Researching Your Market.

You can and should use Twitter in your market researching efforts, as the twitter tools available to you are free (which is always good) and also very effective. Each business has a target market that it should be aiming for, but due to a lack of understanding from business owners and managers they often fail in their efforts to connect with that market. This is due in part to not fully understanding the overall needs of their market.

Twitter helps you to hear what your potential customers are asking for, you can understand the problems they have to deal with on a daily basis, and perfect an action plan for getting them the help they want. in other words, with a bit of research on twitter your business can come across as a dream come true for struggling consumers

The very first time that you meet a new contact via Twitter, it is always a good idea to try and create the right kind of relationship from the outset. they way to do this is by thinking like your customer thinks. how would they like to be treated? You only purchase from people that you trust. Your potential customers will all be behaving in exactly the same way as you do. Therefore it is important whilst using social marketing that you gain your customers trust. You can improve you r chances of this happening by doing whatever it takes to get to know your potential clients well and be friendly with them.

One very good tip here, is to limit your advertising tweets to around maybe 10% of your overall twitter output, and allow the rest to be friendly, helpful and informative with no obvious immediate financial benefit to you should someone be tempted to click upon any link contained within the tweet. doing this will definitely help to improve not only your relations with current followers, but also improve your chances of growing twitter follower numbers.

It is also of benefit to you to share the content of any other sites, blogs or social networking sites on your twitter account, if they demonstrate your expertise in your target market. You would want to demonstrate your skills on twitter by continuing to post high quality content on all your other sites, even on places such as YouTube and article sites. all these other social networking sites will help you to show that you have valuable knowledge to offer – knowledge that your customer will want.

There are many discussions regarding tools that work with Twitter and that will automatically examine all the content you have on these other sites and then update your twitter account with the information, thus informing all your followers of the content you have made available elsewhere. Ping.fm being one good site to check out – and also consider twitterfeed, both free options that should not be dismissed in your marketing efforts and will post to a variety of sites in addition to your twitter account.

Another site I would like you to consider is twitcam.com. if you have a twitter account, you have a twitcam account and can login with your twitter details. This service, as you might be able to guess from the name, allows you to connect a webcam to your computer and stream live video on your twitter page and have a chat with your twitter folowers. You can no doubt imagine this to be very useful in marketing, and is something else to be considered.

Whatever options you choose, with a higher quality output, you will get a higher number of visitors clicking upon links to sales sites and other places that can make you money

Twitter Marketing – Market Research on Twitter

Cher is having an operation on her foot.

The 66-year-old singer was due to go on tour later this year but has had to postpone the concerts because the recovery time for the surgery would take too long and she wants to be in top condition for her fans.

In a series of posts on twitter, she wrote: ”About tour this yr. i broke Foot in 80′& between burlesque & falling on thrown hat on stage ! I have 2 have minor work Done on my foot ! It must have time to Heal b4 i go Running back & forth across Stage like crazy teen! we r working on show & its beautiful! (sic)”

The ‘Believe’ hitmaker has also revealed details of her forthcoming album, and has confirmed a duet with Lady Gaga will be the second single.

She tweeted: ”This is info i know! Duet w/Gaga is Great! think its 2nd single! 1st 1 is set 4 sept. Its my Fave!

”I didnt expect delay in Recording or ur reactions! I wasnt prepared! I think this cd is 1 of my very best & i hope u will think Its worth the wait! (sic)”

Cher’s last album, ‘Living Proof’, was released in 2001 and spawned the singles ‘The Music’s No good without You’ and ‘Song for the Lonely’.

Lady Gaga – Cher Having Operation On Foot

NEW YORK — Apple CEO Tim Cook has long been seen as the humorless and unemotional guy running the show from behind the scenes. but he is beginning to reveal a more assertive and eloquent side, hinting that he’s learning to shoulder more of Steve Jobs’ role as a front man and leader.

On a conference call with journalists and financial analysts earlier this week, Cook showed some fire when talking about competitors, echoing the combative Jobs. He also spouted a vivid metaphor that spread like wildfire over Twitter before the call was over.

most Apple watchers have sized up Cook as a competent caretaker of the machine that Apple founder and late CEO Steve Jobs created, but if Cook has latent charisma that can be thawed out further, he may turn into the kind of leader some people think is essential for the company.

