Fresh Logic Studios has built an addictive Flash mapping interface, totaling worldwide "Tweets". The screen refreshes every 6 seconds or so with a different Twitterer's standing report ; and profile details are shown on top of their location on a map. A toolchest permits you to toggle between perspectives - and the Microsoft Virtual Earth graphics are striking. Each of the Twitterers has their own lollipop on the map to notice where they are and there's ( limited ) language support.
But the Atlas is not just a visualization device for standing addicts.
There's also a practical side : users can get directions, search for local shops and services, see what events are coming up in places around the globe, and even see where the most costly gas stations are around. What's it missing? The power to get only your Twitter group's tweets shown on the map.
Showing posts with label Twitter aps. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Twitter aps. Show all posts
Monday, February 1, 2010
Saturday, January 10, 2009
My Top Five Twitter Aps
I wouldn't call myself a power Twitterer, but I've been using the brevity-focused social network site since last April, largely via auto-posted headlines from my Alpha Doggs network research blog. More recently, I've gotten into the habit of posting other comments. As a journalist, I find Twitter especially useful for tracking hot topics.
For those of you new to the Twitter game, here are some of the tools I use and my thoughts on them (last summer we posted a more elaborate slideshow highlighting tools). I will say that some of these programs tend to take their sweet time about dishing out results, but a lot are still new, even in beta. I should note that I tend to avoid using tools that require me to hand over my Twitter password: After all, hackers now have their claws into Twitter. And I've yet to start using Twitter on a mobile device. (Watch a slideshow of 12 tips for safe social networking.)
Software Assurance Protection: Bridging the Gap in Application Security for Open Source: Download nowWithout further ado, the tools:
• TweetDeck: It's an Adobe Air application currently in public beta that runs on Mac, Windows and Linux systems. It's useful for divvying up the people you follow on Twitter into groups (though wish I could create even more than the eight groups I have: Network World, CIOs/network execs, vendors, analysts), making it easier to follow their Tweets vs. doing so within the basic Twitter interface. It's also easier to Tweet from there than the basic Twitter interface in that you can immediately shorten your URLs within TweetDeck. I've seen some users dismayed that when they go to close a group they've created that they've actually deleted. Confess to doing this once myself.
• Twellow: Unsatisfied with Twitter Search and even Advanced Search, I've taken to more often using this Twitter Yellow Pages to search not only by keyword in Tweets, but by keywords in Twitterers bios. Found Twellow helpful in pulling together this list of 12 CIOs who Twitter.
• Twitter Grader: Kind of fun just to see how you rank on Twitter and to learn who the Twitter rock stars are. I scored an 85 out of 100 last time I checked. A solid B-plus… Though I suspect there might be some grade inflation going on. The program gives out an awful lot of 100s. Also features TwitSnip, a bookmarklet for tweeting content from any Web page.
• TweetStats: Provides colorful graphs of how many tweets you write by month and time of day and interface. I've been averaging 2.1 a day. That doesn't seem too obnoxious, but I suspect I've got the potential to become insufferable. The site claims it has 50,000-plus users.
• Tweettag: Another search tool, which searches by Twitter tags, typically front-ended by a # symbol. One nice feature is that when you search on a tag you are presented with a tag cloud of related tags.
For those of you new to the Twitter game, here are some of the tools I use and my thoughts on them (last summer we posted a more elaborate slideshow highlighting tools). I will say that some of these programs tend to take their sweet time about dishing out results, but a lot are still new, even in beta. I should note that I tend to avoid using tools that require me to hand over my Twitter password: After all, hackers now have their claws into Twitter. And I've yet to start using Twitter on a mobile device. (Watch a slideshow of 12 tips for safe social networking.)
Software Assurance Protection: Bridging the Gap in Application Security for Open Source: Download nowWithout further ado, the tools:
• TweetDeck: It's an Adobe Air application currently in public beta that runs on Mac, Windows and Linux systems. It's useful for divvying up the people you follow on Twitter into groups (though wish I could create even more than the eight groups I have: Network World, CIOs/network execs, vendors, analysts), making it easier to follow their Tweets vs. doing so within the basic Twitter interface. It's also easier to Tweet from there than the basic Twitter interface in that you can immediately shorten your URLs within TweetDeck. I've seen some users dismayed that when they go to close a group they've created that they've actually deleted. Confess to doing this once myself.
• Twellow: Unsatisfied with Twitter Search and even Advanced Search, I've taken to more often using this Twitter Yellow Pages to search not only by keyword in Tweets, but by keywords in Twitterers bios. Found Twellow helpful in pulling together this list of 12 CIOs who Twitter.
• Twitter Grader: Kind of fun just to see how you rank on Twitter and to learn who the Twitter rock stars are. I scored an 85 out of 100 last time I checked. A solid B-plus… Though I suspect there might be some grade inflation going on. The program gives out an awful lot of 100s. Also features TwitSnip, a bookmarklet for tweeting content from any Web page.
• TweetStats: Provides colorful graphs of how many tweets you write by month and time of day and interface. I've been averaging 2.1 a day. That doesn't seem too obnoxious, but I suspect I've got the potential to become insufferable. The site claims it has 50,000-plus users.
