Do you Twitter?

[plmccordj]

Cuatrodemayo,

Facebook has recently added some features that originated on Friendfeed for the purpose of generating discussion. The old Facebook was similar to Myspace in that it only allowed posting on another person's wall. The weakness in this method is that it only allows the casual observer to see one side of the conversation. One could click on the "Wall to Wall" link and be able to see both sides but it is not very convenient if you have multiple people posting on your wall. This is the reason I rarely post on someone’s wall. Instead I comment on their updates.

Friendfeed has a feature of aggregating your updates from all of your social networking programs onto a single feed. On Friendfeed, you can comment on the original update right there on the Friendfeed page allowing the casual reader to see both sides of the conversation whether the update was from Facebook, Flickr, Tumblr, or whatever system you decided to add. In recent days Facebook has incorporated this feature into their page. When someone like me uses the Twitter application on Facebook, it updates my Facebook status when I am on the road. I send an update to Twitter via SMS (text) message to 40404. Others can see my updates and comment on them directly on the Facebook page making it easier to follow both sides of the conversation.

Many people that I follow on Facebook use it in this manner so I get these status updates continuously throughout the day. I make no apology for this because that is how it is meant to operate. Now if you or anyone else gets tired of getting these updates, all you have to do is look at any one of updates on Facebook and hover your mouse over the right side of it and an "options" box appears. From this options box, you can select "Less about _____". This will slow the updates from that user. You can do this enough times that you get no updates from this user. I often use this feature when someone continuously posts political comments that I disagree with.

My point is that the Twitter application is meant to keep a stream of information going so that users can comment on those updates. It was designed to be that way on purpose. One of the good things about Twitter is that it has information flowing 24 hours a day and you can check in and check out of this information flow any time you want. If you receive Twitter messages on your phone, you can send the message "off" to 40404 and they shut off for now. If one user is getting on your nerves, you can send "off and their user name" and you will not receive any more messages from this person again until you send "on" again.

I understand that it is not for everyone. People like different things and that is normal. I do not like casinos but I know many people that just love them. My point is that if Twitter is not something that you would find interesting then do not use it. If you do not like getting updates from me or anyone else, turn them off or un-follow me. I do it all the time and have no offense to anyone when I do it. It is just a convenience to check in or out when I am available with nothing to do. When I am bored sitting in the doctor’s office, it is a good time to update, and comment on other’s updates. When I am in a meeting, I turn them all off for obvious reasons. It is just an information flow that I use to check in and out all the time. Cuatrodemayo, I hope this explains the way I use it so you can choose to turn the updates on or off. I take no offense in you turning off my updates. That is how it is supposed to work. No hard feelings on my end.

Paul