San Antonio businesses on Twitter

Lately I’ve come across more and more San Antonio businesses on Twitter. Hooray! It’s great to see San Antonio businesses take advantage of social media tools so they can reach out to the community at large as well as to their customers and prospects. Twitter is a free, fantastic way to keep people updated on what your business is doing.

This post features a list of businesses in San Antonio who are on Twitter. This list is a living, breathing thing that will be revised often. If you don’t see your business listed here, just send me an email, reply to me on Twitter @colleenpence or DM me on Twitter and I’ll add you. My only request is that you are a business in San Antonio, Texas that is actively using Twitter to be listed.

There’s also a new group in town on Twitter, MadeinSATX, whose goal is to support San Antonio businesses so that dollars earned here are spent here. They’re launching their web site in early July. Stay tuned on how they can help you and your local business.

San Antonio Businesses on Twitter:

210SA

alamoheli (Alamo Helicopter Tours)

babypotential

BeerAcrossTx

bigaonthebanks

bloommaternity

brasseriepavil

browncoffeeco

C4workspace

CampusScooters

CreativeNoggin

ChristineHuff1 (Creative Touch)

CRMLarry (Lentz Computer Services)

cszsanantonio (Comedy Sportz San Antonio)

erch (Ecumenical Center)

facelogic

iGoSA

jamietxc (Texas Creative)

KGBTexas

kmarvel (child support enforcement lawyer)

lane24 (LTM Medical Marketing)

luminarias

maegg (Heritage Bookkeeping and Tax)

MySA

papajohnssa

privateasset (at Jefferson Bank)

PromoGeorge (PROMOtivations Advertising Specialties)

RO2108 (Rochelle’s Gift Baskets)

rudysbbq

SABizJournal

SACurrent

SAFreshCatering

Salesby5

seaworldcomm

silorestaurant

txconflictcoach (Conflict Connections, Inc)

TxDomesticG (Texas Domestic Goddess cleaning/organizing)

Come out, come out, wherever you are!

It wasn’t until I started replying to other people’s tweets and joining the conversation that I learned the value of Twitter. Since I started actively participating on Twitter I’ve met amazing people, both online and in person, who I probably would never have met otherwise. I’ve found new clients on Twitter in addition to new business opportunities. I’ve made some wonderful new friends on Twitter. I’ve found great places to eat. I’ve found tons of educational resources on Twitter. And, I’ve learned new things about my city.

I don’t know if Tim Walker was the first person to compare Twitter to a cocktail party (he’s so wise, witty and savvy that it totally could have been him who said it first) but when I heard him describe it that way, I thought it was the perfect analogy. Would  you have fun at a party if all you did was lurk in the background and listen to other people talk? Of course not. How boring! You’d want to dive in to the conversation – probably several conversations -to express your opinion and meet other people during some (hopefully) lively chats. 

Hanging out on Twitter is very much like that cocktail party.

If you don’t get involved in the conversations on Twitter, you’re missing out. Sure, you might pick up a neat tip or trick or two related to whatever it is that interests you. But you won’t be building anything. You won’t be meeting anyone or forging powerful personal and professional relationships. You won’t be creating your network before you need it (OK. That wise bit of info was said by either Luis Sandoval or Luis quoting Connie Reece…two more wonderfully helpful people you should follow on Twitter).

Dipping your toes into the Twitter stream.

According to Hubspot’s 2009 State of the Twitterspere  Report, a whopping 54.88% of the people with accounts on Twitter have never tweeted. I suspect it’s at partly because people don’t understand Twitter or how to use it once they sign up. For others it’s because they’re following people and lurking but are timid about leaping into the deep, fast-moving current that is the Twitter stream of tweets.

Start out slowly. Don’t get intimidated. Follow the advice of a few pros to get going:

Twitter 101 by Charlotte Anne Lucas is a great place to learn what Twitter is (news, crowdsourcing, broadcast, community) and how to use it.

Twitter 101 by Shéa Bennett, aka Twittercism, is a helpful collection of articles gathered to advise Twitter newbies on their path to happy tweeting.

Of course there are bazillions more Twitter 101 articles and posts available to guide you. But no matter who’s advice you follow to learn the nuances and etiquette of Twitter, the most important thing to remember is:  join the conversation!

There are lots of fantastic Twitter clients available for Mac. I’m covering the five I’ve spent the most time with: Tweetie, Twhirl, TweetDeck, Nambu, and Seesmic Desktop.

