Sq1 War Room

Posts Tagged ‘Twitter’

Dallas Agency Square One – Scores 100% on Twitter!!!!!

September 1st, 2010 by Judge

Dallas Advertising Agency Square One – Scores 100% on Twitter!!!!!

How Does Twitter Grader Calculate Twitter Ranking?

The most common question I get at grader.com is about how the Twitter Grader algorithm (and associated rankings) works.  Before we dig a bit into the details, it will help to understand the what before the how.  What Twitter Grader is trying to measure is the power, reach and authority of a twitter account.  In other words, when you tweet, what kind of an impact does it have?

Normally, we don’t like talking about the details of the Twitter Grader algorithm.  This is for the same reason that Google doesn’t like to talk about its algorithm: revealing details increases the degree to which people try to game the system.  So, lets approach the question from a different way.  If one were to look at data for a given user available in twitter, what kinds of things would one look at to determine whether that user had power, reach and authority?  Also, when looking at these various factors, it’s helpful to think about each of these in the “all other things being equal, what’s better” context.  Otherwise, it’s easy to get caught up into non-productive arguments on why a certain factor is or isn’t important, because there are so many cases that “prove” that it doesn’t matter.  Let me explain.  One of the factors that goes into measuring your Twitter Grade is the number of followers you have.  Many of you will argue that the number of followers is completely irrelevant because it’s so easy to game.  There are automated tools to do nothing but acquire followers by following a bunch of people.  That’s true.  It is easy to spike up your follower count.  However,  I would counter with this:  If we were looking at two different twitter users, all other things being equal (and I do mean all other things), the one with more followers is likely more powerful and deserves a higher twitter grade.  Of course, all other things are usually not equal and that’s why the Twitter Grade is interesting.

So, let’s go into the factors.  Note:  These are NOT in order of priority or weight (and they’re not all weighted equally — not by a long shot).

Algorithm Factors

1.  Number of Followers: More followers leads to a higher Twitter Grade (all other things being equal).  Yes, I agree that it’s easy to game this number, but we are looking at measuring reach and I did say all other things being equal.

2.  Power of Followers: If you have people with a high Twitter Grade following you, it counts more than those with a low Twitter Grade following you.  It’s a bit recursive, and we don’t get carried away with it, but it helps.

3.  Updates: More updates generally leads to a higher grade — within reason.  This does not mean you should be tweeting like a manic squirrel cranked up on caffeine and sugar.  It won’t help either your Twitter Grade or your overall happiness in life.

4.  Update Recency: Users that are more current (i.e. time elapsed since last tweet is low) generally get higher grades.

5.  Follower/Following Ratio: The higher the ratio, the better.  However, the weight of this particular factor decreases as the user accrues points for other factors (so, once a user gets to a high level of followers or a high level of engagement, the Follower/Following ratio counts less).

6.  Engagement: The more a given user’s tweets are being retweeted, the more times the user is being referenced or cited, the higher the twitter grade.  Further, the value of the engagement is higher based on who is being engaged.  If a user with a very high Twitter Grade retweets, it counts more than if a spammy account with a very low grade retweets.

The Grade Calculation: So, those are the factors that go into the calculation of a score.  This score is then used to compare a user against all other users that also have a score.  The grade is calculated as the approximate percentage of other users that have an equal or lower score.  So, a Twitter Grade of 80 means that about 80% of the other users got a lower score.  At the time this article is being written, over 2.1 million users have been graded.

The Ranking: The absolute ranking is exactly what it sounds like.  Based on all other users scored, what’s your “position” in that list.  A ranking of 5,000 means that only 4,999 other people had a higher score than you (at that point in time).

Elite List: The elite list is simply an ordered list of the top users (based on ranking) at a given point in time.  This list is updated several times a day.  We also maintain lists of the top ranking users based on a narrower set of users (like those in a specific geography, those that match a specific keyword, etc.).

That’s all I’ve got for now.  Hopefully, this answers some of your questions.  What are other factors you think we should be looking at to compute the Twitter Grade?  Would love to hear your thoughts and ideas in the comments.

 Square One, Twitter 

---

---

Social Media – 5 Fab Twitter Follower Visualization Tools

August 24th, 2010 by Judge

According to Mashable; 5 Fab Twitter Follower Visualization Tools

We’ve brought you a few roundups of some pretty cool Twitter visualization tools in the past, and now we’re back with five more for your Twitter-lovin’ pleasure.

