Anyone here Twitter?

[Lorena]

Hey Twitteronians, what does RT mean?

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Lorena

Hey Twitteronians, what does RT mean?

It stands for re-tweet, which is just a way to acknowledge that you're copying and pasting what someone else tweeted. You RT something that you think might interest your followers, especially if it comes from an obscure account or is related to a specific thing you have in common, like a favorite sports team or breaking news, for example.

[Lorena]

ah cool, thx samifan.

[Maple Leafs]

Originally Posted by Subby

a fat suburbanite is running more than you...

running_addict

These parody accounts are getting out of control.

[sachmo71]

minez is in my sig

[Subby]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

These parody accounts are getting out of control.

I only run so I can eat more donuts. Seemed like a decent plan.

[Passacaglia]

Weird day today -- in the last 15 minutes or so, I've had five people I don't know follow me on twitter. I'm just not that interesting.

[ISiddiqui]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Weird day today -- in the last 15 minutes or so, I've had five people I don't know follow me on twitter. I'm just not that interesting.

Probably on a search of something you said.

[MacroGuru]

Just an FYI...

I am following some of you through two of my accounts...macroguru and discgolfshoes it all depends on which one I am on throughout the day.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

Just an FYI...

I am following some of you through two of my accounts...macroguru and discgolfshoes it all depends on which one I am on throughout the day.

Discgolfshoes? I didn't know they made specific shoes for disc golfers...

[MacroGuru]

Originally Posted by DanGarion

Discgolfshoes? I didn't know they made specific shoes for disc golfers...

LOL...sorry, it's for one of my websites, it forced me to shorten the name, discounted golf shoes is what I was shooting for...

[Pumpy Tudors]

pumpytudors is on Twitter, but I don't really have shit to say.

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by MacroGuru

LOL...sorry, it's for one of my websites, it forced me to shorten the name, discounted golf shoes is what I was shooting for...

Oh I knew what it was, I just thought it was funny

[Young Drachma]

#fofc hashtag for FOFC-related stuff. I'm going to start using it, as more people venture into the land of twitter, might make it easier or somewhat interesting to follow relevant conversations on said topics.

Or not. But it's too easy not to.

[ISiddiqui]

I just used it

[DanGarion]

I searched for #FOFC yesterday and saw it. It's used in some other contexts but I'm sure we can easily beat it.

Oh and I'm on twitter, DanGarion (go figure).

[Young Drachma]

If you use TweetDeck, you can create a search string for the FOFC hashtag and it's handy if you're not sure who all of the FOFC twitters are or have added them all because you can't keep up. That's mostly the reason I thought it'd be good to do.

[Flasch186]

wtf is tweetdeck?

[DanGarion]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

wtf is tweetdeck?

Did you search the intarwebs for it before saying this? Hehe

Let me do that and get back to you. FYI I wasn't sure what it was either.

[DanGarion]

TweetDeck: a simple and fast way to experience Twitter
An application that aims to evolve existing functionality of Twitter by breaking down Twitter feeds into more manageable bite sized pieces.

[Flasch186]

im trying to use it but its just not sticking and feels dumb.

[MrIllini]

I'm @PitchersHit8th - you Cardinal fans should be paying attention.

[Neuqua]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

im trying to use it but its just not sticking and feels dumb.

+1

Still going to give it a few weeks..

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

im trying to use it but its just not sticking and feels dumb.

Here's a blog post about it from a colleague.

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by MrIllini

I'm @PitchersHit8th - you Cardinal fans should be paying attention.

No way. What a small world. You remember that guy that added your blog to that sports list? Yeah, that was me. I had no idea you were from FOFC.

[ISiddiqui]

Twitter shows its awesomeness again!

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by samifan24

No way. What a small world. You remember that guy that added your blog to that sports list? Yeah, that was me. I had no idea you were from FOFC.

Don't inflate his ego.

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

im trying to use it but its just not sticking and feels dumb.

Try following some of the sites that you normally go to anyway, like CNN or something.

[Flasch186]

HOW?!

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

HOW?!

Twitter / cnnbrk for breaking news, for example.

[Young Drachma]

Originally Posted by Flasch186

HOW?!

