and @johnchowdotcom keep tweeting!

7:37	Tris Hussey:  Rebecca gives a shout out to to Micah Baldwin (Mee-ha) …

7:38	Tris Hussey:  Whoah, Rebecca’s blogfather isn’t Darren Barefoot. … gotta get that link from her.

7:38	Tris Hussey:  Folks you can answer the polls and comment, really…

7:39	johnchowdotcom:  You need to be proud of who you are and what you’ve written to build a personal brand.

7:40	Tris Hussey:  You own and are responsible for what goes on your blog. Link like crazy … “linking is what separates bloggers from apes”…

7:41	johnchowdotcom:  Linking is what separates bloggers from apes.

7:41	Tris Hussey:  Say it do it … be proud of waht you’re you’re writing

7:41	Tris Hussey:  Note to CoverItLive … OMG the Twitter pull ROCKS!

7:43	Tris Hussey:  What is the difference-separation between online ID and reputation … yeah we all have boundaries and you should only let out what you feel comfortable the world knowing. Remember, Google never forgets…

7:46	Tris Hussey:  Rebecca is Raul’s Blogging Jedi Master … Transparency and full disclosure … ads or not, sponsorships or not. Own your brand. Blog only when you want to. Blogging when you’re tired or don’t want to … well those posts suck. Really.

7:48	Tris Hussey:  WIred’s article: “Blogging is dead…” At the last conference there was a lot less live blogging and more tweets … but after the conference it was the Google searches for the conference that paid off.

7:49	Tris Hussey:  Build your brand by being out there and giving attention to others … link love. … Linking, comments, SEO, being present … all essential to building your brand.

7:50	Tris Hussey:  ”Don’t feed the trolls!” Trolls, spammers, and sock puppets. … just ignore the vermin.

7:52	Tris Hussey:  ”Are companies going on Twitter, devaluing Twitter?” … Just like companies online, it’s how it’s done. “Real tweets” should out number links by a lot…

7:53	johnchowdotcom:  Q&A going on right now at the personal branding session.

7:54	Tris Hussey:  Ah how much is too much … being everywhere and everyplace … even if you don’t use it, snag the names regardless! Pownce, Jaiku, etc. Go where the people are..

7:54	johnchowdotcom:  To all you bloggers at the personal branding session. You can’t have a brand if you don’t have your own domain name!!!!!

7:56	trishussey:  Whoops that was @johnchowdotcom …yes you must own your domain name!

7:57	[Comment From GregEh] Rob Lewis and I were discussing Twitter today, he hadn’t registered an account yet, we checked and most all variations of his name were taken.

7:57	Tris Hussey:  Rebecca did an awesome job … more on Hummingbird604

7:58	johnchowdotcom:  Look for @miss604 presentation blopper on johnchow.con

7:58	Tris Hussey:  K that’s a wrap folks…

7:59

The interesting thing is if you follow enough bloggers on Twitter using an auto-feed service, your Twitter stream starts to look lot like a streaming RSS reader with new posts popping up on a regular basis. Getting notifications about new blog posts is a useful alternative to your RSS reader because blog posts come to you dynamically as opposed to you having to shift through them. In some respects, it’s a way to follow the blog posts of a small group of people, while keeping your RSS reader for a more extensive collection of RSS feeds.

link: Using Twitter as an RSS Reader | Twitterrati

Which started to bring some parts into focus for what could be a very cool addition to TweetDeck: a light RSS reader like Snack.

I know, I know feature bloat. It isn’t what TweetDeck was intended for, but maybe it should be now. How cool would it be to have a few feeds scroll down in the same place as you are reading tweets? How about being able to tweet a headline too? Jump to your browser and then blog it?

This is how the our infostreaming worlds are combining. What we read, how we share, what we absorb is focusing around the attention we want to give it.

I don’t see apps like Snackr or TweetDeck completely replacing something like NetNewsWire, personally I need a much large pool of information to draw from than I’d like to try to absorb in something like TweetDeck, however it’s like the news ticker or headline news. Short bits that you skim and then drill down to details when needed.

Another time when I wish I could code…