Twitter: Tools, Tips, Math and the Tao of Twitter
Posted in Blogging, Free Software, Gadgets Widgets, Social Networks, Twitter, Web 2.0, Widgets by wayne.porter on June 7th, 2008 I have probably blogged more on Twitter than any other micro-chunking platform, or micro-blogging format if you wish. Call it an addiction, call it fandom, or just let it go.
I have listed some examples below and bold texted posts I felt had more “value”. e.g. Twitter & Social Proprioception
- Why I Stick With Twitter
- Memetic Codes and Games
- Twitter Collision Shocker
- Twitter Tips and Cycles
- Stainless Steel Rats Next-Gen Podcast
- Twitter, Trust and Nature
- Ebay powers Second Life and Live Gamer and Twitter Blackjack
- Second Life Avatar & SMS Language Barrier
- Con Jobs, Twitter, Open Source Self, Death Shovels and My Aftermath
- Twitter Tracking - Twitter does More
- Rube Goldberg, Micro Media and Chain Reactions
- News From Twitter - MTV, People Search, and Nelson the API guy
- iPhone, Second Life and Ambient Findability
- Twitter & Social Proprioception
- Ender’s Game- E’ving Obvious - Twin Fake
- Paying Attention, Earning Attention
- Robert Scoble, Wayne Porter- Scrabulous, Twitter, Blame Ev.
- Media and Social Collision- Crude Timeline
- Accountability, Freedom and Making Room for Micro Media and Our New Worlds
- The Eye of Providence and Video as a Change Agent- Microchunking is more efficient.
- Second Life, MySpace, Twitter and Wings of the Sounds of Thunder
- Japanese Twittering- Security and Coining a Phrase…
- Twitter- NanoBlog or MicroBlog early AM Round Up
- Dodgeball knocked out By Twitter? Google Snacks on DCLK- Is Twitter Next?
- Erik Drexler’s Engines of Creation- From Nano to Metaphor
- Attention Economy, Temporal Challenges of Vlogs - Open Source Revolution & Word Press Plugins
- Thoughts on Second Disability, Second Life, Empathy and a Second Chance?
- SLTWeets- Bleys Delivers Updated SL Twitter Client
- Second Life Disabilities and Second Life to Twitter
- Sermo - MySpace for Physicians? Why not Twitter Enterprise
- Twittering Jobs and Ethics of Twitter Outsourcing
- Twitter Mania- Slowing But Strong- Trends and Regions
- Twitter Gone Adsense? Nice targeting…
- Twitter and Social Media Chain Reactions
- Implicate this Twitter Plugin Professor Harrelson
- Frappr + Twitter = Twitterami.com
How Do You Know Who To Follow?
- The number one thing I look for and follow is the individual’s URL.
- I ask myself is this person aligned with my goals?
- I ask myself will this person contribute knowledge outside of my usual scope or comfort zone?
- I do a quick scan to gauge signal to noise ratio. Don’t get me wrong- I enjoy some of the noise. The “noise” is part of Twitter Proprioception. In layperson’s terms this is the neurological sense that allows one to know not only where one is in space, but also the position and location of each individual part and joint. Twitter Proprioception is knowing where one’s distributed network is and how they are feeling or responding.
- If the noise level is too high, I simply stop following.
- I turn to trusted influencers to see who they follow. A choosy Twitter personality will often have a greater number of followers to those followed. Not always, but for me it has held true.
- Sometimes a quick jump to their favorites gives me some core insight into what they value.
- Occasionally I turn to tools to zero in on quality contacts. http://www.whoshouldifollow.com/ is a good example. (You can follow them at http://twitter.com/wsif )
Twitter Mathematics
I have three Twitter accounts. My primary account shows the following statistics.
F/F Ratio: 285/468 = 0.609 with 1043 updates. My first Tweet was on March 12, 2007*. Given today’s date June 7, 2008 and assuming 30 days per month we get a rough 16 months or 16*30=480. 480 days / 1043 updates gives us approximately 0.460. Half a tweet a day or so.
Someone like Evan Williams, CPO of Twitter, has a F/F ratio like this: 664 / 13,663 = 0.0486or Robert Scoble 21119 / 26554 = 0.795 but you have to couple it with a staggering 12,429 updates. Whew.
