A profile picture is one of the most important elements of your social media profile. It's the first thing people will see when they visit your page, and it's a good way to make a strong first impression.

That being said, not all profile pictures are created equal. Each social network has its specific requirements for what makes a good profile picture, and failure to follow these guidelines can result in a less-than-ideal image that doesn't represent you in the best light.

Here are some tips for taking a great profile picture for each of the most popular social networks:

LinkedIn: Your LinkedIn profile picture should be a professional headshot appropriate for a business setting. Avoid casual or overly-stylized photos, and make sure the background is simple and free of distractions.
Facebook: For Facebook, you can go with a more casual photo than you would on LinkedIn. However, it's still important to avoid anything that could be seen as too staged or artificial. A good rule of thumb is to choose a picture that you would be comfortable sharing with your friends and family.
Instagram: On Instagram, your profile picture should be an image that represents your personal brand. This can be a photo of you engaged in a hobby or activity that you're passionate about or something that showcases your unique sense of style.
Snapchat: Snapchat is all about fun and spontaneity, so your profile picture should reflect that. Don't be afraid to get creative with your snapcode (the image people use to add you to the app). You can even use a funny or memorable picture from a past event as your profile pic.
Twitter: Since Twitter is all about brevity, your profile picture should be an image that can be easily seen and recognized in a small size. A simple headshot or logo is usually best for this social network.

Remember that your profile picture is an important part of your online presence, no matter which social network you're using. Take the time to choose an image that represents you well, and you'll be sure to make a great first impression on everyone who visits your page.

Browse Twitter while protecting your privacy with Nitter

October 20, 2020GeneralEdward Kiledjian

Twitter changed its privacy policy this year, preventing its user from opting out of profiling for advertising purposes and informed users that it would be sharing more data with said advertisers.

I know that most users couldn't care less about their privacy but for the small band of privacy crusaders wanting to use Twitter without giving up their privacy, keep reading.

This Twitter front end is called Nitter. It is an open-source front end that redirects Twitter links to its interface, stripping all tracking code from the page or links. You cannot log into your Twitter account or send messages through Nitter (since that would allow tracking), and Twitter doesn't officially allow third party web interfaces to its services.

Here is the “business case” from the Nitter dev team in their own words

It's basically impossible to use Twitter without JavaScript enabled. If you try, you're redirected to the legacy mobile version which is awful both functionally and aesthetically.
For privacy-minded folks, preventing JavaScript analytics and potential IP-based tracking is important, but apart from using the legacy mobile version and a VPN, it's impossible. Using an instance of Nitter (hosted on a VPS for example), you can essentially browse Twitter without JavaScript, while retaining your privacy.
In addition to respecting your privacy, Nitter is on average around 15 times lighter than Twitter, and in some cases serves pages faster. In the future a simple account system will be added that lets you follow Twitter users, allowing you to have a clean chronological timeline without needing a Twitter account.

There are countless ways to ensure Twitter links you click on open in Nitter (instead of Twitter).

On Chrome, you can use the Nitter Redirect.
On Firefox, you can use the Nitter Redirect.
On Microsoft Edge, you can use Privacy Redirect.
On Android, you can install UnTrackMe from the F-Droid store

Here is an example of my @ekiledjian Twitter page

Here is my Twitter stream on Nitter

Most Twitter clients (e.g. Tweetbot, Twiterific, etc) are designed to log you into your account and therefore require you to log into your Twitter account through them, so Twitter can grant them a unique authentication token. This means that Twitter can revoke the tokens assigned to a client, if the client falls out of favour.

Nitter on the other hand is only requesting the public profile page of the account and then re-skins it to remove all trackers and beacons. Nitter is much more difficult to block.

There are times when certain public profile Twitter users will block you. In my case, I tweeted an article about corruption (written by a major Canadian newspaper) about the mayor of Brampton and he decided to block me on Twitter. To be clear, I never harassed him or did anything un-gentlemanly. I simply retweeted an article from a major Canadian newspaper that they themselves had tweeted.

