Twitter was experiencing the effects of a bug this weekend that exploited the following/follower method (as this post on Mashable explains). This morning, as an after effect of this bug, all users have noticed their following and follower numbers have dropped right down to zero. This means the little corner store down the block has the same follower count as Ashton Kutcher or CNN at the moment.

I’m certain Twitter is working to rectify the problem and it’s not something permanent as timelines are still filling with updates. However, things like this always seem to cause panic, mass hysteria, and the inevitable shouting at inanimate objects such as a computer screen or iPhone. To alleviate some stress in the future, here are a few ways you can back up your Twitter account.

Backupify
John Biehler clued me into the Backupify service a few months ago and it can be used to archive and back up your accounts from Twitter to Flickr, Delicious, Google Docs, WordPress, Blogger, and Facebook. The very basic service is free (although they do have premium options) so there’s sanity to gain from simply singing up.

Backup My Tweets
The Backup My Tweets service will back up your Tweets since they have a limited shelf-life on Twitter.com. It doesn’t back up your followers as Backupify does, but it will provide you some peace of mind. There is a program you can download for your PC that will backup your friends however I have not tried this so I cannot guarantee its security.

The best thing anyone can do right now is wait this out. Do not go on a mass re-following spree as I can only imagine this would muck up any backups or restoration process they might have Twitter has posted an update saying they have suspended following until this is resolved. Stay tuned to Mashable.com or @Mashable for updates since they have been crowned the most influential account on Twitter (well, at least up until this morning).

Update All is right with the world. From the official Twitter account: “Follow bug discovered, remedied. Read our status blog for details. http://bit.ly/dhQ3fF“.

Last weekend I enjoyed an annual girls getaway with my mother, sister, and niece in Victoria. It was a fantastic way to reconnect, explore, and also celebrate my mother’s birthday. We’ve been doing our girls getaway weekends for 8 years now and for 6 of those years we’ve stayed at the lovely Delta Ocean Pointe. Its location, views, kid-friendly staff, and facilities are the reason we return each year. It’s also my mother’s top choice.

I’ll be writing my Top Five for 2010: Victoria so I won’t go into too much detail about the places we visited and the sights we saw. However, I will pay tribute to my mother today, whom I’m sure was expecting a birthday post too but I hope this makes up for it… Continue reading this post ⟩⟩

My first Day Two session at Northern Voice is How (Should) Journalists Use Social Media, with speakers Lisa Johnson of the CBC and Kirk LaPointe of the Vancouver Sun.

Lisa talked about how she uses her own blog, Twitter and Facebook to reach out and find stories. First off, she explained that using social media makes a city smaller and more friendly.

“A big part of our job is to find out what’s happening,” she noted. By reaching out through online channels journalists in a newsroom aren’t just asking each other “do you know someone who…?” they can ask social networks. She said she’s found people for stories such as accountants, residents of Tsawwassen, business owners etc. just by searching Twitter or asking questions online.

Lisa added that Twitter is “a social scanner, like a police scanner.” You can find news and immediate information about an event, region, or issue. Chances are you can also find someone on the scene or taking Twitpics, immediately documenting the situation.

Kirk presented second as the words, “We will die before the newspaper does” appear on the big screen. While Lisa’s talk was more about how she uses social media to report, Kirk’s is focused on the state of the industry. “No audience problem. No news problem. More business problem,” stated his next slide.

“If we don’t find a business model in this, you’re going to get what you pay for,” he adds in reference to free, digital content. “Our biggest challenge is we need to redefine public and subsidy.”

Moving onto content he says journalists need to rethink the way they approach a “story”. It’s no longer a “story” but it’s a topic. Report on a topic and that’s the starting point — the beginning of the conversation.

“Know more each day about your audience,” said the next slide from Kirk. “We need to know what it is they are consuming, and what they’re not consuming.” He moved onto engagement and community building, emphasizing that it’s not a “frill” – these connections need to be taken more seriously than ever.

Kirk’s final slide reads: “The next decade is messy, but I can be fired more easily than you.”

