Tag: twitter

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LOST Characters Find Twitter

Note: There’s been an onslaught of people copying the SpoilerTV concept resulting in many duplicate names. I’ll update this post later to reflect the originals versus the imitators.

If you are a LOST fan, you’ll love being able to interact with Jack Shephard, Kate Austen, Sayid Jarrah, Sun Kwon, and Hugo ‘Hurley’ Reyes. They are each on Twitter now!

You may want to follow @abcinnercircle also. You can follow me on Twitter @djuggler.

Update: Apparently this post created some attention for Sayid. His response:

@djuggler Your link boosted my followers. A suspicious number of them, in fact. If I notice anything else… I might have to pay you a visit about 18 hours ago from twhirl in reply to djuggler

Update: In case anyone is curious, the LOST Twitters are part of a role playing game started on Spoiler TV.

Oceanic Six Twitter Project

Postby Gideon on Tue Dec 30, 2008 4:28 pm
All right guys, I know I’m new around here, but I had a pretty cool idea that I think some of you may want to participate in. Essentially, Twitter accounts will be created for the Oceanic Six (minus Aaron, obviously), and we’ll use them to follow the events off-island in this season as if we were those characters. Need for information? Keep reading!

What’s Twitter?
Twitter is a social network/micro-blogging service that is absolutely free to sign up for. You can see the example I’ve set up here. The amount of characters you can input for one "post" is limited to 160. This means sometimes you have to be smart to say all you want to say.

Who can participate?
Anyone can participate! Just post here with the character you’d like to post as, and I’ll help you set up an account if you need any help. I would like for you to make a commitment to this, however, and continue with your character at least until he or she makes it back to the island.

So what/when do I post?
Just post whatever happens to the character on the show! Act as if you are the character, not yourself commenting on the character. Think of it as role-playing. You can post whenever you like, whether on Wednesdays after the show or any time throughout the week, but please do not post more than once a day, simply because people will be "following" you and we don’t want to flood and annoy them. Also, please post at least once a week.

[Source, Spoiler TV, Oceanic Six Twitter Project]

Sayid is being played by Dreyesbo. Kate is being played by Jess. Sun is being played by Mellow. Hurley is being played by PenguinJosh. I’m not sure who claimed Jack but I am guessing Gideon. Charles Widmore is being played by DarkUFO. Vincent the dog is being played by bigsimpsin. Desmond is being played by RobinTWP. Frank_Lapidus is played by Anis Ben Amor. mhawking is being played by ???. Benjamin Linus is being played by ???. Claire Littleton is being played by ???. James Ford is being played by ???. John Locke is being played by ???. Miles Straume is being played by ???. The second Kate Austen is being played by ???. The Island is being played by ???. Jack Shephard (the second) is being played by ???. Juliet Burke is being played by ???. Sayid_Jarrah the second is being played by ???. Walt Lloyd is being played by ???.

See also. Here’s hoping ABC doesn’t make the Mad Men mistake.

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Social Rules in the Digital World

We have social rules in society. For instance, we don’t sneeze into our hand then immediately shake someone else’s hand. Some people have difficulty understanding social rules in real life. To further complicate these social rules, they vary from culture to culture. Now, introduce the Internet and it’s latest craze, social media. To be in, hip, popular, and just not ignored on the Internet right now, you must be "social." For businesses, this means engaging your customers.

A great example is Comcast’s Frank Eliason and his use of Twitter. Frank created the Twitter account @ComcastCares and started using keyword searches with tools like Summize to find customer’s complaining about Comcast’s service and he tackled these problems directly, one on one. Rather than the customer reaching out to Comcast, Frank reached out to the customer and redefined customer service on the Internet. Now many companies use Twitter and blog searches to engage customers, retain customers, and repair their corporate image.

Zappos CEO Tony Hsieh took the Zappos core value #6 "Build Open and Honest Relationships With Communication" to an extreme by encouraging staff to embrace Twitter and blogging. Tony tweets as @zappos and blogs under the Zappos CEO and COO Blog. Even though he is a busy CEO, he takes time to respond to people like me. That’s engagement!

