This post is going to sound like a lot of whining and moaning and bitching.

So be it.

Remember when I said not to trust any company telling you to embargo information?

I failed to follow my own damn advice today.

Twitter bit me today. Hard. Yes, THAT Twitter.

Here is the story…

On June 14th, when I go to follow the @CoorsLight Twitter account, I learn that it is using some age-gate tech that I have never seen before. A couple weeks later, I finally get around to sending an email to Twitter’s Communications team regarding the new age-screening service that it would eventually announce (today). A couple email exchanges later, a Comms. team member sends this back to me:

—

Without going into a ton of detail, would you be able to wait until the week of July 9th to write this? I will be able to get you in touch with a spokesperson then which should make your piece a bit more comprehensive. Sorry for the ask, and totally understand if you can’t wait. If that is the case (not being able to wait), we wont be able to comment quite yet.

—

To which I reply:

—

I think I’m well ahead of this story so I can wait. Am I correct in that this is due to someone’s schedule and not so that other publications like TechCrunch & Mashable can get in on this? Don’t mean that to sound crass. As a very tiny, hustling publisher, I’ve just been bit so many times by “embargoes” and it is typically due to a company wanting to provide a large publication with the scoop.

—

To which the Comms team member replies:

—

Hey, totally about scheduling (the 4th holiday) and having collateral in place to give folks like yourself to get a full view of the news – not due to giving it to TC or anyone like that. Thanks for being straight, allows me to do the same.

—

Some further emails are exchanged and we discover that we both grew up in the same place..yada, yada, yada…

Flash forward to yesterday and I send another email to get an update now that we are past the holiday. I get this back:

—

Thanks for sending a note. Can I touch base with you tomorrow on this? I’m in all day meetings, but your request has not been forgotten and you will be hearing from me in more detail soon.

—

Perfect. Thanks.

—

Then today, I get this email delivered to me at 4:05pm EST.

—

This just went live – http://www.buddymedia.com/newsroom/2012/07/twitter-buddy-media-age-screening-brands-marketing/

I think this was the news that you were looking for let me know if you have any questions.

—

I am incredulous at this point. I keep my composure and clarify a few details so that I can get my own story out as fast as possible. And I do just that about an hour after the official announcement. The announcement is made just after 4pm (1pm PST) and my post goes out just after 5pm (2pm PST).

Yeah, I am a bit sore but companies are proud of their innovations and want to break their own news about them. There is something really addictive about hitting a publish/send button and instantly reaching thousands (millions in some cases) of people and getting instant feedback so I can’t blame them for that aspect of it. I’ve got used to it. Sucks because I depend on spreading information to make a living and they don’t but yeah, I understand. I am a middleman of sorts and will eventually be marginalized into oblivion (another post topic!).

Anyway, a couple hours go by and…wait a minute…

What is this that just scrolled down my Twitter timeline?

A link to….TechCrunch’s…post…about…the…Twitter…age…screening…service. I track down the original tweet from @TechCrunch.

Sure enough…

Shenanigans!

Someone with either Twitter or Buddy Media or both gave TechCrunch the full details well ahead of time and told them to wait until 4pm EST (1pm PST). Yes, the exact website that I mentioned in my original email. The exact site to which I feared that they would feed the story.

TechCrunch is a behemoth of a website. Maybe 100x the size of mine. I don’t even know. I don’t know how many dozens of posts that they get out each day or how many writers they have on staff. I am confident that I want work more hours each week than every last one of them. I hustle for these scoops.

It sucks to put everything you have into something and have perfect strangers break your trust like that.

I love Twitter. I really do.

The first time I linked to the service from BeerPulse (then-Beernews.org) was in June, 2008. I even wrote a post the following January about the 40 or so breweries that I had spotted using Twitter. Then I dedicated a whole page listing them out with links and everything which I’ve since destroyed since there are at least a couple thousand breweries using Twitter now. And then that post about Twitter’s first day ever…

Damn. That sucked.

On the bright side, at least I beat Mashable…

#firstworldproblems, right?

[Above: This is the first photo of my Dad that ever hit the internet and the only one that I'm aware of prior to this week's obituary. He loved playing horseshoes. He was 74.]

Like an artist’s canvas.

Shades of pink, orange and yellow splashed across the sky.

The silhouette of a man sitting down in the foreground of the spectacular scene.

A most memorable dusk and one of my earliest memories, one that captures life in its greatest beauty but also in its most painful of realities. A symbol of the challenges that I faced growing up, challenges that shaped me into the man that I am today.

My mother filed for divorce from my father shortly after I turned two and this moment takes place quite some time after that. The three of us are at his house. She is there to pick me up and take me back home where I live with her. She is standing to my back at the front door and he is sitting in his favorite spot at the dinner table in front of the window bay. He had a frontrow seat to a vast wilderness and it seemed like he rarely left it in all the years that I knew him. He had left the door unlocked as long as I can remember. Company could just come right in as they pleased and he wouldn’t even move from his seat…as it was in this instance.

Before my mother and I leave, I walk up to my father.

He gives me a kiss on the forehead. “I love you, dear.”

“Love you, too, Dad.”

At age 4 or 5, you don’t understand the gravity of words.

At age 27, you do.

On Memorial Day of this year, I visited my father and my stepmother. Towards the end of the afternoon, I sit there with him in the bedroom as he lay in bed and we are just watching television. We make light conversation for a bit as the rain falls outside. What started as a sunny day has taken quite the turn. The power goes out thanks to a tree branch falling on a power line down the road. I’m still not sure whether that tree was struck by lightning. The generator kicks on but, as luck would have it, what is now the bedroom was formerly the dining room and it was never wired.

I guess weather can frustrate just as much as it can delight.

I turn to him. “I suppose this means you are ready to take a nap.”

“Yes, dear.”

Over the past few years, I had got very used to him being in a wheelchair so I usually just patted him on the shoulder when saying goodbye. And I did so again here.

“Alright then, Dad. I’ll talk to you soon.”

It would be our last moment together.

As I sat there, I had wondered whether it would be though I hoped it would not. I did not want to signal to him that I was thinking this either. So I kept to the script. The “usual” as they say.

At some point close to the end, I did want to have a heart-to-heart talk with him. To talk about life and not just the usual. To ask him questions like, “What would you want me to tell your grandson? You know, if I have one some day.” I missed that chance. If nothing else, I would have liked to have given him a real hug and just said a few simple words like…

“I love you, Dad.”

Indeed, the gravity of words.

