Hummingbird604.com » Twitter

My 3 years on Twitter

Raul — Sat, 26 Mar 2011 17:32:56 +0000

Photo credit: Colectivo Mamembe on Flickr

I woke up this morning to a cute @ reply (or mention as it’s lately called) indicating that today was my 3 years on Twitter. Rarely do I ever think about how long (or how much time) I have spent on Twitter. Except today. During these three years, I’ve typed 93,673 tweets, favorited 2,027, and about 6,995 folks read my tweets. I have built a community around me, and have managed to enjoy my time on Twitter.

I purposefully eschew adding words on to my Twitter profile such as a ‘social media speaker, consultant and maven’, simply because I think that one of the best ways to do social media right is to be an example (also because I hate the self-appointed social media gurus). Lucky for me, a number of folks seem to enjoy what I have to say online. And for that, I’m grateful.

I have my own Twitter quirks (I can’t follow everybody because my brain doesn’t have the capacity to process that much information, I absolutely hate, despise and refuse to get Direct Messages and sometimes I’m chatty whereas other times I don’t tweet at all).

But the one thing that Twitter has given me in these three years (in addition to more speaking and consulting gigs) is the opportunity to meet amazing people, make new friends and stay in touch with my loved ones whom I normally don’t have the time to see. That’s why I love Twitter.

As I mentioned in my very first Twitter profile: Twitter is my playground. And I hope to continue to be able to engage with my online community the way I have so far. And of course, while you’re not obligated to do so by any stretch of the imagination, you can follow me on Twitter here (@hummingbird604).

Twitter turns 5

Raul — Mon, 21 Mar 2011 16:16:20 +0000

photo credit: Iain Farrell

The world is all a-twitter because today is Twitter‘s 5th anniversary (coincidentally, my blog turns 5 years in April of 2011). I am grateful to have Twitter, to be quite honest. It’s allowed me to make new friends, stay in touch with others whom I don’t see often, it’s a fantastic tool to disseminate my academic, consulting and social media work, and my students use it to communicate with me in a fast and timely manner. More importantly, having joined Twitter made my life so much richer. I don’t think I would have the reach, the voice or the community I have now if it weren’t for Twitter. So, thank you Twitter, and happy 5th year! You don’t look one day older than 5. Now, please don’t Fail Whale on me, mmmkay?

Congratulations to @invoke on their OpenWebAwards win

Raul — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 18:16:37 +0000

I am a big fan of HootSuite, and admittedly, most of the crew (developers, social media folks and partners) at Invoke Media are good friends of mine. But since this is my personal blog, I feel perfectly comfortable congratulating a team of people who have worked really hard to make a Twitter application FREE and extremely flexible and powerful. I use HootSuite for about 60-70% of my tweeting and I love many of the features it offers. Congratulations and much love, everyone!

Twitter showing tweets from non-following

Raul — Wed, 09 Dec 2009 20:30:46 +0000

I can’t complain about a tool that is free for me to use, but darn, can we please get a few of these problems fixed? We’ve lost the ability to search for tweets for over two weeks, the re-tweeting button is an annoyance, and now we’re having tweets from people we aren’t following appearing on our timeline as though we *are* indeed following them… *sigh*

To report them, use this link. Hat tips to GDGeek and RosamundCotton.

Below, you can see that I am supposed to follow the Dexter Fanatic person. Um, I don’t even watch Dexter!

The implicit trust in the new RT function on Twitter

Raul — Thu, 19 Nov 2009 15:13:21 +0000

Many people have asked me for my opinion on why I don’t like the new retweet (RT) function on Twitter. I am writing this short post from home so I don’t have access to a screen capture that I got the other day to show the function itself, but my thoughts can be summarized as follows.

First, in the new RT function, there is an implicit assumption of the person originating the tweet that is being RT’d is trusted by the person retweeting. This assumption is made by the platform, not by the individual (and very clearly explicitly stated on the new RT function explanatory bubble). I don’t feel comfortable with anyone assuming anything on why I retweet something. Sometimes, I share stuff that I find valuable. Sometimes, it’s something that shocks me or surprises me. But that doesn’t really establish any implicit trust contract between me and the person that is being RT’d

Second, in the new RT function, there is no way to annotate a tweet. The argument can be (a) that characters are lost in the annotation and (b) that it preserves the integrity of the tweet being retweeted. However, what happens if I want to annotate the tweet I’m RT’ing and add my commentary in the opposite direction e.g.

“wow, this was completely false RT @fulanodetal I am the owner of the world”.

It would have been SO much easier if Twitter had just copied the RT function on Power Twitter. Why break something that isn’t broken?

Fake tweeting, re-hashing and content re-production

Raul — Sun, 13 Sep 2009 21:36:37 +0000

One of the things that disturbs and worries me the most is the fact that there are computer hackers now who are so sophisticated that not only create splogs but they can even fake-tweet. The worst thing is that they seem real! The screenshot you’re seeing is a re-tweet from a tweet that I *apparently* sent. Unfortunately, I didn’t. The thing is, how can we stop fake tweeters, sploggers, and in general, the people who rehash and re-produce our online content?

On the etiquette of re-tweets – a response

Raul — Fri, 21 Aug 2009 04:23:52 +0000

One of the things I have been pondering about for a while now is social media etiquette. So much that I even organized a panel to talk about it. I will preface this post by disclosing that I have evolved with and within the online space. I think about the ecosystem and I feel part of it now (much more than I used to when I first started using social media tools and writing a blog). I don’t claim to be an expert in social media nor in etiquette. But I’ve been reflecting about it for a while now.

