Who Buys Followers?

This is a no-brainer for me. Do not waste your time. You should never purchase followers. 

Followers that are purchased are bots and if someone checks your account for a job, there are ways to tell if your followers are real people or bots. 

If they find that your 5K followers are mostly paid for, why should they hire you to tweet for them. Bots do not buy goods, go to movies, eat gourmet food, etc. 

I have almost 98K followers and I would be willing to bet that at least 94 percent are real.

I actually unfollow people who have not been online in a couple of months. If they stay away from the Internet two months, then it was a flash in the pan to them. Unless someone turns them on to it again, they probably decided to live their real life, not their online life. 

If you were the CEO of a company trying to get your message out, why would you hire someone that only had about 20 percent real followers. It is better to have 10K real followers than 1M bought followers. 

There are programs that can check your followers to see your percentages. I was hired for a social media advocate job a couple of years ago because even though I had a good reference, they checked my Twitter account. I had 90 percent active followers, 6 percent inactive followers, and 4 percent bots.

I did not know they could check this, but I wanted to follow each one of those people myself. I did not want to have a bunch of sex-crazed perverts following me. I check each one and if there is any sexual innuendo, profanity, or hate speech, I block them. I do not want to see that, and do not want my name associated with them. 

I like nice, kind, positive people and most of my followers are nice, kind, positive people. If they are not, I engage and see if I can help to change their attitude about how Social Media should be handled. If they continue to cause me a problem, I block them. I do not tolerate rudeness. Would you?

One thing I never do is argue with people online. I do not tell them what I think lots of times, I just bow out of the conversation. Life is just too short to be at odds with other people. 

The message is this: Put in the effort to get your own quality followers, you will thank me in the end.

Barbara Duke 

Brand Advocate

Professional Encourager

Thoughts of Pink

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!

ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!

T - Twitter - A to Z Challenge (PR)

I am sorry, I have been on Twitter. What fun! I have never heard so many positive reaffirmations. It is wonderful; it is a very intensive activity. I have met so many people and received so many links that I feel like I have a PhD in the Internet. Here are a few of the positive things I captured from Twitter.

• We either make ourselves miserable, or happy and strong. The amount of work is the same. Francesca Reigler


• The last of the human freedoms - to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way. Viktor E


• The world is a looking glass and gives back to every man the reflection of his own face. William M. Thackeray


• Some days there won't be a song in your heart. Sing anyway. Emory Austin


• Seek out the inner voice which says, 'This is the real me,' and when you have found that attitude, follow it. James Truslow Adams


• A positive attitude may not solve all your problems, but it will annoy enough people to make it worth the effort. Herm Albright


• Don't be pushed by your problems. Be led by your dreams.


• To accomplish great things we must not only act but also dream, not only plan but also believe. Anatole


• One of the largest tributaries of the RIVER OF GREATNESS is always the STREAM OF ADVERSITY. Cavett Robert


• Peak performers see the ability to manage change as a necessity in fulfilling their missions. Charles A. Garfield


• Old Taoist proverb--When it rains, let it. Great wisdom there!


• Life is a series of natural and spontaneous changes. Don't resist them -- that only creates sorrow. Let reality be reality. Lao-Tzu


• I love this one! Since the house is on fire let us warm ourselves. Italian proverb


• I got a simple rule about everybody. If you don't treat me right -- shame on you! Louis Armstrong


• Only a fool argues with a skunk or the cook. - Harry Oliver


• One of the keys to happiness is a bad memory. - Rita Brown


• Never go to a doctor whose office plants have died. - Erma Bombeck


• Gratitude is the greatest and parent of all virtues – Cicero

Isn't this wonderful. Maybe you would like to Tweet on Twitter too?  http://www.twitter.com/

(Actually, I bought stock in Twitter, everybody join!)

GOD IS GOOD - ALL THE TIME!

ALL THE TIME - GOD IS GOOD!

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M - Mammogram Again? - A TO Z Blogging Challenge

Last week I had a mammogram. That is something that I have to pray about and sometimes cross my fingers about.
They also asked me to stay and did an ultra-sound. It seemed to be alright, but today I received a letter from the radiologist and I have to have another mammogram in 2 or 3 weeks. This is very disturbing and it is difficult to keep the tears back.


When I found the lump back in January 2009, I walked around in a daze until the surgery the end of January. It was Stage I and the doctor said not to worry. But, when they tested the lymph nodes, the found microscopic evidence of more cancer. So, I had radiation. Every weekday for 28 days. I got 2 little tattoos out of that. The results from the BRACA test came back and we found out that it was not genetic, but environmental. The doctor left it up to me to whether I had chemo or not. The end game was, if I had the chemo, I should not have to worry again, at least not for 10 years or so. 

So, I took my new laptop to the Cancer Center twice a week for 12 weeks and taught myself  how to use Twitter and Facebook. I found some pretty interesting people online. I met people in Australia, New Zealand, the UK, Canada, Hawaii, Alaska, and almost all of the Continental United States. A lot of people in the Far East. 

