Sunday, February 3, 2008

Twitter Anyone?

Twitter hit the blogosphere with a bang two years ago when it first launched. Spreading like a viral YouTube video, soon every major blogger in the tech biz was Twittering. The simple service, which allows users to 'microblog' with up to 140 characters, changed the way people thought about blogs (and how to write them).

Today, people are finding new and different ways to use the social blog. One such example is using Twitter in a Academia to extend the relationships from class into an online world. Granted, we already have this blog, but it might be interesting to experiment with a more dynamic, real time system that others would still find accessible and worthwhile.

If anyone would be interested in playing around with Twitter, let me know. I have an account now (user name: TedBaker warning: may be some harsh language depending on my mood) but I'll admit to not using it much. Perhaps if I actually had a reason to and other people to interact with, I'd be forced to keep up on my Tweets.

(Semi-related note: HelloTxt allows users to update several status messages for sites like Facebook and Twitter from a central dialog box. Time saving if you participate in more than one social network.)

3 comments:

Lance Strate said...

Yesterday, I received an e-mail from a colleague that appears to be an automated response from twitter. It came from his e-mail address and the subject line read:

octavioislas wants to keep up with you on Twitter

then the messages itself read:

To find out more about Twitter, visit the link below:

http://twitter.com/i/ccc1a39e81000bbf8cf2fdf6e80562312520c1ff

Thanks,
-The Twitter Team

About Twitter

Twitter is a unique approach to communication and networking based on the simple concept of status. What are you doing? What are your friends doing—right now? With Twitter, you may answer this question over SMS, IM, or the Web and the responses are shared between contacts.

What strikes me as odd is that I'm not being invited to check up on my friend, who presumably is now using Twitter, but rather it seems to be saying that he wants me to go on Twitter so he can keep up with me.

Right before our class began, I stated using the status updates on MySpace. I've noticed that I've received private messages and comments on my profile more frequently, sometimes in direct response to what I wrote, and I think it has also generated more blog hits on MySpace.

Jimmy Page said...
This comment has been removed by the author.
Jimmy Page said...

After messing around with TwitterSearch in class last week, I decided to poke around with the program and searched for "fordham interns." Sure enough there was a conversation in a professor at the New School in Manhattan and her friend asking about Fordham Interns. I read her profile and noticed a NPO she was affiliated with that allows students to help create music and art in a team atmosphere over the internet by interactively interacting with each other. We have emailed back and forth a few times and I might intern with the program this summer. Therefore, Twitter is both fun and functional.