In a blog post Wednesday, George Colony, the CEO of Forrester Research, predicted that Apple Inc. will go the way of Sony, fading away now that Jobs is not around to inspire.

“Without the arrival of a new charismatic leader it will move from being a great company to being a good company,” he wrote.

Even while Jobs was alive, Cook handled appearances in front of Wall Street analysts. He spoke precisely and calmly, and his language wasn’t very quotable. at a Goldman Sachs investors meeting in February, for instance, he said “our high order bit is we want to please customers.” a “high order bit” is a computer science term for the most important piece of data in a set.

but on Tuesday, when asked if PCs and tablets might someday blend into one device, like rival PC manufacturers hope, Cook extemporized this response:

“I think anything can be forced to converge. the problem is that products are about tradeoffs, and you begin to make tradeoffs to the point where what you have left at the end of the day doesn’t please anyone. you can converge a toaster and a refrigerator, but those things are probably not going to be pleasing to the user.”

the “toaster fridge combo” phrase zoomed around Twitter, and within minutes, someone created a “FridgeToaster” account that started talking back at Cook.

Microsoft spokesman Frank Shaw tweeted that Windows 8, the new software that’s supposed to bridge tablets and PCs, is “not a toaster/fridge. It’s a toaster/oven. Those seem pretty popular. just saying.”

Cook’s attack was reminiscent of an appearance by Jobs on a conference call in October 2010, in which he lambasted the idea of tablets smaller than the iPad. Competitor Samsung Electronics was set to launch a small tablet, in the first real challenge to the iPad. Jobs said 7-inch screens were so small that owners would need to file down their fingers with sandpaper to hit buttons accurately.

later in Tuesday’s call, Cook was asked if he’d consider settling some of the patent lawsuits the company is waging against competitors. Apple accuses Samsung and Motorola of copying its iPhone and iPad. Again, Cook revealed some emotion.

“You know, I’ve always hated litigation and I continue to hate it. We just want people to invent their own stuff,” he said.

Carmine Gallo, a communications coach and the author of several books about Apple, says that while it’s clear Cook is a much less emotive communicator than Jobs, he could become an effective one.

“Remember, Steve Jobs’ stage presence was honed over decades of trying to improve his style and his communications skills. the Steve Jobs of the mid-’70s —and there are video tapes of him— was not nearly as polished and charismatic as the Steve Jobs that we knew until last year,” Gallo said.

one thing Cook does very well, Gallo said, is that when he presents a number he wants listeners to care about, he puts it into a meaningful context.

for example, when Cook wanted to convince the audience at a 2010 event that the Mac business is still very important to Apple, even though iPhones make a lot more money, he didn’t just say that it makes $22 billion a year. Cook added that if it were a stand-alone company, the Mac business would be no. 110 on the Fortune 500 list.

“I thought ‘What a brilliant technique!’” Gallo said. “He does that all the time.”

but most importantly, Gallo said, it’s evident that Cook cares deeply about Apple.

“You can’t teach passion. every great communicator is abundantly passionate about —not necessarily the product— but what the product means to society. and that is an attitude that pervades Apple’s executive office, and it starts with Tim Cook,” he said.

Cook revealed some of that passion at the February conference. toward the end of the talk, he said there was “no better thrill” for him than going to a gym or to Starbucks and seeing people using their iPhones or iPads.

“These are the things that bring a smile to my face, and there is no replacement or substitute for that,” Cook said.

Apple CEO Tim Cook emerges from Steve Jobs’ shadow

Ex-Oklahoma State Brandon Weeden has been a bit overlooked in the upcoming draft in favor of former Texas A&M QB Ryan Tannehill – a darling of most evaluators.

Well, your move, Tannehill.

That’s because Weeden showed on a recent episode of ESPN’s “Sports Science” that he has incredible accuracy by smashing clay pigeons out of the air with a football. Weeden drilled the flying clay objects, which were moving at an average velocity of nearly 44 miles-per-hour, according to the “Sports Science” program.

Stay connected with LostLettermen.com via Facebook, Twitter, E-Mail & RSS Follow @lostlettermen

Weeden said on Twitter that it took him seven tries to complete, which doesn’t faze us because we can’t believe that he did it all.

Any questions about Weeden’s accuracy should be met with the clip below.

