Twintro: Twitter's 'blind dating' service

Robert Balousek, my collaborator on the Swagalicio.us blog, has launched Twintro a new service to help Twitter users find people to follow outside of the usual self-reinforcing Twitterholic circle.

If you follow Twintro on Twitter, you'll get updates from a different "fascinating, amusing, and thought-provoking" Twitter user every day. If you like what you're reading, you just start following that person so you keep getting their updates. You'll get a new person the next day.

Here are full instructions.

I think Rob is onto something, although this little service is all about the content. Rob's the guy manning the velvet rope, deciding who gets Twintro'd each day. I hope he has good taste. You can nominate yourself or someone else.

Related idea: I'd like it if there were a way to subscribe to the thought leaders in a particular category all at once. For example, I want to bulk-follow the best 10 or so Twitterers covering the presidential election--likewise, the best science writers and whoever is covering San Francisco politics well.

My name for this dream feature is "Twitter packs." If anyone knows of something like this, drop me a line or respond in comments, and I'll cover it. The same idea could work for FriendFeed; the "rooms" feature doesn't quite do it.

[andrew.mager]

I hope that if I miss a day of following Twintro, that I could see a back list of people it's followed.

Overall, I am excited to see this idea take off. Good post Rafe.

[aTales]

I love the idea, but I'm kinda going off twitter, I see a bigger future in Laconica...

[nolandcarter]

"Hi". Let's here it for those who refuse to participate in this political charade and are being viified for doing so. I thought one had the right of non participation. Let's here it for those who try to keep their opinion's to oneself, but when prodded to speak are chastised and dismissed because the response is not to their liking. Let's here it for the independent, emancipated, free thinkers out there.