Never thought about how annoying @ replies might be. I'm guilty of that sin, I think.
Felicia
· 10 months ago
LOL Joe, not annoying at all unless you don't know you can turn them off :) I went months without knowing about it!
Roxanne
· 10 months ago
Yeah, thanks for that tip! I had no idea. Now I know what to tell my friend who complains that all my @replies get sent to her phone.... ;)
Rational Jenn
· 10 months ago
Thank you for writing this! I'm new to Twitter and have been a bit frustrated with what I thought were lack of resources/help.
Now I understand that there ARE many resources--only they don't originate with Twitter necessarily.
Ahh.....the fog dissipates....Thank you muchly!
Josh
· 10 months ago
Count me as one of your new followers (yesterday, in fact). Great guide, as someone who used to be down the Twitter rabbit hole, divorced it and returned last week. It can be pretty bewildering at first, but once you find your friends, it's horribly addictive. It's like a freaking Facebook I.V., but in a good way.
PS: I'm impressed... Felicia Day uses Gotham on her site ... well done! (Yeah, it's my first time here; get off my case about it!)
Josh
· 10 months ago
Ooh, and you use Giza, too! ... a geek, AND good taste in typography?
Elizabeth
· 10 months ago
i've just started but already addicted - been trying to recruit friends but hard to describe until they jump in and try it. thx for all the tips and links (twips and twinks?)
-glutenfreeGLEE
Robert B
· 10 months ago
Neat tools! thank you!
I'm amused that you are #30 in numbers of followers. Congrats to your famous on the internetness. :P
TerminalDigit
· 10 months ago
I'm not new to Twitter, but here's the thing I find most frustrating about it in terms of finding people to follow. I was really into the idea that you could use Twitter to basically have a conversation with strangers (hopefully nice) near you, but it seems significantly easier to find "interesting top Twitterers" by location than it is to find more interesting but less popular people.
Now, no offense to the "top Twitterers," but they all say exactly the same stuff 90% of the time. If you follow 2 or 3 of them, you're basically covered regarding tech news/social media/marketing/SEO/etc. Honestly, I don't care to hear much about this stuff because even though I'm very tech-oriented, but the tech news/social media field has turned into a sad echo chamber/rumor mill for the most part.
Back on topic: There are some really cool people in the long tail though, and unfortunately, you have to get lucky to find them on Twitter. Example: @ben_yes is about the cutest thing I've ever seen, but you won't find her on a directory anywhere, so you've got to get lucky with a Twitter search term filtered by location. If you've ever tried this, you'll know that there's essentially so much noise generated by the Top Twitterers in your area that you're going to have to dig really deep at exactly the right time to find a hidden gem.
What I'd like to see is a way to search Twitter for recent local Tweets by people with fewer than X followers, or people who *don't* follow Scoble, you know? Not to be anti-elitist, but repetition is boring. That's why I'm ending this comment now. ;)
P.S. Love The Guild even though I've never played WoW. :)
Felicia
· 10 months ago
Good points, I don't know what service you can use to find recent Twitters updated by area, maybe advanced search on search.twitter.com?
TerminalDigit
· 10 months ago
Yup that's what I've been doing with a very low hit rate. It's not very effective because the top twitterers usually update so much more often than the kind of people I'm looking for. That's the method I was referring to (maybe not very clearly) towards the end of paragraph 3. :)
David_N_Wilson
· 10 months ago
You can find nearby tweets and twitterers by using this link:
It helps find the latest tweets near your location and the most recent people to tweet from there. Hope that helps.
TerminalDigit
· 10 months ago
Thanks David. Cool site, but it seems to be just a prettified version of the functionality that's already available through Twitter's advanced search.
The issue seems to be that these hidden gems may not actually update that often, so perhaps searching for the most recent tweets isn't the best approach. If you think about it in terms of probability, you're much more likely to get Top Twitterers that way because they tend to update multiple times per hour, whereas many hidden gems only update a few times a week. Hence my language about "getting lucky." Unless you search at exactly the right time, your hidden local gem will get buried in the search results by a bunch of other tweets.
That's why I'd like to see an exclusion feature based on degrees of separation. Maybe this is sort of divisive in a philosophical sense, but I think if I could see only tweets from people who are separated from a short list of Top Twitterers (a user-specified list) by more than 1 degree of separation, these hidden gems would bubble up to the surface? Of course, there's a false negative rate here too, but it'd be interesting to try at least.
maryc
· 10 months ago
these are GREAT tips. And you are so right about not taking the "unfollow" personally. I had to unfollow stephen fry just because, although he is hilarious, he is fertile with his twitters. The sheer amount of his twittering overwhelmed me.
