Obama's inauguration: sharing it on Twitter, Facebook, other sites - Inside Bay Area

More at Inside Bay Area: “Obama on Tuesday will not simply take the oath to become the 44th president of the United States. He will serve as both emcee and epicenter of the most socially networked moment in political history.
"This is a historic event and the way we'll experience it will be just as historic," says Erica Schaefer. In perfect Generation Y style, the 20-year-old San Jose State University junior will watch the televised version of the ceremony at a local live screening — but she'll also be outfitted in full social-media regalia.
"I'll have my BlackBerry and my mini-laptop, which will allow me to share my status online, and I'll probably be on Twitter following @BarackObama, and on my Facebook chat section where I can talk about it live with hundreds of friends at the same time.”

Stop Twitter Phishing Now!

"Phishing" is the act of sending a "safe" looking email that asks you to give out sensitive information: your username and password. That practice has found it's way to Twitter. Here's what you should do if it happens to you.

Loic Le Meur's Call For Twitter "Search By Authority" Is Misguided and Self-Serving

 I just read at TechCrunch , and then at his own blog, and with some dismay, Seesmic founder and entrepreneur Loic Le Meur's call for a "Search by Authority " feature on Twitter based on the number of followers a person has. I have to say that call is -- to be blunt -- 1) way off-base, and 2) very self-serving. I'll take the second assertion first.


Le Meur has as of this writing 15,196 followers on Twitter. Do you for a moment think that he would dare dream of such a provision if he had, say 800 followers or less? Of course not. Le Meur's also very wrong and really horribly arrogant to be direct in his statement that "we're not equal on the Web." Well. that's not the point at all, and I'm really surprised that he would even concern himself with what is essentially a teenage concern: who's better than whom?


I thought the whole deal about New Media was that it not only equalized us but was fluid: at one point a person was up, but given the winds of change, could give way to a new comer. Quickly. That's the fun of all this. As Farid Zakaria put it in the latest edition (as of this writing) of Newsweek on "The Global Elite , "Knoweldge is Power" and he was referring directly to the Internet's impact on culture.


He's right.


For Le Meur to even call for such a provision on Twitter is an insult to those of us who understand that considering the capabilities of anyone of us, we really are all equal. Moreover, it's an attempt to lock in place the favored position he thinks he deserves. 


Come on!  


Loic knows damn well that one way to add followers is to follow people on Twitter first. Thus, he has 15,928 folks he's following, which is just ahead of his number of followers and indicates he's been a user of that way to gain followers over time. Now, Twitter has taken on the act of restricting the number of people one can follow, making it impossible to use that system -- as LeMeur has done -- to gain followers.


So he has this advantage and now wants to lock it in. Ah, all for the love of power and the maintenance of authority. 


Forget it.


Now I'll take my first point, that Le Meur's off base. He is for the simple reason that I don't need or want some indicator to tell me what's important. I will do that for myself. If I want to pay attention to a new news brand on Twitter, Loic's idea could hamper their growth. An important call for action by someone small and liberal, could be blotted out by someone large and Republican and with "authority" as Loic see it.


No way.


Authority does not equal followers perfectly in this new society. It is an reward for being known for a moment, but also at times for gaming the system, again for a moment  and that's true in Twitterville -- let's be real honest here. 


Real authority, like it or not, is fluid and ever changing. It's a byproduct of power, which too is fleeting and today is tied to eyeballs that last for, again, a moment. I often laugh at those who believe they can capture it for themselves forever. Pure folly. Perhaps Loic can't deal with that kind of chaos of the fluidity of power, but I welcome it and will fight to make sure that it's maintained. As much respect as I have for Le Meur's accomplishments, this idea must be jettisoned.


Now.


UPDATE: fortunately, the blogsphere's rising up against this idea, not Loic, but the proposed plan.  Check out Sarah Lacy's blog on the matter.  

Twitter Is Overcapacity; No Tweets For A While

I just saw a webpage pop-up on Twitter that read "Twitter is overcapapacity. No tweets for a while" or words to that effect.


Wow, I never thought all of those little words could finally add up to over 1 billion tweets, which is the milestone that Twitter his this week, I read somewhere.


Time for a new server?

Zennie62 On Twitter - Connect With Me!

