Bethejustin.com

Entries in twitter (11)

Friday

May072010

Who's Tweeting Now?

Friday, May 7, 2010 at 9:00AM

I've been on Twitter since sometime in 2007 if I remember correctly. Since that time my use of Twitter has grown and evolved. But my friends and family have never really understood "the whole Twitter thing." I've tried to explain the power of Twitter to them at different times in different ways. Like Twitter itself has, I've often tried to start with search and the idea that you can follow conversations about real-time events using hashtags.

One of my first "ah-ha" moments with Twitter came after I had been using the service for a while and being a long time "space geek" I was of of course following @NASA's Twitter account. I can't remember exactly what piece of information I was seeking but there was something I was trying to remember likely about the shuttle or some other mission. So I sent a quick "at reply" to the NASA account and actually heard back with a response to my query. The "ah-ha" moment there is that what would this have taken pre-Twitter? An e-mail? Perhaps. Press credentials? Maybe. But here I was no more than a mere fan of NASA and their efforts and I was able to get a response from the source to my inquiry.

As the years have gone by NASA has expanded their use of Twitter and other social media services. The pinnacle of these efforts has to be the various tweetups that they've held in recent years. The climax of these has to be of course the launch tweetup that was held for the launch of the STS-129 mission. Also reaching fever pitch around the time of the STS-129 tweetup was the Space Tweep Society a collection of space geeks/fans communicating with each other and the larger Twitter community about their shared passion for human space flight. Of course having been a space geek myself since I was 13 these were my people and I became involved and got to know some of the STS-129 tweeps via Twitter and other space fans as well. Including some astronauts, NASA Employees, and Mission Controllers. I was on the Internet and a space fan pre-Twitter and that type of communication simply wasn't possible before.

Which brings us to today. I've continued to be active in the Space Tweep community, as well as the community that has built up around SpaceVidcast. Despite all this space geekery I've never actually seen a shuttle launch in person. With only a handful of launches remaining until the program ends and based on the amazing feedback of those who had attended the STS-129 event I resolved that if there were another launch tweetup I would at the very least sign up. So when the STS-132 tweetup was announced I signed up but didn't really dare to dream that I would be accepted.

I was though and I now have the opportunity to attend a launch with front row seats. NASA rolls out the red carpet for these tweetups which are a two day event at Kennedy Space Center with the opportunity to meet astronauts, NASA employees, tour KSC, and best of all witness a launch from right next to the official press center. If you've ever seen the shot of the flags and countdown clock on the news...yeah that's where we'll get to be. It is a truly mind-boggling opportunity that I was more than in shock, I was selected to be a part of.

All of this is made possible and facilitated directly by Twitter the oft misunderstood communication medium revolving around short 140 character messages. As I explained just exactly what this opportunity entails and I think even my most skeptical friends and family began to see some power in the medium and were of course happy, as am I, that it has helped me to fulfill a nearly life-long dream.

I will be tweeting during the event which will take place on May 13 and 14 from my account @bethejustin as well as hopefully posting here and to my Flickr. I hope you will follow along.

Justin |

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Thursday

Nov192009

Twitter Lists: Etiquette. Conversing or Butting in?

Thursday, November 19, 2009 at 6:20PM

I've been spending A LOT of time following the Shuttle mission, STS-129, this week, a good deal more than I have in recent memory. I've always been a fan of the space program and NASA but that fandom received a shot in the arm this week thanks to NASA and their allowing about 100 twitter users to attend a tweetup for the launch. I found myself following the #nasatweetup hashtag as people were posting, videos, pictures, and any other media that would attempt to convey their amazing experiences. What does any of this have to do with Twitter lists you ask? Well a good number of those who attended the tweetup were also self-identified "Space Tweeps" and the Space Tweep Society (which I myself have now joined) maintains a Twitter list of space tweeps. These space tweeps cover the entire gambit of space enthusiasts from NASA employees to educators to just space geeks, like myself, and everything in between. I soon realized that there is a very lively conversation and community concerned about the future of space exploration and they've been hiding on Twitter this whole time ;-) As a result I started following the space tweep list much more closely and I realized that my use of Twitter continues to evolve in the era of lists. However it also raised some questions that I don't really have any good answers to.

Today I've been playing with the Seesmic Web client which has implemented lists. I can honestly say it is the best implementation of lists I've seen anywhere to date. The primary reason being that it will auto-refresh the lists (none of the API limits normal clients have). It is also a pretty descent client on its own with the standard set of features you'd want, the traditional multi-column view, etc. In the case of the space tweep list what I ended up with is an almost real-time stream of all the conversations occurring among members of the list. It is actually a really neat effect, the best analogy to which I've been able to come up with is a chat room. However here's where the questions start.

It isn't really a chat room. In the pre-lists Twitter if I @reply someone I have some idea in the back of my mind somewhere that anyone can see that @reply if the go looking hard enough at my profile or possibly if they have a search running. However there is a bit of effort required to get at an @reply made by me to someone that you're not following, at least in the pre-lists paradigm. Enter lists, now anyone following the list can see any conversation occurring between any member of the list and any other member of the list. Those conversations become much more public. I've found myself a few times over the last few days responding to conversations I've seen happen by on the list that I might have some input on or that might interest me, okay fine, but here's what's new, those conversations weren't addressed to me I saw them only by virtue of the fact that I happen to be monitoring the list in real-time. So the question then becomes is my behavior on the up and up? For me it is a bit murky. I think to best understand the gray area this represents using a real world comparison is helpful.

