Posts Tagged ‘Yelp’
Posted by terrepruitt on August 23, 2011
I have stated before that I joined the world of social media to promote my Nia business. Nia has been around for almost 30 years, but not a lot of people know about it. It did not have the marketing push of Zumba. Nia is a fitness/wellness practice that includes a cardio dance workout. I grudgingly joined FaceBook, Twitter, Wellsphere, Merchant Circle, Yelp, Youtube, and many more to share things about health and wellness, and yes primarily Nia. What happened, of course, was I found friends on FB both new and ones I had lost touch with. I made friends through my blog and other people’s blogs. I connected with many people on Twitter. With all of these real friend connections I often get distracted with conversations on these social media sites. But then again, I don’t really think of them as distractions because these are my friends now. They might be people I may never meet face-to-face, but I care about them and — lucky me — they care about me. But I do still have to try to learn things. Today I listened to a Guinness World Record-breaking webinar hosted by HubSpot and presented by Dan Zarrella . It was really interesting. He shared how a lot of things you might hear are myths.
The presentation was labelled “The Science of Social Media”. I guess the “science” came in because Mr. Zarrella compiled a bunch of figures from research. I am gonna share some of the things he stated that I found interesting. Ok – really I am stating interesting facts off the slides because he talked so fast I missed a lot of what he said. AND they had an earthquake in Virgina before the webinar and it was felt where the presentation was taking place. They said the audio was having issues because of the earthquake. But when Mr. Z slowed down, it was fine.
He had a lot of charts graphs and all types of things explaining how he came to these conclusions and these were the times when his rate of speech doubled so I think he was very excited about how he came up with this info but it also made it very hard to understand. But . . . this provides a great opportunity for me to let you know that Hubspot is going to post the webinar so you can listen to it yourself. I am just pointing out some highlights and what I got out of it. It is always better to listen to the source when you have the opportunity.
Here are three myths:
– Engaging in the conversation is the most important thing.
From what I understood, he was saying this is not true IF you were trying to get huge exposure. We are all on social networks for our own reasons. So this MIGHT be a true fact for you, but in Mr. Z’s context he was saying it is NOT the most important thing when you are trying to get exposure.
– Don’t call yourself a guru.
His research showed people calling themselves gurus had HUGE followings. So as long as you follow up your “guru” claim with good/valuable info you can call yourself that.
– Fridays, Saturdays, and Sundays are bad days to publish.
He said he found this not to be true. He explained people can spend much more time on things (posts, links, e-mail, etc) because there is less traffic on those days. So it sounds as if so many people believe this to be true so they don’t publish on those day which actually makes it false.
Additional points:
– Highly followed accounts tweet a lot of links.
Well, for me as a follower, if that is all that I see in a twitter stream I usually don’t bother following. So, as I said, we all use social media for our own purposes so not all of his information applies to everyone. He was sharing what his research showed by the numbers he studied.
– Don’t tweet “over” yourself.
If you tweet out a link or information, let it set a bit. Give people time to see it before you tweet more information. Some of this I think you just learn as you go.
– Don’t talk about yourself too much and
– Positive tweets and posts are what people want to read
These two points I thought were funny because I think of them as obvious as the sky. But maybe it was stated for people living under a rock. And there is a fine line, which was not actually addressed. I think the fine line would be more educational. I mean, people DO want to hear about you as a person, but how much is the question. And people also don’t care to read false positives. I mean life does have some negative aspects and sometimes it is ok to share them. Again, the question is: how much?
– Write to the 5th grade level.
Regardless of what your audience’s education level may be this is a widely used level.
– Asking for a retweet works.
He said when you ask nicely for followers to retweet or share they do.
These are highlights of what I found most interesting. There was a lot of information to support the busting of each myth, but that information you can hear when you listen to the webinar yourself. You’ll will want to, if you have time and you are interested in learning more about social media. HubSpot is a great tool for learning about social media. They often have free webinars and downloads. You might want to visit their site to see all they have to offer. Thanks again, HubSpot and Mr. Dan Zarrella, as always I received some great info from you!