Over the last few months I’ve become a big Tweetie fan, first on the iPhone and then Tweetie for Mac when it was released in April. I tried TweetDeck but even with all of its bells and whistles it doesn’t support multiple accounts—a must-have feature for me. Recently I’d heard lots of praise for Seesmic Desktop (developed by the company who purchased Twhirl in April 2008) and, after using it for a while now, I may have to switch alliances from Tweetie–it’s just that GOOD. Seesmic definitely gives TweetDeck a run for its money (or freeware as the case may be) at least until TweetDeck starts supporting multiple accounts. Nambu’s another new kid on the Mac block offering lots of attractive features (multiple accounts, FriendFeed integration, threaded conversations) for rabid Twitter users.

Each of these five Twitter clients has its pros and cons. Seesmic handles multiple accounts beautifully,  integrates Facebook and will integrate FriendFeed, and appears to be fast and (so far) not buggy. Twhirl isn’t as fully featured as Seesmic but it offers support for multiple accounts and it’s been around longer so it’s probably more stable. TweetDeck does a great job making it easy to add people to groups, includes Facebook integration too, and it does a great job covering trending topics via TwitScoop. Tweetie doesn’t have columns, groups or trending topics but it allows for multiple accounts, it’s fast and user-friendly and it’s unparalleled among Twitter clients for the iPhone (vs. Twitterfon, Twittelator, and Nambu). Nambu has a tree-like structure for viewing/accessing multiple accounts and it seems like it would work well, but I had lots of trouble with it (although, to be fair, it might have been my internet connection at the time that gave me trouble, so I’ll definitely check out Nambu again).

Comparing features of Five Twitter clients for Mac:

Here’s a comprehensive chart comparing the five clients.

The Quick ‘n’ Dirty on Five Twitter clients for Mac

Tweetie for Mac – It’s Big Bird to Tweetie’s smaller and original iPhone client and now the foundation for the next version of Tweetie for iPhone.
Deets / Get it: http://www.atebits.com/tweetie-mac

Twhirl – Twhirl was purchased by Seesmic in April 2008. Seesmic says it will continue development but since they’ve released Seesmic Desktop my guess is that Twhirl will be phased out at some point.
Deets / Get it: http://twhirl.org

Tweetdeck – The most popular Twitter desktop client (across Macs and PCs), Tweetdeck offers powerful features but gets dinged repeatedly with complaints that it doesn’t handle multiple accounts (yet) and for the fact that it’s a memory hog.
Deets / Get it: http://www.tweetdeck.com/beta 

Nambu – Often faster than Tweetdeck and comparable in nearly every way with it, Nambu’s a compelling new Twitter client that allows use of multiple accounts. It’s climbing the chart among Twitter clients. But I had a hard time getting it going. I also didn’t find it to be very user friendly and found it to be SLOW to load tweets (and it only holds up to 200 unread tweets). I plan to give Nambu another try soon.
Deets / Get it: http://nambu.com 

Seesmic Desktop – The Tweetdeck Killer, Seesmic Desktop seems to be gaining ground on the other major Twitter clients for Mac at #13 (as of the writing of this post). The key, currently, is its ability to handle multiple Twitter accounts. Once Tweetdeck rolls that feature out, all bets are off.
Deets / Get it: http://desktop.seesmic.com

A few web Twitter clients that handle multiple accounts and allow you to schedule tweets:

HootSuite 

TweetLater

TwitterHawk 

More Twitter client resources:

Micro-blogging: 26 Twitter Desktop Clients for Mac

The most up-to-date info on which Twitter clients are popular

Mashable’s Head to Head: TweetDeck vs. Seesmic Desktop

San Antonio River's Museum Reach Expansion

Wow. Words escape me (and the fact that it’s past 1:00 a.m. isn’t helping either), but luckily I have pictures of the San Antonio River’s Museum Reach Expansion preview tour  as do many others. We also have tweets, lots and lots of tweets about the Museum Reach of San Antonio’s River Walk Expansion. And, thanks to Charlotte Anne and Willie Lucas, we also have video footage of tonight’s San Antonio River Tour!

I thoroughly enjoyed the preview tour of San Antonio’s River Walk Expansion this evening. Who wouldn’t love a leisurely, informative stroll along a pretty new stretch of the River Walk with some of San Antonio’s leading social media experts? Social Media Club San Antonio members and other social media enthusiasts gathered at the Brooklyn Avenue Bridge to get an early glimpse into another beautiful feather in our fair city’s cap: the Museum Reach Expansion of the San Antonio River.