Still, I gladly trade in the opportunity to say those words knowing that he passed on quickly and free of any pain.

In between the colorful hues that decorated the first memory of my father and the rainy sadness that tinged my final one, he and I cheated each other of our presence on more than one occasion.

Presence requires something more than small chit-chat like, “‘How is school?,’ ‘What’s new?,’ ‘Did you watch the game?’” Presence, to me, is achieved when people are real with each other about how they are feeling and about what they are thinking. Presence leads to storytelling, reminiscing about the past, sharing future goals, coming clean, hypothesizing over life’s most perplexing questions. Most importantly, moments of presence, the way I define it, build trust. They build love.

It is a common fault in all of us, I think. No, not just Dad and I.

We are all victims of routine.

As sappy as it sounds, I think my father shared such a presence with nature. He devoted much of his life to it and was an outdoorsman in every sense of the word. He even made his home in the middle of the forest. Though I wasn’t much of a fisherman (I went once with him) and am not much of a hunter (I went…well, I never went with him), I, too, have a thing for nature. I took up hiking toward the tail end of high school and grew a love for the view of the mountains above the tree line. I recall one cool summer night atop Cadillac Mountain, gazing at the stars. To me, that is living.

But it has been a while since I have gone on a hike or stood and looked at the stars.

Again, victims of routine.

I am not sure whether it is the fact that we share DNA or all those visits growing up to Chalk Pond Farm, the place my Dad called home, but I do know I learned to love nature, at least in some small fraction of the way that he did, because of the time I spent with him there. The variety of birds (and wildlife) that visit the backyard. The soft rain that comes down on the pond. The way a full moon shines through the bedroom window.

The occasional vanilla sky.

An appreciation for these things, for life really, flows through my veins like a trickling stream, but only because it flowed through my father’s veins like a river.

At times, we sat at the table together and said few, if any, words to each other. I have to admit- it was easy to just look out that window bay for a while and let my mind escape me. I would forget that my father was even there. When I snapped back to reality and looked over to him, I would sometimes find his eyes fixated on the birds. The water. The trees.

And then on me.

Maybe presence doesn’t require words after all.

—

—

I wrote this late on Tuesday night. It’s now Thursday afternoon. When I re-read it, I think what I was looking to do (in my emotional state) was just to express that I had a very complicated relationship with Dad but it was pretty simple on its surface. There was some kind of unspoken connection there though that is difficult to put into words.

I guess I’d just encourage you to look at the relationships in your life and be more ‘present’ in them, both in ones that seem perfectly fine and the ones that need fixing. Especially the ones that need fixing. [Note: Admittedly, I read a blog post that inspired this idea a while back but no way to trace back it.]

In any case, I love you, Dad, and I will really miss you.

[Photo credit: Moyan_Brenn]

When I was in college, a friend of mine gave me a fiction book, one of only a few that I had received as a gift since my childhood: J.D. Salinger’s Raise High the Roof Beams, Carpenters. In the several years since, I’ve picked up the occasional nonfiction book but I don’t recall reading a fiction book cover-to-cover like I did with that one. I do enough reading during the day as part of running BeerPulse that reading even more on top of that just isn’t appealing to me.

There is one passage that I’ve always remembered in which Salinger tells a story (within a story, of sorts). Hopefully, it carries some meaning in your life as it has in mine.

—

Duke Mu of Chin said to Po Lo: “You are now advanced in years. Is there any member of your family whom I could employ to look for horses in your stead?” Po Lo replied: “A good horse can be picked out by its general build and appearance. But the superlative horse — one that raises no dust and leaves no tracks — is something evanescent and fleeting, elusive as thin air. The talents of my sons lie on a lower plane altogether; they can tell a good horse when they see one, but they cannot tell a superlative horse. I have a friend, however, one Chiu-fang Kao, a hawker of fuel and vegetables, who in things appertaining to horses is nowise my inferior. Pray see him.”

Duke Mu did so, and subsequently dispatched him on the quest for a steed. Three months later, he returned with the news that he had found one. “It is now in Shach’iu” he added. “What kind of a horse is it?” asked the Duke. “Oh, it is a dun-colored mare,” was the reply. However, someone being sent to fetch it, the animal turned out to be a coal-black stallion! Much displeased, the Duke sent for Po Lo. “That friend of yours,” he said, “whom I commissioned to look for a horse, has made a fine mess of it. Why, he cannot even distinguish a beast’s color or sex! What on earth can he know about horses?”

Po Lo heaved a sigh of satisfaction. “Has he really got as far as that?” he cried. “Ah, then he is worth ten thousand of me put together. There is no comparison between us. What Kao keeps in view is the spiritual mechanism. In making sure of the essential, he forgets the homely details; intent on the inward qualities, he loses sight of the external. He sees what he wants to see, and not what he does not want to see. He looks at the things he ought to look at, and neglects those that need not be looked at. So clever a judge of horses is Kao, that he has it in him to judge something better than horses.”

When the horse arrived, it turned out indeed to be a superlative animal.

Photo Credit via NS Newsflash on Flickr.

I’ve been thinking a lot lately about the purpose of a publisher in a niche community like craft beer, something that I made quite clear in an interview I did with Aleheads yesterday. Breweries now have their own communities to which they can disseminate news thanks to blogs, newsletters, Facebook, Twitter, Youtube and Google+. All the social media sites have mechanisms for curating content from various breweries, too. So where do publishers in these niche communities fit in nowadays?

I wish I knew.

I never thought print publications would outsurvive online publications but now I’m not so sure. There is a larger barrier to entry to print and more companies remain comfortable with advertising on print. Print is still a more viable business and has a lot less competition. I’ve had many conversations with companies that are clueless about advertising online, thinking about it in the future or just starting now. And last time I checked… it is 2012!

With the ease of publishing online, everyone is a publisher now whether it be on their own website or on Twitter, etc. And the biggest competition that exists in the online sphere over the print sphere is the companies, themselves, that we write about…

—

Earlier this week, Brian Yaeger mentioned (humblebragged?) that he was the first to learn of the name of Larry Sidor’s new brewery, Crux Fermentation Project. I rarely tip off other publishers to my scoops unless I’m within 15 minutes of publishing the post. It didn’t matter too much though because Sidor & Co. recently shared on their website that they planned on revealing the name of the brewery this past week.