In the next few weeks, I want to bring back some elements that I see are missing in the late 2009 social media world…. linking back, being courteous, being reciprocal and responding in a larger form than 140 characters. I see a lot of people giving quick, snappy, witty comments online via Twitter, but not always engaging in one of the best platforms that allows for more than 140 character: a blog.

I am quite fortunate that my readers choose to drop a comment, and I try really hard to engage back and respond on my site. I do the same on Twitter, particularly when it comes to re-tweets. I try my damnedest to say “thank you” most of the time. I also tend to retweet stuff that I find interesting, valuable, worthy. I make a case to retweet stuff from people who have re-tweeted mine as well, simply out of courtesy and good manners but also because I think it’s good karma.

I have been seeing many of my tweeps retweet a recent post written by Catherine Novak, whom I consider bright, smart, social media savvy AND a good friend of mine. I repeat. Catherine and I are good friends. We are on each other’s GTalk, have hung out several times and she’s written guest posts for me for Blogathon AND retweeted the heck out of many of my tweets. Therefore, I feel 100% comfortable responding to her post knowing that she will take this not as a criticism of her post (she offered MANY fantastic suggestions) but as a way to add to the conversation on the science (or art) of retweeting.

I took a tiny bit of an issue with Catherine including “rules” in the wording of her post because I don’t think that an online space like Twitter has any real, hard-core rules. However, as a researcher who uses institutional and neo-institutional theory, I am more than aware that there are two types of rules: formal and informal. My understanding, knowing Catherine, is that she means “these are the more-or-less formalized norms about retweeting that I have learned and I actively practice” (please note the emphasis is mine and I’m paraphrasing her note). I can definitely agree with that.

I take very strong issue (and I am very opinionated) with anybody trying to say “my way is the right way to do things” in the online space, and especially on Twitter. I know that my conversations online may sound as though I actually have rules. But the only rule I try to live by is be kind and nice and follow the manners that you were taught when you were little. Therefore, I reply back when people talk to me. Look at my profile. Over 60% of my tweets are @ replies. I say “thank you” and “please”.

I acknowledge when people have sparked my thoughts or given me feedback. I say thanks when people retweet my stuff because I think that they make a conscious choice as to whether to share my stuff with their networks. I say thanks a lot. That’s not to say that my practices are the best. That’s not the point of this post. I want to spark the other side of the conversation and add to the great post of Catherine’s.

So, on to you – what is the etiquette you follow with regards to re-tweeting? Do you say thank you? Do you make a concerted effort to find something worthy of a retweet by the people who have already retweeted your stuff?

NOTE – I would have included my tweeps’ responses but that’d mean to give TweetTree my password and I am not sure I want to do that.

On the Twitter 101 for Business guide from Twitter

Raul — Fri, 24 Jul 2009 20:11:25 +0000

Credit: Robert Scoble

Recently, Twitter has become more mainstream as a tool for internet-based marketing. Many companies are realizing the potential impact that having an account on Twiter can have. Despite the ups, downs, “Fail Whales”, TwitterGates and “Twitter is Down”, FriendFeed and the likes, people still seem very drawn to the microblogging platform. I sure am addicted to it!

I do believe in the power of Twiter as a tool to raise awareness and I advocate its use as part of a comprehensive social media marketing strategy (clients will buy your product if they can find you), but I’m also well aware that there are many people on Twitter who feel annoyed by the fact that some businesses aren’t using it in a way that is perceived as effective.

Recently, Twitter itself launched a Twitter for Business 101 guide. I believe it’s a good stepping stone, but I am not sure it replaces real solid advice from consultants. I asked on Twitter:

Does the fact that now Twitter has a Twitter 101 for Businesses put out of business some social media consultants? What do YOU think?

Several friends responded with very insightful thoughts, reproduced below.

As always, I love to open the discussion on my comments section. What do YOU think about the Twitter 101 for Business guide? Do you think it’ll put pressure on social media consultants to provide more/better value? Will it be a good stepping stone? Would love to hear your thoughts.

Reflections on Twitter, “grow your network organically” and #nofollow

Raul — Fri, 19 Jun 2009 19:07:33 +0000

Credit: 7Son

I am frequently the subject of #followfriday and I am very honored and truly blessed by the people who choose me as someone worthy of being followed. I am limited by my capacity to absorb information from people and therefore, I don’t follow back everyone. I NEVER ask anybody to follow me back simply because I think that’s something that needs to grow with time. As I build relationships with people I always believe that there’ll be a point where we follow each other back.

There is a GAZILLION people I would LOVE to follow but I’m unable to, not because I don’t want to but because I simply don’t want to make the relationship non-existant. I know that TweetDeck would allow me to filter, but it’d be inappropriate of me to make people believe I am paying attention when I am not. Much rather have a lower number of people I follow than to be dismissive.

The same way I don’t like to do a #followfriday (simply because if I had it my way I’d recommend everyone both on my follower and following list) I don’t like the idea of the #wontfollow hashtag. I strongly believe that by saying “oh I won’t follow you because of … and ….” the beginning of the relationship is hostile.

