Dave Grohl: Another celebrity disses Twitter
Outspoken Foo Fighters frontman Dave Grohl has laid into Twitter, or — more accurately — the people who use it, suggesting that they are wasting their time.
“F**k Twitter! That’s the biggest waste of time. If people got their head out of their ass, they might f**king get out and accomplish something.”
Presumably, he’s hurling his insult at the stereotypical couch potato Twitter user who simply tweets about what they’ve just had for lunch, rather than the myriad of interesting people (both celebrities and not) who update their Twitter accounts with interesting and insightful words.
Funny how Grohl chose to waste his time slating a service he doesn’t like. Many people who don’t use Twitter just get on with their lives without making a big fuss in order to garner some publicity.
Microblogging drives mobile Internet usage
If you’re in any doubt that adding geotagging to Twitter is a good idea, the latest survey from Novarra has found that microblogging services are driving the use of the mobile Internet.
In the past year, mobile usage of URL shortening services such as bit.ly and tinyurl.com — near-essential for sharing links on Twitter — has leapt by 1,068%, while page views of Twitter grew by 3,500% in the first half of 2009.
VP of marketing at Novarra, Randy Cavaiani, said that Twitter was a great viral tool for exposing consumers to new and interesting content.
These statistics are bound to be encouraging for those pushing uptake of the mobile Internet, and it’s not too surprising that Twitter is particularly popular given that interesting things generally happen when users are mobile.
Increased functionality, such as geotagging, more interesting third-party apps, and more mobile operators opening up Twitter via SMS, should propel Twitter usage even further.
Twitter geotagging: Will you be using the new service?
Do you Twitter from your mobile device while on the go, or do you tend to use the service from the comfort of your home computer?
Twitter’s recent announcement that it has added geotagging capabilities to its API means that we will soon see a number of third-party Twitter applications taking advantage of that.
Geotagging is one of the latest crazes, it seems, with many devices now containing GPS devices and making the task very easy.
Yet, while taking photos and geotagging them some time later has few privacy concerns (assuming you’ve granted permission to share the photos on a service such as Flickr), tweeting from an identifiable location raises some possible concerns.
Whereas manual tweeting means you can be a little vague about your exact location (West London, for example), broadcasting your GPS location means it’s possible for people to track where you are.
In the ideal, friendly world, this is a fantastic feature because it allows you to find your friends and other interesting people.
Without being alarmist, a slightly more sinister world may require some care to be taken. After all, unless you’ve made your Twitter account private, you could be tracked by anyone, and the fact that geotagging happens with each tweet means you can’t even delay revealing your current location.
What do you think of geotagging for tweets? Will you be using the new feature?
Twitter: How much is too much information?
Even more than blogging, Twitter seems to be the ultimate way to say exactly what you mean, sometimes without thinking about the consequences, and sometimes not caring.
Twitter has had its fair share of high-profile spats, but a recent “outrages” concerns Penelope Trunk’s twitter: “I’m in a board meeting. Having a miscarriage. Thank goodness, because there’s a f***ed-up three-week hoop-jump to have an abortion in Wisconsin”.
Old news, perhaps — two months is an age in the world of Twitter — but it does still raise some interesting points about what should be shared online.
Love it or loathe it, there’s no doubt that such a tweet is a far more interesting answer to “What are you doing?” than “eating a sandwich” or “staring out of the window”.
Apart from the personal attacks many poured upon Ms Trunk, critics said that the tweet was beyond what’s considered acceptable.
Then again, this world of self-publishing, completely free from editorial control, is what independent bloggers have enjoyed for so long.
At the end of the day, if you don’t like someone’s take on life, or how they express it, you don’t have to follow them.
Is there a Twitter limit, or should we be defending people’s right to say what they like, regardless of whether it fits our own outlook?
Twitter banned from courtroom, as it should be
Twitter may allow you to share anything and everything from anywhere, but that doesn’t mean that it’s always right to do so.
Spectators at a Georgia state coatroom have been banned from sending tweets during the course of a criminal trial.
District Judge Clay Land said that Rule 53 of the Federal Rules of Criminal Procedure, which prohibits the “broadcasting of judicial proceedings from the courtroom”, can be extended to include the use of Twitter.
Both logically and ethically, that makes a lot of sense.
Many criminal trials are extremely sensitive, and judges have an obligation to control how both media and public are allowed to disseminate information.