And so they did. The Bend Bulletin broke the news early Saturday morning (albeit behind a paywall). The Brew Site was next at exactly noon (the timing makes me think that Jon was given specific clearance for that time). Then Crux Fermentation Project, itself, reported the news on its Facebook page 45 minutes later. Later in the afternoon, I and others picked it up.

Everyone except Yaeger.

He explains why…

The beauty thing about blogs is that it allows bloggers to break news instantaneously. Reflexively, the bad thing about writing for someone else’s print or online publication is that you have to wait for them to publish it. Hence, I’ve been scooped by my friends like Lisa Morrison, the Beer Goddess, and Jon Abernathy at The Brew Site, in regards to the official name of Larry Sidor’s new brewery, crux Fermentation Project. The kicker is that while I didn’t get the press release they evidently sent out, I was told I was the first to hear the new name and see the new logo by one of Sidor’s partners, Dave Wilson, while at the new brewery.

Reading Yaeger’s post brought me back to this tweet I sent two months ago.

Tip for bloggers & journalists: if you stumble upon news, ask for details & are told to wait w/ promise of full scoop, you’re being tricked.

— Adam Nason (@adamnason) January 24, 2012

What happened to Yaeger has happened to me a number of times in different ways over the years.

- I’ve stumbled onto scoops and been told to stay hush-hush with the promise of a full story later only to have someone else break it.

- I’ve been provided said story just minutes before the company published the info itself (usually before I even saw the email).

- I’ve sent an email to a company with questions with the intention of writing a story, only to have the company write a story on its own blog answering those very questions later in the day. Without any correspondence coming back my way.

- I’ve been told to embargo information with other bloggers only to have the company deliver the story to a local media outlet in front of all of us.

- I’ve been told to embargo information only to have the company flaunt it in a full-page color ad in a popular magazine (so instead of paying $0 to get the word out, they chose to pay hundreds or thousands).

Working with companies can be similar to dating in a way.

You think you know what the person on the other end is thinking but you really don’t. In reality, you don’t know how many other people may be courting that person. Ultimately, you may be a good person, a great person even, but they’re going to look after their own interests at the end of the day.

That and people talk. All the time. It is just what we human beings do.

The relationship between journalist and subject is a tricky one. The last thing you want to do is agree to embargo something (or fail to be clear that what the person is telling you is on the record) and then break your word. That will wreck your relationship.

To avoid that, be clear with expectations:

Is the information being traded on the record?
When do you want to break the story?
When do they want you to break the story?
Can you be reasonably sure that they won’t be sharing the information with others if you wait?
Can you compromise to release some information now and hold other information later?
If they allow you to break the story, when do they plan to follow it with their own?

Your job, as a journalist, is to disseminate information to your audience. It is perfectly acceptable to be a little selfish, look out for your own interests and do everything it takes to report information first (and accurately).

What you report and whether you are first matters. A lot.

What you know and whether you know first matters very little.

In dog racing, there is this little thing called the “rabbit.” Dogs race around a track chasing this contraption that may or may not look like an actual rabbit.

The rabbit is nothing more than a motivational device.

Its only purpose in life is to motivate the dog to run harder. Run faster.

Without the dog, there is no rabbit. It serves no purpose to the rest of mankind.

Which brings me to entrepreneurship…

In life, we have dogs. The ones racing around the track. The ones starring in the show. The ones creating, building and innovating.

And we have rabbits. The ones being tied to the pole by their masters. The ones imitating and copying everything.

Pinterest has gained quite the loyal following in the U.S. and may just be the hottest new ‘startup’ company here. Pinspire is an exact replica for an international audience that Pinterest hasn’t reached yet. Started by brothers that have no creative ideas of their own outside of copying and making millions from it. Guys that won’t even do an interview with the world’s leading tech blog, they are so ashamed of themselves.

The guys behind Pinspire will live a good life, make millions and, sadly, never have a thing to show for it all.

Much like the rabbit and the dog, the Pinspire team’s only reason for existence at this point is to motivate the Pinterest team to be great. I truly believe that.

Pinspire will fold up or be bought and run into the ground. Pinterest, on the other hand, may shape the fundamental ways we consume information.

To you dogs out there, keep hustling. Keep making the world great. Keep building your legacy.

To you rabbits, I’d urge you to take 20 minutes and think about what you want to get out of life.

And if you choose not to change, on behalf of the dogs…

…thank you for motivating us to do all the things you will never do.

Little known fact.

Twitter will turn 6…SIX!…on March 21st. That’s right. Before long, the service will be picking up a Trapper Keeper and starting the first grade. As of this posting, Twitter users have sent over 158 quadrillion tweets.

Twitter’s origins lie in a “daylong brainstorming session” held by board members of the podcasting company Odeo. Dorsey introduced the idea of an individual using an SMS service to communicate with a small group.^[11] The original project code name for the service was twttr, an idea that Williams later ascribed toNoah Glass,^[12] inspired by Flickr and the five-character length of American SMS short codes. The developers initially considered “10958″ as a short code, but later changed it to “40404″ for “ease of use and memorability.”^[13] – Wikipedia.

Twitter users sent less than 100 tweets on Day 1. Here is a look at all of them.

Jack Dorsey’s account (@jack) posted The First-Ever Tweet though it was automated. Dorsey created Twitter and is currently Executive Chairman. He has sent just over 10,500 tweets.

Work on the project started on March 21, 2006, when Dorsey published the first Twitter message at 9:50 PM Pacific Standard Time (PST): “just setting up my twttr”.^[14] – Wikipedia.

just setting up my twttr

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006

The next string of tweets were all automated as well. The second tweet came from Biz Stone’s account. Stone is one of the Co-Founders of Twitter but is no longer with the company. He is currently Chief Creative Officer at Obvious. Stone has yet to send 5,000 tweets.

just setting up my twttr

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 21, 2006

The third tweet came from Noah Glass. Glass is a Twitter Co-Founder but the so-called “forgotten one.” Glass was fired early on in the Twitter days. In an interview with Business Insider he said, “I felt betrayed by my friends, by my company, by these people around me I trusted and that I had worked hard to create something with.” He is no longer active on the service having sent only 1,175 tweets and is not a verified user. He has virtually disappeared from the public’s consciousness.

just setting up my twttr

— noah glass (@noah) March 21, 2006

A number of automated tweets followed this including this one from Evan Williams. Williams is another Twitter Co-Founder that is no longer with the company. He is a Partner at Obvious. He has sent nearly 6,400 tweets.

just setting up my twttr

— Evan Williams (@ev) March 21, 2006

And the First-Ever Human Tweet.

inviting coworkers

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006

And the next ones.

getting my odeo folks on this deal

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 21, 2006

oooooooh

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 21, 2006

The First-Ever Expletive.

