by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

"Amy who?" If you get that question often, you need some help branding yourself. Have you ever thought about twitter? Perhaps you've tried twitter already but don't know how to brand your company with it. You're just talking to thin air, right? Wrong. If you use twitter correctly and tap into the available resources, you have access to a very wide audience. I've been using twitter to brand myself in several niche areas for years. So how do I do it?

Follow people who represent what you stand for. This is one of the most important ways to show people what your company is all about. If you want people to know you are involved in a particular activity, be involved in it everywhere, including twitter. One of my missions in life is to help rescue and bring appreciation to small animals. Anyone who knows me, even for a second, knows this. Why? I put it out there. I talk about it, write about it, have a web page about it, facebook about it, and yes, twitter about it with a twitter account dedicated to that alone. On that account, I interact with other animal lovers. Following and keeping up with these people not only shows I'm involved, but it keeps me up to date with what's going on in that niche area.

Tweet tips about your purpose. If your purpose is to bring attention to homelessness and you're tweeting about your new cat and his cute tricks, you are targeting the wrong audience. It's one thing to have random fun posts. But most of your posts should be related to the niche you want to brand yourself or your company in. Otherwise, your followers will be very confused as to what exactly you represent. Do people need to ask what your purpose is? Do your followers often have nothing to do with your niche? If so, work on tweeting more about your purpose, lest you branded for something completely unrelated, such as silly things cats do, instead of fighting homelessness.

Tweet links to more information. This shows your followers you know what you're talking about. An authority on a topic should have an outlet where the topic is further discussed. This could be a blog, a website, a facebook page, or all of the above. Tweeting these links helps to brand your name (or company name) to a niche topic because it shows activity on a particular topic. I am well-known for my parenting and pet content. Why? I live it, write about it, and share content about it regularly. Those links go out to twitter every single time so that followers know what I stand for. When your followers know what you're about, they will start to look forward to this information. That's when you know you've done a good job branding. But don't stop. Keep up the momentum.

Use hashtags that represent your purpose. This helps readers and potential followers find your tweets. If you tweet about homelessness, you might use the tags #poverty, #homeless, or #homelessness after your tweet to indicate what you're talking about. If you do this with every single tweet, people come to associate you or your brand with the topic. To reach the maximum amount of people, experiment and search twitter for various hashtags that mean the same thing. Choose the ones that produce the most results. The more people that regularly use a hashtag word or phrase, the better.

Use hashtags that represent your brand. You can also take it a step further and create tags that represent your company or name. Place those tags, as well as other related tags, in every tweet so that it's easier for people to find you and associate you with certain topics. I add #LynLomasi in many tweets that I want associated with my brand. One of my websites is called Life Successfully. When I tweet about something I want branded to that website, I use the hashtag #LifeSuccessfully.

There are many ways to brand yourself on twitter. Be clear and consistent in the methods you choose to gain the most positive results. Be fair and don't spam too many links or over post. That will actually cause you to lose followers, rather than gain them. Be authentic and use twitter to enhance what you already believe in.

**Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi

by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

Most who know me will know that I spend a considerable amount of time utilizing social media. I still will. It’s essential to the work I do and is a significant method for keeping in touch with those I care about. However, starting tonight, I’ve decided to go about it in a different way. I’m minimizing my mobile notifications for Facebook and Twitter – specifically, the SMS (text) ones… and yes, I can feel the shock coursing through the veins of anyone who knows me personally, as they read that statement.

SMS is Outdated and Unnecessary
Why the heck am I getting both text alerts and push notifications for the same exact things on Facebook? I receive several types of push notifications. Two of those include email and Facebook – and I get Facebook alerts in my email too. This means I am getting three notifications for the same updates (email, Facebook app, and SMS). Why? This is a bit excessive. At first, it was a precaution to be sure I don’t miss anything important. However, there hasn’t yet been a time when any of those methods has failed. Besides, with push notifications coming directly from the Facebook app, SMS is actually quite outdated, not to mention unnecessary. Why would I choose text alerts when the push notifications get me directly to the update in the Facebook app? The text notification leads to the mobile web version of Facebook, which is not how I prefer to access Facebook. I prefer the app because the features are better and it loads faster.

Text Alerts Are Annoying
My poor loved ones have to hear the constant annoyance that is my text alert going off literally every second sometimes. This is ridiculous and I’m putting an end to it. In fact, it’s even starting to annoy me and I’m the one who set it up that way. Yes, some of the notifications are important – some. But as I mentioned above, I’m already getting them via my mobile device in other ways. So the SMS is really just an unnecessary annoyance and distraction. Text messages that happen all the time are not cool and neither are those that wake people up in the middle of the night, unless they are an emergency. I don’t need to receive a text message every time a friend or business updates their status on Facebook or tweets on Twitter. I check those that matter via apps or my laptop anyhow. Seeing them more than once is annoying and takes time away from more important things.