Our little Beach House

In August, my mother came to visit and we drove down to North Carolina to our Beach House. On the way down, I started to have severe pain on my right side and by the time we got there, Ray had to call the Rescue Squad. We were surprised, but they were there in less than 5 minutes. 

They loaded me in the ambulance and took me to New Bern. I was in the hospital for 10 days. They sent in every kind of doctor you can imagine, even a exotic medicine doctor. They finally decided it must be pneumonia. Every time they tried to take me off the morphine drip, I would be in so much pain, all I could do was cry. They were finally able to get me on to Oxycodone and send me home. Ray drove me back to Virginia as soon as he could.

It was on a Sunday and they had made me an appointment at the Cancer Center for Monday morning. I went and they sent me to the Hospital for a chest x-ray and it showed a problem with my right lung, so back into the hospital I went. I was there for 10 days and it is a blur, just like being in the hospital in NC was. 

Mother, Me & Social Media

Some friends from church would come and sit with me during the day so I would not have to wait for the nurse to come to take me to the bathroom. You are a little woozy on a morphine drip. The pain was so bad, that I could feel it even with the drip and other pain medicines. Finally, it got better and I was able to go home. I am not sure they ever actually knew what it was.

Since I was diagnosed with Rheumatoid Arthritis (RA) from some of the tests taken in the hospital, they sent me to a Rheumatologist. He did not seem to care about what happened, just was was going on now. I saw him every 3 months since October 2009 until he retired in October 2013. I have a new Rheumatologist now and I like her very much. She is very thorough and did a full exam both times I have seen her. Last time, she told me she suspected the first time she saw me that I had Fibromyalgia, too. Now, after examining me again, she was certain. She gave me all kinds of literature explaining what it is and what are the symptoms. No wonder they could not figure out why the RA was so constant. Normally, you have some respite when you go into remission occasionally.   

During all this time in the hospital and after I got home, I had so many people on Social Media who were there for me. I would chat with people in Australia in the middle of the night when I could not sleep. The ladies at my church made sure that I had plenty of cards and prayers going up to Heaven for me. I received over 250 actual cards while I was sick and that is not even counting virtual cards. I had them all in a basket that I called my basket of prayer. 

I will call tomorrow and see what my nurse at the Cancer Center says, they should have a copy of the letter. I have an appointment with my Oncologist on Monday, so I may have to just live with the "if " until then.

This comes at a time that I am praying constantly for our friend @Livinlime on Twitter, Marie Walker Riddle. She has triple-negative breast cancer and it is Stage IV. I am so sorry that she is having to go through this. No one should have to go through it. I hope they find a cure soon. My son-in-law's mother had breast cancer for 25 years. When she passed a couple of years ago, she did not even weigh a hundred pounds. She went through so much but she had a supportive
family around her, supporting her at every turn.

So, so much for me. I hope you are all well and happy. I am a pretty happy person most of the time. I am nervous about this, but to my joy, I am not afraid. I will be fine because:

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!

ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!

He loves us and everything that happens is for a purpose.

Positive PINK with HireInfluence

I am feeling so positive. I have renewed my work with @HireInfluence. I will be doing something a little different. I will be tweeting out a link to their homepage  a few times a day, and then when someone clicks on it and goes there, it will be credited to me. It is kind of an affiliate kind of thing. I am looking forward to this. This is for Networking Social Media Superstars. You can fill out the form and join. Your name will be added to a list of people who are qualified for a variety of Social Media Jobs that will be coming available in the near future. There are a lot of companies, large and small that will be needing someone to run their social media, which I think will end up being one of the best forms of advertising that a company can use. There can be more interaction with clients through social media. @HireInfluence will provide the HR for companies they are lining up who can use their services. The thing that is most important to me is that there are those of you out there who need work and you have the expertise that is needed. This could be the opportunity of a lifetime. You could go to work for a company or maybe even work as a consultant. I feel so good about this. It is a win-win for me. I will be able to make a little extra money and my friends may be able to find good paying jobs doing what they love to do. Not to mention I can have my cleaning lady come back. She needs extra cash too. WATCH FOR MY TWEETS!

Everything is coming up Roses for me (and for you). The past four years have whished (made-up word) by. I have prayed to feel better and that has not happened, but I don't think I feel any worse. That is GOOD! LIFE IS GOOD! GOD IS GOOD!

I have all my wonderful friends on Twitter, Facebook, LinkedIn, Pinterest, Empire Avenue, etc. I have an amazing reach. You can check out my page on HireInfluence at Barbara Duke. I have been blessed.

Recently, I spoke with someone at All Radio Network (ARN). I signed up for it, but on deeper consultation with Ray and my doctor, it was decided that it would not be a good fit for me at the present time. If they had sent me more information to begin with, I might have been able to talk them into it. They actually signed me up when I was on a lot of Vicadin and I wasn't really sure what I was doing. I know I am a little ADHD and tend to go overboard sometimes, so for now, I will let them guide me in that area. It sounded like a great program with lots of potential, but I just do not think that it would work for me right now. I need to be quiet and do my thing and rest when possible. I really don't need anything extra. At least, that is what they tell me. They keep charging my credit card and I have asked to cancel, but have not heard anything. I think they should return the payments they asked for and heaven help them if they set up a site and use my name without my permission.

