Cross-posted from Miss604.com

Twitter was experiencing the effects of a bug this weekend that exploited the following/follower method (as this post on Mashable explains). This morning, as an after effect of this bug, all users have noticed their following and follower numbers have dropped right down to zero. This means the little corner store down the block has the same follower count as Ashton Kutcher or CNN at the moment.

I’m certain Twitter is working to rectify the problem and it’s not something permanent as timelines are still filling with updates. However, things like this always seem to cause panic, mass hysteria, and the inevitable shouting at inanimate objects such as a computer screen or iPhone. To alleviate some stress in the future, here are a few ways you can back up your Twitter account.

Backupify
John Biehler clued me into the Backupify service a few months ago and it can be used to archive and back up your accounts from Twitter to Flickr, Delicious, Google Docs, WordPress, Blogger, and Facebook. The very basic service is free (although they do have premium options) so there’s sanity to gain from simply singing up.

Backup My Tweets
The Backup My Tweets service will back up your Tweets since they have a limited shelf-life on Twitter.com. It doesn’t back up your followers as Backupify does, but it will provide you some peace of mind. There is a program you can download for your PC that will backup your friends however I have not tried this so I cannot guarantee its security.

The best thing anyone can do right now is wait this out. Do not go on a mass re-following spree as I can only imagine this would muck up any backups or restoration process they might have Twitter has posted an update saying they have suspended following until this is resolved. Stay tuned to Mashable.com or @Mashable for updates since they have been crowned the most influential account on Twitter (well, at least up until this morning).

Update All is right with the world. From the official Twitter account: “Follow bug discovered, remedied. Read our status blog for details. http://bit.ly/dhQ3fF“.

I recently discovered that my account on Twitter now has the “Lists” capability so I thought I would produce a quick screencast to help others understand this cool function that was introduced last month.

You’ll also find roundups or mass postings of lists on blogs in the coming weeks, such as ReadWriteWeb’s “10 Twitter Lists You Should Follow” or the mega directory over at Listorious.

Update November 2nd, 2009: Mashable has also put out a “HOW TO” for Twitter lists using images.

To say that Twitter is huge in Vancouver is an understatement. During Vancouver Canucks hockey games the word #Canucks is often within the top ten trending topics on the service which is used by millions worldwide. Combining Vancouver and top trending topics has been a bit impossible, until now.

This afternoon Mashable featured Trendsmap, a way to find the hot topics specifically in your area. The big football match in Buffalo might not be on your top trends list however if you’re based in Vancouver perhaps you want to see why so many people are talking about the Olympics, traffic, weather, or the latest celebrity sighting.

As of this afternoon, the top trends in Vancouver are: Organic, Olyimpics, Oakridge (I assume because we have a new Apple store opening up there), Canucks, Climate, and Craig Ferguson. The Trendsmap packs hundreds of cities’ information into an interactive Google Map so it’s a big clunky right now, however the information it provides is pretty interesting. I see this being useful for hyper-local news agencies, businesses, and individuals who would just like to keep on top of what’s being talked about the most in Vancouver at any given time.

To help aid the abundance of folks who are finding their way to Twitter, the one element that I find to be poorly used is the way people share URL’s in their tweets. I know that sounds very picky, but there are more effective ways to do this so you maximize the overall reach of what you are trying to share with your Twitter followers.

So why is this a big deal? Why can’t you copy and paste any URL from your browser and post it to Twitter?

Well, the answer is that you can. There is nothing to stop you from doing that, and if that is the way you want to do things, then keep doing what you are doing. However, if you want to be sure that people follow through on viewing that link, you might want to think a little differently as to how you do this because not everyone uses Twitter the same way.
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Expanding on my Twitter for Business post from last fall, I was giving the opportunity to speak for the IABC’s local chapter this afternoon. It was great to meet so many professionals who have their company’s best-interest in mind, including many who are on Twitter but are still unsure who to use it. My talk was a general overview of this tool and how you can get your company started — using Twitter for communications, networking, customer service, and even support.

There’s much more to be said but I feel this is a good starting point for a business – find the tools, create a complete profile, update, engage, take conversions offline, and be part of the discussion about your company or product that is more than likely already taking place online.

There were many questions at today’s talk and should you have any regarding this online version, please feel free to leave a comment.

Last month I wrote about using Twitter for Business and it was the most popular post we’ve had on sixty4media to date.

Tech Crunch just released some Twitter stats and the proof is in the numbers: Twitter is here, now, and it’ll be staying for quite some time.

Twitter is having its hockey stick moment in terms of its growth just shooting up. Last week it may have delivered its billionth Tweet, at least nominally. And it looks like it is approaching escape velocity. If it doesn’t break up from all the pressure and is able to keep its service up and running more or less, it could soon—gasp!—break into the mainstream. [TechCrunch]

When I was first on Facebook some people laughed, “Why would you need to do that? Who wants to know all that?” and since they’ve recorded 15.8 billion page views in 2007 [TechCrunch]. Twitter was next. It is the latest platform (even though it’s been around since 2006) to start slowly and build momentum – just like the Tech Crunch article says, this could now be going mainstream – and it can definitely be used for Business.

The popularity of social networking is skyrocketing and it’s encouraging to see Twitter taking off. However, even though it is a microblogging platform, there is still such a stigma attached to blogging in general. I’m waiting for the day someone can say “I’m a blogger” and not be immediately pictured sitting in their parents’ basement in their pajamas writing a diary blog entry about their cat.

All of these social media sites are tools that can help you and your business reach the world, or your own specific local audience. Websites these days can have the full functions of a blog but not necessarily be just a blog. They become content management systems that can integrate blogs, pages, Facebook and Twitter updates. It’s for this reason that all of these technologies (together) are so beneficial. It’s where your audience is, so it’s where you need to be.

