7.25.2009

Heal The World

Each one has to find his peace from within. And peace to be real must be unaffected by outside circumstances.” -Mahatma Gandhi

Be a part of the Heal The World Movement

Put this logo atleast on some corner of your blog 

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7.16.2009

Adjustements - not to read

Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.Twitter is a microblogging site.Twitter is a good site.I love Twitter.

Twouble with Twitters: SuperNews!

Twitter



7.13.2009

Twitter VS Blog

Twitter

I’ve been on the fence regarding public or protected tweets on Twitter.com. I’ve actually toggled that switch at on at least 3 different occasions, and then reverted back to Public maybe a day later.

Public tweets are visible to the world, indexed by Google, and make it easy to nanoblog (something that can be encapsulated in 140 characters or less, which might not otherwise be blogworthy). Protected tweets are private, and are visible only to those people whom you follow on Twitter. They aren’t indexed by Google, and they’re essentially part of a private conversation.

The problem is that the public/protected flag is a global setting for an account. Either all of your tweets are public or they’re all protected. There is no middle ground, or ability to change this on a per-tweet basis.

So, why set an account to be “protected”? One of the things that strikes me about Twitter is how much it feels like a conversation in a pub. It’s informal, loose, and sometimes a bit more unfiltered than would be otherwise advisable. A common type of tweet (of which I am probably more guilty than others) is the rant/vent. Bitching about meetings. Letting off some steam in little 140 character puffs. Probably not something that should be indexed by The Goog. To be really honest, probably the kind of thing that shouldn’t be online in the first place, but that’s probably another post.

If a twitter account is set to be “protected” then it becomes a bit more safe to open up a bit more (too much?). The pub conversation becomes more intimate and real.

Why set an account to be “public”? It makes it easy for people to follow you.  Your social network/graph can grow without obstruction, and you will likely find new people who are doing things that interest you.

But, it’s not as simple as it sounds. I currently follow 70 people. That’s about the maximum I think I can follow. There are 318 people following me. It’s just physically impossible for me to reciprocate. Am I missing out? Possibly. But anything important will trickle through various conversations and I’ll see enough to make sense of it. And anything really important will likely exist outside of Twitter.

And I doubt anyone would really miss anything by being unable to follow my tweets. Sure, they’d miss out on some extremely witty banter, but anything important would show up in other conversations, and eventually outside of Twitter.

To me, twitter isn’t a publishing platform. It’s an informal hangout. If I want to publish anything, I’ll put it on my blog, or as a comment on someone else’s.

Twitter

Twitter VS Facebook

Twitter

The phenomenon of social networking is still in its infancy and it remains to be seen exactly which network might become the 800-pound gorilla in the space. It is reminiscent of the dotcom 90s, when I worked in the search industry; dozens of venture-backed search firms battled for dominance and search appeared to become a commodity, with limited monetization potential, or so we all thought at the time.

There are now so many social networks vying for users that even the most elite “Digerati” have trouble keeping up with the ever-shifting landscape. And most are still struggling to find effective monetization strategies, casting doubt on their long term survival and pointing to massive consolidation at some point.

The Evolution of Social Networking Compared to Search

In the now-infamous dotcom era, Yahoo, Lycos, Excite and others evolved into portals in a desperate attempt to find ways to make money, since nobody had really found effective ways to monetize search. That was, until companies like Goto.com (which became Overture and was eventually bought by Yahoo) and Google invented the concept of paid search and contextual, pay-to-click advertising models. The rest is history and we all knew who won the war.

So it seems today that applications like Twitter and Facebook, while attracting new users at astounding rates have not fully defined their business models and the 800-pound gorilla has yet to emerge. It is still early in the game and, as with search in the mid 90s, the eventual winners in the social networking space may not even yet exist, but I would argue that Twitter and Facebook are emerging as potential contenders to dominate.

The differences between the two networks are substantial and in some ways a direct comparison between the two is actually difficult to make. Twitter is simple and feels like Google did in 1998, while Facebook offers a portal-like interface somewhat reminiscent of Yahoo.

Key Elements of Facebook and Twitter

Facebook appeals to people looking to reconnect with old friends and family members or find new friends online; the mashup of features like email, instant messaging, image and video sharing, etc. feels familiar, while Twitter is a bit harder to get your arms around at first.

Most people can very quickly grasp how to use Facebook to connect to friends and family, using it to share thoughts, images, etc. Like MySpace but more geared to adults than teens, Facebook is a social networking Portal; beckoning you not to leave but rather to stick around and communicate within the network.

