twitter – Jeffc.me

Create Your Own Twitter Shirt

September 17, 2007 By Jeffro Leave a Comment

Reactee.com gives users of Twitter.com the chance to design a shirt where the text can be customized to suit your purpose. The shirts are $20.00 each and come in the following colors: white, light blue, organic, pink, silver, asphalt, olive and black. T shirt sizes range from small to extra large and are made out of 100% cotton, so you may want to purchase one size bigger than you need to compensate for shrinkage.

Creating a shirt is a 6 step process. Users begin by choosing a topic for their shirt. In my case, I chose Technology. The next step is to choose a slogan. Although Reactee provides quite a few slogan templates pertaining to the category, I decided to take the custom route and created my own. “Blogging The Webolution“

The next step requires me to provide a Reactee Keyword which is used for contacting my shirt. Not sure what that means yet but I’ll look into it as I’m sure, shirts can’t talk. Next to the Reactee Keyword tab is a Twitter tab. If you have a Twitter account, this is where you put in your Twitter username. Next, we have the option of choosing an image as we all know a picture is worth a thousand words. I chose an image of the United States. The last step in the process is to provide additional text which is also optional. I selected the text template “To Subscribe” for my additional text template.

Now it’s time to activate the shirt. Apparently, this shirt is alive. If users send a text message from their phone to my Reactee TShirt, they will receive a response with my Twitter Status. After completely activating the TShirt, Reactee then gives me the option to order the shirt.

Interesting service which gives users the ability to customize their own Twitter shirts. The idea of text messaging a shirt is rather strange but whatever floats your boat I suppose. I’m thinking about purchasing the shirt I created because I sort of like the design. Tell me what you think.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: apparel, Cool Stuff, reactee, Reviews, shirts, sms, text, text_messaging, tshirt, twitter, usergenerated-shirts, web2.0, web2.0-apparel

Web 3.0 Dead Already?

September 15, 2007 By Jeffro 9 Comments

I just finished reading a very thoughtful post written by Bill Snyder, A Preemtpive Strike: Death to Web 3.0 (and 2.0 while we’re at it). In his post, he makes quite a few valid points. One of those points is the fact that companies abroad are jumping aboard the web 2.0 bandwagon. It doesn’t matter what the company does, or what the company sells, that company needs a social network, and a Twitter user account even if they have no clear understanding as to why. As I have stated in numerous other conversations, social-networking is out of control but the good news is, the users themselves will determine which ones stay and which ones fall by the wayside.

Bill also makes another excellent point about the definition of web 2.0. Is web 2.0 one thing, or is it a series of concepts? I tend to agree with Bill in that the term describes a series of concepts. Since the web 2.0 O’Reilly definition was published, users have been coining the term Web 2.0 as a variety of different things. Whether it be the use of AJAX, website design or social-networking. Has anyone ever tried to explain what Web 2.0 is to a noob? It’s practically one of the hardest things on earth to describe because everyone has a different sense as to what it actually is.

Bill also states that Web 2.0 did not replace Web 1.0 and the web is not based on version numbers. Tim, I think your related to Bill! In any case, if you dissect a number of websites, web based applications, and quite honestly, anything that is related to web 2.0, it’s quite obvious that the web is still the web and the underlying code is still the same. So why are we still using the term web 2.0?

The whole point of defining Web 2.0 was to figure out where we are. Unfortunately for those who like buzzwords, we are everywhere. The whole point of discussing Web 3.0 is to figure out where we are going. Well, here’s the news: We’re not all going to the same place, and that is the beauty of this medium (or perhaps these mediums). The possibilities are endless and will continue to defy labels. We are just at the beginning of this “internet thing,” and what comes next is going to be many things — some will die anonymous deaths and others will change the very nature of the way we communicate.

I couldn’t agree with you more and I am definitely looking forward to what lies beyond the horizon of the web, however it will be described or defined.