Jon
· 10 months ago
another great way along with the twitter facebook app to update your status. is http://ping.fm/ which allows you to go there to update pretty much any major social site out there...a lot easier then going to 5+ sites. (highly recommend it it lets you update your sites every way possible via txt, email, instant message service)
also another application that works with ping.fm along with twitter (mainly meant for twitter only) is twhirl which can be found here http://twhirl.org/
anyway hope this helps a little too.
David Spencer
· 10 months ago
Growing a twitter network slowly, organically, is a great way to come up to speed on the service. Pay attention to who people are @replying to or re-tweeting, and follow them.
There's so little cost to following/unfollowing people on twitter, it really does pay to experiment.
Your post reminded me of one I wrote recently -- categorizing seven types of people to follow on twitter. Some, you cover here, but others I picked up through trial and error (someone who inspires you, someone who makes you laugh)...
Brian S
· 10 months ago
It's funny... I read the message next to your link to this entry and had this mental image of a person saying, "Ok, I'm here. Now what?" :-)
Seriously, though, that is a decent collection of "people finders" related to Twitter, some I've heard of and some I haven't. It might be interesting to check out some of them.
TObe
· 10 months ago
Thank you!
Meg B
· 10 months ago
Yay, thank you for all of this! I'm pretty new to twitter too and it is so nice to have someone list and explain all these resources.
Ok, this is off topic and a bit random, but I've gotten so many great book recs from your goodreads account so I have to go ahead and return the favor by recommending a book to you! It is called "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore-- technically YA fantasy but really really well-written with great characters, I think you would enjoy it if you haven't read it already! :)
I also wanted to thank you for doing that live chat with other Guildies the other day, it was super fun to watch! Is there any chance that you somehow recorded that and could post it? I heard all the audio but my computer freaked out and the video froze for part of it.
Thanks again for all the twitter tips and for being just generally awesome!
worldofhiglet
· 10 months ago
Good hostess - so...where's the muffins and pizza? :)
Seriously, this is really useful, and a great idea to post it. It was down to you and @Tabz (a great person to follow!) I started using Twitter in the first place and it seemed a bit pointless to me at first. Until Tabz explained that the value came when you started to interact, add people and get involved.
I'm sure your new followers will be up to speed in no time!
Cari
· 10 months ago
You gain 3000 Awesome Points for this. Most people don't care enough about their followers, I think, to post a whole blog devoted to helping them out! This is incredibly nice. Thanks a bunch!
Daynah
· 10 months ago
Thanks Felicia! This was very helpful as usual. :)
CarlosPC
· 10 months ago
GREAT post. Thank you for all the ideas :)
SBGrad
· 10 months ago
This post and the one for n00bs the other day were very helpful. When is your book on Twitter coming out? You have the tech skills, cred and popularity to do right by the subject
Vicki
· 10 months ago
Very nicely done Felicia. Thank you for this.
> But the main way I find people is through other people I follow.
I've been using Twitter since Sept 2007 (joined in July but didn't really start using till Sept.) Finding through others was the way I started building my Twitter network.
I first followed @rands (because I was reading his weblog at the time and he mentioned Twitter). Then I looked at the people he was following - it's great that Twitter shows who follows and who is followed by each non-private person! Just click a few, open some tabs in your browser, read a page or two of tweets. Do you like what this person talks about? If so, add them. You can change your mind later.
One thing Felicia didn;t mention - not so much about finding people as following - is you need to get a Twitter Reader you like! There are many choices of desktop applications, web-based, iPhone or Blackberry, ... but if you don't like the interface you won't have as much fun.
And finally, engage. Twitter is what you make of it. And don't worry if you're not sure at the beginning. The weblogs are full (surprisingly full!) of people who say "I didn't get it at first" or "I thought it was stupid". And then they used it for a while, found some interesting people, had a few conversations... and it clicked.
Finally, if it still doesn't click, maybe it's just not for you. But there are as many ways to use Twitter as there are people using it. Try to stay open to the possibilities and you may be surprised how much fun you have.
The idea is to recommend people to follow (usually done on Friday) and tag the post with #followfriday. This is a good way to see who other people recommend!
Ace
· 10 months ago
Excellent post! Lots of good tips. I'm taking notes.
Have your DM award you 1000 extra XP for helping out your fellow Twitterpeeps.
Hopefully that's enough to level you.
Or get you close.
Russ Rogers
· 10 months ago
A wonderful post! Thank you, Felicia. I'm still confused by Twitter, but a tiny bit less each day. Each social service has it's own set of pleasantries that develop around it. And it's hard to know what is going to label you a total noob. I've found your blog postings particularly helpful in deciphering the social graces of Twitter.
@replies still confuse me. Is it pointless to @reply to someone you are following if they are not also following you? Or do @replies end up in their @folder, if not on their main page?
I've noticed #subject postings, and I've also been confused by them. Vicki did a nice explanation of them, above.
