Apparently Twitter needed a Wingman to answer to the most common question of the Twitterverse, “How is Twitter going to make money?”

The Twitter Wingman

According to Wired’s Danny Dumas and Steven Leckart, Twitter is introducing the Wingman, a handheld, pager-like device for all things Twitter on the go.   So Tweeps, give it a look and, of course, then tweet about it.

Follow Dallas Marketing Services on Twitter.
You follow, we follow back.
Twitterific.

A timeline that is.  Plurkers add plurks (up to 140 character updates) to their Plurk timeline via text, instant messaging or the web.  The timeline can then be viewed and commented on by other Plurkers that have been granted access.

So, about now you have to be thinking -“Oh, it’s Twitter with a timeline.”

Sort of.   Plurk, like Twitter, is a free social networking and micro-blogging service.  But, a look at The Plurk Rule Book sheds light on the differences pretty quickly, such as:

• “Only add REAL friends to your friends list” & “Limit your friends list to your closest buddies” (as opposed to collecting as many Twitter followers as possible)

• “Try not to plurk more than 30 times a day – it’s annoying” (Oh, is it ever)

Plurks can be:

• Qualified with color-  -coded words for visual expression of thoughts (thinks, feels, etc.)
• Submitted freestyle without qualifiers – the Plurk FAQs says this is “great for older or more expressive users.”
• Simple plurks or Advanced plurks.   Advanced plurks can use additional options such as being sent to a specific segment of plurkers.
• Responded to by other plurkers with the responses nested in the plurk on the timeline, similar to blog comments

Text links can be added to plurks by simply typing the URL followed by the desired text in paranthesis – example:  http://dallasmarketingservices.com (A great source for free marketing ideas) would result in:  A great source for free marketing ideas.  Plurk automatically converts a URL that ends with .gif, .jpg or .png into a thumbnail of the image and adds the thumbnail to your timeline.

Like other social networks, Plurk provides the ability to add friends, fan other users and create groups called cliques.   Plurk also has a Plurk widget that can be added to a blog or website to display your latest Plurk activity.

Privacy settings include timeline visibility by friends only, FOF – friends of friends, or the world.   Plurk recommends only using the public settings if “you are over 18 and understand the risks that come with sharing your lifestream with people you may not know.”

Plurk was launched in May 2008 and has a growing, loyal community.   Find out more from the Plurk FAQs or sign up and start plurking today.

Have a blog and want to increase traffic?  Consider joining advertising exchange network, Entrecard, where users earn the Entrecard virtual currency, EC, which can then be spent to advertise on blogs across the Entrecard network.

Getting started:  Sign up and create a profile.   This time, instead of just popping up an image or logo, take a bit of time to consider what you want represented in that 125 X 125 space. In addition to being your Entrecard identity, it is also the advertisement that is “sold” across the Entrecard network.  Create an attractive ad and keep in mind that in the Entrecard directory, the upper right hand area is covered with Entrecard info.

The Entrecard Widget:  Next, download the widget and load it on your site (ours is in the left sidebar below the email subscription from).  The widget will display your own ad until someone purchases space on your Entrecard widget, which should take about 12 seconds.  The widget also serves as the repository for other Entrecard members to drop their Entrecard when they stop by your blog. Oh, and you will quickly learn that Entrecard power users don’t appreciate it if you put the widget below the fold (don’t make them scroll).

Entrecard Credits EC: You can earn Entrecard credits in a variety of ways.  First, earn 1 credit for each Entrecard network blog you visit, up to 300 per day.  You also earn points when others drop Entrecards on your blog and when someone purchases an Entrecard ad on your blog.

Buying Ads:  Entrecard ads are priced by popularity, with the more popular going for a higher rate, just like in the non-Entrecard world.  Ad space is purchased for a 24 hour period and the price and wait times are listed at the bottom of each Entrecard user’s ad.   Entrecard ads can be approved or rejected by you before they are placed on your site.

Just for Fun:  In our research, we found the Entrecard Slots, which we will feature for a limited time under our Entrecard widget.   Click on it and you have a chance to win up to 2000 ec (one spin per day) courtesy of JoeTech.com.

Anyone with a Google account can simply sign in and begin creating their Orkut profile.  Profile information can include a wide range of topics (most sections are optional or can be kept private) including:

♦ General: Name, gender, location, languages spoken, education, Orkut interests (business networking, etc.)

♦ Professional: Education, occupation, industry, company, company website URL, job description, career skills, career interests

♦ Personal: Headline, personal characteristics, likes, dislikes

♦ Social: Children, ethnicity, religion, political view, humor, fashion, pets, living, passions, books, music, TX shows, smoking, drinking, cuisines, sports, activities and an about me section and website URL

♦ Contact: Two emails, IM addresses, phones, address

In addition to the profile information, Orkut users can add photos, scrapbooks, videos, testimonials, lists and applications/widgets to their accounts and profiles.

Communities:  Orkut users can search other users, communities or topics to find other users with similar interests.

