It's obvious Twitter's suggested user feature is not so great because it knows nothing about your interests. Below is a list of people I currently enjoy following because they have many years of experience in the digital marketing, advertising, social media, and mobile industries (all

'd by me). If you have similar interests, you should be following them too.

Check it out and maybe create a list of your own. If you do, please send me the link or consider tagging it with the hashtag #mysuggested. It doesn't matter what day you do it.

In no particular order: @dberkowitz - Senior Dir, Emerging Media & Innovation at 360i @Malbonnington - Managing Partner @BBHLabs @paulisakson - Head of Strategy at space150 @spikejones - Chief Firestarter at Brains on Fire @bogusky - Chairman of CP+B @flytip - VP, Executive Creative Director at R/GA @workforfood - Associate Creative Director at R/GA @Shivsingh - VP & Global Social Media Lead at Razorfish @Steffan1 - Chairman and Chief Creative Officer, Euro RSCG Chicago @bud_caddell - Strategist at Undercurrent @mikearauz - Strategist at Undercurrent @colindrummond - Cultural + Business Insights Dept at CP+B @eyecube - Global Director, Account Management at Taylor PR @lynneluvah - Director, Social Media at FastCompany.com but will soon be Senior VP Social Media, The Advertising Research Foundation @IanSohn - SVP, Marketing and 360° Digital Influence at Ogilvy PR @bastholm - Chief Digital Creative Officer at Ogilvy @heyitsnoah - Head of Planning and Strategy, The Barbarian Group @faris - EVP Chief Technology Strategist at McCann Erickson @scottfrog - Chief Executive of StrawberryFrog @awolk - Blogger, Creative Strategist, Consultant @Armano - Senior Partner at Dachis Group @jowyang - Partner, Altimeter Group @dmklee - Executive Creative Director at TBWA\Digital Arts @its_amber - Dir of Digital Strategy, Naked Communications @rachelpasqua - Dir of Strategy, Emerging Technologies at iCrossing Just a handful of the agency accounts that I currently follow and find very interesting: @BBHLabs, @Wexley, @RGA, @BrainsOnFire, @AgencyNil, @razorfishee, @bigspaceship, @firstborn_nyc, @NakedNY, @ogilvydigital, @hillholliday, @booneoakley, @modernista, and of course where I currently freelance @mslworldwide And don't forget about:

@AdweekDotCom, @tweetfreakblog, @adage, and @agencyspy

I haven't been a huge fan of Follow Friday lately because 140 characters simply isn't enough. Many people send out several tweets in a row with just @usernames - who actually clicks through to each? In a blog post, you have the freedom to include as much info as you want and you can update it as often as you want as things change.

Palm is getting ready to launch what will most likely be their best-selling handheld device ever, the Pre. There have been several attempts from most major handset manufacturers to catch up with the iPhone over the past couple of years but none have really lived up to the hype including the BlackBerry Storm and Google's G1. Early demos and press of the Pre (which is rumored to launch May/June) have generally been great and there seems to be a lot of people that think it will be a huge success. What I'd like to summarize as best as I can in this post is what Palm is doing online to engage with potential early adopters and long-time loyal Palm fans (which there are many of). I believe Palm could be considered a Prom King Brand, which advertising consultant Alan Wolk describes as a brand that people don’t mind “conversing” with. I think that alone has simply been the biggest factor in helping Palm successfully grow an online following. Here are 7 things I noticed they are doing very well:

1. The Official Palm Blog

The blog looks to be managed by Palm's Director of Online Communications, Jon Zilber and Palm's PR agency, Edelman. It is updated a couple times a week, just enough to keep people coming back and interested. There are great discussions going on beneath most entries where Palm fans voice their opinions and seek answers to Pre questions (which usually get answered). In Rohit Bhargava's latest book, Personality Not Included, he refers to a great example of a Moleskine blog that was started by one passionate Moleskine customer, or what he calls an "accidental spokesperson" (pg. 59). Moleskine didn't realize it would make sense for them to have a blog until one was started. The blog owner was later hired to officially continue his efforts for the brand. It's obvious that a blog makes sense for Palm, especially since there are already several "unofficial" blogs out there that are doing very well. This official blog gives them better control over the information and rumors that are released about their own products. The only thing I would suggest is for Palm to make it easier for visitors to share the content via Digg, Twitter, and Delicious.

2. Facebook Fan Page

The fan page is currently approaching 7,500 fans which is a solid start but still way behind BlackBerry which has 135,000 fans. The newsfeed is regularly updated with links to developing Palm news (even on other sites) and other online media. The Discussion board is very active and is used frequently to have featured Palm employees answer fan questions (where the accompanying blog entry directs you). Comments and Likes are common on most newsfeed items which makes it obvious the fans love the constant updates.

