STARTWO, WEDNESDAY 5 MAY 2010

R.AGE

T5

g
n
i
y
a
l
P
w
o
N
#

r Twitter usage.
re information about you
mo
t
ou
d
fin
to
om
s.c
tat
Use www.tweets
By NIKI CHEONG

F YOU have some extra time to kill this

week, here are three things you can do on
social media: check your Twitter stats,
watch Project Alpha and, er, add your mum on
Facebook.

Whats Tweeting?
If youre an avid Twitterer like me and have
sent out thousands of Tweets over the last
couple of years, it might interest you to know
that you now have access to certain statistics
regarding your Twitter usage.
At www.tweetstats.com, all you need to do
is key in your username and it will provide
you with several graphs and statistics regarding your usage.
For example, when I did a search on my
username (@nikicheong), I discovered that I
send out an average of 36 Tweets a day
even though I sent out 1,747 Tweets in April. I
can also check out my Tweet density (at what
times do I Tweet the most).
Among other data that you can get is which
Twitter user you ReTweet the most, and who
you reply to frequently.
Im not sure how this data will affect my
Tweeting habits just yet but at least the
graphs are colourful!

Bloggers on video
Bloggers often talk about
themselves on the blog, so
why not do it on camera as
well. I was
one of the
privileged
few to be
invited as a

niki@thestar.com.my

featured bloggers in this seasons Project

Alpha, a reality show on local bloggers. My
episodes are currently running (log on to
www.projectalpha.com.my or www.dailychilli.com) to watch them, and they feature
former Miss Malaysia and actress Elaine Daly,
as well as Singaporean blogging sensation
Xiaxue (www.xiaxue.sg) during a trip to
London.
On Saturday, Cheesie (from www.cheeserland.com) will be in the spotlight on the
show, followed by ShaolinTiger, KYspeaks,
Ninie Ahmad, Azwan Ali and Klubbkidd.

Mums the word

Im no longer a teenager who lives by my
parents rules but even I cringed when it was
first suggested that social media was a great
way for parents to keep tabs on their children.
If this was back in the mid-1990s when the
Internet first grew big in Malaysia, I would
probably have reacted the same way as many
youths these days who often react violently
to the idea of adding their parents on
Facebook, for example.
Or at least that is what I thought.
Little did I know that youths these days
have less of an issue with having mum or dad
follow them on Facebook. A recent survey by
American consumer electronics shopping site
Retrevo found that nearly half or 48% to be
precise of parents surveyed have added
their children on Facebook.
While this survey was done on parents, it
wouldnt be too much of a stretch to imagine
that their kids are okay with it, too, considering that they would have to approve their
parents Friend request in the first place.
Retrevo suggests that as a Mothers Day
present, one could add his or her parent on
social media sites. I would add my mum if she
was on Facebook. Maybe after she watches
this video (http://www.youtube.com/
watch?v=yu4zMvE6FH4) from satire news
site The Onion, she might want to jump on the
bandwagon.
Happy Mothers Day, mum!
K Starting next week,
social media strategist
(and self-confessed
geek) David Lian will
contribute fortnightly
in R.AGEs What The
Tweet column, taking
on technology, the
Internet and social
media (in no particular
order).