Another Fan of Twitter
I resisted twitter for as long as I could. I'd been deeply entrenched in web 2.0 and social media since I was old enough to type. Well, OK – really it was just for a year or so. I already had a personal mom-blog to rant and write and connect with other moms. I was on last.fm to track and organize and discover great music. I had a facebook account so I could daily touch bases with friends I hadn't seen for 15 years. But I just knew that twitter was going to use up that last little bit of time that I couldn't afford to waste, and so I resisted. I was right to resist as long as I did.
Twitter is so cool.
It's hard to explain what Twitter is, or why it's such a fun application. In the main, it's just a tool for entering your current status: "What are you doing?" – and reading the status of all the other users you are following. But it's also much more. You can respond to other people's statuses. And you begin to feel as though you're part of other people's lives.
Last week, one of my favorite users tweeted while giving birth to a baby, as I (and hundreds of other followers) read in anticipation. I also follow @whatcomcounty to find out the latest news in our area – what schools are closed for snow, upcoming events, etc. I follow several of my friends, just to see how they're doing. And some folks I just follow because I think they're funny or educational. I follow all of my co-workers and vice-versa. That way if one of is running late for work, we just send out a quick tweet and everyone is on the same page.
All kinds of interesting applications have cropped up for Twitter users. One of the most interesting I recently found is Mr Tweet. If you follow Mr Tweet, it will "suggest good people and followers you are missing out on, recommend you to enthusiastic users relevant to you, and update useful stats of your twitter usage." It's pretty fascinating information. There are also apps out there that allow you to skim all tweets for keywords. For instance, if you happen to tweet about your troubles with Comcast service, @comcastcares will usually reply to you and see if he can help. It's impressive; I've seen it in action!
I'd love to hear about your own favorite Twitter apps – maybe I can waste spare just a little more time in my day…