Posted by Sulaiman Alhasawi on Dec 1, 2011 in Kuwait, Twitter
The trend now in Kuwait is to use Twitter rather than Facebook. In the past the number of Kuwaitis who use Facebook was far much bigger than Twitter. Very few who used Twitter even though they had Twitter accounts. I personally not sure what made that switch. It could be to follow politics that’s happening in Kuwait- many tweeters were arrested by the government for their oppositional views.There are also other reasons , probably the potential to get to know more people for socializing and exchanging opinions about many issues. There are also the zealots who specializes in one thing only : political rumours, feud and recrimination.I personally had Twitter since 2008 and hitherto my activity isn’t that much. I have seen some Kuwaiti Tweeters who tweet – and I’m not exaggerating – in every hour of the day . Don’t they go to sleep or rest or have other things in life rather than tweeting. This is serious ! It says a lot about them and how they spend their lives. I don’t mean by that to quit Twitter but what I’m calling for is a balance.There are many important things in Life to take care of . It could be your yourself , family , job , business or other things.
I have read an article in Alarabiya News : Kuwaiti government is studying a project to pay teachers money to use social media platforms like Twitter and Facebook. Its like an incentive , but hey this is good news for teachers who are already Twitter-Addicts. Not just that, the salaries of teachers have gone up lately and every one now wants to be a teacher including the tweeters
The power of social media is undeniable. Its importance is growing everyday as you can see what’s happening now in Egypt. Its the core of connecting the world and the people. Its the ultimate sharing tool , where brains from everywhere in the world connect and collide. As you can see the government of Egypt understood the value of Twitter and Facebook and eventually cut it off.They wanted to gain control at the start of the revolution , but the censorship did not work. People were connected by using all means of their capabilities and hope.
The point of this political introduction despite my blog is not about politics by all means but to demonstrate the most important aspect of aspiration and ideas which is “networking”. Ideas don’t come by itself . Ideas are a mixture of objects scattered all around the world. People hold some of these objects and they distribute them with each other.Let me guide you on how to feed your idea or anything in your mind in the most simplest way possible. You start to think of something , write it down immediately . leave it don’t force it. After a while go and type it “the idea” in a social media like Twitter for example. Browse what other people are saying about your idea. It might be a different frame than yours but that’s ok, things don’t supposed to be perfect right now. Remember ! when an idea is being fed things are messy and muddy. Many fall into the trap of wanting to make things perfect from the start, unfortunately there is no such thing.Many schools teach us to act this way or you will fail or be punished.
I like what the Egyptian activist Wael Ghonim said about what happening in Egypt as the internet revolution. He is absolutely right . The Egyptian government underestimated the power of social media at the beginning , that was changed fast when they saw its power in the street and in the whole world. Ghonim works in an internet revolutionary company (Google ) and i think he got revolutionized. I think he benefited a lot by being in an atmosphere like Google, where people share and connect. By using the internet, people will see the truth about what is going on and can not be blind folded by the corrupted media in dictatorial countries. The link between idea generation and Egypt current situation is that all the Egyptians all hold ideas of hope and change, the internet media allowed them to share those ideas.
However my 5 cents advice to you ; be careful when your read tweets or other social media sites, because most of these links are being broadcasted by individuals. There are no editors to check the authority of such news. You need to question what you read and diverse the sources of what you are interested to know. At the end and after reading multiple sources – maybe -you can develop some sort of what’s going on.
In my article Monetizing Twitter ideas Part 2 , I explained how advertisers can use others Twitter’s accounts (tweeters) to market their products. The flip side now is : YOU can be the tweeter and therefore can earn money. It’s a simple process , all you need is a 1 month old Twitter account at the minimum and there you go. Just allow Sponsored Tweets to connect to your Twitter account and your are set. Sponsored Tweets will suggest an estimate for your charge per tweet, but its up to you to decide. You can do some searching by looking at how much other tweeters charge or by asking people who have experience. Have fun !
To read more about my online articles ,please follow me on Twitter
Twitter and social media are great tools to reach new experiences and make new friends or customers ! There are some success stories about how companies achieved success, for example Dell !
Posted by Sulaiman Alhasawi on Aug 5, 2009 in Marketing, Twitter
I will talk today about a new method to market your product or your idea via Twitter. As I explained before Twitter is a very powerful tool to make new prospects and establish new connections. I will show you today a very effective method for you to use in Twitter and its a great leverage. OPTA : Other People Twitter accounts . I made up this acronym to clarify my idea. What I meant by that is you can use other famous Tweeters accounts to spread your words. How can that be possible ? Do you need to know them in person ? Absolutely not !
Sponsored Tweets allows you to do that . Just go and pick any web celebrity you think he/she meets your criteria and create your marketing campaign . The celebrity will look at your offer and maybe other people to choose from.
The flip side is if you believe you you can offer your account for other people to use to market their products, you can apply for that.
Clever entrepreneurs always know when and how to use other peoples resources and in this case OPTA. Its a good leverage and will save you time and effort. Just imagine some Tweeter who has more than a million followers and is willing to help you market your product.
Posted by Sulaiman Alhasawi on Aug 3, 2009 in Twitter
In my post Twitter to follow or not ! I mentioned a nice web tool : http://friendorfollow.com that lists people whom you follow and they don’t follow you back and vice versa. I have experimented with a similar tool called : Tweepi . It has the same facilities but with some addons ;
- It allows you to decide to take action – within the same page - in case you want to follow or unfollow those who don’t follow you.
All you need to do is to tick a box and choose the desired action. So you don’t have to open a new page for that particular user in order to take action, which I find very handy and a time saver.
- It also lists everything about that user in one row ,for example : location , number of followers/following , number of tweets etc..
- Those information helps you take control of your Twitter account and have a good knowledge about your users and how active they are.
I have some thoughts on my topic How to increase Twitter followers Part 2 , which I explained how to use #followfriday technique to increase your Twitter followers. In order to get an effective and valuable tweet:
Its better that you mention to your followers why they should follow the people who you follow .
Another way to do it , is to categorize your Twitter following list into categories . Then when you suggest them you can mention who they are and what’s good about following them.
You don’t have to dig and find your previous tweets on #followFriday . I have found a nice tool that can list all your tweets on #followfriday. All you need to do is to retweet your old tweets. You can find this tools in this link :
Posted by Sulaiman Alhasawi on Jul 26, 2009 in Marketing, Twitter
I came across a good article written by Tweetbucks which lists the benefits of using Twitter for your business. I had written a similar article before, you can read it Twitter to follow or not !
According to Tweetbucks article,Twitter can help you :
“People are looking for you” :which means people of similar interests as you can find you easily and thus increasing your profits and your exposure.
“Bring traffic to your Site”
”Keep your customers informed”
“Put a face to the company name “
“Respond real-time to news.”
“Find new opportunities.”
The reason I’m mentioning TweetBucks is that it uses these advantages and allows you to market your products using short links. I find this a leverage because people can share or retweet your links or your ideas while you are not available.
Im now at Bangor University’s computer lab in the UK. I dont have an internet connection at my new rented house , but I will soon. Checking out http://www.oneriot.com for the lastest topics about ‘entrepreneur’ , I saw a nice website : http://wefollow.com . Its a Twitter directory which helps you find followers. It categorizes popular tags in an easy order. It also lists top Twitter users. I added myself in its directory under ‘Entrepreneur’ , ‘startup’ and ‘web2′. Wefollow website is a social media search engine, which is in my opinion a great tool to help you meet new people in your niche and also keeps you up 2 date with the latest topics in Twitter. If you are wondering what Im doing at Bangor, send me a tweet .
