This is more of an observation than anything else. I have been using Twitter for over a year now. Sometimes actively, sometimes not. I have both personal and business accounts on Twitter @pramsey and @qedmethods, I use the personal account to follow my cycling heroes and some people I think are interesting or funny. On the business side, I follow people who are more business oriented, either way I need to vet out who I'm following or who's following me.
Anyway back to the topic at hand. Lately I've seen Twitter used to keep track of the elections in Iran, bombings in India, power outages in Virginia or who won the latest version of the Bachelorette (just kidding, I don't watch the Bachelorette). What I feel is interesting is that for breaking news I'm going to Twitter now, I know that someone on Twitter knows about the issue, and can point me to information about it. An example is something that happened the other day. I was checking Twitter and discovered that one of my favorite cyclists, Taylor Phinney (@taylorphinney), was injured in a bike race (possible serious head injuries), I searched twitter and I found a message by his coach Axel Merckx (@axelmerckx) saying that Taylor was going to be fine (it was interesting because I found this out possibly before his father knew).
As I was checking out Twitter for news on Taylor, I was also searching Google for information, nothing had hit Google News concerning this issue, through Twitter I found out about the issue and the result along with video from the incident posted to YouTube, well before mainstream media and Google picked it up. I found it interesting how the "citizen" reporter got me information and a little research on my side quickly allowed me to find credible sources of information well before the news got it online. This should have Google a bit scared...
There are tools that will run automated searches on Twitter for you, they will allow you to search for topics that interest you. TweetDeck is a great example of this. I have a lot of interesting ideas, many think I'm foolish for being active on Twitter, but I'd rather be considered foolish by some, than left behind by the masses. Twitter is a place that you can spend a large amount of time doing something silly, but it's also a place where you can gain a large amount of information, if you properly apply the tools that are available. Businesses need to be more involved in reviewing what goes on in places like Twitter, and become active in their communities.
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter. Show all posts
Tuesday, July 28, 2009
Thursday, August 28, 2008
Social Networking
I'm still playing with Social Networking, both on my iTouch/iPhone and on my computer with tools such as blogger, LinkedIn, Facebook, MySpace etc... One of the tools I've mentioned before is Twinkle, Twinkle is a chat room for lack of better world, I'm sure they'll come up with a glorious title saying it's a Web 2.0 empowered application using the 3G iPhone network, but in reality it's less functional than what I was using with CompuServe and Delphi back in the early 1990's (I'm getting old, but I'm also getting wiser ;)).
One of the interesting features with the iPhone is that it has a very nice camera, it also is GPS enabled, this allows a person to send a picture of what's going on near them, and for you to see about where they are at. The other day I started seeing pictures of a tornado running through Parker Colorado, about an hour after that I saw similar pictures on CNN. Think about it, these people scooped CNN on a news story, pretty impressive if you ask me. I've seen similar issues, I've seen reports of a heavy storm coming through the area, and people talking about damage, I've seen people around the country talk at the same time about how a movie (the same movie) stopped just before the end (of course this is because the theater is receiving a stream of the movie via satellite or web and the stream died). If I had the resources I'd write a program to sit and sniff twitter traffic to see what's going on in the world.
There are sad portions on this also, I've run into a number of people with relationship issues that are either having bad problems or just need to be cheered up. I'm always trying to be helpful, but not everyone wants help, and I've made it clear that anyone can come to me for assistance. I've also seen several bullies online, some have tried to pick fights with me, but I'm old enough where I don't blow up like they want me to (this of course drives them nuts, they want reaction, I don't think most people realize the best way to beat a bully is to ignore them).
I've also heard a bunch of issues with stalking going on, I've gotten a few requests for information that I ignore, it's mostly the women who are getting stalked and asking for things that they shouldn't be asked for (am I the last Gentleman online?). I do follow a couple of kids from time to time, because they seem so young and I feel they need adult supervision, I'm very happy to see that they are keeping their public noses clean (hopefully nothing is going on in the private area). Many of these kids need something other to do then being handed an iPhone and told to go keep busy.
