Comments on: What Are You Doing?

By: Frank Carrasco

Frank Carrasco — Mon, 06 Oct 2008 15:20:08 +0000

Started using Twitter and surprised by how much traffic I have received to my sites because of active web surfers.

By: Wealth Seeker

Wealth Seeker — Sat, 27 Sep 2008 13:13:29 +0000

Thanks for the information.

I have also signed up with Twitter a few days ago.Haven't used that much.

After reading I will definitely use t more often!!

By: Wayne Porter

Wayne Porter — Fri, 07 Mar 2008 05:34:50 +0000

Sam is correct IMHO. Either you see it, or you must clear your vision.

By: Jeremy Palmer

Jeremy Palmer — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 22:40:57 +0000

I signed up with Twitter a while back, but never updated it or followed anybody. A few weeks back I started posting a few updates and subscribing to others feeds and quickly became addicted.

The video you posted is the best one I've seen explaining Twitter. I had the hardest time trying to explain it to friends and family – now I just send the link.

By: Sam Harrelson

Sam Harrelson — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:12:20 +0000

@Trust To quote the Gipper, "There you go again…" Haha, we're going to have to agree just to disagree since we've been going back and forth about Twitter's virtues pretty much since 2006. We've had some good arguments, though! But seriously, there are people in this industry that contact me through direct tweets and vice versa and who I wouldn't be in contact with otherwise. Sure, there's a high noise-to-signal ratio, but that's true of any web medium. Again, it's highly subjective.

@45n5 Good point on the social networking stuff and I suppose YouTube, Facebook, etc could be preferred if those are more your tastes. However, the 140 character constraint of Twitter often cuts through the BS and makes people get to the point. For me, that constraint is the major plus factor for Twitter.

By: 45n5

45n5 — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 14:05:27 +0000

"Over 1,000 people follow me and I follow close to 1,000 people. Because of that volume, Twitter has stopped being yet another social network for me and is rapidly becoming my micro-neural net for things that are happening across the web."

the same could be said for youtube, facebook, or any social network, ie the more people connected to you in the social network the better your brand and communication.

(I also think youtube trumps twitter for "branding")

it doesn't matter what social tool you use, be it twitter or something else, communication is important, of course, no news!

aside: love the "micro-neural net" reference, i sometimes think of my blogs as a brain plugin or extension.

By: Jonathan (Trust)

Jonathan (Trust) — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 13:50:42 +0000

"I took some heat for calling Twitter “the next big thing” on the social media panel at Affiliate Summit."

Rightfully so. Replacing email, the ultimate branding tool etc. is reaching. It's alright to really like a product but good to keep it in perspective. I think the video highlights a few of the problems people have with it. Namely the limititions of 140 characters and people not really caring about every little thing someone does:

In the video -

Wow another homerun

mmm coffee

I missed my bus

I'm off to sleep

And then the big thing which we've talked about, grouping. I want that in Twitter itself. They really need to tackle that next if they want to move forward. Take it for what it is but keep it in perspective. Oh and click my url and add me

By: Sam Harrelson

Sam Harrelson — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:58:50 +0000

Thanks for the comment, Cathy.

SXSW is definitely going to be a back breaker on their servers, so hopefully we won't have to experience any of the now famous Twitter downtime.

I honestly don't remember what the web was like before Twitter. Sad, but true.

By: Cathy Stucker

Cathy Stucker — Thu, 06 Mar 2008 12:50:46 +0000

Sam, you are absolutely right about the value of Twitter. I am still a fairly new Twitter user (Twit? ;o) ), and I have to admit that I resisted it for a long time. Twitter seemed like nothing more than a giant time suck, and I did not need that.

What was I thinking? Twitter is an amazing way to keep on top of what is happening in my world. It has helped me meet new friends and business contacts, and get to know my existing community better.

I am quick to follow new people, but also quick to dump those who do not provide value (e.g., just spamming their latest links with no other participation).

I just wonder what is going to happen to Twitter when SXSW hits with full force. Should be interesting.