If I hear the word Twitter one more time...

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by Thor

Not to mention the horribly annoying CNN use for it, when you have to see jackidiot99 commenting on the 'ticker' during a CNN show.

Thanks for that. As much as I love and pimp the service, there are some users of it that are just frustrating as hell. CNN seemed to be doing a good job at first, but mixing it in with real information is a bit ridiculous. Sometimes there needs to be separation of news and interaction.

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by DementedReality

maybe i am a simpleton ... i have Windows Vista, which one do you suggest I use?

If you use firefox, my suggestion would be TwitterFox plug-in (lame name I know), but it works right into your Firefox browser.

[DementedReality]

Originally Posted by c.t.ner

If you use firefox, my suggestion would be TwitterFox plug-in (lame name I know), but it works right into your Firefox browser.

IE is what I use ...

[Barnes]

It's all about crowd sourcing and information gathering. If something big happens, say a major event like a plane landing on the Hudson happens. The majority of us will talk about it here while watching on CNN.

As an example with Twitter, you can read #planeinhudson tweats from people on the rescue ferries, nearby witnesses and potentially those on the plane. It's open, immediate access to anywhere in the world.

[octothorp]

Bill Simmons, of all people, had a really good quote about twitter in a column that I read this morning. Good enough that I'm posting it here:

In 15 years, writing went from "reflecting on what happened and putting together some coherent thoughts" to "reflecting on what happened as quickly as possible" to "reflecting on what's happening as it's happening" to "here are my half-baked thoughts about absolutely anything and I'm not even going to attempt to entertain you,"...

I have no problem with knowing that twitter exists and is out there and being used, and maybe someday there will be an application for it that is relevant to my life. But I'm pretty resistant to social networking technologies.

[RougeUnderoos]

http://www.tmz.com/videos?autoplay=t...3-d5efd64542fd

[lambeburger]

Am I the only one that thinks the word twitter sounds dirty?

EDIT: Just clicked on the link, obviously Stephen Colbert thinks so too.

[dobbles]

i have a question for people who use twitter for like work or real purposes. i think it was c.t.ner that mentioned starting a web project with twitter and someone else mentioned being required to use it at work.

is twitter really the most efficient way to do this? specifically with brainstorming about a project, i would think 140 character messages is about the least productive way of doing things.

to me it seems like the people who use it for legit reasons are still just using the twitter medium because its hip and trendy. not because there is any real advantage to using it. maybe i am missing something though. it wouldn't be the first time.

[KTrain]

I find that a lot of the people I follow on Twitter use it to advertise their blog posts, projects, etc. I've seen contests run through Twitter. The city of Calgary uses it to announce road closures, arrests, etc. I don't think it's a very useful collaboration tool. It is more useful as a networking tool though.

[c.t.ner]

Originally Posted by KTrain

I find that a lot of the people I follow on Twitter use it to advertise their blog posts, projects, etc. I've seen contests run through Twitter. The city of Calgary uses it to announce road closures, arrests, etc. I don't think it's a very useful collaboration tool. It is more useful as a networking tool though.

I'll just add some more info to KTrain's reply.

There are two kinda main streams of usage that seem to be evolving. (Outside of the "I'm on the Toliet" sorta tweets)

1) People are using it to gather information. Sorta like an interactive RSS Feed.

In Calgary, local news media are using twitter to get instant feedback from stories and ask for community input. Reports are using it to grab pictures of events as they happen and to find out what's actually going down on street level. For what it's worth (political tendencies aside) the George Dubbya (#yycgb) visit to Calgary was filling the Twitter stream with pictures, comments, opinions and on the ground reaction.

2) The second thing that people seem to be using it for is to reinforce their Personal/Corporate Branding. You post your blogs, links to your work, ideas that you like, your favorite music, etc.,. It becomes an element of your online branding.

It helps promote your brand to the people following you on a constant basis. Your followers will then get an idea of what type of person you are or your interests and what sort of skills you have.

When you couple that constant personal promotion with connections made in real life, you start seeing collaborations occur. If someone on your follow list asks a question, just answer it. You'll never know what might occur. A few of us in Calgary started up a project to help teach people Web Design skills, because of a simple question about Web Design Courses at the local university.

In regards to actual collaboration, twitter is far too limited for that. But it a great way to get a conversation going and get ball rolling. Use apps like Basecamp and Evernote to actually do the brainstorming.