My Family Deserves More Attention
I am a mother first before anything and these notifications can be a distraction. I’m not the type to ignore my kids. But glancing at my phone less is something they’ll likely appreciate. The same could be said for my lover, friends, and other family. I’m sure everyone in my life wouldbe very happy if there were fewer reasons for me to glance at my phone during fun activities. I still get things done and if you ask any of them, they’ll tell you I’m very loving and attentive. However, it’s just the principle of the matter.

I’m Hoping for More Productivity
I added so many notifications to increase productivity. Those who know me will also know that I am extremely productive. They’ll probably also be shocked if I can increase that and wonder how I can do that with fewer notifications. If you remember what I said above, you’ll remember that I am getting the same notifications more than once. Therefore, this should actually save me some time. If I’m being honest, I actually don’t look at every notification. However, I do sometimes look at the same ones in more than one place. So taking these away will end that possibility.

My Cell Phone Battery Dies Too Quickly
More notifications equal less battery juice. The whole point of a cell phone is having it available for use at any time. That becomes less possible if I am on the go and for some reason am unable to charge my phone for a lengthy time period. My cell phone battery often dies quickly because I have so many notifications coming in every direction. Cutting off most of the SMS alerts will help remedy a great deal of that issue. Twitter and Facebook notifications come to my phone so often that if I stop receiving text alerts for even five minutes, I know that my phone is having issues and I need to restart it. It’s cool to have that indicator, but at the same time, that’s just too much. In addition to reasons stated above, I need my cell phone to keep its juice.

Certain SMS and Mobile Alerts Are Staying
Because some people do rely on me for emergency situations, certain alerts will still come to me via SMS. However, most will not. For instance, Twitter DMs will stay for people I follow back because those people rarely DM me unless it’s important and about work. I need those SMS notifications, as I do not receive push notifications for anything Twitter-related. But Twitter notifications for specific people and companies will likely go away. I really don’t need to know every time every entity I follow posts to Twitter. But I do need to know when someone needs assistance.

In short, I’m cutting off many of my mobile notifications for family, life, and business purposes. Therefore, if you notice me slowing down on responding to less important things, that could be part of it. I love all of my friends on both sites. But there’s a point where too much is just…well, too much.

**Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi

I originally published this on BUBBLEWS (no longer published there)

by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

Because of my career choices (and because it became quite fun), I found myself spending tons of time on Facebook daily. Although I have the application on my phone AND receive text and email notifications, I would always have at least one tab open in FireFox with something from Facebook. But lately that has changed and here’s why.

I’m busier with other aspects of my career. I offer a good portion of support surrounding my work via Facebook. There is also much more to it than Facebook support. Once I answer what is necessary there, I simply have to go away to get other things done, such as answering emails, writing articles, writing reports, publishing, editing, and so much more. Sometimes that means I can’t answer my friends right away. But I will always answer eventually.

I’m spending more time with family. Summer break is over and my younger kids are back in school (the older ones are in homeschool). That means that when I pick them up from school in the afternoon, once I’m finished with my work, they want my attention. They haven’t seen me all day. Therefore, they want and deserve my attention. I love my family and friends on Facebook too and I do my best to keep up with everyone. But as any parent knows, the kids must come first. I’m a single mommy as well, which adds to their need for me to be there.

I’m doing more things that keep me away from Facebook. Blogging is one of the things I like to do that keeps me away from Facebook. You may get an indicator that I’m online and think I’m available to talk. But really, I’m probably in another tab on FireFox posting to my blogs. Or maybe I locked the computer screen instead of turning it off and I’m actually gone walking the dogs on the trail. I’m a busy person, both in work and play. While I do have Facebook installed on my phone, it isn’t always appropriate to check it, depending on what I’m doing. For instance, if I’m cuddling up to someone I love while watching a scary or suspenseful movie, I’m sorry, but I’m not checking Facebook. My phone is probably on silent in the other room with the screen locked and I probably won’t see it for a while.

I’ve organized my notifications to prioritize work and family. Another thing I’ve done on Facebook is create lists, as well as organize my notifications in various ways. This means, I look at things related to work and family first. Then, I answer other things, based on time, as well as urgency. Sometimes I even miss things because I get thousands of notifications daily. Also, if you message me and I’m not your friend on Facebook, your messages are likely not going to show up in my regular inbox. They’ll probably be in my “Other’ inbox, which I don’t check as often because honestly, sometimes I forget about it. I have strict filtering activated on Facebook, due to spam issues.

