Wednesday, May 20 2009 @ 09:05 AM GMT+4 Contributed by: cgrotke
We told you there would be surprises today. iBrattleboro now has a Facebook page and a Twitter channel.
There's not much there yet, but the pages are started. Be our twit! Face us! We'll be adding little icons later on, but thought a few of you might want to dive in and get started.
Authored by: cgrotke on Wednesday, May 20 2009 @ 12:54 PM GMT+4
I actually see some value in Twitter and can see people twittering
meetings and other town events.
Facebook we're doing more as an experiment, and to be of service to
everyone who has their face profiled. I have a couple of ideas, but want
to see how it goes.
If anyone has ideas or suggestions, let us know. We consider these new
iBrattleboro places to be yours as well.
Authored by: dwbarlow on Wednesday, May 20 2009 @ 01:33 PM GMT+4
I actually really like Facebook. It's great for networking, promoting, keeping in touch and - as a reporter - a great way to get tips and reach sources. Sometimes I'll get an answer via FB quicker than a phone call or e-mail.
As for Twitter ... I just don't get it. It seems like something you have to invest a lot of time and energy into. Plus, I can't get it to synch up with my cell phone, so that probably takes all the fun out of it.
Authored by: cgrotke on Wednesday, May 20 2009 @ 02:49 PM GMT+4
I'm the opposite. I'm willing to give it a chance, but so far FB seems
about as useful as email and talking to people in person. Plus ads! : )
I'm not sure how we'll use it, other than to discuss the more general
topic of citizen journalism in some detail. Maybe readers can suggest
some things for us all to try.
Twitter, on the other hand, I see as a way to cover meetings and
events.
I'm a bit leery of the character limit, but I can see actual NEWS
happening through twitter - the equivalent of live blogging, or sending
breaking headlines. I'm new but I think any twitter users can send a
message to the page by typing @ibrattleboro plus your message. (Try
it!)
I could imagine putting a twitter feed onto iBrattleboro, but not a FB
one
if that makes any sense. Time will tell.
I do find it amusing that because we set up a FB site for a website
and
not a person, we have "fans", not friends. (We also have a different
interface than users with personal pages, and different functionality, I
think.)
Authored by: kitty on Wednesday, May 20 2009 @ 05:18 PM GMT+4
Yes, more appropriate in my view to be your fan on FB than your friend. Being "friends" with non-people is so MySpace! I'll fan up soon!
As for twitter, I use it now and then, not very very regularly. It's true that people can send you messages using @ibrattleboro, but nobody else could see them easily, right? I mean, your twitter page wouldn't show a bunch of citizen journalist posts from others, just from you. I'm thinking people would need to use hashtags (#ibrattleboro) if we wanted to collect relevant messages all in one easy place--like if 7 people were liveblogging/twittering the same meeting. Maybe others who are more twit-literate than me will weigh in.
(I just can't say "tweet" except in disclaimers like this, sorry.)
Authored by: janed on Wednesday, May 20 2009 @ 04:17 PM GMT+4
This is an interesting discussion to me. I can see Chris's point about Twittering from meetings and such. But I see no need for Twitter in my life. I'm not even attracted to Twitter, nor do i like to text even though i now have a cell phone that does it, because I had to enable texting to use the camera.
On the other hand, I use Facebook daily, usually several times a day. For me, because of my Facebook friends, it is an excellent digest of news and inspiration relevant to me and my interests, as well as a way to keep in touch long distance, and even within the neighborhood, in a way that is different from direct, one-to-one interaction. It is super-easy to share pictures, videos and links to articles.
I don't know what use it may be to iBrattleboro. But for Chris and Lise as individuals, I think there would be plenty of room for fulfillment.
Authored by: Maus Anon E on Wednesday, May 20 2009 @ 08:04 PM GMT+4
That goes double for me. Facebook is good for staying connected with friends who are spread around the globe. And reconnecting with old friends. And, although I never would have thought so, making new friends. Like Jane, one of my favorite facebook friends.
Authored by: pjmelton on Thursday, May 21 2009 @ 11:16 AM GMT+4
Seriously?
I am on neither. Maybe it's because I'm neither young nor old. But if I hear the NPR reporters trying to sound like cool kids by talking about Twitter ONE MORE TIME, I think I'm going to have an aneurism. Every time someone says the word "twitter," I shudder, but the NPR people are the worst. Is it because it has the word 'twit' in it? I don't know. Maybe if it were called something else (and I had a cell phone) I would be interested.
I do like the idea of sending snippets from meetings and such; that would be a really great application of the technology. I've read many a live blog of an event in my time, but following via Twitter on your cell phone would probably be easier and better. Seems like a good idea.
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"Economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings." -- FDR
Authored by: pjmelton on Thursday, May 21 2009 @ 04:54 PM GMT+4
You should tell your kids about the NPR reporters. They will have to stop Twittering too! They might have to resort to old-fashioned means like the fax machine, which no one ever uses anymore. It's the next big thing, I swear.
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"Economic laws are not made by nature. They are made by human beings." -- FDR
Authored by: cgrotke on Thursday, May 21 2009 @ 05:36 PM GMT+4
A few years ago, almost everyone NPR interviewed seemed to be in a
high end, brand name coffee shop chain, and they would always mention
the business by name, giving them tons of free advertising.
Authored by: tiny on Thursday, May 21 2009 @ 07:38 PM GMT+4
Funny you should mention that. I ask my youngest what was the next
big communication tool if FB has been coop-ed and she said the phone!
Honestly, they will always have e-messaging. That's carpal tunnel for
my fingers.
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janed