Filed Under: MyThoughts Tagged With: bandwagon, bill_snyder, buzzwords, MyThoughts, o_reilly, socialmedia, social_networking, twitter, version_numbers, web1.0, web2.0, web3.0

TwitterAdder 20 Random Friends

September 11, 2007 By Jeffro 3 Comments

For those of you having trouble finding so called ‘friends‘ on twitter, your in luck. Using TwitterAdder, you can now have 20 random people added as friends to your account.

TwitterAdder is the newest guy in the bunch to use the Twitter API. After you login to their site using your username and password, TwitterAdder then takes 20 random people and adds them to your friends list. I’m not going to give this service a try since I recently figured out how I want to use Twitter effectively. However, if you end up giving the service a try, let me know how the results turned out.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: friends, microblogging, News, random-people, tweet, twit, twitter, twitteradder, web2.0

Web 2.0 Summit Next Month

September 7, 2007 By Jeffro Leave a Comment

It’s that time of year again where the folks that pioneer the web get together for tea and biscuits to discuss new ideas, new opportunities, and give a general direction as to where the internet may be heading. The Web 2.0 Summit will take place next month from October 17-19 in San Francisco, California.

The even has an all star lineup of confirmed speakers such as Seth Goldstein, Mark Zuckerberg, Tim O’Reilly and Dr. Evil himself, Rupert Murdoch.

For the past three years, the Web 2.0 Summit has explored ideas which have already begun to slip into the mainstream. This year, we’ll highlight news from unusual suspects—the enthusiasts and dreamers touching the edges of spaces not yet conquered by the Web, as well as established players who are looking to expand into new and previously unimaginable realms.

How is the Web infiltrating new beachheads in areas we never thought it could—or would? What are the majors doing at the edge, at the loony “twenty percent time” at Google, in the labs at MSN, IBM, etc., that might inform entirely new applications, opportunities, even threats? What are the edge startups promising to redefine the center? What are the things we wish or know the Web can do, but so far, is failing us? What are the edges in terms of policy, politics, and morality?

I would appreciate it if those of you who are going to be at the event and are considering using Twitter for your coverage to let me know so I can inform my readers. I’d love to go, but I don’t have the luxury and I know there are many others in the same boat. I’d also like to know of any blogs or sites that are going to cover this event as it happens. At least that way, it would almost feel as if those who couldn’t make it, were actually in attendance.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: conference, dr_evil, mark_zuckerberg, News, o_reilly, rupert_murdoch, san_francisco_california, seth_goldstein, startups, summit, twitter, web2.0

Twitter Blocks – A Different View Of Twitter

September 1, 2007 By Jeffro Leave a Comment

Twitter has an interesting new page called Twitter Blocks, which allows you to view recent status reports from friends, and the people that follow them.

Twitter Blocks gives users the oppurtunity to take a deeper look at their network of friends. The light blue blocks refer to your own account, the red blocks are your updates while the grey shaded blocks contain updates from friends of friends.

The Twitter Blocks page is sponsored by Motorola, so it’s nice to see that Twitter is finding different ways of making money.

Filed Under: Cool Stuff Tagged With: blocks, Cool Stuff, friends, motorola, tweets, twits, twitter, twitterblocks, web2.0

Which Class Of Twitter Users Are You In?

September 1, 2007 By Jeffro 7 Comments

Chris Brogan has published an interesting article where he reviews his use of Twitter and comes up with a few different classifications of Twitter users.

Out of the different classes of Twitter users that Chris presents, I have determined that I am within the Announcers vs. Conversationalists class.

Announcers vs. Conversationalists

This is a current hammer-target for Eric Rice. He’s railed out about people (including me) using Twitter as a promotion engine. I understand this, insofar as some people do nothing but twitter links to their blog posts, their flickr pictures, and whatever else turns them on. (Note: I will Twitter that I posted this article when I’m done writing it).

