The TRAIN of Social Media and ALL the stops.....

Who rides the TRAIN?

I mean the #TwitterFollowTrain.

What you say!

We all like to be noticed. To lead the way and have others follow in our footsteps, or at least care about something we do, say or yes, #TWEET!

Back in the day of +Myspace Getting followers was like a contest. Who can rack up the most no matter what. Just ask Tila Tequila, BUT even she has left the once top giant in #Socialmedia.


On Facebook its tough to rack up "FRIENDS" as they call it. "Do you know this person!" they ask. Ahhh, no, but i would "LIKE" too. Too many requests get you punished, ask my brother-in-law! You are also restricted to about 5,000 friends, although they have added a feature where you can "Follow" there stream. #Facebook is WAY TOO RESTRICTIVE! I find you really can's be "Social" on there unless you already know them!


Now Google+ (join me) is better. You can ADD people to circles whether you know them or not!




Pheed (join me) which now is mainly for kids is also more "FOLLOW" friendly.



App.net  (join me, although I'm still trying to figure this one out) is VERY new to the arena and am not quite sure where it fits in. Oh, and NOONE is #Following me back!



Pinterest (join me) Is REALLY HARD, at least for me, to get #Followers but no restrictions put in your way. 




Chime.in (join me) WHAT you say. A social media "story" sharing service. Being active and sharing good quality stories should help increase your follower count.

Instagram (not on it) but thought I would mention it.

There is VineApp(look for me there "Uncle Bill") and So.cl, Linked.in and on and on and on!

But back to Twitter (follow me, PLEASE ;-) and the TRAIN. Some say there NOT REAL FOLLOWERS! You can always check HERE

But if you want to hope on the #TwitterFollowTrain here is some I have found as the BEST of the BEST!

@iCudGivATityFuk And her #TityFollowTrain is one of the BEST!

@KashDracoMDS And his #DracoFollowTrain

@FuckYouXavier And his  #XavierFollowFrain

 

There are MANY others, #TeamFollowBack, #90sBabyFollowTrain as they say, but those are three of the BEST! 

Why do a post on this? It's out there and VERY POPULAR! 

Like It!

HATE IT!

But Hop on board and try it first! 

 

The FACES of TERROR - #BostonMarathon Suspects info Released

 

Today the #FBI released photos and a video showing two "Suspects" in the deadly #BostonMarathon bombing on Monday April 15, 2013 requesting assistance from the American public and citizens around the world!

We all watched in horror the events that unfolded from first being a GLORIOUS day for the city of #Boston with there annual marathon held each year on "Patriots Day"! A day uniquely there own which kicked off with the traditional Boston #RedSox game turned into horror and tragedy as two bombs went off close to the finish line of the Marathon.

At 2:50 p.m.: With 4:09:43 showing on the race clock, an explosion goes off just short of the finish line of the 2013 Boston Marathon. Ten seconds or so later, a second explosion goes off 1500 yards away on the same street, Boylston Street, along the finish of the race.

LOOK AT THESE PHOTOS! 

WATCH THE VIDEO!

ANY INFO YOU MIGHT HAVE - IF YOU KNOW OR HAVE SEEN ANYTHING - DO YOU RECOGNIZE THEM OR KNOW SOMEONE WHO MIGHT KNOW WHO THEY ARE 

ANYTHING!!!

Its OUR TURN NOW! We must not sit in fear but act in determination that these cowards and those like them will not take control of OUR WORLD! They prey on FEAR! They drive a stake between us & our sense of security! IT WONT WORK!

CALL  1-800-CALL-FBI (1-800-225-5324), prompt #3, with information.

Photos: Boston bombing suspects: 

   

Release of the images comes three days after the blasts killed 8-year-old Martin Richard of Dorchester, 29-year-old Krystle Campbell of Medford, and Lu Lingzi, a 23-year-old Boston University graduate student from China.

 

  Also remember these pictures. 

We MUST speak for THEM!

The true Tragedy of The Boston Marathon

In my opinion no matter how much security you put in place or how much precautions you do or how much counter-intelligence you can muster up the "bad guy' will find a way around it. We can't live in a Military/Police state, CAN WE?

(Photo) Dan Lampariello/Reuters

Our sense of security once again is brought into question as we truly see how vulnerable we are!

