Archive for: twitter
For those of us who are heavy Twitter users, we can remember the day when we signed up for an account and were offered suggestions of people to follow. Typically that list featured heavy hitter news agencies, a number of celebrities of varying backgrounds, and perhaps some large tech companies or sites. Chances are a few of these interested us, but for the vast majority it meant very little. Online networking has transcended more into a place for relevant conversation with people we feel we have common bonds with, rather than just a chat forum of open ended conversations. While others may comment in the public stream or friends us based on who we have friended, more of us are looking for real conversations as opposed to connecting with the likes of Ashton Kutcher who more than likely does not respond to his 1 million plus fans.
How do you follow people on Twitter?
So you can imagine it was interesting when I read an article on CNN from founder of Mashable, Pete Cashmore, on this very topic. I’ve had the pleasure of meeting and talking to Pete at a variety of tech events, and a celebrity in his own right, is naturally a down to earth guy. Nevertheless, the article he wrote discusses how Twitter has altered the focus on specific celebrities and news agencies in their suggestion methods and now offers up categorized lists based on general interests.
Does this work any better?
Pete Cashmore seems to think it’s a step in the right direction. I’m inclined to agree, but I still feel like the suggestions are not people I would communicate with on a regular basis. More than likely I’m going to seek out local thought leaders and conversation instigators. Why should third party developers be the ones I turn to for niche suggestions, I think Twitter could be of great service if they did that from the start. Many new Twitter users are not typically well versed in the world of social networking, so third party developers are foreign to them. They make not seek out the latest Twi-(put your own ending, everyone else is) that can help them find specific people. Their only base of reference will be the suggestion lists.
So yes it’s a good first step, but perhaps more can be done. Pete Cashmore states that celebrities might see their follower numbers start to slow down due to this categorizing done by Twitter, and perhaps they will. Ultimately if people want to follow celebrities they will seek them out anyways. Personally, as much as I love celebrities, I’m looking to connect with real people that I can carry real conversations with.
What are your thoughts?
You read that correctly. Now you can share your weight with the world. Think that’s odd? Well so did I when I first read about it. It was brought to my attention on the podcast TWiT, where the host Leo Laporte was discussing how social the scale really is. His passion and love for it didn’t
Send your body's information to Google Health and Twitter.
persuade me to want it until I started seeing the implications of accountability, and now my interest is piqued.
The Withings WiFi Body Scale is the first of its kind, as far as I know, but allowing users to not just take their daily body measurements, but also have that data connect with their Google Health account as well as Tweet messages out to people. It does all in real time with the built in WiFi connection, relieving you of having to write down numbers and manually input them. Now you can avoid the settings all together and not have it post to Google Health or Twitter, but then again, why did you buy it?
If you’re willing to share it with the world, and be accountable for your efforts, then you’re looking at dropping about $159 bones for it. Seems expensive for a body scale, but for some it’s worth it. Many think the medical industry could help as doctors might appreciate having their patients document and track their own health numbers with the ability of their doctor to see the numbers and work with them to achieve their goals. Ultimately though, internet enabled appliances have not taken the world by storm, so only time will tell if this does any better.
Back when the internet was gaining huge amounts of users at the turn of the millennium, everything was about the World Wide aspect. But now, it’s worn a little thin. Don’t get me wrong, it’s still useful and connects people and companies all over the planet. But local search is where there are big bucks to be made. Think about it, aren’t you more likely to click on an advertisement when it’s a 20% discount for the Chinese restaurant around the corner, instead of an offer for the Chinese HiPhone?
All the major online services have caught on with Twitter being the latest having launched Local Trends. Now, Buzz.com looks to catch in on the local .com boom. At the minute it’s still in Beta testing. But more and more tech blogs are talking about it.
While Buzz.com will rely heavily on social networking sites such as Twitter and Facebook, At&T have stressed that they have not built a social networking site, although you will be able to share many things with friends and family. By indexing what people are talking about as well as working with companies and advertisers, buzz.com will provide people will accurate search results for things like clubs, restaurants, shops, deals and much more. It’s like social media for local businesses.
I can’t wait until Buzz comes out of private Beta. It sounds like a great service to get the skinny on what’s going on in your locale. If you want to try your luck at getting a private invitation, click here.
Want to know the best places to go or businesses to call? Let buzz.com help you tap your social net for business recommendations from the people you trust most – your friends and family. – Buzz.com
In May of last year, Twitter history was made when Astro_Mike (or Mike Massimino – an American astronaut) made the first ever tweet from space after the launch of the Atlantis space shuttle. It read “From orbit: Launch was awesome!! I am feeling great, working hard, & enjoying the magnificent views, the adventure of a lifetime has begun!”.
History has once again been made when the first ever tweet from the International Space Station made it onto Twitter a few days ago, made by TJ Creamer.
“Hello Twitterverse! We r now LIVE tweeting from the International Space Station — the 1st live tweet from Space! 
