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Empire Avenue 2.0 and why Chris Pirillo is a winner

November 8, 2011 By admin 2 Comments

Sending shareholder mail with a mission is taking Empire Avenue to a next level. Boredom is no longer needed for those who don’t know what to do with their eaves.

On my return from a one month break on Empire Avenue, I immediately fell in love with the missioner shareholder messages. Of course,  who doesn’t want to earn 500 or 1000 eaves just by tweeting an article or Like a Facebook Page. For those who left Empire Avenue because they forecasted a dead end street, bummer. For those who stayed here is the light at the end of the tunnel. Shareholder messages with a mission is the escape. The clogging of EAv ends here.

Liquidity - money must roll

Liquidity - money must roll

We can deflush our liquidity problem with a shareholder message AND enhance our influence online. Note that I, as a fairly new player, do not have a liquidity problem. I am always short of Eaves. Those who play longer and have a portfolio of 5000 accounts, gain so much daily dividend that they do not know what to do with their Eaves anymore. Out of boredom they create little games for themselves. Like little hamsters in a cage, trapped in a never ending hamster exercise wheel, many old-time players seem to get stuck into the game. Now the door of the hamster cage is open, but it looks like only a few ‘get it’.

My life on Empire Avenue before Shareholder missions

Now that the door of the cage is open, who can see the light?

To build up your EAv income and score, your activity online on various networks is crucial. Just until these shareholder messages with a mission, most of the activity was inbound. Let alone a few percent of active players that found the art of enhancing each others networks outside EAv influences the score on EAv (and Klout). For some it even seems to be a day time job to Like, +, +K, retweet and comment on other players networks.

I have seen a dozen of Shareholder missions, but by far this one by Chris Pirillo is winning. Why? Because it is about supporting a greater cause. That is what online influence is all about. Chris’ recent Shareholder mission about the awareness of cyberbullying:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=STm9vTqR1Ps

Thank you for sharing this video with everybody – especially kids, teens, parents, and adults involved in education.

It’s okay to “Like” this video for the message we’re trying to spread – please help. You might just be saving a life – and that’s not an overstatement.

Now as soon as you have Eaves in your Empire Avenue bank, consider ‘donating’ them to greater causes. It will get back to you as a boomerang, for sure. #Karma

Enhance your influence online by using Empire Avenue.

Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,

Social Media – Why are we connecting like crazy?

September 29, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Why are we connecting like mad men, using social media? It is obviously for a reason. The reason might be that we got disconnected over time. Disconnected from what?

To connect is to love

In this period of time, also known as the Confluence Age, all things come together. We are in a constant flow of melting, mixing and coming together in a very high speed. This Confluence Age started almost hundred years ago and will end soon. At the end we all will be connected. One way or the other.

So how did we get disconnected?

Imagine two magnets. One is you and the other one is another being, another soul. It can be a relative or a friend or even the Highest Soul, the Supreme Soul. Over years of time, in this life or even in previous lives, our magnets have been covered with alloy more and more. We got disconnected from ourselves and others by thinking we are the body we have and the roles that we play. We have become ego’s and body conscious just by forgetting that in fact, we are souls. In soul consciousness it is easy to connect with other people or our own original state which is peace. By focusing on our physical presence only, we have forgotten our original state and got lost in making effort to connect on a body conscious level. We start to wear perfume and nice clothes to attract others to seek that connectivity. But it all has been on a body conscious level. Seeking this connectivity even resulted into wars. The true reason why we are seeking connection is that we seek to return to our original state of being: that of peace. Hearts connect, minds (over-thinking, ego) disconnect and will fail more and more. If you see projects failing around you, realise it is build up from ego, and will not succeed anymore. This falling down will happen more and more and it is for the better. Our natural state of peace will be revealed soon.

We connect the most in this period of time

If you are noticing what is happening, you can really enjoy the scenes going on. Look at social media, one invention after the other is being made just to connect people more and more. Even companies will melt together more and more. In just a few months time there might just be one big social media company instead of all the competition that is going on now. But competition is good, it is sharpening us more and more. It will all flow together and the moment we are all connected will be the moment we realise why we were making all this effort in the first place.

