Since July 2006 Twitter has challenged us to get to the point with 140 characters or less.  In the past 5 years Twitter has gone from 0 to 200 million users sending 350 billion tweets a day!

Twitter has been used by, and for almost every demographic in the world including movie stars connecting to their fans, protesters during Iranian elections, and asking for disaster relief during and after a disaster, in a medium that spans the world in mere seconds.

The general responses that I get when talking to people about Twitter is one of two: 1.) “Tweet me later” 2.)” I just don’t understand Twitter?”.  If you answer like #2, you might want to check out this “Twitter in Plain English” video to help you join the 200 million other people that are already connecting.

Below is an infographic from visual.ly about the history of Twitter in the past 5 years.  Oh and if you would like to follow me on Twitter, you can find me here: @leeyount Enjoy!

I had the opportunity to be in the studio with Bert Lindsey this morning at WSVM 1490 V-Radio where we discussed how to leverage social media in a business.

If you missed it, you can check out the interview here: Radio Interview 6/22/2011

Resources from the show:

Facebook: http://www.facebook. com
Create a Facebook Business Page:  http://www.facebook.com/pages
Twitter:  http://www.twitter.com
Foursquare:  http://www.foursquare.com

Bert Lindsey – Magical Music: http://www.magicaldj.com/
WSVM 1490 V-Radio:  http://www.1490vradio.com/

96% of small to medium sized business are using some kind of mobile technology in their day to day operations, are you one of them?  Whether you are using an app like Square to make a sale or you are telling people about your new product/service on Facebook, businesses are using this technology to get a competitive edge on their competitors.

Below is an Infographic from Intuit and design shop Column Five that will show you how mobile devices are changing the way business do business, enjoy!

I live in in the foothills of North Carolina, Newton to be specific.  Recently, like much of the Southeastern United States have been struck with destructive severe weather in the form of high winds, hail, and tornadoes.  While many of you know that I monitor the weather and post watches/warnings as they come into Catawba County, I thought I would share some of my resources so that you can be better prepared as well, here they are:

Facebook - I post updates, links, etc. on my personal facebook profile: http://www.facebook.com/leeyount

Twitter – I created a Twitter list named NCemergency (http://twitter.com/list/LeeYount/ncemergency) with several people, organizations, news, and government officials that tweet about emergency related items.

Hootsuite / Tweetdeck – I use both of these tools (depending on where I am and what device I am using) to follow different columns of Twitter and Facebook.  These are also great tools to use to search for hashtags.

Twitter Hashtags - Here are several (but not all) hashtags that I search when there is a severe weather event in North Carolina
(if you do not want to download or use Hootsuite or Tweetdeck, you can always do searches directly on Twitter at http://search.twitter.com/ although it is not the most effective way to use Twitter search)

• #ncwx – north carolina weather
• #nctornado – north carolina tornado
• #tornado – tornado
• #damage – damage
• #tornadowarning – tornado warnings
• #smem – social media emergency management

You can also combine search terms in Twitter like this:

• #NCTornado OR #tornado OR #damage OR #tornadowarning OR #shelter OR #wind OR tornado
• twitpic OR yfrog OR plixi OR twitgoo OR picktor OR mobypicture OR twitxr OR posterous #tornado

If you find yourself in need of assistance here are a couple of good resources:

• 911 – Always call 911 if you have an emergency.
• Find a Red Cross Shelter – If you need to leave your home because of an evacuation or if your home is damaged, find Red Cross shelter openings here.
• Red Cross Safe and Well – After a distster, let your family and loved ones know that you are OK by registering on this site.  You can also search for family or loved ones here.

