Twits on Twitter

[MPwannadecentincome]

oh no - I have started getting emails saying 'Tracy wants to follow you on Twitter', and 'Stuart wants to follow you on Twitter'.

Well apart from the fact that I have no idea which Tracy or Stuart they were referring to - I have no desire to become a twit.

Should I redirect them toward HAB's tweets instead?

[gingerjedi]

I just don't get tweeters, if you don't want cyberstalkers then don't bloody well do it.

HAB enjoys the attention.

[The_Equalizer]

Not really into it myself, but if you're anything to do with web front end stuff you need to at least be 'down with the kids' just a shade - or so I've found.

[NickFitz]

Twitter is, IIRC, one of those sites that offers the option of informing everybody that you've signed up for it by letting everybody in your online mail service know about it... if you give them the username and password for your online mail account

AHAH/EDIT: I withdraw that - they still do the address book thing, as I just found when signing up TPD (testpleasdelete - there's a limit on the length of usernames), but only to find people already using Twitter who have signed up with one of the email addresses in your address book. Still a terrible idea though

I know that Twitter (the company) don't use this information for any evil purpose. However, I still strongly advise others against succumbing to such blandishments, whether they come from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or any other such social networking thing.

Your emails are probably just spam, unless you have a Twitter account you've forgotten about. Spammers are pretty good at creating accounts on these sites and then abusing them to email people on their 5-million-email-addresses-for-a-dollar lists. I for one am pretty certain that the young lady in tight shorts on rollerskates who wanted to befriend me on Facebook the other year wasn't real

If you check out the links and they actually are to accounts on twitter.com, you can go there and find out who these people are without divulging that you've read their spam, if it is spam and not just somebody who's incompetent. If those accounts are indeed being used for spamming then reporting them to Twitter ("report for spam" link over in the right-hand column under "Actions") should get them shut down pretty rapidly.

This stupidity of getting people to give away their login details to other sites, which is still done by an enormous number of sites that reckon they're helping you build your "social network" despite the obvious potential for phishing attacks, has been a constant source of irritation to many. OpenID is a very effective solution, but this margin is too small to contain the details

[stingman123]

Twitter is, IIRC, one of those sites that offers the option of informing everybody that you've signed up for it by letting everybody in your online mail service know about it... if you give them the username and password for your online mail account

AHAH/EDIT: I withdraw that - they still do the address book thing, as I just found when signing up TPD (testpleasdelete - there's a limit on the length of usernames), but only to find people already using Twitter who have signed up with one of the email addresses in your address book. Still a terrible idea though

I know that Twitter (the company) don't use this information for any evil purpose. However, I still strongly advise others against succumbing to such blandishments, whether they come from Twitter, Facebook, MySpace, or any other such social networking thing.

Your emails are probably just spam, unless you have a Twitter account you've forgotten about. Spammers are pretty good at creating accounts on these sites and then abusing them to email people on their 5-million-email-addresses-for-a-dollar lists. I for one am pretty certain that the young lady in tight shorts on rollerskates who wanted to befriend me on Facebook the other year wasn't real

If you check out the links and they actually are to accounts on twitter.com, you can go there and find out who these people are without divulging that you've read their spam, if it is spam and not just somebody who's incompetent. If those accounts are indeed being used for spamming then reporting them to Twitter ("report for spam" link over in the right-hand column under "Actions") should get them shut down pretty rapidly.

This stupidity of getting people to give away their login details to other sites, which is still done by an enormous number of sites that reckon they're helping you build your "social network" despite the obvious potential for phishing attacks, has been a constant source of irritation to many. OpenID is a very effective solution, but this margin is too small to contain the details

I don't like it either

[OwlHoot]

I don't like it either

Nor me

[ratewhore]

Not really into it myself, but if you're anything to do with web front end stuff you need to at least be 'down with the kids' just a shade - or so I've found.

Some research student has done their thesis on how kids growing up use technology. Apparently, kids consider twitter to be a technology for old people (old probably being north of 25 to a teenager) and don't use it themselves.

Same piece of research said teenagers are moving away from text and into smartphone based IM.

[Pogle]

Twitter, face book, myspace etc.. is for the insecure/egotistical with too much time on their hands









a bit like like CUK

[realityhack]

For those with reservations about Twitter, try the following:

Register, choose any old username, give a spamcatcher email and opt out of the spam harvesting contact shenanigans described above.

Find out who the top ten experts in your field are (if you don't know already), and follow them. Check out who they're following too.

Sit back and watch a stream of relevant, concise info flood in, with reflections on industry news, product developments, tips, tricks and useful blog articles keeping you bang up to date with your chosen field.

Ignore those who use it as a podium for their random thoughts about breakfast, lunch and any old carp.

Then post back here and let's see if your opinions have changed at all.

[voodooflux]

For those with reservations about Twitter, try the following:

Register, choose any old username, give a spamcatcher email and opt out of the spam harvesting contact shenanigans described above.

Find out who the top ten experts in your field are (if you don't know already), and follow them. Check out who they're following too.

Sit back and watch a stream of relevant, concise info flood in, with reflections on industry news, product developments, tips, tricks and useful blog articles keeping you bang up to date with your chosen field.

Ignore those who use it as a podium for their random thoughts about breakfast, lunch and any old carp.

Then post back here and let's see if your opinions have changed at all.

Top advice RC, and you may even pick up a few useful contacts along the way. I read somewhere the other day a suggestion that you really need to be following > 100 Tweeters to get the most from Twitter.

You will need to invest some time to get the most from it - if you're just going to sign-up and then sit back waiting for something to happen then you're ultimately (or quite quickly) going to be disappointed.