So once again the United States of America is faced with a TERRORIST attack this time in #Boston!

Whether it came from a domestic or foreign source really doesn't matter, the tragedy is the same either way.

Lives have been altered!

Source: @GlobeDavidLRyan

Dreams have been shattered!

Hopes dashed!


Was there enough security? Did we let our guard down? Could we have prevented this?

NO!   - WELL MAYBE!  

I've been thinking as the hours and day goes by that high profile areas of an event such as the "Finish-Line" of the #BostonMarathon should have been a frozen zone. An area were you can not get into without having your bags searched. They do this in #NYC Times Square on New Years eve. During the Thanksgiving day parade, which I have attended, there are frozen streets you can't go down without showing ID you work there. All others are issued down many blocks further up the route for a controlled entry.
I don't know what security people had to go through but time to re-double our efforts. 


Living in #NYC and experiencing the attacks on 9/11, trying to get in touch with my sister who was working right across the street from the Empire State Building and hearing reports that IT was the next target!

I'll never forget the TRUE AND UTTER HORROR on my mothers face trying desperately to get in touch with her as others in her office were calling us to contact there loved ones until finally we got her and that she was safe! Watching the F-16 jets circle so low overhead you felt like you could touch them. It was so surreal like it was happening in slow motion!

Then Monday, April 15, 2013, Tax Day, #Bostons Patriots Day, another attack. This one more crude in nature but all the same tragic. At this writing 3 confirmed dead including a 3 year old boy and close to 200 injured some VERY SERIOUS!

(photo) by Clare Richardson

@clarerrrr

This time my sister is far away, at a convention in Houston,TX. We've been texting, she's been WORRYING, as my niece goes to school in Times Square.

I texted her this photo, as #NYC #TimesSquare beefs up security telling her no threat just precaution trying to ease her mind. It didn't! My brother In-Law thought I shouldn't have. He's wrong. I wanted to try to, in my way, assure her that her daughter would be OK. To see what was going on before she turned on the #news and saw even worse pictures/videos of the anti-terrorism squad with there AK47's and military riot gear once again patrolling the streets! That they were going to be there for everyone in FULL FORCE Tuesday to serve and protect us!

Reports said that the #Boston Police had done sweeps of that area a few moments before. It was the latter part of the race. The professional runners had crossed hours before, now it was only you and I out there on the course! Some saw a man with a backpack trying to get into a secure area then running away.  

We shouldn't glorify this. Whoever did this are cowards! There reasons are meaningless! They once again took away part of our perception of safety! They put the word TERROR back into our lives! Other parts of the world live on the edge worse then this every day. I guess now we must remember that we ALSO DO TOO!

#PrayforBoston

With Pope Benedict XVI resigning, the Next Pope could be.....

I woke up this morning, as we all did, to the news that the spiritual leader of 1.2 billion Roman Catholics Pope Benedict XVI announcing plans to step down as leader of the Catholic Church because he was too elderly and infirm for the job - the first pope to do so in nearly 600 years. The last Pope to resign, Gregory XII, did so in 1415, 10 years into his tenure, in the midst of a leadership crisis in the church known as the Great Western Schism.

Gregory XII

Gregory XII reigned for a decade during a period of political turmoil in the church in which three men, one in Rome, one in Avignon, France, and one in Pisa, Italy, claimed to be pope.Gregory XII - born Angelo Correr in Venice -- was elected by cardinals in Rome in 1405 to succeed Innocent VII, who died suddenly just two years into his reign. During his term, the other claimants were Antipope Benedict XIII of Avignon and Antipope John XXIII of Pisa.

Castel Gandolfo,Italy

The resignation of Benedict XVI after an eight-year tenure will essentially be a retirement at the age of 85, after the pope showed increasingly public signs of fatigue in recent months. His last day as pope will be Feb. 28 at 8pm Rome Time. He will then head to the summer home of all Pope's, Castel Gandolfo,Italy for a time. The Vatican said Pope Benedict would eventually move to a monastery within the Vatican.  In his statement, Pope Benedict said he wished "to devotedly serve the Holy Church of God in the future through a life dedicated to prayer."

The move sets the stage for the Vatican to hold a "conclave" to elect a new pope by mid-March, since the traditional mourning time that would follow the death of a pope doesn't have to be observed.

