You may be asking yourself, “What’s the reason for all this bragging?” Well, someone out there is such a big fan, that they actually took the time to create a fake profile of me. I consider this to be a milestone in my ever-expanding list of social media accomplishments, which includes:

1. Joining Twitter

2. Tweeting a lot

And here I thought number 3 would be profit. Damn you underpants gnomes!

Before I found my official fan page on Twitter, my Bio read: “DJ, Blogger, Social Media Black Belt and Seasoned IT Professional.”  But I think my biggest fan nailed it with the updated bio and avatar, so I decided to copy them over to my own Twitter account.

They also did a lovely job with the profile decor:

Pink! How did they know?

I have absolutely no idea who the genius is behind all of this, but I’d really like to meet them. It’s an honor, and I’d like to know what that person was thinking when they created my fake account.

Sarcasm aside, let’s all have fun with this. Clearly someone thought they could bring me down with negativity, but I’d like to turn this into something positive. Currently I see that my fake profile has no followers yet, and that kinda makes me sad.

The first 50 people to follow @djmeph1 will receive from me, a free biscuit from Red Lobster.

The prizes will be given away at a future Tweetup somewhere in the Detroit area. I will announce the date and location on my blog soon, so subscribe now or follow me on Twitter for more information.

If there are any businesses out there that would like to get involved in turning this negativity into something positive for everyone, feel free to contact me.

Update: The official hashtag for this is #FreeBiscuit.

Throwing it down at the Chevy SXSW Epic Tweetup

Here I go again on my own. I have recently moved on from the group, Lune Noir, and I’ve got some big plans for the future. Word to the homey Boof, we had some great times and made four stellar mixtapes. Over the past couple years he has been working on his new project, Cry Wolf. It is excellent and I am looking forward to seeing great things from him in the future as we both go in different directions.

My music,  my life and my blog are all going in a new direction. After spending more than a year getting involved with Detroit’s social media scene, I realized that I have learned so much but have yet to apply these skills to my own career. That is going to change. After working hard to coordinate the entertainment at the Chevy SXSW Epic Tweetup I realized that I’m good at planning and coordinating events. Using what I learned from the days when I used to throw raves, I am going to be working with The Magic Stick in Detroit, and a handful of Detroit’s social media professionals to keep the momentum going from the Epic Tweetup. I’m very excited about all of the ideas that have been thrown around, and everyone’s support for taking our social media events to the next level.

Those who know me, know I’ve been through a lot over the past five years. I have struggled with drug addiction, financial issues and my weight, among all of the other little problems that life likes to throw at us. I have come a long way, and I am grateful for the support that I’ve received from my family and friends, but it’s time to step it up  a notch.

Most of all, I’m looking forward to Detroit’s future. All of my problems really don’t mean a thing when I think about a city that has had it much worse than I have, for much longer than I’ve been alive. I still remain 100% dedicated to the rebuilding and revitalizing of Detroit. What’s good for Mother Detroit will surely benefit me in the end. I hope you will join the revolution.

It is now Sunday, the day after the Epic Tweetup, and I’m sifting through my Facebook and Twitter feeds as I see people posting photos and tweeting about the great time they had. With nearly 500 people attending the event, some traveling here from Toronto, Chicago, Ohio, and Florida, the one thing that goes through my mind is that it’s hard to believe the city of Detroit is being hit hard by the worst recession we’ve seen since the Great Depression.

Detroiters Line Up For Temporary Jobs During The Great Depression

Detroiters Line Up For Free Bacardi During the Chevy SXSW Epic Tweetup

The social media landscape in Detroit has changed dramatically since March, attracting the attention of many of Detroit’s professionals. Stephen Clark, (@sclarkwxyz) action news anchor at WXYZ television has built an interactive community through social media that empowers individuals in Detroit to become as big of a part of the news as the anchors themselves.

Michigan Gubernatorial candidate, Rick Snyder, (@onetoughnerd) took his “One Tough Nerd” campaign to social media, and managed to secure the Republican nomination against numerous candidates ingrained in Michigan GOP’s good-ole-boy network. He has started out with a commanding lead in the polls, and continues to use social media to share his vision with Michigan’s online community. While this is not an endorsement of any kind, I must admit that his pioneering of social media in the political arena is encouraging, and will effect my decision in November.

Urbane Apartments (@eric_urbane) used social media to achieve 99% occupancy. Livio Radio (@livioradio) has used social media to increase sales. Detroit artist Black Milk (@black_milk) used social media to successfully launch his new popular single titled “Deadly Medley“. Believe me, the list goes on.

