It’s been a while since I posted about Twitter and it’s about time convincing some folks to sign up and use it again.
In the last months I’ve used Twitter a lot, sometimes and not at all, mainly due to the applications which all had some issues. Twitbin was the best, but, being a Firefox add on, took up the space of my RSS reader and I preferred my reader. All others were yet another application running together with MSN, Gtalk, Skype, AIM and various others.
However, I’ve loved Twitter a lot more ever since discovering the ability to use it with Gtalk and how it’s all very seamless. It’s very simple to set up and everything from nudges to private messages to stats and last messages of a certain person can be displayed. Replies [@ username] also work the same way, provided the username is spelled correctly!
I hope more people start using it, the more, the better, right?
Join me on Twitter: carocat
Cat
31 Comments
well, i told you why i can’t join twitter in the e-mail. i’d like to have joined though. :)
That’s fine. :)
Although you could always make a new account.
Cat, How can we use it with Gtalk? I’m interested in knowing about that. I made an account 3-4 days back: http://twitter.com/ruhii
Btw, have you tried Pownce? It’s like twitter, but you can even exchange different files, make events etc. And it’s invite only. If you want to check it out, then I’ll send you one. :)
It’s simple, go here and follow the steps: http://twitter.com/devices
You want to make sure that you have ‘Follow’ and ‘Notifications’ on for all the people you’re following, so it sends it to Gtalk.
As for Pownce, I’ve got it, just like Jaiku. Got no point in using either though. Pownce doesn’t allow me to import my email addressbook and is therefore useless and Jaiku, well, there’s not enough people on there. Maybe both will be better once they go public, but for me I’m already on Facebook and don’t need any more.
Nevertheless, my Pownce is empty, feel free to add me!! All the social networking stuff is in the sidebar. :)
Oh and http://twitterfeed.com/ automatically grabs RSS feeds from the net and posts them on your twitter. I’ve got my blog set up through that. It’s well worth a look. :)
And this will help you with the shortcuts. http://twitter.com/help/lingo
WOW! That’s a nice guide. All right, will check it out ASAP.
But tell me one thing- Why do we need twitter if we’re active on Facebook? Most of us update our statuses on FB right?
Yeah, I used to think that, but I don’t use FB like that any more. FB has my RL friends, ex workfriends, people from the net, people from Germany, people I don’t like that much, etc..
Most of those people, especially RL ones don’t know of this blog, Twitter, Pownce, forums, etc [even though it's possible tracing it if they know what to look for], but all my net ‘friends’ know of all. That probably doesn’t make much sense and I’ve tried explainign it to Ashish before with no luck.
Plus FB to me is more an overall status and Twitter more regular, like today I’ve done four tweets, quite random stuff. Plus if you use the @username you can have convos with followers, etc.
I wanted to hear your take on it. Even I do the same thing pretty much. Actually , I’ve stopped updating my status on FB. Most of my real friends don’t know about my online life either! (WP, Forums etc.). and twitter/pownce will probably be something to connect with my online friends.
I could do random stuff on FB, but my friends would think that I’ve gone mad! ^-^ and they wouldn’t understand it. Not all of them are so tech oriented. I feel that the people who blog are more tech inclined- what with RSS feeds, twitter updates et al ;)
but i want my username, that’s why. *pouts* and i think it’s ridiculous that i can’t even send a support request! how it can recognise my request but refuse to fulfill it is beyond me lah.
Yeah, i can’t remember the last time I updated my FB status. I use FB a lot, but I dunno, guess I’ve already got Twitter fot that..
And it depends, where I used to work everything is very tech orientated, I guess people didn’tlike me enough, otherwise they’d have found this blog already, haha.
And RSS feeds, I tried to explain that to a friend the other day.. Took me a good while. And then another few minutes why FF is better than IE…
Sulz, go chase em up. I take it you looked here? http://help.twitter.com/
Well.. you got me on the bandwagon. :-D
Excellent, the more the better! :)
Now if I could just get the dang thing to add to Google Talk! It wants to invite the Twitter address. There isn’t a way to just add it.
Yeah, that confused me originally.
What Gtalk are you using? The inbuilt one in Gtalk, the web application or the downloaded one from here? http://www.google.com/talk/
The downloaded one has an ‘Add’ option at the bottom, enter twitter@twitter.com there and keep clicking through. The Twitter site will automatically accept and then you’ll need to follow here to verify it. http://twitter.com/devices
Once you’ve done it you’ll realise just how simple it actually is!
I use the downloaded one as it notifies me when I have e-mail. My wife sometimes uses it to IM me if she needs an immediate reply. I clicked through, but the address still isn’t showing up in my list.
I just tried it again… and it worked! *shrug*
I’m now live on Twitter. Whee! LOL
Does Twitter automatically make a TinyURL, or do I have to do it manually first?
Yeah, same reason I use the downloaded one. PLus I’ve been trying to convince people to move on it rather than msn, but I’ve been unlucky so far..
Congrats. :)
And if you use gtalk you need to go to http://tinyurl.com/ yourself. It’s a bit of a hassle, that’s where the 140 character limit is annoying..
Yeah.. I don’t use MSN or AIM. I like Gmail, so I stick with Google Talk. If anyone wants to reach me, they can find me there. Otherwise, I don’t need to IM them. LOL
And thanks for clarifying that! :-)
No worries.
I wish I could ditch msn, but I have too many people on there, people that don’t even have a gmail address!
And as another reference to everyone: If you want to follow someone and get the gtalk notifications, you need to manually turn that on here: http://twitter.com/friends AND set it in the options http://twitter.com/account/notifications
I guess I’ll write an Twitter how to post with all the above info in the next few days. :)
Cat, I have been playing around with Twitter, but it’s a lil confusing for me. How do we exchange notes with other users?
I feel that if Pownce were to be made public, then it would do much better and would give Twitter serious competition.
Notes? I know that’s something you do in Pownce, but I’ve never spent too much time using Pownce, so can you explain?
By notes, I meant the public messages on each other’s ‘scrapbook’. Do I just update my status (along with the name of the person I’m talking to)?
Ok, you’ve got:
Normal message with no prefix = brodcasts your status, etc to the whole world and all your followers will see you’ve updates.
Message with ‘@username’ prefix = broadcasts to ‘username’, however mutual friends will be able to see it and it’s on your profile.
Messages with ‘D username’ prefix = private message between you and ‘username’, completely invisible to everyone, not on your profile.
It works a little different to Pownce I guess. :)
Gotcha! That was pretty comprehensive. :) I’ll be a happy twitterer now.
Yey!
I’m definitely thinking of combining all the comments in a seperate ‘How to use Twitter’ post. At some point. :)
Anything you can think I should add?
I think posting a public status, sending a private message, sending a public message to a friend using “@” are the main things. Also, the integration of Twitter with Gtalk would be great. :)
Oh did I tell you- I use Flock to open all social networking sites like Facebook, Twitter, Youtube, Delicious etc. You can remain signed in in the sidebar and everything gets automatically updated.
I’m back on WP.com for good :D Don’t leave comments on my new blog, I’ll be deleting it soon. ;)
I can’t believe you’d give up this quickly!
And what do you mean with updating automatically?
Cat: I’ve been wasting a lot of time designing that blog and it’s affecting the rest of my work. So, I guess, it’s not worth it.
By updating automatically, I mean that whenever your friends update their status or profile or anything like that- you can view all that in your sidebar. No need to log into all the accounts in 4 different browsers. :)
Oh, right. I just use RSS feeds for that. In fact I use RSS for anything and everything!
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