I’ve decided to separate my personal life with my professional life. (I’m trying to.) First baby step is to separate my rumblings and personal shoutings and professional related sharing digitally.

If you’re business partner, client, potential client/ partner, social media junkies, blogging kakis or anyone related in my professional role as director at 24seven, storyteller at claudia.sg or editor at blogpress.sg, please follow me (@claudia10) on Twitter or add me on Linkedin.

If you’re a friend, family, relative or people who cares (and I care about you too), please add me as friend on facebook. That’s where I’ll be sharing my personal stuff.

If you’re my blog reader, please join Claudia Lim “Fan page” in Facebook. I’m in midst of developing that sad looking page right now. Please be patient. Really… something more happening will take place there soon! So go “Like” Claudia Lim first. (That sounds -_-”)

So there, you’ve been directed to the right channel to get the right kind of things you want to know about or from me.

Now… where’s my sleep….

Companies reluctant to woo customers with tweet nothings

Larger version

Larger version

Nothing to comment on this right now since it was from two months ago. Progression and growth digitally is too fast too furious. Something two months ago may not be news anymore. Just want to post it up as a record for my own reference. And if you’d missed this, for your reading too.

A while back I did a quick sharing on why I think the INQ Mini 3G is cool. After I got a little more acquainted with the review unit, I discovered some more things, both good and not so good, about the phone. Here’s a little more about the INQ Mini 3G from Claud talks Gadgets.

INQ Mini 3G

First! As you may have read somewhere already, the INQ Mini 3G is not, i repeat! Its NOT to be put side by side with the iPhone, the Blackberry, the Android nor any Windows Mobile phone! It is of a category on its own, atm. It is however a very low cost ($0 with 2-year mobile plan) phone for those who wants a cheap alternative to accessing their online social networks and catch youtube while on the go. Yes! The INQ Mini 3G does youtube.

YouTube in landscape view

You can access and download lots of free games and applications from your Mini 3G, accessible via the INQ Hub widget on your homescreen. This is where the exploration and fun can be discovered and enjoyed!

Some games & applications on INQ Mini 3G

Overall the INQ Mini 3G, as you all should already know, its surely not my type of phone. But if my younger sibling (if I’ve one) or my mother (if I’ve time to teach her facebook and twitter), this phone may be something worth getting. (It’s $0 leh!)

If you’ve been considering a cheap alternative or as a matter, a FREE one, head over to Plaza Singapura this weekend. And here’s why…

Advertorial

INQ Mini 3G will be having its second roadshow this weekend at Plaza Singapura from 11am to 10pm. And this time, they’re giving out even better deals when you purchase your INQ Mini 3G at the roadshow. Just print out the e-voucher below and redeem the following when you buy the phone this weekend at the roadshow:

1. Free pack of 3 INQ Mini 3G battery covers (worth $34.95)
2. Waiver of registration fee and SIM card charge (worth $42.80) when you sign-up for the INQ Mini 3G handset

Click on voucher for printable size.

While you are there, don’t miss the chance to catch Mediacorp celebrity, Dai Yang Tian on Sat (I recall him as the ping pong player) and Elvin Ng (he’s damn cute! if I go is bcos of him! Wahahaha!) on Sun at 8pm! They’ll be there to meet you and you may have the chance to take photos with them too! So don’t forget your cameras!

There will be a lucky draw too for anyone who purchases the INQ Mini 3G on 31 Oct – 1 Nov at the roadshow. One winner each day will be picked to win a 12-month SingTel mobile subscription.

Now that’s the end of the advertorial. More photos of the INQ Mini 3G by yours truly for your viewing pleasure…

Colorful and unique menu

Right side of Mini 3G

View of the left

The camera

The bottom and speaker

2010 is a very nice number and it being an “even” year makes it even more meaningful. Don’t you see that most of the major events around the world surrounds the “even” year?

Yes, I am labeling this as “Part 1″ because there will be many posts upcoming that will be related to the count down for 2010. I is very excited lah!

So, for Part 1, I am going to dedicate to YOG2010.