We have even seen big things from our team’s contestants in the Chevy SXSW Roadtrip. Brandon Chesnutt (@bchesnutt) was chosen for Crain’s “20 in their 20s” list. David Murray (@davemurr) quit his job to embark on his own “solopreneur” project. Henry Balanon (@balanon) has launched a number of successful iPhone and iPad applications, and recently announced he has a baby on the way. Audrey Walker (@techsocialite) got in touch with Girls In Tech to start a Detroit chapter.

Let’s not forget that this was all made possible by General Motor’s head of social media, Chris Barger. (@cbarger) One can only imagine how happy he was to see the home team win the contest that was a product of his vision for GM’s social media strategy. I believe that Chris would say that the outcome of the Chevy SXSW Roadtrip and Epic Tweetup has far surpassed his expectations. We owe a great deal of gratitude to Chris and GM for giving us the tools to catapult Detroit’s social media community forward into a phenomenon that has captured the world’s attention.

As for myself, I have big plans as well. The relationships I have built through Detroit’s social media community will help immensely as I lay the groundwork for a new enterprise. I have been secretly watching, planning and giving as much of my time as I can so that I too can be a part of the movement in Detroit that will soon make us an economic and technological powerhouse.

What did the Chevy SXSW Roadtrip do for Detroit? (besides get us drunk) It pulled a community together. It helped launch dozens of entrepreneurial ventures. It boosted many local businesses and supported the local economy. It gave the world a glimpse into the great things we are doing here in Detroit. It gave us a break from all the negativity that the media has been trying to bring us down with. It showed the world that even in our darkest hour, we are still a region that is deserving of nicknames like Motown and The Motor City.

Stand up Detroit! Let’s keep this momentum going. I’ve never felt more inspired to succeed in my life. Thank you Chris Barger, General Motors, Stephen Clark, Dave, Henry, Brandon, Audrey, everyone who participated online, The Magic Stick, Better Made Chips, Livio Radio, The Jolly Pumpkin, Bacardi, Urbane Apartments, Biggby Coffee, Vintner’s Cellar, Ann Arbor T-Shirt Company, Reware Vintage, A Shirt Bag, Verizon Wireless, Fashion In Detroit, Fist of Detroit Apparel, Chris Xiromeritis, Double Take, John Phillips, Noel, Hubert Sawyers, and even the spectators. We couldn’t have accomplished this without everyone involved. Let’s kick some ass again next year!

First, it should be noted that another controversy was stirred up on Twitter when it was found that Twitter was blocking native re-tweets in searches from Twitter’s home page. This was a non-issue for me because Twitter left their search page (search.twitter.com) and their API search alone, giving people the choice to use the method they prefer. Although a little more transparency would have benefited Twitter greatly, I still commend them for experimenting with their service without forcing the changes on users. This is how social media gets better.

I’d also like to address the growing concerns over Facebook’s privacy policies. I guess I am just of the old-school thought that privacy on the internet just doesn’t exist. Sites get hacked into all the time, and “private information” gets stolen, regardless of any given company’s privacy policies. This is why I don’t post anything to the social web that I consider private. That being said, Facebook’s handling of the situation leaves something to be desired. The bottom line is that Facebook is proving that they value profits over value, which is a terrible revenue model. Here’s a hint, Facebook. Your users are what give your network value. Take them out of the picture and the value disappears. If Facebook doesn’t start listening to their users, they could face a number of consequences, quite possibly a massive exodus.

Click To Purchase

This is good news for the Twitterati, who have grown accustomed to a social network that has derived value from personal investment. Twitter users are never shy to voice their opinion, and the good people at Twitter are always willing to answer. Within a week, they have managed to address two major outcries from members.

I was pleased to see that a new version of TweetDeck was released, which included a major overhaul to the application’s interface and support for native re-tweets in the Mentions column. I am to understand that Seesmic desktop has this now as well. On Tweetdeck’s changelog, it says that support for native re-tweets in the mentions column was added, so I’m assuming that this was a change that Twitter made to their API. You still can’t see them in the mentions column on twitter’s web interface, but I’m OK with that, because there is a section of the site dedicated to it.

Twitter also addressed the issue of filtering re-tweets in their search function. They explained that they were expirmenting with methods for eliminating duplicate tweets in searches. As I mentioned earlier, I’m good with this as long as they continue to offer us the choice to do it the old way through search.twitter.com and the API. The only change I would like to see is increased transparency on Twitter’s part in the future. Don’t wait until after you implement a change to explain it to everyone.

