Twitter, Tweets, And Twitteriffic

Posted by Scott McClellan on April 15th, 2008 at 8:54 am

Following yesterday’s post about our upcoming new site, three guys left encouraging comments. It took me a second to realize that all three guys are my Twitter peeps (if you will). That’s when I realized I love Twitter but had yet to mention it on the blog.

For those who don’t know anything about Twitter, here’s the Wikipedia summary: Twitter is a free social networking and micro-blogging service that allows users to send “updates” (or “tweets”; text-based posts, up to 140 characters long) to the Twitter website, via short message service (e.g. on a cell phone), instant messaging, or a third-party application such as Twitterrific or Facebook.

Notable church leaders/thinkers/bloggers using Twitter in some way, shape, or form include Mark Driscoll, Mark Batterson, Ben Arment, Todd Rhodes, DJ Chuang, Cynthia Ware, Terry Storch, Bobby Gruenewald, Tony Morgan, and many more. (Note: I did not have the energy to link to all of their Twitter pages, so find ‘em yourself.)

If you so desire, you can follow COLLIDE Magazine here and me here.

Also, I use Twitteriffic, a nice little app, to keep up with the daily barrage of tweets from across the Twitterverse.

What are your impressions of Twitter? Are you hooked like me, or so over it?

This entry was posted on Tuesday, April 15th, 2008 at 8:54 am and is filed under Tech, The Web. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.

17 Responses to “Twitter, Tweets, And Twitteriffic”

Maybe I just don’t get it yet, but Twitter seems like another way for me to waste time wondering “what everyone else is up to.” I don’t know. It just seems so “keeping-up-with-the-jones’” to me. But maybe I need to just dive in and try for awhile before I criticise, huh?? :-)

posted at 8:57 am on April 15th, 2008 by Ryan

Oh, I’m a fan. Twitter gives us all access to folks who we otherwise wouldn’t ever connect with…people with common interests and passions. Great for networking with other bloggers and church leaders. Sure, it can be a real time-waster if you let it. But really, it’s great to be able to ask questions and get some insight from these guys. I mean, where else could I try to talk Scott McClellan into jailbreaking his iPhone?

posted at 9:12 am on April 15th, 2008 by Phil

I can see where Twitter can be valuable. For one thing its a great way to speak to the core people who are involved in and really care about what you are doing. However, I also understand that it can be a huge time waster for those of us who have to be constantly checking the 400 people we are following. If you can control yourself and realize that its a useful ministry or business tool then by all means go for it, but if you can’t —steer clear! You will look up at 10pm and wonder where the day went.

SCOTT!!!! Don’t Jailbreak your iPHONE!!!!! Don’t do it man!!!

posted at 9:40 am on April 15th, 2008 by Tiffani Barnes

http://www.Twhirl.org MUCH better than Twitteriffic, IMHO.

And I already follow you… http://www.Twitter.com/ClaytonBell

posted at 9:49 am on April 15th, 2008 by Clayton Bell

Definitely hooked!

Have you added @ChaCha yet and asked it a question? A-mazing!

posted at 9:50 am on April 15th, 2008 by Stevan

Love it, been using it for many, many months (I have nearly 1200 updates, speaks to my Twitter-cred). We even used it at NewSpring’s Unleash 2008 conference for our video / motiongraphics breakout session:

http://www.twitter.com/avclubbreakout

We patched it to the main screens, and allowed people to submit questions via Twitter (as an option, not a requirement). Then instead of handing out outlines or notes, I had a volunteer “live twitter” the event and had our talking points hit the screen. Simultaneous summary AND online commentary.

Very fun.

posted at 11:03 am on April 15th, 2008 by ken

I’ve grown to enjoy Twitter, after initial hesitation. It’s not just “one new thing” - there’s many ways to use it. I really liked it initially because it let me micro-blog to my website (you can see my recent tweets on the right side).

