By MATT SCHULER, Digital Architect, Marx Layne

I read on Financial Times this morning that TweetDeck, my Twitter app of choice, has unveiled what it calls Deck.ly.  The service, similar to TwitLonger, will allow users to send out messages that are longer than the 140-character limit imposed by Twitter.  It prompts the very serious question, is it time for Twitter to raise the limit?

I know I’m not the only one chopping up and abbreviating words, dropping punctuation, using URL shorteners and more to try and fit into the 140-character limit.  In fact, one thing that bugs me are people that are breaking the character limit using outside-the-box services, which force you to click a link to read the complete message.

I still think Twitter needs a limit and it could be relatively low, I think 250 characters would be a good limit, because that fits in two text messages.  I’m already getting two texts from Twitter if I get direct messages from people with really long names or subscribe to certain tweets.  I don’t think anyone wants to navigate through streams of novellas that people post if the limit was abolished.

Iain Dodsworth, founder and chief executive of TweetDeck, told FT.com, “From day one [of Tweetdeck], it was one of the things almost everyone was screaming about… Going around that core tenet of Twitter could be a sensitive move. We don’t know how they feel about it.” (Emphasis mine.)

We really don’t know how Twitter feels about it, because they’ve never spoken out on the issue.  TwitLonger has been around for a while (its website doesn’t have the creation date), and now breaking through the 140-character limit will be built into one of the most popular Twitter apps.

I think it’s time for Twitter to boost the character limit, even if it’s only a moderate increase.

By MATT SCHULER, Digital Architect, Marx Layne

I noticed something interesting last night when checking out my latest followers on Twitter. Take a look at Rick Wion’s page below. He’s the Director of Social Media for McDonald’s.

You might not see it right away, so I’ll point it out.

Twitter added Connections yesterday, a new way for you to see the mutual friends and acquaintances of others. It’s a simple way of seeing whom you both follow. It also shows you else follows that person that you’re following.

Twitter’s Carolyn Penner is quoted in a TechCrunch article saying, “By exposing accounts that you and another user have in common, you will now know how those accounts are connected to other accounts you already follow. As a result, you’ll be able to make more informed decisions about which accounts to follow.”

Twitter’s not the first to launch a mutual connections feature, but it’s definitely a welcome feature. I think it will be a great benefit to the service as people look to find new people to follow and learn more about the people following them.

By MATT SCHULER, Digital Architect, Marx Layne

Have you used Google Voice?  Do you even know what it is?

In short, Google Voice allows you to bind all of your phone numbers in to one super number.  Your Google Voice number will ring your home phone, cell phone, work phone or any other number you have simultaneously.   You can watch this quick video about the benefits before we get to the number porting.

What is Google Voice?

I’ve used Google Voice while I was writing tech reviews, because it allowed me to have one number for all of the review phones.  I didn’t use it exclusively though, because I didn’t want to go through the pain of getting everyone my new telephone number.

Now, Google is letting you switch your number over for a $20 fee. Google does offer this warning though: “After porting your number to Google Voice your mobile service plan will be cancelled, and there are a couple of steps that you’ll have to take to continue making and receiving calls on your mobile device.” That means you may have to pay an early termination fee, if you don’t clear the switch with your service provider beforehand.

They have a detailed list of instructions on how number porting works, and some tips on how to make it go smoothly in the Google Voice Help Center.
You can watch the Google video on number porting below:

By LAVONNE TURNER, Senior Account Executive, Marx Layne

Today is Martin Luther King Day, for me, a day of gratitude and reflection.

I still get teary eyed when I hear Martin’s speech, I Have Been to the Mountain Top. I wonder how he must have felt living under constant danger and still continue to fight for a cause that was bigger them himself, his wife and children.  I believe his faith kept him.  He feared no man . . . HE was  a child of GOD!

It makes me think of the many individuals that dedicated their lives to African American Freedom and Civil Rights, W. E. B. Du Bois , Malcolm X, Rosa Parks.

If not for them, where would I be  . . . who would I be . . . where would I live?  Which leads me to think about whether I am being the best me possible?  Am I giving back and paying it forward?

Are You?

“. . .  We don’t have to argue with anybody.  We don’t have to curse and go around acting bad with our words. We don’t need bricks and bottles, we don’t need any Molotov cocktails, we need to go around to these stores, and to these massive industries in our country, and say, “God sent us by here, to say to you that you’re not treating his children right.  And we’ve come by here ask you to make the first item on your agenda — fair treatment where God’s children are concerned. Now, if you are not prepared to do that, we do have an agenda that we must follow.  And our agenda calls for withdrawing economic support from you.

Well, I don’t know what will happen now.  We’ve got some difficult days ahead. But it doesn’t matter with me now.  Because I’ve been to the mountaintop.  And I don’t mind. Like anybody, I would like to live a long life.  Longevity has its place.  But I’m not concerned about that now.  I just want to do God’s will.  And He’s allowed me to go up to the mountain.  And I’ve looked over.  And I’ve seen the promised land.  I may not get there with you.  But I want you to know tonight, that we, as a people will get to the promised land.  And I’m happy, tonight.  I’m not worried about a thing.  I’m not fearing any man.  Mine eyes have seen the glory of the coming of the Lord.”