Twitter on the other hand, encourages you grab ideals in byte-size chunks and use your updates as jumping off points to other places or just let others know what you’re up to at any given moment.

Why People Love Facebook

Facebook appeals to social animals and can be very addicting to people who have an insatiable appetite to stay connected with friends and make new acquaintances. In fact, some people report they rarely use email or IM tools anymore in their online social communications anymore, relying almost entirely on Facebook for email, chat, image and video sharing.

Facebook addicts prefer the social portal model versus having to log into AIM, Yahoo Messenger, Gmail, Hotmail, Flickr, YouTube, MySpace, etc. Instead, Facebook gives them a single alternative to all these applications, with one login and interface to manage their online social interaction needs. This largely explains the explosive growth Facebook continues to experience and why the company reportedly invested $200 million in data center upgrades last year to keep up with demand!

Why People Love Twitter

The usefulness of Twitter is not readily as obvious to some people as Facebook; although it may be more addictive once you get the hang of Tweeting; you get more immediate responses and it seems to live somewhere between the worlds of email, instant messaging and blogging. Twitter encourages constant “linking out” to anywhere and, in that respect, is more analogous to a pure search engine; another way to find people and content all over the Net.

Twitter has quickly built brand awareness and a loyal following, especially among the technically adept; bloggers, online marketers, evangelists, basically anyone with something to promote seem to find Twitter extremely valuable.

When asked why they love Twitter, users say like “I can ask a question and get an instantaneous response”. They crave the ability to “tap into the collective consciousness” of others on the network, bouncing ideas off others with whom they would otherwise have no means of connecting. Twitter addicts claim it’s like the old fashioned water cooler, where people can gather to shoot the breeze on whatever topic is on their minds. Twitter is like a communications stream you dive into for an invigorating swim.

Different Communication Styles for Different Social Settings

Let’s say you go to a wedding or other social gathering where lots of people know each other. The style and tone of communication there will be more like using Facebook; you chat with old friends and acquaintances, mixing and mingling in an intimate manner. In this setting, people tend to feel more relaxed and “in their element”. Conversations are familiar and center on shared experiences and connections.

Now, when you go to a large party or social event where you don’t know most of the people in attendance, you will use a very different style of communication, more like Twitter; you want to meet people and somehow make yourself known, stand out from the crowd, make an impression, self promote and make new connections. Twitter is like getting the podium and not everyone feels comfortable or knows how to stand comfortably in the spotlight.

In fact, almost all of us, when first approaching Twitter, tend to use it to post useless updates like “Going to lunch”, thinking of it as a another tool to communicate with friends, when in fact, it is more like stepping on to a stage, where you are communicating with an audience and quickly find that you need to find a voice and say something useful and interesting or quickly lose the attention of your audience. People refer to Twitter as a mini or micro blogging platform.

So Which Social Network is the Best?

While zealots will immediately point to either Twitter or Facebook as being superior, the truth is that each has its advantages and disadvantages and will tend to appeal more to different types of people and for different reasons. Each can have great or little value to anyone; it really depends on what you are trying to accomplish in a given situation. Consider some of the pros and cons of each network:

Twitter Pros

  • Easy to navigate and update, link to and promote anything
  • Reach far beyond your inner circle of friends
  • One feed pools all users; anyone can follow anyone else unless blocked
  • Pure communication tool, rapid responsiveness
  • You don’t have to be logged in to get updates; you can just use an RSS reader
  • Very interactive, extensible messaging platform with open APIs
  • Many other applications being developed (Twitterific, Summize, Twhirl, etc.)
  • Potential SMS text messaging revenue from wireless networks (although Twitter states they are not currently getting any cut)
  • Potential future advertising and/or enterprise subscription-based revenue streams
  • With its “thin” overhead, Twitter is probably more scalable than Facebook, giving it a cost advantage

Twitter Cons

  • Limited functionality; find people, send brief messages, direct replies
  • Limited to 140 characters per update
  • Not all people find it immediately useful
  • Over-emphasis on follower counts
  • Easily abused for spam and increasing the noise level
  • Relatively smaller installed user base
  • As yet no readily apparent monetization strategy