[Pistols Firing]

VIDEO: Brandon Weeden Hits Clay Pigeons With Football

It’s the 21st Century, which means that even crazy old cat ladies have become accustomed to using technology. Long gone are the days where they hid in a house on the hill, emerging occasionally to terrify the local brats. No, now crazy cat ladies can be found everywhere that cute girl whose number you got in the pub last weekend could very well be hiding a clowder of cats at home

You may not be aware of it, but 43% of the women you meet on a daily basis can be classified as ‘cat ladies’ and many of them will be brandishing an iPhone 4S. why that particular phone, you wonder? Well, everyone knows that Steve Jobs was a secret cat-lover, and the iPhone has the kitty apps to prove it. in fact, the more you look at the iPhone 4S and its swanky features, the more you start to appreciate that it was designed by a cat-lover, for all the cat ladies and men of the world.

Most obviously, that 8MP camera isn’t for taking pictures of your friends sipping on WKD down the pub. No, that camera is made for taking photographs of your kitty looking simply adorable. You can then upload it straight to Facebook/Twitter/Tumblr using one of your fancy social networking apps, remembering to add a suitably cute caption such as Snuggles luvz his Mummy – your friends will find it adorable.

Of course, it’s not just a camera that makes the iPhone 4S perfect for kitty lovers; just look at the iPhone 4S’ design. this is a touchscreen phone, perfect for kitty paws to play with. so next time you’re playing angry Birds, make sure little Timmy gets a shot too.

If that doesn’t get you drooling in excitement, you can even Facetime with your beloved kitty. Your baby will need a responsible adult to help him/her out, but just imagine the relief you’ll get from enjoying some Facetime with your loved one during your lunch break.

The cattiest part of your iPhone 4S, however, is its apps. There are, after all, a multitude of cat-friendly apps out there to satisfy even the most ardent kitty lovers. The most notable one of these has to be the exceptional angry Cat – an app so cute it can reduce grown men to tears.

Angry Cat, a name-fulfilling app, is simple. You just poke that angry looking Siamese in the bath – at your own risk though as he gets pretty darn angry. if angering the superior species isn’t really your thing, then Talking Tom Cat might be a better option for your iPhone. Talking Tom is a virtual pet who’s also super smart – anything you say to him he’ll repeat right back. You can pour him milk, pet him and even tickle this little cutie. just beware of making your real kitties jealous, or your beloved iPhone 4S could have a set of claws dragged across its screen. Virtual kitties are all well and good, but there’s no substitute for the real thing.

iPhone 4S – I Can Haz Kittehs?

Why did Facebook pay such a massive price? We’re collecting insights from industry observers – and we’d like your thoughts

Facebook’s Mark Zuckerburg has announced that his company will acquire photo-sharing app Instagram for a whopping $1bn in cash and shares. Why did Facebook pay such a massive price? We’re collecting insights and observations from industry observers, reporters and readers. Tweet us @GuardianUS, or toss in your thoughts in the comments below.

Silvia Killingsworth on what Instagram has that Facebook needs:

If Twitter occupies the hyperverbal space in our shared Internet brain with bits of news, jokes, and news-jokes, Instagram falls in the hypervisual part, which revels in the bits of visual candy in the world around us. it combines the sharing of a social app with the emotion of a photo album, and sharing plus feelings equals sharing feelings—an activity neither mark Zuckerberg nor his company are known for. Silvia Killingsworth, The New Yorker

Paul Ford on Instagram selling out:

Remember what the iPod was to Apple? That’s how Instagram might look to Facebook: an artfully designed product that does one thing perfectly. Sure, you might say, but Instagram doesn’t have any revenue. have you ever run an ad on Facebook? the ad manager is a revelation — as perfectly organized and tidy as the rest of Facebook is sprawling and messy. Paul Ford, New York Magazine

‘It’s simple: it’s all about (mobile) photos’, says Kara Swisher

Astonishingly, Facebook users already upload an average of more than 250 million images daily, making it the most popular photo-sharing service on the Web. But it’s not the best by far and not the most mobile, which is Facebook’s biggest weakness — that has been accomplished many others, especially Instagram, the favorite of power users who scoffed at Facebook’s weak tools. (The horror of no filters!) ~Kara Swisher, all Things D