The selection we’ve curated here concentrates on graphically presenting your followers, contacts and various snippets of information related to them.

If you’re interested in seeing what your Twitter () followers look like as a keyword cloud, on parade, or even on a mug, then have a look at the tools below and let us know your thoughts in the comments.

---

1. TwitterSheep

---

This is a really simple, but super fun way to look at your Twitter followers. TwitterSheep generates a keyword cloud based on the text in your followers’ bios. To generate a cloud of your own (or indeed a cloud for anyone else’s Twitter name) just head on over to the site, enter the name and within minutes you can have your own keyword cloud that you can choose to tweet out to your “flock.”

---

2. 5k Twitter Browser

---

Neuro Productions’ Flash-based Twitter browser is a spacey way to “see” connections on Twitter, something that is nearly impossible on the site itself. Start with any Twitter user’s name and the app will load up a circle of contacts, their thumbnail pic and latest tweet. Click on a contact in that circle and it will do the same, endlessly creating visual connections that people have made across the social networking site as long as you keep clicking.

---

3. ISParade

---

Quite possibly the most fun you can have with Twitter, this Japanese app will create an animated parade of your Twitter contacts complete with, in our opinion, the “bounciest” music we’ve ever heard. If you haven’t seen this yet, then we really don’t want to spoil the fun of discovering it by saying too much more. Head on over and try it out now!

---

4. TweepsKey

---

This clever app uses good ol’ arithmetic to generate an intelligent graph of your Twitter followers, displaying “tweeps” as differently colored and sized dots across an X, Y and Z axis. Where the tweep is placed depends on the tweets a follower has tweeted and how many followers they have, while the size and color of the tweep relates to data on their followers. It may sound a little complicated, but it’s worth a go to see how your personal Twitterverse appears.

---

5. Crowded Ink “Friends” Mug

---

Crowded Ink’s online mug-making tool takes all your Twitter follower’s thumbnail images and plasters them to the surface of a $15 Zazzle mug, offering you a fun way to display your very own little part of the Twitterverse. As well as generating a design for your username, you can easily do the same for others, so there’s some serious gift potential here for a Twitter-loving buddy.

 social media, Social Media Tools, Twitter 

---

---

Social Media – Twitter Allows Tweets Longer Than 140 Characters (By Accident)

August 15th, 2010 by Heather

According to Mashable; Twitter Allows Tweets Longer Than 140 Characters (By Accident)

If you’re crafty, you can now publish a tweet longer than 140 characters. It’s not a feature but rather a bug of course, so don’t expect it to be possible for much longer.

We first read about the bug in the Twitter Development Talk Google Group, where forum user Chris White posted a step-by-step of how to make it happen. He wrote that you go directly to the Twitter Share URL (http://twitter.com/share?url=) in the Firefox (Firefox) web browser and put your tweet’s text after “url=” — for example, “http://twitter.com/share?url=This is a test of the Twitter 140 character bug.”

The result is a tweet box with a shortened http://t.co/ link (that’s Twitter’s URL shortener). Then you can just click the tweet button and the full-length tweet will go out on your account. It will display properly on Twitter (Twitter)’s website, but many third-party web, desktop or mobile apps will fail to show the whole message.

Twitter user TenhoMania published a tweet that included the entire first chapter of the book of Genesis from the Hebrew Bible — not a wholly original idea at this point, but special for its 3,000+ character length, at least. That and several other lengthy tweets have been retweeted numerous times.

Twitter employee John Adams posted a thanks to Chris White on Google Groups (Google Groups) for exposing the bug, and said “I filed a bug with our webclient team,” so a fix is sure to come in the very near future.

 social media, Twitter 

---

---

Twitter’s Official Tweet Button Has Arrived

August 12th, 2010 by Ernie

According to Mashable; Twitter’s Official Tweet Button Has Arrived

Twitter has just launched the “Tweet Button,” an official option for web publishers to count retweets and let their readers easily share content.

As Mashable was first to report earlier this week, the new buttons let readers quickly share stories and follow relevant users, such as the website or author that posted it. While several large publishers are already live with the button at launch, some simple copy and paste code is available for others to start implementing immediately.

