Back with another Bird House Rules (and well under that ten minute window), I’m here to talk a bit about the evolution of Follow Friday. what started out as tweets like this…

Follow @digitalsista, a Social Media mistress and resource located here in Washington D.C. #followfriday

…many Twitter feeds are getting hit at the end of the week by tweets that look like this…

@digitalsista @chrisbrogan @geechee_girl @ITStudios @chrisabraham @sigmastudios @dananner @fishdogs @LindaVandeVrede @riznphx #ff

Take a deep breath, relax, and follow me to your Zen of the Follow Friday.

Guest introduction by Michael Spence

Featured television clips:

• Firefly
  
• Black Adder
  

Featured Links:

• Episode #7 of Bird House Rules
  
• CREATE South 2010

REMEMBER: Saturday April 17th, 2010, starting at 9 AM, will be the day of CREATE South 2010, held at the Horry Georgetown Technical College, Grand Strand Campus in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. CREATE is a meeting for those interested in blogging, podcasting, video, social networking or any other form of creativity and self-expression. Serving the residents of the Grand Strand and beyond, it is a venue to bring together like minded people to network, to teach and to learn. Follow @createsouth on Twitter for more!

Album Artwork by Paul Fischer of Dancing Cat Studios

 

 Episode #11: The Zen of Follow Friday [8:46m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (468)

Feel free to syndicate this audio, and provide feedback or topics you’d like to hear discussed on Bird House Rules at 703.791.1701, tmorris (at) imaginethatstudios (dot) com, Twitter, or here at the Bird House Rules Blog!

If you kept up with me yesterday, you knew that my day from the Bird House was a rough one. I had a knee jerk reaction to the sudden disappearance of Twitter’s new Retweet function (and I openly admit that part of my ire was coming from the possibility that hard work I did for an upcoming print run of Sams Teach Yourself Twitter in Ten Minutes and my Bird House Rules Episode 8a was all for naught…) only to discover that Twitter was having a rough day of their own, far beyond new options pulling a Harry Houdini.

This morning, a lot of things were explained.

From Twitter Status…just moments ago…

(click image to view Full Size)

…and yet, no real reason given as to what happened with the Retweets this morning.

Anyone else thinking this?

It’s all about communication, Twitter. We just want to know what’s happening…

Twitter, as you hear me say in Speak Geek to Me, is being hailed as one of the greatest innovations in modern communications. What does it mean, then, when a tool that revolutionizes how we exchange ideas and share thoughts suddenly decides shut its users out and make a change without notification?

Changing its interface as one would change underwear, Twitter apparently pulled a back-handed “Give the People What They Want” by removing the new Retweet feature. This feature has been in Beta since the Fall of this year and Twitterakians were kept in the loop as early as idea conception. Sure, there was a slight learning curve and not everyone took to it, but third-party clients adopted it into their user interfaces and many like TweetDeck and Twittelator Pro added the functionality with their own flair. I even covered it in the last Bird House with a video addendum.

But this morning I got a tweet from John Merlin (@zard) from the UK:

Just when you thought I was done with TweetDeck v0.32.1…

TEE MORRIS’ TWEETDECK EPISODE
THE VIDEO PODCAST!

The audio is still the same, but now I have MOVING PICTURES to go with it! this is NOT going to be a regular feature at the Bird House, but when the mood strikes me, when the time allows, and when it is something that REALLY NEEDS the visuals, I will offer this kind of video addendum. I hope you all enjoy it!

Imagine That! Studios now presents to you the highlights of TweetDeck v0.32.1…in colour!

Featured movie and TV clips:

• Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
  
• Iron Man
  
• Monty Python’s “Spanish Inquisition” sketch
  
• Firefly

Featured Resources on Twitter:

• “What’s New on v0.32″ from TweetDeck’s Support Forum
• Camtasia for the Mac
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• YouTube.com

Album Artwork by Paul Fischer of Dancing Cat Studios

Feel free to syndicate this audio, and provide feedback or topics you’d like to hear discussed on Bird House Rules at 703.791.1701, tmorris (at) imaginethatstudios (dot) com, Twitter, or here at the Bird House Rules Blog!

 

 Episode #8a: Keeping Up with TweetDeck v0.32.1 (video) : Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (599)

Finally….after several attempts…after daring the Fates…after waiting for just the right time…and weathering an unseasonal snowfall in Washington, D.C.

TEE MORRIS’ TWEETDECK EPISODE!

This has been a long time coming, and I have decided to pull out all the stops and not only post a longer-than-usual BHR, but in the feed tomorrow and posting on YouTube as well will be an accompanying video companion to this podcast, filmed and edited on both Camtasia and the Final Cut Suite, bit-cheeezzz!

A labor of love and a lot to take in, here comes the highlights of TweetDeck v0.32.1!

Guest introduction by Coach Ian Scott

Featured movie and TV clips:

• Six Million Dollar Man
• Pirates of the Caribbean: Curse of the Black Pearl
  
• Iron Man
  
• Monty Python’s “Spanish Inquisition” sketch
  
• Firefly

Featured Resources on Twitter:

• “What’s New on v0.32″ from TweetDeck’s Support Forum
• Camtasia for the Mac
• LinkedIn
• Facebook
• YouTube.com

Album Artwork by Paul Fischer of Dancing Cat Studios

 

 Episode #8: Keeping Up with TweetDeck v0.32.1 [11:04m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (453)

Feel free to syndicate this audio, and provide feedback or topics you’d like to hear discussed on Bird House Rules at 703.791.1701, tmorris (at) imaginethatstudios (dot) com, Twitter, or here at the Bird House Rules Blog!

A question I get a lot on Twitter is what the “RT” preceding a tweet is all about? That’s the “Retweet” and this episode spends some quality time talking about a popular method of making 140-character posts a viral sensation. I retweet. Many Twitterakians retweet. It’s a part of Twitter. This means that, of course, some users really abuse the retweet.

So for this particular Bird House Rules, take your shoes off at the door, assume the Lotus position, and breathe in deep. We are here to explore the Zen of Retweet.

Guest introduction by Viv

Featured movie and TV clips:

• Star Wars
  
• Aliens
• Farscape
• Stripes

Featured Resources on Twitter:

• “Why the Retweet Will Kill Twitter” from Jenner Web Design Blog

Album Artwork by Paul Fischer of Dancing Cat Studios

 

 Episode #7: The Zen of Retweet [9:42m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (435)

Feel free to syndicate this audio, and provide feedback or topics you’d like to hear discussed on Bird House Rules at 703.791.1701, tmorris (at) imaginethatstudios (dot) com, Twitter, or here at the Bird House Rules Blog!