Bruce Lerner

As I first  wrote this (2008.02.29), I'd been a twitter user for about 2 weeks and just embarrased myself with Steve Gillmor on NewsGang Live. I'm normally ok with new tools, but with twitter, there's been a disconnect. First there the issue of "what is this good for?". After that, there's the idea of "following" people and answering the question "What am I doing?" Fortunately I also just found the "tweet sheet" created by Jason Theodor, which lists the commands available in a pocket size format. I've collected the Twitter 'commands' and I'm also collecting Twitter 'hints'. Of course, after I created this page, I found the official page. I also started my Twitter wishlist.

Some answers (updated 6/24/2008). 

What is twitter good for? So far:

• becoming part of a new community
• making friends
• learning
• informing (you'll have to tell me, actually)
• 2 or 3 degree separation goes to 1 with a "follow" (new 2008.03.04)
• Here's a short video explanation
  

Twitter becomes interesting when you are watching enough twitter traffic to stay engaged. People will find you when you follow them and follow you back if you tweet frequently enough on topics they are interested in. If you aren't jumping into Twitter with a group of friends, there are a couple of ways to find people with similar interests.

• Use Summize to find people tweeting about things you are interested in (e.g. gaming, chemistry, pubs, knitting), then follow
  them.
• Find news sources to get a stream of current topics. Often discussions can ensue. (NYTimes, ZDNET, MarsPhoenix, techmeme, newsgang)
• TRACK topics of interest.

You need to contribute to the conversation if you want people to follow you.

• Its NOT as creepy as it sounds
• They can block you
• You can block them

What am I doing?

• You don't actually have to only answer that question. You can also:
  • ask what others are doing
  • tell people what you're thinking
  • answer questions
  • ask questions
  • point to information
• right now I'm finishing up a blog post, thank you.