Every company makes mistakes. The Internet is enabling companies to reach out to even more people in an interactive way and along with that comes the responsibility of increased transparency and the possibility for more epic failure. Twitter has their finger on the collective pulse of their community, in ways that we haven’t seen before, even from other companies with web-based services. Twitter deserves their props for simply getting it. They are true pioneers of the digital age.

It feels really good to write a positive post for once. Too much negativity really starts to wear me down over time.

For those of you who joined Twitter in the last six months, re-tweeting was not always a native feature in Twitter. Up until November of 2009, re-tweeting was commonly done by merely copying someone’s tweet and putting “RT @username: ” in front of it. It was a great way to show support for tweets that you like. It was also a great way of spreading information. Re-tweets often went viral and became a huge part of the Twitter community.

The biggest problem with re-tweeting was the 140 character limit. If you wanted to re-tweet someone who used all of their 140 characters, you would have to somehow shorten the tweet to make it fit. Re-tweeting became a feature on both twitter.com and 3rd-party clients like TweetDeck and Seesmic Desktop. I remember a time when TweetDeck even had a feature that would attempt to shorten tweets by replacing words with shorter, phonetically-spelled words and acronyms. It was a hassle, but we dealt with it, and for the most part there were no complaints because the feature was never native to begin with.

Native Re-Tweet of an Old-School Re-tweet in Twitter

In Novemeber of 2009, Twitter announced the native re-tweet feature, and promised it would end all war and oppression on the planet Earth. A native re-tweet preserves the complete, original tweet, shows the usernames of both the author and the re-tweeter, and uses a goofy icon to show that it’s a re-tweet.

Personally, I like the design of the feature and applaud Twitter’s recognition of user demands. However, Twitter fucked up majorly on the implementation of the feature, and still has yet to offer full support for it. Old school re-tweets always showed up in your @mentions feed as long as your twitter name was attributed to it. Native re-tweets show up in two places: your main feed and a hidden place on the twitter web site. To get there, you have to go to your home page on Twitter, click on “Retweets” in the right-hand column, then click “Your Tweets, Retweeted” in the tabs at the top of the feed. Another way to access this page is to simply use the link: http://twitter.com/#retweeted_of_mine.

Not only is this feature buried inside of the Twitter web site, but as of yet there is very little API support for it. There is currently no consistent method for developers to use to show native re-tweets through their respective Twitter applications. The only method I can think of that developers could use to show native re-tweets is to go around the API and use a PERL script to feed them into a client. For obvious reasons, this is not an acceptable method, but certainly a method that would work better than Twitter’s. (or lack thereof) Native re-tweets aren’t even shown in lists, which for many of us is a great way to sort through the massive amount of tweets that come through our feed.

The main problem I have with this is that Twitter was obviously unprepared to support this feature upon implementation. Had they waited a month or two to include API support, that would be fine. It took a little while for the feature to catch on anyway, and we have all experienced the growing pains of a very fast-moving enterprise. The fact of the matter is that many people still don’t use the feature. It’s not because they don’t like it, but because they know that it’s unlikely to be seen… by anyone. I use TweetDeck on my PC laptop and Twee on my Palm Pre to organize my Twitter experience. At any given time I rarely see more than five tweets at a time in my main feed, which as of now, is the only place I am able to see native re-tweets. I have two lists of tweeters called “favs” and “hip hop” that I use to keep up to date with people I interact with daily, but none of their native re-tweets show up in my timeline. The probability of me seeing any native re-tweets is staggeringly low, whereas old school re-tweets show up in all of my feeds and I see them all the time. I see old school re-tweets of my own tweets instantly, and they pop up in my notifications, whereas I have to go to my web browser to see native re-tweets.

One of the underlying issues here is the fact that there are many people out there who don’t know about this shortcoming. Many people out there are using the native re-tweet feature, assuming that it’s a supported feature. Little do they know that very few people are actually seeing their re-tweets, and in some cases, they might even be getting frustrated at the perceptive lack of response they are getting on Twitter. The same applies to those who don’t know how to view native re-tweets. This is where my personal experience is relevant. I didn’t know until this morning about the hidden page on Twitter that shows where people have used the native feature to re-tweet me. It has been six months since this feature was implemented, and i’m just now realizing that I am getting a much bigger response to my tweets than I previously thought.

Native re-tweets are a feature of comfort, not of necessity. While the old way had its limitations, there was no sense of urgency for Twitter to implement this feature. Twitter could have waited until they were able to support the feature before they implemented it, and no one would have been worse off for it. Twitter decided to implement the feature prematurely, and now we are worse off because of it. I realize that sometimes these things take time, but it has been far too long. I believe that Facebook has implemented a few major layout and feature changes in the span of time since the native re-tweet feature was implemented. There’s just no excuse at this point.