So what of social rules online? Just read comments at a major media outlet such as Knoxnews.com and see how the power of apparent anonymity can turn the uninitiated Internet neophyte, what I would assume is a normally decent human being, into a royal ass. I see horrible comments in such forums that I cannot imagine a person having the audacity to utter in mixed company in person. Twitter is undeniably one of the best examples of social media on the Internet. In 140 characters, you share with your followers (and the world if your Tweets are not set to private) the mundane in your life, the news, announcements, or whatever suits your mood. Seems simple enough, but there are unwritten, social rules which have formed around the service. Genuine Jeremy Floyd polled his followers and published Rules of the Road-Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Twitterverse. If you feel his list needs expanding, head over to his blog and add your social rules in his comments. You can also send him a message through Twitter @jfloyd.

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Santa Got a Blackberry!

If you didn’t know, Santa is all ago! I know, because he has personally Tweeted me. That’s right, you can find Santa Claus on Twitter! @SantaClaus is sending updates as he progresses around the world. @SantaClaus25 is discussing his Christmas Eve progress and sending direct messages to other Twitters. @Santa is reporting his locations and posting videos. It looks like The Polar Express Conductor may have retired for the season. He was @PlrExpConductor.

Merry Christmas to all! And Tweet well tonight.

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Twitter API Severely Flawed

Twitter’s API (basically a way to let software developer’s work with Twitter’s data) has been a huge factor in Twitter’s success. When Twitter did not provide adequate search, a developer used the API to create http://summize.com/ which was so good that Twitter purchased it and incorporated the code as http://search.twitter.com/. Twitter does not provide stats but numerous developers have created applications such as Twitter Charts and Twitter Stats to provide statistics. (See also: Now You Can Graph Your Twitter Usage) The API has allowed people to get away from the phone and web interfaces by developing desktop applications such as Twhirl and TweetDeck (which includes features not built into Twitter such as grouping of friends). Twitter by default emails you when someone starts following but never tells you when someone quits following so software developers used the API to write Qwitter and Twitterless.

Where’s the flaw? The flaw is in the authentication. Many of these services or applications developed by a third party require you enter your username and password. There is nothing to say that this third party should be trusted and we give them the keys to the kingdom. With that username and password that developer could maliciously use your account for spam, sign you up for other services, or flat out lock you out of your own Twitter account. If one of these services started sending too many Tweets and causing your followers to quit following (see #7) you, the solution is to change your password. But, changing your password also breaks all the other Twitter services you have signed up to use.

What’s the solution? The solution is simple. For each service or application that requires a username and password to access my Twitter data, I should be able to generate a key instead of giving them my password similarly to the way Amazon Web Services works. This would give me the power to list all the services I use from my Twitter profile and to individually and at my own discretion disable each service. From a developer’s standpoint, the process is easy because a key is simply a GUID. The only challenging part to Twitter developers is changing the authentication process and developing the profile screen to manage the keys.

Until Twitter implements a key scheme, I am no longer giving my password out to third party Twitter applications and services (unless they are really cool and look really trustable!). I made an exception today for TwitterFone so I could compare it to Jott.

See also:
Twitter Guide: How To Do Things With Twitter

Update Dec 15, 2008: See also Is Twitterank Ranking Your Popularity Or Stealing Your Password? Others see the same flaw I do.

Update: OAuth looks like a very viable solution.

Update Dec 29, 2008: Alex Payne, The Twitter API Lead developer, confirms that Twitter is testing OAuth! Yes! OAuth is coming.

Update Jan 2, 2009: See also Allen Stern’s Sheep Line Up in Perfect Twitter Formation and Louis Gray’s Twitterank Can Have My Password, No Questions Asked.

Update Jan 3, 2009: I’ve now officially been phished through Twitter. I didn’t bite. I’m betting someone used a 3rd party website that looked legitimate while collecting usernames and passwords (maybe it promised to send @ replies through email or give Twitter stats or something) and then using the Twitter API ran a muck sending direct messages from "trusted" people hoping to get people to click through to the bad website. The one I received:

softclothing Hey, i found a website with your pic on it… LOL check it out here http://twitterblog.access-logins.com/login

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Pownce RIP – application lives 1 year

Pownce RIP Jun 27 2007-Dec 15 2008 (open to pub Jan 22 2008) N’vr used it much but liked its format and function see: Goodbye Pownce, Hello Six Apart

With only one year of useful life in the application, it was purchased by SixApart for "an undisclosed amount" which to me sounds like it made money for Rose and others.

