I am not a number

So, Ashton Kutcher and CNN have decided to compete for followers.  Am I the only person who's offended by the fact that two of the largest names on twitter have decided to have a pissing contest and use the number of people who want to hear what they have to say as a marker?

It can be difficult enough to explain twitter to some people (see my last post about this) and this concept of followers and following's purely as a scoreboard just rankles me.  As I said in that last post, twitter is a truly social concept.  It depends on people saying something interesting or fun as well as the retweet and the @reply.  Those numbers, whether they be 1, 100 or 1 million aren't numbers, each and every one of them is a person and each and every one deserves respect.

I'll admit, I started following @StephenFry when I came onto twitter, and I still do.  Not because I expect him to notice me or even be interested in a word I have to say, but because I'm interested in what he has to say.  I also follow @DaveGorman and completely agree with him about people who follow thousands of others.

But the thing is that I'm just so annoyed by this that I can't even explain why.  This competition just seems to have cheapened twitter, just as it starts to come of age.  So I ask you, are you a number, or are you a free (wo)man?

(Oh, and I know it's an awful attempt - I'm not a graphic designer or artist or anything, and it was all done in Paint, but if you want a copy of the Logo head over to Flickr.)

I don't get twitter

I have a few friends at work who've started using twitter, but it seems that no-one's really "getting it", by which I think they mean that they're not enjoying their experience.

The only reason I can think of is that twitter is true social media.  There's no distractions, no way to interact with people outside of the 140 characters.  You actually have to sit and read what other people are saying and you have to react!

It might seem simple but if twitter is going to be any use to you then you need to be prepared to tweet and be tweeted.  Be prepared to start your own update but also to RT (retweet).  Use general sweeping statements and @replies.  Use photos, blogs and other pages to explain in more detail.  But remember, above all else, interact with people.

I think that there are a couple of things that I've noticed my friends doing that I don't think help them.  I did the same at first but then realised that this wasn't helping me with what I wanted from twitter.

• They're Following mostly celebrities.  This isn't a bad thing if all you're interested in is what @xxandip (Andi Peters) had for breakfast (in case you're interested - it's ALWAYS pineapple) or where @stephenfry's heading next (as he's spent the last month or so jetting around for various programmes).  I'm a follower of Stephen's as I like his updates, I like to see some of the photos that he sends and I am a fan of his in general.  But I found that most of the stars are either more bothered about what they can say to the world, or in giving one-word answers to as many of their followers as possible.
  
• There are people out there who are spamming stars with "follow me" requests, personally - if I'm going to be followed by someone famous - I'd rather that it was because I actually post interesting updates than because I typed #followmestephen.  And if I come across someone who's every other post is "Pleeeeaase follow me random star" then I'm afraid I'll not be interacting with them, I don't want to be seeing that taking over my twitterstream thanks.
  
• They approach updates as they would Facebook and so their posts usually start "is..." and follow that literally with what they are doing.  Yes it's a purist's way of tweeting, but it's not fun!  I always worry when I look down a twitterstream for someone and don't see a single update that starts @, RT, via or with a picture in it.
  

So my advice to people who are looking for a fun time on twitter - don't rely on celebrities - look around and find fun people that you like.  Look at their recent tweets and take advice from other people.  Ask others that you're following, or that are following you, if they have any recommendations, use #followfriday suggestions - and most of all - INTERACT with people!

---- Update ----

Thanks to @tonyisme's great linkage - here's a great YouTube video about twitter to explain what it's all about!

#AmazonFail

So, it's all over the twitterverse now and loads of people have tweeted about it. Authors, bloggers and tweeple in general have taken this cause straight to their heart.

Jezebel.com is covering the whole story in detail here. Basically, Amazon have decided that they're going to remove the rating from "Adult" literature. This is to protect someone from being offended and seeing something that they shouldn't. I'm not sure who this is supposed to protect, or why Amazon might have decided to change the system that has worked.

One of the things that people are concerned about is that the first two books that appear in a search on Amazon are books about "curing" Homosexuality. Considering that (although some people disagree) a number of reports have shown Young Gay and Bisexual Men have a higher chance of suicidal tendencies, surely one of the world's major book suppliers must take some responsibility to allow the case to be accurately portrayed.