So who will that be? Speculation has been rampant as there are no shortage of so called experts who think they know who the next Pope will. be. Remember a Pope does NOT have to be a Cardinal or even a Priest but Traditionally, one has to be a cardinal to become a pope, "but theoretically any male Catholic (including a layman) may be elected."

Lets see some of the front runners:

My source puts at the top of the list, (for what its worth): 

Cardinal John Olorunfemi  Onaiyekan (Nigeria, 69) Created Cardinal 2012, Archbishop of Abuja, Nigeria.  

He is a well known figure at the Vatican as he has participated in a number of Vatican activities and a a good number of the synods of bishop.

 

 Cardinal Joao Braz de Aviz (Brazil, 65) Created Cardinal 2012, current prefect of the Congregation for Institutes of Consecrated Life and Societies of Apostolic Life.

brought fresh air to the Vatican department for religious congregations when he took over in 2011. He supports the preference for the poor in Latin America's liberation theology, but not the excesses of its advocates. 

Cardinal Marc Ouellet (Canada, 68)   Created Cardinal 2003,He is the present prefect of the Congregation for Bishops and concurrently president of the Pontifical Commission for Latin America.

is effectively the Vatican's top staff director as head of the Congregation for Bishops. He once said becoming pope "would be a nightmare." Though well connected within the Curia, the widespread secularism of his native Quebec could work against him.  

 Cardinal Gianfranco Ravasi (Italy, 70) Created Cardinal 2010,He currently serves in the Roman Curia as President of the Pontifical Council for Culture.

has been Vatican culture minister since 2007 and represents the Church to the worlds of art, science, culture and even to atheists. This profile could hurt him if cardinals decide they need an experienced pastor rather than another professor as pope.

Cardinal Leonardo Sandri (Argentina, 69) Created Cardinal 2007, He is the current Prefect of the Congregation for the Oriental Churches in the Roman Curia.

 is a "transatlantic" figure born in Buenos Aires to Italian parents. He held the third-highest Vatican post as its chief of staff in 2000-2007. But he has no pastoral experience and his job overseeing eastern churches is not a power position in Rome. 

Cardinal Odilo Pedro Scherer (Brazilia, 63) He currently serves as Archbishop of São Paulo, and was elevated to the cardinalate in 2007.

ranks as Latin America's strongest candidate. Archbishop of Sao Paolo, largest diocese in the largest Catholic country, he is conservative in his country but would rank as a moderate elsewhere. The rapid growth of Protestant churches in Brazil could count against him.  

Cardinal Christoph Schoenborn (Austria, 67)   He currently serves as the Archbishop of Vienna and President of the Austrian Bishops Conference. He was elevated to Cardinal in 1998.

is a former student of Pope Benedict with a pastoral touch the pontiff lacks. The Vienna archbishop has ranked as papal material since editing the Church catechism in the 1990s. But some cautious reform stands and strong dissent by some Austrian priests could hurt him. 

Cardinal Angelo Scola (Italy, 71)He was appointed Archbishop of Milan by Pope Benedict XVI on 28 June 2011.He was elevated to the Cardial in 2003. is archbishop of Milan, a springboard to the papacy, and is many Italians' bet to win. An expert on bioethics, he also knows Islam as head of a foundation to promote Muslim-Christian understanding. His dense oratory could put off cardinals seeking a charismatic communicator.   

Cardinal Luis Tagle (Philippines, 55) Appointed by Pope Benedict XVI in 2012, Cardinal Gaudencio Rosales. Tagle is also the Professor of Dogmatic Synthesis at the Graduate School of Theology of San Carlos Seminary, the archdiocesan major seminary of Manila, and an Associate Professor of Systematic Theology at the Loyola School of Theology of the Ateneo de Manila University.