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Who quit following you on Twitter?

Qwitter and Twitterless are two new services which alert you when followers quit.

Do you use Twitter? Or do you still wonder why people Twitter? I use Twitter to follow the pulse for things that interest me, in particular, I follow:

  1. friends and family
  2. people in Knoxville
  3. some breaking news sources
  4. the movers and shakers in the technology world
  5. ColdFusion and PHP developers (yeah yeah…some of you .NET guys too)

You should be using Twitter to be in the global conversation. Twitter serves everyone differently depending on how you use the service which may be one or more of the following:

  1. Exhibitionists, Voyeurs, Gossips – These are the folks that will send/read a stream of messages about the minutia of daily life
  2. News feeds – These are the folks alerting the world about their experiences with the California fires, or the next big event. These are the newspapers getting the headlines out. These are people like myself alerting others that the Interstate is at a stand still.
  3. Topic Specific – These would be people sharing information about a particular subject. Unlike news feeds these will often include back and forth discussions about the topic.
  4. Spammers – People taking advantage of the tendency to follow those who follow you simply to draw attention to a product or website. The Twitter staff and others are trying to minimize the ability for people to spam through Twitter.
  5. Utility – such as how The RedCross has used Twitter to make accessing the Safe and Well database easier.

Twitter is quick to alert you when you have new followers. If someone decides they want to see your messages, you get an email giving you the opportunity to follow them back. However, when someone decides that you send too many messages, your messages are not interesting, or they are tired of hearing that you had a tuna fish sandwich for lunch again, they quit following you and you never know. Perhaps you notice your numbers have changed and all you can do is wonder if you offended someone. Until now! Two services now tell you when someone quits following your Twitter stream. Qwitter will send you an email whenever someone quits following and simply needs your Twitter username and email address. Twitterless is in beta and requires an invite code. By entering your Twitter username and password, Twitterless will notify you when followers quit. Get an invite code by following @tless. Twitterless has a blog and is developed by Mark Nutter who you can follow on Twitter @marknutter.

Be sure to follow my ramblings on Twitter @djuggler. My Tweets are very stream of consciousness and vary from Knoxville traffic/gas reports, to family happenings, to interesting sightings, some audio or pictorial commentary linked from Utterli in a Tweet, to politics, to tech, and just plain nonsensical babble.

See also: Put @RedCross in your Twitter and Did Chris Brogan just steal my PULSE?!

Update 9Aug2009: @followermonitor has joined the ranks of @tless and Qwitter. Twitterless is working great for me. I have not had a message from Qwitter since like December.

Update 24-Nov-2010: A list of seven such services.

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With due apologies for the Twitter flood

Rumor has it that outside a this valley thar be other states beyond just Tennersee. Nows I can vouch for that cus I done traveled a bit in my life and seen me those other states. That is til I ran into da Mississip out there to the West. Head South an’ it gets hot inside an out! The weather and food is spicy! And thar’s that Gulf of Mexco. Lota water an nothing else. Head East an tis the same thang. Ocean of water and far da eye cn see. Taint nothing else.

Now, it been told that beyond all da water thar’s other lands. Some says we came from there. Some says all the land was squished t’gether an it drifted apart like Billy’s raft done in the river current las sumner. Ifn ya ask me, I gots to say what’s it matter. Sholy a Twitter message caint reach dem other lands. It’d fly straight off da Earth befo’ ev’r reachin them lands.

Ahem! Sorries.

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Did Chris Brogan just steal my PULSE?!

Did Chris Brogan just steal my metaphor of Twitter to a pulse in answering his own question? No attribution!

My answer: it gives the web a pulse, a voice, and connects me to your brilliance when I need it. You are the value.
29 minutes ago from txt

I jest. You know, the great minds thing. Since I caught the Twitter bug, I have been trying to answer the question "What is it? What does it do for me?" Recently I cemented my thoughts in Can you rely on Twitter for breaking news? Ultimately, I decided to explain Twitter as a pulse. Generally speaking, the more focused the people you follow are on a subject matter coupled with a larger number of those people, the more rapidly you will know about matters concerning that subject.

