Don't be shy! blog@ohtwitter.com - @dacort - @MarinaMartin
For everyone who complains that Twitter is a waste of time, here’s a video of Justin Wickett who uses it to control his house lights, saving on his electric bill and potentially scaring off would-be robbers.
Control Lights with Twitter from Justin Wickett on Vimeo.
Sure, you don’t need Twitter to do this … there are plenty of existing non-Twitter options, like Indigo, xPL Monkey, Smarthome, or Automated Home.
Of course, why stop at automating your lights?
(Hat tip to Engadget commenters for suggesting the automation options.)
@Phil801 learned yesterday that his baby daughter Serenity has leukemia. He has been live-blogging and Twittering the experience as it unfolds.
This kind of leukemia can be successfully treated 80% of the time, but Serenity is in for a 2.5 year battle. We know she’ll make it through with flying colors, and here’s how you can help:
Thanks to Jesse Stay for creating the widget
As best friends in elementary school, Andy Rice and Avi Solomon dreamed of one day chasing tornadoes. Fast forward to today, and they’re living that dream — and taking the Twitterverse along for the ride.
Follow @stormchase to get live updates as the duo chases storms around the country. Also be sure to check out the live webcam on their website.
Looking for an effective way to field questions from the public about a recent business decision? Why not use Twitter!
Colin Browning and Aaron Strout recently used Twitter as a virtual press conference after the announcement that Mzinga and Prospero Technologies had joined forces.
For more details, you can listen to the podcast about the merger and the use of Twitter.
Source: The Bryper Blog by Bryan Person
ReadWriteWeb is hosting an informal poll asking us how far our Twitter following reaches beyond the geek community (if at all).
Hop on over and vote in the poll.
The comments are a treasure trove of experiences, ranging from PyramidView:
Twitter?!? I can’t even get my father to use email.
to Curt:
Well, my parents, as of a couple days now, ARE Twittering. They’re on a 3 month trip across the US and I helped them set up an account at @regularnavy to update us on their progress.
to Nick Nichols:
My Mom is 83. (I’m 56) She uses the computer a lot - email, Google, and keeping up with my Twitter. She lives in Dallas, TX. I live in the Philippines. She keeps telling me over and over how much she appreciates being able to keep up with me through my Twitters.
Are your parents on Twitter?
Jeremiah Owyang is looking for advice from the Twitter community in regards to his Twitter usage.
Some people say he tweets too much, while others say they’d pay for the privilege to read his Twitterstream.
Have an opinion? Let Jeremiah know.
Is there anyone’s Twitterstream you would pay to read? Who tweets too much? Who doesn’t tweet enough? Is there such a thing as too many (or too few) tweets? Let us know in the comments!
Nate Ritter has rigged @missingchildren to automatically send out updates from the National Center for Missing & Exploited Children.
Follow @missingchildren to receive the latest alerts. You never know when you might be the one to recognize a missing child.
Jason Falls of SocialMediaExplorer.com writes a guest post on Buzz Networker recounting his experience working with Jim Beam Racing and Robby Gordon Motorsports to use Twitter to give more than 12,000 fans a nearly-live play-by-play of the action.
Jason goes on to cover some important other uses of Twitter, including search by keywords, for the marketing-minded.
Forget baby steps — in a talk to a group of science journalists at the Knight Science Journalism Fellowships 25th Anniversary Symposium in Boston, Clive Thompson not only highlighted the benefits of blogging, but also of Twittering. During his presentation, he tweeted a request for questions to ask the audience, and Twitter delivered: six questions in twenty minutes.
My favorite:
One question, however, came from “Hermida” — Alfred Hermida, an assistant professor at the graduate school of journalism at the University of British Columbia, who was in the audience and scheduled to speak today (February 20). His question: “Why aren’t they on Twitter?”
Follow Clive on Twitter and maybe you can ask the audience a question next time!
Update: This article has been edited slightly thanks to feedback from Robin Lloyd in the comments. I shouldn’t blog so late at night! Thanks, Robin.
Forget regurgitating content from Google News links for breaking news stories. Why not ask someone who’s actually there?
Twitterer Tuuli Platner needed a Bolivian blogger to comment on the floods in South America, and Twitter delivered.