But through Nitter, I can access all of his public tweets

Hopefully you found this useful.

Best URL shorteners

April 2, 2018GeneralEdward Kiledjian

URL shorteners are something you either use a lot or never. Google launched it's own URL shortening service in 2009 with unique (at the time) features like third-party API access, QR code generation, ability to use easily on mobile.

But Google is retiring this public facing service and replacing it with Firebase Dynamic Links (FDL) accessible by developers only.

This is not surprising since Twitter retired Deck.ly when it acquired TweetDeck.

As part of the process of making TweetDeck more consistent with Twitter.com & Twitter's mobile apps, we're removing deck.ly from our apps
— TweetDeck (@TweetDeck) September 15, 2011

If you have links, Google is giving you until March 30, 2019, to figure out what you are going to do (even though you will lose the ability to create new short links on April 13).

What are the best Goo.gl alternatives?

1 - Bit.ly

The first alternative has to be Bit.ly which is one of the most popular URL shortening services on the internet and one of the oldest. You create an account and then generate short links as required (you can also choose a tag to group your URL).

Bitly allows you to create custom branded short URLs, which is excellent for marketing.

2 - Ow.ly

Hootsuite runs a service called Ow.ly. Ow.ly offers all of the features of Bit.ly but integrates with HootSuite. So if you use Hootsuite to manage your social media presence, this could be the best option for you.

The big difference is that Bit.ly allows you to quickly shorten a link from their main webpage without having to sign-up whereas Ow.ly does not.

3 - rebrandly.com

Many lists include Firebase from Google but I am omitting it since it is only designed for use by developers in apps (not useful for the average Joe). My last recommendation is Rebrandly.com which offers custom URL shorteners. Many large cloud companies are Rebrandly customers (such as Microsoft, Dropbox, etc).

Before you get scared and look away, they offer a free tier that will meet the needs of most users.

Conclusion

A URL shortener is a service that you will rely on for years, and I have presented the companies (services) that look to be the most stable. Remeber that when the service disappears's your links break which could wreak havoc on your social strategy.

How to find how many Twitter fake followers you have

March 16, 2015technologyEdward Kiledjian

Image by Patrik Nygren used under Creative Commons License — Image by Patrik Nygren used under Creative Commons License

When web placement was paid per click or per view, Twitter importance was measured by the number of followers you had. Those days are long gone because modern tech savvy social media users understand that engagement is the ultimate measure.

In some cases, people bought Twitter followers to make themselves look better but there are times when those fake followers are added by bots. Why? Because many people automatically follow back all of their followers and these SPAM accounts get a decent following quickly.

Fakers App

The first tool is an online service called the Fakers App. This app allows you to identify how many fake or empty accounts follow you. Better yet, they can perform this same magic on competitors or service providers trying to sell you on their HUGE social media following.

Head over to the webpage (link)

Click on the Connect to Twitter button

Authorize the app to connect to your twitter account. Then let it do its magic

In my case only 3% of my followers are fake. 46% are inactive which isn't surprising knowing how most registered Twitter users rarely tweet. You can use the search box to check this info for someone else

TwitterAudit

TwitterAudit (link) is another interesting tool that takes a 5,000 follower sample from your account and then creates a follower value score by looking at the ratio of followers to following, number of tweets, date of last tweet, etc.

It creates some interesting graphs:

Conclusion

You'll notice that the stats provided by each site aren't perfectly aligned but they are close. The Inactive status of the Fakers App isn't too valuable for me considering most people sign up and spend most of their time on twitter lurking.

Ultimately less than 3% (in both cases) of my followers are fake. What about you?

Choose the right profile picture for each of your social networks

What are the best Goo.gl alternatives?

1 - Bit.ly

2 - Ow.ly

3 - rebrandly.com

Conclusion

Fakers App

TwitterAudit

Conclusion

A Little About Me —