New Drawing - $200 TE Shopping Spree

[administrator]

We're trying something new with this contest - rather than filling out an entry form, we're asking people to tweet about their favorite product(s) on TE.

There haven't been many tweets yet, so the odds of winning are looking very favorable. See all the details here:

http://www.teamestrogen.com/content/promotions_twitter

[Zen]

This is way too much trouble to go through. I already use facebook, email, and read numerous blogs and forums.

Twitter is just not a useful tool for me.

[administrator]

Twitter is not for everyone, and it definitely took us a while to see how/why anyone would find it useful. However, after using it for a couple of months, I've found it does have both utility and entertainment value.

As an example of utility, just yesterday I tweeted about a solution I'd found to a programming problem, and this morning someone somehow picked up on my tweet and sent a response with a more elegant and robust solution to the problem.

[ny biker]

I recently signed up for a twitter account, mostly to follow cyclists (Lance, Levi, Ted King, George Hincapie, CVV, etc) as well as Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen. I haven't actually tweeted anything.

I'll look into the contest. I guess this means I'll have to figure out the url-shortening thing, too.

[administrator]

Twitter will actually shorten most URLs for you automatically. But if the overall length of your tweet is too long you may need to paste in a shorter URL to start with.

Bit.ly is very easy to use - just paste in your long URL, click the button and copy the short URL. Takes about 1 second!

You can even set it up to tweet directly from Bit.ly if you find yourself tweeting lots of URLs that need shortening...

[Possegal]

I recently signed up for a twitter account, mostly to follow cyclists (Lance, Levi, Ted King, George Hincapie, CVV, etc) as well as Phil Liggett and Paul Sherwen.

That's me too. My friends think it is a riot, though perhaps proof that I'm more lame than they originally thought. I enjoy Robbie Hunter as well. :)

[Biciclista]

i have a twitter account. The week after i opened it, my office banned it.
So i forget to check it since I only can at home.

[jobob]

I just recently signed up for Twitter to follow Veronica and Thom when they crew for RAAM.

Thanks for setting this up, Jeff !

[GLC1968]

Damn you, Jeff! I was resisiting Twitter for fear that I discover another time sink...but now I guess I'll give in and check it out. Ugh. ;)

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

Damn you, Jeff! I was resisiting Twitter for fear that I discover another time sink...but now I guess I'll give in and check it out. Ugh. ;)



I will not be assimilated!
Resistance is not futile!

:D

[Zen]

I will not be assimilated!
Resistance is not futile!



I'm with you. I don't need another electronic tether.

[Selkie]

I will not be assimilated either.

Maybe, as a nod to the Luddites, TE can have a snailmail contest?

[administrator]

I will not be assimilated either.

Maybe, as a nod to the Luddites, TE can have a snailmail contest?

OK, I'll do a "proxy tweet" for anyone that doesn't have a twitter account. Just PM me with the URL of your favorite product on TE and I'll send out a tweet on your behalf.

:)

[Selkie]

OK, I'll do a "proxy tweet" for anyone that doesn't have a twitter account. Just PM me with the URL of your favorite product on TE and I'll send out a tweet on your behalf.

:)

You're so accommodating!

To think, I used to make tease the "old" contract investigators who were resistant about doing their reports on a laptop instead of dictating and having the "girls in the office" type them up!! We "young" investigators LOVED the laptops... so progressive!!! This was 1989.

I've become an old Luddite!!! LOL

[BleeckerSt_Girl]

OK, I'll do a "proxy tweet" for anyone that doesn't have a twitter account. Just PM me with the URL of your favorite product on TE and I'll send out a tweet on your behalf.
:)

Works for me. :)

[Zen]

I'm on it :)

[Sadie]

I have a twitter account, and I tried to tweet, but not sure that it worked out okay...

[emily_in_nc]

I have a Twitter account, but I really don't understand it well all, and have only tweeted a few times -- I have put in several for this contest. I don't log in normally for days or weeks at a time, so the nice thing is that it's not something you have to keep up with all the time unless you're into that sort of thing. I don't Facebook or text message (my cell phone doesn't even have a camera!), so I figured I would do one hyperconnectivity thing...but only on my terms! :D

[Veronica]

Well, I put in 4. I don't like the idea of essentially spamming people who are following our account that we set it up for RAAM. Thus I won't be putting in anymore.

I also I don't like that the rules were changed to accommodate people who didn't want to set up a Twitter account. It's like asking Publishers Clearing House to give you the stamp to mail in your form.

Veronica

[Trek420]

I don't like that "tweet" has become a verb.

What kind of a word is that? :confused: ;) :rolleyes:

[Zen]

I'm waiting for the fad to die. Like that electricity fad of the late 1800's. You wait and see;)

[Cataboo]

I'm waiting for the fad to die. Like that electricity fad of the late 1800's. You wait and see;)

How many of us have candles on our dining room tables as we speak?