Oh shit, I just twittered a little.

— Jeremy (@jeremy) March 21, 2006

waiting for dom to update more

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006

waiting for Jack to update more first

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 21, 2006

oh this is going to be addictive

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 21, 2006

Planning for Sprint #4

— Tim Roberts (@timroberts) March 21, 2006

wishing I had another sammich

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 21, 2006

typing my first message

— meredith (@meredith) March 21, 2006

following Mer

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 21, 2006

I’ll check back in later

— meredith (@meredith) March 21, 2006

having some flowery orange pekoe tea

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 21, 2006

setting up my mac mini

— Tim Roberts (@timroberts) March 21, 2006

lunch

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006

free lunch

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 21, 2006

feeling pains in my back

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 21, 2006

using twttr.com

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 21, 2006

Sagolla was the service’s first prolific tweeter though he slowed down after the first day. He still hasn’t sent out 5,000 tweets.

twttr my nttr

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 21, 2006

going out to do an errand

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 21, 2006

already addicted to twttr.com

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 21, 2006

high on sugar

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 21, 2006

settling back in

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 21, 2006

watching connections on FlashCom

— Tony Stubblebine (@tonystubblebine) March 21, 2006

working on SMS in

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 21, 2006

sugar crash

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 21, 2006

checking out twttr

— Evan Williams (@ev) March 21, 2006

kinda twttring around and such

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 22, 2006

Having a twitter just now.

— Jeremy (@jeremy) March 22, 2006

walking the dog

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 22, 2006

changing status through my blackberry browser

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 22, 2006

is there a way to add friends without typing in phone numbers?

— Tony Stubblebine (@tonystubblebine) March 22, 2006

The First-Ever @Mention. To a User that didn’t exist…

@Errand

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 22, 2006

Oh man, this twitter tickles my nose

— Jeremy (@jeremy) March 22, 2006

hax0ring, using lynx to make this post from a machine 1 world away…

— Jeremy (@jeremy) March 22, 2006

eating little snacks that livy made

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 22, 2006

Heading back (via nokia)

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 22, 2006

on my way to drawing class

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 22, 2006

No, Biz. Just. No.

<a href=”http://bizstone.com”>announcing a blog update</a>

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 22, 2006

waiting for Buzz

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 22, 2006

drawing naked people

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 22, 2006

doin’ some emailz

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 22, 2006

waiting for livy to get back from wildcare

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 22, 2006

pumping iron

— Adam Rugel (@Adam) March 22, 2006

put some rss on my mp3

— Adam Rugel (@Adam) March 22, 2006

Oh crap, I think I might be getting that f’in cold

— noah glass (@noah) March 22, 2006

fantasizing about jack drawing naked people mmmmmmmmmmmmm….. naked people.

— Jeremy (@jeremy) March 22, 2006

learning about the earthquake I felt earlier today

— Biz Stone (@biz) March 22, 2006

Heading home

— Dom Sagolla (@dom) March 22, 2006

And finally,

sleep

— Jack Dorsey (@jack) March 22, 2006

Since that first day, Twitter has grown immensely. Twitter reports there being over 100 million active users.

And the number of tweets is staggering.

Over 1.5 million tweets alone mentioned @TimTebow the week after the Broncos upset the Steelers in the NFL Playoffs.

Last week more than 1.5 million Tweets mentioned @TimTebow during the Denver Broncos’ overtime win against the Pittsburgh Steelers—and, reacting to Tebow’s game-winning touchdown pass to @DemaryriusT, fans set a new Twitter sports record of 9,420 Tweets per second. That’s more than double the Tweets per second peak from last year’s Super Bowl game (4,064). – Twitter blog

While Tebow Mania has probably peaked, Twitter Mania probably hasn’t.

Looking forward to another year of tweets in 2012…

[Above: I'm jealous of this on so many levels. Photo credit: a6u571n on Flickr (Creative Commons)]

I don’t tell anybody where I am going. I just go. Just me, a rental car and a gym bag full of clothes. And snacks.

Man. Seems like it was just yesterday.

November, 2008.

I am 24 years old.

I am working on a three-week job in Tucson, Arizona, when the three-day holiday weekend comes. Everyone gets to go home and go see their loved ones, etc. I’m single so I have no one to go home to…I decide to stay put in Tucson and enjoy the nice weather.

Only I don’t stay in Tucson…

On Saturday morning, I do a little research, hop in the car and go. I don’t tell anybody where I am going. I just go. Just me, a rental car and a gym bag full of clothes. And snacks.

Who can forget the snacks.

I make my way up north. If you’re unfamiliar with Tucson, it is at the very bottom of Arizona so this is a LONG drive up to the top. Beautiful weather throughout though. As day turns to night, I make my way through Flagstaff and, after coming close to hitting a deer that comes out of nowhere, I safely end up at my destination.

The Grand Canyon.

I spend the entire day on Sunday just walking around in awe. More than a few times, I sit and contemplate things. What life means. What happiness means. Things like that. I just sit there. And inhale fresh air. All by myself. Over and over again. I am incredibly happy.

I vow not to return for a decade or so. That is how special this day is to me. I don’t want to tarnish it by making it some kind of bi-annual Disneyland type of vacation spot.

——————–

I don’t pass another test after that…and I lose my job during the summer because I suck at it. It just isn’t for me. Plain and simple.

But I think building a website is…or might be.

Over time, while with this company, I slowly build Beernews organically but it is incredibly tough. The job itself is a bear, especially during “busy season.” I am going for my certification and spending way too many hours in books from which I have no interest learning anything. Every night, I arrive home from work or finish studying by 10 or 11 and hope to squeeze in an hour or two in which I can put together a couple blog posts.

One night during busy season in February, 2009, I crack under the stress of this schedule. The site is starting to take off, I am trying to pass certification exams and work is godawful. I tell my brother that I might put up a note on the site and take a month off from it. He tells me not to because I have a really good thing going and people won’t come back. I will lose what I have built.

So I follow his advice and juggle all three “jobs” so to speak.

I don’t pass another test after that…and I lose my job during the summer because I suck at it. It just isn’t for me. Plain and simple.

But I think building a website is…or might be.

———————-

I’m just toiling away. Day after day, I watch the sun set in the distance through this oak tree outside my window. Another day of life gone by. And another one. And another one.

