It’s been 15 days since I started my “hiatus” from Facebook and Twitter. It hasn’t gone quite as I had hoped. I still find myself reading Twitter from time to time and I’ve played some games on Facebook, but overall my usage of both sites is significantly down. I feel like I’m missing out on lots by not keeping up with either site, but I still feel like this is something I need to continue on with.
Tag: twitter
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Broken
Dear Twitter:
Twitter Trends are broken. Yes, they can give invaluable insight on the pulse of Twitter as a whole, but they’ve long been irrelevant to me and I don’t feel like I’m alone.. The system is easily gamed. Random hashtags like #SheProbablyAHoe spread like syphillis but why?
I know what you’re thinking: just ignore them. Use a desktop or mobile client that doesn’t put trends in your face. That’s valid. But ignoring a problem doesn’t make it go away.
Trends would matter more to me if they applied to the people I followed. I don’t care about what the whole of Twitter is talking about. I want to know what the people I follow and who follow me are talking about. What is important to my social circle is infinitely more important to me than what’s #nowplaying, #pleaseexplainwhy or #omgfacts. But there are people out there who find that sort of stuff interesting, and it’s likely the people they interact with on Twitter do too. That’s why Twitter needs to fix trending – so everyone can get the most of it. So that everyone’s experience with Twitter is a bit more custom-tailored to their own interests.
And would it kill you to fix replies?
Love, cd.
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Featured on Twitter Backgrounds Gallery
My Twitter profile was recently featured on TBG. Would you mind voting for me? :)
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BaconTwits
So, a couple of weeks ago Phil and I were joking around about bacon. (It’s a pretty common occurrence these days.) We came up with the idea of raising money for a .bacon TLD (e.g. iaccidentallythewhole.bacon). Out of nowhere he suggests: twitterbacon.com. I thought it was brilliant. I got the domain. I started working on a site by myself, but couldn’t quite get it the way I wanted (or find the time to devote to doing it). So, I asked Emily Lewis and Jonathan Delaigle for their help. I came up with a design. Emily got the design implemented. Jonathan made it work.
Without further adieu: bacontwits.com
At some point in the near future, it’s our goal to package the site up into something others can take and build their own mashups from. Once we’re ready to release, I’ll make an announcement here, on BaconTwits and on Twitter.
Enjoy!
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The new Twitter Transparency
One of my biggest complaints with Twitter is that users were left in the dark when the site was having problems. That’s changed. Twitter’s more transparent than ever. Recently Techcrunch asked Twitter several questions regarding their infrastructure, policies and more (Hey Twitter I Have A Few Questions Too). Twitter answered back with “It’s not rocket science, but it’s our work.“. In their response, Jack Dorsey and Biz Stone answer each of TC’s questions honestly and directly. As TC put it: “Twitter continues to be annoyingly and constructively responsive to criticism. They respond to this post here, saying “We’re working on a better architecture.” Kind of takes the air out of the balloon when you can’t get them riled up.”
Twitter is now serving as the model for transparency. Yes, they’re experiencing growing pains, but they’ve learned from their mistakes and are embracing the idea that the more they let users know, the more understanding they’ll be. Other companies should take note.
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Getting Local with Twitter
Recently I started an experiment on Twitter. I know that I’m not the only web/design geek in the area, so I decided to use Twitter to get to know some folks in the area. Using Twitter’s people search, I looked for people in and around Augusta, GA. The result? I’m not alone, and while Twitter use in and around Augusta is next to null, there are some pretty interesting folks that I’m glad I decided to follow.What next? Well, my hope is that Twitter will grow in popularity in the area and it’ll be a means to growing a real life social network/community here in the area. Right now the tech/creative community is rather fragmented and the only organization that caters (sort of) to us is the Augusta Advertising Federation. Its focus tends to be more traditional media-centric. There is also the newly formed Augusta Developers Guild, but it’s focusing more on Software Developers/Programmers.
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Adobe AIR and HTML
Adobe AIR and HTML. Snook shares some of his experiences working with Adobe AIR in building his Twitter client, Snitter.
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Snitter
Get Snitter. Use Twitter, but looking for a viable desktop app on the PC? Look no further than the Snitter AIR. Nicely done, Snook.