There are very few people that I want to follow the rambling mundane details of their daily lives. I have enough people that bore me on facebook with "My husband's bringing home dinner!" Following celebrity twits makes even less sense to me... But then, i didn't have New Kids on the block posters on my wall above my bed when I was in middle school and never got the boy band thing either. Nor do I read the gossip rags... And, I don't really care what ashton kutcher or lance armstrong think. The former should just stand around and look adorable, and the latter should just win races.

[Cataboo]

Well, I put in 4. I don't like the idea of essentially spamming people who are following our account that we set it up for RAAM. Thus I won't be putting in anymore.

I also I don't like that the rules were changed to accommodate people who didn't want to set up a Twitter account. It's like asking Publishers Clearing House to give you the stamp to mail in your form.

Veronica

Doesn't publisher's clearinghouse send you a no postage necessary envelope to mail off your submissions?

Requiring people to randomly set up twitter accounts that they're never going to use again, sharing their email addresses & personal information with twitter & spamming up the twitter databases with non-active accounts seems far worse to me than having someone put in proxy tweets.

And out of principle, I won't create a twitter account to submit an entry for this contest and I won't do a proxy tweet.

I'm sure a few of your audience found 4 tweet submissions spam.

[ny biker]

I don't understand the problem. It's voluntary. You don't have to create an account. You don't have to spam anyone. You can just ignore it.

[Flybye]

You are very gracious to offer a gift certificate and to set up a contest in a way of YOUR choice to win said gift certificate. It is your $$, your generosity, and your project, NOT OURS :) :cool:
Thank you for your generosity-
Please dismiss the grumbling.........It would be like hosting a free dinner at your home and having guests complain about the time, place, and food selection:confused::confused::confused:........some guests need to remember their manners:o:o:o:o:o:o.

[PamNY]

Tweet isn't a new word. Of course, the usage is new.

http://www.websters-online-dictionary.org/definition/tweet

Pam

[administrator]

1) Twitter spam -- individual Twitters should respect their audiences, but in the end, they are the judges of their own audience. Your followers are following you voluntarily. If you spam them, they will stop following you.

I think that tweeting about a favorite product or two in conjuction with entering this drawing, especially if a bit of creativity in used in the tweet, will not be considered spam by most recipients of the tweet.

The primary point of the give-away is to generate additional exposure for TE. Allowing multiple entries accomplishes that to a greater degree than single entries would, at the risk of a having a few individuals who might enter hundreds of times.

In retrospect, it would have been better to limit the entries to a maximum of (4 seems reasonable), even though that would have been impossible to enforce (there is nothing to stop someone from tweeting as often as they like, about whatever they like), and would have required additional steps on the back-end to remove the excess entries.

Twitter is a relatively new and rapidly evolving medium. Everyone is figuring out what works, what doesn't and what is acceptable to the community and what is not.



2) Proxy Tweets
My initial thought process in offering this was along the lines of "give a quarter to a friend to drop in the slots at Vegas". However, as your friend, I'm not going to take a bag of quarters and play them for you. So, limit 1 proxy tweet. More than that, and you should take 1 minute and set up a Twitter account. Also, consider that if dozens of people ask me to proxy tweet, then in effect, I'm spamming *my* followers -- fortunately, I'm a relatively unpopular guy, and a couple dozen proxy tweets will quadruple my lifetime tweet total! :-)

[Veronica]

Are you sure you are that unpopular? :p

Veronica

[jobob]

I think it's a clever idea - free advertising for TE, a company that I support and admire, in return for a chance to win a significant prize.

And it's totally voluntary.

What's not to like, wonders I? But hey, that's just me. :rolleyes:

[Veronica]

I think it's a clever idea - free advertising for TE, a company that I support and admire, in return for a chance to win a significant prize.

And it's totally voluntary.

What's not to like, wonders I? But hey, that's just me. :rolleyes:

Did you read my tweets? :D

Veronica

[jobob]

Did you read my tweets? :D

Veronica

Oh, okay, if you insist... :rolleyes: :D

[Veronica]

Oh, okay, if you insist... :rolleyes: :D

hey... you never know, you might need a good tri outfit.

Veronica

[Jo-n-NY]

ok, I set up a twitter account a while ago but never used it and have no idea how to use it. I just logged in now and there is a mess of tweets of the people I am following. This does not look like anybody elses account.

I put in one tweet in the box of one of favorite TE items. It is suppose to show on TE's page?

I am at a loss and have not idea how this works. If someone does not mind spelling it out for I would greatly appreciate it. I guess I am a little dense in this area :)

Thanks much ~ JoAnn

[administrator]

Hi JoAnn -- what is your Twitter username and I can check to see if it came through ok...

