A Bit Eclectic

Internet Vices

These are dead on and hilarious.

I love this app. The interface is amazing and it puts a new twist on an old service. The intro video is one of the best I’ve seen.

Use Twitter to:

Broadcast your status, opinions, jokes, and news.
Connect with friends, family, celebrities, authors, and politicians.
Follow live updates of current events and trends.

The power of Twitter is derived from its simplicity. It is a bare bones framework where you choose how to extract value. It is a tool to send text from point A to point B and that is as complicated as it gets. Unlike a blog or website, you don’t need to know code or worry about design. There is no initial cost (monetary or time), you just pick up and go.

The value is built on top of this foundation. Like all services, the value comes from the information that you extract. This information and value comes from the three points above.

I constantly get asked about Twitter. It is hard to give a concrete answer because it can be molded however you want. I doubt my friend would be interested in following nerdy figures like John Gruber (from Daring Fireball) or Bre Pettis (his blog). However, they might want regular new updates from the New York Times sent to their phone.

Everyone should take the time to experiment with Twitter Search. It will blow your mind if you have never looked at the current trends or followed a search term. Twitter Search taps into the power created by thousands of individuals posting updates. It is a real time feed of news, thoughts, opinions, and emotion. Sometimes it is easier to get product reviews from Twitter Search then stumbling around the web.

Twitter is a great way to stay connected with friends and family, if you can persuade them to join. It has become one of the main ways that my brothers and I have stayed connected since we left for college. My Mom is slowly working on getting her own account, the current plan is to sign up by spring break.

One of Twitter’s co-founders, Evan Williams, gave a talk at this year’s TED conference. What better way to grasp Twitter than to hear it from the horses mouth.

You can follow me on Twitter and even get A Bit Eclectic updates.

The key to getting on the Favrd leaderboard: drink a beverage and make the photo your avatar.

Twistori is doing something special today for Apple’s WWDC Keynote. They have launched a special page that replaces the original words (love, wish, hate, etc.) with WWDC related words like wwdc, apple, iphone, steve, and keynote.

Twistori has one of the best implementations of the Twitter API and it is neat to see them extend it for events like this.

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.

The Twitter following is growing larger everyday.  It seems like more and more people that I know, both in person and through the internet, are joining.  One of the biggest hurdles is keeping these people on long enough so they see the benefit.  Here are some tips to make your trip with Twitter as enjoyable as possible.

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.