I have a developing theory called, "The Confluence of Awesomeness." It's about how, as follow separate people who are "AWESOME," you become aware of separate social pools of "AWESOMENESS." And those pools tend to mix and blend, seemingly on their own. When you start to notice people, they start to show up in strange places. (Like the number 23 in that movie.) Connections happen.
For example, I became a fan of "Dr. Horrible" and @jonathancoulton separately around the same time last year. I saw this as two separate pools of social awesomeness that swirled around you and @jonathancoulton. And so I was surprised and delighted when the two of you collaborated briefly on "Still Alive." It was an unexpected confluence! Get it?
I've been a fan and friend of Michael J. Nelson since college. He was a host of MST3K and now is the figurehead of RiffTrax.com. He's gaining minor fame this month with a Spurlockian Diet of ONLY BACON. You can sometimes recognize social pools by the bizarre memes they advocate and share. And Mike has crossed paths with @jonathancoulton and Neil Patrick Harris and so many others. If you can find the time, you should see if you could be a Guest Riffer on RiffTrax. I think you would be great and I think it would introduce their fans to "The Guild." You have similar senses of humor.
Anyway, as I've watched, Mike has crossed paths with @jonathancoulton and @paulandstorm and Neil Patrick Harris. @neilhimself (one of my favorite authors) has swirled into and made connections to the @jonathancoulton pool that I thought were random and hilarious.
Noticing the Swirls of Awesomeness connect and intermingle, I have started to make visual metaphors. There a hubs and vortexes of AWESOMENESS, where awesome folks tend to congregate and swirl. There are also spokes, eddies and lines of connection between different pools and hubs. Each of us in both a hub and spoke on the Great Wheel of Social Awesomeness. Like the Internet, the CONFLUENCE is a dynamic web; a network, constantly growing, reshaping and making new connections.
Watching Twitter, noticing who gets followed and who is following whom is like peeking into our Jungian Collective Consciousness! It's a like taking camera shots at the Greater Confluence of Awesomeness. There's a connection between fame, influence and the Greater Wheel of Awesome. But if I understood that connection, I might be famous.
I once told @jawboneradio (as I tried to explain my "Theory on the Confluence of Awesomeness") that I saw him not only as a spoke but also a major HUB on the WHEEL of AWESOME. He took that as a great compliment.
Let me share that compliment with you, @feliciaday. You may see yourself as only a spoke, as only someone who has made random connections on the Awesome Network of between various hubs and vortexes. But I also see you as a major vortex in the Greater Confluence of Awesome. It's a pleasure noticing your fame and influence grow and touch people's lives.
your fan, @rockingjamboree
Felicia
· 10 months ago
Thanks so much for your comments!! I really appreciate being called a "major vortex" hehe :)
And re: @replies, YES it's very important to @reply them. On everyone's Twitter page there is an @replies tab JUST for replies that start with an @reply directed to a user (note, an @reply will NOT show up in the Replies tab if it doesn't START with the @reply handle, something I wasn't clear on at first).
If you're talking to someone who doesn't follow you, you can direct things that you KNOW they will see in their Replies tab by starting with an @reply. That's how I'm able to manage communicating with a lot more people than the ones I follow. :) Hope that helps!
Simon Dyda
· 10 months ago
I pretty much followed a similar strategy to the one you suggest, but without relying on external sites (Twellow, JustTweetIt etc etc) or caring about who's on the top 1000. I only follow a handful of celebrities, specifically ones whose work or tweets are interesting. When I get a follower I look at their profile and if they're not just trying to sell something or are conservative American Obama-bashers (got a few of them yesterday for some reason!) then I start following them back. Later if it turns out that they tweet too much about stuff that doesn't interest me then I unfollow them.
Can I just mention TweetBat? It's an idea I came up with the other week for internet users who like me are visually impaired.
Simon Dyda
· 10 months ago
PS
How do I get an avatar here?
Josh
· 10 months ago
It's called a Gravatar -- most Wordpress blogs use 'em. You can get one at en.gravatar.com (it's tied to the e-mail address you enter in the comment field).
Thraxxus
· 10 months ago
I see you are strong in the ways of the Twitt. It is always nice to see someone give back to a community. I noticed the other day that you wrote The Guild, and you write here, voraciously I might add, do you elsewhere?
Thraxxus.
David M.
· 10 months ago
You are officially: The doyenne of Twitter! Thanks!!
Poesy
· 10 months ago
I was told that Twitter is a good viral marketing tool. As I really enjoy hanging out online, Twitter is turning out to be really fun on a Sunday. Thank you for your tips and I will get out of my newbie mode really soon because of this.. Have a lovely day!
Obolo
· 10 months ago
Awesome post! I was soooooo lost! Thanks
Lindsay
· 10 months ago
Thanks for the great info Felicia! I really enjoy your posts and am working on building my Twitter community.
Sean Fitzroy
· 10 months ago
Great intro, Felica. I'm going to link this to people who constantly ask me what a "twitter" is.