Ken nailed it with some innovative uses - Twitter is a dream environment for real-time input & feedback during an event. Take NAB for example - I’m following all the industry big dogs, and can see what’s hot where. I’m also hoping to use it for our Luis Palau Festival here in Portland this Summer. Our people/volunteers could use it to post “what’s happening” notices from all over. Thanks again, Ken!

I don’t really “hang out” in the web stream, though. That can indeed be a waste of time. I tend to be careful about who I follow - I’ve already “un-followed” several luminaries who simply post too much.

Twitter is still pretty raw IMHO. It has a lot of potential, though.

If you don’t mind all the stuff I’ll be posting about NAB for the next 3 days, check me out here:
http://twitter.com/allanwhite

I’ve already connected with several industry folks I would not have otherwise.

posted at 11:27 am on April 15th, 2008 by Allan W.

Regarding the time-wasting effect: yeah, I agree. For me, it’s a ‘broadcast medium’ - until I want to spot a trend or see what’s happening. Then I’ll roll a search feed with Summize (example) or build a Yahoo Pipe to search for terms or people. I’ve only scratched the surface here.

posted at 11:35 am on April 15th, 2008 by Allan W.

At first I didn’t get it and then I wasn’t sure how it was going to contribute in a positive way to my life. I love new technology and innovation, but I need to make sure that it doesn’t just become clutter to my life. So I have been using it for less than a month, and it is beginning to grow on me. I am particularly interested in using it to update our church and prayer ministry with updates for our upcoming mission trip. I am still trying to see how this can seamlessly integrate into my life…but so far I am happy with the experiment.

posted at 12:43 pm on April 15th, 2008 by bill

we got hooked into twitter about a year ago. It has exploded in the last six months. A great was to connect and network. We use it to gather resources, share ideas, as well as let people know what I’m doing. I love the random tweets the best.

posted at 9:41 pm on April 15th, 2008 by travis

oh yeah….
follow me @tspencer

posted at 9:41 pm on April 15th, 2008 by travis

I tried to look but is there a way to combine your tweets to a facebook account? I seen somethings but can’t get them to workout

posted at 10:54 am on April 16th, 2008 by Patrick

My love has grown for the Twit. I use it frequently now and its not only increased my networking ability but also drives ppl to my blog.

posted at 8:54 pm on April 16th, 2008 by Terrace Crawford

I love Twitter. I have been on it for about 6 months and at first I wasn’t sure how to use it, and if it was even valuable for me to use.

But recently it has just been great to see what people are linking; I’ve used it to link my posts and advertise events. It’s just another stream of connecting with others, and it’s so quick and easy. rhett

posted at 11:39 am on April 17th, 2008 by Rhett Smith

I’m into twitter. Some people see it as a waste of time and a black hole that can rob of you of precious productivity, but i disagree. I love to read what people from all over the world are doing. Most of the time i find it far more interesting to read the “inbetween” stuff than people’s actual blog posts. I also put my twitter updates on the sidebar of my website so visitors there can see what i’m up to when i’m not writing. That’s it. Yay for twitter.

posted at 5:27 pm on April 21st, 2008 by Biscuet

I had an account for over a year but really got into it only a few months ago ( http://twitter.com/djbyron ) I likewise use Twitterific, but sometimes Twhirl.

I also posted a blog entry a few days ago in regards to configuration (might be helpful for newbies). http://twurl.nl/t8jfkt

posted at 9:45 am on April 22nd, 2008 by Dan (djByron)

I’ve been impressed with the ability to throw out a question to your followers and get a great, insightful answer to a question quick and easy. It’s kind of like @ChaCha, but in this case you’re asking a group of people you probably already trust for some reason. If anyone is interested I’m available at http://www.twitter.com/bnpositive and http://www.twitter.com/jasonbean Be sure and let me know you found me and introduce yourself!

posted at 9:00 pm on June 4th, 2008 by Jason Bean

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