To commemorate the countdown to Singapore YOG2010, the organizers gave out limited edition pin on Twitter. I chanced upon it and spread the tweet out too. And for doing so, and hash tagging it with #singapore2010 I got myself this cute little pin…

YOG2010 Limited Edition Pin

Yap, that’s how cui I look… lack of sleep and rest and unhealthy diet is NOT good for your health! Don’t do it! For me, its bo pian.

Anyway, behind the card printed…

365 Days to the first Youth Olympic Games
The Singapore 2010 Youth Olympic Games is just 365 days away – with the spirit of vibrant energy going stronger everyday. To commemorate the one-year countdown event on 14 August 2009, a limited edition souvenir pin featuring the Spirit of Youth emblem has been specially designed.

The souvenir pin has been created in celebration of the city’s progress and oneness towards inspiring youth to embrace, embody and express the Olympic values of Excellence, Friendship and Respect in all spheres of life.

Not sure if they’re still giving out this pin, why not follow @singapore2010 on twitter to find out?

• Exterior of Nokia N97
• Customising the homescreen
• Editing and moving applications
• Marking multiple photos and videos
• Viewing photos
• Twittering with Gravity demo

Also my first attempt with the new iMovie on my new MBP! *coughs* Video taken with the Canon IXUS 110IS.

First lets see what’s a tweetup. In my own words, its a mashed-up for meet-up that happens for people using Twitter. Hence tweetup. Simple right? So when I came to know about the first sgtweetup by @CarlGriffith, my immediate impression was, “Yeah! I’m going to meet more new people!” And that’s what happened. (For me!) I got to catch up with old friends, especially nice seeing @emoh whom I knew back in my days at Made With Love, and I met lots of new ones too! *waves!!* I regretted not getting to meet everyone there. There will be a next one I’m sure! In fact @inrsoul has already started the next tweetup with beer and tapas on 21 May! (Sorry guys, can’t make it for this one. Heading to BKK the next day.)

Perhaps if the organisers had read about this before sgtweetup, the not so accidental hiccup wouldn’t have happened. Still kudos to @CarlGriffith for starting this and it was really a great turn-up! Just something to share from experience, if there’s going to be any form of plugging or presentation happening at such gatherings, everyone would have been more understanding and appreciative if it was made known to us from the start of the invitation. Coming in as a form of “surprise” for this usually turns the attendees off. Especially in social media, these things may get blown up pretty quickly if not handled well. And it just doesn’t help when the models had no idea what Twitter was about nor what they were expecting to do and meet at sgtweetup.

For those who don’t know what’s happening, search for sgtweetup on twitter (and go all way back to tweets from 14 May 2009). You can also read about it from Ingrid’s post, Daryl’s thoughts and Ian shared his views too.

So to answer my own questions from my opening:

Was it good? – Well in my opinion, I achieved my own purpose of being there and so its good.

Could it have been better? – Definitely! As Carl puts it, its his first time organising sgtweetup and surely lots of room for improvement. (This one I know best! Because I’d organised quite a number of social media gatherings like this.)

And what’s the difference between #smbsg #websg #sgtweetup and Tweet! Tuesday? – This question I’ll need a paragraph or two to discuss. So read on if you’re keen to find out…

Here’s my take on the brief introduction of the various gatherings/ events (in 140 characters):

#smbsg is like a corridor where neighbors meet to share about social media and how people are generally using them.

#websg is where the real hardcore web developments enthusiasts and designers meet to improve the usability of the web.

#sgtweetup is a gathering of tweeters in Singapore to meet, chat and be merry (with no agenda nor plugging hidden).

#tweettuesday is Not another stand-around-and-network-whilst-eating-free-food session. Its where people meet to share and learn about twitter and perhaps anything social media.

Out of the above four social events surrounding the new media (social media) or web scenes, I’m involved in two of them, #smbsg and #tweettuesday. And of course, there’s Blogout!, Barcamp and many other social events too. IMHO, all of them exists for a reason, and all can co-exits in the already small populated community of digital users here in Singapore. But like all social events, any agendas should always be made known to participants prior to the date so that they can come prepared and expect things to happen. Perhaps also because of the many types of events surrounding the same few platforms, participants are confused. And some would have already set their expectations when they attend. Organisers for future such sessions, it’ll be good to spell out the agenda (if any) and what to expect in the event page or invitation.

