Around The Cyber-Block... And Back!

I really don't consider myself a geek... I have decent knowledge of most things computer-related, but just dabble in all the code stuff, more trial-and-error than anything else.

I added the Twitter Update to top of sidebar last week... and that took some work.  Twitter has a TypePad widget that easily puts your "tweets" on your blog... but slight problem, I used an advanced TypePad template (mostly for that hard-fought rotating banner above)... and time and time again, the easy add-ons aren't so easy when you have an advanced template.  So I ended up using Twitter's HTML template to show my latest "tweet" on the blog... but what took time was figuring out how to get all the text colors right to match up everything else... accomplished, but after sacrificing a couple of productive hours of my life!

My next "kill 2 birds with one stone" move was to get Twitter to update my Facebook status line.  Again, it was pretty easy to do thanks to TwitterSync app in Facebook... though I had to ditch the whole Facebook 3rd person (Ed is...) thing since Twitter aesthetically doesn't work well in referring to oneself in that way.  Ok, fine.

The next bugaboo was that the Twitter @replies were showing up here on W&C.  I didn't really like that.  In Twitter, you can reply to others in your circle... but these are pseudo-private conversations and most of the time would be totally out of context showing up here.  For example, if I told one of my Twitter friends "Oh, Cool"... you wouldn't know what was "cool" and it would take a few steps to get there... and perhaps just maybe it's none of your business!  Ha!  Unfortunately, the Twitter badges and HTML code do not filter out these @ replies... though in Facebook's TwitterSync they can be ignored.  Nice!   But that doesn't solve my problem.

So my next thought... can I can get my Facebook status (now updated via Twitter) onto W&C?  Yes, by creating/finding the RSS feed of your "status stories"... click "see all" on your mini-feed... click "status stories" under the view menu... voila, there's RSS status line feed waiting for you under "subscribe to these stories"!

Now, to just add that RSS into your TypePad template ... it's there under Design / Select Content / Feeds... Add new feed!   That would normally be it, but guess what?  Can't add it via this method if you're... wait for it... using an advanced template!   Ergh!  So I add this new feed module into a dummy blog I have set up to practice on... pull it up and "View Page Source" in my web browser... find the code and copy/paste it into my advanced template!   Whew!

And there you have it...  I update my Twitter... it updates it in Facebook... my blog picks up the Facebook via an RSS feed!

Okay, I guess I am a bit of a geek...

Oh, and after all this... can somebody please tell me they actually read my Twitter W&C update!

Comments

[Jeff]

Geek! LOL, I kid, because I know exactly of what you speak. And no, I do not read your W&C update... [wait for it...] only 'cause I already get your tweets on Twitter and see your status on Facebook! It's about all the Ed I can handle! (Again, I kid. I am a multiple-venue status-caster as well.)