Twitter’s Impact on a Life

Sure, Twitter’s a waste of time, but it’s my time and I’ll waste it if I want. But Wil Wheaton doesn’t think Twitter’s a waste of time. (I’ve blogged here before about Wil Wheaton .)

I’ve always believed that when you work hard and are kind to people, wonderful things will happen, and some of those wonderful things will happen to you. (It was awesome to hear something similar from Conan O’Brien recently; that made me feel like I’ve been on the right track.) I’ve always hoped that the work would just speak for itself, but in all aspects of the entertainment industry, just being good at what you do or just being good to work with aren’t enough. Just being an entertaining author or filmmaker or performer isn’t enough; you need to get your work in front of an audience, especially if you hope to make a living from your art. There is a whole lot of reality at the root of the old cliché about who you know and networking. I didn’t expect it, and it’s not even my primary reason for using it, but Twitter has ended up filling that gap in my professional life, and the results have been nothing short of astounding.

While Wheaton’s emphasis is on the marketing advantages of Twitter – most of my followers seem to be marketers who are interested in letting me know of their awesome marketing skills – he does manage to touch on the personal benefits. Twitter is just a plain ol’ good way of keeping in touch with a lot of people. That seems to be more of why I’m on Twitter; I find it simply amusing and some of the people I’ve made connections with are quite wonderful. I wouldn’t call that a waste of time at all.

Twitter’s Down

As of right now, Twitter’s down, and down hard. Crashed because of last night’s historic election win by Scott Brown? Could be. If so, that’s something else for the history books: a pivotal election win thanks to the new media and the new media’s inability to handle the crush of news and comments about the result.

That or Twitter’s just plain ol’ down.

Best Places to Launch a Small Business 2009? Oklahoma City!

Ah, here’s the link I was looking for yesterday:

Stable and affordable, Oklahoma City is a haven for entrepreneurial risk takers. It boasts the second lowest foreclosure rate among large U.S. metro areas, along with the second lowest median rent. Through the Great Recession this former Dust Bowl capital has been spared many hardships, with a diverse local economy spread across medical research, energy, education and government.

Oklahoma City also benefits from a high concentration of deep-pocketed local investors, many of them veterans of the oil and gas industry, who are willing to take a gamble on companies that might spend 10 years bringing a new product to fruition. And the city itself has been a powerful friend to life-science startups, funding the 1996 construction of the Presbyterian Health Foundation Research Park. The complex — 700,000 square feet of space in seven buildings on a 27-acre site — has attracted an influx of innovative biomedical firms.

So come on, start your business here! But first, find a good CPA to consult with. Like I said yesterday, I happen to know a pretty good firm. Ask me.

(A side note: I first saw this story on print on Monday and blogged about it yesterday, a post which found it’s way to my Twitter feed. I looked for a link online to the story but it wasn’t available until yesterday afternoon and only then did I hear about it on Twitter. Now I’m blogging about it again and this post, too, will find its way to Twitter. Though it started out in old media, and I see this morning the old media outlets are just now picking up the story, it’s old news now thanks to the new media.)

The 12 Most Annoying Types of Facebookers

Hey, you talkin’ ’bout me?

Facebook, for better or worse, is like being at a big party with all your friends, family, acquaintances and co-workers.

There are lots of fun, interesting people you’re happy to talk to when they stroll up. Then there are the other people, the ones who make you cringe when you see them coming. This article is about those people.

What follows is the lazy writer’s standard of dreaming up an arbitrary list of the writer’s peeves or praises, and working its way to the article’s required word-length, signifying nothing.

Facebook – heck, Blogger, Twitter, any of these marvels of technology that allow for easy self-expression – is by its very nature a self-pleasing endeavor. You do it because that’s what you want to do. Invite friends? Up to you. Annoyed by the that Facebooker/Blogger/Twitterer? Exercise your freedom and choose not to follow or friend ‘em. Ain’t no big thang. But don’t complain.

You’re Spending Twice as Much Time on Facebook

Is social media a fad? Probably so. But for now, social media is enjoying explosive growth:

Spending more time on social networks and blogs? You’re not alone, with the latest figures showing the number of minutes spent on social networking sites in the United States has almost doubled over the past year.

Nielsen Online, which measures Web traffic, said the number of minutes on social networks in the United States rose 83 percent in April from the same month a year ago, but found users were quick to move on and sites could quickly fall from favor.