When we are children, we start out way down the path of this golden road that those before us have paved. We don’t even realize it. Some go off of it in adolescence and who knows where they land. Some probably go on to do amazing things. Or maybe not. The rest of us? We behave, fall in line, get good grades, go to college, and follow the herd. We stay on this path in autopilot.

I never questioned why I was on that path until I went off of it.

The summer of 2009 is actually awesome because it is a breather from the stress. I move during the fall into an apartment near a couple of my best friends.

I then toil in what is something probably resembling depression for the better part of the next year. I don’t want to go back into anything similar to the previous work environment. Yet Beernews is nowhere near close to making money.

When I’m not casually looking into jobs, I try to teach myself to program because I want to turn Beernews into something big. I study PHP and learn how to read it (somewhat) but struggle with writing it from scratch. I eventually decide to look for developers to help me out.

This turns into a long and costly process. I work with probably no less than 30 developers on these little projects. They are just ideas. Some more ambitious than others.

But I have no clue what I’m doing at this stage.

The calendar turns to summer of 2010. I’m still in that same apartment. I’m just toiling away. Day after day, I watch the sun set in the distance through this oak tree outside my window.

Another day of life gone by. And another one. And another one. I imagine people partying at the beach and going to cookouts and all that. Time just passes. Without any progress. Really. On a personal or professional level. It is without a doubt the hardest time in my life. Long and lonely days, man. Sad days.

I really have no idea whether my friends are aware of the downward spiral at this point. They are there for me. They keep me company at night which is critical.

Somehow, I’m only motivated to work harder to dig myself out of this rut. I have put all my eggs into Beernews at this point and there is no turning back.

I finally hire a developer that I feel I can trust and away we go.

I’m not sure when exactly but one day it hits me like a ton of bricks that I am an entrepreneur. Probably the combo of learning about new startups and realizing that a human being is depending on me to keep paying him so that he can eat and stuff. Because of this, the next several months are a solid (and somewhat enjoyable) learning experience. I no longer feel like I’m completely alone even if I am in terms of equity. I am still struggling in some ways but at least I feel like I have a purpose each and every day.

Several months pass after this epiphany before another problem comes up. Well, two of them.

My developer quits. And then I run out of money.

It’s April, 2011.

I decide to finally throw some Google Ads on Beernews while I figure out how I’m going to start making actual money from this thing I’ve spent over three years building.

I receive an email saying the site doesn’t have the same “streamlined look” it once did.

Thanks, bud.

It feels great to make even a few hundred dollars that first month after making nothing for the first three-plus years.

The developer quitting turns out to be a blessing because the time I would normally spend working with him goes into building up the business side of Beernews. And that business is growing.

———————

I burned through some cash and wasted a lot of time but I came out a much better person than I was heading into those four years.

January, 2012.

I am now 27.

Since May, I’ve been making money on Beernews and it’s pretty much at a point now where I can count on the equivalent of an entry-level salary every month. It is growing and will only get better from here. While I’d say I’m far from being “made,” I would say that I have “made it.”

Like when Tom Hanks finally gets past that huge tide in Castaway.

I’ve since taken up more development work myself and learned how to do a fraction of the things that I hired all those developers to do. I must be smarter now than I was in 2009! I am making the occasional phone call and working with a bunch of advertisers. I’m still writing fresh content every day and doing a lot of content curation.

More importantly, I started living again this past summer.

Living. Yeah. That.

I started running and ran the equivalent of a half marathon one night in September, for example.

I actually go out a lot now, too, though I still spend long days at home working on Beernews. I still miss the collaborative work environment quite a bit.

This is the first time I can remember sitting down and reflecting on the big picture since…well, probably…

The Canyon.

Beernews turns four years old on February 29th.

I’ve learned a lot since that first post. I burned through some cash and wasted a lot of time but I came out a much better person than I was heading into those four years. I don’t take a dollar for granted the same way I did when I had a consistent paycheck coming every two weeks. I have a much better appreciation now for how human beings provide value to one another and reward each other. And I got a better education than I ever did in college and it was a hell of a lot cheaper, too.

————————-

Every day, I engage with people who comment on my work right after I finish it. I am making immediate connections with people who benefit from what I do and it rules.

Here are a few lessons (or realizations) that I’ve taken away from the experience with respect to entrepreneurship and even life, in general.

1 – It is a miracle that I am alive.

And according to the CDC, I only have around 78 years to celebrate this miracle (or now about 50 years to go). There is no guarantee that I will even make it that long. How am I best taking advantage of this miracle? I am working my ass off while I’m young, hungry and foolish. Setting a foundation on which I hope to be living very comfortably within the next few years. One on which I can potentially raise a family in several years. By the time I’m 30, I want to consider whatever work that I’m doing at the time to be 100% play. And I want to travel A LOT over the next few years.

[Edit: I'm using the term miracle to describe my overall existence, in general. It isn't meant to imply I almost died at any point. Also, this doesn't mean retirement! And running a website gives me the flexibility to live in different places. I don't mean travelling to sound like a vacation. Though I haven't taken one of those in several years.]

The first phase of conquering life is figuring out what you want to get out of it so start there.

2 – I’m doing what makes me happy.

…Or…at least working comfortably so that I’m not dreading each day. I don’t consider what I do to be “work” as much as I will admit I spend a lot of time doing “it,” however you want to categorize “it.” In order to discover what made me happy for work, I didn’t drop my old job…I spent an hour or two every night exploring what I thought could be a new one. I’m not 100% happy sitting at a computer for as long as I do each day though I’m on the right track.

3 – I believe in Maslow’s Hierarchy of Needs.

I suspect that a lot of entrepreneurs spend a disproportionate amount of time trying to fulfill the top of the pyramid when the lower tiers are crumbling beneath it. It is definitely possible for some to go top down but you need to spread your time out between self-actualization and your personal life. Spend time with family and loved ones. Do the dating thing. Be in a relationship. Have fun. Live. Laugh.

Don’t skip over those personal layers. Can’t stress that enough.

4 – Work-life balance is essential for personal AND business relationships.

You have to take good care of yourself to be able to take care of others. It is great to “live for others” and be charitable, etc. You have to be a little selfish sometimes though. This goes for health, relationships…you name it. Work-life balance is a fancy buzzword that gets thrown around but there is a lot of truth to it. Your employer (or you if you are a self-motivated workaholic) isn’t going to create that balance for you. YOU HAVE TO STEP BACK AND TAKE THE INITIATIVE TO DO IT YOURSELF.

