I know, I know, what a latecomer, right?
Before I get to what my post title alludes to, I need to provide some background info.
First, I have to admit that I’m an avid reader of Techmeme. I read it every day.
What’s Techmeme? In short, it tracks technology conversations (blog posts etc) happening online in real-time and displays the most popular, relevant conversations on its frontpage.
Here is Techmeme’s current most-popular items:
Anyways, what I’m trying to say is that I’m pretty plugged-in to new tech, startups, social media and news before it hits more mainstream press.
BUT… and, this is a big “but”… I’ve found that I’m slow to start using the social-networking, Web 2.0 and other services that I read about every day.
I’ll read about them, but it takes me forever to start using them. It’s because I like to figure out how they would be useful besides the fact they are cool, shiny and new.
Enter Twitter.
I’ve been reading about Twitter for like a year and half now. They’re the darling of the tech blogosphere. You can regularly find the top items on Techmeme discussing Twitter in one form or another.
At the end of March, I finally decided to try it out.
So, I created an account and added one of my friends. We joked about not getting Twitter. Than another of my friends joined. Than another. And, another.
We mostly use it as way to leave hilarious blurbs, interesting links and “too much information” life updates. Nothing serious. Nothing earth-shattering.
Well, I just signed-up for a second “public” Twitter account: buzzyeah.
This morning I checked my email and I noticed that a reporter for my local newspaper Press Democrat had added me.
Cool. So, I followed him back.
After adding him, I saw that he was having Twitter conversations with other Santa Rosa residents, including fellow Press Democrat reporters and employees (and CEO) of our local ISP sonic.net.
More interestingly, he wasn’t just providing updates of his lunch plans, he was Twittering what story he was working on and asked if anyone had any info.
And, people tweeted back.
I’m also seeing Santa Rosa people discuss good restaurants they just walked out of and the crazy Wi-Fi debacle in Sebastopol.
Funny, after reading all the hypebuzz about Twitter over the past year or so, I finally get how it can be useful. :)
If you want to find local Twitter-ers in your area, I suggest using TwitterLocal.
Also, the most recent Twitter-related news about the Berkeley grad student who used Twitter to tell his friends he was being jailed in Egypt is amazing.
Note: I cross-posted this to Fresh Squeezed Real Estate.
