Everyone’s doing it, so why shouldn’t I? I’ve joined the twitterverse, and I have to blog about it.
Formally, I’ve been on Twitter for a few weeks, but I’ve only just started using it regularly, thanks to TwitterFox, which is a convenient way of getting updates – it sits in my status bar between Zotero and the cricket scores.
Anyway, if you want to follow my meanderings in 140 characters or less, I’m @BobOHara.
@Bob: enjoy #Twitter
(did I do that right? I only ever see Tweets on Facebook).
I dunno. I’m only learning about it now. There’s a whole new world of mis-communication waiting to confuse me.
@CathEnnis 2 mny vwels. LOLZ!!
BobOHara Your transformation will be complete after you install an app on your phone...so you can complain about giggling ninnies on the train likecromercrox.Bob – I’m doing the following thing (also a Twitterfoxer, to be found twittering (tweeting? dunno) here)
I’ve joined the twitterverse, and I have to blog about it
So does twittering replace some other activity, or increase productivity? Or does one add twittering the list of other things one does in a given day? IOW, how much time do you reckon you’ll
wastespend twittering and reading other twits’ tweets, in an average day?I have no intention of jumping on this particular bandwagon myself, mind you. I need another reason to sit at the computer like I need another allergen floating around the Hill Country spring atmosphere.
@cathennis : what is your twitter name? I know when I saw you last (yes at the pub!) you said you caved and joined… but i can’t find you…yet.
“@cathennis” isn’t too far off 😉
I only joined to see where all the hits to my other blog were coming from, I haven’t tweeted at all.
Damn, I’m already behind the times:
Have you heard about the ongoing twitter revolution in Moldova?
I think it’s pretty great…I can throw out a lab q i’m having trouble with into the twitter void and I’d get a coupla short expert answers with links.
Bob, can you give an update once you’ve used it for a bit? I am thinking about joining the twitter universe myself I would like to know what another newbie thinks.
It’s fun. I think I wouldn’t use it if I didn’t have Twitterfox: that makes it easy to follow, a note appears when there’s a new message. You’re not going to get serious discussions, but for chucking stuff out it looks useful.
According to the Beeb, the Twitterbird got the worm yesterday. But I think one has to be completely disconnected from teh interwebz to avoid worms.
I’m an occasional Twitterer, but I’m still struggling with whether to feed my Tweets into Facebook and Friendfeed, or vice versa. And whether to squirt blogposts into Twitter (as I have seen some do).
I’m with Kristi on wondering how to find the time to do all these things with full attention and inspiration.
I am on twitter too, but can never seem to get what I want to say in the limited character spacing! Am I the only one with this problem – other seem to cope just fine.
I have my blog going to friend feed then to twitter, and somehow I now have my twitter updating my friend feed and yet I find I am posting and reading less – I think I am experiencing information over load!
It’s impossible to follow everything people say. It’s like standing in a noisy room. You might pick up something interesting, or not, and it shouldn’t matter either way. I’m doing alright with Twitter, but I have moments where I’d just rather not stand in a noisy room.
Nature Protocols has recently joined the Twittering throng (@NatureProtocols) and I have to say I’ve found it surprisingly useful. I’ve found out quite a lot of interesting information that I would otherwise have missed….!
One has to first find their reason for using Twitter and go from there. Either it is for information gathering, an advertising medium for your more extensive web contributions elsewhere, to communicate with friends, just to name a few. For those of you who find it overwhelming, not suitable to your writing style or too chaotic, spend more time with other networking sites and simply feed things into Twitter. For me, I like the rapid back-and-forth, so I actually feed Twitter elsewhere since I spend more time on Twitter than on other sites.
If one is more interested in “mind casting” than “life casting”, Jay Rosen has had interesting discussions on how to use Twitter (can’t find them, but here is a brief story) and his concept has been forwarded by Bora as well. Essentially, the path to synthesizing information and creating new content could go something like this:
One can bail at any point in the cycle depending on how much one remains interested in the concept. I’m not sure why people still think that Twitter is only used to tell people that their cat just vomited on the carpet
@noahwilliamgray
Noah – that’s helpful. I have realised that building the network is the crucial step. I’ve done some work on this in Facebook and here on NN, but not so much in FriendFeed or Twitter. I think I need a Network spring cleaning and synchronisation tool to get things sorted out better.
Frank, I’m at exactly that point with friendfeed. I’ve realized the potential organizational power there, but have not invested time in creating my own custom-built environment there to allow me to grasp what is important to me.
This all just sounds like so much effort.
Do I sound overwhelmed? I am. Too much going on.
@ Noah – I also found your comment above helpful, in the sense that it made me realize that a time investment in making Twitter work for me is not worthwhile at this point. Whether that may change at some point in the future, I can’t say, but you’re absolutely correct that one should start by identifying a reason(s) to use Twitter (or any other social media function). Also, as Bora’s recent post describes, one might need a justification for such activities, if one works at a university or research institute.
I’ve joined the twitterverse, and I have to blog about it
Does anyone else find this just a weeny bit ironic?
Honestly, I don’t know how anyone has time – blogs, fora, twitterthingies, RSS, FriendFeed, LinkedIn, FaceBook, god help us MySpace, etc. etc. etc. Not to mention any number of incarnations of IM. Either the average net-enabled NN user has a much shorter attention span than I do (which is hard to imagine, honestly), or people are much, much more efficient at aggregating and sifting content than I can imagine.
Or spend a heck of a lot longer doing it per day, I suppose.
Anyway, have fun with it. I’m still struggling with finding time to blow the dust off my blog, not to mention my other blog. LinkedIn is going to have to wait, and it’s time to delete my Facebook page I think. I’m simplifying, not Twitterfying.
I was just looking for you on Facebook, Richard, but don’t know which one of the four Richard Wintle’s without a profile picture or any information you are…
Heh. I am on only as an alias. I’m not on as “Richard Wintle” (and probably never will be).