Category: Twitterings

Twitterings are the brief status messages and conversational snippets which I issue via Twitter. For a brief period starting 11 March 2008, I published a daily digest. Eventually I decided that was a bit wired: looking at one half of the conversation was wrong. I still post the occasional summary of interesting tweets, however. You can always follow ,e live at twitter.com/stilgherrian.

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Another week according to Twitter

Twitter bird cartoon by Hugh MacLeod

On Wednesday my Twitter stream was dominated by the Politics & Technology Forum, and I’ll write more about that later. The other highlights this week:

  1. MYOB continue to flood me with far too much promotional material, even when specifically requested not to. Losers.
  2. People continue to install new software on the very day of its release, discover that it’s still buggy or insecure, and then complain. Do you never learn?
  3. The Aurora Hotel in Surry Hills and the C Bar on the corner of Pitt and Campbell Streets in the Sydney CBD have free Wifi.
  4. The comedians on stage at The Sly Fox Hotel on a Monday night are 300% more bitter & disturbed than I am.
  5. There is no evidence that 17 Massachusetts schoolgirls became pregnant because of a “pregnancy pact”
  6. There is not, but should be, continuous 3G or HSDPA phone coverage on the highway between Sydney and Canberra. In some places there isn’t even GSM!
  7. “The 7 categorises of satedness: Food. Sexual pleasure. Alcohol. Music. Visual appeal. Amphetamines. Blue cheese. Agreed?”
  8. The Concourse Bar at Wynyard Station has Coopers Ale for $4.70 a schooner and a choice of six cocktails for $7 each.
  9. “Backpacking” has descended from “travel world for enrichment” to “global party by indulgent drunken arseholes”. Hence, “gas them”.
  10. Automatic weapons really do solve so many everyday problems.

[Credit: Cartoon Twitter-bird courtesy of Hugh MacLeod. Like all of Hugh’s cartoons published online, it’s free to use.]

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Twitter versus Del.icio.us versus blog posts

I’m starting to think that my “here’s what I’ve found” items should move from Twitter to Del.icio.us or maybe even Tumblr [no account there yet, will explore soon] and just be summarised here daily. Then Twitter can be just the day-to-day status stuff — which needn’t be archived here at all, but maybe elsewhere.

Are you OK with that one, Mat F?

There seems to be a surge in “RSS aggregator” products like FriendFeed to create a unified “life stream”. But the more I think about it, the more I think “one stream that contains everything” is wrong. It might be fine for archiving — for your needs. But what about those following you? Dumping everything into a single sewer of undifferentiated crap seems to throw the burden of understanding you onto you audience. And all successful media creation is about what the audience wants — no matter what the scale.

It’s better, I think, to separate out the threads into different streams. People can subscribe to the combination they want. And they can choose to view them in the aggregator of their choice.

Business contacts get your business posts. Family and friends get the status reports about your lunch. A select few choose to view the reports of your illicit camel sex. where they want them, when they want them.

Well, that’s what I think today, anyway. What do you think?

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Twitter updates for 2008-03-17

  • @NickHodge I, for one did not say that. Maybe we do just elect a new dictator. I word my questions very, very carefully… 😉 #
  • @andrewbarnett Has the Lynx deodorant caused you to fall thru the floor into a room of semi-naked women, as advetised? #
  • @Spinopsys I think that’s my point: despotism is about moving the money to the top of the food chain, so businesses are run that way. #
  • @duncanriley Well done, sir! A good story and exactly what Crikey loves. And it IS a good story. #
  • Oh, I forgot a "Monday plan" tweet earlier. Says it all really. Well, after a ragged 0415 start I reckon my afternoon is reading & tea. #
  • Gawd I see the bloody Dalai Lama is in the news AGAIN. He’s like the Bono of Buddhism. [sigh] <– Another friend-winning comment, eh? #
  • @rosshill Web start-up cf shuttle mission very bad analogy. Space missions are planned & rehearsed to the last detail. #
  • @triviabot You have been very repetitive over the last few days. I want… nay, DEMAND some new trivia. #
  • @ApostrophePong & I are off for dinner etc. AFK. #
  • WTF are we doing in an Irish pub on St Patrick’s Day? #
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Twitter updates for 2008-03-16

  • @ApostrophePong and I are about to leave for Courthouse Hotel: his "New Australian" lunch & drinks from 1pm. AFK from 1230 AEDT. #
  • The afternoon at the pub was glorious, but now it’s later and I must sleep. The world will be updated tomorrow. G’night. #
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Thoughts on Twitter

High MacLeod cartoon Twitter logo: a stylised bird of some sort

In just two months, Twitter has become one of my core communication tools. Non-Twitter instant messaging and Facebook have all but disappeared from the mix. Here’s why.

Actually, before that… If you don’t use Twitter, or if you’ve taken a look but don’t “get it”, watch this 2.5-minute video Twitter in Plain English from those wacky Canadians Common Craft. Love their style.

OK, back?

Like the character in the video, I was sceptical about Twitter. Why do people need to know every little detail of my life? Who cares? I said as much to Perth’s Twitterati late last year. But then I actually tried using it — and I “got it” immediately.

Continue reading “Thoughts on Twitter”