It will help you in the workplace, too.

5 – Support from friends and family is not the same as support from people who have walked in my shoes.

We need both types of support. Period.

6 – I would never do the solo entrepreneurship thing again nor would I ever advise anyone else to do it.

You need a partner to keep you in check on your ideas and progress. If you must go that route, network with other entrepreneurs and hold weekly meetings where you set goals that you have to meet, etc. Don’t go completely solo. DON’T!

7 – Education in entrepreneurship is valuable.

Just like you would have a hard time accounting without an accounting degree, there is a science to being an effective entrepreneur. I had never heard of minimum viable product until late 2010. I wish I had back in 2009. I would have saved a ton of time and money.

8 – Research is important for pinpointing where the best opportunities are in the marketplace.

I started Beernews because I wanted a reliable source of beer information so the customer I have today (a.k.a. a reader of the site) is essentially the same as me, just four years ago. I experienced the pain point firsthand back then. So, for me, it was easy to see the opportunities. If you are a serial entrepreneur that doesn’t necessarily live and breath the thing you’re trying to fix, that is tougher.

I did do a lot of research as well before starting Beernews. I subscribed to RSS feeds and learned as much as I could for several months before starting the site.

9 – Never give up.

If you have the guts and drive to try and start a business, there is something special about you. You are making (or are going to make) big sacrifices in order to gain freedom and live a unique way of life. You are willing to work hard upfront to maximize your happiness for the longhaul.

Kudos to you. Seriously.

Is it not working out so far? Consult with everyone and everybody. Experts, customers and so on. Maybe you can pivot. Maybe you can fundraise. Maybe you need to go back to work and get more experience and make more cash. And work on your startup at night.

Do what you have to do but don’t give up!

10 – People have served as better resources than whatever else I was using at the time.

You would be amazed how much of a difference that a single phone call may make in your life. Network with people. Pick up the phone. Write an email. Send a tweet. It’s easy.

11 – Direct feedback from the people I am serving/helping feels awesome.

I used to work behind a desk for a company that served companies that served companies and individuals. I had no sight to that last tier of people. The end-users. The people that actually benefited from my work. I never met them or had a clue how useful my work was to them. Or if they even looked at. It sucked.

Every day, I engage with people who comment on my work right after I finish it. I am making immediate connections with people who benefit from what I do and it rules.

12 – The world seems a lot smaller to me now.

I never felt “accomplished” before becoming an entrepreneur. Even when I was working at a big company, making good money, I didn’t. For example, I looked at a company like CNN as this giant machine that was so much bigger and badder than other media sites. Now I realize that CNN is just a wheel with thousands of cogs called people. People like me that wake up in the morning, eat breakfast, drink coffee and then punch the keyboard mercilessly for the rest of the day (or whatever it is that you do). It just isn’t as a glamorous news source to me as it once was now that I realize that anyone with the chops can do just as good a job reporting on a subject.

And the thing with these big wheels like CNN is that they are incredibly inefficient and vulnerable to super cogs called entrepreneurs. We’re seeing that unfold before our eyes. Not to pick on CNN, just an example.

13 – It is less about the things I do or consume and more about the company I keep.

I’m no longer a snob. Or try to be one. I don’t go out of my way to buy Budweiser or go to MacDonalds but I can enjoy a Bud Light if that is what we have in the fridge and I’m spending my time with good people.

14 – I appreciate that I am a constantly developing and dynamic individual.

Knowing “who I am” is less about pigeonholing myself as a thing (like an entrepreneur) and more about accepting that who I am today is very different from who I will be in three years or who I was three years ago. I just try to be very open-minded about new experiences and trying new things.

15 – Sharing my experiences is an important element of my personal growth.

Like what I’m doing now…

16 – I don’t think there is anything I can’t do in this life now.

There is probably more than that but I’ll stop there!

—————————

Ah, the Canyon.

Someday, I’m going to get back and when I do, hopefully I’ll have someone by my side. Hell, maybe a family, too. Inhaling that fresh air again. Reflecting on life the way I am now and the way I did in November, 2008…

…that or I’ll be too preoccupied watching a little one and making sure they don’t fall off a cliff.

It is a journey of journeys.

Don’t try or pretend to live every day like it is your last.

Don’t expect to enjoy each and every moment going forward.

Just figure out what you have to do to be able to enjoy as many of those moments in your life as you possibly can.

@adamnason Congrats on having the courage to tell your story! I hope you stay true to yourself as you become more successful!

— Anat Baron (@beerwars) January 6, 2012

Breath of fresh air & honesty in a self serving world “@adamnason The long & lonesome journey of solo entrepreneurship adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the…“

— 21st Amendment (@21stAmendment) January 6, 2012

Insightful post on @adamnason‘s entrepreneur journey. I agree w/many points, but esp#6bit.ly/xigRuF Thx @winbassett @StoneBrewingNE

— Greg Koch (@StoneGreg) January 6, 2012

This hit home. MT “@StoneGreg: Insightful post on @adamnason‘s entrepreneur journey. I agree w/many points, but esp#6bit.ly/xigRuF

— MellodyBrewing (@mellodybrewing) January 6, 2012

@winbassett @beerpulse @adamnason Incredible narrative & poignant insight on the human experience through a #beergeek lens! Wonderful read!

— momsmaltbarley (@momsmaltbarley) January 6, 2012

Couldn’t agree more! @winbassett RT If you read one thing today, read @adamnason‘s post about starting @beerpulse.

— Beer Prophet (@beerprophet) January 5, 2012

This is the written equivalent of looking in the mirror. Both awesome and difficult to read. Thanks Adam.@adamnasonadamnason.com/2012/01/05/the…

— SquareTimberBrewCo (@squaretimber) January 6, 2012

Need a business epiphany 2day? Read @adamnason story on solo entrepreneurship & craft #beer + BeerNews HNY & 3 Cheers! bit.ly/AjuPd2

— Sebbie Buhler (@ChocolateStout) January 6, 2012

inspiring essay by @adamnason on creative entrepreneurship as a way of life, with good#beer, good friendsbit.ly/xigRuF

— Lucy Saunders (@lucybeercook) January 6, 2012

A must read for today! The long and lonesome journey of solo entrepreneurship: adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the… via @adamnason

— Chad Yakobson (@ChadYakobson) January 6, 2012

Nice piece today, @Adamnason. Self-affirming, positive reflections on entrepreneurship, and more poignantly, life. bit.ly/AjuPd2

— derrickvee (@derrickvee) January 6, 2012

@adamnason Thanks for the peek behind the curtain today. Just a fantastic read! Keep doing what you are doing man. We appreciate the passion

— Ericstl6 (@Ericstl6) January 5, 2012

@adamnason Amazing post. Thank you.