Earlier this week Chris Briekss of 6S Marketing launched his list of “Top Twitterers In Vancouver” and within a few hours I was chatting with Gillian Shaw of The Vancouver Sun. As a result, the list was published in yesterday’s paper and sixty4media got a nice shout out.

TOP TWITTERERS IN VANCOUVER
1. http://twitter.com/miss604 — Rebecca Bollwit is a Vancouver blogger and specialist in new media and senior partner in sixty4media.com
2. http://twitter.com/buzzbishop
3. http://twitter.com/hummingbird604
4. http://twitter.com/todmaffin
5. http://twitter.com/techvibes
6. http://twitter.com/dbarefoot
7. http://twitter.com/kk
8. http://twitter.com/wilhelmus
9. http://twitter.com/ColleenCoplick
10. http://twitter.com/tyfn … (Read the rest in the Vancouver Sun)

Rebecca Bollwitt, Miss604 on Twitter, senior partner at 64Media.com sixty4media.com and Twitter veteran, is also on the Top 20 list. “It started out for me just being personal update, like your Facebook status but not on Facebook,” Bollwitt said. “For me personally, it turned into more of a marketing tool for my company… …Once I got on I just started seeing who other people were following and seeing who was adding who. It creates this huge global chain of information-sharing.

It’s always fun to see your company name in the “Business” section of the largest paper in the city. If you’d like to add sixty4media on Twitter you can find us @sixty4media.

The first thing we did when launching sixty4media was pick a domain name, from there we were able to register everything we needed and get the company off the ground. The next few steps were establishing our online presence and that pretty much started with Twitter, a service we have been using individually since early 2007.

John and I each have our own visibility but taking sixty4media out of the shrink wrap and putting it out there is currently one of my biggest tasks. A large part of being online and being visible isn’t necessarily judged by how many FriendFeeds, Tumblrs, Plurks, Jaikus, BrightKites, Identi.ca or Pownces you happen to be on. If Blog World Expo taught me one thing, it’s that the population is on Twitter.

sixty4media’s account is alive and well, although admittedly we have to step it up a bit since right now it’s a publishing platform for our new blog posts. The main thing is that we’re there.

Now, some people think Twitter is a joke – that it’s nothing more than a chat room or Facebook status updates on steroids. I would love to take a few minutes and educate the population about social media and the “power of millions” that Twitter has harnessed. One need only look at the election stream to see the effectiveness of an open global conversation online.

Not only can you find out what Bobby had for dinner or what Susie’s cat just chewed, you can also use Twitter for business. It’s a way to engage your audience, update, take polls, and share information. To prove it, here are a few choice examples:

Whole Foods Market
Blog: Whole Story
Twitter: @WholeFoods
Updates: Whole Foods updates their shoppers on in-store events and specials, as well as their latest blog posts and podcasts.

Learn more about cooking dried beans at home with this week’s food podcast: http://poprl.com/1ky [October 2008]

We’re sponsoring this year’s Chicago Gourmet event at Millennium Park and hosting a special family friendly section: http://is.gd/38p3 [September 2008]

Carnival Cruise Lines
Blog: By Senior Cruise Director John Heald
Twitter: @CarnivalCruise
Update: Carnival loves featuring their talented staff, crew and even interns through videos, blog posts and promotions.

Meet the Carnival Splendor crew- check out a video interview with Claudia, Casino Host extraordinaire – http://tinyurl.com/6n7yer [August 2008]

Commemorating the arrival of Jacksonville’s largest cruise ship- http://tinyurl.com/4k7qoo [September 2008]

Taking our social efforts beyond onboard fun – http://tinyurl.com/6eo8jq [September 2008]

Luxor Hotel and Casino
Blog: Luxor Insider
Twitter: @LuxorLV
Updates: The Luxor’s updates include featured performers at the hotel, Las Vegas trends, marketing tips, and during Blog World I was able to pick up some drink vouchers at Aurora thanks to their answering their shout out on Twitter for bloggers. The updates also have a nice personal feel.

At Mandalay Bay… Big meeting with all my counterparts from our sister properties. We’re talking about mobile mktg [September 2008]

Headed to CatHouse for a CRISS ANGEL Believe cast and crew party! – http://bkite.com/01GXP [September 2008]

Another great thing about Twitter (compared to other microblogging clients) is that there are so many applications and outside tools you can use to update such as the WordPress plugin, WordTwit, or managers like Tweet Deck or Twitterffic.

Because of their authenticity and genuine interest in social media as a way to keep in touch with their clients, and potential customers, I can see people having more trust in businesses like those mentioned above. I am probably more likely to book my next Las Vegas visit at the Luxor because of their outreach, and I’m seriously interested in this “Blogger Cruise” I read about on John Heald’s blog.

Twitter can be professional and also productive, as with any service you need to know when to ignore all of the noise and find out how this powerful tool can work best for you.

As we have been slowly molding sixty4media into shape, we have recently made our very own Twitter account open and available to the public.

Twitter is a popular social media site that combines micro-blogging and instant messaging to an international phenomenon of letting people know what you’re doing. Sounds insignificant to some, but there are more ways to use it other than telling people that you’re hungry or doing the laundry.

For instance, we use a great plugin for WordPress called WordTwit. This was made by our good friend Duane at BraveNewCode, and the whole purpose of it is to make an update to your Twitter account when you publish a new post on your WordPress site. Combined with any other updates we do on the account, you can get the latest news from our site as we publish it.

In the age of iPhones and Blackberries, what better way to connect to your audience directly?