More thoughts on Twitter

I just took the Twitter party badge thing off this page. Not because I don’t like it, but because it seems to have been slowing things down a bit lately.

I haven’t been using Twitter much these past few days, but that’s mainly because the Instant Messaging side of it seems to be down a lot and I don’t want to blow out my mobile phone bill too much. I suppose I could use the web interface, but too much web can be distracting, especially at work. CW sees link. Oo shiny link… must click…

I’ve been keeping my Twitter notifications switched to my mobile phone and it’s been very amusing to have my normally inactive mobile constantly beeping or vibrating. People seem to be using it to carry out conversations with each other (which can be interesting when you only get one side of the conversation, because you are only following one person and not the person they are talking to), and twittering things that might also go into a blog, like interesting links.

I’ve been enjoying hearing from people occasionally during the day, via Twitter. Using my mobile phone means I feel a lot more connected, especially when I am away from my desk. A few commentators and observers are predicting that the next big thing, development, evolution, of The Web will be mobile. danah boyd reckons that “geographic-dependent context will be the next key shift. GPS, mesh networks, articulated presence, etc. People want to go mobile and they want to use technology to help them engage in the mobile world.” (She also talks about the barriers to this mobile revolution, namely, the carriers/providers.) Have you ever been out and about and wished you could just look something up, take and upload a photo now, chat with so-and-so halfway around the world and get them to send you a link to their experience…?

The 2007 Horizon Report (on the impact of emerging technologies on higher education) suggests that mobile phones are “becoming the storehouses of our digital lives, containing a growing share of our personal and professional resources and data.” (see page 15 of the report, which, incidentally, is worth reading for the other predictions. Even if it does make me feel like we are hopelessly behind here in Western Australia.)

Apart from all the conversation, Twittter is generating some interesting apps. This morning I have been amusing myself watching twittervision, which is a neat mashup combining Twitter’s public feeds and the Google maps API. All the activity seems to be happening in the US and Europe – so far nothing’s appeared in Australia. Are there just not enough twitterers down here?

And then there’s Twitterfiction. Intriguing. (Thanks, PigPog!)

*Pic shows my Twitter friends‘ avatars.