Name, rank, and occupation soldier!
My name is Taylor Smith and I’m an Interface Developer. I take all the pretty pictures the designers draw all day and turn them into functioning, interactive websites.

What was the first development project you worked on?
The first websites I can remember working on weren’t exactly what I would call “development projects.” They were more like personal sites put together with the limited knowledge of HTML and CSS I had back in the late 90s. At the time I was more into photography and messing around with Photoshop, which sort of naturally led me to web design. From there, it seemed that becoming better at HTML and CSS was the next step I needed to take in order to get my designs online, so that’s what I did.

At six, what did you want to be when you grew up?
I wanted to be a front-end XHTML/CSS/JavScript specialist with an emphasis on user interface design and usability, obviously. I also had a short lived interest in becoming a Ghostbuster.

In this field, who do you look up to?
The people I look up to most in this field are the people who blur the lines between development, design, and interaction. There are a lot of talented people specializing in just one of those fields, but the people who can take a step back and understand the overall experience of a website are the ones I find are creating the most compelling content. People like Dan Cederholm, Jason Santa Maria, Dave Shea, Shaun Inman, and many others are not only actively engaged in furthering their skills as front-end developers, but they make it look damn sexy in the process.

What podcasts do you listen to?
I listen to a lot of podcasts. Taking the bus between Denver and Boulder provides me with about 3 hours a day of downtime, and my commute is only made tolerable by the likes of This Week in Tech, Macbreak Weekly, This American Life, You Look Nice Today, Car Talk, and Diggnation. The nice thing about these podcasts in particular is their length; they usually span the entire length of the commute. I have to say, however, that my favorite podcast is The Moth. These are much shorter, but I have yet to hear a story that hasn’t moved me in one way or another.

What nerdy things do you do outside of work?
I use internet lingo in everyday conversations, apply Twitter hashtags to situations outside of Twitter, and have been known to text in lolspeak. I also go lollersaking, ride in a roflcopter, and have an escape route planned for the impending zomgie apocalypse.

Tell us the funniest thing you saw online?
I spent way too much time “researching” this question and have decided it’s impossible to narrow it down to just one, so I’m going to list five that come to mind. Auto-Tune the News #2, Motherf***ing Parking Ticket (NSFW), Cat vs. Printer, Lazy Town Remix feat. Lil’ Jon (NSFW), and David After Dentist.

If you could take a Delorean back to your freshman year of college but only 10 seconds, what would you say to yourself?
“Go snowboarding. A lot.”

How would you change HTML?
My biggest gripe with HTML is definitely the amount of time it takes for upgrades to be implemented. It is unlike almost every other technology out there. HTML5 includes some amazing advancements, but is slowed down not only by the people creating it, but also by the implementation of all the major browsers, AND the adoption rate of customers. Ian Hickson, the editor of the HTML 5 specification, has estimated that HTML5 will be completed in 2022. That’s right. Thirteen years from now.

What is the best part about working at Imulus?
The best part about working at Imulus is almost certainly knowing that everyday I get to work with a group of immensely talented and passionate people. Not only that, but I get to make a living doing something I genuinely enjoy doing, and something that I can actually see myself improving at everyday.

What’s the problem with radio today?
The biggest problem with radio is that there’s no diversity; every station sounds the same. In their defense, it’s a tough industry to be in these days, but I think they brought a lot of that on themselves. Their attempt to appeal to the lowest common denominator has resulted in there being a lot of stations with zero personality. When a new station emerges that tries to do something different, they are often short-lived. Indie 101.5, for example, had great programming, but has recently brought their broadcast online and been replaced by The Pole: Stripper Radio. Sounds like a winner.

If electronic devices stopped working, how would you cope?
I think I would cope pretty well. I could be wrong, but I feel most people who work very closely with technology have the occasional urge to leave it all behind and disconnect permanently. If I were ever in a scenario where I could no longer do the work I do I’d probably find some remote part of the country to move to and find a job working outside. Although I would certainly miss working on the web.

What’s the first thing you do when approaching a new project?
I do not have one specific thing I do when approaching a new project, but I’m beginning to realize there are many things I should be better at doing during the initial phase of a new project. Specifically I am trying to be better at foreseeing how the finished product will work from all points of view: from the view of Imulus, the client, and the audience. The specific tasks I take to achieve this is constantly evolving.

Name the best prank pulled at Imulus.
Unfortunately, I wasn’t working for Imulus at the time of what many refer to as the best prank, but there have been some good ones since I started. I was particularly fond of the prank I’ve always wanted to pull myself. I think it worked out pretty well.

