A bit of a rant on Celebs who twitter but don't follow their fans....

So..here I am again..ranting about something I've already mentioned a few times but feel the need to get off my chest once again. Mainly because celebs still don't get it and sadly most probably never will. But even if they don't see this (which I'm sure they won't), It helps to get it off my chest, so here goes. 

You would think by now with all the hoopla around this subject some of them (celebs) would be listening...but no...they aren't. I'm afraid the majority of celebs still don't get it. So sad really. They are really missing out. They have not yet quite grasped the concept of the importance of their fans and the fact that talent or not, they wouldn't be where they are without us. I'm soooo tired of hearing the same old excuses. "I have so many followers, I just can't keep up" I just don't want to hear it anymore. Yes its difficult to keep up..but there are many tools that can be used to help with that such as tweetdeck for one. You can create groups so that its easier to scroll back and review tweets so that you can respond to them. There is a reply column that also helps. Following the fan enables them to send you a direct message. That also has its own column in tweetdeck. 

I just think its a slap in the face to the fans not to follow them back. Following someone in my opinion is a show of respect. Makes them feel connected and appreciated. Like you care what they have to say to you. Think about it. Before you were a celeb when you were young..did you ever write a fan letter that wasn't answered. If so, how did it make you feel? Maybe a little like you weren't important enough for them to take a few minutes out of their time to appreciate you? If not then you have thicker skin than I do. 

You are where you are because of your fans...talent is nothing if there isn't anyone out there to appreciate that talent. So why not show your fans a little twitter love and follow them back. Have you any idea how frustrating it is for the fan if they tweet you a hundred times with still no reply? Well for me..I feel like 1. I'm not worthy of your precious time and 2. I must be so boring I'm not worthy to share the same planet you're on. 

A twitter friend of mine brought up something else that makes us nuts. Two celebs having a conversation with each other and totally ignoring all their other tweets. Come on...its not like you can't call each other and have those conversations anytime you want to. For the fan the only message that sends is 'Look at us..we are celebrities..we can talk to each other and totally ignore you and don't you wish we were giving you the time of day? It's frustrating to the fan and if you could only see their reactions between each other, it might make you worry about how many fans you're at risk of losing in the process. 

We may not be celebs..but we do have important and sometimes funny things to say. We are real people with real feelings and we deserve recognition and respect. I for one refuse to again tweet someone dozens if not hundreds of times with no response. To be honest its a waste of my api I can save for my twitter friends who actually follow me and care what I have to say and respond back to me. 

So in closing I guess what I want to say is if you truly care about your fans who put you where you are..follow them..care about them as human beings. Talk to them, they might even surprise you and have some good advice or something to make you chuckle. DON'T FORGET US..WE'RE OUT HERE AND WAITING TO BE HEARD! 

Some of my Favorite up and coming talent on twitter....Check them out!

Another great thing on twitter..up and coming talent everyone should check out. Some are more established than others but I think you'll find all of them to be very talented. Anyone who knows me knows I'm a twitter addict. One of the many things I love about twitter is the chance to check out new talent I might not have seen otherwise. Getting to know them and seeing their talents grow is so exciting. I think when you check them out you'll agree with me. 

Instead of going on and on about them (which I could easily do) I'll give you a bit of info about each and links so you can click to check them out for yourselves. I think you will agree with me when I say they will do great things! I'm sure they would appreciate your support so I'm hoping you will spread the word of these great talents wherever and whenever you can. So without further babble from me I'd like to introduce you to these fine talents. 

• Rashad Houston - Born in NY, U.S. Navy for 4 years, Now lives in San Diego, Beautiful wife and son. He writes wonderful music from his soul. Hip Hop and Soul. His music is inspiring and refreshing and he gives a part of himself in every song. You can follow him on twitter @rashadhouston and you can check out his music at Rashad Houston on MySpace. You won't regret checking out this wonderful talent and don't forget to spread the word to those you know.
• J.R. King - Born in Chicago, Still living in Chicago, Has his own independent record label called One Nation Entertainment, Inc. Music genre Urban - R&B/Soul/Pop, Smooth sound that definitely gets you movin. Puts himself out there and into his music. You can follow him on twitter at @Jr_King and listen to his great music at SoundClick artist: J.R. King. I promise you won't regret it. And don't forget..spread his music!
• Kelly G. - Canada - Comedian, This is one crazy lady (In a good way of course), She's funny and spreads chuckles everywhere she goes (wait..does that make her a chucklehead?) She makes funny videos from her car (yes...you heard me right..from her car), But that's not all she does..the crazy lady literally lifts people (approximately 500+ so far) She says she's uplifting and that's an understatement. She intends to as she puts it "Lifting the world, one person at a time." She aspires to add Ellen to her list, so spread the word! You can follow her at @KellyG5 and view her videos at YouTube Live with Kelly G. Lets give her a round of applause! 
• Jay Link - Los Angelos CA - Lead singer of Rock band called Death and Taxes - Independent record label called I Scream Records, They have a great sound and they will definitely get you rockin. You have to check them out and spread the word! You can follow Jay Link on twitter at @JayLink_ and you can get more information on the Band and other members and hear some of their music on MySpace Jay Link , MySpace Death & Taxes , Official Death 'N' Taxes website.