Hey everyone, I'm on Twitter!  Sign up and add me to your connections list!  Just click here on my profile:


http://twitter.com/zennie62



And then click "Follow" to follow me, and I will follow you.  This way, I can send you links to my latest videos and blog content, and vice versa. 

Twitter,Hot News Feed, Pownce, New World Of Intimacy

Hot News Feed, Twitter and other forms of incessant online contact have created a brave new world of ambient intimacy by allowing instant communications and connectivity.

read more | digg story

Hurricane Gustav and Twitter - Updates Reveal Folks Still In New Orleans

After checking out Twitter "tweets" from New Orleans a day ago, I decided to go back and see what New Orleans' Twitter users were writing after Hurricane Gustav hit land in Louisiana. 

Here's what I found...

dubtea
Name Will
Location New Orleans
Recently At molly's on decatur. Quarter has no power, mollys has partial due to generator. 21 minutes ago

Molly's is a bar in the French Quarter. That means he was at least able to make it down there for a cocktail.  It also means that conditions aren't as bad as feared as of this writing. 

tracam
Name tracam
Location New Orleans
Recently We made it to Vero Beach. Got groceries, internet and CNN. Oh, and a few bottles of wine, chips and salsa. Let the future unfold. about 16 hours ago

Vero Beach is Florida.  About a five hour drive from New Orleans. 

wavyhairgirl
Name wavyhairgirl
Location New Orleans, LA
Recently Tornado threat over apparently 19 minutes ago

aliciammyers
Name aliciammyers
Location New Orleans
Recently So the worst is over? When can we come back? when will power be on? about 1 hour ago

eswanny
Name eswanny
Location New Orleans
Recently And rather than provide information, the weather channel would prefer to show pictures of flying debris. Fail, weather channel... about 4 hours ago

amberdodd
Name amberdodd
Location New Orleans, LA
Recently Just walked around. Windy! Lots of trees/branches down. Ready for electricity now, thx. 6 minutes ago

Wow.  Amderdodd walked around.  So that confirms it's not as bad as three years ago. 

GraceWilson
Name GraceWilson
Location New Orleans    Web http://www.NewOrleansOnline.com
Recently The worst of the wind is over... the rain is light and misty.... I see where they say the levees are overtopping in the Upper 9... VIVA NOLA about 3 hours ago

LaJuneBaby
Name LaJuneBaby
Location New Orleans, LA
Bio Sleepless in New Orleans
Recently Cooking out with friends....and playing the music LOUD!! No neighbors around so LET'S ROCK!!!! about 20 hours ago

There's more at Twitter.

Hurricane Gustav: Twitter "Tweets" of New Orleans Residents Show They're Leaving

I just happened to check out the Twitter "tweets" -- messages -- left by New Orleans residents, or at least those who listed as living in that city which seems to be the target of yet another Hurricane, this one called Gustof.  How I did it was by simply typing "New Orleans" in a search on Twitter.

Some of the messages are from people who have already departed, like aliciammyers, who reports that she's "Driving towards Nashville. Want eggs so badly. Traffic is non-".  Then sarahmparks writes that she's "keeping an eye on Gustav".   Emmaleigh3 reports that she's "Watching pirates of the carribean and waiting for the storm".  


She'd better get out of there!!


Twitter's a good way to determine the mood and place of people in a region during a disaster like Gustav.  I'm going to follow the New Orleans people via Twitter in the days to come.  

Using New Media At The DNC Convention - How Zennie62 Does It

This video presents the "production process" behind the planned use of New Media at the DNC Convention by Sports Business Simulations' SBS Media / Zennie Zeigeist blog.

New Media -- DNC Convention Broadcast

Objective: to quickly and cheaply bring text, audio, and visual information that generally tells a story to as many people as possible in as short amount of time as possible.

Instruments Hardware and Software

Hardware:

1. MacBook -- Has "iMovie" software built in that makes editing movies easy.
2. Sony Camcorder -- Used to make videos and feed to computer
3. iPhone -- used to take photos and also to make mobile blog posts which feed to Zennie's Zeitgeist remotely.

