The Sounding Board

A newbie's foray on Twitter and all the other variations of the verb form

Twitter, Twitter Search, twitterfeed, TweetBeep—is tweetbook on the horizon or is it already here? Well maybe, but its not affiliated with Twitter.

As a newbie, delving into the Twitter world is more than just taking part in the latest phenomenon of microblogging, but a journey that promises to deliver social media at its best and is definitely worth encouraging.

Who doesn’t want to debate, heckle, or send a few lines of communication love via direct messages (which can be routed directly to cell phones mind you)? Why not boost your ego a bit by gathering a flock of followers? Or follow others that have plenty to offer in way of news, business know-how, political gander, a healthy dose of comedy, and the list goes on. A tip to see your flock flourish: microblog often and be real in your few sentences for the world to see.

The basics of posting my 140 words or less was pretty self-explanatory, the only problem I had was trying to figure out how to respond to my followers or those that I was following. I have to say that I’m pretty savvy when it comes to figuring out and maneuvering new sites and until someone pointed out the reply sign on the updates popping up on my message board, I had no clue on how to sound off when I had an opinion about a post.

If that’s the only critique—then I’d say the site is in pretty good shape.

On top of what it regularly offers, Twitter has a lineup of addendum sites that provide specific services, enhancing your Twitter experience. Take TweetBeep as an example. All you have to do is input any one of your topics du jour (i.e. Sarah Palin, the bailout, Spore, Apple, Tina Fey, Wii, all the way down to Ask a Ninja) and then type in your e-mail address. Tada! Now you’ll get alerts via e-mail when a tweet matches your search.

Some of you might already have a blog—well guess what? You can feed that to Twitter too! Sync it up by using twitterfeed. The site’s server will check your blog's feed at the specified interval and post any new items to your Twitter account.

I have to say that Election 2008 on Twitter is the best addition yet. See what all Twitter users are saying about the candidates, Congress, and all things political. Just like Twitter search, Election 2008 is real time. Read the lifeblood of citizens nationwide and across the globe—and see what they’re really thinking outside of what the media is splashing in the news.

Oh and FYI, Twitterbook is the site affiliated with Twitter, offering users the ability to update your home page vis a vis Facebook. However the site that offers a series of tweets strung together in a never-ending story is one thought of by many, but put together on tweetbook.com. What needs to happen? Giving Twitter users the ability to create their own Tweet Book, invite their followers to come play along in the fictionalizing process and see how the story unfolds. Sure, we give Micah Baldwin props for having his own Tweet Book site—but what about all the other Twitter users that want to have control of the storyboard? Come on Twitter—make it happen already!

- Jackie Gilbert