Back to Twitter
If you’ve read my blog or followed me on twitter or been my friend on facebook this past year, you might be skeptical to learn how happy I was to hear yesterday from my attorney that I am officially divorced. It’s been an amazing year thanks to friends and family who have stepped in to change my life. I haven’t been this happy in 20 years.
For the last few months, I’ve stayed away from Twitter. I turned my Twitter account over to my best friend. If I wanted to tweet anything, I told her and she tweeted for me. Today, I’m coming back. I’ll be tweeting about technology mostly, but also life and amazing grace.
I’m working with some people to launch something new that I hope will ultimately be better, more entertaining and fun than GeekBrief.TV. I’m excited about the future. I have so many friends to thank for walking with me this year. It’s been a truly, truly amazing year and I’m not kidding one tiny, little bit!
Thanks to everyone whose listened, prayed and sent good thoughts my way this year!
UPDATE (12/10/11): This post serves as a doorway for a lot of people coming in from Wikipedia. This post reflected how I was feeling immediately after the divorce was final. It’s really strange, 2010 really WAS a good year for me. 2011 hasn’t been so great. I have so many regrets about being nice in the divorce process and not fighting for my share of the business. I trusted what lawyers and Mevio said and they were wrong. I trusted what Luria promised and she was untruthful.
Everything I do that is similar to anything I did before the divorce makes me miss Luria like crazy, so I’ve been exploring new ideas and ventures that don’t remind me of her. I feel like everything is going to be okay, but it only feels like it’s starting to be okay a little bit at a time.
Going through divorce is a horrific experience. It’s made me not trust anyone and I’m working to restore my faith in people again. I’m optimistic, but I have to fight to be positive.
When Luria’s mom divorced her dad, he remained faithful to her until he died. I may change my mind at some point, but for now her dad is my role model, and I’ll continue to hope someday, Luria will apologize and come home or at least apologize and be a friend again.
For now, I’ve started a new gadget show called GadgetReport.TV.
Read MoreTwitter Misunderstandings and Fixing Them
As I go through the loss of my marriage, I’m tending to lean into pain rather than turn from it. Based on what my wife says, I hurt people’s feelings on twitter during the last election. I’m sensitive about that now and hold back what I share on Twitter, Facebook and my blog out of respect for her desire for privacy and because my primary goal is to be kind. Also politics is just about the least important priority in my life right now.
Last night the Tony Awards were on TV. I love live tweeting during award shows, but it’s inconsistant with the personal brand I need to build on Twitter. At the same time, it’s part of who I am, and I’ve gotten to interact with some really fun people, especially during the Oscars.
I was having a conversation with one of the coolest people on the planet and I had a thought I liked so much I tweeted it: “Broken people look for kindness wherever it’s available and share it whenever it’s possible.” @talasyn on twitter replied with two tweets: “I’ll have to disagree. Some broken people do. Other broken people only see the ugly in people. Those are the self-absorbed bkn” and “..cont… And pride is the wedge between broken and surrendered… Stupid pride. I hate you.”
Given my sensitivity, I assumed I had offended this guy. Since I’m leaning into pain, I DM’d him and asked him to email me. I told him I think I can learn from him, and if he hates me, I want to understand why. He did email me and explained that he wasn’t saying he hated me. He was saying he hated his “stupid pride.” He also said some very nice things about me being open about my struggle.
I could have assumed I made this guy mad for whatever reason, and now he hates me. I could have unfollowed him. Instead I asked him, and as a result, I found someone I’ll probably end up having a great meal with one day where we talk about life and God and who knows what else.
140 characters can get us in trouble online, but we don’t have to stay there. People are deep, and I’m learning to explore the depths rather than running away in offense. I can’t always do it. I won’t always do it, but I want to try.
Read More4 Things I Learned by Giving a Way an iPad on Twitter
For the last four years, my focus has been on building two brands from scratch: Cali Lewis and GeekBrief.TV. GeekBrief.TV has been a top technology podcast for four years running. Cali Lewis has 67,000+ followers on Twitter, and the most exciting thing for me is that the brands we built from scratch (and eating ramen noodles) have influence in the consumer electronics industry. That’s neat!
We recognized some really good strategies that can be replicated, and I’m now applying what we learned from building Cali’s brand to my personal brand. One of the things we did to grow her followers was to give things away. We didn’t do it often, but it was effective when we did. Scott Bourne is the king of using give-aways to grow his influence on Twitter, and I recommend studying what he does if it’s something you want to try.
