First and foremost let it be understood by one and all, I’m assuming all guilt until proven innocent.
So I decided to begin orbiting the planet twitter today. It’s simple. Easy as 1 2 3 the mantra goes. Not so fast cult breath.
Seems I’m from the Stoopid Tribe. First I don’t have IM. Hey, I’m 57 in a couple months, so give me some slack. My efforts to obtain IM are laughable, as nobody seems to want to help. By nobody I mean IM online sites. Google Talk apparently hasn’t been introduced to Steve Jobs yet, so those guys are out. You’d think they’d have at least run into each other once by now.
Take a few deep breaths, and email Lani for help. She sends Mathew and Andy — the twitter cavalry. They are both very cool and helpful guys, and along with my new application from Twhirl via Lani, I sent my first twitter. Is that even how you say it?
At this point I’m apathetic.
There’s no online help worth a used Snicker’s Bar. My password is now being denied. I changed it to the original password and they’re still telling me to go jump in the lake. Honest, they told me my new password was way cool.
And it’s not just the password thing. I see a message from someone I don’t know and decide to click on it. A new box comes up, but I can’t figure any way in hell to get back to all the other messages. I tried every icon there was. Go fish.
The first thought entering my addled but appealingly smooth pate, is — All this just to say ‘Buy low, sell high — I’m the real estate investor guy’. Really?
Again, I assume blame for all this. I have no clue whatsoever why it was working and now it isn’t, and until I get belly to belly with somebody who can lend a little hands on assistance, I’m officially putting the whole twitter thing in the rearview mirror.
Thanks again to Lani, Andy, and Mathew for their help. It was working for almost an hour. The million dollar question is — why was it working before? Why isn’t it now? Does my password have coodies?
Who cares? Well, I care enough to listen to those who will help at Unchained. It’s my understanding there might be one or two who know about twittering. Maybe Brian the ubiquitous will help, ya think?
The only thing I’d like to find out is — am I the Lone Ranger here?
Todd Carpenter says:
Jeff, Twitter was down for half the afternoon. Not your fault. I thought Twitter was silly before Teri dared me to try it while I was acting as Fake Greg Swann. Now I love it.
May 15, 2008 — 4:47 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Todd — Thanks so much for my sanity. 🙂
Literally 10 seconds before you comment came into my email app, I tried to begin again and voila! twitter lives.
How often are they down like this? The true Kool-Aid drinkers must begin exhibiting withdrawal symptoms.
May 15, 2008 — 4:54 pm
Trace says:
You have learned the most basic features of Twitter: downtime! Congratulations you are now a twitter veteran. 🙂
May 15, 2008 — 5:00 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Thanks Trace — Seems that part of twitter has been left out of the glowing reviews the last couple months.
May 15, 2008 — 5:02 pm
Kevin Boer says:
Where’s Lani when you need her? I think we need a Twitter-vention here!
May 15, 2008 — 5:03 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Hey Kevin! Lani was so far under today she was breathing through a straw. She took the time to send two very smart dudes my way. They were very effective to say the least.
twhirl is ah, not Boomer friendly, although the cavalry told me today that they’re about to upgrade the app with some pretty nice improvements.
I suspect I’ll come away from Unchained a somewhat competent twitter user. Now all I have to do is figure out how to effectively leverage it’s power without getting involved in countless conversations beginning with, ‘Hey, I’m in Starbucks, what’re ya doin’ now?’
‘Oh not much, rearranging my sock & underwear drawer’. 🙂
May 15, 2008 — 5:08 pm
Trace says:
Jeff: The hope is that twitter will become stronger in the coming months….the back history is that they have struggled for two years to become reliable but they always seem go down at critical times, they have not scaled well. For a company with as much visibility and promise as they have they’ve taken about 23 months too long to get things straightened out, so they get quite a bit of flack for that and Twitter downtime is basically a punchline now. They let go of their head engineer a month or so ago and there are rumors going around that they are going to dump their existing platform (Ruby on Rails) and start from scratch…. they just haven’t been able to scale well enough as they’ve become more and more popular….
Twitter is great for following industry insiders because you can get some great info from their tweets before it ever hits a blog or news outlet….
May 15, 2008 — 6:06 pm
Benjamin Bach says:
Jeff, I’m pushing 25 and I don’t ‘get’ twitter either. Let me know what you find !
BenjaminBach.com
May 15, 2008 — 6:09 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Thanks again, Trace.
Sounds like a lack of capital to me. Some of the folks on BHB could write enough code in 23 months to make the site capable of landing on the moon.
May 15, 2008 — 6:10 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Benjamin — So far I’m finding a whole lot of very bright people giving it a thumbs up. I’m gonna give it a fair chance time wise. At least a month.
