Finally, a Tweet Goes Viral
I have some informal Twitter objectives and heuristics; I'm sure these are trivial when I routinely read tweets with hundreds of likes, replies or retweets. Most of my tweets, even those with 100 or more impressions, get no similar reactions. I think I've had a few that went into dozens of likes, and it seems every several days someone reacts to an unoriginal meme I tweeted on Krugman saying the Internet's effect would be no greater than that of the fax machine. (I ad-libbed I was still waiting for him to fax in his economic forecasr). Perhaps I'm violating some Internet etiquette, say in returning the favor in following others or promoting their content.I've rated my tweets as successful if they draw 100 impressions and/or I go over 1000 impressions daily. I'll say the occasional tweet that goes over 1000 impressions as going viral.
I give myself extra-credit for reply-tweets getting 100 impressions. For example, on National Hamburger Day, one In-and-Out Burger fan declared victory over Whataburger, a personal favorite. When I went on a business trip to Eglin AFB, FL, I was delighted to see some in the area (I had to drive 10 miles, but it was totally worth it). In-and-Out Burger, primarily on the West Coast, has an almost mythic reputation, particularly in the Los Angeles area. The lines can be long, it's almost impossible to find a seat, and the menu is the most streamlined I've ever seen in a fast food place (like 3 combos: single burger, double burger, and cheeseburger). It's good food, and I like the Bible verses on wrappers or cups. But during the year I lived in southwestern Arizona with one local In-and-Out, I only went there once. In the Tweet reply, I mocked the hype of In-and-Out as "all bun, no burger", a tongue-in-cheek reference to the idiom "all hat, no cattle". That ab lib earned 160 impressions (to date) and a couple of likes. Plus, I noted my affection for the Jalapeno & Cheese Whataburger I had in Florida.
It had been a while since I scored a 1000-impression tweet. I've probably had a dozen or so over my Twitter history but none over the last several months. I haven't found a formula, but it helps when you're tweeting on a trending hashtag. Again, I don't tweet for the sake of stats. So what happened this (Tuesday) morning Transportation Secretary Chao (McConnell's wife) got knocked for not divested yet stock in an asphalt company for which she had served as a director. (It turns out Chao expected a cash payout on deferred shares, which she had reported. Apparently the company had a policy of delivering shares vs. cash, and the issued shares had appreciated, e.g., about 18% since). There is no allegation that Chao has used her position to favor the company in question. I do agree Chao should have divested all holdings potentially in conflict of interest in her official job for the sake of appearance, and she should have been aware of receiving stock and thereby divested ASAP. But the fact is that Chao's connection to the company was well-documented, and any related subsequent decisions would have been scrutinized, if in fact she didn't recuse herself or report it.
I saw it as much ado about nothing and tweeted a sarcastic ad lib, pointing out that Trump blew up the infrastructure talks with Nancy and Chuck last week, probably not good for Chao's stock holding in question. The tweet took off and at last check hit over 1560 impressions on one of my better days on Twitter, over 4275 impressions.
I've worked in the past for at least 2 consulting affiliates of accounting firms, and I had to crosscheck my taxable and retirement accounts against accounting client lists and report/divest any hits. I do understand the ethical questions, e.g., if the auditors detected fraud, I got wind of the news and sold my position before the news hit the market, I would have avoided a huge loss. But the fact is I had no contact with the auditors, and I had made investments before taking the job. Furthermore, my investments were diversified to lower risk. So any one investment was not material to my overall finances.
WWE Notes
I think the DUMBEST belt idea I've ever heard of is the new 24 x 7 belt which wants you to believe that a wolfpack of wrestlers, desperate for title, go after the current champ, with a jogging referee keeping up for an impromptu challenge match. You really don't get a storyline for a match; there is a lot to say about something like a TV belt with more frequent/open challenges. I would have to double-check if WWE ever had a TV belt; I know other promotions have.The Smackdown show teased a heel vs. heel confrontation of Flair vs. Evans after the latter lost to champion Bayley; Evans seemed to blame Flair's outside interference for her loss. No doubt Flair thinks she deserves a rematch for the belt she lost after MITB winner Bayley converted minutes later; maybe she thought Lacey might threaten her rematch for the title. Now I thought the WWE was thinking of making them a heel tag team. Maybe it still is--remember that the Bar (Cesaro and Shaemus) started out as a something like a 7-match program.
It's not clear where they're heading with Kevin Owens; he hasn't feuded yet with the returning Big E, a natural given his feuds with the other 2 New Day members.. Maybe pairing him up with a returned Sami? And it seems that Nakamura is an obvious, credible challenger to either babyface challenger (Rollins or Kingston). It was interesting to see them bring back Ziggler to challenge Kingsto
Much new hype to new wrestling promotion AEW, which has attracted prominent WWE veterans like Chris Jericho and the Rhodes brothers (Dustin and Cody) and especially Moxley, aka Dean Ambrose. TNA is still around (reprising Rob Van Dam and one of my favorite heels, Big Poppa Pump), although WWE did bring Jeff Jarrett back for a brief feud with Elias, but TNA's broadcasts haven't been in my cable lineup for years. I do occasionally catch the syndicated Ring of Honor broadcasts.
I was surprised to see WWE bring back Goldberg to face Undertaker; I thought Goldberg retired after jobbing to Lesnar a while back. And apparently Orton and HHH are resurrecting their old feud although I haven't seen any relevant promos.
