Have you heard of Twitter?
It's an extremely simple service that let's you tell your friends what you're up to. It doesn't sound like much to talk about it, but it's an extremely effective and cool way to check in with your friends even when you're not with them--at work, home or while you're tooling around. You can "tweet" (posting a short message via Twitter) from your computer or most cell phones (you must have text messaging).
How does it work?
Click the image below or just
click this link and you'll arrive on a page that lets you know I use Twitter. First, you will need to join Twitter (it's free and hassle-free), then
go to my page again. Under my picture you'll see a "Follow Me" link. Click it and you will start receiving my tweets. Sweet.
You can use your Twitter home page to tweet to your friends, or you can get a Twitter client application for your computer--like Twitterific. Some cell phones also have Twitter applications, so you don't necessarily have to use text messaging.
Use Twitter to aggregate!
With all the different social networks, blogs and such, I am using Twitter as a common link to my friends. Sean may be on MySpace. Mark may be on FaceBook. But I get a tweet from them both each time they post to their separate social sites, because both of these social networks tweet--they can post a short version of your content to Twitter as an option!
When I post to
my personal blog, it automatically tweets the subject of my post and a link to its content. Then, all of my "followers" get a tweet from me. So, I can tweet directly through Twitter, or indirectly through my blog. You can do the same. Make sense?
Wait a minute--Blogs?
Yes, blogs. A blog is a web-based journal of your thoughts created using text, images, video--or all three. They can be personal journals, vacation highlights, or even commercial endeavors. Some authors blog and then after a year, turn the blog into a book.
If you are curious about blogs, etc., you might just check out
Posterous. It is a free blogging service with no ads and it is EXTREMELY easy to use. You can post (add content to) your Posterous blog 100% via email!
I use my iPhone to take a snapshot, create an email out of it, write a few comments, and then send it to a Posterous email address. Within a minute, my email becomes a post on my blog like I did this morning! There's a even special Posterous email address that will simultaneously post to your blog and Twitter!
Sorry about the length of this email
I'm always looking for ways to stay in touch with out-of-town family and friends scattered across the globe. Twitter is makes reaching out a lot easier and more fun.
See you in cyberspace?
Jerry
