As hard as it is for me to believe, as of yesteday (June 30, 2011) I realized that I had shared over 6,000 Twitter "Tweets", and along with that, I also had some 680 followers on Twitter (give or take a few; which always happens in a dynamic environment like Twitter). The scary part is, I really did not do ANYTHING out-of-the-ordinary to acquire that many followers -- no advertising or cooperative promotions that so-called social media authorities tell me I should be doing. I just my do what I always done. Yes, I do screen most every link I share with my followers before sharing something (or I know my sources very well), and most -- with the exception of a handful of Reuters news items, of my Tweets are diabetes-related, and most still work as well today as when I first posted them, which I believe does make a difference. I choose news sources that will likely be around tomorrow.
The weird part of my Twitter presence was that initially (I think around 2006), I had just staked out the "sstrumello" name on that social network, but it was over a year after grabbing that Twitter identity that I even posted anything on Twitter. But I saw potential in a social network service that did not require a special cell phone (it IS possible to communicate on Twitter using a regular-old cell phone via text-messaging, which is also known as SMS messaging, hence the 140 character limit). Naturally, if I were to suddently stop doing what I've been doing online, my following could dwindle, but since I'm not doing this as a business, that's never been terribly important to me - sharing relevant info, mostly about type 1 diabetes (although not exclusively) - has been my goal.
The other day, Todd Siesky from Roche Tweeted to Mike Hoskins about whether R2D2, one of the robots in the 1977 George Lucas film Star Wars, came with an accurate blood glucose reading (or meter). I noticed this Tweet and responded that in 1977, I was still testing urine as many people with diabetes were because self monitoring of blood glucose meters really became available in the 1980s. Talk about change in perspective!
Access Via Mobile Devices
Anyway, it had occurred to me that my blog (and my Twitter feed) was not really optimized for mobile followers (meaning people who access my content from a mobile device such as a smart phone). I'm not exactly the most techno-saavy person, nor am I technologically illeterate, but I can hold my own for a middle-aged 40-something. Yes, my blog website and Twitter posts (like most all websites) could be accessed from a mobile device, but I had not really done anything to make them truly accessible for many mobile users, and it showed. Also, many web features on my blog such as Javascript and Adobe Flash aren't really accessible on some mobile devices (yes, I mean Apple's iPhones/iPads and iPod Touch devices ... Apple has some kind of dumb vendetta against Adobe, which remains a powerful software company located just a few miles from Apple's HQ). Unlike many of Apple's arguably rapid groupies, I have a hate-love relationship with Apple. Its products are nice and function well, but that's the extent of my relationship with Apple and I really consider myself more of a Google guy than an Apple man. What else can I say? I have an iPod Touch, but my phone is a rival Google Android Device (see my post from earlier this year HERE for more background), and increasingly, I realize that's how more and more readers are (or are NOT) visiting me, or will be in the future. So I've made at least some effort to make my blog posts and my online presence more mobile-friendly (or at least not so mobile unfriendly).
I have a functional sample (or "emulator" as they call it) below (this doesn't work so well from an RSS feed) that shows how my new "mobile" domain will work on a mobile device. Check it out below (or visit HERE):
Although I made a slight slip-of-hand with my abbreviated domain name (meaning the .co designation) and my domain-name registrar, forgetting to put the "s" in the http (secured) URL - I added the .co with the intent of that being my "mobile-friendly" domain, even though it's really just a single letter shorter) when I was setting it up so that was pointing to my regular blog address, that has been fixed and should also be working by this 4th of July weekend.
Scott's Web Log (Mobile) Access
So here's the deal. Scott's Web Log, including my acclaimed Twitter Tweets, are now accessible via a special mobile device page I've established. The domain you may bookmark is:
http://m.sstrumello.com
or
http://m.sstrumello.co
(The .co URL above should be functional by July 4, 2011)
I have essentailly utilized a third-party provider to ensure my various online presence via my blog and Twitter are more easily accessible from a mobile device. So bookmark "Scott's Web Log (Mobile)" away on your mobile device!
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