has a charisma often compared to that of the late Pope John Paul. He is also close to Pope Benedict after working with him at the International Theological Commission. While he has many fans, he only became a cardinal in 2012 and conclaves are wary of young candidates.   Cardinal Peter Turkson (Ghana, 64) He is the current president of the Pontifical Council for Justice and Peace.He became a Cardinal in 2003.is the top African candidate. Head of the Vatican justice and peace bureau, he is spokesman for the Church's social conscience and backs world financial reform. He showed a video criticizing Muslims at a recent Vatican synod, raising doubts about how he sees Islam.     Again I am sure many more names will be mentioned as who will sit in The Chair of St. Peter!    As soon as March 1, 2013 the "conclave" of Cardinals will convene.  During the forthcoming Conclave, there will be 117 cardinals who are younger than 80 and thereby eligible to vote. Sixty-seven of these were appointed by Benedict XVI, and 50 by his predecessor John Paul II. About half (61) are European, and 21 are Italian. There will also be 19 Latin Americans, 14 North Americans, 11 Africans, 11 Asians and one cardinal from Oceania among the voters. The cardinals are shut away in the Vatican until they reach agreement - the meaning of the word conclave indicating that they are literally locked up "with a key". A Simple 2/3rds +1 is needed to agree on the next Pope. There would be two votes in the morning and two in the afternoon. They will be locked inside the Sistine Chapel each day for as many days as it takes.

The announcement will first be known with the traditional puff of white smoke signifying that an agreement on the next Pope has been reached.

STAY TUNED!

If you're using KRED be WARNED, AGAIN.....

UPDATE: Feb. 7, 2013 8:45pm est: A company is only as good as it's leader!  Leadership starts from the top. Not five minutes after I posted this story I got this #Twitter response from #KRED CEO Andrew Grill.....

I try not to jump to conclusions, it's HARD! I'm not only a "PARODIED" New Yorker but a "CYNICAL" one! I hope my #KREDSTORY has another happy ending!!

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I've been having writers block lately, maybe cause writing sometimes doesn't come easy for me, "although I did stay at a holiday inn express last night!!" ;-)

Anyway, I was going over my published post as I sometimes do to follow-up and decided to explore again the relatively new start-up @KRED.

If you recall #KRED  "It is a measure of influence created by PeopleBrowsr, a San Francisco-based social media analytics company, to identify the most influential people in interest-based communities. Kred scores are generated by observing a social network user's content, who it reaches, who acts upon it, and whether the user relays the content of others."

It is similar to @Klout, (could always use more #KLOUT, HINT-HINT @UBtalkin, but goes even further with there "New" #KloutStory! But let them explain it in this short video.......

My reason for my first post on #Kred was that when you sign in vie #Twitter one of there requirements is that you authorize and grant access to @PeopleBrowsr, HomePage (They are an influence analytics and social media marketing solutions collect social metadata, identify influencers, and enable analysis and engagement.) to your #Twitter DM's (Direct Messages). To me those are EXTREMELY personal and really see no reason that they or anyone should have access to them. Call me a "PARANOID" New Yorker if you want but #Klout doesn't require that as really most others don't as well.

In my first post, you can read HERE, expressing my concerns to my surprise I got almost immediate responses from the CEO Andrew Grill  and Travis Wallis Leading Data Strategy #PeopleBrowsr & #Kred.  

Both could not have been nicer and more forthcoming saying that they were fixing this for there next version coming out...

 

 

  

And true to there word I got a tweet from #KRED CEO Andrew Grill......

Now that's a company we can trust or so I thought!

I signed up for my #KredStory and was really getting into exploring the many features and really in depth details they provide as it really does go beyond #Klout in many factions! But alas My #KredStory has an Unhappy Ending!

I often check my #Twitter Apps, those that I have given permission to access my account, (that paranoid  New Yorker again) just to make sure nothing has changed. And, unfortunately, #KRED is now once again accessing our #Twitter DM's. No warning, No explanation just back to the way it was.  

So I have revoked access to them and put my #KredStory back up on the bookshelf again. It's there company, there idea, there reason for doing so but again I ask them WHY? Why do you need access to my "Personal" twitter DM's. I would DM someone on twitter cause I only wanted THAT PERSON to see it not anyone in my stream or you for whatever reason you might come up with. 

Maybe its an error, a mistake, a misunderstanding, it happens! I hope so. My brother-in-law and I had a misunderstanding this week and I believed we have worked it out! Miscommunication, it happens! I really was starting to enjoy reading my #KredStory and maybe this doesn't bother most of you using there service, so be it. But you should know and decide for yourself.  

But for now I feel betrayed, lied too, fooled! We are about to get a major snowstorm in #NYC, I feel like I just got a Major "SNOW JOB"    

So again I say, "Sorry #KRED, you AGAIN have NO #KLOUT with me!