For example, If you follow a whole bunch of people who are really obsessed with dry ice and that’s all they really talk about, then you will know through Twitter anything that happens in the field of dry ice as quickly as it becomes public.

If you follow random people who all talk about different things, you’ll get noise but you will still get a feeling, a sense, of the commonalities of those people, a pulse. In my case, I follow:

  1. friends and family
  2. people in Knoxville
  3. some breaking news sources
  4. the movers and shakers in the technology world
  5. ColdFusion and PHP developers (yeah yeah…some of you .NET guys too)

As Chris Brogan and I came to the same conclusion, I believe more and more people will begin explaining Twitter as a pulse on a topic even if that topic is the world.

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Joe Biden..that Twit(ter)

The only thing I can say about Joe Biden at this moment is he was the first presidential candidate to appreciate the power of Twitter! Follow @JoeBiden and @BarackObama. I still cannot find a John McCain official Twitter account nor one for Petraeus. For some reason Biden doesn’t thrill me. Of course, McCain/Patraus frighten me.

Update:Thank goodness it wasn’t Hillary!

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Can you rely on Twitter for breaking news?

Twitter gets the word out and fast! Twitter can spread news quickly because the news comes first hand from those experiencing it, concise (140 characters), and directly from their finger tips to a potentially worldwide audience. However, the ability to receive that breaking news has much to do with how well you, the reader, can process the stream of data; how many people you follow; and what subject/focus group captures your interest.

How many should I follow?

In the beginning we commit to following a few. "I don’t understand how people can follow hundreds or thousands. I’ll follow 10 or 20." That is how I began my Twitter experience. Today I follow 555 (yes, like the timer). A quick sidebar, if you follow 10 people who Tweet once a week each you will have a far different Twitter experience than following 10 people who Tweet once an hour. Too often we think of Twitter in "numbers of followers and following" when really it should be "ratio of following to tweets produced by those you are following." Back on topic, If you follow a small number of people your Twitter experience will be one of intimacy and learning great detail about those people. Your experience is narrow and deep. If you follow hundreds of people or thousands, your experience is wide and shallow; however, you experience a pulse like a life force on the common thread that ties those people together. If those hundreds of people are all in the tech industry, you will know what is happening in technology the instant it happens. If those hundreds of people are in the entertainment industry, you will know the gossip and dealings of Hollywood, Broadway, etc as it happens. If those hundreds are politicos, you will be informed more quickly about politics than others. And if those hundreds are locally connected, say all from Knoxville, then you will know about the happenings in your local area more rapidly than others. Of course topics bleed over. Those you follow could be local people that are into technology and politics. If those hundreds or thousands are diversely unrelated, you will get noise.

How to process the information?

Twitter’s power is in its SMS interactions. Okay, not so true. Twitter’s power is the community, the people, the audience; however, adoption of services like identi.ca, which stands to give Twitter the most fierce competition, has been slow due to lack of SMS integration. If you follow hundreds of people and something newsworthy happens, your phone will beep so quickly that you cannot possibly follow the conversation. Although SMS is very powerful for Twitter, it is cumbersome when the action is occurring. Watching Twitter in a browser is tedious and requires taking your attention away from other activities such as your job, family or playing solitaire. Using a program catered to Twitter is the best way to get the most from Twitter. For me, that program is Twhirl. Twhirl can connect to multiple Twitter accounts, Friendfeed, Identi.ca, Seemic and anything that commuicates with XMPP (and if you don’t know what that is, don’t worry, most people don’t). Twhirl sits in the background and in my peripheral vision I see its little stream move along. When I take breaks I scan it for keywords. In certain circumstances I get a ping with an alert to say it needs my attention. For the most part, I can stay connected without being distracted. And if it ever becomes a distraction, I turn it off. The problem with programs like Twhirl becomes its ease, addictiveness, and amusement. On a whim, I can send a nonsensical out and often it is directed to a single person but rather than making it a private message, I inadvertently spam 550 people (or in Barack Obama‘s case 64,140 people). Of course, maybe those 550 people want that level of interaction. For me, that remains my unanswered question, "what do these 550 people want or expect?"

