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Tweet Tweet - It's the Twitter thread! (Or, how we fail at Twitter)
ArcSyn
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
Consider this the general Twitter thread for the Tech Forum. Post questions, advice, your Twitter account, etc here and be followed by creepy PAers.
original post wrote:So I have tried, multiple times, over the past few years to get into using Twitter and following people (like Gabe and Tycho) that could be interesting to follow. Keeping up on things and stuff going on. I just can't seem to understand how people use it.
I have Twitterberry on my BB 8350i, but it just doesn't seem like it's made for following people. I can't subscribe to Twitter stuff via text message as my plan doesn't allow for very many outside network texts and e-mail seems to only be for direct replies (of which I don't get very many). The only way for me to check is to open Twitteryberry, and update my Friends Timeline and then scroll through it to where I left off last time. But I don't have time to update every hour or whatever, which kills things like watching Gabe or Scott Kurtz draw live. Also, most tweets end up being links to twitpic or this or that website which is painfully slow on my Nextel BB. It's very annoying that they don't even include any sort of clue as to what the link is, either.
So what do you guys use for Twitter? How do you use it? Do you tweet, or simply follow, or mix of both? I'm trying to figure out if it's worth it for me to keep trying to use Twitter when it just doesn't seem to fit with my life and work. What programs do you use and is there a better way of keeping track of what the people you are following are doing?
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It seems like the people benefiting the most from it are facebook status updaters and marketing people.
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In order for it to work best on a mobile device, you've got to either have an app that routes it through your data connection or else have an unlimited messaging plan. It also should update automatically instead of you having to refresh it manually. I use the app TwiDroid on my G1, it does basically everything the Twitter website does on my phone, and it works through the data connection.
Here's how I use it: I live a state away from half of my friends, and my other half are local. Twitter gives me a quick way to see what my friends are doing back home and communicate with them in a casual way that almost makes me feel like I'm still there. We'll chat back and forth about various things; good times.
With my local friends, Twitter is an easy way to make plans for various activities, and also just for general chatter back and forth. With large groups it works much easier than large email chains that get unwieldy and no fun to read. Boo for "reply all" chains that go on forever.
It's also an easy way to share funny or interesting links that you don't think deserve firing up an email, picking the contacts, etc. Just send it out via Twitter and people can check it if they want.
The key is to know what to tweet and what not to tweet. I don't care that you just had orange soda or a particularly great bowel movement. As long as people avoid superfluous updates, I'm all about the Twitter.
I don't sign up for any celebrity tweets, because frankly, I don't care.
As far as USING Twitter, I avoid the main site. I use TwitterFox, a plugin that gives any updates as a popup and lets me check them with one click without navigating to a new site. I hightly recommend it!
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It's a good way to connect people you know, and a good way to connect people you don't know.
It's also a good way to find out what's happening in real time as well. 3 weeks ago we had a massive storm where I live, caused millions of dollars in damage, downed thousands of trees, over 15,000 people were without power. But people were using twitter during the storm. Posting what they were seeing, where there is no power, where damage was, etc. Our civic government actually uses twitter, and actually posted updates during the storm, and used the info people were posting to twitter to help prioritize the emergency response.
It's a very powerful tool, but it just takes some time to learn how to use.
Although he did neglect to classify it according to the Internet Poop Chart or whatever the fuck it is that SE++ always refers to.
Can trade TF2 items or whatever else you're interested in. PM me.
You post every tiny detail about your life? Not following you. You constantly just spam links over and over? Probably not following you (Even though I use twitter on my G1, I rarely click on links)
I actually have used twitter to get to know random people of forums. It just gives you a small glimpse into their lives, and I found I have more in common with these people. There's a couple of people that are getting into shape/keeping into shape, so twittering our progress is a good form of motivation. Believe it or not, decent /funny discussions pop up quite often, 140 character be damned.
I describe it as a mix of IM and email.
For entertainment, following certain people is comical like...Rob Dyrdek
And it's also a simple way to see what my friends states away are up to.
Couldn't you basically do all these things on something like facebook, but even better?
Step 2. Link your twitter account with your facebook account.
Step 3. Start using Twitter
This has nothing to do with twitter but, I am rewatching season 1 of Dexter and it's just so good.
'I am rewatching season 1 of Dexter and it's just so good.' + iPhone photo of the DVD case = Twitter post!