Here’s my idea. Eighty-six the damned feature until you can implement it right! Just get rid of it. I don’t care if we don’t see native re-tweets again until 2016! Just do it right! I am a big supporter of Twitter and I have personally experienced the impact social networking has on our lives. When I see an issue like this, it tells me that Twitter either doesn’t care, or they are too inept to fix it. I have always enjoyed the simplicity of Twitter’s social network. There is not now, and has never been, a need for carelessly implemented features. The time for pontification is over, and the time for action is long past due. Get it together, Twitter. Your users have spoken.

Detroit’s online community has pulled together this week to support our home team in the Chevy South-by-Southwest (#DETChevySXSW on Twitter) road trip challenge. Four professionals from Detroit’s online community were chosen to represent our city, and compete against seven teams from other cities as they drive a Chevy Traverse down to Austin and complete missions as they go along. The team not only gets points for completing tasks, but also gets points for the support they get from their home town in the form of tweets, blog posts and other interactions on social media with the crew.

It’s safe to say that not only has team Detroit stepped up to the challenge, Detroit’s online community has stepped up as well. Take a look at the #DETChevySXSW hashtag and you will see an overwhelming response from the community. If we win, we will get to share the glory with team Detroit, as GM has planned an “epic tweetup” for the winning city.

One of my fellow Ignite Detroit organizers was chosen for the team. The close proximity of Ignite Detroit to the road trip challenge was a blessing in disguise for the crew. Ignite Detroit turned out to be a great success, with three hundred of Detroit’s greatest minds getting together to share innovative ideas, great music and cheerful fellowship. The momentum we created  was carried forward into the Chevy SXSW road-trip challenge. Needless to say, this city is fired up.

As I watched the #DETChevySXSW hashtag last night, I noticed a little pessimism coming from a single individual that doesn’t quite grasp what’s going on here. I’m not going to repeat what was said, because I think Dave Murr was right when he said that “some insults don’t deserve the courtesy of a response.” However, behind the crass and rude nature of this particular person’s response, a very valid point was brought up. What are we really doing for the city of Detroit?

We certainly aren’t all going to go out and buy a GM product because of this event. We’re not all going to move into an Urbane Apartment, drink wine at Vintner’s Cellar, eat at Olga’s or Panera Bread, or have a coffee at Biggby. While I am sure that these sponsors are happy with the support they are getting from the community, there is much more to this than advertising value. The ROI is much more than the slight increase in business these sponsors may see. These are companies that are investing into the future of this city. They are seeing the big picture. They are witnessing a new renaissance happening right before their eyes, and they want to be a part of it. They are seeing all of the greatest minds in Detroit coming together, dreaming, thinking, building, working and striving to bring hope to a city that has suffered for decades.

Hillary Clinton once said that it takes a village to raise a child. This concept can also be applied towards the rebuilding of Detroit. The village is made up of people, and the city is our child. We own businesses, we spend money on our hobbies, we create, we envision, we teach and we learn. Instead of constantly working against each other for selfish means, we understand that what’s good for the city is good for everyone. Everyone involved with #DETChevySXSW understands that community involvement is essential to accomplishing our goals. When South-by-Southwest is over, the revolution will continue. There will be Future Midwest 2010, TEDxDetroit #2, Ignite Detroit #2, Brand Camp U, Startup Weekend, Tweetea, Social Media Club, etc. etc. etc. and we will continue to work together until this city is back on top again.

There will always be naysayers, and there will always be a negative force working against the progress that is being made. But the progress we are making won’t be invisible forever. Our motivation and our perseverance will spread like an infection through the entire city, until the negative Nancy’s have no other choice but to get motivated, or get left behind in our dust.

I am so proud of the #DETChevySXSW team and Detroit’s online community. There is no doubt that we are making a difference, and we are having a lot of fun in the process. When you see the goofy pictures, crazy videos, karaoke madness and the whispers going around about a group of clinically insane social media geeks that appear to be on drugs, you should now know what’s going on. We are the future of this city, and we’re going to have a good time.

Please follow all of the team Detroit SXSW contestants on Twitter and remember to support the #DETChevySXSW hashtag.

