Penn and ... Twitter?

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Jim Maloney
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Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Jim Maloney » April 7th, 2009, 10:58 am

For those interested, it seems that Penn Jillette is on Twitter. You can check out his updates here: http://twitter.com/pennjillette

-Jim
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Francesca Moffet
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Francesca Moffet » April 7th, 2009, 11:20 am

Quite a few magicians seem to have joined Tw@tter...I mean Twitter lately.

I find it somewhat pointless myself as it is nothing more than status updates but Stephen Fry is apparently a huge fan.

I can think of more exciting things to do than log onto a website to read "I am going to bed now."
Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, and they both take practice.

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mrgoat
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby mrgoat » April 7th, 2009, 11:33 am

Francesca wrote:Quite a few magicians seem to have joined Tw@tter...I mean Twitter lately.

I find it somewhat pointless myself as it is nothing more than status updates but Stephen Fry is apparently a huge fan.

I can think of more exciting things to do than log onto a website to read "I am going to bed now."


It's awfully fashionable to 'hate' on twitter, open any tabloid. This hating is usually done by people that don't get it.

If you think it's about 'I'm going to bed now' you're one of those that don't get it. That's cool. I didn't at first either.

It's a broadcast medium now. Hundreds and thousands of people follow the top twitterers. There's a reason for this.

a) info. get news the second it happens, I follow many tech journalists and get sneakpeaks and tips before any sites pick up stories

b) funny. people like Merlin Mann (@hotdogsladies) make twittering into a comic art. So few characters, yet it makes me laugh so much

c) interesting. I find the people I follow interesting. So much like Delicious, I can see URLs that they post that they think are cool/funny/interesting etc.

It's not about what you tweet as much as who you follow.

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Francesca Moffet
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Francesca Moffet » April 7th, 2009, 11:38 am

I am obviously not 'down with the kids' anymore. ;-)

I think I'll pass on Twitter. I had to be dragged onto Facebook kicking and screaming as I was a MySpace girl through and through.
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Magic Newswire
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Magic Newswire » April 7th, 2009, 3:39 pm

Yep.. Penn's been on for some time and there are a growing number of magic personalities there. I've been twittering since 2007 twitter.com/thewizard

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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby naquada » April 7th, 2009, 4:04 pm

I've also been on twitter for some time, and use it for a number of business and personal uses..

my personal account is www.twitter.com/naquada

The Magic Convention Guide 'twitters' its news stories and some live updates: www.twitter.com/magicconvention

My local society also twitters it's news stories: www.twitter.com/hcms

and iTricks twitters: www.twitter.com/iTricks

if you look through my personal feed and some of the others you'll spot a few magicians you may recognize.. ;)
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Tony Rush » April 7th, 2009, 7:12 pm

I'm on Twitter as: http://www.twitter.com/tonyrush

Note: you will not "get" Twitter until you get a free account, follow some people that interest you and make at least 20 "tweets" of your own.

Then the skies will part....the angelic choir will start warming up....and you will learn why Twitter is actually far cooler than the haters think it is. :)

Tony

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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Tony Rush » April 7th, 2009, 7:14 pm

BTW, just as an aside....if you think Twitter is growing by leaps and bounds, try this on:

If Facebook stopped growing altogether and Twitter continued growing at its present rate.....it would take over 30 years for Twitter to be as big as Facebook.

In terms of social networking, Facebook is far superior to MySpace (which is mostly for oversexed teenagers) and Twitter.

But, it's not an either/or situation. I use Facebook and Twitter regularly.

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http://www.FollowTonyOnTwitter.com

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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Pete Biro » April 7th, 2009, 8:29 pm

I haven't decided yet.
Stay tooned.

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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Lemniscate » April 7th, 2009, 8:31 pm

Hmmm, I guess I fall more in terms of Francesca.

