Archive for July, 2007

How to promote Plone using Twitter

Written by gerrykirk on July 30, 2007 – 4:27 pm -

What is Twitter and why should I care?

TwitterFrom Wikipedia: “Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) via SMS, instant messaging, email, the Twitter website, or an application such as Twitterrific.” Anyone who has signed up to follow your account gets your updates as part of their Twitter feed.

Twitter is a lot more fun once you have a group of people you know twittering as well. You can also sign up to feeds from high profile politicians, news services and metropolitan fire departments.

How to get started

Create an account on twitter.com, it’s free. For Mac buffs, download Twitterific. Trust me, you’ll be glad you did.

Find some people to follow, including some of the plonistas mentioned in my earlier post, friends who are already using Twitter or search Twitter for other people who have similar interests. You can invite others to join as well.

Most twitter posts, I’ve noticed are about what people are doing as they go through their day. While some of that can be entertaining, I’m mostly interested in Twitter as a shared learning tool, so I try to post one entry a day about something I have learned or done.

Use tinyurl.com to include links, since you are limited to 140 characters.

Twitter as a Plone marketing tool

Mr. Topf provided some excellent suggestions as a comment to my earlier posting about Plone and Twitter. I’ve added a few of my own as well:

  • Post interesting stuff about what you learn about Plone to your twitter feed (like “reading nice howto on X: http://…“) and the like. Just look at what sort of posts your friends do
  • Talk about projects you are using Plone for
  • Provide tidbits on Plone, including new releases, how much fun the community is, when the next Plone event is, interesting Plone screencasts (or do them yourself) and so on.
  • Point people to http://twitter.com/plone naturally

Over time, you’ll reach more and more people who don’t know about Plone. Imagine that, people who have never heard about Plone before!

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Posted in Plone, Social Network |

People who use Plone who use Twitter

Written by gerrykirk on July 27, 2007 – 11:43 am -

Mr. Topf just finished creating a Plone twitter feed so now you can get tasty bits of Plone news and information throughout your day. Head to http://twitter.com/plone, or subscribe to the RSS feed.

There are also a number of people active in the Plone community who are twittering as well. Here are their twitter coordinates:

Are there any other twitter plonistas out there? Please raise your hand by posting your twitter url as a comment.

Updated July 30, 2007: added other Plone people who are using Twitter to the list above.
Updated August 2, 2007: added two more people to the list.
Updated August 7, 2007: Germany has two more representatives
Updated August 16, 2007: one more twit, er twitterer

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Posted in Plone, Social Network |

New beginning

Written by gerrykirk on July 11, 2007 – 12:32 pm -

Starting this month, I am back to working self-employed, something I haven’t done since I first came back from Bangladesh in 2002. My first attempt was only a few months and not very successful, but this time around I am more hopeful.

I’ve been working part-time the last two months for Jazkarta, a company delivering Plone-based solutions. My primary role is project manager but I also moonlight as a sales guy, process improvement nut and irc joker.

<shamless plug>
Any other Plone companies out there looking for remote project managers are welcome to contact me at gerry_kirk AT alumni DOT uwaterloo DOT ca.
</shameless plug>

Everyone at Jazkarta is home-based, with home being in places across Europe, North America and parts of Asia. I plan to write more about the tools and processes we use to get work done.

Working from home has been a great experience. I love the flexibility of switching between work and family life, or just getting out to do other things when I want to. It’s a busy life at home with twin baby boys and a 3 year old girl, so mommy appreciates the extra hands when the fire alarms go off. :)
So, I’m not sure where the future road lies, but right now I’m happy to be focused on pm work using Plone as a technology solution. The Plone community is full of great people to interact with, and many of the clients I work with are non-profits working to improve our world by tackling social, environmental and science issues.

Now I just need to save up enough $$$ and get my passport in time to attend my first ever Plone conference, something I’ve been wanting to do since the early days. This year the conference is being held in Italy, and looks to be a great event. Most of the Jazkarta folk will be there, too, which would be my first time seeing them in 3D. Keeping my fingers crossed for now! :)

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Posted in Personal, Plone |
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