We went to Kentucky and I was able to see my mother. She seemed alright most of the time. She just forgets a lot. Since I seem to do that too, it didn't appear to be such a big deal to me, although I do worry about her. She has some wonderful neighbors who will be able to discern if she is not doing well. My brother goes over to her house often to check on her, and she spends some time at his house.

My brother and his wife are going to take their Airstream and go to Marti Gras in New Orleans and the Super Bowl. Evidently, there is a group of wealthy people who love motor homes and travel to different venues. This one has been going to Marti Gras for over 45 years.
Then in April, they are going on a cruise with my sister Jan and her husband, Woody. They are going to Spain and spend an extra week in Barcelona after the cruise.

I am going to write something on my other blog today that some people may not like, but it is my opinion about some things that are going. I will tweet it out when I am done. I hope that you are having a great week. We are not quilting today because everyone is having problems with arthritis and the weather is awful. So, I get to stay home in my PJs, cook some comfort food and do a little organizing/cleaning, since this wasn't the week for my cleaning lady.

GOD IS GOOD - ALL THE TIME!

ALL THE TIME - GOD IS GOOD!

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HIRE INFLUENCE PINK!

I just started a new job on Monday, November 12. I was called out of the blue the Thursday before and I accepted on the spot. Part of my job is finding networking superstars and asking them to set up a profile (still in Beta). They would like to have the best of the best to offer to clients that they will be signing up in December. It could potentially be a great benefit. Someone told him about me and he checked my Twitter followers (less than 5% were not real). That is a big plus to companies.

If you would like to be on the list, please sign up and complete the profile. The site will compile your stats on Twitter, Facebook, Linkedin, and KRED scores. I haven't asked many personally, so you could be getting in on the ground floor. It is free.  Hire Influence and follow me at @hireinfluence (I am tweeting for them) 

The most positive thing I have received from this experience, is not the money, not the new IPad that they sent to work on, but the validation of the past three and a half years of my life. I am sure, if you are reading this, you know what I mean, but for those of you who don't, let me explain. When you tell people that you are online a lot, and have over 10K, 20K, 30K. . . .70K+ people following you on Twitter and they say "why?" Why are you on the computer all the time? Don't you have anything better to do? Are you making any money? Or, imagine the look they give you when you tell them something good that happened online. I know you have seen that look. 

People don't realize that you can have a life online. You get to know so many wonderful people that you would never have a chance to know in your everyday life. I hope that you all will support me in my efforts to stay home and work. I still cannot work outside the home. Unfortunately, people think that you need to be on the job on time and show up every day. I just cannot do that at this time. Hopefully, in the future, I may be able to. 

Check out: Hire Influence and follow me on Twitter at @hireinfluence 

You are all such wonderful people that I know you will help me in this. Thank you in advance for your help. This is the opportunity that I have been praying for and I know that God wouldn't have brought it my way unless he expects me to do well. It might also be the opportunity that God has planned for you. 

Let me know what you think.

GOD IS GOOD, ALL THE TIME!

ALL THE TIME, GOD IS GOOD!

Hello Again PINK

I apologize for not writing lately. The new combination of Google, Facebook, and Twitter kind of put me in a tailspin. Facebook was the most confusing and I am still not sure what is going on. I am still tweeting, Facebooking, although I have been lacking on Google+. I am behind on my Triberr team. They may kick me off. It has been a couple of weeks.
I also got caught up in Pinterest (look at it) - Addictive! I have 73 Boards now and over 9400 Pins. There are 546 followers and I am following 1412. I haven't even been on there that long. I just love it. I keep thinking of new ways to use it. I am putting videos from YouTube on there in pins. I love the videos on sewing and quilting. It is just wonderful. Whoever thought of this should have big pockets to put all that money in.
I pinned some of my #SweetTweets from Twitter. Then set up a board for #SMgirlfriends. Then someone else set up Social Media Girlfriends and added me.Someone added me to Must Follow Pinterest People Networking!
There is a board for:

• #SMgirlfriends 
• Friends of Ricki Lake
• Thoughts of Pink
• #SMManners
• My Social Media Girlfriends
• TWITTER SLUMBERPARTY , etc.

I even got a nice tweet from Lisa Kridos, the Executive Producer of the Ricki Lake Show. She is so nice to say that I am doing wonderful things. @DabneyPorte and Britt Michaelian @MamaBritt stayed at the Montage Beverly Hills @MontageBH - http://pic.twitter.com/fspoW5CE
I think they are definitely having a wonderful time! From the pictures on the Website, I can tell. They say the service is exceptional there. I would like to go there sometime. Not sure if I will ever make it to California again.
Two weeks ago, my name appeared on "The Most Remarkable People in Social Media" by JK Callus. Isn't that special? It is nice when people recognize that you have a passion for something. And then, last week my name was in an article on "The Fifty Women You Should Follow on Twitter." I am amazed. I just love interacting with everyone and encouraging everyone I can. 
Thank you to those who have faith in me and believe that I can do whatever comes my way. I love you all.

GOD IS GOOD - ALL THE TIME!