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Entries in tweetdeck (2)

Wednesday

04Nov2009

My approach to @Twitter Lists

Wednesday, November 4, 2009 at 8:32PM

Many 1's and 0's have been delivered already on the topic of Twitter's latest feature known simply as "lists." Including some of the really great coverage by Mashable. However I will dare to dream that somewhere out there folks might be wondering what I think. Credit must also go to a blog post by Sean Bonner where he makes a "Prediction about Twitter Lists," that post really opened my eyes with regards to how lists are going to be transformative, as we'll explore now.

First what exactly are Twitter lists? Well any of the above links will probably do a better job explaining them than I but the basic premise is that they allow you to create collections of other Twitter users. Lists can be public, seen by any other user of Twitter, or private, see only by you. In addition to creating your own lists (up to 20 I hear) you can also subscribe, or I guess follow is the right term, any other public list. Okay this is handy and something many have wanted for a long time. However where it gets transformative, as I discovered from Sean's post above, is in the initially overlooked detail that you can put an account on a list without having to follow it.

Here's how that's changed my Twitter behavior. Essentially my new approach to lists can all be boiled down into the idea that I am trying to reserve my timeline for accounts that are actual people. These may not be people I know as in the case of a lot of tech journalists, celebs, etc. but the accounts still generally map to individuals, at least that's where I'm headed. There are of course exceptions for things I really care about like @NASA and many A Cappella groups, but the bottom line is the bar for which accounts I allow into my timeline is much higher. I've moved accounts like brands (think @JetBlue or @VirginAmerica), news feeds (think Digg feeds, @CNN, local blogs, etc.) these accounts tend to posts frequently and clutter up the timeline resulting in me missing posts from people I actually care about. In addition I also follow lists of for example all the NASA astronauts that tweet or all the SpaceTweeps out there both of which are fun because I can get a lot of content without having to follow an additional 500 people.

Are lists in their current form perfect? Hardly but I firmly believe that they are a gigantic step in a positive direction for the future of Twitter. The next step is for clients like TweetDeck and Tweetie to add support for lists however this will be on easy task. The first road bump is that to pull down the updates to a list via an app requires a hefty price be paid in the form of API calls. API calls are essentially the language these apps use to talk with Twitter. Currently Twitter allows 100 conversations to take place within an hour. This limit has worked well until down but let's say you have 14 or so lists each time you load them that's an API hit. The one client that has implemented lists, Seesmic, only supports manual updates of lists. I would like to think that at some point Twitter will remove or raise this limit with enough capacity. Hopefully they realize that it does little if anything to fight spam at this point. I have some thoughts on an approach to spam but that might be another post.

The other issue is what exactly is the UI that actually makes lists useful and easy to deal with? Seesmic's is certainly one approach and I feel like it's the one that you might expect and it is reasonable enough. TweetDeck is holding their cards close to the vest promising that they have something up their sleeves in terms of lists but not saying much more. It is clear to me that the purely column approach breaks down when trying to follow multiple lists. I would like to see some UI work in TweetDeck in terms of how you switch between columns the horizontal scroll that currently exists is a bit sloppy in my opinion. Regardless I am eager to see what TweetDeck comes up with. On the mobile side of things I think Tweetie has an easier time because in my mind the hierarchical nature of the iPhone UI makes sense one panel with a list of the users lists, tapping one loads that list, seems fairly obvious but then again @atebits does have a knack for some pretty creative UI design so another development that will be fun to watch!

Justin |

Things I like "slightly more than is socially acceptable."

Thursday, September 17, 2009 at 11:00AM

A few days ago I saw someone declare in regards to the new hit show "Glee" (9pm FOX Wednesdays) that they liked it probably more than was socially acceptable. I've decided that this is a nice euphemism for describing the way I tend to get hooked on certain things, more often than not lately TV, my friends have another word for it... "obsession" and I generally tend to think it's kind of the core of being a geek, being passionate about something. Then taking that passionate to the next level or two. So I thought I'd run down the list of things that I currently "like more than is socially acceptable."

Without further adieu I present the list in descending chronological order:

1- Friday Night Lights (TV) [Netflix] - I recently discovered this show on a recommendation from the guys over at the Totally Rad Show. They don't often review TV but since I spend a lot of my time geeking out over TV when they do I take notice. I'll admit that their statements about this show seemed pretty hyperbolic when I watched the review however having now watched 9 episodes in about 3 nights I can say without any reservation this show is AMAZING!!!!

I've jokingly described it as "Dawson's Creek" meets "The Shield." It's a portrayal of high school and the teen years but done in a very gritty style and that's a lot of what I like about the show. In addition to Kyle Chandler's portrayal of Coach Taylor is very impressive I've never played a sport, and I wish I could play for him, and as an added bonus he reminds me a lot of another of my favorite actors, Ron Livingston. Then there's Lyla or Minka Kelly...um....WOW. It's weird because I actually kind of want to see Jason and Lyla end up together but that's more equivalent to Joey and Dawson ending up together which I was vehemently against. Not that I sit around giving it great thought or anything.

