Hi Holly,

So fun to see you here on my blog, and I noticed that you did indeed tweet this post after you commented, thanks! What I'm wondering is how you found this post from way back in 2009? I'm so glad it has stood the test of time.

Pinterest has finally officially added private pin boards and those can also be shared with specific individuals, or kept just for you. I think private boards are great for creating a vision board, that you might not want o share publicly, or for a client or brand team to create private boards, before taking a Pinterest account public.

Hey JD, was just getting ready to log off, when I saw your comment. Long time no see. I use pinterest for bookmarking good social media info & "how to" small biz & PR links, but I also use it to gather recipes and cool photography sites. In addition to being a PR professional, I am also a baker, potter and photographer.

I'm a photographer by hobby gearing up for my first Photography show next month. I think your project 52 would be a great way to break me out of my photo ...not rut, but groove maybe...gearing up for this show. I need to sift gears and find a different subject, or at least different aspect of it. I'd love to link to my photo blog to show you my work, but I'm still in the process of setting up my site. When I get my site up, maybe I'll post another comment... My recent post link didn't show up...hhhmmm Well here it is.... http://whydoweblog.com/2012/10/how-to-start-a-blo...

Phyllis,

Good to see you here. When I step back, you're right these tips work well for Fiction authors as well as non-fiction book authors. Their goals might be different, and the subjects they choose to blog about might be different, but the concepts work. Thanks!

Finding the right name for a business, blog or online presence IS time consuming. Mixing business or company personality with keyword/search engine "findability" and ease of "memorability" by real people. Good luck in your search.

Great Tips Julie - Having a plan for how to handle closing or delayed opening of an office or store is critical. But also having a back-up plan in case you are out of communication with employees is also helpful. I know that some businesses, during winter storms, say - when in doubt - "If the city of Wilmington is closed, for example, then we are closed." Another business I worked for said in advance of adverse weather, "Listen to local radio station XYZ for closings. If we are open and feel it is not safe to reach work form your area, you may take an unscheduled vacation day at your discretion, but let your supervisor know."

Felicia,

Yes, when you view someone's full profile (click on their name in your Twitter timeline, and a mini profile view opens in the right column, then at the top click full profile). Their profile and recent tweets will fill the screen.

Then just below their profile image on the left there is a line of text options across the top of their tweet timeline. The one on the right is "Lists" - click the down arrow and you'll see lists by @username's, and lists @username follows. - that is the lists they have created themselves, plus the lists that other people creates, that they also decided to follow.

There is no guarantee that people use the lists they have created frequently, but I do. Nor how or why they use the list. However, lists can be great ways to find all sorts of interesting people on Twitter. I was looking to pitch a company in a certain industry to use twitter, and I found a related industry twitter account who had created a list of other accounts in the same industry - this list gave me a great resource to research before I made my pitch to the client prospect.

One other thing I like about lists, when you are considering following someone - the ratio of the number of followers they have to the number of lists they are on can be helpful.The higher the number of lists, the more individuals have considered their account useful, interesting or important enough to list them. If I see an account with 8,000 followers and is only on 15 lists - that tells me something may be not working real well there.

I also find it useful sometimes to look at the lists that OTHER people have put that person on. and what they called named the list. What lists people put them on often indicates the type of things they tweet about. To do this - on their profile page, in the upper right, next to the number of Followers they have, is Lists - and a number - if you click that - it will show you the names of the lists they are on (and the names of the people who put them on that list), you can even click the list to see who else is on it.

Judy, thanks for that great tip, and for including me on your list. Yes, following someone else's list can be a great way to save time - the folks on the list have already been vetted, as it were, by the list creator. I originally wrote this post in 2009 but realized I had given away some good content that could be useful to my own readers with the two guest posts I did, so I thought I should update this post, and add the links at the bottom. I still hear people say - I still haven't figured out lists.

Thanks for the comment, and for bobbing over from http:/Dannybrown.me he's got a lot of great content. I've actually found that the Headway theme to be more flexible for cosmetic changes than Thesis, but  they both have pros and cons. I need to get back to tweaking this site, I've been busy with client work and need to take some time on my own site. Maybe I need to treat myself like a client and schedule an appointment!

Not sure when you checked in, but I just posted a new "article" about using social media & blogging to turn client "cold calls" into warm ones...in case you missed it.

Cathy Larkin
<a href="http://www.WebSavvyPR.com
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