What subject matter belongs in Twitter?

Your interests will dictate your Twitter experience and make it far different from someone else’s Twitter experience. I believe Twitters fall into 45 categories:

  1. Exhibitionists, Voyeurs, Gossips – These are the folks that will send/read a stream of messages about the minutia of daily life
  2. News feeds – These are the folks alerting the world about their experiences with the California fires, or the next big event. These are the newspapers getting the headlines out. These are people like myself alerting others that the Interstate is at a stand still.
  3. Topic Specific – These would be people sharing information about a particular subject. Unlike news feeds these will often include back and forth discussions about the topic.
  4. [addition to original post] Spammers – People taking advantage of the tendency to follow those who follow you simply to draw attention to a product or website. The Twitter staff and others are trying to minimize the ability for people to spam through Twitter.
  5. [added Nov 5, 2008] Utility – such as how The RedCross has used Twitter to make accessing the Safe and Well database easier.

[Source, Reality Me, Put @RedCross in your Twitter]

A fifth category could be utility such as how The RedCross has used Twitter to make accessing the Safe and Well database easier. By following a topic specific group of people, you will get a pulse on the latest news regarding that topic. You will be in the know. By using a program like Twhirl, you can have multiple Twitter accounts simultaneously following different topic areas. Or by checking Twitter Search (aka Summize) you can quickly be updated on a particular subject matter. So yes, I think that you can rely on Twitter for breaking news. I think some misinformation is likely to come with the speed at which Twitter delivers that breaking news, but Twitter (and main stream media) will be quick to correct the misinformation.

See also: Who quit following you on Twitter?

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Thank you Twitters!

We just had an enormous scare. It was expected. Sarah entered Rocky Hill Elementary School in the third grade. On her first day home, she failed to get on her bus and we drove to the school to pick her up. On her second day home, she rode the bus but did not get off at her stop which was no problem; the bus driver drove her back to the school and we picked her up. Amy now shares a similar story.

On Monday, I picked Amy up in the carpool because we had to rush over to the Expo Center to work the School Matters booth. That confused the teachers so on Tuesday they sent her to the carpool instead of putting her on the bus so I picked her up in the office. Today was her first day riding the bus home. I could not find Cathy and assumed she was napping. Tweet! I leashed Dharma for some much needed training, donned by iPod with some Jimmy Buffett playing, and walked calmly to the bus stop where I realized my cell phone (doubles as my timepiece) was still sitting on my desk. Much to my surprise, Cathy walks up to me announcing, "that’s strike 2!" referring to my failure to respond to her text message asking about where the children get dropped off this year. The bus pulls up and 4 neighborhood children bounce out but not our Amy. In our stunned silence, the bus just starts to pull away. We were too far away to converse with the driver. I almost whistled for him but assumed Amy was in the office at the school. A moment later one of the children is explaining that Amy was on the bus! I have transportation’s number on speed dial on my cell phone but the phone is on my desk 1/4 mile away and we are on foot. Cathy calls the school as we make haste toward the house and they explain that they don’t have a way to call the driver. No worries. The bus will just take her back to the school at the end of the run.

I return to the house and decide to get back to work. Cathy is going to run around and fetch Amy, and her older sister and a friend from the high school. Everyone is calm. We part company and a few seconds later my cell rings to tell me the school called and Amy got off at Dunbarton Oaks! Tweet! That’s on the wrong side of the dangerous and busy, dreaded Northshore Drive! With Amy’s hard-headedness I could easily see her crossing Northshore. I direct Cathy, "take a right on Northshore then immediately turn left into Dunbarton Oaks." She calls back, "I’m at Kingsington." I picture her in Farragut (which she’s not) hours away from being able to reach Amy who is obviously playing Frogger on Boothillshores Drive. I race out the door and pretend like I’m still a sprinter in high school track. Tweet! It doesn’t matter if I have a heart attack as long as I reach Amy in time! I reach and cross Northshore. Cathy calls to say she has been in Dunbarton Oaks and one road closer to our neighborhood, which I’d forgotten existed, and there is no sign of Amy. Tweet! By this time, I’m at the same cross road as Cathy and I take the drivers seat in the van along with my wheezing. Tweet! Cathy gets a call to say a mother, who used to be a teacher, has Amy in her yard in Dunbarton Oaks and is waiting for us. Tweet!