Only in this time, right now, we have the ability to re-connect. It is a period of great benefit if you let go of thinking you are a body and you are the roles that you play. Open up to the ability to let love flow into your heart. Now.


Why are we connecting like mad men, using social media? It is obviously for a reason. The reason might be that we got disconnected over time. Disconnected from what?

The cylce of time with numbers. Notice the small amount of time on top. This is now. It is 5 to 12. It is time to (re)connect.

Filed Under: Brahma Kumaris, Social Media

Empire Avenue as the champions league of social media

September 14, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Interview with Tim Gorree, IT solution architect for Nokia, about NOKIA on Empire Avenue

What is your role at Nokia?

Tim Gorree

Tim Gorree, managing NOKIA on Empire Avenue

My job title is IT Solution Architect, End User Solution Architecture. I have been responsible for Nokia’s presence in Second Life and am now also looking after Nokia’s presence on Empire Avenue. I work on other projects as well, like our internal social media engagement tools and http://www.ideasproject.com.
I have been a leading advocate for virtual worlds in Nokia and virtual currencies are part of that. The virtual currency that is used on Empire Avenue, the Eaves is interesting, because companies have found it difficult in the past to measure their Return on Investment on their social media activities, efforts and investments. A lot of companies are embracing social media, but how do they measure up in their various engagements? There is Klout, but Empire Avenue is a very exciting alternative. You can see how you measure up to others.

Why is Nokia playing on Empire Avenue?

We are there because everyone else is there. Microsoft with Xbox, Intell, BMW, Ford, etc. When Justin Boverton, CEO of Rivers Run Red, posted about Empire Avenue I signed up for a personal account. I noticed a person had registered the Nokia ticker and asked him if he was willing to hand it over to Nokia. From that moment on people started to buy Nokia like crazy. I went to Nokia’s marketing department to have the Nokia social media accounts connected. Already during the first week we saw a large amount of people connecting with our LinkedIn groups which we use to recruit people. This demonstrates that Empire Avenue is a good resource to find social media talent. I call it the champions league of social media.

On Empire Avenue it is very transparent what people and companies are doing with social media. When you sign up on EAv you see that there is more to social media then just Twitter and Facebook.

Nokia is performing well on EAv, is Nokia is inspring other companies to join?

I would hope so, companies who are engaging actively are doing better. We use it to amplify our other social media presences on Empire Avenue, and that does seem to work well. If companies are serious about their social media activity, they should be interested in learning more about how well they are doing across the social media landscape.

What is more important for Nokia, ‘winning’ the game or making connections? In other words, is it easy to sell stocks of people that don’t perform well?

To perform well we have to sell sometimes because we have to look after the interest of our shareholders. If you want to keep the interest of the shareholders in mind you have to sometimes make tough decisions and sell somebody we have invested in. On the other hand, when we buy somebody, the person is really happy with Nokia on Empire Avenue. The point is to not take it personal when somebody sells you. When somebody sells you, you might have to improve in one of your areas.

My mission is to amplify the social media presense of Nokia. It is about what we do on Foursquare, on Facebook, on Youtube …. Empire Avenue is a platform that helps to amplify this presence and allows us to connect with and discover new people. The metrics of how well we do compared to other companies on each of the different social media platforms are valuable to us and help to monitor progress.

More about Tim Gorree on Tim Gorree’s Nokia page, on Twitter
Visit Nokia on Empire Avenue

Written by Elza van Swieten, (e)CONFLUENCE on Empire Avenue

Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Interviews, Social Media Tagged With: , ,

ROI is King on Empire Avenue #EAv

September 12, 2011 By admin 1 Comment

Where there is zeal and enthusiasm, success is guaranteed.

