Twitter would seem to have no peer when it comes to inanity on the web. Perhaps even more so when it doesn’t work. We’re openly and admittedly new to this, but shouldn’t we be able “search” Twitter itself to see if a friend is or isn’t Twittering?
Joining the Twitter Army
Sheryl and I are heading to the Defrag conference in Denver this week. A high percentage of conference attendees have Twitter accounts – and they “tweet” regularly (often incessantly).
So, to get in step with the convention faithful, we are both signing on the dotted line and have already started Twittering away.
We think there’s a disconnect, though. When we attend a normal business conference – like the Florida Healthcare Association, the Washington State Department of Community, Trade & Economic Development or any of the conferences we’ve been to recently – almost no one has a Twitter account.
It sometimes seems that technology folks think normal people are just like them. But really, the difference between a business convention and a technology convention these days is vast.
Now, don’t get your undies in a bundle! We know that many of you think Twitter is going to take over the world and that soon we’ll all be checking our cell phones to find out that @DopeyDan is “tired and now going to bed,” and that @CrazyMomma is “wondering what Twitter users think about the election.”
And, perhaps, that’s true. But, more likely, in our opinion, many of these cool technologies will never make it beyond their early adopters. And, too often it’s because they’re just not that easy to use.
Google Opens Twitter’s Window
As we said in the opening paragraph, we think we ought to be able to plunk in the name of our friends – and get the scoop on whether we can follow them on Twitter.
It appears to us that the Twitter search function is currently dysfunctional – at least it has been for the past 24 hours. When we look for our friends to see if they have accounts – we get the result you see above.
As Snoopy would say, “Arrrrrgggghhhhh!”
Not to worry, though, we could still find some of our friends by using Google to nose its way into the Twitter site.
Are You There, Gina?
I knew right away that if I was going to play the Twitter game, I needed Mike Keliher and Gina Schreck by my side. Mike we already wrote about – but Gina, from Synapse3Di, is something else again.
For one thing, she’s way more optimistic about new technologies than I am. For another, she’s the antithesis of someone who is stuck in a rut.
Gina is always learning and trying something new. One of our favorite sayings comes from Steve Lishansky:
“The hardest people to work with are those who have been reasonably successful doing unsustainable things.”
That’s something you could never say that about Gina.
So to find Gina, type in the Google search box (or Yahoo, Live, Ask) exactly this (or the photo above):
GinaSchreck site:twitter.com
And, like so many things on computers, here’s another way. Click on the advanced tab – and then fill in the site you want to search – instead of searching the whole freaking universe. Either way, you’ll often get what you’re looking for:
Even though Twitter was on the fritzer, we were able to add a few more folks to follow.
By the way, the number one way Twitter suggests you find your friends is to surrender your entire email database to them. Doesn’t anyone care about online privacy anymore?! Have the folks in your email address book signed a release?!
Facebook recently… well, let’s not even go there…… Online privacy is a different article.
Bottom line is we’re Twittering now – and we’ll follow you – and you can follow us. Unless, that is, you have something better to do.
8 comments ↓
You guys always make me smile (and sometimes laugh out loud!) Give it Twitter some time and tweak who you follow–some just blather on and on about their kid’s soccer games or their dogs getting sprayed by a skunk…oh wait that was me! You stop following idiots and you find new folks who have something interesting and SHORT to say. I have dedicated 30 minutes a day to scanning (and I do mean scanning) my Twitter page to see who has something of value to read. I learn about the latest technologies, the latest conferences, and even get a client along the way!
Twitter is about building relationships so it does take time do develop a following (or fan base). The search feature has been down for about a WEEK! COme on Twitter get on this! But this is a great feature when it is working. There has been a 400% growth in the number of people who are now on Twitter, and yet, like you so eloquently put it Michael (Perhaps you should be a professional speaker) “Normal People” are still not there…but then again thier still not in Second Life and that is another story all together!
There are realationships to be built and business to be had for those who are willing to explore! Let’s get our Golden Compasses out and set sail!
Gina (Here’s a shameless plug–watch my Gettin’ Geeky Show where I share tech tips and fun aps in 5 to 10 min videos– http://www.Gettingeeky.blip.tv )
Thanks Gina,
See, I knew you would brighten my increasingly darkening view of too many new technologies. We need you to balance our life – and heck, I kinda’ liked the Tweets about your kids soccer games and the skunk.
Yes, and we may even have to get out of those island waters off the coast of Second Life and crawl to land. We try not to get too far ahead of our audience – or our learning curve.
Let’s talk about this again after the conference — I suspect you may change your mind about Twitter’s utility
And Gina’s suggestion is dead on – don’t follow boring, stupid people. You should only follow people you know and smart people you respect. Otherwise, it just becomes noise. One exception – during defrag (and not after), try following @defrag08 and you’ll get a stream of the entire group conversation at the conference. I think you might find that interesting.
Oh, and one other thing – Twitter search is actually at:
http://search.twitter.com
I don’t know that twitter does a good job letting their new users know that. There are some ways that Twitter search is better than Google – perhaps we could chat about that at defrag as well
Thanks Rob,
Great suggestions – and we’re more open minded than we like people to think. But, kinda’ my point entirely – wouldn’t you think Twitter search would be on the links that say things like “Find People,” “Are Your Friends On Twitter” and “Search?”
ARRRRGGGGGGHHHHHHH!
There are two twitter search locations. The part of Twitter search that has been down (and that I think was being referred to) is when you select “find people” at the top of your twitter page, then select the third tab over, “Search,” to search by name.
This is what’s been down. And it hurts Newbies on Twitter, because, surprise, http://search.twitter.com exists, but is not linked to from the actual twitter page. So if you are new to twitter, you don’t know that you can go to the link above and can use it to find and follow people.
To Do so, you type it into your browser (bookmark for later use), then type either the name of the person you want to find, or their twitter username @cathywebsavvypr, and it finds that person’s tweets, or where people have tweeted about them. You click the @SymbolUserName, and it takes you to their page – where you can select follow, or not.
You can also click on someone’s @username, (say someone who attended the conference, see who they follow, and follow them from there. That’s how I followed folks recently after a conference.
Hi Cathy,
Wow, thanks for the web savvy feedback – and for taking the time to clarify things.
But, don’t you think it’s symptomatic of technology inability to see the forest for the trees not to have a button on Twitter that links to search.twitter.com?
No freaking wonder that average people have such a hard time with technology.
[...] wrote on here recently that we couldn’t find a way to search Twitter – on Twitter (Whenever Twitter Closes a Door, Google Opens a Window). Turns out we were right. You have to go next door for your Twitter search. Dumb, [...]
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