I am really against popularity contests in the Twittersphere and I am also a firm believer of building real, authentic relationships on Twitter. I really strongly believe that we need to cut people on Twitter some slack. I am sure that the people who know me well and that follows me and I don’t follow back know that it’s not because I don’t want to but because I have a limited capacity for following people. At least, I would hope so! And I hope that people know that I can’t be forced into following someone back. At the same time, I don’t preclude anybody by saying “I won’t follow you”. Well, except Oprah, Ashton Kutcher and Perez Hilton

I also dislike the concept that businesses “must grow their network organically”. How the heck do people think that we are going to notice that a business is on Twitter unless the person behind the business account follows us? As I was writing this post, Todd Sieling (a friend whose opinion I respect and value) mentioned that businesses can have organic growth of followers by “talking to people talking about your domain and using hashtags”. As I answered to Todd, I don’t think both are mutually exclusive, but complementary.

The most important thing for me on any Web 2.0 platform is to maintain and continue the conversation. So, chime in with your thoughts on here

Twitter as an online social space to hang out virtually and enable offline interaction

Raul — Sat, 18 Apr 2009 16:46:45 +0000

I am an academic. I love looking at things through the eyes of research, even social media (see my latest analysis of social media marketing here). I don’t research social media per se, as I am a specialist in environmental studies. danah boyd is one of several researchers who has studied how youth use social networking sites as places to virtually hang out.

I have a feeling that scholars of the sociology of new media think that adults don’t use Twitter and other SNS as “places to hang out”. Sam Ladner (a sociology PhD in Toronto whom I just recently started following on Twitter) is currently working on designing a project to study Twitter as a social space. I am curious to see the results of her research.

Anybody who knows me and has read my blog more than three times should know that I use Twitter to virtually hang out with my friends and to build new friendships. It’s the new normal. I have obtained a lot of out of Twitter as a socialization space. As Dale mentioned, it’s the “online water cooler”.

I’d be interested to hear your thoughts on the concept of Twitter as a virtual space. Do you use it that way?

Brokeback Qwitter: “I wish I knew how to Qwit you!”

Raul — Sun, 29 Mar 2009 06:40:26 +0000

I’ve been unfollowed on Twitter many, many times, and for a wide variety of reasons. At first, I did take it personally, I admit. And by at first, I mean within the first 3 months of using the service. Particularly since it was pretty much the Web 2.0 application I had signed for that allowed me to catch up with my friends in real life. Now that I am on Facebook, it’s not anymore the case. A few times in the past few months, I have declared Twitter bankruptcy and I thought to myself that I wouldn’t feel offended if the reason why some friends of mine (who are actually friends) would unfollow me on Twitter (because, even though I’ve toned it down, sometimes I am still a tad too noisy).

I also have unfollowed some people who have unfollowed me first, not because I am engaging in a reciprocal unfollow but simply because it annoys me when someone sends me a uni-lateral DM that I cannot reply to privately. And well, seeing as I’m being the person unfollowed first, I think it’s alright to regain control. I actually have suggested to Twitter that if a DM is initiated by someone who is not being followed by the other person, the recipient should have the ability to respond also as a DM.

Unfortunately, the act itself of unfollowing someone on Twitter, un-friending them on Facebook, un-whatever-ing anyone is perceived as an act of detachment and alienation. By it’s very nature, it is the breaking of a bond. Whatever relationship or bond existed between the people whose photos you could see (Flickr), whose DMs you could receive and send (Twitter), the very act of un-following/un-friending (Facebook) severs said relationship.

It would be totally cool if we all were mature enough to deal with this, but some of us may or may not be. I’ve become way cooler with people unfollowing me on Twitter, simply because I know that we’re linked in many other ways. We have each other’s phone numbers and emails, we check each other’s Flickr account every so often, etc. If a good friend unfollows me, I’ve come to assume that it’s because they find that my tweets aren’t adding value and that’s quite alright. We still see each other at meetups and other Vancouver tech community events, and I’m still good friends with them.

I don’t want ANYONE to follow me on Twitter out of obligation or some sense of reciprocity. I have a limited capacity to follow people’s tweets and I’m not really there for any sort of corporate reason. I’m on Twitter to chat and catch up with my friends, and to keep up with their lives and with what’s going on in Vancouver.

I just think that the use of Qwitter is not going to do any good. At least, it’s not going to do ME any good to know who unfollows me. I happened to notice earlier when I had relatively few followers, but right now, I’m lucky that I have so many followers I can’t really notice if anybody has unfollowed me. And for what it’s worth, I don’t really care. As long as our friendship is intact, anybody can unfollow me at will.

Tweetups Directory in Vancouver

Raul — Tue, 24 Mar 2009 16:06:36 +0000

Given that I decided to wait until April to hold a Vancouver Bloggers Meetup, I’ve been getting requests and inquiries from a variety of people on how they can find when these tweetups happen. Let me point out some differences between the “Tweetups” and the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup.

Vancouver Bloggers Meetup Group

Ever since I inherited the organization of the Meetup (June 2008) I have tried to make it happen at least once every couple of months. These gatherings happen almost every month, and are intended to provide new and experienced bloggers an opportunity to share thoughts, ideas, etc. For a sample of the topics we discuss and a detailed description, I’ll point you out to the great recaps that Dr. Jan Karslbjerg does (he is a long time member of the meetup and a great person to ask about the meetups as he takes great care to record the sessions). VBM is a more organized

Vancouver Tweetups

The hyper-social nature and ultra-fast nature of Twitter has given rise to the concept of ‘Tweetups’. Usually organized online, on-the-day-of, these are gatherings of people who use Twitter, are based in the same city and often happen on a weekday (or a weekend). Given the impromptu nature of Tweetups and given that they are very organic, the best way to find them is either check the site Vancouver Tweetup and/or check the hashtag on Twitter Search.