It took me some weeks to figure out that you have to work on your dividend to be bought on Empire Avenue.  Note that being bought might not be the same as being successful on Empire Avenue. Being successful all depends on the goal you have. For some people, connecting with others is the main goal, for others it is a game of winning and for most it is both. Whatever goal it is that you have, your success depends on setting that goal in the first place. What are you doing on Empire Avenue? Ask yourself this question. What is your aim and objective? I see many players slide away in oblivion looking very clueless about what they are doing on The Avenue.

If your game is to be bought, then make sure your ‘merchandise’ is attractive. Your merchandise is the value that you offer to your shareholders, which is translated into Return On Investment. It takes work to grow your ROI, on all the social media tools you connect to your profile on Empire Avenue. But hey, if you want to be bought, work for it!

When I see people asking other people to buy them, or to buy back, I see beggars. The worst beggars are the ones standing at the gate of Empire Avenue, buying newcomers and post on their profiles that they would like to be bought back. It is like asking children to hand over their candy. Instead of that, just focusing on your ROI will draw investors to you automatically. You will never have to ask to be invested to, you will be noticed for sure if your ROI is up.

ROI is the French word for King. It is the attitude of a King that shares, connects, gives, have a clear vision and goal and works hard to maintain a good dividend.

Where there is zeal and enthusiasm, success is guaranteed.

If you are not able to experience success in all that you do, check if you are filled with enthusiasm or not. Also find out the reason for not being enthusiastic. This helps you to realize and overcome your weakness. In order to increase your own enthusiasm throughout the day, create an aim for yourself and see that you work towards this aim each day. When you find yourself progressing towards the aim you will become enthusiastic.

Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Social Media Tagged With: ,

To buy back or not to buy back, that’s the question on Empire Avenue

September 8, 2011 By admin 3 Comments

Being in Europe, it is so wonderful to be in the middle of time. The east side of the world is fully awake and active whilst the USA/Canada players on Empire Avenue are getting ready for the night, spending their last eaves. I just stumbled in to a essential discussion about buying and selling strategies. Core question: is buying back really social and is not buying back anti-social?

Warren Whitlock I’m starting to think that “buying back” is anti-social. We play EA to make new connections, expand our networks and have fun, yet many want me to seek some kind of balance in shares. It’s a bad play for doing well in the game. The only factors that count is how good the stock is and if you want more shareholders, you will do better to play well.

Tom Cooley that’s why I sold my 500+ shares in you, Warren. Because you don’t seem to get it.

Jane Chin It’s funny, I’ve started buying back but not always matching. Sometimes I just can’t do it… not enough eaves. Sometimes I don’t want to, because it’s obviously not a good investment. So I don’t expect people to buy me back (my shares go up and down because I can’t be on social media all the time), either.

Tom Cooley it’s not about matching share for share, but it is about connecting through mutual stock holding.

Jane Chin That I agree Tom. Recently I’ve sold off the “1 share” players (meaning we both own 1 share in each other) and when I did, I literally feel this twinge in my mind — the kind that says, “by doing this I am about to break that tie”.

Warren Whitlock ‎Tom Cooley how am I more connected if I buy a lousy stock. Wouldn’t I be helping the player more to reach out and help them learn the game and perhaps meet goals other than holding hands on EA?

Tom Cooley ‎”it’s bad play for doing well in the game” – I owned 500+ of your shares for several months, you owned none of mine, so I sold you. Presumably that qualifies me as a “lousy stock”. Yet I have 33M more eaves than you do and started only a month before you did. Explain…

Warren Whitlock ‎Jane what kind of tie did you break? I have many wonderful friends who don’t play EA. (most of them in fact). I bought hundreds of stocks of people that were friends on Facebook, and felt that twinge when I had to give them up to buy stocks of real players. Then I noticed.. Those people weren’t even logging into EA. They had no idea I had bought them and couldn’t care less if I sold them (I know, I’ve talk face with at least a dozen).

David Sanger ‎Warren, I like buying back for the social aspect, and for some kind of connection/support, but agree with you that the notion of “matching” is a bit odd, and not really helpful. Some people buy me, and I have excellent divs and they have terrible ones, so I buy some back for courtesy but am not going to invest heavily because I’d be losing money and not helping anyone. Some people sell off from 155 just to match my 150, according to some formula, which seems strained.