So as I started to think about this problem I started thinking about how this would work in the real world? Alright so let's say I am in a room with a couple hundred people. I'm meandering around the room but I myself am not engaged in any conversation. As I meander I hear a conversation between two other people talking that piques my interest and I interject with my own two cents. I think in the real world this is liable to be met with a host of different reactions but there is certainly a decent chance that this real world behavior might be known as "butting in."

So is monitoring a list of conversations and adding to it on Twitter butting in? Or simply participating in a global dialogue? Well certainly the argument can be made that the technology allows for this behavior and doesn't prevent it certainly an active list like the space tweeps list in my experience seems to actually encourage a conversation to take place. However the real world example also seems like it could apply as well. Then there's the matter of how many people follow a particular list, there seems to be some disparity so if people aren't following lists will the have the expectation that others are? Perhaps all of this will become a moot point once the tools expand and make this kind of following a list much more manageable. Do people follow lists now? Do do you do it? How do feel? Butting in or good dialogue?

If you have any thoughts on the matter @bethejustin, leave a comment, or e-mail me at the address to the right.

Justin |

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Saturday

Nov072009

Engaging NASA's Human Side

Saturday, November 7, 2009 at 1:08PM

It's no secret that I've been a space geek/nerd/enthsiast since I was about 13 years old. Since that time I've always admired (envied?) NASA, those who work there, and of course astronauts. Now in the world of Twitter/Facebook/YouTube and social media how I think of astronauts as people is changing drastically, and I think that's a good thing.

My mental image of how I think about astronauts as people was shaped early on in my love affair with space exploration as a result of a trip I took in the summer of 1994 to Space Camp in Huntsville Alabama. One of the key components of the program I was participating in was simulated shuttle missions. During my time I served on one flight in Mission Control as "Capcom" and on the next I asked for something with responsibility and ended up, to my serious surprise, as "Shuttle Commander." However I learned quickly just how much responsibility the Capcom has (hint: LOTS more than I ever imagined but that's perhaps another post). During my time at space camp I became quick friends with a fellow space geek in my group. I geeked out over things like shuttle abort modes and acronyms and he open my mind to a whole new world of things like Mercury, Gemini and Apollo. He suggested that I read the book Moon Shot to start catching up my knowledge of the early days of the space program and I did at the earliest connivence. (Btw, J.R. Harris if you're out there hit up the Capcom)

I think it is fair to say that if you look back on the Mercury days and the original 7 you emerge with a romanticized larger than life view of what astronauts are supposed to be. In fact back in those days that is the exact effect that NASA and the government was going for, and I came to idolize guys like Shepherd and Slayton (my to favorites from that era to this day, Shepherd in fact hailing from my native New Hampshire).

This romanticized view worked for the time but this is 2009. NASA and its astronauts, as best I can tell, have embarked on an unprecedented mission of engagement with the public they serve. I found myself wondering the other day for example as I checked in on one of my Twitter lists, that contains all the Astronauts currently on Twitter, if 13 year old me would believe that I might one day be interacting directly with actual astronauts. NASA and the astronauts have truly embraced social media, and that might almost be an understatement, we've now had everything from tweeting shuttle commanders, to "tweetups" on the International Space Station. Even now this new engagement is evolving and soaring to higher heights and much like Moon Shot defined my early impressions of astronauts Twitter and YouTube are shaping my impressions of the current brand of astronaut in an even more positive light.

Let me just highlight a few of the things I've come across recently that 13 year old me probably wouldn't have believed. The other day I came across a video of future Space Station Commander Scott Kelly (@StationCDRKelly) had posted to TwitVid giving a brief tour of the American crew quarters in Star City Russia. In case that doesn't register for you we are talking about tweeting from one of the most closely guarded secrets of the Cold War. We also recently got a look inside the "Astro Van", thanks to Astronaut Leland Melvin (@Astro_Flow) who posted another video to Twitter, as the astronauts rode to the pad for their TCDT (or "terminal countdown demonstration test") of astronauts joking around laughing the mood was light, and it was fun to see. Last but certainly not least Astronaut Mike Massimino has been producing a great series of videos (just one of many) on YouTube giving an inside look at the training of the STS-129 crew, if you are at all interested I highly recommend checking them out. In addition definitely follow @Astro_Mike on Twitter he's very active and a pretty cool guy.

So what does all this mean? Well I believe it adds up to unprecedented engagement and access to our space agency. After all NASA is a public effort and it is great to see them engaging the very public that keeps them flying. As a space geek it is somewhat mind boggling to me to get tweets from Star City for example a place that is not known for being open and has always fascinated me. More than anything though what you come away from following the tweets, videos, etc. is that these are just real people they have families, kids that need to do homework have sporting events to get to, they like to joke around, they have good days and they have days that are down right frustrating...like all of us.

What NASA is succeeding in doing, I hope, is showing the world the human side, beyond the rockets, acronyms, and tech talk they are an organization of truly great dedicated...real people. Hopefully seeing this side will make kids realize, "hey I can do this, they're just like me or my dad/mom, and I can be an astronaut too" and that's a good thing when we've heard much talk lately from the President about NASA's mission to inspire.

Here's the bottom line from all of this for me, for a group that spends much of their time circling it astronauts are a very down to Earth group of people.

Justin |

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Wednesday

Nov042009

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 |

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Thursday

Sep172009

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 |

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