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Twitter Users Cling to It Like a Safety Blanket

image by Rivka5

I recently wrote a post on Blackweb 2.0 which discussed one of the many services and content management systems that aim to extend the usefulness of Twitter. I briefly touched on something that has been in the back of my mind for a while, so I figured I should elaborate. In the post I explained the reluctance of Twitterers to actually branch out and use other micro-blogging services:

Hardcore Twitter users do not like to leave Twitter. Most of them do not feel like exploring other services. Twitter is just too simple to use, too familiar, and all their followers are there. No matter how awesome another service might be, these people are not moving.

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15 People Who Rock On Rejaw

I signed up for Rejaw a while ago and I was actually taken with it’s interface. Even with all the Web 2.0 stuff out there and everybody jumping on the AJAX bandwagon, there are still only a few sites I’ve come across that actually use these technologies to provide a rich and interactive user experience.

Recently, a bonafide internet celebrity joined the ranks of satisfied Rejaw users and brought with him an army of followers (658, last I checked). There is definitely a community feeling on Rejaw that I don’t see on many other services and, combined with it’s features, I find it a lot of fun there.

I know, Robert. It’s freaking ridiculous. Also, you forgot to mention Kwippy. I am going to guess that people are always looking for something new, especially tech people like us. I’m also guessing that developers can’t help but try and do it better than Twitter did. If these two things were not true, I think we would all be just fine talking on IRC and ICQ, but I digress.

Rejaw allows you to embed your music, movies, and images right into your updates and allows for threaded conversation around those updates. Here are just a few people that I find to be catalysts for conversation on Rejaw. Be sure to check them out if you decide to join us.

Mona – “So, I have a question. There are A LOT of people on Social Networking sites, who complain about Social Networking sites, yet they still participate. Why do they do that?” (Yes, THE Mona)

diozaliciouz18 – “whoa! so princess is back and no one minds my presence?! omg! where’s my hero and my heroine [s] ?!”

Kelly – “A big WELCOME to all the new people that just got here! I would stay and get to know you all, but I have to get back to sleep.”

Chachafance – “It’s funny how people are just now catching on to Rejaw, getting excited & joining. Don’t they realize they’ve been missing out for awhile now? lol”

Wayne Sutton – “Hello everyone, so Leo started a Rejaw Rush? we’ve been here for 2 weeks shouting and whispering. So how do you like Rejaw so far?”

Gwen Sutton – “Side effect of Rejaw, you find nice people.”

Avatar X – “Leo Laporte is here. get ready for the flow of new users.”

Ciro – “My public apologies to my followers…for having to endure my thread replies…me and AvatarX just beat a new Rejaw record…I believe…”

The Rejaw Team (yup, they participate)

Rejaw
Danny Burkes
Chris Boone
Satoshi Nakagawa
Kenn Ejima

Oh, and this guy is supposed to be kind of a big deal: Leo Laporte

You can Shout at me here: http://rejaw.com/rahsheen

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Cross-Posting Etiquette: The Evils of Ping.fm and HelloTxt

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A little while ago, I did a post on using Ping.fm without spamming FriendFeed. This was followed up with a post by Andy DeSoto, where he talks about whether this Ping.fm cross-posting is saving time at the expense of others. Now, I know there are a lot of people in the social media community who are against etiquette and I totally understand where they are coming from. The problem is there are some things that you can do that make you look like a very bad and inconsiderate person.

There are people that I am really interested in following. I want to be aware of things going on with them. That’s why I follow them. I hate to see these people tarnish their image by abusing community technology tools. Social media is about being social. You have to listen as well as talk. Services like Ping.fm and HelloTxt are very powerful and can cause a lot of damage to this interaction in the wrong hands.

Using an ‘@’ symbol in Ping.fm

Are you serious? As Andy pointed out in his post, the ‘@’ is pretty specific to Twitter replies and doesn’t really translate to other services. Even in the rare case where you might be talking to a person who actually exists on two or more different services, why would you ‘@’ them on all of them? I don’t need to see your Twitter ‘@’ replies on Identi.ca. The person you’re talking to don’t live here and nobody can piece together what you’re talking about.

Your follower count is 0, Zero, Zilch

Are you broadcasting to a service where you are following 0? Nobody? Nadie? Why would you do this? I know I’m new here and all, but having a large number of followers and a low (nonexistant?) number of people you’re following is the mark of a spammer. I understand that you may not be active on every service, but come on. You didn’t even try. People may be interested in what you broadcast and then totally reversed once they see you are not listening.

You Never Check Your Updates

Have you ever received a call from an automated message? Annoying, isn’t it? If you are not available to speak to me live, why the hell did you call? I figure that most of us use Social Media to connect with others, but how are you doing this effectively if you don’t even respond when people try to engage with you? When you broadcast to a service, people expect that you are actually there. You are available for discourse. When you don’t respond, that leaves people with a bad impression.

Step Your Game Up

We can’t all be on every service all the time. It’s just not possible unless you’re a robot or you have some slick software yet to be released (I can haz beta key, please?). You have to set realistic goals for interacting with the community. It’s fine if you want to jump on every new service that comes out. Go ahead, play around with it. That’s what we do, right? Here are some basic guidelines to help you out:

  • Do not plug every service you have an account with into Ping.fm or HelloTxt just because
  • Do not make Ping.fm your primary method for using Twitter or any other specific service
  • Do not ever use Ping.fm to send an @reply. Period.
  • If you are not going to check a specific site at least once or twice a day, don’t broadcast there

Think about a person you would just love to have a discussion with. You have followed there blog or maybe heard them speak on a podcast. You would really like to get into this person’s head and here they are right in front of you! The problem is, no matter what you do to get their attention, they ignore you. They have a megaphone in hand and they are shouting at someone you can’t even see. Other people nearby are looking at this person like they’re crazy. Now, turn things around. Are you the nut job with the megaphone?

Stay Tuned

This post is not aimed at anyone in particular. I just felt compelled to share because I really hate running into situations where very interesting and intelligent people are misusing these services and probably don’t even know it. I took Plurk out of Ping.fm because I never go there. I dislike it immensely, so it would be wrong to continuously post there. Be considerate of others. This is a community, after all.

Far be it from me to call someone ashy without being able to provide a little lotion. There are many ways that you can make your life easier in keeping track of all these different micro-blogging services. I plan to share them with you at a later date, but this post has become entirely too long and I got updates to check.

Get the next installment here: Being Everywhere At Once