Some people are only on Twitter to enter contests
This may not be shocking to anyone but me, but I was shocked to learn some people are only on Twitter to enter contests. They follow people to enter and Re-Tweet entries over and over again. I had an interaction with one woman who was working to make it as an assistant director in Hollywood. I asked her why she 
isn’t using Twitter to develop a personal brand. Her answer was she hadn’t thought to use Twitter like that. If she tweeted about her life as a struggling assistant director, it very well could be fascinating and who knows what that could lead to? I’m sure something more valuable than a chance iPad.
People are on Twitter for whatever reason it makes sense to them. Some of us are there for friends. Some of us are there for news and information. Some of us are there to market, and I guess some of us are there to win things. Almost once a day, someone told me they followed me for a chance to win the iPad, but they were glad they did because they got value from the information I share on Twitter. I learned that just because a person only tweets to enter a contest, it doesn’t mean they aren’t paying attention to who they’re following. It isn’t a two-way conversation for most of them, but ultimately if they weren’t interested in what I tweeted, they unfollowed when the contest ended.
A few people get mad if they don’t win
Every time we’ve given something away through Twitter or GeekBrief.TV, a few people have gotten upset with us after not winning. It isn’t something I really understand, but it’s good to prepare yourself for it so you’re not caught off guard. I try to respond sympathetically. My wish for every person who likes me or hates me is that they should have an iPad, so I’m disappointed for the people who didn’t win. The old commercial was about buying the world a Coke and everyone living in harmony. That sums up how I feel about iPads.
twitRand is limited by the Twitter API
twitRand is the best way I’ve found to pick a random follower, but the Twitter API has limitations that keep twitRand from being a perfect solution. From what I understand the best solution would involve sucking all the tweeted entries into a database and selecting from that. I had a conversation with someone after the contest ended and he might build something that does just that. I would pay a fee to a company that handles entries and insures the process is as fair as technically possible. I learned about tweetaways.com after the fact and that might have been the best solution, but at the time I announce the give away, twitRand was all I found.
Re-tweets work, but are they worth it?
Since I made the mistake of not developing my personal brand at the same time I worked on the Cali brand, I’ve had to correct that quickly. I’m still working on it and have a long way to go!
I don’t like the idea of contributing to noise on Twitter so I had to compromise THAT value in order to kickstart my personal branding campaign. Having people retweet my brand helped me increase my Twitter stats, but I’m sure it annoyed people too. One guy was so annoyed he created a parody twitter account and followed people who were following me. Some thought it was me. Ultimately, he made it clear he isn’t me and was just having fun at my expense and I can definitely live with that.
The biggest problem with the re-tweets is that I fear they’ll never end even though @TheNobber already one the iPad. Lots of people re-tweeted the links without ever going to Neal.TV to learn the details about the contest. All-in-all there were just over 6,000 tweets referencing Neal.TV during the time of the contest. Only a small number of people continue to tweet the link, but it could conceivable continue for a long, long time. Maybe I’ll start DMing them one at a time to let them know.
Overall, I’m happy with the results. There are things I would do different next time, but I can’t say the negatives outweigh the positives. After the contest ended, I lost about 150 followers and now the number is slowly growing again. The contest increased my numbers by almost 4000. Numbers in social media, when you’re doing it right, are about influence and credibility. My hope is that I either add value to people’s lives when I tweet, or that I make people smile by linking to something funny. My previous mission was to do whatever it took to help Cali succeed. I hope my new mission can be to help lots of other people succeed in using Web video to enhance their brands, and maybe I can continue to win along the way too.
Read MoreTwitter TV: How I’d Make a TV Show Based on Twitter
Last year, Variety reported that Twitter signed a deal with Reveille productions and Brillstein Entertainment to develop an unscripted TV series. Later Twitter’s Biz Stone said it wouldn’t be an official Twitter show. Twitter is allowing production companies to work on TV projects based on Twitter without endorsing one over another.
I have two ideas for turning what happens on Twitter into compelling TV. I shared one of the ideas on Twitter this morning:
I would like to produce a TV show based on the amazing things that happen in people’s lives because of interactions on Twitter.
Neal Campbell
nealcampbell
I got two types of responses. Social media folks understood why it could be a good show because they see examples of peoples lives being positively changed or at least inspired every day. Other folks weren’t certain anyone could squeeze more than a single episode out of the idea.
