Posts Tagged ‘ Twitter ’

Thoughts on Reciprocity & Twitter

After a lengthy conversation regarding Twitter and reciprocity, I began considering my own usage regarding Twitter and how it has changed over time.  I began going through those that I follow and decided to unfollow a ton of people (this continued the next day because there were so many), but what really took so long wasn’t really the unfollowing but actually adding everyone that I had been following into lists so that I wouldn’t “lose” them. I realize now that as I say this, I’ve basically taken the same approach that I have to BACN (or e-mail that I want, just not right now), because at one point in time I had desired to hear what that person had to say but over time I really had just been ignoring there tweets and moving on to those that I care about anyway, so why not shove them into a corner… :-D

So as I began the process of unfollowing and adding to lists I realized that this isn’t going to be a perfect system but nonetheless one that is necessary for the time being. I didn’t really follow any of the other approaches at unfollowing like JustUnFollow, or others that came before this. Near as I can tell, the only thing that I will lose is for those that I previously was following to DM me. Most of my usage happens at work, other than that I catch replies through my phone and the occasional scroll through as well on the phone. But I believe that now there is more engagement needed I could see access increase at home as well being that now I would be going to Twitter not just to see what was going on but now since I have to actively switch through lists, I find myself thinking about going to Twitter so that I may find out more about a particular subject or group (naming the lists appropriately to fill those buckets).

All of that being said I found myself considering ways in which Twitter could be improved through facilitation of what I’ve laid out here (the adding to lists to find out about specific topics).

The first deals not with the topic thing but instead with the realization that many people are receiving too much noise by following too many people.

  • Follow on a trial basis: Allow the option to follow for on a set period of time, after which the person is unfollowed and added to a private list

And here are a few on how lists could work better

  • I considered user curated lists but I haven’t even seen anyone using them on Facebook yet so…
  • Integration with a service list WeFollow that allows you to assign yourself specific tags, so that users won’t be forced to create the list to add you to (UPDATE: Turns out that Twitter has begun doing this, albeit sneakily)
  • More simple interface for lists, the thought here would be to present the user with those the follow (specifically if it could be more apparent that specific followee’s aren’t associated with a list.
2010
11/22
CATEGORY
Social Media
3 comments

Open Letter To Utah Pulse

I submitted this to the UtahPulse.com feedback section earlier tonight.  Enjoy.

As a member of the Utah tech community I hoped to find UtahPulse.com as a place to connect, learn & find fresh utah oriented content.  Unfortunately that is not what I have found.  I hope this feedback finds a reader who understands that this criticism may seem harsh on a beta site but without such feedback this site won’t make it out of beta.

What I have found has been a drab site with little content (forgivable as its in beta) and what content I have seen does not grab the reader in any way shape or form. What I have seen is a press release aggregator. Zions bank is a great member of the community, but the link & image at the top of the page is more than enough to advertise for them, no need to reproduce every tech related topic from them and make UtahPulse look like a shill for them.  Additionally, there are no images for a story therefore making the content seem dry, newswire-like.

Integrating yourself into a community like the tech community of Utah will take much work but I don’t believe that it will be hard.  You need to get people into the community not just a site.  If you are to join the tech community of Utah then you must /join/ the tech community of Utah.  What I mean by that is that you should be networking with the networkers & utilizing the technology talent that is readily at hand.  Get local bloggers to blog about UtahPulse, get involved in the worldwide discussion. Join & use tech that excited the tech members of the state you are trying to grab the attention of.  What about a fan page on Facebook?  Thats pretty mainstream.  How about organizing a meetup using Upcoming.org?  Or how about getting really crazy and utilizing the bleeding edge that we are using like Twitter? Or how about grab a Qik account and broadcast live online from a cell phone some of the pivotal tech events that occur on a weekly basis.

The conversation is waiting for you, are you ready for it?

This message brought to you by: http://www.cluetrain.com/

2008
06/25
CATEGORY
Utah Bloggers
2 comments

Twitter: Above and Beyond

I sincerely feel as if I am beating a dead horse here and probably preaching to the choir in regards to the usefulness of the social networking tool known as Twitter.  But after seeing this article in regards to how a UC Berkeley student was able to notify his fellow students of his arrest and them in turn notifying the proper authorities to help him get out I don’t think I can say it enough. Oh, did I mention?  The guy was in Egypt.  Being arrested for taking photographs of a noisy demonstration.  And those authorities his friends notified?  Oh little groups like the embassy in Egypt and UC Berkeley itself to which they were able to provide legal counsel to get him sprung.

The ease of use for what was referred to in the article as a ‘wire service’ was probably pretty incomprehensible just a decade ago.  In addition to that it has much more real implications locally, today I found out about a meetup with a few locals and someone from Seattle that was in town just to sit and lunch and discuss whatever we felt like discussing.  This has particular interest to me because I am legitimately thinking of moving to Seattle or Portland or San Francisco (Live in one of those cities? Follow me on Twitter!).  And I just made friends with someone who lives in one of those cities.  When using networks like Twitter you’ve got to go above and beyond, you’ve got to think of the possibilities of how it can affect you on a day to day basis and how it can affect you in times of crisis.  So, I challenge you;  If you haven’t signed up for Twitter yet, then do so.  If you have already friend me up and then proceed to friend up someone in another city… You never know when they may come to yours or vice versa.

