Who's on Twitter?

flyingcheesehead

flyingcheesehead

Taxi to Parking
Joined
Feb 23, 2005
Messages
25,384
Location
UQACY, WI
Display Name
Display name:
iMooniac
I just got on...

http://twitter.com/flyingcheezhead (note the "z" instead of "se" - 15 char limit it seems)

For those of you who don't know, Twitter is a service that's kind of like a mini-blog where you talk about what you're doing, but each entry is limited to 140 characters.

I'm going to "tweet" where I'm going for the rest of the month, about neat things I see at OSH and on my west coast flying adventure, and whatever. I noticed that Will Hawkins is on there as pilotwill, and Bill Williams as billwil just like here. Who else is on Twitter? What's your name on there?
 
Kent, Your postings are closed to others.

It sounds neat but I put enough time into this site. I very rarely look at the PB.
 
flyingcheesehead said:
For those of you who don't know, Twitter is a service that's kind of like a mini-blog where you talk about what you're doing, but each entry is limited to 140 characters.
Click to expand...

Why not just post on your actual blog and get one of those Spot things in Oshkosh. 140 characters? :dunno:
 
skyflyer8 said:
Why not just post on your actual blog and get one of those Spot things in Oshkosh. 140 characters? :dunno:
Click to expand...

'cuz then I'd need an excuse for writing less. :goofy:

Twitter doesn't seem to make too much sense at first, but it's kind of cool if you're not a total geek about it. It's easy to post and read via SMS text messages and I now have an actual Twitter client on the iPhone - Even better!
 
I am...and I'm now following you. Though I have yet to post anything. :)
 
OK... apparently I need to be educated.

I am a web developer and have spent the past 15 years keeping abreast of the current technologies as best as I can. However, there is a new breed of "products" coming out lately that I just can't wrap my head around.

Most of my friends (including my wife) are on Facebook and can't understand why I'm not. At the same time, I don't understand what the attraction is. Everyone has each others phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Why do we need to be Facebook friends as well? What's the benefit?

Now Twitter has become "the next big thing"... and I can't figure out the draw. Admittedly, I have never used it... but I think I understand how it works. I can "follow" someone and I'll get updates (via e-mail, text message, etc) when they tell me what they're currently up to. But isn't this almost exactly the opposite of how most people would probably want to use something like this? Rather than getting updates whenever you post them, wouldn't it be better for me to "ask" what you were doing (sent to the site via e-mail, text, etc)... and get your latest update as the response?

My wife thinks it might not make sense to me because I've been developing web sites (or the equivalent) since the days of BBS's... and most people don't have the technical expertise to do this for themselves. I can't believe that is true, especially in this day and age where everyone can have a Blogspot account in a matter of seconds.

I don't mean to come of as "poo pooing" these things... I'm being completely serious, if somebody can explain this to me I would be very appreciative. Also, I do (sort of) understand the benefit to LinkedIn... since it is based on keeping contacts within your industry, so if you decide to look for a new job you have a ready-made list of people that you could contact for leads.
 
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mjburian said:
OK... apparently I need to be educated.

I am a web developer and have spent the past 15 years keeping abreast of the current technologies as best as I can. However, there is a new breed of "products" coming out lately that I just can't wrap my head around.

Most of my friends (including my wife) are on Facebook and can't understand why I'm not. At the same time, I don't understand what the attraction is. Everyone has each others phone numbers and e-mail addresses. Why do we need to be Facebook friends as well? What's the benefit?

Now Twitter has become "the next big thing"... and I can't figure out the draw. Admittedly, I have never used it... but I think I understand how it works. I can "follow" someone and I'll get updates (via e-mail, text message, etc) when they tell me what they're currently up to. But isn't this almost exactly the opposite of how most people would probably want to use something like this? Rather than getting updates whenever you post them, wouldn't it be better for me to "ask" what you were doing (sent to the site via e-mail, text, etc)... and get your latest update as the response?

My wife thinks it might not make sense to me because I've been developing web sites (or the equivalent) since the days of BBS's... and most people don't have the technical expertise to do this for themselves. I can't believe that is true, especially in this day and age where everyone can have a Blogspot account in a matter of seconds.

I don't mean to come of as "poo pooing" these things... I'm being completely serious, if somebody can explain this to me I would be very appreciative. Also, I do (sort of) understand the benefit to LinkedIn... since it is based on keeping contacts within your industry, so if you decide to look for a new job you have a ready-made list of people that you could contact for leads.
Click to expand...

Marty,

Admittedly, I'm not an addict, so I can't quite grasp it either. I'm also on facebook, and only visit about once every 1-2 weeks. I think the bottom line is that I haven't allowed myself to become immersed in it.

Listen to this to get a grasp of true twitter users.

http://deepfriedbytes.com/podcast/episode-3-twitter-war-stories/
 
Alright... so I went to the site to see if they had a FAQ section that might answer "why should i join?". While I was there, I saw the following testimonial:

"If you aren't familiar with Twitter, it is one of those things, like MySpace, that sounds totally ridiculous and stupid when you first hear about it. But once you start using it, you realize how much fun it is."
Eric Nuzum, Author of The Dead Travel Fast

Since that seems to address both of my questions (although, I mentioned Facebook not MySpace)... I have decided to sign up and see if I can "realize how much fun it is".