Instead of blogging about a cool new application or sharing a solution to a pesky development problem, I’m going to talk at length about what I had to eat today. To start off, I had some toast with some coffee at the office and then ate some strawberries. I might Twitpic the strawberries later just in case you have no effing clue what strawberries look like…

I lost you, didn’t I? Did I lose you at the toast? Or maybe right as soon as the word “food” came up. Well, if you’re still hanging with me, I appreciate it. It was all for a reason, I promise. How often would a person read through a blog about what the blogger ate that day? Very rarely (I would say never, but you never know). So, why does it happen so often on Twitter?

Well, lets think about this. Twitter is a social networking tool where the user writes anything and everything as long as it is under 140 characters. Yes, it says “What are you doing?” but these days that question is there for decoration. Twitter has turned into less of a status update, and more of a mini blog. So, what do you talk about?

Some people use Twitter as a gossip tool which can come in handy if you’re like me and you’re completely out of touch with what is going on in the world. Then there are people who make it a daily goal to say something witty and clever as they observe the world. Finally, there are the people who use Twitter as insight to their life. What they’re doing, what’s they’re thinking, who they’re hanging out with, etc. Personally, I think the only people who can do this and still be interesting are celebrities. However, these are the type of people who are culprits of the main subject of this blog.

So, why is this a common problem on Twitter? Obviously this many people wouldn’t post so many food related tweets if they didn’t find it interesting, would they? My theory is that people may not know just how pointless these statements may be. Eating is something that happens often in our lives (especially for Americans) and it is very often present in celebrations and social gatherings. Food is tied to so many emotions: relief, comfort, guilt, excitement, happiness, and the list goes on.

So obviously something that induces so many emotions is worth sharing with your Twitter followers every chance you get, right? Well, not really. Your emotions may be high from the experience, but unless the person can experience it for themselves, it often falls short. I’m not saying that sometimes conversations can’t start from a shared love of burritos from Big City Burrito but usually people just don’t care. So next time you want to post a Twitpic showing the omelet you are about to eat, or you want to talk about how good your sandwich was, take a step back and think “do other people really find this interesting?”

What is your professional / educational background?

I’ve been in the e-commerce business since 1997 when I built the e-commerce department for Alamo Rent A Car. I’ve worked in the travel industry for 10 years and now three years in financial services. I have an undergraduate degree in International Marketing and a MBA. Stacy Gratz is the voice behind @hrblock. She has been in the interactive space for eight year. This is her second year with @hrblock and Twitter.

Did you start up the H&R Block Twitter account or was something already in place when you took over?

We launched the @hrblock account on Twitter in December of 2006. We were expanding our social media programs and wanted to try this new microblogging platform – although I would say it is more like a group instant message.

What Twitter applications do you use to post your tweets?

We mostly post directly through the web through Tweetdeck or coTweet.

What tools do you use to monitor the conversations around H&R Block ? ex: TweetDeck, Monittor etc

TweetDeck is the tool that we use the most. We have multiple brands, products and potential spellings. We set up various columns to monitor our brands.

Have you had to educate others at H&R Block about the benefits of Twitter? If so, how did that go and are they seeing the light?

We’ve had to educate the organization about all our social media efforts including Twitter. It helps with Robert Scoble and Biz Stone tweet that they are at an H&R Block office and we can respond. It also helps that the Wall Street Journal and mainstream media are now talking about Twitter. It was much more difficult to explain the value in Twitter two years ago.

We’ve been able to use Twitter in a variety of different ways. Customer service is important for any brand. We answer questions and help people with any issues they are facing through Twitter.

We also use Twitter to share important information and tax tips. These past two years have been challenging with the Economic Stimulus Act of 2008 and the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. There are a lot of things that consumers can do to better manage their tax situation. We’ve also launched contests and other promotions that are centered around products that we offer such as online tax preparation or Second Look.

We also use Twitter for listening. It has also been very helpful when we can instantly show what people are saying about our brand or an event. For example, we were able to see what people were saying about our SuperBowl ad seconds after it aired. We were also able to see brand sentiment after Timothy Geithner said he used TurboTax during his confirmation hearings. Actively listening to Twitter is a great research tool because it is real time and unbiased.

Does “management” ever second guess your tone or direction on Twitter?

No. We have a great brand and because we are engaging to share our tax expertise or to help our consumers our tone has always been in line with the brand.

What was the most interesting Twitter conversation you’ve had?

It’s funny – last year people were surprised that @hrblock was even on Twitter, this year they are looking for @hrblock to help them. We have a lot of Twitter stories where we were able to help people complete their taxes and A LOT of last minute tax questions on April 14th and 15th. My favorite tweet is from someone stating that they never thought they would be an @hrblock groupie!

How many hours in your day do you spend Twittering?

We are always plugged in, but, we collectively spend about four hours a day actively tweeting.

Are there certain times of the day you Twitter more often?

