Twitters are not Twits

The usefulness of Twitter is not readily as obvious to some people as Facebook; although it may be more addictive once you get the hang of Tweeting; you get more immediate responses and it seems to live somewhere between the worlds of email, instant messaging and blogging. Twitter encourages constant “linking out” to anywhere and, in that respect, is more analogous to a pure search engine; another way to find people and content all over the Net.

Twitter has quickly built brand awareness and a loyal following, especially among the technically adept; bloggers, online marketers, evangelists, basically anyone with something to promote seem to find Twitter extremely valuable.

When asked why I love Twitter, I would say “I can ask a question and get an instantaneous response”. We crave the ability to “tap into the collective consciousness” of others on the network, bouncing ideas off others with whom I would otherwise have no means of connecting. Twitter addicts claim it’s like the old fashioned water cooler, where people can gather to shoot the breeze on whatever topic is on their minds. Twitter is like a communications stream you dive into for an invigorating swim.

Let’s say you go to a wedding or other social gathering where lots of people know each other. The style and tone of communication there will be more like using Facebook; you chat with old friends and acquaintances, mixing and mingling in an intimate manner. In this setting, people tend to feel more relaxed and “in their element”. Conversations are familiar and center on shared experiences and connections.

Now, when you go to a large party or social event where you don’t know most of the people in attendance, you will use a very different style of communication, more like Twitter; you want to meet people and somehow make yourself known, stand out from the crowd, make an impression, self promote and make new connections. Twitter is like getting the podium and not everyone feels comfortable or knows how to stand comfortably in the spotlight.

In fact, almost all of us, when first approaching Twitter, tend to use it to post useless updates like “Going to lunch”, thinking of it as a another tool to communicate with friends, when in fact, it is more like stepping on to a stage, where you are communicating with an audience and quickly find that you need to find a voice and say something useful and interesting or quickly lose the attention of your audience. People refer to Twitter as a mini or micro blogging platform.

I am rather new to Twitter but plan to use it to promote my small but growing little community church "Gateway Apostolic Church" mainly because I could otherwise never be able to afford to advertise the traditional way and why would I when we have all the resources from the Web, such as Twitter and Facebook?

You Tube

It was pretty cool and very easy I think that anyone can do anything online...there are so many fun and useful things to do with all the tools of Web 2.0

Facebook Facelift

After several weeks of delay, Facebook has finally made Timeline accessible to all users. It was originally unveiled in early September and was scheduled to be public by the end of that month.

Between September and now, it has been available to users who had a developer account, giving Facebook a beta period to let a self-selected group of users test it out and provide feedback. Anyone with a developer account, which is free, could sign up for Timeline and enable it; and they could also see other users who had enabled it with a developer account.

Due to Facebook's history of not being so forthcoming with users regarding new features and privacy concerns about those features, I put my hands on the new Timeline early, back in September, to learn as much as I could about it and to put together some answers and tips for people when Timeline became publicly available, as it is now.

Here's a summary of what I've learned. If you're not ready to turn on Timeline for yourself, you can take a tour of it in the slideshow below.

Q: What is Facebook Timeline?

A: Timeline is a new feature in Facebook that replaces the profile page. It shows the story of your life, as you choose to tell it or as Facebook has recorded it, in a visual, scrolling, ordered timeline. It's a cross between visual blog and online scrapbook. Fun fact: Facebook Timeline was accidentally released very briefly to the public back in December 2010 when it was called "Facebook Memories," but it was promptly removed.

Q: How can I get Facebook Timeline?

A: Go to the Facebook Timeline announcement page and look at the bottom of the page for a green button that says "Get Timeline."

Q: What appears on my Timeline?

A: Status updates, photos, friendships made, as well as job history, marital status changes, and other information that you've recorded in your profile.

Q: Is the Timeline replacing my Facebook wall?

A: Yes and no. Timeline will replace your profile page and wall, only after you opt into it and either publish it or seven days after you enable it.

When you log into Facebook and go to Facebook.com, that feed page of Recent Stories will still be the same. But, when you or visitors go to your unique Facebook URL, they'll be able to see your Timeline instead of your old profile information and wall. 

Q: I'm worry about privacy! Who can see my Facebook Timeline?

A: Everyone on Facebook will be able to see your Timeline in general, but not everyone will be able to see every post.

The seven day waiting period between when you sign up for Timeline and when it goes live gives you the opportunity to delete items or change the permission settings post by post, photo by photo, and so on.