So I agree it is worth playing well, but a certain degree of mutuality is also part of the game and I don’t just make friends with hi-div folk.
By the way, I have had 100 of yours for a long time, and you bought 2 of mine and sold them. Now I am doing quite well so it could not have been because of a smart investment strategy that you sold me.

At the same time, unlike Tom Cooley, I’ll keep my shares in you because your divs are great, and even buy more. But I’d be much more pleased also to interact with you and get to know you a bit better.

Jane Chin ‎Warren the tie I felt I was breaking was “a potential”. Granted it may be an artifact of the game construct — because of the way this game is structured, this is an aspect of “investing in a connection” however transitory. There are some relationships that came first from EA but then we grew it on Twitter and now that person’s social stock I’ll probably not want to sell & will want to match as much as possible.

—

etc. etc.

As much as there are players on Empire Avenue, there are strategies. There isn’t one strategy right because it is all very personal. Everybody has different objectives in the Empire Avenue game and this is what makes this game tick. Finding your own strategy can be a challenge. Ask yourself, why am I in this game, what’s in it for me? And do I really need to buy back to socialize?

Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Why True Twit doesn’t work – for me

September 1, 2011 By admin 1 Comment

My Direct Messages mailbox in my Twitter account is full of messages saying: so-and-so uses TrueTwit validation service, to validate click here … with a link leading to an online form where I have to type the same characters I see in a weird Captcha image like this:

After having filled in a few hundred of these validation forms, I started feeling like a monkey doing scientific tests too see if there is any intelligence.

And then I saw this in a Twitter bio ‘I don’t True Twit!‘ (David G. Griffits) WOW, it never occured to me that you can actually NOT do True Twit. My brain started thinking for it’s self and decided not to fill any more validation forms of people who have the honor I follow them.

Usually my reasons why follow my actions, so here’s a few why’s on my True Twit refusal.

  1. True Twit is offending
    Being followed by a real person on Twitter is an honor. Followers are your guests. Just like guests at home, at a theater show, at a restaurant, on Twitter, your followers are your guests. How would it be to have to fill in a form to prove you are human when you attend a show or want to dine out? It would be offensive to the bone.
  2. True Twit does not validate a thing
    Suppose I want to sell something or support a website that sells something. I could create a few hundred Twitter accounts and auto-follow thousands of Twitter accounts to anticipate a x percentage of follow-backs. I would look to find a student from a low pay rate country to fill in a few hundreds of True Twit forms. Easy. It still doesn’t make my few hundreds of Twitter accounts human, now would they? So True Twit doesn’t make followers human.
  3. True Twit blocks the start of any spontaneous human connection
    As soon somebody sends out an automated Direct Message (auto DM) telling me to prove myself to be human, it creates a barrier between him and me. Suppose I filled in the form, passed the test of being human, what start will we have? Usually another auto DM is send to say ‘thank you for following’. But I was allready following, even before filling in the form. After all these test I don’t feel the urge to connect much. I miss out the spontane meeting we could have had.
  4. True Twit ignores your gut feeling
    Gut feelings can be trained. If you listen to it often enough you will be able to depend on it more and more. Why use a form to see if you can trust people? Use your gut feeling. And if you don’t trust it, test the follower by asking him a question in a mention and see how he responds. Look at somebodies timeline to see how they interact and with whom. Read their bio’s,  interact. Be human yourself. This is a much friendlier way to validate your followers. And if you ask the right questions and make the right remarks, you could just have made Twitter-friends for live!
  5. True Twit risks letting you loose precious followers
    It doesn’t matter if you fill out a True Twit form or not, followed ones follow me back anyway, most of the time.  But suppose you are using True Twit and you set fixed in your mind that no matter what, a follower who doesn’t fill in your form, will not be followed back, and that follower was Barack Obama, or Beyoncé or any other celebrity. You risk the precious honor of being followed by somebody that matters. Wow… what a loss.
Filed Under: Twitter Tagged With: , ,

Empire Avenue – don’t put reputation at stake when taking a break

August 30, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

How to leave your shareholders behind with style when going on Vacation from Empire Avenue?