• Tweettag: Another search tool, which searches by Twitter tags, typically front-ended by a # symbol. One nice feature is that when you search on a tag you are presented with a tag cloud of related tags.
New New York Tech Meetup
New New York Tech Meetup
@Shakeshack kicked off the event, presenting their social experiment using Twitter to create a "new data set" around the community of people who have a sometimes scary obsession with the eatery and the length of the line to get your hands on a delicious burger.
TwiTerra presented its visualization of the Twitter "re-tweet" data set, displaying one way to think about the type of data set @Shakeshack is creating.
CoTweet presented a whole new interface for how groups of people can interact with messages via a single Twitter feed, in what could be seen either as a system for using Twitter as a 1920s style "party line" or as a corporate switchboard for tweets.
StockTwits showed its interface for using Twitter for reputation driven real-time stock tips.
The Shorty Awards presented its massively popular three-part "awards" program and spoke a bit of how it is morphing into a way to rate top Twitter feeds in various categories of interest.
Klout showed off its attempt to algorithmically measure impact and influence on Twitter.
Finally, one of my favorite projects, Botanicalls, showed off its project to bring your plants into the tweet-o-sphere.
Sure, all of these companies are using Twitter's API, and developing interfaces, features and the like that need Twitter to live tomorrow -- but what bets are they really making, what are they really developing? Coming out of the NYTM, I would argue that they are all making a very safe bet on a real-time future for the internet, not Twitter itself.
Twitter has grown because it is a fast way to easily route messages, and with a dead simple API it is a quick and easy way for the next generation of innovators to get up and running with a new "real time" or "social" project or company. Iis CoTweet the CRM of the future?. Is Shorty Awards or Klout going to provide the next "pagerank"? I haven't a clue. Is Botanicalls going to be part of the basis for smart real-time device interface? Not sure.
But I will say this -- this is real stuff, if Twitter goes away someone else (or a federation of someone elses) with a similar API will take its place and these projects and people will continue. Just as we make sure at drop.io that if need be we could get off our host (Amazon Web Services) at an acceptable cost, Twitter isn't going to hold these companies hostage for long.
So, coming out of this Meetup, I think it is time to start embracing the vibrancy of what people are building "on" Twitter in the New York tech community, and unless you want to bet against a future of highly open real-time communication, start investing in some Twitter based start-ups.
As a closing thought, remember another company with New York ties, Summize. Summize built core real time search technology. They started off working on an Amazon data set, and ended up selling to twitter based on how their groundwork enabled Twitter's data set. Someone that presented at the NYTM this week will do very well with the fundamentals they are developing, whether they do it "on" Twitter or elsewhere.
Google may need solvent ISPs, Microsoft might need Dell, and the U.S. might need an auto industry and a banking system, but these "Twitter" start-ups don't need Twitter.
@Shakeshack kicked off the event, presenting their social experiment using Twitter to create a "new data set" around the community of people who have a sometimes scary obsession with the eatery and the length of the line to get your hands on a delicious burger.
TwiTerra presented its visualization of the Twitter "re-tweet" data set, displaying one way to think about the type of data set @Shakeshack is creating.
CoTweet presented a whole new interface for how groups of people can interact with messages via a single Twitter feed, in what could be seen either as a system for using Twitter as a 1920s style "party line" or as a corporate switchboard for tweets.
StockTwits showed its interface for using Twitter for reputation driven real-time stock tips.
The Shorty Awards presented its massively popular three-part "awards" program and spoke a bit of how it is morphing into a way to rate top Twitter feeds in various categories of interest.
Klout showed off its attempt to algorithmically measure impact and influence on Twitter.
Finally, one of my favorite projects, Botanicalls, showed off its project to bring your plants into the tweet-o-sphere.
Sure, all of these companies are using Twitter's API, and developing interfaces, features and the like that need Twitter to live tomorrow -- but what bets are they really making, what are they really developing? Coming out of the NYTM, I would argue that they are all making a very safe bet on a real-time future for the internet, not Twitter itself.
Twitter has grown because it is a fast way to easily route messages, and with a dead simple API it is a quick and easy way for the next generation of innovators to get up and running with a new "real time" or "social" project or company. Iis CoTweet the CRM of the future?. Is Shorty Awards or Klout going to provide the next "pagerank"? I haven't a clue. Is Botanicalls going to be part of the basis for smart real-time device interface? Not sure.
But I will say this -- this is real stuff, if Twitter goes away someone else (or a federation of someone elses) with a similar API will take its place and these projects and people will continue. Just as we make sure at drop.io that if need be we could get off our host (Amazon Web Services) at an acceptable cost, Twitter isn't going to hold these companies hostage for long.
So, coming out of this Meetup, I think it is time to start embracing the vibrancy of what people are building "on" Twitter in the New York tech community, and unless you want to bet against a future of highly open real-time communication, start investing in some Twitter based start-ups.
As a closing thought, remember another company with New York ties, Summize. Summize built core real time search technology. They started off working on an Amazon data set, and ended up selling to twitter based on how their groundwork enabled Twitter's data set. Someone that presented at the NYTM this week will do very well with the fundamentals they are developing, whether they do it "on" Twitter or elsewhere.
Google may need solvent ISPs, Microsoft might need Dell, and the U.S. might need an auto industry and a banking system, but these "Twitter" start-ups don't need Twitter.
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