Well, I hope my post has shed some light to the blurred situation that was tweeted on and on after #sgtweetup. Looking forward to what’s coming up next here in Singapore. For me, I’ll be first looking forward to my trip to attend Barcamp Bangkok next weekend! Anyone reading this will be there? We should gather and go for drinks while we’re there! Or shopping at Platinum Mall anyone?

On a side note, after all that happened, I’m very upset that many of us actually helped tweeted and spread the words out to so many people about #sgtweetup! And someone just conveniently brought in his/her brand/client! Now I feel cheated!

Updates

• Photos by @inrsoul are up in flickr!
• with more updates to come I hope…

That’s @claudia10 (me), @howiec and @patlaw with our twitter page.

This interview happened when the journalist from Zao Bao contacted TDM to see if anyone of us are able to share more about Twitter with him. And after a few emails, Howie confirmed the interview with Fong Wei and we met at Geek Terminal one evening for the interview. Coincidentally, I’d met Fong Wei and his photographer previously at the Volvo Ocean Race with Puma.

When I saw the article on my desk yesterday (thanks to molemole), my jaws dropped. I had no idea it would be a cover story for zbNOW and such a long one too! To be honest, I had lots of problem trying to read past the first paragraph. Too many of the characters know me more than I know them. So thanks to @melvinkee and @shenheng, we had an english translated version, which was rather hilarious reading through it. You can also find the online copy of this article in mandarin here.

In brief, the part where I contributed is on how locals whom I’m following are using Twitter. Based on my researched while I try to find all Singapore Tweeters via @sgtweet.

Quoting from the article (with help from Google Translator and my own editing):

The local community media (social media) consultants Lin Yiling (28) as part of her job, she started to “follow” Singaporeans on Twitter whom she do not know, to understand how they use the latest craze in new media. According to her observation, the local Twitter users are between 20-year-old to 30-year-old, mostly joined because artists in the United States are using Twitter, there are also a lot of youths whom joined to follow their idols’ or artists’ tweets, this narrows the distance between fans and stars.

She said: “I found a lot of new members in fact do not know the purpose of Twitter, after they joined, most only have a one-way following of celebrities such as Ryan Seacrest, Britney Spears, but these tweeters do not have much (or any) followers. They are also not active in their tweet update.”

She also found that these new members are not making full use of Twitter interactive two-way communication capabilities (yet), instead only shit like diarrhea tweet about mundane things (that’s happening in their life). But over time, they will begin to enter the situation.

Some people think that a lot of Twitter users are too vague and general and only “reported” themselves what has been done or where they went, but Lin Yiling believes that a lot of people being the “kaypoh” Singaporeans would want to find out what their friends are doing, and hence start to join Twitter.

The above I’m only quoting the part where I was mentioned. Pat’s part was about the recent #awaresg tweeting and trending and Howie shared about the use of Twitter as a crowd-sourcing tool. And the big portion of the article shared what Twitter is and the usual lingo used and how it works. In fact, the best way to learn about Twitter is to get an account and test it out yourself! If you need any help, and have a day to spare, we can meet up for a chat and let me share more with you. Of course coffee on you!

Will be sharing more about Twitter and the things I discover during my research soon over at 24seven blog. This post might not be out so soon, since my schedule is pretty packed for the next few weeks. Will be drafting the post in bits daily.

Yesterday, while setting up and designing the new skin for 24seven.sg, I decided to do a quick and simple background for my own twitter too. And this is what I got!

i is a happy girl now! i can stare at my twitter page 24/7 and will never get sad cos i has got a nice background.

Go check out my new twitter page today! Follow me if you’re on twitter too!

How it all started
One fine day, Claudia saw a new message in facebook (sadly it wasn’t born on Twitter!) from Kelvin. He shared that Laurel was coming to Singapore and asked if Claudia was keen to gather a few social media people together for a dinner with Laurel. And than the discussion continued and from a simple pay-your-own-bill dinner gathering became a bring-your-own-food gathering at The Sail.

