Let There Be Mustaches!

First, here is @mariafi modeling the blue moustache ring I made for her:

Doesn’t she look lovely?! I was very excited to meet her in person after chatting with her on Twitter for the past year (she’s lovely in person & on Twitter!).

Second, I’m posting to say that I’m taking a little break from posting. Given the length of time from my last post to this one, that might be assumed, but I wanted to make it clear. I’ll be back, but I need a little time to refocus what I’m talking about in this space.

In the meantime, I’ll be knitting, drinking wine, and choreographing a dance about whiskey.
Cheers!

Mustache/Moustache Time and Yarn

I added a new page to my blog this week, Mustache/Moustache Time. It’s related to this cruise I’ll be on next week, but it’s also about relating to the world via yarn.

First, for those who might be distracted about why we need moustaches for a cruise. Last year, on the first JoCo Cruise Crazy, Paul F. Tompkins was originally scheduled to be a performer. He had to back out prior to the event due to other work commitments. Holland America, the cruise line, also decided not to have an official formal night on our cruise. These two facts mixed around together and became the Paul F. Tompkins Memorial Moustache Formal.

I was on the cruise last year, and my adhesive mustache kept falling off my finger (which I used to hold the moustache to my lip in dapper fashion). As a knitter and crocheter who believes that crafting is good, this year I decided to make a mustache. On a ring. Then I decided a mustache on a string might be even better. With a stick, so you can use it like opera glasses. For your upper lip.

Others have written why they knit/crochet/craft, but this is one of the things I love about playing with yarn: I can get a random idea in my head and try it out. If it doesn’t work, I can try again, adapting it and sculpting it with my needles or hook. I like the process of taking an idea, playing with it for a little bit, and ending up with a finished object. (At least when it’s small, like a mustache on a stick on a string.)

Recommended Discussions

Have you been following the “Lead or Follow” discussion at ArtsJournal?

I’ve only read a few of the posts so far, but it looks like there are a lot of good discussions going on. I highly recommend taking a look – and voting! Continues through Jan. 27.

In the UK, the Guardian Culture Professionals blog posted this article by Dea Birkett, “Make Sure Your Arts Manifesto Counts,” last week. I happened to open it today and was caught by the following quote:

“It’s ironic that so many manifestos call for accessibility in totally inaccessible language.”

With that article open in the tab next to the Lead or Follow discussion, I had to laugh.

—

More content soon, for now, enjoy the links!

NYE cocktail #2: the boozy kind

Okay, there have been a few comments that my last post was a little misleading. In response, here’s an actual drink recipe-

In a moment.

Back in June, I had a little “Research Questions” day on Twitter. One of my questions asked about people’s favorite cocktail recipes using St. Germain. I didn’t link to @StGermainDrinks, but being the social media savvy company that they are, they quickly found my tweet and retweeted. I got a bunch of responses from people who don’t follow me, as well as ones from followers. It’s one of the experiences that caused me to do the survey. And I still have a lot of St. Germain drinks to try.

Onto the recipe – I received this one in response to the above tweet from @burnumd. Enjoy!

The auld lang:

• .75 oz Aperol
• .75 oz St. Germain
• .75 oz rosemary-infused simple syrup
• Shake & top with champagne

Enjoy! Better yet, let me know if you try this or if you have your own favorite New Year’s Eve cocktail!

New Year’s Eve Cocktail

In my first post I made up a Scrimstreet Cocktail. I decided the end of the year is a good time to reflect on what it includes, and what better way than seeing how many “ingredients” will be incorporated into my New Year’s Eve celebrations?

I’ll be spending the evening at the Scrimshaw Brother’s annual New Year’s Eve show at the Bryant Lake Bowl. Here goes:

Ingredients:

• Item 1, Arts/Museum manager: technically this isn’t a Joking Envelope show, but I’ll still be at the door greeting people, helping late arrivals find seats, etc. Check!
• Item 2, Audience Data enthusiast: I’ll be watching the show and collecting anecdotal evidence about the audience’s reactions while I watch. Check!
• Item 3, History lover: I’ve been in or at the show for at least 8 years, so this is part of my personal tradition. Check!
• Item 4, Dancer: Hmm, this one isn’t there…yet.
• Dash of geek & nerd: Fairly certain the show will provide this. Check!
• Sprinkles of knit & crochet creations: They’re always there. If not a finished object that I’m wearing, at least a work in progress in my bag. Check! 