Facebook Pros

  • Application mashup; find people, make connections, email, instant messaging, image/video sharing, etc.
  • Most people can quickly grasp the value of connecting with friends, family and established contacts; some people report they use Facebook instead of email and IM
  • More emphasis on deep connections with others vs. who has the most connections
  • “True Friends” feature increases your transparency to selected connections; almost like having private and public profiles
  • Huge, rapidly growing installed user base
  • Inherit stickiness, third party applications, “gift giving” and personal data collection make Facebook a powerful advertising platform

Facebook Cons

  • More difficult to navigate and update
  • Requires investment of time to realize sustained benefit
  • Opt in model requires a user to allow others to connect
  • Less immediate responses; unless you stay logged on continually
  • Overhead of mashup and “thick” applications could limit scalability, bloat cost structure

The Future of Social Networking

In the end, both Twitter and Facebook are simply communication tools; both will continue to evolve and morph as users find new ways to extract value and either network may or may become a long term winner in the rapidly evolving social networking space. Ultimately, the fact remains to be seen whether either application has a profitable, scalable and sustainable business model or whether the exit strategy is simply to be acquired.

As we learned in the search space, consolidation will eventually prevail. Unless they can find a way to turn all those eyeballs into profits, social networks will lose relevance. It does seem obvious that the venture capitalists are betting they will not only continue to enjoy tremendous growth but will also successfully monetize all that traffic.

But, will either Twitter or Facebook become the next Google or will they fade into the rear view mirror of technological and social evolution? What do you think?

Twitter

Some Twitter Celebrities

Twitter

Movie, Music, Sports, and TV Celebrities

Jimmy Fallon http://twitter.com/jimmyfallon

Taylor Swift http://twitter.com/TaylorSwift13

Kathy Ireland http://twitter.com/KathyIreland

Penn Jillette http://twitter.com/pennjillette

Britney Spears http://twitter.com/britneyspears

Greg Grunberg http://twitter.com/greggrunberg

David Lawrence http://twitter.com/dhlawrencexvii

Lance Armstrong http://twitter.com/lancearmstrong

Shaquille O’Neal http://twitter.com/THE_REAL_SHAQ

John Cleese: http://twitter.com/JohnCleese

Ashton Kutcher: http://twitter.com/aplusk/

Demi Moore: http://twitter.com/MrsKutcher

MC Hammer: http://twitter.com/MCHammer

Steven Fry http://twitter.com/stephenfry

Kevin Smith http://twitter.com/ThatKevinSmith

Levar Burton http://twitter.com/levarburton

Natalie Gulbis http://twitter.com/natalie_gulbis

Brea Grant http://twitter.com/breagrant

Politics and News Celebrities

Barack Obama (staff writes this so it’s not as interesting)  http://twitter.com/BarackObama/

Al Gore http://twitter.com/algore

Arnold Schwarzenegger http://twitter.com/schwarzenegger

Maria Shriver http://twitter.com/mariashriver

Anderson Cooper http://twitter.com/AndersonCooper

Rick Sanchez http://twitter.com/RickSanchezCNN/

Technology Celebrities

Pete Cashmore http://twitter.com/mashable

Veronica Belmont http://twitter.com/Veronica

Mike Arrington http://twitter.com/TechCrunch

Biz Stone http://twitter.com/biz/

Evan Williams http://twitter.com/ev

Leo Laporte http://twitter.com/LeoLaporte

Robert Scoble http://twitter.com/Scobleizer

Wil Wheaton http://twitterholic.com/wilw/

Kevin Rose http://twitter.com/kevinrose

Matt Cutts http://twitter.com/mattcutts/

Shel Israel http://twitter.com/shelisrael

Twitter

Twitter Mobile

Twitter

 

NamePlatform
ceTwitWindows Mobile 6, Windows Mobile Smartphones
Hahlodesigned for iPhone/iPod Touch, probably works in any browser, web based
Jargongsee this page for supported phones
JitterJava. Any mobile phone with CLDC 1.0 / MIDP 1.0, which should be pretty much any phone supporting MIDlets. In other words, if you can run downloaded games on your phone, you can also run Jitter.
MobileTwitterjailbroken iPhone or iPod Touch
PocketTweetsweb based for the iPhone or iPod Touch
psychzzzweb based, should work on pretty much any browser
SQIJWindows Smartphone 2003SE, Windows PocketPC 2003SE, Windows Mobile 5/6 Smartphone, Windows Mobile 5/6 PocketPC
ThinClouddesigned for iPhone/iPod Touch, probably works in any browser, web based
Twitter2Goweb based, WAP or xHTML-MP interface
Twitter Emailany mobile phone that can send email
TwitteresceJava J2ME enabled phone
Twitter FlashliteFlashLite 2.x enabled device
Twitter IMany mobile phone that supports Jabber, Gtalk and LiveJournal chat
Twitter Mobile Homeweb
Twitter SMSAny phone that supports sending SMS text messages
Twitter Webdebolsilloweb
TwitTodayWindows Mobile 5/6 touchscreen PDAs
Twapperweb
TwobileWindows Mobile 5 or above Touch-screen device (no touch-screen=no work)