Nielsen Online spokesman Jon Gibs said a major trend had been the continuing popularity of Facebook, which has more than 200 million active members and has become so mainstream it now hosts Pope Benedict and a list of world leaders.

Ha! The Pope!

Surprisingly, Facebook exceeds MySpace in popularity; I thought it’d be the other way around but then what do I know? I’m not on either. This site and Twitter is about all I have time for.

It’s an interesting time we live in. We have communication tools available to us that no one else in human history quite had. And though many see social media as a huge time waster, it’s good to see people are using it to stay connected. Nothing beats face-to-face interaction and socialization – we are social animals, after all – but when that’s not available, any of the various social media seems to work just fine.

>You’re Spending Twice as Much Time on Facebook

>Is social media a fad? Probably so. But for now, social media is enjoying explosive growth:

Spending more time on social networks and blogs? You’re not alone, with the latest figures showing the number of minutes spent on social networking sites in the United States has almost doubled over the past year.

Nielsen Online, which measures Web traffic, said the number of minutes on social networks in the United States rose 83 percent in April from the same month a year ago, but found users were quick to move on and sites could quickly fall from favor.

Nielsen Online spokesman Jon Gibs said a major trend had been the continuing popularity of Facebook, which has more than 200 million active members and has become so mainstream it now hosts Pope Benedict and a list of world leaders.

Ha! The Pope!

Surprisingly, Facebook exceeds MySpace in popularity; I thought it’d be the other way around but then what do I know? I’m not on either. This site and Twitter is about all I have time for.

It’s an interesting time we live in. We have communication tools available to us that no one else in human history quite had. And though many see social media as a huge time waster, it’s good to see people are using it to stay connected. Nothing beats face-to-face interaction and socialization – we are social animals, after all – but when that’s not available, any of the various social media seems to work just fine.

Twittering and Conservatism

Mary Katherin Hamm observes that Twittering, and other forms of social media, is conservative behavior:

In a way it’s a quintessentially conservative formula: The extent to which you take personal responsibility for your actions dictates the risks and benefits of your online existence.

A lot of people who overshare their lives online learn the painful lesson that their actions have consequences. Better to share less, or just plain behave, than have the world learn all about your strange peccadilloes. Social media, though still in its early stages, may be the very mechanism that leads us to a more civil society.

>Twittering and Conservatism

>Mary Katherin Hamm observes that Twittering, and other forms of social media, is conservative behavior:

In a way it’s a quintessentially conservative formula: The extent to which you take personal responsibility for your actions dictates the risks and benefits of your online existence.

A lot of people who overshare their lives online learn the painful lesson that their actions have consequences. Better to share less, or just plain behave, than have the world learn all about your strange peccadilloes. Social media, though still in its early stages, may be the very mechanism that leads us to a more civil society.

Making Sense of Twitter

Don’t get Twitter? A lot of folks don’t. But Lileks gets to the heart of what makes Twitter appealing about as good as I know how:

It’s a false sense of company, I know – when I called the Twitter feed a portable box of imaginary friends, I meant it. But not entirely. If I met any of those folks for the first time, I’d know something. Same with this site: We cracked 10,000 comments yesterday, folks – and it’s not just the wit and civility I appreciate, it’s the company you provide.

Now, I’m not alone. Wife and child and dog, of course, and now that I’m at the paper involved in a project, I have actual co-workers in a sense I haven’t had since I started at the paper . But nowadays we get to live our lives in the micro and the macro sense; you walk out of the building to feed the meter, and sneak a look at the Twitter feed, and all these voices burst out like a dozen Jack-in-the-Box heads. I can’t imagine living without it because I can remember living without it. The Tower of Babel turns out to be an interesting place after all.

Like all things on the Internet, Twitter risks the doom of one day fading away. But not today.

(Lileks’ link goes to his Bleat home-page and that changes from day to day. I’ll post a link to the relevant archived page later. Make sense? Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.)

(Update: Lileks’ link updated, as promised.)

>Making Sense of Twitter

>Don’t get Twitter? A lot of folks don’t. But Lileks gets to the heart of what makes Twitter appealing about as good as I know how:

It’s a false sense of company, I know – when I called the Twitter feed a portable box of imaginary friends, I meant it. But not entirely. If I met any of those folks for the first time, I’d know something. Same with this site: We cracked 10,000 comments yesterday, folks – and it’s not just the wit and civility I appreciate, it’s the company you provide.