Lets give these great talents a hand and help spread the word!

Collective Soul Shows Twitter Love to their fans...

I follow a lot of celebs on twitter but these guys (Collective Soul) have to be one of the most refreshing of them all. They take the time to follow those who follow them and interact. Collective Soul seems to realize when they follow their fans it makes them (the fan) feel more a part of things. I realize that it's difficult to respond to everyone when you have thousands or even millions of followers nor would I expect them to, but it's still nice to feel the celeb you are following is hearing you. Its part of the fun and excitement of following the celeb. Because Collective Soul interacts so much with their fans I highly recommend them. You can follow Collective Souls twitter by following this link @collective_soul

No one wants to continually just read generic posts about the celebs new releases whether it be a movie, a television show, or a new album. They want interaction and they want to feel appreciated. What better place to do this than on twitter? It's a safe vinue for them without fighting crowds of people and paparazzi.

Yes I know they're famous people, but we also want to see them as 'real' just like the rest of us (after all at one time they were just regular people). Collective Soul does just that. Yes they let us know about their upcoming tours (click for info) 2009 tour and new music..but they also interact and try to respond to as many fans as their busy schedule allows. They twitter pics and videos of their travels and things they are up to in real time. This only makes their fans feel more connected. (You can also get more info about them on the Collective Soul Blog.)

All in all I would have to say they rank up there at number one not just in talent, but in the care they show to their fans every day. After all celebs wouldn't be celebs without the fans. People just want to be treated like real people with real feelings and not just a number that brings in the bucks. My best advice to the celebs out there..follow your fan base..let them know you truly appreciate them. After all they are the biggest reason you are where you are now. Yes you have the great talent, but the fans are the ones that truly make you famous. Without them you're just regular people with talent. Kudos to Collective Soul for getting it right!

This being said I do have a couple of others that although they don't follow everyone, they do take the time to respond to as many of their followers as they can and are definitely entertaining. Those are @melaneymayron52 (A special lady who responds often and follows me back), @madlyv (this one is wonderful lady with 'spunk') I follow many others but after many many tweets to them I have yet to ever get a response so I'll just leave them off the list altogether. My father always said if you don't have anything good to say don't say it at all and in this case..i'll listen to him.

Comments section fixed

I finally got the comment section fixed, so for those who want to leave comments, go for it...I'm happy to have them..thanks.

Ummm..Can we say commercial overdose?

OK..now I know I can't be the only one that's noticed the rediculous amount of commercials that accompany our favorite television programs. We are all going through a commercial overdose of sorts. I guess the incident that started me on this rant (not that it was the first time i'd noticed) was one morning as I woke, I turned on my televison to watch the morning news program as I always do. As my luck (or lack of luck) would have it, they had just gone to commercial. I waited commercial after commercial after commercial and so on and so on for my news program to come on. Much to my dismay they just kept coming. I beleive I stopped counting at 15 as it was beginning to put me back to sleep. Finally, eureka my news program finally appeared. I was so excited that something of interest was on, but much to my dismay it didn't last long. You won't beleive what happened next (well on second thought maybe you will).  After just 90 seconds of the news program it happened, we were back to yet more commercials (of course they were the exact same ones i'd just seen). What was going on here? Were they really intent on putting me back to sleep just minutes after I had gotten up? All I could think at this point was 'Please...someone just take me out back and cap me now!' 

I mean come on, I know commercials are important to both the television program and the business's (and on occasion the consumer), but something has to give at some point. It's beginning to look more like the programs have switched places with the commercials. I don't sit down to watch the commercials..I'm there to watch the show. So I want to place my order now..'Please..I'd like my favorite program..light on the commercials please and what kind of wine goes best with that?' 

