[tomtom]

Everything on the media seems to be mentioning twitter and tweeting (the act of twittering?) at the moment - and somehow I seem to have completely missed out on what its all about.
I get the gist its some kind of micro blogging thingy, but whats the rub? whys it so good? what makes it such a success?
 
Is it any good or a load of old sherman? I notice people here have twitter icons.. do you use it? is it worth bothering with or should I just keep my head happily in the sand?
T

[magpie]

Do you have Facebook?  Twitter is essentially like the status updates on Facebook.  You make short posts / updates about what you are doing or how you are feeling or any general shit that you want and then people can comment on them, you in turn can then answer the comments should you choose or comment on other people's updates.

There's a UKB Twitter page for condition reports which is pretty useful if you're local to the other people updating, there's a thread somewhere but I can't find it at the moment.

Other than that, like all social networking things, it's really just a way for people to talk about what they are doing and generally be nosy about other people, if they so choose.  A lot of celebrity types have Twitter pages which are apparently quite good to follow, but I've never really been able to get into it myself.

You're not missing out on much I don't think, Facebook has far better nosiness and stalking potential 

[tomtom]

Do you have Facebook?  Twitter is essentially like the status updates on Facebook.  You make short posts / updates about what you are doing or how you are feeling or any general shit that you want and then people can comment on them, you in turn can then answer the comments should you choose or comment on other people's updates.

There's a UKB Twitter page for condition reports which is pretty useful if you're local to the other people updating, there's a thread somewhere but I can't find it at the moment.

Other than that, like all social networking things, it's really just a way for people to talk about what they are doing and generally be nosy about other people, if they so choose.  A lot of celebrity types have Twitter pages which are apparently quite good to follow, but I've never really been able to get into it myself.

You're not missing out on much I don't think, Facebook has far better nosiness and stalking potential 

Thanks Maggie - that sounds like a great summary... I think I'll not worry about the twittering for now.. though the crag update gubbins sounds useful.. the whole what i'm doing now bit about facebook can be one of the most interesting bits (what others are doing - the stalking part!) and one of the most tedious (putting what I'm doing..).. T

[magpie]

I think you can probably see the UKB page anyway, without being a member, or it only takes 5 minutes to join up and you never have to post updates, you can just follow / watch other people.

[Bubba]

I'm a big fan of Twitter - I much prefer it to facebook and all it's annoying "applications".

It's more micro-blogging than social networking really. The 140 character limit keeps things short and sweet.

It's actually really useful for finding quality, personalised information on many a topic - news, reviews, etc.

[slackline]

Its also very handy for blogging on the move as you can send messages via text (albeit at a cost), or if you have a smartphone with net usage in your deal there are apps such as Twibble which you can post and read things from.  This is the beauty of the @ukbouldering group as people can post details of crag conditions from their mobile when they arrive, you can either check conditions before you leave, or if you've Twibble or just a normal browser on your phone you can check them en route (providing your not actually driving  )

[magpie]

Maybe I'm just following the wrong people 

[Johnny Brown]

[Fiend]

JB that's ace.

The Twitter of Dob is verrrrry exciting btw

[slackline]

JB that's ace.

Yeah its not bad is it  ;-)

[Bubba]

Some personal Twitter recommendations:

If you want it's easy to get Twitter to update Facebook and Facebook to update Twitter. I don't do this as I think it's confusing having the same updates on both sites.

- Twitter Google search :: This handy Greasemonkey script puts Twitter search results on top of the normal Google results when you use Google search. It defaults to 5 results but this is easy to change to any number you like in the script

- TweetDeck :: This Adobe Air desktop application is really useful for Tweeting and if you follow lots of people coz you can group people into different columns to prevent confusion. The latest beta version can also update Facebook if required too.

- Twitterfeed :: Feed your blog updates to Twitter

- TwitScoop :: See what's hot on Twitter in real time - picks up big news before the news sites get it.


I'd also like to boast that I'm being followed by Jeff Mills but I suspect he was just being polite and following me back rather than thinking he can learn much from an old pasty brit who likes a bit of techno

[magpie]

Jeff Mills is on Twitter?!   

I am going to add him later and see if he is as keen to follow me as he is you, Bubba, then we'll know if it's politeness or he really does want to know what you had for dinner last night 

Mostly I am being followed by people trying to sell me things, who add themselves faster than I can delete them 

How do you make Twitter update in line with Facebook, is it complicated?  By complicated I mean, could I do it or is there technical wizardry involved?

[slackline]

Twitbin is a handy Firefox add-on that at the click of a button reveals a side-bar with your twitter page on it (less intrusive than a new tab to view).

[dobbin]

Regards the making it do your crackbook - I did this, I think it was in Twitter help (was v.easy).

[Bubba]

Loads of Techno bods on Twitter - it's really good for music related stuff.

I've had a few people trying to sell things but I just block them fast.

In Facebook, just put "Twitter" into the search box and it'll take you to the application you need.

I think it's better to keep them seperate though really - Facebook updates are often too long for Twitter and Twitter updates often don't make sense in Facebook, especially if you're doing ReTweets or replying to people.

I prefer TweetDeck - that way it's easy to update either (or both) Twitter & Facbook from the same place.

[Bubba]

Twitbin is a handy Firefox add-on that at the click of a button reveals a side-bar with your twitter page on it (less intrusive than a new tab to view).

Agreed - this is my favourite in browser extenstion. PowerTwitter would be good but it really slows down FF so avoid at the moment.

[magpie]

In Facebook, just put "Twitter" into the search box and it'll take you to the application you need.

Even I can do that much 

I think it's better to keep them seperate though really - Facebook updates are often too long for Twitter and Twitter updates often don't make sense in Facebook, especially if you're doing ReTweets or replying to people.

I would only do Facebook onto Twitter, cause really, I think all my Twitter followers need to know mundane details of my life as much as my Facebook folk do, nobody talks to me on Twitter so the updates going the other way shouldn't really be a problem 

[Falling Down]

I don't use Facebook - their approach to privacy and data management frightens me. 

Twitter on the other hand I'm finding really useful for work and pleasure.

[tomtom]

OK, I decided to give it a whirl (to be honest its been a frustrating day at work and I need something to take my mind off it..).
So now I'm all twittered up.. what happens - is this like a facebook thing? I have to find people to twitter and wait for others to tweet me etc...? 

[Bubba]

You need to find people / things yourself

There's no groups or stupid applications or annoying "causes" though - phew!

[tomtom]

You need to find people / things yourself

There's no groups or stupid applications or annoying "causes" though - phew!

Cool, an excellent divergent activity!

[dobbin]

I added Jeff Mills. He isnt following me. I can only imagine this is because he heard both of our DJing at the Thermal parties and determined you were worth keeping in touch with and I wasnt. And because your twitter name is all cool and dark sounding whilst mine sounds like a flea bitten nag on its way to the glue factory.

[Bubba]

He did take a while to follow me back. He's busy being creative no doubt. Underground Resistance and Orlando Voorn are also following me, but again this isn't down to my innovative and prolific techno output.

[Fiend]

Bubba why do you have such a gruesome Twitter name?? It actually scares me a bit when I'm trying to relax and read about Dobbin forgetting to buy carrots...

[Bubba]

I've no idea really - i'd quite like to change it.

It was made up on the spur of the moment - I just get bored of using my name or "bubba" or "borque" or variations thereof and it was the first thing that sprang to mind.

I should probably set up a new funky name and tell everyone to update their follows but that's a lot of hassle and at least it makes people think for a second I guess...or something.