@TerminalDigit There are some iPhone twitter clients that show local tweets, so there are probably some for the desktop too. You can do a search for your zip code or city and then follow those people - and their friends.
One IMPORTANT tip to add: Pick a UNIQUE Twitter user name. Twitter has some powerful search tools to allow you to forward tweets that contain a particular word to your phone. This is a good way to be notified of @replies if you don't always check Twitter (also alerts you to messages with @replies that are not at the beginning of the message as Felica mentioned above).
I picked "Fitzroy" (bad idea) which is my last name, but Fitzroy is *also* a place in London where, apparently, people like to meet for lunch. When I forwarded all tweets that contained "fitzroy" to my phone (it ignores the "@" so @fitzroy and fitzroy are the same thing), I got woken up at 6am with a lot of texts (11am in London). I had to disable the feature and now I'm terribly slow at getting back to @ replies. (you can always forward direct messages to your phone).
If this doesn't make much sense, then just pick something fairly unique and you'll be set. Your first and last name is a good idea.
Happy Tweeting. -Sean
Sean Fitzroy
· 10 months ago
Sorry, that's Felicia, not "Felica".
Parody
· 10 months ago
It's been six months since I set up a Twitter account, and for the most part it sits unused. I do feel the "talking into a vacuum" effect, but I don't post all that often so I don't care that much. There's a lot of "Off to buy creamed corn." out there, which generally isn't worth reading. (Anyone else overflowing with Twitter Oscar spam?) Link spam is popular as well; those are usually a coin flip for me.
It's not all bad; I set the thing up because @feliciaday had virtually stopped blogging for a while, after all. ;) Overall, though, I just don't get it. Ah, well. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to catch up on some forums before bedtime....
Mike Miller
Kristin Koga
· 10 months ago
Hey! Felicia! that was an awesome quick guide to twitter, I'm new to twitter so I am checking out all the cool stuff you talked about. Thanks!
Andy | West Florida Components
· 10 months ago
I have a couple of keywords that I search for that helps me find people with interests in common with me. To find people to follow, I set up a search string on twitter and follow it in my RSS reader. Every couple of days, I'll skim through the reader to check out the people who have twittered with the words in my search string.
Sarah Jones
· 10 months ago
Very awesome stockpile of information you've given. As a new Twitter user I had no idea how to broaden those I follow outside using the simplistic Find People function and scrolling through the endless pages of who my friends follow to see if my interests were sparked. Thanks for taking the time to offer a quick and dirty education.
Kiala
· 10 months ago
Mmmm...MST3K.
I have a laminated membership card. I laminated it myself.
I also have a Tom Servo rolling action figure. You have to provide your own marble for the rolling action.
Sorry, yes, anyway Twitter! Oh, maybe Joel is on Twitter! Looking....
Anthony StClair
· 10 months ago
Part of what I enjoy about following you is just how approachable you are. Yes, you're a celebrity - but you brush your teeth, go the gym, hang out with friends, and just sound like a cool person.
And I think that's a lot of what Twitter boils down to. It is the random thought and the "what I'm up to right now", but there's something about Twitter that's even more humanizing than a blog.
The hobby and geography aspects have been some of my favorite parts of Twitter too. I'm able to keep abreast of different people in organizations in Eugene that I wouldn't have been able to before. There's a greater ease of keeping up with friends, talking with other brewers, writers, bloggers, etc.
John M.
· 10 months ago
Thanks for the tips, I've enjoyed playing around with Twitter. At first I thought I'd never like the tool b/c I don't know anyone that uses it--which is still kind of true, and I've been trying to find local people with NearbyTweets. But I've found a few twitterers I like to follow, including yourself and @FakeDemetri :)
Plus, I like using it to post random thoughts or observations (one of the reasons @FakeDemetri is wonderful to follow), or things I've come across in the news and whatnot, not necessarily the minutiae of what I'm doing throughout the day.
I signed up to Twitter a few days ago, and you were here as a recomended Twitter user that I decided to follow just because of "Actress, Filmmaker, Gamer, Misanthrope". Then, I wanted to know if I've had already see you somewhere on films or TV shows, so I looked on Imdb and Wikipedia (the answer is yes, Ive already seen you). I found something out : you're me older, I mean in a good way! (except that I'm not an actress or a filmmaker). I should stop right now, better for the two of us. Anyways I just wanted to say ... you're amazing, I'm in loooove with The Guild, you can count me as your french fan :)
Seresecros
· 10 months ago
It's great that you've become the go-to person to help people understand Twitter! They should give you some kind of plaque or title as a thanks?
Also, I had no idea about half of this despite being on Twitter for a year or so; it's nice to see there's still mysterious stuff within the Twitterverse that's just waiting for people to find out about. Thanks!
Anneli
· 9 months ago
This is a great post, with some awesome resources! :D I love Twitter, and TwitterFox is freakin' awesome.