On potential overlaps between a Tweetup and a VBM

If/when this happens (which I would hope it won’t but it just might at some point), I will continue to hold the Vancouver Bloggers Meetup on the last Wednesday of the month. I know that this would mean that tomorrow (Wednesday) we would be getting together for the VBM but right now, I’m feeling overwhelmed with too much going on. To make up for the month of March, only this time I will be holding VBM early in the month of April.

Our next Vancouver Bloggers Meetup is on Wednesday April 8th, 2009. Come one, come all!

Twitter has officially become mainstream – my civilian friends know all about Twitter

Raul — Fri, 06 Mar 2009 21:42:15 +0000

This morning, I had brunch with C, B and L. My usual brunch crowd. These are friends I met while we all were doing our PhDs at UBC (in different disciplines, but we all lived in the same residential college). I call these friends civilians as well, because even though they use computer tools for their day-to-day lives, they don’t blog or use much of any other social media platform (other than, well, Facebook).

The topics were varied, but the thing that really struck me was how well they now know what Twitter is – C mentioned the Doonesbury week-long mock of Twitter, and L indicated that Stephen Colbert had talked about it (and she even accurately indicated that each tweet was 140 characters). Heck, even Barbara Walters and Jon Stewart talked about Twitter!

*sigh* I guess it’s official. I am no longer special. Twitter has officially become mainstream.

Have we lost the bidirectionality of Twitter this early in the game?

Raul — Wed, 18 Feb 2009 07:55:59 +0000

I have previously written about the topic of how Web 2.0′s premise is that sense of bi-directionality and conversation between content creators and users. Recently, David Gratton tweeted this:

I’ve notice that the conversational ‘tone’ of Twitter has nearly collapsed in the last 3 mos. It really is predominantly broadcast now.

David and I continued our conversation back and forth and I mentioned that some people may be afraid of being perceived as noisy and afraid as well of being unfollowed. Tris, and a few others (I am blanking on some people who chimed in) mentioned that they didn’t notice this decline. However, if you check the reply index in the Twitter noise application (FollowCost), my reply index is hovering around 70%.

I do recognize I am noisy. I admit it unashamedly. Mostly I try to provide value, but primarily, I use Twitter to create new friendships and maintain the ones I already have. I use it to keep the conversation going. While I have made a conscious effort to go to DMs when the conversation gets too chatty, I for one don’t plan on reducing my conversation index. Follow me at your own risk. … and remember, Web 2.0 IS predicated on bi-directionality.

The use of Twitter in an academic context

Raul — Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:41:26 +0000

And here I thought I was going to beat everyone by THIS MUCH to write about how to use Twitter in an academic context and… guess what? Somebody beat me to it. Yes, the blog “AcademHack” wrote about the usefulness of Twitter in the classroom, and funny how it goes, I found about it on the January 28th, 2008 issue of Wired Campus (in The Chronicle of Higher Education). Given that I am an educator (mostly third/fourth year university undergraduates but I’ve also taught at the Masters and PhD levels), I always find it funny when something I use for fun is deemed valuable in my own professional context.

The more I’ve thought about this, the more I’ve realized that even those established newsletters like The Chronicle of Higher Education have actually been blogs all along. Well-researched, meaningful blogs, but blogs nonetheless. Their short columns are widely read, online, time-stamped, although one element is not present there that is totally Web 2.0: the bi-directionality. Mostly, The Chronicle’s articles are just written by the author, posted and there is no bi-directional interaction between author and reader.

When I think about Twitter and its use in academia, I often had wondered how I’d react to students of mine tweeting back and forth at me. Given that I didn’t feel comfortable with my students “friending me” on Facebook (and hence one of the key reasons why I don’t use it) I thought I wouldn’t be comfortable with Twitter and my students. However, one of my former students (and one of the best, I might add) has recently joined Twitter, and while we don’t follow each other on my personal account, I had a chance to chat with him in person recently and we talked about the microblogging tool.

Right now, I kind of wish that my students were on Twitter. We could keep in touch (although some people say that that’s exactly what Facebook is for), but I can also see the potential value in the classroom for interacting with the professor, particularly in a remote location (distance education) and when the student is particularly shy (he/she could send me a DM and answer a particular question).

Those of you who have used Twitter and are academics/educators/teachers, how else would you use Twitter in the classroom?

Using Twitter and WordPress to create and maintain friendships

Raul — Mon, 26 Jan 2009 00:07:54 +0000

As I tweeted earlier today, my posts for the day are all themed around friendships. I am a very, very blessed man. I am very lucky in that I have amazing people who inspire me every day, who comfort me when I’m down, who can confront me with the truth and tell me right to my face when I’m doing wrong, and who are always happy for my growth and improvement.

Last Friday, I had the privilege of having lunch with Rachel Black, whom I met (not surprisingly) through Anthony Nicalo (and I met both of them through Twitter). Rachel does research on water as well (from an anthropological perspective) and (yes, call me academic geek) it was awesome not only because of Rachel’s personality and charisma, but also because we both got a chance to talk tenure-tracks, publishing research, and potentially collaborating in projects.

