I have been wondering how to cover GraphExpo this year. In the past I tried to do a blog entry every day, but that requires either trying to remember what you are going to write about or taking notes. Neither one of these options is a big deal for a full time journalist, but I am just a citizen commentator who has a full time day job using my best efforts to sell stuff.
In April of this year I began trying out a new internet based service called Twitter which at this time remains 100% free. If you are you asking yourself what Twitter is, you are probably not alone in my reading audience. Twitter allows you to quickly and easily communicate with a group of people that ‘follow’ you on the Twitter network. You can also keeps tabs on the people you ‘follow’ on Twitter and an important point here is that you may follow or be followed by two entirely different groups of people.
A couple days ago I was reading my dead tree version of Wired magazine (someone has to keep the printers in this world working) and found an article that provided an answer to address my GraphExpo coverage dilemma by utilizing Twitter. While I do not agree with the premise of the article that it is time to kill your blog, I do see a way to make blogs more relevant when combined with Twitter.
My plan is to Twitter from my phone(yes you can do that) throughout the day as I find interesting new technology on the show floor or catch tidbits of inside news. These as it happens Tweets(that is what you call it when you send a message via Twitter) could be quite raw and unedited much as live TV news coverage can be. Then, when appropriate I will prepare more detailed blog entries using my Tweets as notes.
If you want be able to follow my Tweets from the show floor you will need to set-up you own free Twitter account and then follow user ‘raffel.’ As I find interesting new technology and products on the show floor I will prepare a short Tweet including a booth number so you can come see for yourself.
I may even send Tweets about the hot party of the night and how to score an invite! What better motivation could there be to sign up?
I signed up to follow your Graphexpo Twitter stream on Friday, but come Saturday afternoon I was no longer a follower and was unable to sign up again. Either Twitter is having technical trouble, or I’ve been blocked for some reason.