The Twitter industry has got to be one of the fastest growing industries in history. There are endless services and programs to support this very basic yet addictive concept of micro blogging in 140 characters. There are many desktop clients for Mac and PC, some of my favorites include TweetDeck, Digsby, Twhirl, and most recently DestroyTwitter. However, when it comes to iPhone Twitter apps, there are only a few choices…
Topify Makes Twitter Even Simpler
If you have spent any time at all talking to me or reading this blog, you know that I am a huge Twitter fan. Twitter has become the number one buzzword of the Web over the past few months. Everyone is talking about it. Now I have to say, that even though I use it and convince others to use it, there really is a lot of room for improvement. Lately, a new service was introduced that begs the question “How did no one think of this before?”
Don’t Understand Twitter? Watch This!
One of the big challenges of the average Twitter user is the ongoing questions from friends and relatives. “Why is it so popular”? “What’s the point”? “It sounds so lame, why do you waste your time”? I have tried countless times to explain on and off the blog what the big attraction is, and generally without success. Watch this video of Twitter’s CEO and Co-Founder explaining how it works, he does it much better than I can.
John Stewart Talks About Twitter
It is always fun to have a good laugh at yourself. Mine is in the following video.
Perfecting Twitter
The topic of this post is a sensitive one, how to improve Twitter. The reason it is sensitive is that Twitter is already hands down the most addictive and enjoyable website on the current worldwide Web, and talking about its imperfections, even though there might be a few, is like discussing what would make Vanilla Haagen Dazs ice cream even better.
The Greatness of Twitter
My recent acquaintance with the rapidly growing and truly addictive micro blogging platform, Twitter, has presented me with mixed feelings. On the one hand, I have been spending endless time tweeting and reading other people’s tweets. I am learning new things every day, such as the effective use of Hashtags on Twitter, and the various URL shortening services, some of which introduced us to a whole new method of infecting PCs around the world.
What also amazes me is that Twitter really facilitated the birth of an entire industry to support it. From the desktop clients (I have reviewed em all, and will share my conclusions with you in a later post), iPhone apps (in one word, TwitterFon), and plugins, to the stat sites, twitter design tutorials, and user analysis tools, the possibilities are endless, and I am presented with new ones every day.
As I am writing this post, I came across a new and interesting Twitter tool, a Twitter dictionary, or Twittonary. Yes, there is a whole new Twitter language, with words like Tweets, Tweeple, and Tweetaholic becoming mainstream, I really cannot get enough of Twitter.
I met a few of the people from my Twitter followers at Mobile Monday last night. I have to say it was a little strange to put a face to all the tweets. Some of my followers have already added me on Facebook after we tweeted back and forth a few times and realized we have a lot in common. I am reading new articles written about the Twitter phenomenon every day, and it seems like the interest in Twitter is only getting greater.
However, Twitter also presents me with a challenge that I have yet to overcome. I am the type of person that likes to share my experiences with others. When I am excited about something, I need to pass it on to friends and family. Whether it is via the blog, my Facebook, email, or just in person. Somehow though, I cannot do that with Twitter. As much as I love it, I cannot relay the genius behind it, to my peers. Every time I try to verbalize how revolutionary Twitter is, I always get the same few answers; “I don’t get it”, or “So basically, it’s a chat room”, or “Why is this such a big deal?”, and of course the answer I get most frequently “So they stole the idea of status updates from Facebook, and this is exciting, why?”
I have tried to pinpoint what is so amazing about it, but have had no success so far. I wrote in my last Twitter post that the ability to follow anyone and not just people you really know, is what separates it from other social networks such as Facebook and MySpace, but as cool as that is, that does not do Twitter justice. I thought maybe it was the ability to get real time news, like we saw in the famous Hudson plane crash, but that too does not seem to impress the people I speak to.
What ended up happening is that when I am trying to “sell” Twitter to someone, the conversation always ends with me saying “you just have to try it”. The below video is the closest I have come to finding an explanation that might satisfy some. So I will conclude with a request. If any of my readers can think of a good explanation of what makes Twitter so great, and what caused its numbers to increase 850% in 2008, or to explode with 20,000 new users every day, I would be greatly appreciative. Not only would your suggestions help me explain Twitter to others, it would also help me justify my strong addiction to myself.
-Hillel
Yet Another Proof that Social Media Works
After a long three months of job searching using every available tool, looks like I have landed myself a position as a Content Manager at a Forex startup. At the risk of giving myself a huge jinx before I even start the job, I wanted to share with you my experience over the last three months, and how I reached the indisputable conclusion that social media is the way to go.