Business use:  For those with products or services that are marketed by demographic, specific interests or by location, Orkut may be a good media to network with users to understand their wants and needs or to create a product buzz.   Examine the location and demographic information and see if it is a fit – if you are trying to reach Brazil, this may be the community for you.

	Source: Orkut/About Orkut/Demographics

Checking in:   Either on the web or when out and about, users update Brightkite by checking in with their location, a note or a photo.  Check-in locations can be an exact address, an intersection, a city and state, or a country.   At a business location? Simply type the name of the business, such as “Paradise Bakery,” and a list of available addresses in the area of your last check-in for businesses with that name will be returned for selection.   Brightkite updates your location and displays other Brightkite users that are currently there or have been recently.

Privacy settings:  Brightkite’s two privacy modes are public and private.  Public displays the check-in location (as it has been submitted) to everyone.  Private mode allows various levels of privacy measures to be set.   When using public mode, be sure and exercise a level of caution as anyone on Brightkite can see the post.

What’s happening? Users can track their friends’ locations or people that are:

♦ Close by or within 20 meters
♦ Within a block or within 200 meters (yeah, first two can be kinda creepy for the ”When A Stranger Calls” generation)
♦ Within the neighborhood or 2000 meters
♦ Within the area or 4000 meters

Placemarking: Placemarks are bookmarked locations that are frequently used such as home, work, etc. and enable speedy check-ins.  Users simply SMS @work or @home (or whatever you named the location) for speedy check-ins.

Businesses: If you have a retail business, use the Search Posts feature to find when you are mentioned by users in their posts or check-ins or better yet, add the place feed to your website or blog.

AOL’s social bookmarking site, Propeller, is a moderated social media news portal. While similar to Digg, Propeller differs in that paid editors select the top stories and story popularity is shown with an average between 1 and 10.

Formerly the social media site for Netscape, Propeller.com was launched at the new domain in 2007 and the site received a facelift in July 2008.

Propeller has a “cleaner” feel than many other social media sites, which can be attributed to enforcing policies such as:

♦ Propeller’s editorial staff removes spam, objectionable content, and commercial solicitations

♦ Propeller’s Middleman Rule – submitted stories should link whenever possible to the original source of a story

♦ Propeller is not an absolute free-for-all. It is a moderated site, with Propeller editors overseeing the posts, conversations, and other activity.

Propeller accounts are free and once signed up, users can upload a photo, website link, bio, interests, and additional links to their profile page.

Users can submit, vote (“Prop”), share and comment on stories.  Users can also join or create groups. Many opportunities are available to create and build business topic users groups.

StumbleUpon is a social networking site where users share and rate websites, blogs, photos and videos they have “stumbled upon” across the internet.  As StumbleUpon learns a user’s preferences, the StumbleUpon recommendation engine suggests similar content that may be of interest.

The StumbleUpon Toolbar:  A key feature of StumbleUpon is the StumbleUpon toolbar.  As a part of the registration process, users download and install a toolbar for quickly rating and submitting content .  The toolbar also houses administrative functions, such as changing your password and accessing frequently used StumbleUpon pages.  Multiple accounts can be added to the toolbar with drop-down login access.

Setting up your Preferences:  Under Personal Information, if you do not want your age displayed, uncheck the box.   In Public Profile, be sure and post an introduction, add your website URL, upload a photo/logo and scroll to the bottom and add up to 3 more website URLs for your favorite sites.

Users are called Stumblers and can fan, favorite and message each other.  To search for other Stumblers, click Browse People and either enter search criteria or scroll to the bottom and use the Member Directory to key in a user name.  Our stumbler name is DallasMarketing - be sure and add us as a friend.

StumbleUpon post the current number of Stumblers on the login page, which as of this post, states there are 5.8 million registered users.   StumbleUpon was acquired by eBay in May of 2007 for $75 million.

Business use: Beyond the obvious ability to gain another piece of web real estate to promote your business with the profile page and website links, StumbleUpon provides the ability to join users communities that have interests relating to your business. Contributing quality, accurately tagged content that can be served to the users of these communities can be a source of very targeted traffic for your site.

Get started stumbling:  Register for a free account, view the product demo, or read through the getting started guide.

Users register for a free account and then can complete a short profile section including a website URL and a picture/logo.  The age bracket information required for registration can also be removed after registration.  The SFW or Safe Work Filter keeps the content clean.

Shoutwire has been online since 2005 and is owned by Tuberaroo.

Social networking site, Ziggs, enables users to create a robust profile, network with other users, create/join public and private groups, participate in discussions, join directories, and find/post jobs.

The Ziggs profile includes a biography, background information, resume, interests, photos, contact information with website URL and an interview section.   The interview is created from answering questions from a list of 30 questions and can create some interesting profile reading.  Want to see a sample? – here’s Dallas Marketing Services’ Ziggs profile.
Registering for a Ziggs account is free.  A search of Dallas Ziggs users returns 15,653 users and Fort Worth/Ft Worth returns 3081.

Explore the Ziggs Blog or take a journey through the Ziggs introduction walk-through.