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Thoughts and things I care to shareReading from the Twitter Spigot
As the size of my Twitter Village has grown, the volume of traffic has also had a dramatic increase. There are literally dozens of conversations going on at any one moment. So how does one leverage the strengths of Twitter while being doused with the minutia that makes up a Twitter stream?
Simple. By realizing that you can only participate in relevant conversations. Kind of like walking down a street and hearing random bits of conversations. You don’t always make sense of everything, and most often, you don’t need to. It’s really about being able to join in when you want, or when your wanted. It’s not about “keeping up” at all.
Yes, I tend to skim a bit, maybe one page back at most. All I’m really looking to do is understand what the current conversations are before jumping in. Odds are that my contribution may have already been brought to the conversation and I just like to understand where it’s going before committing some random thought.
Having a larger and larger number of Twitter followers, and following a large number isn’t as hard as I had thought it would be. Moreover, I’m learning a lot more about the community that I’m a part of there. Over the past year, I’ve met a lot of people, and have gotten perspectives that I otherwise would not have had a chance to learn.
Twitter is one of those tools that you really can get value from. It doesn’t replace the blog, or special-interest social networks. Instead it’s an essential tool for the social media explorer’s kit – one that offers much more than it’s simple interface lets on.
What’s your experience as your Twitterverse expands?
links for 2008-01-29
- About time.
- Ronald Lewis talks about being your own cheerleader. His infectious exuberance is contagious.
links for 2008-01-26
- Shel Isreal has drafted an honest appraisal of the issues that Twitter currently has. It’s good advice for the founders and the two people at the helm of Twitter. Better read up boys.
Have I mentioned how much I love Bluetooth?
How did we ever live without Bluetooth? I mean, really? From wireless handsfree in the car to wireless mice, keyboards, headphones, device synchronization and much more.
Every time I sync my phone, or connect my pocketable keyboard & mouse, or make a call when driving – I just get very happy 😉 that it all works.
Goodbye Facebook
Ok, I’ve meant to do this for awhile, but I can’t see any reason to wait any longer.
I’m abandoning Facebook.
Try as I might, there is just nothing of value in Facebook for me. The groups are the only redeeming item on the system, but you have to put up with tons of senseless “apps”. Apps that would’ve been fun back in college when playing quarters or beer bongs, but not when I’m trying to build serious business connections.
While some have made a pretty good case for Facebook, it doesn’t change how it’s viewed by business, or how useful it is for me. I’m astounded at home much time everything takes and how limited everything is. Not to mention the data-ownership question. Just ask Robert Scoble on that one.
I’ve been coming to the conclusion from using many, many different social tools over summer and fall of last year that “social networking” is just an activity. Yep, that’s a “duh” realization, but it’s more than just that. All these “social network” sites are merely a combination of groups on steroids, or worse – simply customizable “home pages” for the masses.
To build real associations with people on a professional and personal level requires interest, dedication, and tools. Facebook could loosely be called a tool, but I think of it as a toy. Tools are designed to do a specific function, and to it well. Twitter is a tool. Blogging is a tool.
I’ve suggested before that my blog is my social network. While that may be incorrect, it is a key tool in my social networking activities. It’s one of three things that are within my control that will never change. My blog address, my email address and my mobile phone number. These are the key pieces of communicating with me that people will never have to re-learn or worry about changing. On these three things, I can build the rest.
The rest is up to me, after all, and how involved in different communities and organizations I want to be. With a blog I can post my views and opinions. With my email address I can interact with just about anyone I share it with, which is everyone, and the same for my cell phone.
I choose to augment this triangle-foundation of my social networking with tools like Twitter, Utterz, IM, LinkedIn, Technorati, del.icio.us, Clipmarks, and several more. I use each for one or two things – the things they do well. None of these are a one-stop-shop for social networking and social media goodness.
Maybe you can point out where I failed with Facebook. I’m always looking to learn – what should I or others be looking for in Facebook? How to approach it? If there really is something there I’m interested in hearing it.
UPDATE: I just wanted to add that I’m leaving the account in place, but will not be active on Facebook. I am interested in what everyone does with Facebook to gain value from it, so don’t hesitate to give my $.02. My Twitter tweets update the “My Status” every time I tweet and I’m notified of Facebook mail if that is the only way you choose to contact me. Cheers!
links for 2008-01-24
- And Dell offering Linux on laptops is a good thing. Why? Because choice is a good thing.
links for 2008-01-23
- For those HTC TyTN II, Touch Dual, Touch Cruise owners (and more) hoping that HTC will release the desired accelerated video drivers: don’t hold your breath.