More soon, send your ?s”
This tweeting from space seems to be getting very popular. There are now quite a few astronauts tweeting from space. Some have hundreds of thousands of followers accumulated in just a few days So here are a few of the best ‘out-of-this-world- tweeters at the minute. I’ll add to this list as more space explorers come into the ‘Twitterverse’
@Astro_Tj – TJ Creamer, NASA
@Astro_Soichi – Soichi, CNSA
@Astro_Mike – Mike Massimino, NASA
@Astro_127 – Mark Polansky, NASA
@Astro_Naoko – Naoko Yamazaki, CNSA
More and more people around the world are signing up to Twitter. The service is constantly updating and releasing new features. ‘Lists’ which launched towards the end of 2009 hasn’t really taken off that much but I think Local Trends might just.
Basically, you have the option to take the current trending topics and make it more localised. So if there’s something happening in America which is of no relevance to your area, it won’t be displayed in your Trending Topics because people from your area won’t be tweeting about it. Obviously, big global events such as the Haiti disaster or G8 meetings will attract attention from all over the world, but localised Trending topics can get quite annoying. Twitter sums it up as follows:
“Twitter trends began as a way to shed light on popular conversations. It’s interesting to know that one topic can now spread across the world in real-time, and Trends help us discover which of those topics are paramount on a global scale.”
“The big events that come up around the world will always become a global conversation, but what about the big events that only happen in your world that only matter to those around you? Or the slight differences in the way Californians perceive an event, like Obama’s election victory, versus those São Paulo, Brazil?” said @jennadawn on the Twitter blog. today.
They also say that the new feature will be monitored and improved through their API and via feedback. Nice to know Twitter cares about small European and Asian countries, as well as the North American market. Also, if you happen to live in a big country such as the US or France, you can localise the feature further by selecting cities instead of countries!
Yeap, former Microsoft’s chairman just opened his Twitter account and already made a few comments. Well, most of them are replies for @aplusk and @ryansearcrest.
And what was the first tweet for @BillGates? “Hello World”
Seems that most of his activity will be related to the Foundation he owns, so we should expect a lot of comments about Haiti and found raising events. All of that sounds great by me.
We can assume also that he will not have the same problem when he joined Facebook, when he needed to close down that account for having an excessive number of friends.
Oh and in case you are having your doubts about if this is the real Bill Gates, the Twitter account is verified.
Twitter has been flat lining over the past couple of months. The service has gathered a huge community, but sign-up rates have stalled as of late. However, Twitter founder Evan Williams just tweeted that the 11th of January was Twitters biggest EVER day. For some reason, the tweeting community all increased their tweeting habits at the same time.
This is encouraging as nothing particularly news worthy happened. Twitter has been known to receive big spikes when something huge is happening such as the death of Michael Jackson or major sporting tournaments. But nope, nothing out of the ordinary yesterday.
What’s even stranger is that Evans also mentioned in his tweet that today, would be even bigger. Wonder if the tweeters up top have something huge planned. Or maybe they just have an office betting pool up and running.
The Twitter homepage, while useful, is left in the dust when compared to the other alternative desktop applications out there and even some of the mobile apps. While it has the core functions it lacks in terms of productivity and extra features which could be so easily added.
A great ad-on for Chrome and Firefox called FlyMonkey pretty much fixes all of that. Below, you can see a screenshot of my Twitter with three columns, each serving it own purpose. This is done by adding features to your Twitter page (via a red ‘+’ sign above your screen). You can add extra columns for DMs, replies, mentions and an arsenal of different options.
They also integrated the Bit.ly URL shortener and Twitpic into Twitter. As you are typing a tweet, two options appear below called ‘Photo’ and ‘URL Shortener’. I found these very handy indeed.
So if you want to change your Twitter experience but don’t fancy moving to a third-party alternative, get FlyMonkey.
With the new year having just rolled around it’s that time of year again when gym memberships are at an all-time high as people promise themselves they’ll loose weight and get in shape for the new year. No better time then to join a new fitness community called Phitter which claims to have “given phittness a phacelife”.
The service is similar to Twitter in that users are encouraged to post their daily exercise news, tips, advice and benchmarks. Also, you can post to your stream via the traditional web route or from mobile services such as SMS.
In a press release, the company said Phitter.com is a “phitness phocused community that encourages members to talk, or “Phit,” about fitness, weight loss, working out, dieting, exercising, and healthy living while making new “Phriends” and having “Phun!”
I think this is a great idea. Twitter has proven itself to be one of the most engaging of the social networks. Furthermore, lack of companionship and encouragement is the number one reason why people quit exercise programs. Phitter overcomes that problem by creating a real-time community for those getting fit, something forums and networks have failed to do in the past.
If you post “Feeling down, not in the mood for a run” you’ll be bombarded with inspiration and encouragement to get out there and get Phit!
Everyone love a good theme right? A little something to jazz up your profile, browser, PC or mobile. Twitter has been in on the game in one form or another for quite some time with third-party web apps offering Twitter Backgrounds. Now, Tweety Got Back have launched and allow you to customize your entire Twitter profile with the touch of a button.
Here are a few sample themes:
Breakfast at Tiffany’s
Strikes Midnight
New Year’s in New York
Most of the themes are based around artistic subjects and the likes.However there are quite a few holiday ones such as Christmas, Easter and Thanksgiving so you can dress up your profile when the time is right. A great, and easy-to-use service. Apply a theme to your Twitter profile by clicking here.
