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Posts Tagged → SMS

May 31st, 2008

Twitter Troubles (Worth It)

As many of you have found, Twitter has been having problems with instant messaging (IM), and paginations.  I have been frustrated with these issues myself but I hope they will be back up full time soon.  Their service has become so cool that there are literally thousands of new people signing up each day.  There are stories all over the Internet about their problems but this is more  proof of the popularity of their service.

Although I have been frustrated myself, I also am willing to give them some time to fix the issues because they are so unique.  There are times when I am in a meeting and I can quietly follow people’s conversations.  I like the fact that I can post a message that I am doing something and my friends and family can follow what I am doing on my page.  I have run across people that think it is a worthless application while I have come across those that are addicted like myself.  I use Twitter every day when I am out and about.  The very cause of their problems are a result of their popularity.  One thing that may help to fix it would be to limit the number of people you can have as contacts.  I know some people that have more than 20,000 contacts.  Clearly those people are not all friends.  It may help to limit the number that can be sent via SMS but not limith the number of people that you have as contacts.

It is nice being able to have contacts with people that are connected with a certain type of industry but just limit their SMS capability.  Examples of this would be to be connected with Robert Scoble, Leo Laporte, etc. because they have connections in the computer industry.  I follow them for this very reason.  It is not that I know them or even agree with them on some things but it is nice to be able to know when new technology related startup companies are around.  This is how we keep up with new things.  In a similar way, if you were interested in other hobbies, you could follow the people that are involved in that industry keeping  you abreast of the newest things in that industry.

I personally cannot express how valuable Twitter can be if done correctly.  On the surface, it seems like a cool little toy but it has become a big part of our lives here.  When I was at the Lake last weekend with no Internet in sight.  I heard from a friend 500 miles away via SMS that they had seen a video of a tornado happening right then in my own state.  I would not have known anything about this being at the lake.  I love the fact that I can notify 100 people of something as soon as it happens via an SMS message and then the news spreads exponentially.  I even read a story about a guy Twittering a message that he had been arrested in Egypt and this resulted in the authorities in our country getting him released.  Because of this, I would suggest that people have some patience with Twitter and understand that the very problems they have been having are due to their popularity.

I will give them some time because this is a worthy cause.  Some of my friends refuse to use Twitter but they will use Facebook.  When I update Twitter, it updates my Facebook status thanks to a Twitter plugin that is in Facebook.  I would encourage everyone to take a breath and have some patience with Twitter and understand the value.  As the owner said yesterday in an interview with Robert Scoble The fact that people are getting angry is a testament of the value they have created.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: Twitter, tech, technology, Scoble, Robert Scoble, troubles, tweets, SMS

By Paul • Posted in Internet, Twitter, opinion, social networking • Comments
May 26th, 2008

Twitter!

In a funny attempt to get seen on Techmeme, Michael Arrington posted a one word blog post on Techcrunch last night and it has spread across the Internet.  That one word post was…

“Twitter!”

This post was though meant to be a joke, actually made it on Techmeme, along with about every other tech hobbyist’s site including mine.  I wasn’t sure exactly what it was about until I read his Twitter page.  I would not have posted about it myself except that I love Twitter.  This Memorial Day weekend was a perfect example of how wonderful Twitter is.  We went to Lake Eufaula this weekend to visit with my father in-law.  Although I did have a great time, I was missing my connected life with the Internet.  Even on the third floor of his house, I could not receive any wifi at all.  I felt like a smoker trying to survive the first day of no smoking.  At least I could send and receive Twitter messages through SMS on my cell phone.  Even at the water I could stay in touch with those friends that I have online.  Call me an Internet Junkie but this started way before the Internet.  As a ham radio operator of 25 years, I have been accustomed to communicating to remote places.  Now that the Internet has so many communication tools, it fits right in with me.