Now, I’m not alone. Wife and child and dog, of course, and now that I’m at the paper involved in a project, I have actual co-workers in a sense I haven’t had since I started at the paper . But nowadays we get to live our lives in the micro and the macro sense; you walk out of the building to feed the meter, and sneak a look at the Twitter feed, and all these voices burst out like a dozen Jack-in-the-Box heads. I can’t imagine living without it because I can remember living without it. The Tower of Babel turns out to be an interesting place after all.

Like all things on the Internet, Twitter risks the doom of one day fading away. But not today.

(Lileks’ link goes to his Bleat home-page and that changes from day to day. I’ll post a link to the relevant archived page later. Make sense? Don’t worry. I’ll take care of it.)

(Update: Lileks’ link updated, as promised.)

Trent Reznor is Just a Big Nerd

Trent Reznor.

Scary industrial rocker.

Twitterer.

Star Trek nerd.

>Trent Reznor is Just a Big Nerd

>Trent Reznor.

Scary industrial rocker.

Twitterer.

Star Trek nerd.

>Singing Lips’ Praise Despite Opposition From Oklahoma House

>I heard about this first on Twitter:

Oklahoma House members, upset by what some said were inappropriate attire and a filthy mouth, rejected a tune by The Flaming Lips as the state’s official rock song only to be trumped by the governor.

The House rejected a resolution Thursday to name “Do You Realize??” — which won by more than a 2-1 margin in an online contest as the state’s official rock song — because one of the band members wore a T-shirt bearing a symbol associated with the Communist Party while at the state Capitol on March 2 when the resolution was passed by the Senate.

Soon after Thursday’s vote, Gov. Brad Henry said he would issue an executive order that would declare the song as the state’s official rock song.

Good for Governor Henry. Sure, the hammer and sickle t-shirt is in bad taste but most rockers dress in bad taste. At least it wasn’t a Che t-shirt.

I doubt the group endorses communism; they showed up at the Capitol, for goodness’ sake, and though they dropped the F-bomb at the dedication of the street named after them, they showed up at the dedication to the street named after them. So they seem pretty okay to me.

The song? Here are the lyrics:

Do You Realize – that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize – we’re floating in space -
Do You Realize – that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize – that everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes – let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize – Oh – Oh – Oh
Do You Realize – that everyone you know
Someday will die -

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes – let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize – that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize

No, it’s not Inna Godda Da Vida but it’s not bad. Quite pleasant, actually. And you’ve heard snippets of it on a car commercial on television so it’s already entered the mainstream through other venues besides radio airplay.

Not an earth shattering occurrence down at the Capitol but a bone-headed move to be sure.

Singing Lips’ Praise Despite Opposition From Oklahoma House

I heard about this first on Twitter:

Oklahoma House members, upset by what some said were inappropriate attire and a filthy mouth, rejected a tune by The Flaming Lips as the state’s official rock song only to be trumped by the governor.

The House rejected a resolution Thursday to name “Do You Realize??” — which won by more than a 2-1 margin in an online contest as the state’s official rock song — because one of the band members wore a T-shirt bearing a symbol associated with the Communist Party while at the state Capitol on March 2 when the resolution was passed by the Senate.

Soon after Thursday’s vote, Gov. Brad Henry said he would issue an executive order that would declare the song as the state’s official rock song.

Good for Governor Henry. Sure, the hammer and sickle t-shirt is in bad taste but most rockers dress in bad taste. At least it wasn’t a Che t-shirt.

I doubt the group endorses communism; they showed up at the Capitol, for goodness’ sake, and though they dropped the F-bomb at the dedication of the street named after them, they showed up at the dedication to the street named after them. So they seem pretty okay to me.

The song? Here are the lyrics:

Do You Realize – that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize – we’re floating in space -
Do You Realize – that happiness makes you cry
Do You Realize – that everyone you know someday will die

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes – let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize – Oh – Oh – Oh
Do You Realize – that everyone you know
Someday will die -

And instead of saying all of your goodbyes – let them know
You realize that life goes fast
It’s hard to make the good things last
You realize the sun doesn’t go down
It’s just an illusion caused by the world spinning round

Do You Realize – that you have the most beautiful face
Do You Realize

No, it’s not Inna Godda Da Vida but it’s not bad. Quite pleasant, actually. And you’ve heard snippets of it on a car commercial on television so it’s already entered the mainstream through other venues besides radio airplay.