I just want to know one thing. What ever happened to balance? Do the networks really believe we aren't all noticing this trend? Did they think they could just sneak it past us and hope we little lemmings wouldn't notice? Well I'm here to tell you...WE'VE NOTICED! 

So here I am to make this request of the network powers that be. Open your internet browser..in the little blank box at the top..type in the word 'balance' and memorize the definition (If you need any help with this, just let me know..i'd be happy to help). It's very frustrating to sit down to relax and watch my favorite show and see more commercials than I do my television program. I can also make one more reccommendation regarding the whole cost issue. All of you network executives at the very top could lower your salaries and put the money back into the shows we all love to watch. I don't know about you, but it works for me. If you need anymore suggestions feel free to contact me. This redhead is always glad to help out.

Bad Managers aka Dumb and Dumber...

This is a story of two managers from my small town in Missouri who will be known as Mr. Dumb and Mrs. Dumber. They've earned the titles so why not? Two different business's, two different managers using the same management style I'll refer to as 'Stupidity'. 

Let's get right to it. We'll start with manager #1 I'll refer to as Mr. Dumb. He's the manager of our local Sonic, a chain of restaurants I'm sure many have heard of.  My son worked there off and on for many years. When Mr. Dumb first arrived as the new manager he seemed to be just what the store needed. He pitched in and got things done and all the employees were happy to work with him. Within a year of his arrival, things began to change very quickly. At first it was just occasional jokes with the employees, which by itself wasn't necessarily a bad thing. 

Over the next few days and months he began to step it up a notch. He decided for his entertainment it was humorous to start arguments between the employees and then he'd sit back and laugh about it. Next, he started with more serious infractions such as stealing one employees cellphone while she was in the lady's room. When she came out he was going through her texts and phone numbers and other personal information and showing it to other employees. Shortly after that incident her phone came up missing from work for a couple of days and then mysteriously turned up. He began harassing the employees and if they protested this behavior he fired them. If an employee was ill, they were informed that they either found a replacement for there hours, came to work, or they would be fired. There was another incident in which an employee need a second job in order to get enough hours to equal a 40 hour week. The employee was to work days at the Sonic and 3 nights a week at his other job. It was agreed between the manager and the employee that he would get off an hour earlier so they he could change and arrive on time for his second job. On the second day he refused to let him leave and told him he would just have to call his other employer he would be late.  Of course we all know what happened. He lost his new job not to mention the health insurance he was to receive not available at his job at Sonic. 

This behavior was reported to the district manager over this area's franchises'. He said he would look into it and make things right. After the manager was disciplined for his behavior things were calm for a month or so. Being the inept manager Mr. Dumb is, he slowly went back to his old behavior. He was late opening the store, and employees received many customer complaints from the usual early morning crowd. This was mentioned to the manager at customer requests. He told the employee he was the manager and therefore could do anything he wanted. At this point he got into the face of the employee and began screaming over and over asking the employee if they wanted to fire him (this is the employee who had lodged the original complaint). This behavior persisted for 10 to 15 minutes with the assistant manager witnessing the entire event. The employee ignored the yelling and kept working until he was finally ask to leave the store. The employee went strait home and called the district manager to report to him what had happened. The employee was told to give him a few days and he would be in town to investigate the situation and he then would report back to him what would be done. In the mean time this employee was losing income. When he didn't hear anything from the district manager for a week he touched base with one of the other employees who informed him the district manager had been reassigned to another region. 

So now what? That's Sonics resolution to the problem? Instead of bringing in a new manager who knows how to do his/her job they instead reassign the district manager who was trying to resolve the issue? Whats wrong with this picture? Is that managements solution to everything these days? Lets just sweep it under the rug instead of dealing with the issue at hand. I'd love to hear Sonics' take on this situation and I intend to find out.

OK, lets get on to manager #2. She shall be referred to as Mrs. Dumber. It's obvious to me that she's not had a lot of management training or didn't pay attention, I'm not sure which. In this particular Casey's General Store the turnover is continual. Most of it due to the managers lack of interviewing skills. Most of the employees hired don't make it long because they simply don't want to work or follow the rules. They slack and put their work off on the other employees, mainly the assistant manager. Every time they lose one or two employees the assistant manager ends up filling in the spaces until someone new can be hired and trained as the manager is unwilling to do it. Of course the assistant manager is the one that usually also does all the new hire training.

