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Signal Without Noise--by Guy Kawasaki

A practical blog for impractical people.

How to Use Twitter as a TwoolDecember 2

I may get more value out of Twitter than anyone else on the planet because I use Twitter as a tool—specifically as a marketing tool—for my website Alltop and my book, Reality Check. If the concept of using Twitter in a commercial manner interests you, keep reading. If it doesn’t, then you can continue to send and receive tweets about how cats are rolling over and the line at Starbucks.

1. Forget the “influentials.” You must buy into the theory that products and services reach critical mass because mere mortals spread the word for you. This defies the common wisdom that a handful of “influentials” shape what the rest of us try and what we adopt. In the online world, these influentials include Mike “I can go a week without Twitter” Arrington, Robert Scoble, Seth Godin, and to some extent me.

   Reliance on influentials is flawed because the Internet has flattened and democratized information. Influentials don’t have as much special access, special knowledge, and distribution as you might think because of the growth of websites, blogs, and, of course, Twitter.

   This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t care about influentials—if nothing else th

Asking for a Favor: Sign Up for the Alltop News and Updates Email ListNovember 28

Please help me evangelize Alltop by joining the Alltop News and Announcements email list. All you have to do is send an email to:

news-subscribe@alltop.com

You’ll get a confirmation email. Reply to it, and you’re set. Whenever we announce new Alltop topics, we’ll send out an email so that you can spread the word to your friends, relatives, and colleagues.

We have over 350 topics now, so I’m sure that you’ll find something of interest. To illustrate the breadth of our coverage, in recent weeks we’ve added these topics:

Business

• Project Management

• Net Security

• Printing

Interests

• Die-cast automobile models

• Hunting

• SciFi and Fantasy Novels

• Babies

• Sailing

• Fantasy Basketball

Behavior

The Art of BootstrappingNovember 28

Over at the American Express OPEN blog, I posted an entry that explains boostrapping. Check out "The Art of Bootstrapping."

Ten Tiny Apps That I'm Thankful ForNovember 24

This is Thanksgiving, so I’d like to show some gratitude for ten tiny apps that I use almost every day. If you’re a writer, blogger, speaker, or entrepreneur who uses a Macintosh, please give them a look because they will make you more productive.

1. 

   Adjix. Adjix is the best way that I’ve found to post links to web pages on Twitter. It shortens the URL of the page, enables you to edit the tweet, shows you the ever-important character count, and renders a preview of the page you’re linking to so that you can be sure of what you’re tweeting. Price: Free.

2. 

   BBEdit. BBEdit is admittedly overkill for the HTML editing that I do. However, it does a great job of formatting text into XHTML, and it houses the SmartPants UNIX filter that I use to smarten quotes and dashes (see below). Generally speaking, if BBEdit can’t do what you want to text, it probably can’t be done. Price: $125.

The Art of Laying People OffNovember 19

Over at the American Express OPEN Forum, I posted an article explaining “The Art of Laying People Off.” Actually, I hope you don’t have to read it.