I am sure an enterprising mathematician will come along and put these metrics to some sort of pragmatic use (Brian Caldwell?) perhaps a Golden Twitter Ratio so we don’t blow out our neocortex out before quantum computing comes along and allows us to defy Dunbar’s Number. Tactical Twitter Tips or Twitiquette (tweaked from a previous post)
- Try to avoid over-use of the @symbol, although it is o.k. for “micro-conversations” to break out- they will happen. You can also use brackets like [@wporter] or send a direct message.
- Don’t tweet every single blog post or photo upload, etc. unless you know your audience really well.
- Avidly look for interesting people outside of your normal network so you are exposed to new ideas.
- It is o.k. to emit some “noise”, after all part of the medium is to be fun, but avoid sending so much noise that people stop following you. You will develop your own “style” as you go along. Be human.
- Look at your blog posts and tweets and see if you can correlate jumps in your “follower” growth or a trend in the “types” of followers to other activity in media.
- You do not have to follow every single person on your list. You should frequently review new followers and see if you can find interesting people, and even if you don’t follow them, you can certainly stop by their blog or page.
- Ensure your Twitter “about you” URL points to a site or page where potential people evaluating whether to follow or reciprocate with you can get more information about who you are and make a better decision. They are about to make an investment in their time so help them make a wise decision.
- Occasionally reach out and spend some social capital by helping or simply sending a “thank you”. For example, thank someone who inspires you with their writing, or someone who helps you out, that you admire, or you find contributing to the commons. Sometimes they will respond in surprising ways.
- Find technically advanced users or resources that will teach you how to effectively handle all of these emerging technologies like a pro.
- Be genuine, be polite and have fun.
Twitter Tools to Post & Search
Alex King’s Twitter Tools for Word Press
SLTweets - Second Life to Twitter client includes Second Life mapping and geo-tagging as well as auto-SLURL compression.
Pwytter - Cross platform Python Twitter client- Asian character support.
TwitBox - View and submit tweets, see replies and direct messages, delete your own tweets, and multiple account support. Written by one of my favorite cynics, Steve Hodson, of WinExtra.com
Twitterlicious - Update Twitter status, easily check replies & direct messages.
Twitteroo - Client with URL compression, clickable links and tweets, & public and friend timelines.
Chirrup - Twitter client designed around Japanese language.
MadTwitter - Twitterrific on Windows.
TwittIt - Tiny application for submitting tweets.
Twitter CLI - Post tweets from a CLI.
What’s Up? - Gadget that allows you to see latest tweets from your friends.
Twadget - Simple gadget that lets you view and submit tweets right from the Vista Sidebar.
KipFolio Widget - Simple Twitter widget for KipFolio.
Twadget - Simple gadget that lets you view and submit tweets right from Vista’s Sidebar.
Tweet Scan is a real-time search engine for Twitter.
KipFolio Widget - Simple Twitter widget for KipFolio.
Twitter-Sync for Yahoo - Syncs Twitter status with Yahoo Messenger status.
TwitterYM - Simple Yahoo Messenger status updater.
Twessenger - Updates Live Messenger status to reflect latest tweet.
Twit4Live - Set status message as latest tweet, send tweets from within Live Messenger, and send tweets to contacts.
Twitterverse- Search through archived public timelines and tweets.
Twittersearch - Search Twitter and tweets by word.
Terraminds - Search for specific users or tweets.
TwitDir - Allows user to search for users by name, location, or username.
You can find these and a whole lot more at Mashable, Jack Lail’s Blog or just Google around. Tools abound!
Parting Shot- The Tao of Twitter
No matter how or when you use Twitter keep in mind the very simple question Twitter asks- What are you doing?
Very simple, yet very profound if you think about it and I often use it as a personal mantra. I must stop what I am doing and ask myself that very question…if I don’t have a good answer chances are I should be doing something else because time is short. Not even 140 characters can do it justice.
*Special thanks to Sam Harrelson for hounding me over 1 1/2 years ago to give Twitter a try. I didn’t get a wink of sleep at that conference with Sam’s cell phone going off almost constantly, but I converted once I realized that SMS was an option and not mandatory.
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