ceTwit

Works as advertised. The author tests on an HTC TyTN II (AT&T 8525) and a Samsung Blackjack, but he has tried to make it Smartphone friendly. For what it’s worth, it worked like a charm on my HTC S621. Well, user icons weren’t displayed, but I would consider that a feature not a bug, as it uses less bandwidth (Canadians will appreciate that). Update: I got in touch w/ the author, and he confirmed that the Smartphone version doesn’t support avatars, intentionally. Of all the Windows Mobile Twitter clients I tried, this is the one that remains on my Smartphone.Download here.

Screenshots:


Timeline

Action menu
  

Timeline options

Update

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Hahlo

Another web based Twitter client designed specifically for iPhones and/or iPod Touches. So no jailbreaking or software installations required - just point Safari tohttp://hahlo.com. Of the web based clients, this one was the most “buggy” for me. A direct message sent to a friend apparently just disappeared into the ether. With that said, it does have a lot of features and the UI is decent.

Screenshots:


hahlo home

Timeline
  

Update

Replies

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Jargong

I’m actually glad I don’t have a supported phone. This is another one of those “the entire world in one” applications. Here’s their schtick - Jargong is Social Networking(Flickr and Twitter), Instant Messaging (MSN, ICQ, AIM, Yahoo, Google Talk and Jabber) and Feeds (Google Reader) in a single client application”. Phew. If you’ve used this app and have some thoughts to share, by all means do so in the comments and I’ll update this paragraph accordingly.

Screenshots:


Twitter part of Jargong

Personal timeline

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Jitter

Jitter is Java based, so it’s almost guaranteed this one will work on your phone. Very minimal, low bandwidth, text only. A tiny bit ugly, but certainly functional. I’m a little confused why it had people in the “send a direct message to” list that I’ve never added to Twitter, but eh, no big deal. Perhaps the coder assumed everyone adds Scoble to Twitter.

Screenshots:


Java apps list

Update
  

Jitter Options

Timeline

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MobileTwitter

think this was the first actual Twitter app for jailbroken iPhones and iPod Touches. I could be totally wrong. It’s functional, not ugly, what more can I say. It looks a lot like the web interfaces (PocketTweets etc). But it has a cool icon for your Dashboard. Install it via Installer.app.

Screenshots:


Public Timeline

Update
  

Light on the Prefs
 

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PocketTweets

Another web based interface to Twitter, but very specifically created for the iPhone and/or iPod Touch. Just visit http://www.pockettweets.com from your iPhone/iPod Touch. It is very slick, loads quickly and it’s pretty feature rich. Of the web based Twitter interfaces for the iPhone, this one is my favorite.

Screenshots:


Timeline

Toolbar
  

Update
 

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psychzzz

Very plain. Kinda blah. Only allows you to update Twitter, not read friends updates etc. But it gets the job done, and it’s certainly low bandwidth. Just point your mobile browser to http://mobi.psychzzz.com. You an also run a few other tools from the page, like “Domain Checker” and “Site Ping”.

Screenshots:


Home page

Sign in and update

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SQIJ

I try to stick to the saying “if you don’t have something nice to say, don’t say anything”. I’m making an exception here. Seriously, don’t download this software if all you’re looking for is a Twitter client. SQIJ is actually a collection of “Applets”, and Twitter happens to be one of them. If the other Applets appeal to you, and you want a Twitter client, maybe this software is for you. Things that annoyed me: you have to run a setup.exe w/ your phone docked (just give me the .cab please), you have to create a SQIJ account in order to add the Twitter applet and it was slow as death. With all of that said, the actual UI wasn’t totally ugly or hard to use.

Screenshots:


Your “SQIJ’s”

Following list
  

Timeline

Update

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ThinCloud Twitter

This is a web-based Twitter client designed specifically for iPhones and/or iPod Touches. That means you don’t need to have a jail-broken device, just loadhttps://twitter.thincloud.com/login in Safari. I preferred PocketTweets, but you may not.