Here is the link to the webinar, http://www.hubspot.com/science-of-social-media-thanks/
Posted in Misc, Twitter | Tagged: #smsci, cardio dance workout, Dan Zarella, Facebook, fitness/wellness practice, Guinness World Record-breaking webinar, health and wellness, HubSpot, Merchant Circle, Nia, Nia business, Nia Dance, Nia for health, Nia Practice, Nia workout, retweets, social media, social media exposure, social media gurus, social media tool, Social Networking, The Science of Social Media, Twitter, twitter stream, Virginia earthquake, webinar, Wellsphere, Yelp, Youtube, Zumba, Zumba dance, Zumba workout | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on March 19, 2011
I have had the opportunity to actually use the iPad. This is somewhat of an update from my iPad Coolness post in which I said, “Oooo!” but didn’t really get to use the iPad. This time I inherited one so I have it set up for me.
This version of the iPad does not have a camera nor a phone. I have a camera and a phone with a camera so I am covered. But I could see if you carry your iPad around it would be nice to have all of that included. I understand that you wouldn’t hold your iPad up to your face, as you would a phone, but headset or bluetooth device could make it nice.
I do love the beautiful display. It is sooo pretty. I know that might sound simple, but . . . c’mon . . . it IS pretty. It is crisp, it is clean–well, except for all of the finger prints on it. Because of its amazing touch-the-screen technology and the fact that the screen becomes the keyboard there is always finger prints and swipes on it. So some of its clarity gets dulled under all of that.
I was intrigued by the calendar function on the iPad and I have to laugh because I haven’t even looked at the calendar on the iPad this time. I have been using it to play a game (We Rule) my husband and I play. Because the iPad is so much larger than the iPhone it is much easier. I have also been using it to do a lot of my work on the internet.
I had mentioned in my last post that I really like the way the webpages show up. As you can see in the picture it shows the webpages that are open or easily opened. There can be up to nine webpages available. I like that since I am always going to HelpYouWell.com, the NiaNow website, my blog, my e-mail, my Yelp page, Nia Class info, and so on. It makes it really easy to sit and “watch” TV. While I am sitting there I can do research for a post. I do enjoy the ease at which I can quickly surf the web and read things, but I do not like typing on the iPad for any length of time. I would not choose to write a blog post on it. Often times I turn on a computer to comment on blogs or Facebook. I am keyboard person. I need the SENSATION of the keys. The touch screen has me typing gibberish. I am still learning, so my next post regarding the iPad could be that I use it for everything.
The iPad is heavy though . . . and I don’t mean it is HEAVY as if I can’t hold it or lift it, but when you think of the position in which you hold it it is heavy. Now the iPad2—but that is a whole other blog post. Since I do find myself setting it down a lot I end up looking down at it. With a monitor (when I am on a laptop or a “regular” computer) at least I am looking UP instead of down—that actually can be another blog post too (hump back)!
I suspect that as time goes on I will learn to use it more and appreciate it more. Now I am just experiencing the amazingness of mobility. I am not at the point where I can give up my tower. I am having to do without my tower at the moment because it is being worked on. But it is four years old, by the time I need a new tower/computer (I am getting a new one this month), I might be fully integrated into this iPad thing. It is amazing. It is fast. It is pretty. It is the future.
Do you have an iPad? Or Tablet or something like it (if so please share information because I would love to hear. Since we were gifted iPads I have never done any research on the products)? Do you have a mobile device? Do you have a smart phone?
Posted in Misc | Tagged: @HelpYouWell, bluetooth, camera phone, Facebook, helpyouwell.com, humpback, iPad, iPad2, iphone, laptop, mobile computer, mobile device, mobile phones, Nia, Nia class, Nia sensation, nianow, nianow website, NiaNow.com, smart phone, tablet, tower computer, We Rule, Yelp | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on February 19, 2011
These are my fingerless gloves, yeah, they’re from Yelp, how’d you know?
