This weeks quick website recommendation is twistori. Twistori gathers data from Twitter that matches one of 6 words: love, hate, think, believe, feel, wish. Select one of the terms and twitter messages containing that term will scroll across the page.

This site does an excellent job of displaying twitter information. It is neat to look at the thoughts associated with the various words. Check out twistori and let me know what you think.

1. Turn on phone updates. - Twitter works best when you have easy access to it, and what better way then through your phone.  If you are like most humans, you constantly have your cell phone with you.  This provides the easiest access to Twitter.  Once you link up your phone, it will only take seconds to post (send texts to 40404).  The other bonus is that you will receive updates from your friends.  You can choose whose updates get sent to your phone and whose will remain on the web.
2. Follow, follow, follow. - Follow people.  Get your friends to join and follow them.  The fun doesn’t stop there.  It is completely acceptable to follow people you have never met.  You may not know the journalists who write your morning paper, yet you still read their articles.  If you think they post neat stuff then they probably deserve a follow.  I understand that some of you may not know many people on the internet, so here is a list to get you started.  Remember that you can always stop following people down the road with no hard feelings.  Add first and decide later.
   • Biz Stone - He is one of the co-founders of Twitter.  His tweets vary greatly.  It couldn’t hurt to start here.
   • Jack Dorsey - Another co-founder of Twitter.  Again, it couldn’t hurt.
   • Veronica Belmont - Co-host of tech podcast Tekzilla.  She has some real quality tweets.  I highly recommend following her.
   • Annette - It is true that this is my girlfriend, so I may be a little biased.  But, my friends tell me they enjoy her updates more than mine.
   • John Gruber - He generally posts interesting tweets.  Be warned, he posts a bit on the techy side.
   • Amy Jane Gruber - This is a must follow in my book.  Her tweets are absolutely hilarious.  They are so good that me and my girlfriend often discuss them.
   • Scott Simpson - Another must follow.  He posts a real grab bag of material.
   • Scott Beale - Writter of laughingsquid.com.  He often posts links to other sites.
   • Gary Vaynerchuk - If you are a fan of Wine Library TV, then I don’t really need to say more.  Careful, Gary tends to post a lot.
   • Dr. Tiki, Johnny Johnny, Lala - Fans of Tiki Bar TV will like these.
   • Alex Albrecht, Dan Trachtenburg, Jeff Cannata - These are the hosts of the Totally Rad Show.  Great guys all around and good to follow.  Oh and I couldn’t leave out Steve who mans the camera and has mad editing skills.
   • Me - You can always follow me.  If you like the content of this blog, then you may find my updates entertaining.
3. Relax and update. - Don’t hold back.  If something pops into your head then send it off.  Something that you think is mundane may just make someone’s day.  The more you update the better Twitter becomes.  Have fun with it.  This service is meant to provide a good time and if you let it, it can be a blast.

This should be more than enough to get you on your way.  I wish you the best of luck in this crazy internet world limited to 140 characters.  

This simple little feature will help us share more of the interesting stuff that we find on flickr.

First, you must be a pro member in order to enjoy these benefits.  Second, videos are limited to 90 sec and 150 mb.  These limitation are trying to prevent it from being a youtube clone.  Instead, it aims to help supplement your photos with self created video or “long photos”.

These videos can be played on your main page alongside your photos, or they can be viewed on their own page (just like photos).  You even have the ability to embed them elsewhere on the web, like your blog.

Some people may dislike the limitations that flickr has imposed.  I for one don’t mind them.  They did get in the way with my first video (which was 3 min long), but I feel that this will help keep the sub-par content out.  The limitations are similar to those that Twitter imposes.  On Twitter, it is 140 characters and on flickr it is 90 seconds.  The limitations should encourage people to edit their clips and only grab the best part, which would benefit everyone.  If you want to put your entire *insert event here* video online, there are plenty of other media distribution services.

Overall I think this is an excellent addition to flickr and hopefully we will see it grow and develop more in the future.  By the way, I love the sleek clean interface for the video controls.  I will be posting a video as soon as I can get it uploaded (probably in the morning) and you can check out my flickr site here.

EDIT: My video finished uploading sometime last night.  It was put together by my girlfriend.  You can find the video here (or below) and her flickr page here.

Who do you think deserves to be recognized today? Leave a comment or even start your own blog.  There has never been a better time.

Thanks Annette.  You inspire me.

There are many great things about blogging.  It allows you to get your opinion out there and share information about the things you know.  You could tell stories or create works of fiction.  Maybe you will start a video or photo blog to share you newest masterpiece.  The possibilities are truly endless.  Hopefully now I have you wondering, where do I get started?

Where do you start?

The first step is to find a place to start your blog.  I recommend  Wordpress, but there are also other alternatives like Blogger, Typepad, and Live Journal.  All of these will give you a place to host your blog.  This is just a short list and there are many other options out there.  You can do some research upfront or just start digging in to one of these.  Be careful, most sites offer free plans, but some do have paid options.  I would recommend going the $0 route, at least for when you get started.  Down the road you can decide if the paid version is right for you.  Just remember that there are always alternatives that charge nothing.  Now you can head over to any of these sites and set up an account.

So you have a blog, now what?

Write.  Start out with whatever you feel needs to be said.  The first few posts may be on the rough side, but eventually you will find your voice.  The more you write, the more comfortable it will get.  After you get the writting down, you can look at the customization options.  Most of these services offer lots of ways to customize your blog so it fits you.  Remember to get the posts up first, then customize.  People will come to read your content, not to see the neat layout.  

A tip about writing.  Just start, it can be about anything.  As time goes on, you will probably close in on a topic.  Some people have a theme from the get go, but there is no harm in starting broad.  Write about whatever floats your boat.

