#Sunday7 Week 4
Right, twitter’s fucked, it’s well known now and I seem to be hitting it just at the wrong time at the moment ‘cos I keep getting timed out whichever way I access it! I am not a happy bunny!
But that doesn’t mean that I should scrap my #Sunday7 suggestions goddammit! It just means that I’m stuck with leaving my suggestions here. Grrr!!!!
Any hoo, here we go…
- I still say @karmadillo‘s a bad influence after our #twibbon competition! But she’s worth following! #Sunday7 (And on a seperate note, sign up for your @BullyingUK Twibbon while you’re there!)
- Did you know that @edwardclarke is officially the best cook on twitter? TWO awards already! Showoff! #Sunday7
- Scathing wit, timely comebacks and a great guy (for a frenchman!) ;-P It must be @zefrog! #Sunday7
- Handbag house never died, it just became more cultish. With an L! Just ask @Yorksville when you follow her! #Sunday7
- He’s big, he’s new to twitter, and deserves a huge… Following! @BigNige1977 is well worth a #Sunday7 to break him in gently!
- He’s in Paris at the moment so he won’t get a big head if I suggest that you follow @anthonyjh as a #Sunday7. He’s a Mac too, bless ‘im!
- And my final #Sunday7 suggestion this week has to be @TheFuckingQueen, G’awd bless ‘er! Remember, Mam like ham not Ma’am like farm!
So, when twitter pull their finger out I’ll hopefully be able to get these actually posted up. Grrr! >:-|
#Sunday7 Week 3
I bet you all thought I’d forgotten to post them didn’t you? But no, I named my #Sunday7 this morning!
Just in case you’re wondering what I’m wittering on about, I’ve been a bit overwhelmed with the whole #FollowFriday thing so I’ve decided to pick out one person each day throughout the week for whatever random reason and then let you all see them in all their glory on Sunday. So, it’s like #FF but with restrictions – a bit like twitter!
You see, 7 people, 7 days, 7 tweets – it’s so easy even I can do it!
So here are my choices for this week for your delectation:
- Have you met @Fudgecrumpet yet? He’s plucking great! #Sunday7
- He seems to think #Barrowman’s a good thing, but I can’t hold it against him too much. @Gazebow #Sunday7
- Fight #chocolatediscrimination @edwardclarke is! #Sunday7
- She should be NHS Tzar, we’d have no more of the #swineflu panic! @EmmaRhoyds #Sunday7
- He’s not a car, the brum stands for Birmingham… @benjibrum‘s my next #Sunday7
- She wrote Element of Risk and knows about the Bigg Market, I think that deserves a #Sunday7 shoutout for @authorchristine
- And finally, she gives me a warm fizzy feeling and is just my cup of tea! @FizzyDuck‘s my final #Sunday7
#Sunday7 – Week 2
Last week I started my special recommendations, #Sunday7.
I decided that, although I love #followfriday, it has one huge problem, information overload, as my #followfriday page shows. So I decided to start a special set of reccomendations on a Sunday and pick out seven special tweeps through the week for a shout out.
All week I’ve been checking my twitter stream and picking out one person each day to recommend, as well as one person (for Sunday) who sums up the whole week. So, without further ado, here’s this week’s #Sunday7:
- Photographer, Cumbrian and woman living in interesting times, @PinkPebs #Sunday7
- Statistics, funnies and general banter your thing? @delmonfieth is your guy! #Sunday7
- He says what we wish we could! Vote for @AngryBritain #Sunday7
- She might not know the difference between Thursday and Friday but @nik_kee_dee definitely knows how to light up your twitterstream! #Sunday7
- A little ray of sunlight in a sometimes desolate day @Yorksville is a star too! #Sunday7
- If you want to follow a genuinely nice guy (with a lizard called Gibbs) @JaeKay ‘s your man! #Sunday7
- She’s challenged me to a #twibbon contest – it’s so on! @Karmadillo – just you wait! #Sunday7
#Sunday7 – A different way of recommending!
#FollowFriday can be a fantastic thing, it’s nice to be able to suggest that people who’re interested in what you have to say might be interested in others. This is how our twitter networks grow. But it can feel like information overload.
