Weekend Digest: The Happy Birthday Twitter Edition

Editor’s note: The Weekend Digest is a compilation of articles from national media outlets, off-the-beaten-path blogs, and stories of interest from the feeds of our social media friends.

For our weekend business and political readers:

30 MOST INFLUENTIAL SOCIAL SALESPEOPLE
Forbes says salespeople seem to have a set of rules and values that they are adamant about sticking to despite the fact that buyers often make a purchase before contacting a sales rep.

Those in the know recognize that social media offers talented salespeople the ability to get to know today’s buyers better than ever before. These unique skills are becoming critical for HR and Talent Management pros to be aware of.

Apparently, less than half of frontline salespeople are using social media for prospecting, monitoring conversations, interacting with customers or gathering intelligence. Meaning, the majority of salespeople are ignoring social to help them relate to, and engage intelligently with, buyers.

So what if you could access some of the top social salespeople to increase your skills? Here they are. Click on this link to access the 30 most influential social salespeople online.

DIGITAL TIPS NOT MUCH HELP FOR STARBUCKS WORKERS
You can now use an app to tip baristas at Starbucks. But CNN Money says, “While the move is well-intentioned, and will likely make some baristas extra eager to please customers, the tipping app may not necessarily help Starbucks workers solve the problem of low tips.”

Starbucks baristas, who earn an average hourly wage of $8.80, make only about $1,300 in tips per year, according to Glassdoor. The hope is that the growing popularity of mobile payments and the introduction of digital tipping will increase tipping. Electronic payments are easy to execute; inevitably, it feels less burdensome than parting with hard cash. But these factors alone won’t automatically change customer behavior, not to mention that this option is only available in 64% of Starbucks stores in the U.S.

CNN Money says Starbucks stores across the country average 618 customers a day. Even with that kind of traffic, it breaks down why the digital tip jar won’t get too full for the baristas. Learn more at this link.

WANT TO GO ON A FLIGHT WITH AN INSPIRATIONAL BUSINESS LEADER?
Delta wants to put you on one. Fast Company reports Delta Airlines has teamed with LinkedIn to make the whole lucky flight partner legend a bit more official with a new initiative called “Innovation Class.”

Created by agency Wieden+Kennedy New York, the campaign is offering customers who are LinkedIn members the opportunity to meet and fly with select industry leaders on a designated Delta flight. The first winner was CEO of Patten Studio James Patten who won a seat next to Pebble Technology CEO Eric Migicovsky on a flight from Salt Lake City to Vancouver for TED, and now stars in a brand video of their airborne encounter.

Learn more about what inspired this campaign to “pair up some of the smartest people in the world” at this link.

NEW TECHNOLOGIES HELPING WIND INDUSTRY
It’s been blowing in the wind, now “it’s reaching for the sky” reports The New York Times.

With new technology allowing developers to build taller machines spinning longer blades, the industry has been able to produce more power at lower cost by capturing the faster winds that blow at higher elevations. This has opened up new territories, in places like Michigan, Ohio and Indiana, where the price of power from turbines built 300 feet to 400 feet above the ground can now compete with conventional sources like coal.

And it could go even higher, says The Times, with innovations like airborne wind turbines.

Known as the BAT — or Buoyant Airborne Turbine — the enormous, white helium-filled doughnut surrounding a rotor will float about 1,000 feet in the air and feed enough electricity to power more than a dozen homes through one of the cables tethering it to the ground.

In some regions regulators say wind is their cheapest option and, “Airborne wind takes that dynamic even further.”

Click on this link to learn more about these innovative companies and their new technologies to go higher and higher to capture the wind.

FUN FIRST TWEETS BY NOVICE USER POLITICIANS
In honor of Twitter’s 8th birthday, The Washington Post has come up with a novel way to celebrate the occasion based on a new feature of Twitter. That feature lets you go back and “discover the first tweet of anyone using the social network.”

That is a very embarrassing service to offer. Recycled first tweets are like the first pancakes you put in a freezer and forget about, and then five years later someone found it and put it on Instagram without even using a filter. Or a picture of you in your very awkward youth making its way onto the Internet.

So what tweets did The Post decide to recycle? Those from politicians of course.

Click on this link for “42 first tweets: How politicians said ‘hello’ on Twitter.”

CLOSE FRIENDS AND ADVISERS ARE SAYING NO TO A HILLARY RUN IN 2016
The Wall Street Journal says some in Hillary Clinton’s inner-circle aren’t sure she should run for president in 2016.

A Hillary Clinton presidential candidacy looks like a sure thing, with marquee Democratic donors and activists mobilizing for what they see as her inevitable entrance into the 2016 race.

Yet some of Mrs. Clinton’s closest confidants and allies aren’t sold on the idea that she should run.

Who are these allies and what is their reasoning that has brought an “unpredictable element” into the race?

Daily Motion has posted a video from WSJ analyzing those questions at this link.

STATE OF SENATE POLITICAL ENVIRONMENT
With Election Day seven months away, The Cook Political Report has put together a fascinating post detailing how Senate rating changes reflect the current political environment. The post dissects the “Senate race landscape” based on a number of issues as well as past facts regarding what happens during mid-term elections of a president’s second term in office.

As a result, we have taken a hard look at the Senate Race Ratings and made some significant changes.

What are they? What’s the outlook? What’s the scoop?  Click here to find out.

THE LEGACY CANDIDATES
POLITICO has taken an insightful look at the hotly contested Senate race in Arkansas between Democratic incumbent Mark Pryor and his challenger, Republican U.S. Tom Cotton. What may eventually decide the race? If Pryor wins, POLITICO says it may rest in part on the surname of his popular father, David.

There’s every reason to believe that Arkansas Sen. Mark Pryor will be tossed out of office in November. He’s a Democrat from a conservative Southern state who voted for Obamacare and is facing one of the most promising up-and-comers in the Republican Party. Every reason, that is except one: his last name. For the past half-century, the Pryor name has been to Arkansas politics what Wal-Mart is to industry here: ubiquitous, trusted, even revered.

Go inside the post for the complete story, Senator Pryor’s reaction and to learn what other candidates have family-ties at this link.

THE GOLDEN FLIGHT OF FIREFLIES
Smithsonian.com calls it a “blinking code” referring to the beautiful luminescent display between male and female fireflies during mating season.

Often called lightning bugs in Arkansas, one Japanese amateur photographer decided to capture the light of these tiny flying creatures in quite a remarkable way.

What did he do to make his work extraordinary? Check out his secret and see an incredible photographic example at this link.

WHO IS MAKING YOU SICK IN YOUR HOUSE?
Did you ever realize it could be your pets? It’s called zoonotic disease.

For many of us, pets are family. We talk to them, watch TV together, let them sleep in our beds.

But close contact can expose you to serious ailments that can spread from animals to humans.

That doesn’t mean you should ban pets from your home. The key to keeping yourself healthy is awareness and prevention, says Margaret Lewin, M.D., Medical Director of Cinergy Health and primary care internist in New York.

Click here to learn how to avoid six diseases from pets.

WHAT MAKES SOMEONE MENTALLY STRONG?
One expert says, “In a world we don’t control, tolerance is obviously an asset.”

What are some other characteristics people who are mentally strong possess, and what exactly is mental strength?

A difficult-to-define psychological concept that encompasses emotional intelligence, grit, resilience, self-control, mental toughness and mindfulness. It’s something that Edison had in spades, and it’s the reason that some people are able to overcome any obstacle, while others crumble at life’s daily challenges and frustrations.

So what are the 9 essential habits and practices of mentally strong people?  Go to this link from Huffington Post to find out.