I just don’t have the time. I know that many of my Facebook friends are used to me responding as soon as they send messages, tag me, or leave a post on my wall. But the thing is, it has gotten to a point where there are just so many that I can no longer do that every time and still have time for everything else going on in my life. There was a point where I couldn’t stand to leave anything unanswered longer than a couple minutes. Now, it can sometimes take a couple days or more for me to reply to a message. There are just so many of them and so many other things going on in my life that I just don’t have the time anymore to spend so much time on Facebook.

Nowadays, aside from career-related support and tasks and conversing with my closest family and friends, I haven’t been doing much on Facebook. Although, I usually do come in at random times and meme-bomb my wall. I’ll look in my favorite lists I’ve created from various pages rather than the regular newsfeed and I’ll post a bunch of memes in a row and then leave. Hey, I can’t help it! They’re funny! Facebook is supposed to be fun!

**Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi

I originally published this elsewhere (no longer published there)

by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

I've been using Facebook for several years now. I don't know if people are getting ruder or I just never noticed or experienced it before. But lately, it seems that people are getting extremely pushy about everything under the sun. Don't get me wrong, I spout my causes there too. But sometimes it isn't what you do, but how you do it. Or maybe I'm just being picky again. You tell me.

Have you ever had a friend complain about something you posted on your Facebook wall? I'm not talking about posts which would be against the law – and in some cases, the posts are not even controversial, as far as I know. I'm merely talking about the everyday things in which you're interested. By complaining, I don't mean disagreeing, which is normal and fine. I've actually had people demanding in private messages, emails, and even directly on posts that I don't post certain things, like animals needing to be rescued or reputable scientific information. And I'm not even posting anything graphic. This is happening with normal pictures of sheltered animals and other normal, everyday things.

From shelter animals to scientific information and everything in between, people are actually attempting to dictate what I post on my own Facebook wall. I can surely understand people disagreeing with me – and I don't expect everyone to agree with what I post. In fact, I love a good discussion because it's how we all learn things. I post what I do because it's me, not because I want it to be you or I want you to believe what I do. I also post it because maybe someone else out there relates to me and it helps them feel they are not so alone in this world.

To me, my Facebook wall is like my home. In my home, I feel comfortable to freely be me and this is what I do on my Facebook wall as well. If you don't like what I do in my home, then why stay? We can hang out elsewhere or not at all. I am not forcing anyone to come into my home – or in this case, to look at my Facebook posts. No one should feel unwelcome in their own home and lately, it seems that certain people would like to make me feel this way on my own Facebook wall. Sorry to tell you, but that game doesn't work on me. Feel free to hide my feed or unfriend me if I'm really all that annoying. But please don't tell me what I can and cannot post, especially since the same is respected for you from my end.

I've already moved on from the effects of those who have done this and continue to post what interests me. However, I hope that if anyone else is getting the same, this post will help them not feel so alone – and possibly motivate them to speak up about it too. Bullying or attempting to control others in any form is not okay.

Has anyone ever asked you not to post certain things on your own Facebook wall?

Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi

I originally published this on BUBBLEWS (no longer published there)

by Lyn Lomasi, Write W.A.V.E. Media Staff

The other day some friends and I were discussing working from a smart phone. Some of them felt it would be too difficult. I actually felt the same until trying it. True, the keys and screen are smaller but there are many ways to make it easier to write and even post using a Smartphone.

Take your own pictures and use your cell phone camera
You’d be hard-pressed to find a good Smartphone that doesn’t include a camera these days. Some of them are better than others but they all do the job. Always take the pictures for your posts with your cell phone camera. This will make it much easier to upload the pics when posting your writing online from your phone.

If you take notes, take them on your phone and make them usable in your post
Most cell phones have some sort of application that stores notes. Use that if you need to jot down information before writing. Better yet, formulate any notes in a way that they could be a part of your writing. That way, you can just copy/paste the needed info into your post straight from the phone, if necessary. If you don’t have an app that will allow note taking and don’t have room or capability to download it, text the notes to yourself. If you text yourself, you’ll have two copies of each thing you send. But it works in a pinch.

Use a stylus pen
Some people complain that the keys on a phone keyboard are too small, making it more difficult to type. Try using a stylus pen. This object looks like a pen but it has a tip designed to touch Smartphone touch screens instead of using your fingers. This can save tons of time, especially for those who haven’t yet mastered typing from a small touch screen.