As we postulated in our earlier reporting, the current de facto Twitter sharing service (with some 750 million daily retweet button impressions), TweetMeme, hasn’t been left out in the cold here. In a blog post, Twitter writes that, “We’re pleased to be working closely with the good folks at TweetMeme and, from here on out, they will be pointing to the Twitter Tweet Button.”

On its blog, Tweetmeme writes that, “We will be assisting Twitter with the technical challenges involved with the button and secondly we will be working even more closely in the future on delivering real-time curation of the Twitter Firehose. This will manifest itself in the launch of a number of new products and the first of these is being unveiled today.”

Twitter details the features of the new Tweet Button in the video below:

 Twitter 

---

---

Twitter Launching Official Tweet Buttons This Week [EXCLUSIVE]

August 11th, 2010 by Judge

According to Mashable; Twitter Launching Official Tweet Buttons This Week [EXCLUSIVE]

Twitter is launching an official Tweet Button for sharing articles on websites and counting how many times a URL has been shared, according to documents Mashable has obtained. The Tweet Button could launch as soon as this Thursday.

We’re still diving into the details, but from what we can tell, the Tweet Button is designed to be the most comprehensive counter of retweets and shares across Twitter’s network. It is a single line of code that can be added to any website. There are three versions of the button (110×20, 55×20, 55×63) with five different settings for customization.

In fact, we have embedded the default Tweet Button below. While the embed code in fact works, the actual act of retweeting an article is not possible for most users, including us. According to our sources, only a few accounts currently have that ability activated:

The company that is most likely to be affected by this development is Tweetmeme, which powers most of the retweet buttons you see on websites and blogs across the web, including Mashable.

Twitter could be directly competing with Tweetmeme, but we think it’s unlikely that Twitter would just spring this product on the world without talking to Tweetmeme first. We believe the two companies have a deal, but don’t know what it would look like as of yet.

We have reached out to Twitter for comment. In the meantime though, we have included the documents and the code for embedding Tweet Buttons below. We’ll update this post with more details as the story develops.

---

More Details: The Tweet Button

---

 Twitter 

---

---

Social Media – Twitter Preparing for Promoted Tweets in Third-Party Apps

August 10th, 2010 by Judge

According to Mashable;  Twitter Preparing for Promoted Tweets in Third-Party Apps

Twitter is preparing itself and its developers for the rollout of its ad platforms, Promoted Tweets and Promoted Trends, within third-party applications, starting with desktop apps.

The company has made an update to its application programming interface (API) that gives developers access to two new fields related to Promoted Tweets and Trends. These data points aren’t ready for primetime though; it will be some time until you actually see Promoted Tweets in TweetDeck (), Seesmic () or other third-party apps.

“Over the next few months, we will begin beta testing with a handful of desktop applications,” said Twitter Developer Advocate Matt Harris in a post on the Twitter Development Talk Google Group. “During this period, we aim to learn a lot, and we will apply those lessons when we expand distribution of Twitter Promoted Products to the broader ecosystem.”

Harris also confirmed something we have known for a while: that developers will get a cut of the revenue it generates through Promoted Content in third-party apps. The company is “still working out the exact value” of the revenue split.

Twitter () first rolled out its ad platform in April with Virgin America, Bravo and Starbucks as its initial customers. In June, the company launched Promoted Trends. Coca-Cola, one of the early customers of the product, reported that Promoted Trends netted it 86 million impressions.

Square One a Dallas Digital Agency are experts in Social Media Marketing

 social media, Social Media Advertising, Social Media Marketing, Twitter 

---

---

Social media – 5 Useful Tools to Track Twitter Unfollowers

August 9th, 2010 by Danny

According to Mashable; 5 Useful Tools to Track Twitter Unfollowers

It can be hard not to take it personally, but being unfollowed on Twitter is as much a part of the microblogging service as direct messages and trending topics.

We can’t make losing followers less tough, but we can help you track who stops reading your tweets, and potentially figure out why they hit the road.

From services that alert you when someone clicks the unfollow button, to a timeline of tweets that enhances your ability to figure out where you went wrong, here are five options that can help you analyze when and why people unfollow you on Twitter.

Let us know which tools you are using to track Twitter unfollowers in the comments below.

---

1. Friend or Follow

---

Other than trawling through your followers list, or hitting up individual accounts to see if you can DM someone, there’s not really an easy way on Twitter to see if someone is following you.