Software:

1. Blogger -- the online home of Zennies's Zeitgeist blog.
2. iMovie -- used to edit the videos uploaded from the camcorder
3. Google -- used to get information and articles on related subjects that then can be linked to in a blog post.
4. Twitter -- updates on Twitter post at the Zennie62 Twitter page, on the Zennie's Zeitgeist Blog, and on my Facebook page all at the same time.
5. Facebook -- Zennie's Facebook page has his blog posts from Zennie's Zeitgeist.
6. Widgets -- Zennie's Zeitgeist widgets are on other blogs in the SBS blog network, from the NFL Business Blog to Oakland Focus.
7. FriendFeed -- allows commentary on blog posts and videos that appear on Zennie62's FriendFeed page.
8. FeedBurner is the RSS (Really Simple Syndication) system used on Zennie's Zeitgeist for yet another way to distribute our blog news to people and as it appears on the blog, automatically.
9. YouTube -- the main home for Zennie62's videos, which are then embedded in the Zennie's Zeitgeist blog and also on Zennie's Facebook page and linked to on Twitter, which is also on Zennie's Facebook page.
10. iReport -- CNN's version of YouTube, where I will upload videos for daily use by CNN.
11. TubeMogul -- permits simultaneous upload of one videos to 15 different video distribution sites, from YouTube to Blip.tv, and Dailymotion, and others.

Bob Barr Uses Twitter - Bet John McCain Never Heard Of It

Hey, do you Twitter? Twitter is the social networking system where one can send a short post of up to 150 characters on anything and post it to their Twitter profile and from a cell phone. It's a handy system and even a good Internet traffic strategy as well as a way to just call for help or send out news. You'd expect Barack Obama to Twitter, but a conservative? Enter Libertarian Presidential Candidate Bob Barr -- he does Twitter and quite frequently it seems.

I just ran accross this post on Tech President reporting that Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr uses Twitter. It reads:

I'm sitting in the Austin airport waiting to board my Southwest flight to Houston and on home to BWI after a great conference at Netroots Nation. Who sits down two rows away but Libertarian presidential candidate Bob Barr. I went on over to ask what anyone would ask: do you Twitter for yourself?

Indeed, Barr says that he does twitter on his own. Barr joins the growing ranks of Twittering elected officials like John Culbertson and Tim Ryan. But unlike fellow Presidential candidate Barack Obama, Barr twitters himself. No staff, no help. (And that may explain why his tweets are a bit...off, at times.

So, congratulations, Congressman Barr, on taking the dive and Twittering for yourself. Have a great flight and and keep the tweets coming.

Heck. I'll bet John McCain never heard of Twitter!

Google Acquires Jaiku, But What Are They Gonna Do With It?

Jaiku's like Twitter but a bit more flexible, they say. Still what's Google doing to do with a less popular version of Twitter? We'll see. To me, the idea is not to take over, but what you do after the take over that matters.

Bill Clinton Twitter Page

Someone made this Bill Clinton Twitter page and it's too funny! Here's some of the entries...

I'm going to BUNNY RANCH in NV; w/ my Clark Kent glasses, no one should know its me...it has been such a long time...LADIES, HERE I COME!!! 12:37 AM August 24, 2007 from web
I wasn't going to say anything, but the cat is out of the bag...KARL ROVE will now be the architect that will take HILLARY to the WH! WE WIN 12:00 AM August 14, 2007 from web
"THE VIEW" picks Whoopi to replace Rosie the Psycho. HEY LADIES...I WAS AVAILABLE!!! I would have loved a tickle fight with Elisabeth! 12:21 AM August 04, 2007 from web
Once Hillary is President, I will have a lot of time on my hands...I think I'll make some extra cash throwing PASSION PARTIES in the WH! 12:54 AM July 23, 2007 from web

Twitter - Born In San Francisco

OK. Just when I thought the Bay Area was starting to lose it's dominance in all things online, we have Twitter , which grew out of the South Park area of The City, near AT&T Park, where the SF Giants play ball.

As to what Twitter is, to me it's a massive fad idea that's so simple I wish I'd thought of it. It's place to tell the World what you're doing. Period. That's all. Or as one Twitter employee put it "it's just a medium, and its relative worth lies in what's communicated."

Yep.

Twitter is a product of Obvious corporation, which reports that it's charge is to to create interesting things that matter to the world—and a great place for creative, smart people to work.

Nice.

Twitter's an interesting online social network that's all too perfectly viral. It makes me wonder what's next. My current charge is to figure out how better to mate our simulations with our blogs and message boards. I'll figure it out.