Going on vacation is a blessing. Vacation is a luxury, isn’t it? Still I see a lot of players complaining about their stock price dropping as soon as they get back. What? Didn’t have a good time? Who cares about your dividends and stock price?

OK, maybe your shareholders do. And if they don’t they would have sold you while you were at the beach drinking tequila. Shareholders have a right to know when you are going to take a vacation and when you are coming back. Don’t they? Or is it what you do, too private?

Shareholders will notice your absence on Empire Avenue; as soon as your online activity slows down, your dividend and stock price will drop. Will you leave your shareholders behind guessing why you are sliding? The most impolite thing to do when going on vacation is not to inform your shareholders. Unless your vacation is filled with an equal amount of online activity like uploading your thousands of vacation photo’s to Flickr. In that case, don’t tell anybody you are on a vacation. Your dividend will stay high and everybody is happy.

Breaking away from Empire Avenue

Breaking away from Empire Avenue - choose a strategy

If you are going on a real vacation, meaning zero activity online, your dividend and share price will drop. No matter what. You might as well drop in style and inform your shareholders, of what I think they have a right to know, you are planning to do. When will you be back, for how long will you be gone. Should they hold you or not? If you are only going away for a week, you could ask your shareholders to hold you. If you are going away for a serious amount of time, let your shareholders know. All in case of zero activity that is. Not letting your shareholders know could even damage your EAv reputation. They will see you ‘in the red’ day in day out in the ticker tape, but if they know why, it saves them worries.

Is it fair to ask your shareholders not to sell you?

Yes and no. It depends on the duration of your absence. If your online activity is zero for one week, you could of course ask your shareholders to hold. You can put that in your bio so shareholders know where they stand. If your online activity is zero for a duration of, lets say, several weeks, you might as well tell your shareholders to sell you – but keep 1 share – so they can be informed the moment you are back, using a shareholder e-mail sent out.

I see a lot of people taking the welfare trip telling vacationers ‘no worry, I will hold you’. This is NOT helping, it is in fact holding you back. Why? Because your dividend will drop for sure if you are not active only, but if shareholders keep your stock, your share price will stay high. At the moment you come back, you will find your dividend low and your stock price high, who is going to buy you then? Therefore, holding on to shares of somebody going on a vacation, is not helping at all. You might as well take the dive and leave in style. That is, help your stock holders by letting them sell you (you are all doing this for your shareholders aren’t you?), ask them to keep 1 share to be able to inform then on your return and then, on return, politely ask to buy you back, just after a few days of online activity, so they can see the proof of your return.

Whatever you do, it is advised to not use the Vacation mode that Empire Avenue offers. It will show your shareholders that you are not paying out any dividend and that doesn’t make you trustworthy. In other cases you might think of a ‘suspend your account’ mode, and plan on how to come back. More about that later.

Summary

  1. leaving your shareholders behind uninformed can damage your EAv trustworthiness, other way around – informing them ads to your credibility. Your reputation is worth more than your stock.
  2. make a happening about going and leaving, it is a game, taking a dive is too
  3. on coming back, work a few days on your dividend first and then invite your (1-share) shareholders to buy you back
  4. if this all sounds to complicated and you don’t want curvy stats – hire a pro to manage your account
  5. travel light

Written by: Elza van Swieten – (e)CONFLUENCE

Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Tips from Berrie Pelser – #1 business on Empire Avenue (@Berriepelser)

August 24, 2011 By admin 4 Comments
Berrie Pelser

Berrie Pelser

Interview with Berrie Pelser, owner of Ber|Art – a WordPress Hosting and Social Media / SEO Company in The Netherlands, and player on Empire Avenue.

How long have you been playing on Empire Avenue (EAv)?