3. @Palm Twitter Profile

The Twitter profile appears to be for many purposes. The profile bio sums it up nicely, "Stay connected with Palm and learn about news, products, tips and tricks, deals and more." Addressing customer support issues is another way they are using Twitter. What caught my attention was how well they are using their blog, Facebook, and Twitter together to host conversations and spread new content. When asked about who handles the account, the reply was: I think that will change after the Pre launches and the account grows along with Twitter.

4. Pre YouTube Channel

No need to go anywhere else, these videos straight from Sprint and Palm offer plenty of in-depth demonstrations of how the Pre will function and improve your mobile life. Apple did something similar for the iPhone but did it directly on Apple.com. Posting the videos on YouTube allows them to spread easily online by allowing people to embed them wherever they want. YouTube videos also tend to rank very high in Google search results.

5. Pre-Launch Pre Buzz

It's becoming more common to see a brand highlight and try to aggregate all the buzz going on online in one location. Skittles drew a lot of attention to their site recently when they redesigned their homepage to link to Twitter, Flickr, YouTube, and Facebook. If you head over to the Pre homepage on Sprint's website, they are doing something similar but keeping it all on one page. I think this site also aligns nicely with their recent What's Happening advertising campaign that got a lot of attention.

6. Become a Real Reviewer

The Real Reviewers program is a great way to give back to the online community by creating an opportunity for die hard fans to get their hands on a free Pre for 6 months. This type of transparent focus group can be great if the company really believes they are about to deliver an amazing product. Put it in the hands of some of your brand's biggest fans and let them do what they do best. This immediately reminded me of another similar project that was launched recently by Ford called the Fiesta Movement. Ford partnered with Ogilvy to identify 100 "agents" that get their very own Ford Fiesta for 6 months before anyone else in the U.S. These selected agents are already starting to create and share their experiences with the car on Twitter, YouTube, and their blogs. All this new content is being aggregated on the newly created Fiesta Movement website. Just like Ford carefully chose their agents, Palm is looking for select applicants that are completely wired online (like me!) and heavily rely on their mobile phones for constant connectivity to their social networks. This post called Do Something Small on the Brains on Fire blog reminds marketers that really good things can come from putting a lot of time and effort into working with a small group of loyal customers instead of always trying to reach as many people as possible at once.

7. Notify Me Pre Alerts

SMS/Email alerts are still a great way to reach out to potential customers who are willing to opt-in to your brand and get the first updates about a new product or service. This method of engagement starts online and extends to email, text, or even live phone outreach if it makes sense. Because Palm is a reputable company that I have known for many years, I trust that they will not use my personal info for any other purpose besides what I signed up for.

Final Thoughts

Palm had a rough couple of years, but with the Pre it certainly looks like they are about to strengthen their position as one of the major players in the smartphone market. Growing their online community and leveraging it to constantly improve upon their products will only help the company overall. A couple of questions come to mind: How will they react to any negative feedback and press once the Pre is launched and how will they make sure their other products don't fall off the grid? Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr and while you are here, check out 6 ways to provide customer support and feedback online.

Gone are the days when the simple contact form or a lengthy FAQs section enough to provide the level of customer support savvy consumers now expect. And traditional feedback methods like focus groups and phone surveys don't really make sense for primarily web-based companies. Thankfully, there are now several online services available that help companies of any size go above and beyond to connect with their customers through social media, create self-help communities, and consult their early adopters for valuable feedback. What's great about using the web for customer support and feedback is most of the methods mentioned below empower your own customers to help each other. In a recent post from Seth Godin, he states "Self-service customer support outperforms the traditional model because people don't have to wait in line." Effective online support will help get rid of those lines, therefore helping decrease operating costs and also increasing the amount of success stories that people will tell their friends about. Here are just 6 online approaches I have seen companies taking recently, with examples of each in parentheses:

1. UserVoice (Sling Media & Twhirl)

Described as "Customer Feedback 2.0", UserVoice is essentially an open forum that empowers users to prioritize and vote on product or service improvements they would like to see implemented first. It's a great way to organize those requests into one location (instead of emails). UserVoice creates a new level of transparency when it comes to developments since any company using the service is now forced to constantly update their users and loyal customers on their progress. The option of embedding a tab onto any site creates a quick way for suggestions to be added to a company's UserVoice page.

2. Get Satisfaction (Timbuk2 & Zappos)

Similar to UserVoice, Get Satisfaction offers a service that allows for embedding a widget that site visitors can quickly use to submit ideas and feedback. A major benefit of using Get Satisfaction is it creates one central location for questions, suggestions, problems, and testimonials without having to clutter a company's own site. Employees join in to answer any concerns as soon as possible. Happy customers also love to leave praise on Get Satisfaction so it's not always bad news when there is new activity.