Solutions to this problem come through various web services, one of which is “Friend or Follow.” It’s quick, easy to use, and will show you at a glance who you are following and who has not reciprocated by following you back.

Simply enter your Twitter username and you’ll be presented with the thumbnails of those who don’t follow you. You can hover over the pic to see the bio for each Twitterer and there’s the handy option to remove “Verified” accounts from the list, presumably as these are less likely to follow you back.

You can sort the list by name, username, location, follower stats, etc., and you can also choose to tweet about it, although we’d imagine that not many people go for that option.

Friend or Follow will also provide you with a list of those who follow you that you don’t follow back, and a list of “friends” — Tweeters who you follow that follow you, too.

---

2. TwUnfollow

---

Similar to Qwitter, but offering instant (rather than just daily) e-mail notifications, an RSS feed, and a web-based summary, TwUnfollow is our unfollower notification service of choice.

To start receiving e-mail alerts when you are unfollowed, head over to the site, sign in via OAuth, enter your e-mail address, verify it and get your settings sorted as to how and when you want to get alerts.

Once you’re all set up, TwUnfollow will alert you to the tragic event with an e-mail stating that “these twitterers aren’t following you any longer,” followed by a clickable list of usernames and a link to your online follow/unfollow history.

In our experience, the service isn’t quite “instant,” but the alert e-mails generally come through around half an hour after the unfollowings take place, so it’s not far off.

---

3. TwitterCounter

---

TwitterCounter can’t help you identify your leavers, but it can offer stats and data on your followers in order for you to see the bigger picture as far as your Twitter presence and following goes.

Sign in to the service and it will show you, on a line graph, how your follower numbers look for a weekly, monthly, or three-month period. You can also plot the same info against how many tweets you’ve sent, see data on whether your current followers are up or down compared to your average, and even compare your Twitter account with up to two others.

It seems the TwitterCounter team has also invested in a crystal ball, as the site offers “predictions” (presumably based on past activity) of how your account will grow over time. For example, for the account we tested, we were informed that in 37 days it would hit 1,600 followers.

Wider services offered by the site include a “profile checker” that dispenses advice on your profile page, and various widgets and buttons, such as this one:

---

4. Goodbye, Buddy!

---

The Goodbye, Buddy! service “busts” unfollowers by sending you a direct message to alert you of their abandonment, making it a handy in-Twitter alternative to TwUnfollow.

Best of all, the DMs are humorous (examples include “I just saw @username leave — do you wanna ask them why? Only if you give a tiny rat’s ass, of course”) which kind of takes the sting out of knowing there’s someone out there who is no longer interested in your 140-character musings.

In addition to the DM alerts (which take a while to kick in — we’re still waiting for our first DM four days after signing up) you can also log in to the service on the web to see a history of your unfollowers. There are even more features if you’re willing to cough up some cold, hard cash.

---

5. TweetEffect

---

TweetEffect can potentially help you pin down where you’re going wrong in terms of tweets that are turning off your followers.

Simply enter your Twitter username into the site and it will bring up your last 200 tweets and note next to them at which point you gained followers (highlighted in green), lost followers (in red), or stayed static.

Rather interestingly, for the account we tested, it appears that most followers were lost when the tweets were replies to others, or parts of insider conversations, suggesting that tweeple get bored of effectively being CCed into a conversation stream they are not directly involved in.

Although not 100% accurate, TweetEffect is a great tool to consult if your Twitter account is suffering from major churn.

---

In Conclusion

---

Twitter, although incredibly useful and increasingly influential in the online world, is just a social network, and it’s not a gauge for success — or even popularity — in real life.

However, if monitoring Twitter unfollowers and trying to work out the reasons they left is important to you, then we hope these tools will be of good service. Please have your say in the comments below and let us know any other services you find useful.

Square One a Dallas Digital Agency are experts in Social Media Marketing

 social media, Twitter 

---

---

Social Media – Twitter Users Who Rack Up the Retweets Top Most Influential List

August 9th, 2010 by Heather

According to Mashable; Twitter Users Who Rack Up the Retweets Top Most Influential List

Got a lot of Twitter followers? So what? Unless they’re listening to what you’re saying and actually passing it on, you’re likely not all that influential, according to a new study by HP Labs.