Over this extremely trying period of looking for my next job, I used pretty much every tool available to me. That includes the traditional job websites, as well as outsourcing companies, and placement agencies. I must have sent out a 100 CVs a week, each with a really impressive cover letter as well as a CV customized for the type of position for which I am applying. I will not say that was a total failure. I did get a handful of interviews from them, but nothing came of any of them. What seems to count more than a nice cover letter or CV is people’s opinion and recommendation of you as an individual. In addition to those tools, I used Facebook, Twitter, LinkedIn, emails to all my contacts as well as community lists, and let’s not forget a whole lot of IMing.
So in the hope that one or more of my readers will benefit from this information, I decided to share with you some of the tools that I found to be useful. Let’s start with the one that ended up closing the deal, Facebook (with a little IM help on the side). I know people today seem to think of Facebook as a waste of time and one of those things “I just do not need”, but my experience proved otherwise. Yes, it is true, Facebook can be a huge distraction and occupy a lot of your time, but the exposure that one can get using Facebook is unprecedented. At a simple click of a button, you can let hundreds if not thousands of people know you are looking for a job, and that is what I did.
What ended up happening with me is that, the fact that I was looking became known to pretty much everyone I ever knew, and an old friend of mine, who, the truth be told, would probably have found out via IM anyway, heard I was unemployed. Now, remember, I was working in the technology and cellular industry in my last job.
This particular friend works in the Forex industry, and has built various sites, one of them being a Digg style website for Forex news , as well as others for the Forex community. Well, he made a connection through one of his sites with an individual who has recently started a company and was looking for a content manager. He then made the match.
This story could never have happened five years ago, when there was no social media and all these tools were unavailable to us. Now, it is important to emphasize that this particular opportunity worked out for the best, but for every interview I got through the job sites, I got five from networking. Wherever I was, whoever I was talking to, I put aside the embarrassment of being laid off from my last company (although, in today’s economy, it is not so bad, who doesn’t know someone that lost their job recently? Check out this list.), and pretty much let anyone and everyone know I am looking.
Just to sum up, if you or someone you know are looking for a job in almost any field, I would recommend making use of the old fashion tools as well, but spending much more time developing your profile and networks on the various social media tools.
If you want to know more details about the exact manner in which I did this networking, or alternatively, if you want more information on the traditional side of things, the sites I used etc., you can message me on Facebook here, DM on Twitter here, write me on LinkedIn here, email me here. Or, you can also call me if you have my number, I have not stopped using that means of communication, YET.
-Hillel
Web 2.0/Social Networks At Their Finest
This is a big day for Web 2.0. A plane just crashed and fell into NYC’s Hudson river and the very first reports, as well as photographs of the plane were not on CNN, they were on Twitter. This might be the first big news event that will give Twitter and social networks the credit they deserve. Meanwhile, Twitpic, where the famous picture was posted, is down due to bandwidth issues.
You will be reading a lot of articles about this event over the next few weeks and how it was reported and displayed on Twitter before the traditional news channels and websites, just remember, you read it here first.
Update: Janis Krums (@jkrums), the guy who posted the picture now has 2,200 followers (including yours truly) and that number grows every time I click refresh. 2,000 of them are new since he posted the picture. The actual picture has over 90,000 views. Talk about immediate fame.
-Hillel
Who Needs Firefox/Safari When You Have Digsby?
As we wait for any big news from CES, and grieve about the almost total lack of any news at all from Macworld, I thought I would tell you about a desktop application that is up there with the best I have ever used. It it not new, but its latest updates make it a real show-stopper. I am talking about the IM, Social Networking, and email aggregator for PC, Mac, or Linux; Digsby.
I have been using Digsby for months now and I have to say, it is almost flawless. Now, for me to say that about a program is a big deal, I am the kind of user that gets annoyed by the most trivial and ridiculous little quirks that 99% of people would never notice. Anyway, Digsby gives you a very clean and nice looking interface that includes the following services (sit down, it’s a long list):
- AIM: Oldie but goody
- MSN Messenger: Still a very good program even with the endless spam
- GTalk: Keeps getting better
- Yahoo Messenger: It serves its purpose, not great, but they get an A for effort
- ICQ: Never used it, but props for being the first of the gang
- Jabber: Never used it
- Facebook chat: Buggy but very useful
Those are the IM networks only, here is what else you have access to without even opening up your Web browser:
- Hotmail: Designed by Microsoft, but there are still people using it
- Gmail: Best email, period
- Yahoo Mail: Always getting better
- AOL/AIM Mail: No comment
- IMAP: Huge fan
- POP: Good to have
Now, for the big news, the latest Digsby update added the following social networking sites:
- Facebook: Will take some time till someone takes its place
- Twitter: Love it, love it, love it
- MySpace: Never used it, but very popular
- LinkedIn: The interface could be better, but very useful, I am told
OK, enough lists. Bottom line is, Digsby pretty much offers you every possible tool used to communicate on the Web (I guess Skype is missing, but then again, with so many VOIP options in the above lists, why use Skype?).