Twitter

That's how you find people, brands or whatever else on Twitter. Just type who/what you're looking for and a variety of user names will come up. Like CNN, Fox News, Lipton, Arizona Tea or whoever else you're looking for.

[Maple Leafs]

[MJ4H]

It amazes me that someone would go through all of that trouble to make that video and still have missed the point entirely.

OK no it doesn't really amaze me. The mental gymnastics I've seen people do to not only avoid understanding facebook but belittle people that use it has made me expect this type of stuff, not be surprised by it.

[Groundhog]

I actually created a twitter account about 30 mins ago, mainly because everyone I know seems to be using it. I've read Shaq's twitter page a few times, but that's been the extent of my twittering so far.

I'm goosejuice anyway, if anyone wants to follow me. Not that I've actually posted anything.

[sachmo71]

Originally Posted by Dark Cloud

#fofc hashtag for FOFC-related stuff. I'm going to start using it, as more people venture into the land of twitter, might make it easier or somewhat interesting to follow relevant conversations on said topics.

Or not. But it's too easy not to.

is this something you can use on twitter? i do you need tweetdeck to use the hashtag?

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by sachmo71

is this something you can use on twitter? i do you need tweetdeck to use the hashtag?

You don't need to use TweetDeck to use a hashtag. Just type your tweet and add a #hashtag anywhere in the tweet.

The original purpose of the hashtag was to tag a tweet so others could find it but now Twitter Search, TweetDeck and other websites/programs can search just normal text so some people believe hashtags are no longer needed. I use them just to be safe and make sure people see an important tweet. For example, if I'm talking about the Phillies and mention players by name but never the team, I'll add a #phillies hashtag at the end so fans can find my tweet.

[sachmo71]

got it. found the help page. yay me.

[Passacaglia]

Pretty weird. I've always wondered how you can be sure that these "celebrities" are really who they say they are. I'm following "UM_CoachRod" but I'm pretty skeptical that it's really him.

Doug Sohn has “no idea” who’s writing Hot Doug’s Twitter | The TOC Blog | Time Out Chicago

oday must be the day for hot encased meat news.

On a tip from a friend, we checked out the Hood Internet’s Twitter stream. Seems they were at Hot Doug’s for some culinary delights and discovered a scandal that is set to rock Chicago’s dining scene to its core: “doug just informed us that someone is fake twittering AS doug.”

Determined to get to the bottom of this, our ace investigative reporter Julia Kramer called Doug Sohn, owner of the encased-meat mecca. Here’s her thirty-second conversation, condensed and paraphrased:

TOC: Who is controlling Hot Doug’s twitter?
Doug Sohn: I have no idea who it is. Someone who’s pretending to be me. Someone came in and pointed it out to me last week. [Note: the feed's been active since Feb 15.] As long as they’re not saying nasty things, I’m okay with it.
TOC: They seem to know a lot about the goings-on at the place.
DS: Yes, it has crossed into the creepy. So how many followers do I have?
TOC: A lot. Like hundreds.
DS: Aren’t you impressed that I knew to say ‘followers’? I’ve now pretty much run the gamut of my Twitter knowledge. I’m like 100 years old, Julia.

Whoever is behind the Twitter account seems to be a benevolent sort, and it’s at least as helpful, if not moreso, as the Tamale Tracker.

But still, I have to ask: Who is this masked crusader? Will he or she reveal themselves? And will the Hot Doug’s Twitter-er continue to use his or her powers for good, not evil? If he or she is angered, will lovers of encased meats be fed (no pun intended) false information about its latest celebrity sausage? Is all of Chicago helpless to stop this diabolical scheme? More bulletins as events warrant.

–Scott Smith and Julia Kramer, Senior Hot Doug’s correspondents.

[Maple Leafs]

The only way to really know if a celebrity is really on twitter is to do a little bit of google homework. If you're wondering, somebody else probably is too and has posted the answer somewhere.

Many of the fake accounts are parodies and it should be obvious that they're not real. If somebody is running what twitter calls an impostor account, where they're actually trying to fool people, then it will be shut down once twitter becomes aware of it.

[samifan24]

[ISiddiqui]

Uh...

[samifan24]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

The only way to really know if a celebrity is really on twitter is to do a little bit of google homework. If you're wondering, somebody else probably is too and has posted the answer somewhere.