According to the study, “The correlation between popularity and influence is weaker than it might be expected. This is a reflection of the fact that for information to propagate in a network, individuals need to forward it to the other members, thus having to actively engage rather than passively read it and cease to act on it.”

Dr. Bernardo A. Huberman, the director of Hewlett-Packard Labs’ Social Computing Lab, and his team analyzed 22 million tweets over 300 hours in September 2009 in order to concoct what he calls the IP Algorithm, which highlights influential Twitter () users by assigning them both a score for influence and passivity.

Passivity is the tendency of many followers to passively peruse tweets without sharing them (i.e. retweeting them) with their network. According to the study, the average Twitter user retweets only one in 318 URLs.

Those Twitter users who are truly influential are able to break through this blase shell and impel their followers to share their tweets with the rest of the Twit-o-sphere. Check out the most influential Twitterers below (Mashable () got a mention), as well as the most popular, yet not-so-influential users.

The study appears to only measure retweeted links, though, which adds an interesting element to the results. Naturally Mashable would reign supreme over other Twitterers, as the majority of what we tweet is links. As we know, there’s more to influence than sharing links — engagement comes in all forms (at-replys, retweeting sentiments, etc).

Are you surprised by these results? There are a ton of tools out there that can help you gauge your own influence — Klout works pretty well by classifying what kind of Twitter user you are. How do you think you measure up? Check out the full study below if you’re keen to know more.

Influence and Passivity in Social Media – HP Labs Research

Influence and Passivity in Social Media – HP Labs Research

Square One a Dallas Digital Agency are experts in Social Media Marketing

 social media, Twitter 

---

---

15 Twitter Lists for C-Suite Execs to Follow

August 3rd, 2010 by Judge

According to Mashable; 15 Twitter Lists for C-Suite Execs to Follow

Twitter Lists are a great way to follow a group of like-minded Twitter () users. By following a List (), you can get an overview of a particular subject by simply taking a look at the stream from time to time. A well-curated Twitter List can be focused on a specific topic, industry or interest.

With the increase in C-level executives joining and taking part in social networks across the Internet (), there are bound to be questions. While Twitter is one of the simplest social media tools out there, Lists are one of the more complicated features for new tweeters to comprehend.

We recommend using tools like TLists, Listorious and TweetMeme Lists to scope out and follow Lists of interest. To get you started or to beef up your current List inventory, here are 15 Twitter Lists for C-suite executives to follow, separated into categories for CEOs, CMOs, CIOs and CTOs, and CFOs.

Share your favorites in the comments below.

---

Twitter Lists for CEOs

---

For the latest business, management and leadership tweets, here are three Twitter Lists for CEOs to follow:

• CEOs: If you’re a CEO and not on this Twitter List, send a friendly tweet to Brand Strategist Valeria Maltoni, and she’ll likely add you to what seems to be the most comprehensive list of CEOs on Twitter. Look to this List for the latest tweets from over 150 CEOs. The List seems to be highly concentrated on digital and technology.
• Business News: Curated by The New York Times, this compilation is a short list of the most essential business news outlets, including The Wall Street Journal, The Economist, Harvard Business Review, Fast Company, Reuters Business and Silicon Alley Insider.
• Management & Leadership: This TLists SuperList compiles the top tweeters from 216 Twitter Lists, tweeting about management, leadership and power.

---

Twitter Lists for CMOs

---

To stay up-to-date on the latest marketing and advertising trends and news, here are four Twitter Lists that CMOs should follow:

• Advertising & Marketing: This mashup of advertising and marketing pros is another TLists SuperList and pulls from nearly 1,500 Twitter Lists to round up the 250 most listed tweeters updating about digital marketing, advertising campaigns, mobile strategy, SEO, branding and more. Averaging around 4,000 tweets a day, this List is perfect for staying up-to-date on the advertising and marketing industries.
• CMO: COO of RecruitingBlogs.com Miles Jennings, curates this expansive List of over 200 marketing executives and CMOs. Follow this List to see what your fellow CMOs are working on and reading.
• Marketing: If TLists’ SuperList of 250 tweeters isn’t big enough for you, check out this List of over 400 marketing, networking, advertising and social media promotion experts. Curated by Peter Urbanski, a web developer and designer based in Columbus, Ohio, this List should satisfy your hunger for the latest marketing-focused content.
• Advertising: FutureClaw Magazine, a fashion, art, and culture publication, maintains the largest Twitter List specific to advertising with nearly 500 tweeters from advertising backgrounds including creative agencies, media planners, and marketers of all kinds.

