Low key week full of competing priorities

Overall: I had a long week with many competing priorities and have come out on top.

When balanced work, working out, eating and sleeping is a pretty good day; however work took the lions share of time last week. Sadly, I also had little time for mindless TV – though I did get to watch the dying minutes of Wipeout and I Survived A Japanese Game Show on ABC (I love those shows). Do you like those shows too?

Training: Week of 6/22

I was a little bit sad last week because training and fundraising were put on hold for work. Good thing is – work pays the bills so I can achieve personal goals and support causes that make a difference in the first place.

I am happy to report that last week was not a complete bust. I did manage to fit in:

• (Sunday 6/21) A two hour bike ride with a good friend that is largely responsible for introducing me to the cycling world, thanks RP.
• (Wednesday 6/24) Basketball with a close friend. I held my composure as I lost a game of HORSE, 21 and two pick up games. AW – I was just letting you think that you are better. I will rain 3 pointers on you next time until you beg for mercy.
• (Thursday 6/25) A solid swim and run on Thursday night. My swimming is continuously improving though I can not breathe properly on my left side.

Work panned out really well. It was certainly busy because my task lead was out on vacation. I am happy to report that I managed all of my responsibilities very well. I certainly have room for improvement. It is sometimes hard to think strategically, when there are so many small tasks that require your attention.

This upcoming week starting 6/29 will be fun. There is a lot going on and I know I will have plenty of time to workout.

Lookout for a new post today or tomorrow about the group workout and Team in Training picnic yesterday 6/27.

Twitter Statistics

Back in November 2008, I decided to do a bit of research on Twitter for personal interest. I posted it on my company’s internal blog and regretted not posting it out here for everyone else to view.

Please find my Twitter analysis below.

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Published November 23, 2008

Twitter users are estimated to number in the millions with the Twitter Directory, TwitDir.com listing 3,328,420 profiles. Many colleagues have joined twitter and it seems to be an “all the rage” social media application.

I’ve had a lot of skepticism about Twitter ever since one colleague likened it to Facebook status on Red Bull. I already update my status on Facebook and my Google instant message program. Between them I reach all of my friends and even those I rarely keep in touch with.

After joining Twitter I tried to make some sense of things because:

• I need to know what the tool’s capabilities are so I can speak knowledgeably about the tool with clients
• Prove or disprove my initial inclination to associate Twitter as a waste of time

My assessment is quantitative and I have plans for a qualitative component when I have time.

Quantitative Results

• Over the past month, Twitter only tends to reach 100,000 to 150,000 users
• 52% of users are from the United States
• Over the past three months Twitter has only reached 0.1% of the Internet population. (Google reaches approximately 28% of the Internet population)
• Seven pages: The number of unique pages viewed per user per day for this site over the past three months

50 Users were selected at random on Sunday morning between 10:30 AM and 11:30 AM. Measurements of their followers, following and updates status were taken and recorded.

The 50 users were selected by refreshing the “Everyone” page on Twitter and selecting the 5th and 15th users to review. I refreshed the Web page every 2.5 minutes for a total of 25 times.

Mean scores

Selected users were following an average of 133 users
Selected users were followed on average by 153 users
Mean status updates = 6153 updates

Median scores

Selected users were following 39 users
Selected users were followed by 70 users

Median status updates = 1348

Following:

Standard Deviation  = 181.4351585

Followed:
Standard Deviation = 170.6342897

Status Updates:
Standard Deviation = 11845.71392

for reading

Stats from November 2008

Source: Alexa.com, Twitter.com, Matthew Ingram

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Back to present day – I do plan on a new study soon to see how things have changed since Twitter’s popularity on TV shows etc.

Did you find this helpful or insightful?

Fight Alzheimer’s: 2008 National Memory Walk

Can you help? I’m participating in the National Alzheimer’s Memory Walk around the National Mall. The walk takes place on October 18, 2008. To date the charity has raised over $100,000. My team within my firm, Booz Allen Hamilton is looking to help raise $10,000.

For the time being I’ve committed to helping our group raise $50 and I’ll match donations up to $50. I’ll raise the outlook if many of you have a generous heart. Do you have $5 you would like to commit to a worthy cause?

Sponsor me for this walk by clicking [here]

Thanks everyone

Matt