Twitter, what's it all about

Heres another superb article from Wolf-e-Boy about the amazing and somehat dumbfounding community of Twitter. For those of you already in the "know" about Twitter, why not add Shorehambysea.com to your Twitter list - here the link: http://www.twitter.com/shorehambysea for all the latest news, chatter and town fun. Have fun reading this superb article.

I was introduced to the world of Twitter by my mate Tim, who is known to his Twitter friends as Trekkygeek, so I thought I’d check it out and see for myself. I wasn’t sure what to make of it really, but as I’m currently unemployed and have been for a while, there’s been plenty of time to indulge the internet, upload my blogs, and make friends (or followers I should say) in the Twitterverse. 

There seem to be a lot of column inches recently devoted to the question of what exactly the ‘end game’ of Twitter is, whether it has a business model, or plain speaking, ‘how is this thing going to make money?’ Clearly it’s had a lot of help raising its profile through some of the celebrities using it, Stephen Fry being one of the most prominent in the UK at least. But there are plenty of Twitterers that seem somewhat irked by this new found fame in what they appear to have hoped was there exclusive ‘Geekdom’, a kind of Twitter snobbery, eg:- ‘Chris Moyles is on here now, NOOOOO!’.

I have to say, a great deal of my activity on the cyber highways is geared to creating awareness of  my writing, my book, and the website that I post it all on, after all, you can’t sell a secret. And although some of the less well known celebrities have Twittered that they don’t do it for self promotion, they more often than not have a link to their own website, My space page,  Facebook account, or blog, which is their vehicle specifically set up to do just that. And I see nothing wrong with any of that, it’s a fine idea, as long as you can make yourself interesting enough to be followed in the first place. For it must be said, there is an awful lot of completely inane drivel that you can come across, which is probably inevitable given the huge unrestricted following Twitter is gathering.

When first arriving at this new medium, it came across as being very much the domain of the Geek world, much emphasis on the technology required to enhance the whole experience, with such applications as Tweet deck, Twitterfon, I Phones, and plenty more, none of which I have I’m afraid. All of my Twittering happens through the good old PC while I dabble with the other weapons in my awareness creating arsenal (my space, facebook, wordpress,www.wolf-e-boy.com

Things have progressed rapidly in a very short period of time, the latest estimate I saw was that Twitter had increased its following by 1000% this year alone, and the followers cover just about every conceivable field of interest. This, I think, is where it all starts to get more interesting, the beast is evolving so quickly that no one can be quite sure what its limits are going to be. From a personal point of view, I look for like minded users, interesting updates, useful links to stuff I’m into, reviews, latest news, travel tips, drinking, eating, gigs, and I’m sure loads more I haven’t mentioned.

There seem to be unwritten rules that you’re supposed to find out for yourself too, such as accreditation for a useful Tweet, which I think is ‘Re Tweeting’, not just usurping the idea and Tweeting it on as your own, and not being too overt in any self promotion, which I probably have been guilty of on occasion. Doubtless there are many other ‘secret handshake’ rules to which I am not yet privy, but perhaps as time moves on I’ll become aware of them and be spared future embarrassment.

Already there are stories pre empting the demise of Twitter as just another passing fad, soon to be consigned to the ever expanding ‘cyber graveyard’, citing the dotcom bubble and burst as the first in what they expect to become the web version of a war cemetery. Time alone will be the judge of that, but I think the Twitter world has a fair way to go yet before it even realises its full potential, especially when you think about how many people now own mobile phones and how easy it is to use.

If anyone reading this is a Twitterer, (and consider it worth reading by anyone else), would you mind Tweeting the link to this blog please, as I don’t have many followers, I enjoy writing, but it’s far more enjoyable if you know it your effort wasn’t for nought. Likewise, any links are always appreciated, and would be happily reciprocated.