I wouldn’t have access to the many wonderful individuals I have in the past year if it hadn’t been for Twitter. I met Melanie Hoyt through Twitter and even though she is in the US now, she’s coming to Vancouver soon and we’ll get to hang out in real life. I keep in touch with Yam, a friend I made here in Vancouver, through Twitter. So, in reality, Twitter has given me an opportunity to build new connections, friendships and to grow them.

So, when I was watching Lorelle’s keynote presentation at WordCamp Whistler (read my liveblog here) I completely understood where she was coming from. I have used social media, and specifically WordPress and Twitter, to create new friendships. And yes, maybe, just maybe, social media may actually help me land my dream job. But that’s another completely different topic.

In closing, yes – I DO know that sometimes I’m noisy on Twitter. But bear in mind that, to me, Twitter is a relationship-building tool. I have tried very hard to keep my @ replies to a bare minimum (I follow 300 people, and I would follow more if I had the actual physical capability to do so – I don’t follow everybody back simply because I can’t not because I don’t want to).

Yes, I have gained a lot from Twitter – I have made NEW FRIENDS. And for that, I am always grateful.

Petition to Twitter – change the tagline!

Raul — Mon, 29 Dec 2008 18:58:57 +0000

I know that many people who are new-ish to Twitter (or want to explore it) want to know what the heck is Twitter and how to best use it. I have repeatedly said here on my blog and on Twitter that my use of the tool is primarily social networking. I like to chat with my friends online while I do work.

I will admit that I have also used it to
(a) help me learn new things, not only about social media but also about my own research
(b) find interesting trends
(c) ease my worries by providing me instant, real time information about catastrophes – such as the one that afflicted Los Angeles in recent months
(d) push my blog posts using TwitterFeed
(e) organize social events
(f) get real-time tech support from my friends
(g) find new friends worldwide (which also has given me newfound points of reference)

So, I can completely understand why some people would be frazzled about using Twitter, or even perplexed. After all, Twitter asks you the question “what are you doing?”. The truth is, I very rarely complete that sentence. I know that it would be the logical thing to do. After all, the status on Facebook has been SO predominant that when people explain Twitter they say “it’s like a chatroom with Facebook statuses“.

So, this morning, while doing some work, I mused about the topic, and my thought and suggestions seemed well received. After all, most of us are just saying stuff, not really updating what we are doing. So, it would be better if Twitter changed the tagline to “Say something right now” instead of “What are you doing?” It would definitely make my life easier when I explain why I use Twitter!

What are YOUR thoughts on the matter?

TweetDeck as a standard Twitter client

Raul — Fri, 26 Dec 2008 19:30:22 +0000

While I think Tris was the very first one whom I saw using TweetDeck, I’ve started to notice lately that many of my friends are adopting it as a tool to manage their Twitter contacts.

It’s been hard for me to do so while away because I haven’t had a chance to download the software (the laptop I’m using is not mine so I don’t feel at liberty to do so) but I did before my previous laptop became defunct, and it was AWESOME. For someone who was an evangelist for Twhirl, I simply love TweetDeck. I’ve noticed that many more of my Twitter friends are using it, even Mac users (like Andy Peatling) or Ubuntu users (like Stephen Rees).

I know that Cecily Walker also uses TweetDeck, and she was jokingly telling Tris and I that we were late adopters. I’d say that TweetDeck should cut both Tris and I a share of the revenue, since we’re both evangelists, hehe (and unpaid ones, at that!). No, seriously… I think that TweetDeck has established a high profile and has started to become the industry standard for Twitter management.

Same as Tweetie is quickly becoming a standard for iPhone Twitter management (I know for a fact that Arieanna and Ianiv use it extensively, as does Jeffery Simpson).

Twitter and the bi-directionality of Web 2.0

Raul — Mon, 24 Nov 2008 01:00:01 +0000

While this week (and weekend) has been incredibly busy, I still managed to see Joe Solomon and Jonathon Narvey for a really quick coffee. Both Joe and Jonathon live fairly close to me, and we tend to hang out at JJ Beans. It’s such a cool coffee shop. They were there to play chess, and I just did a mega-ultra-quick visit to catch up with them in real life.

At some point in our conversation a couple of nights ago we discussed the bi-directionality of Web 2.0 and Twitter. I indicated that in fact I DO know many, many of my Twitter friends in real life, and that I’m actually friends with them. Karen Parker and I mentioned it to Shane Gibson at the recent Tweetup: our usage of Twitter is much more social and less business-oriented. Arieanna and Ianiv mentioned this point to Ianiv’s family one night when we were having dinner: we have been able to develop our friendship through the use of Twitter, because it keeps us connected even though we are in remote places.

David Drucker actually suggested this theme as a potential topic for Northern Voice 2009: how to stay connected when you’re far away (if you remember, I was away from Canada this past summer for about 1.5 months to attend a funeral and be with my family). Even though I wasn’t really in Vancouver, I kept my connections with my friends through Web 2.0 tools – Twitter, my blog, GTalk, Flickr, etc.

One element that Jonathon, Joe and I were musing about is the need for bi-directionality in Web 2.0. In the case of many politicians, their use of Web 2.0 was dismal. Broadcasting your very next move is not what Web 2.0 is all about. It’s about bi-directionality. You speak, I answer. You drop a comment on my blog, I respond (or I monitor the discussion so that I can jump into the conversation at some point). You tweet at me. I tweet back. It’s a 2-way street. I just hope politicians and newcomers to Twitter and the rest of the Web 2.0 applications can understand that.