Every Timeline entry has a pen icon in the upper right corner where you can edit the permissions. See the image above for an example.

Q: Can I restrict which people who can see certain pieces of information, photos, and other details of my Timeline?

A: Yes! In the same way that you can manage who can see a status update or photo, you can limit who sees all the entries of your Timeline. Each entry has a drop-down menu next to it that lets you filter who can see the item. 

Q: Can I delete status updates, images, and other content from my Timeline?

A: Yes! Deleting is an option. Just click that pen icon to edit, and you'll see "delete." 

Q: When is Facebook Timeline available?

A: Now!

Q: It sounds like you've tried out Facebook Timeline. How is it?

A: I must admit that I liked playing with it a lot more than I liked filling in standard profile information. I set up Timeline on a Facebook account that doesn't have too much data in it, so it didn't feel overwhelming, but I could see how an active Facebook user would feel totally bowled over the first time he or she opened the Timeline. Thankfully, the Timeline has a "publish" button (much like a blog), so you have an opportunity to spend some time teasing it into shape, adding the permissions you want, deleting or marking private images you don't want everyone to see, and so forth. If you don't press the publish button within seven days of setting up your Timeline, however, it will go live automatically!

Most Facebook users, I think, will want to dedicate some time to combing through their information before hitting publish, but it's by and large a one-time setup process. After the one-time setup, new Timeline entries will come from your Facebook activity, and you'll be adding permissions and making other adjustments as you go.

I also like how you can add life events, either current or back-dated. Some of the life events are pre-set in Facebook, like getting a new job and buying a home, but you can also create a custom life event or milestone.

Q: What are some of the cons?

A: The dimensions for display images is unconventional, and I found that I didn't like how most of my images looked when I uploaded them without manipulating their size and dimensions. You can drag an image around the viewer space, but you can't crop or resize from directly within Facebook. (I'm taking bets now on how soon Facebook will build an image editor, or acquire a company that already makes one.)

You can back-date new entries on your timeline with a nice calendar that lets you quickly jump to a year in the past, and optionally, you can add a month. If you want to add a memory from your childhood or back-date photos from your past, it's pretty easy to do so.

What Wrong With Wikipedia

There's nothing more convenient than Wikipedia if you're looking for some quick information, and when the stakes are low (you need a piece of information to settle a bet with your roommate, or you want to get a basic sense of what something means before starting more in-depth research), you may get what you need from Wikipedia. In fact, some instructors may advise their students to read entries for scientific concepts on Wikipedia as a way to begin understanding those concepts.

Nevertheless, when you're doing academic research, you should be extremely cautious about using Wikipedia. As its own disclaimer states, information on Wikipedia is contributed by anyone who wants to post material, and the expertise of the posters is not taken into consideration. Users may be reading information that is outdated or that has been posted by someone who is not an expert in the field or by someone who wishes to provide misinformation. (Case in point: Four years ago, an Expos student who was writing a paper about the limitations of Wikipedia posted a fictional entry for himself, stating that he was the mayor of a small town in China. Four years later, if you type in his name, or if you do a subject search on Wikipedia for mayors of towns in China, you will still find this fictional entry.) Some information on Wikipedia may well be accurate, but because experts do not review the site's entries, there is a considerable risk in relying on this source for your essays.

The fact that Wikipedia is not a reliable source for academic research doesn't mean that it's wrong to use basic reference materials when you're trying to familiarize yourself with a topic. In fact, the library is stocked with introductory materials, and the Harvard librarians can point you to specialized encyclopedias in different fields. These sources can be particularly useful when you need background information or context for a topic you're writing about.

Caught in the Social Net

in its origin social networking was designed to keep families, friends and acquaintances close that would have been otherwise separated, which was a very good thing; it was as if all of us lived together but sad to say it has turned into is an unbridled expression of only one persons thoughts, me. Communication is the basic form of a relationship between two people, but in the realm of the social network there is no more two but one person living out their expression of thought; its all self driven. Today we have ipod and myspace its more of a patform of self expression rather than what it was initially designed to be. The whole world wants the freedom to express how they feel and it has become so easy to do with social networking. Take a look; blog sites can be a great tool used to plan and organize trips and events but really what most people do is simply talk about what is important to their selves. social networking is not as social as it is networking but it is what it is and its what people want to do...thats what im doing right now...expressing my thoughts right?