I've written about this before, but it is something that I am thinking about today. So, I'm writing on it again.

...



It's quick. It's simple. It's convenient. It's twitter.

The combination of being more busy with work and family, with the convenience of twitter has led to my blogging has been sporadic over the last several months. Today, something happened to me and I wanted to let you all know about. My first inclination was to tweet about it. However, after thinking about for approximately 1.8 seconds, I determined that this was something that pre-twitter, I would have blogged about.

Then, I thought, "this happens a lot." I often, due to the circumstances I find myself in, choose to tweet instead of post to my blog. Ideas that once would have been expounded into a few paragraphs are conveyed in 140 characters or less. For some things, this is probably a good thing, but for others, the 140 characters is not enough to get my thoughts out.

I enjoy writing, especially when I can sit down and put together something well thought through that I feel others may enjoy reading, something others may have their own opinions on, which could spark conversation, or something that I feel others could gain something from. This is something twitter doesn't offer.

I think I'm going to make it a point to take more of the ideas I have and convert them into blog posts.

Labels: blogosphere, twitter

I just saw where twitter has a secondary application that allows you to search all of twitter for certain words so you can see what the buzz is about that word, e.g. "Palin" or "Hanna" or "Crunch-n-Munch". They even have an advanced search that really lets you narrow down your search. I think this twitter search thing could be used to give me almost every I want from my 'Searching' request.

I thought of another enhancement I'd like to see...

4. TinyURL
   
   I've noticed that sometimes when I enter a URL in a twitter update, twitter automatically uses TinyURL to shorten it. I'm not sure what is the determining factor for when they shorten it and when they don't. It's probably a length threshold.
   
   The first time I saw them do that, I was reminded of TinyURL, which I hadn't used in a really long time. Since, I have been shortening my URLs to give me more characters for the rest of my update. However, when I want to do that, I have to go to TinyURL.com, create my shortened URL and then, copy and paste it into my update.
   
   I would like to see a widget on the twitter site where I could create my shortened URL. I imagine that I would paste the the "long" URL into a field and then click a button. When I click the button, twitter would TinyURL-ify my URL, and the resulting shortened URL would be automatically be placed in my update.
   

I mentioned yesterday that I use Twitterific and in a comment Zack mentioned that he uses Twhirl.

What twitter apps do you use?

Labels: community, internet, twitter

I'm a big fan of twitter. A couple of months ago, they had some problems handling the load imposed on them by their users, but they seem to have gotten those kinks ironed out. Now, I can go on their site and quickly let the world, or at least the 83 people that follow me, know what I am up to. If you want to be number 84, you can follow me here: @rshannonsmith.

I also have my twitter updates go to my Facebook status and when I update using Twitterific, my Google Talk away message is automatically updated. It is quite the convenient service for those people like me that want to keep the world up to date with what's going on in their lives.

There are, however, a few things I wish twitter did that they don't, yet.

Here are the ones I am thinking about today...

1. Grouping
   
   I follow several people, 63 to be exact. These are people that I know personally, people that I know through others, and some people that I don't know at all except through what they post on the internet. I wish twitter had a way for me to create groups in my Recent feed.
   
   For example, Visio Dei has quite a few tweeters. I'd like to be able to see a feed of what my Visio Dei people are saying, separate from all the other updates. The same goes for people at work. I could have a group for them as well.
   
   If you work for Twitter and you are reading this, I would also like the ability to have a followee in multiple groups. I imagine it to be more like the labels in GMail, than a folder. I have co-workers that also happen to be apart of Visio Dei.
   


2. Sorting
   
   As far as I can tell, there is no method to the way followers and followees are listed on their respective pages. It just seems like some random list of tweeters. I'd like the ability to sort them alphabetically, by date added, and by date of last update.
   
   There are times when I am looking at my own followers and followees and I have to search for someone specific. However, I imagine I would also use this when looking at other people's followers and followees when I am looking for new people to follow.
   


3. Searching
   
   My updates are sort of like a timeline for my life. I update several times a day with whatever I have going on. Sometimes it is about what I had for lunch. Other times is can be about something I read. I'd like the ability to search updates.
   
   I'd like to be able to search my updates for a certain phrase, e.g. "Jesus for President". I'd also like to be able to search other people's updates. Maybe I could even search within my Visio Dei "group" for a certain phrase.
   
   I'd also like to search by date. Say I wanted to know what I was doing on July 4, 2008. I'd like to be able to put in that date and have it pull up my updates from that day.
   

Now, I know there are applications out there that are taking twitter data and making some of these functions available. However, I'd like to see some of these things available directly from Twitter; consolidated right there on Twitter page.

Do you have any enhancements you would like to see?

Labels: community, internet, twitter

My lady is. That's who. In case you missed it, Kim is now twittering, or tweeting, if you prefer. Give her some love. You can follow her at @kimberlymsmith.

If you aren't on twitter, you should be.

Labels: family, twitter