Nov 0820
Unlike some of my friends and many staffers at Matrix Group, I’m relatively new to Twitter, the mini-blogging site that lets you broadcast your status, location and thoughts. I’ve been “twittering” for just a few months, but I’m addicted. I “tweet” all day long and read most of the tweets of the people I follow. On Twitter, btw, I’m jmpineda.
For those of you who are new to all this, you can “follow” people on Twitter and people can follow you. When you follow someone, their tweets are posted to your Twitter home page all day long. In my case, I’m following a random collection of friends, Web thought leaders and organizations. My friend Joe tweets his location, the books he’s reading, the articles he’s reading. The National Wildlife Federation tweets about promotions, events and issues. Read the rest of this entry
Nov 0812
I used to think that twittering was for individuals who wanted to broadcast their whereabouts and activities to friends and family. Most of my tweets have to do with where I am, what I’m reading, yada, yada. But I’ve found a growing number of companies using Twitter to raise awareness, reach new audiences, raise money, and disseminate news.
I can’t think of a more fitting match between Twitter and CNN’s breaking news. My god, Twitter is nothing but a bunch of headlines! Today, nearly 54,000 people follow CNN’s headline news on Twitter.
The National Wildlife Federation does a great job of using Twitter to promote events, broadcast NWF news and mobilize people to do something (vote, send an e-card, donate, watch a video). Over 1,600 people follow NWF on Twitter. Read the rest of this entry
Oct 0807
In 28 days, we Americans get to vote for a new President. On the one hand, I have been glued to the TV during both conventions and the debates, and I’m reading everything I can about the candidates and their platforms. On the other hand, I’m completely sick of the politics, the inflated promises, and the false statements. Since I’m a bit of a political junkie, I have been scouring the Web for some of the most informative and innovative resources on the election. Here are some of my favorite sites:
My Election Decision is aimed that the coveted undecided voters. You take a quiz and the system tells who your candidate should be.
I think the New York Times has the best election coverage of any of the major news outlets.
The Washington Post and CNN also have a good election centers.
Google has created a series of Google maps that chart the timeline of both candidates’ lives, map Twitter posts about the election, and show where the candidates are on the campaign trail. Be sure to reload this page a couple of times to see all of the possible maps. Read the rest of this entry
Jul 0817
Last Thursday, John and Ronia Weisner were at Dulles Airport, on their way to Saudi Arabia for a year-long assignment. Accompanying them was their beloved dog, Jeddah. Somehow, something went terribly wrong, Jeddah’s crate was damaged, and the dog escaped. Now, there is a Web site - http://www.HelpFindJeddah.com - devoted to finding Jeddah, as well as a Twitter account to keep people abreast of any news related to Jeddah’s whereabouts.
Just think about it. In the past, if a dog or cat went missing, we put up flyers in the neighborhood and told all our friends. Today, we use the Web, especially social networking sites, to tell the story, spread the word, and ask others to spread the word. If a cause or issue takes hold, thousands of people catch wind of the story within minutes, hours, days, without the involvement of any government or news outlet.
In Jeddah’s case, WJLA reported the story, which reached the ears of Kate Bland, who asked Matrix Group to put up a Web page and Twitter account. In between, dozens of people have e-mailed and actually joined the hunt for Jeddah at Dulles Airport and in Reston. Today, thousands of people have heard about Jeddah.
Can the Web, e-mail and Twitter help save Jeddah? Let’s hope so.
Jul 0815
A friend of mine boasted that she is following Barack Obama on Twitter and he is following her back. Curious, I logged on to my Twitter account and started following Barack Obama. Lo and behold, within a few minutes, I got an e-mail from Twitter saying that Barack Obama was following me back on Twitter.
Why on earth would a presidential candidate follow every Tom, Dick and Harry who wants to follow him on Twitter? And is some poor soul on his staff really assigned to monitor the Twitter posts?
And then it hit me. Looking at Obama’s Twitter page, you’ll note that as of midnight on July 14, 2008, there are 46,535 people following him. It’s not about the Twitter posts, it’s about showing how many people care about what Obama is doing, about showing the huge diversity of his supporters, and allowing his supporters to get connected.
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