Running Notes

We will post simple (it has to fit in 140 characters) tips for Lotus Notes Developers. Please follow, retweet and most importantly reply with your tips! We will retweet your tips, so send them in!

Posted by Kathy Brown At 11:32 AM Location Portsmouth, NH | Permalink | Comments (4)

Follow people. This one *may* seem obvious, but if you only follow 5 people, you aren’t really going to get a lot of value out of Twitter. Someone compared Twitter to a giant cocktail party. The more people there, the more conversations you can listen to or get involved in. A cocktail party with only five people doesn’t offer a lot of variety.

Follow good people. I see lots of people follow loads of celebrities. Fine, I guess, if that’s your thing. I personally don’t get it. I am a runner and a Lotus Developer. I follow lots of runners and lots of Lotus people. I started with a few Lotus people, then saw who they were following. I clicked on profiles and if I liked what someone was saying, then I followed them. Over time, if someone didn’t tweet a lot, or just wasn’t interesting me, I unfollowed them.

Don’t follow too many people. If you’re just starting and you follow 500 people, you’re head will explode. There are services out there for bulk following, but I don’t recommend that unless you’re going to market a product, or have recently quit your job and have nothing better to do than keep up with Twitter. There are a couple of services that recommend people to follow, like Mr. Tweet, and I think those can be useful.

Learn the lingo. Learn how Twitter works. This is a very basic video showing how to get started. You need to understand “replies”, “mentions”, “DMs” and some other lingo and how it works. Google is your friend.

Get a good client. The web interface just isn’t that great. It’s simple and workable, but a lot of the complaints that people have with Twitter are easily handled in a good client. I like Tweetdeck for my desktop (I have a PC, I hear loads of people like Tweetie for Mac) and Ubertwitter for my Blackberry.

Now to address some complaints (chiefly the ones from Rob’s linked post in my last entry, but they are common, so I’m addressing them):

No unread marks – The answer to this is to get a good client that maintains unread marks for you. I personally, am not bothered by this, but I see how one could be.

People say inane things – Really? I’m sorry to burst your bubble, but that isn’t limited to Twitter. And seriously, if the “I’ve just gone the bathroom” example tweet is used one more time, I’m going to have to tweet that “I’m throwing up”. I have NEVER seen tweets about *that*. Yes, there are inane tweets, but there are inane Facebook status updates and inane emails and inane blog posts and inane posterous posts and …

Disjointed conversations – I’m sticking with the cocktail party analogy. That’s actually what I like about it, incidentally, if someone is boring me, I just don’t follow that conversation, and can easily jump in (butt in) to another one.

And now in all fairness, I present to you 25 Ways To Be A Total Tool on Twitter (and YES, I have done some of these)...

Posted by Kathy Brown At 10:20 AM Location Portsmouth, NH | Permalink | Comments (1)

Add to that another study (this one with a whopping 350 users in the sample size) that says 80% of Tweets are "me now" or vanity tweets. So what? I'd wager close to 100% of Facebook is vanity "news", look at my kids, look at my score on Bejeweled, look at my drunken college pics. No one is putting down Facebook for being all about "me". Isn't that sort of the point of Twitter? The prompt on twitter.com says "What are you doing?". Wouldn't my answer to that by definition be about me? And what's wrong with that? Is that any different than most blogs?

And of course, the study that says "40% of all tweets are drivel", or whatever.

I've never studied my email inbox, but I'm willing to bet 40% of that is drivel, too. That doesn't mean it doesn't have a use, especially in the corporate world.

Yes, most likely the majority of what I tweet is utter crap. And some of what I read is utter crap. HOWEVER, that utter crap has purpose.