Today Facebook has NO revenues from mobile. None. That’s amazing, since so many people, hundreds of millions of us, use Facebook on mobile clients. that will change very quickly after the IPO. Instagram will play a huge role here, plus Facebook gets a very talented mobile development team that has built world-leading mobile apps on iOS and Android (which got a million users in its first day). ~ Robert Scoble, Rackspace startup liason manager, via Quora

Facebook may also need Instagram to help it keep up with the constantly changing whims of the online audience. Facebook was born in the computer-and-browser era and is trying to adapt to a world that is increasingly mobile-centric. Instagram is a purely mobile creation. ~Jenna Wortham, New York Times

Seeing the Instagram acquisition as merely quashing a potential competitor to one aspect of Facebook’s offering is far too narrow an outlook, though. Better, surely to view the deal against the increasingly familiar backdrop of Facebook’s “It’s complicated” relationship with Google and Apple. One of the things people like most about the Google+ social network is its photo-sharing features. Buying Instagram not only bolsters Facebook’s capabilities on that front – photo filters in its official app within a few months, anyone? – but also keeps the startup out of Google’s clutches, should it have been tempted to make its own acquisition bid. ~Stuart Dredge, the Guardian

Facebook and Instagram are two distinct companies with two distinct personalities. Instagram has what Facebook craves – passionate community. People like Facebook. People use Facebook. People love Instagram. it is my single most-used app. I spend an hour a day on Instagram. I have made friends based on photos they share. I know how
they feel, and how they see the world. Facebook lacks soul. Instagram is all soul and emotion. ~Om Malik, Gigaom

To the extent that Facebook is succeeding in its bid to become an alternative web, where it controls the ecosystem rather than existing as part of the wider open web, it can afford to spend any amount of money to buy what amounts to a feature. But there’s another way to think about this deal, too, and it summons other lessons from the ICQ era. ~Dan Gillmor, Guardian US Comment is free

If Facebook didn’t figure this problem out, it might have gone the way of Friendster. Friendster lost to Facebook because users found they could do what they wanted to do with much more speed and simplicity on Facebook than they could on Friendster. ~Nicholas Carlson, Business Insider

I think it’s a bit of a departure in that Instagram will remain live and separate. But I think that’s the right play here. FB trying to subsume IG would harm and/or kill it. now it can still flourish on its own. There will be tie-ins, obviously. I see it as not unlike Google/YouTube in that regard. ~MG Siegler, Hunter Walk, Jeremiah Gordon, Narendra Rocherolle, Sujay Jaswa, and Jason Calacanis, Branch

Facebook, with 800 million users, was freaked out by a tiny startup. It’s always good to be paranoid, but when a giant company, one that’s valued at $100 billion, is suddenly scrambling to protect its core business, it has to be worrisome. ~Jay Yarow, Business Insider

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Why did Facebook buy Instagram for a whopping $1bn?

(Click for Watching)

SANFORD, Fla. (AP) — An elderly couple has reached a settlement with Spike Lee after the pair said they had to leave their Florida home after the director help spread a Twitter posting listing their address as that of the man who shot an unarmed teen. the couple’s attorney, Matt Morgan, announced the settlement Thursday. Morgan says Lee called them to apologize for retweeting their address. Specifics of the settlement weren’t disclosed. Elaine and David McClain are in their 70s and say they have a son named William George Zimmerman, who lived in their Sanford area home in the mid-1990s. they say he is no relation to 28-year-old George Zimmerman, who killed 17-year-old Trayvon Martin on Feb. 26.

Love this bitch. “We really weren’t looking for any compensation. Just wanted to be able to go back home.” so I guess that’s why you lawyered up then right? Because that’s what people not looking for compensation always do.  they hire lawyers to not get them compensation.. Don’t get me wrong I ain’t mad at these old timers. this is exactly how I would have handled the situation if I were them.  seriously I wish some celebrity would tweet that George Zimmerman lived with me. That’s like hitting the lottery. It honestly can’t better than that.  the only thing I’d do differently is probably fire a couple rounds into the side of my house for effect.  I’d be sitting in Spikes seats courtside for the next decade wearing “Wish you were Here Spike” tshirts.

