So, yeah, I’m moving. November 9, 2011

Everyone knows the story of my gaydrunkdeadlandlord. It was a crazy time here, but he lived on-property, so we could count on quality people living here. He didn’t want shitty neighbors. Well, neither do we. After he dies, the old landlord took over. He is old. About 70 or so, and lives in Mesa. He’s kept the place up on the outside, but has only gotten new carpet for new tenants. Those of us who have been here for years need new carpet desperately. There are holes in mine and it’s bad enough that I am afraid to shampoo it. The holes are so bad that you can see the mesh backing.

In the 18 months since the old guy took over, we’ve had a lot of sketchy people move on. One lady, Starr, was a taxicab prostitute. She would call a cab, either Discount or Sunshine, and give oral to the drivers on the parking lot. Thankfully, she never paid her rent in 3 months and was evicted for that.

Under me, last year, were two kids. 18 and 19 years old, with an 18-month old baby. They were drug dealers. Traffic came at all hours. They had loud parties and were growing weed in the closet. My neighbors next to them had to call the cops twice. They told the landlord that the lights in the closet were a “science experiment.” He believed them. We were eventually rude enough and called the cops enough that they eventually moved out. The child ended up getting taken away from the mother because of her multiple arrests for drugs and assault.

The neighbor next to me is away at boot camp. I was hoping it would grow him a pair of balls, but apparently not. He has rented a room to Skank #1. Now, keep in mind, I recently donated an organ. Though I am pretty much healed, I HAVE to get a full night of sleep, or I feel really shitty the next day. Before she even moved in, she tore out all the carpet in the apartment. She never asked my neighbor or the landlord if she could do this. She also painted his apartment. Without carpeting, my neighbors downstairs, Will and Jada (I’m not making their names up!) can hear every footstep. They can hear phones vibrating for calls and texts. They have a son, who is also kept up at night because of the noise. Skank #1 has had parties until 5am. It was loud enough one night that I had to call the police and my other neighbor was awakened. She lives at the other end of the building.

The landlord has gotten numerous complaints about Skank #1. He said if it got bad enough that the cops had to be called, that she would be evicted. Well, that never happened. She has spilled paint all over my patio. He gave her an ultimatum on getting the carpet replaced. She did one room, a month ago, and promises every week that the rest will be done. This has been going on for 6 weeks. She also has a girl living there and as of last week, a guy. She claims the guy is her brother and he is here to protect her because we are all threatening her. I simply ignore her. I doubt I am a threatening person.

I’ve had drunk people screaming and falling down outside my window at 4am. I’m 40. This is not a college dormitory. I had patio chairs on her patio, that I let Steve have when he first moved in. They are antiques and I ended up putting them in the storage shed. I didn’t want them ruined and it has discouraged them from hanging out on the patio.

The noise continues without any car from the landlord. I’ve had it. Will & Jada have had it. None of us have had a full night of sleep in 10 weeks because of Skank #1.

So, I’m moving. So are Will and Jada. In fact, we found a building today that has two apartments for rent in a really awesome neighborhood not too far from here. We will still be neighbors.

I’ve cried over this the past 24 hours. Everyone knows how much I love living here. But when I can’t sleep or be comfortable in the place I’ve been in for over 2 years, with zero support from the landlord, it’s time to move. I planned on staying for a couple more years, until I could buy something. I can’t take it anymore and just need to go.

Even if he evicted her, she has 30 days to move. But, there will always be another one to take her place. His lack of care will lose him really good tenants, who care about community. It sucks, but I have to do it for my own health & sanity.

Ugh.

 

A few bad practices for Twitter November 8, 2011

I see a lot of people jumping on the social media bandwagon. They think that if they just tweet stuff about their company or post about what they can do on Facebook, that they’re good at social media. Wrong.

When I get a new follower, the first thing I do is check the profile. I don’t automatically follow back, no matter who it is, if they don’t have something interesting to say or if they don’t engage with people.

One of the worst things I see on Twitter accounts is incessantly talking about what you do.

“Need your pool cleaned? We can do that!”

“Looking for a new car? We can help!”