For 4 months now. I started on Queens day, April 30 2011. I received an invite from somebody and thought: this looks promising so I started right away. The first couple of hours I compared it with Klout, but then I figured that EAv does much more. Klout indicates how much somebody is engaged in social media. If you see a tweet from somebody with Klout score 8, it probably is spam. But if somebody has a Klout score of 80, it most likely is good content. It says something about the credibility of the person that tweets. This is also the case in EAv, but here it is more about engaging and sharing. If you compare shareholders to Linked-In connections, Facebook friends and Twitter followers, shareholders are much more. Buying shares in a person means you want to engage.

Could you describe to my mother what EAv is?

It is a game. A game is about sharing information and engaging with people. What is there to win? That depends… for some there are friends to win. EAv allows you to play as a private persons or as a branded person (people vs companies). Companies like Dell, Nokia and Intel are not there to make friends, they are there to promote their products and brand. It will be possible for them to (virtually) sell Branded Luxury Items. For example Nokia can ‘sell’ their new Nokia N8. They will also tweet about this product on Twitter, post it on Facebook but they can also virtually sell it on EAv. EAv for them, is a very serious game. For private persons it is a fun game to meet friends and promote your social accounts.

What is your benefit in playing EAv?

I am a business owner. I run an Internet business which offers services in Social media and Search Engine Optimisation (SEO). If I can add a link to my website where I can show people what I do, it is beneficiary for me. And social media is one of the services I offer. If I want to offer EAv services to EAv players, I have to know the tool just like I learned Twitter and Facebook. I offer fully managed and fully hosted WordPress sites including SEO and integration and branding in social media. Just running a website is not enough in 2011. In my opinion you have to have at least Facebook, LinkedIn, Twitter, Google+ and EAv. My reason to be on EAv is business-wise, to let people know what I have to offer, and I can do that better if I try to be ranked #1 on EAv.

You are ranked as #1 in the Top Business Stocks with share-price above leaders like Mashable, Nokia, Intell, AT&T and more.What would your advice to companies be if they are thinking about joining EAv?

Call me. They “should” not start before talking to me. You can do a lot of things before you enter the game. If you want to start, DO NOT ENTER YET. If you do things beforehand you have a better start and focus. The first 7 days are most important. On the seventh day a new account will ‘open up’ to investors to buy more than the limited 200 shares. On day 7 it becomes possible to buy (virtual) Luxury Items, and a Bigger Piece of the pie which enables investors to buy more.  Day 7 is a crucial day. Shares of most of the newcomers will go down after day 6 or 7. There are more than 1000 EAv players that buy newcomers every day, and sell them after 7 days if they are not performing in the game. You have to go through that day 7. I get 200-300 unique visitors per day from EAv only. This is important for Google ranking, especially now EAv is growing fast. It will get more value fast.

How much time do you spend on EAv?

Not much, the only thing I do is buying and selling. In the beginning you have to do more work. You have to build your account, let people know who you are and what you do. Just like Facebook and Twitter, setting up an account and get it going takes time. If your profile is up and running, it can become a routine. I am on EAv less than one hour daily. EAv counts everything you do online in social media. A tweet is a point, a Facebook post is a point. EAv is all about sharing and engaging. If you have something to say, share it everywhere so that everybody can see it in their own social tool of preference. During my vacation I shot a lot photos because I am a amateur photographer. I uploaded the photo’s to Flicker, and because of that my dividends grew. It is all about social media to get your dividend up.

Empire Avenue virtual airplanes

Airplanes, virtual Luxury Items to buy with the virtual currency 'eaves' on Empire Avenue

It is optional to buy certain upgrades on EAv with ‘real’ money, like a ‘bigger piece of the pie’ with which you can buy more shares of any given person, or Luxury Items that pay out in ‘eaves’ (the currency of the game). What is your point of view on buying with real money?

