Wednesday 21 January 2009

Scooped! director interviewed on tweetabix






Scooped! director James McIvor has been interviewed by the excellent tweetabix website.

Tweetabix conducts interviews with members of the twitter community.

Read the full article here

Here is a selection of James' answers ..

@makingthenews Owner of Scooped!


Q1 Real name - James McvIvor

Twitter user name - @makingthenews

Q2 Location -

Glasgow, Scotland.

Q3Website - http://www.makingthenews.co.uk

Q4 Bio -

a graduate in journalism, I have worked for newspapers including The Sunday Times, News of the World and the Sunday Mail. I spent more than 10 years working for The Scottish Sun, most recently as Chief Sub Editor. I resigned in 2007 to work full-time on Scooped! producing personalised newspaper and magazine front pages as gifts for all occasions. I am also a director of Benchmark Books and have written a series of illustrated sport history books for children. Titles include The Story of Celtic , The Story of Rangers
, The Story of Liverpool
, The Story of Manchester United , The Story of the Scotland National Team and, most recently, The Story of Billy McNeill

Q5 When did you start using Twitter and how were you introduced to it? -

I joined early 2008 and was introduced by @holeinhiseye Whatever happened to him.

Q6 What are the main reasons you use Twitter (e.g. business, marketing, fun, community etc)? -

All of the above really. I enjoy sharing ideas with like-minded people, enjoying sharing articles that interest me and that I think will interest others, I like finding out how people are passing their day - it can feel like we’re working in the same office at times - and I like that as a result I’ve got to put faces to a few names.

Q7 What aspects of Twitter do you love?…

Its simplicity.

Q8 …and dislike (if any)? -

It crashes too often, although not as much as before. The price of success I suppose.

Q9 If you could make changes to Twitter what would they be? -

For the time being I’m happy as it is. I’m sure I’ll like the changes when they come - I’m not hard to please.

Q10 What Twitter apps do you use to Tweet from? (e.g. main Twitter site/ Twitterriffic / Tweetdeck etc) -

main Twitter site, I’ve been meaning to set up on my Blackberry for a while but never seem to get round to it. I also need to start using twitterpics.

Q11 What are your criteria for following someone? -

No set rules, I’ll check out their last six or seven posts and how frequently they post and if they sound OK I’ll follow. By and large I follow those who follow me though that has led me to following a cat!!!!

Q12 What type of behaviour would make you unfollow someone? -

Spam, bad attitude, far right views.

Q13 What tips do you have for newbies? -

Don’t make it all about you (or your company)

Have a genuine interest in what others are doing, or trying to do. If you’re going to join get right into it and try aand make it along to things like @edtwestival

Q14 How do you find new people to follow (e.g. Twellow, Summize, friends of friends etc)? -

I started off by searching for Scotland, then Glasgow etc and followed a few people that way but soon found that the best way was word of mouth. I now follow followers of followers if you follow me.

Q15 Qwitter - do you use it? If someone unfollows you do you reciprocate?

- I don’t think I’ve had anyone unfollow me yet - perhaps I should be more controversial. Not had any reason to unfollow anyone though think I’ll give up that cat unless there is a way you can give it a virtual boot.

Q16 If you agree that Twitter should be monetized do you have any suggestions how?-

I don’t think Twitter should be monetized.

Q17 Who do you enjoy following the most? -

There’s six or seven people that I regularly interact with - they know who they are.

Q18 How do you see the future of Twitter? -

I think they’ll get bigger and better and buy out Scooped! for a seven-figure sum.

If you’d like to feature on Tweetabix or know someone you think would be interested in participating please contact Richard McKay on Twitter or email him at ballymascanlon@gmail.com

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