Steve Jagger’s talk about Twitter – Vancouver Real Estate Tech Meetup

Raul — Fri, 07 Nov 2008 16:59:53 +0000

I usually attend this meetup because I have a lot of friends (the organizers included, Shane Gibson and Steve Jagger) who are either realtors or do tech stuff for realtors. Steve gave a quick talk followed by a question answer period on our beloved micro-blogging platform, Twitter. These are my notes of Steve’s talk

Twitter is a microblogging platform, but has evolved into a communication device. Twitter allows you to communicate with people you find interesting. Steve uses the Favorites function to engage with new people and stories (Steve talks about how he got an interview with The Vancouver Sun on Twitter precisely through Twitter itself). You can make stories happen.

Search.Twitter.Com (formerly known as Summize) is a tool that allows you to search the conversations happening on Twitter. You can see other’s public conversations, and through that, you start creating conversations and new relationships (that may lead to potential business). Start following people and engaging with them, and the relationships will come.

The concept of Tweetup – a gathering (mostly impromptu) of people who use Twitter and may be geographically close to you. Shane explained how he got involved with the China Speakers Bureau (he started following them and writing blog entries, etc.) Tom also explains how he got appointments to the National Real Estate Association.

Shane also commented on the fact that realtors should be on Twitter to signal that they are early adopters. Also, Ubertor and Twitter can be integrated.

Another tool that Rodney and Steve showcased was Twitterlocal – that’s a tool that allows you to find people who tweet within the same geographical location that you are.

If you’re following noisy people (I am one of them, hehe) you can use TweetDeck. Also, I emphasize that part of Steve and Shane’s success (and many other real estate tech people) is that they engage with people as human beings, not only as realtors. [Raul's note as well -A great example of this are my friends, like MJ Ankenman and Matt Collingem Yam de la Peña, Kye Grace, to mention but a few. I would have never met them either if it hadn't been for Twitter. Same goes for Steve and Shane]

I really enjoyed Steve’s talk, and was particularly amused by the fact that, while many realtors were already on Twitter, many were on the fence. Hopefully Steve’s talk helped them decide to join!

Beyond national frontiers with Twitter

Raul — Sun, 12 Oct 2008 18:15:17 +0000

Credit: JMilles

Yes I know I tweet. A lot. With over 9,000 tweets since April 2008, I have no clue how I have managed to actually maintain my followers. You are too kind! At any rate, while I was in Mexico I started thinking about following some people there but then I unfollowed them as I figured that I wouldn’t be staying for long and thus it was kind of pointless.

Through my tweeting, I’ve discovered that I now have followers not only from Canada, but also from the US, United Kingdom, Mexico, and that’s kind of neat to me. Because I sincerely think that Twitter should trascend domestic frontiers.

I know that I shouldn’t care about my stats but since I was asked to provide some metrics of traffic, I did a quick Alexa search and found out that about 30% of my traffic comes from the US. Nice! To be quite frank, I didn’t even think anybody read my blog in the US (seeing as the vast majority of my writing is fairly hyper-local, e.g. Vancouver). But I’m glad people do, and I’m glad I am able to provide some content that can have wider appeal.

Credit: justj000lie

On a semi-related tangent, I also have to say that I’m glad that Elizabeth May (leader of the Green Party and candidate to Prime Minister of Canada) is interacting with her followers on Twitter (@elizabethmay). I was very impressed with the way she conducted herself during the debates, and I have several very close friends of mine who are friends with her (or at least know her very well).

Witty tweets

Raul — Wed, 10 Sep 2008 14:32:32 +0000

I use Twitter both as a tool to interact with my friends as well as a tool to reach out to a broader public. I’ve programmed TwitterFeed to publish my posts (I can’t use WordTwit because I’m not self-hosted yet). Usually I make a concerted effort to write funny tweets, because honestly, I really appreciate reading one, but I’m not always as witty as some of my readers and follows.

I uploaded some funny tweets (you can check my Favorites on Twitter) on my Flickr account, so this is only a sample. A recent really funny one that Lorraine (aka Raincoaster) published recently was this:

raincoaster Web 2.0 Shirley Manson says: Stupid Twhirl! about 7 hours ago from web

I figured that we could start a thread of witty tweets for singers and songs and Web 2.0 (like Lorraine did here), but I’m not witty enough. Any ideas?

New to Twitter? Use a Twitter client

Raul — Thu, 28 Aug 2008 14:48:07 +0000

I know that Rebecca has compared Twitter clients at some point, and I recall a post by John Biehler (that I couldn’t find) and one from Gary Jones by BlueFur explaining Twhirl, so apologies if I’m missing another one. Feel free to ping me and say “hey Raul you missed my blog post about Twitter“. I’ve previously written about Twitter etiquette, about the relevance of Twitter, about why I use Twitter instead of Facebook, etc.

At any rate, I recently connected on Twitter with two bloggers whose blogs I read, Sexy In VanCity (by Emme Rogers) and From Sparkly to Single (by Laura Smart) and made a suggestion, that they download a Twitter client. I haven’t tested many, having only tried Twhirl and TwitterFox (given that I am PC-based).