If you just want to have fun, don’t buy. The only reason to buy something when you just want to play, is to do it for EAv itself because they deserve it. Just to say thanks to EAv for playing the game. If you are serious, you have to buy as much as you can on day 7. After that, luxury items (virtual items you can purchase on EAv) are not interesting for new players until their portfolio value will go over 15,000,000 eaves. Look at Chris Pirillo (ranked #1 private person on EAv), for two weeks he has been buying all the airplanes (virtual Luxury Items you can buy on EAv). And recently I started to understand why and bought planes too. If you invest all the dividend earnings in new people, that means they will buy you too. With that your share price will rise. If your share price is rising but your dividend is stable, your ROI (Return on Investment) will drop. You don’t want to have ROI dropping, because that is the most important number in your EAv account. How do you calculate your ROI? Divide your dividend per share by your share price, times 100. So to make sure your share price is NOT rising that fast, buy luxury items.

And the list of tips goes on and on when you talk with Berrie :)

Berrie shares tips on Facebook groups (Dutch language) https://www.facebook.com/groups/empirelaan

Find Berrie Pelser on Empire Avenue http://empireavenue.com/BERRIEPELSER

Visit Ber-Art WordPress SEO Hosting

Filed Under: Empire Avenue, Interviews, Social Media Tagged With: , , , ,

Social Media? Don’t give up! Interview with @mqtodd

August 20, 2011 By admin Leave a Comment

Interview with Micheal Q. Todd

Michael Q. Todd

Michael Q. Todd

In your Facebook profile it says you are living the dream, what does living the dream mean to you?

For me living the dream is not having a boss, not having clients and that I can control what I do every day and control time. There is no limit on the hours of the day. You can create hundreds of hours a day. My philosophy about Internet is know – like – follow – promote me. When people are promoting me more every day, I create hundreds of hours a day. When I write a blog post and a lot of twitter friends share it, they promote me. I don’t need to promote my blog, I got 1000 of people doing that for me. Every day is big fun for me.

You wrote The more I learn the more I realise that we are all connected, can you tell me about that?

We are not far away from being all connected. The more you trust and believe this is the case the more it will happen. Things are happening really fast. We build relationships with people, channeling people. If I think about somebody they pop up on my twitter account, this keeps happening to me more and more. We are very close to being connected totally. This is what the Mayan prophecy was 2600 years ago, that in 1999 we would start connecting. This was the year when LinkedIn and Friendster started. The Mayans said this was going to take 12 years. A wave of consciousness is starting in 2012. We are in the final stages of everybody connecting and then the wisdom is going to spread really fast.

You seem to have a lot of life experience. Did you ever consider the fact that this could make you an old soul, somebody with a lot of responsibility…?

I have seen my past lifes. I have been hypnotised a few times. In one of those sessions I was in an ancient country, 200-400 years ago where I was speaking to a crowd of people protesting against a government. Then guys in uniform came with big swords and killed me. I feel like I am dong now what I did before. When I was 12 years old I have been speaking to an audience about the environment. When social media came along, I saw the huge potential to have a voice here. Maybe I am an old soul, yes. I feel I enjoy being in the center of it.

You are helping people on Twitter and Facebook. If there would be a # 1 tip for a Twitter user wanting to be successful, what would that be?

In 3 words: don’t give up. 96% Of twitter users give up within 1 month. People give up all the time. It is not so easy to get started when you are not a celebrity, but you have to keep going. You have to trust Twitter and trust your friends that are successful with it. A lot of people use only 2 or 3 kinds of tweets. They don’t get the right balance, not using different kind of tweets. That is my main advice; to study different kind of tweets. I wrote a blog story about 6 different kinds of tweets. Twitter is about knowing why you are on there, and you have to be there for a long time. I am there to teach about twitter and social media and to promote and connect good people. If I put out good material about social media, people start to like me and read about the environment at the same time. If I would speak about the environment all the time people would stop following me.

And Facebook?

Facebook is not a whole lot different. Facebook has threads of conversation. Also here it applies: remenber who you are and why you are there. I am about Social Media, Environment and Japan. You have to have a place where you are from. Say thank you a lot on Facebook and Twitter and be fun! Give information on what you know about and ask questions. When you make a comment in a blog, you should say thank you, give information, have fun and ask good questions. That is the big tip about being successful on Facebook. And get a lot of friends. :)

And last: quoting you: “What if we are the ones we have been waiting for?”