How to be prepared / receive National Weather Service emergency alerts:

• TV/Local Radio – As long as you have power, stay tuned to your local news outlets / radio stations for National Weather Service emergency information.
• Weather Radio – Weather radios are a great tool to have to wake you up in the middle of the night when there is the threat of severe weather of an emergency situation in your area.
• SMS/Text Message – The Weather Channel provides text message emergency alerts for your area.  You can also choose what you want to be alerted of.
• There’s an app for that – Weather Alert USA is the name of the iPhone/iPad/iPod touch app that will alert you of emergency alerts in your area.  Here is the iTunes link: http://ow.ly/4IAcs web link:http://ow.ly/4IAct
• Red Cross Emergency Preparedness Store – Find and purchase several products including, but not limited to Weather radios, first aid kits, preparedness guides, and more.
• National Weather Service Severe Awareness Page – This is a great page with a lot of useful information, especially the Preparedness Guide.

The bottom line is stay safe and use common sense.  When severe weather is eminent, take the proper precautions to protect yourself and your family / loved ones.  Stay safe out there!

I recently had the opportunity to facilitate a session at the 2011 North Carolina City & County Communicators Conference in Fayetteville, NC.  The name of my session was Social Media – Shock and Awwww Awe.  This was the first time that I facilitated a team/workshop style session and it went great!  I was alloted 2 hours for my session so I wanted it to be fun as well as applicable.  Below is the presentation that we were working from.  Here are the note slides if you would like to download them: Note Slides

New Discover Twitter Page: http://discover.twitter.com/

Twitter celebrated their 5th birthday yesterday and to celebrate, they launched a new webpage to help people “Discover Twitter“.  Included on this page is a wide variety of some of Twitter’s most prominent users including Snoop Dogg (@SnoopDogg), Martha Stewart (@MarthaStewart), and The US State Department (@StateDept).

Not included on the Discover Twitter page, but here are a few Twitter users that I (@leeyount) like to follow:
@catawbacounty
@catcoem
@seizethephoto
@terrybledsoe

Also included in this new page is a great video with a diverse groups of people talking about why they use Twitter (embedded below).

So how do you use Twitter?

5 years ago today Jack Dorsey (@jack), Creator, Co-founder and Chairman of Twitter tweeted for the first time with the message “just setting up my twttr”.  Since then, the multi-billion dollar company has rapidly grown to nearly 200 million users.

Twitter has been used to connect people, businesses, and causes.  Recently, Twitter has been used as a vital communication channel during an emergency/disaster.  Whether it’s and earthquake in Japan, or a tornado ripping through Catawba County, NC, people are looking to Twitter to get important information quickly.

The number of apps that have been developed by Twitter and by 3rd party developers has been astounding!  Per Twitter Co-founder, Biz Stone, there have been over 70,000 registered applications that integrate with Twitter, many of those being on a mobile platform.

So what’s next for Twitter?  I think that people will find new ways to apply this technology to their everyday lives that will transform how we communicate.

What do you think the next 5 years will hold for Twitter?  Comment below!

It has been a week since Japan was struck by a 9.0 magnitude earthquake, slammed with a devastating tsunami reaching 10 meters high in some places, and major complications at numerous nuclear power plants.

With Japan’s phone system being knocked out less than an hour after the earthquake, people in Japan turned to Twitter as their form of communication. According to Tweet-o-Meter, the number of tweets that were coming out of Tokyo were topping out at 1,200/minute.

Here in the US, people were tweeting and facebooking about when possible tsunamis are scheduled to hit Hawaii and the West Coast as well as communicating with friends and loved ones in Japan.

Another way Twitter is being used is by Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO).  TEPCO has set up a Twitter account to communicate people in Japan of any blackouts or radiation leaks.  You can follow them here: http://twitter.com/#!/OfficialTEPCO

While many were using Twitter to communicate, many turned to Facebook to communicate about Japan.  Facebook counted 4.5 million status updates from 3.8 million users all over the world on 3/11/11 that had the word “Japan”, “tsunami”, or “earthquake”.  Below is an animated graphic that illustrated these status updates at 10 different points in time.

How you can help:

Text to Donate:

If you would like to donate to the American Red Cross for Japan Earthquake Relief, just text REDCROSS to 90999. Each text will provide $10 towards the Red Cross’s humanitarian efforts.

Donate to Red Cross via Facebook

The Red Cross has also launched a campaign on Causes to raise at least $250,000 for relief efforts. By logging in to Facebook, you can donate anywhere from $10 to $500 to help Tsunami victims and their families.