But conversationalists know to use a mix. They talk with other Twitter users, using the @ function to make sure people see the threaded conversation. They engage with the flow of people twittering around them, building a social sculpture, and engaging in what Jeff Pulver calls amorphic communications. Conversationalists reach into Twitter and move people back and forth.

In the beginning, Twitter was a social networking tool that I believed I could use as a promotional stepping stone for my blog. I added all sorts of people to my friends list because I knew, most people would end up following me simply because I chose to follow them. After using Twitter for a few months now, I have changed my way of thinking. I still use Twitter as a tool to share postings on my blog that I think are good conversation starters, but I also participate in conversations with those I follow. I’m also beginning to follow only those people that I actually have an interest in.

I’m currently being followed by 54 people while I’m actually following 84 people. I wonder just how many of those that are following me actually give a damn as to what I post on Twitter. I am also starting to wonder if I should delete everyone that I am following and start over from scratch. Now that I have a sense as to the correct way of using Twitter as a social tool, I think I should either start over, or I should fine tune my friends list.

Thank you Chris Brogan for the inspirational post. It’s really made me step back and realize how and why I’m using Twitter.

If you enjoy what I write on this blog and you have an account on Twitter, consider adding me http://twitter.com/jeffr0 I need more social-media, social-web, web2.0 people to converse with. Outside of the Internet, no one has a freaking clue about Web 2.0 or any of the cool stuff going on in the Cyberworld.

Filed Under: MyThoughts Tagged With: chrisbrogan, MyThoughts, socialmedia, social_networking, social_web, twitter, user_generated_content, web-2.0

Yappd Finally Getting Somewhere

August 30, 2007 By Jeffro Leave a Comment

Yappd, the service that was awarded my first negative review which can be read here, has released a few updates which finally make the service worth using. These updates include uploading photos, public API and TinyURL Support.

Yappd members can now upload photos via their web site. Yappd has also added in support so that you’ll be notified if friends on your watchlist have posted any Yappd messages. If your a developer, and for some reason would like to integrate Yappd into your application or website, you can now visit http://yappd.com/api to tap into their Beta API.

Yappd claims they are focusing on the capabilities of their platform by allowing member’s of other microblogging websites, to have their other “messages” posted as Yapps automatically. Another item on their to do list includes, expanding their mobile carrier support for picture messaging and international support.

With these updates in mind, I may have to go back to the Yappd site and give it another try.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: blog, jaiku, microblogging, News, Pownce, publishing, Reviews, twitter, twitterkiller, web2.0, yappd

SHOULDdoTHIS – The Internet Suggestion Box

August 27, 2007 By Jeffro Leave a Comment

Here is an interesting site I came across the other day. It’s quickly being referred to as the internet suggestion box. SHOULDdoTHIS resembles Twitter with unique spin on the micro-blogging idea.

This is one of the few services I have come across that supports logging in by using my OpenID user account, which made creating a registered account a breeze. I wish more sites would include this type of login access. In my opinion, OpenID will play a big role in creating a unified login across multiple sites. So the more sites that support OpenID, the better.

While Twitter provides an avenue for you to tell the world ‘What Are You Doing?‘ SHOULDdoTHIS allows you to give your opinion as to what should be done, and who it should be done by. For example, in the ‘Someone Field‘ I typed in EA. In the ‘do something great field‘ I typed in ‘Should release one last major patch to Battlefield 2‘. Unlike the 140 character limit found on other micro-blogging services, there doesn’t appear to be any limit to the amount of text that can be placed within the ‘Do Something Great‘ field. After I clicked the submit button, my suggestion was published to my account where users can do a number of different things.

On the right hand side of the site, users can choose whether or not the suggestion is likely or unlikely to happen. Underneath of that, users can guesstimate when the suggestion will take place. Suggestions can be tagged but as I was browsing around, the tags feature didn’t appear to be used by quite a few people. Just like Twitter, each user has an RSS feed attached to their account. After adding a suggestion, there is a text area which appears at the bottom of the post which lets users give a detailed explanation as to their suggestion. I believe this is a nice touch as quite a few suggestions can not be explained in a short amount of detail.

