No, you’re not seeing things. I’m back, and I’m coming out of the Bird House swinging!

It’s been a long break, the first half of it expected and the other half completely unexpected; and I return to talk about foursquare, Please Rob Me, and the current concern sweeping through the Twitterverse. Adding to the debate of how much information is too much information comes FortheHack and their stand against sharing GPS coordinates for neat-o badges and free stuff from various vendors in the real world. Hear my own view of it from the Bird House and pick up a few twips in this episode on how to stay safe while sharing with your fellow Twitterakians.

Guest introduction by Starla Huchton

Featured movie and TV clips:

• Firefly
• The Treasure of the Sierra Madre
  
• Monty Pyhton’s “How Not to Be Seen” sketch
  
• Army of Darkness
  

Featured People and Stories:

• Security Expert Robert Siciliano
• Siciliano’s Twitter posting to CBS segment on “Please Rob Me”
• Siciliano’s tweet concerning “Please Rob Me”
• Exchange between me and Brand Gamblin
• Brightkite

Album Artwork by Paul Fischer of Dancing Cat Studios

 

 Episode #9: Location, Location, Location [9:40m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (715)

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!

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 (825)

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 (1194)

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 (1162)

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!

What’s the topic of the day at the Bird House? Inspired by an August 20, 2009 article entitled What People Are Tweeting About, the marketing magazine eMarketer and Pear Analytics took a closer look at the traffic on Twitter in order to answer the question “What is the purpose of Twitter?”

I ask the question “Does Twitter — or Social Media on a whole — need a purpose?”

Other articles cited in this episode:

“One Blog Created Every Second” (Aug 2, 2009), BBC News

Chris Brogan’s “Birds on a Wire”

Chris Abraham’s “All a Twitter is Twitter for Smarties”

Linda Vandevrede’s “Finally a Very Readable Book about Twitter” (for Valley PR Blog)

Guest introduction by Chris Lester

“That’s a fact, Jack!” from Stripes

Album Artwork by Paul Fischer of Dancing Cat Studios

 

 Episode #3: Get to the Pointless! [9:59m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (645)

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!

Welcome to Birdhouse Rules, the Official Podcast of All a Twitter and Sams Teach Yourself Twitter in Ten Minutes.

I know on Twitter i have been promising to cover TweetDeck and my bad habit of double-posting (which on writing these show notes I just did…) but then when working through my follow requests, I got hard hit by the avatar you see with this post. Yes, if you see that image (and the variations on it) you will have been hit by a spambot that prefixes all their IDs with “STi_”. These useless accounts will fill your feeds with random links that serve no other purpose other than to annoy the crap out of you.

But what really bakes my birdhouse about the various “STi_” accounts is that they are posing as real people.

Welcome to spam on Twitter.

In this episode I cover the ways to tell if you are being spammed on Twitter. The offending tweets are broken down into three categories, and we also take a look at how some spammers are working into your feeds in order to use you and a delivery mechanism. Take a look at these screen captures from Stephanie Lloyd‘s account…

If you click-and-enlarge the left image, you will note that Stephanie’s tweets are coming from her feed are coming from recognizable applications. The right image, though, is a tweet coming from an API. That is just one (of a few) ways to tell that the spam your getting from friends isn’t their fault.

So tuck in and get ready — it’s a Feast of Spam at the Bird House.

Guest introduction by Indiana Jim

“Spam” from Monty Python’s The Final Rip Off

Album Artwork by Paul Fischer of Dancing Cat Studios

 

 Episode #2: Lovely Spam, Wonderful Spam! [9:57m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (748)

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!

July 27. 2009 was one crazy night! I had PodioRacket on Blog Talk Radio All a Twitter over my upcoming appearance. Host Rhonda Carpenter was all kinds of excited to talk Twitter with me, but you might notice in the first ten (yes, as in one-zero-10) minutes, Rhonda is flying solo…while LIVE on BTR…

Why? Two words: Vonage Fail!

When I finally did get into the mix, the talk turned to All a Twitter and other aspects of the Twitter lifestyle and culture, and the time got by us so fast that we schedule a return visit for Wednesday, August 5, starting at 9pm. With Phil Rossi and Philippa Ballantine rounding out the PodioRacket pandemonium, tune in this week for my return visit! Until then, have a listen to Part One!

 

 PodioRacket is All a Twitter (Part One) [89:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (675)

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

Welcome to Birdhouse Rules, the Official Podcast of All a Twitter and Sams Teach Yourself Twitter in Ten Minutes.

This is the Pilot Episode or more commonly referred to as “Episode 0″ in podcasting. I’m introducing myself and my podcast to you, just so you know what you can expect in the next ten minutes, give or take a few minutes. With special thanks to Andrew Stone and TweetDeck for the inspiration, enjoy this informal formality of a new podcast’s first step.

Guest introduction by Phlippa Ballantine

Album Artwork by Paul Fischer of Dancing Cat Studios

 

 Episode #0: The Pilot Episode [8:41m]: Play Now | Play in Popup | Download (758)

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, on Twitter, or here at the Bird House Rules Blog!

Now, it’s officially official!

I also came up with an easier-to-circulate link, thanks to Bit.ly. Go to http://bit.ly/AllaTwitter and order your copy of All a Twitter today! And feel free to share this video across the blogosphere.