I was honored to be asked my opinion about Twitter today, by Press democrat Daily Geek writer Nathan Halverson. Hoping I didn’t sound like a bumbling idiot in our phone conversation.
I thought I’d throw some notes at my poor neglected blog. Dear Blog: I’m sorry I’ve neglected you. I’ve been running around with Twitter, and Facebook lately.
I found the link herebeforeoprah.com and added my name to the list of self important early adopters. I think I was on twitter before The Color Purple, so I found it appropriate. I got a 99 out of 100 on TwitterGrader… Is that good?
I can barely recall how I learned about Twitter, but I may have even beat the Diggnation boys and CaliLewis…. If that matters to anyone but me.
I’ve Pownced and I’ve Plurked, and I’ve Friend Feeded, but Twitter, in it’s simplicity and endless available apps, (Twhirl, Tweetdeck, Twitterfon, Seesmic Desktop, Twitpic, Twitxr, etc.) has held my attention.
It’s easy to get in and out of like mental bubble gum…Just stick it behind your ear, and pull it back out as needed. Twitter has become a powerful news, entertainment source On Demand and on the go. The On-the-go element has wide appeal. So, if you are still goin’ home and adjusting the rabbit ears for information, you’ll be way out of the loop…..that method is played out.
Twitter is what you make of it. It’s there 24/7 for distraction, entertainment, and answers that you didn’t know you had the questions to! I like that I can search a keyword for any field of interest and get the latest global jibber-jabber and links to resources or events that I would never have know about otherwise. I’ve been able to connect with folks who also work in with Six Sigma and Lean manufacturing methods.
I’ve Twittered from a Blackberry, an iPhone or any web browser, and there are web services and applications which will send your tweets as status updates to Facebook or even view Facebook statuses alongside your Twitter follows, (as with Tweetdeck).
It’s beauty and success has alot to do with it’s simplicity, and it’s live speed. There are a zillion stale blogs out there (like mine) because they take a different level of time and energy to compose and publish complete ideas. The audience is different and the expectation is different. Twitter is awesome for the information junky, or the short attention span generation.
And yet it’s more than a microblog, and not quite as intimate or permission based as a social network.
But for business? I made a joke on Twitter about my Comcast remote not working as a phone because I have my phone service through comcast, too, and I had a reply within minutes, from a Comcast employee, wondering how he could help. That was an “Ahah” moment for me, when I realized this was a brilliant tool for companies to connect with the techy segment of customers. @Connectbyhertz is promoting it’s New York car sharing program through Twitter. I’m glad to see the company I work for get more tech savvy and customer connected..
I love the ability to snap a picture from the phone, and send the link to Twitter, and other sites like Facebook, and Flickr all in a few clicks. (I use Twitxr.com, but twitpic.com is popular, too)
CalFire used Twitter during LA fires…. A candidate shouldn’t be without it, Celebrities have discovered it, News sites feed updates to it all day all night… Video Podcasters update, The Pastor of my church is even talking about setting up his account.
As it’s grown I’m starting to be able to use it more for direct messaging with local friends.
There are more uses we have yet to uncover. I find new ones every day. I just found out you can update your google calendar with @gcal . And schedule tweets in advance with Tweetlater.com .
I don’t think Oprah will ruin it…. but Ashton Kutcher (@aplusk) might! ;o)
…If there’s any law limiting the quantity of hyperlinks in a blog post, I’m sure I’ve broken it! ………..and I was holding back.