I love the fact that Twhirl picks up tweets where the @ is in the middle of the sentence (e.g. “How was your weekend, @hummingbird604?”). My recollection of TwitterFox is that it doesn’t pick up those tweets where the @ is in the middle, but since I only have Twhirl here, I have no idea.

I love the fact that TwitterFox accumulates ALL the tweets and replies (thus giving me a chance to see what everyone has been doing instead of browsing through pages of the Twitter website). It also reminds me of direct messages much faster than Twhirl does.

I love Summize aka Search.Twitter. You can search for your own @ replies and make sure that you haven’t missed tweets. But I’ve tried it already a few times and it still DOES miss some tweets.

SO WHAT’S YOUR TWITTER STRATEGY, RAUL?

Right now (while in Mexico) I open Twhirl, and browse the website for the last few pages of tweets. I know, a bit of a waste of time, but I feel a tad uncomfortable downloading the TwitterFox extension on my Mom’s FireFox. But last night I discovered she does NOT use FireFox so I might end up downloading the extension anyways.

Anyhow, since this post is mostly for Emme, Laura, Jonathon Narvey (who just recently joined Twitter) and those Twitter newbies (or those who use the web more often), those of you who are Twitter and Twitter-client pros feel free to chime in and explain why you prefer one client over another. And STOP praising Twinkle and Twitterriffic! I *can’t* use them because I’m PC-based! (ok, fine… you can talk about them, since I seem to be the only Vancouver blogger in addition to Dr. Beth Snow who uses PC – shame on us – that’s why you need to give us MacBook Pros!)

Being a workaholic AND a blogaholic…

Raul — Mon, 09 Jun 2008 06:20:54 +0000

Hello, my name is Raul and I am both a workaholic AND a blogaholic. I don’t think I had admitted that I was a workaholic until fairly recently. I am trying to update my academic CV and I can’t even remember how many talks I have given in the past couple of years. I am trying to not miss anything, and list everything that should be listed under each heading (journal articles, books, book chapters, etc.)

Furthermore, I have done what my friend HZ says – I have delved deeply into the blogging world and now have become addicted to blogging. Jonathan has written the 50 signs that you blog too much. The sad thing is that breakfast for me is scrambled eggs, toast, coffee and Google Reader

I am also worried that I have an inherited gene for workaholism. My Mom and I were talking on Skype tonight at 11pm (1:00 am Mexico time). My brother and I are talking on MSN as I write this blog post (1:00am Mexico time). This is insane. I was even planning to stay up (I think I’ll have to. I have a revise-and-resubmit that NEEDS to be published in 2008 so I *better* stay up).

Not in the best mood this weekend despite having had a great time with my friends. I think I’m basically frustrated with my own being not very productive. By the way, Vancouver local bloggers Ianiv and Arieanna are THE blogaholics (note their site) I don’t think I know anyone who blogs on more blogs than Arieanna!

Self-deprecating post about Twitter and me

Raul — Sun, 08 Jun 2008 01:15:26 +0000

How fun would I be if I weren’t able to poke fun at myself? Yeah, i would be VERY boring. Since the image I am going to link to is probably copyrighted, I won’t lift it off of the site. Instead, I will kindly ask you that you go and read the card and then come back. Done? Cool

Mostly, I take Twitter as a conversation tool with my fellow blogging friends. But I frequently joke on Twitter that I am “Twitter spam” and that this may be the reason why some people ‘unfollow’ me (actually I’m pretty certain that’s not the reason, but it’s always fun to say it). The someecards are always fun, sarcastic and give me a chance to say things I would like to say but sometimes don’t know how to say.

Those Twitter interactions

Raul — Thu, 15 May 2008 01:15:48 +0000

I could fill this post solely with links to other Vancouver bloggers who have discussed the idea of Twitter over the past few weeks (including but not limited to John Biehler, Rebecca Bollwitt, Lisa Bettany, Darren Barefoot, Michael Kwan to name but a few). I won’t do it right here as I need some shut-eye (aka sleep – this post was created last night at 2 am and queued for publication) and I will create another post with lots of link love in a couple of days. However, this is just another semi-explored thought because there is one thing that I’ve noticed on Twitter. Our followers are undervalued. Let me explain.

I joke that I am Twitter-spam, and I know for a fact some people have unfollowed me for that very reason. To my surprise, an equally large number of new followers have started to follow what I’m up to, which is extremely flattering and very nice because, even if I don’t follow them reciprocally, I DO interact with them. Which is the point of my post.

I haven’t created any specific rules of how I Tweet (and whether or not I use the verb Tweet or Twitter – I use them interchangeably). However, I have some semi-formal rules that have somehow managed to follow the positive hints offered by Remarkablogger’s Eight Mistakes Bloggers Make While Using Twitter.

There are some people who follow me whom I don’t follow reciprocally. That’s not because I don’t think they don’t add value. Much to the contrary, I do find their thoughts very valuable. However (and particularly at this point in my life when I am under so much pressure) right now I have a very limited capacity to process how many people I can follow and give them proper attention. Sorry, I am just a human being.

However, I *do* make a point to have conversations with my followers, and sometimes with people who neither follow me nor do I follow, simply because I think they have great perspectives. Sometimes, I’ve had a follower send me an “@” response that simply is outstanding. What can I say? All I want to say is that, if you (like me) are having problems following too many people, then by all means, try to interact with your followers nevertheless. That’s what I try to do, and I’ve had some very pleasant chats with my followers. I’m just saying…

And if you’re interested in following me you can find me at @hummingbird604 on Twitter.