On a side note, I don't know if you have @replies on, or if you get too many of them, or for whatever other reason you might not see that I twittered about it, but I thought you'd find it amusing that I'm studying Dr. Horrible in a 300-level college class these days. :p It's a comic book class (ENG310 "Comic books, graphic novels and narration"), and we watched Dr. Horrible as an example of archetypes, and how they can be presented to us in various (with focus on nontraditional) ways. It amuses me, anyway.
Maret
· 9 months ago
Hi Felicia -- I'm a big fan of all of your work. I've just sent an email to the watchtheguild gmail address for press as I have a press-related event opportunity for you. I appreciate you keeping an eye out for it (from Maret Orliss.) Thanks!
Ren
· 9 months ago
Hi - off topic but just curious...from Chicago, and was wondering if you ever stopped by here for a Con or some other event, how would one find out about it?
Thank you much, Ren
daMongolian
· 9 months ago
commenting here cause twitter is lame and won't let @subjects see @'s to them unless they follow the tweeter, if the tweeter has a locked profile, as I do.
@feliciaday suggested feature req: the Kindle equiv of the pc game 'boss button' pull up an innocuous and boring text at the push of a button to hide what you're really reading when peeps wanna check out the kindle....
@daMongolian
Felicia
· 9 months ago
Nice suggestion @daMongolian! LOL!
Jo Leigh
· 9 months ago
Just curious - embarrassment over reading romance novels...not so embarrassed about being in romance movies. Why is one shameful and the other isn't?
Ryan
· 9 months ago
Thanks for this! Just discovered your web series literally the day I decided to try Twitter to see what all the fuss was about. I guess it was fate. You're hilarious. It's cool to know you're informative, too.
Aaron
· 9 months ago
Thanks.
Until today, I thought the Replies tab in TweetDeck was just to consolidate... didn't realize you could see replies from people you're not following. Now I don't feel so dumb for replying to your comments. I thought you couldn't see them.
Andrea
· 9 months ago
Thanks! I've been using Twitter for a while and seem to have a decent mix of real life friends and other folks who share similar interests. Your explanation of some of the Twitter-related tools is very helpful! I now feel as though I can make better use of my Twitter time. :-)
Fimlys
· 9 months ago
Been using twitter for a while now and I'm still amazed how many people are following my inane ramblings.. I have nowhere near the level that the "Celebrities" have, but getting random @ replies actually makes my day. I originally would re-follow everyone that followed me, but I couldn't keep track after a while. I started using TweetDeck recently which helps with just the ones I do follow at least. Still hard to keep track sometimes.
I actually twittered the link to this post. I think it is a great help to those starting out.
Brett
· 9 months ago
Thanks for the tips, particularly your mention of MrTweet. I'm doing this really lame attempt at viral marketing for the zombie screenplay I'm going to write for Script Frenzy in April. Just some crazy idea I got in those scary half-waking moments right before you drift off to sleep. Could people really care about the day-to-day progress of a screenplay penned by some anonymous writer? I don't know... but I won't find out by not trying.
Hopefully MrTweet will help me find people without becoming one of those annoying spammers that adds others every time they post a keyword. :D
Also follow you on twitter as brttrx.
Keep at it!
James_Riley
· 9 months ago
Since you most definetly are more seasoned on Twitter than I maybe you can answer me a question. Is it possible to post pictures from a browser? I have a friend who is using a sidekick so she isn't able to take advantage of any apps on her phone, but she still wants to post pics. If yes, how? Thank you in advance 8^)
Dan
· 9 months ago
Felicia, thanks for this information. I'm new to Twitter, and I can see I have a lot to learn. Great tips! I'll start using them... as soon as I get my land legs. You covered a lot of stuff.
Dan
Felicia
· 9 months ago
Yes I believe you can register at Twitpic and upload/post photos to Twitter that way, or you can link to a Flickr account page which I what I do. Twitpic is very easy though. Hope that helps!
james_riley
· 9 months ago
You are wise beyond your years. Much gratitude. I'm going to ask yet another question, how does one get a picture on their postings on this blog?
p.s. hazards of love.. thoughts? you best have listened to it in its entirety.
DM Osbon
· 9 months ago
I have never worried if someone I admire & follow, doesn't follow me in return. Always better to give than recieve, I say...ahem.
Good Twitter post, Felicia. Like the site...haven't been here for awhile, lots of changes!
Menno
· 8 months ago
Try plurk :)
Menno
· 8 months ago
There are a lot of gamers on plurk of people who work in virtual worlds. Twitter is fun but plurk is in my opinion better.
Hi Felicia, I dunno what to say but I saw you on twitter which I've joined to look for my run away girl fiend. Now you must be thinking as to why I'm telling you my sob story. I saw something in your face which is highly intuitive and advisory type. Can you suggest me as to how do I retrieve my gal from the guy who grabbed her[A FAT A***) . BTW have you ever tried various variants of Ukranian Borscht soup the recipe of which is on my website.:D)
A crazy comment on your blog lol!