Will anybody read it?

Don’t worry about statistics.  At first you will have one reader, and it will be you.  It takes time to develop a following.  People won’t find your site overnight.  If you keep writing, eventually people with the same interests will stumble upon your site.  Write for the content, not the views.  Your posts will be of higher quality and the views should naturally follow.  When you first start out I recommend letting your friends and family know about your blog.  Those closest to you will be more than happy to read your posts.  They will be intrigued to see what you have to say.

You should also get involved with other’s blogs.  If you like their blog, they might have the same interests as you.  Read and comment on their posts.  One day they might just return the favor.  Although this may increase your views, be cautious.  Have a genuine interest in their blog.  You wouldn’t want someone commenting on your posts just so you will read theirs.  Don’t worry about getting them to your site, it is more important to develop a relationship.

What are you waiting for?

These are the basics to blogging.  It is simply writing about something you know and/or care about.  Always remember that it is about the content, not the stats.  So get out there and enrich the community with your opinions, knowledge, and insight.  If you eventually feel that it isn’t for you, just stop.  Hopefully you will stick with it so that others can enjoy what you write.  If you do go out and start a blog, leave a comment on my site.  I love to see what others have started.

Twitter may not have photos and all the features that Facebook has, or does it. Sure it isn’t incorporated into Twitter, but I can just as easily link out to my flickr photos. Post up a tweet that says, “Had a great time at the Field Museum, here are some photos.” Now I have started to pull in some extra features. If you wanted even more fluidness, then go to Pownce. There you can get the photos integrated into the posts. You can also expand further on Twitter/Pownce. I continue to find great people to follow by looking at others. My girlfriend and I constantly update each other with who is posting interesting stuff.

In the end, Facebook needs to change up where it is headed. It needs to learn one important aspect of business, things change and you need to evolve with them. Facebook was the first step, before that you would have to take the time and ask each of your friends what they were doing or if they had listened to any interesting music lately. On Facebook you could just go to their profile and look it up instantaneously. Facebook brought you information quicker and easier. Now there are other services out there that improve upon that.

Not many people know about Twitter yet. I am talking about the general population, not the web geeks. Once more and more people learn about these services, you will see a large shift to instant information. It may not be Twitter, but it will share the instant characteristic. The point is that Facebook needs to evolve or they will see usage dive as people satisfy their hunger for information.

I was inspired by this video from Gary Vaynerchuk of Wine Library TV. It really sparked my curiosity and opened my eyes to the speed of data transfer. I am not talking about your up/download speeds, I mean the speed in which you can get information about your friends.

There seems to be this notion popping up on the Internet that one must side with either Twitter or Pownce.  There is no room for both and they are inherently rivals.  It isn’t the general consensus or rule, but it does sway some people’s opinion.

The truth is, they are very different beasts.  The text entry box is about the only thing they have in common.  Once you shed the preconceived notion that they are the same or that Pownce in encroaching on Twitter, you can see the benefit of both these services.

Twitter derives its power from simplicity and the text interface.  This basically makes it a powerful text messaging/notification system.  It allows you to blast quick thoughts, ideas, and frustrations to your friends and followers (large groups of people).  At times Twitter reminds me of a man standing around shouting things into a bullhorn.  I can tune in momentarily to hear what is on his mind or what he is up to.  Overall, Twitter is very simple and very addicting.

Pownce on the other hand doesn’t have the same benefits as Twitter.  It is more complex (not in a bad way) and lack’s a texting interface.  It gains complexity in the fact that you can post much more content such as files, events, and links.  Pownce isn’t really ideal for the quick blurb of what people are thinking as much as re/aggregating content.  It is more like a customizable blog, in which you choose who writes it.  You can search across the Pownce community and become a friend/fan of people who write/aggregate content that you enjoy.  Instead of going to a blog dedicated to photography or lifehacks, you can choose friends on Pownce who will deliver that content.  Pownce also allows comments and ratings which helps create a community much like a blog or other website.

As you can see, these two services aren’t mutually exclusive.  You can incorporate them both into your life.  One as a message service and the other as a customized blog.

You can find me on both Pownce and Twitter.

As with all community sites like this, make sure to share the love.  When you get an invite, invite others that request it.  This is the only way that services like these can stay afloat.

Flickr is a photo sharing site that was recently acquired by Yahoo! It has a very large user base of enthusiastic photographers sharing their recently captured photographs. It is a free service which is limited by monthly bandwith restrictions. There is also a “pro” version that eliminates these bandwith quotas.

First off, if you do not own a camera or have no interest in sharing your digital pictures, flickr is still a very useful site. You can use flickr to find great images. Either use their search to find photos on a specific topic or just browse some interesting photos. There are some incredible people in the world taking extrodinary pictures. After awhile, you may find that you want to start taking more pictures yourself.

After creating an account, if you want to share your masterpieces on flickr, you will first need to choose a way to upload them. There are a large number of ways to get your photos onto flickr. There is a list here, and these include things from desktop applications to email. There are even cameras that will upload directly to flickr.

Once uploaded, your images are being shared over the internet. Flickr then allows you to do more along the lines of organization. You can apply tags, descriptions, titles and more to describe your photos and assist people in finding them when doing searches. You can also organize your photos into sets and collections. This will help give more meaning and overarching themes to your photographs.

After all that you are already knee deep into flickr. The basics are uploading and organizing your photos, but you can go further than that with cards, stickers and prints. You can also get your friends and family signed up so that you can all share those precious moments, no matter how far away you live.

To check out the photos that I am sharing on flickr, visit me here. Also you can follow the photos taken with my new camera here.