DISQUS

Marti · 2 years ago

I was a bit disappointed when I offered you a free book of humor essays when you asked (on Twitter) for some travel reading, but hey, that's your choice. I'm not a grudge-holder - LOL

The offer is still good...a girl's gotta try

vrillusions · 2 years ago

Right now it's kinda a mashup of what you said. I don't really have enough friends yet to do the "what is a good site for ...." but I pretty much add anyone. Even a couple from japan just because I want to learn the language (and there's an option when setting up the mobile stuff to exclude unicode tweets, so I don't get those on my phone :) ) But I seem to do some sort of filtering on who I do add. I'll occasionally watch the public stream and click on random profiles and somehow decide from there if I should add them or not. But I do add anyone that adds me and is an actual person and not some automated thing. Although the one for woot.com is nice :)

Rick Mahn · 2 years ago

I guess I use Twitter more as a news source and micro-blogging tool. Sometimes I feel like jumping in, sometimes more like just reading. No matter what, Twitter is an important part of my online resources.

Lately I find myself adding nearly everyone except bots and such. It has made the stream even richer than it was previously for me, and I've found an additional dozen or so blogs that I've added to Google Reader.

missbhavens · 2 years ago

Ah, twitter; my new boyfriend. I have such a crush on twitter--I can't shake it.

I primarily use twitter to

a. vent the random chatter in my head

b. find nifty web bits in the form of links others have tweeted

c. ask videoblogging questions (nearly all my tweeps are in that world)

d. Bitch about work live as it happens since I can't do it on my site for privacy reasons (I work in a hospital)

Occasionally, I even stumble across a recipe.

I am a twitterfiend. I've tried jaiku, I've tried pownce, they don't do it for me.

I'm a simple girl who just wants to dispense and consume information 140 characters at a time.

Jeff O'Hara · 2 years ago

I try to add people that are interesting to me whether they add me back or not. I use twitter to maintain online friendships and to keep a pulse on the community at large. I'm very simialar in the way chris adds people, if you have 5000 friends and very little followers you don't get an add.

Tris Hussey · 2 years ago

I like the stream of news and info on Twitter. Even the intermixing with the day-to-day stuff is nice. Reminds all of us to have a real life. Or at least a Matrix-enabled one. ;)

Clintus McGintus · 2 years ago

Twitter is STILL my favorite site/community on the web. I love following people that I either know or wish to know. The best part about twitter is the sms functionality. Sending and receiving from your phone is huge for me. I'm sure I'm more into what my friends are doing than they are with what I'm doing.

Shaine · 2 years ago

I have reached the point where I cannot continue following Twitters on my phone for much longer. I do have unlimited text messaging, but I'm going to have to make some changes. I appreciate you sharing how you do it.

I suspect that my twittering will become one-sided as I don't have constant access to a computer. I'll try to hang in there.

Dan York · 2 years ago

I use Twitter in many of the same ways you do. For me, it is a great source of the "pulse" of what people are thinking about now. On days when I don't have the time even to read RSS feeds, Twitter is a way to see what my "friends" think is important. It's been a wonderful resource for links and I've learned a lot from the stream.

Unlike you, though, I don't add just anyone... usually I only add someone I know directly, largely because I have a limited amount of "attention" I can give Twitter and so I want to give it to those people whom I have come to trust. Having said that, I do from time to time add others if I get a friend request and I look at their page and see that what they are twittering looks like it lines up with my interests. I've learned of some fascinating people that way and been exposed to more things that I would not have known about.

Another reason I use Twitter - the 140 characters is a good exercise in distilling your message down to a concise and clear piece of text. Brevity has never been a particular strength of mine, so Twitter is a useful way to work on that. :-)

trevor · 2 years ago

here's a different point of view i guess. it's funny to me, kinda like watching a young kids soccer game. there's a giant crowd of kids that follows the ball around in a chaotic little dance, no one plays position. there are always though, a few stragglers, outside the crowd. they can be the real thinkers.

your quote about when people have 5000 friends, and no followers, just shows the usual trend, that people believe that "popular" equates to the "best". hitler was popular at one time, his ideas were followed by the masses. people who opposed, or had different ideas were ignored, considered of little use.

just like always, if something is unpopular, it finds very little reception from the masses, even if it is excellent, logical, or totally helpful.

your remark shows you are afraid to take a risk on many people being wrong, but believe m - that happens pretty often, and in fact, most "popular" things are usually wrong in the long term anyway. take oil for instance....or wal-mart, etc. but you will only stick to whatever the masses are doing already though right?

evaluate things on their own merit, don't be afraid to notice the individuals who are not "good speakers" - for they may say things that are sensible, even if they are not coated in candy.

people who speak well can trick you. they have a gift to make things popular that are unwise. good speakers, good communicators -BEWARE of them, they speak well, but that doesn't necessarily mean that WHAT they say is good.

you're very typical, welcome to the average demographic. your opinion has been aggregated, thank you.

ravi karandeekar · 2 years ago

how do i use? (or what is my take?) i don't think i have any specific strategy or a typical way as such but i must be using it well. at this point of time i do not remember why or how i started following up chris brogan but i am very happy to know you all. i have learned a lot in very short period of time. thanks.

Vics · 2 years ago

I've added selected people to a twitterfeed I get on my reader, everyone else I follow I check in on the website at least once a day to see if I've missed some interesting/ informative links.
DM's go straight to my phone, all other notifications are turned off.

I think my main use is as a group IM though, I like to talk to people and twitter makes that easy to do - when it's working..

Mari Adkins · 1 year ago

I'm pretty much where MissB is. Also, I recently created an account for Apex Book Company. I've not done much with it yet, but we've gained a few followers, which is always good. However, the other day I saw a post on a blog in one of my feeds discussing Twitter as a journalism tool. My boss/publisher and I decided the ABC account could become a great, albeit interesting, tool for conducting interviews. So, I'm going to give that a whirl and see what happens. Live streaming text interviews. I think it's a cool concept.