Anil
· 8 months ago
Missed two ? ?:-)
Robert Miller
· 8 months ago
Hi Felicia, well I started following you after I saw you were following me. I wondered who is this person as I always do and went to their website. I saw the movie recommendation for Dr Horrible, I watched it and thought wow. You have some wonderful talent. I am not generally a fan of musicals, but yours was great and I plan to watch it again, and perhaps again and again. It was that good.
I want to thank you for following me. It is a pleasure to be one of the thousands that sees the great promise in your work. Bob
All Comments
Never thought about how annoying @ replies might be. I'm guilty of that sin, I think.
Now I understand that there ARE many resources--only they don't originate with Twitter necessarily.
Ahh.....the fog dissipates....Thank you muchly!
PS: I'm impressed... Felicia Day uses Gotham on her site ... well done! (Yeah, it's my first time here; get off my case about it!)
-glutenfreeGLEE
I'm amused that you are #30 in numbers of followers. Congrats to your famous on the internetness. :P
Now, no offense to the "top Twitterers," but they all say exactly the same stuff 90% of the time. If you follow 2 or 3 of them, you're basically covered regarding tech news/social media/marketing/SEO/etc. Honestly, I don't care to hear much about this stuff because even though I'm very tech-oriented, but the tech news/social media field has turned into a sad echo chamber/rumor mill for the most part.
Back on topic: There are some really cool people in the long tail though, and unfortunately, you have to get lucky to find them on Twitter. Example: @ben_yes is about the cutest thing I've ever seen, but you won't find her on a directory anywhere, so you've got to get lucky with a Twitter search term filtered by location. If you've ever tried this, you'll know that there's essentially so much noise generated by the Top Twitterers in your area that you're going to have to dig really deep at exactly the right time to find a hidden gem.
What I'd like to see is a way to search Twitter for recent local Tweets by people with fewer than X followers, or people who *don't* follow Scoble, you know? Not to be anti-elitist, but repetition is boring. That's why I'm ending this comment now. ;)
P.S. Love The Guild even though I've never played WoW. :)
http://nearbytweets.com/
It helps find the latest tweets near your location and the most recent people to tweet from there. Hope that helps.
The issue seems to be that these hidden gems may not actually update that often, so perhaps searching for the most recent tweets isn't the best approach. If you think about it in terms of probability, you're much more likely to get Top Twitterers that way because they tend to update multiple times per hour, whereas many hidden gems only update a few times a week. Hence my language about "getting lucky." Unless you search at exactly the right time, your hidden local gem will get buried in the search results by a bunch of other tweets.
That's why I'd like to see an exclusion feature based on degrees of separation. Maybe this is sort of divisive in a philosophical sense, but I think if I could see only tweets from people who are separated from a short list of Top Twitterers (a user-specified list) by more than 1 degree of separation, these hidden gems would bubble up to the surface? Of course, there's a false negative rate here too, but it'd be interesting to try at least.
also another application that works with ping.fm along with twitter (mainly meant for twitter only) is twhirl which can be found here http://twhirl.org/
anyway hope this helps a little too.
There's so little cost to following/unfollowing people on twitter, it really does pay to experiment.
Your post reminded me of one I wrote recently -- categorizing seven types of people to follow on twitter. Some, you cover here, but others I picked up through trial and error (someone who inspires you, someone who makes you laugh)...
Seriously, though, that is a decent collection of "people finders" related to Twitter, some I've heard of and some I haven't. It might be interesting to check out some of them.
Ok, this is off topic and a bit random, but I've gotten so many great book recs from your goodreads account so I have to go ahead and return the favor by recommending a book to you! It is called "Graceling" by Kristin Cashore-- technically YA fantasy but really really well-written with great characters, I think you would enjoy it if you haven't read it already! :)
I also wanted to thank you for doing that live chat with other Guildies the other day, it was super fun to watch! Is there any chance that you somehow recorded that and could post it? I heard all the audio but my computer freaked out and the video froze for part of it.
Thanks again for all the twitter tips and for being just generally awesome!
Seriously, this is really useful, and a great idea to post it. It was down to you and @Tabz (a great person to follow!) I started using Twitter in the first place and it seemed a bit pointless to me at first. Until Tabz explained that the value came when you started to interact, add people and get involved.
I'm sure your new followers will be up to speed in no time!
This is incredibly nice. Thanks a bunch!
> But the main way I find people is through other people I follow.
I've been using Twitter since Sept 2007 (joined in July but didn't really start using till Sept.) Finding through others was the way I started building my Twitter network.