Well, I’ve decided that, on Friday, I’ll stick with my followfriday page but I’m going to have my #Sunday7, seven tweeps who’ve informed, entertained or educated in the week before. Or maybe they’ve just lightened my twitterstream and made me smile…
Seven days in the week, seven tweeps to be suggested, choose carefully!
So, here’s my first #Sunday7:
- @PembTeaCo – The nicest tea I’ve had is grown in Pembrokeshire, in Wales! By these guys. #Sunday7
- @Qikipedia – The QI elves drop a quite interesting tidbit into your twitterstream every day. #Sunday7
- @BullyingUK – Did you know that up to 4 suicidal pupils contact them every day? Show your support! #Sunday7
- @9Swords – I’m always amazed by the stuff he finds, fun, educational and just generally random! #Sunday7
- @TechnologyGeek – Want the latest tech tweets but can’t be bothered following all the big names? TG does it for you! #Sunday7
- @SapphyNo1 – Saph is a friendly, welcoming and lovely tweep. If I had a sister, she’d be her! #Sunday7
- @FizzyDuck – twitter’s punniest rubber bath accessory, witty, friendly and generally gorgeous! #Sunday7
Twitter – The Basics
Last month I wrote a post called “I don’t get twitter” that was aimed at a couple of work colleagues who couldn’t get their head round how twitter could be fun. Now, since then a couple of people have said that the basics are a bit daunting and – to be honest – I can see exactly what they mean! Let’s take an example:
RT via @efan78 #followfriday @StewSimpson is a fab musician <- Follow him now!
So you see, Twitter uses codes which are confusing at first glance, but I promise they don’t stay that way!
When you post your first update to twitter you’ll probably use the web interface at www.twitter.com, so I’ll use that as my base. As you get used to twitter you’ll find that there are a lot of different ways to access the site and a lot of people will recommend services and twitter apps (applications). That isn’t the purpose of this post!
So, when you first post on twitter you’ll fill in the “What are you doing?” box. There are a few different ways of doing this and none of them are really ‘right’ or ‘wrong’. You’ll develop your own style/personality.
As you start to follow people you’ll start seeing their posts appearing in your twitter thread and you’ll probably see posts that you want to respond to. It’s really easy to do, when you hover your mouse over the tweet you’ll see a small arrow on the right-hand side. By clicking on this the “What are you doing?” box will automatically fill with @<username> – this is called a reply.
Anyone who can see your posts can see a reply but it will stand out to the person that sent it. You can check your own replies by clicking on the link at the far right hand side of the screen. If you want your message to be more personal then you can send a direct message – this can only be sent to someone who is following you and that you are following.
You’ll also see three other things that will help, two of them can be lumped together (RT @<user>, and Via @<user>) - which means ReTweet or that a message came via @<user>. A ReTweet is a message copied verbatim from another user and the @<user> bit tells everyone who you got it from. Via is a message that’s still evolving – I use it when I’m not copying a message verbatim but posting my own personal take.
The other thing that you’ll need to know about is the #hashtag. It’s a keyword that people use to help others find tweets on a particular subject. One of the most popular is #FollowFriday.
I hope this is some help, and will be continuing to add to this page as I think of more things!
A whole new 140 Characters
So, I was thinking about 140 Characters is not enough (my blogspot site) and realised that it wasn’t as flexible as I wanted it to be. So I’ve decided to get my own domain, and here we are!
At the moment I’m getting to grips with WordPress – it’s a hugely powerful tool compared to what I’m used to so I’m just going to have to take my time and get used to it. I’m planning to get a mobile page set up to run alongside this so that it can be easily viewed on my G1 (Android) phone. I’m also going to be using the Ethan’s Corner pages for a few ideas (I’m planning something for #followfriday) as well as here in the blog, when I get used to the tools available.
As if a new site wasn’t difficult enough – I’m also planning to build a Linux based computer at the same time. (Cannibalising a couple of old computers that I can’t bear to throw out yet.) My only dealings with Linux up to now have been with the aforementioned Android but I also want to get a little netbook and most of them seem to run on Linux so it’s probably a better idea for me to play with an old rig first!
So I’d be grateful if you’ll bear with me while I get myself settled in, and I’ll see you on twitter!
