He may be older than dust, but, make no mistake about it, John McCain is a certified “Twitter Genius.” According to a recent study conducted by researchers from George Washington University and New York University, the 73-year-old Arizona Senator ranks at the very top of the U.S. Senate’s “Twitter Geniuses.” The academics came to their conclusion after calculating every Senator’s “Digital IQ,” which they modestly call the “definitive benchmark for online competence.” As Politico explains, the metric combines a politician’s use of social media like Facebook, Twitter and YouTube, as well as his or her online following.

Out of all 100 active Senators, only seven scored a “genius” level Digital IQ, with McCain, of course, coming out as the clear winner. His 625,000 Facebook fans nearly triple the number of people following runner-up Scott Brown, and is about 8.5 times greater than third-place finisher John Thune’s total.

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With more than a hundred million users on Twitter, there are sure to be at least dozens of accounts out there that will reflect your interests. The trouble is finding all of them. As of July 30th, Twitter is beginning to roll out a simple, but powerful new feature to help address that — “Suggestions for You”.

The algorithms in this feature, built by their user relevance team, suggest people you don’t currently follow that you may find interesting. The suggestions are based on several factors, including people you follow and the people they follow. You’ll see these suggestions on Twitter.com and the Find People section. If you like a suggestion, click “follow”; if you don’t, click “hide,” and they’ll try not to suggest that user again.

In addition, you will begin to see recommendations for similar users when you view another account’s profile. If you’re interested in a particular user, you might be interested in these other accounts as well.

Kind of sounds like Facebook’s “suggestions” on the right hand side of your homepage, no?

Source: Twitter Blog

Lay’s is kicking off a nationwide experiential tour featuring the company’s potato farmers.

The six-city tour that kicked off in NYC on July 26, is designed to bring a rural farm experience to city-based consumers via a mobile greenhouse. Visitors can see plants that result in Lay’s potato chip ingredients as well as meet a Lay’s potato farmer. Additionally, Lay’s will give away 8,000 basil plants to visitor and will donate plants to local community gardens at the end of each stop. And of course, Lay’s potato chips will be sampled!

PR efforts, Facebook and Twitter will drive consumer awareness for the tour. Consumers will also be able to track the mobile greenhouse using the “Chip Tracker” on the brand’s website.

Source: Marketing Daily

Researchers from the Northeastern University College of Computer and Information Sciences and from Harvard Medical School have been analyzing tweets to gauge when we’re feeling our best and worst. More specifically, which day of the week and at what time.

The project — called the Pulse of the Nation: U.S. Mood Throughout the Day Inferred From Twitter — has looked at more than 300 million tweets that were sent between September 2006 and August 2009, creating maps to visualize the data. Check it out for more detail.

Source: GeekSugar.com

Yeah, you heard right - free tickets…. but only if you’ve got clout and status on Twitter (and of course certain dates / locations apply)

Virgin America ariline, in collaboration with Twitter analytics service Klout, is now offering a free flight to anyone who has serious influence on the micro-blogging site. Klout determines a user’s influence by analyzing several variables — including an individual’s followers, tweets and retweets — in order to calculate a Klout score from 0 to 100. According to Mashable, the offer includes a free, Wi-Fi-equipped round-trip flight between Toronto and either San Francisco or Los Angeles, and is valid any time between June 23rd and August 23rd. Selected influencers will also be invited to Virgin America’s Toronto Launch Event on June 29th, even if they decline the free flight.

After Virgin extends the offer, however, it won’t require users to tweet about the company or their experience. “We do not want to ‘buy’ your tweets. You are receiving the product because you are influential and have authority on topics related to the product,” Klout explained in a recent blog post. “This is a more targeted form of receiving a sample while shopping at the grocery store. You are welcome to tell the world you love the product, you hate the product or say nothing at all.”

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Remember the MTV VJ? That’s so two decades ago. Now the network is looking to hire its first TJ, or Twitter Jockey.

