I completely dig Scoble’s method of using Twitter. I’ve been wanting to consume mass tweets and watch information pass… It’s simply not possible to ‘flow’ when you’re using apps like Twitterific and only follow a hundred people (this setup is great for smaller numbers).
I’d been using Twitterific for a while, but it was clunky and limited to an update every few minutes. This required scrolling backwards in time and seeing what people had written as I broke one hundred friends. It was neither real-time or indicitive of a large enough audience.
Twitter supports XMPP (Jabber/GTalk). I’ve set up Adium with a GTalk account and switched my Twitter connections to update to the IM account. This has made it so all tweets are in real-time. Suddenly Twitter seems terribly slow as tweets scroll by as a trickle.
I’ve gone from a hundred to five hundred connections and it still seems slow – I’ll keep growing it. The major drawback to this setup is that you can’t consume it at all times. Your phone would blow up if you had this traffic going to SMS (it’d be great if Twitter offered separate SMS and IM settings). My personal preference is to follow the flow in the mornings during RSS reading and in the evenings while writing a blog post or other catch-up activities.
Wild thought… I wonder if the number of simultanious connections in the ‘flow’ will become a sign of one’s intelligence?
I think the amount of flow that you have shows, the amount of ineffectivity with which you work. You are so scatterbrained with so much information (it is like the old chatrooms, with hundreds of conversations all intertwined, but you never actually got out of it). At least that is how it is with me. I think a more intelligent and efficient being stays away from twitter (or at least limits it to very short amounts during the day).
That is just my take on it, Cheers
Agreed – the flow has to be maintained and focused. The people's comments I subscribe to need to be in line with my interests and not completely random topics.
I'm using it as a way of hearing the aggregate voice. I'm presently turning up the volume and considering how to properly filter.
It's not something to pay attention to constantly – more of a window to keep off in a corner and peek at from time to time (it has to be managed). Within 10 seconds I can get a feel for where the web's heads are (and chime in).
I think twitter has some real social interaction design problems with managing the followers, though I am sure its a matter of using some other tools.
How about managing by location?
Twitter has a search for finding people by location, but not management by it. I've been somewhat unsuccessful finding people locally that pique my interest for 'flow' addition.
Tools will come that allow pruning and highlighting of location based posts, as well as strong contact management. Twitter provides the simplicity and volume and are smart to leave these tools to the people needing the complex (filters, etc).
I think twitter has some real social interaction design problems with managing the followers, though I am sure its a matter of using some other tools.
How about managing by location?
Twitter has a search for finding people by location, but not management by it. I've been somewhat unsuccessful finding people locally that pique my interest for 'flow' addition.
Tools will come that allow pruning and highlighting of location based posts, as well as strong contact management. Twitter provides the simplicity and volume and are smart to leave these tools to the people needing the complex (filters, etc).