2008
04/16
CATEGORY
Chronicles of Youth
Job Hunt
Utah Bloggers
1 comment

I am a Social Media Evangelist

I was just checking out ReadWriteWeb’s post on Social Media Evangelists and realized that I myself am a part of these individuals.  No, I don’t have the title at a company nor do I have specific credits to back it up (besides the social networks you can connect with me on on the right of the screen) but what I do have are friends.  These people are more and more becoming involved in social networks and they are not using them to their full potential or haven’t found the niche network they enjoy most.  I see my own role in my circle of friends to help push them towards networks that will benefit them and to help realize them to their full potential.

 The other day I was having a conversation with a few friends regarding Facebook applications and how annoying they can be but I was able to bring a few applications that are actually beneficial!  Applications like Takes all Types! (a way to connect blood types & organizations that use that date) and Linking Universe (an app that helps professionals see the value of their network) are just a few examples!  Or the other day when I was hanging out with a few friends and my cell phone kept going off and I was texting, everyone immediately assumed I was texting a girl but alas it was Twitter and I was able to go into a diatribe about how useful Twitter can be for your professional life and how beneficial the building of a network can be.  

Would I relish the opportunity to do this sort of work on a day to day basis professionally like Robert Scoble? Most certainly!  But for now I’ll work on learning the various API’s while Twittering my heart out!  And if you haven’t noticed I’ve been on a bit of a network binge and have asked around 10 new friends on both LinkedIn and Facebook.  If I don’t have you on one of the networks listed on the sidebar, all I can ask is what are you waiting for!

2008
04/11
CATEGORY
Chronicles of Youth
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Sarcasm and Twitter

So, by my very nature I’m a little sarcastic.  Perhaps the better way of putting it would be that I have a much more dry sense of humor.  Witty retorts and clever jabs are a means of expression for me.  The question of this post is whether or not sarcasm and other forms of dry humor communicate well over text, more specifically over 140 characters on Twitter.  The challenge has always been there while using text.  How many times has an instant message or e-mail been ill received due to some clever remark tossed in as a bit of funny to lighten the day when really all it accomplished was to raise the ire of those it was directed towards?  More often than I can count before I send a message I am rereading it and trying to determine double entendres and those words that might sear or cut the flesh of another.  So, the recommendation in this regard is to take care in the words used and only use the choicest of phrase that may cause a giggle on the other end, but beware such hilarity is not for the faint of heart.

The second difficulty with using a medium such as Twitter is the complications that could arise due to a lack of response.  No one feels the need to use “lol” except under the most exceptional of circumstances or under the guise of a most polite of response.  The medium doesn’t hold up well to this sort of twitty banter, in fact it has been known to collapse due to it.  There are always those around that will not quite get it until it is pointed out to them.  All I can say to that is there is nothing to be done.  If they can’t get it off the bat, and it has to be explained to them, then they will never find it funny.  You can only respond with kindness and prepare for the backlash of those folk who just don’t get it and probably never will.

Ideally with such limited amounts of characters as one has on Twitter I would recommend all of the usual inserts that can be made but of course you’ll need to shorten them i.e. drop the dashes in smilies, when using tags drop the vowels etc.  The other thing that I believe will be wholly necessary is a decent vocabulary, gain it through any means necessary i.e. reading more frequently, reading the notecards from your SAT’s, and stealing dictionaries from little old ladies. Wow, almost 450 words… Am I a windbag or what?  Please comment and relay how you feel about dry humor in these times of decreased character counts.

2008
04/03
CATEGORY
Social Media
1 comment

Social Media @Events

I was just reading Jesse Stay’s post over at Stay-n-Alive and he brought up some really interesting points regarding how social media is being used at events. Whether its ChaCha or Twitter, the time where people can be useful to one another from afar at such high efficiency is most definitely here. I used ChaCha for a time and despite it being dreadful at finding the Sundance wiki of which Justin Keller spoke, it would seem to find things a bit more effectively at least in the mobile space. I intend to take note of it on my phone and use it in the future in conjunction to texting Google to test its resourcefulness. I intend to report back on what I find.

As to what Jesse mentioned in his post, I came a bit late to the game in actually tracking Sundance but it was truly an odd experience but one I intend to repeat herein for events that I’m either nearby or in actual attendance. Combined with Colleen Coplick’s hilarious tirade on her job description to Sperling Reich’s excellent choice in podcasts the chance to meet people who use Twitter outside of Utah was a new experience for me, one which I desire to do on a regular basis. Whenever I try to sell Twitter to someone I specifically mention how it can change an event, but of course I’m the kind of guy who wouldn’t mind sitting at the back of an event making comments via IRC (or Twitter which is becoming to be known IRC 2.0).

All of that aside, one story in particular caught my eye… Morbid as it may seem Heath Ledger’s death spread like wildfire amongst the masses at not only Sundance but throughout Twitter. I used to get up to date news like this via Digg, but I feel that Twitter is faster and certainly more mobile. One point of view was from someone standing in line at a Coffee Shop who read the news aloud from his mobile to the disbelief of fellow festival goers. Presumably this was from Twitter (it could have easily been via e-mail on a blackberry), dreary as all this is it means that bad news now has the ability to travel even faster and more virally.

2008
01/25
CATEGORY
Chronicles of Youth
Utah Bloggers
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