As always, you can follow me and my happenings by following my Twitter page.  These tools are becoming so widespread that more and more aggregate readers are coming along.  The newest one that seems to be the rage is Friendfeed.  With this new toy, it creates a news feed with all your Twitter, Pownce, Facebook, Youtube, Flicker, Tumblr, among others.  It is pretty nice as you can see my Friendfeed page here.  With Friendfeed, you can keep in touch with all the social actions a person makes on the Internet.  It seems to be pretty cool.  My favorite is still Twitter because of the SMS (text messaging) capability and it automatically updates my Facebook status.  I like that I can get messages through Skype, Flock, Google Talk (ughh).  If you get tired of all my new toys, you can just follow me on my Friendfeed page because it shows them all.  I guess I have sold out for these new toys and love to be able to communicate while mobile.  I just wish I could settle on just one.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: socialnetworking, Twitter, Pownce, Flickr, Friendfeed, Tumblr, Skype, Flock, Google Talk, Facebook, SMS

By Paul • Posted in Technology, opinion, social networking • Comments
March 27th, 2008

Social Networking and SMS

As most of you know, I am an Internet junkie and love to play with social networks minus Myspace.  No matter how much I try, I just cannot get into Myspace.  I have grown to love Twitter because of its short messaging system (SMS) capability.  It is really nice to be mobile and get text messages to my phone.   I can be out mobile and just send a text message to 40404 and it shows up on my Twitter page.  I wish Facebook would include T-Mobile in their mobile service.  I have been with T-Mobile since 2000 when it was Voicestream.  I really like Facebook but I wish they would wake up and realize that T-Mobile is NOT a small mobile service.  They are one of the major carriers and should be included in their mobile accounts.  I have been happy with their service and have no intentions of changing after eight years.

Facebook and Twitter go well together.  If I am out somewhere and post a Twitter message, it automatically updates my Facebook status and shows on the Facebook feed.  There are many programs similar to Twitter like Pownce, or Jaiku but I stick with Twitter because of the SMS.  I do not understand why they all do not include SMS.  Yes, I can go to their mobile page and log in to check the page but that is too much trouble.  Having SMS, allows me to get a message sent “to” me as opposed to having to go search for it.  I can be in a meeting at work, and get a message right to my phone.  This is where putting the phone on silent really helps :-) .  If they did not have any other features, SMS should be included.  Using mobile web is nice but not that convenient.

I think Pownce has a lot of potential but until they get SMS, they will never get a large following like Twitter does.  Myspace has finally included SMS but it is rediculous.  They send you an SMS message telling you that you have a new Myspace message.  Then you have to log into Myspace to check your message.  What a waste!  If i am in a meeting and do not have a computer nearby or do not want to pay extra for the mobile web, then I do not know the what or who the message is from.  If I am in a meeting, then I have to be discreet when checking my messages.  You cannot be very discreet while logging on to the web.

If you are like me and want to stay connected when I am away from home, you will love these toys.  I must say that my favorite is the Twitter/Facebook combination.  So far I think they are light years ahead of the others.  Without question MySpace is the worst.  It is the AOL of social networking.  They will not allow access through other forums and even their SMS is only one way and does nothing more than tell you that you have some information on their website.  Their pages are geared toward teens with hormone overload.  Every page has some girl wearing scantily clad outfits with some provocative comment.  I will admit that one thing that really bothers me about Facebook is the way it automatically requests you to send new applications to all of your friends by default.  When I get those, I always say no.

I am curious to see how this is going to hold up in the long run.  To my knowledge Twitter has no means of generating income so as much as I love it, I am not sure what their long term strategy is but for now it is just a lot of fun.  Oh…one more thing.  I know Microsoft Vista gets a lot of heat for many reasons but one thing that I love about it is the tagging features. For those that have come to love Flickr and its tagging and searching capability, you would love the fact that Microsoft has included this into Vista.  Lets hope this becomes standard and open to other standards.  I like having the ability to tag my photos and have this information embedded into the file itself making it search able.  If you are like me and have thousands of photos on your computer, it is nice to be able to search through them.  The new Office 2007 has the tagging capability as well even if you use the old Windows XP.

If people ever find out about these features and start to use them, it would make their lives a lot easier.  How nice to be able to find a single photo out of a library of 10,000.  I guess I have rambled long enough so I will get this sent.

Blogged with the Flock Browser

Tags: Twitter, Jaiku, Pownce, Facebook, SMS, MySpace, T-Mobile, AOL, Microsoft, Vista, Office 2007, tagging Flickr,

By Paul • Posted in Technology, Twitter, opinion, social networking • Comments