Screenshots:


ThinCloud home

Friends list
  

Timeline

Update

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twitter2go

Uhhh something’s awry at twitter2go.com. Or at least in Internet Explorer Mobile. The “bookmark” function (which is a bit of a security risk as it saves your username and password in plain text) doesn’t work, trying to view someones status will only display one specific user (no matter what name you enter). The update feature, however, works perfectly fine. Even if you’re determined to find a simple web based Twitter client, I’d skip this one.

Screenshots:


At least Update works
 

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Twitter Email

There are a few 3rd party services such as http://emailtwitter.com, but I’m not sure I’d recommend them. Though you can set up an account with them so you don’t have to email your password each time you want to update, it’s still not ideal. A better solution might be to sign up for tumblr, find the private email address used to update your tumbl blog (it’s in the “goodies” section”) and then usehttp://twitterfeed.com to import your tumble blog RSS feed.

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Twitteresce

For some reason, Twitteresce fails to install (on my Java J2ME enabled phone). I transferred the .jad file to my phone several different ways, and I get a default “this Midlet failed to install” error. Such is life. If you have an experience using this client, please feel free to leave a comment below and I’ll update accordingly.

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Twitter Flashlite

I don’t have a Flashlite enabled phone, so I couldn’t give this one a try. From the dev: “The application just updates the status message but I am thinking to add support for other Twitter APIs. There are bugs in application (not saving credentials in SharedObject, bad graphics, bad user-interaction (UI, soft-key-mapping). I would post the code later after fixing/cleaning.” I’ve tried leaving a comment on the devs site asking for some screenshots, but I’m not sure it went through. Ah well.

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Twitter IM

From: http://help.twitter.com/index.php?pg=kb.page&id=28

Twitter asks that you verify your Jabber, Gtalk and Live Journal chat addresses, just to make sure that you’re you. If you haven’t added your IM address to Twitter, follow the first set of instructions. If you’ve added your IM address but your updates aren’t posting, skip down to the second set of instructions.

  1. Log in to Twitter.
  2. Click on the Settings link in the top navigation bar.
  3. Click on the Phone & IM link.
  4. Click to verify your IM account. That should do it!

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Twitter Mobile Home

Point your mobile browser to http://m.twitter.com/login. Login. Done.

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Twitter SMS

First see: How to activate your phone for Twitter

Then text your update to:

  •  In the US, use 40404.
  •  In Canada, use 21212.
  •  In India, use 5566511.
  •  Anywhere else, use +44 7624 801423
  • Note that Twitter won’t charge you anything for sending the SMS messages, but your cellular provider might.

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    Twitter Webdebolsillo

    It works, it seems to have all the features you’d want, and it’s entirely in Spanish. If I could read Spanish, I’d have more to comment on, but even from just clicking around I was able to find most of the features you’d expect (friends timeline, public timeline, direct messages, etc).

    Screenshots:


    Timeline

    Profile
      

    Timeline clickable links
     

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    TwitToday

    Looks brilliant. Couldn’t get it to show up on a Windows Mobile 6 Smartphone today screen (non-touchscreen device). As the author states “When posting a tweet, the key is speed. I don’t want to wait to launch an app, I don’t want lots of features. I just want something to take my message and post it.” Which is exactly my view. I’m bummed I can’t give this one a shot. Or I should say, I’m bummed I’m not smart enough to figure out a way to get this on my today screen.

    Screenshots:


    TwitToday

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    Twapper

    Here goes. Twapper is a 30 Boxes and Twitter mashup. Kind of. Visithttp://m.30boxes.com/twapper in any mobile web browser (or regular browser) and enter a username. You’ll see their updates and friends updates. Or, go directly to their username by using the URL http://m.30boxes.com/twapper/rossm, where rossm is the user you want to view. If you want to update your Twitter status, send direct messages etc - join 30 Boxes, add twitter to your Web Stuff, and post an update to twitter from their Status line. Then login on your mobile and you are good to go. Too much of a hassle for me, so no screenshots for you!

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    Twobile

    Since I don’t have a touch-screen Windows Mobile device, I couldn’t actually test this one. Anyone who uses it regularly and has an opinion, please feel free to share it in the comments and I’ll update this paragraph. Twobile can be downloaded here.

    Screenshots:


    Update

    Featured
      

    User status

    Twobile settings

    Twitter