Final Thoughts:

Everyone has an opinion, and this service let’s you get your opinion out in the open. If Robotcoop releases a public API for SHOULDdoTHIS, I see no reason as to why sites and services, especially those with actual products wouldn’t use something like this as a suggestion box. SHOULDdoTHIS is not a Twitter clone as I feel the service has taken the micro-blogging idea and put a very nice twist to it. Considering there are sponsored ads that appear on user account pages, this site already has a monetization model, but if they charged a price to use their service for commercial use, I think they would do very well.

If you sign up and give the service a try, let me know what YOU think.

Filed Under: Reviews Tagged With: Blogging, Cool Stuff, give_your_opinion, microblogging, openid, opinion, Reviews, shoulddothis, suggestion_box, twitter, web2.0

Track Web 2.0 Startups With StartUp Search

August 25, 2007 By Jeffro Leave a Comment

Track the crazy Web 2.0 startup race from an investor perspective by using StartupSearch.org

StartupSearch.org is a directory of startup companies, products and investors that are changing the landscape of the web. At the time of this writing, there are 76 companies, 86 products, and 136 investors that are being tracked. StartupSearch takes information about new startup companies and compiles the information into easy to digest profile pages. Let’s use Twitter as an example.

Twitters profile page displays information such as, company founders, funding, photos tagged with Twitter, company address, Twitter specific news brought you by an RSS feed, and a Googlemaps image showing the location of their headquarters.

Each company that is profiled on StartupSearch receives a Startup score. A Startup score is made up of two parts, buzz and traffic. The buzz score is a measurement of the conversations taking place on the net involving the product. StartupSearch tracks unique citations excluding the originating site, total and unique links from the blogosphere, mentions within blog posts, and other mentions.

The traffic score measures a site’s visitors as well as the site’s visitor behaviour as reported by StartUpSearch’s traffic sources. Here are the elements that make up the traffic score: total unique users, total visits, visists per users, and other metrics which help to determine the overall behaviour of the site’s visitors.

One last thing to mention before I let you go. StartUpSearch provides an RSS feed which contains a weekly wrap-up of news related to the companies being tracked. This could be a nice addition to your feedreader to stay ahead of what’s happening.

Overall, StartUpSearch does a wonderful job in presenting company specific information. I have to imagine that there are more than 76 companies online that need to be tracked but because the site is maintained by only one person, it’s probably a moot point in trying to track every startup company that comes online.

If you happen to visit this site, let me know if you like the way StartUpSearch displays company information when compared to CrunchBase Techcrunch’s version of company profiles.

Filed Under: Cool Stuff Tagged With: blogosphere, buzz_score, company-profiles, Cool Stuff, googlemaps, investors, startups, startupsearch, startup_companies, twitter, Uncategorized

Twitter Introduces Profile Search Feature

August 22, 2007 By Jeffro Leave a Comment

Twitter has pushed out a new feature dubbed “Profile Search“. This new features adds a search bar to your profile page, allowing you to search for like minded users.

The new search function allows users to search across information such as name, location, bio and url. This is intended to help users find other ‘like minded‘ individuals to follow. For instance, I did a search for ‘Ohio‘. As it turns out, there are 690 Twitter users who have Ohio listed as their location in their Twitter profile. That’s nothing compared to the 1,930 Twitter users who live in California which is then trumped by New York with 2,155 people. Just for giggles, I searched for ‘web 2.0‘ which netted me 277 results.

So now, instead of randomly following people and claiming them to be your friend, use the search tool to find Twitter users with similar interests.

Filed Under: News Tagged With: News, new_feature, profiles, profile_search, search_bar, search_function, search_tool, twitter, web-2.0