» Spike Lee Settles With Old Couple Who Lived Where He Said George Zimmerman Was Barstool Sports: Boston

Few celebrities are as funny and candid on Twitter as Blake Shelton, the country singer and judge on “The Voice.” Last month, his country star wife, Miranda Lambert, made him do laundry. he went a-tweeting.

“Folding the third pile of laundry Miranda has handed me tonight,” he posted on Twitter and joked: “This is (expletive)!! Clothes should be disposable like toilet paper!!!”

Shelton is singing Saturday at Mandalay Bay, so I called him up and asked why he and Lambert don’t have 10 maids doing their laundry.

“There are some things that she and I draw the line at. If we ever get to the point where we don’t fold our own towels and underwear, we need to get our asses kicked,” he said.

Shelton and Lambert are like a new version of Tim McGraw and Faith Hill, a dynamic country duo.

Not only was he named Male Vocalist of the Year at the 2010 and 2011 Country Music Association awards, he’s a breakout TV star on “The Voice.”

Lambert was CMA’s 2010 and 2011 Female Vocalist of the Year, and she’s doing guest spots on “The Voice” with him.

Shelton says they are working hard and smart now, so someday they can “relax and not have to tour until we’re on our walkers.”

“My goal would be to someday tour like George Strait tours — go out and do 15 shows a year, and flip Nashville the bird, and say ‘I’ll see you next year.’ ”

So why aren’t Shelton and Lambert touring together, the way McGraw and Hill have?

“We’ll probably get there someday. It’s not something we’re mapping out at this point,” Shelton said.

He wouldn’t mind doing a Vegas residency, the way Garth Brooks pops in and out of the Wynn-Encore on various weekends of the year.

“That would be a cool gig, too. If any of the big casino people are reading this, I’d be up for a big, Garth Brooks-type show in Vegas.”

Shelton sure is doing Vegas a lot. On March 31, he hosts the NRA Country/ACM Celebrity Shoot at Desert Hills Shooting Club. On April 1, he will co-host the Academy of Country Music Awards at the MGM Grand.

He also wouldn’t mind coming back to do a guest spot in Cee Lo Green’s residency at Planet Hollywood come fall, although he and Cee Lo (his fellow judge on “The Voice”) haven’t talked about it.

Cee Lo so far has only said his Planet Hollywood Resort shows will combine music, magic and sexy showgirls.

Shelton said he has no idea what Cee Lo will come up with in Vegas, but it should be fun. Cee Lo may be a superstar genius, solo hip-hop singer and half of Gnarls Barkley, but Shelton has noticed “the guy loves rock.”

“You think of him as hip-hop, or R&B, and he fits in a lot of molds,” Shelton said. “But his passion is ’80s rock, like Billy Idol, and people like that.

“It never ceases to amaze me how much he’s into that stuff and knows about it. so I wouldn’t be surprised to see some of that” at the Planet Hollywood shows.

As for Shelton’s own music, his 2011 album “Red River Blue” already has spawned three singles, and two more singles might come out of it.

But Shelton already is working on a new album. His method of songwriting is super responsible: he cuts two or three songs here and there throughout the year. When his label asks for a new album, he usually has one almost ready.

And yet, he also hopes to squeeze out a Christmas album this year. he and I have the same favorite holiday song, “I’ll Be Home for Christmas.” but he’s a sucker for most Christmas tunes, “even the ones I don’t even know what they mean,” he said.

“There’s one on Anne Murray’s Christmas album, ‘Christmas in Killarney.’ I don’t even know where in the hell Killarney is, but it puts me in the damn Christmas mood. I listen to that one a lot.” (FYI: It’s an Irish town.)

But this weekend, he’s all about Mandalay Bay. he has been personally booking hotel rooms for 15 or more family members.

It wasn’t his idea to bring everyone to Vegas. It’s just one of those Vegas things.

“You don’t hear from people for a year — until you play Vegas. And then you hear from everybody that you’ve ever known.”

Doug Elfman’s column appears Tuesdays, Thursdays and Fridays. Email him at delfman@reviewjournal.com. he blogs at reviewjournal.com/elfman.

Shelton keeps it real, wouldn’t mind LV residency

Nowadays who needs to watch an Apple product announcement? all you really need to do is be on Twitter, if you can keep up with all the tweets.