I am a Californian, I was born and raised in the San Francisco Bay Area so I am not used to this weather. We have had snow, rain, sleet, hail, rain, wind, cold, cold, cold, cold. No, it is not as cold as other parts of the country. It is not blizzard conditions or in the negative temps, but it is WAY colder than I am used to. So today, since I didn’t have a Nia class to teach, I spent most of the day under blankets with gloves on and drinking hot water. So for my post I thought I would just share some strange facts from a list one of my friends sent me. I am doing a quick post so I can get back under my blankets. I didn’t check these facts so I don’t know if they are true . . . they are just some of those strange facts you hear about. Some of them I am sure you can attest to yourself, #2, maybe? Or #9, or #16? We’ve all been around that four year old, right?
1–Ketchup was sold in the 1830’s as a medicine.
2–There are no clocks in Las Vegas gambling casinos.
3–Bruce Lee was so fast that they actually had to slow a film down so you could see his moves. That’s the opposite of the norm.
4–Mosquito repellents don’t repel… They hide you. The spray blocks the mosquito’s sensors so they don’t know you’re there.
5–Dentists recommend that a toothbrush be kept at least six feet away from a toilet to avoid airborne particles resulting from the flush.
6–The average person falls asleep in seven minutes.
7–The “pound” (#) key on your keyboard is called an octothorp.
8–The average person’s left hand does 56% of the typing.
9–It’s impossible to sneeze with your eyes open.
10–In Chinese, the KFC slogan “finger lickin’ good” comes out as “eat your fingers off”.
11–A cockroach can live without a head for 10 days.
12–We shed 40 pounds of skin a lifetime.
13–Yo-Yos were once used as weapons in the Philippines
14–Brains are more active sleeping than watching TV.
15–Blue is the favorite color of 80 percent of Americans.
16–The average four year-old child asks over four hundred questions a day.
17–A person will die from a total lack of sleep sooner than from starvation. Death will occur after about 10 days without sleep, while starvation takes a few weeks.
18–Chewing gum while peeling onions will keep you from crying.
19–Alexander Graham Bell, the inventor of the telephone, never telephoned his wife or mother because they both were deaf.
So, what do you think? Have you experienced any of these to be true? Do you doubt any of them? Do you believe any of them?
Posted in Entertainment | Tagged: Bay area cold, Bay Area Nia classes, Bay Area Snow, blizzards, burn calories, fingerless gloves, Nia Bay Area, Nia Classes, pound key, San Francisco Bay Area Nia, strange facts, Yelp | 2 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on July 29, 2010
I often find myself defending Twitter when I meet new people. In this world of multiple social media networks, the subject of FaceBook, Twitter, and Yelp often come up. We start talking then usually someone says, “I’ve never gotten into Twitter. I mean, really (!?!?) who wants to know what I had for lunch? And I certainly don’t care about what others had for lunch?!?!” That is not the only thing Twitter is about.
First of all, that is a Twitter stereo-type. Not ALL tweeple tweet about what they had for lunch. But those that do often get a lot of responses. If you are in a circle of people that are foodies they LOVE tweets about food! ANY MEAL AT ALL. My hubby (@JohnPruitt) used to tweet and Facebook pictures of his lunch every day. Now he actually takes lunch from home and people miss his pictures. They ask him if he is on a diet, if he is sick, they miss it. EVERYONE eats. Not everyone has the opportunity to eat what is available to us in San Jose and the Bay Area and they enjoy seeing all the different things. Food really brings people together.
What I was thinking about the other day was when someone tweets me out of the blue and says, “I thought about you . . . .” WOW! People I know only through Twitter THINK about ME! How cool is that? I love that someone out there is thinking about me. I love it when it is silly, “I was thinking about you because I was wearing blue.” I love it when it is related to healthy eating, “I was thinking about you as I ate my salad.” I love when it is about kitties, “I saw a cat and thought about you and your cat.” I love when it is about Nia, “I went to a Nia class today and I thought about you.”
Yes, I started using Twitter to promote Nia and my business. I have made business connections and friends. I have actually made some connections. Funny enough, with this post half written (up to this very point – no lie!) I had a DM* conversation with a friend today. She was asking if I thought it were possible to have “real” friends on Twitter. Ones that you only knew through Twitter. My thinking on that is “you betcha!”