— Ryan Murphy (@sp1365) January 5, 2012

@adamnason -well done. As “they” say, life’s a journey, not a destination. Let’s all enjoy the ride (and the beer along the way!)

— The Brew Lounge (@brewlounge) January 5, 2012

@adamnason congrats on your Beernews success. Being able to work on that project every day is tremendous. I have no idea how you keep up.

— Mike from BGP (@MikeBGP) January 5, 2012

@adamnason your site is younger, yet it wasn’t until we had content linked from you that @mattworldclass thought we were cool.

— Me, not the blog. (@hoosierbeergeek) January 5, 2012

@adamnason Thx for taking the time to write that up, Adam. Great story & helpful lesson for all. Keep up the incredible work!

— PhillyTapFinder.com (@PhillyTapFinder) January 5, 2012

@adamnason Great post. Thanks for putting yourself out there.

— David E. (@GRChi) January 5, 2012

@adamnason That was a really good post. Great to see your story! Def got to get together for a beer (this is jeff from drink craft beer btw)

— Jeffrey Wharton (@JeffreyWharton) January 5, 2012

Amazing story @adamnason!! Keep it up.

— Brandon Proctor (@brandonRproctor) January 5, 2012

Thanks for sharing, Adam. RT @adamnason: The long & lonesome journey of solo entrepreneurship. ow.ly/8jstJ

— Leslie(@LushtasticTX) January 5, 2012

“@adamnason adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the…. This is such a great read! Thanks so much for sharing your story. We rely on your information everyday!

— 30A Brewing Company (@30abrewing) January 5, 2012

@adamnason Nice essay, Adam.

— Evan Benn (@EvanBenn) January 5, 2012

This post by @adamnason is truly inspiring.You posted it at the perfect time for me.Thanks, really!tinyurl.com/82v7t47

— NCBREW2U (@NCBREW2U) January 5, 2012

Great read: RT @adamnason adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the… #beer #entrepreneurship

— Stanley Phillips (@StoshPhillips) January 5, 2012

I’m sure most #craftbeer fans know @beerpulse. Now get to know @adamnason, the guy behind it. Nice story Adam. drnk.it/8jM0M

— Chris Furnari (@BrewBoundFurn) January 5, 2012

@adamnason Hey Adam! I have seriously read your beernews site for a very long time, probably got me into craft beer, homebrewing! Big thxs!

— Ben Stafford (@BensBrews) January 6, 2012

Great article by .@adamnason on building BeerNews.org… fb.me/G6ehs3xS

— Craft Beers ‘n Brews (@CraftBeersBrews) January 6, 2012

@adamnason Truly inspiring. I burn at both ends supporting family + my soul at the same time. I don’t sleep, but I look forward to the day.

— SoCalBeer (@SoCalBeer) January 6, 2012

@adamnason great post & congrats on the success. I loved reading the story & hearing your passion. ow.ly/8k18O #hustle

— Brad Chmielewski (@beerad) January 6, 2012

Do you live and breathe your work like @adamnason? Guy’s got guts and talent. I love it. adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the…

— Paul (@ChitownOnTap) January 6, 2012

@adamnason I’ve said it before & I’ll say it again: I respect the hell outta u. From one writer to another, not as a PR guy kissing ur ass.

— Randy Clemens (@RandyClemensEsq) January 6, 2012

Great article by @adamnason j.mp/AuyPN0 in awe of his dedication and perseverance to what he believes in #craftbeer #inspiration

— Badger Hill Brewing(@BadgerHillBeer) January 6, 2012

Journey of the solo entrepreneur that started beernews.org. Inspiring. bit.ly/yxxreo

— Scott Straub (@ssstraub) January 6, 2012

@adamnason very great article, Adam. Keep up the good work!

— Shawn from BGP (@ShawnBGP) January 6, 2012

This is a great post about entrepreneurship.Read it. adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the…

— Dave McCabe (@Noblexperiment) January 6, 2012

@adamnason Great piece, Adam, and great advice/insights into work and life. Cheers!

— Steve Hill (@OnomatoSteveUh) January 6, 2012

Very insightful and through provoking post by @adamnason.Thanks for sharing, brother! ow.ly/8kzei #craftbeer

— Sean Nordquist (@beerforthedaddy) January 6, 2012

A glimpse into the life of @adamnason. Thanks for your diligence & @beerpulse – your work is valuable. tinyurl.com/82v7t47 #craftbeer

— Lucky Town Brewing (@LuckyTownBrew) January 6, 2012

made the eyes water RT @adamnason The long & lonesome journey of solo entrepreneurship. Read now or “fave” for later. adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the…

— Kyle Hall (@KyleHall33) January 6, 2012

Great read, inspiring… RT @adamnason: The long & lonesome journey of solo entrepreneurship. .. bit.ly/xigRuF

— Mark Skar (@markskar) January 6, 2012

@adamnason Thank YOU. Your story is a big reason I’m trying to get my own blog off the ground. It’s an inspiration.

— DJ Sobish (@djsobish) January 6, 2012

Great read, Mr. Nason. Inspiring. Thanks. //The long and lonesome journey of solo entrepreneurship adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the… via @adamnason

— John Fleury (@Buffalo_Theory) January 6, 2012

. @DonnaQueza if u are still seeking 20-something biz owners for ur blog check out @adamnason of @beerpulse – twitter loves him these days.

— Sean Lewis (@Sean_M_Lewis) January 6, 2012

Getting started is hard…hang in there @adamnason…The long and lonesome journey of solo entrepreneurship drnk.it/8kV8G

— John Craven @ BevNET (@BevNETCraven) January 6, 2012

@adamnason Very well written and honest post today man! Cheers to you.

— Embrace The Funk (@EmbraceTheFunk) January 6, 2012

Really fascinating and inspirational article by @adamnason in creating and maintaining @beerpulse adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the…

— Adrian B-O (@JP_Brewer) January 7, 2012

@adamnason Thanks for your insightful post.Been there, but never said anything about it. Did DO something about it though. Thanks!

— Duke Geren (@Dukester) January 7, 2012

@adamnason And it is much better when you can share it.Haven’t been to the GC in a few years, can’t wait to show it to my 4yo son.