Use voice recognition
Most newer smart phones have voice recognition capabilities. You speak into the phone and it translates your text into the application you’re using it with. It does sometimes get the words wrong. However, fixing a few typos is probably easier than typing out all of those words for someone who isn’t experienced at quickly typing on a Smartphone.

Stay logged in to applicable websites
Keep in mind that it can be more risky security-wise to stay logged into websites at all times. However, at least during the time that you’re making your posts, it is so much easier if you are logged into the sites that you need and they stay remembered. For sites that store your post drafts while you’re working on them, this is even more important. You don’t want to receive a phone call and have a post lost because the information didn’t auto-save while you were entering it. Not all sites allow you to save drafts. Therefore, this advice mainly applies to those that do.

**Photo Credit/Copyright: Lyn Lomasi
(Yup, that pic was taken using my cell phone)

I originally published this on BUBBLEWS (no longer published there)

by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

The other day while I was enjoying time with a friend, my phone apps were notifying me with alerts so much that I put the phone on silent and plugged it in another room and just checked it now and then. I’m not sure why I never noticed until that moment just how ridiculous my notifications had become.

In order to enjoy my time with my friend without hearing and checking on that nonsense, I had to take action by doing what I did with the phone. But why did I have to in the first place? Why did I let it get that bad to begin with?

Here’s the thing. I’m a workaholic. I’m also a mom – a single mom whose boyfriend lives in another country. That combination used to mean that I didn’t really get out that much unless it involved my kids, my pets, work, or errands. Therefore, it has been ideal for me to get notifications and alerts related to work and other interests because well, it’s not like anyone would notice except me and it helps me keep up with certain things.

But guess what I discovered the other day (as well as on a few other occasions where I ignored the notifications as well)? Everyone survived when I only answered the important notifications. No one died. No one threw a fit. Hell, I don’t think anyone even noticed, honestly.

Hmm… yup I did some thinking.

Do I really need to get notified every time one of my friends checks in somewhere I’m probably not going and really don’t need to know they went (unless I’m a stalker, which I’m not)? If my friends want me to come somewhere, they’ll invite me, not just check into an app expecting me to come.

Do I really need to know every single time my local news station tweets an update? Really? Every time? I don’t even watch the news or most other television, for that matter. So why am I having news and other similar notifications from the twitter application coming to me in text form all day every day?

Do I really need to know about every event, sale, or promotion at every store or mall I shop at? I have plenty of children who are willing to spend that money so I probably have none left for those things anyway. Plus, I loathe shopping. So why the heck am I getting sale notifications?

Those are just a few of the many things I decided no longer need to come to my phone.

Today, I uninstalled several apps from my phone and the only thing I noticed was that it was much quieter and my battery lasted much longer. From now on, only the most important notifications (such as work-related items) will be coming to my phone.

Are your app notifications taking over the life you could be living instead?

Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi
(Photo is free to use for both commercial and non-commercial purposes with credit to Lyn Lomasi as the photographer and a link back to this page as the source)

by Lyn Lomasi, Staff Writer

Oh no! You were just submitting an article or blog post and poof! Now your hard work is gone! What happened? That's right, you didn't back up your work and you typed it up online instead of on your computer. Online submission templates are awesome, but they aren't fool proof.

Save your work offline first. Before ever placing your work in any online template, you should be typing it in an office program first. If you're like me and either hate Word or their price, try OpenOffice.org instead. Whatever program you use, write and save it there and then copy/paste t into the online submission template. I learned this years ago – the hard way, of course. I lost an incredibly awesome post (because all of my work is amazing, right?). Never again.

Websites crash. Computers crash. Servers time out. Submission processes malfunction. Just because you've submitted fine by typing into the template for years doesn't mean it's foolproof. When I had my revelation, I was submitting my daily piece to a site I had been using for a couple years already. I always typed into the template directly. That day when I hit the submit button, the site went down at that exact moment and my article that I spent two hours researching was completely lost.

Trust me. Save the work offline or at the very least in an online office program. I personally triple save my work. I work in OpenOffice and save the work on my computer from there. Then, I also upload a copy to an online file database, as well as save it to a flash drive. This way, if anything happens to any of those copies, there's likely to be another one saved somewhere. I actually lost an article just yesterday because I hadn't made it to the other steps yet and my computer malfunctioned and had to be restarted. Always save in more than one place.

How do you submit and save your work? Tell us in the comment section.

Photo Credit: Lyn Lomasi
(my original artwork)