During the Q&A Linda Soloman of the Vancouver Observer asks about the policy of mainstream outlets drawing inspiration from articles from bloggers but not giving credit. Kirk responded by saying he’s noticed Vancouver Sun content on their site as well however Linda assures him that VO always links and give credit (what we call a “hat tip” in the blogging realm”). Kirk said that everyone gets “ripped off” in some form or another and it’s hard to police that kind of thing, which is very true. Before the back-and-back got a bit too heated, it was agreed to take this particular discussion offline.

Personally I can see where Linda is coming from. Often I’ll see a blogger write something unique or tweet some news that is then picked up by a major outlet, who in turn does not credit the blogger or tweet as the source of the story. This is where I actually see radio stations excelling. I’ll get on-air credit from Jonny Staub at The Beat or James Sutton from The Peak for something I’ve posted online, which is wonderful. I get a shout out, they get to share information in real-time over the air, and in turn I will probably thank them publicly. This helps build bridges and strengthen the online community, in my eyes.

The discussion continued as the room emptied for lunch. This was yet another great panel session at Northern Voice with some great questions from the audience and insight from the speakers.

The Museum of Anthropology is one of my favourite places in Vancouver, and I even shared that with the world through a feature I did with Google a few months ago. I recently visited for the first time since their renovation and was given the grand tour by Karen Duffek, Curator Pacific Northwest, Contemporary Visual Art.

Design by local architect Arthur Erickson beautifully showcases traditional and contemporary works of art and cultural significance from around the globe. Although the museum’s founding collection was from the South Pacific, there is no missing the First Nations influence.

The great hall is bright and open with floor to ceiling windows allowing the light to float in an surround stunning totem poles, bentwood box displays, welcome poles, and other artifacts.

Winding your way through the new and improved research galleries you’ll take a journey from the South Coast of BC all the way over to China and Botswana. The gallery is setup so that you can circumnavigate the globe as you make your way past each display.

Items within the window cases have also been carefully arranged in order to respect the traditions of their cultures. “We can think about finding a way to express the respect for the spirit that lives in the headdress at the time it is dressed. We need to show people from outside that it is still a living culture, that sacred things are still highly respected,” reads a quote from C. Anne Robinson within one of the window cases filled with Tseshaht headdresses.

Other items have been set out for display under cloths to respect the sacred tradition of the pieces, which are not for everyone’s eyes.

Another new addition is the MOA CAT. This system, setup on touch-screen iMacs, allows you to instantly look up pieces by region, collection, artist or style then locate them on the gallery floor.

As a part of the Museum’s participation in the 2010 Cultural Olympiad, the Border Zones: New Art Across Cultures exhibit will be running until September.

Border Zones features contemporary pieces from around the world including law poles from Australia, a sound installation, and floating boats that make their way from the Audain Gallery, through the museum, out the glass windows, and around the grounds as a part of the piece From the Yangtze to the Fraser.

A centrepiece of the museum is the Bill Reid sculpture The Raven and the First Men which lives in the Bill Reid Rotunda. I found out something new about the rotunda on my tour; turns out it was an old gun placement during World War Two (like a few others along hill above the beach in Pacific Spirit Park or Stanley Park). When Erickson designed the museum, he kept this in mind and built up around it. One of the museum’s most significant pieces now sits atop this wartime relic.

If you have the chance, I highly recommend stopping by the MOA anytime year-round although the Border Zones exhibit is pretty remarkable. The Museum of Anthropology is open daily from 10:00am – 5:00pm (and until 9:00pm on Tuesdays). Admission is $14 for adults, $12 for students, $35 for families and there is a Tuesday evening flat rate of $7.

I have just checked into the Northern Voice conference at the Life Sciences Centre at UBC. Each year this blogging conference (probably the largest of its kind in Canada) features workshops and sessions about personal blogging and social media topics.

Photo credit: Tinfoiling on Flickr

I have been attending for the last four years and each time I cover the event in a different way. I probably won’t be liveblogging all of the sessions I attend however here are a few that I am looking forward to today:

I’ll be updating this post throughout the day and will pull in the Twitter feed from the conference using the tag #nv10.

Update Northern Voice is known for its conference t-shirts that read, “Bloggable”. Today we have the youngest attendee ever (and probably the cutest) sporting his own conference tee.

Update After a welcome from Darren Barefoot and sponsor shout outs from Julie Szabo we’re onto the keynote by Bryan Alexander. Continue reading this post ⟩⟩