— Duke Geren (@Dukester) January 7, 2012

Awesome post to kickoff 2012!! Thanks for sharing @adamnason.Check out his story here goo.gl/DDNL7”

— Nick Lensing (@OskarNick) January 7, 2012

@adamnason This is certainly a must read. Congratulations on such success in life and beernews. bit.ly/AjuPd2

— Wylie Green (@thebrewreviews) January 7, 2012

This @adamnason dude rocks and so does his website represented on twitter by @beerpulse .Check out his story here goo.gl/DDNL7

— Flying Saucer Austin (@FlyingSaucerAus) January 7, 2012

@adamnason You’ve earned it. We all appreciate what you do. I’d never have the balls to work for myself. Or the lady equivalent of balls.

— Lisa Zimmer(@Zimmerino) January 7, 2012

Follow the dream; The long and lonesome journey of solo entrepreneurship | thank you for reading.: adamnason.com/2012/01/05/the… via @adamnason

— Don Roine (@BeerResearcher) January 7, 2012

To say I’m inspired would be an insult. Here’s proof that had work pays off. Congrats @adamnason! – ow.ly/8kHos

— Colin Joliat (@FlintSkinny) January 6, 2012

So cool. RT @flintskinny: To say I’m inspired would be an insult. Proof that had work pays off. Congrats @adamnason! – ow.ly/8kHos

— Binny’s Beverage (@BinnysBev) January 6, 2012

Finally getting to @adamnason‘s “The long and lonesome journey of solo entrepreneurship” piece. – bit.ly/xigRuF Great read for all…

— Nick Gosselin (@ngoss) January 6, 2012

@adamnason Kudos on the success of Beernews. It found a niche for us who craved a source for up to date info & news vs editorials & forums.

— Chris Aschman (@cdaschman) January 6, 2012

@adamnason keep up the good work, Adam. Pints in person soon, I hope. Cheers.

— John Holl (@John_Holl) January 6, 2012

You’re looking at a search stream that I subscribe to that allows me to track and engage in conversations that relate to my work.

I see people on Twitter who have sent over 30,000 tweets and I’m not sure how they do it while still being able to do whatever else they need to do during the day. I’ve sent about 7,500 at this point. Not to mention, Twitter is only half the battle for those who use Facebook frequently. And then there is Google Plus…wow.

In 2012, I’m going to try not to look at Twitter more than once per hour. We’ll see how long that lasts.

I, like many, have a love/hate relationship with Klout. It is an awesome idea and I agree with those that say companies want/need to identify social media influencers. The problem that Klout has is identifying actions in the virtual world that can drive value to a client company’s bottom line “in real life.” At least, the tech talking heads think this is the problem that Klout needs to solve to make money.

The algorithm that is supposed to solve this problem has a long way to go, at least when it comes to Twitter, and as has been documented time and time again, it can be gamed quite easily for those willing to put in the time and effort.

Even without gaming, you can raise your score just be tweeting a lot. And I do mean A LOT.

In itself, this is not necessarily a bad thing. A generic question like, “What are you up to tonight?” Something witty about a hot topic. A quote from a famous author. Twitter, after all, is meant to be social. Kind of like a hangout. These sweet nothings get some replies and retweets and will raise your Klout score in spades when executed in volume.

But will those Klout-raising messages drive ‘real life’ value for a company looking at a potential influencer? Probably (maybe?) not. And yet Klout will raise your score, leading a company to think that they can use your influence to help drive value.

So what are the actions other than replies, retweets and favorites that Klout can identify that can help companies?

Idea 1) Drive followers – as far as I know, Twitter charges for advertising, in part, due to the number of followers gained from a ‘promoted tweet.’ The value of a follower is up for debate but 10,000 followers is likely more valuable than 100 (assuming quality followers in both scenarios).

Earlier this month, Firestone Walker Brewmaster, Matt Brynildson, joined Twitter. When I spotted him, he was following a dozen people and followed by six people. I sent out a tweet urging people to follow him:

And what happened? Here is a sample:

He had gained something like 15 followers a minute later and gained over 120 followers by the end of the day.

The Klout result? My score did not change from this.

Idea 2) Drive activity around a hashtag – a hashtag can raise awareness of a campaign or event.

This is tough because you also have hashtags like #WhatYouShouldKnowAboutMe that aren’t tied to either of those. Nevertheless, the power to drive activity around a hashtag is pretty powerful.

Earlier this week, I declared #fcbs as the hashtag that people should use for the Canadian Breakfast Stout release this past Saturday. I wasn’t the first to ever tweet that hashtag but after my tweet on the 29th, over 135 tweets came in with that hashtag.

The Klout result? My score actually went down a bit, not that it should have changed much from only that many tweets. Some hashtags obviously trend to the point that thousands and thousands of users engage with them. But still, it went down?

Again, Klout is a powerful idea and the algorithm will obviously improve. Here are a couple suggestions for Joe Fernandez and Co. over at Klout:

1) Identify and reward driving behavior outside of retweets, replies and favorites.

2) Eliminate or lower the weight of tweets that include famous quotes and generic questions like “What are you doing right now?” Hell, maybe lower the weight of questions in general. Maybe ones that include “help me” or “how much” for instance. If I get a ton of replies to a question like that, it may mean that people are just willing to help me out but how much more “influential” does that make me?

Identifying those behaviors is probably something that Klout is working. Hopefully, they figure it out.

What would Chris Carter say?

I’m not one to air out dirty laundry in public but there is a lesson to be learned by anyone using Twitter and Facebook. Before I lay out my cards, I will say that I @mention breweries when writing about them, a convenient way to say, “Hey, I wrote about your brewery. Here is the post. If there is anything inaccurate, let me know.” Breweries care about their brands like that. And it serves to let followers/fans know that the brewery has an account on Twitter or Facebook.

Back in the pre-notification era of Twitter, I would even @mention local bloggers if I was doing a post on a brewery near them. Thought it was relevant content to them at the time and maybe it was kosher but I have never done this in the notification era.

Enter August, 2011. Deep into the era of notifications. Now this is excessive.

Here is why you may never want to do this:

1. The person gets SMS notifications sent to their phone.
2. The person gets notifications through the Twitter/FB mobile applications.
3. The person gets notifications sent to their email.
4. The person may reside hundreds of miles away from your event.
5. More in general, your content or whatever you are preaching may not be relevant to the person. At all.
6. You’re creating an online identity that resembles a spammer more than someone in the community.