Apple’s much-anticipated announcement of the next-generation iPad today, which includes a new retina display, the release of iOS 5.1 and a suite of updated applications, some of which seemed to be aimed at gamers, was abuzz on Twitter.

READ: Apple unveils its next iPad 

Activity on the social media site exploded during the event, and as it went on users delivered a play-by-play call of the action. both iPad and iOS 5.1 jumped into the top 10 Twitter trending topics Wednesday.

Before the event began, people were getting ready :

@adamlashinsky: Apple event begins in 15 minutes.

Then, as it did, each announcement from Apple was tweeted:

@nickbilton On stage, Tim Cook, says Apple sold 172 million post-PC devices last years, which made up 76% of its Q4 revenues.

‏@cnntech New Apple TV is $99 and will be available next week.

‏@Alexandre_Pinto Apple Announces iOS 5.1, Adds Japanese Support for Siri

@dsarno there are 3.1 million pixels on the device — the most ever on a mobile device, says Apple marketing head Schiller. 2048 x 1536 resolution.

@FashionweekNYC The new Apple iPad has a 5 megapixel camera & 4G LTE!

@CiscoMobile Apple releases free updates for iWork, iMovie and GarageBand for iPad, pricing remains the same

Some questioned Apple:

@tcrawford With the new #iPad including 4G LTE and Retina display, one has to wonder about battery life.

And others made snide remarks about the company’s use of the 4G LTE network:

@shenyard It’s nice that Apple’s using LTE… but everyone outside of New York and LA doesn’t have that.

@HussainD1: Pretty hard to get excited about specs on the new iPad when we’re restricted on iTunes and struggle with decent 3G let alone 4G.

RELATED: Much of Western U.S. is a 3G wasteland, says FCC 

One running theme on Twitter was the lack of a name to call the new iPad product, which had some users frustrated:

@lexfri HEY APPLE TELL US THE EFFING NAME

@BrileyK Soooo, what do we call this thing? “The New iPad” or what? #What’sTheNameAlready

And, before the event was over, people had their analysis of the news:

@DowCo1 Full breakdown of the new iPad right here

Including quoting news sources:

@TechKnowledgeIt Apple lets movies into iCloud, upgrades Apple TV: SAN FRANCISCO (AP) — Apple is going to start letting user… http://t.co/eoFjuTqG

Overall, some enjoyed the product release:

@lawman_321 Apple brought their A-game with the #iPad 3/HD/whatever they end up calling it. much improved, and at the same price points.

Others, not so much:

@AlexScottLeach another predictable #apple conference.

@AlexanderStraub OMG, Steve Jobs is missing big time. they Apple team is making the most unfocused and messy presentation yet I have seen. no FOCUS anymore!

@deepaknrn Apple unveil iphone5 fast. fast fast we dont want #ipad

@mumuedstar Apple’s habit of minor updates on new devices are becoming more and more obvious and it’s starting to get really frustrating

The news sold some people though:

@danielspears_ I’m buying an iPad 3.

@AblaTheNaari The new Apple iPad. Giveeee meeeee!

And then there were the jokers:

@rainnwilson: Apple is about to announce its shrinking the iPad down to the size of an iPhone & allowing it to make calls.

Whatever you think of the news, it can’t be denied that the announcement created quite the buzz:

@INNOV8ORDIE Apple TV and iPad 3 – - Cue the euphoria.

Network World staff writer Brandon Butler covers cloud computing and social media. he can be reached at BButler@nww.com and found on Twitter at @BButlerNWW.

Read more about anti-malware in Network World’s Anti-malware section.

iPad announcement through the eyes of Twitter

The Chicago Bears agreed to terms Thursday with former Oakland Raiders running back Michael Bush, and franchise back Matt Forte isn’t happy about it.

Bush gets a four-year contract worth up to $14 million, including $7 million in guaranteed money, according to a source.

“There’s only so many times a man that has done everything he’s been asked to do can be disrespected!” read a post on Forte’s Twitter account early Thursday afternoon. “Guess the GOOD GUYS do finish last …”

Later in the day, Forte attempted to more succinctly direct his ire with the following two posts on his Twitter account: “for the record I’m not mad at the signing of another running back. this is 4th time that’s happened. I embrace competition as well as help.” He added, “But as for not taking care of ur own and undervaluing a player under his market value is another story! #twitterrant”

Forte recently was designated the club’s franchise player as the sides work to come to a long-term deal. The signing of Bush could be viewed as somewhat of an insurance policy for the Bears in the event Forte decides to hold out. The sides have until July 16 to come to an agreement on a multiyear extension. After that date, Forte must play under the tag, which comes with a salary of $7.74 million.