Not an earth shattering occurrence down at the Capitol but a bone-headed move to be sure.

>Althouse: Tweeted out.

>Blogger Ann Althouse gives up on Twitter:

To blog is to create a place for people to visit. I love that feeling. I have many visitors. Come into this room that is my new post and say what you like. Be interesting. Hang out with us!

On Twitter, there’s just an endless trickle of trivia and that vague feeling of obligation to dribble into the trickle from time to time. But what is it to me? It’s not a place where I am. It’s that thing over there.

I want to be here.

Um, okay.

Althouse’s commenters then chime in about how they don’t like Twitter and how superior blogging is to Twitter and on and on. Very few defend Twitter. Fewer still recognize themselves for what they sound like: they very same critics of blogging when it became popular.

Twitter’s not for everyone. Neither is blogging. Either you do the these things because you like them or you don’t. For now, I’m enjoying myself on Twitter; when it stops being fun, I’ll stop.

Althouse: Tweeted out.

Blogger Ann Althouse gives up on Twitter:

To blog is to create a place for people to visit. I love that feeling. I have many visitors. Come into this room that is my new post and say what you like. Be interesting. Hang out with us!

On Twitter, there’s just an endless trickle of trivia and that vague feeling of obligation to dribble into the trickle from time to time. But what is it to me? It’s not a place where I am. It’s that thing over there.

I want to be here.

Um, okay.

Althouse’s commenters then chime in about how they don’t like Twitter and how superior blogging is to Twitter and on and on. Very few defend Twitter. Fewer still recognize themselves for what they sound like: they very same critics of blogging when it became popular.

Twitter’s not for everyone. Neither is blogging. Either you do the these things because you like them or you don’t. For now, I’m enjoying myself on Twitter; when it stops being fun, I’ll stop.

>Tweets and Posts

>If you’re following me on Twitter – and, really, if you aren’t, you should be – you may have noticed these blog posts showing up over there as tweets. That’s because I’ve directed the RSS feed over to Twitterfeed and through some kind of magic over there, these posts will now show up as tweets. Yeah, I know, so what? But it helps me keep my pledge about not posting something here that I tweeted about over there and vice-versa. It doesn’t count as me repeating myself if I post over here first, right?

And here’s the mind-bending thing about all of it: when I post something here, it’ll be tweeted over there, to eventually show up again over here in the right gadget on the right that posts my tweets. Good thing I didn’t do it the other way around – where tweets become posts which become tweets which becomes – well, you get the idea. I’d be stuck in some kind of infinite loop of posting.

Anyway, I just wanted to point that out so you know that I know what’s going on. Oh, and to say I’m still enjoying myself immensely on Twitter.

Tweets and Posts

If you’re following me on Twitter – and, really, if you aren’t, you should be – you may have noticed these blog posts showing up over there as tweets. That’s because I’ve directed the RSS feed over to Twitterfeed and through some kind of magic over there, these posts will now show up as tweets. Yeah, I know, so what? But it helps me keep my pledge about not posting something here that I tweeted about over there and vice-versa. It doesn’t count as me repeating myself if I post over here first, right?

And here’s the mind-bending thing about all of it: when I post something here, it’ll be tweeted over there, to eventually show up again over here in the right gadget on the right that posts my tweets. Good thing I didn’t do it the other way around – where tweets become posts which become tweets which becomes – well, you get the idea. I’d be stuck in some kind of infinite loop of posting.

Anyway, I just wanted to point that out so you know that I know what’s going on. Oh, and to say I’m still enjoying myself immensely on Twitter.

>More Twittering

>Time for an update on my tweeting on Twitter. If you’ve been following me in the sidebar, you can tell I’ve been enjoying myself and enjoying the people I’ve met. I like the discipline of 140 characters and the process of learning a new technology and it’s just plain fun which oughtta be enough and it is.

Is it a fad? Most likely. These things come and go and right now it seems to be hugely popular. Articles about it are hitting the mainstream and maybe that’s a bellwether of its future, and inevitable, decline. But so what? There’ll be a next new thing and we can consider whether we want to participate in that.

Which is the point, I guess: freedom. Do what you want with it. The limitations are what you put on it. If it’s not fun, quit doing it. If it is, well, as long as it doesn’t keep you from your real-life relationships and obligations, what’s the harm?