Why I’m probably going to cave to Facebook

Raul — Wed, 30 Apr 2008 16:28:00 +0000

Photo credit: Pshab on Flickr.

I have been having a wonderful discussion with Beth Snow about the “BC colleges becoming universities” story that has been recently in the news. Beth put it in her Facebook updates (using Twitter to update her Status as she tweets). In just one day, I’ve already had more than 58 views today and about 45 yesterday (some can be due to Twitter, and some can be due to her FB page).

But as we were talking over email, there might be benefits to joining Facebook. So it seems, my dear readers, that after all these years of fighting the Zuckerberg empire, I *might* join Facebook. Possibly. Potentially. And maybe the only FB I will create will be my blogger FB (e.g. not my civilian identity, just the bloggerian one). I haven’t caved just yet for all of you who are right now laughing with evil voice “he finally caved, hahahaha”

Reflections on Twitter etiquette

Raul — Tue, 29 Apr 2008 03:55:57 +0000

I have only been on Twitter for a *very* short period of time, and I’ve already been followed and un-followed, both by simple strangers *and* people I know. Strange world we live in. Anyways, I was going to write a primer on Twitter etiquette, but realized that it would be such a useless waste of my time, I just decided to read, think and reflect on it.

For me, at the beginning, Twitter was a way to broadcast my newest posts. You follow me? Neat! I can reach you instantaneously (but chances are, you already read my blog through your RSS feed, so maybe I’m Twitter-spam to you). Then, numerous people followed me who I consider friends or with whom I want to become friends in real life. Even more neat! I began following them. We can now have Twitter conversations.

Then two weird phenomena happened. First, I got random people who started following me to un-follow me. Since I didn’t know them at all, I didn’t care all that much. Then I got people whom I actually know and like personally (and whose blogs I read) to follow me AND THEN un-follow me. So what am I now, chopped liver? Hehehe. Admittedly, it did sting for all of 24 seconds. But then I realized that they might have had their reasons to un-follow me, and that un-following me didn’t mean that (a) they liked me any less as a person (b) they liked my blog any less or (c) they thought I was Twitter-spam. Maybe they needed to pare-down their tweets, and I wasn’t part of the Twitterers whom they needed/wanted to read. Maybe they needed a break from my tweets. The reasons are countless, and most likely, nothing to do with me.

I have read all sorts of descriptions by other bloggers of the rules they have for following and un-following, for reading blogs and for commenting on blogs. I don’t really want to have any steadfast rules. Quite frankly, I’ve decided that, since my blog is about my random thoughts, my follows and unfollows should be just as random. One thing though – IF I follow you reciprocally, THEN it means that I DO want to have a conversation with you. So that means, if we are reciprocal in our follows, then I do expect to be able to engage with you in a meaningful way. If for some reason the conversation isn’t going the way we both would like to, then we ought to talk about it

If there is no symmetry in our follows, (e.g. if I only follow you), then the conversation on Twitter isn’t all that relevant to me. Maybe we already talk over email, or comment on each other’s blogs. Or maybe we don’t even know each other! For example, there are a very small handful of people whom I follow and they don’t follow me. I haven’t unfollowed them because I think they got stuff I want to hear about. There are like four people who follow me and whom I don’t follow back. I just don’t know them well enough to reciprocate just yet. The rest, happily for me, is reciprocal follows, so all is good in the universe.

So, regardless of whether or not you follow me or I follow you, if I find what you read in your blog interesting, I’ll continue reading. And if you find mine interesting, I hope you will continue reading. That’s the nature of the beast. Adapting one of the best lines in the movie “Gossip”… “people are people, we do what we do… and then we Tweet about it“.

About the Twitter

Raul — Mon, 14 Apr 2008 21:10:58 +0000

I’ve been on Twitter for a very short period of time (posting Tweets maybe since last week, or so?). While having lunch with Rebecca last week, I mentioned that Twitter gave me just about the right amount of openness and the right amount of privacy. I am not on Facebook (I actually REFUSE to be on Facebook) but I felt Twitter would give me an opportunity to reach a broader audience. It would also allow me to communicate with friends that I have met through the blogosphere and keep up with them on a regular basis.

Those bloggers whom I’ve now met in real life and, particularly those with whom I have hung out enough that I actually consider friends, will know that I actually do care about what they post on their blogs and their tweets. I follow this philosophy with everything. I care more about the person than the job, the blog, the position, etc. I have good friends who are now famous authors, actors, writers and renowned scholars. Yet, I am more interested in how they’re doing (personally) than I am on whether their latest journal article was cited 10,000 times.

At any rate, I was scanning recent blog posts and came across Darren Barefoot’s post on his feelings on Twitter. I left a massive comment on his blog and I still feel sort of guilty about it, so I just figured I’d post something somewhat funny and related to Twitter.

[youtube=http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YT5yCnEr8kQ&hl=en]

Rebecca alerted me about this episode of CSI on a comment she left on one of my posts. In this episode, the CSI team is reviewing the Twitter account of a dead victim who (apparently, haven’t seen the episode) was in the midst of a love triangle. Video courtesy of YouTube.

I am not sure if there is or not a lot of exciting stuff on my tweets, but I can guarantee that at least, there will be links to my new blog posts.