TheWayoftheWeb

Content and Digital Marketing Specialists

hashtags

If you’re interested in the Spymaster game taking over Twitter

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Then Mashable has ‘the complete guide‘ to Spymaster.  Personally, it’s the type of game I would have probably enjoyed a few years ago, but can’t really justify even trying at the moment – my use of Twitter is mainly for discovering information, sharing information, and building connections with people.

But, that doesn’t mean it’s wrong to take part in Spymaster,  or the latest frivolous use of # hashtags.

Whatever you do on Twitter, and however you use it, is entirely down to you, as long as it’s within the Terms and Conditions of the site. That’s the beauty of it – and possibly why so many people find it a bit scary and drop from the site so quickly.  Whereas Facebook etc have a defined purpose of connecting with people yu already know, which provides an initial safety blanket, Twitter suggests users and friends, but ultimately you can interact how you like, with who you like, when you like.

So while I won’t be joining you on #spymaster or #whateverthelatestcomedytrendis , and I might hope for better filtering to avoid trending topics when they overwhelm my stream,  I’ll never tell you to stop!

Just off to another brilliant example of Twitter for events

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I’m just about to pack up my laptop and head over to Aperitweat, a cool gathering of Tweeple organised by the inimitable @tojulius.

It’s been publicised via his Twitter friends, registration was via Twtvite, a live Twitterstream will be at the event (hashtags #aptw or #aperitweat), and the whole thing is being streamed live via Ustream.

So in addition to the skills and contacts Julius already has (see the eventmanagerblog for examples), the marketing cost is nothing for a brilliant range of coverage which has packed the place to capacity.

Another example of the ability for self-forming events for little or no cost.

And that’s just a relatively low-profile example in a week when Twitter was used to attempt revoluation in Moldova (see some coverage via Nick Carr and All Things Digital).

And it’s in the week when the first drill has been created with some of the amazing $250,000 raised by the Twestival event in 2020 cities worldwide.

See more of the Twestival videos on Live Earth.

Evan Williams talks Twitter at TED

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I’m a big fan of the TED talks, the conferences which started by covering Technology, Entertainment and Design, and now include a huge range of thought-leaders on a variety of topics. (More about TED here)

Somehow I hadn’t got around to watching the talk by Evan Williams from Twitter until I saw a good article about it by Garr Reynolds at Presentation Zen.

One interesting point is how Evan has followed a couple of hunches to build projects – Blogger and Twitter.

Secondly – Twitter was designed as a broadcast medium – one message went out to many.

But users invented the @reply functionality, the API, the use of hashtags, and started using it to raise awareness around issues, raise money for causes, implement marketing and business use, etc.

It’s a pretty quick presentation at just 8 minutes – and worth watching until the end to see what happens when TED Curator Chris Anderson uses Twitter search to look for mentions of Evan Williams.

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