I don’t think there will be any vintage cocktail glasses, unless the Marie Antoinette plastic champagne glasses count as vintage…but there will definitely be sparkling wine.

Also, for anyone attending the show, I promise not to greet you looking a scary doll. (New Year’s Eve, 2007. I was in the show…)

Survey Results!

As promised, the survey results! (We’ll discuss my time measurement abilities later.)

First, key takeaways:

• Twitter mimics life: we all have our own opinions about what we want & expect from others, including from non-personal Twitter accounts.
• People like organizations they care about, whether that is because of what they are (arts organizations, museums) or because of where they are (local shops).
• Individuality matters: There doesn’t seem to be a strong inclination toward or against being followed by a non-personal Twitter account. What the non-personal account is matters more than the fact that it is a non-personal account.
• Biggest surprise to me: fewer than half of respondents prefer getting a reply when they tag a non-personal Twitter account in a tweet.

In summary? A lot of the answers sound like common sense. Am I still glad I took the time to create the survey? Definitely. Now I have a little bit of data informing me which of my ideas are shared by others – and which are not.

Onto the full data! A total of 18 people filled out the survey. A small response, but hopefully enough to show the variety of people’s expectations. Most questions allowed for multiple responses, so percentages don’t add up to 100%.

Question 1: What is your reaction when a non-personal Twitter account (NPTA) starts following you? Most (almost 90%) said it depends on the account. “I like it, it feels like they are interested in what I have to say” was chosen by 11%, while 17% block them. Of the 17% that said they block NPTAs, 66% also responded that their reaction depends on the account.

Question 2: Do you follow NPTA (non-personal Twitter accounts)? Most (94%) do, only one responding to the question stated that they do not.

Question 3: What types of NPTA do you like to follow you? Arts organizations were the first choice of NPTA to have following you (72%), followed by museums/heritage organizations (50%). Companies related to my profession, companies with whom I have a relationship, and local brands/products tied for third (44%). These results might be accurate beyond my sample, but it is worth noting that I work in the arts and for a museum, that my Twitter & blog followers are skewed in that direction, and that I tagged the survey at least once with an arts-related hashtag.

Question 4: What types of NPTA do you DISLIKE following you? The most common response was national/international brands & products, with 72% responding that they dislike being followed by them. Stores & online companies/corporations followed with 39% of the responses. The “Other” category was selected by 33% of respondents. Fill-in responses included spam/bots, keyword trawlers, and social media companies.

Question 5: When you include a NPTA handle in a tweet, do you prefer: Over half (59%) said it depends on the account. Under half (41%) said they prefer the NPTA replies. Very small numbers prefer that they start following you (6%) or that they retweet your tweet (12%).

Question 6: When you include a NPTA handle in a tweet, what response do you dislike most? Again, over half (53%) stated it depends on the Twitter account in question. “Don’t have a strong preference” was the response of 41%, while 18% dislike not getting any response. Only 12% dislike if the NPTA starts following them, and 6% dislike getting a response.

Question 7: For what types of NPTA do you care most about response/lack of response? Just under half (47%) care most about local companies, brands, or organizations. The same percentage do not care, with only one respondent giving both responses. “NPTA I tweet about multiple times” was the next highest answer with 29%, followed by “NPTA I know follow me” with 24%.

 

As I mentioned previously, I did this survey for fun. I was curious how my own expectations and reactions to non-personal Twitter accounts match those of others. I also run a non-personal Twitter account, so I was curious how my actions in that capacity meet the needs of other people. I know what I like, I know what the people I talk with about this expect, but this was my way to find out a little bit more.

I’ll keep looking at the data and will post again if I note anything of particular interest I missed here. If you have questions, or really want the full summary, let me know!

Survey Time! Non-Personal Twitter Accounts and You

A few weeks ago I put out a little survey asking people about how they interact with non-personal Twitter accounts. I was going to write about the results, but the day I was going to start going through my data, the Guardian wrote up a study on how people interact with big brands. I wanted to read it before posting. They were asking different questions, so I felt my little survey was still relevant.

I admit, I wanted more responses. I’m a survey geek. I think this is fun. Clearly this isn’t a statistically accurate survey. But I’m interested in what people have to say, for myself as an independent Twitter user and as someone who runs a non-personal Twitter account. And I suspect other people might find this information useful, too.

So here’s the survey. I’d love it if you fill it out. I’d love it if you share it with others and they fill it out. And next week, I’ll actually post about the results.