Twitter as a resource. I've occasionally had a problem that I could not solve and my "tweeps" have helped me out. On a daily basis I see tweets like "Has anyone ever ... [fill in the technical question]" and people respond and help out. Are there other means for this? Sure, I guess. There are forums that are infrequently checked and not always answered. Twitter is immediate. The response is usually quick, even if it's "Sorry, I don't know." at least you get a response quickly. Some say Facebook or LinkedIn can be technical resources, but I don't find that to be the case. Facebook is too personal. It's mostly friends and some colleagues, but largely a way for us all to show eachother photos of our kids or our vacations. Not typically (for me anyway) where I'm going to find technical answers. Also, Facebook doesn't seem as timely as Twitter. I don't mean that Facebook is slow, but that people don't check it as often, or post as often, or respond as quickly. LinkedIn is much more professional, but REALLY lacks the speed and comraderie that I find on Twitter. Really, how often do you check LinkedIn? And how often do you check their forums or answer questions?

Twitter as community. I've actually made friends on Twitter. Can Facebook or LinkedIn say that? Not for me. When someone shares small bits of themselves (up to 140 characters!) on a frequent basis, you can get to know them. If you jump in and respond to them, and share your own bits, you can actually do this thing called making friends. Facebook is useful for maintaining friendships, but not for making them. LinkedIn is way too impersonal and doesn't even maintain relationships (for me), so much as show me who I know and who my colleagues know.

Twitter as networker. This point sort of combines the first two...add community and resource and I guess you get network, right? I've seen lots of Tweetups get organized when someone Tweets "I'll be in so and so in blah blah". People respond and say they'd like to meet up. Again, I just don't see this happening on other sites like Facebook and LinkedIn. Several Lotus folks were at LoLA in Boston recently. I never would have known if it weren't for Twitter. As it was, I heard about it through Twitter, was able to meet up with some people and had a great time with some great people. Some people I had already known and some I got to meet for the first time.

So what's the difference? Why have I had such a great experience on Twitter when so many people get a username and then just don't get it? I got involved. Another post to follow on how *I* use Twitter and some thoughts on how to get a better experience out of it.

Posted by Kathy Brown At 1:45 PM Location Portsmouth, NH | Permalink | Comments (6)

I then practically had my own little Twitterverse going on my screen with five different chat windows open, trying to explain to be people that I was fine. I was coping. I could handle it. Really, I am okay.

So the question is, how many times have YOU hit refresh?

Posted by Kathy Brown At 10:27 AM Location Portsmouth, NH | Permalink | Comments (11)

A LOT of blog posts have been written questioning the value of Twitter. A lot. I know. So move on if you aren’t interested in reading another. But, I think (hope) mine has a slightly different slant.

Many proponents of twitter will argue that they get value by following like-minded individuals, mining through the worthless tweets (“I’m at the grocery store!”) for the valuable nuggets (“Oh, to fix that, just do x”). And I agree there is value like this to be had on Twitter.

However, the greatest value I get from Twitter is the community. I work in IT. IT departments can be small. Mine is. We’re well-suited to the size of our company, but still, there’s only three of us. I am the only developer (as I may have mentioned about 50 times on this blog). Twitter provides me with a virtual water cooler. A place where I can vent about silly, but frustrating things TO PEOPLE WHO UNDERSTAND. Seriously, if I said half of the things I say on Twitter to people “in real life”, they would look at me like I have two heads. Or at the very least, their eyes would glaze over, they would mumble something incoherent and walk away.

Twitter is a place where I can “hear” about other people’s similar frustrations. We can all laugh about stupid end users (not mine, of course, users of my applications are all brilliant). I can vent and rant, and read other people’s vents and rants. I can be frustrated and tired and not thinking clearly and tweet about it and get back six snarky and hilarious replies. The value of Twitter is that I can laugh and move on, get back to work refreshed and ready.

Seriously, isn’t that incredibly valuable to a company? Rather than pumping me full of crappy coffee in the hopes that I can caffeinate my way through the day, we should have mandatory Twitter breaks.