As we were not sure if Laurel were able to make it for the gathering, we decided to we needed to have something plan on our side too. So as our conversations were mostly happening on Twitter and Facebook, we decided to focus on something and Tweet! Tuesday was created.

Not another stand-around-and-network-whilst-eating-free-food session
Being involved in the planning and executing of a number of social media community events and seminars, I’ve seen and encountered quite a mix of people and have my own perceptions formed. But still, none has been ideal yet. Perhaps SMB has kinda spoil the community with free food and free networking. But IMHO, an ideal session should focus more on the content sharing and take aways by each individual. But this is not an easy one to achieve since everyone attending will have a different set of prior knowledge and skills. To strike a good balance is tough.

So what happened on the first Tweet! Tuesday?
Yes, there were still free food, thanks to everybody who came with their contribution to the voluntary pot luck and Kelvin for the pizzas and beers! And yes, there were still the stand around and network portion. But we also had two short sharing on a common theme – that is Twitter. Kelvin and I did a little sharing on how Twitter is generally used and a few tools that is useful. When Laurel arrived, she is very kind to also share about the things she do and how Twitter and Facebook were very much used in her country.

Although the sharing was short and perhaps nothing much for some, but I felt that it was a good start for Tweet! Tuesday.

What’s next?
To find and link ALL Singapore users in Twitter! At least that’s what @sgtweet is attempting to do. But looks like its going to be quite a hell task for manual adding.

Seriously, after the first session, Kelvin and I have been too busy with work and haven’t got time to strategies. And there were also a couple of those attending who mentioned that they would like to co-host Tweet! Tuesdays too. So I’m going to go ahead and start a list of to-dos for Tweet! Tuesday hosts. This list will forever be in editing mode…

Tweet! Tuesday SOPs

• Venue big enough for 40-50pax
• Keeping the attendants list below 60pax
• Have at least one topic to share or a guest speaker coming
• Has to be voluntary pot luck session
• Have AV set-up if possible
• Limit to 1 Tweet! Tuesday a month
• … to be edited and continued…

So if you’re keen to co-host a Tweet! Tuesday, feel free to get in touch. To be updated and kept in the loop of future events, please follow @sgtweet or join the social media people facebook page.

Newspapers, magazines, books, websites, blogs, twitters, and even photos in facebook or flickr. There are so many updates every second, you can’t possibly be reading everything you come across, so which do you read? What elements help you decide which article to read in your RSS feed, or which magazine to buy off the newsstand?

When I was in primary school, newspaper wasn’t part of the curriculum. But I had time flipping through the comic section, which I don’t remember seeing now. In those days, there would be 2 full pages of comic strips and those are the only things I read. Later in secondary school, we were somewhat forced to read at least one article every week and write a summary of the article in our scrapbook. And since there’s no focus on which topic or section we have to choose, I pick the lifestyle and entertainment section. What one reads depends on one’s interests and stage in life. Just like the girls in primary school reads Teenage magazines, those in secondary read Teens and than when one matures, they start reading Cleo, Her World or even Woman magazines.

And now, I stopped buying magazines. Even if I should get tempted by the freebies that comes with the magazine, I would usually buy and chuck the magazine aside after flipping through it once. I seldom touches the papers. Why would I want to spend $5 on a stack of papers when I can get my reading pleasure online? I would also like to see that I’m saving earth by not buying those magazines.

Now that there are so many (daily new) content online, reading options increases but we’re still left with the same amount of time to spend reading (or perhaps even lesser since we are spending way much time checking out friend’s statuses, videos and photos in facebook!).

So what do you read on a daily basis? I’ve grouped my readings into tabs with netvibes, but I also follow many on twitter who shares good reads in their tweets.

Than there’s the ad-hoc msn messages, facebook posted items and emails that leads you to even more reading! If I loose control and continue clicking, no work will be done by the end of the day!

So we started selective readings, we read what came within our sight when we are in our reading time. We read links whom we respect and trust share. We read what our closer friends write. And when we really need something that’s to a topic, we search.

What about you? What do you read on a daily basis? Or should I ask, how do you read?