I made the trip to visit Jim Kukral and chat about the recent Twitter Me This soap opera in person.
I was hoping to clear the air, but when I caught up to him, Jim gave me the Heisman.
Archives for April 2008
Jim Kukral on Twitter
I wondered aloud the other day, Is Jim Kukral Killing Twitter?, and he had a strong chorus of defenders (who all seemed to have won money from the TwitterMeThis scheme).
So, I did a little research and came up with some very telling remarks Mr. Kukral previously posted on his blog. I submit them into evidence for your consideration.
Still think TwitterMeThis is a harmless game?
Also, I see that Jim just posted a comment at TrishaLyn.com about how he doubts he will participate in the GeekCast shows anymore.
Check your spam filter, Jim. We emailed you last night to let you know you were being replaced.
Anybody interested in joining the new, Jim-free GeekCast?
Heather Paulson isn’t Monkeying Around
Heather Paulson, President of the Paulson Management Group, sent out an announcement on Friday that she had a new hire: Greg Hoffman aka Marketing Gorilla.
Greg also spread his good news on his blog and Twitter.
I asked Greg via Twitter if he used any gimmicks to land this gig.
As you may recall, Greg landed a job last year with the help of his resume being taped to a box of donuts.
“No gimmicks at all. Pure skill, reputation and luck…,” replied Greg via Twitter.
Congrats, Greg.
Twitter Me This Backlash Grows
The backlash against Jim Kukral’s social media list building effort is growing, and now puppets are getting into the act.
There is a new video (it was later removed) where puppets representing Jim Kukral and Lisa Picarille, Editor-in-Chief and Publisher of Revenue Magazine are chatting about the Twitter Me This project.
The footage is a little disturbing, as the Jim puppet comes off as one of those guys on “To Catch a Predator” as he leers at Picarille sans shirt.
It’s been nearly 24 hours since the Twitter Me This account on Twitter has been updated. Perhaps Kurkal is reconsidering the project given the agitation it has caused in the Twittersphere?
Perhaps future puppet shows will be up at the Twitter Me This parody site, Twatter Me That.
How to Futureproof Your SEO Efforts
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The audio from educational sessions at Affiliate Summit 2008 West will be made available at GeekCast.fm.
Listen in to the How to Futureproof Your SEO Efforts session and view the slides.
Session description: This session will help people develop strategies that will work for the long haul, so they can avoid some of the ups and downs of SEO.
- Wil Reynolds, Associate, SEER Interactive
Backup Your Affiliate Business
I have lost count of the number of times I’ve been tortured by the prospect of losing my Outlook .pst or key business files.
I was aware of backing up files for a long time, but blew it off until a little while back when the latest in a series of friends experienced a fried hard drive.
So, I’m asking you today to start back everything up. If you’re already doing it, do it more often and in more places. It’s amazing how it has calmed me – I literally used to lose sleep thinking about my important files being vaporized.
As far as I am concerned, you can’t have too many redundancies when it comes to your backups.
If you are currently running your email locally, I’d suggest bringing it into Gmail, too. Just go to Settings > Accounts > Get mail from other accounts.
You can add in any POP account there.
And then the rest of your stuff – put it up at online storage services, as well as external hard drives and DVDs.
I use JungleDisk for online backups, and have them scheduled in the middle of the night, seven days a week. JungleDisk stores the data on Amazon.com’s S3 Storage Service, so even if JungleDisk were to disappear, your files are at Amazon.com.
As far as my local backups, my main one is an Iomega Desktop Hard Drive with a capacity of 1 TB.
I also backup regularly to a Seagate FreeAgent Go external hard drive with 160 GB, which is small and light. I travel with it, so I have all of my important files at the ready.
And I’ve got a couple other external hard drives that act as the backups to my backups.
Plus, I backup static files, like photos, videos and podcasts, to DVDs.
I try to keep my hardware safe, too, with a combination surge protector and battery backup.
Not only does it provide some protection for my computers, printer, scanner, etc., but also it enables me to save anything that I am working on if the power is knocked out.
Currently, I use the APC 1500VA Battery Backup with LCD.
A little paranoid? Yes, but I’m covered. Don’t put it off – cover your assets.
Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines
Gary Vaynerchuk, star of Wine Library TV and Director of Operations at Wine Library in Springfield, NJ, has a book coming out on May 13.
I just pre-ordered “Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines,” and while I’m not really a wine drinker, I am anxious to read it.
According to Amazon, in “Gary Vaynerchuk’s 101 Wines,” he reveals his first ranked list of the most exciting and tantalizing spirits he has sampled while traveling the globe.
I can’t always drink beer, right? Even though they have a nice selection of beer at Wine Library (I’m just like 10 miles away).
Anyhow, in addition to his stuff on Wine Library TV, Gary has an entertaining, inspirational, and educational video blog at http://garyvaynerchuk.com/.
Also, if you didn’t hear, Gary is going to be the keynote at Affiliate Summit 2009 West next January.
Email is Media
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The audio from educational sessions at Affiliate Summit 2008 West will be made available at GeekCast.fm.
Listen in to the Email is Media session.
Session description: For advertisers and affiliate managers: a workshop that will provide all with a better understanding of how to buy and measure the performance of their email campaigns.
- John Engler, Vice-President, UnsubCentral (Moderator)
- David Baker, Vice President, Email Solutions, Avenue A | Razorfish
- Steven Cho, Marketing Consultant, Reunion.com
- Kent Phillips, Marketing Director, Liberty Medical
Is Jim Kukral Killing Twitter?
I’ve been immersed in the Twitter culture for quite some time, and I really enjoy the brief exchanges there with friends and colleagues.
I think it is a dynamic environment that is part conversation and part networking tool. There are no rules, but I’d say there are some unwritten rules, like don’t be overtly promotional.
Recently, Jim Kukral launched a “game” called Twitter Me This, which I thought was against the spirit of Twitter, but figured maybe I was being overprotective of the vibe at Twitter.
I noticed some Tweets from Sam Harrelson that criticized Twitter Me This, and then Jim posted a video response.
Sam responded in kind with video on Cost Per News (link removed, because it no longer works). And I figured I’d share my thoughts on the Kurkalization of Twitter.
Long story short – Twitter asks, “What are you doing?,” not “How can you push the limits me annoying marketing schemes and experiments”?
Then again, I don’t think Jim was ever really one of us over there in Twitter. Not so long ago, he said he was quitting Twitter.
I think you’re a great guy, Jim, but I liked you better when you were a Twitter quitter.
Geek Party Line
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Sam Harrelson has resurrected his Affiliate Fortune Cookies podcast, and the first episode back was a sort of party line covering a random bunch of things, including politics, tech, marketing, and passions.
In addition to Sam, Mark Wielgus, Scott Jangro, Lisa Picarille, Jim Kukral and I called in to chat.
Download this episode of Affiliate Fortune Cookies or stream it at GeekCast.fm.
Listen to previous episodes of Affiliate Fortune Cookies at http://geekcast.fm/archives/category/affiliate-fortune-cookies/.