Maybe the definition of “real” is different, I don’t know. But I know that I know more about a lot of my friends on Twitter than I know about my friends I have in person. I talk more to some of my Twitter friends than I do my “in person friends”. So . . . . . to me, as I always say . . . Twitter is what you make it. Connections are out there to be made. Either you know because you are on it, or you will see when you get there. It is soooooo AWESOME (inspiring, and humbling) to have someone tweet, “I was thinking about you today!” Gives me the warm fuzzies.
*DM = Direct Message
(Oh, and puleeeaase! You think I am going to write a post about Twitter warm fuzzies and not put this most excellent tweet that I received one day in my post. Ha! That would be unacceptable. Thanks, Dani!)
Posted in Twitter | Tagged: @JohnPruitt, Bay Area, Bay Area Nia, Bay Area Nia class, Direct Message, DM, Facebook, foodies, John Pruitt, Nia business, Nia class, Nia San Jose, San Jose, San Jose Nia class, social media, social media networks, Tweeple, tweets, Twitter, twitter friends, warm fuzzies, warm fuzzy, Yelp | 6 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on December 10, 2009
Recently I attended a Holiday Party in San Francisco put on by Yelp. It was for all the “Bays”; East Bay, South Bay, North Bay. They always have promotional items and things lying about. I spotted some Laffy Taffy and grabbed a few. Now first let me say, “I know, I know, the ingredients are pretty much everything on my ‘avoid’ list” but I put some in my purse anyway. Even though this is not something you should eat (becuase it is just so fully of stuff that you shouldn’t have) I am so glad I grabbed it, I don’t know whether I was just in a silly mood, but the jokes on them had me laughing so hard that I was tearing up. They are just good old fashion silly jokes. I am thinking that there are some kids out there that will like ’em.
1) How do you get an alien baby to sleep?
1a) You rocket
2) What is a buccaneer?
2a) Expensive corn
3) What is a bunny’s motto?
3a) Don’t frown, be hoppy
4) What is a cat’s favorite color?
4a) Purrrrple
5) Why is it so hot in a stadium after a football game?
5a) All the fans have left
6) Why is a lost dalmation so easily found?
6a) He’s always spotted
7) Why did the boy throw butter out his window?
7a) He wanted to see a butterfly
8) What do you call a cow with a twitch?
8a) Beef jerky
So? Did they make you laugh? Make you smile? Which one was your favorite? Silliness is fun!
Posted in Entertainment, Misc | Tagged: Beef jerky, butterfly, dalmation, East Bay, good jokes, good old fashion silly jokes, Holiday party, jokes, kid jokes, Laffy Taffy and grabbed, North Bay, promotional items, San Francisco, silly mood, South Bay, Yelp | 7 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on September 8, 2009
This is a simple overview of TweetDeck. And by simple I mean it does not include all the features and tips and tricks of TweetDeck. My posts regarding Twitter are not for the power users to learn from. It would be great if they commented and shared information, but basically I am sharing what I know and I feel as if I have barely scratched the surface of what Twitter and all its hundreds of applications can do. In this post I do not cover all that TweetDeck can do. I only briefly address what I do, so far, with TweetDeck.
First off, one of the things that some people love about TweetDeck is that you can manage multiple Twitter Accounts with it. I don’t have multiple accounts so I don’t use TweetDeck like that so I won’t be talking about that here. All I can tell you about multiple accounts and TweetDeck is that there is something that says, “Add more accounts” and above the box you type in it says “From” and I am guessing that if you have multiple accounts it will list them there and you can indicate which account you are sending from. (I circled that in the photo. At the bottom.)
For my one account, I use TweetDeck to see various tweets all on one screen. I have an “All” column set up so that I can see tweets from all of the people that I follow. But, I am beginning to think that only the people I recently follow show up because I don’t see tweets from people that I started following when I first signed up for Twitter. So I made another column for those Twitterers.
I also have a column for “Nia People”. This is a “Group”, these are the people that I have met online that teach, do, practice, and love Nia. With this column I have actually set it up so that I see certain people that I am following that I know have something to do with Nia.
I have a “YelpSV” search column. With this column it is set up so that I see people that send a Tweet that mentions YelpSV. It searches for tweets that contain @YelpSV.