What’s possibly harder is to enforce such a ruling. Short of confiscating mobile phones and other communication devices upon entering a courtroom, it could be quite hard to ensure that such a rule isn’t breached.
What do you think? Was the judge right to ban Twitter?
Will Amazon Affiliate Twitter posting tool increase spam?
Amazon has introduced a new feature for its Affiliate members, making it easy to post a link to any product on the site to Twitter.
It’s another step in making it easy to promote Amazon’s products, after the introduction of cut-and-paste widgets and “link to this page” for bloggers and website owners.
Yet Twitter is already flooded with spam and promotional messages, and Amazon has just made it a whole lot easier for casual spammers to flood the service with affiliate links.
Additionally, because the links are effectively cloaked (a side effect of having a limited character count on Twitter) it’s not easy to know what will directly benefit the Twitter account holder if the link is clicked and a purchase is made.
Of course, seasoned spammers will already have automated systems in place to create and publish tweets, but now anyone can do it with just a few clicks.
I don’t deny that the service is useful. If you have a loyal Twitter following and are genuinely recommending products, and providing disclosure, then the occasional link is fine. This new tool will save you time.
Unfortunately, I can also see it adding to the stream of rubbish flowing through Twitter, and an increase in the number of account blocks I’ll be having to do on a regular basis.
What do you think?
Would You Consider a Dedicated Twitter Device?
Since I’ve started appreciating Twitter for both personal discussions and promoting my blogs and online content, I’ve been exploring ways to access the service conveniently, even while on-the-go. For this purpose, I’ve settled with a Symbian Series 60 application called Gravity. The application is a fully-featured Twitter client that supports practically anything that a desktop-based client can, such as retweets, direct messages, searches, TwitPics, and even multiple accounts.
I’m satisfied with the application, but I only have one gripe, which is connectivity. At home and other WiFi-enabled establishments, I can roam around and still be able to Tweet, since my phone has WiFi. When I’m out of coverage, I can simply use my 3G or HSDPA connection. While the cost is nominal, this is a bit limiting.
On ForeverGeek, I recently read about TwitterPeek, a dedicated device for reading, receiving and posting tweets. What’s appealing with the TwitterPeek is the unlimited connectivity it offers. The device sells on Amazon for $199 with lifetime unlimited service or $99 with a 6-month subscription ($7.95 monthly thereafter). Developed by Peek in partnership with Twitter, the company behind the device hopes to be a big part of Twitter’s mobile strategy. If all goes well, then this is also one good way for Peek to promote its dedicated email device.
The TweetPeek is affordable, and it’s out just in time for the holidays. I’m not sure if it will work outside the US, though, given network limitations. If it does, then I’m going to grab a few for myself and my loved ones.
Would you consider an unlimited Twitter device?
Australian Court Gives Permission to Live-Tweet Proceedings
In what could be an important development in how social media affects just about any industry and field, an Australian court was recently reported to have allowed live tweeting of proceedings. Judge Dennis Cowdroy states that tweeting was fine as long as it did not disrupt court proceedings. He believes that the public “has a legitimate right to be fully informed of proceedings, particularly proceedings such as (the iiNet case), which have attracted considerable public interest. Twittering can serve to inform the public in a more speedy and comprehensive manner than may be possible through traditional media coverage.”
This has precedence in previous cases in the US. While live reportage of legal proceedings are usually at the discretion of the presiding judge, not all jurisdictions might allow direct discussion of ongoing court cases.
As with any discussions held on Twitter or any social medium, readers are advised to check and verify the information and the veracity of the sources before retweeting, blogging or otherwise helping spread information online.
The Pros and Cons of Auto Tweeting Blog Posts
Back when I first started using Twitter in 2007, I had become fond of tweeting updates whenever I had a new post on my personal blog. I also tweeted everytime I made a post on several network blogs I edited and contributed to. After a while, it became tedious, and I decided to use one of those WordPress plugins that automatically updates your Twitter status when you had a new blog post.
The concept is pretty simple–the updates could actually go both ways. The plugin will automatically tweet the blog post title as soon as you hit the publish button. You also have the option of consolidating your tweets for a day, and publishing these as a blog post (which I personally find tacky).
For a while, I thought having these updates on auto-pilot seemed good. But when I realized I, myself, ignored automatic update notifications from my Twitter friends most of the time. Unless you run a Twitter account solely to provide updates to your readers about new posts, you most likely run your Twitter account to communicate and connect. And I think it’s best to use this to really talk engage with your readers, rather than blindly update them when you have posts elsewhere.
