If I had a dime for every time a hunter told me that their church is communing with nature when they go hunting, I could have personally financed this Bible. As you see in the photo, this is the Mossy Oak bible- marketed towards outdoorsmen. It is an example of Christ Above Culture for its use of popular culture to promote Christ.

Twitter is a great way to communicate information you are uniquely interested in. You follow people on Twitter because they provide information you are looking for and don’t find anywhere else.

Twitter is even more useful when it is used as a mobile app. You can receive all sorts of useful tidbits through your cell phone or even as a text message, if you don’t have a data plan on your phone.

Here’s one example: you can get local traffic updates through your Twitter account. Here’s how: create an RSS feed with traffic information and ask FeedTwit to send it to your Twitter account as a direct message.

The Yahoo! Developer Network explains how to get local traffic updates through an RSS feed. Although that example might be intimidating to someone who isn’t used to working with a code, let me simplify it for you. All you need to do is add your zip code to the end of the following URL:

http://local.yahooapis.com/MapsService/rss/trafficData.xml?appid=YdnDemo&zip=

For instance, although I live in a suburb of Charlotte, NC, I would add the zip code for my workplace at the end of that URL to get traffic updates on my way to work in downtown Charlotte:

http://local.yahooapis.com/MapsService/rss/trafficData.xml?appid=YdnDemo&zip=28203


Next you take the URL and give it to FeedTwit in order to send the RSS feed to your Twitter account by direct message. Typically when people use RSS feeds and Twitter they think they have to use a service like TwitterFeed. Now, TwitterFeed is a great service when you want to broadcast the contents of an RSS feed through your Twitter account. In this case I don’t think people living in New York (or anywhere else, for that matter) are interested in receiving a traffic report from Charlotte, NC (and would simply unfollow you for providing irrelevant information). Rather than broadcast an RSS feed to all your followers like TwitterFeed, FeedTwit sends the feed’s contents to you as a direct message- that only you will see. Since this will come to your Twitter account as a direct message, you can read it from your favorite Twitter app or even through text message- if you have set up device updates through your Twitter account- even if you don’t have a data plan on your cell phone. Pretty cool, huh!

It is simple to use FeedTwit. First you follow the FeedTwit Twitter account. Within an hour you will receive a direct message giving you a password for your FeedTwit account. Visit the FeedTwit homepage and login using the given password and tell FeedTwit to send you the RSS feed you have just created.

Pretty soon you will get your local traffic reports through your Twitter account.

The other day I found this example of Christ and Culture: The History Of The Vacation Examined : NPR.

One way to advertise on Twitter is through @FeedTwit. This unique service regularly sends twitter messages to its followers- usually over text message or SMS. This service is gaining in popularity because it fills a need that Twitter itself does not provide.

FeedTwit offers a couple ways to advertise on Twitter:

Advertise by public Twitter stream

In order to use this service, people on Twitter must follow FeedTwit’s account. You could advertise over the public stream of information that would automatically be sent to everyone who is using this Twitter service.

Advantages:

Your will advertise to a broad audience and therefore this will be relatively inexpensive. Take a moment and read Quantcast’s audience profile of Twitter users to learn about who you could reach on Twitter.

Disadvantages:

Since you advertise to a wide audience, some of them wouldn’t necessarily be interested (indirect marketing)

Avertise to particular Twitter followers

This service regularly sends messages directly to the followers, which are only seen by the customers. Since a lot of information about Twitter users is in the public domain, this allows you to personally advertise to customers based upon geography, age, and even particular interests. Additionally, one thing we inherently know about FeedTwit followers is that they use their cell phones for text messages (and likely invest in unlimited messaging plans).

Advantages:

More clear understanding of the audience in Twitter and direct access to Twitter users

Disadvantages:

More effort needed in preparation to advertise and relatively more expensive.

No matter how you advertise on Twitter with FeedTwit you will be able to track your message from its broadcast to completion of your goal. This will allow you to quantify your success easily.

How can FeedTwit help you advertise on Twitter? Contact us today and let us help you advertise on Twitter.

Twitter text messages are an important part of the Twitter experience, but not all of us have unlimited text messages with our cell phone. So, you ask, “How can I stop twitter text messages from coming to my phone?“

Twitter has a series of Twitter text commands that you can text message to Twitter by sending them to the number 40404 (this is the same number you will send a text message to if you simply want to post an update to your Twitter account; if you haven’t used Twitter before and send a text message to 40404, it will ask you to suggest a Twitter name for your account). Many of these text commands will allow you to stop Twitter text messages from coming to your phone. They include:

STOP or QUIT

You can send either of these terms to Twitter by text message if you like but let me warn you that this is a drastic measure. The one time I used this (and I forget which word I chose) it completely unpaired my device from my Twitter account. When I tried to send an update by text message after using these commands it kept thinking I was a new Twitter user. I had to go to the Twitter website and reconnect my phone with my Twitter account.

OFF

Although it seems simple enough, if you send a text message with “OFF” to Twitter you will stop receiving text message updates from people you have decided to receive device updates from. Unless you send “OFF” to Twitter again, however, you will continue to receive direct messages by text message (including messages from FeedTwit).

OFF username

This text message will stop updates from someone you had previously told Twitter you wanted to get updates. This does not apply to direct messages or any other Twitter account you might follow through text messages.

LEAVE username

According to Twitter’s own documentation, this does the same thing as OFF username. You might think this means you are no longer following them in your Twitter account but really this just tells Twitter you no longer want text message updates from that particular user.

These are all useful things to know if you use Twitter text messages. Another thing you might want to know about is how to receive @ replies from Twitter by text message. When someone replies to you or mentions you and you are only connecting to Twitter through text messages, you won’t know they are talking to or about you until you get to the website- unless you follow FeedTwit. This is a service that sends your Twitter mentions or replies to you as a direct message, so if your phone is set up to receive direct messages from Twitter, you will get them as well. FeedTwit is the best way to keep in touch with your Twitter friends over text messages.