That Geeky Christian

Today I just wanted to talk a bit about twitter.  Twitter is a microblogging site where you can keep your friends, family, and of course, total strangers up to date with what’s currently going on in your life.  Entries, called “tweets” can be no more than 140 characters, so updates must remain brief.  Also, tweets can be texted from a cellular phone that you have set up with your account.  I thought almost everyone knew about twitter, but I’ve found that’s not the case, so I thought I’d discuss a little about it here.

The Good

Twitter is fun.  It’s nice to say what you’re doing, a random thought that pops into your head, or a random blast to the world in a short concise form on the web.  I know many people who are addicted to status updates on facebook or MySpace, and twitter is basically an entire social network devoted to status updates!  It’s a great place to vent, and even get in touch with friends.

Twitter is also nice because many news agencies and high profile people have become regulars on there; CNN, CNet, and Tech Guru Leo LaPorte are on there just to name a few.  It was also instrumental in getting President – Elect Barrack Obama elected as he was a regular on twitter, giving his followers (over 100,000 strong) updates and even announcing his VP pick there first!  His last update was election night, so don’t expect any amazing insights into life in the white house. “They’ve taken the letter lmn”_”p 0ff the keyb0ards!  N0w I can 0nly type with zer0s.”  Sorry lame attempt at humor.

I personally like to follow people whom I enjoy listening to in real life, like Cameron Strang from Relevant Magazine, Leo Laporte “The Tech Guy”, Cnet News, and JustPete from the “Bored Again Christian.”  It’s pretty cool to see what they are up to.  They don’t all follow me, mind you, you can choose whom you follow, but anyone can follow you unless you protect your updates.

It’s pretty cool also to pair twitter with twitpic.  Twitpic allows you to upload pictures and a caption to your twitter page.  The picture is linked and your friends can click to see what’s going on with you.  You can also email pictures from your mobile phone, making your picture tweets just as mobile as your text tweets!

The Bad

Twitter is only fun if you have friends on there.  I mean, who really wants to type something if no one is following you?  I have a few friends linked to my account, and some people are following me because of some information I have in my profile, but the most fun is had when people respond to your tweets.  So, if you really want to get into the game, bring a friend along with you.

Also, twitter is a fairly new site that is growing rapidly.  This has cause many stability issues, and the site goes down more often than some others.  These have been fewer lately because they have apparently been working hard to make that a rarity, but it still happens.

So many people are on twitter that reading the main feed seems fruitless as it’s updated every few seconds.  It’s best to follow those whom you really want to about.  Following too many people can lead to sensory overload!

The Bottom Line

Twitter is a great site for those who enjoy keeping up to date, or just sharing thoughts with whomever will listen.  I’ve not even begun to describe the plethora of additional software that is out there for you to enhance your “tweeting experience” nor have I mentioned any of the alternatives.  Check out microblogging, if twitter isn’t for you, try some of the others.  Twitter is the biggest, but that doesn’t mean it’s the best.  I hope you enjoy it, and if you do sign on, please follow me at twitter.com/thatgeeky, I’d love to have you!

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