[Comments posted on my prior blog]

jonvon said...
'xactly. nice post, @kjbrown13!
April 17, 2009 10:07 AM


Curt Carlson said...
Hey if Twitter works for you, then it works for you but can't those same people be available via, Linked in or Facebook or any of the other ways we already had to communicate?. I tried to find value in twitter but I failed. I concluded that twitter is the latest,greatest fad and will fade to obscurity just like My Space. I have to agree with this guy....
http://www.joethepeacock.com/2009/03/ultimate-guide-to-twitter.php
April 17, 2009 10:16 AM


Kathy said...
That post was amusing and had some points, Twitter may very well be the Paris Hilton of technology, who knows? For me personally, I like to keep Facebook more for my personal connections than work-related connections (and honestly, I rarely even check Facebook anymore, if someone sends me one more #$%&ing quiz or fake beer or whatever, I may lose it).
LinkedIn seems too professional. At least when I first got on there. You have to request someone as a connection, wait to be approved. Like facebook, but for your boss.
I like Twitter for the casual-ness of it. I can follow someone and they can choose to follow me, if they want. Whatever, no big deal. There's more of a banter, a back and forth. I think it ALL depends on who you follow. If you're following a bunch of people who are JUST tweeting about their trip to the grocery store, then yeah, you're not going to get much value out of it, unless you're really into grocery stores. ;)
April 17, 2009 10:25 AM


Corey Davis said...
I started using Twitter for a different reason, but quickly found that what you stated is the absolute truth. As Curt points out above, this is not the case for everyone. My wife finally joined and after a few months has found little value in it. I think this all stems from the community that you follow/follow you. We, the "Lotus community", for lack of a better name, have a leg-up on others because we have been communicating via blogs for a decade or more. Twitter has only increased the response time.
April 17, 2009 11:08 AM


Joe Litton said...
Yup ...I don't post on Twitter (or Facebook, my blogs, etc) nearly as often as I'd like ...but Twitter IS the easiest way to quickly see what my Lotus peeps are up to, to glean some tidbits of brilliant knowledge, and to stay semi-connected to a group of folks whom I consider to be friends just as much (in some cases more) than the folks I see more often in person.
I *LIKE* that idea about mandatory Twitter breaks. Might have to try that. I don't smoke, and I drink the coffee at the desk, so a couple of Twitter breaks each day makes sense.
Here's to sanity! ...however fleeting or feigned it may be
April 17, 2009 11:20 AM


Anonymous said...
So Venting frustration is productive? News to me. I'm not a twitter fan, but I do find it useful when productive websites like smashingmagazine.com and NetTuts put some of their information that doesn't make it into their normal posts. I find alot of good information that way.
My opinion is if you're following other sites that are being productive, you'll pick up some of that information, but following individuals ranting and venting frustrations is pointless.
April 17, 2009 11:34 AM


Kathy said...
I find venting productive in the way that if I didn't vent, I might say something I shouldn't, to someone I shouldn't, and get myself fired. It may not be "productive" in the traditional sense, but being unemployed is definitely NOT productive. :)
April 17, 2009 12:24 PM


Devin Olson said...
@Anonymous - being able to vent, to people who grok you, is EXTREMELY productive. Reading the vents of others whom you grok is likewise productive. I understand the whole "bitching without providing a solution is pointless" way of looking at things -I just disagree with it.
Reading other people's vents provides a feeling of community for me. I may not have the same problems they are having, but I can understand them.
That being said, I still think twitter, facebook, etc are all time vampires. It doesn't mean I don't use them (I do) -but my primary usage is for venting.
I realize that is a weird dichotomy, but that's just how things are.
April 17, 2009 12:26 PM


Bilal Jaffery said...
I just went to the washroom.
April 17, 2009 1:08 PM


Bilal Jaffery said...
It has its value but there is way too much noise.
April 17, 2009 1:09 PM


Kathy said...
For the record, I have NEVER seen someone tweet that they went to the washroom. And, I probably contribute my share of noise, but I just tune out the noise. Someone (and I'm sorry I forget who) said it best, it's like a party - not everything you hear is going to be interesting, but you still go because SOMETHING will be interesting, and you'll probably have fun!
April 17, 2009 3:17 PM


Kathy said...
@Devin - "time vampire" - I love it! :)
April 17, 2009 3:18 PM

Posted by Kathy Brown At 8:32 PM Location Portsmouth, NH | Permalink | Comments (0)