twitter

LAS VEGAS--There are millions of people who use Twitter--the microblogging site where all messages must be 140 or fewer characters long--but I can't think of anyone more active on the service than self-proclaimed "tech geek blogger" Robert Scoble.

Not only does he have nearly 48,000 people who follow him (read his Twitter posts which are called "tweets") but he follows nearly 21,000 people. I ran into Robert at the Showstoppers reception at CES where I asked him how he can possibly keep up with that many people on Twitter. After that I asked … Read more

LAS VEGAS--After writing several how-to books about computers, Web development, and other aspects of technology, Dave Taylor decided to take his show to the Web by creating AskDaveTaylor.com, a Q&A site focused on tech. He says that the site, which carries advertising, is bringing in enough money to support him, making him something of a role model for others who are looking for career options. He's also an avid Twitter user, which he says helps him build traffic for his Web site and enhance his other businesses.

At the Showstoppers event at the Consumer Electronics Show, … Read more

The debate over whether you should follow everyone who follows you on Twitter has raged on ever since the popular microblogging service gained traction. Some say following everyone eliminates the real value Twitter provides--connecting with others of similar interests. Others say that following everyone actually provides more value.

But if you consider some of the finer points of following everyone who follows you on Twitter, I think you might come to the realization, just as I have, that following everyone is not just a responsible move on your part, it's good of the entire community.

Nope, there aren't rules, but there is etiquette

There aren't any rules forcing you to follow your followers on Twitter, but that doesn't mean it's not the right thing to do.

If someone has found you compelling in some way, shouldn't you give them the benefit of the doubt and follow them back? It's not like you can't block them in the future if you think their tweets are inappropriate.

To me, Twitter is all about the community. And by signing up, that community has made the conscious decision to interact and share interests, ideas, and personal information. If someone follows you, they're saying, in effect, that they want to hear what you have to say and care about your ideas.

I don't see anything wrong in following them as a gesture of appreciation and confirmation that you're willing to hear what they have to say, as well. After all, if you want to become a part of the community, isn't it only right that you hold up your end of the bargain and give them the same respect they've given you?

The 'noise' argument holds little water

Whenever I discuss my reasoning for following everyone who follows me on Twitter, I invariably receive the same response from those who disagree: "following everyone is too much trouble and you can't find all the conversations you actually want to engage in."

Rubbish.

I currently follow over 2,400 people on Twitter and I've never had an issue finding really interesting and relevant information. Sure, some of it has nothing to do with me--discussions about grilled cheese sandwiches, for one--but there's quite a bit that my followers discuss that I'm interested in. I'd say that more than 80 percent of all the updates that flow through my stream are worthy of discussion. And I don't think I'm unique.… Read more

Western civilization may never again be the same.

Grant Robertson, who goes by the Twitter handle, @grobertson, used the microblogging service to propose marriage to his girlfriend, Christina Warren, known in the tweetosphere as @film_girl. (Thanks to Erick Krangel for bringing this to everyone's attention.)

This isn't the first time nerds have turned to technology for amorous pursuits. But it's about as cutting edge--or lame, as it gets. All depends on your point of view. So sound off and vote in our poll to the right.

Hey, guys, news flash: Twitter is good for something.

This morning, I crawled out of bed and headed to the kitchen to make coffee, but upon turning on the faucet, I noticed that the water flowing out of it was a sketchy brown shade. Not good--especially since New York is one of those cities that prides itself on having a water purification infrastructure so advanced that you can drink right out of the tap.

My roommates weren't around. My landlord had no idea what was up. And an hour later, the water wasn't back to normal. So in … Read more

Currently in private beta, CoTweet is designed for companies and teams that need control over their use of Twitter as a brand. One of the big challenges of using Twitter as a team is that you are forced to share one login and you can't track who posted what Tweet.

This is a great idea and one that I am sure many companies would be willing to pay for the service, likely moreso if it had come from Twitter itself, instead of a third-party.

Trying to figure out Twitter's business model is a common parlor game here in … Read more

Greetings from sunny Las Vegas! It's sunny, but not hot at all, which is awesome. Today's CES show was a nice dry run, but tomorrow is when the real fun starts. So make sure to stop by the CNET stage at 5 p.m. pacific time to catch us live! Did we mention there will be giveaways?

On today's show Ariel Nunez joins us to talk about why Macworld was absolutely terrible and why you'll need an HDTV to listen to Ludacris' new record. Then we'll discuss Ludacris' comments about our own Natali Del Conte. … Read more

A rumor floated on the Twitter account known as The Media Is Dying--which, for obvious reasons, has been fairly active as of late--indicated on Wednesday morning that Current Media, the cable and Web media company co-founded by former Vice President Al Gore, is closing its San Francisco office. The Twitter account, which has broken a handful of accurate layoff and shutdown stories as of late, claimed that it had "confirmed" the office closing.

But Current was quick to deny the rumor. Not that we have to remind you, but don't believe everything you read on Twitter.… Read more

Finding friends on Twitter was simple when the service was in its infancy, but today, Twitter is home to millions of users. In fact, 70 percent of the entire Twitter community is composed of people who signed up in 2008 and 5,000 to 10,000 new users sign up each day.

That's why I've compiled a list of some great solutions that have helped me find friends more efficiently than asking for their usernames.

Twitter search

Maybe this is an obvious pick, but using Twitter search to find friends on Twitter actually works quite well. The feature allows users to search for a person by name and based on that information, it will return all the Twitter users who registered under that name.

Overall, Twitter's search tool is really fast, and will find the person you're looking for without much digging. That said, it has one severe limitation: finding people with common names like John Smith will take some time, and it's only useful when searching for a specific person.

Twubble

If you haven't tried Twubble out yet, it's time you give it a spin.

Twubble is simple and requires little to help you find friends. Upon surfing to the site, you're presented with a "Find some friends!" button, which when clicked, analyzes your Twitter account and finds people who you may want to follow. I was skeptical at first, but after clicking the button, the service returned a slew of colleagues and friends that I had no idea were on Twitter. I followed many of them and tried the button again. This time, it returned many of the same people and most of the users that I had already followed were displayed. Twubble realized that, though, and delivered a disclaimer saying it may not work as well the second time around if you follow many people.

Although the same results are returned multiple times, it's the first run-through that matters. If you want to find friends and colleagues quickly, Twubble offers a fine solution for doing just that.

Mr. Tweet

Mr. Tweet is similar to Twubble in that it analyzes your Twitter account to find other people that it thinks you should follow. But what it provides that Twubble doesn't is a host of stats with information about how you may know a particular person and how active they are on Twitter.

If you want, Mr. Tweet will even auto-follow all the people it finds for you, but it requires you to hand over your username and password to the service to do it--a major security issue, if you ask me. Regardless, it works extremely well and returned a nice list of people worth following.

I chose to follow them myself, though. I don't need any help from Mr. Tweet.… Read more