What if we were. We can all wait for somebody to come. Maybe Jesus is coming or somebody else to save us. But what if it is us. We are here for a reason. There have never been times like this. There must be a reason. A lot of things are happening and we are here. Maybe it is time for me to do something quite special. I am just asking people: look at yourself, what could you do? What is your potential. What if you are that prophet that stops everybody form fighting? People have unlimited potential if they decide who they want to be. There are new things everyday on the internet. Now Skype and Facebook are hooking up and there is talk about Foursquare joining Facebook. Every day there are new apps to share information. If people can just try 1 thing every day, then they will keep up with everything. And when they try 2 things a day they move ahead of everybody else. Do things for the first time, make a Youtube video for the first time. Try something new every day. Only good things will happen out of that.

Follow Michael on Twitter: @mqtodd
Visit www.michaelqtodd.com

Filed Under: Facebook, Interviews, Social Media, Twitter Tagged With: , , , ,

Social media is not social, people are. Interview with @Themelis_Cuiper

August 19, 2011 By admin 1 Comment

“The intuitive mind is a sacred gift and the rational mind is a faithful servant. We have created a society that honors the servant and has forgotten the gift.” ~ Albert Einstein ~

Interview with Themelis Cuiper, seo social media marketing expert from Amsterdam.

What is your speciality?

Themelis Cuiper

Themelis Cuiper in front of Central Station in Amsterdam

Connecting people. That is the main speciality that aligns with my character, my basic self.
I want to be a hub to people, a connector, to involve people with other people. I always have been reaching out to people. I even see it in my children, they are like me. The things against it is that you bump your knocks a lot of times. You learn by experience. I learn a lot from people. I have become a market sociologist, not because I choose to have this profession, but because it is me. It comes natural with me. I work with my instinct to know how people act and behave. Most important in life is the time you spend with people, making the best time you could have with each other.

What do you like most about social media right now?

Social media is the freedom to connect and express ourselves. It wasn’t available before. I like the possibility to carry your mobile phone with you and you can type anything in to the internet and reach out to people. In a basic way we are all connected one way or the other. We are not that different from each other in the basic blueprint. Of course we can have opposite attitudes or opinions but the basics of humanity is in all of us.

Are you spending time on social media activities of which you would rather spend less time? In other words, is any social media activity over your head?

No. If the thing you are busy with at the moment sucks you up it is not good, you should do another activity. I live with social media, it is interwoven into my life and into my family life also. We practise social media all day. I am living my life, the social media walks with me. I have organized things. The social media is following my habits.

Social media is not social. People are.

It is an illusion to think that social media itself is social. I am not saying that social media is a fad. It is no hype and it is no bubble, it is real. Social media is a tool that will evolve the big world mass of people.

What will be the future of social media?

People should evolve in social media, people should evolve and learn how to use it. If I want to draw a piece of art, I need to hold a pencil. I need to know where to put the pen to the paper. But the expression itself will be unique. Nobody can teach me how to express myself. You can learn basics about drawing but the expression itself comes from the artist. In that sense everybody is unique. If I want to sing, I can learn to sing. How you sing will make the singer.

Social media tries to be the same. There is a big difference in how you use social media. What is the goal and purpose for being in social media, that’s the question. People themselves use the tools in a way that expresses something of themselves. The way I use Facebook is totally different from how you will use it, and the way I use twitter is totally different from the way you will use it. It is about my intention and my goal with it. The purpose of communication and human connectivity is the same without social media. Social media is just a tool.

What message would you like to send out today?

Don’t take yourself so serious! Put in some humor to break the suffering. There are real big ego’s on the net, and life is not all about drama. We live in a Social Garden together and we ourselves are responsible to build it into a paradise. With social media, nothing can hold you back to do so. You are the master of your own universe. You can choose the friends you want to be with, and choose whom to spend your time with. Go make the best time you could have with each other!

Follow Themelis Cuiper on Twitter

Filed Under: Interviews, Social Media Tagged With: , , , , ,
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