May 15, 2008 — 6:12 pm
Sue says:
Don’t feel bad Jeff, I turned off the IM a couple years ago because it wouldn’t stop and it was driving me crazy and making it impossible to work, or do anything. I was posessed by it. I’d like to get it going again, but the whole program seems different. I haven’t twittered yet…that I know of.
May 15, 2008 — 6:33 pm
Brian Brady says:
You’re not supposed to “get it”. Nobody does at first…then the lightblub goes off. Brady and Andy will flip the switch on Monday
May 15, 2008 — 6:34 pm
Brian Brady says:
You’re not supposed to “get it”. Nobody does at first…then the lightblub goes off. Brad and Andy will flip the switch on Monday
May 15, 2008 — 6:34 pm
Cheryl Johnson says:
I Twittered alot several months ago until I got tired of listening to other people troll for clients.
I suppose I should go back in and unfollow everyone except my nearest and dearest TwitFriends (that means you, Teri L.)
May 15, 2008 — 6:37 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Brian — You’re not supposed to “get it”. I’m right on schedule then.
Sue — I IMed about 10 years ago when it was new. It drove me nuts too. Couldn’t shut my brother up. 🙂
Cheryl — That kind of experience is what I’m trying to learn about. Thanks
May 15, 2008 — 6:41 pm
Mike Farmer says:
I am twitter illiterate.
May 15, 2008 — 6:47 pm
Tom says:
Twitter is fun if you have the time for it. When things are slow and normal I have it up in the corner using Twirl.
However, when things are busy it is one hell of a distraction.
May 15, 2008 — 6:51 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Mike, you’re a true friend.
Tom — There’s no doubt a fine line between serious traction and ‘crap, they’re outa half & half’.
May 15, 2008 — 6:53 pm
Geno Petro says:
I’m waiting for someone to teach me or at the very least, something easier to come out. I think. Okay, I’m clueless.
May 15, 2008 — 7:15 pm
Tom says:
Geno
Twitter is as easy as it gets unless you are verbose as I am.
Write what you want in 140 characters or less. Follow those that interest you and see what they say in 140 or less. When replying put an @ in front of their user name, ie @tomroyce . You can even put dm at the front of your post and it is private to the person you are pointing it at, ie dm @tomroyce thanks for the help. 🙂
Twitter is micro blogging, at least that is how I see it.
May 15, 2008 — 7:24 pm
Tom says:
Jeff
“There’s no doubt a fine line between serious traction and ‘crap, they’re outa half & half’.”
I am going to steal that line and use it on my wife. That was awesome!
May 15, 2008 — 7:26 pm
Brian Brady says:
Jeff and Geno-
Lumch on Monday- Brad and Andy. These guys get Twitter and they “get” those of us that don’t get it. However, you still won’t get it. All of the sudden, you see an application and it hits you.
Mike- you’ll see it on DVD, in about 4-6 weeks
I’m not evangelizing it but I was clueless until the application hit. You might just watch until then and see what people say in public (they’ll astonish you)
May 15, 2008 — 7:49 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Brian — please send me a twitter message.
May 15, 2008 — 7:57 pm
Brad Coy says:
Jeff. Hold it… You are right were you need to be. Let’s do lunch. What do you say, Monday? See you in Phoenix. 🙂
20 Characters shy of a twoosh
May 15, 2008 — 8:03 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Monday’s lunch with twitter day.
I’m wearing a toupe so nobody recognizes me.
May 15, 2008 — 8:17 pm
Thomas Johnson says:
Jeff: I just had my 2 mile walk and listened to the pistachio girl explain the twit thing-for the second time as I am a slow learner and because I talk Texan, I twang and I wanted to make sure this twitter thang ain’t a Jorge Bush joke.
My big win today ws actually downloading the mp3 to my little red walkman! Any way, the pistachio girl explains it very well- only took me 2 listens to understand that to join the twits, you have to think it is stupid and then some really important twit will twang or tweet something that’s really really important to you and then you will become a twit that tweets and that’s a good thang. I hope that helps.
Now, when do we get to sleep, and where is the owner’s manual?
Link to pistachio girl on the radio follows:
http://www.realestateradiousa.com/blog/interviews/laurafittonep112.mp3
May 15, 2008 — 8:59 pm
Kevin Boer says:
Don’t worry, Jeff, with all the help on this forum, they’ll get you twitterate in no time!
Here’s what I’d like to see from the Bawldguy on twitter: Thrice daily Bawldguy aphorisms. That’s perfect Twitter fodder!
May 15, 2008 — 9:21 pm
Jeff Brown says:
Great idea, Kevin.
I’d be the generator of multiple aphorisms on a daily basis.
Could make me a popular guy in some circles.
May 15, 2008 — 9:39 pm
Sparky says:
“Hi Ho, Silver! Away!”….