We tend to find that evenings between 7pm and 10pm are the most active for us, but, we are online all day.

Have you been able to “quantify” your social media efforts at all?

We are looking at Twitter and our other social media efforts as brand building activities. While we can measure the amount of followers, friends, or fans, the measurement tools today are imperfect. We can easily measure the quantity but getting to quality of contacts is more difficult. Even tools like Twinfluence are not perfect. We are looking at brand level measurements versus only transactional measurements.

What other online or social marketing efforts do you think have been most beneficial or successful for the H&R Block brand?

In general, I believe that H&R Block benefits greatly from being part of the conversation online. We have our own community site on hrblock.com that is continually updated with useful tax information and blogs. It has been instrumental to help people navigate through the Tax Stimulus Act of 2008 and the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act of 2009. We are also actively participating in Yahoo Answers. Our tax professionals are answering questions and demonstrating the tax expertise that H&R Block has at the local level. We also want to ensure that our brand is represented where communities are forming – through Youtube.com, Facebook, Myspace and Twitter. We tailor each of our programs to match the interests of that community.

I was about to leave a comment on a recent blog post by @Bruce but instead I feel it needed to become a blog post.

How is it in all our Twitter debate that not once have we touched on the issue of safety? Frankly I don’t really give a crap how insightful and useful it can be if people are dying from some crazy Twitter serial killers. As most of you know already is that on Twitter you can be followed by anyone. Yes, I know that you have the ability to make it private but how often do people do that?

I think what is especially scary is BrightKite. For those of you who don’t know what BrightKite is, it’s “(A) location-based social network. In real time you can see where your friends are and what they’re up to.” What this means is you “check in” on BrightKite and it tells your followers your exact location at the time of check in. Um, hello? Have we all forgotten Mom’s voice telling us never to tell people online were we are? Look at how many people have posted there exact location on BrightKite’s home page!

Yes, I understand there are privacy settings, but you have to remember that people are naive. Say for example someone contacts me through twitter claiming to be interested in a redesign for their web site with Imulus. Of course I wouldn’t want to pass up an opportunity for my company and, me being the trusting soul I am, I check in my location on BrightKite which posts on Twitter for all can see. Is no one else seeing a problem with this?

Yes, you can argue with me the reasons that Twitter and BrightKite are helpful. Yes, you can tell me how many times you and your buddies had a great night out because you happened to be down the street and they happen to see your Twitter post. However, what I am interested in is how far are we willing to sacrifice safety on the off chance that you might benefit from these social networks?

In February we had an awesome 3rd Thursday meetup to talk about the positives and negatives of Twitter. And, as always happens with discussions regarding twitter, the argument: “Why do I care that someone just bought salami at the store?”, was presented^*.

I’ll be honest, as a fairly hardcore twitter user it’s impossible to argue that this type of talk doesn’t take place on Twitter. It does.

That said, I think that you have to recognize that people inherently have a certain level of care (rather they admit it or not) about what people around them are doing. Realistically you can’t get closer to someone without eventually breaking down some personal barriers. At Imulus we have an extremely transparent work environment. Consequently we talk about a lot of personal things that outside people might find “mundane” or “not interesting”. However, it’s this exchange that brings us closer. Think of it this way, when I talk with my mom she always asks me what I’ve done recently. While I usually don’t have incredible stories to tell her, she is still genuinely interested because she cares about me.

For the first time I think the right mix of ingredients has been blended to make this type of interaction possible online. It’s called twitter, and here’s why it works:

1. At 140 characters it’s manageable. I don’t have to spend time reading a huge novel about how George (Imulus co-founder) got together with some friends and made a bacon explosion. Instead, I spend three seconds reading his tweet and think, “damn, I like George, I hope he doesn’t die of a heart attack.” It’s a smile on my face and something I can bring to a conversation sometime.
2. You pick who you’re invested in and if they’re worth it. I think sometimes people forget that they don’t have to follow a ton of people on twitter. The truth is you should only follow the people who you get something positive from. Perhaps it’s humor, perhaps you know them in real life, or perhaps they are your idol. The point is you have the choice to regulate your level of involvement (@penguin really said it best).
3. You don’t have to get permission. This may sound creepy but the great thing about following someone on twitter is that in most cases you don’t have to get their permission. Instead, you can start having them contribute to your feed without having to inconvenience them or worry about if they know you. This gives people the ability to take part in a relationship on one side until they feel like they have something to contribute.

These three things combined create a community dynamic that, to date, has yet to be seen online. Plus, I’m not even including twitter’s other benefits (asking questions, trend tracking, professional exposure, etc.) I’m simply talking about human relationships and their ability to exist in a manageable way online.

^{* Please note this may not have been the exact argument given. But it gets the point across and allows me to use the world salami without sounding dirty.}