San Antonio Museum of Art

Social Media Maven and KGBTexas public relations account coordinator Andi Narvaez came up with the idea for a social media preview of the river expansion project after viewing Social Media Club San Antonio’s incredibly successful coverage of the mayoral election earlier this month. She organized the tour along with Steven Schauer of the San Antonio River Authority and together they led our excited group of social media mavens up and down the new extension of the San Antonio River for two fun-filled, tweet-filled hours.

The grand opening of this stretch of the San Antonio River Walk will be celebrated all weekend long. Visit sanantonioriver.org’s Museum Reach page for details. 

And, be sure to check out Trinity University Dean David Tuttle’s blog post about the Museum Reach preview tour. I’m sure the only reason he beat me to a blog post (and one that’s WAY more thorough than mine) was because he didn’t join the River Gang for margaritas at Tomatillos afterward. Darn that tequila. It gets me every time.

The Air Force & social media: PodCamp 3.0

I’m not a podcaster (yet) but I figured the El Tropicano Hotel, home of Podcamp San Antonio 3.0, would be the place to meet people who are. I was right. Not only did I meet some amazing podcasters but many of the scheduled-on-the-spot sessions covered social media hot topics as well. Susan Price demystified the concept of co-working. Charlotte Anne Lucas talked about Using Facebook for Business. Patricia Porter talked about her year-long social media journey after her baptism-by-fire at PodCamp 2.0. Several great tweeps (and me!) led Twitter 101. Andi Narvaez revved us up about blogging. Matt Scherer taught us to Pay It Forward. Members of the 433rd Airlift Wing of the Air Force  and local educators gave examples of how they’re using SM tools to educate and inform. Josh Eyestone taught us the ins and outs of video and SEO. Luis Sandoval taught us about building our network. Camp Maven Jennifer Navarrete was a gracious and effective emcee. And in the midst of it all, Leslie Baldwin, among others, podcasted live several times throughout the day. 

And Donna Tuttle, esteemed SA Business Journal editor, covered the mane event. But that’s another story entirely.

I won’t go into the details of what made PodCamp San Antonio the unique, mind-expanding experience it was. Others already did a beautifully thorough and funny punny job. But what I can tell you is that after attending GreenCamp the week before and now PodCamp, I’m a camp convert.

Where else but camps (Freelance Camp, BarCamp, TweetCamp, GreenCamp, PodCamp, ActionCamp) can you go (for free!!!) to meet such a diverse group of local and regional people willing to get up in front of a room of virtual friends and strangers to share what they  know in the hopes of teaching and inspiring others? Yeah, that’d be NOWHERE.

A San Antonio-sized thank you to PodCamp’s sponsors and to Jennifer Navarrete, Larry Hendricks, Leslie Baldwin, Michael De Leon, Nathan Lott, Richard Galvan, Shaine Mata and Stephen Vanderver for organizing PodCamp 3.0 and bringing all of us together. So, ya’ll, when’s PodCamp 4.0?

There were so many great speakers and topics at PodCamp 3.0 that it’s possible (highly probable) that I’ve left some out. If I did, I apologize. Please send me your info to include right away!

Social Media Club San Antonio covers the mayoral election

On Saturday, May 9, Social Media Club San Antonio participated in an event never before seen in our city. The San Antonio Current joined forces with IGoSA.com, NewTek, and Social Media Club San Antonio to stream live coverage of San Antonio’s Mayoral Election over UStream. Social Media Club San Antonio had four members (Club founders Jennifer Navarrete and Luis Sandoval and Club members me and Stephanie King) stationed at the Current’s offices while other members of Social Media Club (Alan Weinkrantz, John Navarrete and Leslie Baldwin) were stationed at the various election headquarters around town. We also had one roving reporter (Shelley Cook) who roamed between all locations, giving us her unique perspective. Emceed by the Current’s Elaine Wolff and IGoSA’s Kaye Cruz, and directed by Ed Lozano, and supported by a huge cast of behind-the-scenes people who made the live event possible, the resulting broadcast was an amazing collaboration of journalists, social media enthusiasts, political commentary guests, bands, comedians and poets all who chatted, tweeted and performed in between updates on voter experiences and polling numbers. It was an experience like no other.

San Antonio is a hotbed of social media activity and as a member of Social Media Club of San Antonio I was thrilled to participate in this ground-breaking event.

For a complete stream of tweets during the five hour broadcast, check out #savotes here on Twitter. And, in case you missed it, here’s a little taste of what we were doing on Saturday night.