3. Online Chat (Vimeo)

Online chat is instance and effective when done right but that all depends on the size of the company. Any customer would appreciate not having to deal with any case numbers or a waiting queue. If instant chat is an option, just click on the screen name link, make sure they are online (probably only during normal business hours), then start chatting to get help. Vimeo goes one step further by even putting faces behind the AIM screen names. Ironically, I found that neither Skype or AIM offer instant online help using their own chat clients.

4. Twitter (JetBlue & Comcast)

There is already a ton of discussion on how Twitter is being used by companies such as JetBlue and Comcast for customer service so I won't get into that. Assuming someone from the company is constantly monitoring Twitter, it can be one of the quickest ways to address concerns online. The most important thing to note here is that negative feedback about a company can spread very quickly, so it's up to the company to monitor Twitter to turn negative situations into positives.

5. Forums (Apple & Dell)

Forums have been around forever and are still a great, inexpensive way to support a community. The best benefit of an active forum is that your knowledgeable customers will most likely end up resolving other customer issues before your employees even have time to respond. That does not mean you shouldn't have employees moderating the forums to make sure things are running smoothly.

6. Facebook Fan Page (Virgin America)

There are many ways a facebook page can be used - two of them include addressing customer concerns and soliciting feedback. As a fan page grows, companies should pay closer attention to new discussion board posts and comments left by fans and respond through a private or public messages to any concerns. There are also add-ons like the Reviews app which allows fans to leave reviews of the company on your fan page.

Final Thoughts

Of course many companies use several variations of the above to keep customers happy. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to evaluating which of these different approaches any one company should take. Do a Google search for 'online customer service' and you will find a ton of services promising you to be the best and cheapest solutions. Most of these offerings are complete crap which likely don't get any love now that there are options like the 6 above. Am I missing any other methods which you have noticed companies using recently? Why is one way better than another? Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr.

The image hosting service TwitPic has become one of the most popular 3rd party services for Twitter. Because of its popularity, most of the mobile Twitter apps that are available offer an easy way to upload pictures directly to TwitPic to post along with your text update.

While breaking events and celebrity photos generally get the most views, you can browse through the hundreds of the pictures being uploaded every couple of minutes by typing 'twitpic' into Twitter Search. Without any stats, I thought a little about what people are most likely uploading the most to TwitPic and came up with these 5 things (click on them to see the latest Twitter search results or click on image to enlarge).

1. Sunsets

When you get to witness a great sunset, your first reaction is likely to take a picture if you have a camera. For Twitter users, that first reaction is taking a picture, uploading it to TwitPic, then posting it to Twitter. Almost as frequently as sunsets, people are tweeting pictures of rainbows.

2. Dessert

What is it about desserts that makes us want to remember what they looked like before we devour them? Probably because for most of us it's a rare occasion. Thanks for making everyone else on Twitter jealous but just remember who is going to be feeling better after it's all gone.

3. Puppies

Puppy pics might be a close tie with cute babies. Either way, Cute Overload should be paying attention.

4. Driving

Probably not the a great idea (especially while holding onto an iced coffee) but people are doing it anyway. Hopefully your next tweet won't include a TwitPic of your car accident.

5. Drunk Photos

Why only regret drunk dialing or texting one of your friends when now you can reach several people at once through drunk Twittering? I say do whatever you can to share these funny moments with everyone (Twitter can be too serious), just don't drop your iPhone doing so. We should also start to see more drunk videos posted through Qik, Seesmic, and 12seconds.tv as more phones come with video recording options. This is only going to continue to get more interesting as Twitter adoption grows and as mobile phones come equipped with higher resolution cameras. I hope TwitPic considers adding a better way to sort and view the best pictures being uploaded. Any other common or funny trends that you have noticed lately? Leave a comment below with a link to some other good Twitter search results or TwitPic's you have come across. Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr.

In case you weren't aware, social sites such as Twitter are not just being used for killing time. I'm sure you have heard over and over by now that networking is the best way to come across new career opportunities. Well, Twitter is another way to grow your business network. I believe it can be used effectively to find anything from entry-level internships to high-level executive positions. This is primarily because of the fact that many of Twitter's users are HR reps, regular employees, and even CEO's. They may have signed up just for fun, but now they have begun using Twitter (along with other online tools) to recruit and even to make hiring decisions. With unemployment rates the highest they have been in several years in this highly competitive job market, going above and beyond and keeping up with the social networking as part of your job search is more important than ever. I personally have found Twitter to be more effective than LinkedIn in growing my professional network. This is mainly because on LinkedIn, I generally only add colleagues and friends I have already worked with in the past or know personally. You are free to follow anyone on Twitter you want to connect with that may have similar or common interests. Therefore, Twitter will help you find and network with new people worldwide. Here are a few steps to help you build your professional network followed by some tips on using Twitter to find a job:

1. If you haven't already, obviously create an account on Twitter here.
2. Search for people and even brands in the same industry as the one you are currently working in or the industry you would like to get into. To do this, use the search field in the upper right hand corner or search.twitter.com to search for keywords that relate to your industry. For example, I wanted to find other people already working in or just interested in the mobile space in NYC, so I searched for terms like 'mobile marketing' and 'mobile NYC'. The search will return results with these keywords in each user profiles and from there you can click on the account to find out more about the person. (Note: If you are searching for a job in the social media/pr/marketing industry, check lists that highlight Twitter's top users because many of them are people well known in this industry. A few I have used are here and here. UPDATE: Check out Tweepz which lets you search user bio's for keywords, something Twitter used to let you do.
3. Build your network of people you are following and followers. Step 2 is only one way. There is no need to rush this, as it will happen with time and as you come across Twitter links on the blogs you visit and on other social networking sites. Make sure to fill out your Twitter Bio completely and if you make it clear you have the same interests, the people you decide to follow will most likely check out your Bio and follow you back.
4. Build your presence by not only using Twitter to update your friends and followers on what you are up to, but also to post interesting links and info you come across. This can be from around the web and wherever else you are spending your time. I personally prefer to follow people that share information but I also don't mind reading about their life to get a better idea of what they are doing and their personal interests. Twitter can be very serious or very fun, so make sure you use it for both.
5. Start participating by replying to questions, giving feedback about blog posts/mentioned articles, or even introducing yourself with a personalized direct message. Thoughtful replies will get noticed. Some people like to reply to all messages directed to them which often starts short conversations. If someone that you thought would follow you doesn't, don't worry about it. They may add you at a later point after a few responses. I try to only reply to other tweets when I have something valuable to add or when my input is wanted for a question that was asked. Lastly, Twitter is also a great way to find out about local networking events and meetups (aka tweetups). Attend some of these tweetups and you will meet new people who will then follow you to keep in touch.
6. Use the search at search.twitter.com to find specific tweets about companies and recruiters hiring. Search for specific titles you are interested in like 'community manager' or more generic terms like 'now hiring'. Also, check out TwitHire which is a free service that has begun aggregating all job related tweets. Take a look at this article which explains TwitHire in more detail.
7. Get creative with the ways you network on Twitter (or any other social networking site). Plain and simple, more followers will equal more opportunities. The people with the most followers on Twitter gained those followers from doing something very creative or because they are very knowledgeable in what they do and love to share that knowledge. That's why they have thousand's of people listening and why you should be to. They way I think about it, using Twitter effectively to follow an industry expert is similar to reading a book written by them. There is a huge potential to learn more from the person both ways.
8. Sharing your knowledge related to your career interests will create a different type of online resume that may be the deciding factor between you and 30 other qualified candidates. I know if I was a hiring manager and found a Twitter account of a potential candidate, I would browse it.

The fact that you are on Twitter alone should be a great selling point in an interview or if your potential employer Google's your name and sees you are active in online communities. (Again, especially if you are looking to get into a social media or PR role.) Furthermore, expanding your network on Twitter will probably lead to more connections on other social networking sites like LinkedIn and Facebook. Community and Social Media expert Chris Brogan has recently been writing several great articles which are very valuable to anyone serious about expanding their network. Of course, you must use your own judgment when posting anything to your account that may ultimately have a negative effect on your image. Just use common sense and you should be fine. The same goes for not only Twitter; but Facebook, LinkedIn, FriendFeed, and even the stories you digg on Digg. Personally, I occasionally tweet about fun nights in the city and funny videos online because it is part of who I am and my personality. I am not worried about an employer seeing this because I am not interested in working for them anyway if their hiring decisions are based on personal hobbies that are in no way harmful to their business and brand. I came across one digital agency that even created a dedicated Twitter account for recruiting, which I believe will be a new trend to keep an eye on. Below are screenshots of some of the job related entries on Twitter I recently came across:

Even if you are not looking for a job, you never know if one day you might decide to start your own business or become a free agent and start consulting. In that case, (you guessed it) your Twitter network can also be a very strong starting point in establishing your company, finding business partners, and reaching out to potential clients: I'd love to hear success stories about how Twitter has helped you find a new job or hire a qualified candidate. Also, please let me know what you think of my outlined steps and what changes (if any) you would make to improve the list. I think Twitter will increasingly become a very effective job search tool while some of the other more popular job search sites like Monster and CareerBuilder start seeing a decline. I only regret not singing up and using Twitter earlier than I did. Connect with me on Twitter @jsmakr.