MTV officials say the search is on for a new social media maven who will engage with the MTV audience and serve as a liaison between viewers and network honchos.

MTV General Manager Stephen Friedman called the TJ position “a natural evolution of how we connect with our audience.”

The network has identified 18 potential candidates and is asking its audience to find two more. The 20 hopefuls will compete in a series of online challenges this summer designed to reveal their personalities and demonstrate how they connect with Twitter followers.

Five finalists will ultimately compete on a live show on Aug. 8, when fans will pick who gets the new job.

“The hope is that this person will be dynamic, engaging and energized, an enthusiast within the social media world,” said Dave Sirulnik, the executive overseeing the contest. “Somebody who will represent the audience by taking their thoughts and questions and … through an ongoing dialogue with them, be able to bring those questions inside the walls here to the people who make MTV.”

The new Twitter Jockey will report on MTV events, such as the Video Music Awards in September, and appear on-air periodically.

“While they won’t be on TV the way VJs were,” Sirulnik said, “they will always be on.”

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In honor of Father’s Day, Papa John’s, in partnership with All Pro Dad, is awarding one lucky winner a FREE YEAR OF PIZZA via a Twitter campaign. To enter, people must sum up their dad’s character in 140 characters or less using the hashtag #AllProPapa.

In addition, Papa John’s will be making a donation to All Pro Dad, a national, non-profit organization dedicated to helping men become better fathers. For every gift card purchased online during the month of June, Papa John’s will donate $1 to All Pro Dad (up to $30,000).

Source: Promo Magazine

Marketers planning on using Twitter to promote their wares will have to go through Twitter to do so, according to a new set of advertising guidelines issued by the company.

On April 13, Twitter introduced Promoted Tweets, which are ordinary tweets that businesses want to highlight to a wider group of users. These Tweets are clearly labeled as ‘promoted’ when an advertiser is paying but otherwise appear normal. “Promoted Tweets must meet a higher bar—they must resonate with users. That means if users don’t interact with e Promoted Tweet to allow us to know that the Promoted Tweet is resonating with them, such as replying to it, favoriting it or Retweeting it, the Promoted Tweet will disappear.”

On May 24, Twitter took greater control of the advertising stream. Again through its blog, it announced it would, aside from Promoted Tweets, “not allow any third party to inject paid tweets into a timeline”. Twitter offered several reasons for its decision to ban third-party advertisers, ranging from preserving the integrity of its network to covering the costs of employing more than 200 people.

Source: DirectMag.com

Hugo Chavez joined Twitter on Tuesday, taking the username @chavezcandaga. His arrival on Twitter was a surprise, partly because only 30% of his country has Internet access (though that figure is far higher than it was before he took office) and partly because he called Twitter a potential “tool of terror” just two months ago. He has openly invited other politicians, Bolivian President Evo Morales and Cuban political leader Fidel Castro to join him on Twitter, according to Reuters.

Chavez is obviously not the first politician to join, but it will be interesting to see if his invitations out to others take the bate. Will you follow them on Twitter? Do you follow Obama?

Source: Masahable

You’ve been buying boxes of Sweethearts candy since you were a shy kid in grade school, but they didn’t always have such high tech messages stamped on the front. Long gone are the days of “Fax Me,” since this year, Sweethearts will have a more mainstream message: “Tweet Me.”

The short-and-sweet microblogging site has paired up with the candy maker to have the popular term stamped on the front of the Valentine’s Day treats along with 79 other terms like “Text Me,” “IM Me,” and “Email Me,” although you’ll still find the traditional “I Love You” tossed in there somewhere. Just in time for Valentine’s Day, Sweethearts has also launched a free iPhone app to go along with its revamped image, which allows you to send virtual Sweethearts candy boxes with custom messages that can appear on anyone’s Twitter page.

Check it out at http://www.mysweethearts.com/

Source: GeekSugar.com