May 16, 2008 — 12:17 am
Andy Kaufman says:
Twitter was down? I didn’t notice 😉
Congrats on taking the plunge Jeff. Keep it rolling and we’ll talk more on Monday.
In the meantime, I actually love Kevin’s idea of tweeting three Bawldguy-isms a day.
May 16, 2008 — 12:24 am
Laurie Manny says:
I go to twitter every so often, it makes my eyes roll up into my head. I took a look around and decided that twitter was too time consuming and being the obsessive compulsive that I am, I would spend enough unproductive time there to effectively put myself out of business. Not that I don’t already have enough useless things to distract me. Hey, I just threw a sheep at you…….
May 16, 2008 — 1:04 am
Benjamin Bach says:
On Twitter, he is ToupeGuy.
May 16, 2008 — 2:55 am
Geno Petro says:
Tom…Thanks.
Brian…Monday lunch.
May 16, 2008 — 5:54 am
Rhonda Porter says:
I stayed away from Twitter at first until I saw how Brian Brady was using to provide rate locking advice. That made my twitter-light bulb click on. Now I use it to provide “live rate quotes” for my clients and they are following me or checking the update on my blog. It’s been very effective. Every once in a while I’ll put in something more social and I’ll have a client comment about it…so I do know it’s working.
I think the trick is to not over-think Twitter. It’s kind of like working with a Mac computer.
Good luck!
May 16, 2008 — 6:32 am
Bawldguy Talking says:
Rhonda — It’s kind of like working with a Mac computer.
No kiddin’ — it’s almost oxymoronic pairing over-think & Mac. They’re just too easy and results oriented.
May 16, 2008 — 9:50 am
Sandy says:
I have twitter, I enjoy seeing what everyone else has to say, except that when I’m really busy, it’s distracting. Also, even though I work with mostly very tech-savvy people, I haven’t found that many of them use it. Seems to me that most of them have decided the same as I have, that it’s a little bit invasive.
May 16, 2008 — 11:15 am
Sandy says:
Oh, and that is looking at it from an agent’s point of view…I think for mortgage people it’s a better fit.
May 16, 2008 — 11:17 am
Mike Farmer says:
Someone please twitter me.
May 16, 2008 — 2:16 pm
Bawldguy Talking says:
Mike — what’s your twitter name?
May 16, 2008 — 2:22 pm
Lenore Wilkas says:
I signed up for it several months ago. I don’t remember my log on or password now so if I want to try it again on Monday, it’ll mean signing up again. I don’t really get why everyone is so gaga about Twittering. I don’t care what someone is doing, where they’re going, and other obtuse things. Jeff, you’re part of a big club out here who don’t “get it” either.
May 16, 2008 — 4:58 pm
Mike Farmer says:
I forgot, let me check.
ok, it’s — Mfarmer
May 16, 2008 — 5:06 pm
Bawldguy Talking says:
Mike — twitter search can’t locate you. However, they do note they’re having problems, and to try later. Almost an entire day trouble free.
Can you try to send a message to BawldGuy?
May 16, 2008 — 6:22 pm
Lani says:
For those not on Twitter, please let the record reflect that Jeff’s tune has changed and he is already a TwitVeteran (frequently updating, conversing with others, seeking out new opportunities to network and even using HASHTAGS!). Don’t let this article fool you, Jeff LOVES Twitter. 🙂
May 19, 2008 — 8:17 am
Andy Kaufman says:
Hey Lani, thanks for chiming in. We definitely needed an update.
Jeff is ABSOLUTELY getting it. Brad and I have been working on getting him up to TwitterSpeed this weekend & for a 57 year old guy, he sure is picking it up super quick. 😉
Just yesterday I tweeted about making sure to add hashtags to all BHB Unchained tweets and a couple minutes later he was hitting me up with a DM.
“What is a hashtag?”
I DM him back with a quick explanation & a link and get a ‘thank you’ in return
Simple, Immediate, Mobile
Win-Win
He just learned something and I just earned a bit of social capital with the BawldGuy himself.
That’s how it works!
May 19, 2008 — 11:51 am
Brad Coy says:
>>That’s how it works. INDEED
Looking very much forward to @Bawldguy sharing tomorrow early AM. 🙂
#bhbu has it covered.
May 19, 2008 — 2:26 pm
Bawldguy Talking says:
Do you three carry your shovels with you wherever you go? 🙂
Andy and Brad have been phenomenal teachers. Ask a question, get an effective, immediately useable answer. It’s simply been tweegasmic.
May 19, 2008 — 3:54 pm
Larry Hotz says:
The worst thing about Twitter: I have to figure out how to say something worthwhile in 140 characters.
The best thing about Twitter: Editing myself down produces more clear, concise points.
I am trying desperately to apply that art to my regular blogging. That’s hard for guy who is older than you, Jeff!
July 17, 2008 — 7:33 am