Many of the fake accounts are parodies and it should be obvious that they're not real. If somebody is running what twitter calls an impostor account, where they're actually trying to fool people, then it will be shut down once twitter becomes aware of it.

[being shameless plug]

My Sports on Twitter list was recently featured on the NECN morning show here in New England and is one of the largest researched databases of professional athletes & teams on Twitter. I personally verify each account that I add to the list. Also, while I only deal with sports on Twitter, you might want to follow Valebrity, a website dedicated to celebrities in general.

[end shameless plug]

[Passacaglia]

Originally Posted by Maple Leafs

The only way to really know if a celebrity is really on twitter is to do a little bit of google homework. If you're wondering, somebody else probably is too and has posted the answer somewhere.

Many of the fake accounts are parodies and it should be obvious that they're not real. If somebody is running what twitter calls an impostor account, where they're actually trying to fool people, then it will be shut down once twitter becomes aware of it.

Heh, duh. Thanks. Seemed too boring to be fake, but I guess you never know.

http://www.freep.com/article/2009031...his+twittering

Late last week, just before the start of spring practice, Michigan football coach Rich Rodriguez entered the digital age, reaching fans directly through his Twitter page (Twitter / ?.


Rodriguez began his Twitter career on March 12, posting a message of support to the UM basketball team, saying "good luck John!" to UM basketball coach John Beilein at the Big Ten tournament. He followed the next day with the news of Will Johnson bench pressing 225 pounds 47 times at U-M's pro day and a big recruiting scene.

commented on the passing of Pistons owner Bill Davidson, about the basketball team's berth in the NCAA's -- saying "See ya in Kansas City!" implying he may attend the Thursday night game.

And only three hours ago, before 5 p.m. he tweeted about the warm 60 degree day in Ann Arbor and linked to his Facebook page.

While public figures often have people impersonate them on the Internet, the Twitter page is actually Rodriguez's, the athletic department confirmed, and the Facebook page appears legitimate as well with many of the current players listed as friends.

USC coach Pete Carroll has a Twitter page that he appears to update daily.

[Lorena]

I thought this was pretty funny

[PackerFanatic]

Lisa Nova is awesome.

[Young Drachma]

Stewart's Twitter page a hot topic
By Mike Casazza
Daily Mail sports writer

MORGANTOWN - The secret is out. Truth be told, Bill Stewart is relieved ... and grateful.

West Virginia's football coach is indeed the personality powering his Twitter page (Twitter.com/CoachStewart), but he is neither the mind nor fingers behind its growth and popularity.

"I'm at a crossroads," Stewart said. "I want to be informative and I want to tell our people what's going on. I just worry about people thinking there's too much of that and not enough coaching.

"I'm an old-school guy."

"Old school" is out and Stewart is now in the new world of micro-blogging on Twitter, a social networking service that allows an author to send updates to followers. Anyone who signs up to follow Stewart receives an alert when he has news.

That aspect excites Stewart, but he remains worried.

[Passacaglia]

Is Twitter's breakneck growth causing a backlash? - CNN.com

This David Bill guy sounds really annoying.

(CNN) -- David Bill isn't annoyed when Twitter gets so bogged down with traffic that he can't post a message.


Twitter's "fail whale," which appears when the site is overrun, is so popular it's on T-shirts and even tattoos.

That's because in the moment when frustration would hit, he's greeted on the popular Web site by a cartoonish image he loves: a giant whale being lifted out of an ocean by a small flock of tweeting birds.

The icon -- which Twitter users call it the "fail whale" because the creature appears only when the site has failed to load -- has gained a cult following as the social media site grows at breakneck pace.

The conversational Web site, which lets users post 140-character microblogs, saw a 1,374 percent jump in unique visitors between February 2008 and February this year, up to 7 million from only 475,000, according to Nielsen NetView.

By comparison, Facebook grew 228 percent, to 65.7 million users, during the same period.

With all of those new Twitterers, fail whale sightings and site crashes seem more frequent.

Bill (mr_bill on Twitter) and other fail-whale followers aren't bothered, though.

The 36-year-old San Franciscan has organized parties in honor of the whale. The most recent, held in California in February, was attended by more than 300 people, including Yiying Lu, the artist in Australia who created the image.