---

Twitter Lists for CTOs & CIOs

---

Amidst the sea of tech-related Twitter Lists, there are quite a few gems worth checking. Here are some of our top picks for technology Lists that CTOs and CIOs may find of interest:

• Most Influential in Tech: Video () blogger and tech enthusiast Robert Scoble has interviewed over 3,200 geeks throughout the years, so we take his recommendations on techies pretty seriously. This List brings together over 200 of the most respected and influential tech executives. As Scoble puts it, these movers and shakers “make stuff happen in and to the technology industry.”
• Technology: Yet another TLists SuperList, this tech-focused List compiles the most listed tweeters on 377 lists about technology. Follow it to stay fresh on tech news and trends.
• Tech Company Execs: Also curated by Scoble, this List is composed of over 400 C-level execs from a range of companies, both small and large.
• CIO/CTO/Directors/Techies: Andy Lymburner, IT director at Babson College, must have put a lot of time into creating this list of nearly 500 technology professionals from a variety of industries. The conversation in this List revolves around tech, cloud computing, data and security.
• CIO: Produced by IT professional Jason Sparrow, this List includes over 400 Twitter accounts, including news sources, such as CIO.com and CIO Talkradio, as well as CIOs from across the world.

For a more comprehensive look at tech-driven Twitter Lists, check out Barb Dybwad’s recommendations for 10 Twitter Lists for IT pros to follow.

---

Twitter Lists for CFOs

---

CFOs need the most current information in order to smoothly operate their company. Here are three lists that can help keep CFOs privy to the latest financial news, analysis and information:

• Finance & Insurance: For a collection of the best resources and experts, check out TLists’ Finance & Insurance SuperList, which compiles over 200 of the most listed tweeters on 335 lists about finance and insurance. Conversation is quite focused on this list, including topics like accounting, insurance, taxes and legislative decisions.
• WSJ Staff: For the latest business news and financial chatter, follow this comprehensive list of reporters, editors and columnists from The Wall Street Journal, curated by the publication itself.
• CFOs: Curated by Frank Mullens, CFO and COO at Marketing Innovations International, a promotional and retail merchandise manufacturer, this List brings together 300 CFOs on Twitter.

These 15 Twitter Lists for C-suite executives are great starters or additions to any Twitter List collection. Let us know which Lists you are following to stay up on current events, trends, news and analysis in your industry in the comments below.

 Social Marketing, social media, Twitter 

---

---

The Origin of Twitter’s “Fail Whale”

August 3rd, 2010 by Reagen

According to Mashable; The Origin of Twitter’s “Fail Whale”

If you’ve been on Twitter in the past month, you’ve probably bumped into the Fail Whale once or twice. The popular social network has been crashing pretty consistently from an influx of tweets and traffic. Seeing the whale, you (like everyone else) might have been frustrated — you might have yelled at the screen. You might hate that whale.

If you do, chances are you don’t know Yiying Lu or the story behind the Fail Whale, originally called “Lifting a Dreamer.” The whale (first drawn as an elephant) was created by Lu as a sweet greeting to her friends overseas. The minds at Twitter () found it on iStockphoto and used the image as a 404 page (replacing a picture of a LOLcat).

The whale, once an image of Lu’s well-wishes, was supposed to represent the Twitter team’s effort to fix problems of scalability. Instead, the associations have largely been negative. Lu is hoping to turn that around even as she begrudgingly calls herself the “Fail Whale” designer.

Hate it or love it, Lu got on the phone with us to chat about her early artistic influences, her new collection of animal designs, announced exclusively on Mashable (), and why she hates the term “Fail Whale.”

---

Lifting a Dreamer

---

Q: How did you get into graphic design? Was it something you always loved?

Lu: I suppose it’s one of those things you find yourself more good at — artistic things, like drawings and shapes and color … I didn’t know that I was an artistic kid until I went to [a] technology high school and I’m like, “Oh my God, everyone is so good at math and I’m pretty shit!”