I've been able to discuss politics with different people from around the world, see how people outside the US see the US (it isn't great right now). This morning I got on and one of my "friends", he lives in Florida, was getting torn apart by someone else. Despite I don't agree with my "friend's" politics, I didn't take kindly to anyone attacking him, so I stepped in and mentioned that he was a good guy and should be treated that way. Also this morning another one of my "friends" got laid off, she's in London, it seems that there are a lot of layoffs going on in that area now, the financial issues of the US are catching up to them. I've been able to make friends with people, old and young, who I might possibly have made friends with before (anyone who knows me will tell you that I absolutely love everyone). As I'm writing this I just learned that another "friend" in Georgia has just quit a job, she's going to bury her pain in donuts this morning.
The great parts about this? I was mentioning to someone in the public area how my mother had passed away in December of 2003, almost instantly I had several people expressing their condolences, I was touched to see so many people in the world care. I think a couple of us started crying as we discussed our parents (OK I cried, but that's what I do, it was a very manly cry though ;)).
I have been able to listen into people and get some great ideas from them (I wish I had a lot of research and development money right now, I'm sure I could make it a lot more with a few of the ideas I currently have). I'm also surprised about how many people don't know what Web 2.0 is or Social Networking, they have this idea that Twinkle, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc... are all the same thing, but they aren't, they are all different and all have their own niche. Maybe I should write a book about all this?
One of the interesting features with the iPhone is that it has a very nice camera, it also is GPS enabled, this allows a person to send a picture of what's going on near them, and for you to see about where they are at. The other day I started seeing pictures of a tornado running through Parker Colorado, about an hour after that I saw similar pictures on CNN. Think about it, these people scooped CNN on a news story, pretty impressive if you ask me. I've seen similar issues, I've seen reports of a heavy storm coming through the area, and people talking about damage, I've seen people around the country talk at the same time about how a movie (the same movie) stopped just before the end (of course this is because the theater is receiving a stream of the movie via satellite or web and the stream died). If I had the resources I'd write a program to sit and sniff twitter traffic to see what's going on in the world.
There are sad portions on this also, I've run into a number of people with relationship issues that are either having bad problems or just need to be cheered up. I'm always trying to be helpful, but not everyone wants help, and I've made it clear that anyone can come to me for assistance. I've also seen several bullies online, some have tried to pick fights with me, but I'm old enough where I don't blow up like they want me to (this of course drives them nuts, they want reaction, I don't think most people realize the best way to beat a bully is to ignore them).
I've also heard a bunch of issues with stalking going on, I've gotten a few requests for information that I ignore, it's mostly the women who are getting stalked and asking for things that they shouldn't be asked for (am I the last Gentleman online?). I do follow a couple of kids from time to time, because they seem so young and I feel they need adult supervision, I'm very happy to see that they are keeping their public noses clean (hopefully nothing is going on in the private area). Many of these kids need something other to do then being handed an iPhone and told to go keep busy.
I've been able to discuss politics with different people from around the world, see how people outside the US see the US (it isn't great right now). This morning I got on and one of my "friends", he lives in Florida, was getting torn apart by someone else. Despite I don't agree with my "friend's" politics, I didn't take kindly to anyone attacking him, so I stepped in and mentioned that he was a good guy and should be treated that way. Also this morning another one of my "friends" got laid off, she's in London, it seems that there are a lot of layoffs going on in that area now, the financial issues of the US are catching up to them. I've been able to make friends with people, old and young, who I might possibly have made friends with before (anyone who knows me will tell you that I absolutely love everyone). As I'm writing this I just learned that another "friend" in Georgia has just quit a job, she's going to bury her pain in donuts this morning.
The great parts about this? I was mentioning to someone in the public area how my mother had passed away in December of 2003, almost instantly I had several people expressing their condolences, I was touched to see so many people in the world care. I think a couple of us started crying as we discussed our parents (OK I cried, but that's what I do, it was a very manly cry though ;)).
I have been able to listen into people and get some great ideas from them (I wish I had a lot of research and development money right now, I'm sure I could make it a lot more with a few of the ideas I currently have). I'm also surprised about how many people don't know what Web 2.0 is or Social Networking, they have this idea that Twinkle, Twitter, Blogs, Facebook, LinkedIn, etc... are all the same thing, but they aren't, they are all different and all have their own niche. Maybe I should write a book about all this?
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