So, if you’re looking for the real #ScottAllen, you’ve found me.    I’m also on Twitter, Facebook, Google Plus, LinkedIn, Instagram, Empire Avenue, and just about everywhere else on the social web.

I am NOT…

• K. Scott Allen aka @OdeToCode (I consider myself an ex-coder)
• The 1964 Olympic bronze medalist in men’s figure skating (I took lessons at Ice Capades when I was 8…does that count?)
• Director of the United Heritage Center at The Dell Diamond (though I live right around the corner)
• A Seattle architect (though my cousin is)
• An investigative reporter for The Boston Globe (though I used to be a Guide for About.com)
• A killer rock guitarist (I try, but…)

Those are all very fine other Scott Allens who you’ll easily find on Google. But they’re not #ScottAllen (sorry, guys — I call dibs!).

Seriously, though…if you haven’t started laying claim to your name and started making your fame, better hop in the game and get on your way to #HashtagFame.

OK, that was #lame.

Anyway… #GetThePoint? #WhatUGonnaDoAboutIt?

I kinda miss #FollowFriday…looking to make some new connections. Who are YOUR top people to follow on Twitter?

— Scott Allen (@ScottAllen) June 14, 2013

One of the biggest challenges as you expand your online influence is how to manage your attention. If you follow people back on Twitter, for example, pretty soon you’re trying to drink from a firehose.

ifttt to the rescue!

In this post I show how to auto-curate Twitter lists of a) people who engage with you publicly via @ messages or retweets, and b) people who participate in a particular hashtag chat.

It’s a great way to help focus your attention and support on like-minded people who are willing to support and interact with you.

A few weeks ago, I did a post about Wikipedia’s fundraising ads, entitled Jimmy Wales, Serial Killer?, which got retweeted by a few people. Well, thanks to that, Klout decided that “Wales” and “Serial Killer” were topics I was influential about (sorry, didn’t get a “before” snapshot). Now, they weren’t among my top 3, which were “Social Media”, “Internet Marketing” and “SEO”, but it was in my top 15.

I decided to have a little fun with it, so I posted on Twitter and Facebook, and sent out a shareholder mail on Empire Avenue, asking people to give me +K in “Wales” and “Serial Killer”. Within 5 minutes:

Awesome!

I think, though, I may have overdone it, because within an hour:

LOL! Oh well… makes for a great blog post. I wonder what kind of perks that’ll trigger for them to send me?

Feel free to +K me in Social Media and help me get back to normal. Or not.

1. Are an individual blogger who lives in Austin (it’s fine if your blog makes money – just looking for more traditional personal blogs, not aggregators or commercial sites).
2. Blog about Austin in a way that is not overtly commercial or self-promotional.
3. Write about Austin at least a couple of times a month.
4. Most of your blogging about Austin is original experience and/or commentary, not just excerpts and links to news stories or other blogs.
5. Are actively engaged on Twitter.

   Still with me? 

6. You’d like more traffic to your blog (who wouldn’t?)
7. Would like (and are willing to share) relevant, quality content about Austin with your Twitter followers.
8. All on autopilot, or pretty close to it!

Still interested? Cool… let me tell you about Triberr. Pretty simply, it allows bloggers to gather together in tribes and promote and share relevant content automatically on Twitter.

Yeah, I know… potentially kind of scary. Thing is, each tribe is small and exclusive, and the content is curated by both the founder of the tribe (me, in this case) and the members in general. People who don’t produce good content… don’t stay in the tribe. People who don’t share the tribe content out to their Twitter followers… don’t stay in the tribe.

Want to learn more? Check out the Triberr FAQ, or leave a comment below, or contact me.

Want to be considered for membership in the Austin Triberr tribe?  Contact me with your blog URL, Twitter ID and email. I’ll take a look and consider you for inclusion.

Happy blogging!

Image: Mark Schaffer

There are a couple of key lessons here for business owners exploring social media:

First, use automation with care. I generally recommend reserving it for mundane, low-risk tasks like following people back on Twitter, scheduling a Tweet for later, perhaps even automatically following people who meet certain criteria. All of these are low-risk, i.e., if they fail, they won’t affect your image or reputation.

Secondly, if you use any automated content publishing, e.g., syndicating your blog to Facebook or your LinkedIn updates to Twitter, check them fairly regularly (at least a couple of times weekly). If your social presence is worth investing time and effort into at all, it’s worth checking regularly to make sure you’re not embarrassing yourself.

Create your own Tweet Cloud

Yeah, it’s funny, but I’ve actually seen that.

tha?  that…?  thanks?

If you’re going to present yourself as a Twitter expert, even if you’re going to auto-DM, shouldn’t you at least make sure your message is <140 characters??

Anyway, the folks at Rated Awesome put together a video that makes fun of both The Social Network trailer and Twitter at the same time, and the result is hilarious.