Last year Amanda Rose organized an event called Twestival to raise money to provide clean and safe drinking water to over 17,000 people in developing countries. The event raised over $250,000. Since then Twestival has raised nearly half a million dollars. An episode about Amanda Rose and Twestival would start with a tweet and end with people filling bottles with clean water in a village somewhere.
May 20, 2009 Drew Olanoff was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s Lymphoma. Drew has a sense of humor about the cancer and started blaming everything from losing his keys to Twitter being slow on his cancer. He asked other people to blame things on his cancer too using the hashtag #blamedrewscancer. Drew’s goal is to raise $1 for every tweet blaming something on his cancer. Another episode would tell Drew’s story.
When Nashville flooded a couple of weeks ago, Pete Wilson tweeted a request for volunteers, hammers, trash bags and brooms to help with cleanup. Hundreds of people showed up to help. There are stories to be told about that.
Those are three examples that made the news. Other amazing stories of people connecting and helping each other in very special ways happen every day on Twitter. To me nothing is more interesting that hearing people’s stories about going through pain and coming out the other side stronger and with more depth.
I’m throwing my pitch out to everyone because I don’t mind if someone other than me makes it happen. I’d love to work on a project like this, but I’d also like it if someone else wants to make it happen.
The quick pitch is Extreme Makeover Home Edition meets Twitter meets On the Road with Charles Kuralt.
Do you have an amazing Twitter story to share? Leave a comment!
Read More140 Characters at a Time
The complexity that goes into making each person’s life unique is one of the reasons those of us who cling to the concepts of grace and mercy love those ideas so much. It’s easy for me to assume I understand someone’s life and situation and make judgements about it. Even though I try not to, I do it all the time. I see politicians on TV. I listen to what they say, I read about their lives, I watch how they act, and then I round out the picture with assumption. We do the same thing collectively with celebrities. We do the same thing with friends. The more we care about someone, the more willing we are to be to dig deep and get an accurate understanding of who a person is and what their life is about. Even with the people we’re closest to though, we only get a partial picture.
When we share bits and pieces of our lives 140 characters at a time on Twitter, people read what we write, take what they know about us and fill in the blanks.
One day earlier this month something facinating happend on Twitter. Anyone following @calilewis and @nealcampbell might have seen two tweets about Oscar Wilde, one from each of us. The easy assumption was that the two tweets were related. I tweeted, “@2degreesofalie Oscar Wilde.” One hour later Cali tweeted, “One can always be kind to people about whom one cares nothing. - Oscar Wilde”
Oscar Wilde is way off topic for both Cali and me. Anyone paying close attention to both of us would assume the two tweets were related. Since my tweet came first, it would be easy to assume Cali saw me tweet Oscar Wilde and then tweeted an Oscar Wilde quote. But she didn’t. She hadn’t read my tweets that day and I hadn’t read hers. My tweet was an answer to a trivia question. Cali just happend to tweet that Oscar Wilde quote an hour later by coincidence.
Last night I tweeted a reference to a Sarah Silverman tweet. I think Sarah is one of the most brilliant comedians alive, but if you don’t know her sense of humor, you could very easily be offended. I would re-tweet her all the time, but I don’t because I fear people reading wouldn’t get the jokes. Sarah tweeted, “F**k-ups always have friends named Neil.” I tweeted, “I feel the need to RT @SarahKSilverman, but I don’t feel comfortable re-tweeting salty language. 
”
Someone made the assumption that my reference to that tweet had something to do with Cali. It didn’t have anything to do with anything other than Sarah making fun of the name “Neil” and me thinking her joke was funny just like I think most of her jokes are funny. I clarified everything with the guy on DM so everything is good, but I wanted to write this post because I’m working on assuming the best about people and sometimes it’s a challenge for me.
Sharing our lives with each other in real life and online is a risky proposition. We risk offending each other, hurting each other and even just misunderstanding each other. It’s even riskier when we share our lives 140 characters at a time. It’s also rewarding and well worth the risk. The reward of sharing our lives is that we encourage each other, inspire each other, and when were really lucky, we make each other smile.
1 Corinthians 13:12 says, “Now we see things imperfectly, like puzzling reflections in a mirror, but then we will see everything with perfect clarity. All that I know now is partial and incomplete, but then I will know everything completely, just as God now knows me completely.” It was written at a time when mirrors weren’t anything like what we have now. I think of a reflection in water or a stainless steel pan when I read that. The verse is about understanding God, but the idea of seeing things imperfectly, or “in part” like the older translations say, applies to how we understand each other too.
My goal is to assume more good things about people than bad things. I don’t always reach that goal, but it’s still the goal.
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