I guess it’s similar to how I’m not so cool with the idea of cross-posting between Twitter and other microblogging services, such as Plurk. It gives the perception that you’re not actively engaging with your Twitter friends and contacts. It makes it seem they’re not important enough to spend a minute copying and pasting (and shortening) URLs, and typing a few words to introduce your text. It makes them wonder whether you’re actually logged into your Twitter account to read replies and messages, if anyone wants to respond.
Manually posting Twitter updates when you have a new blog post is better, in that you can personalize the message that comes with the link. Sometimes, a blog post’s title is not self-explanatory enough, unless you’re an expert at writing headlines. You can get readers more interested in your blog post if you include a catchy tagline or blurb using your own words, or as an excerpt from the blog post.
Furthermore, when you write about the new post in your own words, it makes it more conversational, and it helps you connect better. For instance, rather than just tweet:
The Pros and Cons of Auto Tweeting Blog Posts – http://shortenedurlhere
I can perhaps say:
What do you think of automatic tweeting blog post updates? – http://shortenedurlhere
By asking a question, my friends and followers can pitch in. Or perhaps I can write something more retweet-worthy, so both my tweet and blog post get better traction.
People easily get tired of automatic tweets. But if you make your Twitter followers feel important by personalizing your tweet, then that helps in winning them over. Instead of getting a lot of zombies to read your posts, you get real people liking and loving what you write, reacting to these, and possibly helping spread the word.
When you’re in a network environment, with dozens and dozens of blogs and contributors, it can get unwieldy. In these cases, it might be easier to do automatic updates, but only if you intend the Twitter account as an update mechanism to alert readers of new updates to the network or to that particular blog. Otherwise, you can perhaps ask each contributor to be active in linking to their posts on their own Twitter accounts.
Have you tried auto-tweeting plugins? What has your experience been, so far?
Do You Ride the Wave of Twitter Trending?
Among the trending topics on Twitter earlier this week was keywords related to the late Corazon Aquino, who was a former president of the Republic of the Philippines. Hailed as an icon of democracy, the former head of state passed away on August 1st, and tens of thousands of citizens flocked to the streets to escort her funeral cortage. The expression of support was also shown online. For a few days, Filipino citizens from all over the world sent messages of support through blogs and other social media, including Twitter.
In fact, “Cory Aquino” was among the top trending topics for a few days. Users have been talking about the events at the wake and funeral, and about her contributions to her country from the 1980’s up to the present, often attaching the #Cory hashtag. However, I’ve also been noticing some irrelevant tweets containing the #Cory hashtag. That made me wonder about how people will ride on the popularity of trending topics in the hope of getting their share of the limelight. It also makes me wonder how easily groups of Twitter users can game the system.
Irrelevant posts tagged with a certain hashtag can do one of two things. First, it will make your tweet appear on search results for that hashtag. So if you’re out to get attention, it might be a good idea to attach popular tags to your tweet, no matter how trivial or irrelevant. Secondly, it adds to the volume of tweets with that hashtag attached. So you could imagine that a keyword could trend if a ton of people wrote unrelated tweets, but with the same hashtag.
This could be one way the system can be gamed. It’s akin to keyword stuffing, which was one of the ways website owners optimized their sites for search engines. This practice is now frowned upon, of course, and could cause penalties from the search engines. But with Twitter, weeding out unwanted tweets from trending counts might be difficult, if not impossible. Granted, Twitter can exclude certain hashtags from their trending topics list, particularly if these violate terms of service, or if these constitute content not applicable for general consumption. They have done this before.
However, it might be different with tweets with irrelevant tags. The most they can probably do is not count a particular tweet under a particular hashtag if it is found to be irrelevant. But through what mechanism can this be done would be the question. Twitter staff cannot monitor every tweet and trending topic manually, and it might not be as easy to determine relevance without human intervention. Maybe Twitter can implement a report/feedback mechanism so that users can point out improperly-tagged tweets, and when the number of reports reaches a critical level, then those hashtags or posts would be looked into–something like a “bury” or “vote down” mechanism.
I think the best way to deal with this is to tweet responsibly. I’ve always advocated the idea of being careful with what you say online, be it on a blog post, video, tweet or just about any medium. Social media is powerful, and as such, it should be wielded with care and responsibility. And so, the next time you feel like adding an irrelevant hashtag to your tweet just to get attention, think again. Are you contributing positively to the Twitter community with what you are doing? Or are you just adding pointless drivel?