Bill says the whale represents a contrarian philosophy.

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"It's sort of an adorable whale but also this thing that represents the Herculean tasks that we sometimes go about from day to day," he said.

"We're all trying to do a lot of things that seem pretty impossible," Bill said. "It's nice to identify something positive with those failures."

Not every Twitterer is sympathetic to the site's troubles, though.

Some users say Twitter has outgrown its core audience and is irrelevant to the technophiles who made it popular in the first place. Others are annoyed by the flood of spammers and profiteers who now use the site's popularity to make a buck.

Celebrities and members of Congress have been jumping onto the site in recent months, adding to the site's mainstream popularity and, some users say, causing glitches in the system.

"I keep getting the fail whale. Twitter got too popular too quickly. I blame Shaq," wrote Jessica Roy, a 21-year-old New York University student who goes by suchamessica on Twitter.

Basketball player Shaquille O'Neal, or THE_REAL_SHAQ, has more than 470,000 followers on the site.

Nova Spivack, a blogger whose article "Can Twitter Survive What is About to Happen to It?" has been passed around the site, said a rift is developing between Twitter's original "in crowd" and its newer, more mainstream users.

Early adopters find many of the new users annoying, he said.

"A lot of people come in, and they take that 'What are you doing?' question literally, and so they put very inane things on Twitter," he said. iReport.com: How do you feel about tweets and status updates?

The site used to feel "insulated" from the mainstream, and now it doesn't, he said.

But for all the complaints, there seem to be just as many people who are almost excited about Twitter's growing pains.

It is inevitable that a Web site seeing Twitter-style growth would face some glitches and a backlash from early adopters, said Laura Fitton, a consultant and co-author of the book "Twitter for Dummies."

"There's going to be all kinds of people using it all kinds of different ways," she said. "The purists can go pound rocks."

Major news such as the Mumbai terrorist attacks and the Hudson River plane landing has broken over Twitter, and that's added to the site's popularity, she said.

Amy Gahran, who writes on social media at contentious.com, said the backlash against Twitter stems from the fact that people are uncomfortable with change. Early users see new people coming to the site, and that creeps them out, but it shouldn't, she said.

"Change is freaking good," she said. "Roll with it."

As the site gets filled with fresh users, people are creating pieces of software to help Twitterers sort through the noise, Gahran said.

She said Twitter is popular because it mimics real-life conversation and because it's easy to use. She also expects Twitter to expand, especially as people in developing countries use cell-phone text messages to communicate through the site.

"People talk. That's what we do," she said. "We're social creatures. We're kind of wired for this."

Twitter says it is addressing breakdowns in that wired communication.

"We have made amazing progress from a technical perspective as far as accommodating this rapid growth goes and will continue to improve system and subsystem performance moving forward," Twitter co-founder Biz Stone wrote in a statement to CNN.

Critter Gewlas of Cary, North Carolina, believes so much in the site's ability to overcome adversity that he recently got a tattoo of the fail whale on his leg.

"The site itself has suffered a few scrapes and bumps along the way, but for the most part, I definitely think it's a good thing," said the 36-year-old.

The fail whale's account on Twitter has more than 2,265 followers. A Facebook group dedicated to the whale has more than 4,400 members. The whale has spawned art and merchandise, from coffee mugs to baby clothes. A Current.com parody of the whale has spun around the Internet, too.

Bill, whose fail whale parties have featured an aquamarine martini in honor of the icon's color, said the whale's popularity comes from the idea that failures are worth celebrating and learning from.

Twitter will use that philosophy to continue to grow, he said.

"Twitter is a powerful enough thing that it should succeed in a broad way, and I would like it to succeed in a broad way," he said.

[Gary Gorski]

We mentioned this in our recent sale promotion email but I thought I would put it in this thread too...we're using Twitter now for daily updates on what is going on not only in the development of my games but some of the other projects too. Check it out - wolverinestudio is the name.

[Passacaglia]

Doesn't turn up in a search.

[Gary Gorski]

Originally Posted by Passacaglia

Doesn't turn up in a search.

Wolverine Studios (wolverinestudio) on Twitter

Wonder why it doesn't work in the search. Is there a setting I need to turn on or something?