See? You can set up different columns and you can set them up different ways. You can set up a column for a search on “Workouts” and it will capture tweets that have that word in them or you can set up a column for a group called, for example “San Jose” or “Exercise Classes” and actually indicate certain people whose tweets you want to see in either of those columns.
It is quick and easy to set up columns so you can change them whenever you would like.
I also have a mentions column of HelpYouWell set up so when people @HelpYouWell I see those in a separate column—although they sometimes show up after the ones in the other columns. And I have DM (Direct Message) column so I can see messages sent directly to me, HelpYouWell.
I don’t have an issue with “API” (whatever that stands for), but I hear of people that do. Apparently Twitter only allows third party applications (systems? programs? Whatever.) 100 “touches” (that’s what I am calling them) per hour. So if your account “touches” twitter (either sending, receiving, dealing with, whatever) 100 times in an hour you have to wait for the next hour in order to “touch” twitter again. But this is only with third party stuff, like TweetDeck. If you are on Twitter.com it does not do that. So use TweetDeck and if you max out, use Twitter.com until the hour is up and go back to TweetDeck.
Posted in Twitter | Tagged: @HelpYouWell, API, exercise, exercise classes, exercise people, exercise San Jose, learn Nia, multiple Twitter accounts, Nia, Nia Classes, Nia exercise, Nia people, Nia Practice, Nia San Jose, Nia workout, San Jose exercise, San Jose Nia, San Jose Workout, teach exercise, teach Nia, teach workout, TweetDeck, TweetDeck API, TweetDeck columns, Twitter, Twitter.com, workout, workout classes, workout exercise, workout people, Workout San Jose, Yelp, YelpSV | 4 Comments »
Posted by terrepruitt on April 30, 2009
Tonight we are going to dinner in Willow Glen, which is San Jose, but San Jose is large and spread out so having the sections help us determine the general location. Downtown Willow Glen is where I have my Nia classes, and is fairly close to downtown San Jose.** We went with a group of people who Yelp (so they are called Yelpers) on Yelp.com.
We are going to Opa. It is a Greek Restaurant. I am part Greek. I didn’t like Greek food until recently. Since we are going to a Greek Restaurant it started me thinking about one of my favorite snacks that I have been having lately. Greek Yogurt. I didn’t even know that there is such a thing until about two years ago—and I am Greek.
There are probably as many different brands of yogurt as there is (types of) Yoga, just like there are different brands of regular yogurt, but what you will find is that Greek Yogurt is thicker. It seems creamier. And it typically has less sugar and a lot more protein.
I have been eating plain non-fat to which I added a little bit of sugar, vanilla, and some super crunchy cereal. Yum. So I guess you could say that I am using it like milk. But I won’t drink non-fat milk, but I will eat non-fat yogurt and get a lot more protein! Plus with its smooth, think, creaminess it is like dessert for breakfast!
Also, during our heat wave I decided to make chicken salad sandwiches for dinner. I didn’t realize we were out of mayo when I decided on that refreshing dinner. But I used the yogurt instead. It worked great because it is more like mayo in consistency than regular yogurt. Don’t tell my husband because it also has less fat and more protein than mayo. And I did add a little bit of mayo so it would taste like regular mayonnaised chicken salad.
So next time you are in the store you might want to pick up some Greek yogurt and do some experimenting of your own with it. It can be used a little differently than regular yogurt. Then let me know what recipe you used it in. I am always looking for new things to make!
**Good thing I looked up the event before we went, granted it was after I posted this, but we actually ended up going to Opa in Los Gatos! It is important to check on event locations and not assume . . . . . 🙂
Posted in Food | Tagged: chicken salad, dessert for breakfast, Greek, Greek food, Greek snack, Greek yogurt, Los Gatos, Los Gatos Nia, Los Gatos Yoga, mayo substitute, Nia Classes, Nia in Los Gatos, Opa, San Jose, San Jose Greek Restaurant, San Jose Nia, San Jose Yoga, Willow Glen, Willow Glen Yoga, Yelp, Yelp.com, Yelpers, Yoga, Yoga Los Gatos | 6 Comments »
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