Social Networking fast-food style
- Apps, iPhone, Social Networking -
The micro-blog app Twitter is growing exponentially, after all this time; everyone is getting into it now. So much so that hell hath actually frozen over, and even notorious tech contrarian John C. Dvorak himself has jumped in headfirst and is twittering furiously and seems to be enjoying it - he who had gleefully scorned and enthusiastically mocked the practice when it first became popular.
A couple of days ago, Japan even launched its own localized Twitter site (complete with ads “from the get-go”.) More indicative is the fact that Twitter has been wonky for the past week, ostensibly because of growing pains; the overloading has been giving it gas.
The basic motivation to post and read on Twitter centers around the question “What are you doing?”, to which you answer in 140-character chunks. It’s blogging for those who don’t have the time or the patience to do it for real, and it’s morphed into a means for sharing links and content as well, and as a SMS or chat substitute.
I twitter too, although spottingly, but part of me agrees with Dvorak. If you’re just going to tell the world you just had a grilled cheese sandwich for lunch, get your fingers off the keyboard, boyo. Save the twit for something a little more interesting, or at least useful. At least that’s me; although I’m not beneath the occasional “I’m bored.”
Twit postings are very revealing – you can pin down someone’s persona just by reading through his 140-character comments and musings. You can tell that person’s likes, dislikes, attitude towards life, interests and general disposition and a lot more through the frequent, fleeting life commentary he chooses to put out there, and you can decide if it would be worth investing some time reading his twittery.
I’m not writing about twittering per se – the practice doesn’t have much of a connect with Macs other than a lot of Mac users do twitter (usually through the great standalone app called Twitteriffic) , but then again so does the rest of the world. I write about it because a nice new 3PA has appeared on iPhone/iPod Touch screens lately that puts a nice spin on things.
Twinkle is a Twitter client that goes its predecessors one better by geo-locating users, and then giving you the option of restricting your feeds to Twits emanating within a user-prescribed radius of your own location – a mile, two, ten, twenty-five, fifty, a hundred, more. Get posts from folk you don’t necessarily know but are within the neighborhood - because Twinkle thoughtfully provides the general area each Twit is coming from, plus an option to check out that user’s profile and recent Twits, all from the iPhone.
It’s a marked and refreshing change from the broad, shotgun, worldwide, anonymous directionlessness of the feeds we’re used to getting. You can focus on people with shared mindsets and environments. You might come across someone just a stone’s throw away, even some of whom you might actually know but didn’t know twits as well. Or not, but someone you should, based on if you like his/her Twits or not. You can choose to follow them and make friends, or renew ties.
Twitter and Twinkle makes for quick, convenient social networking that doesn’t eat up your time and resources. Or at least, not as much.
Get Twinkle by running Installer on your jailbroken iPhone/iPod Touch.
There is this great app called PocketTouch 1.2, made by Dr. S.E. Cantu, DFA, for the iPod Touch and the iPhone, which turns the whole device as a simple audio controller for iPod functions while in your pocket. Great when you’re otherwise occupied and don’t have time to take out the thing and look at it.
I’ve gotten used to using bluetooth, my old phone and Salling Clicker to control my presentations, and sorely miss the functionality in the iPhone.
If Software Update hasn’t brought them to your attention yet, a couple of updates surfaced a couple of days ago.