Wednesday, April 23rd, 2008
Looks like most of us got Facebook Chat today. I see people like Brian on it (and Twittering about it from @litford), Kean Hean and Estee the Geek Goddess as well.
Here’s a little screen shot of how it looks (click for larger image):
I was excited to get on Facebook chat because the number of people on Facebook means it’s a great way to stay connected and get to know some people who’re your “Facebook friends” a little better.
One thing sorely missing is the ability to add multiple people into a conversation. I feel it’s a shame that I can see everyone who’s online right now on the right hand side, but can’t add two or more people into the same chat room so we can catch up together.
If that function gets rolled out soon, I can definitely see my time on Facebook increasing dramatically.
If you want to find me on Facebook, search for Daryl Tay. I’m the one from SMU (obviously!)
Tags: chat with multiple people, facebook chat, geek goddess, litford
Posted in Fun, social media | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, April 16th, 2008
We have a pretty lively SMU community on Twitter with @studio_bug and @iammyy joining us just this week. In a way it’s this awesome community that led me to the revelation of why Twitter is so powerful. In short: It’s like mIRC in that you can talk to anyone and leave messages for anyone and usually do these with multiple people at once.
It really plays up on the “social” effect of web2.0 where you and your group of friends can come home from being separated from each other all day, and catch up on what happened in their lives.
However, outside of the 20-30 of us, I’m quite acutely aware that there are another 130ish people following me on Twitter (a healthy amount not even from Singapore) who may find all this inter-tweeting a little…. frivolous. Or maybe even bordering on annoying.
I realised this awhile back and struggled internally whether to start a new, personal account to do all the chatting guilt-free, or to exercise more self-control and not tweet excessively, or use direct messages more often. I chose the latter option (and it’s a slow process, I assure you), but I just wanted to take this opportunity to add on a ninth mistake that bloggers make while using Twitter, inspired from Twitter-Themed Social Media Wednesdays from @stripedshirt who picked up the original post of eight mistakes bloggers make.
#9: Twitter gives you great mIRC-like benefits, but it doesn’t mean you should use it like IRC.
If you say something great on Twitter, chances are you might share the news with friends in real life, pass it on on Twitter or even blog about it. I think this is the new water cooler effect (and you can feel free to disagree with me). But if we as Twitter users abuse this new found “power” and choose to blast anything and everything via Twitter, sooner or later there will be people who find that you aren’t adding value and ignore you. Similar to how we don’t use IRC anymore.
In short, let’s all try to be watchful of what we tweet, and keep in mind that although it may be relevant to those 10-20 people in a specific community, it may come across as spammy or annoying to the rest of the majority who are following you.
If all else fails, try Mibbit. It’s an online IRC client that doesn’t need installation or anything. A couple of us tried it yesterday and it works pretty well! I do think we’re going to end up full circle in terms of chat and instant messaging, so I’m up for a test drive anytime.
Are you feeling like Twitter is getting more and more congested? Or do you think that there’s not even enough being posted on Twitter? Let’s hear your views in the comments below.
Tags: be mindful of your tweets, don't use twitter like irc, eight mistakes bloggers make while on twitter, facebook chat, how not to use twitter, iammyy, leave messages on twitter, smu twitter community, smutweets, social effect of web2.0, stripedshirt, studio_bug, the power of twitter, twitter, twitter is like irc, twitter is like mirc, twitter themed days, twitter tips, use twitter to stay connected, use twitter wisely, why twitter is so powerful
Posted in SMU, Singapore, social media, twitter | No Comments »
Monday, April 7th, 2008
Brian Solis over at bub.blicio.us (who is one of my new March subscriptions) posted an article on Facebook adding a new chat feature, with a link to the Facebook blog telling users about the new feature.
Unfortunately, it doesn’t seem to be available on my Facebook yet, perhaps they’re starting with North America. Nonetheless, I’m excited to start using it.
My first reaction: great! I already think Twitter is so powerful because it almost emulates that “water cooler” or “chatroom” function that the internet used to have (I do miss the chat rooms because MSN is usually just one-to-one) and Ping.sg, a community-focused aggregator already has a chat function on the page as well. It’s almost like we’ve come full circle back to the era of chat.
The second reaction: I’m assuming that you have to remain logged in on Facebook to use the chat and see who’s online. This leads to longer time on the Facebook site, presumably more exposure to the increasing number of Facebook ads, and a way to combat Facebook Fatigue?
What do you think?
Tags: brian solis, bubblicious, chat room, facebook, facebook ads, facebook advertisements, facebook blog, facebook chat, facebook fatigue, mirc, ping sg, ping.sg, twitter, water cooler effect
Posted in social media, twitter | 5 Comments »
