Looking at the public stream is a bit like watching airplanes take off or leaves blow in the wind. It might be sort of mesmerizing, but the value of what you see is ephemeral and without context. There are some interesting uses of the public stream, such as Twittervision, that give it some added meaning by looking at the geography of who is posting.

By keeping the groups small and the personal information stream relevant, the value soars exponentially. I use Twitter to stay connected with alumni who are now a dozen states away. Knowing that they just had a bad meeting or are looking at a new prototype give me the sense of them being down the hallway. Those little moments are very important when in physical proximity in understanding other people you care about. Twitter brings those moments to me.

It makes a huge difference, too, in how you choose to access your tweet stream. Going to the Twitter website to see if there is anything new is not the way to go, nor is just subscribing to an RSS feed. What makes it all work for me is the great desktop tool Twitterrific, which not only alerts me when a new tweet comes in but it also can be set to fade away after a few seconds. I don’t have to do anything more than acknowledge, briefly, that tweet. This is a powerful way to deliver content.

Unless they changed their desktop app, Pownce doesn’t do this. That AIR app is still just a mini, specialized browser. I have to take up screen space for it and be conscious of it, even when nothing is happening in the stream.

I started using Twitter just prior to the explosion from SXSW, to keep in contact with my wife and kids on their trip to Florida (I was stuck working at home). She didn’t have Internet access, but she did have a cell phone. Since then, I’ve enjoyed watching our School of Informatics student community on Twitter grow and subscribing to some information feeds (like SuperDeluxe) to get alerted to new content. The content in my stream is my own, and the way it is presented is not intrusive. Tweets I want come to me in a way I want.

There are many more posts on this subject on my blog. Needless to say, I’m a big fan.

The question is, which will gain ground and which will lose ground? I think Blogger and Vox will lose ground while Twitter and Pownce gain it because they already have the social part down where everyone is friends with each other. It would be harder for people to switch to Blogger or Vox because their social systems aren’t as powerful (Vox is decent but doesn’t have a large enough member base in my opinion).

Just my thoughts :)

Consider following scenarios:

Do you want daily status report?
Simple, remote standup meeting?
raise issues in real time?
…etc. etc.

Ask your teammates to report anything related to the project to be posted on to their twitter. Everybody can subscribe the Twitter feed for the team account in their favorite RSS reader and get going. Instant and easy collaboration between team mates.

Have fun!

Rex

You get the picture.

I see Twitter, Pownce and the like as experiments towards VirtuReality

As we get more immersed in making meaning from overwhelming info, “Twittering” over time with your fellow Twitterers give you the “Sense” of them at any subsequent point in time, rather than having to process and “catch up” before communicating with them.

In other words, I think it represents more efficient communication (at least of the moment) of the future…

Think about it, Generation Y has been doing it most of their lives.