- Yeah, I agree the name(s) suck really bad. Hmm, “E-Ten Glofish” or “Apple iPhone”. “E-Ten Glofish” or “HTC Touch”. Well, regardless of the crappy name, this is shaping up to be a nice device. Especially with a 667Mhz proc.
- I be you’re not much different. Most people keep their phone within arm’s reach at all times. Heck, mine is even my alarm clock on my nightstand. You?
links for 2008-01-22
- Anthony LaFauce takes a look at how social media is effecting traditional media – the “Fourth Estate” (of government) as it were.
Pretty good read, and while there are some subtleties here and there, he’s on target with his presentation. Recommended re
- Power Pack 1 has been officially announced by MS today and is slated for release in the first half of ’08 yet.
- Steve Rubel has an informational post on Technorati and some of the current stats on the BLogosphere.
- Another great post by Steve Rubel. This time on the MacBook Air and why he believes the success of this product (more than similar products) is a test of the viability of cloud computing.
links for 2008-01-21
- Blogging friend Steven Hodson takes a good look at the ongoing discussion of shared feeds. He also gives a good explanation of why they are but one part of the RSS/feed experience.
Fast Feeds – Getting more from shared feeds
Ok, that title is a pretty poor attempt of comparing shared RSS Feeds to fast food, but it does bare some truth if we follow through a little bit. Starting with Google Reader’s Share feature, people were able to share content of their choosing with anyone who wanted to visit their Shared Items site. Here’s mine if your curious what the resulting pre-fabricated link blog looks like.
The really interesting twist to this Google Reader feature, is the RSS feed that goes with it. A custom feed made up of select posts from possibly dozens or hundreds of sources, aggregated by your favorite person or blogger. This opened up a huge potential for pre-selected, filtered, quality feeds that mirror the genre of the blogger of your choice.
Now there are a couple of shared feed aggregators, kind of like Techmeme, that allow you to add your shared feed to the list. My favorite at the moment is ReadBurner, which recently added a stats page. Another tool is SharedReader, which, unfortunately, looks to be down as of this writing. Tools like these rank posts from individual shared feeds by popularity. Now I can compare what is on Techmeme, or Tailrank, or Newsvine with what is being shared by everyday people via Google Reader and choose what’s important to me. It also allows me to see who is sharing these posts, and be able to gauge how relevant they are to my interests.
I guess the point I’m trying to get around to is the availability of pre-filtered feeds, that a busy person can simply read instead of hunting for. We don’t have to sort through the duplicate posts from 15 news sources, or non-relevant posts that distract us from the task at hand. You can find shared feeds from people you trust, and know that they’ve done the sorting for you, so you can save time.
Along with this, however, is the fact that someone else is suggesting your reading list. Just like fast food, it’s not always 100% of what you want (heck does it even come close to 75% of what you want?) but it fills the void. Fast food saves time, but doesn’t necessarily taste that great – or is it that good for you. The same can be said of shared feeds. Don’t get me wrong, I follow several too.
While I think shared feeds are a great way of saving time, using some aggregation tools that rank these shared feeds into more relevant lists help you find the content that you may be looking for. Some bloggers are even being very diligent to share only the most interesting, relevant posts that aren’t likely to be found in the “mass media” of technology, political, or social meme aggregators.
Still, there is nothing like keeping track of your favorite bloggers and sorting through your own feed list. It takes more time, but it’s a better way to connect with your favorite writers, and take more in context from each blog. At least that’s the way I look at it. 🙂
Tips? Suggestions? Other meme aggregators? Suggested feeds? Think I’m off base on this? Share ’em all below in the comments.
😢
“We are not enemies but friends.”
Live your life.
Completely.
Without fear.
Live it with Love, compassion, empathy, tolerance and joy.
Treat every person with the kindness, respect and dignity they deserve by the very virtue of being a human being.
Out riding this rainy, wet spring. Got 1,000 miles on the clock with more to come this season. #IMRG #IndianMotorcycle
Watching early seasons of #GoldRush. Fun seeing @GoldrushRick in season 3! Hope his new season is off to a good start!
Oh yes I did! https://www.instagram.com/p/BsRDO9ogSO0/?utm_source=ig_twitter_share&igshid=1kha5yzhjq3ot