A fresh start.

Today marks the first day of my vacation. We don’t have much planned, so I am going to use this opportunity to re-focus on training and start the long haul back to some semblance of fitness. It’s been almost a full year since I’ve really had the motivation, time, and determination to stick to a plan. In that time, my son Finn was conceived, born, and is now nearing 3 months old… look at all he’s done in the past year! And look at the lack-thereof for me…

So, we being again. Back to Basics. Called my old friend Hal to draw up a marathon plan for me. OK, I grabbed it from here, but the last time I needed a kick in the pants, Hal did a great job. Best is, it’s manageable, given the new daddy lifestyle. So, here’s the plan:

I just got back from the first 3 miler. It ain’t much, but it’s a start.

Still don’t get Twitter? Iran does.

When the US Department of State asks Twitter to delay an upgrade because of how Iranians may be affected by site downtime, you know that Twitter has officially crossed over from being “something on your to-do list” to an “absolute must-understand.”

Of course, the best way to learn is to experience it first-hand, but if you are uneasy about taking the plunge, here are some tips:

1. Listen first: You would not barge into a cocktail party and start spouting off about stuff no one wants to hear. By that same rationale, after creating an account, find some interesting people to follow. Listen. Learn. If you are representing your brand or organization, use Twitter’s search tool to see who is saying what about you.
2. Add value: Only people *very* far out in The Long Tail really care about your coffee habits. Once you’ve mastered listening, add to existing conversations with valuable insights, commentary, and questions.
3. Keep the conversation going: no one likes a know-it-all. Twitter is about increasing the collective wisdom through shared knowledge, challenging opinions, and forging relationships that otherwise would not have been created. Respect others’ rights to speak, disagree and share their own unique perspective. Respond when people reach out to you.
4. Share it: blogs, photos, videos, websites, news stories, other tweets… if you found it interesting, maybe someone else will too. Don’t go crazy sharing only your own material either. Vanity has no place on Twitter.
5. Use the tools: make Twitter more accessible with TweetDeck (you won’t have to go to Twitter.com), set up an account with TwitPic, enable SMS updates on your phone, or even better, install an iPhone Twitter App or Blackberry Twitter App.

And always remember - Don’t ever Tweet anything that could be harmful to you, your brand, your organization, its customers, your colleagues, etc. If you ever have to question whether you’re sharing too much information…you probably are.

Photo Credit: http://twitpic.com/7gtbu

(The blog post above was reprinted from the Cone Brand Channeler Blog)