Brandon Chesnutt – http://www.twitter.com/bchesnutt

Audrey Walker – http://wwwtwitter.com/walkerau

Henry Balanon – http://www.twitter.com/balanon

Dave Murr – http://www.twitter.com/davemurr

The first time I visited Olga’s kitchen was when I was very young, probably about 9-10 years old. I was on a field trip in Ann Arbor for Future Problem Solving. The experience was very memorable, as it was my first time in downtown Ann Arbor. I was in awe of the place, just walking around downtown, goofing off with my friends and checking out all the shoppes. We went to Olga’s for lunch, and the food was so good that I kept bugging my parents to take me back there for a long time afterwards.

Olga’s is a staple of Michigan eateries, and well known for their founder, Olga, who sported a giant perm in TV ads, even long after they went out of style. They are known for their gyros and Greek cuisine, but they always brought a much better dining experience than your average Greek coney restaurant.

To start out we had a variety of appetizers to munch on. The Snackers seemed to be the favorite among the group, but I was particularly fond of the fried zucchini. It came with some kind of crazy horseradish that was very delish.  The snackers were also very good though and came with Swiss almond cheese.

For our entrees, they recommended that we try their new menu items, which is a line of pita burgers. I had the South of the Border Burger which came with pepper jack cheese, avocado, tomatoes, lettuce and chipotle mayo. I am always a sucker for a burger with avacado and anything chipotle, but putting the burger in a pita instead of the traditional bun made it a delicious remix of the classic hamburger. My second choice would have been the Black N Bleu Burger, which also comes wrapped in a pita and is topped with peppercorn mayo, bacon, carmalized onions and crumbled bleu cheese. Next time I go I’m definitely going to try that one.

For dessert I had one of the most amazing dishes I’ve ever had in my life. They call it “French Toasted Cheesecake.” It was cheesecake, smothered in some kind of crazy noodly thing and topped with strawberry sauce. I have always said that mankind has spent hundreds of years trying to invent a dessert that is better than the chocolate chip cookie, but has failed miserably. Olga’s came pretty close with the french toasted cheesecake, and I will definitely save room for that the next time I’m there.

I got to talk with their social networking guy, and learned some interesting things about the company. They do offer health insurance and retirement benefits to their full-time employees and there are great opportunities for advancement. They do not franchise their stores, so they are able to operate under a more lean management system than your average restaurant chain. In my opinion, this business model allows the company to take better care of the employees at the bottom, and there is a lot to be said for that in this economy. Not that there is anything wrong with franchising, but you can run into situations where some franchises are taking better care of their employees than others.

They are also making very good use of social media, including Facebook and Twitter. Social media is becoming a big part of many Michigan company’s marketing plans, and has made a big impact on the way people do business. Some companies make the mistake of misusing social media, and don’t understand the importance of using it to engage with their customers. Not Olga’s though, they are doing a great job of engaging and interacting with people, hopefully picking up new customers along the way. For a person like me, they are a friendly reminder that they are still here, and I will be visiting them more often because of that.

I’d like to give a big thank you to all of the people at Olga’s Kitchen for allowing us to participate in this menu tasting. It was fun, informative and delicious, and I would recommend them to anyone who is looking to have a good meal and keep their money circulating right here in Michigan’s economy.

The group I was involved with, Detroit Sharp (D#), came up with an idea to stimulate Michigan’s music scene by empowering artists and giving them new avenues for generating revenue. The problem we have in Michigan is that good talent tends to leave the state in pursuit of better profits, and in most cases, any profit at all. It is important for musicians to be able to sustain themselves so that they may dedicate their time to their craft, instead of having to pick up a side job to pay the bills.

We will do this by mobilizing artists, bringing the resources to them instead of following the traditional model where profits are funneled down into the record label. Many artists are willing to put in the work that is required to make it in the business, they just need the resources to stay ahead.

Check out our presentation below. If you are interested in getting involved, please visit the Contact page of our web site.

• PHP Timeclock – Setup a timeclock for your employees to clock in and out of work through a web browser.
• WordPress – Blogging platform used by many.
• osCommerce – Full featured shopping cart.
• Joomla! – Complete content management system for building full-featured interactive web sites.
• vTiger CRM – A comprehensive CRM platform.

To illustrate my point, I setup an XAMPP installation on my laptop, with working copies of each of these utilities and loaded sample data. It took me about an hour to do the initial setup for all of these utlities, and I was able to show everyone some of the features and interfaces for them as well. This is mostly just a reference for those who were there last night, but I would encourage anyone who stumbled across this article to check these out.

If you live near Royal Oak, Michigan, or will be in the area in the near future, come check out our tweetup at Goldfish Tea in Royal Oak on Tuesday nights from 7:30pm to 10:00pm, or follow my updates on Twitter for more goings on in the Royal Oak/Detroit Twitterverse.