I note in the Jezebel article that it's not just the actual adult books, everything from explicit adult content to coming out advice and yes, even our very own @StephenFry's 'Moab is my Washpot' is affected.

But does it matter to the rest of us? I've heard some people asking. Well yes, it does. If Amazon can decide to arbitrarily censor a whole section of their site, with no explanation and no pattern to the decision making process, what about your books? Will it move to DVDs, maybe computer games? Who decides what is considered Adult? Who decides what is considered Offensive? And when Amazon get away with it without running into opposition, how long before the smaller sites start doing the same?

This is a wholly inappropriate step towards censorship which we must stand up to. I agree that Amazon is a private company, and that it should be able to do business in a way that doesn't cause a detriment to its profits. However it cannot be allowed to discriminate against anyone (even those books that offer to cure homosexuality) or force censorship upon us. So everyone, join the boycott of Amazon.com until they realise that the love that dare not speak its name will speak up if it has to!

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A huge thank you to @billt for bringing this to my attention, and for the link to the great AmazonFail image that's found at the top of this article

twitter - a personal view.

There are loads of blogs and websites and twitterers out there for companies. With posts about how to increase your market share, get lots of followers and connect with your potential clients. 

That's great for business users and I'd like to just recognise a couple that I've found useful. I really like the twitip team for their clear, no-nonsense posts, and @MarkShaw for being an all-round generally great guy, friendly, welcoming and informative! 

A lot of people are asking "What's so great about twitter? It's just a load of people posting what they had for breakfast." But it's not, it's so much more, it's the logical extension of the personal web presence that people have been having for years. I suppose I'd better explain myself (and before people start thinking I'm an expert of some sort, I'm not. I've just tried to find the best online presence for me for around 13 years - back when I was at college)... 

At first, if you wanted some sort of web presence then you had to design a website, but that was fiddly and took a lot of work you signed up for your Angelfire or Geocities account and the fiddled with the awful WYSIWYG editor then realised that you really needed to learn HTML. 

Then came blogs, a simple, easy to use format but you had to think about what you wanted to say and say lots of it!   Then the social networking sites stepped up, myspace with its customisation to the back teeth and apps and a way to connect to your friends so they could update your page and vice versa, and now Facebook - again simplifying and streamlining the process.  

And now we have twitter, the logical conclusion to the streamlining. Why do you need apps when you have iGoogle or Windows Live Space? You can store your photos in flickr or photobucket and tweet a link to them or if you're photographing on the move then there's always TwitPic, or for the Twidroid users out there, Phodroid. Twitter is, quite simply, a minimalist's dream that allows you to do exactly what you want.  Communicate!

Google Street View - My take

This Independent on Sunday article talks about (read: scaremongers) the 'privacy concerns' around Google Street View.  It seems from the comments on the page that I'm not the only person who's confused with this.

Firstly I really don't understand the privacy issues involved that people keep talking about.  Google simply drove around a number of public streets around the UK and took a load of still shots.  This was about six months ago.  Anyone could do it.  But because it's Google everyone jumps on the "evil huge corporations are taking over the world" bandwagon.  

I'm a Google fan.  The products they produce are useful, fun, easy to use and help to make my online life easier.  I can access my Google Mail account and Google Calendar from my T-Mobile G1 and my iGoogle page keeps all of my fun and useful apps in one place.  If I want to have a look for something entertaining to watch I can visit YouTube and then go to my Blogger account to discuss it in detail.  Of course if I'm really desperate I suppose I can also use it to search, but that's only at a push! ;-P  In short they deliver everything I ask of them.  They have a clear Privacy Policy and have never (to my knowledge) broken this with me.

Compare this with the UK Government who have decided, against my wishes, to introduce an identity card that contains around 50 pieces of data about me.  I wasn't asked to agree to this.  I wasn't given the option of using a different organisation for my identity needs.  I (like every other person who lives in the UK) have been told that this will happen.  The card will contain my fingerprints and iris details (you know - the things I can't change) and will be looked after by the same government that keeps people's benefit details safe as well as laptops containing personal details.  Yes, that's just one laptop, but it seems that the plural is correct.

I don't mean this to be a soapbox, but I really think that, if people are going to cry out against privacy issues, they should cry out against actual infringements before they scream and shout and stamp their feet about a company taking some photos.

And yes, my house is on street viewer, my car's parked outside my house and do you know what?  I don't care!