On top of not having enough employees to cover all the shifts, there is also the problem of employee illnesses. They are required to either find a replacement for their hours, come in sick or lose their jobs. Finding a replacement should fall under the managers job not the employees and they shouldn't have to worry about their job when their sick. It happens and the manager should have a back up plan for these situations. Requiring an employee to come in sick is wrong on its own merit, but requiring an employee with a contagious disease is just plain stupid. Not only do you risk the health of the other employees but also the customers who come into the business to shop. Forcing an employee to work with strep throat in any business is ridiculous, but in a business that prepares and sells food just seems to me to be moronic to say the least.  It would have been endangering everyone the employee came in contact with and opened them up to lawsuits. 

There are many more examples of their 'Stupidity' style of management, but maybe I'll bring those up at another time. Otherwise we'll be here for the next 10 years complaining about Mr. Dumb and Mrs. Dumber and I'm sure we both have other things to do.

In closing, I'd like to recommend to Mr. Dumb and Mrs. Dumber and all those other managers out there that use the 'Stupidity' management style its time to get a brain, a clue and a bit of common sense. Being a manager number 1 does not give you the right to treat your employees with disrespect, nor does it give you the right to threaten their jobs and the health of others when their sick. For goodness sake use some common sense here. If you treat you're employees with respect and dignity they will meet or exceed any goal you could set for them. Everyone has the right to work in a peaceful environment without the worry of losing their jobs because the manager feels they have the right to be a bully. You've had time since the days of the playground to outgrow this behavior. Get over yourselves!

A Newbies take on Twitter

OK, so like a lot of other people I've caught the twitter bug. It can certainly be very addicting. I've met so many nice folks on twitter. It's a great place to connect to others that have the same interests or even learn about something new. There is also a lot of funny people in Twitterville as well. For the most part my experience in Twitterville so far has been a pleasant one. 

I've learned many things so far but, still have a long way to go to lose my newbie status. I was almost two weeks into my twitter life before I knew that you could actually tweet to those who don't follow you. I was excited about this at first as there were many I wanted to talk to but had no idea how to get them to follow. It was a pleasant surprise that I didn't really need to do that. The one big advantage to having them follow you is the ability to send direct messages back and forth. Sometimes you may want to send personal info you don't want out in twitterland. 

So back to the idea that you can tweet everyone, even those who do not follow you. It's exciting at first, especially if your following someone you consider a VIP. You can consider yourself very lucky if you get a response from them. They have so many followers tweeting them it's almost impossible to have them respond. I know I have trouble keeping up with just my 318 followers. I don't think I could do it without using TweetDeck. I highly recommend it. Everything in one neat little package including direct messaging, referred to as DM's. 

I did make one decision and that was not to try to converse with the VIP's. I know I'm one of those people who wear their hearts on their sleeves. I know it's a stupid thing to do, but that's just who I am. If they indicate they read all tweets and still I get no response I tend to take that as a sign that I haven't said anything interesting enough to warrant a response and being the Old woman that I am I get hurt feelings. Thus the decision to give up on that one. Don't get me wrong, I still love to follow them and watch the great tweets they put out there. I just don't plan to put myself out there and feel like an idiot for thinking I would be important enough to be responded to.

Not to worry though. I have lots of great people I follow who follow me in return and I love talking to them. They tweet great advice, quotes, and lots of funny stuff that makes me laugh. You can't have too much of that. It's great and like they say "laughter is the best medicine", and there is plenty of that to be had in Twitterville!

One other thing I might mention is that so far the one downside to twitter is that just on the rest of the net you can get some bad information. Never take important info you receive in twitterland as fact. Do your research and take the time check the facts. As with the case of the recent H1N1 (swine flu), there was a lot of misinformation flying around out there. But the facts are easily checked on the CDC website (Notice the link I've provided in the sidebar).  So my advice is to check your facts always before sending it on to others. 

Another thing to remember is the most important thing of all. If you don't want someone else to know what your saying, don't put it out there on twitter! It's inevitable it will get out to the very person you didn't want to hear it. Remember, this is out there for the whole world to see and be assured that they WILL see it.  

Now go out there and twitter your hearts out. I highly recommend it. It's so much fun and as I said before, there are a lot of wonderful people out there to tweet with! I have many of them on my list and I love em all! Happy tweeting!!