I had a question about flying on Virgin America, so I sent a tweet to Virgin's twitter and got a response within minutes. No bothering with automated phone systems and incompetent customer service agents, no sending an e-mail and waiting a week, just a quick tweet and response.
I have a lot of friends in San Diego, particularly in the areas that tend to get hit by wildfires. During the big wildfire about two years back, random people in SD were updating Twitter with information more quickly than any other news source. When there's a bigass fire within a few blocks of where your friends and your family live, you want to know what's happening on a minute-by-minute basis, and Twitter is utterly fantastic as a realtime firsthand data source. Also see: Iran election fiasco.
Also, I recently started tweeting again. It's more fun when you use it with people you know. I'm sure it's even better if you can tweet from your phone, which I can't (really cheap plan, no data allowance).
e: Oh, wait, I just realised this isn't SE++. I should stop opening multiple forums at once.
A surprising number of celebrities are using Twitter every day. Among others, I'm following Stephen Fry, Neil Gaiman, Wil Wheaton, Ragnar Tornquist (creator of the Longest Journey/Dreamfall series), Jonathan Ross, Felicia Day, Nathan Fillion, Jewel Staite, Brent Spiner (he's always hilarious when he posts), Graham Linehan... so it's interesting to see what they are getting up to. When I tried explaining the concept of Twitter to my not very tech-savvy family, and added the novelty of following all these people, they said it was a very "stalkerish" thing to do.
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
For me, I communicate with a group of friends I don't normally see in person. It's like an IRC chat that everyone periodically checks (maybe once or twice a day) and comments back and forth to each other.
I also use it to follow news so I get updates on breaking information and such.
I never use the twitter main page and I abhor the SMS tweeting method. I use TweetDeck for the iPhone and PC.
Twitter I can get behind though. I don't get slapped, poked, bitten, stabbed, raped, violated, pooped on or pushed. I don't have 100 group requests nor do I have people recommending me really annoying applications. No-one is suggesting I do a "how well do I know them" quiz or a "how sexy are you?" quiz (I already know the answer is very).
It's plain and it's simple and it's easy to use from my phone (I use PockeTwit from my HTC Diamond and it's lovely).
That said I don't follow anyone famous as I don't care for that type of thing. It does help me keep in touch with my friends though.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Nothing is happening. You lie!
Nothing's forgotten, nothing is ever forgotten
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Mine's El_Chiclets. Long as you're not a spam bot, I'll follow you if you're following me. Feel free to add.
Here is a guide I try and adhere to: www.howtousetwitterformarketingandpr.com/
Username is: armyofcats if anyone feels the urge to follow.
Sir_Grinch is me.
Add me if you wish. My posts are boring, dull and inane! There's also a twitter with a picture of a rather nasty blister I inflicted upon myself climbing.
Now if that's not an endorsement I don't know what is.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Because there's already one in SE++ and one in the PAX forum =/ Far too many areas to find people on the PA Forum.
Twitter is nice because it can be used so casually and it's not exactly a time-sensitive thing. I follow a number of PAX'ers because that's how we organize, I follow a few celebrities (like Al Yankovic, Kevin Smith, etc) just because they say funny things and post interesting pictures every now and then. This is appealing because it has a more "personal" feel to it. Seeing Adam and Grant from Mythbusters tweeting pictures from on the set is really neat, because not everyone will see that sort of thing.
It's also a way to see a different side of them. Their personal views and political opinions will become obvious (which may make you like them more, or downright hate them).
That, and the occasional "Twitter Shit" is funny to those that get it.
Easy place to vent. Easy place to get opinions. Easy place to get the news the fastest.
Some common courtesies are to use the @reply when talking to someone. Celebrities may not do it often because it can associate them with a possibly less-than-reputable person. Jump into discussions and you'll get included. Over time your followers will grow, but you can't expect that to happen without following others. Friend of mine hates Twitter apparently, but he tweets. I don't know who he's tweeting to... because I'm practically his only follower. Maybe he doesn't understand that no one else is reading his stuff? He says he doesn't care what other people are doing. Meh.
PSN: SirGrinchX
Oculus Rift: Sir_Grinch
Yes, I am very original.
Feel free to follow me.
Other than that, friends use it and its becoming a good way to get news on upcoming games and such before it hits places like Kotaku and such.
XBL: JyrenB ; Steam: Jyren ; Twitter