In addition to all the available services, the actual experience is absolutely perfect. Tabbed conversations, awesome skins, nicknames, reply from within popup notifications, Facebook and Twitter updates that do not disturb your work, and more and more. I can go on and on with Digsby’s amazing features, but I am sure you get the point.
Just to summarize, ever since I installed the latest update, I have not opened up a browser more than twice, and that was to check the news. So, why is it not the perfect program? Well, if I have to name something, it does not include CNN updates, yet!
-Hillel
Twitter: My New Addiction
One of the main buzz words on the Web for at least 6 months (probably more like a year) has been Twitter. Seems like everyone who is anyone, is using it. So of course I had to check it out. Before I did that though, I talked it over with a few friends and asked a simple question; “why would I use Twitter to read status updates if I can do that via Facebook?” I really did not get the point. Status updates? That’s all?
The main answer I got to my question was that Twitter is a simpler and more user friendly site than Facebook. No applications, no ads, no other annoyances that we find all too often on Facebook. After using Twitter for a few weeks now and admittedly becoming an addict, I can tell you that the answer I got is an accurate one, but that is not what makes Twitter so attractive. That is not what is going to take Facebook users away from Facebook.
So, if not that, then what? Why is Twitter so useful? Why has it become such a popular social networking tool? I am sure there are a lot of different explanations for this phenomenon, but to me, there is one major difference between the people you interact with on Facebook and on Twitter. Let me explain. Facebook is based on a “friend” system. Generally, your Facebook friends are people you know personally. Yes, I know everyone has people on their list that they do not know, but Facebook is geared toward adding your real life friends to your list.
Twitter, on the other hand, enables you to follow someone you do not know, have never met, and probably will never meet. You can follow their tweets if their life interests you. The thing is though, that does not mean they are going to follow you back. They are not your “friend” just because you are following them. Let me give you a few examples. I read Digg every day at least 10 times a day (in fact, some days I have a Digg tab open all day). Twitter enables you to add the Digg category you choose and get updated on popular stories in real time without opening your Web browser. I do not know who the individual behind this Digg account is, nor do I care. They are not following me because they do not care about my life updates, but that does not mean I cannot follow them.
Another example is Shaq. Yes, I follow Shaq (at least I am not following Britney), and contrary to the way Facebook works, this, from what I gather, is the real Shaq. I follow him, but I do not see him following me any time in the near future. So to sum up the main reason I love Twitter so much, there is no approving mechanism, you can pretty much follow anyone you want, unless of course they make their profile private (which, by the way, I do not get why anyone would want to do).
I am pretty new to Twitter and am learning new things every day, you would be surprised how complex status updates could be. Learning about DMs (direct messages), retweets, desktop clients (using twhirl), and of course iPhone apps (I like TwitterFon).
I find myself using Twitter as a news source, since the news gets tweeted way before it is reported by the news websites. One more thing Twitter has helped me with, is getting over my Facebook addiction. Facebook? Na, so 2008!
-Hillel
Twittastic: The Best Twitter Desktop Program
Hey All,
I have been using Twitter for some time now and I’ve been trying out different desktop clients. Some of them include Tweetdeck , Twhirl and others. I have found that they are all over packed with features that the average user will never use. All the features make the interface very crowded and hard to use.
Twittastic to the rescue!
Twittastic is an easy to use client that looks like the Web-based Twitter. It has many cool features that do not overload the interface. These include:
- Drag and drop image uploads to www.twitpic.com.
- Take screenshots of parts of your screen and upload. Double click required.
- Capture your webcam and send straight to Twitpic.
- Infinite scrolling into past messages using a database. You can leave it running overnight.
- Drag and drop file uploads straight into www.drop.io.
- One click short URLs. Reads what you have copied and pastes the result.
- Text based emoticons as seen here.
- Ability to shut up for 30′ minutes. So you can brainstorm undistracted.
The developer is a funny guy. You can follow him at www.twitter.com/KCorax
It’s light and easy to use with a single downside; no MAC version.
Check it out – http://www.twittastic.net/
-Aryeh