Anyway, my Twitter name is mjburian (http://www.twitter.com/mjburian)
 
Facebook is about as far as I go right now. I just wouldn't update Twitter as often.
 
Yeah, I just signed up for Facebook today, and it stole my entire morning. If my boss knew, he's be ****ed. I don't even have time to read all of the threads on here, I have no idea why I just signed up for something else. I guess that it was an effort to reconnect with old classmates in anticipation of my 10 year HS reunion next year. Do I actually have to sign up for Twitter to "follow" someone?
 
t0r0nad0 said:
Do I actually have to sign up for Twitter to "follow" someone?
Click to expand...

Well, you can go to the individual twitter pages as linked above one at a time, but it's probably faster if you do sign up and actually click "follow" on the folks you want to follow - Then you'll have one big "stream" available. Actually, big is the wrong word - I'm following 7 people, and in the past 24 hours there are only 10 "tweets" in my feed including the 3 I sent.

With a 140-character-per-tweet limit, it's not going to take you much time. :no: :)
 
flyingcheesehead said:
Well, you can go to the individual twitter pages as linked above one at a time, but it's probably faster if you do sign up and actually click "follow" on the folks you want to follow - Then you'll have one big "stream" available. Actually, big is the wrong word - I'm following 7 people, and in the past 24 hours there are only 10 "tweets" in my feed including the 3 I sent.

With a 140-character-per-tweet limit, it's not going to take you much time. :no: :)
Click to expand...

You can actually text "follow <name>" to follow somebody from a device without signing up at the website. It's not quite as useful, but avoids the whole account creation process if you don't think you'll ever post but you still want to follow.
 
FlyNE said:
You can actually text "follow <name>" to follow somebody from a device without signing up at the website. It's not quite as useful, but avoids the whole account creation process if you don't think you'll ever post but you still want to follow.
Click to expand...

True, but then you'll be getting a text message every time someone twitters. I suppose that means you can pretend to be on of the cool kids. ;)
 
skyflyer8 said:
Why not just post on your actual blog and get one of those Spot things in Oshkosh. 140 characters? :dunno:
Click to expand...

My guess is that the 140 character limit is because you can follow someone via SMS text, which is limited to 160 characters per message.

flyingcheesehead said:
Well, you can go to the individual twitter pages as linked above one at a time, but it's probably faster if you do sign up and actually click "follow" on the folks you want to follow - Then you'll have one big "stream" available. Actually, big is the wrong word - I'm following 7 people, and in the past 24 hours there are only 10 "tweets" in my feed including the 3 I sent.

With a 140-character-per-tweet limit, it's not going to take you much time. :no: :)
Click to expand...

Makes sense... what the hell, why not? Like you say, there's that application for the iTouch, so if nothing else it will give me an excuse to install that application.

FlyNE said:
You can actually text "follow <name>" to follow somebody from a device without signing up at the website. It's not quite as useful, but avoids the whole account creation process if you don't think you'll ever post but you still want to follow.
Click to expand...

I might have to try that... I assume there's a way to "unfollow" when it gets annoying.
 
I KNEW I signed up a long time ago before youse youngsters discovered Twitter. I also emailed a sign-up to a certain cheesehead who assumed I was outta at my mind.

Want proof?

https://twitter.com/mikea

See any necessary numbers or strange spelling in that name? ;)

NOW GET OFF OF MY LAWN! :D
 
your updates are protected.

fine.

i didnt want to know what you were doing anyways you old man.
 
mikea said:
Huh? I gotta dig for the options.

Oh. Does that mean only followers can see? I'll change that.
Click to expand...
Yup, that's what it means. Only your followers can see. Are you serving Kool-Aid at your next meeting? :rofl:
 
Survey Twitter posts.

original.jpg
 
mjburian said:
I don't mean to come of as "poo pooing" these things... I'm being completely serious, if somebody can explain this to me I would be very appreciative. Also, I do (sort of) understand the benefit to LinkedIn... since it is based on keeping contacts within your industry, so if you decide to look for a new job you have a ready-made list of people that you could contact for leads.
Click to expand...

You're suffering from Actually Wondering What the Point Is syndrome.

Lump me in with the thousands of otehr SW engineer types that missed out on millions during the dot.com craze. We were working on internet apps, desktop apps, and mainframe to desktop integration, while people with far less understanding of the underlying technology were making bazillions.

Sometimes ignorance is rewarded.
 
I couldn't get into twitter. I've got an account, but I already have enough trouble updating facebook that I don't want to bother with updating my status on something else. If it's really that great, I'll post it here. :D
 
I heard a great story about a business (they sell a Korean-Mexican BBQ taco made of short rib meat) in California that is doing gangbusters business using Twitter. They sell their unique tacos out of a couple of mobile food trucks. The customers and the company use Twitter to let people know where the trucks are currently located, as they move around.
 
I'm pretty confident that nobody would be interested in my comings and goings. "Oh, look, he just dropped off the kids at school." "Wow, two trips to the grocery store in one week!!"
 
I think I have a Twitter account. I never use it though.
 
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