It's fashionable to say "It's awfully fashionable to 'hate' on twitter" but I also am not very big on wearing logos all over my clothes either. I think both fall into the "convince them that it is cool to do free advertising for us/let us advertise to them at any time" box, which is always (read your history) couched in the "it's cool if you do it and if you don't like it, then you just don't get it". Pretty sad how easily people get in line but, again, look at the growth curves of these sites, people are nothing if not followers, huh?

With that being said, just like giving out items with my name on it, I can see the use of Twitter professionally (not reading, that's pointless outside of entertainment, which is an acceptable reason, I mean people watch the Superbowl commercials after all).

Facebook and MySpace are both excellent social networking sites, if you need the internet to make you feel like you have friends. Outside of that, they both, again, have very real applications in terms of entertainment (reading) or business (making people read/get exposed to your business).

My wife is on Facebook, talks all the time about how she likes it, but, based on what she says and what I know from the business end, most people gain a heck of a lot more by reading a book, practicing an act, going to a show (I enjoyed Wicked last week myself), than reading "I am going to bed now".

Or maybe somebody will think they are cool by telling me I don't get it.

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Gord
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Gord » April 7th, 2009, 11:11 pm

I enjoy twitter for the challenge. Sum up your life right now in 140 characters and make it interesting. It's harder than you think.
As well it's nice to read some Tweets from famous people. It's like you have a moment in their mind.

Gord

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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby mai-ling » April 8th, 2009, 1:06 am

twitter rocks.

been twitter since...uh, the beginning of the twitter pretty much.

i love micro-blogging.
because it gives me time to just let people
know that even though i'm not journaling i'm
still out there withe some sorta updating.

i always end my newsletters with:

follow me in short form via twitter.
www.twitter.com/mai_ling
or
follow me in long form via livejournal.
http://mai-ling.livejournal.com
you will remember my name
http://www.mai-ling.net
world's youngest illusionista


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Francesca Moffet
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Francesca Moffet » April 8th, 2009, 4:52 am

I personally feel that Twitter is just the latest fad....feel free to exact whatever punishment you wish for me saying this but it's my honest opinion.

I think the novelty will wear off as swiftly as it appeared.

I browsed it a bit last night to see if it would grow on me and it hasn't...especially due to the fact that when I tried too look at a few things I was greeted by the message "Too many Tweets."
Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, and they both take practice.

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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Tony Rush » April 8th, 2009, 10:48 am

Lemniscate wrote:Facebook and MySpace are both excellent social networking sites, if you need the internet to make you feel like you have friends.
Lemniscate, this one sentence indicates the mental mistake that's causing your confusion. If your reasoning and opinions on based on the sentiment expressed in that sentence,...then it's understandable that you don't see value in it.

Tony

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mrgoat
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby mrgoat » April 8th, 2009, 12:41 pm

Francesca wrote:I personally feel that Twitter is just the latest fad....feel free to exact whatever punishment you wish for me saying this but it's my honest opinion.

I think the novelty will wear off as swiftly as it appeared.

I browsed it a bit last night to see if it would grow on me and it hasn't...especially due to the fact that when I tried too look at a few things I was greeted by the message "Too many Tweets."


It's quite a long lasting fad.

People said the same thing about blogs, about podcasts, about social networking...

"who on earth would want to read a diary from someone they don't know?"

"why would anyone listen to two guys sitting on a couch talking about the week's top stories on digg.com?"

"why would you want to talk to people on the internet?"

You may well be right, and it could well be a pointless fad. However, I think you're wrong. It has reached a tipping point now, and fascinates me.

Then when you look at the use of it in disasters, when people are arrested etc it's amazing.

But it took me several months to 'get it'. Not just a couple of hours. I really didn't understand it at all to begin with. But then again, I didn't get blogging, podcasts or facebook at first either.

But, the REALLY important thing is, if you don't enjoy doing it, don't do it! The power of choice is wonderful.