I first followed @rands (because I was reading his weblog at the time and he mentioned Twitter). Then I looked at the people he was following - it's great that Twitter shows who follows and who is followed by each non-private person! Just click a few, open some tabs in your browser, read a page or two of tweets. Do you like what this person talks about? If so, add them. You can change your mind later.
One thing Felicia didn;t mention - not so much about finding people as following - is you need to get a Twitter Reader you like! There are many choices of desktop applications, web-based, iPhone or Blackberry, ... but if you don't like the interface you won't have as much fun.
And finally, engage. Twitter is what you make of it. And don't worry if you're not sure at the beginning. The weblogs are full (surprisingly full!) of people who say "I didn't get it at first" or "I thought it was stupid". And then they used it for a while, found some interesting people, had a few conversations... and it clicked.
Finally, if it still doesn't click, maybe it's just not for you. But there are as many ways to use Twitter as there are people using it. Try to stay open to the possibilities and you may be surprised how much fun you have.
A number of people in TWWitter are participating in a "meme" called #followfriday. Use search.twitter.com:
http://search.twitter.com/search?q=%23followfriday
The idea is to recommend people to follow (usually done on Friday) and tag the post with #followfriday. This is a good way to see who other people recommend!
Have your DM award you 1000 extra XP for helping out your fellow Twitterpeeps.
Hopefully that's enough to level you.
Or get you close.
@replies still confuse me. Is it pointless to @reply to someone you are following if they are not also following you? Or do @replies end up in their @folder, if not on their main page?
I've noticed #subject postings, and I've also been confused by them. Vicki did a nice explanation of them, above.
I have a developing theory called, "The Confluence of Awesomeness." It's about how, as follow separate people who are "AWESOME," you become aware of separate social pools of "AWESOMENESS." And those pools tend to mix and blend, seemingly on their own. When you start to notice people, they start to show up in strange places. (Like the number 23 in that movie.) Connections happen.
For example, I became a fan of "Dr. Horrible" and @jonathancoulton separately around the same time last year. I saw this as two separate pools of social awesomeness that swirled around you and @jonathancoulton. And so I was surprised and delighted when the two of you collaborated briefly on "Still Alive." It was an unexpected confluence! Get it?
I've been a fan and friend of Michael J. Nelson since college. He was a host of MST3K and now is the figurehead of RiffTrax.com. He's gaining minor fame this month with a Spurlockian Diet of ONLY BACON. You can sometimes recognize social pools by the bizarre memes they advocate and share. And Mike has crossed paths with @jonathancoulton and Neil Patrick Harris and so many others. If you can find the time, you should see if you could be a Guest Riffer on RiffTrax. I think you would be great and I think it would introduce their fans to "The Guild." You have similar senses of humor.
Anyway, as I've watched, Mike has crossed paths with @jonathancoulton and @paulandstorm and Neil Patrick Harris. @neilhimself (one of my favorite authors) has swirled into and made connections to the @jonathancoulton pool that I thought were random and hilarious.
Noticing the Swirls of Awesomeness connect and intermingle, I have started to make visual metaphors. There a hubs and vortexes of AWESOMENESS, where awesome folks tend to congregate and swirl. There are also spokes, eddies and lines of connection between different pools and hubs. Each of us in both a hub and spoke on the Great Wheel of Social Awesomeness. Like the Internet, the CONFLUENCE is a dynamic web; a network, constantly growing, reshaping and making new connections.
Watching Twitter, noticing who gets followed and who is following whom is like peeking into our Jungian Collective Consciousness! It's a like taking camera shots at the Greater Confluence of Awesomeness. There's a connection between fame, influence and the Greater Wheel of Awesome. But if I understood that connection, I might be famous.
I once told @jawboneradio (as I tried to explain my "Theory on the Confluence of Awesomeness") that I saw him not only as a spoke but also a major HUB on the WHEEL of AWESOME. He took that as a great compliment.
Let me share that compliment with you, @feliciaday. You may see yourself as only a spoke, as only someone who has made random connections on the Awesome Network of between various hubs and vortexes. But I also see you as a major vortex in the Greater Confluence of Awesome. It's a pleasure noticing your fame and influence grow and touch people's lives.
your fan, @rockingjamboree
And re: @replies, YES it's very important to @reply them. On everyone's Twitter page there is an @replies tab JUST for replies that start with an @reply directed to a user (note, an @reply will NOT show up in the Replies tab if it doesn't START with the @reply handle, something I wasn't clear on at first).
If you're talking to someone who doesn't follow you, you can direct things that you KNOW they will see in their Replies tab by starting with an @reply. That's how I'm able to manage communicating with a lot more people than the ones I follow. :)
Hope that helps!
Can I just mention TweetBat? It's an idea I came up with the other week for internet users who like me are visually impaired.
How do I get an avatar here?
Thraxxus.
@TerminalDigit There are some iPhone twitter clients that show local tweets, so there are probably some for the desktop too. You can do a search for your zip code or city and then follow those people - and their friends.