… I was sort of self-taught in high school times. I would spend two hours or three hours every day just sort of browsing all these artistic books like Salvador Dali and René Magritte … I didn’t even know I was learning it. I just though it was one of those, “It’s like you’re eating main meals but you thought it was a snack.”

Q: How did that experience inspire your personal style?

Lu: … If I wasn’t trained in the tech high school I probably wouldn’t be as confident to use all these new technologies, and all these new websites and all these new things, really. You wouldn’t be able to have the guts to try it and that was particularly interesting and insightful.

Q: Do you still draw by hand or is it all on the computer?

Lu: … I think the beauty of it is that I have all these hand drawn illustrations still here, but then technology enables me to scan them in and put them online to share with more people. I guess it’s a whole experience — a combination of technology and organic processes that I truly appreciate.

Q:You posted the Fail Whale image on iStockphoto. Did it end up anywhere else?

Lu: Oh yeah, I only put it on iStock at the time. I was sort of using it as a showcase because I didn’t have a website at the time.

Q: For you, is the image still “Lifting a Dreamer” even though everyone calls it the “Fail Whale?”

Lu: I mean, that thing really bothers me and I really wanted to be very honest and transparent to you because I hate the name Fail Whale. Really, I do hate it … I’m like, “It’s not a Fail Whale, it’s like, originally, just a message for my friends far away and it has absolutely nothing to do with failure.” The original icon and symbolism was originally about good wishes and happy thoughts, and that’s what this image is all about. And I guess that’s why people really love it.

---

---

Q: Are you more frustrated by how Twitter has used the image, or how it’s been publicly named?

Lu: It’s really just about how people interpret the picture. Rather than people seeing the picture as a sign of technology’s failure, they should see it as a sign of, you know, “sit back and relax.” You know there’s a problem, but at the same time, enjoy the time being. It should be a visual soother, like, it should be a visual therapy rather than something that people would get really mad [about]. Sometimes you will see some tweets [that] go “Fuck the Fail Whale!” and I just go “No, it had nothing to do with the whale!”

Q: Have you been able to make any money from the image?

Lu: Yes, I do have a merchandise website. I am selling some t-shirts … and it’s really great that now there are more opportunities from other people. People start to negotiate and talk to me about licensing possibilities. It’s just good to find all these good people to work with. I think the whale image actually enabled a lot of opportunity for connecting with the right people in a lot of different areas.

Q: How are you trying to reclaim the image — to turn it from something negative to something positive? Is it just the fail whale forever now?

Lu: Again, it’s something I’d leave to the public to decide because originally the name of the fail whale was a meme and it came out from the public. I really appreciate the fact that people started to dig out their own creativity by interacting with the original image. So, I guess I don’t want to force anything. I just want to see the organic process and just sort of let it sprout as it should be.

---

---

Q: Has it opened doors or pigeonholed you into one design style?

Lu: It has been really helpful, although … when you showcase your work, some people would say, “Oh, you’re just the ‘Fail Whale girl’ and I’m sort of stuck with it at the moment. But it actually does open a lot of doors to collaborate with people such as the LTL prints, and I don’t know whether you know the story behind the win penguins… And I thought, that’s how we just sort of connect. Purely because of love of art and love of technology.

Q: Is there anything that you regret about the Fail Whale?

Lu: I really have no regret at all. I’m really just so grateful and really, really thankful for this opportunity happening…[Designer Stefan Sagmeister] said something that the goal of my design is “touching somebody’s heart,” and I guess I was very, very fortunate to have this chance to touch — hopefully to touch — millions and billions of people’s hearts by showing them the artwork during a 404 [error page]. If the image can give people a happy thought or a moment of peace and also generate so many new creative projects, I think this is probably the biggest gift I could ever receive. And so I really don’t have any regrets. All I have is really just gratefulness.

Q: As long as they stop calling it the “Fail Whale?”

Lu: [Laughs] As long as people aren’t swearing at me or at the whale!

Lu is launching a new series of wall graphics in the next few weeks based around the Fail Whale/Lifting a Dreamer, some of which include the animals featured in this story. Aside from generating some revenue, Lu loves the wall graphics for their interactivity: It’s art that can be moved, changed and modified by the viewer.

Let us know what you think: Is Lu destined to just be known for her whale? Do the new designs spread joy or simply tap a franchise? What’s your reaction?

 Twitter 

---

---