Seriously though amazing show I really am joking about the Dawson's aspect because that comparison would really sell the show, it's amazing writing, and the amazing cast WAY short. I also like what a surprise this show as for me I'd have easily continued to write it off as a show about football (which I am NOT a fan of, though who knows that might be changing) and now I can't get enough.

2- Glee (TV) [Hulu] - From the moment I even read the first synopsis of this show I knew I was going to LOVE it. Sure enough I watched the pilot on Hulu and was immediately hooked. Great music, hilarious writing, and a talented cast. Of course there's really a lot more to this show than high school and the music. First off you have to watch it at least twice to catch all the one-liners which come fast and furious. In addition to which they take every high school stereotype and up end it (the cheerleaders and the celibacy club come on pure gold!). Then there's a bunch of political statements buried just below the surface whether it be our schools poor performance, lack of education funding, or the farce that is abstinence only education. There's also some interesting symbolism going on reflected between the young Glee leads Finn and Rachel and Will (the teacher who leads Glee club) and his wife. The point here is that there is a lot more and what immediately meets the eye behind Glee.

Oh and I almost forgot about FOX's all out social media bonanza with this show. First off all the cast member have Twitter, okay somewhat standard in Hollywood these days, but for the most part they're all pretty active. In addition to a Facebook Page for the show itself FOX has developed Facebook Pages for all the characters and some of the characters have Twitter accounts as well. The real genius here is that if (god forbid I think I'd loose my mind) there ever needed to be a "save Glee" campaign well then the infrastructure is all there. In addition some of the songs have already gone viral on Twitter and climbed up the iTunes chart and the show has been getting great buzz on Twitter (#glee) as well.

Oh did I mention Rachel Berry played by the lovely and talented (think Tonys on Broadway folks) Lea Michele? Which brings up perhaps one of the coolest aspects of the show the cast actually sings the music. I like that the producers of the show actually went out and got people who could sing. As opposed to the way "Saved by the Bell" used to do it. Two episodes in and I've yet to really find anything I don't like about Glee much like Chuck it makes me look forward to Wednesday nights at 9pm when it airs on FOX...check it out!!

3- TweetDeck/Twitter/Twittelator (Uh do you have to ask?) - It's possible I've tried just about every Twitter client out there for both the Mac and iPhone at this point. I started out with Tweetie for the iPhone and I've gradually progressed right on through to Twittelator which I'm fairly convinced has literally every feature imaginable at least I know I can't come up with anything I'd add to a client it doesn't have. On the Mac desktop side of things I've made my way to TweetDeck after finally deciding that it's about the only thing that even comes close feature wise to Twittelator.

There's plenty of evidence documenting my Twitter addiction in the my almost 5000 tweets. The other day I remarked to a friend of mine that it really takes a special kind of obsession to need either of these two tools. Most people could get buy with something like a Tweetie or a Twitterific but not if you exist, as I seem to when it comes to Twitter, in an unnamed place somewhere beyond addiction.

4- Fringe (TV) [Hulu] - It's been up and down with me for "Fringe". The show stars Joshua Jackson (aka Pacey from Dawson's Creek) so I was of course in from the beginning. However even as the show really ramped up and hooked me I've been been unable to shake my total indifference to the portrayal of Olivia, the female FBI agent lead of the show, she's always just felt one dimensional and very flat to me.

All that being said where they left off with Season 2 was absolutely amazing and just might be the best season ending scene to a show I've ever seen (but then again I haven't seen the end to "Friday Night Lights" seasons yet). If you're looking to catch up with this show I recommend just watch the last say 4 episodes of Season 2 and you'll more or less have the gist.

5- Chuck (TV) [Hulu] - Here again I think my passion for the show has been well documented. It's interesting with "Chuck" because it was really the first time where I felt compelled to participate in a campaign. Ya that's right I was one of those people twittering like a fiend (to the point where I had to get a different account or alienate my friends), streaming the show online, and eating Subway subs and then writing to the executives at NBC and Subway. In the end we were victorious and "Chuck" will be back for a third season and that's a really great feeling. Can't wait!!

6- Colligate A Cappella - I guess I first became hooked on the whole A Cappella thing when I saw my first MIT Logs show a few years back. A few years and several BOCA (iTunes) and group CDs later I feel that I'm confident in saying that I am approaching full on "A Cappella-head" status. For those who aren't familiar with colligate A Cappella there are groups at colleges and universities all throughout the country that perform live, record albums, and arrange largely covers of popular songs. All the music is produced vocally with no instrumental backing. In additions lots of the groups like to ham it up, perform skits, etc. during their live concerts usually held on campus in the fall/winter and spring.

The appeal of this music for me exists on a couple of levels. First the genre as a whole contains an amazing amount of musical talent that you won't here anywhere but on college campuses. In addition it is a lot of fun to see how the groups arrange some of my favorite songs. One of my favorite examples lately is the Boston University Dear Abbey's version of Born to Run (iTunes) on their album Four Score (iTunes).

My love for all this music just continues to grow and I've had the privilege of living in two great areas for A Cappella in Boston and San Francisco. While in the Bay Area last summer I was able to attend some of the ICCA competitions and see some of the best groups in the country. I implore you to check out the college or universities in your area and support the local groups. Or just pick up BOCA 2009 on iTunes which is a great place to start as well.

Justin |