One IMPORTANT tip to add:
Pick a UNIQUE Twitter user name. Twitter has some powerful search tools to allow you to forward tweets that contain a particular word to your phone. This is a good way to be notified of @replies if you don't always check Twitter (also alerts you to messages with @replies that are not at the beginning of the message as Felica mentioned above).
I picked "Fitzroy" (bad idea) which is my last name, but Fitzroy is *also* a place in London where, apparently, people like to meet for lunch. When I forwarded all tweets that contained "fitzroy" to my phone (it ignores the "@" so @fitzroy and fitzroy are the same thing), I got woken up at 6am with a lot of texts (11am in London). I had to disable the feature and now I'm terribly slow at getting back to @ replies. (you can always forward direct messages to your phone).
If this doesn't make much sense, then just pick something fairly unique and you'll be set. Your first and last name is a good idea.
Happy Tweeting.
-Sean
It's not all bad; I set the thing up because @feliciaday had virtually stopped blogging for a while, after all. ;) Overall, though, I just don't get it. Ah, well. Now, if you'll excuse me, I'm off to catch up on some forums before bedtime....
Mike Miller
that was an awesome quick guide to twitter, I'm new to twitter so I am checking out all the cool stuff you talked about. Thanks!
I have a laminated membership card. I laminated it myself.
I also have a Tom Servo rolling action figure. You have to provide your own marble for the rolling action.
Sorry, yes, anyway Twitter! Oh, maybe Joel is on Twitter! Looking....
And I think that's a lot of what Twitter boils down to. It is the random thought and the "what I'm up to right now", but there's something about Twitter that's even more humanizing than a blog.
The hobby and geography aspects have been some of my favorite parts of Twitter too. I'm able to keep abreast of different people in organizations in Eugene that I wouldn't have been able to before. There's a greater ease of keeping up with friends, talking with other brewers, writers, bloggers, etc.
Plus, I like using it to post random thoughts or observations (one of the reasons @FakeDemetri is wonderful to follow), or things I've come across in the news and whatnot, not necessarily the minutiae of what I'm doing throughout the day.
Thanks again!
@valsevertige
Twitter deberÃa sugerirnos gente: http://mentoliptus.blogspot.com/2009/02/twitter...
I signed up to Twitter a few days ago, and you were here as a recomended Twitter user that I decided to follow just because of "Actress, Filmmaker, Gamer, Misanthrope". Then, I wanted to know if I've had already see you somewhere on films or TV shows, so I looked on Imdb and Wikipedia (the answer is yes, Ive already seen you).
I found something out : you're me older, I mean in a good way! (except that I'm not an actress or a filmmaker).
I should stop right now, better for the two of us.
Anyways I just wanted to say ... you're amazing, I'm in loooove with The Guild, you can count me as your french fan :)
Also, I had no idea about half of this despite being on Twitter for a year or so; it's nice to see there's still mysterious stuff within the Twitterverse that's just waiting for people to find out about. Thanks!
On a side note, I don't know if you have @replies on, or if you get too many of them, or for whatever other reason you might not see that I twittered about it, but I thought you'd find it amusing that I'm studying Dr. Horrible in a 300-level college class these days. :p It's a comic book class (ENG310 "Comic books, graphic novels and narration"), and we watched Dr. Horrible as an example of archetypes, and how they can be presented to us in various (with focus on nontraditional) ways. It amuses me, anyway.
Thank you much,
Ren
@feliciaday suggested feature req: the Kindle equiv of the pc game 'boss button' pull up an innocuous and boring text at the push of a button to hide what you're really reading when peeps wanna check out the kindle....
@daMongolian
Until today, I thought the Replies tab in TweetDeck was just to consolidate... didn't realize you could see replies from people you're not following. Now I don't feel so dumb for replying to your comments. I thought you couldn't see them.
I actually twittered the link to this post. I think it is a great help to those starting out.
Hopefully MrTweet will help me find people without becoming one of those annoying spammers that adds others every time they post a keyword. :D
Also follow you on twitter as brttrx.
Keep at it!
Dan
p.s. hazards of love.. thoughts? you best have listened to it in its entirety.
Good Twitter post, Felicia. Like the site...haven't been here for awhile, lots of changes!
Twitter is fun but plurk is in my opinion better.
http://www.plurk.com/menno_ophelia
I dunno what to say but I saw you on twitter which I've joined to look for my run away girl fiend. Now you must be thinking as to why I'm telling you my sob story. I saw something in your face which is highly intuitive and advisory type. Can you suggest me as to how do I retrieve my gal from the guy who grabbed her[A FAT A***) . BTW have you ever tried various variants of Ukranian Borscht soup the recipe of which is on my website.:D)
A crazy comment on your blog lol!
I want to thank you for following me. It is a pleasure to be one of the thousands that sees the great promise in your work.
Bob