[wackyjacky1]

I'm waiting for the fad to die. Like that electricity fad of the late 1800's. You wait and see;)

Darn it, Zen. I was brushing my teeth when I read your post. Do you know how messy it is when you bust out laughing while brushing your teeth?

:D

[Zen]

sorry :D
I'll try to time it better next time.

[wackyjacky1]

sorry :D
I'll try to time it better next time.

That's okay, my keyboard is now minty fresh.

[ny biker]

You brush your teeth at the computer? I could never do that - too messy.

(BTW Jeff, I just posted some tweets - let me know if you don't see anything from bowmandj626.)

[Delta7]

Ok, I've wanted to "tweet" something for a while, does TE need to follow me for my tweet to show up on the @teamestrogen tweet. Gawd, "tweet" is such a fun word... but anyway, how do I know if I successfully tweeted the tweet? ;)

[administrator]

Ok, I've wanted to "tweet" something for a while, does TE need to follow me for my tweet to show up on the @teamestrogen tweet. Gawd, "tweet" is such a fun word... but anyway, how do I know if I successfully tweeted the tweet? ;)

There's a link at the top of the contest entry form that does a twitter search for all tweets containing "@teamestrogen". Or you can use http://search.twitter.com/ and enter the query manually.

Twitter's search feature can be a bit buggy. I saw the tweet on your page, but it isn't showing up in the search yet. I'd give it a few minutes (hours?) and see if it shows up -- I'm sure it will eventually.

[emily_in_nc]

Like JoAnn, I also need a bit of a "Twitter 101". I'm sure there's a FAQ somewhere, but right now I'm pretty hopeless. I don't even know how to follow anyone! I guess I did when I first signed up since I show as following '1', but I don't remember how I did it! :confused:

Boy, do I feel silly -- anyone care to enlighten this newbie? :o

[crazycanuck]

AGHHH! New technology..:eek: :o I'll just hide under my computer desk ..

I really don't need any more stuff..

[Possegal]

Following is very easy. You can use the search function and find someone. From their page, like this one ----> http://twitter.com/teamestrogen
See how there is a little box under the name that says FOLLOW. Click on that, and you are following Teamestrogen. :)

I'm not all that well versed, but that one I could answer. :)

[kelownagirl]

I've been on twitter for more than a year, in fact, I'm thinking of quitting my job to become a professional twitterer so if anyone needs any help, feel free to PM me. ;)

[Trek420]

Darn it, Zen. I was brushing my teeth when I read your post. Do you know how messy it is when you bust out laughing while brushing your teeth?

:D

You should know by now "never read Zen's post with your mouth full" :p ;)

[Jo-n-NY]

Hi JoAnn -- what is your Twitter username and I can check to see if it came through ok...

JoLet

Thanks!!

[Jo-n-NY]

Like JoAnn, I also need a bit of a "Twitter 101". I'm sure there's a FAQ somewhere, but right now I'm pretty hopeless. I don't even know how to follow anyone! I guess I did when I first signed up since I show as following '1', but I don't remember how I did it! :confused:

Boy, do I feel silly -- anyone care to enlighten this newbie? :o

I began with Lance as roadbiker gave the link to his tweet acct. Then I saved it in my favorites. Little by little I just kept clicking on twitter links that I came across. I would click that I was following them never knowing that everytime they tweeted it come up on my page.

Yes there is a help to see how to use it all. I guess I should find the time to read through it. :)

I am glad I have company in not being twitter savy lol

JoAnn

[emily_in_nc]

Following is very easy. You can use the search function and find someone. From their page, like this one ----> http://twitter.com/teamestrogen
See how there is a little box under the name that says FOLLOW. Click on that, and you are following Teamestrogen. :)

I'm not all that well versed, but that one I could answer. :)

Thanks PG! I actually figured it out today before I made my way back to TE. :D

[Biciclista]

so who won?

[kelownagirl]

Doesn't end until 4pm Monday....

[Aggie_Ama]

I am not patient enough to figure out twitter, so thanks for the one proxy entry!

[Delta7]

Like JoAnn, I also need a bit of a "Twitter 101". I'm sure there's a FAQ somewhere, but right now I'm pretty hopeless. I don't even know how to follow anyone! I guess I did when I first signed up since I show as following '1', but I don't remember how I did it! :confused:

Boy, do I feel silly -- anyone care to enlighten this newbie? :o

I found this link for beginners - http://www.tomrafteryit.net/15-twitter-tips-for-beginners/

It seems if you use the @username, the post shows up on the username's reply tab.

[jobob]

Well, someone's got the hang of this twitter entry thing, to the tune of 50+ tweets. :D

[Jo-n-NY]

Well, I think I did it correctly. I guess I won't know if it worked unless we get a reply.

Thanks for all the posts of explanation. I do have a better understanding of how it works.

~ JoAnn

[administrator]

And we have a winner - see:
http://www.teamestrogen.com/content/promotions_twitter