Welcome to the Hive Mind; Learn How to Search Twitter

by Chris Allison (@Chris_Allison) CMO of Centsports.

A few days back, for no particular reason, I started thinking more about how to search for useful information on Twitter. Then Twitter announced they were integrating search.twitter.com with the main platform, so the time to learn has never been better. Not only am I interested, but it seems the hive mind has deemed it important as well (you know all this micro-blogging is turning us into a hive mind don’t you?)
The Advanced is Basic

I set out to learn more about the search feature, which is what so many are saying will be where Twitter makes its money, and found all of my advanced theorizing led me to a pretty basic page that held all of the answers. Props to Twitter. If you go to http://search.twitter.com/advanced you can literally see all of the different ways you can search the hive mind.

I’m pretty sure these advanced features aren’t going to be obvious options in the integrated version so it wouldn’t hurt to know how to use these advanced functions by just typing them into the box so you don’t have to revisit these pages every time you want to search. Twitter gives you the information you need to run these searches from your integrated search box at http://search.twitter.com/operators.

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Builders Turn to Twitter to Connect with Buyers

Social media site allows home building firms to market to small niches, engage in conversation with customers at minimal cost.

Check it out!

Twitter your communities!

So I've been thinking about how new home builders can use the Social Networking tool Twitter to serve their efforts at selling homes.

There's no question that using Twitter professionally can help build your brand if that is your goal, but what about using it to sell homes?

As mentioned elsewhere, Lennar Homes is already using Twitter and getting their message out to an ever increasing audience and it's working!

Well if you've been wondering how you can do this, here's the solution. Let me start
by saying that if you are a builder, then you should

start exploring the entire Social Networking phenomenon to find more ways to promote your brand and get your product in front of the eyes of

the new generation of home buyers. You know, the ones that are using MySpace, Twitter, Facebook and LinkedIn by the millions. If you would

like to see a list of builders that are already entering the Social Networking world go here. Ok, the plan;

A.) Create a Twitter profile with the name of your community. Example: Norris Homes
has a community called "Eagle Creek" so your Twitter

name would be @EagleCreek. B.) Then, use any number of Twitter Badges to place on your community website asking your visitors to follow

this community on Twitter. Your Twitter profile url would be www.twitter.com/EagleCreek. Now that you have an account for that community,

all you do is send out your updates via Twitter and those that are following that community will be notified immediately. Disclaimer: For

those builders that have a large number of communities, it may be better to just have a company profile like "NorrisHomes". It may also be

easier to allow your community sales staff to do the updating for each of their communities. When the community is sold out just go to the

"Settings" tab of your profile and delete the account. You may be wondering "Isn't this just another method of gaining access to your

Visiting audience?” Why, yes it is, but it's also a bold display that your company is following the trend of Social Networking technology and

in today's environment, that's what you want. Here is a great example: Ashton Place
Now, get started!

Tw-apps. Twitter Hotlinks

TweetDeck
TweetDeck is an Adobe Air desktop application that is currently in public beta. It aims to evolve the existing functionality of Twitter

by taking an abundance of information i.e twitter feeds, and breaking it down into more manageable bite sized pieces. I downloaded this app

the other day and I'm playing around with it. I'll let you know my thoughts when the review is complete.

Twitter Me Value not............

Since the inception of Twitter into our lives, people have used it for a variety of reasons. From group conversations to just letting

your followers know that you're sitting on a beanbag naked eating Cheetos. For sure Twitter has many uses. That's why people love it. More

& more businesses are starting to see the value in using Twitter in their marketing strategy and that's good but how they use it will

determine just how effective it will be for them in the long run. As a Tweeter using this great application in business, I am looking for

value from the Tweeters I follow. Not SPAM. The old media was about selling us when we weren't necessarily shopping and it had its place in

its time. The new media is all about giving us want we want when we want it and bringing us timely, valuable information. With the exception

of greetings of all kinds I always pause before I Tweet asking myself what value this brings to my followers. Otherwise I run the risk of

losing them. Be careful not to bring the old media tactics into the new media. Give your followers a reason to stick around.
Happy Tweeting!

Follow Me Home Builders!

Perhaps you've heard the word? Maybe you've wondered what a tweet is. Maybe you know what Twitter is but just shrugged it off.

Perhaps you think it’s just a teenager Internet Toy. Well I'm telling you now that Twitter isn't just a toy; it’s a valuable business tool.

Twitter is rapidly becoming one of the most talked-about social networking tools on the Internet. Now if you're wondering if you as a

builder professional should even explore social networking then a must read is Social Media - New Hype or New Frontier. The popular website

Howstuffworks.com describes Twitter like this, "When you sign up with Twitter, you can use the service to post and receive messages to a

network of contacts. Instead of sending a dozen e-mails or text messages, you send one message to your Twitter account, and the service

distributes it to all your friends. Members use Twitter to organize impromptu gatherings, carry on a group conversation or just send a quick

update to let people know what's going on." Sounds like marketing to me. "Are new home builders using Twitter" you ask? See for yourself.

Lennar Homes leads the way with using Twitter and tweets on a regular basis to their ever growing audience of followers and they're not the

only builder twittering. Check out Polygon Homes, Aiki Homes, Wilshire Homes and Pulte Homes. The time has come home builders.

Like a voice crying out in the desert I proclaim "The time to Tweet has come!"

Twitter Means Business

Check it out, @jojeda has published a book called Twitter Means Business about how companies are "harnessing Twitter to engage their

customers, promote their products and monitor what is being said about their brands" among other things.