Martin Luther King, 1968, excerpt – I Have Been to the Mountain Top

By MICHAEL LAYNE, Marx Layne

How comfortable would you be if on top of your car was a sign that had your name, where you were from, where you were going, a slide show of the party you were at this weekend, what you were doing and was regularly updated with the latest and newest information?

You may not be that interested in driving around, would you? With portable electronic devices becoming more prevalent in our society, the amount of information being shared for public consumption is rising dramatically.

“Over the last few years the consensus about privacy on the Internet seems to have changed a lot,” writes Frank Groeneveld, Barry Borsboom and Boy van Amstel for CDT.org. “A few years ago, people were still hesitant about using their real names online, but nowadays people are comfortable sharing their exact location with the whole world.”

The three are the creators of the website PleaseRobMe.com. The site’s aim is to increase awareness about over-sharing by publicly showing location-based messages. From the site, “We’re not showing the Twitter messages anymore, as they no longer add anything. If you don’t want your information to show up everywhere, don’t over-share.”

In the wake of the shooting of Congresswoman Gifford, more people are analyzing where they share information and how much of it is being made available for public consumption.

In a post on ZDNet, Violet Blue notes: “Most everyone in the wake of the Giffords shooting wants to “do the right thing” in their online behavior. But in this instance, social media and tragedy reveal monstrous behavior.”

The Please Rob Me trio asked some very important questions about the openness of social media that are even more relevant today: “Where does this change in consensus come from? Are people starting to feel too comfortable? We’re not sure, but over-sharing might result in more risk and unintended consequence than one might think, especially in the long run.”

Social media can be and has been used to have overwhelmingly positive effects, but people also need to be aware that the web has no undo button. Even if you delete something, it can still be archived, screen-grabbed and more. You shouldn’t share anything that you would want to broadcast from the top of your car.

By MATT SCHULER, Digital Architect, Marx Layne

Are you making your mentions count when you post on Twitter? I’ve seen a small, simple mistake that could prevent your message from reaching a wide audience.

On Twitter “mentions” are defined by using the “@” symbol. If I want to mention someone, I’ll type: “@TwitterUserName It was great to see you last night. I had a blast.” Because of the way Twitter currently separates messages, only people who follow both of us will see that message. If I wanted my comment to reach all of my followers I’d have to change it slightly. I could write: “.@TwitterUserName It was great to see you last night. I had a blast.” Simply adding the period in front of the mentioned username will allow it to reach all of my followers. I could also move the mention to the middle of the sentence for the same effect, “It was great to see @TwitterUserName last night. I had a blast.”

You may not want every mention you write to go to every follower you have, but there are some instances where you’re limiting what could otherwise be a captive audience.

For example, if you have a satisfied follower who gave you a mention like “SatisfiedTweep: I read @mattschuler’s blog on Twitter mentions and it made me smarter.” I could respond personally to @SatisfiedTweep or I could format it for my entire audience to see like this: “Thanks for reading, happy it helped. RT @SatisfiedTweep: I read @mattschuler’s blog on Twitter mentions and it made me smarter.”

If people are following you, they want to know that it has value and one way to provide that is to reinforce when you’ve done something right. It’s a missed opportunity when you make a mention and only one person sees it.

If you have questions about how Twitter works, Marx Layne is hosting a free seminar.  ”A Taste of Twitter” is Wednesday, January 26 at 5:30. There is no charge to attend the event, but seating is limited and reservations are required.  You can make a reservation by contacting Matt Schuler or Patrick Sullivan at (248)855-6777, or by emailing mschuler@marxlayne.com. Registration and networking begin at 5 p.m. Light refreshments will be served.

Announced at CES on Wednesday, January 6, 2011:

Marx Layne was at the opening of the Consumer Electronics Show (CES) in Las Vegas today. Tablet PCs, 3D televisions, cloud computing and the environment were top of mind for many participating companies.

If you weren’t able to make the largest technology trade show, take a peek at what Monster Cable and Samsung had to say at CES.

By MATT SCHULER, Digital Architect, Marx Layne

How many followers do you have on Twitter? How many people are you following? You can find the answer to those two questions on your profile page pretty easily. But how many of the people you follow are following you? There’s no easy way to answer that question on the main Twitter page, but there are tools that can help you out.

Friend or Follow offers an easy way to determine your audience. It separates the people you follow and your followers into three tabs: following, fans and friends. Following is the group of people that you’re following but aren’t following you. Fans are the people who are following you but you aren’t following. Friends are people you’re following who are following you.

This is useful for determining your audience. Large, nationally known brands will likely have are larger fan base than friend base. If you’re looking to cultivate a more interactive, engaging experience, you’ll likely want more friends than fans.

You can also track the effectiveness of your tweets with the tool Tweet Effect. It analyzes your follower count over the last several dozen tweets you’ve made and shows you how the number changed on specific tweets. There may not always be a direct correlation of your follower count to the message sent out, but it’s useful to track.

Making sure you follow someone who follows you allows the person to send you direct messages (if it’s allowed on your account), and keeps you up-to-date on what they’re doing. Knowing whom you’re following and who’s following you can also help if you’re planning a social media strategy. Additionally, having a grasp on what messages you’ve sent and how it’s affected your follower count will also help. The important aspect to your social media audience is making sure your messages are beneficial in some way. If they’re not, your audience will shrink and then you’ll be tweeting to yourself.