I’ll stick with it for now. And I’ll try to keep things interesting enough that you’ll want to follow along. I’ll also try not to repeat myself; I intend my tweets to be about different things than my blog posts. How’s the for value? But there’s the chance I might end up repeating myself and if I do, so what? This, like rock ‘n roll, is an entirely disposable medium, not meant to last.

More Twittering

Time for an update on my tweeting on Twitter. If you’ve been following me in the sidebar, you can tell I’ve been enjoying myself and enjoying the people I’ve met. I like the discipline of 140 characters and the process of learning a new technology and it’s just plain fun which oughtta be enough and it is.

Is it a fad? Most likely. These things come and go and right now it seems to be hugely popular. Articles about it are hitting the mainstream and maybe that’s a bellwether of its future, and inevitable, decline. But so what? There’ll be a next new thing and we can consider whether we want to participate in that.

Which is the point, I guess: freedom. Do what you want with it. The limitations are what you put on it. If it’s not fun, quit doing it. If it is, well, as long as it doesn’t keep you from your real-life relationships and obligations, what’s the harm?

I’ll stick with it for now. And I’ll try to keep things interesting enough that you’ll want to follow along. I’ll also try not to repeat myself; I intend my tweets to be about different things than my blog posts. How’s the for value? But there’s the chance I might end up repeating myself and if I do, so what? This, like rock ‘n roll, is an entirely disposable medium, not meant to last.

Twitter Update

If you’ve been following my Tweets – and you can, with the widget there on the right hand side of this blog – you’ll see I’ve tried gamely to keep up. Not quite what I want it to be just yet – I’d like it to be more of a mini version of this blog with no repeat posts but so far it seems to be work and tax related. Maybe that’s because I keep trying to answer the question that Twitter asks me: What are you doing? Working, mostly, when I’m able to access it.

I’m having a good time with it, though, and I like the people I’m following and I hope I’m giving good value for those who are following me. Let’s give it another week and see where we stand with it.

>Twitter Update

>If you’ve been following my Tweets – and you can, with the widget there on the right hand side of this blog – you’ll see I’ve tried gamely to keep up. Not quite what I want it to be just yet – I’d like it to be more of a mini version of this blog with no repeat posts but so far it seems to be work and tax related. Maybe that’s because I keep trying to answer the question that Twitter asks me: What are you doing? Working, mostly, when I’m able to access it.

I’m having a good time with it, though, and I like the people I’m following and I hope I’m giving good value for those who are following me. Let’s give it another week and see where we stand with it.

Oklahoma City Professionals Twittering on Success

Another article on why you should be twittering, or otherwise using technology to network not only personally but professionally:

At roughly the same time Oklahoma City chef Ryan Parrott was home sick in bed, Saxum PR representative Lindsay Laird was wrapping up a call to a client extolling the virtues of social media, commercial photographer and brewery owner J.D. Merryweather was making plans for his new business venture, and business consultant Shelley Cadamy was asking for help lining up a glass shop to fix her vandalized windshield.

Four separate people moving in totally different circles. But all four knew what the others were doing and, to some degree, were a part of it, thanks to the latest social networking fad.

Twitter.com kept these four in touch, but it’s just one of many sites – Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and Pulse – that keep people connected around the globe and down the street.

If you’ve been following my tweets on the sidebar, you’ve seen I’ve been enjoying myself the last couple of days. I’ll reserve my opinion about the matter until I’ve spent some more time with it but so far it’s been fun and that’s no bad thing.

>Oklahoma City Professionals Twittering on Success

>Another article on why you should be twittering, or otherwise using technology to network not only personally but professionally:

At roughly the same time Oklahoma City chef Ryan Parrott was home sick in bed, Saxum PR representative Lindsay Laird was wrapping up a call to a client extolling the virtues of social media, commercial photographer and brewery owner J.D. Merryweather was making plans for his new business venture, and business consultant Shelley Cadamy was asking for help lining up a glass shop to fix her vandalized windshield.

Four separate people moving in totally different circles. But all four knew what the others were doing and, to some degree, were a part of it, thanks to the latest social networking fad.

Twitter.com kept these four in touch, but it’s just one of many sites – Facebook, LinkedIn, Plaxo and Pulse – that keep people connected around the globe and down the street.

If you’ve been following my tweets on the sidebar, you’ve seen I’ve been enjoying myself the last couple of days. I’ll reserve my opinion about the matter until I’ve spent some more time with it but so far it’s been fun and that’s no bad thing.