“Ready to buy? We have great real estate agents at your service!”

But I don’t see them jumping in on conversations. They are just blurting out what they do. Imagine this: You’re at a networking function. There are groups of people scattered around the room. You sidle up, and start listening and then engaging in the conversation. Then there’s that one asshole who just talks about themself. (It’s usually a real estate agent, by the way. Hahaha.)  They haven’t gotten involved in the conversation at ALL, yet they think they are important enough to just blurt out what they do.

Twitter is a conversation. If you want it to work for you, you need to be a person. You have to make “friends” in order for your account to work for business. Simply talking about what you do, maybe thanking for a RT occassionally is NOT the way to do it. It makes you look self-absorbed.

The best accounts out there are run by the people who “get” social media, especially Twitter. The ones who rarely talk about what they do and rarely just tweet their services.

When I first started to tweet for the companies I work for, I was lucky enough to converse on Twitter with other companies in the same industry. It turns out that these accounts were also run by women who knew what they were doing in social media. We have a group on Facebook, which we call the “break room,” where we can share new ideas in social media and vent about those terrible accounts. Social media, especially Twitter, evolves on a weekly basis. Things like #FollowFriday are a thing of the past. #FBLT has exploded but now it’s being done incorrectly.

These are women who I would consider to be the best in the country when it comes to Twitter. I never, EVER see them tweet about what they do. I see them answer questions about what they do, though. That’s the way it’s supposed to be. That’s the way I do it and I get messages on a weekly basis, asking if we can come out to give an estimate or if we have a branch in Hawaii. HAWAII! No, we don’t have a branch there, but it just goes to show that by being SOCIAL in Social Media Land, you’ll go farther than just blurting about what you do.

1. Don’t talk about what you do until someone asks.

2. Don’t expect a follow back simply because you followed someone.

3. Make your Twitter feed fun and interesting and it will work for you.

4. Talking about what you do, what services you offer, etc., should be no more than 20% of your tweets. The rest? SOCIALIZING. It’s SOCIAL MEDIA!

Why you shouldn’t cross-post between Twitter & Facebook November 1, 2011

Yet another thing that makes me stabby in Social Media Land: Cross-posting between Twitter and Facebook. I don’t mean just for businesses, either. Regular accounts and fan/business pages are included. Here’s why:

1. Facebook and Twitter are completely different. Would you put 22-inch rims on a Mini Cooper? No? Why not? Oh, right. BECAUSE THEY DON’T FIT! The same goes for posts on both Twitter and Facebook. You get 140 characters on Twitter to say your piece. Yes, you can shorten links to pack more punch into your tweets. That’s pretty much it, though. Twitter is for information sharing and engagement one-on-one. You don’t get the thread you get on Facebook. On the other hand, you can post longer things on Facebook for people to comment on and respond to.

2. Not all of your customers/friends are on Twitter, so why would you want your Twitter feed on Facebook? My Mom would go blind seeing all the “@” mentions on her Facebook feed. She’d wonder what the heck she missed and start doing it for everything. She really would. And it wouldn’t make sense. Neither does your Twitter feed being posted on Facebook. Do all your fans/friends know what #FBLT is? How about #FF? No, they don’t, so don’t alienate them.

3. It’s just LAZY. Since content on both platforms NEED to be different, take a few moments to bounce back from one to the other. Really, it only takes a few moments. You can use different programs to post to both, without saying the same thing. I prefer SproutSocial, but I don’t even use it to post to Facebook. I actually log into each account and post individually. It’s my job, right?

4. It makes me stabby and drives those of us who actually know what we’re doing BONKERS. By bonkers I mean that I picture myself as one of those super balls that you bounce on the floor and it hits the ceiling and everything else in the room. That’s how cross-posting makes me feel.

5. If you want people to engage on your Facebook page, why would you post something that doesn’t encourage it? Your #FBLT and #FF tweets do not encourage your customers or friends to converse. It’s word vomit that clogs up your feed and pushes great content lower and lower on your page and then nobody will see it. What’s the point?

6. 90% of the time, it’s just WRONG.