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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Timothy Hyde » April 8th, 2009, 5:25 pm

I was able to recommend three people for a close up job last week.
The query had come to me via a relationship built on twitter.
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Jonathan Miller » April 9th, 2009, 10:49 am

Lemniscate wrote:
Facebook and MySpace are both excellent social networking sites, if you need the internet to make you feel like you have friends.


I joined Facebook back when you had to be in college to be on it. I went to two colleges, halfway across the country from each other and now I'm 12 hours away from my alma mater. It's not about making friends or trying to feel like you have friends. It's about keeping in touch with old friends.

That said I don't quite understand the new approach to facebook but that is probably because to me it will always be a place to post drunken pictures from the night before!

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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby ropeadope » April 9th, 2009, 3:33 pm

Penn is a "twitter".

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Francesca Moffet
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Francesca Moffet » April 10th, 2009, 9:26 am

Please tell me nobody here is on Bebo? I absolutely detest that networking site..it's full of brainless teenagers posting utter junk. I've had several people ask me to join but never in a million years will I give in.

I suppose the only way I could get a true opinion of Twitter would be to join and see how I felt after a few weeks.
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mrgoat
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby mrgoat » April 10th, 2009, 9:58 am

Francesca wrote:Please tell me nobody here is on Bebo? I absolutely detest that networking site..it's full of brainless teenagers posting utter junk. I've had several people ask me to join but never in a million years will I give in.

I suppose the only way I could get a true opinion of Twitter would be to join and see how I felt after a few weeks.


It is a network FOR teenagers. Hence the large number of them on there. :)

And yes, try twitter out for a couple of weeks. Tweetdeck is a popular app for reading your feed. I am on a mac and use EventBox on that and Tweetie on my iphone. Having a good app to access Twitter makes a lot of difference.

Select 30 or 40 people to follow and see how it goes. Here is a list of the top 200 most popular people on Twitter.

http://twitterholic.com/top200/followers/

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Joe Pecore
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Joe Pecore » April 10th, 2009, 10:08 am

Here is David Blaine's which is usually quite entertaining: http://twitter.com/davidblaine
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Francesca Moffet
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Francesca Moffet » April 10th, 2009, 10:29 am

mrgoat wrote:
Francesca wrote:Please tell me nobody here is on Bebo? I absolutely detest that networking site..it's full of brainless teenagers posting utter junk. I've had several people ask me to join but never in a million years will I give in.

I suppose the only way I could get a true opinion of Twitter would be to join and see how I felt after a few weeks.


It is a network FOR teenagers. Hence the large number of them on there. :)

And yes, try twitter out for a couple of weeks. Tweetdeck is a popular app for reading your feed. I am on a mac and use EventBox on that and Tweetie on my iphone. Having a good app to access Twitter makes a lot of difference.

Select 30 or 40 people to follow and see how it goes. Here is a list of the top 200 most popular people on Twitter.

http://twitterholic.com/top200/followers/



My friend is 32 and on Bebo....I am very worried about her now after hearing that. Hehehe. I only know teenagers use it as I work in Further Education, I have no actual experience of using it...and for this I am very thankful.

I might give Twitter a bash when I come back for London...at least then I'd have something to Tweet about.
Last edited by Francesca Moffet on April 10th, 2009, 10:30 am, edited 0 times in total.
Reason: Being a numpty who made 2 typos.
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby mai-ling » April 10th, 2009, 12:33 pm

i think i have a profile on bebo.
i'm not sure.
its an automatic artist thing.

i have pages that i don't know anything about.
you will remember my name

http://www.mai-ling.net

world's youngest illusionista




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Francesca Moffet
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Re: Penn and ... Twitter?

Postby Francesca Moffet » April 13th, 2009, 3:27 pm

Having tried to view Twitter several times I now give up. I am sick of seeing the ' Twitter is over capacity' message.
Love and magic have a great deal in common. They enrich the soul, and they both take practice.


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