Donate via iTunes

Apple is also dedicating resources to the crisis in Japan. They have created a simple donation page in iTunes[iTunes link] that makes it simple to donate anywhere from $5 to $200 to the Red Cross with just a few clicks.

Follow Will.I.Am from the Black Eyed Peas, Super Bowl XLV Half Time Performers, as he will be tweeting from the stage to his followers.  We will be able to see photos of the band, and fans from a much different vantage point than anyone else!  You can follow Will.I.Am here: http://twitter.com/iamwill

[UPDATE - This social good campaign has ended, but had a great response!]

It’s interesting to see how people use technology, and more so social media.  Whether you use social media to connect with your old friends, tending to your Farmville crops, or thinking about others and leveraging the technology to make a positive impact.

Recently I have been involved with a #socialgood campaign to help the Backpack Program of Catawba County, NC.  Seize The Photo Photography in Newton, NC and TPS Photography in Morganton, NC have teamed up to raise money and awareness for the Backpack Program.  In case you do not know, The Backpack Program is a program where kids in need are given a backpack full of food to take home each Friday from school.  The reason that they are given this backpack full of food is because there is a good chance that one of the only meals that they get to eat during the day is at school.  During the weekend, the kids are not receiving school meals, and sometimes go without food.

Can you imagine having to worry about being hungry when you come to school Monday morning because you did not have enough food during the weekend rather than concentrating on getting an education?

Here are a couple of things that we are doing in this #socialgood campaign:

1. Sending out Tweets and encouraging our followers to do the same:
   @seizethephoto is giving $.50 to The Backpack Program of Catawba County for every “Like” on their Facebook Page. http://bit.ly/grZlQW RT

2. Sending out Facebook Messages and encouraging our friends to do the same:
   Did you know that $90 will feed a student in Catawba County, North Carolina for an entire year on weekends with the Backpack Program. Seize The Photo Photography is donating $.50 to every new like on their Facebook Page http://www.facebook.com/seizethephoto
   
   
3. Sending out email and asking people to pass it on to others.  Here is a message from Cathy, the owner of Seize The Photo:

Greetings!
My name is Cathy Yount and I am the owner of Seize the Photo (www.seizethephoto.com) in Newton, NC. A few months ago, I joined forces with TPS Photography (www.tpsphotography.com) in Morganton, NC and our studios now work together frequently. Myself and Chris Garner (owner of TPS) got together and decided to spearhead a campaign to benefit the Backpack Programs in each of our respective counties. We have invited several people to become fans of each of our Facebook pages; for each new fan (starting at 1400), we pledged to donate $0.50 EACH to the Backpack Program. So far, STP has 304 new fans and TPS has 293 new fans, for a combined total of $298.50 raised! Seize the Photo also pledged an additional $50 for reaching an individual goal on Tuesday evening, bringing the overall total to $348.50. Our contest ends on Sunday evening, but we still need help raising money for the Backpack Program. I’m calling on you to help us out by visiting our Facebook page (www.facebook.com/seizethephoto) and clicking the “like” button, as well as sharing this email with all of your friends and asking them to do the same. I encourage you to act quickly so that Catawba County can win the competition and raise the most money for an awesome cause. Thank you so much for your help, and please don’t hesitate to call me if you have any questions. Have a wonderful day!

–
Sincerely,
Cathy Yount
Seize the Photo
(704) 651-6890
cathy@seizethephoto.com
http://www.seizethephoto.com

Be a part of this #socialgood campaign and please pass the above items along to any arenas that you can think of so that more people can find out about the Backpack Program and help this social good campaign.  Just in case you were wondering why I am calling this a “social good campaign”…1. We are using social media to push this message out. 2. It is to help a program that impacts actual people in need, making a social impact in our community.

Just for your information, here is a link to more information about the Backpack Program of Catawba County: http://bit.ly/gH61e5

Please let me know if you have any questions!

Thanks,
Lee
@leeyount