“Since drafting Matt in 2008, the Bears have signed Kevin Jones, Chester Taylor and Marion Barber, all ostensibly to serve as Matt’s backup,” Forte’s agent Adisa Bakari said. “To sign yet another running back, prior to completing a contract with Matt, suggests disregard for Matt and his contributions to the Bears.”

Forte has said in the past that he would be “hard to find” if the Bears tagged him, but the Bears have been adamant in expressing a desire for the sides to come to a long-term agreement.

“Matt is going to play his football for the Chicago Bears, you start with that,” coach Lovie Smith said at the NFL scouting combine. “In time, hopefully, we can get an agreement in place that suits Matt, and we feel comfortable with. I think it’s just a matter of time. That will happen eventually.”

Bush empathizes with Forte and said he figured his new teammate will hold out.

“I can understand where the guy’s coming from,” Bush said. “Everything they’ve asked for, he’s done. It’s one of those things where you want to be rewarded for your success. I understand, but that has nothing to do with me. It’ll be great working with him.”

What the Bush deal most likely signals is the end for Barber, a 2011 free-agent acquisition, who carries a cap charge of $2.25 million into the 2012 season.

Releasing Barber would represent a cap savings of $2 million.

A fourth-round pick of the Raiders in 2007, Bush ran the ball 632 times for 2,642 yards and 21 touchdowns over four seasons, despite missing his rookie year because of a broken leg suffered in college at Louisville. Bush, 27, is coming off his best season as a pro, a campaign in which he gained 977 yards on 256 attempts in addition to scoring seven TDs.

Bush had 43 carries in Oakland’s first six games for just 138 yards and a 3.2 average per carry. but after Darren McFadden was injured, Bush rushed for 839 yards on 213 attempts. He had 418 receiving yards and one touchdown through the air as well.

Bush carried 24 times for 69 yards and a touchdown in Oakland’s Week 12 victory over Chicago, which kick-started the Bears’ five-game slide at the end of 2011.

The acquisition of Bush marks the Bears’ third attempt in as many years to bring in a capable backup for Forte. The Bears paid Taylor $7 million guaranteed in 2010, before releasing him on Sept. 3 after the veteran averaged just 2.4 yards on 112 carries.

The Bears didn’t fare much better with Barber, who was signed on Aug. 1 to a two-year contract that included a $500,000 signing bonus and base salaries of $2 million and $1.9 million in 2011 and 2012, in addition to a $100,000 workout bonus. Barber rushed for 422 yards and six touchdowns last season, but missed the first three games because of a calf injury.

Barber missed the final two games with a calf injury as well.

His most memorable moments came in a 13-10 overtime loss in Week 14 at Denver, a game in which two Barber mistakes (falling out of bounds to stop the clock just after the two-minute warning with his team leading 10-3, and fumbling in overtime) led to the Broncos scoring 10 unanswered points in the last 2:08 to tie the game with three seconds remaining in regulation, before eventually winning on a 51-yard field goal by Matt Prater in overtime.

The Bears haven’t made any announcement regarding Barber’s future. but it’s highly unlikely they will carry Bush, Forte, Barber and Kahlil Bell — recently tendered a qualifying offer worth $1.26 million — on the roster.

Bush started in 19 games over four seasons with the Raiders, which likely gives the Bears confidence in his ability to fill in for Forte.

Bush, who said his decision came down to the Bears and Cincinnati Bengals and also had a visit planned with the Seattle Seahawks, wasn’t being pursued as a starting option.

“I was kind of surprised,” Bush said. “Every meeting that I went to, they were saying they wanted to do a two-back system. I can’t argue with that.

On Twitter, former Bears tight end Greg Olsen weighed in on the acquisition of Bush.

“If u have a stud 3 down guy like @MattForte 22 why keep paying backups big $ every yr?” Olsen wrote. “Crazy !! Matt deserves better.”

Michael C. Wright covers the Bears for ESPNChicago.com and ESPN 1000.

Bears add Michael Bush to backfield