Thank you to everyone who Twittered your thoughts as we lived this scare! Thanks to @Critter, @nathanblevins and here, @Digitarius, @knoxgirl75, @MariAdkins, @bobmissy07, @alanstevens, @overtlytrite, @dwneylonsr, @mwoodvols, and @areynolds65! And thanks to all others that were thinking of Amy. Hope I didn’t miss anyone. Thank you all! It would not have surprised me (nor Amy) much if someone pulled up and said, "I’m from Twitter! Stay right here your parents will be here in a moment." Of course, I hope she would not get in the car unless she knew you.

Related: I do blog the kids lives

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Son to preschool – Twitter covers it

Toddler introduced to preschool. They grow so fast! 1 hour ago from txt

lasthome I remember when he was just an Easter egg 😉 1 hour ago from twhirl in reply to djuggler

bobmissy07 @djuggler The Feral Child? 43 minutes ago from web in reply to djuggler

RussM @bobmissy07 As some commenter said to @cathymccaughan, he’s not feral — he’s free-range. 38 minutes ago from web in reply to bobmissy07

bobmissy07 @russM Sorry, I get those confused sometimes. Guess I should hope that the restaurant selling freerange chicken doesn’t do the same, right? 32 minutes ago from web in reply to RussM

lasthome @RussM I think he’s a LOLkid. 30 minutes ago from twhirl in reply to RussM

RussM I think @lasthome nailed it. 20 minutes ago from web

Note: Don’t mind the time stamps. This was hard to type. I understand why people screenshot their Tweets.Timestamps fixed.

Update: For those wondering about the Easter egg comment, when Cathy was pregnant with Evan, Easter 2005, we painted her belly as an Easter egg (and a couple of other parts as flowers) then published the photo. The resourceful can find the picture on Flickr.

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Tweetup was a whale of a time!

Aubrey’s management eyeballed them suspiciously. Fifteen silence people taking broad steps toward the restaurant with heads hung low, each holding a device in one or two hands with their thumbs making rapid movements. One of these characters held a device in each hand. "Quick! Open the patio. These guys look like trouble." The group settled in around the table, and, wordlessly, began pecking on their phones and palm devices. Occasionally one would look up, point and laugh. These are the Knoxville Twitters!

What is Twitter? Probably the most common question asked of anyone who admits to their texting addiction. Followed by: I don’t get it. Twitter is a microblogging platform which you update from your phone and receive updates through your phone. You can also update Twitter with special programs, instant messengers, websites, and email. Basically, people choose to follow your updates and you choose to follow the updates of others. When you send a message, all your followers receive it. It is like shouting into a crowded room. Some people use if for vanity/voyeurism/exhibitionism, some use if for marketing/spam/self-promotion, some for utility, some for news and so forth. The possible uses for Twitter continue to be defined as it is truly a new frontier in the electronic wilderness.

Right now Twitter is known for having frequent outages. People are irritated but the simplicity of Twitter puts it ahead of its competitors. The fact that Twitter has a strong community puts it ahead of the other services too. Twitter is going through growing pains and it will overcome the scaling issues. Twitter is well worth the wait!

Today’s Tweetup (a meeting of people who otherwise may only known each other online by their Twitter nick names, like a blogfest) was a lunch at Aubrey’s off of Papermill. Fifteen people attended and we all had a blast. In attendance: @djuggler, @zane_hagy_z11, @knoxgirl75, @mwoodvols, @whodini, @suzytrotta, @cocoholder, @kmberlylauth, @bballentine, @utfcu, @bobmissy07, @ashleystravel, @alanstevens, @mjstone, and @stuboo. Topics ranged from "what’s up (or down) with Twitter?" to careers to funny antidotes. We managed to stay out of politics I think. It was a lot of fun! I look forward to the next.

Update: Every needs to follow @thecadillacman so that he gets the next announcement.